Who do journalists work for?

April 4, 2014

First … AN EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITY!!!

Attend the Conference on World Affairs Pick one media-related session Write a 500 word blog post Summary of the session Why/How this relates to Journalism Quote from someone else who attended the session (i.e. an interview) Your thoughts/opinion on the topic

�DUE: by 5 p.m. Sunday, April 13

This is worth � 5 percentage points added to your final blog post (i.e. if the blog receives a 90, you would get a 95) OR it can replace the participation/attendance points you lost for an absence. Note: It does NOT replace the absence. Just the points you lost.

AgendaFOR NEXT WEEK.Peer Editing your Blogs“Who do Journalists Work For?”If there is time … Review of the Midterm

Your Final Blog Post Handout Anatomy of a Feature Do a bit of background research on the topic (articles in local

media, and primary sources) Come up with people you want to speak with about the topic. Based on their background research, prepare a list of interview

questions ahead of time. Conduct the interview Write up a 1000-word post based on the information they gathered

and the people they spoke with. DUE: FRIDAY, APRIL, 25, 2014 by 5:00 p.m. as comment/link

to the class blog after I make a most for your submissions.

For Next WeekYOUR FINAL BLOG POST PROJECTDue In class next week: Project Pitch (200 – 400 words). I

want you to bring a hardcopy. In your pitch you’ll state your topic and why it’s newsworthy. Also

include who you intend to speak to for your story and why you chose those sources.

Be prepared to share your ideas with your classmates. We will all participate in brainstorming your ideas with you.

Once I give you the go-ahead (we’ll be reviewing pitches to make sure there isn’t too much source overlap) you can begin working on your story.

DUE: FRIDAY, APRIL, 25, 2014 by 5:00 p.m. as comment/link to the class blog after I make a most for your submissions.

Peer EditingGroups of TWOPass BOTH of your papers to another groupIn your small group read over both papers for 4

things.

Look for Content

What’s the main focus of the blog? Is it narrow enough to make sense?

Have they bitten off more than they can chew?

Organization Paragraph Structure

Topics Does each paragraph have a consistent topic?

First and Last sentence of each paragraph. Does it complete the thought?

How do the paragraphs fit together? Style and Diction

How do they use transitions? Repeating key phrases> good or

bad? Are the beginning of their sentences

the same? How can you fix them? Grammar & Mechanics

Who do journalists work for?

April 4, 2014

Times are changing…Corporate incentives mark a major shift in

thinking at newsrooms Journalism is a business and managers have

business responsibilities for keeping budgets and attracting customers

Journalistic leaders now spending at least a third of their time on business matters

One of the key reasons citizens have lost confidence in the press…

As seen in this satirical piece

The second principleThe second principle of journalism is loyalty Allegiance to citizens is what we have come to

call journalistic independenceEvident in the slogans of television stationsBut does this still exist?

Editor or businessman?Historically…

Decisions of the editorial dept. and corporate parent frequently not connected

Editorial side retains freedom to decide what is covered Biases arise when it comes to deciding stories and what will

or will not be covered…As newspaper staff shrink, these boundaries are blurred. Increasingly, editorial management is also overseeing, if

not involved in, the business side of the paper. How does this influence their way of thinking? Does

separation allow for less or more bias?

Advertising biasReadership effect

Media’s incentive to increase readershipLarger readership = greater advertiser fee Greater incentive to reduce bias and appeal to the

moderateLess political bias

Advertising biasIncremental pricing effect

Incentive to alleviate competition for subscribers and advertisers

When advertising is a source of revenue, choice of bias has strong effect on on the intensity of price competition

Incentive to polarize to alleviate competitionCan demand higher price for one audience as

opposed to hit and miss strategy Multi-homing vs. single homing

Government vs. corporate ownership

In some cases, the advertiser may even be the government.

In many countries the government is the biggest advertiser - with job advertisements, calls for tenders, public announcements and so on

Brings indirect pressure to bear upon commercial news media.

Is it better to be owned by government, or advertisers?

Catering to the elite… In 70s and 80s, business strategy changed Newspapers, and later TV stations, targeted the most affluent

audience to enhance profits, rather than the largest TV stations targeted women 18 to 49 with buying power Newspapers only sent copies to wealthiest ZIP codes

How does this affect advertising bias? Consider the readership effect and incremental pricing effect

Consider The New York Times… What audience does it cater to? What is its readability? What about paywalls? Is this loyal to citizens? Do they reduce ad

bias?

Elite cntd.Also meant newspapers could ignore certain

parts of the community in their coverage Store owner to Rupert Murdoch of The New York

Post: “Your readers are our shoplifters”Began to backfire in the late 80s, early 90sBut luxury magazines still employ this strategy…Can often guess audience by advertising

Useful for freelancing and pitching – look at ads

Journalists vs. big business?

Elements provides several case studies of journalists rebelling against advertising bias in their newsrooms

The wall — newsroom often remains oblivious. Business side was selling the newsroom out and had enough power to circumscribe the newsroom without its knowing

LA Times: Revolt after the paper engaged in a secret deal with owners of new sports arena to share advertising revenue in the edition of the Sunday magazine dedicated entirely to its opening. “There was a confrontation in the lunchroom with management

that was so angry it verged on violence” How has the leakage of corporate sentiment into newsrooms

expanded upon the “watchdog” role of journalists?

The role of freebies Tom touched on this in lecture… What do we think of freebie culture among journalists? Is

there any merit? Is it understandable? How should newspapers address freebies in their code of

ethics? What about sports, lifestyle journalism. etc? Who’s to blame for freebie culture in journalism? Consider

journalist pay. Consider these perspectives:

http://www.rrj.ca/m3606/ http://www.ajr.org/article.asp?id=2896