Weeks 1-11
Study Points from The Elements of Journalism lectures
ISSUES IN JOURNALISM
Week 12 (Nov. 7-11)
 Quiz on Wednesday
(Chapter 7 only!)
 Assignment: Read
Chapter 8 for next
week and Monday,
Nov. 14 quiz.
 Blogs and tweets
due today on The
New York Times
 Check-in
Journalism as a public forum
 New technology provides an incredible
opportunity for a world-wide forum tailor-made
for good journalism.
 Providing a forum for criticism and compromise
is critical for a free society.
 But new technology also can distort, mislead and
overwhelm the functions of a free press.
 The forum is fueled by the increasing power of
citizen journalism and the blending of journalism
and conversation.
Journalism as a public forum
 Journalism must provide a public forum for
public criticism and compromise
 But today it’s often the “Argument Culture”
 Media gives voices a platform but many times
the result is: Polarization, oriented to one
class over another, lacking verification and
diminished level of reporting
 A shouting match

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFQFB5YpDZE
The Cain assignment
Engagement and relevance
 Engagement: Storytelling versus information:
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They are a continuum of understanding.
Data and narrative all go together when it
comes to disseminating information
But most journalism today is a mixture
The key to meeting journalism’s responsibility
to serve the public interest is to engage and
be relevant
http://www.pnj.com/section/special
Engagement and relevance
 Journalism is storytelling with a purpose
 “The first challenge is finding the information
that people need to live their lives. The
second is to make it meaningful, relevant and
engaging.” (pg.189)
 Journalists must do their work in a way that
makes people take notice.
 Compelling journalism can reach a vast
audience
 http://www.pnj.com/section/special
9:Engagement and relevance
 Journalists must make the significant
interesting and relevant
 But does that mean emphasizing news that is
fun and fascinating, and plays on our
sensations? Or should we stick to the news
that is the most important?
 Should journalists give people what they
need or what they want? (pg. 187)
 Is the choice news or infotainment?
Engagement and relevance
 Presentation is key in order to be compelling.
But when resources are cut and news rooms
lose personnel, the output can be marginal.
 But the Internet offers possibilities in
producing and providing compelling stories
that can reach vast audiences.
 Use of video, digital images/graphics and
non-traditional sources of information can be
helpful
How to engage
 Take a complex issue that people need to
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know about: Politics
Tell a story that provides perspective and
compels you to want to know more
Provide substance by using interesting
storytelling approaches
Infotainment strategy can work in traditional
journalism… to a point. It has to be relevant.
People want substance
A radio program
 This American Life engages in storytelling of
complex issues with humor, verve and a
unique blend of irreverence and courage.
 Take tomorrow’s election for example.
 http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radioarchives/episode/417/this-party-sucks
Monitor power
 Investigative reporting is an important tool
 Today journalists see watchdog as central to
their work (pg. 143)
 This role differentiates journalism from other
forms of communication
 “Comfort the afflicted and…(pg. 141)
 The concept is much more nuanced
 Monitoring institutions: reporting the good and
bad.
 Constant criticism is meaningless if you lose your
audience
Wiki leaks
 Iraq war documents published on web site
 Used by mainstream media

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/w/wikileaks/index
.html?scp=1-spot&sq=wikileaks&st=cse
 Is this the traditional watchdog role?
 Is this investigative reporting?
 Is this meaningful information/criticism?
 Does the public’s right to know outweigh the
impact on the military?

http://www.mediaite.com/online/the-weekend-of-wikileaks-begins-embargo-endsand-the-torrent-of-classified-info-starts-to-seep-out/
Issues
 NPR fires news analyst Juan Williams

“He was explicitly and repeatedly asked to respect NPR’s
standards and to avoid expressing strong personal opinions on
controversial subjects in public settings, as that is inconsistent
with his role as an NPR news analyst.”NPR CEO Vivian Schiller
 Should news people be allowed to
express “strong personal opinions.”

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/10/22/kurtz.reliable.sources/index.html?iref
=allsearch

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/rachel-maddow-on-npr-aselection-issue-will-gop-go-after-big-bird-next/
Investigative forms
 Original investigative reporting
 Digging through documents, employing
police-style work, anonymous and on the
record sources
 Digital analysis taking larger role amassing
documentary evidence (pg. 146)
Forms
 Interpretative investigating reporting
 Uses same enterprise skills as investigative
reporting but brings together information in
a “new, more complex context that provides
deeper public understanding.”
 Wiki leaks, Pentagon Papers, “America: What
went wrong?” (pgs. 146-147)
 Approach criticized as unbalanced
 Defended for bringing change
Forms
 Reporting on investigations
 Widely used reporting that piggybacks on the
work of other investigators, primarily
government officials.
 Audits, inspector general/congressional
reports on spending or programs provide
fodder for news.
 Critics say the info is valuable but can be
subject to spin from the agencies producing
the material.
The watchdog role weakened
 The explosion of “I-team” units in the
‘80s and ‘90s has subsided somewhat
but still around.
 But… what are they investigating?
 Sweeps topics: breast implant health
concerns, consumer ripoffs, car
repair schemes
 Canned investigative reports
 Watchdogism becomes amusement
 Talk radio “investigative reporting”
 Public wants investigative reporting
but hates duplicity
Prosecuting
 Investigative reporting as prosecution
 IR is like a criminal/civil prosecution as you
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make your case to the public
IR assumes wrongdoing
Advocacy reporting: IRE
Honest, open-minded approach
But approaching every story as an expose can
be overreaching or confuse the public
Investigating:Extreme Makeover:
Home Edition
Going to far?
 http://benchmark.clerkofcourts.cc/CaseDetail
.aspx?txt=gaston&ps=50&m=name&aka=0&s
=4&caseid=400807
 http://benchmark.clerkofcourts.cc/Search.asp
x?txt=gaston&ps=50&m=name&aka=0&s=4
 http://www.co.okaloosa.fl.us/xjailwebsite/In
mateSearch.aspx
The end of investigative reporting?
 Advances in technology threaten the
watchdog press
 Corporations owning media outlets (General
Electric, Walt Disney etc) have assumed the
status of nation states
 The corporate owners of news outlets do not
favor investigations of their actions
 The independent voice monitoring
institutions is stilled
The end of investigative reporting?
 Will corporations bear the cost of watchdog
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journalism or have the will to do so?
Print and online entities from the left, right
and center purport to monitor the media
today
Nonprofit competition: The Center for Public
Integrity is created in 1990 by Charles Lewis
Mission: Compete with and monitor the press
See how broadcast news media covered itself
Chapter 5: Independence from
Faction
 “Journalists must maintain an independence
from those they cover.”
Chapter 5: Independence from
Faction
 Who is a journalist?
 What separates the journalist from the
political partisan, the activist and the
propagandist?
 “As the media landscape broadens and
evolves to meet the need of a more inclusive
and activist public … what makes something
journalism?” (page 115)
 Truthfulness, commitment to the public and
watchdog role.
Chapter 5: Independence from
Faction
 What about opinion journalism?
 Isn’t neutrality a key part of journalism? (page
115)
 No. Not a core principle.
 The difference between journalism and
propaganda= Holding true to the facts and
accuracy. Pursuing the truth wherever it goes
despite your political leanings, philosophy or
bias.
Chapter 5: Independence from
Faction
 Principle 4: Journalists must maintain an
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
independence from those they cover.
Independence of mind (page 119)
Opinion in editorials may be based on point
of view… but the facts are still the facts.
Those that only care about opinion and not
the facts are propagandists or activists. They
are not journalists.
You are entitled to your own opinion, but you
are not entitled to your own facts.
Chapter 5: Independence from
Faction
 The question is not: Who is a journalist?
 But are they doing journalism? (page 120)
Chapter 5: Independence from
Faction
 Reporters as activists
 The conflict of interest test
Chapter 5: Independence from
Faction
 Independence reevaluated (page
1264-131)
 The journalist as activist undermines
journalistic credibility: George Will,
William Kristol, etc.
 Media personalities who are really
political operatives. Best described as
“media activists.” (page 127)
 The best example: Fox News
One critic’s view of Fox
Chapter 5: Independence from
Faction
 Rupert Murdoch’s Fox is “focused heavily on
argument and ideology.” (page 127)
 Creating “balance” by giving airtime to
conservatives
 But… who is running Fox? Roger Ailes, a
political operative from the Nixon and Bush
administrations.
 The partisan press reinforces the
preconceptions of the audience and
abandons the watchdog role over the
powerful. (page 128)
Chapter 5: Independence from
Faction
 The partisan press is all about
the Journalism of Affirmation
(page 128)
 Speaking to like-minded
people and not necessarily
following the facts because it
runs contrary to
preconceptions.
 The blurring of journalistic
identities: political operatives
become news people. Is that a
bad thing?
Chapter 5: Independence from
Faction
 Independence from class or economic status
 Class isolation of journalists is a threat
because the public sees them as an “elite” or
a part of the establishment: The Mainstream
Media.
 Independence from race, ethnicity, religion
and gender.
 Do hold allegiance to core principles of
journalism or are you held hostage to your
situation?
Journalism of verification
 “The essence of journalism is a discipline of
verification.”
 It is what separates journalism from
“entertainment, propaganda, fiction or art.”
(page 79)
 Verification is the central function of
journalism.
 Getting the facts straight about what
happened.
Journalism of verification
 “[Journalists] are in what we call the reality-
based community…That’s not the way the
world works anymore …When we act, we
create our own reality.” (page 30 TEOJ)
Journalism of verification
 Campaign spokesman Brian Rogers told
Politico.com on Friday, "We recognize it's not
going to be 2000 again," when McCain wooed
the press with his "Straight Talk Express"
campaign. "But he lost then. We're running a
campaign to win. And we're not too
concerned about what the media filter tries
to say about it."
Journalism of verification
Journalism of verification
 The role of verification in society
 Journalists don’t always articulate its
importance as it is seen as a no-brainer to get
the facts right.
 But note Walter Lippman’s quote:
 “There can be no liberty for a community
which lacks the information by which to
detect lies.” (page 80)
Journalism of verification
 Discipline of verification under pressure:
 Publish first because you can always correct it
later.
 Publish news simply because it’s already “out
there” in this new media system regardless of
its worth or relevance.
 The UPI motto: “Get it first, but get it right.”
Journalism of verification
 The Lost Meaning of Objectivity (page 81)
 Fantasy world: Journalists are unbiased
 Real world: It’s much more complicated and that’s a
good thing.
 Realism emerges with the inverted pyramid as a way
to divorce bias from verification in the 19th century.
 20th century media thinkers say cultural blinders can
distort “realism” and notions of objectivity are naïve.
 “…the journalist is not objective but his method can
be. The key was in the discipline of the craft, not the
aim.” (page 83)
Journalism of verification
 What is the system of verification journalism
employs to report news?
 Is it an exact methodology like a chemistry
experiment that can be replicated time after
time with guaranteed results?
 Not exactly but it needs to be based on
standards and practices.
 “The notion of an objective method or reporting
exists in pieces, handed down by word of mouth
from reporter to reporter. “ (page 85)
Journalism of verification
 Journalists have techniques of verification
(Investigative Reporters and Editors
methodology) but not much of a system testing
“the reliability of journalistic interpretation.”
(page 85)
 Unless journalists communicate to the public
how they reach conclusions, report facts and
present “truth” the public will be skeptical.
 That’s a danger to journalism and healthy public
debate on problems.
 Bottom line: There must be a professional
method employed
Journalism of verification
 Journalism of assertion vs. journalism of
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verification
Internet influences weakening methodology
of verification
Less time spent on gathering facts and more
time spent on reusing and reinterpreting
already reported facts.
Herd mentality
Balloon boy
Journalism of verification
 Gore example. (page 87)
 Journalists run the risk of becoming more
passive receivers if they continue to process
all the data coming in.
 Fairness and balance can help counteract the
problem.
 But each has a trap for the journalist (page
88)
Journalism of verification
 A need for a system of objective method of
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
verification all journalists can agree on. (page
89)
1. Never add anything that was not there
2. Never deceive the audience
3. Be as transparent as possible about your
methods and motives
4. Rely on your own original reporting
5. Exercise humility
Journalism of verification
 1. Never add anything that was not there
 “Journalism’s implicit credo is “nothing here
was made up.” (page 90)
 Narrative devices, embellishing of facts,
reporting things that were not said, reporting
things that happened out of sequence for
dramatic effect, using composite sources and
staging photographs/video.
Do not add: The case of
Jayson Blair

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/11/national/11PAPE.html?pagewanted=3

In an article on March 27, 2003 that carried a dateline from Palestine,
W.Va., Mr. Blair wrote that Private Lynch's father, Gregory Lynch Sr.,
"choked up as he stood on his porch here overlooking the tobacco
fields and cattle pastures."
The porch overlooks no such thing.
He also wrote that Private Lynch's family had a long history of
military service; it does not, family members said. He wrote that their
home was on a hilltop; it is in a valley.

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The article astonished the Lynch family and friends, said Brandi Lynch, Jessica's
sister. "We were joking about the tobacco fields and the cattle."
Asked why no one in the family called to complain about the many errors, she said,
"We just figured it was going to be a one-time thing."
Do not deceive
 False photographs
 Changing quotes
 Manipulating video
sound bites
 Messing with
chronology
 Fudging facts

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watc
h/tue-november-10-2009/seanhannity-uses-glenn-beck-s-protestfootage
Be transparent about method
 Want to stand for truth? Then explain your
method to your readers/audience. (page 92)
 Reveal your sources and methods of
verification.
 Then the audience can judge your motives,
the process followed and the validity of the
information.
 This signals respect journalists have for their
audience. Reinforces public interest mission.
Transparency
 The problem with anonymous sources
 The reason we need them
 How to protect everybody involved if we use
them
 Misleading sources is wrong: no bluffing or
deception
 But what about undercover reporting?
 The test: Must be vital info, no other way to get
the story and reveal to the audience why you
engaged in deception.
Rely on your own original
reporting
 Do you own work. Get out of the herd
mentality of reporting because “it’s out
there” already and we have to get it. (page
99)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECwPAzqj4SA
Journalism of verification
 We fail the audience when we make factual
errors, typos and jump to conclusions.
 Don’t assume anything
 We must be self-correcting and watchful over
our own product and methods.
Who Journalists Work For
 Journalism is a business
 Corporate incentive programs
 Bonus pay for news executives based on
profits, not quality of journalism
 This shift has impacts: Loss of faith with news
consumer, plummeting newsroom morale
and restricts journalists’ ability “to provide
the news “without fear or favor.” (p.52)
Who Journalists Work For
 In this climate of profit over public advocacy,
a journalist’s devotion to pursuing the truth is
not enough.
 Journalism’s first loyalty is to citizens
 This covenant with the public trust is vital
 It is based on the belief that the journalist’s
work is not slanted, shoddy or influenced by
the media outlet’s owner or financial interests
Who Journalists Work For
 “The allegiance to citizens is the meaning of
what we have come to call journalistic
independence. “(p.53)
 Pew Survey: 80 percent of journalists surveyed
said the core principal of journalism was making
the viewer, listener, reader “your first
obligation.” (p.53)
 http://people-press.org/report/?pageid=315
Who Journalists Work For
 In interviews with psychologists, 70 percent
of journalists “placed audience” as their first
loyalty above employer, themselves, their
family and their profession. (p. 53)
 This code of loyalty to the public has caused
friction in newsrooms around the nation.
Who Journalists Work For
 Journalistic independence becomes isolation
and disengagement from community (p. 57)
 Moving away from the covenant of loyalty
 Journalists moving up the chain, business
decisions to target specific demographics
(the richest or biggest audience) and ignoring
others.
 Smaller circulation but more affluent
customers for advertisers
Who Journalists Work For
 The Wall
 Advertising, circulation and the business of
running a newspaper/broadcast outlet is
firewalled from the news operation.
 Risk of having no firewall: Advertisers
dictating news coverage. Integrity challenged
by the public
 The Citizen as Customer runs contrary to the
mission of journalism
Who Journalists Work For
 If the wall fails, then what can be done to bolster
the allegiance between citizens and journalists?
(page 69-75)
 The owner must be committed to citizens first
 Hire business managers who also put citizens
first
 Set and communicate clear standards
 Journalists have final say over news
 Communicate clear standards to the public
Who Journalists Work For
 “The allegiance to citizens is the meaning of
what we have come to call journalistic
independence. “(p.53)
 Pew Survey: 80 percent of journalists surveyed
said the core principal of journalism was making
the viewer, listener, reader “your first
obligation.” (p.53)
 http://people-press.org/report/?pageid=315
Who Journalists Work For
 Journalism in the public interest is eroding
due to tensions between the newsroom and
business side.
 Layoffs, downsizing, efficiencies = poor
morale, lack of resources to cover news and
dispensation of journalistic propriety.
 Bad economic times resulted in layoffs but
when “good” times returned jobs were not
restored.
Who Journalists Work For
 The notion that investing in good journalism
would result in better circulation or larger
audiences never caught on in the boardrooms
of the corporations that owned news
operations.
 Tightening the belt to increase revenues
began a death spiral regarding audience.
 “It was a … strategy of liquidating the
industry.” (page 66)
Who Journalists Work For
 “The allegiance to citizens is the meaning of
what we have come to call journalistic
independence. “(p.53)
 Pew Survey: 80 percent of journalists surveyed
said the core principal of journalism was making
the viewer, listener, reader “your first
obligation.” (p.53)
 http://people-press.org/report/?pageid=315
Who Journalists Work For
 As more readers went online, more
companies that had cut newsroom budgets
actually suffered… news entities that
invested in newsroom personnel fared better
in the online shift. (Page 67)
 But overall, covering news on behalf of the
public interest is a controversial proposition
in news companies.
Who Journalists Work For
 The rank and file of the newsroom will fight
for the public but the results are mixed
depending on the corporate philosophy of
those in the boardroom controlling the
operation.
 A mixed record depending on where you
work.
 The commitment to journalism varies and is
always in jeopardy depending on market
situations and the economy.
Who Journalists Work For
 Maintaining the journalistic mission to stand
up for the public requires news operations to
work cooperatively with the business side of
the company.
 The authors cite these characteristics of
companies that have made the transition.
Who Journalists Work For
 They are:
 1. The owner must be committed to citizens




first.
2. Hire business managers who also put
citizens first.
3. Set and communicate clear standards
4. Journalist have final say over news
5. Communicate clear standards to the public
Week 2: Truth: The First and Most Confusing Principle
ISSUES IN JOURNALISM
Ch. 1 review

What is the primary purpose of journalism?
How did journalism "free" Poland and other Soviet-bloc nations?
What's the problem with trying to define journalism today?
Define the Awareness Instinct.
What is the first task of the new journalist/sense maker given the mind-boggling amount of information
and news-delivery technology available today?
What was Walter Lippmann's take on the public's interest in accurate news and the role of the press in a
democracy?
Define the theory of the interlocking public and give a pertinent example.
What happens when journalism focuses on the expectations of the expert elite or writes stories aimed at
the largest possible audience?
List the "three major forces" that the book's authors say are eroding journalism's ability to build
community, promote the interest of citizens and monitor the activities of government and powerful
special interests?
What's the danger to a free press posed by each of these forces?
First essay

1. You would think the pullout of all combat forces from Iraq would have dominated the news.
After all, with more than 4,000 dead and tens of thousands soldiers wounded so far in the war, not
to mention trillions spent, the conflict has impacted all Americans.
So which factors were at work, according to Tom's analysis, that pushed the massive coverage of
the mosque over the withdrawal from Iraq?
2. Do you agree with the emphasis placed on the mosque by a majority of news outlets? Why? If
not, which of the other stories analyzed this week: the economy, elections, Iraq etc. should have
been given more news hole?
3. What kind of personal insight about news coverage did you come away with after reading Tom's
analysis? Which factors do you think drove the coverage of various stories? Is this process fair? Is it
logical? Does it serve the American news consumer?
4. Consider the review of top stories in light of the 10 Elements of Journalism (the list is on the
back of the front cover of the text and is explained in the preface of the text) and answer this
question:
Did the decision makers who made the mosque story number 1 heed any of the 10 Elements of
Journalism? Which of the elements did they honor? Which ones did they ignore? Defend your
point of view.
The Elements of Journalism
Journalism’s first
obligation is to the
truth… (p. 36 TEOJ)
But what is truth?
Is it accuracy?
Verification?
Context?
Perception?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXoNE14U_zM
Truth: The first principle
 The definition of news sometimes leaves “truth”
in a muddle.
 Why were Tiger’s indiscretions “news.”
 Glen Beck’s D.C. gathering
 Lindsey Lohan…
 News is what ever is newsworthy on a given day:
Tom Brokaw.
 Failure by journalists to define what they do
leaves the public with the notion the press is
hiding something or deluding itself. (pg. 41)
Pew Research Center survey
Truth: The first principle
 “[Journalists] are in what we call the reality-
based community…That’s not the way the
world works anymore …When we act, we
create our own reality.” (page 30 TEOJ)
Truth: The First and Most
Confusing Principle




Oil plume lingering in Gulf, study confirms
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: 8:19 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 19, 2010
New research confirms the existence of a huge plume of
dispersed oil deep in the Gulf of Mexico and suggests that it
has not broken down rapidly, raising the possibility that it
might pose a threat to wildlife for months or even years.
 The study, the most ambitious scientific paper to emerge
so far from the Deepwater Horizon spill, casts some doubt
on recent statements by the federal government that oil in
the Gulf appears to be dissipating at a brisk clip. However,
the lead scientist in the research,
 WASHINGTON | Tue Aug 24, 2010 5:25pm EDT
 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Manhattan-sized plume
of oil spewed deep into the Gulf of Mexico by BP's
broken Macondo well has been consumed by a
newly discovered fast-eating species of microbes,
scientists reported on Tuesday.
 These latest findings may initially seem to be at
odds with a study published last Thursday in Science
by researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution, which confirmed the existence of the oil
plume and said micro-organisms did not seem to be
biodegrading it very quickly.
Anatomy of a lie

http://biggovernment.com/abreitbart/2010/07/19/video-proof-the-naacpawards-racism2010/

http://www.naacp.org/news/entry/video_sherrod/

http://biggovernment.com/abreitbart/2010/07/19/video-proof-the-naacpawards-racism2010/

Fox coverage:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/23/fox-news-shirley-sherrod_n_657512.html

Journalistic truth
 Facts are subject to revision and journalists
realize that… but that’s the “truth” we are
seeking – a functional or practical form of
truth.
 “It is not truth in the absolute or philosophical
sense. It is not the truth of a chemical
equation. Journalism can– and must– pursue
the truths by which we can operate on a dayto-day basis.”(pg. 42)
Journalistic truth
 To find truth journalists sort it out… realize
it’s a process sometimes… it takes time to
parse true and false… lies and facts…
 We must follow procedures and ethics
regarding coverage.
 A transparent process and training reveals
the “functional truth” (pg.42)… the facts of an
arrest, the outcome of an election…etc.
 But is accuracy enough?
Journalistic truth
 Accuracy is not enough. Though it may be the
beginning, it’s just the start of a process.
 “It is no longer enough to report the fact
truthfully. It is now necessary to report the
truth about the fact.” (pg 42)
 For journalists this means getting the facts
straight and making sense of the facts.
 It should be about finding meaning, not just
data.
The Steen case
Journalistic truth
 The Steen case and it’s layers are a good
example of this process.
 The story begins as a tragic, but simple cops
story.
 It evolves to encompass stories about the life in
the Pensacola ghetto and flaws in police
procedure.
 The coverage gets mired in stereotypes (bad
cops and drug dealing black people).
 The coverage needed context and nuance
besides the facts of the story.
Journalistic truth
 That doesn’t mean that accuracy doesn’t
matter.
 Accuracy is the foundation for: Interpretation,
context, debate and all of public
communication (pg. 43).
 If those debating, arguing, talking have the
wrong facts, the outcome is flawed.
 That’s the problem with cable news shows
and talk radio… and websites devoted to
“interpreting” the news.
Journalistic truth
 It’s best to understand journalistic truth as a
process that takes time. It takes subsequent
stories and efforts to refine the facts and
correct errors and impart meaning.
 It takes experience, a sense of history and
knowledge about a subject and the courage
to uncover the story, wherever it leads.
 But can it be done?
Truth: The first principle
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0KQWTBljjg
 “The Truth … was a complicated and
sometimes contradictory phenomenon,
but seen as a process over time, journalists
can get at it.” (pg. 44)
Journalistic truth
 The payoff in pursuing the truth with a clear
objective, experience and desire to get the
facts straight: “Getting news that comes
closer to a complete version of the truth has
real consequences.” (pg. 45)
 The public begins to form attitudes as news is
broken given the context in the way the facts
are presented.
 So accuracy is key. Then meaning.
Journalistic truth
 Is the substitute for “truth” fairness and

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balance?
Both terms are difficult to define. At least
truthfulness can be tested on several levels.
A “balanced” story may be unfair to the truth.
It could lead to a distortion of the facts.
Global warming. The anniversary of the
Apollo 11 landing on the moon. All examples
of story that could include unfair balance.
Journalistic truth
 What forces are working against a journalist’s
professed search for the truth?
 In the continuous news cycle, journalists are
shoveling out information without sufficient
time to check things out creating a journalism of
assertion rather than verification.
 The pursuit of big stories to gain mass audiences
at the expense of context and clarity.
 The rise of news sites that aggregate stories and
let the public sort out rumors, speculation and
spin.
Journalistic truth
 The instinct for truth today is crucial.
 Paradox: Even with all the outlets for information at
our disposal, finding truth in some ways takes more
work than ever before. (pg 48)
 The press needs to sift out rumor, spin and the
insignificant so people can know what to believe and
to trust.
 So it’s verfication first and interpretation later is a
good way to answer the question: Where is the good
stuff?
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