Election Coverage Recap

After a semester of perusing the internet for coverage of the 2008 presidential election, the conclusion that I have come to is that there is a lot more “stuff” out there than I thought there would be. Media outlets are going beyond the traditional news story to offer new ways of coverage.

• USA Today has their state-by-state coverage map, offering local coverage by a national news service. The map itself is easy to navigate, attractive and informative.
  

• XM Radio launched at 24 hour election coverage station, POTUS ’08.

• CNN’s politics page has a whole section titled “Videos in Politics”

• YouTube and CNN hosted the “YouTube Debates.” The debates are citizen driven, with individuals submitting questions on YouTube. These questions are then used in moderated debates with the presidential hopefuls.

• More clips and full episodes from television are making their way onto the internet. Though this is not a new tactic, it continues to draw more people to the internet for their news. I watch Meet the Press with Tim Russert every week, but never on Sundays. The entire show is viewable online, with shorter clips from the episodes titled by content at the bottom of the page.

These are just a few of the examples of things that media outlets are doing to utilize new media and draw in readers. The interactive media is supplementing the news story, and in some cases, replacing it. That is not to downplay the import of the basic news story. It still is the most prevalent form of journalism around and the most easy to create. Still, media is tailoring their coverage to feed readers desires. It’s clear to see that it must be working, with more interactive tools coming up everyday.

Thoughts on the readings

While reading the Poynter article about the recent plagiarism case surrounding The Maneater, I was astonished to read that some people actually defended Merrill's actions. I think that most journalists of my generation, those who are in school now or who have recently graduated, would agree with me that lifting quotes from other people's articles without attribution is blatant plagiarism. Really - just blatant plagiarism. The definition of it in fact.

That's why I am so surprised that there are people who were defending Merrill's actions. Maybe it's a generational thing. I wonder if a different generation of journalists were trained differently. Maybe while they were in j-school things were done differently and the rules surrounding plagiarism were more blurry and open to interpretation.

In Merrill's response he says that he did not lift the authors written words, and though this is true, it does not make his lifting quotes right. The reporter from The Maneater conducted interviews to get those quotes. Those quotes were her property. And his lifting those quotes makes it look as though they were his property - as if he did the interviews.

While he is apologetic and while I believe he is sincere, I do think the paper did the right thing in canceling his column. If the mistake would have been made by a non-veteran writer, the decision would have been very clear ... fire the writer. Just because Merrill is a senior writer does not mean he should not be held to the same standards.

Study gets at student opinions on voting and the 2008 election

A new study conducted by American University and washingtonpost.com surveyed students from more than 75 colleges about what matters to them in the next election.

Most of the results weren't surprising. The war was the most important issue. The environment also seemed to be a big concern. If the election were held today, most would vote for Obama.

What is surprising is the fact that 96 percent of the students said they intended to vote. Disconnect? Of course. No where near 96% of students will vote. If 1/2 of students vote, that would be a good turn-out. If the intent is there, it really makes me wonder why more young adults don't vote. Laziness I would guess. Which is quite sad.

From an article about the study on washingtonpost.com:

And, with a year left until the election, about 82 percent said they were already registered to vote. This continues the trend that began with the 2004 election. Forty-seven percent of 18-to-24-year-olds voted in the 2004 election, up 11 points from 2000

Maybe students are finally going to get excited about politics again... think 1960s. It certainly seems like things are moving that way.

Thoughts on the readings

I don't really know if I prefer audioslide shows or video. I think that it really depends on the story. Action stories obviously come across a lot better with video. But at the same time, there can be something very poignant about the sound of a crowd cheering while stills of fans screaming flash on the screen. To think more about it, I think I am very impartial to the art of audio slideshows. For how easy they can be to put together, the effect is amazing.

As far as the specifics of the audio slideshow - I think that images should be kept on the screen for a good amount of time.... and by a good amount, I mean longer rather than shorter. People need time to process the photos.

Panning across an image can give a great effect and lead the readers eye toward an important spot, rather than leaving them to scan the whole picture.

As far as other tools go - I am very impartial to iMovie. As a fairly new mac user, I was amazed at how easy the software is. After returning from a trip to Rome I quickly put together a movie for my friends with images, sound and video from our trip. It really couldn't have been any easier.

GarageBand, oddly enough, I don't care for. I think there are other programs that do what it does much better.

This all coming from one of the most media-unsavy people around.

Thoughts on the readings

The Potter Box:

I have studied this ethical decision making model in other classes and for the most part I find it rather unhelpful. The box has the following steps:

1) Appraising the situation
2) Identifying values
3) Appealing to ethical principles
4) Choosing loyalties

It is very straight forward. The process in journalism decision making is so similar to decision making in other areas of our lives. We asses our options, think about what others would want us to do, and pull from past experiences. All of this goes into making our decision.

While ethical decisions can be discussed, teaching how to make these decisions is difficult. So much of it is based on personality, upbringing and other subjective factors. Still, I do believe that it is important to discuss the tough ethical decisions that journalists are bound to face in their career in hopes of starting the mental dialogue before the issue comes up.

Freebies -

For the most part I believe that freebies can get in the way of journalistic objectivity. I think it tarnishes journalistic integrity and causes readers to question true motive in stories. I like the Chicago Tribune's take on freebies: reporter can accept nothing over the value of a keychain. No reporter is going to sway the direction of a story over a ballpoint pen, notepad or keychain. I think one acceptable type of freebie would be tickets to an event which the paper plans on covering. Entertainment writers are in this position every day. From the perspective of a news writer, I see this as no different than accepting a press pass to a major speech or convention.

Advertising -

If the journalism world were perfect, advertising would have no say in what was printed.

period.

I really hate the idea of advertisers pushing for stories that highlight specific industries. It ties into the issue of impartiality and objectivity. Still, it is a reality in today's newsrooms. I think that all journalists can try to do is remain as separate as possible. By deciding early on that you will never change the direction of a story or publish something based off of advertising and not news value, it will be come easier to make these decisions when they come up.

My verdict - I think that the most important thing a young journalist can do to prepare themselves for making ethical decisions is to practice. Reading what other writers have decided in tough situations and assessing what you would have done in the same place will lead to a higher level of thought. While you will never be able to entertain every possible ethical dilemma, simply considering major issues will help tune your instincts toward ethical decisions.



LOVE IT

"At their best, the newspapers’ online videos are, minute for minute, superior to TV news. As I write, CNN is airing a live press conference by Anna Nicole Smith’s lawyer and a loop of Smith vamping, while a significant breaking news story—the U.S. claim that Muqtada al-Sadr has left Iraq for Iran—is running in tiny type across the bottom of the screen. Given the dumb-and-dumber choices, I can easily imagine newspapers’ Web-video portals becoming the TV-journalism destinations of choice for smart people—that is, in the 21st century, the dominant nineteenth-century journalistic institution, newspapers, might beat the dominant twentieth-century institution, TV, at the premium part of its own game."
- http://nymag.com/news/imperialcity/28152/

My main problem with television news is that in my mind, it has a tendency to become watered down. At very little fault of the broadcast journalist, 24 hour news stations end up running the same stories continuously, rarely adding new information. I sympathies. Really - it must be tough to be a broadcast journalist for CNN. But seriously - sometimes it gets ridiculous.

Just this weekend when flying back to Houston to Ithaca and had a 2 hour layover in the Newark airport. I was watching the breaking news of the fires in California. In 2 hours no new news was reported. They interviewed people who had the same things to say, repeated footage of the same houses being burned, and really annoyed me in the process. It is not to say that there is no value in this kind of news. Broadcast can get out breaking news in a way that print just can not. But I think that overall print journalism is able to offer a more comprehensive view of an issue. With more time to contact valid sources and check new leads, print journalism offers an all-in-one approach.

And as the quote about demonstrates - this tendency is spreading to newspapers websites and online media. Television-like video clips and packages put up on newspapers websites seem to me to be more comprehensive than television alone. Also, with easy searching on websites multimedia pages and toolbars, it is very easy to navigate to specific issues.


Covering a Catastrophe

I think that this article really speaks to one of the main tenants of journalism: personal stories. Localizing major issues through individual stories is one of the most effective journalism tools (in my opinion.) For major national catastrophes, the story can reach a new level of import for people across the country when individual stories are highlighted.

Immigration backlog leaves possible voters out of luck

A backlog of citizenship applications filed with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services could cause repercussions in the 2008 presidential elections, according to the Associated Press.

Due to a fee increase scheduled for this summer, the amount of applications has increased drastically. According to the Agence France- Presse, the department has received twice as many applications as it normally would. They have hired an extra 1,5000 employees, but still believe that those who recently filled for citizenship will be waiting 16-18 months.

According to an article from the BBC, the department is adamant that there is no political motivation driving the backlog.

"We are going to process these cases as responsibly and as quickly as we can, but we're not focused on any of the election cycle," Michael Aytes, associate director of the agency, told the Washington Post.

Still, the problem will keep thousands of would-be voters from participating in the upcoming election.

From the AFP:

Cecilia Munoz, executive vice president of the National Council of La Raza, predicted to the daily Sun-Sentinel that hundreds of thousands of immigrants could miss their chance at the ballot box.

"It's an unhealthy thing for a democracy when you invite people to the door, but slam it in their face when it comes time to participate," Munoz told the Fort Lauderdale, Florida paper.

USA Today State-by-state coverage

Something kind of cool in the world of political journalism: USA Today recently published on their website a "State-by-state lookahead: What's at stake in 2008."

As a sample of what is covered for each state, here's the blurb for NY:

New York

The last two presidents have been Southerners, but both parties' 2008 front-runners for the top job have New York credentials: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former New York mayor Rudy Guliani.

A number of potentially competitive House races loom here. Democratic Reps. John Hall and Kirsten Gillibrand and Republican Reps. Jim Walsh and Randy Kuhl could all face tough re-election bids. Hall, of the 1970s pop group Orleans, won his seat from Republican Sue Kelly in 2006, with Kelly facing questions about her tenure on the House Page Board following the Rep. Mark Foley page scandal. Hall hopes voters will think he's Still the One in 2008, with Republicans Andrew Saul, a businessman, and Kieran Lalor, an Iraq war veteran, challenging the freshman congressman.

Kuhl's seat lies in one of the state's most heavily Republican districts, but Democrats consider him vulnerable. Democrat Eric Massa, a Navy veteran, narrowly lost to Kuhl in 2006 and plans to repeat his challenge.

2004 results: Sen. Kerry won the state's 31 electoral votes with 58% of the vote.

After reading the notes about my home state, Illinois, I officially love this feature. It very astutely points out that three major Republicans, including the speaker of the House - Dennis Hastert - are set to retire. Those races will become pivotal in who controls the House. Also in the Ill. post:

Illinois, home to Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, has moved its primary up to Feb. 5.

2004 results: Sen. Kerry won the state's 21 electoral votes with 55% of the vote.

I love the fact that it shows the results from 2004. It gives their coverage context.