Week 6: Journalism of Verification
ISSUES IN JOURNALISM
Journalism of verification
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
 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
 “[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
 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)
 Or put another way: http://youtu.be/8Bfe6CgYbH8
 Journalists must be able to determine truth
through systems of verification.
Why verification is the essence of
journalism
 Interesting interactive about where people
really get news:
 http://www.journalism.org/analysis_report/local
_news
Public perception of the press
 http://people-press.org/2011/09/22/presswidely-criticized-but-trusted-more-thanother-institutions/
 Verification can foster trust in the news
media and turn around a dismal perception
problem
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)
 Balance Bias (bal-ance bi-as)
1. The assumption that there is truth and
legitimacy to both sides of every dispute.
2. The iron law in political journalism that one
side in a debate can never be exclusively right,
or have a monopoly on the facts.
 The old two quotes for each side rule…
 http://www.thenation.com/blog/162356/medi
a-blows-debt-crisis-coverage-balance-bias
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
 The institution of the press has failed to
adhere to a rigorous system for testing the
reliability of its reporting.
 “The modern press culture generally is
weakening the methodology of verification
journalists have developed. Technology is
part of it.”
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
Fact check
 Politifact
 http://www.politifact.com/truth-ometer/statements/2011/aug/22/rickperry/rick-perry-says-more-and-morescientists-are-quest/
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
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)
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECwPAzqj4SA
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 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
Do not deceive
 Chicago TV station admits mistakes in airing
misleading interview with 4-year-old boy
 (Poynter.org)
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/als-morningmeeting/141052/chicago-tv-station-admitsmistakes-in-airing-misleading-interview-with-4year-old-boy/
The soundbite that aired
 4-year-old boy: “I’m not scared of nothing.”
 Photographer: “When you get older are you
going to stay away from all these guns?”
 Boy: “No.”
 Photographer: “No? What are you going to do
when you get older?”
 Boy: “I’m going to have me a gun!”
Actual soundbite
 Photographer: “Boy, you ain’t scared of nothing! Damn!
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When you get older are you going to stay away from all
these guns?”
Boy: “No.”
Photographer: “No? What are you going to do when you
get older?”
Boy: “I’m going to have me a gun!”
Photographer: “You are! Why do you want to do
that?”
Boy: “I’m going to be the police!”
Photographer: “OK, then you can have one.”
 A Chicago TV station now says it made two ethical mistakes when it
aired an interview with a 4-year-old boy last month.
 The first mistake was interviewing a child at a crime scene. But
things grew even worse when the station edited the boy’s interview
in a way that made it seem as though the African American child
idolized guns and criminals.
 In fact, the child told the photographer that he wanted to be a police
officer. The station edited out that part of the interview.
 Care must be taken when interviewing
juveniles, especially on breaking news stories.
Do not add: The case of
Jayson Blair
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http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/11/national/11PAPE.html?pagewanted=3
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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 add: Obama’s speech
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http://www.mediaite.com/tv/ap-reporter-responds-to-panel-debate-onracism-of-droppin-gs/
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.
“Simple” rules of verification
 http://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/eight_simp
le_rules_for_doing_a.php
Transparent about method:Wikileaks
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.
The run up to war
 THREATS AND RESPONSES: THE IRAQIS; U.S. SAYS
HUSSEIN INTENSIFIES QUEST FOR A-BOMB PARTS
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By MICHAEL R. GORDON and JUDITH MILLER
Published: September 08, 2002
The New York Times
 Hard-liners are alarmed that American intelligence
underestimated the pace and scale of Iraq's nuclear
program before Baghdad's defeat in the gulf war. Conscious
of this lapse in the past, they argue that Washington dare
not wait until analysts have found hard evidence that Mr.
Hussein has acquired a nuclear weapon. The first sign of a
''smoking gun,'' they argue, may be a mushroom cloud.
The run up to war
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First you had on September 3, 2002 the famous New York Times "aluminum
tubes" piece by Judy Miller and Michael Gordon. That same day you had Vice
President Cheney and then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice appear
conveniently on the Sunday talk shows to talk about what had been extremely
classified information that had appeared that day, in the New York Times. And
then on September 10 you had the same allegations made to the world by the
President of the United States from the podium of the United Nations. And then
the following week the President made the same assertion that these aluminum
tubes were for a nuclear weapons program that Iraq had hidden from UN
weapons inspectors in an address to the nation.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/17/the-reporting-team-that-g_n_91981.html
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http://youtu.be/YWuLRwrm5fo
http://youtu.be/4gUzD1Ud4Lk
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Buying the war
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http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/video/flv/generic.html?s=moyj06p24f
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
 “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
 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
 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
 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
Week 2: Truth: The First and Most Confusing Principle
ISSUES IN JOURNALISM
Ch. 1 review
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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
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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
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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
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http://biggovernment.com/abreitbart/2010/07/19/video-proof-the-naacpawards-racism2010/
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http://www.naacp.org/news/entry/video_sherrod/
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http://biggovernment.com/abreitbart/2010/07/19/video-proof-the-naacpawards-racism2010/
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Fox coverage:
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/23/fox-news-shirley-sherrod_n_657512.html
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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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