KC News Meeting

I've been reading about some of the following things this week. But please remember this posting is not exhaustive. Some of you are relying too much on these notes to understand what's going on in your world. Remember, a daily diet of news is critical to participating as a citizen, a worker, a consumer. News isn't important because "KC's News Meeting" says it is.
Here's what I've been learning about. Use comments to add your own ideas.
- Madison tuition initiative
- NCAA tournament
- AIG bonuses
- Detroit bailouts
- plan for Afghanistan
- stock market rallies
- who is Tim Geithner and what does he want to do for us?
- violence in Mexico

Facebook firing

Blog post from a 202er:

Hey Katy,

As a resident of Philadelphia, I found this article to be particularly interesting. Not only does it relate to my beloved Eagles, but it relates to our class and the right to privacy vs. the workplace. I thought this would be a great blog article because it raises the ethical question of whether the employee should be fired for what he did outside of the workplace. Here is the article from ESPN.com:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3965039

And the blog from ESPN.com
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/nfceast/0-8-229/The-Eagles-release-another--part-time--employee.html

Let me know what you think.

I know what I think. What do you think?

Cable ad targeting

Interesting cable industry development, enabling ad delivery according to customer demographics.
Online ads have been targeted (not just by demos, but by behavior) extensively. But that targeting is not without controversy.
It's well worth your time to understand why targeting is desirable and why it can be controversial.

Herald rape story

A 202er submits this post:

Katy,
The Badger Herald published a transcript from a rape victim who was supposedly raped at Sigma Chi. We talked a lot in discussion today over whether its fair that the victim was able to mention the fraternity, but didn't have to release the name of her sorority. Looking at it on the flip side, what if the accused went forward with his side of the story and said the girl's sorority but not his fraternity. Should the accuser have more rights than the accused? Also, would testimony like this unfavorably sway opinion in her favor because the investigation is ongoing? This reminds me a lot of the Duke Lacrosse trial where the team was negatively affected by the charges, even though they were found not guilty. Let me know what you think!

http://badgerherald.com/news/2009/03/04/transcript_of_herald.php

I'm curious what the rest of you think of this case. It's being discussed all over campus. But for our purposes, what are the specific media ethics implications? One thing I found particularly interesting was the content of anonymous comments posted to the Herald site. What are the ethical questions there?

Turf battle in covering high school sports

This is a case worth watching. The organization that sets up high school sports tournaments in Wisconsin would like to establish a right to control coverage of those tournaments, so it can profit from sale of those rights. News organizations want to be able to cover the action themselves, using whatever media they please. I imagine everyday folks will want in on the action too.

KC News Meeting

Here are some developments I followed during the week. Add yours via comments:
- football players in boating accident
- unemployment increases
- possible plea deal in Madoff case
- AIG needing more help
- market hits 12-year low
- efforts to help homeowners in mortgage trouble
- court arguments over California gay marriage ban
- Obama administration and stem cells

Is it plagiarism?

What do you think of this? Did the reporter plagiarize? Or was he just lazy in picking up facts from a previously published piece? Is there a difference?

What is journalism?

Some researchers say you and your peers get a great deal of your news and information from sources like The Daily Show. Some could argue that Jon Stewart embraces journalistic values, such as skepticism, as he does in this challenge to claims of readiness and gender bias involving Sarah Palin.
How much to you rely on these sources? What about other sources, newspapers, magazines, etc.? How does that inform you as a citizen? Does it matter?

KC News Meeting

What's on your radar this week? Since I haven't seen all that many comments in past weeks, I'm going to withhold my list of what seems to be percolating in the news and let you define it. Post comments with your ideas or the quiz questions could end up being a complete surprise.

Overbilling and ethics

Agency Leo Burnett settled an overbilling case with the Army, agreeing to $15.5 million in cash and credit for work performed.
What are an organization's ethical duties to its clients? How are those duties communicated and reinforced? What does this case do to Burnett's reputation, if anything?

Ethics crashes

This author thoughtfully details what he describes as "Ethics Crashes on the Digital Media Highway."
What forces does he cite as problems that can lead to weak ethical practice? Do you agree? What examples can you think of to illustrate any of his points? Contradict any of those points?

How engaged are you?

This trailer seeks to pique interest in an upcoming documentary about how engaged your generation is in your democracy.
What are the media implications of your engagement? How do social media tools get you more or less involved as a citizen? How do those media compare to traditional media? What, if any, are the dangers of losing things like local newspapers? What are the benefits of other media that are "borderless"?

Fired for funny

A TV reporter this week paid with his job for altering a video (he says to make it funny) and posting it to YouTube.
What do you think of this? What is the line in cyberspace between your job and you life? Could I get in the same trouble? Would this have been different if he had been a journalism professor instead of a journalist? What if he were a basketball player? What, if any, professional standards were violated? What do you think of the result?
In other vein, what was the Huffington Post's responsibility here? Revisit my exchange this week with Jay Rosen and others about accuracy in citizen journalism. How did accuracy matter here? Could this case be an argument for the participatory nature of online media? A spoof made it to a larger audience as a reality, but ultimately the audience verified that it was inaccurate. How did the pressures of speed and competition play into this case?

Update: Covering Coffins

The policy we discussed last week has changed.
What are the implications? What, if anything, will this do to public opinion?

College media innovation

TA Melissa Tully adds this to our conversation. What is the future of student journalism? Are you working for the Herald or Cardinal? How do you get over the hurdles?

Cover letters

Great note from a fellow 202er:

Hey Katy,

I found this article (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/jobs/15career.html?em) while surfing the New York Times' Web site. As a J202 student struggling with my own cover letters I thought it would be useful for my fellow classmates to read. If you think its worthy, pass it on.

Editorial cartooning

Read about the flap over an NY Post cartoon depicting a chimp?
What do you think? Was it racially insensitive? Does the fact that it gained attention outside the NY market (where far fewer people know the chimp story from which it was supposedly drawn) makes any difference? How much latitude should cartoonists get? Are they freer to be controversial?
Remember the Muhammed cartoon controversy that even hit on our own campus?

Accuracy and citizen journalism

"Citizen journalism" is generally viewed as news that is gathered and disseminated by those outside traditional or mainstream news organizations. Some laud it as the future of journalism
[change to original: I shouldn't have linked to Rosen post on these words, as he doesn't call it "future of journalism."]
a way to ensure a watchdog function as mainstream news budgets slide and former business models dissolve.
But it's not without controversy. Check out this case when a citizen journalism report got it completely wrong and affected the stock of a major corporation. It's not just a question for journalism. The SEC even got involved on this one.
So what's your response? Is there a place for "non-professionals" to be doing reporting? What are the dangers? How do we ensure values like accuracy and fairness when people are operating outside of the realms where professional norms are learned and reinforced?

Obama names RIAA lawyer to DOJ

Some rumblings of discontent in the tech community with one of President Obama's picks for the Department of Justice.
Where do you stand on music filesharing? If you do it, the law is not on your side. But what about ethics? What responsibility do we have to properly credit and pay people who create original works? What's the effect of filesharing on the market? How does this matter?

KC News Meeting

So far this week, I've read about:
- Doyle's budget proposal, including Internet sales tax and UW provisions
- market reaction to stimulus
- unemployment rises
- Detroit puts a hand out again and negotiates with unions
- GM cuts brands
- truce between Pakistan and Taliban
- Burris investigations
- some TV stations go digital
What are you thinking about? Remember, if you don't add your 2 cents via comments, I'm more likely to draw questions from general knowledge, rather than blog postings.