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.

Wearing an advertiser's colors

A 202er submits this blog post on the Memphis hoops team's decision not to switch its team uniforms to the FedEx colors for a game.
She highlights an interesting ethical dilemma. What's the limit of corporate sponsorship and support? How far should a team go? What lines should not be crossed? For instance, the UW has an initiative to try to curb binge drinking. Does this mean its athletic teams should not accept sponsorship from Miller Brewing or Absolut? Where would you draw the lines?

Bad release

A former 202er sends this example of a really bad press release. Enjoy.

IS story sources

OK, I'm starting a thread for you to request sources from each other. Here's how it works. If you are looking for a source, add a comment to this post stating specifically what you're looking for and including your e-mail address for other students to reply. (Note of warning: putting your e-mail address in a public blog means you open yourselves up to robot spam. Use your @wisc.edu addy and you'll have the power of their spam filters.)
You should all troll the comments regularly this week and make suggestions as you can.
Example: I am trying to find students to interview who have used Community Car. If you can connect me, e-mail at profme@wisc.edu.

Bye-bye Juicy

JuicyCampus shut down. For those of you unfamiliar with the blog, it allowed anonymous posts sorted by campus. These almost always were within the gossip vein, and some escalated to hostile and defamatory posts.
Many people (your prof here included) wanted to see the site die. And it did. But they said they faded not because they were controversial, but instead because the economic downturn is killing online ads.
What do you think? Glad or sad to see it go? What value did the site provide? At what cost? Do sites like this have ethical obligations? Will College ACB just rise up in its place?

Covering Coffins

Much talk about whether the Obama Administration will rescind the ban on photographing soldiers' coffins returning from war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here's one take on how to approach this ethically.
What do you think? Should this be allowed? Why did the Bush Administration disallow it? How best can photojournalists cover news and respect privacy? What are the implications of showing the coffins? Of not showing them?

Rachael Ray and that Scarf

Food Network star Rachael Ray found herself under fire when she wore a scarf in a Dunkin' Donuts commercial that some interpreted to be a kaffiyeh, a scarf worn by Arab men and often associated with radicalism. It wasn't a kaffiyeh. Mere paisley. But Dunkin' Donuts pulled the spot anyway.
Should they have? What are the consequences to either decision? What's the responsibility of the Fox News commentator who set this off? Should she have learned first whether the scarf was indeed what she thought it was?

Vermont Bids Ben Stein Adieu

Ben Stein was supposed to be the commencement speaker at the University of Vermont, but he withdrew when the pick grew controversial.
Stein endorses theories of "intelligent design" and criticizes evolution theories. This rankles many scientists, some of Vermont's academics included.
Does Stein have a right to his opinion? Does he have a right to air it at public university's graduation? What if his remarks had nothing at all to do with intelligent design, should he still have been controversial? What is the role of of a public forum?

Hiring and Scandal

Did a politician hire a reporter into his administration to make a sex scandal story go away?
What do you think of the reporting in this story? Does it give the audience enough to go on and make a judgment? Is this news?

Octuplets and Big Dough

Did you see the interview with the octuplet mom on NBC's Today show? Did you ask yourself how NBC got the exclusive? I did.
But NBC isn't talking and the question doesn't seem to be getting much air or ink in the major media. It is, however, all the rage in the blogosphere. Check out this post, claiming the deal earned Nadya Suleman $300,000. Often, these kinds of arrangements are not direct payments but instead fees for using copyrighted family images, etc.
What do you think of that? Should a news organization pay for interviews? If so, why? If not, why not?

Newsers in Ads

What's the line between news and advertising? Some people got their knickers in a twist when Matt Lauer appeared in a Super Bowl commercial. The spot promoted "Land of the Lost," an upcoming film in which Lauer has a cameo. The spot featured a clip of that cameo. NBC aired the Super Bowl. Lauer is an NBC News anchor. The film is from Universal Pictures. Both are owned by media powerhouse NBC Universal.
Does any of that matter? Is it wrong for Lauer to be in a commercial? In a movie? Would he be in that movie if he didn't have the same corporate parent as the movie studio?

Claims of racial bias

A Chicago TV news anchor claims a media critic tinges his work with racial bias.
What do you make of this story? It's covered as an "event" because he said it in a speech. How does the info serve the audience? Do we get enough to come to our own decision on the accusation? What forums did the anchor and the critic have to respond?

KC News Meeting

Here's what I've been paying attention to this week. Add your ideas and issues via comments. Quiz questions come from mine or yours, but at times big news hits and I add it to the quiz even when it's not here.
- stimulus plan
- A-Rod and 'roids
- TARP
- second commerce secretary nominee withdraws
- plane crash in New York
- octuplet mom talks to Ann Curry (gak)
- peanut recall
- grilling CEOs on Capitol Hill
- wild fires in Australia
- Burris and Blago - the saga continues

Illness and a public face

Steve Jobs took a medical leave from Apple a few weeks ago. Wild speculation that his pancreatic cancer -- widely considered deadly -- is back. No confirmation whatsoever.
What is his obligation to Apple stockholders? Should he have to disclose private medical information? How did Apple handle the situation? Did the strike the right balance between his privacy and others needs? Should they have been more forthcoming? What are the financial implications and do they matter?

Don't trash your client's hometown

An ad exec gets himself in a little bit o' social media trouble.
What is his responsibility to his client? Does the social media space differ at all from real space in how we should comport ourselves? If so, how so? If not, why not? Should this agency have lost the business? What lapses should cost us our jobs?

Who should own newspapers?

Lots of talk percolating that news organizations have an *ethical* duty to keep newspapers alive. It's an urgent question as revenues decline and bankruptcy looms (Chicago Tribune and Minneapolis Star-Trib are already there).
Some people say foundation endowments are one way to go.
Others look to a new model of non-profit journalism.
Some disagree.
What do you think? Do newspapers matter? Should we be talking about the medium (paper) or the function (gathering and disseminating news)? If this medium dies, what are the implications for citizens? For advertisers? For consumers?

Kellogg Dumping Phelps

The bong hit that continues to haunt:
http://adage.com/article?article_id=134363
Michael Phelps loses an endorsement deal, what may the first in a line.
What is a celebrity's responsibility to the clients that hire him as a face for their brand? What is his responsibility to the public in general? How serious was this mistake? How seriously should he pay for it?

KC News Meeting

Here are some stories I've been following this week. Add yours to the comments, so we're all thinking about the quiz:
- Tom Daschle withdraws as nominee
- executive compensation concerns
- Supreme Court Justice undergoes surgery
- Michael Phelps and the bong hit heard 'round the world
- economy contracts but not as much as others feared
- digital TV conversion delayed
- Madoff hearings
- abortion clinic in Madison
- negotiating the stimulus package
- peanut recall