may 2, 2008. a brief quiz a quick de-brief on dorman somali pirates: any takers? a brief...
TRANSCRIPT
May 2, 2008
A brief quiz A quick de-brief on Dorman Somali Pirates: any takers? A brief consideration of embedding
including an empirical study of the relationship between embedding and story tone
Some thoughts about blogging
President Bush’s ill-timed “Mission Accomplished” speech occurred aboard what aircraft carrier?
For an extra point symbolizing nothing at all, in what year did this speech take place?
Hint: The aircraft carrier is named for an American President
In the United States, first instance is in the Civil War
Over 600 embedded at the start of GW2 Steger: “The military and the press are two
institutions which, to a degree, are inherently opposed to each other. The military values an organized chain of command, loyalty, sacrifice, and secrecy. The press, on the other hand, stresses individualism, the questioning of authority, skepticism, openness, and a perpetual search for the ‘truth’.”
Vietnam: open access and a “massive legacy of mistrust”
Grenada: the press is shut outPanama: pools do not workGulf War I: coverage but not accessSomalia: the press designs its own coverageGulf War II: The triumph of the embed system (Rand Corporation Report, 2004)
Sampled news stories from two 3 week periods, invasion and fifteen months later
Findings◦ Significant positive relationship between being
embedded having a positive tone, also conveyed greater trust toward the military
◦ Organizational commitment was higher with embedded reporters
◦ Significantly more episodic framing◦ No support for the Rumsfeldian/Bushian
proposition that media only reports the bad news…
David Bloom, NBC journalist dies of a deep vein thrombosis—cramped in an armored personnel carrier for hours
Michael Kelly, columnist for the Washington Post, killed in combat
Both died within two days of each other in early April 2003
Study examined the coverage related to their deaths
Sacrifice is connected to journalistic authority Themes in the coverage:
◦ Volunteerism◦ The Brave Journalist◦ Sacrifice◦ Witnessing
Conclusion: “Kelly and Bloom, as understood in the narratives of the KIA journalist, come to serve as models for journalists and of journalism, a reminder of the cultural placed occupied by journalists to tell stories to and about society, especially in the places we cannot go.”
Study of 25 pro and anti war blogs, mostly by amateurs rather than professional journalists
Findings—blogs occupy the same discursive space as traditional journalists albeit with more personalized attack and vitriolic language than traditional journalists
Interesting—blogs seemed convinced of their superiority over traditional journalism while at the same time most were dependent on those reports for their commentary’s starting point