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Assignments for Week 6 (Oct. 4)
EVENT NOTE: For those of you who are on the Logan campus, please try to attend the Morris Media & Society Lecture this week by Alicia C. Shepard, the ombudsman for National Public Radio, Washington, D.C. Tuesday, Oct. 5, noon-1:15 p.m. Venue tba.
This week we continue our pursuit of truth as you put together your Truthiness Projects (due Friday, Oct. 15)
READINGS: Detecting Bull, Ch. 6: “If Not Objectivity, What Standard Should We Hold News Providers to?” and Ch. 7: “How to Detect Bias in News and Opinion Articles”
ALSO:
• Essay: On Objectivity, By Dr. Ted
• Principles of Journalism
• Would-Be Political Candidates Get Bully Pulpit on TV “News”
• Revisit the News Bias articles from FAIR and the Media Awareness Network (Week 4)
• Glenn Beck: “Misinformer of the Year”?
• Fox v. Obama: Obama AdministrationTakes on Fox News. National Public Radio, Oct. 14, 2009.
• SmartTalk
• Quiz
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(Kay Anderson) I don't remember hearing about Obama's block on Fox News from last October. This struck me as really strange. The "Fox v. Obama" NPR story quotes White House Communications Director Anita Dunn as saying, "We see Fox right now as the source and the outlet for Republican Party talking points." It seems that would make the white house even more determined to get its voice out there.
ReplyDeleteI think it is interesting how Fox News' tag line is fair and balanced, when so many agree that they are biased to the Republican Party. Obama has a right to take on Fox News. I think if Fox News wasn't so biased,then much more would have gotten accomplished by now.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Lindsay. The fair and balance thing Fox try's portraying. Everyone knows it's not true. They aren't fooling people.
ReplyDeleteThe readings were informative on how journalism is being altered as the years progressed by. The varied views on objectivity and its repurcusion were discussed in great detail which gave a better insight in identifying fact based and opinion based articles. Identifying bias in every article and the different types of it also showed how tough it is to be objective in journalism and an equivalent of objectivity can be achieved through empiricism.
ReplyDeleteI thought the readings from this week were very interesting, I know I'm a little late to respond to them but I realized I forgot to throw my two cents in there on this subject. Fox news being biased, very interesting I think that Obama shouldn't be so worried if Fox News is biased or not he should be worrying about getting us out of this recession not how he is being portrayed in the media. I guess I don't understand why this would be so important if a news broadcast would be so important and why even if they were biased it would be a big deal, I know as far as credibility/truth goes it would be important but maybe someone could throw some help my way to understand this a little bit better.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed listening to Alicia's talk especially her bluntness and advice. She believes objectivity does not exist... I don't think it exists in today's media world either. Facebook and Twitter are great tools in order to keep in touch with friends, sell ad's, voice opinions etc but we all have to be careful. Alicia said, "Think before you hit the send button". There is no privacy when it comes to the internet and there never will be. Once it's out there, its there forever. The best thing that we can do is be professional and try our hardest to report the most accurate, truthful news. We should use new technologies to our advantage but still use our common sense.
ReplyDeleteRomina Nedakovic
In this weeks reading I found the article on the "would-be candidates" to be very interesting. I find it a complete conflict of interest to have news analyst and anchors running for political positions. I think it completely compromises the integrity of the news. News analyst are in theory suppose to be neutral parties reporting the facts and letting us and viewers internalize those facts in our own way. When we begin to see this cross over from news to politics we can no longer know what motives are behind what stories. It can only make you stop on wonder what are the analysts motive behind reporting this story? Do they have some ulterior motive?
ReplyDeleteStephanie Harries
I can't believe that Obama boycotting Fox is relevant news. Everyone has their own opinions, own views, and own beliefs. I think it's obvious that the reason Fox News is rated so highly is because the people that watch it agree with what is being reported. Politics is like religion in the sense that people already have their beliefs and views set in stone, and someone who doesn't agree with what is being said won't continue to watch or listen, but those that do will. So what if Obama won't have anything to do with a news station? There are plenty of other places to hear what he has to say, if you want to know, and just because he chooses not to interact with them doesn't mean that they won't still report on him. I think taking on one of the most popular news stations is a joke. Number one, he's only going to be put down more by that station, and number two, there are SO many more important issues that should be dealt with rather than playing a popularity game. Hasn't he ever heard of "sticks and stones"? He's not running for SBO for high school, Obama is the President of the United States; deal with the REAL issues.
ReplyDeleteI also think that poking at all of the faults of journalism and trying to perfect it is a waste of time. Everyone is unique and that includes journalists. I know I wouldn't include something in a story to be true if I didn't believe it was, I'd find something else to put in its place. Journalism was created to get other voices and opinions heard and to help educate the public based on those writings. The only person who knows the whole truth in anything that happens are the people involved. Reporters and journalists are here to help give parts of the puzzle and it's up to us, the public, to do our own investigation and decipher what we believe to be true.
--Chelsea Ebeling
I think the reason Obama is going after fox news is due to the fact that there is some arrogance that goes along with the position of President of the United States. Obama is letting his ego get in the way and then other things suffer. I agree there are a lot better things he could be doing with his time. The whole time I was reading Fox vs. Obama I kept saying too myself "so what, why not bag it and work on something productive like unemployment, worker benefits...etc".
ReplyDeleteBefore taking this class, the idea of objectivity being impossible had never occured to me. However, I did think it was desirable. Now after reading the articles, it makes sense that total objectivity really isnt desirable in the news, nor is it ever really possible simply because we're only human. Aside from blatant opinion in the news, even choosing which stories will be aired/printed requires some bias. No one wants to read about every single event that is happening anywhere, but without some subjectivity that's what the news would be.
ReplyDeleteI never considered the idea of being objective as being impossible until going through the readings this week. it makes a lot of sense when you actually think about it. even if you think you are being objective you are going to allow your own bias affect decisions you make when reporting such as which sources to use and how to present it. every little detail of a paper comes down to a personal decision which allows more room for error.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely agree that Fox news is biased towards Republican party. But don't they have a right to freedom of speech? Their opinions (even if they are skewed) are a contributing factor to the marketplace of ideas, right? Don't get me wrong, I feel the whole "Fair and Balanced" thing is completely false. However, I have to wondder if Obama is entirely justified in his pursuit against them.
ReplyDeleteBreck Perkins