Chapter 13 THE CULTURE OF JOURNALISM Values Ethics

Chapter 13 THE CULTURE OF JOURNALISM: Values, Ethics, and Democracy Kendall Rice

MODERN JOURNALISM in the Information Age • Has allowed for informed, intelligent decision making • Has produced an excess of unimportant information – Only adds to the problems and anxieties of everyday life – Too much “unchecked data” and too little meaningful discussion generated by it – fails to make a significant impact on public and political life • Opportunities to take part in public conversation and civic debate

NEWS: What is News? • Process of Gathering Information – Making Narrative Reports – Offering select frames of reference • Within those Frames, – Helps make sense of • • • Prominent people Important events Political issues Cultural trends Unusual happenings in everyday life.

NEWS: What is News? • 1963, Reuven Frank, NBC NEWS: “Every news story should…display the attributes of fiction, drama, it should have structure and conflict, problem and denouncement, rising and falling action, beginning, middle, and end. ” • Journalists as information-gatherers rather than storytellers

CHARACTERISTICS of News • Conventional set of criteria determining newsworthiness has evolved:

CHARACTERISTICS of News • Timeliness: – Events that have just occurred recently

CHARACTERISTICS of News • Proximity: – Events that have occurred close by and are of relevance to the reader or viewer

CHARACTERISTICS of News • Conflict: – Key ingredient of narrative – Representation of opposing views – Natural disasters and military confrontations

CHARACTERISTICS of News • Prominence: – Powerful, influential people who have important roles in shaping rules and values of a community

CHARACTERISTICS of News • Human Interest: – Extraordinary events or occurrences happening to otherwise “ordinary” people

CHARACTERISTICS of News • Consequence: – News that has any significant impact on the daily life of the reader/ viewer

CHARACTERISTICS of News • Usefulness: – Information of value or benefit that may have practical use to the reader/ viewer

CHARACTERISTICS of News • Novelty: – Extraordinary or shocking incidents outside of dayto-day routine

CHARACTERISTICS of News • Deviance: – Any event that departs from established social norms.

VALUES in American Journalism • News is both product and process – Subtle values and shifting rituals – Adapted to historical and social circumstances

VALUES in American Journalism • Horace Greeley, 1841: Reporters’ neutrality would make them “wimps who stood for nothing” • That same neutrality now a major value of conventional journalism • David Eason: “Reporters…have no special method for determining the truth of a situation nor a special language for reporting their findings. They make sense of events by telling stories about them. ”

NEUTRALITY BOOSTS CREDIBILITY…and Sales • Many modern journalists believe that their credibility is based in supposed objectivity and stance as neutral, unbiased observers • Mass-marketing of newspapers in 1880 s – Publishers become less opinionated and more business-minded in order to reach a broader audience and increase sales

OTHER CULTURAL VALUES in Journalism • Neutral journalism remains a selective process governed by deeper subjective beliefs.

OTHER CULTURAL VALUES in Journalism • ethnocentrism – Perception of and writing about foreign affairs and events from a strictly “American” perspective

OTHER CULTURAL VALUES in Journalism • responsible capitalism – The naïve assumption that businesspeople compete with one another not primarily to maximize profits but “to create increased prosperity for all. ” Many journalists condemn monopolies but say little about the oligopolistic nature of the media

OTHER CULTURAL VALUES in Journalism • small-town pastoralism – The tendency to favor the small over the large, the rural over the urban, the innocence of the country over the corruption of the city.

OTHER CULTURAL VALUES in Journalism • Individualism – Idealistic reporters are attracted to the profession because it rewards the those who go to great lengths to confront and expose corruption and overcome personal adversity – Dangers of focusing on personal triumphs • Failure to explain institutional decay • Preference for working alone • Difficulty in collaborative efforts

FACTS, Values, and Bias • Facts with objective position • Values with subjective feelings • Offer the reader/ viewer details, data, and description – Reporters as neutral “channels” of information, responsible only for “getting the facts” and conveying them

FACTS, Values, and Bias • Conservatives: Media as liberally biased • Liberals: Media as Favorable to Conservative Positions • News bias toward storytelling, conflict, drama and scandal • Evan Thomas, Newsweek: “Journalists are looking for narratives that reveal something of character. It is the human drama that most compels our attention. ”

ETHICS and the News Media • • Dilemma of disclosure vs. concealment Deceptive tactics Invasion of privacy Conflict of Interest

ETHICS Ethical Predicaments • absolutist ethics suggests that a moral society has laws and codes, including honesty, that everyone must live by • situational ethics promotes ethical decisions on a case-by-case basis. • Journalism Code of Ethics • Fine line between “right to know” and invasion of personal privacy. • Avoidance of situations in which one may benefit personally from the story being produced.

RESOLUTION of Ethical Problems • Aristotle’s “Golden Mean” – Seeking balance and finding a middle ground between two competing positions • Immanuel Kant – “Categorical Imperative” – Strict adherence to universal and unconditional moral codes at all times and in all situations • Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill – “The greatest good for the greatest number, ” to distribute a good consequence to more people rather than to fewer, whenever we have a choice. ”

DEVELOPMENT of Ethical Policy • Laying out the case; • pinpointing the key issues; • identifying involved parties, their intents, and their competing values; • studying ethical models; • presenting strategies and options; • formulating a decision.

REPORTING RITUALS and the Legacy of Print Journalism • Journalists unfamiliar with being questioned themselves • Rituals derived from American values

FOCUS on the Present • Editors call for a focus on “the immediacy of the present” • De-emphasis on political analysis and historical context; • Accent on the new and the now • Rejection of “old news” for any new disruption of daily routine

FOCUS on the Present • “Get the story” • Getting the story first – ”Scoop behavior” • Herd journalism – Invasion of privacy, exploitation of personal problems • Getting the story wrong

RELY on Experts • • What vs. Whom a journalist knows Use of experts to create conflict Expert source bias Blurred line between neutrality and expertise

ACT as Adversaries • Adversarial relationship between reporters and figures, institutions they cover • “Gotcha Story” • Use of “tough questioning” • “What is going on here? ” – Vs. Why is it going on? • What can be done about it?

JOURNALISM in the Age of TV and the Internet • The rules and rituals governing American journalism began shifting in the 1950 s. • Blurring the line between entertainment and information.

DIFFERENCES between Print and TV News • • Broadcast news driven by technology Physical ad space; commercial slots Detachment; Live, on-the-sport Viewers’ regard for TV news anchors

SOUND BITES • TV equivalent of a quote

PRETTY-FACE and Happy-Talk Culture • Stereotypical, “ideal” news reporter – What topics should be covered, how one should look and sound • Replication of past advertising images • Happy Talk: – Scripted banter; relaxed atmosphere – Often forced and at times inappropriate

PUNDITS, Talking Heads, and Politics • Evening News – 24/7 News • Decline in live reporting • Niche markets – Smart business[? ] – Not so good journalism • Strong opinions, not all the facts

CONVERGENCE Enhances and Changes Journalism • Online news has added new dimensions to journalism • Problems – Email instead of face to face interviews – Ease of access to and breadth of information • Plagiarism • Demands on reporting and writing

THE POWER of Visual Language • The visual language of TV news and the Internet often capture events more powerfully than words • The Internet as a repository for news images and video

ALTERNATIVE MODELS : Public Journalism and “Fake News” • Two competing journalism models – Informational • Neutral description of events – Partisan • Analysis of occurrences and advocation of remedies • Dominance of Informational on front page – Partisan confined to editorials • Alternative models to challenge ideals

THE PUBLIC JOURNALISM MOVEMENT • Davis “Buzz” Merritt - key aspects of Public Journalism: – Moves beyond “telling the news” to a broader mission of helping public life go well… – Moves from detachment to being a fair-minded participant in public life…. – Moves beyond only describing what is “going wrong” to imagining what “going right” would be like…. – Moves from seeing people as consumers to seeing them as a public, as potential actors in arriving at democratic solutions to public problems.

THE PUBLIC JOURNALISM MOVEMENT • Public journalism as a conversational model for journalistic practice. • Modern journalism draws a distinct line between reporter detachment and community involvement; • public journalism—driven by citizen forums, community conversations, and even talk shows—obscures this line.

THE PUBLIC JOURNALISM MOVEMENT • Criticisms – Loss of • • editorial control Credibility Balance Diverse views

“FAKE” NEWS and Satiric Journalism • “Fake” news shows appear as legitimate news sources • Information seems truthful about politicians and manipulation of media and public opinion. • Use of humor to critique news media and the political system. • Greater range of emotions than “hard news”

“FAKE” NEWS and Satiric Journalism • Journalism needs to break free from tired formulas—especially in TV news—and reimagine better ways to tell stories. • We should demand news story forms that better represent the complexity of our world.

DEMOCRACY and Reimagining Journalism’s Role • Journalism is central to democracy: – Both citizens and the media must have access to the information that we need to make important decisions. – the basic principles of democracy require citizens and the media to question our leaders and government.

DEMOCRACY and Reimagining Journalism’s Role • Limitations of journalistic principals – No acknowledgement of moral or ethical duty to improve quality of life – Value placed on news-gathering capability and narrative

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY • Reporters first and foremost as observers and recorders • Some have acknowledged a social responsibility • Responsibility extends to readers as well