The Culture of Journalism: Values, Ethics, and Democracy Chapter 14

“Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.” —Thomas Jefferson

Newsworthiness What is news and what is not? Gatekeeper function of media Determines newsworthiness Conflict Prominence Human interest Consequence Usefulness Deviant, the bizarre News helps the public make sense of prominent people, important events, and unusual happenings in everyday life.

American Journalism Values General belief that journalists should present news from neutral standpoint Media claims for balance Socialist Herbert Gans offers four subjective beliefs that shape news judgments: Ethnocentrism Responsible capitalism Small-town pastoralism Individualism Reporters as neutral “channels” of information As opposed to citizens actively involved in public life

Ethical Dilemmas Deploying deception Invading privacy Is truth the only goal? Invading privacy Microphone in the face of the bereaved Going through someone’s trash Conflict of interest Any situation where a journalist may stand to benefit personally from the story he or she produces SPJ code warns against accepting gifts or favors.

Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Code of Ethics (p. 444) Seek Truth and Report It Minimize Harm Act Independently Be Accountable

Reporting Rituals Cult of the new Getting the story first (scoop) With the1840s rise of telegraph, editors wanted to focus on the immediacy of the present. Modern journalism tends to reject “old news” for whatever new event or idea disrupts today’s routines. Old news doesn’t run. Thus, news often lacks historical context. Getting the story first (scoop) Herd journalism Reliance on experts

Rituals (cont.) Becomes an end in itself “Balance” Two-dimensionality of news Helps generate story conflict Misrepresents the multifaceted complexity of social issues Adversarial relationship between prominent leaders and major institutions Gotcha story Tough-questioning style Becomes an end in itself Reporter located between “them” and “us” Might be better to improve the quality of political discussions by asking, “Why is this going on?” and “What ought to be done about it?”

Print vs. Television TV journalism’s origins in print Edward R. Murrow TV driven by its technology Credibility based on live, up-to-the-minute broadcasts The image is everything. Sound bite news Broadcast format forces compression.

Pretty-Face and Happy-Talk Culture TV journalists face discrimination based on appearance. Happy talk: ad-libbed or scripted banter between anchors and reporters before and after news reports

Public Journalism Tenets of public journalism News accepts broader mission of improving public life. No longer detached Suggests policy alternatives Recasts public as actors alive in the process

Criticism of Public Journalism Public journalism panders Critics fear losing credibility built up over decades of “objective” reporting. Removes traditional editorial role Changes reporting style to conversational No balance Just a marketing facade

Fake News and Satiric Journalism Appeals to many cynical young people Critiques the unimaginative quality of traditional news stories The Daily Show and The Colbert Report “There’s no journalist today, real or fake, who is more significant for people 18 to 25.” –Seth Siegel, advertising and branding consultant, on Jon Stewart

Role of Reporting Social responsibility: James Agee, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men Deliberative democracy: journalists should be activists for public life Representative democracy Deliberative democracy

“Neither journalism nor public life will move forward until we actually rethink, redescribe, and reinterpret what journalism is; not the science of information of our culture but its poetry and conversation.” —James Carey, Kettering Review, 1992