CMC Politics of Journalism: 2017

Thursday, December 14, 2017

Journalists in Trouble

I know that we are out of class, but I thought this article depicts the dangers journalists face well. Indeed, a new study showed that 262 journalists are currently behind bars, with 87% of those journalists covering politics.

Thursday, December 7, 2017

Some food for thought....

Here is a article showing a different perspective than the coverage of this now viral video of a man saving a wild rabbit from the California Wildfires.

Mr. Lauer, whose annual salary was 25 million dollars and has been part of NBC News 20 years, is now fired after 35 hours of investigation. He claimed that some of the allegations are "untrue or mischaracterized" but "there is enough truth in these stories to make [him] feel embarrassed and ashamed."

Vide and Article- http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/matt-lauer-responds-allegations-inappropriate-sexual-behavior-nbc/story?id=51482044

Southern California Fires

Fires are spreading all over Sourther California being a threat to Hollywood and other prominent areas in LA

California Statewide Map
http://www.fire.ca.gov/current_incidents/incidentdetails/Index/1928

The End

Tips for Activists

A slightly out-of-date (see the references to faxes) checklist for action

Finishing the list

Never assume that reporters will have the same understanding of "off the record" or "background" as you do. Unless you have years of experience, just take it for granted that every single thing you say to the reporter (including "casual" conversation) is on the record.
Wherever possible, do favors for reporters.
When doing opposition research, make sure that there is primary-source documentation for everything. Double-check and triple-check.
Do self-research and vulnerability studies.
Proofread all written material that you put online or send to the press. Errors will count against you.
Never post anything (text, video, photo) that you would hesitate to defend in the future.
Never post anything while drinking.
It is okay to spin, but never lie.

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

LA Weekly's Attempt to Adapt to a Changing Media Landscape

This article discusses LA Weekly's difficulty adapting to having less resources, fewer employees, and new ownership. In particular, there is a lot of backlash against the way in which the new ownership is running the newspaper, even highlighting the new ownership group's involvement with the Claremont Institute!

News You Can Use

Courtesy of POTUS, some stylistic suggestions:

The apostrophe, capitalization, and parallelism structure:

Democrats refusal to give even one vote for massive Tax Cuts is why we need Republican Roy Moore to win in Alabama. We need his vote on stopping crime, illegal immigration, Border Wall, Military, Pro Life, V.A., Judges 2nd Amendment and more. No to Jones, a Pelosi/Schumer Puppet!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 4, 2017

Spelling:

How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017

Consuming Media: Breaking News

The Future of Journalism

A supercut of bad interviews

Advice

Think before you tweet.
If there is a microphone nearby, assume that it is on. -- especially when you are talking to world leaders. In fact, there might be a microphone nearby even if you do not know it.
Remember that you are in an exchange relationship: you want something from the reporter, and the reporter wants something from you.
Mind the clock. Return phone calls and emails promptly. Be on time.
Mind the calendar. Know when other stories are most likely to eclipse yours. Know when there is a vacuum that our story can fill.
Whenever possible, learn something about the reporter and news organization before the interview.
For important interviews and press conferences, rehearse with people who are willing to pose tough questions.
Decide what you want to say. Write down two or three key points that you want to get across. Pivot to them whenever you can. "But the real issue is...
Prepare sound bites (not bytes) ahead of time.
Know your stuff.
On TV, use gestures that complement your ideas.
For phone interviews (either for radio or TV), it is not cheating to use crib sheets.
Never get angry, except on purpose.
Listen carefully to the question, but never repeat the interviewer’s words unless they reinforce your message.
Make your language as simple as possible. Avoid jargon.
If you don’t know the answer, just say so. If possible and useful, tell the reporter that you will provide the information shortly.
Deflect if you must, but never say the words "no comment."
Never assume that reporters will have the same understanding of "off the record" or "background" as you do. Unless you have years of experience, just take it for granted that every single thing you say to the reporter (including "casual" conversation) is on the record.
Wherever possible, do favors for reporters.
When doing opposition research, make sure that there is primary-source documentation for everything. Double-check and triple-check.
Do self-research and vulnerability studies.
Proofread all written material that you put online or send to the press. Errors will count against you.
Never post anything (text, video, photo) that you would hesitate to defend in the future.
Never post anything while drinking.
It is okay to spin, but never lie.

International Coverage of Travel Ban Decision

Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed implementation of Trump's travel ban. American news sources like The Washington Post and POLITICO included discussion of previous rulings, specific justices, and other political implications of the decision.

RT's coverage had a negative tone, quoting the ACLU's critical tweets and the Solicitor General's accusation that some foreign governments do not properly screen individuals entering the U.S.

The first thing you see in Al Jazeera's coverage is an image of a protester holding a sign that says "no ban no wall #heretostay." The article also declines to mention that some individuals from North Korea and Venezuela were recently included in the ban until the very end of the article.

Thursday, November 30, 2017

Comparative Perspectives on News

Public Media

Licenses (cost in Euros)

BBC International

Press Freedom: the Big Picture

Comparative analysis of press freedom (re-upping form 9/19)
The Exceptional First Amendment
The United States is unusual in its protection of free speech (re-upping from 9/19)
Reporters Without Borders
China and Intimidation

Contrasting US and International Perspectives

Watching America

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Donald Trump and his ability to offend most people

Donald Trump recently retweeted a string of inflammatory anti-Muslim videos and provided no context for the videos or why he decided to retweet them. He retweeted from the account of Jayda Fransen, who is a deputy leader of Britain First, an extremist, far-right political group in the UK.

This New York Times article provides actual context for the videos and shows that the captions are either misleading or blatantly false. The caption that claims to show Muslim migrants beating up a Dutch boy on crutches is shown to be false, according to local officials in a town in the Netherlands. Both boys were born and raised in the Netherlands.

In doing this, Trump managed to offend people all over the political spectrum in the U.S. and received backlash from British politicians.

White House Bars One of Few Black Journalists from Attending Christmas Party

WHITE HOUSE BARS ONE OF FEW BLACK JOURNALISTS FROM ATTENDING CHRISTMAS PARTY

The White House failed to invite a popular and combative black reporter to the annual holiday party because, the reporter said, officials in the Trump administration “don’t like me.”

April Ryan, American Urban Radio Networks Washington bureau chief, one of the few minority female journalists credentialed to attend the White House daily press briefings, said it was no mistake that she had yet to receive an invitation for the yuletide event.

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Hawaii to relive Cold War-Era Sirens

Many of you may have received a News notification this morning regarding Hawaii and the nuclear sirens that they will be utilizing again regarding the North Korea missiles.

Check out the full story here

International News

White House briefing

Knowledge

Americans unsure of what is international and what is not. In September, only 54 percent knew that Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens.
Only 36 percent can find North Korea on a map.

Military Media Manual

The Hazards of International Journalism

Public relations and other countries

Putin sings!

Putin opines!

The Importance of Investigative Journalism

Here is a story about a woman working at Project Veritas who attempted to discredit the Washington Post by telling a false story about Roy More. This account shows the importance of investigative journalism and confirming sources before publishing. The Washington Post may have the time and resources to do so, but not only news sources do.

Tension Between US and Russia

The tension between the US and Russia continues escalating. Last Saturday a Russian fighter jet made an "unsafe" intercept of a US military aircraft while flying over the Black Sea. The US did nothing to provoke the Russian jet, yet it suffered from "15-degree roll and violent turbulence."

http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/27/politics/russia-us-unsafe-intercept/index.html

Monday, November 27, 2017

Items for 11/28

1. A very significant Washington Post story about the stinging of a would-be sting.

2. Nancy Pelosi shows us how not to handle a scandal.

3. Snapchat politics:

4. Pocahontas Day

And to top it off, he was standing in front of a portrait of Andrew Jackson.

Image result for trump andrew jackson

5. Trump media tweets

Sunday, November 26, 2017

Meredith Corporation Buys Time Inc. for $2.8 Billion

Time Inc., a corporation that owns the magazines Time, Fortune, Sports Illustrated, and others was sold to Meredith Corporation for $2.8 billion. Meredith Corporation plans to sell "a sizable chunk of the combined business -- $650 million worth -- to a company owned by Republican mega-donors Charles and David Koch" according to CNN.

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Net Neutrality

On Tuesday, the FCC moved to repeal Net Neutrality rules that prohibit internet service providers from blocking, slowing or charging websites.

After our class topic on Entertainment Media, the following Last Week Tonight with John Oliver clip is relevant.

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Gov 115 Final Assignment 2017

Choose One

1. Pick any current (2017) event in United States. Compare and contrast coverage in two American and two non-American sources (from different countries). How did each define the story? Did any show a bias? Did any miss something important? In your essay, try to find some outside documentation of the event in question (e.g., government sources) and learn about the news organizations. Distinguish between coverage that an organization produces and wire stories that it merely carries. Remember that coverage may consist of more than one story and may involve more than one day. In addition to Nexis (on the library site), here are some possible sources:

http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/

2. Pick any current (2017) event in the Mideast. Compare and contrast coverage in two American and two non-American sources (from different countries). How did each define the story? Did any show a bias? Did any miss something important? In your essay, try to find some outside documentation of the event in question (e.g., government sources) and learn about the news organizations. Distinguish between coverage that an organization itself produces and wire stories that it merely carries. Remember that coverage may consist of more than one story and may involve more than one day. You may find non-American sources above.

3. See this brief article on the political impact of John Oliver and Jimmy Kimmel: https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/05/john-oliver-net-neutrality-kimmel-colbert-late-night-politics-impact Appraise its claims. How much difference did Oliver and Kimmel make? What do these cases tell us about the potential policy impact of comedy? In your answer, do not rely simply on the reporter's assertions. You must do your own research on the politics of the issues, including public opinion data.

4. Devise your own topic, subject to my approval.

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Essays should be typed (12-point) double-spaced, and no more than four pages long. I will not read past the fourth page.
Essays should be Word documents, not pdfs.
Cite your sources. You may use either endnotes or parenthetical references to a bibliography. In either case, put documentation in a standard format (Turabian or Chicago Manual of Style).
Watch your spelling, grammar, diction, and punctuation. Errors will count against you.
Return essays to the class Sakai dropbox by 11:59 PM on Friday, December 8. Essays will drop one gradepoint for one day’s lateness and a full grade after that.

News Media, Entertainment Media, Comedy

FOR NOVEMBER 28, READ GRABER, CHAPTER 10.

Survey data:

Five linkages between news and entertainment:

First, Back to media ownership: news and entertainment media usually belong to the same companies. In 1958, Edward R. Murrow said:

One of the basic troubles with radio and television news is that both instruments have grown up as an incompatible combination of show business, advertising and news. Each of the three is a rather bizarre and demanding profession. And when you get all three under one roof, the dust never settles. The top management of the networks with a few notable exceptions, has been trained in advertising, research, sales or show business. But by the nature of the coporate structure, they also make the final and crucial decisions having to do with news and public affairs. Frequently they have neither the time nor the competence to do this.

In a 2011 New York Times interview, then-anchor Katie Couric had to deal with this connection:

Since your new book, “The Best Advice I Ever Got: Lessons From Extraordinary Lives,” is about great advice, imagine that your boss, Les Moonves, called you on Christmas 2009 and said: “Charlie Sheen was just arrested for holding his wife at knife point. He has a history of this sort of behavior with women, but he makes a ton of money for the network.” What do you tell him?

Fire him.

Have you told him as much?

No. He hasn’t really sought my advice on Charlie Sheen. I hope what Charlie Sheen did wouldn’t be consistent with the values of this network. That’s probably an unrealistic response, but that’s my initial gut reaction. Luckily, that’s not my job.

Did you feel less proud going to work at CBS knowing that he was essentially a colleague?

I don’t really consider Charlie Sheen a colleague.

But news anchors and actors even belong to the same union -- which in turn supports policy initiatives to aid broadcast journalists.

Second, entertainment figures enter news and politics: Reagan and Schwarzenegger were hardly the first. In 1934, novelist Upton Sinclair ran for governor of California.

Sometimes the old work of entertainers it ... awkward to see years later. Al Franken in 1991 played Senator Paul Simon asking Clarence Thomas about ... sexual harassment (about 5 minutes into the video).

Also see:

Newspeople sometimes involve themselves in the entertainment media. One major example is the movie Dave (1993):

Third, the entertainment media are subject to certain kinds of government regulation.

Late Night host are dealing with the Democrats for their very "unfunny" & repetitive material, always anti-Trump! Should we get Equal Time?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 7, 2017

Fourth, entertainment media are often vehicles for political and social commentary.

Again Tom Lehrer (1965) on Werner Von Braun
Jon Stewart and Tucker Carlson (Lichter, p.26)
John Oliver on civil asset forfeiture

Fifth, certain kinds of works are hybrids of the two: talk radio, TV interview shows, "fake news,"

Will Rogers pioneered 20th century comedy. He also had a bromance with Mussolini

A certain California governor in an early comedy sketch!

A guest that you would not have expected on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.

Thursday, November 16, 2017

State and Local Media, Niche-Issue Media

Helena Bottemiller Evich's reporting drives other media

The difficulty of covering fragmented jurisdiction:

Other examples:

The Intelligence Community
Law enforcement: federal and state-local

Some examples of niche-issue media:

Food Safety News
Education Week and its special-ed blog
Inside Higher Ed
Disability Scoop
High Times
Lawfare
SCOTUSBlog
Election Law Blog

Accusations via Social Media

As more prominent men are accused of sexual harassment, NPR notes that many of these allegations initiated on social media, not through lawyers. Maybe this is because such few sexual harassment cases actually go to court or result in a charge for the offender.

Consequently, "lawyers who represent the accused are beginning to aggressively scour social media searching for accusations." Are journalists doing the same?

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Bannon to stick with Moore, say people close to Breitbart chief

Link here

"Sources tell The Hill that Bannon is still slated to rally support for Moore at a campaign stop in early December and said other events could be in the works.
Breitbart already has two reporters on the ground in Alabama writing stories that are favorable to Moore or that raise questions about his accusers. On Wednesday, a third Breitbart reporter arrived to join the effort."

"'The locusts in the fake news media at swamp newspapers who do the bidding of the political establishment and failed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are 100 percent incorrect in stating that Stephen K. Bannon is abandoning Judge Roy Moore,” the source said. “That’s 100 percent false.'”

Worst Legal Spin, Ever

Roy Moore's Attny. Trenton Garmon suggests Ali Velshi's "background" would help him understand why Moore would date underage women — @AliVelshi is from Canada pic.twitter.com/e061tiz9Nx
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) November 15, 2017

There's an it's/its error in the first sentence. https://t.co/QcuwGlQZTu
— Elise Viebeck (@eliseviebeck) November 15, 2017

Roy Moore just posted and then immediately deleted a tweet calling his fellow Republicans “sissies.” Here’s the screenshot >> pic.twitter.com/EGqPxo1kej
— Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) November 15, 2017

HANNITY: Do you remember dating girls that young?

MOORE: "Not generally, no"
— Allan Smith (@akarl_smith) November 10, 2017

Russia Making a Statement

CNN published "Russia Moves Ahead With Rules Targeting Foreign Media" (11/15/17)

They state:

"It's the first tangible response to a move by the U.S. Department of Justice to require the firm that produces the U.S. branch of Russian television network RT to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

For weeks Russian government officials, including Putin, have promised a tit for tat response targeting American outlets operating in the country."

What outcome are they really looking for?

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

When viewing the front page of CNN today (November 14, 2017) I saw a lot of “Democrats say” “Republicans remark” and “Sessions says” headlines. ( http://www.cnn.com/ ) This, to me, seemed to exemplify a sensationalist, reality TV inspired reporting style. That is to say, that interpersonal or political drama was at the forefront. It was easy to reimagine the headlines as clickbait articles: “You won’t believe what Jeff Sessions just said!” Or, “Is Trump too unstable for nukes?” Although relegated to the far-right column (direction not political) were stories of greater direct public import like “Kratom has ‘deadly risks’ FDA warns”, most other headlines concerned comments and not decisions or events.

Perhaps in the electronic age news media like CNN race to find any comment to fill their front pages, but what was conspicuously absent was news of the shooting at a Rancho Tehama elementary school. ( http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-norcal-elementary-school-shooting-20171114-story.html ) I actually got an update notification and I expected to see the shooting mentioned, but the banner that fell instead read “AG Sessions said it would be wrong to use department to retaliate against political opponents.”

To be fair, I did find a small mention of the Rancho Tehama shooting after visiting the U.S. specific section, but even that headline was listed after “McConnell: ‘I believe the women.’ Moore should go.” ( http://www.cnn.com/us ) Five other headlines about Roy Moore preempted the shooting story as well. Perhaps CNN waited for all the facts to surface before putting the shooting on its front page (which it did eventually), but at least before 12:18 there was almost no sign of the story. Honest question: why was this?

Coverage of Justice, States, and Localities

Cameras in Court. Hauptmann testifies, Lindbergh watches.

Sheppard v. Maxwell (1966)

Chandler v. Florida (1981)

Actual Malice

The Gloves Come Off (literally)

The OJ Trial: the Sequestration Loophole

Cops and the Media

"Umbrella Competition" (Graber 285)

The Decline of Statehouse Reporting.

Corruption is the price of scant coverage.

How to follow California?

Yes or No to the wall

“Trump admin taking quiet steps on seizing border land, report says”

The approval for a new border wall has yet to come, however, the Trump administration has taken subtle steps to be able to seize land to build one. Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee claim that the administration's lack of clarity about what would be required to build President Donald Trump's proposed wall. The fiscal year 2018 budget request sought $1.6 billion for 74 miles of border barrier.

Do you think Trump is going to take any further action?

http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/13/politics/border-wall-eminent-domain/index.html

Trump's Environment Nominee

President Trump nominated Kathleen Hartnett White to lead the Council on Environmental Quality. She believes that climate change is real but is uncertain about the causes.

The video represents some of Kathleen Hartnett White's responses to questions from Senators.

Sunday, November 12, 2017

Trump's Chemistry With Putin

Trump backed his claim that there was "no collusion" with the Russian government by saying he believed Putin was sincere in saying he did not meddle in the election in an article by the New York Times.

"He says he didn't meddle - I asked him again," Mr. Trump told reporters traveling with him aboard Air Force One as he flew to Hanoi for more meetings. "You can only ask so many times. I just asked him again. He said he absolutely did not meddle in our election. He did not do what they are saying he did."

Trump seems to have a lot of trust in Putin and his credibility, but Trump's recent string of tweets about Putin implies that he has strong chemistry with Putin, something past presidents have lacked.