DOCSLIB.ORG

Toward a Model of Community Journalism Decision Making

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Toward a Model of Community Journalism Decision Making View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by K-State Research Exchange THE COMMUNITY STANDARD: TOWARD A MODEL OF COMMUNITY JOURNALISM DECISION MAKING by JUSTIN R. LESSMAN B.S., South Dakota State University, 2003 A THESIS submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF SCIENCE Department of Journalism and Communication College of Arts and Sciences KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY Manhattan, Kansas 2007 Approved by Major Professor J. Steven Smethers, Ph.D. Copyright The Community Standard: Toward a Model of Community Journalism Decision Making JUSTIN R. LESSMAN 2007 Abstract This study describes and maps the process journalists employ when deciding issues of coverage, content, and treatment of news at community newspapers within the context of community standards. Much scholarship has been devoted to how journalists should make ethical decisions of news judgment in accordance with moral, ethical, and social responsibility theory. But little has been done in the way of describing and mapping how journalists – specifically, community journalists – actually make these on-deadline news decisions and how the concept of community standards plays into those decisions. Through the use of naturalistic inquiry methodology, in this case, a triangulation of qualitative depth interview methods – informant and ethnographic – within the context of society, this research describes the factors considered by community journalists when faced with decisions of news judgment, how that process takes place, and how and where community standards fit into that process. Data indicate that values and value-based moral and ethical reasoning are tempered by at least three considerations in the decision- making process: (1) how coverage and treatment will affect the journalist, (2) how coverage and treatment will affect others, and (3) the public instructional value, before being filtered through a screen of community standards prior to the final rendering of a news judgment decision. Furthermore, findings offer a base on which to construct a model of community journalism decision making, useful for study and discussions of ethical decision making among community journalism scholars, instructors, and students, and for its applications in practical situations by future or novice community journalists. Table of Contents List of Figures................................................................................................................... viii Acknowledgements............................................................................................................. ix Dedication..........................................................................................................................xiii CHAPTER 1 - Introduction..................................................................................................1 Pervasiveness of the Problem......................................................................................... 2 Gaps in the Literature.................................................................................................. 2 Implications................................................................................................................. 3 Study Overview............................................................................................................... 5 Definitions....................................................................................................................... 6 Community................................................................................................................... 6 Community Newspaper................................................................................................ 8 Community Standards................................................................................................ 11 CHAPTER 2 - Literature Review...................................................................................... 13 Normative Media Ethics................................................................................................14 Moral and Ethical Theory...........................................................................................14 Aristotle’s Golden Mean......................................................................................... 15 Kant’s Categorical Imperative................................................................................. 15 Utilitarianism........................................................................................................... 16 Rawls’ Veil of Ignorance.........................................................................................17 Judeo-Christian Persons as Ends............................................................................. 17 Deontological (Duty-Based) Theories..................................................................... 19 Teleological (Consequence-Based) Theories.......................................................... 19 Virtue Theories........................................................................................................ 20 Moral and Ethical Models and Frameworks.............................................................. 22 SAD Model.............................................................................................................. 22 The Potter Box Model of Reasoning....................................................................... 24 Social Responsibility.................................................................................................. 26 Communitarianism.................................................................................................. 29 Applied Media Ethics.................................................................................................... 33 iv Values......................................................................................................................... 34 Journalistic Values..................................................................................................... 35 Social Influences Theory............................................................................................ 37 Community Standards................................................................................................ 45 Value of Research......................................................................................................... 50 Research Questions....................................................................................................... 52 CHAPTER 3 - Method.......................................................................................................54 Sample........................................................................................................................... 54 Instrumentation............................................................................................................. 55 Procedure....................................................................................................................... 56 Informant Interviews.................................................................................................. 57 Ethnographic Interviews............................................................................................ 58 Data Analysis............................................................................................................. 59 Validation...................................................................................................................... 59 CHAPTER 4 - Findings..................................................................................................... 62 RQ1: The Factors.......................................................................................................... 62 Consideration of Self.................................................................................................. 62 Social....................................................................................................................... 64 Moral....................................................................................................................... 66 Physical....................................................................................................................67 Economic................................................................................................................. 67 Consideration of Others............................................................................................. 68 Decisions of Whether to Cover............................................................................... 69 Decisions of How to Cover and Treat..................................................................... 70 Public Instructional Value.......................................................................................... 74 RQ2: The Decision-Making Process............................................................................. 77 RQ3: Community Standards......................................................................................... 78 CHAPTER 5 - Discussion................................................................................................. 90 RQ1: Consideration of Self, Others, Public Instructional Value.................................. 91 Consideration of Self in Literature............................................................................. 91 Media Ethics Literature..........................................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Perceived Credibility of Professional Photojournalism Compared to User-Generated Content Among American News Media Audiences
    Syracuse University SURFACE Dissertations - ALL SURFACE August 2020 THE PERCEIVED CREDIBILITY OF PROFESSIONAL PHOTOJOURNALISM COMPARED TO USER-GENERATED CONTENT AMONG AMERICAN NEWS MEDIA AUDIENCES Gina Gayle Syracuse University Follow this and additional works at: https://surface.syr.edu/etd Part of the Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons Recommended Citation Gayle, Gina, "THE PERCEIVED CREDIBILITY OF PROFESSIONAL PHOTOJOURNALISM COMPARED TO USER-GENERATED CONTENT AMONG AMERICAN NEWS MEDIA AUDIENCES" (2020). Dissertations - ALL. 1212. https://surface.syr.edu/etd/1212 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the SURFACE at SURFACE. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations - ALL by an authorized administrator of SURFACE. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ABSTRACT This study examines the perceived credibility of professional photojournalism in context to the usage of User-Generated Content (UGC) when compared across digital news and social media platforms, by individual news consumers in the United States employing a Q methodology experiment. The literature review studies source credibility as the theoretical framework through which to begin; however, using an inductive design, the data may indicate additional patterns and themes. Credibility as a news concept has been studied in terms of print media, broadcast and cable television, social media, and inline news, both individually and between genres. Very few studies involve audience perceptions of credibility, and even fewer are concerned with visual images. Using online Q methodology software, this experiment was given to 100 random participants who sorted a total of 40 images labeled with photographer and platform information. The data revealed that audiences do discern the source of the image, in both the platform and the photographer, but also take into consideration the category of news image in their perception of the credibility of an image.
    [Show full text]
  • Knight News Challenge Casting the Net Wide for Innovation a Quest for Fresh Ideas and a Dose of Humility Drive the Knight News Challenge by CHRISTOPHER CONNELL
    Knight News Challenge Casting the Net Wide for Innovation A quest for fresh ideas and a dose of humility drive the Knight News Challenge BY CHRISTOPHER CONNELL THE KNIGHT NEWS CHALLENGE reviewers, meeting at the foundation’s headquarters in a Miami skyscraper overlooking Biscayne Bay, were divided over one intriguing entry. A 25-year-old freelance tech reporter and blogger wanted to pioneer a new, public subscription model for investigative journalism. David Cohn wanted to launch a website in San Francisco where reporters could pitch ideas for stories and invite the public to contribute small amounts, on the order of $10 to $50, to underwrite the investigations. The public – the crowd – would decide which stories to go after. When enough money came in – as little as a few hundred – as much as several thousand dollars, the reporter would go out and do the job. Spot.Us, as Cohn dubbed his brainchild, would publish the results on its website, but also look for other media outlets for the work. It wasn’t that people didn’t think it was a good idea. But there That the lean, scruffy Cohn could go from graduate were a lot of questions and much student at the Columbia School of Journalism to media discussion about special interests innovator capable of placing stories in The New York Times seemed, at the time, a pipedream. But this was and the co-opting of the process: if a new digital age, with mainstream newsroom you paid for a story, did you expect staffs and budgets in freefall and millions of people, certain kinds of outcomes? young and old, getting their news online.
    [Show full text]
  • Community Journalism in the Field: Health and Hazards in the News
    Asia Pacific Media ducatE or Issue 4 Article 14 1-1998 Community journalism in the field: Health and hazards in the news R. W. Blood Charles Sturt University Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/apme Recommended Citation Blood, R. W., Community journalism in the field: Health and hazards in the news, Asia Pacific Media Educator, 4, 1998, 115-128. Available at:https://ro.uow.edu.au/apme/vol1/iss4/14 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] Community Journalism In The Field: Health And Hazards In The News Thisarticle examines thecurrent debate aboutcommunity (or public, or civic) journalism which re-defines the role of journalists, their relationships with theircommunities, and promotes new waysofthinking about news. It examines the objectives of community journalism and compares them with traditional journalistic practice and with earlier calls for journalists to apply social science methods in examining and reporting 0/1 community public opinion. It describes a study in community journalism currently being completed by final year journalism students reporting on health and environmentalhazards in rural communities. R. Wanvick Blood Charles Sturt University. Bathurst eaction s by practitioners and educators against the R mainstream journalism paradigm in western democratic societies are well documented (Bennett et aI, 1985). Throughout the last three decades journalism's experiments with alternative approaches include: the literaryjournalism of the 19605 and 1970s; precision journalism of the late 1970s; developmental journalism emergingin the 1960s; and, the latest, civic or public or community journalism of the late 19805.
    [Show full text]
  • New Business Strategies for the Digital Age
    Re-Inventing Community Journalism: New Business Strategies for the Digital Age Submitted to the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism At the University of Oxford Local journalism around the world: professional practices, economic foundations and political implications, February 27-28, 2014 Presented by Penelope Muse Abernathy, Knight Chair of Journalism and Digital Media Economics School of Journalism and Mass Communication University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Abstract The Internet has demolished the business models of many community newspapers in the United States. If they are to thrive in the digital era and continue to provide the public affairs reporting that nourishes democracy at the grassroots level, news organizations must re-imagine and re-invent themselves. Existing literature outlines a three-pronged strategy approach that all industries in the throes of creative destruction must pursue. It involves simultaneous cost reduction, paired with customer and revenue growth. This paper explores how this three-pronged strategy can be modified and applied to community newspapers, which have both a unique mission and business model, distinct from other industries. It is based on almost five years of in-field research and strategy work, conducted in three phases, with more than a dozen community newspapers in small and midsized markets. The conclusions and recommendations are based on proprietary market research conducted in a half-dozen of these markets, analysis of financial data provided by the papers, extensive work on strategy development and implementation stretching over four years with six of the papers, and more than forty in-depth and recurring interviews with the publishers and editors at the twelve papers highlighted in the study.
    [Show full text]
  • How to Best Serve Communities: Reflections on Civic Journalism
    PUBLIC SQUARE PROGRAM How to Best Serve Communities: Reflections on Civic Journalism BY GENEVA OVERHOLSER NOVEMBER 2016 At the Democracy Fund, we believe that creating a stronger future for local news requires us to focus on transforming the relationship between news consumers and news producers. As we develop a new program to support and expand “Engaged Journalism,” we have sought to ensure that our new efforts are informed by the successes and struggles of the past — especially the civic journalism movement of the 1990s. This paper was commissioned for the purposes of understanding that history and what has changed since, so that we will be more likely to succeed today. TOM GLAISYER | PROGRAM DIRECTOR, PUBLIC SQUARE “Want to attract more readers? Try listening to them.” That was the headline on Liz Spayd’s debut as The New York Times’ new public editor.1 That she devoted her first column to the need to pay attention to readers’ views shows how central the idea of engagement has become for journalists. Spayd was building on an emerging trend. Mediashift recently published a series of articles called “Redefining Engagement,” inspired by a conference in Portland last October.2 (They provide a rich trove for anyone seeking to understand the movement.) Consider also: • Conferences are focused on this topic. The ONA London 2016 engagement conference in April examined how audiences discover and interact with the news, and an Engagement Summit in Macon, Georgia, in January that I attended produced this manifesto.3 • Books and reports are being written on the topic. Jake Batsell’s Engaged Journalism: Connecting with Digitally Empowered News Audiences explores how news organizations are experimenting with different approaches.4 In 2015, the same year Batsell’s book was published, a Reuters Institute report looked at engagement and the 2015 UK elections.5 • Universities are exploring the issue.
    [Show full text]
  • Civic Journalism and Community Newspapers
    Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Master's Theses Graduate School 2006 Civic journalism and community newspapers: opportunities for social and civic connections Amy Burroughs Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses Part of the Mass Communication Commons Recommended Citation Burroughs, Amy, "Civic journalism and community newspapers: opportunities for social and civic connections" (2006). LSU Master's Theses. 3473. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses/3473 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Master's Theses by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CIVIC JOURNALISM AND THE COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER: OPPORTUNITIES FOR CIVIC AND SOCIAL CONNECTIONS A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Mass Communication in The Manship School of Mass Communication by Amy E. Burroughs B.A. University of North Carolina at Asheville, 1995 December 2006 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS With appreciation to George Flynn, who was instrumental in getting a long-delayed pro- ject on the road to completion; and to Clark Thurmond, who made several observations about community newspapers that appear
    [Show full text]
  • Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (79Th, Anaheim, CA, August 10-13, 1996)
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 401 571 CS 215 579 TITLE Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (79th, Anaheim, CA, August 10-13, 1996). Visual Communication and Science and Health Communication Division. INSTITUTION Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. PUB DATE Aug 96 NOTE 257p.; For other sections of these proceedings, see CS 215 568-580. Photographs in the Lester paper may not reproduce clearly. PUB TYPE Collected Works Conference Proceedings (021) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC11 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome; Blacks; Broadcast Journalism; Environment; Interpersonal Communication; Journalism Research; Mass Media Effects; *Mass Media Role; *Mass Media Use; *News Media; *Newspapers; Photojournalism; Stereotypes; Technological Advancement IDENTIFIERS Digital Technology; *Health Communication; Multimedia Technology; Technology Integration; Television News; *Visual Communication ABSTRACT The Visual Communication and Science and Health Communication section of the proceedings contains the following 12 papers: "The Designers' Toolbox: Newsroom Experience and Ideal Characteristics of Newspaper Designers" (Wayne Wanta and Lauren Danner); "Patterned Image of the Homeless: Discourse Analysis of Television News Narrative" (In-Sung Whang and E.J. Min); "Navigating the Digital Universe: The Use of Space in the Design of Multimedia" (Jean Trumbo); "African American Pictorial Coverage in Four U.S. Newspapers" (Paul Martin Lester and Randy Miller); "Pictorial Stereotypes in the Media: A Pedagogical Discussion" (Paul Martin Lester); "How Media Use and Demographics Affect Satisfaction with the Appearance of Community Newspapers" (John Mark King); "Television News Images of the Oklahoma City Bombing and the Fear of Terrorism" (Claudette Guzan Artwick); "'American Gothic' and the Impact of Digital Video Technology on the Visual Communication of Television" (Edward J.
    [Show full text]
  • Peace Under Fire: Building the Media Agenda in Post-Genocide Rwanda
    Peace under Fire: Building the Media Agenda in Post-Genocide Rwanda A dissertation presented to the faculty of the Scripps College of Communication of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy Sally Ann Cruikshank May 2013 © 2013 Sally Ann Cruikshank. All Rights Reserved. This dissertation titled Peace under Fire: Building the Media Agenda in Post-Genocide Rwanda by SALLY ANN CRUIKSHANK has been approved for the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism and the Scripps College of Communication by Yusuf Kalyango, Jr. Associate Professor of Journalism Scott Titsworth Dean, Scripps College of Communication ii ABSTRACT CRUIKSHANK, SALLY ANN, Ph.D., May 2013, Mass Communication- Journalism Peace under Fire: Building the Media Agenda in Post-Genocide Rwanda Director of Dissertation: Yusuf Kalyango, Jr. Following the 1994 genocide, in which the media played a significant role, the government enacted strict media laws that have led to a climate of self-censorship and government influence on the media. This study examined the processes of agenda building and frame building in the media from the perspective of Rwandan journalists and media professionals. It further examined the media within the framework of peace journalism. The study used both a qualitative and quantitative approach. A series of 35 in-depth interviews were conducted with Rwandan journalists and media professionals, along with a survey of 101 journalists. Results showed that journalists and media professionals in Rwanda face several challenges, including indirect government censorship, few opportunities for training, and a lack of resources including low pay. According to the respondents, the government strongly influences the media agenda.
    [Show full text]
  • Community Journalism
    JOMC 459.1 COMMUNITY JOURNALISM Spring 2019: Mon. - Weds., 2:30 – 3:45 p.m., Carroll Hall, Room 253 _____________________________________________________ Jock Lauterer Adjunct Professor School of Media and Journalism Office Hours: by individual appointment Teachers’ Lounge and Ye Olde Waffle Shoppe H: 968-1797 until 9 p.m. Mobile 919-619-1034 [email protected] ______________________________________________________ OVERVIEW Ninety-seven percent of all U.S. newspapers are “small” newspapers. DAILIES: According to the Editor and Publisher Yearbook, 85 percent of the 1,489 daily newspapers in America have circulations under 50,000 and are classified by the American Society of Newspaper Editors as “small newspapers.” Of those 1,258 papers, 1,055 (71 percent) have circulations under 25,000. WEEKLIES: Then add in the weeklies, twice-and tri-weeklies. According to the National Newspaper Association, there are presently 8,193 weeklies, with an average circulation of 7,600, reaching a total of 56.7 million people. Ours is a country dominated in numbers by small newspapers — papers that practice “community framing,” throwing much of their news and editorial weight behind local coverage and the local angle. However, many beginners suffer under the common misconception that the community paper is just a smaller version of the big-city daily. Nothing could be further from the truth. As you will learn in this course, the enlightened community paper plays a unique and vital role in the life of its community. Compared to the major metro dailies, most community newspapers have a fundamentally different approach to the factors of news judgment, and indeed, to every facet of the philosophy of news.
    [Show full text]
  • Journalism and Community: a Case Study of the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service (NNS) Herbert J
    Marquette University e-Publications@Marquette Master's Theses (2009 -) Dissertations, Theses, and Professional Projects Journalism and Community: A Case Study of the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service (NNS) Herbert J. Lowe Jr. Marquette University Recommended Citation Lowe, Herbert J. Jr., "Journalism and Community: A Case Study of the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service (NNS)" (2014). Master's Theses (2009 -). Paper 251. http://epublications.marquette.edu/theses_open/251 JOURNALISM AND COMMUNITY: A CASE STUDY OF THE MILWAUKEE NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS SERVICE (NNS) by Herbert J. Lowe Jr., B.A. A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School, Marquette University, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Diederich College of Communication Milwaukee, Wisconsin May 2014 ii 2 ABSTRACT JOURNALISM AND COMMUNITY: A CASE STUDY OF THE MILWAUKEE NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS SERVICE (NNS) Herbert J. Lowe Jr., B.A. Marquette University, 2014 This is a case study of the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service (NNS) – a three-year-old, award-winning, online-only journalism source at www.milwaukeenns.org. A longtime journalist and communications professional leads a small team of part-time reporters, interns and volunteers as NNS seeks to provide professional and objective reporting about 17 low-income communities in America’s 30th largest city. This research examines the extent to which NNS has achieved its goals by analyzing and interpreting a significant sample of the 750-plus stories published on its website. It also focuses on the individual and shared experiences of the news service’s staff as it uses journalism to help construct a sense of community.
    [Show full text]
  • The Anchor, Volume 105.04: September 23, 1992
    Hope College Hope College Digital Commons The Anchor: 1992 The Anchor: 1990-1999 9-23-1992 The Anchor, Volume 105.04: September 23, 1992 Hope College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/anchor_1992 Part of the Library and Information Science Commons Recommended Citation Repository citation: Hope College, "The Anchor, Volume 105.04: September 23, 1992" (1992). The Anchor: 1992. Paper 16. https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/anchor_1992/16 Published in: The Anchor, Volume 105, Issue 4, September 23, 1992. Copyright © 1992 Hope College, Holland, Michigan. This News Article is brought to you for free and open access by the The Anchor: 1990-1999 at Hope College Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Anchor: 1992 by an authorized administrator of Hope College Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. NATIONAL / Peanuts and Perot: is there a difference? / 2 i FEATURE / Volunteer Services reaches for student involvement 13 A &EI Reviews, reviews, and reviews and, for something different, a review! / 6 Volume 105, Number 4 September 23,1992 Hope College, Holland, Michigan Serving the Hope Community for 105 Years Student body elects Congress m representatives - vSki Kollen/Lichty Halls - Carrie by Heather Mumby Borchers ('95), Eric Foster ('96), production editor Chris Heaton ('96), and Melissa Neckers ('95); Phelps Hall - Greg Students showed up in large Sharpr95);Scott Hall- Mike Yantis numbers to vote for Student Con- ('95); Voorhees/Van Vleck Halls - gress representatives Friday, Sep- Valerie Pacheco ('96); Cottages - tember 18 with the convenience of Karen Atkeson ('93), Amy Hoekstra two new voting locations.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction Conflict and Post-Conflict Journalism
    Introduction Conflict and Post-Conflict Journalism Worldwide Perspectives Kristin Skare Orgeret Peace is a difficult thing to measure. It is a bit like counting the people who did not die and the wars that did not happen. We give such an importance to the word peace but we do not tend to notice it when it occurs, or report on it. Sometimes it takes reminding ourselves of how terrible the war once was to see the peace growing around us (www.fallen.io). The above is taken from the powerful interactive documentary “The Fallen of World War II”, written and directed by Neil Halloran (2015). In addition to capturing the staggering numbers of fatalities, the documentary accentuates the unstable zones between conflict, post-conflict and peace, often a somewhat blurred (and not even necessarily unidirectional) period where much is at stake in terms of deciding what direction the future will take. In recent years the concept of “post-conflict” has been popular in discussions of international relations, political initiatives and peace research, but as much as it describes an unstable phase, it is often unclear what precisely is meant by the term. Williams calls the concept of post-conflict a new addition to post-war vocabulary and argues that whereas it does not have “any exact meaning”, it is used “vaguely for everything that helps reinstate the ‘good times’” (Williams 2005: 546 in Ismail 2008). Post-conflict may interchangeably be used as a synonym for nation building, state building or peace building, and sometimes post-conflict reconstruction is considered as a part of the more general peace-building process, not as its synonym.
    [Show full text]