Week 1-2: Intro/preface and what is journalism for? Issues in Journalism

Introduction/preface The digital revolution has transformed journalism and also has exposed its vulnerabilities. Technology has fomented tension between journalists and management. It has also created tension between citizen journalists publishing on the web and journalists formed by tradition and training. “The news is becoming less of a prepared lecture and more of an open-mike conversation, with all the pluses and minuses that implies.” (TEOJ preface)

Plagiarism at the PNJ

Plagiarism at the PNJ For your tweeting assignment this week: http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011108260318 For your tweeting assignment this week: What are other media saying about Reggie Dogan's plagiarism and firing at the Pensacola News Journal and/or what your research into plagiarism by columnists such as Mike Barnicle, formerly at The Boston Globe. What's being done to combat plagiarism in journalism anyway?

Dogan and the commenter

Intro/preface Corporate ownership Economic uncertainty The landscape for journalism today: Corporate ownership Economic uncertainty Public attitudes New technology Government censorship Citizen journalism

Intro/preface Segments of the old news industry (newspapers, network news) see audiences disappearing. Business pressures and corporate ownership seem to be minimizing journalism in pursuit of a better bottom line. Government/politicians using journalism or ignoring it to craft policy and control

“[Journalists] are in what we call the reality- based community…That’s not the way the world works anymore …When we act, we create our own reality.” (page 30 TEJ)

Intro/preface Journalists are under intense scrutiny by bloggers… competition for news audiences and sometimes devastating criticism. http://video.app.msn.com/watch/video/dan-rather-leaves- cbs/6eo3stn?cpkey=dc8d248b-a802-4ce1-abdb-6becb5fcddcf The news is going online: The web, YouTube, smartphones, Twitter, IM, text alerts. We are wired today. Journalists must be wired too. Like this student newspaper: http://www.redandblack.com/

Free press in electronic age Journos traditional gatekeeping role is challenged by social media, the Internet… no longer can dictate what’s news… Consumers are no longer passive… they are producing news products… I-journalists But do they have the time, the skills, the ethics, tenacity… to survive over time?

Access to independent information allows citizens to make informed decisions Government will plant “news” and set its own press agenda… it will use tech to dilute its influence and discredit its integrity. http://youtu.be/3oUofEvgNYI Corporations will set an agenda stressing certain news and eliminating others… promoting consumerism. http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/186475/september-30-2008/prescott- oil-loves-the-earth

Scandals, ethics, controversy

Scandals, ethics False photographs Changing quotes Manipulating video sound bites Messing with chronology Fudging facts http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/t ue-november-10-2009/sean-hannity- uses-glenn-beck-s-protest-footage http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/20090 6090028

Pew Research Center survey

The purpose of journalism ‘The primary purpose of journalism is to provide people with the information they need to be self- governing.” (page 12 TEOJ) To fulfill this task: The Element of Journalism

The Elements of Journalism “This book is the fruit of that examination. It is not an argument. It is, rather, a description of the theory and culture of journalism that emerged from three years of listening to citizens and journalists, from our empirical studies, and from our reading of the history of the profession as it evolved in the United States.” (TEOJ intro page 5)

The Elements of Journalism Journalism's first obligation is to the truth. Its first loyalty is to the citizens. Its essence is discipline of verification. Its practitioners must maintain an independence from those they cover. It must serve as an independent monitor of power. It must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise. It must strive to make the significant interesting, and relevant. It must keep the news comprehensive and proportional. Its practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience. Citizens, too, have rights and responsibilities when it comes to the news

An instinct to want to know Definition of news consistent among cultures Hunger to know what the hell-is-going-on Call it the Awareness Instinct When the feed stops… darkness falls If journalism fails, what will replace it? Who would provide accurate, reliable, uncensored and comprehensive information?

The purpose of journalism ‘The primary purpose of journalism is to provide people with the information they need to be self-governing.” (page 12 EOJ)

What is journalism for? Here are some key questions/concepts that you are expected to know from Chapter 1 in The Elements of Journalism. What is the primary purpose of journalism? How did journalism "free" Poland and other Soviet-bloc nations?

What is Journalism For? What's the problem with trying to define journalism today? Define the Awareness Instinct. What is the first task of the new journalist/sense maker given the mind- boggling amount of information and news- delivery technology available today?

What is journalism for? What is the role of the press in a democracy? Define the theory of the interlocking public and give a pertinent example. What happens when journalism focuses on the expectations of the expert elite or writes stories aimed at the largest possible audience?

What is journalism for? List the "three major forces" that the book's authors say are eroding journalism's ability to build community, promote the interest of citizens and monitor the activities of government and powerful special interests? What's the danger to a free press posed by each of these forces?

What is journalism for? How has journalism's traditional role of gatekeeper of information changed in the wake of the Internet and digital technology? Is journalism obsolete in a world of "I- reporters" and "We Media" options for news delivery?

Your moment of journo Zen http://youtu.be/ZY8dlhkoO8E