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?