Corporate Interests and Their Impact on News Coverage
Hypothesis
There is no denying that news media is big business. The complete coverage of stories and investigative reports are certainly at risk with the rise of media as a business, rather than strictly a service to the public. Over the past few years, there have been a number of cases where television stations or news publications have killed news stories or forced reporters to slant stories due to pressure from advertisers or those in power at the news. This paper will attempt to examine the relationship between social responsibility and news editors, and apply ethical theories to explain what should and can be done. Should editors have the power to kill or slant stories, depending on their own interests or those of their advertisers?
Literature Review
A number of books and articles investigated the relationship between corporate and advertising interests and news coverage. In the May/June 2000 issue of Columbia Journalism Review, Lowell Bergman wrote an article entitled, "Network television news: With fear and favor." Bergman sums up his findings by saying, "Executives of the network news divisions say that they will report any story of public interest and import without fear or favor, without considering its potential commercial consequences. They say that, but they do not believe it" (p. 50).
Karl Idsvoog's journal article, "TV sitting on stories to improve ratings," claims that "the decision on when (or if) to run a piece is no longer determined just by asking is the report concise, clear, and well produced; is it fair, thorough and accurate? There are now more critical questions. What's the lead-in? Where do we place the promotion? Will it deliver bett...
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...V sitting on stories to improve ratings. Nieman Reports, 1, 38.
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In his editorial "Words Triumph Over Images," Curtis Wilkie blames today’s media for being “reckless” and “a mutant reality show”. He believes that television and radio are “unfiltered”, which causes the quality of journalism for newspapers to be unmatched. Yet, it is unfair to label all media that is not print as lesser because the quality of any media relies on the viewers and the individual journalists, and in drastic situations like a hurricane, reporters may have many road blocks. Any of these aspects can affect the quality of journalism, which invalidates Curtis Wilkie’s claim.
Seelye, Katharine. “Lack of News Doesn’t Deter Coverage.” New York Times. N.p. 16 Oct. 2002. Web. 09 May 2013.
In “Reporting the News” by George C. Edwards III, Martin P. Wattenberg, and Robert L. Lineberry, the main idea is how the media determines what to air, where to get said stories that will air, how the media presents the news, and the medias effect on the general public. “Reporting The News” is a very strong and detailed article. The authors’ purpose is to inform the readers of what goes on in the news media. This can be inferred by the authors’ tone. The authors’ overall tone is critical of the topics that are covered. The tone can be determined by the authors’ strong use of transitions, specific examples, and phrases or words that indicate analysis. To summarize, first, the authors’ indicate that the media chooses its stories that will air
In the documentary film, Page One: Inside The New York Times, the inner world of journalism is revealed through journalists David Carr and Brian Stelter as the newspaper company The New York Times, struggles to keep alive within a new wave of news journalism. The film is dedicated to reveal the true inner mechanics of what modern day new journalists face on a daily basis and leaves the audience almost in a state of shock. It broadcasts news journalism as yes, an old school method of news generation, but it also highlights an important component that reveals the importance behind this “old school” methodology. We often think that progression always correlates with positive products, but the documentary insists that within the case of modern journalism, the new wave method is actually a detriment that can reap negative consequences.
Soon after, Malala was born and a favorite of her father’s. He taught her the value of education and how he had to struggle and claw his way to get a decent education. He preached that every person should have the right to go to school and be educated. Malala’s father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, is a very influential person in the village and a great role model as Malala grew up. He participated in Anti-Taliban organizations and constantly preached for peace, educational rights and for th...
Most people know Leonardo da Vinci as only the painter of the Mona Lisa, but he did much, much more. He was born on April 15, 1452. There are many misconceptions about Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo da Vinci was a Humanist who regularly challenged the church. Da Vinci is arguably the smartest man to live in his time.
...for an undying thirst for knowledge and a man of many subjects, in all of which he was very knowledgeable. His achievements will be remembered thru his large measure of notebooks that he drew in and wrote notes on. This man is a man of the future in the past. He helped our word to be the way it is today, with its vast collection of technology and knowledge. Leonardo is truly a renascence man to admire.
Leonardo was born April 15, 1452 he was the son of Ser Piero and Caterina. Leonardo's father was a landlord, and his mother was a peasant and they both were not married at the time. Leonardo lived with his father and had an education. Later on his father moved the family to Florence( Heydenreich). At the age of 15 Leonardo was showing that he was a great painter. In 1467 he became an apprentist to Andrea Del Verrochio a very well known artist during that time period. He became a member of Verrochio's workshop where he received an education in a huge variety of areas.(Giorgio). In another workshop of Antonio Pollaiuolo, Leonardo studied anatomy, and animals. He was accepted into painters guild in Florence. An early work by Leonardo was an angel painting for the Baptism of Christ artwork.After Verrochio viewed the artwork he thought it was time for Leonardo to move on and do other things. Later on Leonardo became an independent painer and later moved to Milan where he worked for Ludovico Sforza. During that time Leonardo created one of his most famous artworks The Last Supper. Later on his career he became a journalist in which he would write down his obeservations , and findings. His notes showed that he knew about how rocks were formed.He was also fascinated with fossils and how to make tunnels through mountains.(Weingardt ).Years ...
The author provides a rough timeline of the objective norm emerging in American journalism, and explains the inner origin of these co...
“I dream of a country where education would prevail” (Malala Yousafzai). Education around the world has begun to be overlooked more and more each year; women’s education especially. Fighting to learn is one of the many problems women face each day, additionally it does not help when the opportunity to be educated is not given to over 6 million teenage girls alone. The women that are confident enough to stand up and fight for schooling are usually respected. Being one of the very few people in Pakistan who fought for better teachings, Malala is now well respected in many countries. Malala Yousafzai (Yoo-saff-zay) was shot by the Taliban in 2012; after a long recovery, she miraculously advocates for education around the world.
Janson, Donald. "Police Assault on 21 Newsmen in Chicago Are Denounced by Officials and Papers." New York Times August 28, 1968: 36.
Leonardo (who was christened Lionardo, the name to which Vasari refers) was born near the small town of Vinci on 15th April 1452. The town was situated in the Florentine province of Italy, where his father, Ser Piero was a notary. According to Vasari, Leonardo was somewhat of a child prodigy in his studies, but he showed little commitment to one single area, constantly finding new interests in other subjects:
Leonardo da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in Vinci a Tuscan hill town in the territory of the republic of Florence, son of wealthy Messer Piero Fruosini di Antonio da Vinci, a Florentine legal notary and Caterina, a peasant. His full name was Leonardo di ser Pierro da Vinci, the title ser indicated that his father was a gentleman. There is not too much known about his early years only that he lived in the home of his mother until 1457 and then in the household of his father in the small town of Vinci.
Every story that makes the front page a paper has to go through a “test” where the editor of that newspaper company decides whether the story is good enough for the front page. The editor makes the decision of whether or not the story is news worthy. The editor uses various different values to help him/her in their decision of what actually goes on the front page. Sometimes this judgment by the editor can be based solely on whether or not the story is going to grasp a lot of readers’ attention which would then boost newspaper sales. Other times the value system that is used is not so vague and meaningless. Some of these values that make stories news worthy are: its news values, prominence of the person or issue being reported on, the amount of impact the story has, whether or not there’s conflict, the novelty of the story, the timeliness, the proximity to the main area of circulation for that newspaper and the relevance and usefulness of the story. One key note is that these values have no hierarchic order and are based on the personal judgment of the editor of that paper. I will analyze three of the major newspapers in New York and point out the values that the editor of these particular newspapers used to decide which story was going to be the top story on Saturday, September 5th. The three newspapers are: The Journal News, New York Post and the Daily News.
"Journalism Ethics Online Journalism Ethics Gatekeeping." Journalism Ethics for the Global Citizen. Web. 05 Dec. 2010. .