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Archive for Comm 455

DANGER! War Reporting

Posted by: | October 22, 2012 | No Comment |

Another journalist was killed just two months ago covering war in the Middle East.

Mika Yamamoto, a Japanese journalist, was killed when caught in the middle of a firefight in Aleppo, Syria on August 20. She is one of the latest journalists to be killed while covering the civil war in Syria. It is well known that risks are taken when covering such events around the world. According to The Committee to Protect Journalists, however, says that the Middle Eastern state is the most dangerous place in the world for journalists.

In order to get the big story a journalist may want — or even feel the need to — venture into a war zone to cover the events. This has been common practice for decades now. Since 1992 there have been 944 journalists from different nations killed in war zones — most of which have resulted from the War in Iraq.

Yamamoto was merely doing her part in portraying the Syrian atrocities. “She wanted to show the suffering of innocent women and children caught in war,” said her friend Miyuki Hokugou, of the newspaper Asahi Shimbun. “She felt it would affect Japan sooner or later. That it’s all connected.”

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Reporters and Correspondants

Posted by: | October 21, 2012 | No Comment |

In Mitchelle Stephens’ book “A History of News,” use of the term correspondents referred to those individuals that kept up a letter correspondence with editors of newspapers abroad. These so-called correspondents could be called upon to “forward reports of newsworthy occurrences in their bailiwick directly to the newspaper -a considerable more efficient system than waiting for the haphazard arrival of private letters.”

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, this use of correspondents was first used in 1711 to refer to “one who contributes letters to a newspaper; specifically one employed by a journal to contribute news and other material to its columns from some particular place. ”

Correspondents aren’t much different from the late 1600’s than they are today. Correspondents are individuals that are on the ground in different parts of the world reporting back to their news outlet. While they used to contribute to journals through letters, correspondents report from all over the world through various forms of technologies. Correspondents are living in a specific area. Institutions such as the New York Times have correspondents for East Africa, Europe, London, etc. These correspondents are experts in the area that they are living or embedded in. They have built relationships with individuals on the ground and are able to report first hand accounts of what is happening in case of an emergency.

Correspondents are important. Mark Doyle of the BBC was embedded in Rwanda leading up to the eventual 1994 genocide in the country. For awhile Doyle was one of the only foreign journalists in the region having been there from the beginning. In the book “The Media and the Rwandan Genocide” , Doyle recounts how he had already built relationships with UN officials prior to the genocide. In his essay, Doyle describes how some journalists only came to the region when United States citizens were being evacuated and then they quickly left, not interested in what was otherwise occurring in the region.

Correspondents such as Doyle become experts in their area. Foreign correspondents aren’t the only ones who are experts in their fields. White House correspondents are also valuable assets to a news organization. White House Correspondents are able to tell the story of what is occurring in the highest office in the United States. While sometimes becoming a megaphone for the office, longstanding White House correspondents such as Helen Thomas are able to report more than just what they are being told.

There are also war correspondents are are embedded with troops during a conflict. Famous NBC “Night News Host” was a war correspondent during the Vietnam War which marked the first time in history that  war was broadcast to viewers in their own homes.


Tom Brokaw discusses his work with NBC on reporting the Vietnam War in 1968.

In short, correspondents are individuals that are experts in their given topic. They are called up on for expert advice in regions or areas because of their knowledge in a given topic or area.

 

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E! News: A Daily Dose of Celebrity

Posted by: | October 16, 2012 | No Comment |

While it’s been proven for centuries that people can’t get enough news, in 1991, the scope for television news program got even bigger with the launch of E! News. Hosted on the E! network, the hour-long show focuses exclusively on celebrity reporting an gossip.

Thought up by Lee Masters, the show was originally created to feed the public’s need for celebrity gossip in a way that evoked “controlled publicity.” Creating a show was humble at first, only requiring about 8 cameras to gather footage from red carpets, etc., and only costing about $15,000 per episode. While the show had a sizable viewership, it gained many more during the trial of O.J. Simpson. Lee noticed a rapid drop in viewership on the E! news network when the trial first began. Viewers opted for outlets who could provide live court reporting and 24/7 coverage. It was then that he decided to give E! its first “hard-hitting” story with full coverage.

 

His forward-thinking strategy to gain viewers has been proven effective. WIth 40 million viewers and a popular daily news site, Lee changed the way many viewed celebrity news. He opened the door for it to be more than just sensational fodder.

Photo Courtesy of privdcast.com

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Why ban on blasphemy is a bad idea

Posted by: | October 16, 2012 | No Comment |

Four Americans are dead after a Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The attack was rumored to be a violent response to an anti-Muslim film put together by U.S. resident, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula. Recently, evidence has surfaced saying otherwise. International protests continue and the Organization of Islamic Corporation has asked the U.N. to ban speech insulting the Prophet Muhammad.

I was recently involved in a class discussion that focused on analyzing whether or not the U.S. government should ban blasphemous speech in an effort to prevent further violent response to the anti-Muslim film, “Innocence of Muslims?”

I was shocked to hear that many of my peers agreed with enacting legislation that would ban blasphemous speech.

The argument was made that, in order to prevent further violence, we should appease the Organization of Islamic Corporation and enact blasphemy laws because bashing another religion wasn’t doing anything positive for the community anyway. What I heard was, ‘we should begin to restrict the freedoms of all American citizens because of the violent reaction to the opinions of one man.’ This restriction would be an infringement on the constitutionally protected freedom of speech. 

It is also important to remember that when the government makes hasty decisions regarding our constitutional freedoms, out of fear, wonderful pieces of legislation like the Patriot Act come into existence.

 

The U.S. symbolizes freedom and democracy. If we begin to restrict our freedoms because on the disapproval and pressure of others, we begin to compromise the very foundation upon which we were founded. Thankfully the U.S. government continues to oppose a ban on blasphemy.

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The ultimate form of censorship

Posted by: | October 16, 2012 | No Comment |

As we have learned this semester, different countries have come up with different ways to control the press. The United States has libel, Great Britain has licensing, and France has censorship. All of these methods are enforced through the legal system. Freedom of the press has its limitations.

Other countries, however, have more extreme methods of carrying out their censorship. Malala Yousufzai, a 14 year old girl from Pakistan, was shot by Taliban members for publicly advocating the right to education for women. The brutal attack against her has sparked outrage and spawned numerous protests in her defense. When tragedies like this occur, we are reminded of how fortunate we are to have rights to education, free speech, and the press.

Malala

Photo courtesy: MSNBC

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Three high school students promote media gender equality

Posted by: | October 16, 2012 | No Comment |

Tonight, Candy Crowley of CNN will host the second presidential debate, joining only a few other women who have been moderators. Crowley is the first female moderator of a presidential debate since 1992, when Carole Simpson was the host.

Three High School students from Montclair, New Jersey, recognized the long trend of only male moderators and decided to take action. The students, Emma Axelrod, Elena Tsemberis and Sammi Siegel, started a Change.org petition to allow more gender equality and bring a woman to moderate a presidential debate.

Three students from Montclair, New Jersey, successfully petition for a woman moderator in the presidential debates. Photo courtesy of thirteen.org

 

The Commission on Presidential Debates announced on August 13 that Candy Crowley will moderate the second presidential debate, taking place tonight.

Axelrod, Tsemberis, and Siegal received over  130,000 signatures and delivered the petitions to the Democratic and Republican National Committees at the end of July.

The fact that it has been two decades since the last woman moderator of a presidential debate shows that gender inequality still exists in the media. From CNN to Fox News, there are plenty of qualified women to do the job, yet it took a petition and 20 years for the Commission on Presidential Debates to appoint a woman to moderate a presidential debate.

Crowley is the anchor of State of the Union with Candy Crowley on CNN. She has won a variety of awards for her journalistic achievements, including an Emmy in 2003 for her contribution to Enemy Within on CNN.

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Early congressional reporting

Posted by: | October 16, 2012 | No Comment |

There is so much entertainment in watching live coverage of the House and Senate debates, but even more intriguing is how congressional reporting was during the late 1790s and early 1800s.

In order to get accurate information from Congress in the early years, one could sit in the chamber and view the proceedings or get publications with accounts of the floor activities, but most editors would omit information they found little interest to the readers.

Nowadays, its as easy as turning to CSPAN-2 (I prefer the Senate debates) or watching a live stream online.

Courtesy of oralhistory.clerk.house.gov

The early Senate did not allow access to the public and press, while the House never had such restrictions.  As a result, newspapers and other publications began reporting on House proceedings.  By restricting the press in the upper chamber, there are only a few resources today that detail the first six years of the Senate.

Eventually, reporters and editors succeeded in lobbying for the Senate debates to be viewed by the public and press in 1794.  Yet, the press had little patience for the Senate’s careful proceedings.

Reporters preferred the livelier House debates and began only occasionally reporting on the Senate. However, many House representatives felt misrepresented in publications due to reporters having difficulty hearing the deliberations and many ‘twisting’ words in order to please their editor.

Courtesy of mitchellarchives.com

After Congress moved to Washington D.C in 1800, the National Intelligencer, led by its editor Samuel Harrison Smith, dominated the city’s political press by covering both House and Senate debates. in 1810, Smith’s assistant, Joseph Gales, Jr., became owner of the paper and made it a tri-weekly publication.

After Gales made William Winston Seaton his partner, the paper was issued daily. Both became official printers to Congress for years with Gales being the lone reporter of the Senate and Seaton reporting on the House.

Do you see a small comparison of political reporting from that era to now? I do.

Today, we have many news outlets reporting on the ‘important’ actions of Congress, however, it’s nothing compared to watching the action firsthand, especially since I can watch it from my living room.

 

 

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Faster than the speed of sound

Posted by: | October 16, 2012 | No Comment |

Last sunday, austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner made history by breaking the sound barrier after free falling from 24 miles above  ground.

Felix Baumgartner making history in one single leap

The entire process of Baumgartner’s rise 128,100 feet into the air, as well as his fall, was broadcasted live on Youtube, garnering millions of excited fans in viewership. Baumgartner reached up to 833.9 miles per hour during his fall, which is equivalent to Mach 1.24.

This event was quickly spread via word of mouth on social networks, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube. His popularity has only just begun, with his Facebook fan page already having 1,219,483 “likes.”

In describing what it felt like to be “on top of the world,” Baumgartner has this to say.

“When I was standing there on top of the world, you become so humble, you do not think about breaking records anymore, you do not think about gaining scientific data. The only thing you want is you want to come back alive.”

Baumgartner was assisted by Joseph Kittinger, a retired Air Force Colonel, as well as the previous record holder, skydiving 19 miles above ground back in 1960.

Baumgartner, grateful toward Kittinger, has said that he has hopes that in the future, he could be in Kittinger’s shoes and help out the next man or woman who wishes to break his new world record.

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Digging Deeper

Posted by: | October 16, 2012 | No Comment |

When the big story just isn’t enough, journalists must dig deeper.

Stories that have been unearthed, so to speak, may constitute muckraking or investigative journalism. These types of stories do, however, sometimes reveal themselves as big stories. Therefore, muckraking and big story reporting often times go hand-in-hand.

The Watergate Scandal was broken by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of The Washington Post. Through enterprise journalism this groundbreaking story was revealed to the entire world. It was, without a doubt, one of the biggest stories to ever be reported on in the history of journalism.

Sometimes a journalist has to dig deeper to find the ‘scoop’ on whatever he or she feels may be actually occurring. When a reporter does this, the story is most likely going to be big. It is these kinds of stories that make their way to the headlines. Former president of ABC News, David Westin, argues that news is a commodity but reporting is not. What he means by this is that news is readily available everywhere but reporting and journalism takes hard work.

Investigate and find the real story behind the cover. That’s where the big story lies.

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Boss Tweed

Posted by: | October 16, 2012 | No Comment |

William Marcy Tweed was the epicenter of corruption in New York city during the 1860s-1870s. Immigrants fell servant to his bribes and played pawn in his game to take over the city.

Tweed either owned or payed off every single New York Daily except the New York Times and Harper’s Weekly.

“In 1862, New York aldermen passed a resolution to pay individual reporters $200 a year for “services” to the city, and in the expansive manner of Tammany Hall this figure had been increased tenfold. Even more fundamental to the administration’s ability to influence the editorial content of the newspapers was the city advertising budget. Tweed subsidized the largest papers in New York City—the World, Herald, and Post—by annually placing some $80,000 worth of city advertising in each. During the ring’s reign of corruption, the city treasury funneled $7 million to the newspapers in exchange for their silence.”

Streitmatter, Rodger (2011-12-27). Mightier than the Sword: How the News Media Have Shaped American History (Kindle Locations 992-996). Perseus Books Group. Kindle Edition.

 

Tweed tried to suppress the news, but the truth could not be hidden. The New York Times published expenditures from Boss Tweed’s books to unveil his corruption. But what proved to be more effective were Thomas Nast‘s cartoons.

 

CREDIT: Nast, Thomas, artist. “Tweed-le-dee and Tilden-dum,” 1876. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress. Reproduction Number LC-USZ62-117137.

 

The New York Times based its readership among the upper middle class. Nast’s power was appealing to all audiences.

“I didn’t care a straw for the newspaper articles—my constituents didn’t know how to read. But they couldn’t help but see them damned pictures”  Tweed said in response to Nast’s cartoons.

Overall, Boss Tweed attempted to control the press but ended up failing miserably. The press exposed him and his parties corruption to and us the citizens of New York city. Meanwhile Thomas Nast fought boldly against the Tweed Ring using his pictures to convey his message to the public.

 

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Coverage of Ice Hockey

Posted by: | October 15, 2012 | No Comment |

The media had a big impact on sports in the beginning.  The more a sport was televised or written on, the more people played it and the more popular it was.

Ice hockey in the 1960s for instance.

In 1960 the Olympics were in February in Squaw Valley, California, United States.  There was a big controversy as to whether China, Taiwan, North Korea, and East Germany could participate or not because of the Cold War going on at the time.

In the 1960’s ice hockey was not a sport that everyone watched until the semifinal match in the winter olympics that year.  The United States was playing the Soviet Union.  At that time it was the most watched game and televised and covered by the majority of news stations and television stations. This was the first time the Olympics were being televised and viewed worldwide.

With the Cold War going on this game meant more to the  country than just the game, but it still got everyone to watch the hockey game.  With the will to win with the war going on with the Soviets they beat them in the semifinals.  The Americans had never beaten the strong Soviets in a hockey game before.

The media was booming trying to get this match televised and covered because of all of the buzz going on with the war.  This ultimately led to Americans knowing the sport of hockey better and having it part of their history.  Twenty years later in 1980 came the “Miracle on Ice” team that also beat the Soviets.  This game was also highly televised and watched but this game came first.  This game helped television and news casts on sports to improve.  Not only did they improve, but it helped people realize how entertaining they were and they were covered more often.

 

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What are you doing with your news?

Posted by: | October 15, 2012 | No Comment |

Who doesn’t love to be the first one to know something? I love to be the source of information for any kind of news , but I definitely can’t be a fountain of information alone!

I owe my success in my distribution of information to social media and television for their consistent updates of information on what’s going on around the world. Thank you, thank you. I couldn’t do it without you guys!

So when my parents were kids (a LONG , LONG time ago) they only had morning and nightly news.. if that. How did they survive I wonder. Was that news sufficient for them? Or were they wanting more?

In 1995 CNN International became a global 24- hour news channel. That’s right, news all the time. Now before you go jumping for joy and clapping your hands like this guy, pause. Ask yourself, how often do you watch CNN International?

Now some of you are probably going to lie and say it’s your go to channel, others of you probably either a) didn’t know there was a CNN International news channel or b) don’t even know what channel or even what channel range CNN International falls into.

But don’t worry, I’m not judging. I’m just asking you to ask yourself, has the ability to access news at anytime increased your desire to be more knowledgeable or does it really make a difference?

I feel like our generation is so used to having the ability to access news anytime that we don’t take full advantage to all the information we have access to.

Courtesy of CNN

Just my thoughts

But if you actually want to check out CNN online  or you can follow them on twitter.

I know your busy, but make the time to invest in your own knowledge. You won’t regret it.

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