Enemies of the people?

Posted on August 3, 2018 | Comments Off on Enemies of the people?

Even though his presidency has come to a close, Donald Trump is still claiming that the press is “the enemy of the people.” The small but fervent crowds at his rallies continue to boo and heckle and roar their hated at the brave souls who stand before the cameras. 

So, what is it about the press that incites these dark emotions?

Nothing.  That is to say, this is not really about the press.  Trump’s rhetoric is not aimed at trying to correct the many well-known faults of that institution.  The rhetoric is, rather obviously, designed to arouse intense emotions among people whose destructive impulses are easily reached by bombastic cliches. Continue reading →

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Posted in Ethics, Future of news

Remembering another champion of the people

Posted on August 1, 2018 | Comments Off on Remembering another champion of the people

A long-neglected champion of the people, Ida B. Wells, has been remembered by the Chicago City Council this summer as it  renamed a prominent downtown street for her.  Wells is remembered as a courageous journalist who exposed lawless lynch mobs in Memphis, TN, in the 1890s. She was also a  pioneering newspaper editor, and a women’s rights advocate.  Renaming Congress Parkway as Ida B. Wells Drive comes as Wells’s descendants are preparing to commemorate her with a monument, also in Chicago, says the New York Times in an article published July 31.  Wells was also remembered in another Oct. 15, 2018 article.   For more information about the history of minority media in America, see this feature article, Civil Rights and the Press,  at Revolutions in Communication.

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Posted in journalists

2018 media trust poll & what it means

Posted on January 23, 2018 | Comments Off on 2018 media trust poll & what it means

Gallup’s not-so-surprising poll finds that media trust depends on which side of the fence you’re on.  Some 84 percent of Americans believe the news media has a critical role to play in a democracy, but nearly 70 percent of Republicans ranked the media unfavorably, compared to 54 percent of Democrats.

Forty percent of Republicans say that negative stories about conservative politicians are “always” fake news.  So, in this case, “fake” is not a reflection of veracity but rather just another partisan position.

See the Knight Center and Columbia Journalism Review articles.

 

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Posted in Future of news

Report for America

Posted on October 2, 2017 | Comments Off on Report for America

Report for America, a partnership between the GroundTruth Project and Google News Lab with support from the Lenfest Institute, the Knight Foundation, and a number of other journalism organizations, has the ambitious goal of putting 1,000 journalists into underserved newsrooms across America over the next five years, according to an article in Nieman Reports.

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Posted in Uncategorized

A journalists call to action

Posted on November 11, 2016 | Comments Off on A journalists call to action

One thing is certain in the wake of the 2016 presidential election,  says  Margaret Sullivan’s  Nov 11 2016 column in the Washington Post 

“Journalists are going to have to be better — stronger, more courageous, stiffer-spined — than they’ve ever been.

“Donald Trump made hatred of the media the centerpiece of his campaign. Journalists were just cogs in a corporate machine, part of the rigged system. If many Americans distrusted us in the past, they came to actively hate us.

“…  We have to be willing to fight back,” she said. Continue reading →

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Bad news for the news biz says Oliver

Posted on August 8, 2016 | Comments Off on Bad news for the news biz says Oliver

In this hilarious but sobering take on the demise of real news, Oliver takes on Tribune media’s human wrecking ball Sam Zell, and its ‘tronc’ rebranding (you cant make this stuff up).  Then there’s Sheldon Addleson the casino owner who took over the Las Vegas newspaper and edits everything that appears about him in the newspaper. And there’s Jeff Bezos … Well, you’ll just have to watch it.

The Pew report Oliver mentions is at journalism.org. This was part of a long string of reports from similar institutions about the impact of the digital Continue reading →

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Posted in Ethics, Future of news

A poet’s view

Posted on March 30, 2016 | Comments Off on A poet’s view

Neruda

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New NC law represses campus speech

Posted on March 29, 2016 | Comments Off on New NC law represses campus speech

North Carolina is considering (in April, 2016) a law that would harshly punish anyone who disrupts campus activities.   Although designated a “free  speech” law, the intent of the law appears to be the opposite of its name.

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Solutions journalism course

Posted on March 29, 2016 | Comments Off on Solutions journalism course

Poynter’s News University, in partnership with the Solutions Journalism Network, is offering the self-directed course “Solutions Journalism in Every Newsroom.”

Participants will learn how to define solutions journalism; identify and vet solutions journalism story ideas; structure a solutions story; write or produce solutions stories; and incorporate solutions journalism into daily workflow and beat reporting.

This course is in beta phase. As a bonus, participants who complete a survey at the end of the course will receive a free NewsU webinar.

Registration is ongoing. The course can be taken at any time.

For more information, click here.

(From International Journalism network )

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Undercover reporting

Posted on February 1, 2016 | Comments Off on Undercover reporting

Nelly Bly, undercover reporter for Pulitzer’s World newspaper, went undercover for “Ten Days in a Mad House”

When is it ethically and legally justifiable to go undercover to report a public interest story?   Good question. Brooke Kroeger’s book and project, Undercover Reporting: The Truth About Deception, looks at the historical answers to that question.

On The Media interviewed Kroeger about the issue.

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