Pranking in Wrigleyville

The Chicago Tribune had a little fun at the Sun-Times' expense, and some people don't like it. They don't like it very much at all. The staffer responsible defends his choices, and most coverage has highlighted it as a prank.
Is it ethical?

Political bickering

A new post from a 202er:

Hey Katy,

Thought this would be great for the blog. This CNN clip is about broadcast news anchors getting mad with each other on air over how their stations have covered the elections. I guess it shows the strains on the talking heads when they talk about the same issues endlessly!

Enjoy

KC News Meeting

What's in the news this week? I'll goose a limited list, but you do the rest. Last quiz ... but that doesn't mean you can stop reading/listening/watching.
- China and Tibet
- mortgage crisis and bailouts
- sniper fire in Bosnia
- the 4,000 mark in Iraq
- two candidates, a pastor and speeches on race

High on sourcing

Check out this piece on marijuana availability from the student newspaper at Tulane. Let's open a discussion on credibility and anonymous sourcing. Is this piece believable? What might have improved it? Do your experiences on this campus jibe with the reporting here? What would you expect of your student newspapers in a similar situation?

Interviews by e-mail

Here's a blog post by a Tribune reporter, taking another newspaper to task for declining to engage in an e-mail interview. He raises some interesting points, but I still have to say, e-mail interviews are an absolute last resort. I also wish someone would raise the issue that the subject in question is a public employee and refusing to answer questions as such should raise red flags for the citizens paying her salary. Also, his assumption that an e-mail from the president reflects her own words, rather than those of her PR staff, is naive. He should toddle through J202.
What do you think?

Making News

TA Melissa Tully sent a great piece from "Here on Earth" about making news. Go to our course podcast in Learn@UW to listen.

Spitzer and the media

An interesting column about how the media overlooked some of Eliot Spitzer's behavior as he was built into the "white knight" of Wall Street. Here's another example of the same logic. A good perspective I had been overlooking.
Also, I spoke with some of you about the issue of a political spouse standing by a fallen figure (and some of you caught my comment in my Facebook status update). I found this piece quite persuasive.

Keeping track of consumers online

Look at this story on how online behavior is monitored.
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A new analysis of online consumer data shows that large Web companies are learning more about people than ever from what they search for and do on the Internet, gathering clues about the tastes and preferences of a typical user several hundred times a month.

These companies use that information to predict what content and advertisements people most likely want to see. They can charge steep prices for carefully tailored ads because of their high response rates.

The analysis, conducted for The New York Times by the research firm comScore, provides what advertising executives say is the first broad estimate of the amount of consumer data that is transmitted to Internet companies.
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What are the ethics of this kind of monitoring? Government needs special clearance to peep on citizens (though this is far more arguable after the Patriot Act). Does it matter that it's industry watching your activities, not government? And if so, how? Does it matter that you leave a trail when you use, say, gmail?

Photo manipulation

Here's a terrific resource to expand on yesterday's lecture discussion of manipulation of images. Check it out.
But a student raised a great discussion topic via IM. Manipulation is supposedly verboten in news. What about strat comm? Swimsuit models don't really look like they appear to in ads. They've been retouched to look better. Is this OK? Do you think the average consumer understands this? Should that matter? What are the social implications of making people look better than they actually do? What are the gender implications.

Anchor vs. Reporter

Check out this snarky exchange. Can't say as I recall ever seeing anything like it.
What does this say about professionalism? What, if anything, should happen to these two staffers?

KC's News Meeting

Some highlights from the week. What are yours?
- diplomatic crisis in Latin America
- primaries the made one party's decision but not another's
- a "monster" and a campaign resignation
- jobs losses and recession fears
- killings at Jerusalem seminary
- some quarterback retired

On and Off the Record

An Obama campaign supporter has stepped down after calling Hillary Clinton a "monster." Samantha Power also writes for TIME magazine.
She tried to take the comment off the record but the publication said it as clearly on. What do you think of the exchange? Should the comment have been used?
Should TIME respond? And if so, how?

Slideshow Sample

A 202er sent this slideshow as an example of what you might do when you do this portion of your Individual Story assignment:

http://www.madison.com/wsj/media/acapella/index.html

Amazon's Kindle

Blog post from a 202er:

Katy,
Interesting new technology. Amazon.com has this new gadget called the "kindle" you buy books and newspapers and blogs, and they are automatically updated on to this device. You can have thousands of books all on this little device. What does this mean for print? Is this just another step on the way to making tangible, paper documents obsolete? I just think it is interesting, especially with so many things moving to the Web (like Cap Times for example), and that article you posted on the blog last week about the "dumbing" of our generation. We talked about this last year in my j201 class, what could this mean for history? The thought of our entire history being on hard drives from here on out is a little frightening. And, the worst part is, I know all of this, and still can't help but think that is sort of cool /:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FI73MA/ref=amb_link_6369712_1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-1&pf_rd_r=1DPT074MSY63Z6E0HDDC&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=365797001&pf_rd_i=507846

Thanks!

Outing Prince Harry

Britain's Prince Harry has has been serving with the military in Afghanistan, fighting in forward areas. His presence was kept secret under an agreement between the military and the media.
Blogger Matt Drudge broke the silence Thursday, and the British are now calling him home, fearing that his presence would be a magnet for attacks and endanger his unit as a whole and him as an individual.
Assess the Drudge Report's responsibility here. Did he make the right call? Were other media outlets right to agree to the blackout?
Here's the take from an ethics expert at the Poynter Institute.

Packer Oops

This is an object lesson what can happen when you prepare your strat comm (or even journalism) in advance and test it on the Web.
The Green Bay Packers posted for a time on Thursday a story announcing Brett Favre's retirement. They say it was an error, but that may not satisfy fans or the blogosphere. Local news provided a bit more on the story.

Interview Links

You're about to begin doing interviews for your individual stories, and we'll discuss interviewing in lecture Monday. One great way to get comfortable interviewing is to watch other people do it. If you happen onto interviews online, post a link as a comment.
One of my favorites is the "Questions For" feature in the New York Times Sunday Magazine. But please note the line at the bottom regarding editing. We'll discuss the ethics of interviewing Monday.

KC News Meeting

The floor is yours, what news mattered this week? Post your comments and get a discussion going.

Photo editing and ethics

I'm going cross-blog here for an interesting note on ethics in photo editing. Check out this post from my advanced class. What do you think of the choices made here? Which photo is the one you would run if you were in charge?

Source Me

Here's a thread for you to post requests for help in finding sources for your Individual Story assignment. You can ask for help by posting a comment and then check back to see if any fellow 202ers have added a comment with a suggestion. Please remember that this blog is public, so if you put up an e-mail or IM address or phone number, the world can see it.