In an action-adventure film, the hero is supposed to throw

Fundamental Issues in Journalism Exam 1 Study Guide Elements of Journalism  Hunger for awareness  Purpose of Journalism: To provide people with the information they need to be free and self-governing  To fulfill this task: 1. Journalism’s first obligation is to the truth 2. Its first loyalty is to citizens 3. Its essence is a discipline of verification 4. Its practitioners must maintain an independence from those they cover 5. It must serve as a monitor of power 6. It must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise 7. It must strive to make the significant interesting and relevant 8. It must present the news in a way that is comprehensive and proportional 9. Its practitioners have an obligation to exercise their personal conscience 10. Citizens have rights and responsibilities to news – even more so as they become producers and editors themselves  Journalism was for building a sense of community that the government could not control - For citizenship and democracy - For taking back language from a government that subverted it  Journalism is a public service that speaks for itself  function news plays in the lives of people  News helps us define our communities, create common knowledge and language rooted in reality  It’s a service not a product  Censorship = withholding information that is in the public interest  Defining journalism = limiting it  Tell the truth so people will have the info they need to be sovereign  Journalist = gatekeeper  Tasks of New Journalist: - Authenticator: know which facts to believe and not - Sense Maker: put events into context to turn info into knowledge - Bear Witness: sole observer of event - Watchdog: investigative reporting  5 Functions Citizens Require of Journalism: - Intelligent Aggregator: picking the best of other accounts - Forum Leader: organizing public discussion to reflect values - Empowerer: providing audiences tools and info so they can act for themselves – interactive info - Role Model: exemplary behavior - Community Builder: help people self-govern  Machines bring capacity to count – make news more empirical and accurate  Citizens bring expertise, experience, and ability to observe events  Journalists bring access, ability to interrogate, and discipline of open-minded inquiry  Theory of Interlocking Public – news should enhance democratic freedom What Journalism is For  Lascaux: the hunger for sense-making  awareness instinct  Evolution from “hunger games” to todays journalism  Journalism = “simply the system societies generate to supply this information”  Our hunger of news has remained consistent over time  Journalism is for building a sense of community that the government cant control  for citizenship and democracy; to provide free info not from any one power (gov)  Journalism provides info  a glue to foster social connection  Helps us define our communities  common language  Newspaper = a conversation a community has with itself  Serves as a monitor of power to “push people beyond their complacency and give a voice to the forgotten Crisis in Journalism  Media experiences an erosion of public trust  Big media favor profits over public interest  Erosion of news values, rise of news as entertainment  Impact of new common technologies  Erosion of advanced and traditional revenue sources  Fragmentation of news market, decline of “gatekeeping”  Politicians and others communicate directly with public  “Perhaps for the first time in history, the real meaning of the 1 Amendment – protecting a free press as an independent institution is threatened with the government not acting primarily as a censor but instead offering a competing view of reality”  Decline of a accountability journalism  Journalists theory of democracy: - “If the public is uninformed, the press has a responsibility to figure out what to do about it”  Walter Lippman  people are uninformed  Dewey  goal of democracy is to help reach fullest potential … educational Sowing the Seeds of Revolution  “Journal of Occurrences” (1768/69) and the verbal response to Boston Massacre of 1770 (Tom Paine’s call for independence 1776)  Revolutions require passion  press  Sam stams – Boston Tea Party; Boston Gazette writer - 1 systematic gathering and distributing of news = Journal of Occurrences  Broadsides (filters) posted and influenced all years after Boston Massacre  Broadsides written in response to BM “administered fuel to fire of liberty”  Tom Paine – came to US as editor for Pennsylvania Magazine; wrote inspiring discourse  Paine wrote Common Sense  transforming colonists to rebels  Common Sense  “transforming subjects of British crown to political insurgents committed to social muting, fighting for freedom, changing human history…”  1 challenge to colonial rule in recorded history = Declaration of Independence 1776  Writers were publishing ideas to create mindset for political/social revolution  Sam Adams wants home rule and to end “taxation without representation” - He was writing anti-British propaganda in “Journal of Occurrences”  personal diary format, the early form of the Associate Press  Adams = “Firebrand of Revolution”; wants home rule not overthrow of colonies  Fundamental problem of journals accounts = they were NOT TRUE  1776 Paine publishes “Common Sense”  the OG blogger st  Paine was 1 to talk about independence from Brits  he turned mild dissent into rebellion with clear concise reporting and rhetoric  Paine’s pamphlet is important as any piece of journalism because human rights  Coffehouses = internet of 1776  “Revolutions don’t occur because of logic. They require passion, and this emotional element was brought to the movement by a group of visionaries fully aware of the power of the press.” Abolition  William Lloyd Garrison  Liberator - Abolitionist press - Burn constitution - Used Lovejoy’s murder to condemn US and bring abolition movement to a new phase - Real firebrand  Elijah Lovejoy – Presbyterian newspaper (Observer) - Preaching against slavery - Gave whole life to abolitionist press - Journalistic martyr  murdered for asserting freedom of press; shot and killed in Illinois for his abolition views - Lovejoy’s “St. Louis Observer” and Garrison’s “Liberator o Sinful abomination of ideals of democracy to public Used rhetoric to bring injustices of slavery to a “critical mass of American public” Samuel Cornish and John Russworm  blacks published “Freedoms Journal” Maria Stewart of the “Liberator” - Black went to mainstream press to get it out there Frederick Douglass – abolitionist press succeeded Revolutionary War and Civil War  economic and emotional reasons - Journalistic publications sought to explain the emotional issues Sandra Bland  28 year old black woman killed herself in jail July 13, 3 days after arrest  Robertson Davies  curiosity that drives us; always questions left unanswered  Charles Blow  obligation journalists have to our communities - When there are lapses in logic in what people think would be reasonable explanation suspicion spreads  Who, what, where, when, why, how  Balance being an advocate and impartial: - Try to never be advocate - Put info out there for people to make up their own mind  Black Lives Matter  Sandra Bland fits in  Waller County – racial profiling rep; very divided town  Sandra Bland  2 incidents related but not connected  Lots of marijuana in system when died; where/when did she get it and injest it  Cop shouldn’t have let this blow up  Social media builds momentum to a story which makes it harder and easier Watergate  Washington Post  brought down Nixon  Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein  dynamic duo Woodstein  Mouthpiece journalism = writing stories based on official statements from gov  Shoeleather reporting = no phone just show up to house  Bernstein pushed limits of being persistent  Deep throat = never gave new info but confirmed facts and steered away from false leads; kept secret for 30 years  Katharine Graham  pthlisher of Post had “guts of burglar”  Post represented 4 estate  5 key steps: 1. Woodstein report burlgars paid out of Nixon campaign funds 2. Reporters link case to attorney general Nixons campaign manager 3. Link Watergate burglary to widespread dirty tricks campaign to reelect Nixon 4. Dwight Chapin appointment secretary was the White House contact for dirty tricks campaign 5. Burglary and dirty tricks financed by funds  Verification journalism  Lessons of Watergate: - Shoe-leather reporting is important - Too much derivative info - Covering mundance can lead to major stories - Large news institutions defend press freedoms  Negative: - Too much hero worship - Too many Woodstein wannabes - Cable TV booms without true resources - Over-glorification leads under-appreciation of method  “At no time in US history had the importance of the news media been more dramatically illustrated than during the bleak chapter that began one morning in 1972  Seymour Hersh – “torture at abu ghraib”  Dana Priest – “soldiers face neglect and frustration at armys top medical facilities Chapter 1  Nuclear disaster  3 Mile Island 1979 - 1 of last great domestic emergencies media covered before age of “cable news”  CBS Walter Cronkite anchored this story  More technology = more chaos  More from age of information to the age of affirmation  Most fundamental change = more responsibility of knowing truth for us  New way of knowing  6 steps in way of skeptical knowing: 1. Identifying the content – recognize what you’re looking at 2. Identifying whether news account is complete 3. Assess sources 4. Evaluating news involves assessing evidence  inference = forming hypothesis, evidence = proving the inference is true 5. News models tend to use/interact with evidence 6. Exploring whether we got what we need from news  From news scarcity to news overload (now)  What is the future of truth And how are we to discern it as citizens  3 mile island near Hershey, PA - Nuclear reactor crisis March 28, 1979 - Stuck valve causes overheating - Panicky community and nation - Resolved  people evacuated, reactor cooled  Mainstream media was careful but slow  people waited patiently for media to deliver news  Technology has made us better informed, but also less patient  News media less careful  Technology has split our focus – flooded with info  Technology has reduced old media’s gatekeeper role  March 11, 2011  Japan’s “triple disaster” earthquake and tidal wave  Orderly pace of news dissemination is history  Increasingly on our own in sense-making  Up to us to discern good/bad journalism  We have more responsibilities as individuals  Big news media still set news agenda  “We are becoming our own editors, our own gatekeepers, our own aggregators” Chapter 3  Homer Bigart = vet of combat coverage in Vietnam  Clerkism  practice of uncritically accepting the official version of things  Bigart which to believe  take nothing for granted and take virtually no ones word for anything (no nothing)  Bigart builds his report brick by brick – no secondhand, he’s seen it all for himself  Best journalists are independent of mind  Discipline, adopting empirical state of mind (open)  Understanding of news built on foundation of facts  Ask: 1. What kind of content am I encountering 2. Is the information complete If not what is missing 3. Who/what are the sources Why should I believe them 4. What evidence is presented How is it tested 5. What might be an alternative explanation 6. Am I learning what I need to  Theory of Interlocking Pubic – what interests audience  Vector of news – different types of stories  Tradecraft = techniques used in modern espionage and generally intelligence  6 Steps to Enlightenment (skeptical way of knowing): - Identify content - Complete - Assess sources - Assess evidence - Do news models interact with evidence - Am I learning what I need to know  4 Basic Models of Journalism: - Journalism of Verification: accuracy and context - Journalism of Assertion: immediacy and volume - Journalism of Affirmation: persuade and build loyalty - Interest-Group Journalism: investigative work funded by special interests not independent news organizations  Journalism of aggregation does not produce news but amasses and organizes data and info; has subjective and ethical dimension (taking out info in favor of other info)  Blogging and social media are not models they are just tools - They can inhabit several models  BuzzFeed = hybrid models (affirmation because ads)  Important signal of reliable reporting = amount of work journalist puts in to present evidence with open mind  2 big things journalists need to do with verification are check for accuracy in own work and their sources say Journalism of Verification  Early journalism tied to political parties/causes in US  Civil War brought change – citizens wanted news  20 century – context is key (accuracy)  Today people expect journalism of verification  High value on completeness – facts and putting facts into context  Goal: context (nut grafs) and verification (accuracy) go hand in hand  “We must learn tradecraft of journalism for ourselves to detect good reporting”  Verification is a 2 way street - Checking our own work for accuracy keeps reporters honest - Checking up on what leaders and individuals in public sphere say and do keeps them honest - BOTH… help journalists fulfill our duty to monitor power and offer voice to voiceless Gardner Selby PolitiFact Texas  Journalism and analysis  getting facts right and understanding them… JOURANALYST  Politifact = approach to fact-checking making sure they’re accurate (started on presidential campaign 2007)  Politifact Texas – January 2010; 1 state Politifact for TX politics  “truth-o-meter” grade claims of politicians  TX politician Lt. Governor Duherst  Phoenix = #2 most kidnapping city… WRONG  2013 Obama admin released illegal aliens and murderers said by Ted Cruz… half true  Be very clear you are on the record – aggressive  “Is there anything else” any other resources, contacts, or info  Not sure Always follow up  Find 3 ways to reach someone  Rush Limbaugh says Austin BBQ restaurants… NOT TRUE  MLK not partisan person Chapter 4  John Crewdson  challenge conventional understanding and explodes myths about various subjects; AIDS - Airline lack of defrillabators story - Crewdson’s journalism demonstrates the value of facts gathered from multiple sources, documented all leading to same conclusion - Dug deep lots of research - Used numbers to show it would be cost effective to put defrillabrator on board – saved lots of lives st  1nduestion to ask = what kind of content this news/info is  2 question = is the info complete If not what is missing  Straight news  simplest story to encounter of a single unfolding event - Content that offers new facts about what happened - Recitation of facts (TV headline summary) - Comes to us by osmosis  5 Ws and 1H, add Q (questions raised)  Journalism should open inquiry  purpose is deliberation of public life  News built on foundation of facts  Journalism of assertion  because of its pace and immediacy often incomplete and fragmentary (even straight news)  See fragments, lack whole picture = assertion NOT verification  Journalism of affirmation  stories move too quickly to speculate an opinion… absence of facts/careful cherry picking of facts - Raise rhetorical questions  Sense-making news  newspapers had to go more towards analysis of news because of TV - Stories that add some new element that helps make other news and facts take on greater and deeper meaning - Reporters share insights  More than news story  piece is trying to make sense of event  Authentication stories  try to sort out what can/cant be believed about past events - Verify facts - Stories about proof - PolitiFact - Task of completeness = tougher  New-Paradigm Reporting  stories/content that try to establish new understanding about broader phenomena that challenge conventional wisdom  Sense-making adds facts  Authentication proves a case  New-paradigm proves a much broader case marshaling more evidence; persuasive  Watch-dog journalism  investigative reporting; news organization is powerful watchdog over powerful institutions exposing wrongdoing - Big allegations require big evidence  The test = does the story give us what we should realistically expect  Types of stories: - Straight news: facts about events - Sense-making: meaning of facts - Authentication: Politifact - New paradigm: computational or database journalism  Thus spake TD: - Journalism needs to be fair at whatever level of complexity - Achieve fairness thru viewpoint-switching; everyone with dog in fight should be represented Whatever method the story must display sufficient evidence to allow consumers to see the case Chapter 5 - Sources  Types of sources: - Audience as witness  white house press conference - Journalist as witness  1 hand reporting - Journalist as credential expert  doctors st - Sources as witnesses  1 hand andounts - Sources as witnesses  2 hand accounts  Sourceless news = audience as witness  Journalist as witness = seeing events for himself; best and reliable  Journalist as credential expert = obvious expertise (medical journalists)  Sources as witnesses = firsthand accounts  Just because they are a witness doesn’t mean they are reliable; passage of time can distort memory  Corroborating sources need to be independent of each other  1 source = eyewitness  2ndsource = direct participant in story but not witness (police, fireman) rd  3 source = source who isn’t directly involved in story but called in as expert to provide context/analysis  Talking points: preconfigured phrases and political-marketing buzzwords to manipulate public perception - Weapon that overwhelms the passive journalist of assertion - Unusual phrasing to manipulate audience “clean coal”  One measure of journalists reliability is degree to which they help us assess the sources they present  Find multiple independent sources Chapter 6 – Evidence  Seymour Hersh  war on terror - Painstaking accumulation of detail and facts - Start bottom up - Review reporting and go back to sources repeatedly  Evidence establishes something is true  Inference is believing it must be so before proving it  As consumers we should: 1. Expect that there be enough evidence to reasonably prove the case 2. Expect the accounts being disproved be given a fair hearing 3. Expect the unanswered/unclear elements be acknowledged 4. Expect coverage of a subject to continue in some form to keep us informed of what impact its disclosure has had What is journalism for To provide citizens Good info from bad Verification How do we access info Good and varied sources  “Journalism must serve as independent monitor of power