Comm455/History of Journalism

The ethical aspects of journalism are always strained around the time of a US presidential election and the 2012 race was not exempt of the abuse of social media outlets.  Because everyone can be a publisher now, most felt entitled in posting their bias through Facebook, Twitter, and other public forums.  Lacking professional training in journalism etiquette, newbie publishers succeeded in offending strangers, peers, and even close friends with their remarks regarding the race between Governor Romney and President Obama.

Beyond political opinions, active social networkers are skewing ethical lines in the workplace.  The Ethics Resource Center has been publishing the National Business Ethics Survey since 1994 availing the public, (free of charge), of ethical perspective in the workplace.

According to the social media website Mashable, ERC is the “oldest non-profit organization in the U.S. dedicated to independent research and advancement of high ethical standards and practices in both public and private institutions.”

The results may be disappointing to employers but not necessarily surprising with the influx of interaction via social media venues.  In a recent study, ERC found several connections between the workplace and social media interaction.

Though the chart indicates that social networkers are more haphazard in the workplace, the author of Firing at Will: A Manager’s Guide, Jay Shepherd refutes the generalization.  “The idea that social networkers are more apt to be unethical is absurd. It’s just that you’re more likely to hear about it. In my experience, social media participants are likely to be more advanced in terms of relationships and thoughtfulness — not less.”

Social media may gain more civility with time or prove to be total anarchy but it seems to be too soon to tell.

Norway is a relatively small country with a population of around five million and a geographical area slightly less than the state of California.  There are more people of Norwegian descent living in America than in Norway.  Despite it’s small size, Norway is a culturally rich country that has made many contributions to worldwide media.

Naturally, Norwegian sagas and mythology are one of Norway’s (and to be fair, the rest of Scandinavia’s) biggest claims to fame.  The myths and sagas have had influence on some of the biggest worldwide media phenomenons.  J.R.R. Tolkien was famously inspired by Norse mythology when he wrote The Lord of the Rings series.  The Thor comic book series is obviously inspired by the sagas of Norse gods.

Norsk rikskringkasting AS, or NRK, is Norway’s government owned radio and television broadcasting company, the Norwegian equivalent to PBS in the U.S. and the BBC in England.  The company is funded almost entirely by annual license fees charged to anyone who owns a TV.  NRK is home to Lørdagsbarnetimen, which is the world’s longest running radio show.  The program has been running since December 20, 1924.

NRK was also a founding member of the European Broadcasting Union, the world’s biggest union of public media companies.

Norwegian is a language spoken basically only in Norway, and so to better integrate into the world economic and cultural scene, most Norwegians are bilingual, speaking both Norwegian and English fluently, and sometimes other languages like German.  Since Norway’s film and television industries are relatively small, they import a large amount of television programming from the U.S., which also aids many children in learning to speak conversational English.

For better or worse, this man is currently the main ambassador of Norwegian mythology to the world.

Donald Trump released a now viral video on October 24th, in which he promised the world that he would donate 5 million dollars to the charity of President Barack Obama’s choice under 2 conditions: Obama would have to release his college records and applications, as well as all of his passport records and that he had until October 31 at 5 pm.

“Frankly, it’s a check I very much want to write. I absolutely would be the most happy of all if I did, in fact, make this contribution, through the President, to these charities.”

– Donald Trump

Donald Trump asking the President to submit his college and passport records

Trump went on to say that every president we have had is transparent, except for Obama, and that very little is know about him. Trump seems to believe that many Americans would be very happy to find more about him and make him transparent, like everyone else.

This all dates back to the 2008 campaign, as many people tried to claim Obama’s nationality was Kenyan, and therefore not an American. However, his birth records proved that he shared a dual citizenship of Kenyan and American.

Obama did not follow up on Trumps’ “bribe.” 17 hours ago, when asked why he did not, the President has this to say.

““Well, it’s always good to ignore Donald Trump. I think it’s always a good rule.”

– President Obama

Another important question that comes up is, will Trump still donate the money?

In light of Hurricane Sandy, the areas affected could definitely use some help financially.

However people who know about the host of The Apprentice probably already know the answer to this question, but the world shall see. Perhaps, Trump will continue to make videos on YouTube demanding things in exchange for goodwill.

Stranger things have happened.

With the 2012 presidential campaign drawing to a close today, the polls are still in a deadlock. Not only does every vote count, but so does every minute, every dollar, and every endorsement.

Not only do celebrities and other public figures endorse politicians, but newspapers also openly endorse presidential and senate candidates.

The Loudoun Times Mirror has endorsed Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, and Democratic Senate candidate Tim Kaine. The Richmond Times Dispatch has also chosen to endorse Mitt Romney. Various other newspapers across the state and country have also announced their support of one of the candidates.

This poses one of our three questions about journalism that we discussed in COMM 203 — Is the job of the press to lead the people, or report news objectively? In this case, should newspapers openly endorse political candidates?

Does anyone remember Alf Landon?  No, right.  In 1936, Landon was predicted by the Literary Digest, a respected magazine at the time,  to win in a landslide over incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Literary Digest had predicted correctly the last five elections, but this one mistake would change the landscape of exit polling for years to come.

Courtesy of www.gallup.com/

Courtesy of althistory.wikia.com

The Literary Digest distributed 10 million questionnaires to voters who had automobiles, telephone subscribers, and country club memberships.  They received back only 23% of those questionnaires and from those results determined that Landon would defeat President Roosevelt by a 3 to 2 margin.

At the same time a young rival pollster, George Gallop, made a prediction.  He predicted that the Literary Digest would get it all wrong before they even published the poll.  As you can see, Gallup was right.

Where did the Literary Digest get it all wrong?

The erroneous prediction came from the distribution of their polling population.  In 1936, automobiles, telephone subscription and country club memberships were not affordable to the average voter.  The sample population did not represent the general voting population.

Gallup made his prediction from a random sample of 50,000 people and, as you can see from the chart above, predicted that FDR would win reelection. FDR won with 61% of the vote and more than 11 million votes over Landon, a huge landslide in those days.

Measuring public opinion is no easy task but thanks to the faulty sampling method by the Literary Digest, Gallup would be established as the nation’s  preeminent pollster.

Unless you’ve been hanging out under a very dark rock, you know by now that megastars Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel wed in Italy at the end of last month. Their super-secret vow exchange turned out to be one of the most highly publicized events of the season. However, it wasn’t just the odd choice of color for Mrs. Timberlake’s dress (pink) that was the talk of the celebrity presses. Instead, the gossip seemed to be about an even odder gift they received…a gag video of homeless Los Angeles well-wishers bidding the couple a happy wedding.

“Justin and Jessica, I haven’t seen you for a long time . . . I hope the wedding goes fine for you,” says a toothless man on the street. “My gift is in the mail.” The peculiar video was a joke gift from Justin’s longtime friend, Justin Huchl, who insists the gift was “just a joke.”

While Timberlake is a recurring guest on Saturday Night Live, many fans are questioning the taste level of having homeless people wish the couple (who’s net worth is well into the millions) a nice event.

“I had no knowledge of its existence. I had absolutely ZERO contribution to it,” said Timberlake in a public apology. “I don’t believe it was made to be insensitive. More so, I think it was made as a joke on me not having that many friends attending my own wedding.”

While he defends his innocence, Timberlake ended up holding himself accountable stating that he does “understand the reaction.” Not to worry though. It doesn’t look like he’s letting Huchel get away with a clean slate either.

“You can bet your ass that I’m having my friend do at least 100 hours of community service,” said Timberlake.

The election is tomorrow and I am so nervous I can barely stand it. Just thinking about it makes my throat close up and my heart beat just a little faster.

While my stomach is tied up in knots, I can’t help but wonder: why the heck am I so nervous?

According to the final Post-ABC poll from this weekend, Obama has the lead over Romney by a comfortable three points (50-47). If Obama takes Virginia, the election is in his pocket.

In response to the latest NBC/WSJ/Marist Poll, Rachel Maddow blogged about the importance of Virginia for Obama.

It’s a reminder to keep a close eye on the commonwealth tomorrow night, because it may well be the swing state that dictates the outcome. If the president wins the likely-blue states, and then picks up Iowa, Nevada, Wisconsin, and Virginia, he’ll pass 270 — even without Ohio and/or Florida.

Plus, if Barbara Streisand is supporting President Obama, then by golly he has to win!

But, is Barbara enough? Do the predictions and polls ring true? Let’s hope so. Otherwise I’m moving to Canada.

Election day is looming and the political ads are virtually inescapable. Political advertising used to cover our yards and mailboxes but now they’re plastered across our television sets and smart phones. The rapid developments of new technologies have led political advertisements to infiltrate every imaginable media platform. These political advertisements aren’t cheap, which is why this election is on the road to becoming the most expensive election yet. The New York Times has been keeping track of this “money race” and has visualized the data into an easy-to-understand graph.

So where do candidates get all this money? These infamous Super PACs are to thank for such large contributions. Who are these Super PAC contributors? According to politicians, that’s privileged information.

Super PACs can contribute as much money to a candidate as they want and remain anonymous. Reasons why this is bad are as plentiful as the political ads flooding our inboxes. Anonymous donors hiding behind their large corporate paychecks fund candidates who will look out for the best interest of their donors. Naturally, said candidate will vote for legislation favoring the person backing them so that they don’t lose their campaign funding. It’s an endless cycle intended to make sure that upper class Americans continue to control government.

Photo courtesy of Digiprove

It’s clear that we need election reform so let’s make these Super PACs pay for it! If we taxed these anonymous donors, we would be making them pay for the process that they are so keen on controlling. It’s clear that it’s going to take time to implement super pac reform but taxing the PACs could be a small step towards a larger, much needed solution.

It’s finally here. Election Day is Tuesday.

The 2012 Election will commence this Tuesday in what may be our nation’s biggest decision. The campaign between Romney and Obama has been blazing for months now. It has seen some of the most important and largest issues in history, as well. Abortion, Obamacare, and the economy have all been huge factors this election season. It all leads up to Tuesday. The biggest story of the year, and maybe even the century.

Both candidates have been rallying, and will continue to rally until the very end. Romney will be in Fairfax on Monday for one last attempt at swinging Northern Virginia in the GOP’s favor. Obama will be in the midwest on Monday, rallying his way back to Chicago for election day.

Not only is this election probably the biggest in the history of the United States, but it may be one of the closest as well. Ohio — a top battleground state — is currently showing a tie between the candidates at 49% each. This is yet another reason why the election is such a big story. Tuesday is sure to change the course of American history forever.

Hurricane Sandy was expected to wreak havoc on millions of people, but the delays and shortages that are still plaguing citizens along the east coast are causing unforeseen issues.

New York City and New Jersey seemed to receive the brunt of the storm, with at least 40 fatalities in each state. Much of NYC is underwater while the Jersey Shore was almost completely eradicated. The famous New York City Marathon was canceled only days before it was to take place due to citizens outrage that hotels for runners and visitors would use up power. The marathon would also take away money that could be used for recovery efforts.

With election day only a few days away, many victims of the storm still find themselves without power and with no access to gas meaning no transportation to the polls.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie made it clear that politics do not play a role in the recovery process from Hurricane Sandy. Christie, a republican, praised President Obama’s swift action in helping victims and visiting heavily impacted areas in the state.

When asked if Romney, who Christie has publicly supported during the election, would be visiting as well, Christie said, “I don’t give a damn.” He believes the election is his last concern at the moment as he tries to help his state.

Effected cities are doing what they can to get everyone to the polls, as every vote counts. Hopefully, after so much devastation, Hurricane Sandy won’t also effect the outcome of the election. As of now though the biggest concern is getting gas and power back to citizens, as well as starting the clean up process.

You know when you make that mistake by going to Walmart or Target at the first of the month and you’re waiting in a never ending line?

What’s the first thing you do?

I usually grab a magazine to make the time pass because who doesn’t love to take a break from reality and consume themselves with the lives of others…even if you know your reading lies.

That’s how I feel every time I read the National Enquirer. The tabloid is known for paying people for tips and exaggerating the truth.

An example of that would be in February 2011 the Enquirer published a story stating that Steve Jobs had only 6 weeks to live due to cancer. Jobs died October 5 of that year which was 7 months after the reports.

The National Enquirer was founded in 1926 but it was not the first tabloid to be published.

Courtesy of MediaBistro

In 1903 Alfred Harmsworth introduced the Daily Mirror in London, the widely circulated modern “tabloid.”

Tabloids are a form of sensationalized celebrity news that can appeal to a wide audience. However in the 16th and 17th centuries the wealthier class looked down on people that read them because they were more intrigued by politics, economics and art.

Mitchell Stephens states that that is still the case today. However I would beg to differ because I don’t think anyone is being a 100% honest if they say that they’ve never picked up a tabloid and at least skimmed it, while at the doctor’s office or in line at a store.

*Courtesty of Wikipedia

The media and sport go hand in hand.

Where there is sport, there is someone who wants to report on it.

The first true team sport played in America was lacrosse.

There was not much record of actual writings and reports on the lacrosse games that were being played, but it is known that when there is a game there is a winner.  Someone always wants to know who won and who lost.  They drew the outcomes of the games on everything from animal hides to stones.

As Americans became more civilized the way the games were reported became more widespread.  There have been reports of games going on for years and years earlier than anyone actually realizes.  Also as rules were created they were, too, drawn out on stone or in other ways to preserve them for the players to see.