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News

"News" is the spread of relevant information to people around the world. It contains information about recent events and happenings. News has been subcategorized into international news, sports news, entertainment news, local news, etc. for years. News is a way for journalists and the media to communicate with people about what is occurring in their communities and around the world. You can search for news events, hot topics, people, product information, and so on, and quickly understand their latest progress by watch news.

Television Broadcast

CNN

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[1]

On June 1, 1980 CNN (Cable News Network) was launched as the world's first 24/7 TV news network. From its headquarters down south in Atlanta, Georgia, the network made its initial sign on at 6:00 PM EST. CNN changed the news industry by being the first to say that news can be reported around the clock, and not just on fixated points during the day. When CNN first launched, its competitors consisted of three major networks-ABC, CBS, and NBC. Today, CNN is seen in "more than 89 million American households and over 160 million homes internationally." [2]

CNN was created by founding father Robert "Ted" Turner, a businessman of the South. When his family moved to Georgia, his father ran a successful billboard advertising company. When Ted's father passed away, Ted took over his father's business and expanded in. He also bought the Atlanta Braves, MLB baseball team, and the Atlanta Hawks, NBA basketball team, to air their games on his own network, TBS (Turner Broadcasting System) [3]

In its first years of operating, CNN was losing profit and was ridiculed as the Chicken Noodle Network. Withstanding ridicule no more, Ted put his foot down and took action to eliminate CNN's main competitor, Satellite News Channel.

To this day, CNN is known for its top-notch breaking-news coverage around the world, and it is leading the news broadcast industry in profit currently (As of May 11, 2016). CNN is proving itself to be unstoppable as it continues to shift its products towards the digital side.


BBC

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The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster. It is headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, and is the world's oldest national broadcasting organization and the largest broadcaster in the world by number of employees, with over 20,950 staff in total, of whom 16,672 are in public sector broadcasting;including part-time, flexible as well as fixed contract staff, the total number is 35,402.

The BBC is established under a Royal Charter and operates under its Agreement with the Secretary of State for Culture, Media, and Sport.Its work is funded principally by an annual television license fee which is charged to all British households, companies, and organizations using any type of equipment to receive or record live television broadcasts.[12] The fee is set by the British Government, agreed by Parliament, and used to fund the BBC's extensive radio, TV, and online services covering the nations and regions of the UK. From 1 April 2014, it also funds the BBC World Service, launched in 1932, which provides comprehensive TV, radio, and online services in Arabic, and Persian, and broadcasts in 28 languages.

Around a quarter of BBC, revenues come from its commercial arm BBC Worldwide Ltd. which sells BBC programmed and services internationally and also distributes the BBC's international 24-hour English language news services BBC World News and BBC.com, provided by BBC Global News Ltd.


Mashable News

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Mashable is a global, multi-platform media and entertainment company. Powered by its own proprietary technology, Mashable is the go-to source for tech, digital culture, and entertainment content for its dedicated and influential audience around the globe. Mashable News highlights stories for Millennial consumers. From what's happening on social media to what's happening at Google, Mashable News uses an active conversational tone to deliver timely news to its digital readers. Mashable was created by Pete Cashmore from his home in Aberdeen, Scotland, in July 2005. Time noted Mashable as one of the 25 best blogs in 2009. As of November 2015, it has over 6,000,000 Twitter followers and over 3,200,000 fans on Facebook. In June 2016, it acquired YouTube channel CineFix from Whalerock Industries. [4]

In December 2017, Ziff Davis bought Mashable for $50 million. Mashable was not meeting its advertising targets, and was losing money, with $4.2 million losses in the quarter ending September 2017. After the sale, Mashable laid off 50 staffers, although Ziff Davis insisted on keeping top management. Because of the drop in value, stock options issued to employees during Mashable's successful times were worthless.


Buzzfeed News

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BuzzFeed's news division began in December 2011 with the appointment of Ben Smith as editor-in-chief. In 2013, Pulitzer Prize winner Mark Schoofs of ProPublica was hired as head of investigative reporting. The British division of BuzzFeed News is headed by Janine Gibson, formerly of The Guardian. Notable coverage includes a 2012 partnership with the BBC on match-fixing in professional tennis, and inequities in the U.S. H-2 guest worker program, reporting of which won a National Magazine Award.

A comparison of news articles by BuzzFeed and The New York Times found that BuzzFeed largely follows established rules of journalism. Both publications predominantly used inverted pyramid news format, and journalists' opinions were absent from the majority of articles of both. Both BuzzFeed and the Times predominately covered government and politics, and predominantly used politicians, government, and law enforcement as sources. In contrast, BuzzFeed devoted more articles to social issues such as protests and LGBT issues, more frequently quoted ordinary people, less frequently covered crime and terrorism, and had fewer articles focusing on negative aspects of an issue. BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media company based in New York City. The firm is a social news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 as a viral lab focusing on tracking viral content, by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III. Kenneth Lerer, co-founder and chairman of The Huffington Post, started as a co-founder and investor in BuzzFeed and is now the executive chairman as well. [5]


Photojournalism

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News images shape our culture in ways both profound and deep. Those who lived through the Vietnam era cannot help but remember the searing photographs that have come to symbolize that conflict -- a Saigon street execution, a naked girl covered in napalm, a thousand-yard stare, and so on. These photos have woven themselves into the collective memory of a generation. There are some who would even say that the mounting weight of photographic evidence was the primary cause for public opinion to shift against the war in Vietnam, and hence effected an end to the war itself. As such, to borrow a phrase from pop culture, “With great power comes great responsibility.”1 Responsible photojournalism means adherence to a standard of ethics. [6]

Photojournalism works within the same ethical approaches to objectivity that are applied by other journalists. What to shoot, how to frame and how to edit are constant considerations. Photographing news for an assignment is one of the most ethical problems photographers face. Photojournalists have a moral responsibility to decide what pictures to take, what picture to stage, and what pictures to show the public. For example, photographs of violence and tragedy are prevalent in American journalism because as an understated rule of thumb, that "if it bleeds, it leads". The public is attracted to gruesome photographs and dramatic stories. A lot of controversy arises when deciding which photographs are too violent to show the public.

Online Newspapers

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Online newspapers are the electronic versions of newspapers. They are great for this generation as we are extremely eco-friendly. Online newspapers are accessible from all electronic devices such as mobile phones, laptops/computer, and tablets making it easy for people to read them wherever and whenever they want. Most people do not buy a hard copy of newspaper any longer, because they can get most their news for free online. Online newspapers have also been cost efficient for news channels, because news channels no longer need to spend so much money on printing newspapers. The new newspaper of today's world is the smartphone. It's smaller, less of an annoyance and actually carries more news than a newspaper. Physical newspapers are outdated are a reason why many newspaper companies are transitioning to a digital outlet. Also with the help of online newspapers, people are constantly updated about the current events occurring, whereas with newspapers only one was released every morning for each news channel. Nowadays, the strategic goal of every business is to try and find equilibrium between new and old media because they both have the capability to target a broader audience; however, new media tend to target more narrowed audience (demographic). For example, New York Times newspapers now offer online newspapers to readers while producing and keeping the old style. When it comes to cost, old media comes with high cost because they tend to provide one-way or unidirectional communication. New media, on the other hand, is cost-effective, less expensive and yet can make effective impact on the audience. According to newspaper's editor, "Publications are struggling with the profound disruption brought on by the internet and the rising costs of newsprint and transportation". [7]

New York Times

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New York Times offers subscription packages to readers who want access to their papers. Starting with the Basic package, which allows general access anytime anywhere, it starts around $15 a month, or $3.75 a week. The All Access package includes the Basic Package plus the additional behind-the-scene and videos/photos published by journalist; this goes for $25 a month or $6.25 a week. The most premium package offered is the Home Delivery/All Access package, which goes for $37.60 a month or $9.40 a week. This package combines the All Access package along with the actual newspaper delivered to the door. [8]

The New York Times is accessible on any mobile device which makes it easier for people to catch their daily news on the go. Making news digital allows users to interact through the web with other readers especially on controversial topics. People can have debates on topics and share their knowledge. It also makes it a lot easier to access the different topics that may intrigue you or a specific category which is more difficult through the paper-based version. Having it online also makes it easier for people to get the most updated news since it is much easier to update online than to print copies out. Users who access the New York Times online can also get access to any revisions to the news article quickly. This also benefits editors who get feedback from users regarding their writing style or their ability to stay impartial on debatable topics.[9].

Wall Street Journal

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Wall Street Journal offers their subscription packages on a semi-annual basis. For $87, readers can have access to articles, podcasts and videos on the digital scale. This includes phones, computers and tablets as well. To have the Journal delivered to your door, there is an extra $12 for the six month period, bringing the semi-annual total to $99. Wall Street Journal also offers an introductory package allowing new customers a $12 for 12 week promotion. After the term has ended, the customer would have a choice whether to cancel, upgrade to the semi-annual payment package, or go month to month for $32.99. [10]

The Economist

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The economist offers their packages similar to both the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. The have the choice for either print or digital for a quarterly payment of $45. To have both digital and print, it costs $55 quarterly. The economist is seen as another premium news service, but offers great introductory packages. Same as Wall Street Journal, The Economist offers $12 for 12 weeks of their subscription. [11]

World Journal

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World Journal is a largest daily Chinese-language newspaper in the United States. It is also one of the largest Chinese-language newspapers outside of China, with a daily circulation of 350,000. Most of the readers are overseas Chinese in North America, including New York City as well as Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and San Francisco in the United States. The World Journal was established on February 12, 1976. Its headquarter originally was located in Chinatown, Manhattan in New York City and relocated to nearby Whitestone, Queens in 1980.

In 1999, the World Journal established its official website to further increase the reach and width of its services. In 2007, the World Journal launched a digital edition to further expanding its multimedia offerings. Readers can access to the World Journal website to enjoy including major US, Canadian and international news, news from the Greater China region, local and regional news, finance, sports, entertainment, lifestyle, education, health, and consumer news for free. [12]

Online Newsletters

Online newsletters are like a shorter version of the regular newspapers that we see tailored to a specific topic. Many organizations send newsletter, whether it be daily, weekly, or anything in between. Newsletter subscriptions are usually free and sent to our emails. It quickly and effectively updates the reader on anything new in the upcoming week or provides a quick summary on issues that just occurred. It is a great starting point for further research.

Newsletter Producer: Mailchimp

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Mailchimp is a very popular free newsletter editor and sender, that is used by many clubs at Baruch College. It allows the producer to add people to a subscription list very easily. The editor can copy and paste, add a list, or import a file to add people to their list manually. Mailchimp also provides a subscription form that automatically adds subscribers to the list. The older version allows for the form to be imbedded into websites as well.

Mailchimp also tracks the subscribers and their actions. The organization can see if the newsletter was successfully sent, if it was soft or hard bounced, and if and when the user opens the newsletter and clicks on any links. Mailchimp complies all the data and provides individual reports on each subscriber and rates them from one to five stars based on the level of interaction they have with the newsletter. If a user doesn't open the newsletter for a long period of time, Mailchimp automatically "cleans" the user out and they will no longer receive the newsletter or be counted in the weekly reports of each newsletter sent. For each sent newsletter, Mailchimp provides a report that shows what time users usually open the newsletter, how many users actually opened it, if it was sent successfully, what device is used to open the newsletter, what part of the world the newsletter is opened in, which links were clicked on the most, which users interacted the most, and if anything on the newsletter made revenue.

Mailchimp also provides many templates organizations can use to make their newsletters. It allows photo and gif uploads. While Mailchimp has a database of gifs, it is also really easy to import from elsewhere. All the photos that are imported are saved for further use.

For the organization, Mailchimp makes it easy to replicate old newsletters so that the organization can just update and send. Mailchimp also studies the times that subscribers across its website are most active, and for a fee, can give the organization the best time to send their newsletter. Mailchimp allows the organization to send a limited amount of test newsletters, which for a fee, can be updated to an unlimited amount. Additionally, free accounts can send newsletters to up to 2000 contacts which can be upgraded with a fee. The fee also allows the organization to choose from a series of locked templates and get professional help on the newsletter. As of December 2nd, 2020 the fee for everything just mentioned is $9.99 per month [13].

For the subscribers, Mailchimp makes it possible to view past newsletters with a link at the bottom of every newsletter and allows them to unsubscribe if they wanted to. With the "view in your browser" option on newsletters, Mailchimp sends the users the exact formatting that the organization produced.

Morning Brew

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Morning Brew is a daily business, politics, and technology newsletter that gives a brief overview on the stock market, a few short briefs on the most important business news of the day, such as any business acquisitions, stimulus updates, or pandemic news, a small section with a quick recap of other news that may be important, tips, and games. Its short and quick sections are made for readers who are younger business professionals who may only be able to read in small increments and on their way to work. It is made with a bit of humor unlike regular newsletters.

During the holidays and weekends, it has some special edition newsletter that come out as an replacement of the Daily Brew. Morning Brew also has different newsletters such as their exclusive Sunday newsletter, Light Roast, which is only for readers who have over three referrals.

Social Media and News

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Social media sites are the most popular way to spread online news. Social media sites have helped spread the news to millions of people in a matter of seconds. The most popular social media sites for sharing news online are Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Through shares, likes, tweets, and retweets people are able to know what is happening when it is happening. Facebook helps news channels create pages about their news networks, and once a user likes their page, their newsfeed will automatically fill up with the most recent news stories. A user is more likely to read these stories then and share them, making more and more people aware of what is happening. [14] [15]

In today's day and age, being aware of the news is an essential part of everyone’s lives. The combination of news and new media has made it very easy for people to be aware of all the current events within seconds of them occurring through online newspapers and social media sites. People just use their mobile devices, laptops/computer, tablets, etc... to know what is happening in their country and other countries.

Due to the increase in digital device owners, 44% of adults own smartphones and an increase of tablet owners by 50%, a growing number of Americans are becoming multi-platform digital news consumers. These users are also known as "digital mavens," who get news on all their devices. The research found that people read more long-form news articles and go to new news sources on tablets. [7] Some fun facts about how people consume news on digital media nowadays are:

-The majority of Americans get news through at least one digital, web-based device. Nearly a quarter of U.S. adults, 23%, get news on at least two devices.

-The most common way that people get news is by going directly to a news organization’s website or app.

-For those who get news on both the smartphone and tablet, social networking is a much more popular way to get news. Among that group (13% of all digital news consumers), fully two-thirds (67%) have ever gotten news recommendations from Facebook.


Google News as a News Source

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How new media changes news media’s industry from papers to e-news. Back in decades, we used to receive news through newspapers, radio, or even television news. But now we can get news anywhere, anytime and anyplace by using our smartphone’ app which is available on Android and IOS and the web, just simply downloading apps. This is how new media help us receive news and keeps us update. The one new news media, I will especially focus on is “Google News”. Google News is a place where you can find the latest and live news, which presented by Google. Google News, “presents a continuous, customizable flow of articles organized from thousands of publishers and magazines.” [16] We can get news unlimited. We like to read the news right after we get up and the Google News app made it very easy for us to get live news at those moments. I think new media really helped, news media and the public by providing news without it.

Twitter as a News Source

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More and more recently Twitter users have been using the social-networking engine as a news source or outlet. Twitter has become a popular news source because users are able get an idea of what is going on in within the world through just a few words, as Twitter only allows for posts that are 140 characters or less. Through this, users can consume many different news stories and the same stories from many different outlets all on their Twitter homepage. In addition, there are often links attached to tweets published as news sources. Links on tweets basically allows users to click on the link and read the full article the tweet is commenting on. To add to that, Twitter's use of hashtags make it easy for users to find more information about news articles that are interesting or relevant to them. Today, many different news outlets or reporters that are reliable and respected have Twitter accounts that allow them to post their own articles for other Twitter users to interact with. In fact this can lead to more website traffic on the new outlet's main site, as Twitter users will often click on the article linked by the news outlet's Twitter account. Another aspect about the news in respect to Twitter is how it is constantly updated. Before the advent of the internet, social media, and Twitter, breaking news was only distributed to consumers via print newspapers. That means if something happened at night, people would only find out about it the next day. However, with Twitter the news can be updated instantly, as it is unfolding before a reporter's very eyes. Lastly, users tend to like Twitter as their source of news due to the fact that the users themselves can choose which Twitter accounts or news sources to get their news from. If a certain user does not like a certain news reporter or journalist, a user can choose not to follow their account. For those who use Twitter through their application, which is the majority of users, they have the ability to set alerts for whenever a certain person tweets.

In 2012, Twitter launches clickable stock symbols by adding the symbol "$" in front of any ticker. Clicking on the ticker will instantly provide context for the stock and aggregate all tweets pertaining to the stock. This serves as a tool for investors of a particular stock to read relevant news pertaining to the stocks in their portfolio. Important news items will be featured on the "Top" section of the search, allowing users to view what's important, instantaneously. More and more news has been breaking first on twitter and so alerts have been even more important for those who work or have a close relationship to financial markets and other sensitive areas of the economy. [17]

Facebook as a News Source

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As Facebook's user base continues to expand, more and more people are turning to the platform as a source of news. Major media companies like MSNBC, CNN, and Fox, have national and local pages that post edited versions of previously aired news. These companies also utilize many of the features within the platform as well. Pages like The New York Times often use Facebook Live to broadcast breaking news stories or live stream other "less newsworthy events." (The New York Times often shares a live video of an editor doing that day's crossword puzzle.) They also can use tools like 360 videos, allowing users to immerse themselves into the middle of a story.

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Facebook has allowed for the growth of many video companies. AJ+ was launched by Al Jezeera Media Network in 2014. The company creates and posts original content to Facebook. It is a video-first news company that's motto is "Experience.Empower.Engage" [18] Similar news media companies have popped up on Facebook such as Now This Media and Pop Sugar.

Instagram as a News Source

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We can see how the majority of news used social media (Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and others) as a platform for news. Instagram is not an exception. Nowadays, social media users are more likely to get their news form online sources while they interact and doing other things on social media. Instagram users or news media companies create their own pages by sharing news (by posting pictures) or sharing a short video which hold (60sec) of the length. [19] These pictures or short videos take away from the aspect of reading. This isn't so bad because the videos and pictures of these news stories can create intrigue with the viewers. Depending on the level of intrigue it can make the viewer want to read more into the story that has been published. [20] Mostly, people who uses Instagram are most likely don’t use Facebook or other similar social networks. Instagram users can follow that specific ‘’’news page’’’ to gather news and can save them to read later or watch video later.

Companies such as New York Times, Daily News, New York Post and Washington Post, have their own media pages. So that the companies can shared their latest news at their user page so that their followers can read and post comments. New Media been very helpful to newspaper companies and help the business keep on going.

Snapchat as a News Source

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Since its creation, Snapchat has become one of the most successful applications in the mobile market. In January, Snapchat launched the concept of Discover, which was a small section that was a platform for a set of media companies. This differentiates itself from its original concept of simply sharing real-time photos and videos with friends. These partners have embedded their logos onto their app and provided at least five articles daily on the application. [21]

Companies such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, BuzzFeed, The Washington Post, CNN, National Geographic, Vogue, Entertainment, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29, Complex, ESPN, E!News, People, Food Network, etc. are publishing partners apart of Snapchat Discover. This has proven to be key to Snapchat's success because of the increasing competition among media outlets to providing their stories to numerous amount of users. For example, a user may read a story and think that it is very interesting and can easily share it with one of their friends that also uses the application. In a matter of a few buttons pressed, users can easily spread the story around and increase the target audience for these companies. With the ease of reading stories and sharing it with others, it becomes profitable to publishing companies and Snapchat itself. Snapchat becomes more than just an application to share live photos and videos, but to educate users on real-world applications. This makes Snapchat much more dynamic and different from its competitors and adds on to its increasing population. [22]

Reddit as a News Source

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What is Reddit?

Reddit is an online discussion board that has aspects of a social media, however, it is debatable on whether it is considered a social media platform. *As defined by Merriam Webster dictionary, social media platforms are “forms of electronic communication (such as websites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (such as videos).” According to this definition, Reddit is considered a social media platform since Reddit is a very community-based site where individuals comment on threads and expand on the main reddit. For example, the main Reddit page has several other pages, such as a sub-Reddit page for News.[23]

In today’s world, many people do not want to take the time out of their busy days to read the news online or through a physical newspaper. They communicated in colloquial language. Hence, a lot of news stories have been incorporated into social media platforms so that individuals can obtain the glimpse or even entirety of the current events through their favorite social media platform. [24]

As of February 2018, Reddit ranked as the fourth most visited website, and the sixth most visited site in the world. In terms of technology, Reddit was originally written in Common Lisp, which is a general-purpose programming language, but soon after, in December 2005, the code for Reddit was rewritten using Python. This switch allowed for greater developmental flexibility and a wider access to code libraries. Along the years, Reddit continuously updated the programs they used to operate their site. Like mentioned earlier, there are many outlets people turn to in today’s world to find out the latest news updates, and social media is now one of these outlets. Navigating through Reddit to get to the news page is relatively easy. When visiting the Reddit homepage, a sidebar is on the left-hand side of the site, and on that bar, you can filter out different sub-Reddits to find different topics of interest.

News Source

Specifically, for News, there are several types of news subgroups that the Reddit user can find. For example, when searching for “News,” the Reddit user may select from “r/news,” “r/politics, “r/worldnews,” and several others. The user can subscribe to these specific sub-Reddit pages, and the user can also further narrow down the sub-Reddit page to specific regions of the world. Allowing the user such flexibility is what makes Reddit unique and a popular social media platform to turn to for reliable news stories. Admittingly, a lot of Reddit users know that while Reddit allows several distinct types of searches, it takes time to get used to navigating.

Any specific news thread, in general, comes with a link attached to the original thread to ensure the credibility of the threads. These threads are followed by several comments from Reddit account members (it is free to create an account), which are then categorized for the public in order of popularity. The popularity is ranked by the amount of “votes” a post receives by the users. Users can either “upvote” or “downvote” a thread, which determines how “worthy” the post is. Additionally, Reddit users can share the threads, buy and give “reddit gold” for themselves or to others, or report/ hide feed that they find inappropriate or unrelatable. Reddit gold is used to buy specific features on reddit such as access to reddit themes and custom avatars, turning off ads, gain access to “reddit gold members only” threads, as well as several accessibility perks such as being able to save, highlight, and categorize threads to their liking. [25]

Like mentioned earlier, there are many outlets people turn to in today’s world to find out the latest news updates, and social media is now one of these outlets. Navigating through Reddit to get to the news page is relatively easy. When visiting the Reddit homepage, a sidebar is on the left-hand side of the site, and on that bar, you can filter out different sub-Reddits to find different topics of interest.

Specifically, for News, there are several types of news subgroups that the Reddit user can find. For example, when searching for “News,” the Reddit user may select from “r/news,” “r/politics, “r/worldnews,” and several others. The user can subscribe to these specific sub-Reddit pages, and the user can also further narrow down the sub-Reddit page to specific regions of the world. Allowing the user such flexibility is what makes Reddit unique and a popular social media platform to turn to for reliable news stories. Admittingly, a lot of Reddit users know that while Reddit allows several distinct types of searches, it takes time to get used to navigating.

Any specific news thread, in general, comes with a link attached to the original thread to ensure the credibility of the threads. These threads are followed by several comments from Reddit account members (it is free to create an account), which are then categorized for the public in order of popularity. The popularity is ranked by the amount of “votes” a post receives by the users. Users can either “upvote” or “downvote” a thread, which determines how “worthy” the post is. Additionally, Reddit users can share the threads, buy and give “reddit gold” for themselves or to others, or report/ hide feed that they find inappropriate or unrelatable. Reddit gold is used to buy specific features on reddit such as access to reddit themes and custom avatars, turning off ads, gain access to “reddit gold members only” threads, as well as several accessibility perks such as being able to save, highlight, and categorize threads to their liking.

Podcasting/Public Radio

NPR

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The use of podcasts has also replaced old media by bringing the beauty of entertainment to your ears. This made an on-demand radio which is dominated by the National Public Radio network that has several different shows and podcast right on your phone bring you news, current events and most importantly shedding light on news that is often overlooked by the big media brands. What is great about these podcasts is the convenience of consuming information in an efficient way.

NPR is a privately and publicly funded non-profit media organization headquartered at Washington, D.C. It serves as a national syndicator to a network of over 1,000 public radio stations in the United States.[26]

News Reporting Ethics and Guidelines

With the advent of social media and the internet which allows for the mass distribution of news, the lines between what is considered ethical journalistic reporting have become quite blurred. Reporters who comment on the news whether on Facebook, Twitter, a blog, or even for a reputable newspaper often feel pressured by deadlines to produce quality work. This, of course, leads to mistakes, and other problems. Almost all news organizations require its reporters to follow a standard of ethical guidelines to make sure accurate, truthful, and unbiased reporting is given to the audience. Below are certain ethical issues when it comes to reporting:

Fabrication

All too often journalists in the newsroom are caught fabricating or "making up" their [27]. Also, see Jayson Blair and Stephen Glass.

reports and concocting stories and events that never even occurred. As there may be a number of reasons as to why a journalist may feel the need to fabricate information in his or her work. One major scandal that involved fabrication in the 1980s is seen with Janet Cooke, a reporter for the Washington Post. After winning the Pulitzer Prize award for her article in the Washington Post titled “Jimmy’s World” (about an eight-year-old heroin addict) it was discovered that she had fabricated the whole story, as well as lied about her credentials.

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Another recent major news fabrication that almost cost lives was when someone fabricated the news that a child prostitution ring was taking place in a local pizzeria down in Washington called Comet Ping Pong. Reportedly the online news article had said that a child prostitution ring was happening through the pizzeria and Edgar M. Welch, 28, of Salisbury, N.C. had actually driven 6-7 hours to the pizzeria with guns and ready to put a stop to the fake prostitution ring. Fortunately, no one was hurt but imagine the implications that this holds where more situations like this may occur and people are unable to differentiate between the truth and lies.[28]

Photo manipulation

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Photo manipulation happens when reporters and editors photoshop images that are photographed and altered in order to make it seem as though something else is happening than what had actually transpired. Individuals, social media companies and publishers who promote fake news also routinely take photos out of context, digitally alter them, photoshop or combine them with text to further manipulate readers since they know people tend to accept photographs as truthful representations and often don’t question there authenticity[29].

Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interested between reporters and his/her work can lead to biased reporting. This often occurs when a reporter has strong ties to a political party, and the reporter writes articles about this political party that is assumed to be unbiased. In an era of great and growing dissatisfaction with the media, it is imperative that journalists avoid conflicts of interest, defined as situations in which there are competing professional, personal and/or financial obligations or interests that compete with the journalist's obligation to his outlet and audience. [30]

Plagiarism

When reporters "lift" work done by other reporters and other people and pass it along to the audience as if it was their own novel and original work. Plagiarism is traditionally defined as taking someone else’s work and presenting it as your own. In journalism, it is considered one of the primary sins of the profession. Many journalists have lost their jobs or faced legal action for lifting others’ writing or other production. On what Carr deems ‘class,’ that is, giving appropriate credit to the originator of a piece, The New York Times has struggled, according to its own public editor. In a piece titled “Giving Credit: A Work in Progress at The Times”, Public Editor Margaret Sullivan delineates cases when The New York Times used other people’s work as a springboard for its own. Sullivan wrote: The Times takes pride in its original reporting and excels at it. What it doesn’t always excel at is giving full credit to the work of other news organizations. In your own work, consider the Golden Rule–Do unto others as you would have them do unto you–when assessing whether to credit another news outlet’s work. A similar consideration holds when sharing photos, updates or tweets on social media. If the original work is incorrect in some way, having credited the origin also allows distance from the mistake should it need to be corrected. [31] News organizations follow a range of practices in attributing to other news organizations: linking directly to the original story, attributing by name to the journalist and organization, attributing only what they can’t “re-report,” contacting many or all of the same sources to provide a story that is neither plagiarized nor original, or vague attribution such as “media reports,” “was reported” or “reportedly.”

Information Overload

Information overload is the exposure to so much data that one is overwhelming. This includes browsing the internet, watching television and listening to the radio. People are constantly bombarded with ads everywhere they go. With technology advancing each day people are forced to use it and information that comes with it. With so much on the news, people are only privy to news stories that are negative which the media knows will keep them engaged. Experts say reducing screen time before bedtime is one way people can cope with information overload[32].

Information overload is a common problem in the digital world. Traditionally, the press often acts as the watchdog of politics and the gatekeeper of information. The role of the media was to report to citizens of what was happening in the government and around the country so that they could be informed and make educated choices. Reporters would sift through all day’s events and decide which ones were most relevant and important and worthy of publishing. Now, with the rise of new media, along with hundreds of sources publishing on a continuous cycle at any given time, the gatekeeping role has all but vanished. As a result, it is up to the readers to decide what to do with the vast amount of information delivered mobile devices or laptops continuously. While the gatekeeper has disappeared, the role of watchdog in journalism is becoming more important than ever. With news being fragmented across multiple sources, it’s easy for important facts to be lost or misinterpreted in the sea of information. As watchdogs, news organizations will organize, prioritize and make sense of the information and deliver news in an easily digestible format. In addition, the press has a great influence on the American public over the news and opinions that it publishes because they shape public opinions on how the city, the state, and the country operates.

Sensationalism

Since the advent of yellow journalism in late 20th century, the American public has been exposed to sensationalism. Sensationalism is an editorial tactic where the title is cleverly worded, while retaining an element of truth, to maximize its ability to catch a reader's attention. The term "yellow journalism" has evolved in the new media era, now most often being referred to as "clickbait." Clickbait is often utilized by obscure pages to generate revenue through clicks and advertisements.

Fake News

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The internet and social media have made it very easy for anyone to publish content on self-made websites, blogs or social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter which has the potential to reach large audiences across the US and even the world and with many people now getting news from social media sites numerous content creators and publishers have used this to their advantage in both positive yet also negative ways in the form of fake news[33].

Fake news is also sometimes referred to as junk news, pseudo-news, or even hoax news[34]. It’s a form of propaganda where disinformation is intentionally spread through different news channels and also throughout other social networking sites and social media outlets in order to misinform or deceive readers and it can seriously impact or sway elections, increase political divide and sway public opinions or spread hatred and animosity[35]. Furthermore, fake news has the capacity to influence people’s views, push a political agenda or cause confusion and it can often be profitable for online publishers who generate large sums of advertising revenue by using false tactics such as sensational headlines to get readers to click on links or push for their fake stories go viral which would attract, increase and drive web traffic to their sites[36]. Unfortunately, fake news stories can look like trusted websites or even they might even use similar names and web addresses to more reputable news organizations in order to confuse the reader into thinking that the information is coming from trustworthy sources[37]. Fake news is not a new term however it has become a hot topic in recent years and became a popular word on social networking sites leading up to and during the 2016 elections due in part to US President Donald Trump tweeting, criticizing and railing against the media networks that he disliked[38]. Because the phrase had consistently been in the headlines, it became the word of the year in 2017 by dictionary publisher Collins and added to its dictionary[39]. Fake news has also been associated with Russian interference and meddling within the 2016 presidential elections which further raised tensions between nations when the U.S. special counsel’s indictment alleged that a collection of Russian individuals and companies tied to the IRA waged a well-resourced campaign of information warfare against the United States[40].

Some examples that encompass what is considered fake news include clickbait, propaganda, Satire/parody, Sloppy journalism, misleading headings, Biased or slanted news, just to name a few features [41].

How to Spot Fake News.pdf.jpg

References

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