Journalism Blog- Week 10

Chapter 10- The story factory

1. Journalism is a hard industry in terms of ethical decisions. Should a journalist’s loyalty reside in the person that is providing them with the information, their employer or the public? Certainly it should always be in their reader’s best interest. If it is more relevant to publish the article a day later in terms of the newsworthy value of time than I publish it a day later. If it was a source that is constantly being used or is someone like the Police than I would also publish it a day later, if however, it is information that needs to be published straight away than I would disregard their request.
2. It is important that the public is made aware of the situation. I would run the story as it is in the publics interest, however I would do a follow up story on the workers who could lose their jobs. It is a difficult situation but you must remember that as a journalist you need to report the news and not let personal emotions get in the way. It is not the public relations practitioners role to dictate what a journalist includes in a story, so while they are a valid source, I would not listen to them about bad publicity.
3. This is difficult. As sub-editor it is your responsibility for any misrepresentations made by the paper. The excuse 'he sounded drunk' is not plausible if you make the wrong decision. I am honestly not sure what I would do. You could pull the story out all together... but then what makes front page? If you pull it out every other media outlet might cover it except you. If you leave it in and the 'so called' solicitor was telling the truth, the legal consequences of including the name could be huge.
4. I would write from the angle the editor suggests. They are senior in this argument and I wouldn't risk losing my job over something like this. I do understand that the police rounds officer is very experienced and would know the situation better than the editor might, but the editor chooses what gets published.

Here are a few things I thought were worth mentioning from the text-

• News organisation’s are assigning print, audio, web and video journalists to a story to provide output for radio, television, print and online. More journalists every year are realising the importance of multi-skilling and advanced computer training.

The Four-point Conley-Lamble Axiom of News-Gathering says:

1. The difficulty factor in news-gathering is proportional to its value.
2. The difficulty factor in news-gathering is proportional to a source’s determination to hide something.
3. The absence of difficulty in news-gathering is a hint that someone is selling something or wants something.
4. There really is no such thing as a free lunch. People who offer incentives or make threats in a bid to have a story published, or not, never have the public interest at heart.

• Australian journalists are facing major challenges to maintain quality against a backdrop of declining resources and an increasingly sophisticated public relations industry (Dickie 1999, p.21).
• 86% of journalists reported very frequent contact with PR practitioners and 31% of news stories were based ‘wholly or partly’ on media releases (p.214 textbook- survey).

The news hierarchy-

1. managing editor, or editor-in-chief
2. editor
3. deputy editor or associate editor
4. news editor
5. chief-of-staff, chief sub-editor, chief photographer/photo editor
6. journalists, sub-editors, photographers/artists

• The chief-of-staff is like a gatekeeper. They control the information received from the public and decide what stories should be followed/given to reporters or journalists.