Media

Journalism and the powers that be: What’s scandalmongering got to do with it?

What’s scandalmongering got to do with journalism and the powers that be? Maybe far less than most of us who give a hoot about journalism care to admit. “Media Gets Targeted by Obama, Discovers No One Cares Except the Media,” wrote Bethania Palma Markus, a Los Angeles-area reporter, on the left-wing blog Counterpunch. She claimed the media “never cared about (the government’s) abuse of power until it hit them in the face,” as in the recent scandals involving the Associated Press and Fox News. She’s not hit the bull’s eye, but she makes a good point. Who indeed should be concerned about what Obama officials did when they seized AP telephone records and spied on a Fox News correspondent?

Media

St. Louis TV stations get severe storms coverage right

At a high level, kudos to the local St. Louis television stations and their meteorologists for keeping people up to date and safe when last Friday’s (May 31) storms hit. While some people may have been upset that their programming was pre-empted, it was the right thing to do. The fact there were no deaths or serious injuries, despite three tornadoes in the area, may well be attributed partly to the local station’s non-stop coverage and warnings. All three stations’ meteorologists used their Doppler radar technology to pinpoint the likely locations of the twisters. Hindsight proved them to all be correct.

Media

Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting hones in on agribusiness

“Covering agribusiness in the heartland is like covering Apple in Washington or Google in Silicon Valley.” This was told to more than two dozen journalists who cover agriculture by Craig Gunderson of the University of Illinois. Gunderson was speaking to the group as part of a three-day workshop on agribusiness reporting conducted by the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting.

Media

‘Will this happen to me?’ Children’s exposure to disaster and violence in the news

Images of blood-covered children and horrified adults, sounds of howling winds and screaming people, live videos of approaching storms and devastating destruction have all permeated our media coverage of the recent tornado in Moore, Okla. Such news coverage, tagged “Disaster Marathon” by Tamar Liebes, an Israeli media researcher, represents common journalistic practices for covering horror tales of suicide bombings, natural disasters and major accidents. With handheld mobile devices, every passer-by can document the experience in sight and sound (and contribute to our thirst for gory images) as we struggle with the emotional weight of making sense of such tragedies. But what about our children?

Media

Experts: National shield law may not help journalists in big cases

Journalism groups, such as the Society of Professional Journalists, are calling upon reporters and editors to contact members of Congress and to write editorials in favor of a national shield law to allow reporters to protect confidential sources. But legal experts on both sides of the issue agree that a national shield law probably would not have helped the press in the big national security and criminal cases that have gained public attention, such as the recent subpoena of the phone records of about 100 AP journalists and the investigation of Fox’s James Rosen. The AP investigation began after a story gave away the existence of a double agent tracking al-Qaida’s leading bomb-maker and the Rosen investigation followed his report indicating that U.S. intelligence had a source within North Korea’s leadership.