Issues in Journalism

Weeks 1-7 Study Points from The Elements of Journalism lectures

Chapter 5: Independence from Faction

“Journalists must maintain an independence from those they cover.”

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.

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)

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."

Journalism of verification

Journalism of verification The role of verification in society Journalists don’t always articulate its

importance as it is seen as a no-brainer to get the facts right.

But note Walter Lippman’s quote: “There can be no liberty for a

community which lacks the information by which to detect lies.” (page 80)

Journalism of verification Discipline of verification under

pressure: Publish first because you can always

correct it later. Publish news simply because it’s

already “out there” in this new media system regardless of its worth or relevance.

The UPI motto: “Get it first, but get it right.”

Journalism of verification The Lost Meaning of Objectivity (page 81) Fantasy world: Journalists are unbiased Real world: It’s much more complicated and

that’s 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)

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)

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.

That’s a danger to journalism and healthy public debate on problems.

Bottom line: There must be a professional method employed

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

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)

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

Journalism of verification 1. Never add anything that was not

there “Journalism’s 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.

Do not add: The case of Jayson Blair http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/11/national/11PAPE.html?pagewanted=3

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."

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-footage

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.

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.

Rely on your own original reporting Do you own work. Get out of the

herd mentality of reporting because “it’s out there” already and we have to get it. (page 99)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECwPAzqj4SA

Journalism of verification We fail the audience when we make

factual errors, typos and jump to conclusions.

Don’t assume anything We must be self-correcting and

watchful over our own product and methods.

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)


In this climate of profit over public advocacy, a journalist’s devotion to pursuing the truth is not enough.

Journalism’s first loyalty is to citizens This covenant with the public trust is

vital It is based on the belief that the

journalist’s work is not slanted, shoddy or influenced by the media outlet’s owner or financial interests


“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/?pageid=315


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.


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


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


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






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.


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)






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.


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.


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.


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

Week 2: Truth: The First and Most Confusing Principle

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?

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.

The Elements of JournalismJournalism’s first obligation

is to the truth… (p. 36 TEOJ)

But what is truth?Is it accuracy?Verification?Context?Perception?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXoNE14U_zM

Truth: The first principle The definition of news sometimes

leaves “truth” in a muddle. Why were Tiger’s indiscretions “news.” Glen Beck’s 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)

Pew Research Center survey

Truth: The first principle “[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)

Truth: The First and Most Confusing Principle

Oil plume lingering in Gulf, study confirms THE NEW YORK TIMES Published: 8:19 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,

WASHINGTON | Tue Aug 24, 2010 5:25pm 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.

Anatomy of a lie

http://biggovernment.com/abreitbart/2010/07/19/video-proof-the-naacp-awards-racism2010/

http://www.naacp.org/news/entry/video_sherrod/ http://biggovernment.com/abreitbart/2010/07/19/video-proof-

the-naacp-awards-racism2010/ Fox coverage: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/23/fox-news-shirley-sherrod_n_657512.html

Journalistic truth

Facts are subject to revision and journalists realize that… but that’s 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)

Journalistic truth

To find truth journalists sort it out… realize it’s 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 election…etc.

But is accuracy enough?

Journalistic truth

Accuracy is not enough. Though it may be the beginning, it’s 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.

The Steen case

Journalistic truth

The Steen case and it’s 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.

Journalistic truth

That doesn’t mean that accuracy doesn’t 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.

That’s the problem with cable news shows and talk radio… and websites devoted to “interpreting” the news.

Journalistic truth

It’s 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?

Truth: The first principle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0KQWTBljjg

“The Truth … was a complicated and sometimes contradictory phenomenon, but seen as a process over time, journalists can get at it.” (pg. 44)

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.

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.

Journalistic truth

What forces are working against a journalist’s 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.

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 it’s verfication first and interpretation later is a good way to answer the question: Where is the good stuff?

Issues in Journalism

Documents

journalism of verificationwhat

separates journalism

central function of

discipline of verification

report facts

objective method

new media system

fantasy world