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Title: Issues in Journalism


1
Issues in Journalism
  • Weeks 1-13
  • Study Points from The Elements of Journalism
    lectures

2
Week 13 (Nov. 14-21)
  • Monday
  • Chapter 8 lecture
  • Cain blog assignment due
  • Essay assigned
  • Wednesday
  • Reading assignment Chapter 9
  • Quiz

3
Raising Cain!
  • Some selections from student research
  • (Haley Chouinard)Cain's words are entirely
    contradicting his actions, and it is this
    contradiction that is turning this story into an
    example of Argument Culture. In Cain's quest to
    deflect from his own scandal he is even claiming
    that he was set up by a "network of enemies." He
    made those claims on Fox News and the Daily Kos
    posted a video of the broadcast.
    http//www.dailykos.com/tv/w/002913/
  •  

4
Raising Cain!
  • (Kevin Robinson)
  • The Cain controversy, like most other media
    issues, has become a shouting match between
    liberals and conservatives. On the left, sites
    like Huffington Post are inundated with videos,
    like this one from Rachel Maddow condemning Cain
    and his staff
  • http//www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/11/rachel-ma
    ddow-herman-cain-lin-wood_n_1087997.html?refmedia

5
Raising Cain!
  • (Allison Smith)In the later stages of the
    discussion, focus has turned from Cain himself to
    his wife, who will be interviewed by Greta Van
    Susteren, according to Mediaite.com. This focus
    on the story is more entertainment-worthy than
    anything else, as demonstrated by the comments
    which were posted under the blog. Many commenters
    respond by saying things like "the wife is the
    last to know."
  • http//www.mediaite.com/tv/gloria-cain-shoots-down
    -allegations-to-greta-van-susteren-herman-would-ha
    ve-to-have-a-split-personality/

6
Raising Cain!
  •  Will Isern
  • Herman Cain has called the allegations of sexual
    misconduct leveled against him an attack by the
    Perry campaign. He has called them a fabrication
    of the "liberal machine". He has called them a
    "high-tech lynching" by the news media. He has
    called them preposterous and baseless. The only
    thing he hasn't called them is that which they
    likely are, true. Truthfulness aside however, the
    media's handling of the scandal has gone a long
    way to highlight the argument culture of today's
    news media, has brought forth some good examples
    of journalism, and has provided some obvious
    examples of bias for critique.
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?vpohc5rYeCJwfeature
    player_embedded

7
Engagement and relevance
  • Storytelling and information are not
    contradictory. They are better understood as two
    points on a continuum of communicating. (page
    188)
  • Journalism is storytelling with a purpose. That
    purpose is to provide people with information
    they need to understand the world.

8
Engagement and relevance
  • The first challenge is finding information people
    need to live their lives.
  • The second is to make it meaningful, relevant,
    and engaging. (page 189)
  • Relevant, engaged, interesting
  • Its a responsibility as critical as verification
    and independence from outside interests.

9
Engagement and relevance
  • http//www.npr.org/2011/09/09/140293993/slain-prie
    st-bury-his-heart-but-not-his-love

10
Engagement and relevance
  • What stands in the way of news being delivered in
    a compelling way?
  • Laziness, formula, bias, haste, ignorance,
    cultural blinderslack of time, training.
  • Writing a compelling story outside the usual
    formula or crafting a riveting video piece
    outside the usual dictates of a news cast
    involves effort and commitment.

11
Engagement and relevance
  • Good journalistic presentation is the always the
    result of solid, deep reporting that adds the
    detail and context that holds a good piece
    together.
  • Yet, even with time and commitment, getting the
    audience to read, listen and watch is becoming
    more difficult. Some say people want shorter
    stories. Others argue the stories need to target
    audiences and be more compelling. (Page 190-191)

12
Engagement and relevance
  • The Lure of Infotainment
  • Engaging, often salacious, gossip-driven,
    celebrity-driven, funny, obnoxious, sappy,
    addictive and it gets audience.
  • These are the classic gimmicks of tabloidism the
    news as revealed truth, as sex, or as celebrity
    scandal. (page 192)
  • http//www.tmz.com/videos/

13
Engagment and relevance
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?vd0kKDVaHyzk
  • http//vimeo.com/24741759

14
Engagement and relevance
  • Trying to attract audiences by being merely
    engaging will fail as a business strategy for
    journalism.
  • 1. News programming fixated on trivia and
    entertainment withers the appetite and
    expectations for anything else.
  • 2. Destroys a news organizations authority to
    deliver serious news and drives away audiences
    who want it.
  • 3. Youre not playing to your strengths.

15
Infotainment or journalism?
  • http//abcnews.go.com/US/gabby_giffords/humor-dete
    rmination-key-congresswoman-gabrielle-giffords-rec
    overy/story?id14944407

16
Engagement and relevance
  • Journalism is storytelling with a purpose. That
    purpose is to provide people with information
    they need to understand the world.
  • Winning back audiences through better
    storytelling is hard, time-consuming and costly.
  • So instead of tackling the hard part, some news
    organizations opt for better marketing, cutting
    costs, changing anchorpeople or building a new
    set for the news. (page 195-196)

17
Engagement and relevance
  • The newspaper industry in the 1980s addressed
    readership loss by focusing on layout and design.
  • These tactics still a factor today and have had
    mixed results.
  • Journalists find success in boosting audience
    with and approach making the significant
    interesting and the interesting significant.

18
Engagement and relevance
  • How to make a story engaging and relevant
  • First drill down to examples of storytelling
    lacking relevance and engagement
  • -Character is missing. Usual sources, usual
    responses
  • -Time element in the past
  • -Reporting for one audience rather than many

19
Storytelling deficiencies
  • --Stories that dont illuminate a greater meaning
  • --Using the Internet as a place to showcase old
    material rather than exploiting it as a distinct
    technology
  • Journalists must turn away from some traditional,
    ingrained ways of thinking when producing pieces
    seek new ground

20
Some innovative approaches
  • Who is the audience and what do they need to
    know?
  • A new definition of who, what, when, where, why
    and how. Stressing narrative approach.
  • Experiment with new storytelling techniques
  • Story told through the reporters experience
  • Character and detail in the news. Going beyond
    the usual. Making characters real, not
    one-dimensional.

21
Engagement and relevance
  • More ways to engage
  • Finding the metaphor or hidden structure in each
    story. How Robert Krulwich avoids formula.
  • http//abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/dig-china-12090619
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?vbTFYJ1GgUe8

22
Engagement and relevance
  • More ways to engage
  • Use the power of the Internet
  • Multimedia approach to each story
  • http//www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/06/29/maga
    zine/rivera-pitches.html
  • Video, audio of interviews, photo galleries,
    access to reporters via chat, im or comments,
    interactive graphics users can manipulate, full
    text of documents and links to other sources
    mentioned in the story.

23
Using the Internet
  • Poynter points out that NPR has taken something
    as non-radio as air pollution and made it a huge
    multimedia investigation. They revealed a secret
    watch list the EPA has created detailing high
    risk polluters in various communities around the
    nation. The series also has data about 17,000
    other facilities in the nation.
  • http//www.npr.org/series/142000896/poisoned-place
    s-toxic-air-neglected-communitiesIt uses
  • audio
  • video
  • interactive graphics
  • searchable databases

24
Narrative in service to truth
  • Narrative newswriting is vulnerable to
    perceptions of bias because writers/reporters can
    interject attitude. (page 204)
  • So its critical to remember that a journalists
    use of narrative forms are always governed by the
    principles of accuracy and truthfulness. (page
    204)

25
Week 12 (Nov. 7-11)
  • Quiz on Wednesday (Chapter 7 only!)
  • Assignment Read Chapter 8 for next week and
    Monday, Nov. 14 quiz.
  • Blogs and tweets due today on The New York Times
  • Check-in

26
Journalism as a public forum
  • New technology provides an incredible opportunity
    for a world-wide forum tailor-made for good
    journalism.
  • Providing a forum for criticism and compromise is
    critical for a free society.
  • But new technology also can distort, mislead and
    overwhelm the functions of a free press.
  • The forum is fueled by the increasing power of
    citizen journalism and the blending of journalism
    and conversation.

27
Journalism as a public forum
  • Journalism must provide a public forum for public
    criticism and compromise
  • But today its often the Argument Culture
  • Media gives voices a platform but many times the
    result is Polarization, oriented to one class
    over another, lacking verification and diminished
    level of reporting
  • A shouting match
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?vaFQFB5YpDZE

28
The Cain assignment
29
Engagement and relevance
  • Engagement Storytelling versus information They
    are a continuum of understanding.
  • Data and narrative all go together when it comes
    to disseminating information
  • But most journalism today is a mixture
  • The key to meeting journalisms responsibility to
    serve the public interest is to engage and be
    relevant
  • http//www.pnj.com/section/special

30
Engagement and relevance
  • Journalism is storytelling with a purpose
  • The first challenge is finding the information
    that people need to live their lives. The second
    is to make it meaningful, relevant and engaging.
    (pg.189)
  • Journalists must do their work in a way that
    makes people take notice.
  • Compelling journalism can reach a vast audience
  • http//www.pnj.com/section/special

31
9Engagement and relevance
  • Journalists must make the significant interesting
    and relevant
  • But does that mean emphasizing news that is fun
    and fascinating, and plays on our sensations? Or
    should we stick to the news that is the most
    important?
  • Should journalists give people what they need or
    what they want? (pg. 187)
  • Is the choice news or infotainment?

32
Engagement and relevance
  • Presentation is key in order to be compelling.
    But when resources are cut and news rooms lose
    personnel, the output can be marginal.
  • But the Internet offers possibilities in
    producing and providing compelling stories that
    can reach vast audiences.
  • Use of video, digital images/graphics and
    non-traditional sources of information can be
    helpful

33
How to engage
  • Take a complex issue that people need to know
    about Politics
  • Tell a story that provides perspective and
    compels you to want to know more
  • Provide substance by using interesting
    storytelling approaches
  • Infotainment strategy can work in traditional
    journalism to a point. It has to be relevant.
  • People want substance

34
A radio program
  • This American Life engages in storytelling of
    complex issues with humor, verve and a unique
    blend of irreverence and courage.
  • Take tomorrows election for example.
  • http//www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/epi
    sode/417/this-party-sucks

35
Monitor power
  • Investigative reporting is an important tool
  • Today journalists see watchdog as central to
    their work (pg. 143)
  • This role differentiates journalism from other
    forms of communication
  • Comfort the afflicted and(pg. 141)
  • The concept is much more nuanced
  • Monitoring institutions reporting the good and
    bad.
  • Constant criticism is meaningless if you lose
    your audience

36
Wiki leaks
  • Iraq war documents published on web site
  • Used by mainstream media
  • http//topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopic
    s/organizations/w/wikileaks/index.html?scp1-spot
    sqwikileaksstcse
  • Is this the traditional watchdog role?
  • Is this investigative reporting?
  • Is this meaningful information/criticism?
  • Does the publics right to know outweigh the
    impact on the military?
  • http//www.mediaite.com/online/the-weekend-of-wiki
    leaks-begins-embargo-ends-and-the-torrent-of-class
    ified-info-starts-to-seep-out/

37
Issues
  • NPR fires news analyst Juan Williams
  • He was explicitly and repeatedly asked to
    respect NPRs standards and to avoid expressing
    strong personal opinions on controversial
    subjects in public settings, as that is
    inconsistent with his role as an NPR news
    analyst.NPR CEO Vivian Schiller
  • Should news people be allowed to express strong
    personal opinions.
  • http//www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/10/22/kurtz.relia
    ble.sources/index.html?irefallsearch
  • http//www.mediaite.com/tv/rachel-maddow-on-npr-as
    -election-issue-will-gop-go-after-big-bird-next/

38
Investigative forms
  • Original investigative reporting
  • Digging through documents, employing police-style
    work, anonymous and on the record sources
  • Digital analysis taking larger role amassing
    documentary evidence (pg. 146)

39
Forms
  • Interpretative investigating reporting
  • Uses same enterprise skills as investigative
    reporting but brings together information in a
    new, more complex context that provides deeper
    public understanding.
  • Wiki leaks, Pentagon Papers, America What went
    wrong? (pgs. 146-147)
  • Approach criticized as unbalanced
  • Defended for bringing change

40
Forms
  • Reporting on investigations
  • Widely used reporting that piggybacks on the work
    of other investigators, primarily government
    officials.
  • Audits, inspector general/congressional reports
    on spending or programs provide fodder for news.
  • Critics say the info is valuable but can be
    subject to spin from the agencies producing the
    material.

41
The watchdog role weakened
  • The explosion of I-team units in the 80s and
    90s has subsided somewhat but still around.
  • But what are they investigating?
  • Sweeps topics breast implant health concerns,
    consumer ripoffs, car repair schemes
  • Canned investigative reports
  • Watchdogism becomes amusement
  • Talk radio investigative reporting
  • Public wants investigative reporting but hates
    duplicity

42
Prosecuting
  • Investigative reporting as prosecution
  • IR is like a criminal/civil prosecution as you
    make your case to the public
  • IR assumes wrongdoing
  • Advocacy reporting IRE
  • Honest, open-minded approach
  • But approaching every story as an expose can be
    overreaching or confuse the public

43
InvestigatingExtreme Makeover Home Edition
44
Going to far?
  • http//benchmark.clerkofcourts.cc/CaseDetail.aspx?
    txtgastonps50mnameaka0s4caseid400807
  • http//benchmark.clerkofcourts.cc/Search.aspx?txt
    gastonps50mnameaka0s4
  • http//www.co.okaloosa.fl.us/xjailwebsite/InmateSe
    arch.aspx

45
The end of investigative reporting?
  • Advances in technology threaten the watchdog
    press
  • Corporations owning media outlets (General
    Electric, Walt Disney etc) have assumed the
    status of nation states
  • The corporate owners of news outlets do not favor
    investigations of their actions
  • The independent voice monitoring institutions is
    stilled

46
The end of investigative reporting?
  • Will corporations bear the cost of watchdog
    journalism or have the will to do so?
  • Print and online entities from the left, right
    and center purport to monitor the media today
  • Nonprofit competition The Center for Public
    Integrity is created in 1990 by Charles Lewis
  • Mission Compete with and monitor the press
  • See how broadcast news media covered itself

47
Chapter 5 Independence from Faction
  • Journalists must maintain an independence from
    those they cover.

48
Chapter 5 Independence from Faction
  • Who is a journalist?
  • What separates the journalist from the political
    partisan, the activist and the propagandist?
  • As the media landscape broadens and evolves to
    meet the need of a more inclusive and activist
    public what makes something journalism? (page
    115)
  • Truthfulness, commitment to the public and
    watchdog role.

49
Chapter 5 Independence from Faction
  • What about opinion journalism?
  • Isnt neutrality a key part of journalism? (page
    115)
  • No. Not a core principle.
  • The difference between journalism and propaganda
    Holding true to the facts and accuracy. Pursuing
    the truth wherever it goes despite your political
    leanings, philosophy or bias.

50
Chapter 5 Independence from Faction
  • Principle 4 Journalists must maintain an
    independence from those they cover.
  • Independence of mind (page 119)
  • Opinion in editorials may be based on point of
    view but the facts are still the facts.
  • Those that only care about opinion and not the
    facts are propagandists or activists. They are
    not journalists.
  • You are entitled to your own opinion, but you are
    not entitled to your own facts.

51
Chapter 5 Independence from Faction
  • The question is not Who is a journalist?
  • But are they doing journalism? (page 120)

52
Chapter 5 Independence from Faction
  • Reporters as activists
  • The conflict of interest test

53
Chapter 5 Independence from Faction
  • Independence reevaluated (page 1264-131)
  • The journalist as activist undermines
    journalistic credibility George Will, William
    Kristol, etc.
  • Media personalities who are really political
    operatives. Best described as media activists.
    (page 127)
  • The best example Fox News

54
One critics view of Fox
55
Chapter 5 Independence from Faction
  • Rupert Murdochs Fox is focused heavily on
    argument and ideology. (page 127)
  • Creating balance by giving airtime to
    conservatives
  • But who is running Fox? Roger Ailes, a political
    operative from the Nixon and Bush
    administrations.
  • The partisan press reinforces the preconceptions
    of the audience and abandons the watchdog role
    over the powerful. (page 128)

56
Chapter 5 Independence from Faction
  • The partisan press is all about the Journalism of
    Affirmation (page 128)
  • Speaking to like-minded people and not
    necessarily following the facts because it runs
    contrary to preconceptions.
  • The blurring of journalistic identities
    political operatives become news people. Is that
    a bad thing?

57
Chapter 5 Independence from Faction
  • Independence from class or economic status
  • Class isolation of journalists is a threat
    because the public sees them as an elite or a
    part of the establishment The Mainstream Media.
  • Independence from race, ethnicity, religion and
    gender.
  • Do hold allegiance to core principles of
    journalism or are you held hostage to your
    situation?

58
Journalism of verification
  • The essence of journalism is a discipline of
    verification.
  • It is what separates journalism from
    entertainment, propaganda, fiction or art.
    (page 79)
  • Verification is the central function of
    journalism.
  • Getting the facts straight about what happened.

59
Journalism of verification
  • Journalists are in what we call the
    reality-based communityThats not the way the
    world works anymore When we act, we create our
    own reality. (page 30 TEOJ)

60
Journalism of verification
  • Campaign spokesman Brian Rogers told Politico.com
    on Friday, "We recognize it's not going to be
    2000 again," when McCain wooed the press with his
    "Straight Talk Express" campaign. "But he lost
    then. We're running a campaign to win. And we're
    not too concerned about what the media filter
    tries to say about it."

61
Journalism of verification
62
Journalism of verification
  • The role of verification in society
  • Journalists dont always articulate its
    importance as it is seen as a no-brainer to get
    the facts right.
  • But note Walter Lippmans quote
  • There can be no liberty for a community which
    lacks the information by which to detect lies.
    (page 80)

63
Journalism of verification
  • Discipline of verification under pressure
  • Publish first because you can always correct it
    later.
  • Publish news simply because its already out
    there in this new media system regardless of its
    worth or relevance.
  • The UPI motto Get it first, but get it right.

64
Journalism of verification
  • The Lost Meaning of Objectivity (page 81)
  • Fantasy world Journalists are unbiased
  • Real world Its much more complicated and thats
    a good thing.
  • Realism emerges with the inverted pyramid as a
    way to divorce bias from verification in the 19th
    century.
  • 20th century media thinkers say cultural blinders
    can distort realism and notions of objectivity
    are naïve.
  • the journalist is not objective but his method
    can be. The key was in the discipline of the
    craft, not the aim. (page 83)

65
Journalism of verification
  • What is the system of verification journalism
    employs to report news?
  • Is it an exact methodology like a chemistry
    experiment that can be replicated time after time
    with guaranteed results?
  • Not exactly but it needs to be based on standards
    and practices.
  • The notion of an objective method or reporting
    exists in pieces, handed down by word of mouth
    from reporter to reporter. (page 85)

66
Journalism of verification
  • Journalists have techniques of verification
    (Investigative Reporters and Editors methodology)
    but not much of a system testing the reliability
    of journalistic interpretation. (page 85)
  • Unless journalists communicate to the public how
    they reach conclusions, report facts and present
    truth the public will be skeptical.
  • Thats a danger to journalism and healthy public
    debate on problems.
  • Bottom line There must be a professional method
    employed

67
Journalism of verification
  • Journalism of assertion vs. journalism of
    verification
  • Internet influences weakening methodology of
    verification
  • Less time spent on gathering facts and more time
    spent on reusing and reinterpreting already
    reported facts.
  • Herd mentality
  • Balloon boy

68
Journalism of verification
  • Gore example. (page 87)
  • Journalists run the risk of becoming more passive
    receivers if they continue to process all the
    data coming in.
  • Fairness and balance can help counteract the
    problem.
  • But each has a trap for the journalist (page 88)

69
Journalism of verification
  • A need for a system of objective method of
    verification all journalists can agree on. (page
    89)
  • 1. Never add anything that was not there
  • 2. Never deceive the audience
  • 3. Be as transparent as possible about your
    methods and motives
  • 4. Rely on your own original reporting
  • 5. Exercise humility

70
Journalism of verification
  • 1. Never add anything that was not there
  • Journalisms implicit credo is nothing here was
    made up. (page 90)
  • Narrative devices, embellishing of facts,
    reporting things that were not said, reporting
    things that happened out of sequence for dramatic
    effect, using composite sources and staging
    photographs/video.

71
Do not add The case of Jayson Blair
  • http//www.nytimes.com/2003/05/11/national/11PAPE.
    html?pagewanted3
  • In an article on March 27, 2003 that carried a
    dateline from Palestine, W.Va., Mr. Blair wrote
    that Private Lynch's father, Gregory Lynch Sr.,
    "choked up as he stood on his porch here
    overlooking the tobacco fields and cattle
    pastures."
  • The porch overlooks no such thing.
  • He also wrote that Private Lynch's family had a
    long history of military service it does not,
    family members said. He wrote that their home was
    on a hilltop it is in a valley.
  • The article astonished the Lynch family and
    friends, said Brandi Lynch, Jessica's sister. "We
    were joking about the tobacco fields and the
    cattle."
  • Asked why no one in the family called to complain
    about the many errors, she said, "We just figured
    it was going to be a one-time thing."

72
Do not deceive
  • False photographs
  • Changing quotes
  • Manipulating video sound bites
  • Messing with chronology
  • Fudging facts
  • http//www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-november-10-
    2009/sean-hannity-uses-glenn-beck-s-protest-footag
    e

73
Be transparent about method
  • Want to stand for truth? Then explain your method
    to your readers/audience. (page 92)
  • Reveal your sources and methods of verification.
  • Then the audience can judge your motives, the
    process followed and the validity of the
    information.
  • This signals respect journalists have for their
    audience. Reinforces public interest mission.

74
Transparency
  • The problem with anonymous sources
  • The reason we need them
  • How to protect everybody involved if we use them
  • Misleading sources is wrong no bluffing or
    deception
  • But what about undercover reporting?
  • The test Must be vital info, no other way to get
    the story and reveal to the audience why you
    engaged in deception.

75
Rely on your own original reporting
  • Do you own work. Get out of the herd mentality of
    reporting because its out there already and we
    have to get it. (page 99)
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?vECwPAzqj4SA

76
Journalism of verification
  • We fail the audience when we make factual errors,
    typos and jump to conclusions.
  • Dont assume anything
  • We must be self-correcting and watchful over our
    own product and methods.

77
Who Journalists Work For
  • Journalism is a business
  • Corporate incentive programs
  • Bonus pay for news executives based on profits,
    not quality of journalism
  • This shift has impacts Loss of faith with news
    consumer, plummeting newsroom morale and
    restricts journalists ability to provide the
    news without fear or favor. (p.52)

78
Who Journalists Work For
  • In this climate of profit over public advocacy, a
    journalists devotion to pursuing the truth is
    not enough.
  • Journalisms first loyalty is to citizens
  • This covenant with the public trust is vital
  • It is based on the belief that the journalists
    work is not slanted, shoddy or influenced by the
    media outlets owner or financial interests

79
Who Journalists Work For
  • The allegiance to citizens is the meaning of
    what we have come to call journalistic
    independence. (p.53)
  • Pew Survey 80 percent of journalists surveyed
    said the core principal of journalism was making
    the viewer, listener, reader your first
    obligation. (p.53)
  • http//people-press.org/report/?pageid315

80
Who Journalists Work For
  • In interviews with psychologists, 70 percent of
    journalists placed audience as their first
    loyalty above employer, themselves, their family
    and their profession. (p. 53)
  • This code of loyalty to the public has caused
    friction in newsrooms around the nation.

81
Who Journalists Work For
  • Journalistic independence becomes isolation and
    disengagement from community (p. 57)
  • Moving away from the covenant of loyalty
  • Journalists moving up the chain, business
    decisions to target specific demographics (the
    richest or biggest audience) and ignoring others.
  • Smaller circulation but more affluent customers
    for advertisers

82
Who Journalists Work For
  • The Wall
  • Advertising, circulation and the business of
    running a newspaper/broadcast outlet is
    firewalled from the news operation.
  • Risk of having no firewall Advertisers dictating
    news coverage. Integrity challenged by the public
  • The Citizen as Customer runs contrary to the
    mission of journalism

83
Who Journalists Work For
  • If the wall fails, then what can be done to
    bolster the allegiance between citizens and
    journalists? (page 69-75)
  • The owner must be committed to citizens first
  • Hire business managers who also put citizens
    first
  • Set and communicate clear standards
  • Journalists have final say over news
  • Communicate clear standards to the public

84
Who Journalists Work For
  • The allegiance to citizens is the meaning of
    what we have come to call journalistic
    independence. (p.53)
  • Pew Survey 80 percent of journalists surveyed
    said the core principal of journalism was making
    the viewer, listener, reader your first
    obligation. (p.53)
  • http//people-press.org/report/?pageid315

85
Who Journalists Work For
  • Journalism in the public interest is eroding due
    to tensions between the newsroom and business
    side.
  • Layoffs, downsizing, efficiencies poor morale,
    lack of resources to cover news and dispensation
    of journalistic propriety.
  • Bad economic times resulted in layoffs but when
    good times returned jobs were not restored.

86
Who Journalists Work For
  • The notion that investing in good journalism
    would result in better circulation or larger
    audiences never caught on in the boardrooms of
    the corporations that owned news operations.
  • Tightening the belt to increase revenues began a
    death spiral regarding audience.
  • It was a strategy of liquidating the
    industry. (page 66)

87
Who Journalists Work For
  • The allegiance to citizens is the meaning of
    what we have come to call journalistic
    independence. (p.53)
  • Pew Survey 80 percent of journalists surveyed
    said the core principal of journalism was making
    the viewer, listener, reader your first
    obligation. (p.53)
  • http//people-press.org/report/?pageid315

88
Who Journalists Work For
  • As more readers went online, more companies that
    had cut newsroom budgets actually suffered news
    entities that invested in newsroom personnel
    fared better in the online shift. (Page 67)
  • But overall, covering news on behalf of the
    public interest is a controversial proposition in
    news companies.

89
Who Journalists Work For
  • The rank and file of the newsroom will fight for
    the public but the results are mixed depending on
    the corporate philosophy of those in the
    boardroom controlling the operation.
  • A mixed record depending on where you work.
  • The commitment to journalism varies and is always
    in jeopardy depending on market situations and
    the economy.

90
Who Journalists Work For
  • Maintaining the journalistic mission to stand up
    for the public requires news operations to work
    cooperatively with the business side of the
    company.
  • The authors cite these characteristics of
    companies that have made the transition.

91
Who Journalists Work For
  • They are
  • 1. The owner must be committed to citizens first.
  • 2. Hire business managers who also put citizens
    first.
  • 3. Set and communicate clear standards
  • 4. Journalist have final say over news
  • 5. Communicate clear standards to the public

92
Issues in Journalism
  • Week 2 Truth The First and Most Confusing
    Principle

93
Ch. 1 review
  • What is the primary purpose of journalism?How
    did journalism "free" Poland and other
    Soviet-bloc nations? What's the problem with
    trying to define journalism today?Define the
    Awareness Instinct.What is the first task of
    the new journalist/sense maker given the
    mind-boggling amount of information and
    news-delivery technology available today?What
    was Walter Lippmann's take on the public's
    interest in accurate news and the role of the
    press in a democracy?Define the theory of the
    interlocking public and give a pertinent
    example.What happens when journalism focuses on
    the expectations of the expert elite or writes
    stories aimed at the largest possible
    audience?List the "three major forces" that the
    book's authors say are eroding journalism's
    ability to build community, promote the interest
    of citizens and monitor the activities of
    government and powerful special interests?
    What's the danger to a free press posed by each
    of these forces?

94
First essay
  • 1. You would think the pullout of all combat
    forces from Iraq would have dominated the news.
    After all, with more than 4,000 dead and tens of
    thousands soldiers wounded so far in the war, not
    to mention trillions spent, the conflict has
    impacted all Americans. So which factors were
    at work, according to Tom's analysis, that pushed
    the massive coverage of the mosque over the
    withdrawal from Iraq? 2. Do you agree with the
    emphasis placed on the mosque by a majority of
    news outlets? Why? If not, which of the other
    stories analyzed this week the economy,
    elections, Iraq etc. should have been given more
    news hole? 3. What kind of personal insight
    about news coverage did you come away with after
    reading Tom's analysis? Which factors do you
    think drove the coverage of various stories? Is
    this process fair? Is it logical? Does it serve
    the American news consumer? 4. Consider the
    review of top stories in light of the 10 Elements
    of Journalism (the list is on the back of the
    front cover of the text and is explained in the
    preface of the text) and answer this question
    Did the decision makers who made the mosque
    story number 1 heed any of the 10 Elements of
    Journalism? Which of the elements did they honor?
    Which ones did they ignore? Defend your point of
    view.

95
The Elements of Journalism
  • Journalisms first obligation is to the truth
    (p. 36 TEOJ)
  • But what is truth?
  • Is it accuracy?
  • Verification?
  • Context?
  • Perception?
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?vUXoNE14U_zM

96
Truth The first principle
  • The definition of news sometimes leaves truth
    in a muddle.
  • Why were Tigers indiscretions news.
  • Glen Becks D.C. gathering
  • Lindsey Lohan
  • News is what ever is newsworthy on a given day
    Tom Brokaw.
  • Failure by journalists to define what they do
    leaves the public with the notion the press is
    hiding something or deluding itself. (pg. 41)

97
Pew Research Center survey
98
Truth The first principle
  • Journalists are in what we call the
    reality-based communityThats not the way the
    world works anymore When we act, we create our
    own reality. (page 30 TEOJ)

99
Truth The First and Most Confusing Principle
100
  • Oil plume lingering in Gulf, study confirms
  • THE NEW YORK TIMES
  • Published 819 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 19, 2010
  • New research confirms the existence of a huge
    plume of dispersed oil deep in the Gulf of Mexico
    and suggests that it has not broken down rapidly,
    raising the possibility that it might pose a
    threat to wildlife for months or even years.
  • The study, the most ambitious scientific paper to
    emerge so far from the Deepwater Horizon spill,
    casts some doubt on recent statements by the
    federal government that oil in the Gulf appears
    to be dissipating at a brisk clip. However, the
    lead scientist in the research,

101
  • WASHINGTON Tue Aug 24, 2010 525pm EDT
  • WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Manhattan-sized plume of
    oil spewed deep into the Gulf of Mexico by BP's
    broken Macondo well has been consumed by a newly
    discovered fast-eating species of microbes,
    scientists reported on Tuesday.
  • These latest findings may initially seem to be
    at odds with a study published last Thursday in
    Science by researchers from Woods Hole
    Oceanographic Institution, which confirmed the
    existence of the oil plume and said
    micro-organisms did not seem to be biodegrading
    it very quickly.

102
Anatomy of a lie
  • http//biggovernment.com/abreitbart/2010/07/19/vid
    eo-proof-the-naacp-awards-racism2010/
  • http//www.naacp.org/news/entry/video_sherrod/
  • http//biggovernment.com/abreitbart/2010/07/19/vid
    eo-proof-the-naacp-awards-racism2010/
  • Fox coverage
  • http//www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/23/fox-news-
    shirley-sherrod_n_657512.html

103
Journalistic truth
  • Facts are subject to revision and journalists
    realize that but thats the truth we are
    seeking a functional or practical form of
    truth.
  • It is not truth in the absolute or philosophical
    sense. It is not the truth of a chemical
    equation. Journalism can and must pursue the
    truths by which we can operate on a day-to-day
    basis.(pg. 42)

104
Journalistic truth
  • To find truth journalists sort it out realize
    its a process sometimes it takes time to parse
    true and false lies and facts
  • We must follow procedures and ethics regarding
    coverage.
  • A transparent process and training reveals the
    functional truth (pg.42) the facts of an
    arrest, the outcome of an electionetc.
  • But is accuracy enough?

105
Journalistic truth
  • Accuracy is not enough. Though it may be the
    beginning, its just the start of a process.
  • It is no longer enough to report the fact
    truthfully. It is now necessary to report the
    truth about the fact. (pg 42)
  • For journalists this means getting the facts
    straight and making sense of the facts.
  • It should be about finding meaning, not just
    data.

106
The Steen case
107
Journalistic truth
  • The Steen case and its layers are a good example
    of this process.
  • The story begins as a tragic, but simple cops
    story.
  • It evolves to encompass stories about the life in
    the Pensacola ghetto and flaws in police
    procedure.
  • The coverage gets mired in stereotypes (bad cops
    and drug dealing black people).
  • The coverage needed context and nuance besides
    the facts of the story.

108
Journalistic truth
  • That doesnt mean that accuracy doesnt matter.
  • Accuracy is the foundation for Interpretation,
    context, debate and all of public communication
    (pg. 43).
  • If those debating, arguing, talking have the
    wrong facts, the outcome is flawed.
  • Thats the problem with cable news shows and talk
    radio and websites devoted to interpreting the
    news.

109
Journalistic truth
  • Its best to understand journalistic truth as a
    process that takes time. It takes subsequent
    stories and efforts to refine the facts and
    correct errors and impart meaning.
  • It takes experience, a sense of history and
    knowledge about a subject and the courage to
    uncover the story, wherever it leads.
  • But can it be done?

110
Truth The first principle
  • http//www.youtube.com/watch?vS0KQWTBljjg
  • The Truth was a complicated and sometimes
    contradictory phenomenon, but seen as a process
    over time, journalists can get at it. (pg. 44)

111
Journalistic truth
  • The payoff in pursuing the truth with a clear
    objective, experience and desire to get the facts
    straight Getting news that comes closer to a
    complete version of the truth has real
    consequences. (pg. 45)
  • The public begins to form attitudes as news is
    broken given the context in the way the facts are
    presented.
  • So accuracy is key. Then meaning.

112
Journalistic truth
  • Is the substitute for truth fairness and
    balance?
  • Both terms are difficult to define. At least
    truthfulness can be tested on several levels.
  • A balanced story may be unfair to the truth.
  • It could lead to a distortion of the facts.
  • Global warming. The anniversary of the Apollo 11
    landing on the moon. All examples of story that
    could include unfair balance.

113
Journalistic truth
  • What forces are working against a journalists
    professed search for the truth?
  • In the continuous news cycle, journalists are
    shoveling out information without sufficient time
    to check things out creating a journalism of
    assertion rather than verification.
  • The pursuit of big stories to gain mass audiences
    at the expense of context and clarity.
  • The rise of news sites that aggregate stories and
    let the public sort out rumors, speculation and
    spin.

114
Journalistic truth
  • The instinct for truth today is crucial.
  • Paradox Even with all the outlets for
    information at our disposal, finding truth in
    some ways takes more work than ever before. (pg
    48)
  • The press needs to sift out rumor, spin and the
    insignificant so people can know what to believe
    and to trust.
  • So its verfication first and interpretation
    later is a good way to answer the question Where
    is the good stuff?
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