Journalists and the public often tend to identify objectivity in its absence. Few journalists would make a claim to total neutrality or impartiality. However, most strive toward a certain modicum of detachment from their own personal biases in their news work. In Discovering the News (1978), sociologist Michael Schudson argues that "the belief in objectivity is a faith in 'facts,' a distrust in 'values,' and a commitment to their segregation." In the United States, an objective story is typically considered to be one that steers a middle path between two poles of political rhetoric. The tenets of objectivity are violated to the degree to which the story appears to favor one pole over the other.
According to some, it refers to the prevailing ideology of newsgathering and reporting that emphasizes eyewitness accounts of events, corroboration of facts with multiple sources and "balance." It also implies an institutional role for journalists as a fourth estate, a body that exists apart from government and large interest groups.[citation needed]
Others hold it should mean reporting things without bias, as if one just came to Earth from another planet and had no preconceived opinions about our behavior or ways. This form of journalism is rarely practiced, although some argue it would lead to radical changes in reporting. (See, for example, Noam Chomsky, and The Journalist from Mars).
Still others hold it to mean that journalists should have something like a neutral point of view, not taking a stand on any issues on which there is some disagreement. Instead, journalists are simply to report "both sides" of an issue. Some even extend this standard to the journalist's personal life, prohibiting them from getting involved in political activities, which necessarily requires taking a stand. For example, Washington Post executive editor Leonard Downie, Jr. has stated that the Post maintains a code of ethics that forbids reporters and editors from all "political activities" except voting. Downie himself goes even further and "decided to stop voting when [he] became the ultimate gatekeeper for what is published in the newspaper"
Advocacy journalists and civic journalists criticize this last understanding of objectivity, arguing that it does a disservice to the public because it fails to attempt to find the truth.[citation needed] They also argue that such objectivity is nearly impossible to apply in practice — newspapers inevitably take a point of view in deciding what stories to cover, which to feature on the front page, and what sources they quote. Media critics such as Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky (1988) have described a propaganda model that they use to show how in practice such a notion of objectivity ends up heavily favoring the viewpoint of government and powerful corporations.
Another example of an objection to objectivity, according to communication scholar David Mindich (Just the Facts: How "Objectivity" Came to Define American Journalism, 1998), was the coverage that the major papers (most notably the New York Times) gave to the lynching of thousands of African Americans during the 1890s. News stories of the period often described with detachment the hanging, immolation and mutilation of men, women and children by mobs. Under the regimen of objectivity, news writers often attempted to balance these accounts by recounting the alleged transgressions of the victims that provoked the lynch mobs to fury. David Mindich argues that this may have had the effect of normalizing the practice of lynching
Some argue that a more appropriate standard should be fairness and accuracy (as enshrined in the names of groups like Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting). Under this standard, taking sides on an issue would be permitted as long as the side taken was accurate and the other side was given a fair chance to respond. Many professionals believe that true objectivity in journalism is not possible and reporters must seek balance in their stories (giving all sides their respective points of view), which fosters fairness.
Notable departures from objective news work include the muckraking of Ida Tarbell and Lincoln Steffens, the New Journalism of Tom Wolfe and Hunter S. Thompson, the underground press of the 1960s, and public journalism.
The term objectivity was not applied to journalistic work until the 20th century, but it had fully emerged as a guiding principle by the 1890s. A number of communication scholars and historians agree that the idea of "objectivity" has prevailed as a dominant discourse among journalists in the United States since the appearance of modern newspapers in the Jacksonian Era of the 1830s. The rise of objectivity in journalistic method is also rooted in the scientific positivism of the 19th century, as professional journalism of the late 19th century borrowed parts of its worldview from various scientific disciplines of the day.
Some historians, like Gerald Baldasty, have observed that "objectivity" went hand in hand with the need to make profits in the newspaper business by selling advertising. Publishers did not want to offend any potential advertising customers and therefore encouraged news editors and reporters to strive to present all sides of an issue. In a similar vein, the rise of wire services and other cooperative arrangements forced journalists to produce more "middle of the road" stories that would be acceptable to newspapers of a variety of political persuasions.
Ben H. Bagdikian, especially in his book "The Media Monopoly," (1983) writes critically about the consequences of the rise of "objective journalism." (One sample can be found in an online excerpt: "Democracy and the Media"Others have proposed a political explanation for the rise of objectivity, which occurred earlier in the United States than most other countries; scholars like Richard Kaplan have argued that political parties needed to lose their hold over the loyalties of voters and the institutions of government before the press could feel free to offer a nonpartisan, "impartial" account of news events. This change occurred following the critical election of 1896 and the subsequent Progressive reform era.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Other stuffs about journalism
Public relations (PR) is the managing of internal and external communication of an organization to create and maintain a positive image. Public relations involve popularizing successes, downplaying failures, announcing changes, and many other activities.
The term public relations was used by the US president Thomas Jefferson during his address to Congress in 1807 (in this use, however, the intended meaning seems to be closer to "policy" than the implication of communications central to the contemporary definition).
One of the earliest definitions of PR was created by Edward Bernays. According to him, "Public Relations is a management function which tabulates public attitudes, defines the policies, procedures and interest of an organization followed by executing a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance."(see history of public relations).
Today "Public Relations is a set of management, supervisory, and technical functions that foster an organization's ability to strategically listen to, appreciate, and respond to those persons whose mutually beneficial relationships with the organization are necessary if it is to achieve its missions and values." (Robert L. Heath, Encyclopedia of Public Relations). Essentially it is a management function that focuses on two-way communication and fostering of mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and its publics.
There is a school of public relations that holds that it is about relationship management. Phillips, explored this concept in his paper "Towards relationship management: Public relations at the core of organisational development" paper in 2006 which lists a range of academics and practitioners who support this view.
Modern public relations evaluates a product or individual's public perception through market research and situation analysis. Once data is collected and challenges are identified, solutions are presented in a campaign strategy to meet goals and objectives. Techniques may vary from campaign to campaign but some standard tools used are; press releases, press kits, satellite feeds, pod casts, web casts, wire service distribution of information, publishing of information material and internet placement. Others include entertainment product placement (television, events, celebrity), product launches, press conferences, media seminars, producing events, speech writing, establishing partnerships and community relationships. More is often required.
Although public relations professionals are stereotypically seen as corporate servants, the reality is that almost any organization that has a stake in how it is portrayed in the public arena employs at least one PR manager. Large organizations may even have dedicated communications departments. Government agencies, trade associations, and other non-profit organizations commonly carry out PR activities.
Public relations is an important management function in any organization. An effective public relations plan for an organization is developed to communicate a message that coincides with organizational goals and seeks to benefit mutual interests whenever possible.
As industry consolidation becomes more prevalent, many organizations and individuals are choosing to retain "boutique" firms as opposed to so-called "global" communications firms. These smaller firms typically specialize in only a couple of practice areas and thus, often have a greater understanding of their client's business. And because they deal with certain journalists with greater frequency, specialty firms often have stronger media contacts in the areas that matter most to their clients. Added benefits of smaller, specialty firms include more personal attention and accountability, as well as cost savings. This is not to say that smaller is always better, or others but there is a growing consensus that specialty firms offer more than once considered.
Organizations that cater to specialized or "boutique" practices include specific sub genres such as "Broadcast PR", and include firms like Medialink, WestGlen, DS Simon, Kelly Fogelman Group, and Mediahitman. These groups use traditional PR techniques but devote most of their efforts towards gaining exposure via broadcast and cable television news outlets. As newspapers downsize across the country due to the impact of Internet news, television has become an important vehicle in establishing customer acquisition. Reputable firms create solid stories for broadcast which appear on talk shows like Oprah, Good Morning America or news broadcast etc. Questionable public relation firms create "spin", which is slanted stories that serve their client's interest. Recent pressure from watch groups like the Center for Media and Democracy has resulted in Federal review of "spin" practices in the US.
A number of specialties exist within the field of public relations, such as Investor Relations or Labor Relations.
Methods, tools, and tactics
Public relations and publicity are not synonymous but many PR campaign include provisions for publicity. Publicity is the spreading of information to gain public awareness for a product, person, service, cause or organization, and can be seen as a result of effective PR planning.
Audience targeting
A fundamental technique used in public relations is to identify the target audience, and to tailor every message to appeal to that audience. It can be a general, nationwide or worldwide audience, but it is more often a segment of a population. Marketers often refer to economy-driven "demographics," such as "white males 18-49," but in public relations an audience is more fluid, being whoever someone wants to reach. For example, recent political audiences include "soccer moms" and "NASCAR dads."
In addition to audiences, there are usually stakeholders, literally people who have a "stake" in a given issue. All audiences are stakeholders (or presumptive stakeholders), but not all stakeholders are audiences. For example, a charity commissions a PR agency to create an advertising campaign to raise money to find a cure for a disease. The charity and the people with the disease are stakeholders, but the audience is anyone who is likely to donate money.
Sometimes the interests of differing audiences and stakeholders common to a PR effort necessitate the creation of several distinct but still complementary messages. This is not always easy to do, and sometimes – especially in politics – a spokesperson or client says something to one audience that angers another audience or group of stakeholders.
Lobby groups
Lobby groups are established to influence government policy, corporate policy, or public opinion. These groups claim to represent a particular interest. When a lobby group hides its true purpose and support base it is known as a front group.
Spin
In public relations, spin is a sometimes pejorative term signifying a heavily biased portrayal in one's own favor of an event or situation. While traditional public relations may also rely on creative presentation of the facts, "spin" often, though not always, implies disingenuous, deceptive and/or highly manipulative tactics. Politicians are often accused of spin by commentators and political opponents, when they produce a counter argument or position.
The techniques of "spin" include Selectively presenting facts and quotes that support one's position (cherry picking), the so-called "non-denial denial," Phrasing in a way that assumes unproven truths, euphemisms for drawing attention away from items considered distasteful, and ambiguity in public statements. Another spin technique involves careful choice of timing in the release of certain news so it can take advantage of prominent events in the news. A famous reference to this practice occurred when British Government press officer Jo Moore used the phrase It's now a very good day to get out anything we want to bury, (widely paraphrased or misquoted as "It's a good day to bury bad news"), in an email sent on September 11, 2001. The furor caused when this email was reported in the press eventually caused her to resign.
Spin doctor
Skilled practitioners of spin are sometimes called "spin doctors", though probably not to their faces unless it is said facetiously. It is the PR equivalent of calling a writer a "hack". Perhaps the most well-known person in the UK often described as a "spin doctor" is Alastair Campbell, who was involved with Tony Blair's public relations between 1994 and 2003, and also played a controversial role as press relations officer to the British and Irish Lions rugby union side during their 2005 tour of New Zealand.
State-run media in many countries also engage in spin by selectively allowing news stories that are favorable to the government while censoring anything that could be considered critical. They may also use propaganda to indoctrinate or actively influence citizens' opinions.
Other
Publicity events, pseudo-events, photo ops or publicity stunts
The talk show circuit. A PR spokesperson (or his/her client) "does the circuit" by being interviewed on television and radio talk shows with audiences that the client wishes to reach.
Books and other writings
After a PR practitioner has been working in the field for a while, he or she accumulates a list of contacts in the media and elsewhere in the public affairs sphere. This "Rolodex" becomes a prized asset, and job announcements sometimes even ask for candidates with an existing Rolodex, especially those in the media relations area of PR.
Direct communication (carrying messages directly to constituents, rather than through the mass media) with, e.g., newsletters – in print and e-letters.
Collateral literature, traditionally in print and now predominantly as web sites.
Speeches to constituent groups and professional organizations; receptions; seminars, and other events; personal appearances.
The slang term for a PR practitioner or publicist is a "flak" (sometimes spelled "flack").
Defining the opponent
A tactic used in political campaigns is known as "defining one's opponent". Opponents can be candidates, organizations and other groups of people.
In the 2004 US presidential campaign, George W. Bush defined John Kerry as a "flip-flopper," among other characterizations, which were widely reported and repeated by the media, particularly the conservative media. Similarly, George H.W. Bush characterized Michael Dukakis as weak on crime (the Willie Horton ad) and as hopelessly liberal ("a card-carrying member of the ACLU"). In 1996, President Bill Clinton seized upon opponent Bob Dole's promise to take America back to a simpler time, promising in contrast to "build a bridge to the 21st century." This painted Dole as a person who was somehow opposed to progress.
In the debate over abortion, self-titled pro-choice groups, by virtue of their name, defined their opponents as "anti-choice", while self-titled pro-life groups refer to their opponents as "pro-abortion" or "anti-life".
Managing language
If a politician or organization can use an apt phrase in relation to an issue, such as in interviews or news releases, the news media will often repeat it verbatim, without questioning the aptness of the phrase. This perpetuates both the message and whatever preconceptions might underlie it. Often, something innocuous sounding can stand in for something greater; a "culture of life" sounds like general goodwill to most people, but will evoke opposition to abortion for many pro-life advocates. "States' rights" was used as code words for anti-civil rights legislation in the United States in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.
Front groups
Many of the techniques used by PR firms are drawn from the institutions and practices of democracy itself.[citation needed] Persuasion, advocacy, and education are instruments through which individuals and organizations are entitled to express themselves in a free society, and many public relations practitioners are engaged in practices that are widely considered as beneficial, such as publicizing scientific research, promoting charities, raising awareness of public health concerns and other issues in civil society.
One of the most controversial practices in public relations is the use of front groups—organizations that purport to serve a public cause while actually serving the interests of a client whose sponsorship may be obscured or concealed. The creation of front groups is an example of what PR practitioners sometimes term the third party technique—the art of "putting your words in someone else's mouth." PR Watch, a non-profit organization that monitors PR activities it considers to be deceptive, has published numerous examples of this technique in practice. Critics of the public relations industry, such as PR Watch, have contended that Public Relations involves a "multi-billion dollar propaganda-for-hire industry" that "concoct[s] and spin[s] the news, organize[s] phoney 'grassroots' front groups, sp[ies] on citizens, and conspire[s] with lobbyists and politicians to thwart democracy."Instances of the use of front groups as a PR technique have been documented in many industries. Coal mining corporations have created environmental groups that contend that increased CO2 emissions and global warming will contribute to plant growth and will be beneficial, trade groups for bars have created and funded citizens' groups to attack anti-alcohol groups, tobacco companies have created and funded citizens' groups to advocate for tort reform and to attack personal injury lawyers, while trial lawyers have created "consumer advocacy" front groups to oppose tort reform
The term public relations was used by the US president Thomas Jefferson during his address to Congress in 1807 (in this use, however, the intended meaning seems to be closer to "policy" than the implication of communications central to the contemporary definition).
One of the earliest definitions of PR was created by Edward Bernays. According to him, "Public Relations is a management function which tabulates public attitudes, defines the policies, procedures and interest of an organization followed by executing a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance."(see history of public relations).
Today "Public Relations is a set of management, supervisory, and technical functions that foster an organization's ability to strategically listen to, appreciate, and respond to those persons whose mutually beneficial relationships with the organization are necessary if it is to achieve its missions and values." (Robert L. Heath, Encyclopedia of Public Relations). Essentially it is a management function that focuses on two-way communication and fostering of mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and its publics.
There is a school of public relations that holds that it is about relationship management. Phillips, explored this concept in his paper "Towards relationship management: Public relations at the core of organisational development" paper in 2006 which lists a range of academics and practitioners who support this view.
Modern public relations evaluates a product or individual's public perception through market research and situation analysis. Once data is collected and challenges are identified, solutions are presented in a campaign strategy to meet goals and objectives. Techniques may vary from campaign to campaign but some standard tools used are; press releases, press kits, satellite feeds, pod casts, web casts, wire service distribution of information, publishing of information material and internet placement. Others include entertainment product placement (television, events, celebrity), product launches, press conferences, media seminars, producing events, speech writing, establishing partnerships and community relationships. More is often required.
Although public relations professionals are stereotypically seen as corporate servants, the reality is that almost any organization that has a stake in how it is portrayed in the public arena employs at least one PR manager. Large organizations may even have dedicated communications departments. Government agencies, trade associations, and other non-profit organizations commonly carry out PR activities.
Public relations is an important management function in any organization. An effective public relations plan for an organization is developed to communicate a message that coincides with organizational goals and seeks to benefit mutual interests whenever possible.
As industry consolidation becomes more prevalent, many organizations and individuals are choosing to retain "boutique" firms as opposed to so-called "global" communications firms. These smaller firms typically specialize in only a couple of practice areas and thus, often have a greater understanding of their client's business. And because they deal with certain journalists with greater frequency, specialty firms often have stronger media contacts in the areas that matter most to their clients. Added benefits of smaller, specialty firms include more personal attention and accountability, as well as cost savings. This is not to say that smaller is always better, or others but there is a growing consensus that specialty firms offer more than once considered.
Organizations that cater to specialized or "boutique" practices include specific sub genres such as "Broadcast PR", and include firms like Medialink, WestGlen, DS Simon, Kelly Fogelman Group, and Mediahitman. These groups use traditional PR techniques but devote most of their efforts towards gaining exposure via broadcast and cable television news outlets. As newspapers downsize across the country due to the impact of Internet news, television has become an important vehicle in establishing customer acquisition. Reputable firms create solid stories for broadcast which appear on talk shows like Oprah, Good Morning America or news broadcast etc. Questionable public relation firms create "spin", which is slanted stories that serve their client's interest. Recent pressure from watch groups like the Center for Media and Democracy has resulted in Federal review of "spin" practices in the US.
A number of specialties exist within the field of public relations, such as Investor Relations or Labor Relations.
Methods, tools, and tactics
Public relations and publicity are not synonymous but many PR campaign include provisions for publicity. Publicity is the spreading of information to gain public awareness for a product, person, service, cause or organization, and can be seen as a result of effective PR planning.
Audience targeting
A fundamental technique used in public relations is to identify the target audience, and to tailor every message to appeal to that audience. It can be a general, nationwide or worldwide audience, but it is more often a segment of a population. Marketers often refer to economy-driven "demographics," such as "white males 18-49," but in public relations an audience is more fluid, being whoever someone wants to reach. For example, recent political audiences include "soccer moms" and "NASCAR dads."
In addition to audiences, there are usually stakeholders, literally people who have a "stake" in a given issue. All audiences are stakeholders (or presumptive stakeholders), but not all stakeholders are audiences. For example, a charity commissions a PR agency to create an advertising campaign to raise money to find a cure for a disease. The charity and the people with the disease are stakeholders, but the audience is anyone who is likely to donate money.
Sometimes the interests of differing audiences and stakeholders common to a PR effort necessitate the creation of several distinct but still complementary messages. This is not always easy to do, and sometimes – especially in politics – a spokesperson or client says something to one audience that angers another audience or group of stakeholders.
Lobby groups
Lobby groups are established to influence government policy, corporate policy, or public opinion. These groups claim to represent a particular interest. When a lobby group hides its true purpose and support base it is known as a front group.
Spin
In public relations, spin is a sometimes pejorative term signifying a heavily biased portrayal in one's own favor of an event or situation. While traditional public relations may also rely on creative presentation of the facts, "spin" often, though not always, implies disingenuous, deceptive and/or highly manipulative tactics. Politicians are often accused of spin by commentators and political opponents, when they produce a counter argument or position.
The techniques of "spin" include Selectively presenting facts and quotes that support one's position (cherry picking), the so-called "non-denial denial," Phrasing in a way that assumes unproven truths, euphemisms for drawing attention away from items considered distasteful, and ambiguity in public statements. Another spin technique involves careful choice of timing in the release of certain news so it can take advantage of prominent events in the news. A famous reference to this practice occurred when British Government press officer Jo Moore used the phrase It's now a very good day to get out anything we want to bury, (widely paraphrased or misquoted as "It's a good day to bury bad news"), in an email sent on September 11, 2001. The furor caused when this email was reported in the press eventually caused her to resign.
Spin doctor
Skilled practitioners of spin are sometimes called "spin doctors", though probably not to their faces unless it is said facetiously. It is the PR equivalent of calling a writer a "hack". Perhaps the most well-known person in the UK often described as a "spin doctor" is Alastair Campbell, who was involved with Tony Blair's public relations between 1994 and 2003, and also played a controversial role as press relations officer to the British and Irish Lions rugby union side during their 2005 tour of New Zealand.
State-run media in many countries also engage in spin by selectively allowing news stories that are favorable to the government while censoring anything that could be considered critical. They may also use propaganda to indoctrinate or actively influence citizens' opinions.
Other
Publicity events, pseudo-events, photo ops or publicity stunts
The talk show circuit. A PR spokesperson (or his/her client) "does the circuit" by being interviewed on television and radio talk shows with audiences that the client wishes to reach.
Books and other writings
After a PR practitioner has been working in the field for a while, he or she accumulates a list of contacts in the media and elsewhere in the public affairs sphere. This "Rolodex" becomes a prized asset, and job announcements sometimes even ask for candidates with an existing Rolodex, especially those in the media relations area of PR.
Direct communication (carrying messages directly to constituents, rather than through the mass media) with, e.g., newsletters – in print and e-letters.
Collateral literature, traditionally in print and now predominantly as web sites.
Speeches to constituent groups and professional organizations; receptions; seminars, and other events; personal appearances.
The slang term for a PR practitioner or publicist is a "flak" (sometimes spelled "flack").
Defining the opponent
A tactic used in political campaigns is known as "defining one's opponent". Opponents can be candidates, organizations and other groups of people.
In the 2004 US presidential campaign, George W. Bush defined John Kerry as a "flip-flopper," among other characterizations, which were widely reported and repeated by the media, particularly the conservative media. Similarly, George H.W. Bush characterized Michael Dukakis as weak on crime (the Willie Horton ad) and as hopelessly liberal ("a card-carrying member of the ACLU"). In 1996, President Bill Clinton seized upon opponent Bob Dole's promise to take America back to a simpler time, promising in contrast to "build a bridge to the 21st century." This painted Dole as a person who was somehow opposed to progress.
In the debate over abortion, self-titled pro-choice groups, by virtue of their name, defined their opponents as "anti-choice", while self-titled pro-life groups refer to their opponents as "pro-abortion" or "anti-life".
Managing language
If a politician or organization can use an apt phrase in relation to an issue, such as in interviews or news releases, the news media will often repeat it verbatim, without questioning the aptness of the phrase. This perpetuates both the message and whatever preconceptions might underlie it. Often, something innocuous sounding can stand in for something greater; a "culture of life" sounds like general goodwill to most people, but will evoke opposition to abortion for many pro-life advocates. "States' rights" was used as code words for anti-civil rights legislation in the United States in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.
Front groups
Many of the techniques used by PR firms are drawn from the institutions and practices of democracy itself.[citation needed] Persuasion, advocacy, and education are instruments through which individuals and organizations are entitled to express themselves in a free society, and many public relations practitioners are engaged in practices that are widely considered as beneficial, such as publicizing scientific research, promoting charities, raising awareness of public health concerns and other issues in civil society.
One of the most controversial practices in public relations is the use of front groups—organizations that purport to serve a public cause while actually serving the interests of a client whose sponsorship may be obscured or concealed. The creation of front groups is an example of what PR practitioners sometimes term the third party technique—the art of "putting your words in someone else's mouth." PR Watch, a non-profit organization that monitors PR activities it considers to be deceptive, has published numerous examples of this technique in practice. Critics of the public relations industry, such as PR Watch, have contended that Public Relations involves a "multi-billion dollar propaganda-for-hire industry" that "concoct[s] and spin[s] the news, organize[s] phoney 'grassroots' front groups, sp[ies] on citizens, and conspire[s] with lobbyists and politicians to thwart democracy."Instances of the use of front groups as a PR technique have been documented in many industries. Coal mining corporations have created environmental groups that contend that increased CO2 emissions and global warming will contribute to plant growth and will be beneficial, trade groups for bars have created and funded citizens' groups to attack anti-alcohol groups, tobacco companies have created and funded citizens' groups to advocate for tort reform and to attack personal injury lawyers, while trial lawyers have created "consumer advocacy" front groups to oppose tort reform
who is a journalist then??
A journalist (also called a newspaperman) is a person who practises journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events, trends, issues and people.
Reporters are one type of journalist. They create reports as a profession for broadcast or publication in mass media such as newspapers, television, radio, magazines, documentary film, and the Internet. Reporters find sources for their work, their reports can be either spoken or written, and they are often expected to report in the most objective and unbiased way to serve the public good. A columnist is a journalist who writes pieces that appear regularly in newspapers or magazines.
Depending on the context, the term journalist also includes various types of editors and visual journalists, such as photographers, graphic artists, and page designers.
Reporters are one type of journalist. They create reports as a profession for broadcast or publication in mass media such as newspapers, television, radio, magazines, documentary film, and the Internet. Reporters find sources for their work, their reports can be either spoken or written, and they are often expected to report in the most objective and unbiased way to serve the public good. A columnist is a journalist who writes pieces that appear regularly in newspapers or magazines.
Depending on the context, the term journalist also includes various types of editors and visual journalists, such as photographers, graphic artists, and page designers.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Guest Column
Dhaka Memories
Supreeta Singh
It's been a little more than five months since I have been back from Dhaka and with the passage of time Bangladesh is ceasing to be a place, a geographical location, a physical reality which I can point in the map and exclaim “I have been here,” because I am no longer sure any more whether I have really been there. Feeling like a deserted lover, Bangladesh haunts me, creeps upon me when I least expect it, in the most unlikely of ways in the reflection of a woman's sunglass, in the tinkle of a certain laughter, in the rear view of a car, in the folds of a billowing shalwar, in the act of crossing roads, or in the columns of cigarette smoke. Abruptly out of nowhere bits and parts of experience rise in front of me, like sudden flashes of déjà vu, mingle with the sense, smell, din, traffic roar, twittering bird, thuk-thuk of keyboard keys, television volume, suffuse with the teeny-tiny particles floating in the air and play out its course. I pause, and become a mute witness, while deep, very deep in my heart something stirs. As one of the participants of an exchange program between South Asian countries, I was posted in Dhaka at Drik Bangladesh, a new media agency, for a period of ten months from November 2006 to August 2007. However, it was not a smooth sailing when the first obstacle came in the form of my parents' objection and the second, more potent, in the form of getting a long-term visa. While I knew that I could win over my parents over time, there was nothing I, or my colleagues at Drik India, could do about bureaucratic red tape. Finally, after long meetings with Bangladesh High Commission officials, I was handed a three-month multiple entry visa on 24 November. On the morning of 5 December 2006 I arrived in Bangladesh. Influenced by one-sided media reports, I carried a whole baggage of preconceived ideas about my host country. To begin with, there was the legendary poverty of Bangladesh. Then there was the horrible fundamentalist threat lurking everywhere, and thirdly, the need for caution in an extremely conservative society. I was warned, and given sermons on how to conduct myself in Bangladesh by my near and dear ones. And if truth be told, even though I was much more excited than apprehensive, I packed my bags with a year's supply of soaps, moisturizers, perfumes, clothes, books, pens and pencils, among many things, fearing it would be difficult to find anything in a poor country. I had inquired whether I would find any beauty parlor. From Zia International Airport I was first taken to Drik and then to Pathshala, the South Asian Institute of Photography, which was to be my home for the coming months. Besides me, three more participants, Tulika from India, and Navraj and Balkrishna from Nepal were there too. Tulika and Balkrishna would be working with an NGO and Navraj and I were to work in Drik. The first few things that struck me about Dhaka, where I landed first, were the wide open roads, the innumerable universities, malls as well as hospitals, the splendid multicolored and festooned rickshaws and the traffic. Coming from Kolkata, I am used to all these in my home city, but the differences were in degree. Dhaka is a smaller city than Kolkata with almost all places connected by rickshaws. Unlike Kolkata, there seemed to be a surplus of malls and hospitals, and the traffic moved at a snail's pace. Also, the sudden appearances of fancy-looking apartments and houses, their structure and design overblown as if bursting out of the architect's drafting boards, looked far from poverty stricken. My notion of a poor country began to lose water. The ideas of an extremely rigid society also began to get jolts. There were less burqa clad women in Dhaka than in Kolkata, many young women were dressed in jeans, there were quite a few cafes, like Mango, Kozmo and Coffee World for lounging and meeting people, lovers were holding hands in the open and sitting huddled together in Dhanmondi Lake, and most of the people were friendly (which my friends informed me was because of my gender!). However, certain restrictions did apply. Wearing jeans meant a long kurta, and no short top, with a dupatta thrown on the shoulders. And one of the few frustrating things was being started at by curious eyes and gaping mouths whenever and almost wherever I walked. Men passed remarks. Although harassment of women is also a common feature in Kolkata too, the constant gaping and commenting was very unnerving in the beginning at least. In Kolkata things are comparatively better and I know how to handle them, but in Dhaka I was at a loss. After some time, however, I could ignore it easily. It helped very much that I was working in a communication project at Drik since it meant meeting a lot of photographers from not only in Bangladesh, but all over the globe. Some of my colleagues took me along with them for socializing after work, and many of them have now become my good friends too. Interestingly, many people I came across in Bangladesh had fairy tale ideas of Kolkata, that it was a magical city of art, culture, books and Sunil Gangopadhyay. Even if I sometimes detected some suppressed hostility towards India, Kolkata was seen differently. They were fascinated with the city. In the many moods of Bangladesh, I woke up to old signs in new postures. If Dhaka took me meandering to cramped by-lanes in rickshaws donning a burst of colors, bells and strings, then the backwaters of Chandpur cradled me in her formidable, resistant yet soft green rolls of wave and wisps of yellow mustard strands. If in Dhaka I felt immersed into the hectic wheel of everyday urban life between cups of tea and coffee, in Sunderbans I lapped up the luxuriousness of being in raptures at the sight of brilliant stars shining so palpably that I felt I could pick them out like pebbles and store them in my mind's vision. If in Dhaka I daily crossed the footbridge over a trickling river on my way to work, in Gaibandha I gently glided on the immense Brahmaputra, with the wind chafing my face and the buoyancy nurturing my soul. The places I frequented most were Old Dhaka and New Market. In Old Dhaka I would go to Dhakhineshwar temple, Ramkrishna temple, and visit a family I had become friends with on my way there. Tulika would sometimes accompany me to New Market and we would do window shopping, and occasionally came back with our hands full. Sometimes I would tag along with Drik personnel and we would buy all kinds of groceries, and treat ourselves to fuchkas. Food, though, was a difficult challenge. Being a vegetarian here was not easy. The very concept of a pure vegetarian was non-existent, where a “veg” soup would invariably consist of chicken! Only an eatery called Escape from Shanghai where I hung out with my friends came up with purely vegetarian sandwiches. Not even at Cooper's or King's Confectionary could I find a vegetarian patty. The only things I could eat when I was out were pizza and ice cream. And it began to show! On a personal level, looking back I remember Bangladesh mostly as a private adventure where I experienced the best feeling of all that of liberation. I had chalked out a life of my own, with my work, colleagues, friends, where I carved out an identity for myself without any prior belonging or attachment. I forged new ties and made abiding relationships that told me a lot of things about my character and nature I only hoped that I have. In the end all I can say is I had no inkling whatsoever that in the short span of ten months I would build such an enduring relationship with Bangladesh. I would never be able to do justice in writing about how I feel about the country because there is so much to her. And that says a lot. Supreeta Singh currently lives in Kolkata.
Supreeta Singh
It's been a little more than five months since I have been back from Dhaka and with the passage of time Bangladesh is ceasing to be a place, a geographical location, a physical reality which I can point in the map and exclaim “I have been here,” because I am no longer sure any more whether I have really been there. Feeling like a deserted lover, Bangladesh haunts me, creeps upon me when I least expect it, in the most unlikely of ways in the reflection of a woman's sunglass, in the tinkle of a certain laughter, in the rear view of a car, in the folds of a billowing shalwar, in the act of crossing roads, or in the columns of cigarette smoke. Abruptly out of nowhere bits and parts of experience rise in front of me, like sudden flashes of déjà vu, mingle with the sense, smell, din, traffic roar, twittering bird, thuk-thuk of keyboard keys, television volume, suffuse with the teeny-tiny particles floating in the air and play out its course. I pause, and become a mute witness, while deep, very deep in my heart something stirs. As one of the participants of an exchange program between South Asian countries, I was posted in Dhaka at Drik Bangladesh, a new media agency, for a period of ten months from November 2006 to August 2007. However, it was not a smooth sailing when the first obstacle came in the form of my parents' objection and the second, more potent, in the form of getting a long-term visa. While I knew that I could win over my parents over time, there was nothing I, or my colleagues at Drik India, could do about bureaucratic red tape. Finally, after long meetings with Bangladesh High Commission officials, I was handed a three-month multiple entry visa on 24 November. On the morning of 5 December 2006 I arrived in Bangladesh. Influenced by one-sided media reports, I carried a whole baggage of preconceived ideas about my host country. To begin with, there was the legendary poverty of Bangladesh. Then there was the horrible fundamentalist threat lurking everywhere, and thirdly, the need for caution in an extremely conservative society. I was warned, and given sermons on how to conduct myself in Bangladesh by my near and dear ones. And if truth be told, even though I was much more excited than apprehensive, I packed my bags with a year's supply of soaps, moisturizers, perfumes, clothes, books, pens and pencils, among many things, fearing it would be difficult to find anything in a poor country. I had inquired whether I would find any beauty parlor. From Zia International Airport I was first taken to Drik and then to Pathshala, the South Asian Institute of Photography, which was to be my home for the coming months. Besides me, three more participants, Tulika from India, and Navraj and Balkrishna from Nepal were there too. Tulika and Balkrishna would be working with an NGO and Navraj and I were to work in Drik. The first few things that struck me about Dhaka, where I landed first, were the wide open roads, the innumerable universities, malls as well as hospitals, the splendid multicolored and festooned rickshaws and the traffic. Coming from Kolkata, I am used to all these in my home city, but the differences were in degree. Dhaka is a smaller city than Kolkata with almost all places connected by rickshaws. Unlike Kolkata, there seemed to be a surplus of malls and hospitals, and the traffic moved at a snail's pace. Also, the sudden appearances of fancy-looking apartments and houses, their structure and design overblown as if bursting out of the architect's drafting boards, looked far from poverty stricken. My notion of a poor country began to lose water. The ideas of an extremely rigid society also began to get jolts. There were less burqa clad women in Dhaka than in Kolkata, many young women were dressed in jeans, there were quite a few cafes, like Mango, Kozmo and Coffee World for lounging and meeting people, lovers were holding hands in the open and sitting huddled together in Dhanmondi Lake, and most of the people were friendly (which my friends informed me was because of my gender!). However, certain restrictions did apply. Wearing jeans meant a long kurta, and no short top, with a dupatta thrown on the shoulders. And one of the few frustrating things was being started at by curious eyes and gaping mouths whenever and almost wherever I walked. Men passed remarks. Although harassment of women is also a common feature in Kolkata too, the constant gaping and commenting was very unnerving in the beginning at least. In Kolkata things are comparatively better and I know how to handle them, but in Dhaka I was at a loss. After some time, however, I could ignore it easily. It helped very much that I was working in a communication project at Drik since it meant meeting a lot of photographers from not only in Bangladesh, but all over the globe. Some of my colleagues took me along with them for socializing after work, and many of them have now become my good friends too. Interestingly, many people I came across in Bangladesh had fairy tale ideas of Kolkata, that it was a magical city of art, culture, books and Sunil Gangopadhyay. Even if I sometimes detected some suppressed hostility towards India, Kolkata was seen differently. They were fascinated with the city. In the many moods of Bangladesh, I woke up to old signs in new postures. If Dhaka took me meandering to cramped by-lanes in rickshaws donning a burst of colors, bells and strings, then the backwaters of Chandpur cradled me in her formidable, resistant yet soft green rolls of wave and wisps of yellow mustard strands. If in Dhaka I felt immersed into the hectic wheel of everyday urban life between cups of tea and coffee, in Sunderbans I lapped up the luxuriousness of being in raptures at the sight of brilliant stars shining so palpably that I felt I could pick them out like pebbles and store them in my mind's vision. If in Dhaka I daily crossed the footbridge over a trickling river on my way to work, in Gaibandha I gently glided on the immense Brahmaputra, with the wind chafing my face and the buoyancy nurturing my soul. The places I frequented most were Old Dhaka and New Market. In Old Dhaka I would go to Dhakhineshwar temple, Ramkrishna temple, and visit a family I had become friends with on my way there. Tulika would sometimes accompany me to New Market and we would do window shopping, and occasionally came back with our hands full. Sometimes I would tag along with Drik personnel and we would buy all kinds of groceries, and treat ourselves to fuchkas. Food, though, was a difficult challenge. Being a vegetarian here was not easy. The very concept of a pure vegetarian was non-existent, where a “veg” soup would invariably consist of chicken! Only an eatery called Escape from Shanghai where I hung out with my friends came up with purely vegetarian sandwiches. Not even at Cooper's or King's Confectionary could I find a vegetarian patty. The only things I could eat when I was out were pizza and ice cream. And it began to show! On a personal level, looking back I remember Bangladesh mostly as a private adventure where I experienced the best feeling of all that of liberation. I had chalked out a life of my own, with my work, colleagues, friends, where I carved out an identity for myself without any prior belonging or attachment. I forged new ties and made abiding relationships that told me a lot of things about my character and nature I only hoped that I have. In the end all I can say is I had no inkling whatsoever that in the short span of ten months I would build such an enduring relationship with Bangladesh. I would never be able to do justice in writing about how I feel about the country because there is so much to her. And that says a lot. Supreeta Singh currently lives in Kolkata.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Adding to the distinction between journalists and anchors and reporters are "human interest", personality, or celebrity news stories, which typically are directed by marketing departments based on a demographic appeal and audience share. It's commonly accepted that anchors are also media personalities, who may even be considered celebrities. The very nature of corporate network news requires its media personalities to use their public appeal to promote the networks investments, just as network broadcasts themselves (morning shows, TV news magazines) schedule self-promotional stories, in addition to advertising. Critics might go so far as to view anchors as a weak link in the news trade, representing the misplacement of both the credit and the accountability of a news journalism organization—hence adding to a perceived erosion of journalistic standards throughout the news business. (See yellow journalism.)
Most infotainment, especially television programs on the networks or broadcast cable, only contain general factual information on the subjects they cover, and should not be considered as formal learning or instruction. For example you may learn that a motorcycle contains an engine, or how fast one can travel, on American Chopper, but you will not learn the inner-workings of the engine, the physics and chemistry involved when it is running, or how to customize a motorcycle on your own using schematics.
[edit] Hard news, soft news and infotainment
Hard news and soft news are terms for describing a relative difference between poles in a spectrum within the broader news trade—with "hard" journalism at the professional end and "soft" infotainment at the other. Because the term "news" is quite broad, the terms "hard" and "soft" denote both a difference in respective standards for news value, as well as for standards of conduct, relative to the professional ideals of journalistic integrity.
The idea of hard news embodies two orthogonal concepts:
Seriousness: Politics, economics, crime, war, and disasters are considered serious topics, as are certain aspects of law, science, and technology.
Timeliness: Stories that cover current events—the progress of a war, the results of a vote, the breaking out of a fire, a significant public statement, the freeing of a prisoner, an economic report of note.
The logical opposite, soft news is sometimes referred to in a derogatory fashion as infotainment. Defining features catching the most criticism include:
The least serious subjects: Arts and entertainment, sports, lifestyles, "human interest", and celebrities.
Not timely: There is no precipitating event triggering the story, other than a reporter's curiosity.
Timely events happen in less serious subjects—sporting matches, celebrity misadventures, movie releases, art exhibits, and so on.
There may also be serious reports which are not event-driven—coverage of important social, economic, legal, or technological trends; investigative reports which uncover ongoing corruption, waste, or immorality; or discussion of unsettled political issues without any special reason. Anniversaries, holidays, the end of a year or season, or the end of the first 100 days of an administration, can make some stories time-sensitive, but provide more of an opportunity for reflection and analysis than any actual "news" to report.
The spectrum of "seriousness" and "importance" is not well-defined, and different media organizations make different tradeoffs. "News you can use", a common marketing phrase highlighting a specific genre of journalism, spans the gray area. Gardening tips and hobby "news" pretty clearly fall at the entertainment end. Warnings about imminent natural disasters or acute domestic security threats (such as air raids or terrorist attacks) are considered so important that broadcast media (even non-news channels) usually interrupt other programming to announce them. A medical story about a new treatment for breast cancer, or a report about local ground water pollution might fall in between. So might book reviews, or coverage of religion. On the other hand, people frequently find hobbies and entertainment to be worthwhile parts of their lives and so "importance" on a personal level is rather subjective.
[edit] Concerns and criticisms
The label "infotainment" is emblematic of concern and criticism that journalism is devolving from a medium which conveys serious information about issues that affect the public interest, into a form of entertainment which happens to have fresh "facts" in the mix. The criteria by which reporters and editors judge news value - whether something is worth putting on the front page, the bottom of the hour, or is worth commenting on at all - is an integral part of this debate.
Some blame the media for this perceived phenomenon, for failing to live up to ideals of civic journalistic responsibility. Others blame the commercial nature of many media organizations, the need for higher ratings, combined with a preference among the public for feel-good content and "unimportant" topics (like celebrity gossip or sports).
A specialization process has also occurred, beginning with the rise of mass market special-interest magazines, moving into broadcast with the advent of cable television, and continuing into new media, like the Internet and satellite radio. An increasing number of media outlets are available to the public that focus exclusively on one topic such as current events, home improvement, history, movies, women and Christianity. This means that consumers have more choice over whether they receive a general feed of the most "important" information of the day, or whether they get a highly customized presentation that contains only one type of content, which need not be newsworthy, and which need not come from a neutral point of view. Some publications and channels have found a sizable audience in the "niche" of featuring hard news. But controversy continues over whether the size of that audience is too small, and whether those outlets are diluting content with too much "soft" news.
[edit] What counts as journalism?
Some journalists define "journalism" to include only report on "serious" subjects, where common journalistic standards are upheld by the reporter. The larger "news business" or news trade encompasses everything from professional journalism to so-called "soft news" and "infotainment", and support activities such as marketing, advertising sales, finance and delivery. Professional journalism is supposed to place more emphasis on research, fact-checking, and the public interest than its "non-journalistic" counterparts.
[edit] Entertainment and news crossovers
Infotainers are entertainers in infotainment media, such as news anchors or "news personalities" who cross the line between journalism (quasi-journalism) and entertainment within the broader news trade. Notable examples in the U.S. media are Barbara Walters, Katie Couric, Bill O'Reilly, Maury Povich, Deborah Norville, and Geraldo Rivera among others.
Barbara Walters, though not the first to cross the line between news and personality stories, is for many the quintessential news-media icon. Her career dates back to the 50s, and her current prominence at ABC is largely celebrity interviews, with a long running co-anchorship on 20/20 with Hugh Downs and, later, John Stossel until 2004 and her overlapping morning infotainment show The View.
When Geraldo Rivera became the host of his own news-oriented talk show on CNBC, others within the NBC organization voiced their protest, including Tom Brokaw who was reported to have threatened to quit. Rivera had a notorious history as a "sleaze reporter" and daytime talk show host, where he and one or two others were representative of "trash TV"; television seen to have little social value or redeeming intelligence, but still popular with viewers.
A particular example is of the career of Andrea Thompson, formerly an actress on Babylon 5 and NYPD Blue, who quit acting to become a reporter for KRQE News in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and was later hired by CNN Headline News. She later quit CNN, citing a desire to spend more time with her son. Some[attribution needed] speculated that others at CNN resented the presence of the former actress, and had some degree of influence on her decision to quit.
[edit] Infomercials
The infotainment concept is taken to its logical extreme by the increasingly ubiquitous "infomercial", which is blatant, thinly disguised advertising presented as though it were infotainment. This is not the same thing as Home Shopping, which doesn't attempt to disguise its real purpose. This technique can be quite insidious, depending on the skill of the presenter, and his/her ability to seamlessly transfer focus from the lead topic to the advertising.
The terms "Infotainment" and "Infotainer" were first used in September 1980 at the Joint Conference of Aslib, the Institute of Information Scientists and the Library Association in Sheffield, UK. The Infotainers were a group of British information scientists who put on comedy shows at their professional conferences between 1980 and 1990.
Discussion of "Soft Journalism" Is First in Spring Ethics Series
The Center for Applied and Professional Ethics (CAPE) at California State University, Chico will hold the first in a spring series of three forums on ethics and the media on Tuesday, March 6. "That's Infotainment! Is Soft Journalism Undermining Journalistic Integrity?" is free and open to the public. It will be held in Holt 170 at 7:30 p.m.
Marcel Daguerre and Tony Graybosch, both members of the Department of Philosophy, and Morris Brown Jr., Department of Journalism, will constitute a panel discussing whether a news organization can serve both the market and the public well.
"Increased competition for viewers has caused news organizations to pursue stories about crime, celebrities and lifestyles at the expense of public affairs reporting on breaking events, major political figures and other stories that are in the public interest," said Marcel Daguerre, director of CAPE.
The panel will explore whether this has served to diminish journalistic credibility and whether a market-driven news industry enhances or diminishes the public's interest in the news. "As crime rates fell throughout the 1990s," Daguerre noted, "polls consistently revealed that people believed crime was getting worse. This coincided with an increase in crime stories in the media. How does the change in emphasis from hard to soft news stories affect public discourse and political decision-making?"
Two other forums during the spring will address protecting confidential sources and media monopolies. A fourth forum, on March 28, is not part of the journalism ethics theme, but features a noted economist on the free market. The public is invited to attend this series of free forums.
The Free Market: Liberated but Not WildWednesday, March 28, 7:30 p.m., PAC 134Fred Foldvary, Department of Economics, Santa Clara UniversityDoes the free market recognize ethics? Fred Foldvary not only resoundingly answers "yes," but also contends that libertarianism is the most ethically sound of all the available moral theories. In his defense of libertarianism, Dr. Foldvary argues that the concept of voluntary human action implies an ethic that determines which acts are voluntary, and so within the market and therefore permitted, and which acts are involuntary, and so outside the market and therefore prohibited. But the same ethical rules that determine the meaning of the market also provide ethical guidance for governance and policy. Thus, he concludes, ethics both determine and require a free market.
Foldvary received his BA in economics from the University of California at Berkeley and his MA and PhD in economics from George Mason University. He has taught economics at the Latvian University of Agriculture, Virginia Tech, John F. Kennedy University, California State University at Hayward, the University of California at Berkeley Extension, and Santa Clara University. Foldvary is the author of "The Soul of Liberty," "Public Goods and Private Communities," and "Dictionary of Free Market Economics."
Protecting Confidential Sources: How Free Should a Free Press Be?Wednesday, April 25, 7:30 p.m., PAC 134Aaron Quinn, Department of JournalismTim Crews, Publisher, Sacramento Valley MirrorDavid Little, Editor, Chico Enterprise Record
From Watergate and the Pentagon Papers to Iran-Contra and Abu Ghraib, journalists have used information from confidential sources to reveal information of great public import. Many have used such sources to expose unethical behavior by corporations, government and even professional athletes. As a consequence, some journalists are so committed to protecting their sources that they are willing to spend time in jail to do so. But some argue there should be strong limits on the use and protection of confidential sources.
Media Monopolies: Are You Getting All the News That's Fit to Print?Wednesday, May 2, 7:30 p.m., PAC 134Matt Blake, Department of JournalismRon Hirschbein, Department of Philosophy Evan Tuchinsky, Editor, Chico News and Review
By some accounts, six companies now control 90 percent of America's news diet. Is this a problem? What are the effects of the concentration of media ownership? How can choices made at the top levels of media conglomerates affect the news we see and hear, and the ways we see and hear it? Does the existence of the Internet and the emergence of citizen journalists online mitigate the concerns about media consolidation among traditional news sources? Two years after the invasion of Iraq, 56 percent of Americans still believed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction before the war. Sixty percent believed that Iraq had provided assistance to al-Qaida. Both claims had been long discredited. Did a lack of news media alternatives play a role in the persistence of both beliefs?
The Center for Applied and Professional Ethics (CAPE) promotes ethical reflection about issues of concern within and outside the University.
Most infotainment, especially television programs on the networks or broadcast cable, only contain general factual information on the subjects they cover, and should not be considered as formal learning or instruction. For example you may learn that a motorcycle contains an engine, or how fast one can travel, on American Chopper, but you will not learn the inner-workings of the engine, the physics and chemistry involved when it is running, or how to customize a motorcycle on your own using schematics.
[edit] Hard news, soft news and infotainment
Hard news and soft news are terms for describing a relative difference between poles in a spectrum within the broader news trade—with "hard" journalism at the professional end and "soft" infotainment at the other. Because the term "news" is quite broad, the terms "hard" and "soft" denote both a difference in respective standards for news value, as well as for standards of conduct, relative to the professional ideals of journalistic integrity.
The idea of hard news embodies two orthogonal concepts:
Seriousness: Politics, economics, crime, war, and disasters are considered serious topics, as are certain aspects of law, science, and technology.
Timeliness: Stories that cover current events—the progress of a war, the results of a vote, the breaking out of a fire, a significant public statement, the freeing of a prisoner, an economic report of note.
The logical opposite, soft news is sometimes referred to in a derogatory fashion as infotainment. Defining features catching the most criticism include:
The least serious subjects: Arts and entertainment, sports, lifestyles, "human interest", and celebrities.
Not timely: There is no precipitating event triggering the story, other than a reporter's curiosity.
Timely events happen in less serious subjects—sporting matches, celebrity misadventures, movie releases, art exhibits, and so on.
There may also be serious reports which are not event-driven—coverage of important social, economic, legal, or technological trends; investigative reports which uncover ongoing corruption, waste, or immorality; or discussion of unsettled political issues without any special reason. Anniversaries, holidays, the end of a year or season, or the end of the first 100 days of an administration, can make some stories time-sensitive, but provide more of an opportunity for reflection and analysis than any actual "news" to report.
The spectrum of "seriousness" and "importance" is not well-defined, and different media organizations make different tradeoffs. "News you can use", a common marketing phrase highlighting a specific genre of journalism, spans the gray area. Gardening tips and hobby "news" pretty clearly fall at the entertainment end. Warnings about imminent natural disasters or acute domestic security threats (such as air raids or terrorist attacks) are considered so important that broadcast media (even non-news channels) usually interrupt other programming to announce them. A medical story about a new treatment for breast cancer, or a report about local ground water pollution might fall in between. So might book reviews, or coverage of religion. On the other hand, people frequently find hobbies and entertainment to be worthwhile parts of their lives and so "importance" on a personal level is rather subjective.
[edit] Concerns and criticisms
The label "infotainment" is emblematic of concern and criticism that journalism is devolving from a medium which conveys serious information about issues that affect the public interest, into a form of entertainment which happens to have fresh "facts" in the mix. The criteria by which reporters and editors judge news value - whether something is worth putting on the front page, the bottom of the hour, or is worth commenting on at all - is an integral part of this debate.
Some blame the media for this perceived phenomenon, for failing to live up to ideals of civic journalistic responsibility. Others blame the commercial nature of many media organizations, the need for higher ratings, combined with a preference among the public for feel-good content and "unimportant" topics (like celebrity gossip or sports).
A specialization process has also occurred, beginning with the rise of mass market special-interest magazines, moving into broadcast with the advent of cable television, and continuing into new media, like the Internet and satellite radio. An increasing number of media outlets are available to the public that focus exclusively on one topic such as current events, home improvement, history, movies, women and Christianity. This means that consumers have more choice over whether they receive a general feed of the most "important" information of the day, or whether they get a highly customized presentation that contains only one type of content, which need not be newsworthy, and which need not come from a neutral point of view. Some publications and channels have found a sizable audience in the "niche" of featuring hard news. But controversy continues over whether the size of that audience is too small, and whether those outlets are diluting content with too much "soft" news.
[edit] What counts as journalism?
Some journalists define "journalism" to include only report on "serious" subjects, where common journalistic standards are upheld by the reporter. The larger "news business" or news trade encompasses everything from professional journalism to so-called "soft news" and "infotainment", and support activities such as marketing, advertising sales, finance and delivery. Professional journalism is supposed to place more emphasis on research, fact-checking, and the public interest than its "non-journalistic" counterparts.
[edit] Entertainment and news crossovers
Infotainers are entertainers in infotainment media, such as news anchors or "news personalities" who cross the line between journalism (quasi-journalism) and entertainment within the broader news trade. Notable examples in the U.S. media are Barbara Walters, Katie Couric, Bill O'Reilly, Maury Povich, Deborah Norville, and Geraldo Rivera among others.
Barbara Walters, though not the first to cross the line between news and personality stories, is for many the quintessential news-media icon. Her career dates back to the 50s, and her current prominence at ABC is largely celebrity interviews, with a long running co-anchorship on 20/20 with Hugh Downs and, later, John Stossel until 2004 and her overlapping morning infotainment show The View.
When Geraldo Rivera became the host of his own news-oriented talk show on CNBC, others within the NBC organization voiced their protest, including Tom Brokaw who was reported to have threatened to quit. Rivera had a notorious history as a "sleaze reporter" and daytime talk show host, where he and one or two others were representative of "trash TV"; television seen to have little social value or redeeming intelligence, but still popular with viewers.
A particular example is of the career of Andrea Thompson, formerly an actress on Babylon 5 and NYPD Blue, who quit acting to become a reporter for KRQE News in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and was later hired by CNN Headline News. She later quit CNN, citing a desire to spend more time with her son. Some[attribution needed] speculated that others at CNN resented the presence of the former actress, and had some degree of influence on her decision to quit.
[edit] Infomercials
The infotainment concept is taken to its logical extreme by the increasingly ubiquitous "infomercial", which is blatant, thinly disguised advertising presented as though it were infotainment. This is not the same thing as Home Shopping, which doesn't attempt to disguise its real purpose. This technique can be quite insidious, depending on the skill of the presenter, and his/her ability to seamlessly transfer focus from the lead topic to the advertising.
The terms "Infotainment" and "Infotainer" were first used in September 1980 at the Joint Conference of Aslib, the Institute of Information Scientists and the Library Association in Sheffield, UK. The Infotainers were a group of British information scientists who put on comedy shows at their professional conferences between 1980 and 1990.
Discussion of "Soft Journalism" Is First in Spring Ethics Series
The Center for Applied and Professional Ethics (CAPE) at California State University, Chico will hold the first in a spring series of three forums on ethics and the media on Tuesday, March 6. "That's Infotainment! Is Soft Journalism Undermining Journalistic Integrity?" is free and open to the public. It will be held in Holt 170 at 7:30 p.m.
Marcel Daguerre and Tony Graybosch, both members of the Department of Philosophy, and Morris Brown Jr., Department of Journalism, will constitute a panel discussing whether a news organization can serve both the market and the public well.
"Increased competition for viewers has caused news organizations to pursue stories about crime, celebrities and lifestyles at the expense of public affairs reporting on breaking events, major political figures and other stories that are in the public interest," said Marcel Daguerre, director of CAPE.
The panel will explore whether this has served to diminish journalistic credibility and whether a market-driven news industry enhances or diminishes the public's interest in the news. "As crime rates fell throughout the 1990s," Daguerre noted, "polls consistently revealed that people believed crime was getting worse. This coincided with an increase in crime stories in the media. How does the change in emphasis from hard to soft news stories affect public discourse and political decision-making?"
Two other forums during the spring will address protecting confidential sources and media monopolies. A fourth forum, on March 28, is not part of the journalism ethics theme, but features a noted economist on the free market. The public is invited to attend this series of free forums.
The Free Market: Liberated but Not WildWednesday, March 28, 7:30 p.m., PAC 134Fred Foldvary, Department of Economics, Santa Clara UniversityDoes the free market recognize ethics? Fred Foldvary not only resoundingly answers "yes," but also contends that libertarianism is the most ethically sound of all the available moral theories. In his defense of libertarianism, Dr. Foldvary argues that the concept of voluntary human action implies an ethic that determines which acts are voluntary, and so within the market and therefore permitted, and which acts are involuntary, and so outside the market and therefore prohibited. But the same ethical rules that determine the meaning of the market also provide ethical guidance for governance and policy. Thus, he concludes, ethics both determine and require a free market.
Foldvary received his BA in economics from the University of California at Berkeley and his MA and PhD in economics from George Mason University. He has taught economics at the Latvian University of Agriculture, Virginia Tech, John F. Kennedy University, California State University at Hayward, the University of California at Berkeley Extension, and Santa Clara University. Foldvary is the author of "The Soul of Liberty," "Public Goods and Private Communities," and "Dictionary of Free Market Economics."
Protecting Confidential Sources: How Free Should a Free Press Be?Wednesday, April 25, 7:30 p.m., PAC 134Aaron Quinn, Department of JournalismTim Crews, Publisher, Sacramento Valley MirrorDavid Little, Editor, Chico Enterprise Record
From Watergate and the Pentagon Papers to Iran-Contra and Abu Ghraib, journalists have used information from confidential sources to reveal information of great public import. Many have used such sources to expose unethical behavior by corporations, government and even professional athletes. As a consequence, some journalists are so committed to protecting their sources that they are willing to spend time in jail to do so. But some argue there should be strong limits on the use and protection of confidential sources.
Media Monopolies: Are You Getting All the News That's Fit to Print?Wednesday, May 2, 7:30 p.m., PAC 134Matt Blake, Department of JournalismRon Hirschbein, Department of Philosophy Evan Tuchinsky, Editor, Chico News and Review
By some accounts, six companies now control 90 percent of America's news diet. Is this a problem? What are the effects of the concentration of media ownership? How can choices made at the top levels of media conglomerates affect the news we see and hear, and the ways we see and hear it? Does the existence of the Internet and the emergence of citizen journalists online mitigate the concerns about media consolidation among traditional news sources? Two years after the invasion of Iraq, 56 percent of Americans still believed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction before the war. Sixty percent believed that Iraq had provided assistance to al-Qaida. Both claims had been long discredited. Did a lack of news media alternatives play a role in the persistence of both beliefs?
The Center for Applied and Professional Ethics (CAPE) promotes ethical reflection about issues of concern within and outside the University.
The Art Of Writing News
News writing is a key skill for journalists, but it helps with other types of writing as well. That’s because news writing is about telling a story quickly and concisely. Anyone can learn to do this, with a bit of help. Here’s how you can write the news and get your story across. The technique also works well for writing press releases.
News Writing Structure
News writing has its own structure. It’s called the inverted pyramid. This upside down triangle serves as a guide for how you include information in the story. Using the inverted pyramid means starting with the most important information, then putting the next most important info and so on. It can also serve as a guide for writing each paragraph in the story. Start with the most important point, then the next most important and so on.
The inverted pyramid has an interesting history. Before digital printing and desktop publishing, news was laid out manually. If a late breaking story came in and the editor needed to make room, then the editor would order another story to be cut. Having the most important information at the top meant that readers always got the essential parts of the story.
Writing The Facts
Another way to think of the inverted pyramid is that you start with the facts and then add the background. So, how do you know what background to add? It’s easy. You can use the 6Ws. Strictly speaking, there aren’t six Ws, there are actually 5Ws and 1H, but the formula seems to work. That mnemonic reminds us to include the who, where, what, why, when and how of a story.
Why is this? Think about how you tell a story to your friends. You might say: ‘You’ll never believe WHO I just saw!’ Then you might go on to tell the story of where the person was, what they were doing, and why it’s scandalous. We all want to hear about people – and that’s what news is about? Look at any news story and you will see that all of this information is in the first two paragraphs. Anything after that is background to the story.
Let me give another example. If I were writing about a car crash, I would say who was involved, when and where it happened, why it happened and how it happened. Those would be the main points and my story might look something like this:
Two people sustained serious injuries in a car crash at Hill Road at 6am today. The collision happened when Mr. Smith swerved into the opposite lane to avoid a dog in the road. Ms Jones, who was in that lane, was unable to stop in time. Both Mr. Smith and Ms Jones have been taken to the local hospital.
This is not a perfect example, but you get the idea – and now you can write the news too.
News writing is a key skill for journalists, but it helps with other types of writing as well. That’s because news writing is about telling a story quickly and concisely. Anyone can learn to do this, with a bit of help. Here’s how you can write the news and get your story across. The technique also works well for writing press releases.
News Writing Structure
News writing has its own structure. It’s called the inverted pyramid. This upside down triangle serves as a guide for how you include information in the story. Using the inverted pyramid means starting with the most important information, then putting the next most important info and so on. It can also serve as a guide for writing each paragraph in the story. Start with the most important point, then the next most important and so on.
The inverted pyramid has an interesting history. Before digital printing and desktop publishing, news was laid out manually. If a late breaking story came in and the editor needed to make room, then the editor would order another story to be cut. Having the most important information at the top meant that readers always got the essential parts of the story.
Writing The Facts
Another way to think of the inverted pyramid is that you start with the facts and then add the background. So, how do you know what background to add? It’s easy. You can use the 6Ws. Strictly speaking, there aren’t six Ws, there are actually 5Ws and 1H, but the formula seems to work. That mnemonic reminds us to include the who, where, what, why, when and how of a story.
Why is this? Think about how you tell a story to your friends. You might say: ‘You’ll never believe WHO I just saw!’ Then you might go on to tell the story of where the person was, what they were doing, and why it’s scandalous. We all want to hear about people – and that’s what news is about? Look at any news story and you will see that all of this information is in the first two paragraphs. Anything after that is background to the story.
Let me give another example. If I were writing about a car crash, I would say who was involved, when and where it happened, why it happened and how it happened. Those would be the main points and my story might look something like this:
Two people sustained serious injuries in a car crash at Hill Road at 6am today. The collision happened when Mr. Smith swerved into the opposite lane to avoid a dog in the road. Ms Jones, who was in that lane, was unable to stop in time. Both Mr. Smith and Ms Jones have been taken to the local hospital.
This is not a perfect example, but you get the idea – and now you can write the news too.
How to Write a News Story
Here's something very few people realise: Writing news stories isn't particularly difficult. It does take practice and not everyone will be an expert but if you follow the guidelines below you should be able to create effective news items without too much stress.
The Five "W"s and the "H"
This is the crux of all news - you need to know five things:
Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?
Any good news story provides answers to each of these questions. You must drill these into your brain and they must become second nature.
For example, if you wish to cover a story about a local sports team entering a competition you will need to answer these questions:
Who is the team? Who is the coach? Who are the prominent players? Who are the supporters?
What sport do they play? What is the competition?
Where is the competition? Where is the team normally based?
When is the competition? How long have they been preparing? Are there any other important time factors?
Why are they entering this particular competition? If it's relevant, why does the team exist at all?
How are they going to enter the competition? Do they need to fundraise? How much training and preparation is required? What will they need to do to win?
The Inverted Pyramid
This refers to the style of journalism which places the most important facts at the beginning and works "down" from there. Ideally, the first paragraph should contain enough information to give the reader a good overview of the entire story. The rest of the article explains and expands on the beginning.
A good approach is to assume that the story might be cut off at any point due to space limitations. Does the story work if the editor only decides to include the first two paragraphs? If not, re-arrange it so that it does.
The same principle can apply to any type of medium.
More Tips
It's About PeopleNews stories are all about how people are affected. In your sports story, you might spend some time focusing on one or more individuals, or on how the team morale is doing, or how the supporters are feeling.
Have an AngleMost stories can be presented using a particular angle or "slant". This is a standard technique and isn't necessarily bad - it can help make the purpose of the story clear and give it focus. Examples of angles you could use for your sports story:"Team Tackles National Competition""Big Ask for First-Year Coach""Local Team in Need of Funds"
Keep it ObjectiveYou are completely impartial. If there is more than one side to the story, cover them all. Don't use "I" and "me" unless you are quoting someone. Speaking of quoting...
Quote PeopleFor example: "We're really excited about this competition," says coach Bob Dobalina, "It's the highest target we've ever set ourselves".
Don't Get FloweryKeep your sentences and paragraphs short. Don't use lots of heavily descriptive language. When you've finished, go through the entire story and try to remove any words which aren't completely necessary.
Here's something very few people realise: Writing news stories isn't particularly difficult. It does take practice and not everyone will be an expert but if you follow the guidelines below you should be able to create effective news items without too much stress.
The Five "W"s and the "H"
This is the crux of all news - you need to know five things:
Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?
Any good news story provides answers to each of these questions. You must drill these into your brain and they must become second nature.
For example, if you wish to cover a story about a local sports team entering a competition you will need to answer these questions:
Who is the team? Who is the coach? Who are the prominent players? Who are the supporters?
What sport do they play? What is the competition?
Where is the competition? Where is the team normally based?
When is the competition? How long have they been preparing? Are there any other important time factors?
Why are they entering this particular competition? If it's relevant, why does the team exist at all?
How are they going to enter the competition? Do they need to fundraise? How much training and preparation is required? What will they need to do to win?
The Inverted Pyramid
This refers to the style of journalism which places the most important facts at the beginning and works "down" from there. Ideally, the first paragraph should contain enough information to give the reader a good overview of the entire story. The rest of the article explains and expands on the beginning.
A good approach is to assume that the story might be cut off at any point due to space limitations. Does the story work if the editor only decides to include the first two paragraphs? If not, re-arrange it so that it does.
The same principle can apply to any type of medium.
More Tips
It's About PeopleNews stories are all about how people are affected. In your sports story, you might spend some time focusing on one or more individuals, or on how the team morale is doing, or how the supporters are feeling.
Have an AngleMost stories can be presented using a particular angle or "slant". This is a standard technique and isn't necessarily bad - it can help make the purpose of the story clear and give it focus. Examples of angles you could use for your sports story:"Team Tackles National Competition""Big Ask for First-Year Coach""Local Team in Need of Funds"
Keep it ObjectiveYou are completely impartial. If there is more than one side to the story, cover them all. Don't use "I" and "me" unless you are quoting someone. Speaking of quoting...
Quote PeopleFor example: "We're really excited about this competition," says coach Bob Dobalina, "It's the highest target we've ever set ourselves".
Don't Get FloweryKeep your sentences and paragraphs short. Don't use lots of heavily descriptive language. When you've finished, go through the entire story and try to remove any words which aren't completely necessary.
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