Issues in Journalism

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

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-maddow-herman-cain-lin-wood_n_1087997.html?ref=media

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-have-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?v=pohc5rYeCJw&feature=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, interestings • It’s a responsibility as critical as verification and independence from outside interests.

9. Engagement and relevance • http://www.npr.org/2011/09/09/140293993/slain-priest-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 blinders…lack 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?v=d0kKDVaHyzk • 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 organization’s authority to deliver serious news and drives away audiences who want it. • 3. You’re not playing to your strengths.

15. Infotainment or journalism? • http://abcnews.go.com/US/gabby_giffords/humor-determination-key-congresswoman-gabrielle-giffords-recovery/story?id=14944407

16. 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

17. 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.

18. Journalism as a public forum • Journalism must provide a public forum for public criticism and compromise • But today it’s 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?v=aFQFB5YpDZE

19. The Cain assignment

20. 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 journalism’s responsibility to serve the public interest is to engage and be relevant • http://www.pnj.com/section/special

21. 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

22. 9:Engagement 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?

23. 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

24. 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

25. A radio program • This American Life engages in storytelling of complex issues with humor, verve and a unique blend of irreverence and courage. • Take tomorrow’s election for example. • http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/417/this-party-sucks

26. 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

27. Wiki leaks • Iraq war documents published on web site • Used by mainstream media • http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/w/wikileaks/index.html?scp=1-spot&sq=wikileaks&st=cse • Is this the traditional watchdog role? • Is this investigative reporting? • Is this meaningful information/criticism? • Does the public’s right to know outweigh the impact on the military? • http://www.mediaite.com/online/the-weekend-of-wikileaks-begins-embargo-ends-and-the-torrent-of-classified-info-starts-to-seep-out/

28. Issues • NPR fires news analyst Juan Williams • “He was explicitly and repeatedly asked to respect NPR’s 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.reliable.sources/index.html?iref=allsearch • http://www.mediaite.com/tv/rachel-maddow-on-npr-as-election-issue-will-gop-go-after-big-bird-next/

29. 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)

30. 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

31. 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.

32. 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

33. 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

34. Investigating:Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

35. Going to far? • http://benchmark.clerkofcourts.cc/CaseDetail.aspx?txt=gaston&ps=50&m=name&aka=0&s=4&caseid=400807 • http://benchmark.clerkofcourts.cc/Search.aspx?txt=gaston&ps=50&m=name&aka=0&s=4 • http://www.co.okaloosa.fl.us/xjailwebsite/InmateSearch.aspx

36. 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

37. 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

38. Chapter 5: Independence from Faction • “Journalists must maintain an independence from those they cover.”

39. 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.

40. Chapter 5: Independence from Faction • What about opinion journalism? • Isn’t 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.

41. 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.

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

43. Chapter 5: Independence from Faction • Reporters as activists • The conflict of interest test

44. 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

45. One critic’s view of Fox

46. Chapter 5: Independence from Faction • Rupert Murdoch’s 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)

47. 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?

48. 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?

49. 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.

50. Journalism of verification • “[Journalists] are in what we call the reality-based community…That’s not the way the world works anymore …When we act, we create our own reality.” (page 30 TEOJ)