Newspapers: Lost and Adrift? Or Changing and Adapting to the Tides of Technological Change?

  Creative Commons photo by Kevin Lim

Welcome to a new school year! And welcome, young journalists, to Waldsmith's Dispatch, our journalism class blog. I'm looking forward to get the blog up and running again because it works as a great tool to accompany and emphasize issues covered in class, as well a place to share your thoughts and comments. Some of the posts will be "greatest hits" of earlier posts I have created in the past, while others will be brand new.

We are beginning the semester by examining what makes news and exploring newspapers and news websites. The principles of what constitutes solid journalism do not change. However, newspapers are struggling and adapting to technological change, while news websites are also striving to find ways to become more profitable.

Consider this quote from Walter Pincus of The Washington Post, which was recently sold to the founder and CEO of Amazon.com:

"Think of a newspaper as a supermarket of material. I work in the meat department (national and foreign news along with sports and crime) as the public is becoming not just more vegetarian (health, science, style and human interest and animal stories) but also more practical (local news, home furnishing, education, entertainment). The Internet has joined radio and television in being first with news, but Web sites and cable are providing more of what I call 'junk food'— news-gossip and opinions rather than facts."

Do you agree? Where and how do you prefer to get your news? Why?

Read the first two pages of this article about the sale of The Washington Post, then read this story about how the Amazon model may be used on the newspaper.

Please share your thoughts -- just a few brief comments -- about anything you'd like to say in response to anything in this blog post or in the articles.

Tabloids, Cell Phones and Privacy

Last year,in a remarkable case stemming from the right to privacy, the British tabloid News of the World actually closed for good after a shocking phone hacking scandal. Click here to learn more about it, and be sure to watch at least the first video, "Scandal shuts down British tabloid". 

  
Then read this column about the difference between tabloid journalism and investigative journalism.

 Finally, just in case you were thinking that you have no worries about privacy, check out this report   about new cell phone spyware that not only tracks your every move but can also be used a means of harassment. Protect your privacy!

Creative Commons photo by Howard Lake

Lessons in the Right to Privacy

As Americans, we enjoy many rights, but the Constitution does not specifically mention a right to privacy. However, Supreme Court decisions over the years have established that the right to privacy is a basic human right, and some amendments in the Bill of Rights protect specific aspects of privacy. The 1st Amendment, for example, protects the privacy of beliefs (freedom of religion).

Defamation law recognizes differences between public and private figures. Unlike most people, who are considered private citizens, a politician or a celebrity is considered a public figure. So if your next-door neighbor is having an affair, publishing a story about it in the local paper would be a clear violation of his privacy. However, when a public figure does the same thing, the press can reasonably assert that such an event is newsworthy. Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, for example, waged a prolonged legal battle claiming that hundreds of text messages detailing his illicit affair with a co-worker were private. He lost and ended up going to jail for perjury and other charges.

But sometimes a private citizen injects himself or herself on to the public stage, and by doing so, loses the defense of "right to privacy". If that neighbor of yours is having an affair with a 16-year-old, that information is no longer considered private. Thus the law attempts to balance the public's right to know vs. an individual's right to privacy. If the information is "newsworthy" -- that is, if people have a right or a need to know about something, then that will prevail over a person's claim to privacy.

When it comes to proving fault in a libel claim, the law also treats private and public individuals somewhat differently. Both private and public individuals must prove a publication is at fault, but private individuals only need to prove negligence on the part of the reporter/publication, while public figures must prove actual malice.

Here are some recent libel cases involving Elton John, David Beckham, Keira Knightly and Tom Cruise. As you know, defamation involves either slander through the spoken word or libel through the printed word. But what about social media? Is it only professional journalists who have to worry about these things? Read this article to learn more.

Creative Commons photo by Mike Licht

Tips for writing reviews

Think about what you would want to know about in a review. Depending on what you're reviewing, there will be different things, of course. But whether you're reviewing a film or a restaurant, the bottom line is that people want to know if it's worth their money. Or if you're reviewing a TV show or a book, they want to know if it's worth their time. It's your job to not only tell them yes or no, but to prove your point. Don't forget:  your overall opinion of what you are reviewing should be clear almost immediately.

Speaking of your readers, your review should have a specific target audience which actually makes it somewhat easier to write. In other words, are you directing this review to teens? Parents? (Yes I know I'm reading it, but I want to see that you can make some connections and references to a specific audience.)

You also want to inform your readers so they learn something new. And you should inform them in a way that is interesting and entertaining. The keys to doing that are using your own voice (don't write like a robot; write about your experience and your reaction) and paying attention to detail and word choice.

Show, not tell. In other words. Be DESCRIPTIVE, but not super wordy. Don't forget, this is still journalism, after all. Besides, no one wants to read a really long review. This assignment, more than any other, relies on your personal observation skills, so take very good notes so you will have lots to choose from when you describe and analyze different things in your review. In fact, if you're doing a restaurant review, you may want to snap a few photos of your food and the restaurant to help you better  remember and help you with your description.

Click here to read a brief article on film reviewing. Then read this article for more tips on how to write a great review.

Lastly, take a look at this restaurant review by Molly Abraham of The Detroit News. As you read, pay attention to word choice.  For example, look at the second paragraph. She doesn't just say she ate soup but a "deep bowl of fragrant beef broth" with all kinds of mouth-watering ingredients including "a swirl" of pasta that ultimately "transcends" the standard quo beef broth most of us are used to. (I actually got hungry reading this review.)

Avoid obvious words, like "good" or "delicious". You don't have to be a master chef to know what you're tasting. Was it crispy? Was it sweet? Etc.

Happy reviewing!


Creative Commons photo by ThrasherDave

Interviewing Tips & Less is More

Although everyone in the class still needs more practice with writing hard news leads and writing stories that follow the basic inverted pyramid structure, it's time to move towards other forms of journalistic writing, beginning with basic feature writing. Features rely more heavily on quotes and interviews, so we need to spend some time in and out of class considering and practicing what makes a good interview.

It's true that the best interviews are like good conversations. That is, in most cases the interview should be a comfortable give-and-take session where you and the person you interview talk with each other, not at each other. Of course, if the interviewee is hostile or defensive, this may not be the case. But the three best things you can do to have a good interview are:

1) Prepare thoroughly by researching the topic and/or the person and list questions.
2) Take good notes and record the interview if possible.
3) Listen very attentively.

Being a good listener is the most important thing you can do. One of the biggest mistakes many inexperienced reporters make is worrying so much about what question to ask next, that they don't realize something important or unexpected that the interviewee has just said.

Here are a couple of short videos I would like you to watch. The first is some good advice about interviewing from former network anchor Katie Couric. The second is from National Public Radio's Scott Simon.

There's an old saying in journalism: "Less is more."

Forget about the times you wrote as much as you could about something in order to impress the teacher or give your reader the impression that you really know what you're talking about. In journalism brevity is key. Hard news stories must be concise or you'll confuse and lose the reader. While feature stories allow writers to be more descriptive and more creative, that doesn't mean you should necessarily start writing a lot more. Right now we're focusing on short profiles so that means first do thorough reporting and interviewing, then pick the very best information to write your story. Don't give the reader all of the information. While your words may be sacred to you, you have to be able to cut what's not necessary and edit wordy phrases.

Think of it as fat-free writing.

Click on the links below to see three more examples of 300-word stories by Brady Dennnis, then comment on which you like the best and why.

Looking for a laugh

One minute and $123 dollars

As time goes by

Bias in the News

As we examine the problem of bias in the news, you're probably thinking, "I'm not prejudiced. So I would never be biased in my reporting or writing." But bias isn't the same thing as prejudice. Prejudice is a deliberate negative feeling or attitude. Bias is a tendency or an inclincation to assume a certain viewpoint, and a bias may be favorable or unfavorable and is not always deliberate. Indeed, most reporters are unaware of bias in their reporting until someone points it out to them.

Even if your work is free of bias, you need to be a critical observer of the news media and have a greater understanding of bias in reporting. Because it happens. All the time.

Bias can occur in many ways, particularly through:

•  Selection and omission of specific details
  
•  Placement of a story
•  Choice of sources
•  Word choice and tone
•  Headlines
•  Photos and camera angles
•  Captions
•  Names and titles
•  Statistics

Click here to examine how two articles cover the same news event in much different way.Then click on some of the other menu items and explore this excellent University of Michigan website on news bias.

It's a simple formula:  Lack of attribution = lack of credibility = lack of readers.

There is nothing difficult about attribution. It's simply saying who or what your source is, whether it's a fact, an opinion or a quote. As we've discussed in class, attribution is the soul of journalism because without it, your article or broadcast is not believable. In addition, reporters need to protect themselves. In the event that the information proves to be false, at least the reporter can truthfully say that her source was wrong, not her. And attribution establishes credibility by showing  readers or listeners where they can go if they challenge anything in the article or if they want to obtain more information from your sources.

Getting the story first is nice. Getting it fast is nice too. But getting it right supercedes everything else. Without journalistic integrity, reporters or publications have nothing to offer readers or listeners. A few years ago an Irish college student conducted a media experiment that, unfortunately, major news organizations failed. The results were alarming and should make everyone -- especially aspiring journalists -- remember to not only attribute their own facts, but to check and re-check any unattributed information they obtain online. Click here to read an article about the hoax.