Chapter 13 T HE C ULTURE OF J OURNALISM : Values, Ethics, and Democracy Kendall Rice

M ODERN J OURNALISM in the Information Age Has allowed for informed, intelligent decision making Has produced an excess of unimportant information – Only adds to the problems and anxieties of everyday life – Too much “unchecked data” and too little meaningful discussion generated by it – fails to make a significant impact on public and political life Opportunities to take part in public conversation and civic debate

N EWS : What is News? Process of Gathering Information – Making Narrative Reports – Offering select frames of reference Within those Frames, – Helps make sense of Prominent people Important events Political issues Cultural trends Unusual happenings in everyday life.

N EWS : What is News? 1963, Reuven Frank, NBC NEWS: “Every news story should…display the attributes of fiction, drama, it should have structure and conflict, problem and denouncement, rising and falling action, beginning, middle, and end.” Journalists as information-gatherers rather than storytellers

C HARACTERISTICS of News Conventional set of criteria determining newsworthiness has evolved:

C HARACTERISTICS of News Timeliness: – Events that have just occurred recently

C HARACTERISTICS of News Proximity: – Events that have occurred close by and are of relevance to the reader or viewer

C HARACTERISTICS of News Conflict: – Key ingredient of narrative – Representation of opposing views – Natural disasters and military confrontations

C HARACTERISTICS of News Prominence: – Powerful, influential people who have important roles in shaping rules and values of a community

C HARACTERISTICS of News Human Interest: – Extraordinary events or occurrences happening to otherwise “ordinary” people

C HARACTERISTICS of News Consequence: – News that has any significant impact on the daily life of the reader/ viewer

C HARACTERISTICS of News Usefulness: – Information of value or benefit that may have practical use to the reader/ viewer

C HARACTERISTICS of News Novelty: – Extraordinary or shocking incidents outside of day-to-day routine

C HARACTERISTICS of News Deviance: – Any event that departs from established social norms.

V ALUES in American Journalism News is both product and process – Subtle values and shifting rituals – Adapted to historical and social circumstances

V ALUES in American Journalism Horace Greeley, 1841: Reporters’ neutrality would make them “wimps who stood for nothing” That same neutrality now a major value of conventional journalism David Eason: “Reporters…have no special method for determining the truth of a situation nor a special language for reporting their findings. They make sense of events by telling stories about them.”

N EUTRALITY B OOSTS C REDIBILITY …and Sales Many modern journalists believe that their credibility is based in supposed objectivity and stance as neutral, unbiased observers Mass-marketing of newspapers in 1880s – Publishers become less opinionated and more business-minded in order to reach a broader audience and increase sales

O THER C ULTURAL V ALUES in Journalism Neutral journalism remains a selective process governed by deeper subjective beliefs.

O THER C ULTURAL V ALUES in Journalism ethnocentrism – Perception of and writing about foreign affairs and events from a strictly “American” perspective

O THER C ULTURAL V ALUES in Journalism responsible capitalism – The naïve assumption that businesspeople compete with one another not primarily to maximize profits but “to create increased prosperity for all.” Many journalists condemn monopolies but say little about the oligopolistic nature of the media

O THER C ULTURAL V ALUES in Journalism small-town pastoralism – The tendency to favor the small over the large, the rural over the urban, the innocence of the country over the corruption of the city.

O THER C ULTURAL V ALUES in Journalism Individualism – Idealistic reporters are attracted to the profession because it rewards the those who go to great lengths to confront and expose corruption and overcome personal adversity – Dangers of focusing on personal triumphs Failure to explain institutional decay Preference for working alone Difficulty in collaborative efforts

F ACTS, Values, and Bias Facts with objective position Values with subjective feelings Offer the reader/ viewer details, data, and description – Reporters as neutral “channels” of information, responsible only for “getting the facts” and conveying them

F ACTS, Values, and Bias Conservatives: Media as liberally biased Liberals: Media as Favorable to Conservative Positions News bias toward storytelling, conflict, drama and scandal Evan Thomas, Newsweek: “Journalists are looking for narratives that reveal something of character. It is the human drama that most compels our attention.”

E THICS and the News Media Dilemma of disclosure vs. concealment Deceptive tactics Invasion of privacy Conflict of Interest

E THICS Ethical Predicaments absolutist ethics suggests that a moral society has laws and codes, including honesty, that everyone must live by situational ethics promotes ethical decisions on a case-by-case basis. Journalism Code of Ethics Fine line between “right to know” and invasion of personal privacy. Avoidance of situations in which one may benefit personally from the story being produced.

R ESOLUTION of Ethical Problems Aristotle’s “Golden Mean” – Seeking balance and finding a middle ground between two competing positions Immanuel Kant – “Categorical Imperative” – Strict adherence to universal and unconditional moral codes at all times and in all situations Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill – “The greatest good for the greatest number,” to distribute a good consequence to more people rather than to fewer, whenever we have a choice.”

D EVELOPMENT of Ethical Policy Laying out the case; pinpointing the key issues; identifying involved parties, their intents, and their competing values; studying ethical models; presenting strategies and options; formulating a decision.

R EPORTING R ITUALS and the Legacy of Print Journalism Journalists unfamiliar with being questioned themselves Rituals derived from American values

F OCUS on the Present Editors call for a focus on “the immediacy of the present” De-emphasis on political analysis and historical context; Accent on the new and the now Rejection of “old news” for any new disruption of daily routine

F OCUS on the Present “Get the story” Getting the story first – ”Scoop behavior” Herd journalism – Invasion of privacy, exploitation of personal problems Getting the story wrong

R ELY on Experts What vs. Whom a journalist knows Use of experts to create conflict Expert source bias Blurred line between neutrality and expertise

A CT as Adversaries Adversarial relationship between reporters and figures, institutions they cover “Gotcha Story” Use of “tough questioning” “What is going on here?” – Vs. Why is it going on? What can be done about it?

J OURNALISM in the Age of TV and the Internet The rules and rituals governing American journalism began shifting in the 1950s. Blurring the line between entertainment and information.

D IFFERENCES between Print and TV News Broadcast news driven by technology Physical ad space; commercial slots Detachment; Live, on-the-sport Viewers’ regard for TV news anchors

S OUND B ITES TV equivalent of a quote

P RETTY -F ACE and Happy-Talk Culture Stereotypical, “ideal” news reporter – What topics should be covered, how one should look and sound Replication of past advertising images Happy Talk: – Scripted banter; relaxed atmosphere – Often forced and at times inappropriate

P UNDITS, Talking Heads, and Politics Evening News – 24/7 News Decline in live reporting Niche markets – Smart business[?] – Not so good journalism Strong opinions, not all the facts

C ONVERGENCE Enhances and Changes Journalism Online news has added new dimensions to journalism Problems – instead of face to face interviews – Ease of access to and breadth of information Plagiarism Demands on reporting and writing

T HE P OWER of Visual Language The visual language of TV news and the Internet often capture events more powerfully than words The Internet as a repository for news images and video

A LTERNATIVE M ODELS : Public Journalism and “Fake News” Two competing journalism models – Informational Neutral description of events – Partisan Analysis of occurrences and advocation of remedies Dominance of Informational on front page – Partisan confined to editorials Alternative models to challenge ideals

T HE P UBLIC J OURNALISM M OVEMENT Davis “Buzz” Merritt - key aspects of Public Journalism: – Moves beyond “telling the news” to a broader mission of helping public life go well… – Moves from detachment to being a fair-minded participant in public life…. – Moves beyond only describing what is “going wrong” to imagining what “going right” would be like…. – Moves from seeing people as consumers to seeing them as a public, as potential actors in arriving at democratic solutions to public problems.

T HE P UBLIC J OURNALISM M OVEMENT Public journalism as a conversational model for journalistic practice. Modern journalism draws a distinct line between reporter detachment and community involvement; public journalism—driven by citizen forums, community conversations, and even talk shows—obscures this line.

T HE P UBLIC J OURNALISM M OVEMENT Criticisms – Loss of editorial control Credibility Balance Diverse views

“F AKE ” N EWS and Satiric Journalism “Fake” news shows appear as legitimate news sources Information seems truthful about politicians and manipulation of media and public opinion. Use of humor to critique news media and the political system. Greater range of emotions than “hard news”

“F AKE ” N EWS and Satiric Journalism Journalism needs to break free from tired formulas—especially in TV news—and reimagine better ways to tell stories. We should demand news story forms that better represent the complexity of our world.

D EMOCRACY and Reimagining Journalism’s Role Journalism is central to democracy: – Both citizens and the media must have access to the information that we need to make important decisions. – the basic principles of democracy require citizens and the media to question our leaders and government.

D EMOCRACY and Reimagining Journalism’s Role Limitations of journalistic principals – No acknowledgement of moral or ethical duty to improve quality of life – Value placed on news-gathering capability and narrative

S OCIAL R ESPONSIBILITY Reporters first and foremost as observers and recorders Some have acknowledged a social responsibility Responsibility extends to readers as well