COMM 317: Ariana Huffington on Rupert Murdoch, new and old media

This relates to the "marketplace of ideas," but perhaps more importantly it relates to directions your careers might take. It's taken from a lecture by Arianna Huffington on how aggragator blogs like hers serve the purposes of journalism. An "aggragator" is a blog that summarizes and links to content provided by others. The Huffington Post is one. The Google News page is another.

Huffington's lecture was in response to an attack by Rupert Murdoch of News Corp. on blogs that don't pay for the content they link to. (None of them do.) Her headline says it all:

Journalism 2009: Desperate Metaphors, Desperate Revenue Models, And The Desperate Need For Better Journalism

Huffington has an ax to grind, since she runs a popular new media aggragator site. But she's talking about trends that will shape your careers in the communications industry. Her talk, which appears on "HuffPo" (as the blog is sometimes known), is also a defense of the kind of advocacy journalism her blog - and other media like Fox News that mix reporting and advocacy - practices. She and Murdoch, whose conglomorate owns Fox, probably agree on more points than either would ever acknowledge!

Read it.

Whether you plan to cover the news, or just read the news, you owe it to yourself to be up on this trend. It's also what we're going to do in class Wednesday.

Some quotes:

Ever since we decided to launch the Huffington Post, I've talked about how the future of journalism will be a hybrid future where traditional media players embrace the ways of new media (including transparency, interactivity, and immediacy) and new media companies adopt the best practices of old media (including fairness, accuracy, and high-impact investigative journalism).

And with so many traditional media companies adapting to the new realities, it was ridiculous to engage in an us vs. them, old media vs. new media argument. Either/or was the wrong way to look at things.

But playing nice has increasingly become a one-way street -- suddenly the air is filled with shrill, nonsensical, and misplaced verbal assaults on those in the new media.

* * *

So it's time for traditional media companies to stop whining and face the fact that far too many of them, lulled by a lack of competition and years of pretax profits of 20 percent or more, put cash flow above journalism and badly misread the web when it arrived on the scene. The focus was on consolidation, cost-cutting, and pleasing Wall Street -- not modernization and pleasing their readers.

They were asleep at the wheel, missed the writing on the wall, let the train leave the station, let the ship sail -- pick your metaphor -- and quickly found themselves on the wrong side of the disruptive innovation the Internet and new media represent. And now they want to call timeout, ask for a do-over, start changing the rules, lobby the government to bail them out, and attack the new media for being... well, new. And different. And transformational. Suddenly it's all about thievery and parasites and intestines.

Get real, you guys. The world has changed. ...

* * *

Sure, free news content is not a perfect system but it's a lot like what Churchill said about democracy: it "is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried." That's the reality. Free content is not without problems. But it's here to stay, and publishers need to come to terms with that and figure out how to make it work for them.

And all across the country, passionate entrepreneurs are doing just that, experimenting with new and creative revenue models. TechDirt.com is monetizing its engaged and highly informed community by turning them into focus-groups-for-hire. ProPublica is using a not-for-profit model to produce impact investigative journalism. And there are many different powerful local journalism models, including Voice of San Diego, which supports its award-winning local journalism with a combination of advertising and public radio-style contributions from foundations and users.

The new paths to success are still being charted -- and much remains uncertain. But this much is clear: we can't use an analog map and expect to find our way in a digital word.

* * *

We hear lots and lots of talk these days about saving newspapers -- Congressional anti-trust exemptions, perhaps? -- but we mustn't forget: the state of newspapers is not the same thing as the state of journalism. As much as I love newspapers -- and fully expect them to survive -- the future of journalism is not dependent on the future of newspapers.

Indeed, the future of journalism is to be found, at least partly, in the rapidly growing number of people who connect with the news in a whole new way.

News is no longer something we passively take in. We now engage with news, react to news and share news. It's become something around which we gather, connect and converse. We all are part of the evolution of a story now -- expanding it with comments and links to relevant information, adding facts and differing points of view.

In short, the news has become social. And it will become even more community-powered: stories will be collaboratively produced by editors and the community. And conversations, opinion, and reader reactions will be seamlessly integrated into the news experience.

* * *

The same people who never question why consumers would sit on a couch and watch TV for 8 hours straight can't understand why someone would find it rewarding to weigh in on the issues -- great and small -- that interest them. For free. They don't understand the people who contribute to Wikipedia for free, who maintain their own blogs for free, who Twitter for free, who constantly refresh and update their Facebook page for free, who want to help tell the stories of what is happening in their lives and in their communities... for free.

At the Huffington Post, and at the Huffington Post Investigative Fund, we deeply value the role of professional reporters and editors, and have dozens of them on payroll. And we think the value of editors will only increase as the constant stream of information coming at us continues to swell -- making trusted guides and curators more and more essential to keeping us from being swept away.

But there is no denying that thousands and thousands of other people want in on the process and have much to contribute to it. And that number will only continue to grow. To deride the value of their contributions is to completely misunderstand the world we live in.

And the sooner we all embrace that world, the sooner we'll be able to stop the name calling, put aside the increasingly desperate metaphors and increasingly desperate revenue models, and focus on what really matters: ensuring that in the future, journalism will not only survive, but be strengthened and thrive.

That's the brave new world (to coin a phrase) we live in, and it's the world you're going to launch your careers in. How do timeless ethical standards, some of them going as far back as Aristotle 2,400 years ago, hold up in this new world?

Maziar Bahari imprisoned for Daily Show skit

Maziar Bahari, a Newsweek correspondent, was recently released from more than 100 days' imprisonment in Iran. One of the allegations against him was that a Daily Show skit in which he was featured constituted prima facie evidence he was spying. So, of course, he appeared this week with Jon Stewart on the Daily Show.

Here's what the blurb says: "Maziar Bahari sees the humor and stupidity in his interrogation and imprisonment in an Iranian prison."

Here's what I saw: The blurb is accurate, but he and Stewart also got into one of the most insightful discussions of the mindset of Iran's Revolutionary Guard that I've seen in quite a while, certainly better than anything I've seen on TV. It even made a point Bahari didn't get into in his Newsweek cover story: Many of the hardliners in Iran were imprisoned under the Shah, and they are quite sophisticated in the application of pressure against prisoners.

It's worth watching. Funny, too, in sort of a low-key way.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Maziar Bahari
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

NOTES - New York Times on art from 3500-5000 BC

quotes from "A Lost European Culture, Pulled From Obscurity" - an article in The New York Times by John Noble Wilford, Nov. 30, 2009

slide show w/ pix including fired clay models of a city (slide __) and "thinker" (slide 24)

* * *

. . . an exhibition, “The Lost World of Old Europe: the Danube Valley, 5000-3500 B.C.,” which opened last month at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University. More than 250 artifacts from museums in Bulgaria, Moldova and Romania are on display for the first time in the United States. The show will run through April 25.

* * *

An arresting set of 21 small female figurines, seated in a circle, was found at a pre-Cucuteni village site in northeastern Romania. “It is not difficult to imagine,” said Douglass W. Bailey of San Francisco State University, the Old Europe people “arranging sets of seated figurines into one or several groups of miniature activities, perhaps with the smaller figurines at the feet or even on the laps of the larger, seated ones.”

Others imagined the figurines as the “Council of Goddesses.” In her influential books three decades ago, Marija Gimbutas, an anthropologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, offered these and other so-called Venus figurines as representatives of divinities in cults to a Mother Goddess that reigned in prehistoric Europe.

Although the late Dr. Gimbutas still has an ardent following, many scholars hew to more conservative, nondivine explanations. The power of the objects, Dr. Bailey said, was not in any specific reference to the divine, but in “a shared understanding of group identity.”

Although the late Dr. Gimbutas still has an ardent following, many scholars hew to more conservative, nondivine explanations. The power of the objects, Dr. Bailey said, was not in any specific reference to the divine, but in “a shared understanding of group identity.”

As Dr. Bailey wrote in the exhibition catalog, the figurines should perhaps be defined only in terms of their actual appearance: miniature, representational depictions of the human form. He thus “assumed (as is justified by our knowledge of human evolution) that the ability to make, use and understand symbolic objects such as figurines is an ability that is shared by all modern humans and thus is a capability that connects you, me, Neolithic men, women and children, and the Paleolithic painters in caves.”

Or else the “Thinker,” for instance, is the image of you, me, the archaeologists and historians confronted and perplexed by a “lost” culture in southeastern Europe that had quite a go with life back before a single word was written or a wheel turned.

Doc's schedule - papers due, finals, etc.

THIS WEEK

Monday, Nov. 30. COMM 317 - Marketplace of Ideas paper due.

Tuesday, Dec. 1.

• COMM 207. Class. We will blog on copyright issues. Follow this link to get started.
  
• HUM 223. Term paper due. Watch "Godfathers and Sons."

Wednesday, Dec. 2. COMM 317: Win valuable prizes just for coming to class!

Thursday, Dec. 3.

• COMM 207: Review for final.
  
• HUM 223. Last day of class

Friday, Dec. 4. COMM 317: Moral Adult (plus "Question 2A")self-reflective essay due. (But NOT the third question.)

FINALS WEEK

Tuesday, Dec. 8, 1:30-3:30 p.m., final exam in COMM 207. This will be a sit-down test in the classroom (D220) during the scheduled time.

Thursday, Dec. 10, 1:30-3:30 p.m., final exam due in HUM 223. You can bring in your final draft ... or bring in a draft and finish it in D220 during the exam period ... just make sure I get it!

Friday, Dec. 11, 1:30-3:30 p.m., final exam in COMM 317. Makeup day. I will be here if you want to come in and finish the Dec. 4 paper, or anything else that was due during the semester, during the exam period.

COMM 291 syllabus / D R A F T

Communications 291: Topics / Magazine Editing
Benedictine University at Springfield
Spring Semester 2010

[web address to be posted]

Communications 291 is a special topics course, in this case offered on an independent study basis covering selected aspects of communications, in this case the principles and practices of editing magazine copy for publication to bring out a writer’s intent and voice. Instructor: Pete Ellertsen, 211 Beata Hall (old Ursuline convent), telephone 525-1420 x519. email: pellertsen@sci.edu. Office hours TBA. Home: 2125 South Lincoln, Springfield, IL 62704. tel. to be determined.

I. Course description. Student(s) will read a book about editor Harold Ross of The New Yorker and one of the University of Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing and Publishing; edit manuscripts for publication in Benedictine University Springfield’s campus magazine, The Sleepy Weasel; and reflect on their experience in writing and at periodic meetings with the instructor, who serves as faculty adviser and production manager of the magazine. The catalog description of COMM 291 is as follows:

Course Title: Topics
Course Number: COMM 291
Credits: 3.00
Description
Study of aspects of communication on the intermediate level not listed as regular course offerings. May be repeated.

An Independent Study Learning Contract, agreed to by each student and the instructor among others, will be attached to this syllabus. Credit will not be assigned for COMM 291 until this contract has been executed by all parties to the contract and filed with the Office of the Registrar.

II. Textbooks. There are two: (1) Carol Fisher Saller, The Subversive Copy Editor: Advice from Chicago (U. of Chicago, 2009); and (2) James Thurber, The Years with Ross (ed. Adam Gopnik, HarperCollins Perennial Classics edition, 2001). Stylebooks for The Sleepy Weasel are the Associated Press Stylebook and The Chicago Manual of Style.

III. Mission statement of Benedictine University. Benedictine dedicates itself to the education for the undergraduate and graduated students from diverse ethnic, racial and religious backgrounds. As academic community committed to liberal arts and professional education distinguished and guided by its Roman Catholic tradition and Benedictine heritage - the University prepares its students for a lifetime as active, informed and responsible citizens and leaders in the world Community.

IV. Goals, objectives and outcomes.

A. Goals.
• Students will learn basic editorial principles, attitudes and practices in academic and quality magazine settings
• Students will gain practical editing experience on Benedictine Springfield’s campus magazine.
• Students will gain metacognitive knowledge of their experience and its relation to the practices and principles detailed in their readings

B. Student Learning Objectives. Upon completion of the course, students will be able to demonstrate mastery of specific editing skills required in the preparation of articles and art for publication and in the production of a campus magazine of literature, the arts and public affairs. Students will reflect on how these skills relate to the following Communication Arts program objectives:

1. Prepare graduates for careers in advertising, electronic and print media, journalism, public relations, publishing, writing or other careers requiring sophisticated communications skills;

2. Prepare graduates for continued study in graduate or professional school;

3. Develop the student's critical and imaginative thinking, reading and writing skills;

4. Develop skills to empower the student to communicate ideas effectively, through speaking, writing and the use of technology;

5. Develop skills for critical interpretation of the media;

6. Foster aesthetic understanding in both production and interpretation of media texts;

7. Develop knowledge of the methods to make responsible social and personal decisions;

8. Develop primary and secondary research methodologies;

9. Develop an understanding of the history, structure and operation of the mass media;

10. Provide an understanding of the impact of mass media industries and messages on the individual, society and culture;

11. Develop professional-level skills in written and oral communication for a variety of media and audiences;

12. Develop professional-level production skills for both print and electronic media;

13. Encourage the development of creative expression; and

14. Help the student develop a professional media portfolio.

V. Teaching Methods. Please see Course Requirements below.

VI. Course Requirements.

A. PRDUCTION AND EDITING – Duties as assigned by the faculty adviser.
B. JOURNAL - The student is expected to keep a log of work performed in the editing and production of the magazine, and to meet regularly with the faculty mentor. The student is encouraged to use these conferences to discuss his/her journals and begin planning for the reflective essay due at the end of the semester.
C. SELF-REFLECTIVE PAPER - The student will prepare a 5- to 7-page self-reflective essay on the internship experience, based on the journal he/she has maintained through the semester and relating his/her learning experience to program goals of the Communication Arts program. The body of the paper should explain the processes, projects, and learning experiences acquired by the student during the internship period. This essay will be turned into the faculty adviser by the last day of regularly scheduled classes in the semester.

VII. Means of Evaluation. Grades are weighted as follows:
• SELF-REFLECTIVE PAPER - 50%
• EVALUATION OF WORK PRODUCT - 30%
• IN-PERSON MEETINGS WITH FACULTY MENTOR - 20%

Academic Integrity Statement. Academic and professional environments require honesty and integrity, and these qualities are expected of every student at Springfield College-Benedictine University. In accordance with such expectations, academic integrity requires that you credit others for their ideas. Plagiarism, whether intentional or not, is a grievous offense. Any time you use words or ideas that are not your own, you must give credit to the author, whether or not you are quoting directly from that author. Failure to do so constitutes plagiarism. Any incident of plagiarism and/or academic dishonesty may result in serious consequences. Penalties for academic dishonesty vary depending on the severity or extent of the problem but are always serious. The following are consequences you may face for academic dishonesty:
• a failing grade or “zero” for the assignment;
• dismissal from and a failing grade for the course; or
• dismissal from the Institution.
Please refer to the Springfield College Benedictine University Catalog or the Student Handbook for a complete discussion of the Academic Integrity policy.

Grade Appeal Process. According to the Springfield College Catalog, grade appeals must be initiated 90 days prior to the end of one semester after the course in question has been completed. The process for appealing a grade is outlined below. First, contact the Instructor.
1. A student must appeal to his/her instructor in writing (e-mail is acceptable) and provide specific reasons why his/her grade should be changed.
2. The instructor must respond to the student in writing (e-mail is acceptable) and provide a copy to the division chair. Second, contact the Division Chair.
3. If the student wishes, he/she may then appeal to the division chair in writing (e-mail is acceptable) and provide specific reasons why his/her grade should be changed without the instructor’s permission. The student should understand that overwhelming evidence must be presented to the division chair to prove that the current grade is incorrect.
4. The division chair must respond to the student in writing (e-mail is acceptable) and provide a copy to the academic dean. Lastly, contact the Academic Dean.
5. If the student wishes, he/she may appeal to the academic dean in writing (e- mail is acceptable) and provide specific reasons why his/her grade should be changed without the instructor’s or the division chair’s permission. The student should understand that overwhelming evidence must be presented to the academic dean to prove the grade is incorrect.
6. The academic dean must respond to the student in writing (e-mail is acceptable). The academic dean’s decision is final.

Incomplete Request. To qualify for an “I” grade, a minimum of 75% of the course work must be completed with a passing grade, and a student must submit a completed Request for an Incomplete form to the Registrar’s Office. The form must be completed by both student and instructor, but it is the student’s responsibility (not the instructor’s) to initiate this process and obtain the necessary signatures. Student Withdrawal Procedure It is the student’s responsibility to officially withdraw from a course by completing the appropriate form, with appropriate signatures, and returning the completed form to the Advising Office. Please refer to the Student Handbook for important financial information related to withdrawals.

Add/Drop Dates
January 25 - Last day to add courses
January 25 - Last day to drop a course without a W (4:00 p.m.)
April 5 - Last day to drop courses

VIII. Course Outline and/or Calendar. TBA.

IX. Americans with Disabilities Act. Benedictine University at Springfield College in Illinois provides individuals with disabilities reasonable accommodations to participate in educational programs, actives and services. Students with disabilities requiring accommodations to participate in class activities or meet course requirements should contact the Director of the Resource Center as early as possible.

X. Assessment. Goals, objectives, and learning outcomes to be assessed will be stated in the Learning Contract. Primary means of assessment will be self-reflective essays and examination of any portfolio artifacts.
Final exam schedule TBA.

Fw: Fw: Too dependent on our computers?

----- Forwarded Message -----




Subject: Too dependent on our computers?
Date: Thursday, November 19, 2009, 10:14 PM


This is the proof that we have become too dependent on our computers.

Question: Are you Male or female?

To find out the answer, look down....




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I said look down, not scroll down!!!

COMM 207: Pre-test on libel (and link to REALLY GOOD explanation of defamation by a lawyer from Michigan

For extra credit: What is your name? ____________

1. What is libel? Define it.

2. What are the four elements of libel?

3. What are the most common defenses against libel? Name three.

4. In what other classes have you talked about libel?

Here's the introduction to Defamation, Libel and Slander Law by Aaron Larson, an appellate lawyer who practices in Ann Arbor, Mich. He also has a fact sheet on the Michigan Dog Bite Law in case you ever need it.

COMM 207: Copyright - class notes

The stuff on libel and privacy in our textbook is important, so we'll do a quick review in class today. But as students you'll probably need a working knowledge of copyright long before you get into the kinds of situations that expose people to lawsuits.

So ...

A good practical link to get started on copyright issues:

For an unusually clear introduction to the whole schmear, go to the Washington State University copyright page at http://publishing.wsu.edu/copyright/ ...

Some points for writers (that would be us), distilled from Washington State and elsewhere:

• You don't have to register a work with the Library of Congress anymore. You just publish it. "Publish," by the way, means something different in copyright law than it does in libel law. In this case, it is "the distribution of copies or phonorecords of a work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending. " Job tip: Little inconsistencies like that make work for lawyers.
• It's still a good idea to register with the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress. Its Web site at http://www.copyright.gov/ tells how.
• Books should be registered with a company called Bowker, which issues them an International Standard Book Number (ISBN) and gets them listed in an authoritative catalog of "Books In Print" available at most libraries (including Becker) and on line.
  When you sell an article to a magazine, they buy the right to publish it unless you specifically negotiate secondary rights. If you write something on the job, the law assumes you assign all rights to your employer unless you negotiate a more favorable arrangement.

Country singer Willie Nelson sold his rights to a song called "Family Bible" for $50. He needed the money. But over the long run, he got screwed. Don't laugh. The song has been worth millions in royalties over the years.

Even so, most of the stuff that most of us write - that would include me, by the way - isn't worth enough to take somebody to court over. Sad, but true. Worrying too much about copyright, e.g. registering your rhymed couplets about Aunt Gertrude that begins "Roses are red, violets are blue / Aunt Gertrude rocks, / Through and through" with the U.S. government can be interpreted as the sign of an amateur.

Some points for users of copyrighted material. Copyright infringement, unlike plagiarism, is a violation of the law. It is similar to plagiarism in that it consists of the use of another person's intellectual property without permission. It is different in that you can be sued if you violate copyright. [Also see the footnote about fair use and plagiarism below.] The practices you learned in school about avoiding plagiarism, however, will help you avoid infringement. Giving credit, not quoting too much, etc. Here are some things I learned on the job:

• Be very, very careful with the words to songs. Best bet: Always seek permission to quote stuff. Musicians and recording companies are most vigilant about protecting their copyright because the words to a hit song, obviously (think about it), have value.
  
• If you're publishing to the Internet, for example blogging, be careful. (Are you beginning to see a pattern here?) You can link to other pages without permission, but if you're going to copy their stuff, email them and obtain permission first.
  
• Seek permission for anything you use. See another pattern?
  
• Some stuff is copyright free. Examples: U.S. government documents (but not necessarily state government, so be careful). An interesting development in Web publishing is Creative Commons licensing. But it's not really mainstream yet.

Two big exceptions for journalism students fall under the legal doctrine of fair use (which is not the same as fair comment). Fair use, according to Wikipedia, "... allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders, such as use for scholarship or review." Add covering the news.

So if you're writing a review of a published work for The Bulldog, you can quote from it under the doctine of fair use. Why?

Footnote on plagiarism. Quoted from Wikipedia's discussion of fair use: "While plagiarism and copyright violation are related matters—-both can, at times, involve failure to properly credit sources—-they are not identical. Copyright law protects exact expression, not ideas: for example, a distant paraphrase that lays out the same argument as a copyrighted essay is in little danger of being deemed a copyright violation, but it could still be plagiarism. On the other hand, one can plagiarize even a work that is not protected by copyright, such as trying to pass off a line from Shakespeare as one's own. Plagiarism—using someone's words, ideas, images, etc. without acknowledgment—is a matter of professional ethics. Copyright is a matter of law. Citing sources generally prevents accusations of plagiarism, but is not a sufficient defense against copyright violations (otherwise, anyone could legally reprint an entire copyrighted book just by citing who wrote it)."

COMM 317: 'Palinpalooza' - all Palin, all the time - the press and the 'incubator of civilization'

I really wanted to let it rest. At least for a couple of days. But then ex-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin blasted Newsweek - and blasted herself right back in the headlines, perhaps not by accident, while she was at it - when the magazine ran a sexy magazine cover picked up from a runners' magazine. Or allegedly sexy. Or something. (If you haven't seen the cover, and/or want to make up your own mind, link for one of the few unbiased reports on the cover and Palin's reaction to it.) So there she was this morning, right back at the top of the Google news page's aggragator. Right before she headed out for her first book signing in Grand Rapids, Mich.

So, OK, I'm sucked back in.

I hate to admit it, especially perhaps to myself, but I'm a sucker for Sarah Palin stories. She's like the the boy in the balloon, former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, the late Michael Jackson, Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears' escapades in between trips to rehab and comeback concerts. In fact, maybe she's a lot like Britney Spears.

At least they both keep coming back, and reportedly they're both making money hand over fist.

Besides: I do have this excuse: All the coverage of Palin's comeback tour - OK, it's a book tour - can be considered as goods on sale in the marketplace of ideas.

Or can it?

How does all this contribute to American political life?

I like the comments on Alaska Mudflats, a left-of-center political blog written by "AKMuckraker," the pen name for a blogger in Anchorage who has chronicled Palin's career - along with the rest of Alaska politics - and built, almost singlehandedly, a virtual community of "Mudflatters" worldwide that raises money for flood-stricken Alaskan villages and plugs other good works for liberal causes.

AKMuckraker has been blogging her reaction to Palin's new book "Going Rogue" page by page. When the Newsweek cover came out, she took time off from that to offer what I think is one of the better analyses of the cover art. Did I say "better?" Maybe what I mean is I agree with it:

After blogging two chapters of Going Rogue, and getting up and rubbing my eyeballs, shaking out my arms, brushing my teeth and scrubbing my brain vigorously with a Brill-O pad, I clicked around to see what ELSE might be happening today in the news that didn’t have to do with Sarah Palin. So, what’s on the front page of Yahoo News right now? Sarah Palin.

AKMuckraker doesn't have a problem with it. Or if there's a problem, it's not Newsweek's problem:

I think it’s the perfect image for the cover. Why? Because the title of the article is “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Sarah?” And behold, the problem. She has no boundaries, and no concept of how she is perceived by others, or why no governor should pose in short shorts, leaning on a flag in front of a blue star banner with a bumpit and makeup for a photo that makes her look like a cupcake.

And this:

So let me pass on a word of advice to all budding politicians out there. If you don’t want to look like a mindless patriotic cupcake, then don’t pose for pictures posing like a mindless patriotic cupcake. Just a suggestion.

So ... is Newsweek "an incubator of civilization" here?

Is Palin?

Think it over: The answer may be a little more complicated than it first appears.

Elsewhere on the Mudflats, there's a very nice story about how AKMuckraker went over to a WalMart in Anchorage to buy Palin's book the morning it came out. It has some lovely pictures of the WalMart and ravens ("dumpster ducks") scrounging in its parking lot.

Howard Kurtz of The Washington Post can't help himself either. In today's column he says, and I agree, "The media are going rogue." Kurtz explains:

They just can't help themselves. Journalists are addicted to Sarah Palin. Some love to hate her, some love to love her, all love to dissect or defend her.

Oh, they've tried to generate the same emotion for the public option, for the Afghanistan options, but sadly, that doesn't produce the same level of excitement. No thrill up the leg. No argument about women and sexism. No Tina Fey. No newsmagazine cover with a leggy ex-governor.

Palin is undeniably a crossover hit: a woman, a Republican, a politician, a hunter, a hockey mom, an Alaskan, a media critic, a cultural force, a creationist, the mother of a Down syndrome baby. There's something for everyone to argue about. Hers is a rise-and-fall-and-possible-comeback story.

Even the right is divided. David Brooks says Palin is a "joke"; the Weekly Standard crowd loves her. So you have left-right warfare and right-on-right ridicule.

And it does sell papers. Kurtz suggests it sells more than newspapers. He adds:

Does Palin pay a price for taking on those who buy ink by the barrel or have satellite uplinks? In some ways, yes, but since the media love focusing on the media, she winds up getting even more column inches and airtime (to which I've just contributed). Journalists are grateful for such a colorful and divisive subject. And that means the Palinpalooza will continue for some time to come.

This makes it two days in a row for Kurtz. In Tuesday's column he put it like this:

I contend that Palin is now moving into full-time celebrityhood. Yes, she wants to influence the political debate, even while making money and rebuilding her brand from the tarnishing of '08. But she is not acting like someone who wants to be president. She is acting like someone who wants to be a star. That's why her first interview was with Oprah.

In the same column Kurtz quoted blogger Tina Brown of the Daily Beast as saying Palin's book tour is "one of the all-time great hoochie coochie dances" and suggesting, "The media are dying for relief after three months of health care, Afghanistan, and the economic slump."

Which reminds me of Jack Shafer, media critic for Slate.com, who said when Palin first hit the national scene at last year's Republican convention, "the press scented the lard-fried Snickers bar [of a story] that was Palin" and dropped more substantive coverage.

I think there's something to that: As journalists, we like conflict and controversy, and Palin serves up great big steaming plates of of it all the time. It's a lot more fun than being an "incubator" for "civilization."

Or is that how we incubate our civilization in America?

COMM 317: Kohlberg's stages on becoming a moral adult

Of all the material I've tracked down on Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development, the clearest and most thought-provoking I've seen is a PDF-format handout by Harry Coverston, who teaches humanities, religion and philosophy of law at the University of Central Florida.

We'll go over it in class, but here are some highlights:

• Coverston adds a stage between conventional and postconventional morality, which he calls "the cynic." He calls it an "in-between stage market by egoism and skepticism, never able to completely leave behind conventional reasoning even after recognizing its inadequacies." I'm not sure I completely buy it, but it's worth thinking about.
  
  
• Toward the end of his discussion, Coverston says something important (he puts it in blodface all-caps, and I think it's important enough I'll quote it in boldface all-caps): "IN STAGE DEVELOPMENT, MOVEMENT THROUGH THE STAGES IS EFFECTED WHEN CONGNITIVE DISEQUILIBRIUM IS CREATED, THAT IS, WHEN A PERSON'S COGNITIVE OUTLOOK IS NOT ADEQUATE TO COPE WITH A GIVEN MORAL DILEMMA." He explains, "The person who is growing, will look for more and more way adequate ways of solving problems. If he has no problems, no dilemmas, he is not likely to look for solutions. He will not grow morally. ... Life crises often present opportunities for moral development. These include loss of one's job, moving to another location, death of a significant other, unforeseen tragedies and disasters." Sad but true.
  
  
• Criticisms of Kohlberg's theory. I'd take 'em with a grain of salt. I'd take Kohlberg with a grain of salt, too. Hell, I take myself with a grain of salt.

Especially useful ... Coverston has bumper-stricker slogans and/or character types, plus questions, for each of the six stages, uh, make that six and a half stages of development. They help me get some of the distinctions:

STAGE 1: PUNISHMENT AND OBEDIENCE: Bumper Sticker: Might Makes Right. Question(s): What must I do to avoid punishment? What can I do to force my will on others?

STAGE 2: INSTRUMENTAL EXCHANGE: Bumper Sticker: The Egoist. Question(s): What's in it for me? What must I do to avoid pain, gain pleasure?

STAGE 3: INTERPERSONAL (TRIBAL) CONFORMITY: Bumper Sticker: Good Boy/Good Girl. Question(s): What must I do to be seen as a good boy/girl (socially acceptable)?

STAGE 4: LAW AND ORDER (SOCIETAL CONFORMITY): Bumper Sticker: The Good Citizen. Question: What if everyone did that?

STAGE 4 ½: Bumper Sticker: The Cynic. Question: Why should I believe anything?

STAGE 5: PRIOR RIGHTS AND SOCIAL CONTRACT: Bumper Sticker: The Philosopher/King. Question: What is the just thing to do given all the circumstances? What will bring the most good to the largest number of people?

STAGE 6: UNIVERSAL ETHICAL PRINCIPLES: Bumper Sticker: The Prophet/Messiah. Questions: What will foster life in its fullest for all living beings? What is justice for all?

What do these bumper stickers and questions remind you of? I hear echoes of Kant and John Stuart Mill, not to mention the bodhisattvas of Buddhist thought.

in-class demo

Kumquats are wonderful. I love kumquats. Here's a link to a website

COMM 207: Today in class ... and Thursday's reading

Today in class, we'll build on last week's experience creating links in Blogger. To recap: Blogger is a very user-friendly program that does most of the work for us but allows us to get familiar with using some of the more common HTML tags. (Remember what HTML stands for? Right, it's HyperText Markup Language. Good for you!) To get full benefit from the class, click on the "Edit Html" tab at the top of the posting field. That'll show you the HTML tags.

And open a window to the page on creating HTML links in the W3Schools website. Just in case you want to cheat by copying and pasting the HTML code instead of trying to remember it just yet.

But first, an assignment for Thursday: Read Chapter 13, "Editing and the Law" (pages 209-225), in Ludwig and Gilmore, "Modern News Editing." It looks like a drab, cloudy late autumn weekend, so you'll be glad for the opportunity to curl up with a good book.

In class, your assignment is to post an item to your Web blog in which you link to another page - you may choose the page - and briefly preview it. Write some copy to explain the link, in other words, so you'll get the practice putting a hypertext link in your copy. I'll post an example below.

Here's how I'd go about it (although you can vary the order if you like, anything that gets the job done). When I link, I do it like this:

1. Open one window to the blog and get into the "Create Posting" mode. Click on the "Edit Html" tag at upper right.

2. In another window, find a page you want to link to. Copy the address or URL (uniform resource locator) the address field at the top of the webpage.

3. Go to the first window and paste the address into the Create Field. I write the hyperlink tag (the "a href=" stuff between the angle brackets) around it, but you may want to copy-and-paste the tag in first and then the address. Whatever works for you.

4. Write a scintillating item around it introducing readers to the page you're linking to.

I'll post a sample item below.

First, a headline. (You'll write yours in the title field.) I'll start with the head and go on to the sample item.

Wake up with a wisecrack

like folks do in Atlanta

When my family lived in a senior highrise in the suburbs of Atlanta, we'd get the Journal-Constitution every morning outside their apartment. And we'd do what readers in Atlanta always do.

We'd turn to page 2, and we'd read "The Vent."

The Vent is a daily collection of wisecracks sent in by readers. It's available on the AJC.com website, linked high up on the homepage sandwiched between "Celeb news" and Traffic. Which gives you a good idea of just how popular it is.

Sometimes, it's funny. Sometimes, it's a good barometer of what people in Georgia are thinking. Always, it's a nice time-waster as you start your day.

Some examples from today's vent:

• I avoid doing business with any company whose ad pops up at the beginning of a story I'm trying to read.
  
• Bonuses for Georgia lottery employees are an insult to all teachers, firemen, policemen and many other public servants who have gotten [unpaid] furlough days and never get bonuses.
  
• Obama, quit bowing to everyone else in the world! If you are that ashamed of the US, resign.
  
• I don't want to win the lottery. I just want to work there!
  
• ATTENTION MERCHANTS: If I walk in your store and see Christmas stuff before Thanksgiving, you just lost a customer.
  
• Headline: "Supreme Court won't Hear 'Redskins' Name Complaint." Of course, they're Redskins fans!

COMM 297 (internship): final papers

By the last day of classes (Friday, Dec. 4), I need to have your self-reflective essay on the internship experience. Here's the assignment on our syllabus for Communications 297. And here's what it boils down to: Write about (1) what you did; and (2) what you learned by doing it. You'll notice for students working on campus with The Bulldog, I've changed the wording.

C. FINAL PAPER - The student will prepare a 5- to 7-page self-reflective essay on the internship experience, based on the journal he/she has maintained through the semester and relating his/her learning experience to program goals of the Communication Arts program [listed below]. This essay will be turned into the faculty mentor by the last day of regularly scheduled classes in the semester. It should be structured approximately as follows:

INTRODUCTION - A history/background of the department/company.
BODY - A synthesis of the journal entries into a narrative form. The body of the paper should explain the processes, projects, and learning experiences acquired by the student during the internship period.
CONCLUSION - Would you recommend this internship experience to future Benedictine students? Why, or why not? How would you improve this internship to give future Benedictine students a better experience? Explain how.

Here are the program goals. Not all of them apply to internships:

1. Prepare graduates for careers in advertising, electronic and print media, journalism, public relations, publishing, writing or other careers requiring sophisticated communications skills;

2. Prepare graduates for continued study in graduate or professional school;

3. Develop the student's critical and imaginative thinking, reading and writing skills;

4. Develop skills to empower the student to communicate ideas effectively, through speaking, writing and the use of technology;

5. Develop skills for critical interpretation of the media;

6. Foster aesthetic understanding in both production and interpretation of media texts;

7. Develop knowledge of the methods to make responsible social and personal decisions;

8. Develop primary and secondary research methodologies;

9. Develop an understanding of the history, structure and operation of the mass media;

10. Provide an understanding of the impact of mass media industries and messages on the individual, society and culture;

11. Develop professional-level skills in written and oral communication for a variety of media and audiences;

12. Develop professional-level production skills for both print and electronic media;

13. Encourage the development of creative expression; and

14. Help the student develop a professional media portfolio.

COMM 317: Howard Kurtz on Fox News, Sarah Palin

Howard Kurtz' column in today's Washington Post has a couple of items that will be important for your papers due Nov. 30. With so much going on now that relates to the topic, by the way, you'll want to be following the news so you can keep up and sound intelligent when it comes time to write the paper.

But you want to keep up with the news, anyway, right?

Here's what Kurtz adds today:

• A fair and balanced profile of Fox News 'caster Shephard Smith, who is, well, fair and balanced. Money quote (which is actually a quote within a quote): "To Smith, the recent White House attacks on Fox as a wing of the Republican Party are off base -- and have clearly backfired. 'We're at the top of every blog and every newspaper every day," he says. "You know what that does? That raises our profile.'"
  
• A roundup of commentary on Sarah Palin's book tour, which goes back and forth on her claims she's been unfairly skewered by the mainstream media, especially the Associated Press. Also: Today's book tour story in the Anchorage Daily News is objective, and it links to a sidebar in which the AP stands behind its stories. Her initial blast, in which she said AP did partisan political "opposition research" on her, got less ink but was picked up by the liberal Huffington Post blog, which loves to hate Palin.

With so much discussion of the subject(s) of your papers, I'm going to run the questions on the assignment sheet again to help you stay focused. They read:

Here are some related questions to get you started thinking: How well do Fox specifically, and the cable networks in general, fulfil their role as an "incubator of civilization" and political discourse in a society that has a strong free-market, libertarian streak? Do they promote community? Should they be expected to? How well, specifically, do different elements of the media live up to their ethical responsibilities? How might Aristotle, Immanuel Kant or John Stuart Mill react if they could come back and watch Fox or MSNBC? What would they say to the media execs? Do the codes of ethics have any wisdom to offer - i.e. the Society of Professional Journalists' for news coverage and the Public Relations Society of America's for commentary? (Most of the on-air talent probably are not members of those societies, but they do set standards for the profession.) What do Fox, MSNBC and CNN get right ethically? Where do they fall down? How might they do better? How much do you think the networks are driven by ideology, and how much by other factors?

In writing your essay, you'd go crazy if you tried to answer all of these questions. Instead, decide which ones you want to focus on and narrow your ideas down to a clearly stated thesis you prove by citing evidence in support of it. (See? It's like I keep saying: English 101 never goes away!) Here's the central question I want you to consider, no matter how you focus your thesis: How well does the "marketplace of ideas" analogy hold up? How well do Fox and the other media live up to their responsibility to maintain a free market in ideas?

See? It gets back to this: Under the social responsiblity theory of press-government relations, the media have a responsibilty to tell the truth, get the facts out and maintain a free marketplace of ideas. How ethically do they carry out this responsbility?

'The Devil Went Down to Springfield'

The comments in Rich Miller's Capitol Fax Blog are uniquely worth reading, because his readership/market niche is uniquely well versed in Illinois statehouse politics. Witness this exchange on a nominating petition challenge by Gov. Pat Quinn ... Miller initiated it as his "Question of the Day," like this:

... I don’t see anything inherently wrong with challenging petitions. The law is the law, and too many candidates don’t bother following it. But this latest flip-flop shows that Gov. Pat Quinn has either “matured” as a politician or has sold his soul.

Actually, that might make a good question.

* The Question: Has Gov. Quinn matured as a politician or has he sold his soul to get himself elected? Explain.

…Adding… I should’ve been more clear that this is a snarky question. Snarky responses are heavily encouraged.

- posted by Rich Miller

And the comments came rolling in, 66 of them. Here are a few, with all but the first reference to the Charlie Daniels song omitted.

- 47th Ward - Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 10:34 am:

I’m not sure I understand the question. I always felt you couldn’t become a mature politician until you sold your soul…

* * *

- babs - Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 10:49 am:

The Devil went down to Springfield. Although many say he’s been living there for a long time now.

- Robert - Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 10:53 am:

You have to sell your soul to be a successful politician. Those who don’t are sitting on their couches at home as private citizens.

- Will County Woman - Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 10:54 am:

darn, i can’t answer the question because i don’t do snark well.

- Just My Opinion - Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 10:54 am:

Rule #1 for politicians: You must agree that should you win the office you are running for, you will report to the inauguration office and turn in your soul. It may be retrieved when you resign from office.

* * *

- Obamarama - Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 10:59 am:

===It may be retrieved when you resign from office.===

Then you must relinquish it again when you file your first lobbyist registration with SoS (along with the new $1,000 fee–ouch).

PQ has matured as a politician but only slightly; he’s still not very good at it. I agree with the comment above, it would be malpractice on the part of a professional political operative not to challenge the petitions.

* * *

- Leave a Light on George - Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 11:06 am:

Hasn’t sold it just mortgaged it along with the rest of the state.

* * *

- publius - Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 11:17 am:

i would like to run for governor, so i think i will file a petition with one hundred signatures—should some dirty politician challenge my petition and destroy my dream fantasy? damn straight—they do us a favor by eliminating those who can’t even follow the simplist first rule of politics which says that to get on the ballot you must file the correct number of valid signatures—besides any thing that thins the herd is good

* * *

- Just wondering - Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 11:37 am:

I agree with publius…what does it say about a candidate, lower on the ticket who doesn’t submit any petitons on their own behalf? It says they paid slugs to falsify documents to earn a couple bucks. It’s almost comical to really look at some of these petitons. If this basic rule is not followed and shady candidates like this are elected, we will have bigger problems than we already have. Petition challenges are valid……BUT Quinn has flip flopped once again. He’s older but not matured as a politician.

* * *

- Anon - Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 12:08 pm:

==Has Gov. Quinn matured as a politician or has he sold his soul to get himself elected? ==

po-TAY-to, po-TAH-to

Or, to steal from an old lawyer joke, when the devil told him that the price of the deal was his immortal soul, he replied, “So, what’s the catch?”

* * *

Montrose - Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 12:27 pm:

I applaud Quinn’s innovative tactics for trying to close the budget gap, but selling his soul is just another one-time revenue source.

Now, if used his soul as collateral for issuing bonds that would go towards the creation of green jobs that manufacture enviromentally-friendly temporary souls for use at religious ceremonies and emergency blues-singing sessions, I would be all for it.

* * *

- wordslinger - Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 1:33 pm:
It’s hard to tell. However, I was down at the Crossroads last night and Pat was slinging a mean guitar.

* * *

- the Other Anonymous - Thursday, Nov 12, 09 @ 1:45 pm:

C’mon, it’s Pat Quinn we’re talking about. He’d do something more populist than selling his soul, like trading down to a used ‘78 soul with 250,000 miles on it!

COMM 337: More on CNN, branding and straight news

On the Politico.com website, an informative analysis of why CNN is gambling on straight news by replacing conservative firebrand Lou Dobbs with a highly respected, but perhaps colorless, former Associated Press newsman John King. Lots of audience share figures for news shows, commentary on CNN, Fox and the other cable TV networks.

Best quote: “I applaud what they’re doing,” said veteran television journalist Sam Donaldson, ”but if I were an investor, I wouldn’t be holding my breath.”

We need to look at some of the figures and the demographics. This is about ethics, but it's also about business, folks.

Equal time. While we're at Politico.com, let's look at a video clip, too. It shows Sean Hannity acknowledging his show screwed up when it switched rally videos behind his commentary - as pointed out by Jon Stewart - and thanking Stewart for watching. It's about ratings, too.

COMM 317: Final exam, media ethics

Below are one 50-point essay question and two 25-point short essay questions. Please write two to four pages (500 to 1,000 words) on the 50-point essay and one to two pages (250 to 500 words) on each of the 25-point essays. This is a take-home final. I will accept completed exams on the last day of class, Friday, Dec. ___.

1. Essay (50 points). In their conclusion to "Media Ethics: Issues and Cases," Phillip Patterson and Lee Wilkins cite research showing that journalists and public relations professionals both do well on the Defining Issues Test (DIT), a fill-in-the-bubble survey that measures peoples' ethical standards. The DIT is based on a theory by Lawrence Kohlberg, who says (according to Patterson's and Wilkins' summary) as we mature, we progress from "simple obedience" to outwardly imposed rules through ethical standards based on individual self-interest and conformity to standards based on awareness of a "social contract [that] demands that we uphold the laws even if they are contrary to our best interests" unless they conflict with "values such as life and liberty [that] stand above any majority opinion" (341). In other words, Kolhberg says we progress from fixed obedience to flexibility in our ethical standards. "The further up Kohlberg's stages students [who took the DIT] progressed, the more they asserted that moral principles are subject to interpretation by individuals and subject to contextual factors" (343). In your opinion, do the ethical codes of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Public Relations Society of America allow for such flexibility? Cite some specific examples of where they do and/or where they don't. How can you use some of the ethical principles we have studied in COMM 317 in your mass communications career? Cite some specific example of those, too.

2a. Self-reflective essay (25 points). What do you consider the most important thing you have you learned in COMM 317 that you didn’t know before? Why do you say it is the most important? Be specific in your discussion of how it might fit into your career plans, or your plans for further study. Consider it in the context of what you knew at the beginning of the course and what you know now. In grading this essay, I will evaluate the relevance of your discussion to the main goals and objectives of the course; the specific detail you cite to support or illustrate your points; and the specific connections you make.

2b. Short essay (25 points). As the newly appointed travel editor for The Prairie Clarion in Clarey’s Prairie, Ill., you receive the offer of an all-expenses-paid weekend visit to Anthracite Acres, a tourist resort built on top of a reclaimed strip mine in beautiful Hogscour, W.Va. Ever mindful of the SPJ Code of Ethics, you’re a little nervous about conflicts of interest, but the PR guy for the resort says you’re free to write anything you want about your visit, even if you discover the mountaintop was improperly reclaimed. And you halfway remember reading something about acid runoff into the South Fork of the Little Hogscour River in West Virginia. What does the SPJ Code of Ethics say about situations like this? After deadline, you are sharing a pitcher of a cold beverage with Aristotle, John Stuart Mill and Immanuel Kant (hey, this is a hypothetical case). What would Aristotle, Kant and Mill say? How would they explain their reasoning? What principles would they cite, and why?

COMM 207: Getting your feet wet with HTML tags

We're not going to make expert Web designers in Communications 207, but we do aim to get you started getting familiar with Hypertext Markup Language. That's the code that creates Web pages, and no matter how confusing it looks at first, HTML is actually pretty simple. Basically it's a series of commands written in plain text, i.e. the kind of text you get when you turn off all the "automatic" options in Microsoft Word.

Our textbook has a good introduction in Chapter 8, and the online W3 Schools tutorial is excellent.

So let's surf W3 Schools a while, and then make an HTML tag.

Yep. That's what I said. You're going to create an HTML tag linking to a Web page. Best way to do it is to do it. Here's a first exercise. Basically, I want you to find a website and write a link to it. You can start by posting a comment containing the link to this blogpost. That's right. Now. Today. Blogger lets you do that.

As you read in W3 Schools, notice how the tags come in pairs. The first, at the beginning of the text you want to mark up, starts with a "less than" sign - < - and ends with a "greater than" - > - sign. The second, at the end of the text you mark, is like the first, but it inserts a forward-leaning slash - like this: / - just after the "less than" sign. It probably looks like alphabet soup right now, but you'll get used to it quickly. Just remember these things come in pairs.

But for now, let's just get started. I learned it monkey-see, monkey-do, and I think that's the best way. And we can look at the theory later. So here goes ...

To create a link, go to the comments field at the bottom of this post and open it. Decide what you want to link to, and type something like: "Here's a link to ..." that introduces the hypertext. The hypertext is just the part you click on that takes you where you want to go. By typing in an address (URL) and putting a code around the text, using angle brackets and letters, you tell your browser to find the indicated address. Confused yet? Let's just do it.

How to Post a Link
I like to do this with two windows open, one to the page I'm posting the link to and the other to the comment (or create post) field in Blogspot. Here are the steps:

1. In the address field in the header, highlight the address (or URL). Copy it.
   
2. Go to the comment field. Type in Here's a link to <a href="
   
3. Paste in the address with no space between the "less than" and the address.
   
4. Type "> with no space between the address and the quote mark.
   
5. Type in whatever words you want in the link, for example where you want to go
   
6. Immediately after those words, type </a>
   
7. Your link should look this this <a href="address">where you want to do</a>

One last step: Be patient. It takes forever to get all the details right, and even then I get little red-and-yellow error messages all the time in Blogger. If you don't yet know what I mean by that, you will very soon!

¥

COMM 317: More on your media bias papers

Didja notice that after I asked you all to post links to articles on media bias to the blog, there are only two? That's two out of how many in the class? Do you notice there's steam coming out of my ears? Do you really want to see me throw a tantrum?

Let's not go there. Let's repeat the assignment and try again.

Here's what I assigned: In class today [that was Wednesday] let's go out on the World Wide Web and see what we can find about political bias in Fox, MSNBC, CNN ... all the news- and commentary gang. When you find a good piece, post a link as a comment to this post. If you're comfortable with HTML tags, make it a working link. If you're not, just copy and paste the URL in the address field of your browser to the comment.

There. I've done my part. Now it's time for you to @*#$%ing do yours.

But it is a swamp out there.

Too much of the commentary is, well, commentary. Biased, in other words. Tells you more about the commentator (to make up a word) than the commentatee (to make up another). Interesting, but practically useless. Something I've learned the hard way: Be especially wary of commentary you agree with!

Here's a column by Kurtz that I Googled up this morning. It ran in February, and it analyzes Fox News in marketing terms of branding, audience nitche and customer loyalty that I find more informative than uplifting Fox as a guardian of true red-blooded American values or downgrading it as a cancer, or at best an ugly wart, on the body politic.

Kurtz mentions something I didn't expect. And I always like to listen up when I hear something that surprises me. I learn more that way. Kurtz says:

Liberal outlets thrived during the last administration, when those who couldn't stand the president gravitated toward the strongest Bush critics. MSNBC gained in the ratings by moving sharply left, installing Air America's Rachel Maddow in the hour after Keith Olbermann last fall.

A right-leaning brand might be a similar asset in the Obama era. The Washington Times is creating a conservative opinion site, and last week announced that its newsroom is launching a syndicated show on Talk Radio Network, which carries such conservative hosts as Laura Ingraham and Michael Savage.

Worth thinking about, isn't it? But I think this is the money graf (right where it should be, in the third graf right after the lede):

Biased media are in the eye of the beholder, and with a site built around such high-decibel stars as Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck, Fox is hoping to leverage its brand online, especially among conservative true believers.

I think it's about the business model, folks.

In the meantime, Lou Dobbs' resignation from CNN is prompting a lot of commentators to commentate (is that a verb?) on the subject. Here are some articles I came across.

• Politico.com media reporter Michael Calderone carried a statement Wednesday by CNN Worldwide President Jim Walton on why the net wants nonpartisan hosts to protect its worldwide brand of "delivering nonpartisan, straight news reporting." Walton added, "That's what we want to deliver around the world. We compete against a lot more than Fox and MSNBC."
  
• Howard Kurtz of The Washington Post has a totally unbiased straight-down-the-middle factual story on Dobbs' resignation. Lots of background. Good quotes. Typical Kurtz. He's one of the best media analysts in the business.
  

COM 317: Today in class ... let's dig up some facts

Let's do some of the research for your Nov. 30 papers today.

First, to help you get in the mood, here's comedian Jon Stewart's take on some Fox News commentary by Sean Hannity. Spoiler alert: Huffington Post's summary notes, "Jon Stewart and his team ... point[ed] out neither the color of the leaves nor sky in the tacked-on video matched that of the actual footage. They went on to mock Fox by adding more video to the interview, this time from Woodstock and the movie '300.'"

Swapping pix is purely unethical. Certainly it would be in a news report, and I think it is in an opinion piece as well ... not because of its political edge but because it makes one thing look like something it isn't.

But journalistic ethics is always fuzzy around the edges. Always. And Fox isn't the only TV network that futzes around with news and opinion. It's just the one Jon Stewart most enjoys poking fun at.

So let's try to be a little more, uh, fair and balanced.

In class today let's go out on the World Wide Web and see what we can find about political bias in Fox, MSNBC, CNN ... all the news- and commentary gang. When you find a good piece, post a link as a comment to this post. If you're comfortable with HTML tags, make it a working link. If you're not, just copy and past the URL in the address field of your browser to the comment.

Tangent: To refresh your memory, the HTML tag above would look like this: <a href="http://www.blogger.com/" target="_blank">Jon Stewart's take on some Fox News commentary</a> ... if you haven't had this yet in COMM 207, don't worry. We'll get to it soon.

This week's Time magazine has an essay by James Poniewozik that points out another kind of media bias - one I think all of our national media share. (Many thanks to Pete Davis for pointing it out to this Newsweek reader!) Poniewozik, a Time staff writer, points out a Pew Research Center report that suggests a centrist or middle-of-the-road bias in the "mainstream media." His headline tells it all: "Polarized News? The Media's Moderate Bias." He says:

... the news audience, if not news itself, is getting more polarized. But categories like Pew's "liberal," "conservative" and "neither" imply that our society is as simplistic about media bias as we are about politics (when in fact both involve nuanced positions), and they overlook the most significant bias out there: moderate bias.

As anyone following health reform knows, centrism is a political position too. And you see moderate bias — i.e., a preference for centrism — whenever a news outlet assumes that the truth must be "somewhere in the middle." You see it whenever an organization decides that "balance" requires equal weight for an opposing position, however specious: "Some, however, believe global warming is a myth." ...

Poniewozik adds:

Pretty plainly, Fox News is full of conservative opinion hosts, while its news wing has fixated on anti-Obama causes célèbres from ACORN to the tea-party protests. (Equally plainly, the White House is not concerned about fighting the bias of, say, MSNBC hosts who agree with it.) But Sean Hannity's Republicanism, Beck's populism and Mike Huckabee's Christian conservatism are very different — as are, say, [MSNBC program hosts] Rachel Maddow's progressivism and Chris Matthews' Democratic insiderdom. American politics has civil libertarians and Wall Street conservatives and social-justice moralist-populists and much more.

And they all, in these unsettled times, have various issues with the centrist establishment — which has its own permutations and camps. All of this promises wild and interesting times for journalists to cover, but they won't be able to do it from the neutral center. Because there isn't one, and there never was.

Which describes the world as I know it. And always knew it.

COMM 317: First paper, due Nov. 30

Please note: I have heavily revised the questions below to focus more clearly on the "marketplace of ideas" analogy and deToqueville's theory that the press serves as an "incubator of civilization" by publishing information that made American democracy work.

Your assignment: Write a 2,000- to 2,500-word, publishable article in which you evaluate cable television networks including Fox News for their role in what is known as the "marketplace of ideas." While I am not requiring American Psychological Association (APA) documentation, I do want you to identify your sources and attribute quotes to them - both direct and indirect - according to good Associated Press (AP) style. The paper is due Monday, Nov. 30.

According to our textbook, "Media Ethics" by Philip Patterson and Lee Wilkins, the Founders of the American political system "expected citizens to be informed and then to participate in politics," and they expected the media - the press, in the parlance of their day - to play an important role in the process. And as so often is the case, they saw the process as basically adversarial. In other words, good policy would emerge as a synthesis arising from conflict. "They expected that political debate, including what was printed in the press of the day, would be parisan and biased rather than objective, but they also believed that from this cacaphony of information, the rational being would be able to discern the truth," say Patterson and Wilkins. "Unfettered communication was essential to building a new nation" (175-76). Citing Alex deToqueville, they say in making this synthesis possible, the media were "an essential antidote to a culture that valued liberty over community" and "an incubator of civilization in such a society." Sometimes this theory is described as a "marketplace of ideas."

Although he didn't use the exact words, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. explained the marketplace of ideas in his dissenting opinion in Abrams v. United States (1919). Basically, it's an analogy to the free market system:

... when men have realized that time has upset many fighting faiths, they may come to believe even more than they believe the very foundations of their own conduct that the ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas ... that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market, and that truth is the only ground upon which their wishes safely can be carried out. That at any rate is the theory of our Constitution.

It is an open question how well the media, especially cable TV networks that appear to be geared toward building audience in particular market segments by carrying a mixture of news and comment, carry out that function. Fox News is perceived to have a right-of-center slant, and CNN and MSNBC are perceived to have a left-of-center slant.

For example, Fox News got the highest election-night ratings for its coverage of the Nov. 4 votes in Virginia, New Jersey and upsate New York. In class we'll read the story on the Politico.com website and the reader comments. The comments, in particular, can tell us something about who watches Fox - and why.

Not entirely by coincidence on Oct. 30, a few days before the election, comedian Jon Stewart broadly satirized Fox News for its right-of-center editorial policy. But on election day, he satirized practically everybody else in the industry for "inane election coverage." Focusing on the congressional race in New York state, he asked, ""Might the media, with really very few other elections to cover, be stuffing one hundred thousand pounds of their bullshit into District 23's five-pound bag?" We'll watch both segments. And I want you to go the Google news page, or any other sources you want, and see what you can find out about coverage by Fox, MSNBC, CNN and the usual suspects of Tuesday's elections, especially in New York's 23rd congressional district. Then, as a certain TV network likes to say, you decide.

Here are some related questions to get you started thinking: How well do Fox specifically, and the cable networks in general, fulfil their role as an "incubator of civilization" and political discourse in a society that has a strong free-market, libertarian streak? Do they promote community? Should they be expected to? How well, specifically, do different elements of the media live up to their ethical responsibilities? How might Aristotle, Immanuel Kant or John Stuart Mill react if they could come back and watch Fox or MSNBC? What would they say to the media execs? Do the codes of ethics have any wisdom to offer - i.e. the Society of Professional Journalists' for news coverage and the Public Relations Society of America's for commentary? (Most of the on-air talent probably are not members of those societies, but they do set standards for the profession.) What do Fox, MSNBC and CNN get right ethically? Where do they fall down? How might they do better? How much do you think the networks are driven by ideology, and how much by other factors?

In writing your essay, you'd go crazy if you tried to answer all of these questions. Instead, decide which ones you want to focus on and narrow your ideas down to a clearly stated thesis you prove by citing evidence in support of it. (See? It's like I keep saying: English 101 never goes away!) Here's the central question I want you to consider, no matter how you focus your thesis: How well does the "marketplace of ideas" analogy hold up? How well do Fox and the other media live up to their responsibility to maintain a free market in ideas?

Please note: If you have strong political views of your own, I strongly recommend that you try to be objective and let readers make up their own minds. I like to state them - so readers will be on guard for any bias I might have - but to try to overlook them and come to a position that puts the most charitable construction on people or policies that I oppose and at the same time acknowledges that I might not have all the facts, or the best interpretation of the facts, myself. It's hard to do, but I think it's essential.

COMM 207: For Tuesday ...

Bring in a page from a magazine or newspaper, and a one-page discussion of its layout and design.

COMM 317: Jon Stewart on election coverage, Fox news 'war'

Nov. 4, election day

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/04/jon-stewart-revels-in-ina_n_345103.html


'war' on Fox News
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/30/jon-stewart-takes-on-war_n_339788.html

ratings - and reader comments -
http://www.politico.com/blogs/michaelcalderone/1109/Fox_wins_election_night_CNN_places_4th.html?showall

Neil Postman, "Bullshit and the Art of Crap Detection" (Delivered at annual conference of the National Council of Teachers of English [NCTE], Nov. 28, 1969, Washington, D.C.)

http://www.districtadministration.com/pulse/commentpost.aspx?news=no&postid=16962

http://criticalsnips.wordpress.com/2007/07/22/neil-postman-bullshit-and-the-art-of-crap-detection/

Problem solved ...

COMM 207, 297, 317, 390: Internship opportunity

Editorial assistant needed for Sleepy Weasel

The Sleepy Weasel, BenU-Springfield's campus magazine, is seeking a communication arts or English student to serve as an editorial assistant during Spring Semester 2010 to work with faculty adviser/production manager Pete Ellertsen in the editing and production of the magazine (please see mission statement below). Academic credit in Communications 297 or English 299 can be earned.

The editorial assistant will learn and gain practice in the editing of literary and journalistic texts for style, i.e. revising texts for publication to bring out the writers' intent without modifying their voice; copyfitting; placement of stories and artwork; and other details of production of the magazine. The job description can be tailored to an intern's goals and interests. Interns in 2008 and 2009 (Lauren Burke and Claire Keldermans) also designed the covers, and in 2007 (Robert Schwartz) set up a Web portal for that year's magazine. This internship can be a good way for communications students to work up a major portfolio piece or for English/literature students to get their feet wet in editing texts for publication. No prerequisite courses, but strong writing and editing skills are needed to perform the job duties. For more information, please email pellertsen@sci.edu.

Students are required to initiate internships with Career Development Coordinator Marion Hitchens, whose office is located in the Resource Center, Becker Library L-36, and to follow her instructions in addition to fulfilling the Communication Arts program course requirements. The faculty mentor’s administrative role is limited to setting academic goals and objectives, meeting with the student periodically to discuss the learning experience and awarding the student’s grade in COMM 297 or ENG 299. It is the student’s responsibility to comply with Career Services Office rules and regulations, and the student will deal directly with that office regarding all requirements not enumerated in Section VI of the COMM 297 syllabus.

Mission statement / Sleepy Weasel

The Sleepy Weasel is a campus magazine of the arts and public affairs published by students and faculty of Benedictine University at Springfield, on the World Wide Web at www.sci.edu and in hard-copy format on campus. The Weasel seeks to highlight written and artistic work by students, both in and out of class, and to help promote a sense of community on campus by providing a voice for the creative work of students, faculty, staff, alumni and others in the Benedictine University community.

COMM 317: The President, privacy, Palin, Levi, Levi's Levis and the first Internet message

Today's Howard Kurtz column in The Washington Post has a good seque to our assignment for next week -- the chapter in "Media Ethics" on the right to privacy ... which reminds me, our reading assignment is the next chapter in Patterson and Wilkins, "Media Ethics." Kurtz' subjects: The Obamas' marriage, and Sarah Palin's daughter's ex-boyfriend's most recent, uh, shall we say, exposure in the media.

Kurtz also has this timely quote from USA Today, under the subhead "Happy Anniversary":

"Internet messages started with a crash 40 years ago today," USA Today reports, "and life hasn't been the same since. "We transmitted the 'L'. . . . and the 'O' -- and then the other computer crashed," says UCLA's Leonard Kleinrock, who helped send that first message on the university's campus on Oct. 29, 1969. He was trying to type the word 'login.' "

Just think: four decades of technological progress later, and Windows is still crashing.

This story about the first message ever sent on what we now call the Internet, in case you haven't heard it before, is absolutely true.

COMM 317: On board in class Friday

Marketplace of ideas

Freedom of expression

One’s opinion -- uncensored opinion

Opinion should be backed up by facts

PRSA -- responsible advocate -- provide a voice in the marketplace of facts, ideas and viewpoints to aid and inform public debate -- PR companies investigate clients for truthfulness, accuracy of info

central point of opinions and facts

taking a thought or opinion giving it credit, credibility by publishing

something that has value and can be backed up by

COMM 317: Advertising, the law and the 'marketplace of ideas'

Apart from ethical considerations, there are few legal limitations on advertising per se. According to JLCom Publishing Co., a law firm, the Central Hudson rule applies. Named for the court case in which it appears, JLCom says it holds:

Under the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision, Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. v. Public Service Commission of New York, No. 79-565, Supreme Court of the United States, 447 U.S. 557; 100 S. Ct. 2343; 1980 U.S. LEXIS 48; 65 L. Ed. 2d 341; 6 Media L. Rep. 1497; 34 P.U.R.4th 178, June 20, 1980, a state must justify restrictions on truthful, nonmisleading commercial speech by demonstrating that its actions "directly advance" a substantial state interest and are no more extensive than necessary to serve that interest.

It's part of a brief discussion on Advertising and the First Amendment. We'd better read it.

COMM 207, 317, HUM 223: No class Mon., Tue.

I'll be at a conference on student learning outcomes assessment. Classes resume Wednesday, Oct. 28.

COMM 207: For today ...

No class Tuesday ...

Washington Post Redesign A guide

COMM 317: For Friday's class [no class Monday]

Read about Marketplace of Ideas analogy in Wikipedia. Especially U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes' 1919 dissent in Abrams v. United States [250 U.S. 616]:

... when men have realized that time has upset many fighting faiths, they may come to believe even more than they believe the very foundations of their own conduct that the ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas...that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market, and that truth is the only ground upon which their wishes safely can be carried out. That at any rate is the theory of our Constitution.

Also: In Patterson and Wilkins, "Media Ethics," read Case 5-D "The New York Times Sudan 'Advertorial': Blood Money or Marketplace of Ideas?" (138-43).

Notes from class Wednesday:

Advocacy --

When you work with people and businesses to get everybody on the same page regarding an issue -- Lobbying works with government, advocacy works w/ society, public

Persuade, influence and raise public awareness and action about organizations, issues -

Marketplace of ideas

Please notice this assignment hasn't gone away: We're still going to do something with media critic Neil Postman's 1969 speech titled "Bullshit and the Art of Crap-Detection" to the National Council of Teachers of English. Postman, who died in 2003, was a pretty insightful media critic.

COMM 317: Link for Wednesday's class

In class I want us to take up media critic Neil Postman's 1969 speech titled "Bullshit and the Art of Crap-Detection" to the National Council of Teachers of English. Postman, who died in 2003, was a pretty insightful media critic.

Now this ... "The News is Broken" by Dana Milbank of The Washington Post.

Is Illinois a 'failed state' yet?

Ever since the Guardian.co.uk website ran an article headed "Will California become America's first failed state?" I've been thinking Illinois is next in line right after Somalia and California.

Now comes Dick Locher, cartoonist for The Trib, with pretty much the same idea. Link here to see what the world's trouble spots look like from a CTA train.

COMM 207, 297, 317, 393: Is 'hyperlocal' the future of the news business? 'Time for the kids to take over'

Could be. Howard Kurtz' media column today in The Washington Post cites a report that says "hyper-local startups" may be taking up some of the slack left as general-interest, a-little-bit-of-something-for-everybody newspapers downsize or go out of business altogether. Here's the money graf(s):

Despite the "immediate disaster" striking newspapers, says Michael Schudson, a professor at Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism, he was struck by "the really stunning enthusiasm and excitement of people engaged in many of these startups, who were just bubbling over with what they were doing." Schudson wrote the report with Leonard Downie Jr., The Washington Post's former executive editor who is now a professor at Arizona State University.

Their recommendations -- particularly for a federally financed fund to subsidize local reporting -- might not fly. But amid all the hand-wringing over newspaper deaths and bankruptcies, "The Reconstruction of American Journalism" makes clear that a thousand media flowers are, if not blooming, at least popping up.

These new ventures "are actually re-creating the kind of competition that used to exist in local news reporting a long time ago," says Downie, now a Post Co. vice president at large. He's not worried about their quality because "most of them have been started by seasoned professionals who used to work for newspapers. My greater concern is the fragility of their economic base."

And so on. Must reading, I'd say, for journalism students. So I'll let you read Kurtz' blog for details on exactly how the startups work and exactly where the jobs might be (besides, that part of it's speculative anyway). Kurtz concludes, and I agree:

These journalistic sprouts may never grow into towering institutions, and it's hard to imagine that the coverage of city hall, Capitol Hill and Kabul won't suffer. But they may produce a more diverse and energized form of reporting than the top-down monopolies of the past. They may be better suited to cover neighborhoods, recruit amateurs, engage in real dialogue and have some fun in the process.


"The days of a kind of news media paternalism . . . are largely gone," the report says. If that's true, not everyone will mourn the old way of doing things. Time for the kids to take over.

Amen.

COMM 317, take note. Kurtz, by the way, has a useful take on the "Hot Air Journalism" displayed in coverage of the balloon hoax in Fort Collins, Colo. It makes a good segue to something I want to take up in COMM 317 (media ethics) today:

I don't blame television for carrying the two-hour balloon extravaganza that turned out to be an utter sham. The anchors should have been more cautious in asserting there was a boy inside, but the authorities were taking it seriously. Plus, television isn't all that hard to fool. Remember the runaway bride, who claimed she'd been kidnapped? In 24-hour cable, you put the live pictures on the air first and seek explanations later. Any producer who cut away from the balloon, saying his news team wanted to gather more information first, would have been fired on the spot.

It's after we discovered that the kid never left the home that we saw the usual media excess. The yakkers, the experts, the child psychologists, all carrying on about people they've never met. Yes, Richard Heene seemed like a truly strange figure on "Wife Swap," and now seems to have been angling for a reality-show encore. But you begin to suspect that journalists are secretly pleased by this latest turn of events, by the way the story morphed from life-and-death drama to sick soap opera.

I'm not sure about that. I'm a journalist, and I'm not pleased. But I don't have to worry about ratings. And Kurtz' story does make a good segue to something I want to take up ... which is, conveniently enough, in the blog post below.

COMM 317: Before we let the balloon story drop ... a Hemingway quote, values and a segue to public relations

The novelist Ernest Hemingway famously said the one thing a good writer needs a "built-in, shock-proof, crap detector," and media critic Neil Postman of New York University elaborated on it in a 1969 speech titled "Bullshit and the Art of Crap-Detection" to the National Council of Teachers of English.

We'll come back to Postman in a minute. He had something to say I think is important.

But first, this. At least one journalist had her crap-detector turned on with batteries fully charged when the balloon went up. Reported Brain Stelter and Dan Frosch in The New York Times:

Before the fame-seeking backyard scientist Richard Heene phoned the police to report that his 6-year-old son, Falcon, had floated away on a homemade flying saucer Thursday morning, he called a local TV station and asked them to send a news helicopter.

Taken aback by the request, the news director at the station, KUSA-TV, Patti Dennis, said she called back and told Mr. Heene flatly, “I don’t believe you.” Still skeptical when Mr. Heene put a police officer on the phone to verify the story, Ms. Dennis added, “I told the deputy that I didn’t believe he was real, either.”

But her moment of clarity didn't last very long, and the helicopter was dispatched.

Don't blame news director Dennis for what happened next, though. The national cable networks didn't even have that momentary flicker of clarity. The Times' account continues:

Eventually satisfied by the local police’s report of a missing child, she dispatched the helicopter to the skies over Fort Collins, Colo., where the helium-filled balloon had taken flight, jump-starting an extraordinary afternoon of television coverage. Cable news anchors suspended skepticism in favor of spectacular images of the balloon as it glided across northern Colorado and landed in a dusty field about 60 miles away, and the ratings for CNN and the Fox News Channel doubled for the duration of the spectacle.

But even before Falcon was found hours later hiding inside a box in the Heene family home, incredulous observers were asking: Is it all a hoax?

Some lingering questions: How can a professional media guy's individual values function as a crap detector? Should they? How can handed-down-through-the-ages ethical principles like Aristotle's, Kant's or John Stuart Mills' function as crap detectors? Should they? What sort of reading do you get on your own individual built-in, shock-proof crap detector when you hear the cable networks' rating went up along with the Heene family's balloon?

When Postman spoke to the English teachers, he talked about this slippery issue of individual values:

Each person's crap-detector is embedded in their value system; if you want to teach the art of crap-detecting, you must help students become aware of their values. ...

Now, I realize that what I just said sounds fairly pompous in itself, if not arrogant, but there is no escaping from saying what attitudes you value if you want to talk about crap-detecting.

In other words, bullshit is what you call language that treats people in ways you do not approve of.

So any teacher who is interested in crap-detecting must acknowledge that one man's bullshit is another man's catechism. Students should be taught to learn how to recognize bullshit, including their own.

So what values are Postman expressing here? One sounds a lot like the golden rule. Kant? And then there's this: One person's bullshit is another person's catechism. Hey, I like that. How could that attitude help news writers keep their crap detectors turned on?

More questions: On Monday, when we take this up in class, we'll be starting the chapter in Patterson and Wilkins, "Media Ethics" on public relations. How could Postman's attitude help public relations professionals keep their crap detectors fully charged? News people and flacks have an adversarial relationship. How does that help them keep each other's crap detectors operational?