Quiz 5 Flashcards
Journalism Introduction
Purpose of Journalism
- inform
- reveal
- hold the powerful to account
- without fear or failure
- give voice to the voiceless
HAMAS/Israel War on Journalists
123 PAL journalist/media workers + 3 Lebanese killed while covering Gaza
How many journalists globally were killed
2353 media workers and journalists
How many globally imprisoned Journalists
320 (67 still missing)
Examples of imprisoned Journalists
- Evan Gershkovich –> Russia + accused on being a spy
- Truong Huy San –> Vietnam + say to be infringing on states interest
- Novaya Gazeta (Russia) closed/censored alongside other Russian publications
How many US journalists killed?
75
Killed US Journalists Examples
- Jeff German –> Las Vegas Review was stabbed for doing pieces exposing higher up
- The Capitol staff was shot in their office due to a story
- Dylan Colby Lyons –> FL was shot while covering a homicide in 2023
How do we unearth the truth + facts
When, where, what, who, why, how?
how many people have been shot or killed by the police in the last 12 months
1167
black ppl are killed at a rate 2x higher than white people
the first amendment
freedom of speech/press/expression
no censorship by the government
Thomas Jefferson quote
“I would rather have newspapers with no government than a government without newspapers”
Ida B. Wells
- Black journalist who was born into slavery
Investigative journalist on racial injustice - Lynching
Inequality - Experienced white backlash/censorship
Upton Sinclair
Muckraker journalism (exposing systems/reform-minded)
- wrote “The Jungle” –> exposed poor labor conditions in the meat packing industry
- caused the passing of the Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug act in 1906
Nick Ut
- Vietnamese American photojournalist
- Captured one of the most iconic images from the Vietnam war –> terrorized children, burned off clothes
- Galvanized the anti-war movement
Journalism is often referred to as…
- the first rough draft of history
- a front row seat to history
BU COM Alumni
- Jessica Rinaldi (Cuba/Natural disaster PP)
- Kimbriell Kelly (Washington Post PP)
Who are the media?
80,000 in broadcast, online, print, or radio
- not owned, licensed, or controlled by govt
- different business models–profit and non-profit
what is the job of journalists?
- report what we can observe or verify from reputable sources
- put information into context
- bear witness, serve as watchdogs, illuminate and explain
why do we do the work?
- it is a calling
- to defend democracy
- to enable the public to make informed decisions
guiding principles?
- truth and accuracy
- independence
- fairness and impartiality
- accountability and thoroughness
- humanity/empathetic
- be compelling
Acta Diurna
the earliest known written news sheet that is Latin for “daily news”
Publick Occurrences
1690 = FIRST North American newspaper by Boston printer Benjamin Harris
- anti-British and local minister so it was banned after 1 issue
First regularly appearing newspaper in the colonies
the Boston News-Letter
1704
John Campbell
The Courant
1721
Benjamin Franklin
Interested ordinary readers
1733
the New York Weekly Journal
Zenger Case
The Journal by John Peter Zenger - politically anti-British articles
- seditious libel charges/accounts were cleared in 1735 court preventing govt censorship
Daily Paper types
Political - partisan press that pushed political groups (editorials)
Commercial - served business leaders and economic issues (business section)
- confined readership (wealthy, educated)
Penny press era
1830s (industrial revolution)
- cheaper machine-made paper
- growing literacy and middle class made the press inclusive
4000 newspapers an hour
Example of Penny Press Era
Benjamin Day and the New York Sun
“shines for all” only 1 penny
- fabricated events like the great moon hoax of 1835
Newsies
the kids that would distribute papers…they had to often times buy what they couldn’t sell
Associated Press
1848 - 6 NY presses merged together and Founded AP
- Wire services
Wire services
commercial organizations that relayed news stories and information around the globe using telegraph and later radio/digital transmissions
Yellow Journalism
1800s
Sensationalist in depth “detective/investigative” stories
watchdogs
Ex: Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst’s
- Control of the yellow kid cartoon
Joseph Pulitzer
- Bought the bankrupted St louis Dispatch and merged it with the post
- bought New York Wold in 1883 and was more progressive
New York World
- Nellie Bly –> asylum girl that helped make room for female journalists
- advice and womens pages
- 1883 Pulitizer buys it
William Randolph Hearst
San Fran Examiner
Dad = senator ($$$)
Sensational stories with Bold headlines that often faked content and encouraged conflict
Postal Act of 1879
Lowered postage rates for magazines
- lowered distribution costs increasing distribution
- Imagined communities
Imagined communities
Members of a social constructed group rather than as individuals with only local or regional identities
Muckrakers
Complexity of America (immigration/urbanization)
Journalists willing to crawl through societies muck to uncover a story
Photojournalism and General Interest magazine examples
- Saturday Evening Post (x)
- Readers digest (x)
- Time magazine
- Life magazine (x)
What caused the down fall of general interest magazines?
1950s
- Television
- Postal rates (heightened)
LIFE magazine
- pass along readership –> the total number of ppl who come into contact with a single copy of a magazine
- Margaret Bourke-White –> first female to correspondent to fly combat missions in WW2
- Gordon Parks –> hollHywood Black film director
Edward Murrow
Stecado tone
captured the WW2 bombing, intervieweed survivors
1st to visit concentration camp (gukenval)
Psi Kirsh
Looked into US Solider violence in Vietnam and discovered a military cover-up of the Milai massacre
News is…
relevant, timely, verified information (facts) present in context
- significant change
- noteworthy
- novel
Changing public policy
- Samuel Hopkins Adams and Upton Sinclair (unsafe food)
- Jacob Riis and Lewis Hine (child labor)
- Spotlight Boston and sexually assault by priests
is it newsworthy?
timeliness
significance
proximity
prominence
conflict/tension
elements of a news story
- facts –> verified from credible source
- context –> broader story
- voices –> who to quotes povs
- structure
2 basic kinds of news storys
hard news and features
hard news
tell the audience quickly and clearly what happened and why
- vital facts delivered first + fast
- immediate deadlines
- lede
- breaking news
- disspassionate tone
- inverted pyramid
feature
use more narrative storytelling that draws in the reader
- gently
- narrative
- entice reader
- not published immediately
bringing stories to life
- idea
- research
- interviews
- write/produce
- edit + fact-check
- publish
plagiarize
copy someone’s writing
fabricate
invent facts or quotes
how to fix a mistake
- tell your editor immediately
- run a correction in the same place as the original report
- apologize sincerely
- do everything in you can to make sure it never happens again
if you make a mistake…(what could be the effect)
- news org’s rep will decline
- potentially unsafe public conditions
- you can get fired (forced to resign) and sued for millions
scoop
editors are happy when er break stories that are concealed and controversial
- Bernstein + Woodward on Nixon and watergate
- publish as soon as possible but be careful with the reliability of sources
