Ah, the wonders of video editing. After reading this blog post and watching Rachel Maddow's explanation of the whole hoax, it's crazy people can get away with stuff like this so easily.
Maddow did a great job showing viewers the subtle details in the video that proved it was a hoax, in addition to revealing the entire unedited version.
However, other media persons were not so quick to doubt the truthfulness of this video. As Tomanelli points out, Associated Press and Slate believed and praised Andrew Breitbart's big scoop on ACORN. (The Associated Press link is no longer available.)
It's not to say journalists should be skeptical of every story they read, video they watch or audio clip they hear, but at the same time, always be skeptical, because if it's too good to be true, it probably is.
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Showing posts with label news. Show all posts
Friday, November 15, 2013
Monday, November 11, 2013
Review on James Rainey's "'Citizen journalist' broke Obama story" (LA Times, 4/15/08)
The Huffington Post, and other websites alike, are a great outlet for bloggers and citizen journalists with big stories to get noticed. Mayhill Fowler did exactly that. While her ethics are shaky, she found a great story and did what she thought she had to do as a journalist.
Since The Huffington Post is one of the most visited websites, Fowler's story got picked up, and support for President Obama went down (to some extent). However, Fowler didn't gain that much support either. She was challenged as a real journalist, and her ethics in reporting were put into question. Was it ok that she went to Obama's event that was deemed "closed" to mainstream journalists, but then wrote about it as a "citizen journalist?" Maybe if she had posted it to her own blog, and then it was picked up, but even I am questioning if what she did is right or wrong.
Either way, Fowler uncovered an important story that mainstream journalists would not have otherwise covered. And maybe that's why her ethics don't matter, because she technically was not employed as a journalist, anyway.
Since The Huffington Post is one of the most visited websites, Fowler's story got picked up, and support for President Obama went down (to some extent). However, Fowler didn't gain that much support either. She was challenged as a real journalist, and her ethics in reporting were put into question. Was it ok that she went to Obama's event that was deemed "closed" to mainstream journalists, but then wrote about it as a "citizen journalist?" Maybe if she had posted it to her own blog, and then it was picked up, but even I am questioning if what she did is right or wrong.
Either way, Fowler uncovered an important story that mainstream journalists would not have otherwise covered. And maybe that's why her ethics don't matter, because she technically was not employed as a journalist, anyway.
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Review on Net/Indies' impact on 2008 election: Jeff Cohen, "Big Election Winner: Indy Media" (CommonDreams.org, 11/5/08)
I definitely have to agree that without the contributions from independent media in the 2008 (and 2012) election, the results may have been drastically different. I do have to say, I was less politically in tune in 2008. Social media has fully blossomed by then, but I'm pretty sure I was still on MySpace.
Though I still followed the election, I was not the news junkie I am today. I never knew about all of these contributing factors in the 2008 election, like the one you mention. However, now that things have obviously changed and I have been exposed to independent media, I'm grateful it's out there. Before, I merely thought Obama won the election because of his fresh perspective, diversity and social media presence. And I really didn't even know Drudge Report was a thing until a few years ago.
Independent media's presence has become a game changer in political races, elections and news in general. Without the Mitt Romney 47% video from Mother Jones, would Obama have won re-election in 2012? But the title for this article remains true- independent media is the real winner.
Though I still followed the election, I was not the news junkie I am today. I never knew about all of these contributing factors in the 2008 election, like the one you mention. However, now that things have obviously changed and I have been exposed to independent media, I'm grateful it's out there. Before, I merely thought Obama won the election because of his fresh perspective, diversity and social media presence. And I really didn't even know Drudge Report was a thing until a few years ago.
Independent media's presence has become a game changer in political races, elections and news in general. Without the Mitt Romney 47% video from Mother Jones, would Obama have won re-election in 2012? But the title for this article remains true- independent media is the real winner.
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