Re: [LM_NET] FNO - December Issue - Media Literacy

["Hassett, Bob E." <Bob.Hassett@FCPS.EDU>]

Am I the only one to find this a little disappointing? It seems to be an
example of just the sort of thing it purports to be criticizing:
sensationalistic, narrow, and distorted.

What does it mean that "the attention of the news camera swings"? There
are many, many cameras, just as there are many stories to tell. Should
we learn about nothing but the North Korean nuclear test (part of an
ongoing story which has been covered in depth for many months), despite
the eminent newsworthiness of a plane colliding with a building in New
York? Is it too much for viewers to be asked to consider two topics in a
single broadcast?

(Full disclosure: My wife, who has a different last name than I do, is a
reporter for a major daily newspaper.)

How are we to define a "typical news day"? Is there such a thing? Is
there some data behind this assertion that "sensational" stories
dominate?

We have a dizzying array of media available to us. More then ever we're
called upon to be critical in our evaluations. If we're unhappy with the
apparent slide toward entertainment at CBS (hypothetically speaking),
we're more than free to turn to Fox or CNN. Or to turn it off and try
the Huffington Post. Or the New York Post. Or IndyMedia. I think our
children can find a wide range of perspectives on what's happening in
the world. Probably more than they can handle.

This is a serious accusation, to tar an entire profession as essentially
unethical because it doesn't conform to one's own preconceptions.
Perhaps the rest of the article provides more meat. I haven't been able
to access the site. But if the top is any indiciation, I suspect we'll
be disappointed.

It's true that journalism has taken some high-profile hits in recent
years, some very recently. Reporters and photographers have been caught
retouching or making up news. That's serious business. But isn't this
evidence of a profession which takes its ethics seriously and polices
them unapologetically?

/****************************************/
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-----Original Message-----
From: School Library Media & Network Communications
[mailto:LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Jamie McKenzie
Sent: Thursday, December 21, 2006 10:57 AM
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: FNO - December Issue - Media Literacy

 From Now On
the educational technology journal
Vol 16|No 2|December|2006

One article this issue available at http://fno.org Excerpt below:

Photoshopping Reality:
Journalistic Ethics
in an Age of Virtual Truth

By Jamie McKenzie

The phrase "journalistic ethics" may become an oxymoron as the media
play for this society the role the circus played for Rome, entertaining
rather than educating.
Jumbo shrimp. Journalistic ethics. Airplane food.
Oxymoronic.

How do young people learn what is happening in their world when the
attention of the news cameras swings after just two days of coverage
from North Korea's nuclear test to the airplane crash of a Yankee
player?

The typical news day is dominated by stories that are sensational or
entertaining rather than illuminating.
Consequently, our view of the world and its events is routinely and
daily narrowed, darkened and distorted.

(Continued at http://fno.org/dec06/photoshopping.html)


Jamie McKenzie
Editor, From Now On - The Educational Technology Journal http://fno.org
Editor, The Question Mark http://questioning.org mckenzie@fno.org
360-647-8759
917 12th Street
Bellingham, WA 98225

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