Images and Reality

 Journalists should not manipulate images and sound to mislead readers and misrepresent subjects.

Journalism Ethics  “Journalism, like most professions, developed a set of business practices first, then endowed those practices with a set of impressive professional rationalizations, and finally proceeded to rewrite its history in ways that made the practices seem to emerge, as if through immaculate conception, from an inspiring set of professional ideals.” - W. Lance Bennett, News: The Politics of Illusion  American Journalism of first 100 years was pre- professional

Charles Dana, 1888 Get the news, get all the news, get nothing but the news. Copy nothing from another publication without perfect credit. Never print an interview without the knowledge and consent of the party interviewed. Never print a paid advertisement as news-matter. Let every advertisement appear as an advertisement; no sailing under false colors. Never attack the weak or defenseless, either by argument, by invective or by ridicule, unless there is some absolute public necessity for so doing. Fight for your opinions but do not believe that they contain the whole truth or the only truth. Support your party, if you have one; but do not think all the good men are in it and all the bad ones outside it. Above all, know and believe that humanity is advancing; that there is progress in human life and human affairs; and that, as sure as God lives, the future will be greater and better than the present or the past.

Clinton/Lewinsky Scandal  Important for two reasons:  Broke and concluded on Internet  Affected traditional journalism behavior  Committee of Concerned Journalists study:

“Mixed Media Culture”  Sources gaining power over journalists  Decline of gatekeeping function  The news of the day as it reaches the newspaper office is an incredible medley of fact, propaganda, rumor suspicion, clues, hopes, and fears, and the task of selecting and ordering that news is one of the truly sacred and priestly offices in a democracy. - Walter Lippmann, Liberty and the News, 1920  Reporting culture is being overrun by argument culture  12/pn.teacher.accused.rape.cnn 12/pn.teacher.accused.rape.cnn

Amateur Journalism?  1999 Texas A&M Bonfire Collapse  Austin360.com post-it forums became a place of mourning  BUT, evolved into an “EMS leak” board  Content Managers began to moderate board and censor posts.  New relationship between audience and media?

Amateur Journalism?  Knights for Free Water   Bright House stadium debut  Big event, tons of media coverage  No water fountains  Bottled water sold out, concessions sold $3 for a cup of tap water  Several fans went to hospital for dehydration/heat exhaustion  2 students started a Facebook group from the stands  2 days later, 10 drinking fountains announced with 40 more to come

Content Ownership  Sean-Paul Kelley  The Agonist - published because “the media wasn’t doing a good enough job of covering the nuances of international relations.”  Plagiarized U.S.-Iraqwar.com  Blogger community response mixed.  Are bloggers journalists? Do they need a code of ethics?

Pew Stats  Cell Phones  83% of American adults have cell phones  35% of American adults have smartphones  76% of cell users take photos  72% of cell users use SMS (text)  51% of cell users use phone for information  42% of cell users use phone for entertainment  13% of cell users report pretending to use a cell phone to avoid physical interaction

Gadgets

Social Networking  47% of Americans (59% of Internet users) belong to a social networking platform  average age increased from 33 to 38 in 2011  half SNS users are over 35  58% of SNS users are female  92% of SNS users are on Facebook  29% use MySpace  18% use LinkedIn  13% use Twitter

 Who USES Twitter is also who CAN BE REACHED by Twitter

Generational Values  “Classic” News Values  Truth  Context  Verification  Motivation to Action  Fairness  Accuracy  Relevance  Transparency  Independence/Critical Distance  Timeliness  Watchdog function

Generational Values  “Modern” News Values  Entertainment  Profit  Immediacy  Easy access  Expedient Decisions  Celebrity focus  Novelty  Access to Influence  Competition  Larger audience = Authority  Youth-centric  Emotionalism = truth  High-quality visuals and sounds  Sex appeal  Violence  Cute

Generational Values  Millennial Values  Humor  Novelty  Connections to one another  Collectivism  Speed  Emotionalism (Outrage)  Entertainment  Customization  Power (through collective)  Independence (from oversight)  Egalitarian information  Timeliness  Volunteerism