Be relentless and read the fine print
by Stan Zoller, MJE
Sometime in its advertising history, Hewlett-Packard, now known simply as H-P because people were in too much of a hurry to spell the entire name out, had a campaign that touted its corporate innovation.
Quite simply, all it said was “At Hewlett-Packard, we never stop saying ‘What If. “
The concept was their product development staffs were always looking for ways to improve technology by taking chances and asking what would happen ‘if’ they did something different.
The approach might also work well for journalists in their dogged pursuits of accurate and verifiable information.
At the 2009 JEA convention in Washington, D.C., keynote speaker Jackie Spinner, then a Washington Post reporter, said “the problem with the American media is that it’s more concerned about getting it first than getting it right.”
The unfortunate reality in many cases that is still the case. It’s not unusual for a news organization to post information on social media and within minutes, post an update that corrects a previous post.
An obvious way to avoid this is to fact check and verify before posting a story. However, to really add to the basic information, follow H-P’s lead and ask “what if” about your information. In other words, go beyond the basic information at hand.
This can be true when using public records. Despite the fact public agencies are required to adhere to open meetings laws, some will go out of their way to avoid meeting the full intent of the law. School districts seem to be the biggest culprits of this.
Effective deconstruction of materials received through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request entails that journalists – whether students or professional – understand the breadth of their state’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) as well as the appeal process.
I filed two recent FOI requests using Illinois’ FOIA and have found by asking “what if” I have been able to garner additional information.
The first case involves a school district that heavily redacted information without sufficient explanation for the redaction. A second FOI request resulted in a similar situation. Rather than accept the district’s response, I filed for a review with the Pubic Access Counselor (PAC) in the Illinois Attorney General’s office.
They agreed to investigate my query and are in the process of weighing the district’s response. However, the district’s response about the confiscation of the student newspaper dropped more than a subtle hint that the issue was not, in fact, a journalism situation, but likely a personnel and/or personality conflict.
The district’s response also touted student confidentiality, something that was not part of my original two FOI requests. What the district seems to have done was fine-tooth combed the allowable exemptions allowed by the Illinois FOIA. Working with community advocacy attorneys, I thought an additional explanation was due, which led to the filing with the Attorney General’s PAC. Quite simply, it was a matter of asking “what if.”
Another situation, which unfolded last week, involved the use of the FOIA to find out why a village trustee in my hometown was trying to gauge interest in a proposed bill that would allow recreational use of marijuana in Illinois. By gathering emails on the topic, I was able to determine that he had not been transparent in his social media posts, as well as phone calls and emails to me.
This was revealed in a blog I posted, which drew swift reaction, including one from an attorney who said the village had violated the Illinois FOIA by providing me with information that should have been withheld because of the exemptions in the FOIA.
Undaunted, I checked with attorneys who told me that I was right (always a good feeling) and that exemptions are voluntary. I posted that information, to which he responded, “that’s right.”
As Caesar allegedly said, “Veni, vidi, vici” – I came, I saw, I conquered. While conquering may seem a bit overstated, the bottom line is by utilizing resources and understanding the nuances of the law, I was able to (at least hopefully) protect the public’s right to know.
Is it a lot of work? Yes. Using the FOIA or asking for support from the SPLC or local advocacy attorneys may rattle your administration, but as journalism educators we have a fiduciary responsibility to make sure our student journalists seek the truth and report it using the legal and ethical tools available.
Student journalists need to understand the ramifications of under reporting as well as the rewards of not just getting it first, but also getting it right.
Which in many cases means not only using resources available to them, but also learning to ask, ‘what if?”
Read MoreSeeking visual truth is just as important
as written truth QT48
by Kristin Taylor
A reporter working on a story pauses from her transcription. “Hm,” she thinks. “This is a good quote, but my source could have said it so much better. I’ll just change it around and add a bit …”
By this point, responsible student journalists and their advisers are horrified. Of course you can’t change a source’s quote! Our job is to seek truth and report it, not to create fiction.
Yet those same students may have a harder time understanding why photo manipulation is just as problematic. In a time where social media platforms include an array of pre-made filters and changing a picture is as easy as swiping left or right, student journalists may need a reminder about the difference between ethical photo editing and unethical manipulation.
Photojournalism is still journalism, which means visual images should reflect the truth as accurately as other forms of reporting. Just as journalists shouldn’t manipulate a quote because it will “make the story sound better,” they also shouldn’t manipulate a photograph beyond basic editing that maintains the journalistic truth of the image.
Students wondering about the consequences of faking photographs professionally might benefit from reading cautionary tales about people such as Brian Walski, Souvid Datta or Narciso Contreras — these once respected photojournalists lost jobs, reputation or even awards as a result of their photo manipulation.
Here are some tips to ensure student journalists are being truthful visually:
- Edit digital photographs minimally; limit changes to basic cropping (without removing important context), adjusting brightness or contrast, and minor color adjustments.
- Do not flip images or edit out elements of the photo.
- Avoid staging photographs and passing them off as candid shots; this is similar to asking someone to say something for a quote you need rather than gathering candid quotes.
- Clearly label manipulated images used as art (filters, colorized images, etc.) as photo illustrations and use these sparingly to maintain the journalistic credibility of your publication
Quick Tip: Ethical photo editing vs. unethical manipulation 
Guideline: Student media should avoid electronic manipulation that alters the truth of a photograph unless it is used as art. In that case it should be clearly labeled as a photo illustration.
Social Media Post: Filters are fun on social media, but are they journalistic? How do you know when editing crosses the line to unethical manipulation?
Reasoning/suggestions:
Photojournalism is still journalism, which means visual images should reflect the truth as accurately as other forms of reporting. Just as journalists shouldn’t manipulate a quote because it will “make the story sound better,” they also shouldn’t manipulate a photograph beyond basic editing that maintains the journalistic truth of the image.
Here are some tips to ensure you are being truthful visually:
- Edit digital photographs minimally; limit changes to basic cropping (without removing important context), adjusting brightness or contrast, and minor color adjustments.
- Do not flip images or edit out elements of the photo.
- Avoid staging photographs and passing them off as candid shots; this is similar to asking someone to say something for a quote you need rather than gathering candid quotes.
- Clearly label manipulated images used as art (filters, colorized images, etc.) as photo illustrations and use these sparingly to maintain the journalistic credibility of your publication.
Resources:
Visual ethics guidelines, Principal’s Guide to Scholastic Journalism
Visual Journalism, NPR Code of Ethics
Posing Questions of Photographic Ethics, James Estrin, New York Times
Lesson: A Picture Never Lies, Journalism Education Association
Lesson: When Journalists Err Ethically, Journalism Education Association
Lesson: Pushing Photo Editing Boundaries, Journalism Education Association
Lesson: With Freedom of the Press Comes Great Responsibility, Journalism Education Association
SPJ Code of Ethics, Society of Professional Journalists
NPPA Code of Ethics, National Press Photographers Association
Photojournalism ethics needs a reexamination, The Poynter Institute
Visual ethical guidelines join online, yearbook ethics, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee
Audio: Using Images from Social Media, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee Press Rights Minute
Audio: Ethics in Editing News Photos, JEA Scholastic Press Rights Committee. Press Rights Minute
Read More
Today is Day of Action Day
for curing 30 years of Hazelwood
The SPLC has events scheduled throughout Jan. 31 to bring attention to the negative effects of Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier.
This month marks the 30th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision, which gives public schools the right to censor student publications. Now, more than ever, we need a coordinated effort to protect student journalists’ rights.
Here’s how the SPLC suggests schools (and others) can speak out about the damage this case has brought:
- Speak out on Twitter and Instagram why you think student journalists deserve better than the Hazelwood standard using #CureHazelwood.
- Change your profile picture to #CureHazelwood to help support the cause.
- Tune in to Facebook Live. At the top of every hour from 10am ET through 7pm ET we’ll have 10 minute mini-broadcasts from lots of cool people talking about the impact of censorship on student journalists and the need to overturn Hazelwood. We even have Cathy Kuhlmeier Frey (the named plaintiff and brave student journalist) as one of the guests. Everyone will be broadcasting live from the SPLC Facebook Page. Make sure to like the page and follow us so you don’t miss it! (Full schedule here.)
- Check out our Hazelwood: Then and Now webinar: Hear from former SPLC directors Frank LoMonte and Mark Goodman and current senior legal counsel Mike Hiestand as they talk about what it was like when the Hazelwood decision came down and the rise of the New Voices movement in response. Tune in to our YouTube channel at 11 a.m. ET.
Two videos developed by JEA’s SPRC also talk about Hazelwood’s history and legacy.
A one minute roundup.
And a 3.5 minute explainer:
The SPRC also has the additional materials about Hazelwood:
• A Teacher’s Kit for curing Hazelwood
• Seeking to cure the Hazelwood blues
Recruiting the right kid: skills, attitudes
include accuracy, credibility, handling stress
by Candace Bowen, MJE
Each semester, when I ask my freshman newswriting students at Kent State University why they chose a journalism/media major, the answers are often a little frightening. They say, for instance, “I like to write,” “I have always done well in English class” or “I want to meet important people and report from the red carpet.”
Well….maybe those are the basis for their choice, but some of these might be detrimental or at the very least misguided. Are we as teachers sometimes missing those with other skills and attitudes that would make them great journalists – on our student media and in the future? Are we recruiting the right kid
What do you need to be a journalist in today’s world of fake news, reduced reporting staffs and downright hostility towards the profession? What should you look for in your students when they ask your opinion about their future as journalists?
A few years ago, The Poynter Institute produced a research report titled “Core Skills for the 21st Century Journalist,” and, to do this, surveyed 2,000 media professionals and educators about 37 attributes or skills journalists should have.
Although some changes have occurred in the profession during the last three years – fewer copyeditors in many newsrooms comes to mind, perhaps calling for stronger grammar skills for reporters – much of this list is probably still accurate.
Co-author of the study, Howard Finberg, analyzed the results in an article on the Poynter website, noting, among other things, striking differences between media professionals and educators when it comes to specific multimedia skills such as recording and editing audio. (They said they would rather teach them the hands-on types of skills if they have the other abilities.)
“Storytelling,” too, didn’t even make the top 10 for the pros.
But “handle stress and deadlines well” was missing from the educators’ list. That’s one I find so vital in my “newbie” reporters. When they have several assignments overlapping, even though they know the deadlines, they complain they should only be expected to handle stories one at a time. (Sorry, that’s not how it happens in the real world.)
According to Professionals:
- Accuracy (99%)
- Curiosity (93%)
- Write using correct grammar (93%)
- Handle stress and deadlines well (93%)
- Have good news judgment (92%)
- Select information based on reliability (92%)
- Network, make contacts and develop sources (91%)
- Be acquainted with journalism ethics (90%)
- Write in fluent style (89%)
- Have knowledge of current events (88%)
According to Educators:
- Accuracy (99%)
- Curiosity (98%)
- Select information based on reliability (96%)
- Write using correct grammar (96%)
- Be acquainted with journalism ethics (96%)
- Have knowledge of current events (95%)
- Master interview techniques (95%)
- Have good news judgment (95%)
- Network, make contacts and develop sources (94%)
- Storytelling (93%)
Are there jobs for those we recruit? Reports say yes, though not always in the traditional legacy media of the past. Poynter’s Al Tompkins published an article in January 2017 that shared new graduates’ views of their futures – and why they wanted to be journalists. In “Why new journalism grads are optimistic about 2017,” Tompkins said, “Every student I spoke with said their main motivation for being a journalist is ‘to make a difference.’”
Let’s try to do what we can to steer the right potential journalists into the field – the ones who know what they will be doing matters, the ones who are concerned with accuracy and credibility and who can handle stress and deadlines well.
Yes, there is room for young journalists in the field.
And we certainly need them now perhaps more than ever.
Read More
Make it matter: Verification essential
as journalists seek truth QT46
by Kristin Taylor
One key component of every journalist’s ethical code is truth. Given that Oxford Dictionaries named “post-truth” their 2016 word of the year and the president has called venerable traditional news sources “fake news,” getting the facts right is more crucial than ever.
Verifying information is an essential part of the reporting process. Looking at real life examples such as the process NYT reporter Suzanne Craig used to verify Trump’s tax records will help to see the steps responsible reporters take to ensure accuracy.
Being accurate means verifying information gathering in the reporting process. Whether it’s how to spell a name or if the percentages the treasurer is giving you add up to 100, always question and check the facts.
One good method to corroborate “facts” you receive is to make sure others agree. Ask the same question to several sources and make sure you get the same answers. If you don’t, dig deeper.
You should practice identifying verifiable facts in article drafts and create strategies you can use to verify those facts, such as how to check quotes for accuracy without sharing the entire article draft with the source, how to use secondary sources to verify facts, how to check information with multiple sources to provide more context and how to verify images and information on social networks.
Some suggestions:
- Set up multiple deadlines for stories so editors can watch reporters’ progress. This helps cut down on the last-minute rush to deadline when reporters run out of time to verify.
- Be sure all reporters know what to say if a source – particularly a school administrator or an intimidating adult – asks to read a complete story ahead of time. Create a process wh
- ere students can check quotes for accuracy without showing the source the whole piece.Ask multiple sources the same question to make sure their answers line up.
Guideline: Journalists should approach their reporting and interviewing with a healthy dose of skepticism. This doesn’t mean they should trust no one, but it means they should be aware of potential conflicts of interest or barriers to receiving accurate information. Reporters should always verify, even if the information seems incredibly obvious and simplistic. Verifying information is much like fact-checking. Students should seek multiple forms of evidence to confirm information.
Social Media Post/Question: Why is it important for students to verify information as part of the reporting process?
Reasoning/suggestions: One key component of every journalist’s ethical code is truth. That means being accurate, and accuracy means verifying. Whether it’s how to spell a name or if the percentages the treasurer is giving you add up to 100, always question and check the facts.
One good method to corroborate “facts” you receive is to make sure others agree. Ask the same question to several sources and make sure you get the same answers. If you don’t, dig deeper.
Verifying information is an essential part of the reporting process. Looking at real life examples such as the process NYT reporter Suzanne Craig used to verify Trump’s tax records will help students to see the steps responsible reporters take to ensure accuracy.
Students should practice identifying facts that can be verified in article drafts and create strategies reporters can use to verify those facts, such as how to check quotes for accuracy without sharing the entire article draft with the source, how to use secondary sources to verify facts, how to check information with multiple sources to provide more context and how to verify images and information on social networks.
Suggestions include:
- Set up multiple deadlines for stories so editors can watch reporters’ progress. This helps cut down on the last-minute rush to deadline when reporters run out of time to verify.
- Be sure all reporters know what to say if a source – particularly a school administrator or an intimidating adult – asks to read a complete story ahead of time. Create a process where students can check quotes for accuracy without showing the source the whole piece.
- Ask multiple sources the same question to make sure their answers line up.
Resources:
“The Time I Found Donald Trump’s Tax Records in My Mailbox” – Susanne Craig
American Press Institute’s guidelines for verification and accuracy
- Journalism as a discipline of verification
- The Hierarchy of Accuracy
- The Hierarchy of Information and concentric circles of sources
- The Protess Method of verification
New research details how journalists verify information – Craig Silverman, Poynter
Tools for verifying and assessing the validity of social media and user-generated content – Josh Stearns and Leighton Walter Kille, Journalist’s Resource
FactChecking Day – Poynter
Fact-checking resources – SchoolJournalism.org
Are you a journalist? Download this free guide for verifying photos and videos – Alastair Reid
Should journalists outsource fact-checking to academics? – Alexios Mantzarlis
Journalists and their sources – Thomas Patterson (talk at Carnegie)
Read More
Make it matter: Scholastic journalism
must do more than give facts QT45
by Kristin Taylor
How can student journalists keep their publications relevant when information spreads faster than they can report it?
Professional journalists have struggled with this problem for years. Before the advent of the internet and social media, news producers — whether newspaper, radio or broadcast — were citizens’ primary source of information. News consumers found out about terrorists attacks and new government policies when they opened the morning paper or turned on the evening news.
In modern times, however, those gatekeepers have lost control. Now people have more information than they know what to do with. This flood of data creates a number of problems — especially in terms of helping people separate fact from fiction — but I want to focus today on the issue it creates in terms of engagement.
If news consumers have the facts about an event — or at least think they do — why should they care when the paper publishes a story about it? We hope they care because they trust traditional news sources to have a vetting process for their stories; unlike Tweets at 2 a.m., these stories have been fact-checked and include a variety of primary and expert sources to ensure truthfulness in a holistic sense. News literate consumers know the value of good journalism, we hope, and will therefore seek it out.
Beyond getting the facts right, good journalism has a larger responsibility to serve as sense-maker. “When most readers say they expect journalists to tell them what’s happening — whether that’s the latest outrages reported out of Kharkiv or city council in Kalamazoo — they mean connect the dots,” Ken Doctor writes. “No, they don’t want opinion — they want to know how the facts fit together to make an understandable whole.”
This is what sets major news sources such as the New York Times apart from local news sources, Doctor argues. “It’s authority,” he writes. “You read the Times to understand. Sometimes it does a better job of that than others, but its great success in reader revenue shows us its audience gets that part of the value equation. Yes, readers can get the facts of the Gaza War free in so many places, but they can’t get a volume of rich, contextual stories from both sides of the conflict elsewhere every day.”
In his essay “Journalism’s Moral Responsibility: Three Questions,” Bill Mitchell argues journalism has a moral obligation to cover important stories and help readers understand their importance. He poses three crucial questions:
- Do news organizations help citizens and communities, including political leaders, identify and respond to the most significant threats to well-being?
- Do news organizations pursue a well-grounded definition of what constitutes substantive coverage?
- Do news organizations take responsibility for how their work is pursued and how it is received?
The key, he argues, is to make important news salient. “In moral journalism, salient is more than important, interesting, or relevant. It’s more than selling a story that no one would otherwise read, or dumping it on an ignorant world with the righteous justification that it ought to be read. For journalists, Salient is a moral term, not a marketing one,” he writes. “Our moral responsibility is to cover significant threats to well-being, substantively, in such a way that our coverage leaps out, protrudes, and is strikingly and conspicuously prominent. So that it sears the conscience of our fellow citizens.”
He points to Laurel Leff’s research on the Times’ coverage of the Holocaust during 1939-1945. Leff found the Times did cover the Holocaust, but coverage tended to be on inside pages and was missing in editorial commentary and summaries of important news. In her report,
Leff writes, “Despite the detailed, credible information that was available, the American public actually did not know about the Holocaust while it was happening because mainstream American newspapers never presented the story of the extermination of the Jews in a way that highlighted its importance.” In other words, Mitchell concludes, “the Times had the story. It just didn’t make it salient.”
Mitchell’s essay aims at national and global news sources and news events on a much larger scale than those typical at a high school, clearly, but I believe this raises important questions for the moral responsibilities of scholastic journalists. If they want their reporting to matter — if they want their peers to read more than the humor columns or resta
Here are my suggestions for reworking Mitchell’s three questions for a scholastic journalism staff:
- Do you help members of the school community, including school and local leaders, identify and respond to the most significant problems affecting the community?
- Do you pursue a well-grounded definition of what constitutes substantive coverage, going beyond the who, what and where to explore how and why?
- Do you take responsibility for how your work is pursued
Although these questions are not a complete solution, they are a starting point for creating greater engagement without abandoning the most important stories.
Guideline:
Journalists should present relevant information in context so the audience has adequate information on which to base decisions. Context is just as important as factual accuracy and can help readers fully understand an issue and its relevance to their daily lives.
Social Media Post/Topic:
How can student journalists keep their publications relevant when information spreads faster than they can report it? Make it salient.
Reasoning/suggestions:
Staff members should not only fact-check their information but should also ask themselves questions such as “What does this story mean to my readers?” and “What do I want my readers to take away from this information?” This means gathering not only the 5Ws and H but also connecting dots for readers by helping them see related ideas, important relationships or significant background information. By assuming a topic is new to readers, editors can revise from the perspective of the audience and look for any holes that might be present.
Suggestions
- Reporters should address all 5Ws and H. Training materials and checklists in the staff manual also should address helping readers understand what the information means and why it’s significant.
- Part of the process may including asking members with no prior knowledge of a story to give feedback before publication or airing on whether the information provided is clear and paints a full picture of what is happening.
- The staff manual should include material about how to solicit feedback from readers about what kinds of stories, details or information they need in order to better understand current events and make content salient.
- Student media staffs should label analysis and opinion content so readers understand these are not objective news pieces.
Resources:
Good stories provide context, American Press Institute
Informing the news: The need for knowledge-based reporting, Journalists’ Resource
The newsonomics of how and why, Nieman Lab
Journalism’s Moral Responsibility: Three Questions, Poynter
10 essential principles from The Elements of Journalism, American Press Institute
“Context” is the new flavor for journalism, The Pomo Blog
Fast-Paced Journalism’s Neglect of Nuance and Context, Nieman Report
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