How Transparent is too Transparent?
By Lorellee Kampschnieder
In the aftermath of 9/11 a striking ethical dilemma has arose in regards to ethics and the news media. People in the United States have come to expect a certain level of transparency and access to information when it comes to government actions. The problem then becomes where is the line between freedom of information and protecting government secrets. The actions of Edward Snowden and Julian Assange are still highly controversial. Some believe that the public deserves to know private government information, while others condemn it as a security threat. Often times, editors are the ones who make the final call to push through or delay a story that discusses sensitive issues. For them, it is a matter of determining whether the benefits of publishing an article outweigh the costs.
This interests me because I believe that it has become a prevalent debate in the past couple of years. I think it is interesting to discuss whether or not things like Wikileaks expose pertinent information, or put the public at harm. Moreover, when sensitive government information is leaked, who really reads the information. Does the American public care, or are information leaks only allowing other international leaders access to our secrets? Then comes the question of how information leaks should be handled. Is it really treasonous and putting people at risk, or is it heroic and keeping our government accountable?
Left: Edward Snowden, known for leaking private government information to news outlets.
Right: Julian Assange, editor-and-chief of Wikileaks.
These links examine the controversy over information leaking, and whether or not it is a good thing or bad thing. Both articles specifically examine the pros and cons of Wikileaks, and wether or not the information promotes or hinders transparency in government.
1. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-quigley/why-wikileaks-is-good-for_b_789762.html
2.http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/security/wikileaks-hurts-the-cause-of-transparency/5503/
Discussion Questions:
1. Do you think information leaks such as Wikileaks or the information leaked by Edward Snowden are harmful or beneficial?
2. Is the decision to publish sensitive government information ethical? Why or why not?
3. Do you think that the American public actually pays attention to leaked information? Should they already have the right to access that information?
4. Which article do you agree with more? Is leaking information harming the idea of transparency or hurting it?
Dedication to End Discrimination
By: Michen Dewey
The story about Elizabeth “Pink” Cochrane sparked my interest because, as a woman, her actions have greatly affected my aspiring career, and made me want to delve deeper into the history of women in journalism.
Through research, a common theme I have come across is that during the 18th century, women only became involved in the publishing business if their husbands died. For example, Elizabeth Timothy was known to be the first female publisher in 1738, as a result of keeping her dead husband’s publishing business alive until her son became of age. Interestingly, her son’s name, Peter, was printed on the paper as the publisher since a woman’s name on paper at that time was unladylike.
Left: Elizabeth Timothy courtesy of artrenewal.org. Right: Elizabeth Cochrane “Nellie Bly” courtesy of wikipedia.org.
Post American Revolution, the quality of education dramatically increased, also including women’s education so they could take the responsibility of educating the youth. Corporate publications bloomed out of family owned publications, and since the education was increasing, so was the literacy rate. To make women a part of this new journalistic economy, publishers started coming up with society pages, women’s sections and letters to the editor. However, with this opportunity to peer into the journalistic world, many women took advantage of it and used it as a way to get an upper hand during the fight over women’s rights.
Around this time comes Cochrane’s story and her persistent passion to be on the front page, which lead her to New York City. She went under the name “Nellie Bly” since it was frowned upon for women to use their real names. Her hard work and dedication brought her the opportunity to take an investigative assignment inside a women’s asylum, for which she received a full-time job at New York World. Her work throughout her career has given us what we call investigative journalism today, and opened the door to women doing fieldwork for their stories.
Additional information on this subject can be found here, and Cochrane’s asylum story can be found here.
Front Page Example of John Pulitzer’s New York World (courtesy of londonlady.com)
For Discussion:
-The National Women’s Press Club had a project called Women in Journalism which is famously successful, and is now under the control of the Washington Press Club Foundation. The thing I found most interesting is their records of interviews can exhibit the role change as time goes on for women in journalism. What did you find most interesting?
-Referring to the text book, how do you feel about Cochrane’s bold actions that changed the future of investigative journalism?
Partisanship and it’s flaws: Are biases helping or hurting journalism?
By Jasmine Lara
The idea that the culture of journalism has formed a divide between whether or not neutrality is necessary to uncover the truth is a large issue presented within today’s media invested audience. It was mentioned that a reporter has to disengage his or her opinions from a story in order for the facts to gain credibility and result in an influx of sales. However, isn’t the purpose of journalism to uncover something that you’re passionate about and to embed those ideals and emotions into your work? While reading I realized neutrality would be a tool used to enforce the development of opinions within society formed based on empirical fact instead of the credibility of another person’s opinion.
Through this weeks reading, I found that there are a myriad of ways that news sources that I go to for local and world news that could be influencing the political, moral, and social ideals that I thought I had developed on my own. It mentioned that political campaigns in the United States seemed to favor Barack Obama’s campaign over right wing groups because American journalist branches are more left leaning, which could have played a pertinent part in his election. Media has become such a force in the way that our society develops opinions and might not even realize that these credible avenues for news have their own agendas.
Through the film of a larger group of left- wing news groups, a campaign against the criticism of right wing political campaigns has come to light. The article I found describes the instability of Fox News being one of few conservative channels that broadcast in the United States.
Personally, my main interest is human rights. I follow closely on groups of journalists and non- profit organizations who work to improve the lives of those living in unjust situations around the world. One of those is the Somaly Mam foundation, whose founder was found to have committed fraudulent stories in order to provoke donations from people in Western society. A devoted journalist uncovered her lies and although the money was still being used for a good cause it was built upon a lie. The Newsweek article talked about how the journalist struggled for years and brought her opinions into her work as little as she could which allowed for me as the reader to come up with my own opinions about what had been done and whether or not she was still a hero in my eyes. I was bamboozled by this woman’s powerful fabrication of a story but am still amazed by the good work she has done for the foundation. A pioneer of her cause and an esteemed reporter for the New York Times, Nicholas Kristof who is bias through his work side by side with her over the years wrote a blog post through a view not of her friend but someone who wanted the truth.
“I think Somaly deserves some credit for that (along with State Department pressure and many other factors), but good work helping others certainly doesn’t give anyone the right to embellish their backstory. Truth is paramount.” – Nicholas Kristof
From now on I will think twice about what I read and its credibility through the ideas mentioned this week of partisanship versus neutrality within the culture of journalism.
Discussion Questions:
Do you believe that neutrality is necessary to make a story more credible within journalism?
Is partisanship a dangerous tool to society or a beneficial perspective that allows media to be more relatable?
Have you ever been swayed by the news source you go to for everyday information to believe something that you might not have if they weren’t investing their opinion?
How do you feel the divide in American journalism has effected your personal beliefs? Perhaps, from what you thought as a child to being better informed as an adult?
New Charitable Orginizations
I found this interesting website where you can buy school supplies and such for girls in India. Check it out.
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REMINDER
NO CLASS MEETINGS ON
FRIDAY – Oct. 24
MONDAY – Oct. 27
DON’T BE LAZY! USE THIS TIME TO MEET WITH YOUR GROUP &
WORK ON UPCOMING ASSIGNMENT!!!!
GROUP MEMBER LISTINGS: HERE + HERE
Advertising and Its Stereotypes
2011 “Mr. Clean” Mother’s Day Ad: The depiction of the young girl and her mother cleaning to celebrate Mother’s Day, showcases how we have yet to move forward regarding the stereotype of women being responsible for household chores.
Pink is for girls, blue is for boys.
Women stay at home and clean, while men are out doing real work.
Asians cannot pronounce the letter r.
These are the usual ideas we are bombarded with by the advertising industry. While it is true that stereotypes have always existed, these are only reinforced by vociferous campaigns promoting products that seek to target a certain audience. For some reason, advertising companies believe that the way to reach to such audience is by belittling others.
(Do ads create stereotypes or do they use stereotypes)
While most of us are probably conscious of this, we tend to speak out mostly against chauvinistic ads, those that objectify women and place her only as housewives. However, men are also targeted, often labeled as incompetent in most chores and caring only for how to spend a good time.
(A case study of gender stereotypes)
Intel’s 2007 campaign generated controversy as its ad depicted racist imagery.
Gender stereotypes, though are not the only kind we encounter. Constantly we also see ads making fun of different socioeconomic classes, races, sexual orientation, and so on. Something worrisome about this is the fact that some people fail to notice this. In Nicaragua for example, there exists a pair of characters constantly used in local commercials making fun of the lower class. Unfortunately, through their exaggerated manners, their language and at times, even the music used, a poor depiction of the class has been given. Yet people fail to recognize this, instead copying their mannerisms as a way to mock others or certain actions that are considered “jincho.”
Nowadays, through social media we see more people speak out against advertisement they disagree with; however, these are still being produced, thus proving we have not entirely moved away from a mentality that considers this right. Yet, not all is lost…at least some companies are making the move toward less stereotypical depictions (gender wise at the moment)
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- Reflect on ads you have seen throughout your life, how much do you think you have been affected by the stereotypes portrayed in them? Do you think there are indeed any stereotypes?
- In this age and time, do you think we are moving forward in avoiding the use of stereotypes in advertising? Why or why not?
Public Relations: Engineering the Truth or Relaying the Facts?
By Natalie Pieper
Nowadays, individuals are ignorant of the manipulation occurring in mass media. Often, the source of this handling is behind the scenes, unknown to almost everyone except those who employ the “manipulators.” In this discussion, I will attempt to uncover how much control public relation firms have over consumers by using a specific and monumental political situation: Nixon’s aftermath.
After Richard Nixon surrendered to the pressures of the public and became the first president in United States history to resign, he made the choice to hire Hill & Knowlton. Now a global public relations firm headquartered in New York City, Hill & Knowlton were tasked with rebuilding Nixon’s tarnished reputation. Although Hill & Knowlton’s name was out of public view, their work was in the limelight. By 1984, Nixon’s image “miraculously” was reclaimed, and his place on the national scene in the public eye was once again restored. The rebranding that Hill & Knowlton made possible was credited to the media sources they had at their fingertips. Articles, public speeches, memoirs, radio, television and phone interviews contributed to the new and improved Richard Nixon.
It is unnerving for me to think that news is monitored by PR firms, whose sole purpose of employment is to promote favorable reputations. Especially when it comes to political situations, the influence media has when one is forming judgments is tremendous. Warped information tends to lead some astray. Ideas and opinions are commonly based off of psychological notions than pertinent facts. Advertising firms combined with PR is a recipe for systematized perspectives aimed at either glorifying or destroying a person’s/company’s reputation.
Whether one gathers their own information to form an opinion or listens to PR backed media, it is crucial to recognize when something is presented as “spun” news. As individuals enter into the advanced technological age of media and public relations, their opinions will begin to be unknowingly formed for them.
In this YouTube video and in our communications book, PR Watch is one example of how firms’ propaganda is monitored.
Think Hill & Knowlton’s biggest cover up case was Nixon? Think again. Whatreallyhappened.com exposes more scandals that Hill & Knowlton were assigned to.
Here is an interesting article about how the Information Age forces public relations to avoid propaganda.
Questions to Think About
1. Do you find comfort in trusting the media, even if possible manipulation is involved?
2. Do you remember any situations where you felt a situation was either swept under the rug from the public eye or “spun” towards a certain perspective? (Ex: Oil spills, POW abuse, political scandals)
3. What is your opinion of PR firms/specialists? From what you know, do you respect their work?
Product Placement: enough is enough
I remember when you used to be able to watch a movie, or a TV show or even a music video and all you’d be watching was what the writer and director wanted you to be watching. Nowadays people are so caught up in the idea of making as much possible money no matter what and one way of doing that is by allowing media sponsors to relay a message inside a movie, or TV show or any other kind of media content for the masses. It started off not so bad, subtly. But now its just everywhere, everything is sponsored by something, every character makes some kind of plug for some brand and every blockbuster or popular TV show allows brands to use their characters in ads. It has begun to disrupt the content of the media itself because of the writer’s need to cater to their bosses but also allow for the proper integration of the media sponsors as well. The problem is that it benefits both parties too much to fight it, the media companies get added hype through other commercials besides their own and the sponsors get extra hype by aligning themselves with a popular character or title. This interests me because of how bad it has gotten, I have noticed the excess of adverts and sponsorships inside media and it is just too much. It takes away from the content and integrity of the show.
The newest Superman movie “Man of Steel” had the most product placements of any movie to date raking in a staggering 160 million dollars from 100 different companies before the movie even hit theaters.
This money gave companies the right to advertise inside the movie itself but also the right to use superman as a means of advertising, he was featured in all sorts of commercials before the movie came out and none of them really had to do with the movie itself. The mutual benefit for media sponsors and the media companies and lack of regulations has made it hard to combat the growing partnership between the two but it has to plateau at some point.
Discussion Questions:
1. Will product placement get to be too much? In other words, will the desire by movie makers to gain the money from the sponsors become so great that it will ruin the quality of Movies, Tv, music videos, etc?
2. Do you think there is much of a problem now, or do you think it is necessary?
The Conflicting Messages in Advertising
By Megan Warnicke
Advertisements can be linked to the increase of eating disorders, but they can also be linked to the increase of obesity in children in the United States. The content of advertisements in today’s media promote conflicting messages. I am interested in this topic because I would like to have children one day. Hopefully by understanding how advertising affects children, I can help my children from succumbing to the damaging techniques advertisers can use.
Advertisements for makeup, cars, and clothes all frequently show thin, tan women with perfect complexions. These standards are unattainable and unhealthy. Therefore when women and young girls cannot achieve them, self esteem across the board is affected. Unfortunately this is an effective advertising technique. In order to try to reach these unattainable standards, the advertised product can help.
One study, found in the Journal of Consumer Research, found that women exposed to advertisements for beauty-enhancing products thought more negative thoughts about themselves than women exposed to just the beauty-enhancing product.
Not only do advertisements promote having a perfect body, but they also promote the consumption of unhealthy foods.
Very rarely does one see commercials for healthy foods, called “go” foods by the National Institute of Health. More often than not, the foods that children are encouraged to eat are called “whoa” foods (foods that should only be eaten once in awhile). This has lead to a tripling of obesity rates in children ages 2-19. Unfortunately the implications of this increase are higher instances of childhood Type II Diabetes, heart problems, and mobility issues. These health issues are something no one should have to deal with, especially at such a young age.
Discussion Questions:
1. How do you think the two messages that advertisements are sending will affect children in a long-term sense?
2. Advertisements are everywhere. Is the effect these advertisements have on children avoidable?
A 96 Year Old Chicago Tribune News Article Against Dancing
Amidst the Ebola and our recent discussion on newspapers, I found this interesting and thought I’d share.