As Mitchell Stephens points out in chapter 16 of “A History of News,” much of the news offered today is repetitious. This held some truth before the advent of pay television (cable and satellite) and the Internet. Now, with so many media options available to the audience, stories often feed on themselves and the repetition […]
Author Archive
rosswilkers
This user hasn't shared any biographical information
One common question TV viewers may have when watching a breaking news story unfold is: “What’s it like to be there?” That question is answered in “Covering Catastrophe: Broadcast Journalists Report September 11,” a collection of personal accounts recalling that bad day. Allison Gilbert, co-editor, conceived the idea by journaling her experience while covering the […]
under: Uncategorized
Tags: AllisonGilbert, catastrophe, Journalism, MitchellStephens, september11, Wilkers
Tags: AllisonGilbert, catastrophe, Journalism, MitchellStephens, september11, Wilkers
Virginia Tech — a test of ethics & credibility
Posted by: rosswilkers | November 18, 2009 | No Comment |Dr. Jack Censer, Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at George Mason University, is scheduled to speak to our class on Dec. 1. Our discussion topic will be the media coverage of the Virginia Tech massacre on Apr. 17, 2007. The most memorable part of the media coverage belongs, unfortunately, to the […]
In chapter 9 of Mitchell Stephens’ “A History of News,” he writes about the development of newspaper editors in England during the 1600s. Editors organize a newspaper into having clarity and direction to the reader. Newspapers with clarity and direction are more credible than those lacking. One problem newspapers had in the 1600s was how […]
under: Uncategorized
Tags: corantos, editors, letters, Mitchell Stephens, newspapers, Thomas Gainsford, Wilkers
Tags: corantos, editors, letters, Mitchell Stephens, newspapers, Thomas Gainsford, Wilkers
Two notable shipwrecks took place in the 1910s, both of them in the Western Hemisphere. Two, the Titanic and the Lusitania, are embedded in folklore. The third, Empress of Ireland, is the deadliest maritime disaster in Canadian history but is largely forgotten. The Empress of Ireland was built in 1906 by the Fairfield Shipbuilding Engineering […]
On page 26 of “A History of News: Third Edition,” Mitchell Stephens lists seven traits that journalists use to measure the value of a news story. They are: impact, emotional appeal, conflict, prominence, timeliness, proximity and the unusual. Audiences will follow a story if the people think it has an impact on their lives. The economic downturn has impacted many in […]
Few historical figures have impacted the world like Adolf Hitler did. In 1983, Gerd Heidemann, German journalist announced that he discovered the lost diaries of Adolf Hitler. He sold the publication rights to West German magazine Stern for 10 million German marks (estimated $6 million USD). Prior to publication, Heidemann claimed to have received the diaries from a “Dr. […]
Before OJ, before cable news, before the advent of tabloids and even before the Lindbergh kidnapping, there was the murder of Helen Jewett in 1836. Jewett was an upscale prostitute in New York City until her brutal murder in the early hours of April 10. The next day, New York’s best-selling Sun newspaper published the first account of the crime, including all of […]