DOCSLIB.ORG

Dennis Duggan Award Winner

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Dennis Duggan Award Winner Society of the Silurians EXCELLENCE IN JOURNALISM AWARDS GALA The National Arts Club 15 Gramercy Park South Wednesday, May 15, 2019 Drinks: 6 P.M. • Dinner: 7:15 P.M. Published by The Society of The Silurians, Inc., an organization Meet old friends and award winners of veteran New York City journalists founded in 1924 [email protected] MAY 2019 Celebrating The Best BY JACK DEACY Melius, a onetime street hoodlum who received today’s equivalent of at least in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey. nvestigative stories were the came to own Long Island’s unofficial $413 million from his father’s real estate highlight of this year’s Silurian political clubhouse, a grand, Gatsby-era empire and that much of it came from • Newsday reporter Will Van Sant’s IExcellence in Journalism contest. estate called Oheka Castle. Along with questionable tax schemes during the “Hands to the Neck” exposé won for The New York Times, Newsday and hosting celebrity weddings and music 1990s, including outright fraud. Public Service Reporting. It took Van The Record/NorthJersey.com were the videos by Taylor Swift and others, Ohe- Sant a year to conduct deep research, big winners in the awards spon- ka became the place where high-rank- • On their way to winning the Me- collecting documents, developing sourc- sored annually by the Society of ing public officials, political leaders and dallion for Radio News Reporting, es and using old fashioned shoe leather Silurians. law enforcement brass wined and dined, WNYC Radio and ProPublica combined to get the story. It revealed scores of Newsday also won the President’s played poker, anointed and cross-en- their staffs to produce “Trump Inc.,” a non-fatal strangulation attacks in state- Choice Medallion for its extraordinay dorsed candidates and otherwise sliced year-long series of podcasts that uncov- run or state-supervised hospital and oth- investigation that exposed a complex up the public pie. ered wrongdoing and conflicts of inter- er medical facilities. Van Sant’s report- web of corrupt ties between politicans Other winning entries also featured est in the Trump business empire. ing detailed how Patricia Gunning, the and the business, law enforcement and outstanding investigative work and sev- former special prosecutor and inspector legal communities of Long Island. Over eral of them targeted the Trump business • The Associated Press Trump Busi- general at the New York State Justice four years a battalion of Newsday report- empire: ness Team dug deep into the business Center for the Protection of People with ers and researchers conducted hundreds activities of Ivanka Trump and Jared Special Needs, was stymied in her at- of interviews, pored over thousands of • The New York Times investigative Kushner. Their investigations exposed tempt to study and combat the phenom- government documents and developed team of David Barstow, Susanne Craig glaring conflicts of interest as the pair enon, which often involved employees inside sources. The result was “Pathway and Russ Buettner won the Medalllion continue to serve as White House advis- acting against vulnerable individuals un- To Power,” a 48-page, 30,000-word spe- for Investigative Reporting by telling ers without divesting their extensive fi- der state care. Van Sant’s piece spurred cial Sunday supplement published last the complex story of the legally dubious nancial holdings. For their reporting, the calls for Congressional action. March. financial history of the Trump family AP team won a Merit Award for Busi- The vehicle for the probe was Gary business. It demonstrated that Trump ness and Financial Reporting. • Kevin Armstrong won for Sports Reporting for taking a close look at • The exhaustive research work of an FBI probe into the way business- New Jersey Bus Crash Tragedy James O’Neill, Scott Fallon and photo- men and coaches schemed to funnel journalist Chris Padota of The Record/ six-frigure payments from sneaker NorthJersey.com resulted in “Toxic Se- companies to the families of star high crets: Pollution, Evasion and Fear in school basketball players. When he New Jersey,” which won the Medal- wrote it he was working in the sports lion for Environmental Reporting. department of the New York Daily The four-part series uncovered how News. When the Daily News let half DuPont downplayed the dire health of their editorial staff go during 2018, risks posed by cancer-causing ground- Armstrong was among the casualties. water contamination at their now But he bounced back and now covers closed munitions manufacturing plant Continued on Page 4 Dennis Duggan Award Winner: Rachel Rippetoe is Dedicated to Local Reporting BY ALLAN DODDS FRANK he first story by Rachel Rippe- toe, this year’s Dennis Duggan TAward winner, appeared in the “Knightly News,” her high school news- paper at Hume-Fogg Academic Magnet High School in Nashville, Tenn., home of the Blue Knights. In those days, Rippetoe was working part time at a farmer’s market so her journalism focused on agriculture and the food chain. She wanted to get out of the South and had relatives in Oregon so she enrolled at the University of Portland, A bus carrying fifth grade students from Paramus, New Jersey, where she became the editor-in-chief of hit a dump truck while allegedly making an illegal U-turn on The Beacon, the student newspaper. While still at school, Rippetoe got an Route 80. The crash killed 10-year-old Miranda Vargas and internship at the Eugene, Oregon Reg- teacher Jennifer Williamson-Kennedy while injuring 43 others. ister-Guard. It was “the most fun ever, This photo by Bob Karp for TheRecord.com was one of a series reporting in a small town,” she says. “I that won in Breaking News Photography. got into journalism there and knew I Continued on Page 6 RACHEL RIPPETOE PAGE 2 SILURIAN NEWS MAY 2019 President’s Report Greetings, Silurians! Spring is prize time for Silurians. We had the good fortune to kick it off with a bang, celebrating our Peter Kihss Award winner, WCBS News Radio’s ace street reporter Rich Lamb, just entering his 41st year on the streets of New York. He was joined at our April awards lunch by the Dennis Duggan winner, the amazing young journalist, Rachel Rippetoe, a 23-year-old student at the Craig New- mark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York. The names of both awards, of course, enshrine two of the giants of our pro- fession—Peter Kihss of The New York Times and Dennis Duggan of Newsday, each of them contributing magisterially to the craft we all love. In May, as you are reading this, we will be presenting our annual Excellence in Journalism Awards at a gala at the National Arts Club. And we have an amazing collection of Medallion and Merit winners, including for the first time in many years the President’s Medallion, which I will be bestowing on an extraor- dinary work by Newsday called “Pathway to Power,” which you will find featured elsewhere in today’s Silurian News. * * * Since I will shortly be nearing the end Block goes over a script with CBS anchor Walter Cronkite in of my first (of two) years as your pres- an undated photo. ident, I thought it might be worthwhile to engage in a little accounting. I am of the strong belief that elected officials, learned good English in school? at every level of politics, society and “No,” he told me. “That’s not media, owe that to their constituents. It the problem. Writers need to is a belief nourished by my first-hand PROFILE: remember the art of writing lies experience chronicling the abuses per- in rewriting.” Block’s early ca- petrated by dictators operating in their reer was in print news. Does he own rather than their peoples’ interests. feel TV news today is generally In a real democracy, none of us operates superficial? “Yes, it is what it in a vacuum. We are all, or should be, MERVIN is. It’s not The New York Times, accountable to all of those who put us in office. (Sound familiar? Or perhaps but it’s free.” What about the unfamiliar these days.) look of TV news anchors, es- One of my principal goals in assum- pecially at the local level? Are ing leadership of what was then the So- BLOCK they just hiring pretty faces, good ciety of the Silurians, was to broaden our at reading from the teleprompter? “I Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. He had dinner reach and influence, which by strength BY BILL DIEHL wouldn’t say that, or think that, although with Jimmy Stewart. of the present or former employment of ervin Block is watching the a pretty face is no handicap.” His list of interviews is long: Elizabeth all of us, should be not inconsiderable. TV news and grumbling . In his books, Block doesn’t come Taylor, Elvis Presley, Judy Garland. (Gar- I was especially moved (not positively) “Too many crawls,” he says. down hard on news anchors, realizing land was 45 minutes late for her interview. by the comment from a top aide to Rep. M “It gives me the creeps. Breaking news. they haven’t written everything they “Why were you late, I asked. She said she Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), in declining our invitation to speak at one of Happening now. Those headlines are read, but “I do quote some of their scripts was taking a shower. She wasn’t pleased our gatherings, referring to The Silurians usually phony. Where are the editors? verbatim, which is bad enough.” when I said, ‘How long does it take you as “your luncheon club.” Supervisors? Management?” Does he watch the Sunday shows– to take a shower?’” Well, we are not a tea party nor Longtime Silurian Block, at 93, is “Face the Nation,” “This Week,” Meet He once had breakfast with Senator (merely) a luncheon club.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Phony Philanthropy of the Walmart Heirs
    Legal Disclaimer: UFCW and OUR Walmart have the purpose of helping Wal-Mart employees as individuals or groups in their dealings with Wal-Mart over labor rights and standards and their efforts to have Wal-Mart publically commit to adhering to labor rights and standards. UFCW and OUR Walmart have no intent to have Walmart recognize or bargain with UFCW or OUR Walmart as the representative of Walmart employees. Walmart1Percent.Org WALTON FAMILY “PHILANTHROPY”: A Distraction from the Walmart Economy Americans believe in the power of charitable giving. Eighty-eight percent of American households give to charity, contributing more than $2,000 per year on average.1 Despite their charitable inclinations, most American families, acting on their own, lack the financial resources to make a significant impact on the problems facing our society. The Walton family, majority owner of Walmart, is a notable exception. As members of the richest family in the United States, the Waltons have $140 billion at their disposal—enough wealth to make a positive mark on the world and still leave a fortune for their descendants. The Waltons certainly wish to be seen as a force for good. Their company claims to help people “live better” and the Walton Family Foundation mission statement speaks of “creating opportunity so that individuals and communities can live better in today’s world.”2 But that mission statement seems ironic, given that many of the most acute challenges facing American families in 2014 could rightfully be viewed as symptoms of our “Walmart economy,” characterized by rising inequality and economic insecurity.
    [Show full text]
  • Open House Program
    Open House Agenda Monday, October 7, 2019 | 8:45 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. | North Gate Hall Twitter: @UCBSOJ | Instagram: @BerkeleyJournalism Hashtags: #UCBSOJ #BerkeleyJournalism Open House is designed for prospective students to attend as many of the day’s sessions as they wish, creating a day that best suits their needs. The expectation is that attendees will come and go from classes and information sessions as needed. Events (See Bios and Descriptions for more info) 8:45 am – 9:00 am Coffee & Refreshments (Courtyard) 10:00 am – 10:30 am Career Planning (Room B1) 10:30 am – 11:00 am Financial Planning (Room B1) 11:30 am – Noon Welcome Address by Dean Wasserman (Library) Noon – 1:00 pm Lunch (Courtyard) We’ll have themed lunch tables which you can join in order to learn more about different reporting areas. Table Reporting Themes: Audio | Democracy & Inequality | Documentary | Health, Science & Environment | Investigative | Multimedia | Narrative Writing | Photojournalism | Shortform Video 1:00 pm - 1:30 pm Investigative Reporting Program Talk (Library) 1:30 pm - 2:15 pm Chat with IRP (IRP Offices across the street, 2481 Hearst Avenue - Drop-In) 2:15 pm - 3:00 pm Chat with the Dean (Dean’s Office - Drop-In) 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm Student Panel: The Student Perspective (Library) 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm Reception with current students, faculty & staff Classes (See Bios and Descriptions for more info) 9:00 am – Noon Reporting the News J200 Sections: Democracy & Inequality Instructor: Chris Ballard | Production Lab Health & Environment Instructor: Elena Conis
    [Show full text]
  • The Pulitzer Prizes 2020 Winne
    WINNERS AND FINALISTS 1917 TO PRESENT TABLE OF CONTENTS Excerpts from the Plan of Award ..............................................................2 PULITZER PRIZES IN JOURNALISM Public Service ...........................................................................................6 Reporting ...............................................................................................24 Local Reporting .....................................................................................27 Local Reporting, Edition Time ..............................................................32 Local General or Spot News Reporting ..................................................33 General News Reporting ........................................................................36 Spot News Reporting ............................................................................38 Breaking News Reporting .....................................................................39 Local Reporting, No Edition Time .......................................................45 Local Investigative or Specialized Reporting .........................................47 Investigative Reporting ..........................................................................50 Explanatory Journalism .........................................................................61 Explanatory Reporting ...........................................................................64 Specialized Reporting .............................................................................70
    [Show full text]
  • Best Recent News Stories and Opinion Pieces About Corporate Tax Inversions Americans for Tax Fairness As of July 24, 2014
    Best Recent News Stories and Opinion Pieces About Corporate Tax Inversions Americans for Tax Fairness As of July 24, 2014 Positively un-American Tax Dodges, Allan Sloan, Fortune, July 7, 2014 At Walgreen, Renouncing Corporate Citizenship, Andrew Ross Sorkin, The New York Times, June 30, 2014 A decision to desert America: To dodge taxes, more U.S. companies eye moving abroad, Sen. Dick Durbin, The Chicago Tribune, July 23, 2014 Companies Take U.S. Benefits, but Flee US Taxes, Editorial Board, The Raleigh News and Observer, July 10, 2014 An Open Letter to Medtronic on What it Means to be an American company, Steve Pearlstein, The Washington Post, June 20, 2014 U.S. Stands to Lose Billions From Corporate Tax Inversions, Joseph Walker, The Wall Street Journal, July 14, 2014 Tax Inversion: How U.S. Companies Buy Tax Breaks, Zachary Mider, Bloomberg News, July 14, 2014 Corporate Tax Dodgers Leave the Rest of Us to Foot the Bill, Allan Sloan, The Washington Post, July 12, 2014 Tax avoidance: The Irish inversion, Vanessa Houlder, Vincent Boland and James Politi, The Financial Times, April 29, 2014 In Deal to Cut Corporate Taxes, Shareholders Pay the Price, Steven Davidoff Solomon, The New York Times, July 8, 2014 How to Win Billions in Federal Contracts on a Permanent Tax Holiday, Zachary Mider, Bloomberg News, July 8, 2014 Key Senate Democrat Urges Action to Limit Tax Inversion ‘Virus’, Jim Puzzanghera, The Los Angeles times, July 22, 2014 Foreign Tax Ploys Raise a Question: What is an American Company? Allan Sloan, Fortune, June 2, 2014 Walgreens Potential HQ Move Draws Dixon Mayor’s Ire, Peter Frost, The Chicago Tribune, July 3, 2014 U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Fair Game: How a Top Spy Was Betrayed by Her Own Government Free
    FREE FAIR GAME: HOW A TOP SPY WAS BETRAYED BY HER OWN GOVERNMENT PDF Valerie Plame Wilson | 412 pages | 10 Jun 2008 | SIMON & SCHUSTER | 9781416537625 | English | New York, NY, United States Fair Game : How a Top CIA Agent Was Betrayed by Her Own Government, Paperback | eBay Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Laura Rozen Afterword. Get A Copy. More Details Edition Language. Other Editions 1. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Fair Gameplease sign up. Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. The book itself is well done and a worthy read. However, I gave the book five stars due to its importance both when it was Fair Game: How a Top Spy Was Betrayed by Her Own Government and now The behavior of the George W. Bush administration with regard to Iraq was shameful at many levels, clearly illegal, and undoubtedly immoral. Among other things this Fair Game: How a Top Spy Was Betrayed by Her Own Government helps the reader to realize, Fair Game: How a Top Spy Was Betrayed by Her Own Government total lie about the WMD that Iraq was alleged to have.
    [Show full text]
  • Read the 2018-2019 Shorenstein Center Annual Report
    Annual Report 2018–2019 Contents Letter from the Director 2 2018–2019 Highlights 4 Areas of Focus Technology and Social Change Research Project 6 Misinformation Research 8 Digital Platforms and Democracy 10 News Quality Journalist’s Resource 12 The Goldsmith Awards 15 News Sustainability 18 Race & Equity 20 Events Annual Lectures 22 Theodore H. White Lecture on Press and Politics 23 Salant Lecture on Freedom of the Press 33 Speaker Series 41 The Student Experience 43 Fellows 45 Staff, Faculty, Board, and Supporters 47 From the Director Like the air we breathe and the water we drink, the information we consume sustains the health of the body politic. Good information nourishes democracy; bad information poisons it. The mission of the Shorenstein Center is to support and protect the information ecosystem. This means promoting access to reliable information through our work with journalists, policymakers, civil society, and scholars, while also slowing the spread of bad information, from hate speech to “fake news” to all kinds of distortion and media manipulation. The public square has always had to contend with liars, propagandists, dividers, and demagogues. But the tools for creating toxic information are more powerful and widely available than ever before, and the effects more dangerous. How our generation responds to threats we did not foresee, fueled by technologies we have not contained, is the central challenge of our age. How do journalists cover the impact of misinformation without spreading it further? How do technology companies,
    [Show full text]
  • The Motion Picture and Television Industry's Copyright Concerns on the Internet*
    Mickey and the Mouse: The Motion Picture and Television Industry's Copyright Concerns on the Internet* Mark S. Torpoco I. INTRODUCTION In early 1996, international chess champion Garry Kasparov played a six game match with an IBM computer, named Deep Blue, specifically designed to play chess and programmed with the knowl- edge of every known chess move, game, and strategy.' Kasparov's hard-won victory was hailed as a victory for human ingenuity over ar- tificial intelligence,2 but the match itself was important for another reason: it highlighted the potential commercial value of the Internet as an entertainment medium. IBM, which sponsored the match, created an Internet site that al- lowed chess enthusiasts to follow the match move by move and to read on-the-scene expert commentary.' IBM was expecting 200,000 people to drop by, but over 6 million people signed on to view the action as it transpired.4 These are Nielsen-size numbers larger than those of many TV shows, and if IBM could have charged admission to view its Inter- . An earlier version of this paper won First Place in the 1996 Nathan Burkan Competition at Harvard Law School. This paper is printed with the permission of ASCAP, and with thanks to Edward Torpoco, Leslie Diaz, David Handelman and Joseph F. Troy for their help and encouragement. Dave Anderson, A Chess King Bails Out the Big Four, N.Y. TIMES, Feb. 21, 1996, at B 11. 2 Id ' Steven Levy, How to Cast a Wider Net, TIME, Mar. 4, 1996, at 48. 4 Anderson, supra note 1.
    [Show full text]
  • 2010 Berger List of Past Winners
    2010 List of Berger Past Winners Years Awarded Awardees Company Name Description 1961 McCandlish Philips The New York Times Special Recognition 1961 David C. Miller The New York Herald Tribune 1961 Helen Dudar The New York Post 1962 Lewis Lapham Harper’s Magazine 1963 Pete Kihss The New York Times 1964 Charles Grutzner The New York Times 1964 Jimmy Breslin The New York Herald Tribune 1965 Homer Bigart The New York Times 1966 Robert M. Lipstye The New York Times 1966 William E. Blundell The Wall Street Journal 1967 Leonard Victor The Long Island Press 1967 Murray Schumach The New York Times 1968 J. Anthony Lukas The New York Times 1968 Felix Kressler The Walll Street Journal 1969 Archie Waters The Long Island Press 1969 Sy Safransky The Long Island Press 1969 Robert Mayer Newsday 1970 Richard Severo The New York Times Special Recognition 1970 Art Sears Jr. The Wall Street Journal 1970 Donald Moffitt The Wall Street Journal 1971 Jack Newfield The Village Voice 1971 Robert Mayer Newsday Special Recognition 1972 Diane Zimmerman The New York Daily News 1972 Paul Meskil The New York Daily News 1972 Joseph Martin The New York Daily News 1972 Ray Kestenbaum Special Recognition 1972 Frank Faso The New York Daily News 1973 John Hess The New York Times 1973 Barry Cunningham The New York Post 1974 Penelope McMillan The Sunday News 1974 Sonny Kleinfield The Wall Street Journal 1975 Peter Coutros The New York Daily News 1975 Diedre Carmody The New York Times 1976 Israel Shenker The New York Times 1976 Howard Blum The Village Voice 1977 Richard Severo The New York Times 1977 Denis Hamill The Village Voice 1978 Carey Winfrey Reader’s Digest Association 1978 Ricki Fulman The New York Daily News 1979 Kenneth Gross Newsday 1979 Francis X.
    [Show full text]
  • Michael Krasny Has Interviewed a Wide Range of Major Political and Cultural Figures Including Edward Albee, Madeleine Albright
    Michael Krasny has interviewed a wide range of major political and cultural figures including Edward Albee, Madeleine Albright, Sherman Alexei, Robert Altman, Maya Angelou, Margaret Atwood, Ken Auletta, Paul Auster, Richard Avedon, Joan Baez, Alec Baldwin, Dave Barry, Harry Belafonte, Annette Bening, Wendell Berry, Claire Bloom, Andy Borowitz, T.S. Boyle, Ray Bradbury, Ben Bradlee, Bill Bradley, Stephen Breyer, Tom Brokaw, David Brooks, Patrick Buchanan, William F. Buckley Jr, Jimmy Carter, James Carville, Michael Chabon, Noam Chomsky, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Cesar Chavez, Bill Cosby, Sandra Cisneros, Billy Collins, Pat Conroy, Francis Ford Coppola, Jacques Cousteau, Michael Crichton, Francis Crick, Mario Cuomo, Tony Curtis, Marc Danner, Ted Danson, Don DeLillo, Gerard Depardieu, Junot Diaz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Joan Didion, Maureen Dowd. Jennifer Egan, Daniel Ellsberg, Rahm Emanuel, Nora Ephron, Susan Faludi, Diane Feinstein, Jane Fonda, Barney Frank, Jonathan Franzen, Lady Antonia Fraser, Thomas Friedman, Carlos Fuentes, John Kenneth Galbraith, Andy Garcia, Jerry Garcia, Robert Gates, Newt Gingrich, Allen Ginsberg, Malcolm Gladwell, Danny Glover, Jane Goodall, Stephen Greenblatt, Matt Groening, Sammy Hagar, Woody Harrelson, Robert Hass, Werner Herzog, Christopher Hitchens, Nick Hornby, Khaled Hosseini, Patricia Ireland, Kazuo Ishiguro, Molly Ivins, Jesse Jackson, PD James, Bill T. Jones, James Earl Jones, Ashley Judd, Pauline Kael, John Kerry, Tracy Kidder, Barbara Kingsolver, Alonzo King, Galway Kinnell, Ertha Kitt, Paul Krugman, Ray
    [Show full text]
  • Who Watches the Watchmen? the Conflict Between National Security and Freedom of the Press
    WHO WATCHES THE WATCHMEN WATCHES WHO WHO WATCHES THE WATCHMEN WATCHES WHO I see powerful echoes of what I personally experienced as Director of NSA and CIA. I only wish I had access to this fully developed intellectual framework and the courses of action it suggests while still in government. —General Michael V. Hayden (retired) Former Director of the CIA Director of the NSA e problem of secrecy is double edged and places key institutions and values of our democracy into collision. On the one hand, our country operates under a broad consensus that secrecy is antithetical to democratic rule and can encourage a variety of political deformations. But the obvious pitfalls are not the end of the story. A long list of abuses notwithstanding, secrecy, like openness, remains an essential prerequisite of self-governance. Ross’s study is a welcome and timely addition to the small body of literature examining this important subject. —Gabriel Schoenfeld Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute Author of Necessary Secrets: National Security, the Media, and the Rule of Law (W.W. Norton, May 2010). ? ? The topic of unauthorized disclosures continues to receive significant attention at the highest levels of government. In his book, Mr. Ross does an excellent job identifying the categories of harm to the intelligence community associated NI PRESS ROSS GARY with these disclosures. A detailed framework for addressing the issue is also proposed. This book is a must read for those concerned about the implications of unauthorized disclosures to U.S. national security. —William A. Parquette Foreign Denial and Deception Committee National Intelligence Council Gary Ross has pulled together in this splendid book all the raw material needed to spark a fresh discussion between the government and the media on how to function under our unique system of government in this ever-evolving information-rich environment.
    [Show full text]
  • Sarah Clemens* Journalists Face a Credibility Crisis, Plagued by Chants
    FROM FAIRNESS TO FAKE NEWS: HOW REGULATIONS CAN RESTORE PUBLIC TRUST IN THE MEDIA Sarah Clemens* Journalists face a credibility crisis, plagued by chants of fake news and a crowded rat race in the primetime ratings. Critics of the media look at journalists as the problem. Within this domain, legal scholarship has generated a plethora of pieces critiquing media credibility with less attention devoted to how and why public trust of the media has eroded. This Note offers a novel explanation and defense. To do so, it asserts the proposition that deregulating the media contributed to the proliferation of fake news and led to a decline in public trust of the media. To support this claim, this Note first briefly examines the historical underpinnings of the regulations that once made television broadcasters “public trustees” of the news. This Note also touches on the historical role of the Public Broadcasting Act that will serve as the legislative mechanism under which media regulations can be amended. Delving into what transpired as a result of deregulation and prodding the effects of limiting oversight over broadcast, this Note analyzes the current public perception of broadcast news, putting forth the hypothesis that deregulation is correlated to a negative public perception of broadcast news. This Note analyzes the effect of deregulation by exploring recent examples of what has emerged as a result of deregulation, including some of the most significant examples of misinformation in recent years. In so doing, it discusses reporting errors that occurred ahead of the Iraq War, analyzes how conspiracy theories spread in mainstream broadcast, and discusses the effect of partisan reporting on public perception of the media.
    [Show full text]
  • Silver Spoon Oligarchs
    CO-AUTHORS Chuck Collins is director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies where he coedits Inequality.org. He is author of the new book The Wealth Hoarders: How Billionaires Pay Millions to Hide Trillions. Joe Fitzgerald is a research associate with the IPS Program on Inequality and the Common Good. Helen Flannery is director of research for the IPS Charity Reform Initiative, a project of the IPS Program on Inequality. She is co-author of a number of IPS reports including Gilded Giving 2020. Omar Ocampo is researcher at the IPS Program on Inequality and the Common Good and co-author of a number of reports, including Billionaire Bonanza 2020. Sophia Paslaski is a researcher and communications specialist at the IPS Program on Inequality and the Common Good. Kalena Thomhave is a researcher with the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors wish to thank Sarah Gertler for her cover design and graphics. Thanks to the Forbes Wealth Research Team, led by Kerry Dolan, for their foundational wealth research. And thanks to Jason Cluggish for using his programming skills to help us retrieve private foundation tax data from the IRS. THE INSTITUTE FOR POLICY STUDIES The Institute for Policy Studies (www.ips-dc.org) is a multi-issue research center that has been conducting path-breaking research on inequality for more than 20 years. The IPS Program on Inequality and the Common Good was founded in 2006 to draw attention to the growing dangers of concentrated wealth and power, and to advocate policies and practices to reverse extreme inequalities in income, wealth, and opportunity.
    [Show full text]