Category Archives: Accuracy

More On Covering Hate

Accountability, Accuracy, Freedom of Speech, Independence, Media, Minimizing Harm, Online News, Social Media, , , ,

More on covering hate: Amanda Darrach finds a culture gap between young technology reporters who think trolling rhetoric is funny, while older reporters take it “totally seriously.”

“Our system is geared towards media manipulation on a massive scale,” she writes. “There are a lot of reasons why we’re in the mess that we’re in. Some of it has to do with reporters making bad choices, but the system is just set up to be manipulated.”

Bottom line: “It’s our job to document the human condition, and that includes the ugly parts.”

 

Covering White Supremacist Views

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Covering white supremacist views: Elizabeth Jensen writes about public outrage over NPR’s coverage of “Unite The Right2,” a racist rally.

NPR was correct to cover the rally, she writes, though “the interview was painful to hear; it had me yelling at the radio, as I know many others did.”

She concludes: “NPR has decided it will air these interviews. I am on the fence about whether they are necessary. But if NPR is going to go that route, it needs to strengthen its practices for a more responsible execution.”

 

Media Mount Attack On “Fake News” Charges

Accountability, Accuracy, Fairness, Media, , , ,

Media mount attack on “fake news” charges.

Cleve R. Wootson Jr. writes the Boston Globe urges American news groups to respond to the president’s scorn of the press.

“The rally calls for the opinion writers that staff newspaper editorial boards to produce independent opinion pieces about Trump’s attacks on the media,” he writes. The Associated Press reports that 70 news organizations agreed.

 

Creating An Online Portfolio

Accuracy, Media, Online News, Social Media, Uncategorized, ,

Creating an online portfolio: Rachel Schallom says think about your unique skills when creating an online portfolio that shows your work history.

“It’s a common challenge for many journalists,” she writes. “There are many roles in journalism that don’t lend themselves to traditional clip packages — editors, strategists, engagement producers, product managers.”

 

Keep Words Small For Big Ideas

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Keep words small for big ideas: Merrill Perlman notes a trend toward journalists using big words to “sound smart.”

“But a journalist’s job is to inform,” writes Perlman, “and information will not come through if the audience doesn’t understand the words.”

Rather than sending readers to a dictionary, “a writer wants to keep readers reading, to keep them engaged in our stories.”

 

What “Off The Record” Means

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What “off the record” means: Matt Flegenheimer gives his interpretation of ways journalists get information from Washington officials and rules they sometimes follow.

“As a general principle, a reporter’s best course of action is to establish jargon-free parameters in plain English at the start: Can a source be quoted by name? Can we use the information if we leave out the name? Can we at least describe the source’s job?” he writes.

“But among those who have long dealt with the news media, like politicians and their charges, there is occasionally a sort of shorthand for these questions.”

 

 

Unique Challenges Of Religion Reporting

Accountability, Accuracy, Fairness, Media, ,

Unique challenges of religion reporting: Steven Potter writes about the difficulties of the religion beat.

“As they dive into different cultures and broach highly sensitive subjects with complete strangers, they face a number of unique challenges,” he writes.

Chicago Tribune religion reporter Manya Brachear Pashman says her mission “is to teach people about religions they may not be exposed to,” and put aside personal beliefs.

Beware Pitfalls Of Amateur Video

Accountability, Accuracy, Media, Minimizing Harm, Social Media, Videos, , ,

Beware pitfalls of amateur video: The Toledo Blade’s managing editor apologizes for mistakes in reporting a fatal police-involved shooting based on a flawed Facebook video.

“The first of several mistakes we made in covering this breaking story was to share on our website a Facebook Live feed of a young man recording the gathering crowd in North Toledo and what people were saying. The man repeated over and over that police had shot ‘a young boy,’ a ’16-year-old boy,’ telling his Facebook audience that ‘someone said’ the boy was kneeling in the street when ‘the police’ shot him.

“None of that was true,” wrote the editor. The video photographer was not a trained journalist “and in our haste to ‘get something up’ we grabbed his Facebook video and shared it.” It was removed when police explained they shot a 25-year-old armed robbery suspect.

Another mistake was an inflammatory headline, later changed, saying “Police gun down man in North Toledo.”

Staying On The Record

Accountability, Accuracy, Freedom of Speech, Independence, Media, Transparency, ,

Staying on the record: Steven Pearlberg reports that Dean Baquet, New York Times executive editor, took a personal ethical stance in refusing to join in an off-the-record meeting with President Trump.

“I don’t think officials should be able to tell me things that I can’t publish,” says Baquet, hewing to a philosophy that journalists should control the terms of an interview.

Not wanting to be courted or wooed, Baquet says “the leader of the news gathering operation shouldn’t have access that reporters don’t get.”

Updating News Archives

Accountability, Accuracy, Media, Online News,

Updating news archives: Rick Paulus writes that outdated “trapped-in-time” news segments don’t tell the whole story.

“Creating detailed stories from the splinters of larger narratives is at the core of news gathering,” he writes.

“Journalists are charged with determining the scope of stories — where they begin and end, how broad or narrow a story should be. That challenge is now complicated by digital duplication, infinite archives and instantaneous access to them.”