Comm455/History of Journalism

Errors in reporting: Rolling Stone’s campus rape story

Posted by: Savannah Norton | March 14, 2016 | No Comment |

In November of 2015, Rolling Stone published a feature about a gang rape that allegedly occurred at a frat party at University of Virginia.

Rolling Stone’s Campus Rape Story was one of the most cautionary tales of confirmation bias in journalism. Journalism website, Poynter, comments that,”It’s also an example of how to not to behave when your organization publishes a disastrous piece of reporting.”

(Rolling Stone)

The story prompted the university and people around the country to stop sexual assault on campus. The school even took it far enough to place a temporary ban on all frats.

The story initially catalyzed the university and people around the country to do more to stamp out sexual assault on campus. The school even placed a temporary ban on all frats.

Other news outlets, like The Washington Post, raised details about the account of the Rolling Stones story and the magazine’s failure to do “basic reporting” on such a serioues topic.

Some of the biggest mistakes were made when the writer of the story, Sabrina Rubin Erdely, didn’t contact any of the men she accused of participating in the gang rape or the friends of the accused. The story includes scenes with verbatim dialogue attributed to them.

Managing editor Will Dana then published “A Note to Our Readers” that acknowledged the “discrepancies” in the account of the woman who was allegedly assaulted. Although it didn’t offer any real information about how the story was fact checked, mistakes made or their plans to take action on them.

under: Comm 455
Tags: Accuracy, credibility, errors, newspapers, savannah norton, snorton

Great content and higher american literacy

Posted by: vgarcia5 | March 14, 2016 | No Comment |

The Penny Press was published in 1833 by Benjamin H. Day, when he launched his first successful penny newspaper, called the New York Sun. Penny papers were more affordable for poor families and individuals, whereas the cost for other newspapers was 6 cents and could only be afforded by the higher class. For this reason, the New York Sun reached 5,000 people within 6 months! By 1835, it reached 19,000 people, more than the other newspapers!

The simplicity of the form that the penny papers were written plus the affordability, contributed to the increase of american literacy. More people were able to get their hands on the news and read it. The language in the papers were easy enough for them to understand it. The more they read the news, the more they sharpened their skill in literacy.

The Penny Press was popular, not only because of the price, but because of the content. The content in these papers were easy to understand as well as intriguing. Penny papers included stories about murders, crimes, criminal courts, and divorce courts- everything a reader wants to read about.

People want to read about murders, divorce, and any other scandals, so because these affordable papers contained these type of stories, it intrigued more readers, high class or low class, and helped increase literacy for those who never read much before because of the price, as well as make the penny papers successful.

under: Comm 455
Tags: penny press, vilma garcia

‘#NeverTrump’: Marco Rubio’s attack on Donald Trump

Posted by: karajin | March 1, 2016 | No Comment |

Just in time for Super Tuesday, Marco Rubio displayed a different side of Rubio on Thursday night on the Republican GOP debate.

Photo courtesy of USA Today

Rubio, who had been known particularly as the little boy with big dreams in the Republican race for the presidential nomination showed a new face Thursday night, as he hit Donald Trump repeatedly with attacks that appeared to get under Trump’s skin and throw him off. Rubio suddenly appeared as a strong competitor with the power and drive to potentially become president. The Atlantic magazine called this debate “Trump’s worst debate of the campaign”.

Rubio appeared to be more prepared this time with his research and words than in the last debate, where he was stumped on by former Republican candidate Chris Christie. In the last debate in New Hampshire, Rubio appeared to be repeating himself with a speech Christie jeered by being written by Rubio’s advisors. He continued to bash Rubio during the debate saying, “There it is. There it is. The memorized 25-second speech!”

This time around in Texas, Rubio turned the same call out to Trump.

“He’s repeating himself!”

-Marco Rubio

The most entertaining thing about the Texas Republican GOP Debate was that each time Rubio knew he hit Trump and was awarded with seemingly undying yells and applause, he had a huge grin on his face. Trump is known for echoing the same set of slogans over his entire campaign such as: Make America great again, Build the wall, and Stop losing at trade. As he forced Trump off his pedestal and threw him off, Trump appeared to get lost and confused without having his mantras backing him up. You could say that Rubio had ‘trumped’ Trump.

Trump didn’t much debate back, but instead tried to shoot back insults in an attempt to bring himself back up. But each time Rubio was ready to shoot back. He was much different than the Rubio who fell to Chris Christie in New Hampshire. This time much more agile and aggressive with an unending supply of opposition research to hit Trump with.

Now how does all this relate to real news? In our modern day, much news is spread through technology, especially with social media. Following this debate, Rubio released a series of tweets with the hashtag, ‘#NeverTrump’.

#NeverTrump has been a movement on Twitter, pushed by tweet-centered republicans who are aiming to compel voters not to support Trump through using a viral hashtag that can be seen anywhere and spread infinitely. Rubio’s tweet was posted on Friday following the debate Thursday night.

Photo courtesy of Marco Rubio’s Twitter account

The hashtag means that even if Trump were to get the republican nomination, even conservative voters would vow to vote for the opposition, as they believe that never would Trump be president.

Rubio used his lasting strength from the debate and combined it with today’s “word of mouth” which is social media to continue his campaign. He tweeted “#NeverTrump. Agree? Add your name here,” with a link directing to his campaign website to support his campaign. Hashtags have become a creative and effective way to spread word quickly and virally through social media, and Rubio knew it would come handy in his favor to continue to attack Trump.

under: Comm 455
Tags: #nevertrump, Donald Trump, karajin, marco rubio, political news, Politics, social media, top debate, word-of-mouth

Journalism isn’t dying

Posted by: jcausey2 | March 1, 2016 | No Comment |

(The Gutenberg Parenthesis) – its an idea that everything after Gutenberg and the printing press was an interruption to the ‘original’ form of communication, word-of-mouth.

In Megan Garber’s blog post ‘ The Gutenberg Parenthesis: Thomas Pettitt on parallels between the pre-print era and our own Internet age’ she quotes Thomas Pettitt, a professor at the University of South Denmark .‘We are going forward to the past’ he says. He argues that books because they were written down, became more valid and were considered more truthful. Pettitt continues to argue that people no longer believe everything that’s written down. No longer are books or print for that matter the medium of truth. The conversation doesn’t divulge into why this is, but Pettitt believes it has to do with the ‘overlapping forms of communication’

In some instances I agree. When information was first written down, it was a way to add validity to what had already been heavily discussed among the people. It wasn’t a matter or believing or not believing the written news. People were already in the know.

The skepticism we see today is tied to the printing press and spread of knowledge. For example, if a searing expose’ goes to print, people instinctively seem to question it. The instinct to question could be considered journalism, and that makes the death of journalism fall into a gray area.

While I agree there is nothing new under the sun and trends are reinvented and seep in and out of generations, Pettit seems to question the power of print and journalism today.

“…the formal press will need somehow to find a place in this chaos of communication, where you can’t decide the level, the status, the value of the message by the form of the message…the press, will need to find some other signals – it’s got to find a way through this”

My main issue is that print is tied in so closely with journalism. The argument of the death of print journalism is a well-documented decline; to link the death of print with the decline of journalism is problematic. I read the above as Pettitt saying the press, journalism, is in a state of doom because it’s not considered trustworthy and it can’t be controlled.

Journalism is evolving, especially with the popularity of social media. Not only is journalism evolving, but it has a further reach with the internet and how quickly information is able to be shared.
Broadcast journalism alone can lead to a citizen uprising. Journalism is powerful and people need news. News and journalism although it is changing, will never go away. To say that you can’t decide the value based on the form seems unfounded. The form absolutely can decide the value, especially if you are in tune with your audience.

With that said, word-of-mouth is ever-present in today’s society, and while it may be experiencing a ‘re-emergence’ it’s doing so hand-in-hand with journalism.

under: Comm 455, newspapers, social media
Tags: changes, Comm 455, communication, future of news, George Mason, gmu, jacquelynne causey, Journalism, News, social media

Isis: the other side of war reporting in the modern age

Posted by: nrodrigo | March 1, 2016 | No Comment |

Reports from the battlefield have come and gone with the changing times. From the runners of ancient Greece to carrier pigeons in World War I, information has been the most valuable asset a military force can acquire. In today’s world, people get war reporting on current engagement
s such as those occurring in Syria and Afghanistan from news networks around the world but how does the enemy get theirs? Some follow the news just like any other person but other avenues have been used to report.

It is true that Isis watches how global powers report on the ongoing civil war in Syria but they have also utilized the internet to their advantage. Using social media platforms, specifically Twitter, the terrorist group has been able to relay valuable information such as intelligence on enemy positions quickly and efficiently. Their abuse of twitter is not limited to pure surveillance as they readily use the platform to recruit followers, perpetuate their message of hate and report on the war in their view.

According to this Brookings Institute census, Isis is using twitter quite a bit among other interesting findings. For instance, there are an estimate 46,000-90,000 Isis supporter accounts accounts with the majority of accounts residing in Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. Another number that became a commonality in the census pertained to the number of followers. According to the census, each active account had an average of 1,002 followers and 7.3 tweets per day. A key finding that sheds some light on the identities of Isis supporters pertains to language. The study findings suggest that one in every five Isis supporter accounts chose English as the default language.

“73 percent selected Arabic, 18 percent selected English, and 6 percent selected French…likely reflects ISIS’s target audience in the United States for inciting and harassing propaganda.”

Measures have been implemented to tackle this problem and coalition powers have been working with social media to track down these Isis supporters. Twitter alone suspended more than 2,000 Isis accounts in one week alone in March 2015 just to give perspective on how readily these accounts communicate. Although these moves to combat this problem hasn’t come late, it is almost impossible to stop the spread of news on the internet let alone dealing with a daunting number of Isis supporter accounts. If one avenue of information flow fails, Isis will focus efforts and push their news and message through another platform continuing the endless game of cat and mouse.

under: Comm 455, newspapers, social media
Tags: isis, nrodrigo, social media, Syria, Twitter, War Reporting

Birth of live news with JFK assassination

Posted by: badiman | March 1, 2016 | No Comment |

On a tragic Nov. 22 over 52 years ago, Americans were bombarded with the news of President John F. Kennedy assassination in Dallas, Texas. According to Reuters “the six seconds” that ended with the U.S. President’s life, transformed news coverage and the way people perceived the media.

http://p2.la-img.com/663/15125/4904020_1_l.jpg

The news spread very rapidly. According to The Observer, Lee Oswald fired at the President at 12:30 pm, Dallas time. Four minutes later, the United Press International wire reported the attack. Within 30 minutes 68 percent of Americans heard the news of the attack and within 90 minutes 92 percent were aware of the news.

For the first time ever, news outlets of the time had to cover the unexpected developing events heavily and continuously to feed the need of information not only Americans were hungry for, but the whole world. Major news outlets went live using the primitive technology available at the time and silent footage, skipped commercials, and tried to bring the updates to an audience that has never relied on TV as much as it had on newspapers and radio.

The need for news was tremendous worldwide and outlets engaged in a new coverage style that paved the way news is brought to audiences today.

CBS veteran broadcaster Bob Schieffer told Reuters “The Kennedy assassination became the template for coverage”.

In addition to live coverage, correspondents were on the street asking citizens who witnessed the gunfire or were near the area where the president’s motorcade drove by, they were outside police stations and even at the hospital where the president was taken.

under: Comm 455, Local news, newspapers
Tags: badiaa mansouri, JFK, JFK assassination, medi coverage, News, TV live coverage, U.S. media

Roman contributions to journalism: the gossip column

Posted by: Alec Moore | March 1, 2016 | No Comment |

In today’s world saturated by media, we can hardly go anywhere without encountering some form of journalism. If you go to a Starbucks you will undoubtedly find copies of the Washington Post and New York Times. If you go to a grocery store, as you check out you will see hundreds of magazines clamoring for your attention.

Examples of gossip magazines

As a result of this saturation, nearly every topic imaginable has a publication dedicated to covering it. Though many see this as a benefit of today’s media landscape, there are others who would argue that the prominence of gossip news or tabloid journalism is negative because it distracts people from more important topics.

Today with reality television and a different award show for musicians or film celebrities almost weekly, the popularity of tabloid journalism has reached an all time high. In spite of it’s popularity, many are beginning to question whether there is too much gossip news.

A 2007 report by the Pew Research Center shows 40% of people surveyed agreed there was too much coverage of celebrity news and Hollywood gossip. However, this is not the first time the effects of tabloid journalism have been condemned by society or its members.

Even as Rome was just beginning to spread its form of news, the acta, back in 51 BCE regular readers like Cicero were already complaining about the content, “… reports of ‘the gladiatorial pairs,’ ‘burglary by Chrestus,’ and such tittle-tattle as nobody would have the impertinence to repeat to me when I am at Rome?”

Bust of Cicero

A statesman who loved Rome but was sent to far away Cicilia as a proconsul, Cicero relied almost exclusively on copies of the acta reaching him for his news. Other forms of spoken news were too unreliable, so Cicero needed the acta to stay up to date on Roman affairs in spite of his complaints about the gossip.

He explains this dilemma well in a letter to Caelius, “… you must pick out of them what is noteworthy. There is much which you must skip, especially the detailed accounts of the games and funerals, and all the rest of the tittle-tattle. But the great part is useful.”

So though some of us may blame reality television and the glorification of celebrities for tabloid journalism, we can see in the example of Cicero that gossip has been a part of even the earliest newspaper. The key for good journalists, and for consumers in news in general is to follow the advice of Cicero: search for the useful information, and ignore the tittle-tattle.

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Tags: Alec Moore, Comm 455, Gerald Moore

Press and the justification for war

Posted by: bcrosset | March 1, 2016 | No Comment |

“Nayirah” providing testimony before the congressional caucus Credit: http://csglobe.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/government-consp iracies3.jpg

As the world quickly approached the twenty-first century, the press became more involved in world affairs than ever. News of Saddam Hussein’s escapades in Iraq quickly spread throughout news outlets and made its way to the forefront of international news. The victims of Saddam’s attacks were not silent. Stories of inhumane torture and the killing of citizens spread as the Iraqi forces moved into Kuwait. By the autumn of 1990, the violence in Iraq was well-known by the American people. One specific story would stir outrage in the American people.

In September of 1990, the Los Angeles Times published a report of the war crimes being committed in Kuwait. The story, provided by refugees, claimed that Iraqi forces had removed babies from incubators and left them on the floor to die. The refugees claimed that these stories had been reported to authorities, and that the coalition forces were well-aware of the crimes being committed. The story was pursued by other news outlets. The Washington Post published an article as well, further investigating the refugees claims, but found nothing more significant than what had already been published by the L.A. Times.

The story wouldn’t really blow up until a congressional caucus was conducted. In October of 1990, a young girl by the name of “Nayirah” claimed that she had witnessed Iraqi soldiers removing babies from incubators and throwing them on the floor, leaving them to die. After the congressional caucus, the story instantly became viral, spreading to all the major papers throughout the United States. It seemed to give justification for America’s interest in Iraq. George H.W. Bush utilized the story to rally Americans in support of the war.

Credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmfVs3WaE9Y

It wouldn’t take long before the American public realized it was a hoax. Nayirah was the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United States, and fabricated the story to gain support for American involvement. Despite the fact that the story was a known hoax, America had already found itself too entrenched in the conflict. The American people already knew too much. In addition, the American people were not naive to the fact that numerous other atrocities were being committed across Kuwait. You couldn’t remove the image from the American people’s minds.

“Chances are that Congress would have voted to pursue the war even without this deception.”- The New York Times

The incubator hoax perfectly displays the impact of journalism in the United States. The press ultimately persuaded the American people to embrace the Kuwaiti people. Despite the story being a hoax, it was one tool used for justifying the conflict that Americans would soon be involved in. It was a narrative that remained in the minds of the American people.

under: Comm 455
Tags: Brandon Crossett, impact of journalism

Closing Guantanamo Bay

Posted by: dwoumn | March 1, 2016 | No Comment |

During his 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised to close the military prison known as Guantanamo Bay. In his last year in office, President Obama is going to try to make good on that promise. In February 2016, President Obama announced his executive order to close Guantanamo Bay.

But closing Guantanamo Bay will face challenges from Congress, as many bills President Obama has put to Congress faced. During his press conference, President Obama discussed the challenges and his frustration with closing Guantanamo Bay.

“I am very cleareyed about the hurdles to finally closing Guantánamo: The politics of this are tough. I don’t want to pass this problem on to the next president, whoever it is. And if, as a nation, we don’t deal with this now, when will we deal with it?”

President Obama called for Guantanamo Bay to be closed as it has hurt American alliances, aided in the recruitment of terrorist and drained tax payer dollars. Senator Marco Rubio immediately responded by saying, “Not only are we not going to close Guantánamo, when I am president, if we capture a terrorist alive, they are not getting a court hearing in Manhattan. They are not going to be sent to Nevada. They are going to Guantanamo, and we are going to find out everything they know.” Not only will President Obama try to close Guantanamo Bay in his last year of office, President Obama will try to fill the Supreme Court Justice seat voided by the death of associate justice Antonin Scalia.

under: Comm 455
Tags: Darius Woumn, HIST 389, legislation

Errors and corrections in news publications

Posted by: Savannah Norton | March 1, 2016 | No Comment |

Newspapers and online publications are constantly releasing content to stay up to date with the latest news. While trying to get this content out, there may be a few copy or factual errors that get swept into the finished article. Every online publication wants to be the first article people click on to be informed.

“Accuracy is our goal, and candor is our defense,” The Washington Post’s credo said, for handling corrections promptly in an interview with Nieman Reports.

(cliparttoday.com)

News accuracy is a challenge that dates back. It is now heightened by the real-time reality of the digital world. There is now the challenge of average citizens reporting from their own multimedia as well as other professional journalists.

We live in a time where people can easily report and post their own news online without the advice and corrections from an editor. “The need is greater than ever to set in place a coherent system of correcting errors—despite the digital practitioners’ assurances about the Web’s inherent self-correcting nature,” Neiman Report’s Scott R. Maier said.

Some newspapers are hesitant to admit that they have made a reporting mistake, others release copy errors, updates and fact corrections or have them listed at the bottom of the online article.

In a factual errors study conducted by Maier, he found from 10 daily newspapers, nearly all errors—97 percent—went uncorrected.

The code of ethics of the Society of Professional Journalists states: “Admit mistakes and correct them promptly.”

Read more about Nieman Report’s view on this topic here.

under: Comm 455
Tags: Accuracy, Comm 455, corrections, newspapers, savannah norton, snorton2

The Oscars’ total sorority move

Posted by: Tatyana White-Jenkins | February 29, 2016 | No Comment |

This past Sunday, Chris Rock hosted the highly anticipated Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars. With events like these, word of mouth is truly put into action whether it’s in person or via social media. This was greatly shown by the massive amounts of tweets and articles that emerged after Rock’s opening monologue.

Actor/comedian Chris Rock addresses the audience during the 2014 Governors Awards on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2014, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

Variety.com

With the #OscarsSoWhite controversy at its peak, Rock used the drama as a huge talking point for his monologue and continued the theme throughout the night. Mixed in with his jokes about the lack of diversity of the Oscar nominations and Hollywood overall, he compared Hollywood to a sorority.

Is Hollywood racist? You’re damn right Hollywood’s racist. But it isn’t the racist you’ve grown accustomed to. Hollywood is sorority racist. It’s like — “We like you, Rhonda, but you’re not a Kappa.” That’s how Hollywood is.

And sorority girls around the country went wild. Word spread quickly of Rock’s sorority comment and women in sororities quickly responded on social media.

Some found the remark to be funny and appreciated the joke:

watching the oscars at my sorority house and chris rock just mentioned “sorority racism” and my whole house gasped n im LAFFING -@kristi_carra

Some found the remark to be uncalled for due to stereotyping:

us Kappas appreciate the shoutout, Chris Rock. We also appreciate the stereotype. Wait…Isn’t that what you’re trying to end? -@erinoverman

And others came to the defense of their sorority:

“I’m a #kappa and my chapter was extremely diverse. Don’t believe Chris Rock. #Oscars -@jayme0509

college.usatoday.com

However you choose to take Rock’s comment, you cannot deny that it received the attention he aimed for.

With word of mouth being able to spread within seconds now due to the internet and social media, something as simple as a comment can gain attention, both negative and positive, almost as quickly as it came out of the person’s mouth.

under: Comm 455
Tags: academy awards, chris rock, oscars, sororities, Tatyana White-Jenkins, word-of-mouth

Inspiration from a true media star

Posted by: sday5 | February 29, 2016 | No Comment |

As an undergraduate at George Mason University, nothing is more inspiring than learning from those who have achieved a life of success and fulfilled their career goals from an early age. More importantly, witnessing those we are working in a field that they have always aspired to work in. In all honesty, isn’t that what every college student tries to obtain? Our duties as students include working and studying for our chosen field in order to gain expertise and experience. Through the endless hours of practicing our studies, we all share a common fear in mind. Will all this hard work pay off? Out of my four years as a college student, I can confidently state that each of my classmates and peers want to be great. We want recognition for the sweat and tears that we put into our classes, assignments, and exams. More specifically, in the field of public relations and journalism, we want to be acknowledged for our creativity and strength of communication that we bring to the table.

From an early age, Ryan Seacrest was driven to work and excel in the field of media. He began his career as a DJ at a local radio station, which eventually motivated him to expand his horizons and move to Los Angeles, California. Seacrest states-

“And I think more than anything else, I know when I go to bed that no one’s working harder doing what I’m doing, and I think, quite frankly, simply that hard work at some point was gonna pay off.”

http://www.ew.com/article/2016/01/06/american-idol-ryan-seacrest-interview

He was absolutely right as he received the title for the new host of the popular television series known as, American Idol in 2002. Not long after, he branched over into entertainment news where he received a position as a news anchor for E! Television network. His many other career paths include a host for On Air with Ryan Seacrest and American Top 40. As well as, a host for Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, E! News, the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, and the NBC show- The Million Second Quiz. Furthermore, Seacrest can be credited for the overwhelming fame and success that has been given to the Kardashian family over the past several years. The Ryan Searcrest Productions developed the reality television show called- Keeping Up With the Kardashians while adding several spin- off series. His production for the show- Food Revolution resulted in an Emmy Award. Seacrest’s hard work and determination continue to influence young and aspiring individuals that hope to one day follow his foot steps as a true media star.

To learn more about Ryan Seacrest, follow this link: Biography of a media star

Quote from: Ryan Seacrest quotes

under: Comm 455, Uncategorized
Tags: media stars, sday5

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