CHAPTER 11

MANAGING THE NEWS

I. Brief Chapter Outline

1. The Media and the Power of Money

The Power of the People

The Power of Advertisers

The Power of Government

The Power of the Media

The Power of Big Business

Power Tends to Cooperate with Power

News as Entertainment

2. News-Gathering Methods Are Designed to Save Money

3. Misdirection and lack of Proportion

4. News Reporting: Theory and Practice

The Unusual Is News, the Everyday Is Not

News Reporting Is Supposed to be Objective, Not Subjective

News is Supposed to be Separated from Analysis and In-Depth Reporting

The Opinions of the “Right” Authorities Take Precedence

Self-Censorship

Exercise 11-1

5. Devices Used to Slant the News

Stories Can Be Played Up or Down

Misleading, Sensational, or Opinionated Headlines Can Be Used

Images Can Slant the News

Follow-Up Stories Can Be Omitted or Played Down

Points of View Can be Conveyed Via Cartoons and Comic Strips

6. Television, Film, and Electronic Information Sources

Television Is the Best News Source for Many People

The Internet

7. The Non-Mass Media to the Rescue

8. Recent Developments

Summary of Chapter 11

II. List of Key Terms

Advertisers

Analysis

Beats

Big Business

Cartoons

Comic Strips

Electronic information sources

Entertainment

Everyday

Film

Follow-up stories

Government

Headlines

Images

In-depth reporting

Internet

Lack of proportion

Media

Misdirection

Misleading

News-gathering

News-reporting

Non-mass media

Objective

Opinionated

Opinions

Power

Self-censorship

Sensational

Sitcoms

Slant

Sound bite

Subjective

Television

Think-tanks

Unusual

III. Chapter Summary

The news media is going through a huge transformation, in part for economic

reasons. This transformation means that people need to be even more vigilant in

thinking critically about the way the news is presented.

The authors begin this Chapter by discussing the media and the power of money.

They note that the chief source of news for most people are still the mass media,

which exist to make money. Since this is so, their consumers have a lot of say in what

is presented in the mass media. Advertisers also have power over the mass media, and

so they cater to their interests; the same is true of government influence over the mass

media, which can restrict the freedom of the press in many different ways. The media,

however, are also powerful, and frequently share common interests. Similarly, the

authors note, other Big Business have power over the mass media, while they

continue to note that power tends to cooperate with power, and so the various power

factions tend to cooperate rather than to fight. Because money is the bottom line for

the mass media, and vested interests shape the news to their advantage, and the public

wants entertainment more than information, news tends to turn into stories.

The authors discuss how news-gathering methods are designed to save money,

and that the mass media’s presentation of news tends to focus on what the powerful

want to tell us, and on news with entertainment value. As such, news stories tend to

involve misdirection and lack of proportion.

The authors then turn to discuss the theory and practice of news gathering. In

theory, the unusual is news, while the everyday is not, although, the authors note,

what happens everyday is generally more important. They also note that news

reporting is supposed to be objective, not subjective, although even news that tries to

be unbiased cannot be completely objective. News is also supposed to be distinct

from analysis and in-depth reporting, which can sometimes lead to a lack of

explanatory value, while the “right” experts are often those that are consulted, and are

chosen to ensure that their opinions will not be unpopular with the powerful.

Occasionally, journalists engage in self-censorship.

The authors discuss several devices that are used to slant the news, including

playing up or down stories, the use of misleading, sensational, or opinionated

headlines, the selective use of images to slant the news, and the omission of playing

down of follow-up stories. The authors also note that points of view can be conveyed

by cartoons and comic strips.

They then discuss television, film, and electronic information sources, noting that

television has considerable power to change the world, and that it is the best source of

news for many people. They also discuss the way that the Internet is a good source of

useful information, and applaud the useful of the non-mass market media as sources

of information. They conclude the Chapter with a discussion of recent developments.

IV. Practice Questions

A.Objective Multiple Choice

1. The news media is currently going through

a. A crisis

b. A transformation

c. A period of excitement

d. A period of quiet

2. In America, discussions of the media should

a. Follow the money

b. Show me the money

c. Find the woman

d. Find the smoking gun

3. Citizen journalists are also known as

a. Pests

b. Spoilers

c. Nonprofessionals

d. Dilettantes

4. The chief source of news for most people is

a. News blogs

b. Youtube

c. The mass media

d. Radio

5. Mass audiences are most interested in

a. Light-hearted material

b. Important material

c. Foreign news

d. Political news

6. According to the authors, large numbers of people

a. Are superstitious

b. Are libertarian

c. Are ecologically aware

d. Are financially astute

7. The mass media panders to

a. Conservative bias

b. Liberal bias

c. Short attention spans

d. Long attention spans

8. Sounds bites have become

a. Shorter and shorter

b. Longer and longer

c. More vacuous

d. More liberal

9. The medium that supports itself from advertising is

a. Television news

b. Radio news

c. Newspapers

d. Internet news sites

10. The FCC

a. Levies fines

b. Censors

c. Closes down stations

d. Blacklists celebrities

11. For failing to identify her source in the “Scooter” Libby trial reporter Judith Miller

a. Was fired

b. Was fined $10,000

c. Served three months in jail

d. Served two years in jail

12. In 2003 the reported Daniel Pearl

a. Was beheaded in Karachi

b. Was imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay

c. Was executed in Texas

d. Was shot in Iraq

13. The news is slanted in favor of

a. The interests of the average person

b. The interests of those with great political power

c. The interests of the economy

d. The interests of liberals

14. The federal poverty line is defined as

a. $20,000 a year for a single person

b. $30,000 a year for a family of three

c. $25,000 a year for two adults

d. $20,000 a year for a family of four

15. FAIR is

a. A media watchdog

b. A media network

c. A trade organization

d. A liberal think-tank

16. News has increasingly become a source of

a. Information

b. Anxiety

c. Entertainment

d. Misinformation

17. News is now mainly gathered through

a. Beats

b. Leaks

c. Investigative reporting

d. Eavesdropping

18. Most news is given to reports by persons

a. Who are themselves reporters

b. Who have or represent power or wealth

c. Who are ordinary citizens

d. Who are confidential informants

19. The theory of objectivity requires

a. That every side of a story be presented

b. That politicians receive media equal time during elections

c. That facts be reported separately from conclusions or evaluations

d. That no explanations be given of events

20. An important consideration when choosing experts to interview is whether

a. Their opinions would be unpopular with power groups

b. They are photogenic

c. They are biased

d. They are experts in the right area

B.True/False

1. The theory that news reporting should be objective requires all the news to be reported.

2. National security never takes precedence over objective reporting.

3. It is not useful to know the political orientation of think tanks.

4. Self-censorship is automatically evil, according to the authors.

5. The most obvious way to bury the news is to ignore it.

6. Misleading headlines cannot be used.

7. Opinionated headlines can be used.

8. Comic strips never make points graphically.

9. Comic strips are immune from censorship.

10. Television is the most important of the mass media.

11. Television influenced the conduct of the Gulf war.

12. Extra! is a media watchdog.

13. Human interest tends to crowd out important matters.

14. The media are beholden to advertisers.

15. Government has the right to regulate business activity.

C.Fill-in-the-Blanks

1. Government often has the ______ to regulate business activity.

2. The US Government can censor news deemed to be _____ .

3. Possibly the most influential network in the Middle East is _____ .

4. When labor union stories are reported in the press they often have a _____bias.

5. One section of society given short shrift in the media is the _____ .

6. News-gathering methods are designed to _____ ______ .

7. Very few news stories are from ______ ______ .

8. Theory says that news is what is ______ .

9. Theory says what is _______is not news.

10. News cannot be completely _____ .

D.Essay Questions

1. Assess the authors’ arguments concerning self-censorship. Do you believe that they are correct? If so, outline three possible objections to them, and show how they may be met, If not, argue against their views cogently and persuasively.

2. Do you believe that the Government should be allowed to regulate commerce? If yes, to what degree? If not, why not? Argue for your view.

3. Do you think that the proliferation of citizen journalists is a good thing, or not? Since they often do not abide by the canons of journalism, do you think they could add to misinformation, even if unwittingly? If so, is this a problem? Argue for your view.

4. Should journalists be licensed? If so, why—and who would grant the licenses, and on what basis? If not, why not? Argue for your position.

5. Should a person be allowed to publish information that could be harmful to large numbers of innocent people, such as information about how to make a bomb? Argue for your view.

V. Additional Sources for Study and Research

A.InfoTrac Search Terms

ABC, Advertising, Al-Jezeera, Cartoons, Censorship, CNN, Columnists, Comics, C-Span, Experts, Extra!, First Amendment, Fourth Estate, Fox News, Headlines, Journalism, Libel, Mass Media, Media, NBC, NPR, PBS, Presidential Campaign, Sound Bites.

B.Internet sites

Wikipedia: Censorship

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship

Censorship

http://www.serendipity.li/cda.html

The Censorship Pages

http://www.booksatoz.com/censorship/index.htm

Mass Media

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_media

Committee of Concerned Journalists

http://www.concernedjournalists.org/node/332

VI. Answer Key

A.Objective Multiple Choice

1. b

2. a

3. c

4. c

5. a

6. a

7. c

8. a

9. a

10. a

11. c

12. a

13. b

14. d

15. a

16. c

17. a

18. b

19. c

20. a

B.True/False

1. F

2. F

3. F

4. F

5. T

6. F

7. T

8. F

9. F

10. T

11. T

12. T

13. T

14. T

15. T

C.Fill-in-the-Blanks

1. Power

2. Obscene

3. Al-Jazeera

4. Negative

5. Poor

6. Save money

7. Investigative reporting

8. Unusual

9. Commonplace

10. Objective