Non-profit Journalism and Investigative

We spoke earlier about non-profit journalism and how to make a difference with investigative work. Here's a new piece by one of my young grads, who left a newspaper job for a post with the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan group that tracks the effects of money on politics. The piece took exhaustive reporting and data analysis to show how investments by members of Congress are tied to holdings in Sudan, even despite the politicians' concerns about genocide there. The piece received an immediate response, with members divesting within hours of the reporter's calls.
My old student reports: "I've been working on it for the last five months and it might be the piece that I'm most proud of at CRP--it took months of data-assisted reporting based on our work and the Sudan Divestment Task Force's work, it's about an issue that I'm passionate about and, maybe for the first time ever, I got to see a direct impact. It's a pretty cool feeling! :)"
Makes me proud by extension. A little inspiration for your New Year. Have a good one (and a safe celebration).

Pakistan in Turmoil

Received this note from a 202er this morning:

Obviously you'll have gotten this link too or have read about this by now, but for formality's sake: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/28/world/asia/28pakistan.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

What's the deal with Pakistan? With all the crap surrounding Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan it seems like Pakistan has kind of flown under the radar for our nation's media (and possibly rightly so considering what we have invested in the other countries). I don't know much about Pakistan and how it fits into Middle East equation, but I remember reading about it for the 202 quiz questions when Bhutto arrived and the martial law imposed by Musharraf. It sounds like Pakistan is very unstable and might have revolutionary leanings given the controversy and dynamic there coupled with the death of this popular opposition leader. I unfortunately and unbearably don't have cable at home at my parents', so do you know of any good books or articles to get me up to speed on Pakistan? This country just keeps sounding more and more interesting and I can't see it not playing a big role the Middle East vs. United States Armageddon that's brewing.

Hope your break is going well,
~Al

Here are some story links that might help with background. You're welcome to use comments to add your own.
TIME magazine had a pretty good piece before Thanksgiving when the touchy deal between Bhutto and Musharraf went to hell
Bhutto herself had an op-ed in the Washington Post in that same time, gives a bit of background and shows her political strengths
The Post's roundup of Pakistan stories is comprehensive. I especially liked the image galleries when the lawyers erupted in protest.
Of all the pieces I read in the last three months or so, Newsweek's cover stands out the most. The lead is downright chilling, given today's events.
Hope that helps!

Accuracy in Advertising

A local example of how inaccuracy can bite you. Those ads cost a pretty penny to make and to run, yet their effectiveness has been significantly diminished by the simplest of errors. Media coverage of the mistake has outstripped the attention the spots may have earned on their own.
Makes a 10-point deduction for fact errors in J202 look like chump change. You've asked me repeatedly if we had a "10 Commandments of Media Ethics," what would be the first one. I'm nothing if not consistent: in news and strat comm, above all things, get it right.

MySpace Suicide update

The New York Times has an interpretive take on the MySpace suicide case we discussed last month. And they chose to name the mother who contributed to the bullying.

Top Magazine Covers

TIME magazine is out with its Top 10 Magazine Covers of 2007 (along with 49 other lists in pop culture, news, etc.). Personally, I think they got #1 and #2 backwards. The Ahmadinejad cover on the New Yorker stopped me in my tracks when it arrived in my mailbox. I've been unable to recycle it since.
What's the best thing you read in 2007? Best design you saw? Best marketing?

AP Update

I spoke with some of you about changes coming to the Associated Press and the idea of centralized editing. Here's a follow-up story.

Interactive and Advertising

OK, I'm putting this post up at my own risk, knowing that by the time you follow the link, the digital ad will likely have changed ... but here it goes.
Apple did a digital media buy on the front page of the NYT online today. It features a sidebar ad that interacts with a banner across the top below the masthead.
We all know I'm a cardinal among the Mac faithful, but I'd like to know what you think of this ad creatively and strategically. Does it make sense visually? Would you ever play it to get the interaction to work? Does it motivate you to buy? Do you think you're part of their target? Does digital make sense here? Does a buy with the Times make sense?
And I'll pull my soapbox out one final time this semester. If you're in strat comm and not thinking about digital, you are missing the biggest boat in the ocean right now.

FCC and Cross-Ownership

Welcome back from your labors in the final project. Let's get chatting again.
Congress is highlighting an issue you should all know about by now, an FCC rule controlling ownership of newspapers and broadcast stations in the same markets. Check out a decent summary of the issues and opinions in the Washington Post.
So what say ye? Should the government restrict this kind of ownership? Can newspaper companies survive without it? Would it benefit broadcast? Does it matter at all in a digital age? Do you know (or care) who owns the local papers and TV stations? How does ownership affect content?

Twitter?

OK, Do you Twitter?
I'm intrigued by the service but not convinced. It's like having my IM status messages available to the world (but Twitter's bug that won't allow AIM update submissions right now is thoroughly ticking me off). Does this mean I have to sound more coherent?
I can see it being uber-handy if I were still a breaking news reporter, but I'm not.
How can this tool be useful to me or will it become yet one more Facebook-esque time-suck that gives me the illusion that my busy-ness is somehow worthwhile?

MySpace Suicide -- And Us

OK, 202ers. Go back and read the previous post on MySpace and the comments to it.
One of the commenters has posted personal numbers and harsh commentary on the Drews. The commenter is anonymous (s/he shows a first name but no profile ... s/he could be in our class but also could be a member of the public following our blog).
Does this change your thoughts about the case overall? What do I do as moderator ... take it down or let it live? We talked in lecture and discussion about journalism, blogs and the space in between. What is it we're doing here? We're commenting on journalism but are our comments journalism? And what responsibilities do we have?

MySpace Suicide

A paper is taking heat for this story about a teen's suicide after she was targeted in a scheme to set up a fake MySpace character. The character was used to gather information that was then used against her socially. She killed herself about a year ago.
The story is tragic, but the paper is being criticized not for running it, but for not naming the adults involved in the fake account.
Read the piece and tell me what you think. Then read the comments posted at the bottom and tell me if that alters your view. Then go to some blogs (here's one), which have outed the offending adults, and follow the comment threads. What do those add to the equation?
I have pretty strong feelings on this one ...

Prof and Plagiarism?

A storm brewing at Mizzou, one of the country's most prominent J-Schools. A retired professor, John Merrill, wrote a column for the newspaper, which is run by the school. He used two quotes from another story without attributing them.
The paper publicly reprimanded him by taking his column away.
It's brought an interesting set of responses from ethicists and bloggers.
So is this plagiarism or something else? If it's something else, what is it? And how should it be handled? What are the "thou shalt nots" of media ethics? What are the grayer areas?

Mom Song

have gotten a bunch of requests for the youtube video i mentioned yesterday during the viral marketing discussion.

here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxT5NwQUtVM

how many times have you heard these lines from your mom???

tnx,
kc

Fat and the Farm Bill

Here's a suggested post from a 202er. I would STRONGLY encourage you to familiarize yourselves with this issue. It's going to be getting a lot of media attention. Took a long time to start bubbling, but now it will boil.

Katy,
I'm not sure if anyone's still reading the blog now that the quizzes are over, but on the chance that they are, it might be good to mention the Farm Bill 2007 that's currently going through the senate. The legislation is extremely important, and, unfortunately, it hasn't gotten much attention (at least that I've seen) besides a few op-eds (and an upcoming documentary called King Corn). Ultimately, the Farm Bill is the reason corn syrup is in everything we eat, and part of the reason Africa loses two dollars to trade deficit for every dollar in aid it receives. Billions and billions of dollars of subsidies go to massive agri-business corporations (I think 75 percent of the subsidies go to 3 companies), and it affects everything: nutrition, local farming,
the environment (that shipping costs money) and global poverty. It doesn't seem like a very interesting topic, but it has a huge impact, and people should know about it (especially since this is a very agricultural state). Here are a couple of those op-eds:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/15/opinion/15kleckner.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/22/AR2007102201656.html

plus a NYT magazine feature a while back:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/magazine/22wwlnlede.t.html

Print Circulation

Here's a great note from a 202er to supplement Monday's lecture:

Hi Katy,
In case you haven’t read this yet, I saw this article this morning. Relates to what you lectured on yesterday on the Journal Sentinel losing customers regardless of their strong Web site.

<http://www.jsonline.com/watch/?watch=20&date=11/5/2007&id=31384>http://www.jsonline.com/watch/?watch=20&date=11/5/2007&id=31384

Thanks,

In the News

What are you reading about this week? Last quiz = last chance. Offer it up. I may go full throttle and ask six current events questions. What might those look like?

OJ & KC

OK, a 202-er writes to try to suck Katy Culver into the OJ Simpson story, to wit:
____________
I stumbled upon this story today:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,307757,00.html

Does this make this case more interesting now? Was he framed?....if the FBI new about it, isn't it suspicious that they let it happen? Will this get big? I know you hate O.J. in the news...but i'm having trouble deciding whether this is a big, important issue...because it seems highly suspicious, yet i've heard nothing else and it's not very 'breaking.' It seems this was highly preventable...not that i personally wouldn't love to see O.J. rot in prison.
_____________

Y'all know my feelings on overblown tales of woe involving Orenthal James Simpson. So is this news now? And if so, how so?

Non-profit Journalism

Here's a nice wrap-up on my earlier post on non-profit journalism from the Poynter Institute.

Here's how this shakes out. The age-old business model of newspapers is scaring the pants off everyone right now. Print circulation and ad revenue are down markedly. Newspapers all over the country are tightening budgets and laying off workers, trying to keep a Wall Street-friendly profit margin in the face of these revenue problems.
People like me suspect that two kinds of coverage are most threatened by this trend: international reporting and investigative reporting. They're both essential to the very meaning of journalism but also colossally expensive to do.
Enter "non-profit journalism." The idea now goes that philanthropists will fund investigative journalism to keep the press as watchdogs of government, business, other institutions.

Do you think this will work? Can entities like this effectively serve as watchdogs? Were newspapers even doing that in the first place? What are the conflicts of interest?

Kid Creates Apple Ad

Lots of buzz in the marketing world these days regarding consumer-generated content. The theory is something like open-source in the computer world: the more people you let in on the creative process, the more likely you are to get new ideas and great advertising.
The problem is that you also get lots of dreck. Katy and the Culver kids tried creating an ad for Dove and while my 4-year-old looks darned cute, it isn't exactly something that would move a lot of soap.
So this week, Apple went live with a revamped version of an idea generated by an English student. I'm a fan. What about you? Think this is the future of advertising, consumers creating messages?
Note that this is also an "old media" story. The kid stuck his original on YouTube in mid-September and by mid-October, he had 2,000 hits. The New York Times put it in Stuart Elliott's column (on an inside page, mind you) and in less than 12 hours, the spot went to 20,000 hits. It's now at about 340,000.
Pieces like this often need the support of the (gasp) the "mainstream media." Now, if entities like the NYT can just figure out a way to make money off that hit-generating...

A Skeptical Editor

I was sorry to read of the death of Vivian Aplin-Brownlee, who stands out as one of the few to challenge the authenticity of a story that marked one of the lowest points in American journalism.
In 1981, Washington Post reporter Janet Cooke won a Pulitzer Prize for a story called "Jimmy's World," reporting on an 8-year-old heroin addict in DC. The problem: he didn't exist. The piece was a complete fabrication.
I've often stumbled on the case because when I read the piece, I found it strained the bounds of reason. But then I suspected it was just the clarity of hindsight leading me to that conclusion. You can read it and judge for yourself.
Aplin-Brownlee doubted the story from the beginning and came to be well-regarded for being a lone voice of dissent.
What is a newspaper's responsibility to check the veracity of its reporters' work? How could a false story slip through? What did this do to the Post's credibility? What forces prompt reporters and editors to behave unethically? What effect may race have had in this saga?

Facebook and Ads

Hi Katy-

This is one of two articles discussing the new advertising angle that Facebook is taking with its trademarked "SocialAds." Apparently, they have a new way of looking at market research and targeting. I thought this might promote an interesting discussion on the class blog. That's my two cents.

Facebook Set to Introduce Major Ad Play
Social Network Could Unveil 'SocialAds' at NYC Event Next Month
October 23, 2007
http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=121440

Kids and Marketing

Lots of people are spending lots of time talking about the ethics of marketing to kids. Lots of flap over sugary sodas, fast food, cigarettes.
Here's an interesting new take on the issue, courtesy CNET, asking whether kids are ready for the grown-up ad world when it comes to online activities like gaming.
You've recently left the teen set, what do you think of this? Should ad messages be aimed at kids? Does online matter in a different way than TV? Should government control ads targeting kids? Should parents? Is that even feasible? How much marketing pressure did you feel as a kid?

Gossip Gone Too Far?

Page Six in the NY Post is under fire from some readers and competitors for what appears to be a note about raping a woman who criticized the gossip roundup.
Not known for its subtlety or responsibility, the page seems to have gone a step further than it has before.
What do you think of the reference? Would you have read it as a rape threat? Does the page have a different responsibility (to its subjects and its audience) than straight news pages would? Do scandals like this actually help it by beefing up notoriety (i.e., "there's no such thing as bad publicity")?

Politico 4 U

The politics-junkie site politico.com launched a campus minisection today.
Will you use it? Does it cover the interests of your generation? Do you care about politics?

Non-profit Journalism

This week presented yet another fascinating development in the journalism business model. Many people believe that as news organizations have to trim their staffs and budgets to meet Wall Street expectations, the first things to go will be international bureaus and investigative journalism.
This week brought the announcement of a new investigative organization with a big fat annual budget that means it won't have to sell advertising or have circulation. It's bank-rolled by billionaires who think contribution to the public interest is the only return-on-investment that matters.
It's called propublica and it's led by a widely respected journalist, Paul Steiger, who used to edit the Wall Street Journal.
I have two questions for you. Will it work? Will it matter in the public conversation?

In the News

What are you reading about? It's all up to you this time. I'm not giving you any seed stories. Have at it in the comments section.

Nobel Racist?

I've had one intense week (given your midterms and 202 intensity, I'm sure you can relate). So thanks to the 202ers who send in posts. Here's a new one:

Hi, I still dont know how to post a story we found on the blog, but i think this is quite interesting. A nobel prize winner, now living in england claimed found the
link in dna that made black people less intelligent than white http://news.independent.co.uk/sci_tech/article3067222.ece

I found a follow up story http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/10/19/uk.race/index.html

I cant believe someone with this amount of intelligence, i think his nobel prize was for his work in breaking down dna code, could make such ignorant statements.

Colbert a la Dowd

From a 202er:

Katy,

I urge you in the strongest possible terms to put this article on the course blog -
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/opinion/14dowd.html?_r=1&n=Top/Opinion/Editorials%20and%20Op-Ed/Op-Ed/Columnists/Maureen%20Dowd&oref=slogin

If you haven't read it, it's Colbert's guest column (for Maureen Dowd) from Sunday's NYTimes. It's brilliant - especially if you read the op-ed columns enough to understand his Frank Rich joke, for example.

Paying the Ultimate Price

It's been a bloody week for journalism in Iraq. The Washington Post lost a reporter who worked in its Baghdad bureau. (Check out this moving tribute from his colleagues.) And an Iraqi newspaper lost three employees in an ambush.
The Committee to Protect Journalists reports 119 deaths among journalists in Iraq and 41 among support workers. In 2007 alone, 47 have perished.
What does it mean to pay this price to report? When journalists are a target, what else is sacrificed? Press freedom? Security? Information itself? Would you risk your life to tell a story? Are you glad that other people do or do you think it's unnecessary risk-taking? What stories are worth the risk and what stories are not?

Student Journalists Drawing Fire

What happens when a journalist at a student newspaper says something people don't like:
1. David McSwane in Colorado almost lost his job for running an editorial that said, "F*** Bush"
2. a student newspaper in Arizona is apologizing for a cartoon many called anti-semitic
3. you read earlier about shenanigans in Connecticut and Florida
What responsibility do student journalists have? What is offensive? What should a public university do to rein in student news organizations? Should things be different at a private university? How well are you served by the Badger Herald and Daily Cardinal? Do they ever offend you? What avenues do you have to respond?

Is Anything Private

The Poynter Institute's e-media tidbits highlighted a problem I've been considering a lot lately: in the digital age, is any communication private anymore?
Poynter points to a recent case involving an e-mail exchange between a reporter and reader, which the latter then posted to her blog without informing the reporter or providing context.
Last spring, I spoke with an editor who was mortified when what appeared to be a private conversation about an ethical lapse ended up racing around some blogs like a forest fire (a reader rep had said in private that an incident was a "f***ing trainwreck" ... you can imagine how dismayed she was when her colleagues saw that characterization in print).
You can circulate what I say in lecture, copy and paste parts of my e-mails, visit me in office hours and blog about my comments, all largely without context. The Web has the power to convert private exchanges into public stories.
When everyone can be a publisher, is anything private? What does this mean for us as a society? Is it helpful, e.g. does it strip away layers of secrecy that cloak problems? Does it hurt us, e.g. make us less open to conversation and deliberation?

More Gundy

The football coach who blew up at a reporter in Oklahoma continues to get ink and air.
Here's an intriguing column from the ESPN ombudsman (sort of a "reader representative") about news cycles vs. opinion cycles. I thought it was one of the more thoughtful pieces on the issue.
And then a 202er sent in this hilarious YouTube video. Be sure you watch the original rant to see why this is so funny.
Do you agree that opinion is spiraling out of control in sports coverage, at the expense of news?

In the News

What are you reading about this week? I've been closely following the Crandon shootings, Nobel prizes, a big beer collaboration, civilian deaths in Iraq, political conflict with Turkey ... and much more.

Chandrasekaran Visit

As I mentioned in class, attending the speech by Rajiv Chandrasekaran at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 17, counts toward your Professional Practices credit. I think this could end up being one of the best events on campus this year. He's an engaging speaker, and his book blew me away. Some clickables:
1. Rajiv's appearance on The Daily Show (wherein Jon Stewart butchers his last name)
2. His appearance with Keith Olbermann (who got the name right)
3. His Web site on the book and his background
4. His book for sale on Amazon
"Imperial Life in the Emerald City" is easily one of the five best books I've read in the last five years. I recommend it as one point on a triangle of reading. It does an excellent job covering policy and the botched effort to rebuild Iraq. To get a view of the war's effect on everyday Iraqis, read Anthony Shadid's outstanding "Night Draws Near." And finally, I'm newly into Tom Ricks' "Fiasco," which provides excellent coverage from the military perspective. Read together, the three give you a well-rounded view of what is aptly called the key story of this generation.

Quotable

We'll be talking about interviews next week in lecture. To prepare, check out this piece on the wildly successful Q&A feature in the New York Times magazine and liberties taken with questions and answers. And listen to this audio file of a story from NPR's "On the Media" show (available through the J202 podcast on Learn@UW).
Should we edit people's words? Are "ums, likes and you knows" different from more substantive words? Is it different in audio than in text?

User-News and the "MSM"

This piece from the San Francisco Chronicle covers a recent study showing lead stories in mainstream news outlets differed significantly from top topics in user-governed news sources (e.g., Digg, Reddit and Del.icio.us).
What sources do you use for news? Should an editor at the Wisconsin State Journal be more trusted when it comes to what's worth running or should you pay attention to rankings based on what's tops among millions of readers/viewers? (The State Journal took some chiding when it set up a system to let readers vote online to pick one story for each day's front page.) What is a legitimate news source? Should news consumers have more of a voice in news decisions?

Open Records Fight

Check out this piece from the Boston Globe about a battle to release information about two firefighters who had drugs or alcohol in their blood when they died fighting a fire this summer.
The Boston Herald registered its clear dissent.
Based on what we discussed in lecture about public records, would these autopsy findings be public in Wisconsin? Should they be? What's the public interest in this information? What kinds of harm come from the release?

Recording Industry Hits the Jackpot

Music file sharing took a massive hit yesterday when a federal jury awarded $222,000 to six record companies that sued a Minnesota woman for illegally sharing 24 songs. Yep, that's right ... 24 songs.
What's your reaction to this decision? Does peer-to-peer sharing violate copyright any more than burning a mix CD for your roommate? If you shared music in the past, do you worry that you'll be sued? Would you fight it or take the settlement? Do consumers have any recourse when the six biggest labels join forces to sue?

In the News

What are you reading about this week? More on Myanmar? Larry Craig? Voting in Pakistan? Freakfest tickets?

War on Words

Read an interesting piece in the New York Times this morning about yet another congressional ballyhoo over media comments on the war. This time, it's politicians on the left attacking Rush Limbaugh for comments about soldiers. Last month, it was the right lashing out against moveon.org for the "General Betray Us" ad.
A thought-provoking line:
The back and forth on the Petraeus advertisement and, now, over Mr. Limbaugh’s remarks, illustrates how both parties are turning miscues into fodder in the run up to the 2008 elections, particularly in the absence of serious legislative accomplishment when it comes to the war.
Does this kind of debate serve the electorate well? Should a free society attack commentators like Limbaugh when they're doing what they're paid to do, comment? Do we strip comments of their context when controversies like this catch fire? Do organizations like moveon.org add to debate or make it more shallow?

New Dove Campaign

You'll be getting some of this in the Discussion Arena next week, but Dove has just launched a new viral video for their "self-esteem fund." Ad Age has a good piece on the launch and the results.
What do you think of Dove's campaign? Do you think girls are deluged with messages that negatively affect their body image? We talked earlier about the controversy involving an anorexic woman used in a fashion ad. What about this? Is Dove trying to solve a problem or conveniently use that problem to sell soap? Can our social ideas about beauty really be changed?

Insurgent Recruiting

Here's a great blog addition from a 202er:

Hey Katy,

I didn't know exactly where to send a news clip I just watched, which I believe would be a good blog topic, so I thought e-mail would do. In the following link to a video clip, an interviewee discusses how insurgent groups use video to market themselves, gaining supporters and money. I thought the topic was fascinating although the movie itself was a little on the dull side. I found it on the online Washington Post web site.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2007/09/28/VI2007092800608.html?hpid=topnews

My questions: How powerful is video in attracting people to the insurgent cause? Why kind of tactics can be used to counter this kind of mass communication? Should everyone have the freedom to produce these kinds of materials or should governments try to choke them off? Should these "statement videos" or "hostage videos" be hosted on YouTube or should organizations like that ban them?

Ratings Debate

The PBS Ombudsman, Michael Getler, takes on the language PBS used in promoting its ratings for the new Ken Burns documentary, "The War." (The film, by the way, is well worth a watch.)
The piece provides insight into the ratings game and how it's played. I'm fascinated because PBS isn't in the same fall ratings race as the other networks, which rely on ratings to set advertising rates. One normally wouldn't expect public television to hype viewership. Why would they in this case? What's fair in promoting ratings? Does it ultimately matter to the audience?

Smoking and Advertising

Newsweek columnist Anna Quindlen used her column this week to criticize a cigarette brand and its advertising. She says the Camel 9 brand, packaged in black with hot-pink foil, is designed to rope in younger girls as cigarette consumers.
Earlier this year, New York Times ad industry reporter Stuart Elliott covered the launch of Camel 9, the positive reaction of investors and the company's move to market the "male" Camel brand to female consumers.
NPR also has a package on Camel 9 that's worth listening to.
Quindlen does a good job reminding us all that this is a legal product. Do the congressmen who knocked on magazine editors' doors to get them to eschew Camel 9 ads have a decent strategy? Is that one way to keep this brand from marketing to girls? Is it marketing to girls? If it's not, should ads be pulled or should women be allowed to decide whether they smoke and whether their brand is Camel 9? If you worked in an agency, what kinds of ethical decisions would you have to make in marketing products that are legal but reviled by some (cigarettes, liquor, guns, fast food, sugary drinks ... the list is getting longer)? Who are the stakeholders when we make ethical decisions in advertising?

Update on tape story

In a previous post, a 202er raised the issue of still images being posted of a girl abused in an explicit video. The victim has been found and is safe. Here's a link to the developing story. I remain interested in your thoughts on the decision by AP, CNN and other news organizations to show the girl's picture to aid in locating her.

An OJ story that interests me

I've pretty well established that I cannot stand the OJ Simpson story and the attention it's getting (I try to keep my opinions out of this blog but this one ... ugh).
In any case, the New York Times has an interesting piece on the hotel where OJ is said to have committed his infraction and their refusal to rent out the room in question. It strikes me as a nice moment of pride over profit.
How do you feel about "tragedy haunting"? Should the place Nicole Brown was killed be on a Hollywood tour map? Should Anna Nicole's suite be open to the public? Do the media promote this kind of voyeurism?

In the News

Let's take a different tack this week. I know what I'm reading about. You post a comment to tell me what YOU are reading, hearing and watching.

Ad controversy

The battle over body image in fashion opened another front in Europe. A controversial ad featuring an emaciated woman (caution: disturbing image in that link) is supposed to provoke conversation, but others have accused the company of trying to profit off the controversy.
What do you think? Do fashion advertising affect body image? Are most models too thin? Are advertisers responsible for the social impact of their messages? If so, does that apply to single messages or advertising as a whole? Go back to the first week of this blog and check out the post on a church's view of advertising and its "10 commandments." How does this square with that?

Covering College Athletes

You may have heard about a controversy this week in Oklahoma when a college football coach went on a tirade against a local reporter who had written a column critical of a student player. The reporter stands by her column.
One of Gundy's assertions is that the news media should stop treating college athletes like they're professionals when they're just kids. Do you agree? Should sports reporters aggressively cover college athletes? Give them a break based on youth? And why do you say that?

Listening in on the Phone for Ads

Wow, this may be the most significant privacy question with telephony since the NSA started listening in:
Company Will Monitor Phone Calls to Tailor Ads
What do you think of this? Would you use a service that listened in on your calls? Did you know that gmail does that with your e-mails? How would you feel if the government were doing it instead? (I, for one, am immediately suspicious of their claim that they won't save data about the calls. My response would be, "That's what you say ... for now.")

Facebook and Reporting

I have column out in the new edition of The American Editor from the American Society of Newspaper Editors, discussing the ethics of using Facebook to find information about crime and accident victims who have been killed.
I've discussed this with a bunch of you, many of whom have told me wrenching stories about losing young friends and seeing it play out on FB.
What do you think of this? Is it fair game for reporters? Does it weird you out? Feel voyeuristic? I'd love to read your comments.

Updates on Previous Posts

Some new stuff on things posted earlier:
1. The Washington Post's Eugene Robinson has a interesting twist on the Dan Rather lawsuit while the LA Times' Tim Rutten calls it "pathetic"
2. The New York Times screwed up ... and badly. Their ad rate for the controversial moveon.org ad was indeed grossly low (definitely fired a bullet into the foot of their credibility there and handed new ammo to the "liberal media" faction)
3. I referred you earlier to a book by Rajiv Chandrasekaran called Imperial Life in the Emerald City. He's coming to campus to deliver the J-School's Nafziger Lecture, 5 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 17, in the Pyle Center on Langdon. It's titled, "Iraq's Elusive Peace" (and yes, attendance does count for extra credit in 202)

Truthiness

Stephen Colbert coined my favorite word of the last 10 years: truthiness.
A few media orgs have started actually trying to decide whether a public statement is true (imagine that).
- the St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly have launched Politifact to verify the claims of presidential candidates
- the Annenberg Public Policy Center at Penn has FactCheck.org
- the Washington Post has started a blog called The Fact Checker, with a reporter and researcher applying a "Pinocchio test" to public statements of interest (check out the post earlier this week on the "General Betray Us" ad)
Jack Shafer does a good job rounding them up in a new piece in Slate. Here's a bit of it:
Why can't the press drop the pretenses and call people who lie liars?
On the Media co-host Bob Garfield, exasperation filling his voice, asked that late last month on his show. Garfield's prime example of a public figure deserving the label was Alberto Gonzales.
"In the major institutions of the media, hardly a soul has invoked the term that best describes [Gonzales'] failure to tell the truth," Garfield said. "The word is lying."
So should the news media call a liar a liar? Who decides whether something is "true"? Check out some current controversies. Can we objectively say what is true and what is untrue? If it's a news organization's job to inform the public when someone is lying, what's taken them so long?

In the News

Here's some of what I've been reading about lately:
- moveon.org, "Betray Us" and New York Times ad rates
- Politics in Pakistan
- OJ Simpson (though I really wish I weren't reading about this ...)
- Fed rate cut
- Blackwater in Iraq
- protests in (and about) Jena
- Taser use in Florida
- notable polygamy trial
Quiz questions could come from these, comments you post or developments over the weekend.

Dan Rather Offended

Dan Rather is suing CBS. I must admit, I didn't see this one coming. I thought if he'd lash out in defense of his reputation, it would have been sooner. This one bubbled up unexpectedly.
At issue is a story CBS did on President Bush's service (or lack thereof) in the National Guard during Vietnam. Documents upon which the story was partially based were later deemed unverifiable, at best. An external investigation ensued, and Rather later retired ("in disgrace" would be too strong a term but certainly not with the acclaim one would have expected before the Bush story).
Is the suit worth it? Was his reputation damaged and if so, can he rebuild it by a suit like this? Does he damage his cause more by bringing the issues up again? What obligations do the news media have to verify information provided by a source?

Washington Post On Being

Yesterday a 202er asked me what I think is the "best of the Web." Hands down, the thing that captures that for me is a Washington Post online series called "On Being." It's just a person or pair answering questions directly to the camera that's deftly edited into a brief package. A new one goes up every Wednesday, and I have yet to not be blown away. Check it out today and every Wednesday.
In general, the Post blows me away online. Their "Being a Black Man" is definitely worth a look.
Locally, the State Journal has been behind but just got an award nomination for their Hip Hop 101 package.

Times Ad Acceptability

Interesting discussion in the New York Times today, with their director of advertising acceptability taking reader questions. The organization does these "Talk to the Times" sessions weekly. The timing of this appearance is perfect, with the controversy over the "General Betray Us" ad by moveon.org.
What is a newspaper's responsibility in accepting advertising? How likely are audience members to confuse the content of an ad with the opinion of the paper?

Hot for Teacher

Hardee's and Carl's Jr are in some hot water over a new ad showing a teacher dancing provocatively while students rap about "flat buns" for a burger. Check out a local news story here and view the ad on YouTube. The parent corporation has already pulled it, after a number of teacher organizations said it was offensive.
What do you think? Is it offensive? Are we taking things too seriously here? Does complaining about it generate a controversy that gives the ad much more attention via outlets like YouTube (and this handy blog)?

Discussion Arena

A 202-er sent this link in after reading about the offensive rape story in the Central Connecticut State University student paper that's posted to our discussion arena. The paper ran a comic strip that has again raised concerns:
NEW BRITAIN - The campus newspaper at Central Connecticut State University, which came under fire earlier this year for printing a satirical article extolling the virtues of rape, is the target of angry protests again after it printed a comic strip this week that made reference to locking a teenage Hispanic girl in a closet and urinating on her.
Check out the whole story.
What responsibilities do student editors have? Should university administration have the power to oust editors or writers? How do the papers here work (by the way, we're the only campus in the country with two daily student newspapers)? What recourse would you have if they published something that offended you? Should you have any recourse at all?

In the News

This morning, I'm reading about:
- the president's troop withdrawal plan
- New England Patriot woes
- apparent assassination in Anbar province
Anyone have more to add to the list?

Just Fake It

Well, you have media ethics issues and then you have MEDIA ETHICS ISSUES!!! Check out this coverage in the Washington Post, New York Times and ABC News of a French "reporter" who faked interviews with some of the most recognizable names in the world. We don't need another black eye.
The key question here is how journalism maintains its legitimacy when it's undermined from within.

Heartbreaking ...

Earlier this year, seven soldiers wrote a moving op-ed piece in the New York Times, arguing the U.S. was naive in its view that the war in Iraq is winnable. Editor and Publisher reports today that two of the seven were killed in Baghdad. The original piece moved me, and this news saddens me. I'd encourage you to go back and check it out. It's behind the Times' paid archive wall now, but you can easily get it free using Nexis via the . Just search for "The War as We Saw It" in the Times in August 2007.

Predator Update

The New York Observer has a new piece with more on the controversy over Dateline NBC's "To Catch a Predator" that I highlighted in a post last week. Find it here http://www.observer.com/2007/catch-catch-predator?page=0%2C0

Journalism internships

The Institute for Human Studies has internships in journalism. Application deadline is Nov. 1. Find more info here.

In the News

So what have you been reading about this week? I've been digesting a good deal on:
- Petraeus and Crocker visit the hill
- political turmoil in Japan
- 9/11 anniversary
- Dem and GOP campaigns, especially the entry of Fred Thompson into the fray
- wave of foreclosures and trouble in the mortgage industry
- this morning, I'm monitoring quake activity in Indonesia and some Putin rumblings in Moscow ... remains to be seen if these will develop into important stories

Oh, and of course there was Britney on the VMAs.
Use the post comments function to weigh in with what you've been reading about this week. I'll read all of those before I write the quiz.

Current events

I'm getting a number of questions about current events on the quiz and how to "study." It's a tough one to answer because I don't know that you can study for them. I try to come up with questions that you would be able to answer if you have been reading a newspaper, checking out a news Web site and watching or listening to a broadcast news show every day. My daily mix usually includes a full run through the New York Times and Wisconsin State Journal in print and the Washington Post online. I browse the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Chicago Tribune online, as well as checking out headlines on Google news, Yahoo news and CNN Interactive. I watch about a half hour of CNN during the day. I receive breaking news updates via e-mail from the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN and Fox News. I also read at least one magazine story a day from Newsweek, TIME, the New Yorker, Madison Magazine, Harper's, Atlantic, Sports Illustrated, Slate or Salon. Finally, I subscribe to e-mail newsletters in areas of interest to me (media ethics, marketing, tech news, etc.) and Google news alerts for specific topics and people I should be updated on, such as prominent alumni of the J-School.
How, you ask, does she have time to write those scintillating J202 lectures??? ;)
My media diet benefits from a big buffet, but I'm never eating everything on it. I suffer from abiding "New Yorker guilt" because I have not made it fully through that magazine in four years though it arrives right on my doorstep. I once insulted a prominent editor by telling him if he wanted me to read his paper in full every day, he was going to have to put better stuff in it. And I've been known to say, "I don't read the news. I raid it."
What I'm trying to do with daily consumption is give myself a minimum base of information on what's going on in my city, state, nation and world. I'm never "fully informed," and I doubt you can be either. I know a heck of a lot about Iraq (I think it's the story of this age), but I'm undercovered when it comes to developments in science. I love law, so I know a ton about crime and courts each week, but I don't pay all that much attention to celebrity news (just enough to make cheeky comments in class about Britney Spears on the VMAs).
Your diet will differ from mine. To keep us standing before the same buffet, each week I'll post some "what I'm seeing in the news" items on this blog. You should reply with comments about what you're reading. And then if we all update ourselves on what's being noted, quiz scores will go up (oh, and you'll be better informed ... which is why I have the silly quizzes in the first place!)

Breast Cancer and Advertising

A Wall Street Journal story today looked at controversy surrounding the marketing of a new test for a rare genetic factor in breast and ovarian cancer. (The New York Times had a similar piece.) Some people are concerned ads promoting the test will prompt too many women to spend money and worry needlessly because the problem is rare and the test imperfect.
What is the company's responsibility here? They're trying to turn a profit. Should they heavily market the product, regardless of the concerns? Who are all the stakeholders (people with a specific interest)? Who is responsible for relaying information about the rareness of the gene or potential problems with the test? People who are selling it? Patients who use it? The government? The media?

CK and the Middle Finger

Check out this piece from AdAge: http://adage.com/article?article_id=120337
It covers a huge influx of business to marketing agency Cramer-Krasselt (founded in Milwaukee and built in part by, you guessed it, another alum of the J-School). Many in the industry were astounded earlier this year when one of its leaders very publicly showed a client the door. I couldn't recall a time when I had seen anything like that. I found it oddly electrifying. Strat comm is fun when it's edgy. CK certainly took us to the edge.
The AdAge piece seems to indicate it worked for them, rather than costing them business, as many had suspected. What does this mean? What obligation do agencies have to listen to clients? Is it like the restaurant business, is the "customer always right"? And what about CareerBuilder's reliance on the USA Today ad meter for evidence that the spots weren't successful? Is that any more scientific than the random polls I stick on this blog?

"Blogging" vs. "Reporting"

A Washington Post columnist wades into the debate over "what/who is a journalist" with a take on the blogger who tried to "out" Larry Craig. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/05/AR2007090502519.html?hpid=news-col-blog
From high atop his Adams Morgan apartment building, Michael Rogers decides who is living a lie and who may be turning toward righteousness.
Then, with a few words sprayed onto the uneven ground between gossip and journalism, he turns a life upside down. Or he offers absolution, remaining silent if he believes the person in question has a good heart.
This isn't a new debate. Newspaper companies fear losing revenue to the Web and newspaper reporters fear losing readers to it. Bloggers can be a threat.
But beyond that is the more central question Fisher is trying to get at: what is "journalism" and does it deserve higher esteem than blogging?
What do you think? What is it? What kind of regard does it deserve? As I said in lecture, I think challenges to legitimacy are a greater threat to journalism than declining revenues. Are news organizations earning their legitimacy?

Interactive on the Surge

Today's New York Times online provides a cool multimedia feature on Iraq. If you're not up to speed on what's at issue as Petraeus and Crocker head to the hill to give their perspectives this week, this is a great place to start. Watch the video overview and then click through each of the neighborhoods to see a list of vital statistics and photo galleries. It's a good companion to the lead feature:
BAGHDAD, Sept. 8 — Seven months after the American-led troop “surge” began, Baghdad has experienced modest security gains that have neither reversed the city’s underlying sectarian dynamic nor created a unified and trusted national government.
If you're seeking a relatively short backgrounder on why these sects battle, TIME magazine had a great one. If you have more time to learn deep background, read Night Draws Near by Anthony Shadid (a Pulitzer Prize winner and graduate of our fine j-school).
One of the principle critiques of American news media (and the audiences that consume their content) centers on an inability to focus on the long ball, to cover complex and lasting stories well. Iraq is certainly in that arena. News organizations are accused of covering any particular battle with aplomb but losing sight of the war overall. Do you agree? As someone in whose name (and with whose money) this war was initiated and is fought, have the news media done enough to help you understand it? (Incidentally, Newsweek had an intriguing piece this week arguing that perhaps you also ought to be forced to fight it.)

George Will and Miss Teen

Newsweek columnist George Will has a pretty good piece this week on declining standards of decency. He manages to tie together Larry Craig and Alberto Gonzales, drawing in a Ken Burns documentary for kicks.
But he closes by bringing in Miss Teen South Carolina's rambling (posted to YouTube if you missed it last week).
Will writes:

• Last week, there was nationwide merriment at the expense of an 18-year-old participant in a South Carolina beauty pageant. Asked a question about why many Americans might lack elementary knowledge about the world, she got lost in syntactical tangles and spoke nonsense. Although there was not a shred of news value in it, Fox News and CNN played the tape of her mortification, and by last Friday YouTube's presentation of it had generated more than 10 million hits. The casual cruelty of publicizing her discomfort, and the widespread entertainment pleasure derived from it, is evidence that standards of decency are evolving in the wrong direction.

(Confession: I cringed for her mother but I laughed out loud when I watched it. And then I forwarded it to friends.)
Do you agree with Will? Does it lack news value? Is it OK to watch it but not OK for FoxNews and CNN to cover everyone watching it? (Can you find the United States on a map?)
We'll talk about communication values Monday. What makes a story a story? Why do people connect with advertising? Research gives us some clues ...

Bremer and image

An interesting volley of info surrounding perceptions of Paul Bremer, who used to head up the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. He's been battling two arguments that have stuck to him like glue:
1. He instituted de-Baathification, stripping Iraqi public positions from anyone who had been a member of Saddam's party
2. He disbanded the Iraqi army
Many people claim these two choices led directly to the insurgency and the chaos that continues even now. Bremer, for his part, has been quite vocal in asserting both that these decisions were not his alone and that they were not disastrous.

His opening salvo was an op-ed in the Washington Post in May http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/11/AR2007051102054.html

Tuesday, the NY Times published a story in which he reacted to a new book quoting President Bush as he appears to say that disbanding the army wasn't administration policy. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/04/washington/04bremer.html

And today, he has an op-ed in the NYT, laying out his case in full. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/06/opinion/06bremer.html?hp

Bremer is using news media to engage in strategic communication, namely managing perceptions of him, the CPA and their joint performance in Iraq. How successful has he been? Does the average American care? Did you know who Paul Bremer was before you read this post?

(Incidentally, the best book I've read on all of this is Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone. Its author, Rajiv Chandrasekaran, will be on campus in October to give a lecture for the J-School. Watch for more info and go go go. He'll be fascinating.)

Religion and advertising

an interesting blog post here http://www.plasticbag.org/archives/2007/08/the_vatican_on_the_et/

It covers the Catholic Church's attempt to provide ethical guidelines for advertising, e.g.:

• Advertisers are morally responsible for what they seek to move people to do.
• It is morally wrong to use manipulative, exploitative, corrupt and corrupting methods of persuasion and motivation
• The content of communication should be communicated honestly and properly.
• Advertising may not deliberately seek to deceive by what it says, what it implies or what it fails to say.
• Abuse of advertising can violate the dignity of the human person, appealing to lust, vanity, envy and greed.
• Advertising to children by exploiting their credulity and suggestibility offends against the dignity and rights of both children and parents.
• Advertising that reduces human progress to acquiring material goods and cultivating a lavish lifestyle is harmful to individuals and society alike.
• Clients who commission work can create powerful inducements to unethical behaviour.
• Political advertising is an appropriate area for regulation: how much money may be spent, how and from whom money may be raised.
• Advertisers should undertake to repair the harm done by advertising.

The blogger asks, "I wonder if anyone has had the nerve to turn these into a simple ten commandments of advertising?"

What do you think some of the "thou shalt nots" would be if we had a 10 commandments of strategic communication? Can you think of any ads that violate something you'd consider to be a central principle? (post a link for everyone to check out) Personally, I was troubled by this campaign: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17490782/site/newsweek/

Esquire and "To Catch a Predator"

I dare you to start reading this and not get utterly sucked into the story.

http://www.esquire.com/features/predator0907

It's Esquire magazine's lead feature on NBC's Dateline series called "To Catch a Predator," in which they set up stings for pedophiles.

So many media ethics angles here. Where would you like to begin?

Jerry's Kids

Here's an interesting op-ed from The Washington Post (for those of you new to them, an op-ed is usually an opinion piece in a newspaper not written by its standing editorial writers ... it voices an opinion not necessarily shared by the paper's editorial board).

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/31/AR2007083101273.html?nav=hcmodule

What do you think of his point? Do fundraising efforts like this communicate a notion of helplessness? How else might we raise money for causes?

TIME's case for national service

check this out

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1657570,00.html
TIME magazine ME Rick Stengel is trying to give backbone to the idea of structured (and rewarded) national service ... formalizing the volunteering lots of people do already. He sees it as the way to save the republic.

Personally, I've come to doubt just about anything that has a price tag attached to it because we seem unable to get through funding bottlenecks. But I love his ideas, especially the Summer of Service. What a concept. If it worked, we'd be the better for it.

What do you think? Do we need to refocus our efforts and serve more? And is it even appropriate for a news magazine editor to cough up his opinions like this? It's a call to action. Is that OK?

While you're at it, check out this response in his own publication:
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1657256_1657317_1658698,00.html

Kinsley drills down to you guys. Do you think he has a point?