Mainstream media misses critical details of Greek debt crisis
When the Greek debt crisis began more than three years ago, those writing and broadcasting about it needed victims and villains for their narratives. At first, those roles were blurred.
Category: Media
Radio station dons kid gloves for Sinquefield
Perhaps no media outlet gives Rex Sinquefield better treatment than KTRS radio in St. Louis. Not only does the station regularly feature one of Sinquefield’s “experts” to talk about tax policy, when Sinquefield was interviewed on a “McGraw in the Morning” program, the person asking the questions was an employee of one of Sinquefield’s enterprises.
The hero-whore discrepancy
The sports section of the New York Times’ “Today’s Headlines” email update was full of stories about fallen heroes. “Dispassionate End to a Crumbled American Romance” is one of the articles about Lance Armstrong’s overdue confession to using performance-enhancing drugs. “Image Becomes a Puzzle as Theories on Te’o Swirl” is an article about the odd case of Notre Dame football star Manti Te’o and his fake, dead girlfriend. Many people are talking about these two stories as isolated events of deception. To me, these are just current examples of how easily men (especially male athletes) can – and do – fool the public and the media. Both want to idolize men and make them larger than life. Even when red flags are present, most media don’t do the work because they don’t want to dethrone a hero. Women, however, frequently are doubted and questioned by the public and the media. Women frequently are shamed, blamed and dragged through the mud by the media, especially in stories dealing with sexual assault.
GJR Winter 2013 issue spotlights First Amendment issues
By happy coincidence rather than clever planning, the Winter 2013 issue of Gateway Journalism Review is filled with stories about the full range of First Amendment issues in the news. This focus on free speech is fitting, because GJR just celebrated the First Amendment at its annual fundraiser in St. Louis.
25 years of stifled student press freedom deserves attention
I remember sitting with others lucky enough to hear oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in the fall of 1987. It was an important case about educating young citizens, and the first that the court heard dealing with a high school newspaper. I also knew it mattered because the student newspaper is the voice of many young citizens in our public schools. My mistake. This wasn’t about the court’s earlier mandate that schools foster citizenship education. The Supreme Court said that 18 years earlier in Tinker v. Des Moines, and lower courts echoed this for two decades. But this Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier case was not about educating free and responsible young journalists. It was about administrative authority. And power. And it obscured the Tinker assertion that students learn citizenship in part through practicing free and responsible speech in school.