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Esteemed journalist lectures on ethics (L.A. TIMES EDITOR WARNS: Rise of 'Pseudo-Journalism')
Oregon Daily Emerald ^ | 5/09/04 | Ayisha Yahya

Posted on 05/09/2004 9:00:58 AM PDT by Vision

The media industry has been infested by the rise of pseudo-journalists who go against journalism's long tradition to serve the public with accurate information, Los Angeles Times Editor John S. Carroll told a packed room in the Gerlinger Lounge on Thursday. Carroll delivered the annual Ruhl Lecture, titled "The Wolf in Reporter's Clothing: The Rise of Pseudo-Journalism in America." The lecture was sponsored by the School of Journalism and Communication.

"All over the country there are offices that look like newsrooms and there are people in those offices that look for all the world just like journalists, but they are not practicing journalism," he said. "They regard the audience with a cold cynicism. They are practicing something I call a pseudo-journalism, and they view their audience as something to be manipulated."

In a scathing critique of Fox News and some talk show hosts, such as Bill O'Reilly, Carroll said they were a "different breed of journalists" who misled their audience while claiming to inform them. He said they did not fit into the long legacy of journalists who got their facts right and respected and cared for their audiences.

Carroll cited a study released last year that showed Americans had three main misconceptions about Iraq: That weapons of mass destruction had been found, a connection between al-Qaeda and Iraq had been demonstrated and that the world approved of U.S intervention in Iraq. He said 80 percent of people who primarily got their news from Fox believed at least one of the misconceptions. He said the figure was more than 57 percentage points higher than people who get their news from public news broadcasting.

"How in the world could Fox have left its listeners so deeply in the dark?" Carroll asked.

He added that a difference exists between journalism and propaganda.

As he addressed some of the hard hits journalism has taken in the field of ethics, Carroll noted that anyone could be a journalist because, unlike other fields, journalism had no qualification tests, boards to censure misconduct or a universally accepted set of standards.

However, Carroll said a great depth of feeling remains on the importance of ethics that is centered around newspapers' sense of responsibilities to their readers.

"I've learned that these ethics are deeply believed in even though in some places they are not even written down," he said. When ethical guidelines are ignored, their proponents respond with 'tribal ferocity,'" he added.

"If you stray badly from these rules, you will pay dearly," he said.

He said while much media has ended up "in the gutter," the L.A. Times has a different philosophy and was dedicated to taking the "high road."

"I do think that a lot of newspaper people have made a lot of strategic mistakes," he said. "They cut back space on things people really need to know."

Carroll, whose career as a journalist spans 40 years, joined the L.A. Times in 2000, according to the paper's Web site. Under his leadership, the paper earned five Pulitzer Prizes this year.

Tim Gleason, dean of the SOJC, said Carroll is a "journalist's journalist."

"As an editor he cares deeply about the integrity of the profession and he believes that news, real news is the heart and soul of the business of journalism," Gleason said as he introduced Carroll.

University graduate student Mose Mosely had similar sentiments. He said he admired Carroll not only for his vast experience around the country, but also for his consistent commitment to his ideals.

"The depth of his integrity is very impressive," Mosely said.

Bobbie Willis, a staff writer for the Eugene Weekly, said she felt Carroll brought up some relevant issues in today's media environment.

"It really made me take a look at my career as a journalist," she said.

Willis said she understood Carroll's concerns about the state of journalism nationally, but added that many of the journalists she has encountered were very committed to accurate and ethical reporting.

Carroll had a few words of advise for student journalists; he told them to pick their boss carefully.

"Don't be lured by the money or the big name of the employer," he said, adding that journalists should not allow their integrity to be compromised by unscrupulous employers.

"Don't be a piano player in a whorehouse," he said.


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 2004electionbias; bias; ccrm; conservativebashing; dellusional; foxbashing; heykettleyoureblack; homosexualagenda; journalism; kickme; laslimes; lat; latimes; liberalelites; liberalmedia; lyingliars; mediabias; mediaelites; nyslimes; nytimes; oreillybashing; pc; pinata; politicallycorrect; projection; pseudojournalists; selfloathing; usefulidiots
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To: Vision
Someone put CoolAid in this guys beer-bong.
41 posted on 05/09/2004 10:34:58 AM PDT by Psycho_Bunny
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To: Maigrey
Maigrey, I read your post here with considerable interest. You are very correct, there is a shifting paradigm happening in media today.

I recall a sci-fi movie, can't recall the name of it, maybe it was Minority Report, where it showed people sitting on a subway train reading "newspapers" that were changing articles and updating even as they read them. Really, we have that today.

With the advent of computers, the internet, PDA's and notebook computers, we have the capability now of getting the "real time" news on the fly where ever we are, whenever we want. Newspapers??? A waste of time for the most part.

I personally have a PDA with a Palm OS connected with PCS Vision phone service that, for example, allows me to access even Free Republic whenever I want it. It is a bit slow, but that will increase with time as technology improves. I still get plenty of FR info when I want it though.

42 posted on 05/09/2004 10:37:09 AM PDT by el_texicano (Liberals are the real Mind-Numbed Robots - No Brains, No Guts, No Character...Just hate)
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To: Vision
This is so funny I can hardly type. These people ACTUALLY believe they are good journalists and the other guy is wrong. Hey DUMMY, maybe the reason we all go to FOX is because we know they are telling the truth and the rest of you guys are lying through your teeth to push your agenda.
43 posted on 05/09/2004 10:43:45 AM PDT by McGavin999 (If Kerry can't deal with the "Republican Attack Machine" how is he going to deal with Al Qaeda)
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To: Citizen Tom Paine
Journalists today are ignorant and incapable of reasonable, original thought. Most of them entered journalism with the idea of emulating Woodward/Bernstein, and can only regurgitate the statements of self-styled "experts" who represent the journalist's point of view. There is no attempt to research or study an issue, just the liberal party line. Corrections and outright retractions of printed "facts" are buried on page 54 of Section E.

For example, on May 5th, ABC Radio News was reporting that Americans should consider Cinco De Mayo important because if the Mexicans had not been fighting the French invaders for their freedom, the French would have sent soldiers to help the Confederacy. As any student of history knows, this is absolutely false. Rather, if it were not for the Civil War, Napolean III would have not dared violate the Monroe Doctrine by setting up a proxy government in Mexico. This outright lie was probably provided by a pro-immigration group such as MECHA to a gullible reporter.
44 posted on 05/09/2004 10:43:55 AM PDT by KAUAIBOUND (Hawaii - a Socialist paradise)
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To: Vision
Carroll's remarks are outrageous. This is the guy whose paper once titled its letters section, "Bush or Bin Laden: Who is the Enemy?, published a front-page article about the assasination of a Hamas leader without once describing him as a terrorist, prints front-page pictures of homosexuals kissing each other, treats prisoner abuse in Iraq like the Holocaust, repeatedly referred to Gary Condit as a "conservative Congressman" instead of a Democrat, and calls illegal aliens "undocumented workers." The L.A. Times is a liberal tabloid, and Carroll is just covering his tail.
45 posted on 05/09/2004 10:46:46 AM PDT by Holden Magroin
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To: Vision
Well, I guess I better say a big THANK YOU Mr. Carrol, your moronic putz. Us underlings would have never figured any of this out ourselves. Let's see...Basic Negotiating skills 101... When going downs in flames in a debate on ethics, accuse the opponent of the things you do yourself. I think we now have the whole picture... and we feel your pain...
46 posted on 05/09/2004 10:53:47 AM PDT by PushinTin
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To: Maigrey
I once vaguely read that progress comes not from persuasion, because those that hold the old, failing positions are personally, professionally and mentally entrenched and it is only when they die off, does the new theory becomes accepted. This human age phenomena is commonly noted in histories of the sciences, and I don't see why it wouldn't be in other professions as it seems to have a basic human ring of truth in our own observation of our fellow species members.

As to your comments on young conservatives, I can imagine. I attended UMass and felt completely isolated in the late '70's. However since then I have come to realize it wasn't my values or political views, it was just me personally. :)
47 posted on 05/09/2004 10:54:33 AM PDT by Leisler (The Democrats. The nation's oldest organized crime family.)
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To: el_texicano
I find that the problem (a la horse driven carriages v. horseless buggies) is that the medium of print news is sooooo permanent, where the breaking news that the 24 hour news channels have is ever evolving and morphing.

Don't get me wrong. There is a place for print news - setting the record straight with in-depth investigation of the news - but they just can't compete with the tv news that can get the news out faster, and with less lag in disseminating the news.

However, there is a catch with this. The TV media also have a weakness: the timeframe they have to work in. No real news story worth its salt in 24 hour coverage can cover a news event with the depth needed for some news stories. They have so long - maybe 60 seconds if that! - to convey the news before moving on to the next story. (And, throw in 12 minutes of advertising per thirty minutes to cover costs) and that doesn't leave much time for many a news articles.

This is where the new media can really excell and explode. They have the versatility of tv news - like the breaking news threads on here - with the ability to also provide updates and in depth reporting of the news, along with the breadth of articles that can be covered. But even then, there is a catch.

News articles on the internet have a habit of being "modified" when the need arises. Sure, this isn't the case with all news media, but some unethical news service "could" revise the articles (and it not be noticed unless the person reading it would do some digging.) to slant the record.

How will this affect the new media? It remains to be seen.

48 posted on 05/09/2004 10:59:26 AM PDT by Maigrey (Member of the War Babies' Live Thread Free Republic reporting service)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach; Vision
The Ten Commandments of Modern Copyright
  1. Thou mayest not question the word of Thy Media.

  2. Thou mayest not repeat the word of thy Media so as to ask questions about it.

  3. Thou mayest not even suggest what the word of thy Media was so as to question it. This is related to Look and Feel.

  4. Freedom of the Press is only available to corporations who offer sacrifices to the Gods in the Senate.

  5. Freedom of Speech requires strict Government Licensing and Regulation.

  6. Thou mayest NOT ever mention thy Gods of Senate and House by name in the months preceeding the great polls.

  7. Exceprting is theft.

  8. Thou MUST bow before the Anchor-gods of Major Network News daily.

  9. Political commentary is Murder by Hate Speech if it questions the expansion of the state or the diefication of victims.

  10. Thou must not even think negative thoughts about great social policies.

49 posted on 05/09/2004 11:04:34 AM PDT by bvw
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To: Vision
So, is this the same LA Times that ran this image... as a "real" photo and got busted?

Here is the undoctored one...

Does anyone remember that? I am fairly sure it was the LA Times.

50 posted on 05/09/2004 11:06:30 AM PDT by I_saw_the_light ("George Bush makes me proud to be an American"-Thomas Hamill)
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To: Vision
The media industry has been infested by the rise of pseudo-journalists who go against journalism's long tradition to serve the public with accurate information, Los Angeles Times Editor John S. Carroll

Who is he kidding? What the heck is a journalist anyway? I read better reports here on Free Republic then in major newspapers! And since when did anybody have to go to college for six years to learn how to write and report? Since 'journalism' has become a pseudo-profession (like law or medicine, what a joke!) the lefties have been selling this idea.
51 posted on 05/09/2004 11:09:16 AM PDT by Rummyfan
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To: I_saw_the_light
Bingo...it was.

Link

52 posted on 05/09/2004 11:09:59 AM PDT by I_saw_the_light ("George Bush makes me proud to be an American"-Thomas Hamill)
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To: Vision
Carroll cited a study released last year that showed Americans had three main misconceptions about Iraq: That weapons of mass destruction had been found, a connection between al-Qaeda and Iraq had been demonstrated and that the world approved of U.S intervention in Iraq. He said 80 percent of people who primarily got their news from Fox believed at least one of the misconceptions.

Fact: A connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda has been demonstrated.

53 posted on 05/09/2004 11:27:52 AM PDT by Cubs Fan (Liberals have the inverse midas touch, everything they get a hold of turns to S&*%)
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To: Vision
This guy is a real hypocrite. He's an editor with the LA Times, the paper that tried to prevent the recall of Grayout Davis.
54 posted on 05/09/2004 11:42:32 AM PDT by freedom1st
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To: thoughtomator
Perhaps you could email Mr. Carroll and encourage him to start by examining his own house for "pseudo-journalism."
55 posted on 05/09/2004 12:05:41 PM PDT by Fester Chugabrew
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To: Vision


L.A. Times Editor John Carroll spoke about journalism ethics and pseudo-journalism at the Gerlinger Lounge on Thursday.
Tim Kupsick Photographer
56 posted on 05/09/2004 12:08:42 PM PDT by miltonim (Fight those who do not believe in Allah. - Koran, Surah IX: 29)
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To: Vision
In a scathing critique of Fox News and some talk show hosts, such as Bill O'Reilly, Carroll said they were a "different breed of journalists" who misled their audience while claiming to inform them. He said they did not fit into the long legacy of journalists who got their facts right and respected and cared for their audiences.

Oh puh-leease. What a joke. I was recently fooled by the "mainstream" media. I used them as a source without double checking my facts with conservative sources. Guess who ended up being right? Yeah. The conservatives. Shame on me for not checking with them before sending out a letter using the "ethical mainstream journalists" as my only source. talk about having their own agenda.

57 posted on 05/09/2004 12:09:43 PM PDT by The Ghost of FReepers Past (Never trust a journalist.)
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To: I_saw_the_light
I remember that image. What is so pathetic about the whole thing is that it's not even a good Photoshop. That's why they got busted in the first place.

For instance, look at the man crouched to the left of the soldier's feet. Now, look to the right of soldier. The back of the same man has just been copied and pasted. You can also see the same head of a different man seated just behind the crouching man on both sides of the soldier. The LA Times wanted to leave the impression that the soldier was threatening a man with a child. But of course, that doesn't fall under this moron's defintion of "manipulation".
58 posted on 05/09/2004 12:16:57 PM PDT by bootyist-monk (<--------------------- Republican Attack Machine)
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To: Vision; All
So the hallowed LA Times is one of the few repositories of journalism, integrity, accurate information, and respect for their audience.

Maybe in the distant past, but NOT since at least 1990. With all due respect Mr. Carroll, the below proves that you'll compromise journalism to pander to a portion of your audience, that you lack integrity, that you're willing to let a special interest group filter the informtation that gets to readers (compromising its accuracy), and thereby show disrespect for your audience, which apparently is not capable of thinking "properly" without your managed and filtered news.

++++++

http://www.glaad.org/publications/archive_detail.php?id=319

May 12, 1990
LOS ANGELES, CA & NEW YORK, NY -- May 12, 1990 --

CBS, Newsweek and the Los Angeles Times were among the award winners at the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation's first annual media awards show held April 29 in New York and hosted by TV talk show host Phil Donahue. Actress Marlo Thomas, Donahue's wife, and New York Mayor David Dinkins were among the guests at the event in the Tower Suite at the top of the Time-Life Building.

The Los Angeles Times won in the category of "Most Improved Press Coverage." GLAAD representatives Carol Anderson, Richard Jennings and Dr. Sylvia Rhue later presented the marble and glass award to Times managing editor George Cotliar at the Times offices in downtown Los Angeles.

The GLAAD Media Awards were established to celebrate GLAAD's successes so far, to congratulate those whose work and talents advance the cause of equal rights for lesbians and gay men, and to call attention to the widespread homophobia that continues to exist in our society.

The Times was cited, in particular, for greatly expanding its coverage of the lesbian and gay community in the past year. Examples of this coverage, exposing Times readers to the broad diversity of the lesbian and gay community, included an article about the emergence of such groups as Gay and Lesbian Latinos Unidos and the National Black Gay and Lesbian Leadership Forum (Metro, April 30, 1989), an in-depth story on Project 10 (View, Dec. 7, 1989), Doug Sadownick's profile of Dr. German Maisonet (Jan. 15, 1990), Victor Zonana's profile of GLAAD (View, Feb. 22, 1990), Bettijane Levine's article on lesbians on college campuses (View, March 14, 1990), and a front section piece on the American Society of Newspaper Editors poll of gay and lesbian journalists (April 4, 1990).

GLAAD's Los Angeles chapter, the second chapter out of 10 that have formed so far around the country, originally met with Times editors last year. Since that meeting, Times editors and reporters have frequently called on GLAAD to help identify leads and to discuss story ideas. The Times also added a chapter to its style book prohibiting the use of pejorative terms, including derogatory terms describing sexual orientation, except when "their use is essential to the meaning or understanding of a story" and their use is approved by a managing editor.

++++++

What a complete hypocrite.

59 posted on 05/09/2004 12:49:24 PM PDT by litany_of_lies
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To: bvw
Sad, but true.
60 posted on 05/09/2004 12:51:59 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
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