MC1313 Final

an average, or more technically an arithmetic mean, is the number that is obtained when you do what

add a list of figures and then divide by the total number of figures in the list. averages are generally safe to use when there are no large gaps among the numbers

news releases generally fall into three categories. which one is NOT a news release category?

all of these categories. recognizing the types and purposes of news releases will help you determine how to rewrite them and build on them

the give a proportion is to give readers what?

an explanation of things relative to the size of the whole. a municipal budget that us going uo by 500,000 would be a windfall for a small town in new hampshire but a minor adjustment for a metropolis such as new your, chicago or miami

regardless of the type of news release, be sure to read the information that appears where?

at the top. the most important information should be at the top of a news release. often times, information will be left out. be prepared to call the organization to ask questions

According the the 2016 Gallup poll cited in the textbook, what percentage of U.S. citizens rate the honesty and ethics of journalists as low or very low?

41 percent. The 2016 ratings were the worst journalists have received since 1976, when Gallup began asking Americans about the honesty and ethics of various professions. However, people who accuse the news media of being unethical often have no clear notion of what journalism and journalism ethics are all about.

Which of these is an accurate difference between libel and slander?

Libel includes spoken words on a broadcast

what is churnalism?

a practice in which journalists publish information supplied via news release rather than produce their own material. as the number of traditional newsroom jobs has declined over the past decade, some critics lament the rise of outlets simply publishing provided information from organizations

a line-item budget shows what

a separate line for each expenditure. the most important budget stories usually deal with changes, trends and comparisons. budget figures change every year. generally, as costs increase, so do budget

when working with numbers as a reporter, what is a sample

a small number of people who are picked at random to represent the population as a whole. researchers use statistics to make likely predictions about the entire population using a sample. this is used in science, in polling and in many other fields on which journalists report

An ethical _______ sees one clear duty: to discover the rules and to follow them.

absolutist. For example: Suppose you believe that it's always wrong to lie. If you learn that a friend cheated on an exam and you are asked about your friend's actions by a college administrator, you would answer truthfully. You might be torn by loyalty to your friend, but you would not lie.

In Gertz v. Robert Welch, the Supreme Court noted that, "There is no such thing as _______."

a false idea. Journalists enjoy protection from defamation lawsuits when they express their opinions about public officials or public figures in a column or editorial

when a story has complications or tension and resolution worth waiting for, it works best as

chronology. similar to telling a story to some friends around a campfire. you're in no rush to get to the point, but instead want to weave something interesting for the audience to hear

Which of these is not one of the four elements of the Potter Box, used to help journalists make ethical decisions?

consideration for involved parties. The fourth element is identifying values. Journalists have to look at their person values, the news organization's values and community values. You need not consider the four elements in the Potter Box in any particular order. Also, do not stop reasoning after you have touched on the four elements. Principled reasoning should continue.

sales tax is also known as what

excise tax. sales, or excise, taxes are simple to figure out, multiply the price of an item by the sales tax rate. add the result to the original price to obtain the total cost

percentages are building blocks used to do what

explain proportion. an example is batting average in baseball- the percentage of all at-bats in which a player hit the ball and made it to base- or polling in politics- the percentage of the entire population that is predicted to support a candidate

The New York Times v. Sullivan outcome guarantees that journalists and news organizations cannot be punished for inaccurate news.

false

What separates false light from defamation?

false light does not harm a person's reputation. Defamation involves cases where false information damages a person's reputation, whereas false light is false or misleading information that does not harm a person's reputation. The classic case given in the textbook is the 1974 Supreme Court case Cantrell v. Forest City Publishing. A reporter fabricated quotes and attributed them to a woman whose husband died in a bridge collapse. They did not necessarily damage her reputation, but cast her in a false light nonetheless.

The First Amendment protects journalists from ever having to reveal anonymous sources.

false. In the landmark Supreme Court case Branzburg v. Hayes, the court held that the First Amendment does not, in fact, give journalists a special right to refuse to reveal anonymous sources in grand jury testimonies. The First Amendment says Congress can't make laws to restrict the freedom of the press, but it doesn't necessarily give the press more rights than other people.

Not all the guidelines of journalism ethics apply to reporters' use of Twitter

false. News appears not just on news organization websites but also on social media such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Twitter has become an essential tool for obtaining tips and leads to stories. All the same guidelines for journalism apply to Twitter.

reports always generate their own story ideas

false. many ideas come from outside sources, such as news releases. these are sent to news outlets by people who want to get something in the news

one difference between news writing and feature writing is

feature stories are often not as time sensitive. feature stories provide a picture that there is not time for in hard news. sometimes they are linked to news stories by giving deeper background on a recent news item

which of these is not a step in applying the focus structure

focus on the individual, transition to a larger issue, report on the larger issue. the final step to applying the focus structure is to return to the opening focus. zooming in on an individual links their humanity to a broader issue. the tactic can help your audience understand that issue and bring it into perspective

which of these devices can be used to assure your audience they will be rewarded if they continue reading

foreshadowing. promising great things to come, lets the audience know the narrative is going somewhere you can use this technique to tease out the ending without giving away the big facts

why would an organization want a reporter to use their news release?

free coverage in the press allows more money for the group's cause. positive coverage in the media from a press release is often times seen as even more valuable than paid advertisements, due to the respected nature of journalism compared to marketing

What two places can a person expect privacy, and should not be recorded, even if there is a public interest?

home and office. In Dietemann v. Time, journalists secretly gained access to the workplace of a "quack doctor" with a hidden camera to expose him for questionable medical practices. Even though there is an obvious public interest in such happenings, the court held that "the First Amendment is not a license to trespass, to steal, or to intrude by electronic means into the precincts of another's home or office."

what kind of release serves to build up the image of a person or organization?

imagine-building release. organizations and government agencies at all levels often try to build their public image, and will send out releases with that intention, an editor who hands you a release like that has probably decided that you should find a story there

Unlike professions like medicine and law, the journalistic code of ethics ________.

is largely voluntary. Thanks to the First Amendment, the government can't issue licenses to journalists to allow them to work or prevent them from working. If a news organization has its own ethics code, supervisors expect journalists to understand and follow that code and might even suspend or fire a journalist who does not. However, the United States has no national code of ethics that each news organization must follow.

in large markets, an announcement release might not get much play, which means what?

it might not be prominently displayed. smaller markets may use the release, and may even expand on it with a follow-up story

when people talk about property taxes, they usually mean texans on the value of

land, buildings, houses. city and country governments collect tax properties. in some places, people are also taxed each year on the vale of their cars, boats and other personal property

features, also known as----- are designed to be run at nearly any time

soft stories. features are typically not as time sensitive as traditional news, including news narrative stories. they can be human interest pieces, such as a profile on a local eccentric character

in miami herald v. tornillo (1974), the supreme court held that right of reply laws are not constitutional. what is right of reply

laws that require newspapers to publish rebuttals from political candidates. There is a lot of disagreement among journalists, scholars, and judges about how law and policy should best facilitate a free and robust press. Many of these disagreements are settled in court, one way or another.

What falls under theorist William David Ross' duty of reparation?

making things right if we've messed up. Ross' work comes through clearly in the Society of Professional Journalists' Code of Ethics, particularly in the section about minimizing harm and being accountable.

What is the most common theory judges rely on when deciding press freedom cases

marketplace of ideas. According to this theory, both freedom of speech and freedom of the press are instrumental in leading citizens to an understanding of truth. Marketplace theory sees individuals as rational beings who, when presented wit ha broad spectrum of ideas, can use reason to decide which ideas are valid and true.

when you describe a dramatic point in the story and create narrative suspense with foreshadowing, what type of lease are you using?

narrative lead

Protection against defamation lawsuits came initially from this landmark Supreme Court case:

new york times v. sullivan. A full-page advertisement in the New York Times in 1960 had inaccuracies that led to Montgomery's police commissioner, L.B. Sullivan, to sue the paper for defamation. His initial win over the paper was appealed by The Times to the Supreme Court, where the "strict liability" standard of defamation law was found not to be consistent with the First Amendment.

when reporting a major news event days after the event takes place, which of the following formats works best

news narrative with news emphasis. this format works well when the news is significant but not earth-shattering. it also works well when you have plenty of details to make out a narrative, which often is not the case in the first few hours of a story breaking

A salacious detail should probably not be reported if it is both offensive and _______.

not important to the public. Another thing to remember is that just because you can publish information contained in a public record doesn't mean you should. You may win in a court of law but be scrutinized in the court of public opinion.

this paragraph gives the theme of the story and summarizes key facts

nut paragraph. the nut paragraph does for a narrative news structure what a lead does for an inverted pyramid news structure- it provides key details. the difference is that the nut graf will come later in a narrative story, after a chronological story is told to introduce the reader to the subject

When does the Associated Press recommend reporting on someone's sexual orientation?

only if it is pertinent to the story. This is an ethical dilemma that falls squarely into the common sense column. As suggested by the Associated Press, only make the effort to identify someone's sexual orientation if it is pertinent to the story.

Which of these is not an example of plagiarism?

paraphrasing a quotation. No one wants you to use their work as your own. Everyone condemns plagiarism - journalism's capital offense. Rookies and veterans in every area of journalism ruin their personal reputations and sully the reputations of their news organizations. Know what qualifies as plagiarism and how to avoid it.

what kind of poll should you be cautious about

polls claiming to measure opinions on complicated issues. many questions of morality or social issues such as race relations do not lend themselves to simple answers. opinions on such matters can be measured, but only by highly skilled researchers who use carefully designed questions

if someone is giving you percentages, you must ask on what that figures are based

population. without defining the population, a percentage is useless. was it a percentage of every student at a school?

When the Nixon administration tried to censor The New York Times and later The Washington Post in 1971, the Supreme Court relied on _______ from Near v. Minnesota to determine that the move violated the First Amendment.

precedent. Precedent involves past decisions that courts rely on to decide cases currently before them. In the case of New York Times v. United States, the court cited Near v. Minnesota to conclude that government could not stop the paper from printing the Pentagon Papers.

The law of _______ holds that government attempts to to stop the press from publishing , even if the press's stories were libelous, were forbidden under the First Amendment.

prior restraint. In Near v. Minnesota (1931), the Supreme Court decided that rabble-rousing journalist Jay Near could not be stopped from publishing by St. Paul officials just because they found his stories to be untrue. By finding the city officials actions to be unconstitutional, the Court redefined prior restraint in the United States.

companies often send releases when an employee has been

promoted. this type of release simultaneously gets the organizations name in front of the public and creates goodwill for employees or members. whether or not it succeeds depends on how newsworthy the reporter deems the release to be

wise journalists do not discard news releases without first doing what?

reading them editors will often send news releases to reporters as starting point for stories

giving people a printout they can post in a handy place is known as

refrigerator journalism. can happen in any form of print media. it could be a recipe or a list of important emergency numbers, anything the reader could easily cut out of the paper and stick somewhere useful

what type of journalism strives to give readers information they might find useful and deliver it to them in the most usable way

service journalism. its something all media produces. it includes things like recipes, how to save money on travel and filling people in on upcoming events

the ----- consists of the transition to the nut paragraph, foreshadowing the so what and the to be sure paragraphs

setup. if you fail to help readers understand the point of the opening, you risk losing their interest. the setup provides a safe transition, linking the narrative opening to your story with the overall theme in the nut paragraph

What would be an example of payola in the journalism world?

taking money from a restaurant owner to write a story about their grand opening in your newspaper. Payola is a portmanteau of the words pay and Victrola, an early phonograph for playing records. The term derives from a scandal where the music industry was playing radio stations to play particular songs to increase their popularity. This was deemed illegal, and is held in like regard for journalists and artificially planting stories.

The elements of fair use included in the 1976 Copyright Act are: the nature of the new use; the the nature of the original work; ______________; and the effect of the use on the market of the original work.

the amount of sustantiality of the use of the original work. Journalistic uses generally can be viewed favorably as fair uses of copyrighted material, as opposed to commercial uses that simply seek a profit. However, as the Supreme Court found in Harper & Row v. Nation Enterprises, even a journalistic use of material must still meet the four prongs of fair use.

some news organizations insist that you rewrite every news release to avoid what?

the embarrassment of running the same story as a competing news outlet

what does expositions contain in a news story

the facts. exposition and narration need to be mixed so that the audience can learn the important details of a story while also following along with narrative arcs. offer narration as examples to back up the exposition

of the following, which is NOT poll information that you would share with your audience?

the names of poll participants. opinion polls are great tools to forecast things like election results. the identity of the individuals is not important for the purpose of an opinion poll, as long as the sample size and means of selection are available

Which of these would NOT be an example of invasion of privacy?

these are potential invasions of privacy. Knowing the law when it comes to privacy can save you, and your news organization, from a lot of legal issues. The fundamentals of avoiding a lawsuit, rooted in professionalism and common sense, can boil down to asking these questions: Have I reported fully? Have I reported factually? Have I reported fairly? Have I reported in good faith?

a reference near the end of a focus structure tory to something that appears earlier is called a

tie-back. if a story begins with a narrative scene, you can go back to that scene to wrap up the story. the goal here can be to summarize the theme now that the audience has heard the whole story

when you are focusing on one side of an issue and what to give an opposing viewpoint, what kind of paragraph can you use

to be sure paragraph. honest journalism means providing context that might be left out if you solely focus on one side of an issue. the to be sure paragraph lays out some of the contrasting viewpoints. for instance, the opposing stance to a controversial new city ordinance

There is no clear consensus in the journalistic world over whether or not deceit is an ethical tactic.

true. Some editors will be adamant that deceit is never okay, and others will have more loose standards. A group of journalists in an ethical decision-making seminar at the Poyner Institute devised their own list on when deceit is acceptable, and a summary of that is laid out in the textbook.

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protects platforms like Facebook or Twitter from lawsuits sparked by _______.

user-generated content. Platforms are not held liable for what others post or tweet. At the same time, even the biggest platforms, hosts to public debate, are not the government. Therefor, if they remove user-generated content for being hateful or defamatory, individuals cannot sue them for violating the First Amendment as they could with government censorship.

Which ethical philosophy is the clearest rationale for an "ends justifies the means" approach?

utilitarianism. Stated simply, utilitarianism calls for choosing the action that is most likely to yield the greatest good for the greatest number. One catch, however, is that it's sometimes extremely difficult to determine what's best for the greatest number of people in the short term compared to the long term.

a traditional news lead provides

who, what, when, where, why, how. the key difference between a traditional and narrative lead is that the writer is not required to provide all these details in a narrative lead. these w questions will be answered as the story progresses chronologically