Verification is key to modern day journalism because there is news everywhere and journalists need to sort through the news to determine which is verifiable and can be run. The book presents the opinion that if a story is not verifiable, it should not be published. Journalism of verification is making sure all the details of the story are correct before running the story. This can be difficult because the pushfor news outlets is to break the story first and the temptation to publish the story before verifying it is always present. This leads to journalism of assertion where not all of the details are verified. Twisting details of the story to make it more interesting is asserting unverifiable facts, which should be avoided.
Keys to verifying stories should be to seek multiple witnesses of an event to make sure all sides are represented fairly. Additionally, disclose as much as possible about the witnesses so the readers understand why those sources were used and why their opinions are valid. Additionally, if anonymous sources are necessary, journalists should let readers know why their opinions are valid and the reason for using an anonymous source. Journalistic bias is affected through verification because journalists need to be objective when gathering the news, not just presenting it. The book uses the phrase "objectivity is a method, not an aim" to show that the entire newsgathering process including verification needs to be objective. By showing objectivity the journalist is letting the audience know how they obtained their information and how it is fair.
When journalists reveal their methods to their audience they are becoming transparent. The public should know about the news gathering process and the journalist should tell the audience how they obtained their information. Transparency increases credibility. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel posted their verification process online in order to be more transparent. Often, the temptation is for journalists to be omniscient. Vague stories often lead the audience to believe the journalist knows more information than they do. This should be avoided, and journalists should inform the public of where they obtained their information and what interviews and sources they were unable to get. Richard Sambrook, the director of the BBC Global News Division says "Transparency about the newsgathering and selection process is as important as the journalism itself in retaining that trust." He said that earning the trust of the audience was key to good journalism.
Intellectual humility corresponds with transparency, because it is important for journalists to be honest about what they know and be humble enough to not pretend to know more than they actually know. Humility means that journalists assume nothing and self-check to ensure all facts are verified. In a story by Bill Kovach reported in the Los Angeles Times, he asserted that humility was the key to the 2000 election. He said journalists covered the story rather than exploited it and showed intellectual humility producing transparent journalism.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
The Profession
Journalism has often been referred to as the fourth estate of government. In many ways this is true becuase journalists act as gatekeepers and whistleblowers for the government. This high calling of the fourth estate can be likened to a professional priesthood where journalists job is to connect with the audience and inform them of what is going on in the world. I think that not all journalists are using their priesthood effectively however because media is become disengaged from their audiences. Many people are distrustful of the media, so they are not as willing to learn from the journalist priests. By verifying facts and writing well written, balanced stories, the media can re-gain the trust of their audience and form a more solid priesthood.
It has been suggested that with the decline of newspapers, journalists should use their priesthood power and influence from the fourth estate to begin a government sponsered newspaper. I believe this will decline the priesthood power because the audience will even less likely to trust a media that is dependent on the government for survival. An article by Dan Gilmor suggests that having a government sponsered media would not create a new priesthood, but further damage the already crumbling journalistic priesthood.
One of the biggest struggles for journalists is to decide when to get involved and where to draw the line. It can become difficult to simply stand and report on a story rather than getting involved and helping people that are in need of help. One of the best rules presented in class was that helping in a crisis is fine, as long as you put down the notebook first. The Society of Professional Journalists encourages reporters to stay distant from the stories they are covering. When journalists participate in the stories they are covering it often looks like they are trying to do good things just to boost their ratings. A story by Eric Deggans says that journalists should help as much as possible, and then never report on it. This discourages journalists from helping out because they would be taking time away from their job and it also does not allow for any thoughts of self interest because mass audiences will not know what they did.
Distance is an important part of gathering news. If reporters get too close to the story they lose objectivity and the story becomes a conflict of interest. However, if they stay too far away they will not understand the entire story. The line is different for every story and the sign of a good journalist is to find the line so that they can report accurately, but not get too close to the point the story becomes biased.
I think that journalists view the world in a slightly different way than other people because they are always looking for a story. Journalists, by nature, are curious and want to know more about what people are talking about and want to find a story in everything. However, the worldview of journalists is shrinking as journalism becomes more localized. An interview with Mark Danner says that news is becoming more local for two reasons. First, there is a perceived lack of interest among American audiences. Additionally, it is expensive to have foreign news and support bureaus around the world.
It has been suggested that with the decline of newspapers, journalists should use their priesthood power and influence from the fourth estate to begin a government sponsered newspaper. I believe this will decline the priesthood power because the audience will even less likely to trust a media that is dependent on the government for survival. An article by Dan Gilmor suggests that having a government sponsered media would not create a new priesthood, but further damage the already crumbling journalistic priesthood.
One of the biggest struggles for journalists is to decide when to get involved and where to draw the line. It can become difficult to simply stand and report on a story rather than getting involved and helping people that are in need of help. One of the best rules presented in class was that helping in a crisis is fine, as long as you put down the notebook first. The Society of Professional Journalists encourages reporters to stay distant from the stories they are covering. When journalists participate in the stories they are covering it often looks like they are trying to do good things just to boost their ratings. A story by Eric Deggans says that journalists should help as much as possible, and then never report on it. This discourages journalists from helping out because they would be taking time away from their job and it also does not allow for any thoughts of self interest because mass audiences will not know what they did.
Distance is an important part of gathering news. If reporters get too close to the story they lose objectivity and the story becomes a conflict of interest. However, if they stay too far away they will not understand the entire story. The line is different for every story and the sign of a good journalist is to find the line so that they can report accurately, but not get too close to the point the story becomes biased.
I think that journalists view the world in a slightly different way than other people because they are always looking for a story. Journalists, by nature, are curious and want to know more about what people are talking about and want to find a story in everything. However, the worldview of journalists is shrinking as journalism becomes more localized. An interview with Mark Danner says that news is becoming more local for two reasons. First, there is a perceived lack of interest among American audiences. Additionally, it is expensive to have foreign news and support bureaus around the world.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Loyalty
One of the most important and controversial elements of journalists is their loyalty to citizens. Although ideally it is easy to say that journalists first loyalty is to citizens, it is much difficult in the real world where advertising runs the newspaper business. Newspapers and broadcasts are dependent on companies purchasing ad space in order to make money. In situations depicted in both "Goodnight and Good Luck" and "The Insider" journalists question where their first loyalty is.
Journalists are becoming more and more disengaged from their audiences. Because fewer journalists are from the communities they serve, they are often unaware of nuances of their audience. However, they are less biased because they are more disengaged from their audience. I think that a more engaged journalist population is better because the audience is more likely to trust a journalist that they can relate to and if a journalist is from the community they are reporting on, the audience will be more likely to listen to the journalist and trust the information they are receiving.
Additionally, the wall between journalism and advertising is both dangerous and necessary. By separating parts of a business it becomes difficult to keep the business running smoothly. However, without the wall journalism would become entangled with advertising and it would be difficult to write an unbiased story that is not influenced directly by the advertisers. However, even with the wall, journalists can still be influenced by advertisers and the business side of journalism as was the case with the LA Times and the Staples Center sports arena.
In this situation, the LA Times had a deal with the Staples Center Sports Arena and published a a magazine about the facility splitting revenues with the stadium. The reporters were not aware of the business deal and were considerably upset when the scandal was reported. The following link shows an interview showing how upset the reporters were when the news of the scandal came loose.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/july-dec99/la_times_12-16.html
One of the most important things newspapers can do is to ensure the public knows that they are the first priority of the newspaper. The number one job of journalists is to tell the truth to the audience to make an informed public. By becoming transparent and aware of communities the public will begin to trust journalists again and be more willing to talk with them about issues affecting individuals. Some corporations such as the New York Times and Washington Post have set up standards, however, the pubic is often not aware of these standards because they are not easy to get to. The audience has to search for the standards rather than the journalists making them easily available.
The New York Times standards are linked here: http://www.nytco.com/press/ethics.html
The Washingtin Post's standards are linked here: http://www.washpost.com/gen_info/principles/index.shtml
Journalists are becoming more and more disengaged from their audiences. Because fewer journalists are from the communities they serve, they are often unaware of nuances of their audience. However, they are less biased because they are more disengaged from their audience. I think that a more engaged journalist population is better because the audience is more likely to trust a journalist that they can relate to and if a journalist is from the community they are reporting on, the audience will be more likely to listen to the journalist and trust the information they are receiving.
Additionally, the wall between journalism and advertising is both dangerous and necessary. By separating parts of a business it becomes difficult to keep the business running smoothly. However, without the wall journalism would become entangled with advertising and it would be difficult to write an unbiased story that is not influenced directly by the advertisers. However, even with the wall, journalists can still be influenced by advertisers and the business side of journalism as was the case with the LA Times and the Staples Center sports arena.
In this situation, the LA Times had a deal with the Staples Center Sports Arena and published a a magazine about the facility splitting revenues with the stadium. The reporters were not aware of the business deal and were considerably upset when the scandal was reported. The following link shows an interview showing how upset the reporters were when the news of the scandal came loose.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/july-dec99/la_times_12-16.html
One of the most important things newspapers can do is to ensure the public knows that they are the first priority of the newspaper. The number one job of journalists is to tell the truth to the audience to make an informed public. By becoming transparent and aware of communities the public will begin to trust journalists again and be more willing to talk with them about issues affecting individuals. Some corporations such as the New York Times and Washington Post have set up standards, however, the pubic is often not aware of these standards because they are not easy to get to. The audience has to search for the standards rather than the journalists making them easily available.
The New York Times standards are linked here: http://www.nytco.com/press/ethics.html
The Washingtin Post's standards are linked here: http://www.washpost.com/gen_info/principles/index.shtml
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Truth
The number one objective of a journalist is to tell the truth. However, the truth can be subjective as journalists decide what stories to cover and what their angle should be. Of course there is no possible way for every story to cover every angle and be completely unbiased, but journalists should give equal weight to both sides and let the audience decide the truth for themselves.
The function of journalism is not to tell what the audience to think, the function is to tell the audience what to think about. By providing factual information the audience can think about what is written and decide what they want to believe.
I do not believe that it is ever possible to be completely unbiased. Journalists enter a story with their background and their way of thinking about an issue. However, the job of journalists should be to minimize bias. This means that if a journalist is assigned a story that they know they can not cover without significant bias, they should remove themselves from the story and write about something else. However, if journalists work to write without letting their bias come through, stories can still be balanced and honest.
Journalism bias affects both journalists and the companies they work for. The presentation on truth made me think about the movie "The Insider." In this movie Russell Crowe stars as Jeffrey Wigand who has evidence that the big tobacco companies perjured themselves. He agreed to talk on 60 minutes with Mike Wallace, but in the end 60 minutes did not air to full coverage because they were worried about retaliation by the tobacco companies. This is a real life example of the ethical dilemma's facing journalists. The producer Lowell Bergman, played by Al Pacino, wanted to tell the truth to his audience, however his plan was thwarted by the business side of journalism and fear of lost advertisements. I think this shows the difficult choices made by news agencies every day. Although they are not always this drastic, the truth is sometimes difficult to get out and it can be hard to tell the full truth in the best way, especially if the truth is about media sponsors.
Bias is prevalent in the media, however, if journalists are able to put their bias behind them, they can tell the truth more effectively and fulfil the function of the media.
The function of journalism is not to tell what the audience to think, the function is to tell the audience what to think about. By providing factual information the audience can think about what is written and decide what they want to believe.
I do not believe that it is ever possible to be completely unbiased. Journalists enter a story with their background and their way of thinking about an issue. However, the job of journalists should be to minimize bias. This means that if a journalist is assigned a story that they know they can not cover without significant bias, they should remove themselves from the story and write about something else. However, if journalists work to write without letting their bias come through, stories can still be balanced and honest.
Journalism bias affects both journalists and the companies they work for. The presentation on truth made me think about the movie "The Insider." In this movie Russell Crowe stars as Jeffrey Wigand who has evidence that the big tobacco companies perjured themselves. He agreed to talk on 60 minutes with Mike Wallace, but in the end 60 minutes did not air to full coverage because they were worried about retaliation by the tobacco companies. This is a real life example of the ethical dilemma's facing journalists. The producer Lowell Bergman, played by Al Pacino, wanted to tell the truth to his audience, however his plan was thwarted by the business side of journalism and fear of lost advertisements. I think this shows the difficult choices made by news agencies every day. Although they are not always this drastic, the truth is sometimes difficult to get out and it can be hard to tell the full truth in the best way, especially if the truth is about media sponsors.
Bias is prevalent in the media, however, if journalists are able to put their bias behind them, they can tell the truth more effectively and fulfil the function of the media.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
New Media
Wow! Class today was a little frightening. I was glad that we went over all sorts of new media coming out, but it is slightly overwhelming to grasp it all. I was just entering the blogging world and now there is so much other new media that I need to become part of.
I don't have a ton of free time to devote to new media so my problem now is deciding what sorts of media is worthwhile of my time. For example, Twitter might not be so bad, but I just don't want to spend tons of time following people on Twitter and seeing what they're up to. Also, there are few things that I dislike as much as reading electronic books. I would so much rather just have a hard copy of a book of newspaper in front of me, so I think the Amazon Kindle is definitely not necessary.
I would love to get an iPhone, but my concern there is that I would spend so much time on my phone and on the Internet that I would forget the real world around me. I think the future of media is slightly dangerous because people may be so tuned into media and all the different media outlets that they forget there is a real world going on around them. My time is too precious to spend massive amounts of time online doing things that are not necessarily worthwhile. I guess that as time progresses and I get more involved in the communications major I may figure out exactly what kind of media is beneficial and worth my time.
I don't have a ton of free time to devote to new media so my problem now is deciding what sorts of media is worthwhile of my time. For example, Twitter might not be so bad, but I just don't want to spend tons of time following people on Twitter and seeing what they're up to. Also, there are few things that I dislike as much as reading electronic books. I would so much rather just have a hard copy of a book of newspaper in front of me, so I think the Amazon Kindle is definitely not necessary.
I would love to get an iPhone, but my concern there is that I would spend so much time on my phone and on the Internet that I would forget the real world around me. I think the future of media is slightly dangerous because people may be so tuned into media and all the different media outlets that they forget there is a real world going on around them. My time is too precious to spend massive amounts of time online doing things that are not necessarily worthwhile. I guess that as time progresses and I get more involved in the communications major I may figure out exactly what kind of media is beneficial and worth my time.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
I Love Blogging!
Since starting this course I have discovered I like blogging. Check that - I Love blogging. Seriously, it's one of my new favorite things. I went to Jerusalem last semester and didn't have a blog, but when we got home there was a group blog that we can all contribute too and I loved checking on it to see what my friends were up to. Then I started this semester and had to set up this blog, and then I was having so much fun I set up a personal blog for myself.
I was reading in the New York Times this morning about Mark McGwire and his steroid confession. I am an avid baseball fan and while I was reading that I was thinking so much about what I thought about the steroid issue and I just wanted to write about it. I went to class and we were talking about blogging and right then and there I set up a a new blog completely devoted to baseball, especially the New York Yankees. I think the steroid issue is so important to baseball and it really is destroying the integrity of the record books. I was proud to see McGwire finally come clean after ten years of denial. I wish that Barry Bonds and Roger Clemmons would also come clean, but I am not holding my breath for those two.
In other news, I am getting so excited about technology and the future of communications. I love reading the New York times and hearing about all the new technology coming out that is going to change mass communication. I am thrilled about skyping on television and the new Google phone. It really does make me so excited to become a reporter.
I am a little upset that NBC is moving Leno back to his previous spot and I think that it was a good decision of O'Brien to leave the network. I prefer O'Brien to Leno and I think it is completely unfair that they would give O'Brien the prime time slot and then give it back to Leno. Reading newspapers is so much fun! I just love being informed and learing about what's going on in the world.
Here's the link to my new baseball blog!
Thursday, January 7, 2010
What should I do with journalism
Although class today was awesome and very informative, it was slightly disheartening as well. Brother Cressman said that we probably wouldn't have a whole carreer in television journalism and that the journalism business was changing rapidly. I think that it's great that we have this information, but it is slightly stressful as I'm trying to figure out what I want to do for the rest of my life! I wish I had a crystal ball and could look into it and figure out what the future has in store for me. In my head I know how I want it to go, but there are just so many things that could happen. I want a stable carreer first and foremost. I think the most terrible situation would be struggling to live paycheck to paycheck. I need stability first.
My dream job with broadcasting would be to work for the Yankees Entertainment Sports network in New York. I would love reporting on games and following the Yankees as a job! With the changes in journalism though anything could happen. I'm glad that we discussed this matter in class today though because I feel more prepared for the future. I really just hope that things work out and I end up finding a job that I really love. I hope I'm not being too ideal about my dreams and goals because I don't want to set myself up for disappointment. Journalism is changing quickly and there are no longer any absolutes in regards to journalism. I just hope that I can keep up with all the changes and be prepared for what happens next!
My dream job with broadcasting would be to work for the Yankees Entertainment Sports network in New York. I would love reporting on games and following the Yankees as a job! With the changes in journalism though anything could happen. I'm glad that we discussed this matter in class today though because I feel more prepared for the future. I really just hope that things work out and I end up finding a job that I really love. I hope I'm not being too ideal about my dreams and goals because I don't want to set myself up for disappointment. Journalism is changing quickly and there are no longer any absolutes in regards to journalism. I just hope that I can keep up with all the changes and be prepared for what happens next!
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