Blog Post #14

Blog Post #14

Chapter 7: “Media Economics: The Deadline Meets the Bottom Line”

Case 7-A: Crossing the line? The L.A. Times and the Staples Affair  

Micro Issues

How does entering into contract with the Staples Center differ from the sports department accepting press passes for the events held in the arena?

Entering into contract with the Staples Center differ from the sports department accepting press passes for the events held in the arena because of the type of ownership. Entering into contract with the Staples Center means the reporters that work in association with that newspaper will have to strictly base their stories taking care of the image of the Staples Center. Not only that, reporters will be working as advertisers in one way or another. 

Midrange Issues

Shaw entitled his article “Journalism Is a Very Different Business.” In what ways do you think journalism differs from other business?  

Journalism differs from other businesses in the way they exposed their image every day through the written word. Other business only exposed what they consider to communicate though press releases taking care of their image. Also, journalism needs to be completely impartial in order to be completely newsworthy. 

Macro Issues

When a newspaper is a publicly traded company, do the loyalties of the paper shift from the public to the shareholders?

I totally agree because the journalism taken by the reporters of a newspaper which is a publicly traded company means certain news that will interest the public but not the shareholders will remain in silent. This situation makes the readers skeptical about the news they read in the newspaper. The loss of readers will not only represent an economic turndown for the newspaper, but also a violation of the free press.

 

Citizen McCaw

Blog Post #13

Citizen McCaw

Chapter 5: “The Future of Newspapers”

Selling news and information will always make a profit, but distributing news on newsprint will not.  Though audiences have splintered the high cost of professional reporting and editing remains the same.

Why is reporting and editing expensive?

Besides the fact most news coverage newspapers have gone digital, news reporting and editing remains expensive because the old ways of selling ads have diminished. According to the article by Jon Mitchell, These Designers Did for Fun What News Sites Can't Do to Save Their Business, Journalism faces a disjuncture "between the time put into the story and the value of the product,” Mule director of strategy Erika Hall says. The old ways of reporting the news are expensive, and the old ways of selling ads are diminishing in value. That’s unsustainable. News organizations know it, Hall believes. “There’s this visceral drive to the future,” she says, describing the urge in the news industry to innovate the crisis away. “But it’s held back by nostalgia.” Evening Edition news doesn’t solve the problem of the tremendous cost of news reporting. But it costs little to build and run, and it delivers tremendous value that might eventually pay for original news gathering. The value of the service is its exceedingly simple package. “This is just a small demonstration,” Hall also points out. To grap it all out we can say a sense of nostalgia drive back by media news owners is the main reason why reporting and editing will still remain expensive.

 

Blog Post #12

Blog Post #12  

Journalists or Jokesters:

The Pimp, the Prostitute and an ACORN That Fell away from the Tree

Was it justifiable for James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles to not only claim false identities, but then to film and expose the ACORN employees?

First, let’s point out the author of the Review article, Alexandra Fenwick’s conclusion about this case: “Does it matter who shot the video and what their motivations were? Maybe not. Just don’t call it journalism.” The problem at hand is significant. However, sources report that the ACORN employee was only following along with the scheme to get more information to relay to the police in order to stop the alleged scandal. If ACORN was truly distributing information about how to get away with a prostitution business, then yes, it does demand urgent attention. However, there is evidence that this was not the case. Like stated earlier, the employee was just trying to understand the situation better so she could report it to a higher authority. This case is unique because of the way the video was edited. In the unedited version of the story it does not demand media attention. But in the edited version where ACORN is portrayed as a part of a prostitution business, it would definitely demand and deserve media attention.

 

Veil of Ignorance

Post #11

Veil of Ignorance

#1 – Write as the mother or father of a teenager who frequents chat rooms such as teenchat.com.

As a mother of a teenager who frequents chat rooms such as teenchat.com, I would educate my son/daughter about the pros and cons about using such websites. I will encourage him/her to try surfing the web in search for another sort of entertainment web page. But most important, I will inform him/her about the dangers that are out there by using those types of websites. Because they are teenagers, they are looking to explore the world out there especially by interacting with new people. I will not try to scare them, but instead I will try to inform them about cases of raped for example that have occurred due to using those web sites. It is usually better to take some action before it is too late to solve a problem.

The Potter Box Analysis

Post #10

The Potter Box Analysis

The Pimp, the Prostitute and the Preacher

The Potter Box

Facts:  In the scenario of The Pimp, the Prostitute and the Preacher, the facts are straightforward. As the court reporter for this daily newspaper, I have decided to write the fully detailed story.     

Values: As a journalist, I value the truth above all things. In order to do so I am willing to give up privacy in favor of it. In the foregoing case, such a value system means that I am going to print every detail, because I indeed value the truth. I am not going to make an affirmative statement whether Reverend Jones is guilty or not, but I am going to reveal his name.  He might not have been considered guilty yet, but the fact that he is been considered a suspect is news. Therefore, I need to report it. For example, Queen Elizabeth called for action against some newspapers who published naked pictures of Prince Harry while he was having a blast at a hotel in Las Vegas. In contrast, I don’t think she says anything when news article say that Kate Middleton, Prince William’s wife, might be pregnant or not.

Principles: I have already made up my mind, and also I have stated my values. Now, I need to apply philosophical principles. Aristotle’s golden mean might counsel a middle ground at balances printing every detail of the story or no printing no story at all. In conclusion, many of the ethical dilemmas out there might not leave a happy ending. The truth is that Reverend Jones is been accused, therefore I need to report it because that is part of my job.  

Loyalties: I would stay loyal to my job, and what I do as a journalist. Journalists are often accused of being “out of touch” with their viewers or readers, but a fact is that the truth hurts most of the time. It is better to be straightforward and honest than to be hypocrite. I rather take a path of an absolutist view of the truth my community needs to know.

Network Discussion Prompts

Post #9

Network Discussion Prompts

In Network, programming the news is taken to the extreme. To what degree do you feel the news is programmed in reality? Support your answer with details and examples.

Nowadays, news is programmed in a sensationalist way in order to attract more viewers. Just reporting the news (if there is any) won't generate ratings as effectively as reporting news items with an emotional twist.

A perfect example will be the “Bed Intruder” news report about an intended raped in Huntsville, Alabama. They presented this news coverage in a total sensationalist way. This caused the news report to turn out into a viral video mocking Antoine Dodson, who was the victim’s brother, response of the facts.

Reporters often use meaningless one-dimensional statistics; for example, "Texas leads the nation in big-rig accidents." (That's a quote from a recent story designed to drum up support for some new state law.) That makes it sound like the truck drivers on Texas highways are more dangerous than anywhere else. But Texas has more highway mileage than most other states, and lots of really bad drivers on the road.

But there are more subtle components of media sensationalism that the average viewer hardly notices, at least consciously. Major market stations spend millions of dollars every year on futuristic news sets, lighting, catchy music, sound effects, visual effects, character generators and various kinds of electronic graphics. TV newscasts are staged and choreographed as thoroughly as a small-town play. In the old days, a middle-aged white man sat behind a plain old desk and reported the news. That's not enough in today's TV market. The news team sits behind a desk and reads whatever comes up on the TelePrompter. They rarely use words that are longer than three syllables. The high-priced news readers are really good at putting on a phony "concerned" look at just the right time. And if you'll notice, they are usually just stating the obvious, and only rarely does anyone speak on a single subject for more than five or ten seconds.

Arthur Jensen the corporate CEO, tells Howard that, “The world is a business … It has been since man crawled out of the slime.” What are your opinions and impressions of that speech, delivered near the end of the film by Jensen, played by Ned Beatty?  

I totally agree with Jensen’s point of view that “The world is a business … It has been since man crawled out of the slime” because it exactly explains what is happening to news reporting nowadays.  To one is a secret that social media has crashed TV news reporting.  So in order to gain back their audiences, and strike back up their TV ratings, news producers have turned news into a business.  These have turned journalism and TV news production into a huge controlled business, instead of a clean, informative, and ethical corporation.  News need to be partial in order to inform their audiences newsworthy pieces that could help improve society in one way or another. But if becomes a business, it is not going to inform what the people wants. Instead, it will inform what it profitable for its owners.