Friday, January 22, 2010

I chose “Pilot diverts plane over Jewish teen’s in-flight prayer” by Kathy Matheson in the Associated Press to critique. The article covered a small 15 passenger flight between New-York and Kentucky where a Jewish teenager caused a fiasco while praying in flight with tefillin, a pair of small black leather boxes used for morning prayer. The flight crew was alarmed when the teen strapped the boxes onto his arms and head and diverted the flight for the safety of the passages after they did not get a clear response from the teen on the nature of the boxes.

Melvin Mencher describes seven criteria for a successful news story. The first of these rules is properly attributing your sources. Matheson’s sources were flight attendants, the teens involved , the teens grandmother, the Philadelphia police Lt. Frank Vanore, FBI spokesman J.J Klaver, and a couple rabbi. These sources were either firsthand viewers of the incident or qualified to make the remarks quoted in the article. The technical information about the incident was quoted to the FBI spokesman or the police Lt. while the situation on the plane was taken from the flight attendants and the teens. This attention to sources makes the article more reliable to the reader. The next property of a news article is completeness does the story contain enough documentation to make the main point. I felt this article was complete; the situation was explained, we know what happened to the teenager and the crew after the incident, and we received some feedback from the Jewish community on the situation. Mencher says a story needs to be balanced and fair. Matheson does this by getting accounts from both the teenager and the flight crew. She also gets opinions from two rabbi’s one agreeing with the flight team’s decision to divert the flight, and another more offended by their ignorance to Jewish customs. Mencher considers objectivity a crucial part of a journalists duty. Matheson stays objective through out the article by not mentioning her opinion on the incident and showing both sides to each issue raised in the article. Articles should be brief and to the point to keep readers interested Matheson does this by being succinct in her sentence structure, and only including information she deems necessary. Mencher also mentions that the story should be well written by this he means clear direct and interesting. I feel Matheson succeed in this as well. She includes facts in the beginning of the article to inform the reader while they are most interested in the story and then humanizes the article with the opinions from the Jewish community at the end. The last and probably most important criteria for a successful news article is accuracy. Does the reported get the facts right? After looking at other reports on the flight I can find no discrepancies in the information. I feel that based on Mencher’s criteria for a successful news article Matheson created an excellent write-up on the incident.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

While trying to come up with a topic for this paper I stumbled upon the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) website (http://www.spj.org/). There I found an extensive library of case studies and ethical questions revolving around journalism. The one that stood out to me the most was how to deal with criminal records found during background checks. I learned that background checks are a standard procedure taken for almost every article written by a journalist. They are given to everyone to ensure fairness, and eliminate prejudice. The results of background checks can change the entire nature of a story, or better reinforce the reporters perspective. However, the journalist needs to make sure they are taking an ethical approach to their work. They are dealing with peoples reputations and lives.

There were several examples presented on the Society of Professional Journalists website (http://www.spj.org/rrr.asp?ref=2&t=ethics) where the ethical nature of the background checks were in question. One reporter was writing an article on a man donating bone marrow to a child in need. Donating bone marrow is an extremely painful procedure, and the reporter was praising the man as a hero for his sacrifice until he ran a background check and found out the donor had a history of domestic violence. The reporter chose to include this in his story. In this case I feel the history of domestic violence plays no role in the story, and should have been admitted. The point of the reporters story was self sacrifice for others, and to inspire people to be more generous the news worthiness of that mans past played no role in strengthening this story. However, in opposition to this case a reporter was doing a story on a man who developed an innovative way to wash cars. A background check disclosed that the man had a history of car theft. This information is clearly pertinent to the story and needed to be included.

Every case is going to be different and there is no rule of thumb to determine what should be put in a story and what is best left out. One needs to consider the consequences of revealing the persons past, whether the information is news worthy, and how it will effect the lives of the people involved. Journalists should not hesitate to get others opinions in making the proper decision. Journalists also need to remember that instead of ignoring the background report they can choose not to post the article entirely. Journalists have a huge ethical responsibility. Each case needs to be considered separately and earnestly. These cases affect not only the subjects lives, but also everyone there connected to.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

I am a senior in my last semester in the Surveying and Engeneering Dept. I will graduate at the end of this semester with a major in surveying and a minor in construction. I am taking this course as a required class. Journalism plays a large part in everyones lives. I am hoping from this class to learn about the workings of journalism so I can be a better end user of its products. I most likely never write for a news paper or any other media, but this insight will give me a better perspective on the journalism process. The english skills I gain from this class will also be helpful in all aspects of my life.