Week 6: Journalism of Verification

Journalism of verification

 “The essence of journalism is a discipline of verification.”  It is what separates journalism from “entertainment, propaganda, fiction or art.” (page 79)  Verification is the central function of journalism.  Getting the facts straight about what happened.

Journalism of verification  Discipline of verification under pressure:  Publish first because you can always correct it later.  Publish news simply because it’s already “out there” in this new media system regardless of its worth or relevance.  The UPI motto: “Get it first, but get it right.”

Journalism of verification  “[Journalists] are in what we call the reality- based community…That’s not the way the world works anymore …When we act, we create our own reality.” (page 30 TEOJ)

Journalism of verification  The role of verification in society  Journalists don’t always articulate its importance as it is seen as a no-brainer to get the facts right.  But note Walter Lippman’s quote:  “There can be no liberty for a community which lacks the information by which to detect lies.” (page 80)  Or put another way:  Journalists must be able to determine truth through systems of verification.

Why verification is the essence of journalism  Interesting interactive about where people really get news:  _news _news

Public perception of the press  widely-criticized-but-trusted-more-than- other-institutions/ widely-criticized-but-trusted-more-than- other-institutions/  Verification can foster trust in the news media and turn around a dismal perception problem

Journalism of verification  The Lost Meaning of Objectivity (page 81)  Fantasy world: Journalists are unbiased  Real world: It’s much more complicated and that’s a good thing.  Realism emerges with the inverted pyramid as a way to divorce bias from verification in the 19 th century.  20 th century media thinkers say cultural blinders can distort “realism” and notions of objectivity are naïve.  “…the journalist is not objective but his method can be. The key was in the discipline of the craft, not the aim.” (page 83)

 Balance Bias (bal-ance bi-as) 1. The assumption that there is truth and legitimacy to both sides of every dispute. 2. The iron law in political journalism that one side in a debate can never be exclusively right, or have a monopoly on the facts.  The old two quotes for each side rule…  a-blows-debt-crisis-coverage-balance-bias a-blows-debt-crisis-coverage-balance-bias

Journalism of verification  What is the system of verification journalism employs to report news?  Is it an exact methodology like a chemistry experiment that can be replicated time after time with guaranteed results?  Not exactly but it needs to be based on standards and practices.  “The notion of an objective method or reporting exists in pieces, handed down by word of mouth from reporter to reporter. “ (page 85)

Journalism of verification  The institution of the press has failed to adhere to a rigorous system for testing the reliability of its reporting.  “The modern press culture generally is weakening the methodology of verification journalists have developed. Technology is part of it.”

Journalism of verification  Journalists have techniques of verification (Investigative Reporters and Editors methodology) but not much of a system testing “the reliability of journalistic interpretation.” (page 85)  Unless journalists communicate to the public how they reach conclusions, report facts and present “truth” the public will be skeptical.  That’s a danger to journalism and healthy public debate on problems.  Bottom line: There must be a professional method employed

Fact check  Politifact  meter/statements/2011/aug/22/rick- perry/rick-perry-says-more-and-more- scientists-are-quest/ meter/statements/2011/aug/22/rick- perry/rick-perry-says-more-and-more- scientists-are-quest/

Journalism of verification  Journalism of assertion vs. journalism of verification  Internet influences weakening methodology of verification  Less time spent on gathering facts and more time spent on reusing and reinterpreting already reported facts.  Herd mentality  Balloon boy

Rely on your own original reporting  Do you own work. Get out of the herd mentality of reporting because “it’s out there” already and we have to get it. (page 99) 

Journalism of verification  A need for a system of objective method of verification all journalists can agree on. (page 89)  1. Never add anything that was not there  2. Never deceive the audience  3. Be as transparent as possible about your methods and motives  4. Rely on your own original reporting  5. Exercise humility

Journalism of verification  1. Never add anything that was not there  “Journalism’s implicit credo is “nothing here was made up.” (page 90)  Narrative devices, embellishing of facts, reporting things that were not said, reporting things that happened out of sequence for dramatic effect, using composite sources and staging photographs/video.

Do not deceive  False photographs  Changing quotes  Manipulating video sound bites  Messing with chronology  Fudging facts  h/tue-november /sean- hannity-uses-glenn-beck-s-protest- footage h/tue-november /sean- hannity-uses-glenn-beck-s-protest- footage

Do not deceive  Chicago TV station admits mistakes in airing misleading interview with 4-year-old boy  (Poynter.org) meeting/141052/chicago-tv-station-admits- mistakes-in-airing-misleading-interview-with-4- year-old-boy/

The soundbite that aired  4-year-old boy: “I’m not scared of nothing.”  Photographer: “When you get older are you going to stay away from all these guns?”  Boy: “No.”  Photographer: “No? What are you going to do when you get older?”  Boy: “I’m going to have me a gun!”

Actual soundbite  Photographer: “Boy, you ain’t scared of nothing! Damn! When you get older are you going to stay away from all these guns?”  Boy: “No.”  Photographer: “No? What are you going to do when you get older?”  Boy: “I’m going to have me a gun!”  Photographer: “You are! Why do you want to do that?”  Boy: “I’m going to be the police!”  Photographer: “OK, then you can have one.”

 A Chicago TV station now says it made two ethical mistakes when it aired an interview with a 4-year-old boy last month.  The first mistake was interviewing a child at a crime scene. But things grew even worse when the station edited the boy’s interview in a way that made it seem as though the African American child idolized guns and criminals.  In fact, the child told the photographer that he wanted to be a police officer. The station edited out that part of the interview.  Care must be taken when interviewing juveniles, especially on breaking news stories.

Do not add: The case of Jayson Blair   In an article on March 27, 2003 that carried a dateline from Palestine, W.Va., Mr. Blair wrote that Private Lynch's father, Gregory Lynch Sr., "choked up as he stood on his porch here overlooking the tobacco fields and cattle pastures."  The porch overlooks no such thing.  He also wrote that Private Lynch's family had a long history of military service; it does not, family members said. He wrote that their home was on a hilltop; it is in a valley.  The article astonished the Lynch family and friends, said Brandi Lynch, Jessica's sister. "We were joking about the tobacco fields and the cattle."  Asked why no one in the family called to complain about the many errors, she said, "We just figured it was going to be a one-time thing."

Do not add: Obama’s speech  racism-of-droppin-gs/ racism-of-droppin-gs/

Be transparent about method  Want to stand for truth? Then explain your method to your readers/audience. (page 92)  Reveal your sources and methods of verification.  Then the audience can judge your motives, the process followed and the validity of the information.  This signals respect journalists have for their audience. Reinforces public interest mission.

“Simple” rules of verification  le_rules_for_doing_a.php le_rules_for_doing_a.php

Transparent about method:Wikileaks

Transparency  The problem with anonymous sources  The reason we need them  How to protect everybody involved if we use them  Misleading sources is wrong: no bluffing or deception  But what about undercover reporting?  The test: Must be vital info, no other way to get the story and reveal to the audience why you engaged in deception.

The run up to war  THREATS AND RESPONSES: THE IRAQIS; U.S. SAYS HUSSEIN INTENSIFIES QUEST FOR A-BOMB PARTS  By MICHAEL R. GORDON and JUDITH MILLER Published: September 08, 2002  The New York Times  Hard-liners are alarmed that American intelligence underestimated the pace and scale of Iraq's nuclear program before Baghdad's defeat in the gulf war. Conscious of this lapse in the past, they argue that Washington dare not wait until analysts have found hard evidence that Mr. Hussein has acquired a nuclear weapon. The first sign of a ''smoking gun,'' they argue, may be a mushroom cloud.

The run up to war  First you had on September 3, 2002 the famous New York Times "aluminum tubes" piece by Judy Miller and Michael Gordon. That same day you had Vice President Cheney and then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice appear conveniently on the Sunday talk shows to talk about what had been extremely classified information that had appeared that day, in the New York Times. And then on September 10 you had the same allegations made to the world by the President of the United States from the podium of the United Nations. And then the following week the President made the same assertion that these aluminum tubes were for a nuclear weapons program that Iraq had hidden from UN weapons inspectors in an address to the nation.    

Buying the war 

Journalism of verification  We fail the audience when we make factual errors, typos and jump to conclusions.  Don’t assume anything  We must be self-correcting and watchful over our own product and methods.

Who Journalists Work For  “The allegiance to citizens is the meaning of what we have come to call journalistic independence. “ (p.53)  Pew Survey: 80 percent of journalists surveyed said the core principal of journalism was making the viewer, listener, reader “your first obligation.” (p.53) 

Who Journalists Work For  Journalistic independence becomes isolation and disengagement from community (p. 57)  Moving away from the covenant of loyalty  Journalists moving up the chain, business decisions to target specific demographics (the richest or biggest audience) and ignoring others.  Smaller circulation but more affluent customers for advertisers

Who Journalists Work For  The Wall  Advertising, circulation and the business of running a newspaper/broadcast outlet is firewalled from the news operation.  Risk of having no firewall: Advertisers dictating news coverage. Integrity challenged by the public  The Citizen as Customer runs contrary to the mission of journalism

Who Journalists Work For  In interviews with psychologists, 70 percent of journalists “placed audience” as their first loyalty above employer, themselves, their family and their profession. (p. 53)  This code of loyalty to the public has caused friction in newsrooms around the nation.

Who Journalists Work For  If the wall fails, then what can be done to bolster the allegiance between citizens and journalists? (page 69-75)  The owner must be committed to citizens first  Hire business managers who also put citizens first  Set and communicate clear standards  Journalists have final say over news  Communicate clear standards to the public

Week 2: Truth: The First and Most Confusing Principle

Ch. 1 review  What is the primary purpose of journalism? How did journalism "free" Poland and other Soviet-bloc nations? What's the problem with trying to define journalism today? Define the Awareness Instinct. What is the first task of the new journalist/sense maker given the mind-boggling amount of information and news-delivery technology available today? What was Walter Lippmann's take on the public's interest in accurate news and the role of the press in a democracy? Define the theory of the interlocking public and give a pertinent example. What happens when journalism focuses on the expectations of the expert elite or writes stories aimed at the largest possible audience? List the "three major forces" that the book's authors say are eroding journalism's ability to build community, promote the interest of citizens and monitor the activities of government and powerful special interests? What's the danger to a free press posed by each of these forces?

First essay  1. You would think the pullout of all combat forces from Iraq would have dominated the news. After all, with more than 4,000 dead and tens of thousands soldiers wounded so far in the war, not to mention trillions spent, the conflict has impacted all Americans. So which factors were at work, according to Tom's analysis, that pushed the massive coverage of the mosque over the withdrawal from Iraq? 2. Do you agree with the emphasis placed on the mosque by a majority of news outlets? Why? If not, which of the other stories analyzed this week: the economy, elections, Iraq etc. should have been given more news hole? 3. What kind of personal insight about news coverage did you come away with after reading Tom's analysis? Which factors do you think drove the coverage of various stories? Is this process fair? Is it logical? Does it serve the American news consumer? 4. Consider the review of top stories in light of the 10 Elements of Journalism (the list is on the back of the front cover of the text and is explained in the preface of the text) and answer this question: Did the decision makers who made the mosque story number 1 heed any of the 10 Elements of Journalism? Which of the elements did they honor? Which ones did they ignore? Defend your point of view.

The Elements of Journalism Journalism’s first obligation is to the truth… (p. 36 TEOJ) But what is truth? Is it accuracy? Verification? Context? Perception?

Truth: The first principle  The definition of news sometimes leaves “truth” in a muddle.  Why were Tiger’s indiscretions “news.”  Glen Beck’s D.C. gathering  Lindsey Lohan…  News is what ever is newsworthy on a given day: Tom Brokaw.  Failure by journalists to define what they do leaves the public with the notion the press is hiding something or deluding itself. (pg. 41)

Pew Research Center survey

Truth: The first principle  “[Journalists] are in what we call the reality- based community…That’s not the way the world works anymore …When we act, we create our own reality.” (page 30 TEOJ)

Truth: The First and Most Confusing Principle

 Oil plume lingering in Gulf, study confirms  THE NEW YORK TIMES  Published: 8:19 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 19, 2010  New research confirms the existence of a huge plume of dispersed oil deep in the Gulf of Mexico and suggests that it has not broken down rapidly, raising the possibility that it might pose a threat to wildlife for months or even years.  The study, the most ambitious scientific paper to emerge so far from the Deepwater Horizon spill, casts some doubt on recent statements by the federal government that oil in the Gulf appears to be dissipating at a brisk clip. However, the lead scientist in the research,

 WASHINGTON | Tue Aug 24, :25pm EDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Manhattan-sized plume of oil spewed deep into the Gulf of Mexico by BP's broken Macondo well has been consumed by a newly discovered fast-eating species of microbes, scientists reported on Tuesday.Gulf of Mexico  These latest findings may initially seem to be at odds with a study published last Thursday in Science by researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, which confirmed the existence of the oil plume and said micro-organisms did not seem to be biodegrading it very quickly.

Anatomy of a lie  awards-racism2010/ awards-racism2010/   awards-racism2010/ awards-racism2010/  Fox coverage:  

Journalistic truth  Facts are subject to revision and journalists realize that… but that’s the “truth” we are seeking – a functional or practical form of truth.  “It is not truth in the absolute or philosophical sense. It is not the truth of a chemical equation. Journalism can– and must– pursue the truths by which we can operate on a day- to-day basis.”(pg. 42)

Journalistic truth  To find truth journalists sort it out… realize it’s a process sometimes… it takes time to parse true and false… lies and facts…  We must follow procedures and ethics regarding coverage.  A transparent process and training reveals the “functional truth” (pg.42)… the facts of an arrest, the outcome of an election…etc.  But is accuracy enough?

Journalistic truth  Accuracy is not enough. Though it may be the beginning, it’s just the start of a process.  “It is no longer enough to report the fact truthfully. It is now necessary to report the truth about the fact.” (pg 42)  For journalists this means getting the facts straight and making sense of the facts.  It should be about finding meaning, not just data.

The Steen case

Journalistic truth  The Steen case and it’s layers are a good example of this process.  The story begins as a tragic, but simple cops story.  It evolves to encompass stories about the life in the Pensacola ghetto and flaws in police procedure.  The coverage gets mired in stereotypes (bad cops and drug dealing black people).  The coverage needed context and nuance besides the facts of the story.

Journalistic truth  That doesn’t mean that accuracy doesn’t matter.  Accuracy is the foundation for: Interpretation, context, debate and all of public communication (pg. 43).  If those debating, arguing, talking have the wrong facts, the outcome is flawed.  That’s the problem with cable news shows and talk radio… and websites devoted to “interpreting” the news.

Journalistic truth  It’s best to understand journalistic truth as a process that takes time. It takes subsequent stories and efforts to refine the facts and correct errors and impart meaning.  It takes experience, a sense of history and knowledge about a subject and the courage to uncover the story, wherever it leads.  But can it be done?

Truth: The first principle   “The Truth … was a complicated and sometimes contradictory phenomenon, but seen as a process over time, journalists can get at it.” (pg. 44)

Journalistic truth  The payoff in pursuing the truth with a clear objective, experience and desire to get the facts straight: “Getting news that comes closer to a complete version of the truth has real consequences.” (pg. 45)  The public begins to form attitudes as news is broken given the context in the way the facts are presented.  So accuracy is key. Then meaning.

Journalistic truth  Is the substitute for “truth” fairness and balance?  Both terms are difficult to define. At least truthfulness can be tested on several levels.  A “balanced” story may be unfair to the truth.  It could lead to a distortion of the facts.  Global warming. The anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon. All examples of story that could include unfair balance.

Journalistic truth  What forces are working against a journalist’s professed search for the truth?  In the continuous news cycle, journalists are shoveling out information without sufficient time to check things out creating a journalism of assertion rather than verification.  The pursuit of big stories to gain mass audiences at the expense of context and clarity.  The rise of news sites that aggregate stories and let the public sort out rumors, speculation and spin.

Journalistic truth  The instinct for truth today is crucial.  Paradox: Even with all the outlets for information at our disposal, finding truth in some ways takes more work than ever before. (pg 48)  The press needs to sift out rumor, spin and the insignificant so people can know what to believe and to trust.  So it’s verfication first and interpretation later is a good way to answer the question: Where is the good stuff? 