how do the laf pen drivers stack up? what is news? lafers say affects people interesting to public,...
TRANSCRIPT
How do the LAF pen drivers stack up?
What is news? LAFers say
• affects people• interesting to public, affects people, useful to
public• interesting that people would spend money• affects people, up to the minute• out of the ordinary, relevant• happenings of national and local issues• relevant and that public is interested in• info on current events or issues that are relevant
useful and interesting• anything that’s relevant to me!
What is news?
What is news?
• No one agreed upon definition
What is news?
• No one agreed upon definition• “I know it when I see it” Supreme
Court Justice Potter Stewart, 1964
What is news?
• No one agreed upon definition• “I know it when I see it” Supreme
Court Justice Potter Stewart, 1964• In every newsroom and website,
people are constantly deciding what is news: “the ability to determine which stories are most interesting and important to readers.”
“This year’s Republican primary season offers us an important opportunity to confront our scruples about the privacy of faith in public life — and to get over them. We have an unusually large number of candidates, including putative front-runners, who belong to churches that are mysterious or suspect to many Americans. Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman are Mormons, a faith that many conservative Christians have been taught is a “cult” and that many others think is just weird. (Huntsman says he is not “overly religious.”) Rick Perry , Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum are all affiliated with fervid subsets of evangelical Christianity, which has raised concerns about their respect for the separation of church and state, not to mention the separation of fact and fiction.”
Rev. Wright’s greatest hits
• “... where White folks' greed runs a world in need”
• “... America's chickens are coming home to roost”
• “... The government lied about Pearl Harbor too. They knew the Japanese were going to attack”
• Presented lifetime achievement award to Louis Farrakhan
What is news: Inside Reporting
What is news: Inside Reporting
• It all depends on the outlet: contrast between daily newspaper, student newspaper and community newspaper
What is news: Inside Reporting
• It all depends on the outlet: contrast between daily newspaper, student newspaper and community newspaper
• IR lays out seven items to consider: impact
What is news: Inside Reporting
• It all depends on the outlet: contrast between daily newspaper, student newspaper and community newspaper
• IR lays out seven items to consider: impact, immediacy,
What is news: Inside Reporting
• It all depends on the outlet: contrast between daily newspaper, student newspaper and community newspaper
• IR lays out seven items to consider: impact, immediacy, proximity,
What is news: Inside Reporting
• It all depends on the outlet: contrast between daily newspaper, student newspaper and community newspaper
• IR lays out seven items to consider: impact, immediacy, proximity, prominence,
What is news: Inside Reporting
• It all depends on the outlet: contrast between daily newspaper, student newspaper and community newspaper
• IR lays out seven items to consider: impact, immediacy, proximity, prominence, novelty,
What is news: Inside Reporting
• It all depends on the outlet: contrast between daily newspaper, student newspaper and community newspaper
• IR lays out seven items to consider: impact, immediacy, proximity, prominence, novelty, conflict
What is news: Inside Reporting
• It all depends on the outlet: contrast between daily newspaper, student newspaper and community newspaper
• IR lays out seven items to consider: impact, immediacy, proximity, prominence, novelty, conflict and emotions
“If you don’t have the goods, nobody’s going to look. That’s never going to change.”
Journalism pros: part III
What is news: Telling the Story
What is news: Telling the Story
• Relevance
What is news: Telling the Story
• Relevance• Usefulness
What is news: Telling the Story
• Relevance• Usefulness• Interest
More specifically…
More specifically…
• Impact
More specifically…
• Impact• Conflict
More specifically…
• Impact• Conflict• Novelty
More specifically…
• Impact• Conflict• Novelty• Prominence
More specifically…
• Impact• Conflict• Novelty• Prominence• Proximity
More specifically…
• Impact • Conflict• Novelty• Prominence• Proximity• Timeliness
TTS v IR
• Impact Impact• Conflict Conflict• Novelty Novelty• Prominence Prominence• Proximity Proximity
• Timeliness Immediacy Emotions
Two points to consider
• News is not all ‘life and death’
Two points to consider
• News is not all ‘life and death’• News is more than a collection of
facts
“The University of Florida defeated Florida Atlantic University on Saturday by a score of 44-3 in a football game played in Gainesville.”
Let ‘er rip!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“The Florida Gators boldly announced the arrival of the Muschamp era Saturday night in a brutal demolition of overwhelmed Florida Atlantic University.”
“The wind of change is blowing through this continent. Whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact.”
Harold Macmillan
So too journalism
• Project for Excellence in Journalism
So too journalism
• Project for Excellence in Journalism• Proposed nine elements of journalism
So too journalism
• Project for Excellence in Journalism• Proposed nine elements of journalism• First obligation to the truth
So too journalism
• Project for Excellence in Journalism• Proposed nine elements of journalism• First obligation to the truth; first
loyalty to citizens
So too journalism
• Project for Excellence in Journalism• Proposed nine elements of journalism• First obligation to the truth; first
loyalty to citizens; verification
So too journalism
• Project for Excellence in Journalism• Proposed nine elements of journalism• First obligation to the truth; first
loyalty to citizens; verification; independence
So too journalism
• Project for Excellence in Journalism• Proposed nine elements of journalism• First obligation to the truth; first
loyalty to citizens; verification; independence; monitor of power
So too journalism
• Project for Excellence in Journalism• Proposed nine elements of journalism• First obligation to the truth; first
loyalty to citizens; verification; independence; monitor of power; provide forum for criticism and compromise
So too journalism
• Project for Excellence in Journalism• Proposed nine elements of journalism• First obligation to the truth; first
loyalty to citizens; verification; independence; monitor of power; provide forum for criticism and compromise; make significant interesting
So too journalism
• Project for Excellence in Journalism• Proposed nine elements of journalism• First obligation to the truth; first
loyalty to citizens; verification; independence; monitor of power; provide forum for criticism and compromise; make significant interesting; news is comprehensive and proportional
So too journalism
• Project for Excellence in Journalism• Proposed nine elements of journalism• First obligation to the truth; first loyalty to
citizens; verification; independence; monitor of power; provide forum for criticism and compromise; make significant interesting; news is comprehensive and proportional; practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience
Which brings us to Accuracy, Fairness & Objectivity
Bob Woodward
“the best obtainable version of the truth...”
Accuracy
Accuracy
• Most important characteristic of any story
Accuracy
• Most important characteristic of any story
• Check every name, number, quote... every detail
Accuracy
• Most important characteristic of any story
• Check every name, number, quote... every detail
• John Hopkins University = F/E
Accuracy
• Most important characteristic of any story
• Check every name, number, quote... every detail
• John Hopkins University = F/E• You’ll never have all the facts, but
the ones you have must be accurate
Then, is it fair?
Then, is it fair?
• You can be accurate but unfair. How?
Then, is it fair?
• You can be accurate but unfair. How?• Get all sides of story
Then, is it fair?
• You can be accurate but unfair. How?• Get all sides of story• Relate circumstances
Which brings us to objectivity
Which brings us to objectivity
• Most mainstream journalists contend they strive for objectivity... even at pubs such as Time, Newsweek, NY Times, Washington Post et. al
Which brings us to objectivity
• Most mainstream journalists contend they strive for objectivity... even at pubs such as Time, Newsweek, NY Times, Washington Post et. al
• Objective = provable
Which brings us to objectivity
• Most mainstream journalists contend they strive for objectivity... even at pubs such as Time, Newsweek, NY Times, Washington Post et. al
• Objective = provable• “Properly understood, objectivity
provides the method most likely to yield the best obtainable version of the truth.”
Assignments 9/13
• IR pages 74-81
Assignments 9/13
• IR pages 74-81• Your first interview! Find somebody –
in your family, a neighbor, a friend, in your church – who is a veteran of the U.S. military. You will interview them
Assignments 9/13
• Take great notes: what service, where did they serve, combat?, rank progression, what did they learn, would they do again, how did it change attitudes about country, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.
Assignments 9/13
• Take great notes: what service, where did they serve, combat?, rank progression, what did they learn, would they do again, how did it change attitudes about country, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.
• You will turn in your HAND-WRITTEN interview notes (at least three pages!!)