COMM 1500 Chapter 11

Where do Americans get their news today?

#1: Television (55%) Television is currently the primary news source for all age groups, while heavy reliance on print is exclusive to seniors Highly educated Americans are also more likely to rely on newspapers and other print publications as their preferred news source

primary way to avoid claims of bias...

...include both sides rather than attempting to simply being totally unbiased. Even then, the failure to endorse the viewpoint of a particular side will often be viewed as a sign of bias by that side. Of course, the limitations on space in a newspaper or time on a television news broadcast mean that every story that appears is invariably cut, which means one side, the other, or both, will probably be disappointed with the end product.

Chapter 11 Timeline (Journalism)

1. 1791: The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of the press. 2. 1833: The birth of the Penny Press with the first issue of The New York Sun. The cheap paper, sold less that the cost of earlier newspapers, gains a much wider readership by catering to the interests of the city's ordinary citizens 3. 1861: Photojournalism is born at the First Battle of Manassas when Matthew Brady convinces President Lincoln that a complete photographic record of the war should be made. 4. 1900: Movie newsreels show audiences distant locations and newsworthy events, produced by companies including British Pathe (1900-1970) and Fox Movietone News (1919-1960) 5. 1913: The Biltmore Agreement puts a temporary halt to the press-radio war. Radio stations agree to air only two 5-minute newscasts each day 6. 1937: The explosion of the German zeppelin the Hindenburg at Lakehurst, New Jersey, marks the beginning of eye-witness news accounts of catastrophic events that were reported as they were happening 7. 1951: Radio journalist Edward R. Murrow moves to television and becomes the CBS vice president for news and public affairs. Known for his radio broadcasts during World War II, he would become a pioneer of television news broadcasting, producing a series of reports that helped lead to the censure of Senator Joseph McCarthy, infamous for his anti-Communist demagoguery. 8. 1974: Reporting on the Watergate scandal by the Washington Post and New York Times lead to the resignation of President Richard Nixon 9. 2005: The Huffington Post, an innovative Internet news site mixing professional news and opinion reporting with user-generated content is launched. With three years, it will be drawing more than 4.5 million visitors a month

International Fact-Checking Network fact-checkers' code of principles

1. A commitment to nonpartisanship and fairness. 2. A commitment to transparency of sources. 3. A commitment to transparency of funding & organization. 4. A commitment to transparency of methodology. 5. A commitment to open and honest corrections.

To Bring Cause of Action for Libel or Slander

1. A defamatory statement; 2. Published to a third party; 3. Which the speaker knew or should have known was false; 4. That causes injury to the subject of the communication. Slander and libel lawsuits also differ in way the case must be proven in court. In the case of slander, the defendant does not have to prove that the statement he made are true, but instead the plaintiff has to prove the defamatory statements made against them are false. This means the burden of proof is on the plaintiff and not the defendant. For example, when the accusation is that one is a criminal, that can easily be proven false by submitting a lack of a criminal record. Today, the key issue with defamation law has to do with whether the transmission of defamatory statements over the Internet constitutes libel or slander. We now live in a world where a transitory slanderous remark spoken by an individual can be preserved forever as a video file, something the law never imagined when defamation laws were established. Cyber law is a new and important field of law, which will eventually specify a specific form of defamation associated with the Internet.

Types of Media Bias

1. Bias by omission. When the media leaves out one side or aspect of a story. This can occur either within a specific story or over long term coverage of a particular topic. If you are aware of the conservative and liberal perspectives on a particular issue, then you can tell whether both are included in stories about a particular policy or event. 2. Bias by selection of sources. When the media leaves out sources that support an opposing point of view or when they include more sources that support one view over another. The selection of which sources to use would be seen as reflecting the side a reporter supports. Consequently, the affiliations and political perspectives of sources that are being quoted as experts or authorities is important for judging the bias they may or may not represent. 3. Bias by story selection. When a media outlet regularly reports stories that only support a particular political point of view. This produces a pattern of highlighted news stories that reflect a particular agenda. Focusing on stories about immigration or education would also serve an agenda-setting function, which would not only focus attention on those particular topics but also favor the political parties that consider each to be a core issue. 4. Bias by placement. When a media outlet prominently places news stories that coincide with a specific agenda while "burying" those that represent an opposing point of view. Story placement is largely a measure of how important an editor considers a story to be. To identify bias by placement you would pay attention to where a media outlet places political stories, but also when each viewpoint first appears in a story. To be fair and balanced, both political views should be found at about the same place in a story, otherwise this would also be an example of bias by placement. 5. Bias by labeling. When a media outlet uses critical labels to identify politicians or groups, or fails to label biased points of view. There are two primary forms of bias by labeling. The first involves reporters tagging conservative politicians and groups with extreme labels (e.g., "ultra-liberal," "far right") while avoiding tagging liberal politicians and groups or labeling them with more mild labels, or vice versa. The second occurs when reporters fail to identify the liberal or conservative slant of "an expert," making it appear the source is objective. It must be emphasized that labeling is not inherently biased or wrong. Identifying an expert as a liberal or conservative and thereby identifying their ideological slant, would be appropriate, while labeling then as "far left" or "ultra-conservative" could be considered going too far (there are people who represent such extreme views, but they are usually not going to be acceptable experts on the network news). 6. Bias by spin. When the media has only one interpretation of an event of policy, to the exclusion of other interpretations. When a reporter is spinning a story, tone becomes a key element, presenting their subjective comments about objective facts. News stories do not always reflect a particular spin, but they can summarize the spin put on an event by both sides. It is only when a story reflects one side's spin to the exclusion of the other, then you would also have bias by spin.

"Seven Deadly Sins of Journalism"

1. Deception. Being dishonest or misrepresenting yourself in order to obtain information, usually by hiding that you are a reporter or pretending to be someone else. 2. Conflict of interest. Do not accept gifts or freebies from sources, donate money to political or activist groups, engage in political activity, get too friendly with the people you cover, or cover friends or family members. In addition, you would want to avoid financial conflicts. 3. Bias. Slanting a story by selectively revealing or suppressing information. 4. Fabrication. Manufacturing quotes or imaginary sources, or writing anything you know to be untrue. 5. Theft. Either directly stealing or indirectly obtaining information illegally from a source. 6. Burning a source. Betraying the confidence of a source that provides information for a story. If a reporter promises a source confidentiality, then they should not "burn the source" by revealing the source's name. 7. Plagiarism. Passing off someone else's words or thoughts as your own. This covers both using someone's exact words without quoting them as well as paraphrasing their ideas without crediting the source

Sales and Marketing Department

1. Director of Sales. Works with sales managers to make sure the station is maximizing all of the traditional revenue opportunities available in that particular market, from both local and national ad agencies, as well as developing new business opportunities on both fronts. They are also responsible for doing budget forecasts, issuing sales projections, coordinating projects with other departments, and motivating the sales team. 2. Account Executive. Also called account managers, these people make up the local sales team that generates advertising revenue by working with established agencies, cold-calling new prospects, and convincing prospective clients of the value of advertising on television. Most account executives receive commissions based on their sales, so their monthly earnings will change from month to month based on sales performance.

Electronic News Team

1. General Administration 2. Sales and Marketing Department 3. The News Department

General Administration

1. General Manager. The chief operating officer at the station who sets the tone, pace, and work ethic of the station. Specific tasks include setting budgets and performance expectations, having the final word on all hires, as well as maintaining a station's reputation and marketing image. Charged with growing the station's profitability, the GM often holds the additional title of president or vice president in larger station groups. Typically, all departments report to the GM. 2. Station Manager. Originally designed to reduce the workload placed on the general manager, this is a position that many stations have started to eliminate. While the GM focuses on long-term strategies, budgets, advertiser relations, and policy making, the station manager concentrates on the day-to-day operations, dealing with the various department heads, and handling personnel issues. 3. Operations Manager. Heads the traffic department, which makes sure every spot for a television commercial is sold for the highest amount possible. They also have to keep an accurate station log, the master listing of all scheduled programs and commercials expect to air throughout each broadcast day. 4. Business Manager/Controller. In charge of the accounting department, these positions produce financial reports, maintain a system of accounting policies and procedures, ensure accounts payable are paid in a timely manner and accounts receivable are collected promptly, and process the payroll in a timely manner.

News Values

1. Impact (Importance). The greater the effect on the audience, the more newsworthy the story. However, some stories can have such magnitude that they demand to be covered even if the effect on the immediate audience is negligible. Terrorists attacks in the United States or Europe do not directly impact people reading newspapers or watching television news in Minnesota, but there is clearly a level of national and worldwide importance. An impending blizzard or a controversy over a local business selling "bath salts" is obviously going to have more of a direct impact, while such stories will be largely ignored in other parts of the country. 2. Timeliness (Immediacy, Currency). Obviously a key component of the news is an emphasis on what is new, whether we are talking local politics, sporting teams, or the weather. In a world with 24-hour news this also means that stories have to be constantly updated. A story about a local restaurant that serves German food as a specialty would make sense to run in October, when Germans celebrate Oktoberfest. Sports fans are going to want the scores from the games played the previous day. Letting readers know what concerts or shows are playing this weekend would be timely as well. 3. Proximity. Proximity is related to impact. When there is a major hurricane or winter storm hitting the country, those people who live in the affected areas are going to pay more attention to such stories than those who are out of harm's way. Your local newspaper is going to report on what streets are being closed for repairs, new businesses opening, and accidents in your city and the surrounding area. Those items are not going to be reported in newspapers in other towns, unless there is some sort of connection, as if somebody from your city was in a fatal car accident in another state. 4. Prominence (Celebrity). The more prominent individuals are, because they are politicians or movie stars or sports stars, the more attention they are going to receive in the press. We can certainly argue that most celebrities get more publicity than they deserve, but there is no denying that attention is paid to such people as George Clooney, Lady Gaga, or LeBron James. Sometimes there are relevant topics associated with such celebrities, such as Clooney's humanitarian work for the Darfur conflict or Lady Gaga's singing "Til It Happens to You" at the Oscars backed by a chorus of abuse victims, but more often the stories are just celebrity gossip. Clearly, Americans are interested in stories about celebrities. 5. Controversy (Conflict). Stories where there are multiple sides and involve arguments, debates, charges, counter-charges, and outright fighting have increased news value. Public discussion about extending marriage rights to same-sex couples, building a new public library, closing a high school, hosting a marathon, and dozens of other subjects are ones that local readers are going to pay attention to when they are covered in the local newspaper and on the local television networks. 6. Emotions (Human Interest). This can cover a lot of ground, because stories about regular people can be funny, sad, heart-warming, and heart-breaking. Human interest stories can be about survivors of a natural disaster or people who won the lottery. The long running CBS news series "On the Road," currently reported by Steve Hartman, introduces viewers to interesting people, such as the autistic high school baseball manager who scored 20 points in four minutes when he was put into his first game, the 5-year-old girl who is mom to a duck named Snowflake, and the widower who builds a museum to honor the wife he loved. 7. Unusual (Novelty). Stories about the bizarre and downright odd are of interest to people. The classic example of this is the argument that man-bites-dog is news, but dog-bites-man is not (unless the man being bit is severely injured or the dog has rabies and is still running around loose, at which point more traditional news values would be in play). 8. Educational value. Given journalism's mission to create an informed electorate, stories that make readers and viewers more knowledgeable, as opposed to being merely informed, is a value as well. Therefore, while there could be news stories about the local school board having a spirited debate over the issue of how to increase funding, and opinion pieces adding to the debate, a newspaper could also run a story focused on the rising costs of education, without taking a side in the debate. 9. Entertainment. This refers not to stories about entertainment such as movies, music, dance or theatre, but that there is entertainment value in a story (versus informational or educational value) or in a column specifically written to be humorous (although it may also have informational or educational value). 10. Usefulness (Helpfulness). Stories that tell us how-to do something or are helpful are prized as "news you can use." Beyond educational value, there is the practical side of informing readers of ways of insulating their windows during the winter, making interesting recipes out of leftovers, and alternative routes for avoiding closed sections of the local highway.

Privacy Rights

1. Intrusion upon seclusion or solitude, or into private affairs; 2. Public disclosure of embarrassing private facts; 3. Publicity which places a person in a false light in the public eyes 4. Appropriation of name or likeness

The News Department

1. News Director. Sets the journalistic standards that govern how particular news events are covered. They are responsible for the journalistic integrity of the station, determine assignments for the staff, and keep in mind the business requirements for ratings and revenue. 2. Managing Editor. If a station has this position, then this is who manages the day-to-day operations of the newsroom. 3. Executive Producer. Has overall responsibility for the individual news program. Executive producers approve show content, direct shots, and ensure the program is on track. They use creativity to provide newscasts with a sense of personality that viewers can come to recognize and trust. 4. News Writer. Writes the news. Few stations have more than one full-time news writer, with producers usually doing double duty as writers. 5. News Anchor. The face of the station, news anchors typically write and package their own special reports in addition to reading copy on-air that is prepared by other staff members. 6. Sports Director. Report on both local and national sporting events. In recent years, this position has become less important, and is given considerably less on-air time than previously, because of competition from cable sports channels. Consequently, sports directors focus primarily on local sports. 7. Weathercasters/Meteorologists. Report and forecast local weather conditions. Most new entrants into this field hold degrees in meteorology and their credentials are promoted by the station. 8. Reporters. Write, produce, and package their own stories, with editing often done in tandem without an editor who is knowledgeable in both analog and digital formats. Reporters can either be general assignment reports, who cover a variety of topics, or be assigned a special beat (e.g., health reports, investigative reporters, business reporters).

CNN noted five pieces of fake news that were read by millions of Americans in 2016:

1. Thousands of fraudulent ballots for Clinton uncovered. 2. Megan Kelly was fired after she endorsed Clinton. 3. The NBA cancels 2017 All-Star Game in North Carolina. 4. Elizabeth Warren endorses Bernie Sanders. 5. Milwaukee County Sherriff David A. Clarke is a KKK member.

Checkbook Journalism

=journalists paying sources In 1977, British journalist David Frost paid former president Richard Nixon $600,000, plus a 20% share of any profits, for a series of exclusive interviews that were recorded and broadcast on television that year. CBS had also negotiated to interview Nixon, but had refused to pay for the sessions. Nixon's staff thought he would be able to handle Frost, who was risen to prominence as the host of That Was the Week That Was, a satirical news program in the early 1960s. But Frost's staff had done extensive research on the Watergate scandal and when Frost pushed Nixon about the legality of his actions, Nixon famously responded, "Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal." The premiere episode of the interviews drew an audience of 45 million viewers.9 Journalists paying sources, what is known as checkbook journalism, is considered by many as being an unethical practice because it creates a conflict of interest. Certainly the term is a pejorative, drawing a distinction between stories generated by conventional investigation and paying people to get information for a story. If a source has a financial interest in a story, then their credibility is suspect. The News of the World was a publication that became notorious for engaging in such practices, attempting to buy stories off of key witnesses in criminal trials, including bribing police to obtain information for stories. Dozens of websites can help you sell your footage to a news agency.10 Paying money for interviews is not illegal in the United States, but it is generally frowned upon. Major media outlets can attempt to circumvent these concerns by paying licensing fees for the rights to photographs or home video footage, or by paying for expenses in conjunction with "exclusive" interviews. Today, where most Americans have smart phones capable of recording video, the major news networks routinely pay for footage of accidents, terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and other news items to supplement their nightly news coverage

Citizen Journalists

Abraham Zapruder, who filmed the assassination of President John F. Kennedy with his home-movie camera, is sometimes considered as the ancestor of citizen journalists. There are concerns about citizen journalists with regards to the objectivity and quality of their journalism, especially since such journalists are often advocates for a particular cause or issue. But the practice also has its supporters, such as Dan Gillmore, former technology columnist with theSan Jose Mercury News, who founded the nonprofit Center for Citizen Media to promote citizen journalism. Similarly, Kevin Mahoney, Rick Smith, and Marlana Eckall founded the Citizen Media Center to help nurture a new model of citizen media in Pennsylvania for bloggers, new media storytellers, podcasters, new media journalists, YouTubers, and multimodal artists, leading to what they see as "a more democratic literate society."23 The Knight-Mozilla Fellowships have been bringing together developers, technologists, civic hackers, and data crunchers to spend time building the tools news organizations will need to thrive on the open web.24 Connecting newsroom with innovators have led to the creation of new methods of digital storytelling that can better meet the information needs of communities.

The Progressive Era (from 1890s to 1920s) and Journalism

Agolden age for crusading journalism, highlighted by the Wall Street Journal's revelations in 1922 about the collusion between the administration of President Warren G. Harding and California oil barons, culminating in Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall being convicted and sentenced to jail for selling the rights to oil reserves in Teapot Dome, Wyoming, and other locations at low rates without competitive bidding. Here are six other classic muckraking stories that defined this era: -Nellie Bly, Ten Days in a Mad-House (1887). Newspaper reporter Nellie Bly (pen name of Elizabeth Cochran), working an undercover assignment for the New York World, feigned insanity at a women's boarding house and was involuntarily committed to the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island in order to investigate reporters of brutality and neglect. After experiencing its conditions firsthand, Bly wrote, "What, excepting torture, would produce insanity quicker than this treatment?" Initially published as a series of articles in the World, the book's graphic description of conditions at the asylum caused a sensation. Bly became a house hold name and assisted a grand jury investigation into the treatment of the mentally ill. -Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives: Studies among the Tenements of New York (1890). An early example of photojournalism documenting squalid living conditions in the slums of New York City in the 1880s. Riis used photographs to expose the conditions inhabited by the poor in a way that "spoke directly to people's hearts."13 The books also presented the plight of working children and conditions in the sweatshops set up in some tenements. Public reaction would see the tearing down of the worst of New York's tenements and the reformation of the city's schools. -Ida M. Tarbell, The History of the Standard Oil Company (1904). Originally serialized in 19 parts in McClure's magazine, this expose of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil was credited with breaking up the company in 1911 when the U.S. Supreme Court found the company in violating of the Sherman Antitrust Act. Tarbell depicted Rockefeller as a money-grabbing misery who was viciously effective at monopolizing the oil trade, basing her writing on hundreds of documents and interviews with the corporation's executive, its competitors, government regulators, and academic experts. By doing so, Tarbell effectively invented what today would be considered investigative reporting. -Lincoln Steffens, The Shame of the Cities (1904). A collection of articles written for McClure's magazine reporting on the workings of corrupt political machines in several major American cities. Steffens indicted both "big business men" who corrupted city government to further their own ends, but also average Americans who ignored politics and allowed such corruption to continue. Steffens wrote exposes on political corruption in St. Louis, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia. The series ended when Steffens went to Chicago expecting to find sensational corruption, only to discover Chicago reformers had taken control of the city legislature from corrupt politicians. -Samuel Hopkins Adams, The Great American Fraud (1905). Exposed fraudulent claims about patent medicines in America, sold at exorbitant prices to reap immense profits. First published as an 11-part series in Collier's magazine, the articles were reprinted by the American Medical Association as a book, and led to the first Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906. -Upton Sinclair, The Jungle (1906). Novel portraying the harsh conditions and exploited lives of immigrants in Chicago and other American industrial cities, which focused on the unsanitary practices and health hazards in the meatpacking industry.

"No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honor and reputation. Everyone has the right to protection of the law against such interference or attacks."

Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948 by the United National General Assembly

Investigative Reporters

Defined by University of Missouri journalism professor Steve Weinberg as: "Reporting, through one's own initiative and work product, matters of importance to readers, viewers, or listeners." The chief tools used by investigative reporters are: -Analysis of documents: lawsuits, tax records, government reports, regulatory reports, and corporate financial filings -Databases of public records -Federal and state Freedom of Information Acts to obtain documents and data from government agencies -Interviews with on-the-record sources as well as with anonymous sources (e.g., whistleblowers)

News and Political Party

Gallup also reported that Republicans were more likely than independents or Democrats to name television as their main source of news, while independents were more likely to rely on the Internet and Democrats put the most emphasis on print. Fox News was seen as a clear driver of Republicans' higher tendency to rely on television for their news (given the choice, 20% of Republicans named Fox News as their main news source, while 10% of Democrats named CNN)

"Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed: everything else is public relations."

George Orwell

"We don't go into journalism to be popular. It is our job to seek the truth and put constant pressure on our leaders until we get answers."

Helen Thomas

The Canons of Journalism (Origin)

In 1923, the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ASNE) established a code of ethics, which have been recognized as establishing the canons of journalism, writing: "The primary function of newspapers is to communicate to the human race what its members do, feel and think. Journalism, therefore, demands of its practitioners the widest range of intelligence, or knowledge, and of experience, as well as natural and trained powers of observation and reasoning. To its opportunities as a chronicle are indissolubly linked its obligations as teacher and interpreter."

"Canons of Journalism" of ASNE

In 1975, in the wake of Watergate, the ASNE revised and renamed the "Canons of Journalism" as the organization's "Statement of Principles": PREAMBLE. The First Amendment, protecting freedom of expression from abridgment by any law, guarantees to the people through their press a constitutional right, and thereby places on newspaper people a particular responsibility. Thus, journalism demands of its practitioners not only industry and knowledge but also the pursuit of a standard of integrity proportionate to the journalist's singular obligation. To this end the American Society of Newspaper Editors sets forth this Statement of Principles as a standard encouraging the highest ethical and professional performance. ARTICLE I-Responsibility. The primary purpose of gathering and distributing news and opinion is to serve the general welfare by informing the people and enabling them to make judgments on the issues of the time. Newspapermen and women who abuse the power of their professional role for selfish motives or unworthy purposes are faithless to that public trust. The American press was made free not just to inform or just to serve as a forum for debate but also to bring an independent scrutiny to bear on the forces of power in the society, including the conduct of official power at all levels of government. ARTICLE II-Freedom of the Press. Freedom of the press belongs to the people. It must be defended against encroachment or assault from any quarter, public or private. Journalists must be constantly alert to see that the public's business is conducted in public. They must be vigilant against all who would exploit the press for selfish purposes. ARTICLE III-Independence. Journalists must avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety as well as any conflict of interest or the appearance of conflict. They should neither accept anything nor pursue any activity that might compromise or seem to compromise their integrity. ARTICLE IV-Truth and Accuracy. Good faith with the reader is the foundation of good journalism. Every effort must be made to assure that the news content is accurate, free from bias and in context, and that all sides are presented fairly. Editorials, analytical articles and commentary should be held to the same standards of accuracy with respect to facts as news reports. Significant errors of fact, as well as errors of omission, should be corrected promptly and prominently. ARTICLE V-Impartiality. To be impartial does not require the press to be unquestioning or to refrain from editorial expression. Sound practice, however, demands a clear distinction for the reader between news reports and opinion. Articles that contain opinion or personal interpretation should be clearly identified. ARTICLE VI-Fair Play. Journalists should respect the rights of people involved in the news, observe the common standards of decency and stand accountable to the public for the fairness and accuracy of their news reports. Persons publicly accused should be given the earliest opportunity to respond. Pledges of confidentiality to news sources must be honored at all costs, and therefore should not be given lightly. Unless there is clear and pressing need to maintain confidences, sources of information should be identified. These principles are intended to preserve, protect and strengthen the bond of trust and respect between American journalists and the American people, a bond that is essential to sustain the grant of freedom entrusted to both by the nation's founders.

Biased Reporting

In 1985, the Pew Research Center found that 53% of those surveyed believed the media "tend to favor one side," while in 2011 that numbered had risen to 77%.6 However, David D'Alessio, a communications science professor at the University of Connecticut at Stamford did a meta-analysis of bias studies (i.e., a study of studies), that showed left-leaning reporting was balanced by reporting that was favorable to conservatives. After reviewing 99 studies of campaign news coverage over six decades, D'Alessio concluded that when it came to media bias there was a net zero effect: "There's nuance there, but when you add it all and subtract it down, you end up with nothing." The research showed that news reporting tended to point towards the middle, "because that's where the people are, and that's where the [advertising] money is."7 Still, more and more Americans believe the media is biased. This may be inevitable when you consider the rise of partisan champions on both the left (e.g., Huffington Post, Daily Kos) and the right (e.g., Drudge, Free Republic). Then you can throw into the mix the rise of watchdog groups dedicated to rooting out media bias, again representing both the right (Accuracy in Media) and the left (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting). On top of that, today we have more access to more sources of news than ever before, allowing us to see that different reporters and media outlets are covering the same story in different ways, raising questions in our minds as to what would account for the differences. Fox News claims to be "fair and balanced," but it is widely accepted that the network has a conservative bias. The counter-argument is that since true objectivity is impossible, subjectivity is inevitable, and admitting to your subjectivity, and embracing it as Fox News does, is better than insisting reporting is objective and not admitting to your subjectivity the way the other, presumably liberal biased, broadcast networks do. Pew's research makes it clear that while 66% of Americans believe news organizations in general are "often inaccurate," the figure drops to only 30% when they are asked the same question about the particular news organization "you use most."8 So, while your preferred news sources are objective and fair, those on the "other side" are biased. Americans want the same things out of life: freedom, the chance for prosperity, healthy children, as few people suffering as possible, crime-free streets, safety from foreign enemies, etc. The political divide that exists between conservative and liberals in this country is over how to achieve them. Let us consider each political ideology in turn.

Slander

Involves the oral "publication" of a defamatory remark that is heard by another, which injures the subject's reputation or character. Slander can occur through the use of a hand gesture or verbal communication that is not recorded

Shield Laws

Limit the ability of a court to compel journalists to give testimony disclosing sources of information by affording a privilege to journalists not to disclose confidential information or sources of information in legal proceedings. Such laws are controversial because any such privilege has to be balanced against a variety of competing government interests, such as the right of the government to apprehend criminals. In Branzburg v. Hayes, 408 U.S. 665 (1972), the U.S. Supreme Court invalided the use of the First Amendment as a defense for reporters summoned to testify before a grand jury. Reporter Paul Branzburg of the Louisville Courier-Journal had witnesses people manufacturing and using hashish, and written about it for a pair of articles regarding drug use in Kentucky. Called before a grand jury and ordered to name his sources, Branzburg had refused, citing a privilege under the Press Clause, and was held in contempt. Justice Byron White declared the Court was being asked by reporters: "to grant newsmen a testimonial privilege that other citizens do not enjoy. This we decline to do." Justice Lewis F. Powell's concurrence included a note that suggested a reportorial privilege did indeed exist, but was simply not warranted in the specific case of Branzburg. Many states reacted to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Branzburg by passing laws protecting reporter's privilege. Such statues were applied by state district courts to protect unpublished information in all forms, as well as to protect confidential sources. Currently, forty states and the District of Columbia have passed shield laws, with another nine states offering lesser forms of protection (only Wyoming lacks any protection for reporter's privilege." However, in the mid-1990s the interpretation of these shield laws began to change. For example, the Minnesota Court of Appeals narrowly read the statutory language as protecting only confidential sources and unpublished information "which would tend to identify the person or means through which the information was obtained." Specifically, the court held the statue did not protect unpublished photographs of an automobile accident that one party in a civil lawsuit was seeking from a newspaper (that was not a party to the lawsuit). Similarly, the court held that a reporter who witnessed an assault during a college campus rally could be compelled to testify. Another case, involving a newspaper photographer who was riding with the police who took pictures of an arrest, found the Minnesota Supreme Court declaring "that no qualified constitutional privilege exists under the First Amendment that would protect reporters from compelled testimony in a criminal case." The court stated the Minnesota shield law "was clearly intended to protect the confidential relationship which exists between a reporter and his or her sources of information." Additionally, courts are currently struggling to define the standards for applying shield laws to non-traditional media outlets such as blogs and Internet publishing. A District Court ruling has established that to qualify as a report, an individual must meet a standard of professionalism, suggesting this would include but not be limited to being associated with a traditional news print or television media outlet or obtaining a degree in journalism. Efforts by journalists to establish a federal shield law have increased since New York Times reporter Judith Miller was jailed for 85 days in 2005 for refusing to disclose her source during the Plame affair, in which journalist Robert Novak publically identified Valerie Plame as a covert Central Intelligence Agency officer in 2003. Miller had claimed to have learned Plame's CIA affiliation from Scooter Libby, an adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, but had never written an article on the topic. She was found in contempt of court for refusing to divulge the identity of her source to a grand jury, telling the court, "If journalists cannot be trusted to keep confidences, then journalists cannot function and there cannot be a free press."

"Opinion journalism can be more honest than objective-style journalism, because it doesn't have to hide its point of view."

Michael Kinsley

Fourth Estate

Most commonly used to refer to the news media, especially print journalism (a.k.a. "the press"). As such, in the United States it is one of several groups that are included in the notion of a "fourth branch of government," which refers collectively to groups that influence the three branches of government. Such groups include not only the press, but the people, special interest groups, and U.S. independent administrative government agencies (which are technically part of the executive or legislative branches but independent of their control).

Fake News

Not too long ago "fake news" usually meant stories published by the satirical web site The Onion such as"Kim Jong-Un Named The Onion's Sexiest Man Alive for 2012" or "Gallup Poll: Rural Whites Prefer Ahmadinejad to Obama." Periodically there would be an item in the news about some politician taking one of The Onion's fake stories seriously, even though it would seem that the hyperbolic headlines were a hint the stories were not legitimate. However, during the presidential election of 2016 and following the election of Donald Trump, fake news has become a more serious issue. A fake news story with the headline "Pope Francis Shocks World, Endorses Donald Trump for President" appeared online in September of 2016 and was shared about 1 million times on Facebook in the weeks leading up to the election.25 How many people shared it because they thought it was true versus how many people shared it because they thought it was patently ridiculous? In the wake of the election, President Trump has repeatedly called major news outlets such as CNN, the New York Times, and the Washington Post "fake news." However, Trump and his major spokespersons, such as Press Secretary Sean Spicer, have also been advancing a second notion of "fake news" related to the idea of agenda-setting and their contention that the press is covering the wrong story. For example, when Trump was trying to push a bill through the House of Representatives to replace and repeal Obamacare, Spicer and other surrogates attacked the press for asking questions about Trump's tweets accusing President Obama of having wire tapped phones in Trump Tower before the election. The argument is that the press is being irresponsible by focusing on Trump's allegations rather than on the more important issue of health care reform. Of course, members of the press counter that Trump calls anything in the media that makes him look bad "fake news." A BuzzFeed analysis found that 38 percent of posts from three major right-wing politics pages and 20 percent of posts from three major left-wing pages featured "false or misleading information."26 An immediate conclusion might be that conservative blogs have almost twice as much misinformation as liberal blogs, but others have pointed out that a source of information where one-in-five articles have false information is unacceptable. BuzzFeed News identified over 100 pro-Trump websites such as USConservativeToday.com, DonaldTrumpNews.com, and WorldPoliticus.com, being run from the small town of Veles in Macedonia. The blogs were being created and maintained by a group of teenagers who had no interest in Trump being elected, and who were publishing aggressively pro-Trump content aimed at conservatives and Trump supporters in the United States in order to make money. The fraction-of-a-penny-per-click of display advertising might be a declining market for American publishers, but that money added up for those Macedonian teens (who are not allowed to work and apparently use creative ways to make money). The Veles teens also experimented with liberal sites, including ones supporting Bernie Sanders, but nothing performed as well on Facebook as their sites with pro-Trump content. The first story was published online by the Christian Times Newspaper , while the second was traced back to endingthefed.com, and the fifth was published by a website called the National Report, that last one sounding something likeThe National Review, an established political magazine. Certainly a name can make a source sound more official. However, the NBA story was published on a fake site posing as ABC News while the Warren story appeared on a completely fabricatedNew York Timessite.28 So some fake news stories have the added advantage of looking like they are from real news sources. As with The Onion, public figures have bitten on some of these fake news stories. A faux ABC News website had a story "Donald Trump Protester Speaks Out: 'I Was Paid $3,500 To Protest Trump's Rally," to which Trump's son Eric Trump tweeted "Finally, the truth comes out." Days before the election Donald Trump tweeted "Twitter, Google and Facebook are burying the FBI criminal investigation of Clinton." It is hard to provide evidence in a tweet (beyond attaching a link to a source), which makes them more like headlines that make a specific claim than articles that argue out the claim, but at this point critics of fake news have not been equating tweets from political candidates that fake demonstrably false claims with fake news articles and stories appearing online. After the election, a meme circulated that purported Trump had told People magazine in 1998: "if I were to run, I'd run as a Republican. They're the dumbest group of voters in the country. They believe anything on Fox News. I could lie and they'd still eat it up. I bet my numbers would be terrific." An investigation of People's comprehensive online content archive by Snopes found nothing by Trump in 1998 or any other year in which he was quoted saying anything remotely like the quote in the meme.29 In the wake of Trump's election, Facebook announced it would start applying a warning label (which Facebook called a "flag") to articles known to be false.30 Facebook made it clear it would not be the ones doing the fact-checking, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg publicly declaring: "The problems here are complex, both technically and philosophically. We do not want to be arbiters of truth ourselves, but instead rely on our community and trusted third parties." Facebook had already announced it would not place ads from fake news publishers on third party apps or websites because such content violated the websites prohibitions against "illegal, misleading or deceptive" content. Meanwhile, researchers at the Stanford Graduate School of Education tested students at the middle school, high school, and college levels to see how well they could distinguish between credible information and opinion, advertising or outright fakes on the Internet. The results indicated students read for content and rarely considered the source of the content

"doveryai no proveryai,"

President Ronald Reagan learned the Russian proverb, "doveryai no proveryai," which translates as "trust, but verify." Reagan adopted the proverb as a signature phrase when dealing with the Soviet Union with regards to the verification procedures for a treaty dealing with a reduction of intermediate-range nuclear forces (INF Treaty). "Trust, but verify" is good advice for dealing with contemporary journalism, especially with regards to breaking stories, where coverage gets ahead of the facts.

Citizen Journalism

Public citizens playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing, and disseminating news and information. Exists outside mainstream media institutions, has allowed the audience for the news to employ press tools to inform one another. New media technology, from social networking and media-sharing websites to the virtual omnipresence of cellular telephones, have made citizen journalism available to people everywhere. Also known as "public," "participatory," "democratic," "street" or "guerrilla" journalism, such amateur efforts can be used by the traditional news institutions. The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the Occupy Wall Street movement, the Arab Spring, the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Syrian Civil War, and the 2014 unrest in Ferguson, Missouri following the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, are all examples of major world events with significant reporting coming from citizen journalists. In an age where people start recording tornadoes and shootings on their cell phones, the major networks have been quick to take advantage of eye witness video on their nightly broadcasts. There are numerous websites giving tips on how people can sell their video to local or national news outlets.

Sunshine Laws

Require administrative agencies to do their work in public. All states, the District of Columbia, and the federal government have open meetings laws. While these laws do not necessarily ensure that members of the public will be allowed to address the agency, they do guarantee that both the public and the media can attend the meetings. The ability to record such meetings, through either audio or visual recording, has generally been viewed as being implicit in sunshine laws if it is not written explicitly into the state laws (e.g., Utah and Oklahoma). Sunshine laws usually require agencies to give advance notice of all meetings, even emergency ones, and to publish or post agendas in advance listing the items to be discussed. In addition, most agencies are required to keep minutes and/or transcripts of all meetings, even if the agency can legally close those meetings to the public. Every state allows agencies to conduct closed or executive sessions in order to conduct certain discussions (e.g., personnel matters, collective bargaining sessions, discussions with agency attorneys), but usually those agencies have to refrain from formal action unless meeting in public section. The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requires agencies to share information that they have obtained with the public, unless it falls under one of nine exemptions, which protect interests, such as national security, personal privacy, and law enforcement. The FOIA also requires agencies to proactively post online certain categories of information, including frequently requested records. In 2014, the most popular reports run by users of FOIA.gov were requests for the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Defense, and the Central Intelligence Agency

Technology Changing Journalism

Technology is clearly changing contemporary journalism. Facebook and Twitter have influenced broadcasters to incorporate social media feeds into their programming. When ESPN reported on the Villanova Wildcats beating the North Carolina Tarheels on a shot at the buzzer for the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship in 2016, their coverage included tweets from a variety of sports stars. The velocity of journalism is being driven by the evolving technological means for getting and sharing information. Originally, news was available only through print media. Radio allowed news to be communicated quicker to an audience, while movie news reels and television made it possible to tell news stories with moving pictures. Today, increased affordability has to led to a proliferation of devices on which to not only consume news but other media. Mobile smart-phones, various types of e-readers, and tablet devices like the iPad had become commonplace, each offering increased screen resolution for delivering video. This means modern consumers maintain multiple devices, receiving news on their mobile phone while commuting to and from work, while using their personal computer or a table device at work, and then turning to their large screen television when they get home. The device consumers use to access news content can be dependent on what is the best available device at any given time, reflecting again the technological convergence that defines mass media in the twenty-first century. What this means for the producers of news content is that they have to tailor their content for each device to give consumers the best product possible. This requires a versatile content distribution framework that can reproduce content for mobile phones, tablets, and televisions. The current trend is to create content modules, consisting of everything from text articles and sound clips to different types of video content, that can easily be pulled by different devices.21 The interactive experience will only become greater for consumers as time goes by. A programming schedule on television could access an IMDB movie review that you can use to decide whether or not to watch/rent/buy a particular movie, or after viewing a television program about redoing your kitchen being provided with Internet sources for additional information on design ideas or local contractors. These would constitute new revenue streams for broadcasters while making it easier for consumers to access the services they need when the need arises.

Law and Journalism Intro

The U.S. Constitution does not explicitly recognize the right to privacy. However, the Bill of Rights reflects the concerns of the framers for protecting specific aspects of privacy, such as the privacy of beliefs (1st Amendment), privacy of the home against demands it be used to quarter troops (3rd Amendment), privacy of the person and possessions against unreasonable searches (4th Amendment), and the protection for the privacy of personal information in the privilege against self-incrimination (5th Amendment). Furthermore, the Supreme Court has found that the Constitution implicitly grants a right of privacy against governmental intrusion, based on not only what Justice William O. Douglas called "penumbras" and "emanations" from other constitutional protections, but also based on the 9th Amendment's declaration that the "enumeration of certain rights" in the Bill of Rights "shall not be construed to deny or disparage other rights retained by the people." The right to privacy has served as the justification for Supreme Court decisions in a wide range of civil liberty cases. Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510 (1925) saw the court strike down an Oregon statute requiring all children to attend public school that was intended to eliminate parochial (Catholic) schools. Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965) struck down a Connecticut "Comstock law" that prohibited any person from using "any drug, medicinal article or instrument for the purpose of preventing conception," as violating the "right to marital privacy," thereby establishing the basis for the right to privacy with respect to intimate practices. Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973) extended the right of privacy to a woman's decision to have an abortion, balanced against the state's two legitimate interests in regulating abortions with regards to protection the health of women and protecting the potentiality of human life (whereby state regulation of abortion is tied to the third trimester of pregnancy). Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558 (2003) struck down the sodomy law in Texas making same-sex sexual activity legal in every U.S. state and territory. Today, there are concerns over whether the right to privacy can exist in a world where government agencies can access and analyze virtually every detail of an individual's life. There are those who argue that the right to privacy has to be forfeited in order to defend against terrorist threats. Questions have also been raised about whether the use of a person's name as a keyword under Google's AdWords for advertising or trade purposes with the person's consent raises personal privacy issues.

Branzburg v. Hayes, 408 U.S. 665 (1972)

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Branzburg v. Hayes, 408 U.S. 665 (1972) that the First Amendment does not exempt reporters from "performing the citizen's normal duty of appearing and furnishing information relevant to the grand jury's task." The Court ruled 5-4 against the existence of reportorial privilege in the Press Clause of the First Amendment. A reporter's claim that the flow of information available to the press will be seriously curtailed if reporters are forced to release the names of confidential sources for use in a government investigation. Branzburg remains the only case in which the U.S. Supreme Court has considered the use of reporter's privilege. The test for deciding whether a reporter can be compelled to testify before a grand jury is that the government must "convincingly show a substantial relation between the information sought and a subject of overriding and compelling state interest."

Walter Cronkite

The anchor of the CBS Evening News from 1962 to 1981, who is remembered for breaking the news of President Kennedy's death, his enthusiastic coverage of the U.S. space program, and for an editorial report calling for a negotiated end to the Vietnam War. In a 1972 poll he was named "the most trusted man in America," a label that stuck throughout the rest of his career. Consequently, Cronkite is somebody who has a lot of credibility when he talks about journalism. Advice on "How To Read A Newspaper" on 11.5

Liberal Biased Reporting

The central belief of liberals is that the government should act to achieve equal opportunity and equality for all citizens. Generally speaking, liberalism is a political philosophy founded on ideas of liberty and equality. Again, there is a basic division between classical liberalism, which stresses liberty, and social liberalism, which stresses equality. Liberalism in the United States is identified with the Democratic Party. Key liberal ideas and programs include the following: Freedom of speech Freedom of the press Freedom of religion Free markets Civil Rights Democratic societies Secular governments International cooperation In the wake of the Great Depression, liberals have advocated activist economic policy by the government to stimulate the economy to reduce unemployment, and a wide range of social programs to alleviate social ills. The Libertarian Party, with its emphasis on civil liberties, free markets, non-interventionism, and laissez-faire government, represents the Far Left. Opponents denounced liberals as being "Socialists," which would be one step short of being "Communists." While the political parties are certainly at polar opposites on issues like gun control and gay marriage, it would be a mistake to extend that opposition to every single issue. It would be ridiculous to suggest that conservatives do not believe in free speech or that liberals do not believe in national security, even if the political rhetoric often tries to suggests that is the case. But because these political positions are seen as representing opposing viewpoints, emphasizing one to the exclusion of the other is the foundation for charges of media bias.

Defamation

The communication of a false statement that harms the reputation of an individual person, business, product, group, government, religion, or nation. It is considered a common law tort, governed by state law, that applies when an individual makes a "publication" of a defamatory statement of and concerning the plaintiff that damages the reputation of the plaintiff

Greatest Example of Modern Investigative Journalism

The coverage of the Watergate Scandal by The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Time magazine, which resulted in the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon. Following a break-in at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C., the Nixon administration attempted to cover up its involvement in not only the break-in but other "dirty tricks" by the Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CRP). Relying heavily upon anonymous sources, Post reports Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncovered information that suggested major figures at the highest levels of government had knowledge of the break-in and had attempted to cover it up. Eventually the Watergate scandal would result in 69 government officials being charged, with 48 of them being convicted, including former Attorney General John N. Mitchell, and Nixon resigning the presidency. The Post won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 1973 because of its coverage of Watergate, and Woodward and Bernstein's book about the scandal, All the President's Men, became a #1 bestseller and a successful 1976 film. In the wake of Watergate, the suffix "-gate" was used for scandals from "Lawyergate" (when President George W. Bush dismissed seven U.S. Attorneys, allegedly for investigating Republican politicians instead of Democrats) to "Deflategate" (when the New England Patriots were accused of tampering with footballs used in the Conference Championship Game against the Indianapolis Colts), and applications to journalism schools reached an all-time high.

Conservative Biased Reporting

The fundamental belief of conservatives is that the role of the government should be to provide people the freedom necessary to pursue their own goals. Generally speaking, conservatism as a political and social philosophy is divided into two major groups: those seeking to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, and those, called reactionaries, who oppose modernism and seek a return to the way things were in the past. Currently, conservatism in the United Sates is associated primarily with the Republican Party. American conservatism supports the following as major priorities: Tradition Law-and-order Right to bear arms Christianity Anti-communism National security Small government Low taxes Limited regulation Free enterprise In addition, social conservatives see traditional family values being threatened by secularism, so they oppose abortion and homosexuality, and support school prayer. Modern conservatives also oppose world government and environmentalism. The Tea Party, with its call for a reduction of the U.S. national debt and federal budget deficit by reducing government spending, and also demands lower taxes and an end to government-sponsored universal healthcare, represents the Far Right. Opponents tend to denigrate conservatives by calling them "Fascists."

"rush to judgment"

The phrase "rush to judgment" comes from a 1966 book by Mark Lane, Rush to Judgment, which took issue with the conclusions of the Warren Commission and suggested there was a conspiracy to assassinate John F. Kennedy. In 1995 in the infamous O.J. Simpson murder trial, his lawyers argued the Los Angeles police engaged in a "rush to judgment" in implicating the former football star Today, in a world where breaking a story first seems to matter more than ever, we can find numerous cases where the press can be accused of a de facto "rush to judgment" because of the simple fact that they get the story wrong. In the wake of the Boston Marathon Bombing, the New York Post published a cover with a picture of two "Bag Men" who turned out not to be the suspects. The Post maintained they did not actually identify the two men as the suspects, and were only reflecting what they were told by their sources, but the innocent men in the cover photo sued the paper for defamation.1 The Atlantic monthly wrote an article in 2013 asking "Why Does the American Media Get Big Stories Wrong?"

Origin of "muckraking"

The term "muckraking" originated with President Theodore Roosevelt in a speech delivered on April 14, 1906, in which he drew on a character from John Bunyan's 1678 classic, Pilgrim's Progress: ... you may recall the description of the Man with the Muck-rake, the man who could look no way but downward with the muck-rake in his hands; who was offered a celestial crown for his muck-rake, but who would neither look up nor regard the crown he was offered, but continued to rake to himself the filth of the floor. But while he cautioned against the potential pitfalls of keeping your attention ever downward "on the muck," Roosevelt emphasized the social benefits of investigative reporting: There are, in the body politic, economic and social, many and grave evils, and there is urgent necessity for the sternest war upon them. There should be relentless exposure of and attack upon every evil man whether politician or business man, every evil practice, whether in politics, in business, or in social life. I hail as a benefactor every writer or speaker, every man who, on the platform, or in book, magazine, or newspaper, with merciless severity makes such attack, provided always that he in his turn remembers that the attack is of use only if it is absolutely truthful.

Libel

The written "publication" of a defamatory remark that has the tendency to injure another's reputation or character. As such, libel includes a publication on radio, audio, or video, because the oral (or verbal) communication is published in a transfixed form. Letters to the editor of local newspapers, public comments on media web sites, blog posts, comments to blog posts, and internet chat rooms or list servers would be the most places for making possibly libelous statements today

Torts

Torts are acts or omissions that give rise to injury or harm to another. "Injury" describes the invasion of any legal right, such as privacy, while "harm" describes a loss or detriment in fact that an individual suffers. Torts are considered civil wrongs for which courts can impose liability The conflict in journalism with the individual right to privacy is that the general public has a right to know personal information about public figures such as politicians and celebrities

"There can be no higher law in journalism than to tell the truth and to shame the devil."

Walter Lippmann

Media Bias

the perception that the media is reporting the news in a partial or prejudiced manner