Author: dmoseley

Chronicles of Tomorrow’s Storytellers: Students Need to Pursue Journalism

dmoseley Student Perspectives

By Adit Jaganathan

 There is a certain power in crafting stories that keep readers engaged while giving them valuable information. Imagine having the ability to inform the public about events that could potentially change the course of their lives. That’s what journalists do every day.

The world we are living in is characterized by urgency and impatience. Everyone wants everything at the touch of a button, and that includes information. The role of journalism has never been more crucial. As we navigate the intricate web of news and narratives, the need for more students to pursue journalism is urgent. An influx of budding journalists is necessary for a society that seeks to stay informed, engaged, and empowered. So, hopefully, this blog will at least make some of you consider pursuing a career in journalism.

Journalists Are Warriors

At its core, journalism is the pursuit of truth. This world is rife with the spread of misinformation, and journalists are the defenders of the truth. We are trained in the art of ethical and factual storytelling, and we are armed with the power of words. We shield our people and the democracy from manipulation by acting as watchdogs for those in power. We hold them accountable for their actions, with our impartial and unbiased reporting. We have to be cutthroat in our pursuit of the truth, sifting through all the guff and delivering compelling stories, no matter what kind of backlash we may suffer.

Journalists Can Bring Change

Journalism has the transformative power to change a society. Journalists bring attention to a society’s problems. Our stories of injustice, inequality, and other issues can spark conversations that lead to change. We tell stories about the human experience, which resonate with readers who suffer in the same way. This helps bring people together to stand against the injustices they have faced.

Journalists Are Globetrotters

Journalism can take you around the world. We pursue stories that can take us to every corner of the globe. We meet people from various backgrounds and nationalities and tell their stories. We look for stories that aren’t being told by people who aren’t being heard.

Journalists Are Multifaceted, Adaptable, and Creative

Journalism students are equipped with a host of different skills that help them do their job. We learn how to create different forms of media that help us tell our stories. Whether its text, photos, videos, or audio, studying journalism gives you the opportunity to learn new skills and hone your craft. It also allows you to report about whatever you want to. There’s an abundance of stories to be told in every industry, and it’s a journalist’s job to find them and inform the public in creative, accurate, and compelling ways.

The reason more students should pursue journalism is because of the industry’s relevance and transformative power. Journalists aren’t merely talking heads; we’re architects of public discourse and opinion. As guardians of democracy, champions of truth, and storytellers of the human experience, we navigate and adapt to the complexities of the digital age with integrity. We pursue stories that matter, commit to accuracy, and serve as catalysts for change.

 

Algorithms: a Friend or Foe?

dmoseley Journalist Profiles

by Jana Simovic

The world of journalism isn’t a stranger to algorithms; we encounter them every day whether it’s research results we receive from search engines or content we see on social media.  For me at least, it’s as if algorithms have become one of those friends that no matter how often I encounter, whenever someone asks me to explain exactly what it is they do for work, I’m at a loss for words.

For context, Britannica defines an algorithm as a “systematic procedure that produces—in a finite number of steps—the answer to a question or the solution of a problem.”

In terms of news dissemination, there has been an undeniable rise in concerns regarding the kind of influence these “systematic procedures” have on people’s initial receptions and perceptions of news as more than eight in ten adults in the United States get their news from digital devices — like smartphones, tablets and computers, according to the Pew Research Center.

These influences have been given numerous monikers, ranging from misinformation, echo chambers and filter bubbles (if your curiosity has peaked, the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism has an interesting “Future of Journalism” podcast episode on their research into people’s attitudes towards news consumption).

I had the opportunity to talk with Elaina Plott, a national political reporter and current staff writer at the Atlantic, who is no stranger to reporting on topics and people who are directly tied to the increasing bouts of misinformation we see. Plott explains her concerns, “I think I see more issue now is that with a lot of these platforms, the ease with which one can just sort of curate their own reality. And the algorithm can sort of cater to them immediately with content that they know sort of already corresponds with what they’ve expressed interest in,” she said. “I see that now is more damaging than anything else.”

This plays directly into the rise of mistrust in media outlets, making it essential that reporters think about how to approach topics that will inevitably be found on distribution platforms, like social media — a space where content is distributed solely based on algorithms — to make sure that it has the ability to reach anyone, regardless of algorithmic influence.

When Plott and her colleagues attempt to perform an “autopsy” — which she describes as working backward on a piece of misinformation — on how a certain falsehood has spun out of control, it can be challenging to see how it was even given rise in the first place. An example of this is analyzing how the use of Ivermectin was endorsed by far-right groups during the COVID-19 pandemic, which was simply a result of a generic fact being spun out of context.

It’s a journalist’s responsibility to consume a variety of news sources, making efforts to read and see as many sides to a story or topic as possible and to acknowledge biases along the way. However, for anyone else this may not be a reality whether it’s due to lack of time, patience or simply lack of media literacy, “In a healthy democracy, I do think citizens would have a baseline level of trust in, you know, major media outlets, but that’s unfortunately not the case anymore,” said Plott.

For Chicago-based education reporter Sarah Karp, there has been a realization regarding the importance of journalists’ presence on social media in terms of reaching audiences as it has evolved into a space where news breaks and is discussed at length.

At the end of the day, reporters need to make efforts not only to cover daily events but also to step back and help people see these topics and events in context through a fuller picture, according to Karp.

“The real value of good reporting is when you can kind of help people see that what’s happening today, you know, happened before and what happens then,” said Karp. This is achieved by staying true to facts, data and history.

By using this mindset, Karp can bring audiences into the world of a special education aid within a school or into the kind of environment that is found in a Muslim day school that received a threat. In the same way, Plott can analyze the granular ways in which national politics manifests in people’s lives while trying to understand major trends through small communities, making both her and Karp renowned reporters no matter how an algorithm interacts with their work.

Algorithms are undoubtedly a significant factor in the way that news is perceived today, making it essential to understand and work with them. However, approaching anything with a starkly polarized view rarely yields positive results; perhaps the best method of approaching algorithms is with the impartial mindset that is ingrained within us; as neither friends nor foes. Instead working to provide true depictions, facts, analyses and nuances is our most powerful defense to fight the spread of misinformation, now and long into the future.

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How providing solutions through journalism empowers our audience

dmoseley Journalist Profiles

By NADIA CAROLINA HERNANDEZ

It can be overwhelming checking the news some days. Headlines about an emerging war, endless political debate and situations beyond our immediate control make us feel more hopeless than empowered about information.

This isn’t a new phenomenon, a report from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism revealed people are avoiding the news.

But the news doesn’t have to be like this.

Solutions Journalism offers a framework for journalists to focus on responses to issues rather than the issues themselves, according to the Solutions Journalism Network.

Jackie Spinner, former war correspondent of The Washington Post, felt she was doing solutions journalism throughout her career.

“I am glad we now have the language and the framework, you know, to make it better and to really, really embrace it,” she said. “But for me, it’s important for our audiences, not just to hear about the problems, but also to think about ways people are trying to resolve them.”

From reporting on the ground in Iraq to advising the Columbia College Chicago Chronicle, Spinner views solutions as a way to empower a community.

“We write about successes in our community,” she said. “Many of our communities of color in Chicago are rightfully angered by the fact that the news media only shows up when there’s a crime or there’s something horrible that happened.”

Of course, that doesn’t mean journalists have to view the world with a rose-colored lens. We know that people and systems need to be held accountable.

And what if there are conflicting viewpoints about what is the “right” solution? Is it always black and white?

Spinner says solutions frameworks don’t ignore the basics of reporting but encourage it.

“We have a responsibility to remind people that our agenda is the truth, our primary responsibility is to check every claim and to uncover,” she said. “People are not always going to like the answer to that.”

Amid a part-time faculty strike at Columbia College Chicago, the Chronicle isn’t only serving the needs of students.

“We keep having to remind people that our audience, as a student-run newspaper, is not just students, it’s also faculty, its administrators, its parents, its alumni, it’s the residents who live around our campus,” Spinner said.

Their diverse audiences are reminiscent of our school newspaper, The DePaulia. We’re thinking of DePaul, Lincoln Park and Chicago concurrently.

But there will always be objections to the solutions. Issues can quickly become politicized and take partisan sides. Presenting a solution doesn’t mean journalists are taking a stance.

“What benefit does it do for people to say, ‘look at everything that’s wrong,’ and not say, but ‘here’s something that’s right.’ I don’t think there’s a fundamental conflict between those two things,” Spinner said.

While the clock is ticking and my time as a student ends, I’m reflecting on how I’ll frame my stories to the public and the impact they have. I hope my stories don’t create a sense of anxiety for the audience but can give the necessary tools for them to feel informed.

“We’re supposed to give people information that they can make decisions that better impact their lives,” Spinner said.

That’s the purpose of journalism after all.

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“Fact check, fact check, fact check”: Susan LaSalla on trust in the media and getting it right.

dmoseley Journalist Profiles

By Hailey Bosek

Media distrust is at an all-time high. A new Gallup poll reveals that Americans’ trust in the media is nearing a record-breaking low. Only 7% of Americans report having “a great deal” of trust and confidence in the media, while 27% report having “a fair amount.” Journalists face a long and treacherous road to regain that trust, and the arguments on how to do so are abundant.

Retired NBC producer Susan LaSalla believes it all comes back to one thing: getting the facts right.

The Raleigh, North Carolina native knew from a young age that she wanted to see the world. After nine years answering phones and doing other newsroom jobs, LaSalla achieved her goal. She became the third woman at the network to become a producer. Her career is best explained by where she hasn’t been. Her career took her to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, the Middle East during the Gulf War, Russia, and Cuba. She also worked for NBC in Chicago and Miami, among other places. In 2009, she retired after a 43-year career at NBC. Her last 16 years were spent as the senior producer in Washington for The Today Show, earning her two Emmys.

LaSalla, like many, is disappointed in the state of journalism. The age of the internet and political discord have shifted the values that LaSalla feels journalists once heralded.

“I think it’s sort of come to the forefront with all the Trump stuff because of his outrageousness. You get back to FOX News, where FOX will 100% support anything Donald Trump says. But MSNBC will say he’s insane. He’s a liar. He’s a misogynist. And so that’s their blatant point of view,” said LaSalla. “I think most of this is because of social media. Journalism changed with the Internet because there were too many opinions out there.”

Despite the excess of opinions, LaSalla stands strong in her journalistic principles: Get your facts right and leave your opinion out of it.

“You have to have your facts. It’s all about facts,” said LaSalla. “A story you want and the story you come away with can be two different things.”

This is what LaSalla carried with her throughout her entire career. She navigated the political opinions of Washington with grace. Her parents came from different political parties, which might have armed LaSalla with the objectivity she feels is needed in journalism. Her track record of getting it right every time is credited to one process that she stressed always goes back to.

“Fact check, fact check, fact check,” said LaSalla.

LaSalla is concerned that journalism now cares more about sharing opinions than sharing the facts. The Pew Research Center found that Americans have trouble identifying the difference between factual and opinion statements in the news. LaSalla feels that journalists have no place in the world of opinions and that the principles of journalism are straightforward.

“It just seems so simplistic to me that you, of course, have a point of view. But as a journalist, nobody cares about your point of view; you’re there to do a job and to get answers,” said LaSalla. “Why do I have to have my beliefs as a journalist? Why does it matter what my beliefs are?”

LaSalla traveled the world and brought breaking news to the people who needed it most. She paved the way for women to have a place in journalism and did so with strict adherence to her ethics.

“We had the best of it because we loved what we did. We were terrified of getting it wrong, and we built careers on that,” said LaSalla.

LaSalla is settled down back home in her home state of North Carolina. She is happily retired and says she doesn’t envy emerging journalists in this climate.

“But you’re in an uphill battle with the rest of the world thinking of what you do for your profession sucks. There’s no trust in journalism,” said LaSalla. “You’ve got to prove them wrong.”

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Parenting and pink Christmas trees: Heidi Stevens’ unique lens on life

dmoseley Journalist Profiles

by Samantha Moilanen

When Heidi Stevens began her column-writing career at the Chicago Tribune, one of the first personal essays she wrote delved into the experience of her first Christmas after divorce in 2012.

Titled “Dreaming of a pink Christmas,” the column recounts a conversation with her daughter about who would put up the Christmas tree in her father’s absence. Stevens responded by suggesting they purchase a new tree.

To her surprise, her daughter requested a pink Christmas tree that year.

For Stevens, this moment served as an epiphany making her realize that her children do not have to live her childhood experiences, but should have the freedom to shape their own. Going forward, Stevens vowed to create new memories with her children instead of attempting to recreate old ones.

This essay was one of the first in Stevens’ nationally syndicated column called “Balancing Act.” Stevens said the column’s name was inspired by her struggle to balance her life in the midst of a divorce.

“I had been recently divorced, I had two young kids, they were two and six at the time and I was literally trying to balance it all, which felt like an act because I was acting,” Stevens said.

While the column initially began as a personal exploration of work-life balance inspired by Stevens’ experiences as a recently divorced mother, it quickly evolved to cover a broad range of topics including: politics, relationships, race, gender and culture, all while maintaining a focus on parenting and family.

Stevens said the idea “that your life is not going the way you expected it to go at whatever chapter you’re in,” resonated with readers who can relate to the unexpected challenges life often brings.

Stevens said column writing is about connecting with readers through personal subjects while simultaneously addressing larger societal concepts.

One of Stevens’ more recent columns was on her mixed feelings about her daughter turning 18. Growing up, everyone reminds you that time flies and to cherish each moment, which Stevens says is wonderful but impossible advice. She said no one prepared her for the moment her daughter would reach adulthood, but instead of dwelling on the past, she wrote about raising her daughter with the words, “be careful with me,” always in mind because while time flies, a parent’s impact on their children lasts forever.

Stevens explains her approach saying, “My feeling is we live in a time where the news and headlines are swirling around us so fast on so many platforms that if I can reach up into the swirl, and grab one thing, and just … talk about it for a few minutes with readers. That’s what I want the column to do.”

However, Stevens admits balancing personal journalism is a delicate art. While this type of journalism allows for greater emotional resonance, Stevens acknowledges the need for balance.

“Some of the best writing is the most personal,” Stevens said. “But you have to do it sparingly, because otherwise you’re just sort of writing a diary and then opening it up for people to read.”

Stevens hopes her column helps readers navigate the complexities of their own lives by sharing thoughtful accounts of her lived experiences.

As Stevens puts it, “If you can make people feel less alone, that’s your point.”

With her storytelling abilities and journalistic expertise, Stevens not only informs but also forges an emotional connection with her readers, addressing topics that touch the lives of her audience through a combination of reporting and personal narrative.

Just as the pink Christmas tree marked Stevens’ departure from tradition, her column breaks away from the norm, delving into topics often left unexplored by the mainstream media with the hope of helping others find solace in shared experiences.

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Taylor Swift and Beyonce Reporters are Concerning Journalists.

dmoseley Student Perspectives

By: Hailey Bosek

The largest newspaper chain in the U.S with over 200 publications under the company’s name, Gannett, recently posted journalism’s hottest new job position. The esteemed role is titled “Taylor Swift Reporter” and “Beyonce Reporter.”

“Seeing both the facts and the fury, the Taylor Swift reporter will identify why the pop star’s influence only expands, what her fanbase stands for in pop culture, and the effect she has across the music and business worlds,” the company wrote in its job description. Similarly, the newspaper is looking for someone to do the same for Beyonce.

That isn’t the only thing that Gannett has been up to as of late. Gannett has faced scrutiny due to its mass layoffs in recent years. According to NPR, Gannett’s staff of 25,000 has dwindled down to just over 11,000 since 2019. Mass layoffs came in waves, with the most recent one laying off 6% of its U.S. media division in December 2022.

Gannett Media president Maribel Perez Wadsworth told staff in an email that the company would make “necessary but painful reductions to staffing” and eliminate certain open positions. These supposedly “necessary” layoffs are taking people with decades of experience in their career away from their expertise while creating pockets of news deserts around the country. Susan DeCarava, president of the NewsGuild, has been vocal about Gannett’s control over the industry.

“Gannett CEO Mike Reed didn’t have a word to say to the scores of journalists whose livelihoods he’s destroyed, nor to the communities who have lost their primary news source thanks to his mismanagement,” DeCarava said in a statement.

So why Taylor Swift? Why Beyonce? Kristin Roberts, Gannett’s chief content officer told the Wall Street Journal that the revenue is what will save local journalism.

It is not. To advertise this position is laughing at the faces of the local journalists’ jobs that were slashed in the name of profits. These papers are left to a handful of staff that are stretched thin or are shut down entirely. The future of journalism looks bleak when the local city hall meetings will go uncovered, but what restaurant Taylor Swift recently visited has its own 500-word breaking story for USA Today. Gannett laid off about 600 reporters last year and has done nothing to salvage local papers. While their relevance is fading, their mission is more important than ever. The local news is falling through the cracks because it doesn’t make as much money or gain as many readers as documenting what new glittered corset Beyonce wore at the third leg of her tour. Does this make the local town hall sessions any less important?

I love Taylor Swift. I remember where I was when I saw the job listing on Twitter and immediately thought about how I could cover this beat. Analyzing cultural phenomenon’s and covering them is important. I believe that pop culture news can be fun to cover, create and read. However, to dedicate an entire reporter for both Beyonce and Swift as if the company doesn’t regularly lay off journalists with decades of experience is a slap in the face of why journalism matters in the first place. We need to continue as a community to invest in the local publications. We need to go back to our roots and connect with the people we cover. And most importantly, we need to call out Media Conglomerates at any opportunity we can.

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What celebrity beats tell us about where the news industry is heading

dmoseley Student Perspectives

BY NADIA CAROLINA HERNANDEZ

When USA Today announced it was seeking a reporter to cover the ubiquitous Taylor Swift, I couldn’t be more excited. I’m a huge fan and would love to see how her impact affects our culture and economy.

As much as Swift and other celebrities like Beyoncé gained traction over the summer with their tours, USA Today’s parent company Gannet was questioned about where they’re putting their reporters.

We’re at a critical moment in journalism when local newsrooms are disappearing across the nation, according to PEN America in 2020.

Local news retains the pulse of a community by covering the courts, mayor and meetings that directly impact everyday people . Beyond the investigations, seeing culture represented in the news can spark pride among neighbors.

There are greater purposes to local news beyond what we can anticipate. If not to keep people up-to-date, local news documents the history of a community. We can easily trace the development of individual families through archives of newspapers and digital archives for years to come.

If not focusing on the need-to-know news, these positions are the news industry’s adjustments to the digital age by focusing on social trends.

We won’t know until we see what they deliver. Beats covering entertainment and people in power still include strong journalism ethics and practices. Balanced journalism involves judgment and skill. It’s not enough to update social media every hour with whereabouts and rumors.

We also know from journalistic ethics that being a fan or a hater of any celebrity presents serious conflicts of interest when reporting on them. These positions should follow the same guidelines that are expected of presidential reporters .

Sun-Times columnist Rummana Hussain reflected on how the new celebrity-focused positions are motivated by profit. The news industry is constantly trying to meet people, especially Gen Z, where they are with attention-grabbing headlines about the latest trend.

The meeting place is on social media. We’re constantly being told that people are getting their news through X, Instagram and TikTok. Swift and Beyoncé also reign supreme on these platforms, where fans can quickly spread information about updates about their tours and upcoming projects.

Local news can thrive in the age of digital media. Who knows better than community reporters to share the best local businesses, quick city hall updates and weather forecasts? As I enter the industry soon, I know that delivering news digitally is a valuable skill. Journalists are more than capable of keeping local news alive.

Gannett  received over 1,000 applications for the celebrity beats. There are not as many rushing to cover a small town’s court system, but we shouldn’t turn a blind eye to the significance of local news in the digital age. I’m sure someone out there will live their ‘wildest dreams’ by reporting on two of the most influential artists of the generation.

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What celebrity beats tell us about where the news industry is heading

dmoseley Student Perspectives

BY NADIA CAROLINA HERNANDEZ

When USA Today announced it was seeking a reporter to cover the ubiquitous  Taylor Swift, I couldn’t be more excited. I’m a huge fan and would love to see how her impact affects our culture and economy.

As much as Swift and other celebrities like Beyoncé gained traction over the summer with their tours, USA Today’s parent company Gannet was questioned about where they’re putting their reporters.

We’re at a critical moment in journalism when local newsrooms are disappearing across the nation, according to PEN America in 2020.

Local news retains the pulse of a community by covering the courts, mayor and meetings that directly impact everyday people . Beyond the investigations, seeing culture represented in the news can spark pride among neighbors.

There are greater purposes to local news beyond what we can anticipate. If not to keep people up-to-date, local news documents the history of a community. We can easily trace the development of individual families through archives of newspapers and digital archives for years to come.

If not focusing on the need-to-know news, these positions are the news industry’s adjustments to the digital age by focusing on social trends.

We won’t know until we see what they deliver. Beats covering entertainment and people in power still include strong journalism ethics and practices. Balanced journalism involves judgment and skill. It’s not enough to update social media every hour with whereabouts and rumors.

We also know from journalistic ethics that being a fan or a hater of any celebrity presents serious conflicts of interest when reporting on them. These positions should follow the same guidelines that are expected of presidential reporters .

Sun-Times columnist Rummana Hussain reflected on how the new celebrity-focused positions are motivated by profit. The news industry is constantly trying to meet people, especially Gen Z, where they are with attention-grabbing headlines about the latest trend.

The meeting place is on social media. We’re constantly being told that people are getting their news through X, Instagram and TikTok. Swift and Beyoncé also reign supreme on these platforms, where fans can quickly spread information about updates about their tours and upcoming projects.

Local news can thrive in the age of digital media. Who knows better than community reporters to share the best local businesses, quick city hall updates and weather forecasts? As I enter the industry soon, I know that delivering news digitally is a valuable skill. Journalists are more than capable of keeping local news alive.

Gannett  received over 1,000 applications for the celebrity beats. There are not as many rushing to cover a small town’s court system, but we shouldn’t turn a blind eye to the significance of local news in the digital age. I’m sure someone out there will live their ‘wildest dreams’ by reporting on two of the most influential artists of the generation.

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Don’t Run from Your Opinions, Create Solutions Instead.

dmoseley Student Perspectives

By Jackie Cardenas

As journalists, we are frequently told to remain objective. To draw a thick line between your opinions and the cold facts. To never let your own desires seep into the story you’re telling. And if you have strong beliefs to share, you can head your merry way to the opinions section of the paper.

It’s a thin rope I’ve walked as a journalist and the more I develop my own ethical compass, the more I believe objectivity bars us from igniting systemic change that would truly benefit us all.

The knowledge that journalists acquire from rigorous reporting places us in a unique position to not only understand the complexity of societal issues, but to pose viable solutions that dare to reimagine the world as it stands with the interest of people at heart.

When we take a stance, we can propose solutions that put asylum-seekers on the path to citizenship instead of them sleeping on police station floors. We can propose solutions that restore a woman’s right to be free, to have autonomy over her own body. We can propose solutions that trek us closer to ending the hyper policing of Black and Brown bodies, a construct that is deeply rooted in slavery.

It doesn’t mean that every story we write will lead to monumental change, but we should be uplifting the voices of those who are on the front lines fighting for these causes, in hopes that we can all edge closer to a liberated world.

Just as we would consider cancer solutions from a doctor with years of expertise in the field, why shouldn’t we consider the solutions a journalist suggests who has covered the abuse of workers’ rights? The power of the press is invaluable and should be used to propel reform.

Moreover, objectivity is the distance from a story only afforded to White journalists.

As Washington Post reporters Brie Thompson-Bristol and Kathy Roberts Forde put it, “The White press in America has a history of playing fast and loose with its ethics and disguising racism behind the veil of objectivity.”

When George Floyd was brutally killed in 2020, many journalists of color could not distance themselves from the story because it was far too personal, because it is our communities who are too frequently brutalized. We needed to take a stance.

As anti-apartheid and human rights activist Desmond Tutu once said, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”

The Black Lives Matter Movement grew, leading Black reporters to speak out against traditional journalistic standards because they felt it restrained who could report on the protests and whose views were truly considered “neutral.”

In newsrooms that remain 76% White, 8% Hispanic, 6% Black and only 3% Asian according to Pew Research Center, people questioned, for whom were these journalistic standards originally intended to serve?

Everybody has a bias but if we acknowledge them and we are transparent with our readers about them, it doesn’t have to diminish our fairness. I argue it makes us even more credible when we own up to where we stand.

There are harmful sides to issues and if we don’t let the public clearly know that, then we lose touch of our moral responsibility.

It doesn’t mean we let go of the practice of telling all sides to a story, it means we are taking the knowledge we acquire and proposing solutions.

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Balancing ethical journalism: Mindfulness and reporting on tragic events

dmoseley Student Perspectives

by Samantha Moilanen

Growing up, my exposure to television and electronics was limited. Like most parents, mine feared my sister and I would grow up reliant on technology for our entertainment. Nevertheless, whenever I had the opportunity, I would “discreetly” watch my parents’ TV shows, which typically included programs such as Cold Case, Criminal Minds and Law and Order.

My fascination with crime shows from a young age sparked my interest in investigative journalism. As I began my journalistic career, I found myself drawn to reporting on crimes or any societal injustices.

But one question continually haunts me: How do we fulfill our duty to report the truth while minimizing harm to victims, particularly in cases of traumatic events like mass shootings?

Since Columbine, there have been 386 school shootings in the U.S., according to data from the Washington Post updated in June.

The horrifying reality of school shootings hit close to home in November 2021 with the Oxford High School shooting in Michigan and, again, in February when Michigan State University became a target for an active shooter.

As a reporter, when covering crimes like these we quickly rush to the scene, not thinking about our safety or well-being, but only that we have to break the news of this horrific tragedy because the public deserves to know what is happening. It’s our job after all.

Yet, as journalists we also have to be mindful of how we cover these events. Behind the headlines and troubling statistics are people who have experienced unimaginable pain and suffering. We can’t forget why we do what we do. Yes, we have to break the news. But taking an extra minute to truly analyze what we’re reporting before we hit send can make a drastic difference.

Ashley Yuckenberg, an assistant professor at George Mason University wrote her dissertation on the ethical quandaries of crisis coverage as a journalist. Her research focused specifically on school shootings and analyzed how missteps in local coverage distorted the national conversation about these events.

In the well-known 1999 Columbine shooting, reporters interviewed traumatized students immediately after surviving arguably the worst experience of their lives.

Was this ethical? Of course, journalists should always interview the people directly impacted, but should they have waited?

Yuckenberg found false rumors were then reported as fact in an effort to quickly break the news which resulted in forming the stereotype of the disaffected, gun-obsessed American school shooter that lives on in our imagination today. Yuckenberg uncovered another alarming aspect that was added to the narrative shaped by the media: the suggestion that goth culture played a motivating role in school shootings.

In 2017, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a set of guidelines for journalists to follow when reporting on mass shootings. Some general principles included avoiding angles or language that could potentially glamorize the perpetrator’s actions, thus influencing copycat behavior, avoiding stories that could retraumatize survivors, and avoiding language that could stigmatize people living with mental illness.

Yuckenberg used her research to come up with five ethical issues for journalists to consider when covering mass shootings. First, be mindful of relying on unverified information from witnesses who still may be in shock because it can result in misinformation. Second, avoid including details that may sensationalize the crime and retraumatize victims. Only include information that benefits society as a whole. Third, be mindful of how your coverage could influence copycat crimes. Fourth, always offer information from both sides and contextualize all statements regarding issues like mental health. Finally, be mindful of missing information as a crisis is unfolding. Sharing the full story is important but also be aware of how the information is affecting survivors.

I never want to be the journalist who chases the story to the point that they forget why they are reporting it in the first place. I think it’s easy to get caught up in the fast-pace of the 24-hour news cycle and making a deadline can sometimes seem like the top priority. But I also want to challenge myself to practice mindfulness when reporting on crimes of all nature, and to remember that the story isn’t just a story, but these are people too.