Market testing pre-print stories

CP reports:

Reporters at the Chicago Tribune newspaper say they believe the marketing department solicited subscribers' opinions in recent weeks on stories before they were published, a practice they said raises ethical questions, as well as legal and competitive issues.

An email signed by 55 reporters and editors, sent Wednesday to editor Gerould Kern and managing editor Jane Hirt, questions why the newspaper was conducting the surveys and what stories were used. They also wanted to know which readers were surveyed and whether any story had been altered as a result of reader comment.

Wong, Globe still on the hook

From the Toronto Star (and not the Globe, it should be noted):

"An Ontario Superior Court judge has dismissed a motion brought by the Globe and Mail and journalist Jan Wong to have a lawsuit against them thrown out – and ordered them to pay $9,160 in legal costs.

...

"While employed by the Globe and Mail as a reporter, Wong impersonated a maid and then wrote about her experiences in a five-part series on low-income living. The newspaper published the stories in the spring of 2006.

Members of a Markham family are suing the newspaper and Wong, alleging they suffered "significant embarrassment and mental distress" after one of the articles contained details about their private lives and household.

The claim filed by Steven and Georgina Nitsopoulos and their son Angelo seeks $50,000 for deceit and invasion of privacy, plus costs. Toronto Maids, which is also named in the suit, has filed a cross-claim against the Globe."

Torontoist murder stats story and fallout

Torontoist's Metrocide series did some digging on murder and crime stats in Toronto to get to the bottom of whether T.O. is a "safe" city or not. Must read through (and should have posted it last week).

Today, they call out the Toronto Sun for another of its horrible headlines and come up with a fear mongering checklist.

The comments are a good read... mostly.

Product placement on TV news

Fox affiliate KVVU in Las Vegas has started putting McDonalds iced coffee cups on the news desk during the morning show.

The arrangement does raise questions about potential conflicts between the intended message and news content. The ad agency that arranged the promotion said the coffee cups would most likely be whisked away if KVVU chooses to report a negative story about McDonald’s.

“If there were a story going up, let’s say, God forbid, about a McDonald’s food illness outbreak or something negative about McDonald’s, I would expect that the station would absolutely give us the opportunity to pull our product off set,” said Brent Williams, account supervisor at Karsh/Hagan, the advertising agency that arranged the deal between McDonald’s and KVVU.

From the NY Times

Supreme Court clarifies "fair comment"

Kirk Makin's article for The Globe.

Citizen journalistists, transparency and trust

Thanks to Gawker for this take on Bill Clinton's "scumbag" moment and the means by which it was achieved.

While I'm all for reporters being upfront about their trade around people they want to quote, Hamsher makes two good points in this excerpt alone:

1. Clinton should have been a bit more aware
2. Journalists should be trustworthy for the benefit of the public (and even those they may make look bad) rather than their access.

Granted, I'm not fighting it out in the Dailies trenches on the American political front, so my view is ultimately ignorant and (let's face it) irrelevant. Still, it would be nice to think I could retain an ethic or two on the battlefield.

CP24 and the photos they took from Flickr

The Torontoist outlines this story fairly well, with a little blogger editorializing thrown in to get the conversation rolling.

The gist:
-photographer finds man breaking into his house, burglar jumps from window, breaks leg
-photog takes pics of injured burglar below his window, posts them to Flickr
-CP24 covers incident, asks for photos, does not get permission, but runs them anyway without attribution after accessing them on Flickr

It's a fair use issue which is fleshed out nicely in the comments section of the original post.

Cash for Coverage in French-speaking Africa

The cause of press freedom, vital to building democracy in Africa, is being damaged by journalists who accept payment from their sources for covering the news. AllAfrica guest columnist Faten Aggad discusses the problem.

From AllAfrica.com, found via Warren Ellis.

Links for April 22, 2008

NYTimes - Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand.

Flickr post (via BoingBoing) - Radio for back up, an illustration of what's happening in the UK regarding public photography. Changing laws, could set a global precedent in our ongoing war on terror. Must investigate topic further.

Ad Age- Wall Street Journal Managing Editor Resigns... for later reference.

British paper to buy news from talent agency

Via Boingboing and Kotaku comes this job posting for someone to... well, I'll just copy it here.

"Did computer games make you turn to a life of crime?
Magazines / newspapers : Did computer games make you turn to a life of crime?
Listing no. 63806 - All regions, UK
A national newspaper wants your story and will pay hundreds of pounds to the right person.

Write a few lines about how computer games turned you to crime and if it's something we like, we'll call you straight back.

Payment details: paid role

Created: 27 March 2008
Applications accepted for at least another month
Application criteria: Males & Females aged 0 to 60 from UK"

Is this standard practice for finding sources over there? I mean, TALENT AGENCIES? It kinda smacks of fabrication. Hell, there's no "kinda" about it. This website also advertises TV and radio writing gigs. It's pathetic.

Given that many media outlets (both in Europe and here) seem to have an agenda against videogames and their satanic, baby-eating makers, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

As Joel Johnson posted, I hope someone managed to plant a whopper in the press, track the story outwards, and then reveal its all a lie. Normally I'd hate to see that happen, but if a paper is going to a TALENT AGENCY (is there a bigger form of caps lock?), I say all bets are off. You get what's coming to you.

Do you know what's on and off the record?

Great post today at The Spectator (T.O. Life's media blog) about Tucker Carlson's recent spat with Gerri Peev from The Scotsman about what constitutes on and off the record.

The Spec does a good job laying out the issue, so just read Mr. Bell's post and check out the brief YouTube clip.

It has never occurred to me in my short career that what Carlson suggests could be a feasible way to work. It's seems stupid. I personally would never write a word if all someone had to so was say "...but that's OTR" to get me to put my pen down.

Though it's not really surprising that Carlson's attitude exists. I have to explain OTR to my interview subjects all the time. I don't always run what they try to erase from the record, but I consider it fair game. Many don't get that you can't just un-tell a reporter something. We aren't paid to keep people's filthy secrets.

Secret Libel suits

Quick link while at work:

Executive Wants to Sue for Libel, but Only if He Can Do It Secretly, appearing March 3 in the NY Times.

Spectator, Toronto Life's new media blog

Mr. D B Scott pointed me towards Toronto Life: Spectator, which he bills as the successor to the mag's Conrad Black trial blog.

Spectator will track "power" and "ego" in media (Canada's new Gawker? Not sure if I'd want that.)

Oh so very keen to read this.

Why Americans Hate the Media

I remembered today that The Atlantic had opened up their archives and decided to poke around. The headline on one article (the heading of this post) caught my eye and I found its lengthy lede very compelling.

Below is an excerpt from a hypothetical question posed by a TV interviewer to Peter Jennings.

Why Americans Hate the Media.

...

"But while Jennings and his crew were traveling with a North Kosanese unit, to visit the site of an alleged atrocity by U.S. and South Kosanese troops, they unexpectedly crossed the trail of a small group of American and South Kosanese soldiers. With Jennings in their midst the Northern soldiers set up an ambush that would let them gun down the Americans and Southerners.

What would Jennings do? Would he tell his cameramen to "Roll tape!" as the North Kosanese opened fire? What would go through his mind as he watched the North Kosanese prepare to fire?

Jennings sat silent for about fifteen seconds. "Well, I guess I wouldn't," he finally said. "I am going to tell you now what I am feeling, rather than the hypothesis I drew for myself. If I were with a North Kosanese unit that came upon Americans, I think that I personally would do what I could to warn the Americans."

Even if it meant losing the story? Ogletree asked.

Even though it would almost certainly mean losing my life, Jennings replied. "But I do not think that I could bring myself to participate in that act. That's purely personal, and other reporters might have a different reaction."

Ogletree turned for reaction to Mike Wallace, who immediately replied. "I think some other reporters would have a different reaction," he said, obviously referring to himself. "They would regard it simply as another story they were there to cover." A moment later Wallace said, "I am astonished, really." He turned toward Jennings and began to lecture him: "You're a reporter. Granted you're an American" (at least for purposes of the fictional example; Jennings has actually retained Canadian citizenship). "I'm a little bit at a loss to understand why, because you're an American, you would not have covered that story."

Ogletree pushed Wallace. Didn't Jennings have some higher duty to do something other than just roll film as soldiers from his own country were being shot?

"No," Wallace said flatly and immediately. "You don't have a higher duty. No. No. You're a reporter!""

Links, February 14, 2008

Happy Valentines Day. My gift to you: two links from DB Scott.

Canadian Media Guild - alleges that the Ottawa Citizen's new freelance contract tries to without "moral rights" from freelancers. For reference, an (extreme) example: if you write an article/editorial defending free speech and the paper tries to sell the work to a book on defending Naziism, you can without your work citing moral rights over its content.

Ezra Levant - The former editor of Conservative magazine The Western Standard is suing Syed Soharwardy to recoup expenses incurred in defending himself from a complaint to the Alberta Human Rights Commission.

NYTimes on journalistic ethics

The New York Times Company Policy on Ethics in Journalism... for those dying to read it.