Journalism: 2018-2019 (Semester 1)

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/27/upshot/how-pollution-can-hurt-the-health-of-the-economy.html Explanation: How Pollution Can Hurt the Health of the Economy Thesis: Many studies show a relationship between pollution and negative educational and earnings outcomes. “One argument for rolling back environmental regulations — as is occurring under the Trump administration — is that a lighter touch on industry will lift investment and economic growth. But increased pollution can also have long-term negative economic consequences. The effects on health are bad enough on their own, and are well understood.” Less well understood is how this can affect things like educational and economic outcomes. Many studies, some focused on regions of the United States, others on cities elsewhere, have documented this kind of relationship: It’s harder to perform well at work or school if you don’t feel well. Additionally, if school performance suffers as a result of health problems, that ...

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/02/opinion/running-marathons-sports.html This sports opinion piece is from the New York Times  and it praises this woman's journey of finding out that she loves running.  It is a praise piece. Thesis: Lela Moore wanted to try something different but little did she know, she was going to fall in love with running and soon be running half marathons and marathons.  Supporting Points "I started running 10 years ago, in my 30s, after years of exercise fits and starts — cardio kickboxing! Tae Bo! Dance ’n’ Sweat! — and struggles with eating disorders. I needed to find a workout I could do consistently, anytime, without paying a membership fee . "- She really needed to find something to stay in shape and help her feel less stressed.  She started running and now has a passion for it. Her point was that she needed to find a work out that was for her since she had not grown up being an athlete.  "After I ran that first half marat...

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/27/opinion/republican-black-congress-mia-love.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fopinion-columnists Explanation -- the author describes the situation occurring in Congress and tells us how important it is. Thesis: "She [Mia Love] remains the only one. When she leaves at the end of this congressional session, there will be just two black Republican men — one in the House and one in the Senate" - Republicans vs Democrats --> women in office, people of color, and LGBTQ community members - She won which promoted the diversity of Congress --> ended up being an anomaly - Love in the Trump administration - State of Congress now after the midterm elections

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/28/opinion/france-protests-yellow-vests.html This op-ed from the New York Times is an explanation opinion piece because it explains about the protests regarding rising fuel prices that occurred on the Champs Elysees in Paris, France. Thesis: That this demonstration was startling and disrupting to typical French politics. Supporting points: "They are unaffiliated with a political party and they come from a variety of class backgrounds." --> out of the constraints of any political party and their views "The abnormally high number of casualties (600 people were injured) in a country that has long mastered the art of theatrical but safe demonstrations was disconcerting." --> was damaging to Paris due to the loss of a life and the many people injured Political players are trying to "cash in" with these protests by sympathizing with these protesters.  However they reject all parties. Brings up the fact that t...

This opinion piece can be categorized as praise because it is praising Taylor Swift's choice to share her political opinions for the first time before the recent Midterm elections. Thesis: " By sharing her personal and political views, not only has Swift activated her sizable fanbase but she has also earned the respect of millions of Americans who have watched aghast at recent political events." -"... she posted on Instagram a cri de couer about the upcoming 2018 midterm elections, endorsing Tennessee Democrats Phil Bredesen and Jim Cooper." - " Some 102,000 individuals between the ages of 18 and 29 registered to vote in the two days after her message, according to nonprofit Vote.org, including 5,000 in her home state."  - " Being the victim of groping  and watching the rise of Donald Trump, who has bragged about assaulting women, may have provided sufficient grist to speak out."

The opinion piece that I chose could be categorized as a diatribe because the author of the article is  attacking a statement that  Hillary Clinton made about the Europe's open border policy.  Thesis: "Hillary Clinton has stepped in it again. Just recently she told an interviewer with The Guardian that European leaders must stop offering “refuge and hope” to migrants if they want to slow the spread of right-wing populism. She urged them to “send a very clear message – ‘we are not going to be able to continue to provide refuge and support’ – because if we don’t deal with the migration issue it will continue to roil the body politic.” "The problem with Hillary Clinton is that she occasionally says what she thinks, which rarely turns out well" Supporting Points: - The author says that Clinton has "stepped in it again". To prove this point the author then goes to recall Clintons past and controversies she has been apart of.  -"The problem with Hil...

     The op-ed that I chose was in the New York Times, written by Dr. Aaron E. Carroll and Dr. Peter B. Bach. It can be described as an Advocate because it strongly advocates against the Tax deduction that people get when they donate to non-profits.    Thesis: The US government should not allow tax deductions for donations to non-profits. Point #1: When the government gives out tax deductions, it results in lost income for governmental programs. Lost income means that taxpayers end up paying more money or having to cut programs that could have been funded with the hypothetical tax revenue.  "That leaves the rest of us either to pick up the slack or go without the investments that our government could have made with those funds." Point #2: The wealthiest Americans are the ones receiving the vast majority of these tax breaks. "In 2016, half of all the tax dollars deducted as a result of charitable gifts in New York State were deducted by the t...

Mitchell Autorino Bad Journalism example Marshall Shepard posted an article about how weather men are affecting journalism and how they are constantly getting the weather wrong. While I see his point, and how getting the weather wrong could potential hurt business's, they are doing the best to get the weather right. Therefore, I think this was a bad example of journalism, because they get it right a lot of the time, and when they don't it is not really there fault. 

In May of 2018 the media, including New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post, and The Associated Press, all put out stories saying that President Trump called illegal immigrants “animals”. This was taken completely out of context and used in these articles to make the President look bad. Who Trump was calling animals was not illegal immigrants but rather MS-13 gang member(MS-13 is a vicious and violent street gang responsible for murders and rapes). The reason Trump said this is because, “the president made his comments immediately after Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims expressed frustration with regulations which prohibit her from alerting ICE to the location of MS-13 gang members ”(Student News Daily). The ethical dilemma behind this is the fact that journalist have to responsibility of reporting real news and not editing any quotes or take them out of context. This dilemma could have been avoided if biased journalist did not quickly jump onto a quote were Trump called any gro...

Celebrity tabloid magazines often report false claims of celebrities being pregnant, getting divorced, or even getting arrested.  In 2011, "The Star" magazine posted an article that claimed actress Katie Holmes was a drug addict.  It described her struggle with addiction and gave details about the drugs she allegedly did.  Katie Holmes filed a law suit against The Star and they settled for 50 million dollars.  The magazine issued an apology and even said they would contribute "a substantial donation" to a non profit organization of Holmes choice.  This issue could have been easily avoided for this magazine company if they had not written an article without facts or evidence.  Such a serious accusation must have proof to back it up with, and this article did not have any.  Gossip magazines have to be careful that the rumors they write about have some truth to them or else celebrities will sue for defamation.  - Sloan

Adnan Hajj was a freelance photographer working on the 2006 Lebanon War, a conflict between the state of Isreal and belligerents in Lebanon. Hajj had been working with Reuters for a number of years, and was taking photographs for their coverage of the conflict. Later, after some of the photos were displayed on Reuters, in conjunction with their reporting, it was revealed that the photos were the subject of heavy manipulation from a photo-manipulation software. The manipulation included the apparent use of Adobe Photoshop's Clone tool to make damage caused by Isreal appear worse than it actually was, and taking a photo of an Israeli plane dropping a flare and cloned it to make it appear as three flares, then misrepresented them as missiles being dropped over Lebanon. The images were retracted and Reuters terminated Hajj from their staff.   (Photo from NBC, the left photo is the doctored one, the right photo is not) The obvious unethical act wa...

T he Detroit Free Press announced that it is launching an investigation into sports columnist Mitch Albom's work because one of his columns, filed April 1, reported events that didn't happen. Albom described two NBA players in the stands of an April 2 NCAA basketball game, even though the players had told him they would be at the game, never showed. The Free Press' investigation found no evidence of similar deceptions but did uncover several instances when Albom did not attribute quotes taken from other news organizations and times when Albom slightly altered those quotes which lead to Albom being investigated. On April 23, the paper announced that Albom and four others would be disciplined but did not specify their punishments. These events could have been easily avoided if Albom, a journalist, should know his job involved telling the truth and giving all the facts.  The Detroit Free press did a great job in handling the whole situation and released everything going on to ...

In the late 90's Stephen Glass wrote many successful articles for news companies including  The New Republic and  Rolling Stone. In 1998 it was revealed that Glass's published articles had been completely fabricated to the point that some were based on fictional events. He made up quotations and sources in his articles. Besides the fact that Glass lied in his work as a journalist, he also included many negative stereotypes about ethnic and political groups. Glass has since been fired from The New Republic and has become infamous for his misconduct in journalism. Now Glass has been barred from receiving his license to practice law because of his apparent unappreciation of the truth. The news outlet could have fact-checked Glass's work more carefully before allowing his articles to be published. Glass's journalism fabrications were unethical because he presented lies as the truth and was completely knowledgeable about what he was doing.

In late 2014, Australian news outlets faced a huge scandal which could have easily been avoided. Abu Bakar Alam, who was at the time 19, had his picture printed on the front of Fairfax newspapers because he was incorrectly identified as a true terrorist, Numan Haider, who stabbed two police officers before he was shot. His picture was posted all over major Australian newspapers and on the internet. The Age - an Australian newspaper - found the photo of him on Facebook, even though Alam did not have a Facebook account. The Age did apologize and made an out-of-court settlement with Alam. This mishap could have easily been avoided if the news outlets had fact-checked and found the original source of the picture used. If they had put more effort into finding the original picture, they might have known it wasn't the terrorist.

Publishing Drunk Drivers’ Photos When readers of  The Anderson News  picked up the Dec. 31, 1997, issue of the newspaper, stripped across the top of the front page was a New Year’s greeting and a warning. “HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR,” the banner read. “But please don’t drink and drive and risk having your picture published.” Readers were referred to the editorial page where White explained that starting in January 1998 the newspaper would publish photographs of all persons convicted of drunken driving in Anderson County. Source- (https://www.spj.org/ecs10.asp) What is wrong with this article is the fact that it is going beyond the truth. It may be with good intentions of helping out the town, but they are exposing photos of everybody who gets a DUI. This is an invasion of privacy and could be easily avoided. You can write about the DUI, maybe even use the name of the person if they give consent, but not likely, but you can never put their photo into the news because it can rui...

The Journalist's Creed I believe in the profession of journalism. I believe that the public journal is a public trust; that all connected with it are, to the full measure of their responsibility, trustees for the public; that acceptance of a lesser service than the public service is betrayal of this trust. I believe that clear thinking and clear statement, accuracy and fairness are fundamental to good journalism. I believe that a journalist should write only what he holds in his heart to be true. I believe that suppression of the news, for any consideration other than the welfare of society, is indefensible. I believe that no one should write as a journalist what he would not say as a gentleman; that bribery by one’s own pocketbook is as much to be avoided as bribery by the pocketbook of another; that individual responsibility may not be escaped by pleading another’s instructions or another’s dividends. I believe that advertising, news and editorial columns should al...

Read the Boston Globe editorial and click on the map or scroll down to see other editorials written by papers across the country. Choose THREE other editorials to read. (DO NOT JUST READ THE BLURB). Respond in a COMMENT, answering the following question: What is the role of journalism in 2018?  Feel free to use any information you’ve gathered in your reading.