Tight deadlines and tough decisions are a daily challenge in your newsroom. See video from the latest workshop that took place in Jacksonville, FL on January 23-24.
The Radio Television Digital News Foundation has, for nearly a decade, held ethical decision-making workshops around America. Thanks to grants from The Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, and in the early years, from the Ford Foundation, we bring journalists and new consumers together to talk about news and news coverage. For two and a half hours, the citizen’s focus group, which is a reflection of the demographics of that community, watches and listens to news stories as the journalists observe without asking questions.
We ask the viewers to tell how they feel about crime coverage, breaking news coverage, undercover and investigative journalism and how they use radio and online as news sources.
On January 23, 2009, RTDNF hosted a workshop in Jacksonville, Florida. The comments from the focus group repeated themes we have heard for years.
Steve, who owns his own computer repair business, said he watches the same station he has watched since he was a child because he knows the personalities on the station so well. “I don’t know anybody’s name but I know their names,” he said.
Jackie, a mother of 2 said she does not like it “when stations go overboard and get too sensational.” She said she is not impressed when stations claim to be “First on the scene.” She said, “Just tell me the story.”
The focus group talks about
sensationalism in the news.
Keith, who says he “has always been in marketing,” said he
values news stations that “are the local station. You really need to get a good
dose of what is going on in the community. That is why I watch local news.”
James owns a concrete business in Jacksonville.
He said he relied on one particular weathercaster who he says was
especially accurate. “The weather is money to me,” James said. But the station
moved that weathercaster from the evening news to the morning. James was so
dedicated to that weathercaster the he stopped watching the evening news and
got up early in the morning to see the weathercast that he says influenced
whether he poured concrete that day.
Gabrielle, a college student, says she watches the morning
news most often and she says she wants to know two things. What the weather
will be and whether there is anything she needs to know about the traffic that
will keep her from getting to class on time.
She said there is practically nothing stations could do to get her to
watch more because she wakes up with just enough time to get out of bed, get
dressed and get to school.
Arlyn, a nurse, said she is so fed up with sensationalized
weather coverage the she seriously believes the TV stations are in partnerships
with Home Depot to sell emergency supplies.
The group said they find news teases to be annoying and
confusing. They said they wish that if a station had an important and
interesting story to tell, they just tell it.
Why do they tease the viewer rather than just telling the story? They
also said that when a tease contains more than one main idea, they get confused
and can’t remember what the tease was about.
Several people on the panel said they watch the news with
their kids in the room. Some said they were concerned about which stores air on
earlier newscasts when children might be watching. Kippling, a mother and a homemaker said she
keeps two TV sets on in her home and in breaking news, runs from one set to the
other in the house to watch.
Several viewers said they keep the remote control in their
hands and switch between stations, especially when they see a big story on one
channel. They routinely switch to another channel to see if they can learn more
about the story. The panel said they have found that as a general rule, all of
the stations cover pretty much the same stories.
The focus group comments on keeping the remote in their hands.
We asked the panel to watch a longer investigative story. The story they watched was an investigation by WJLA in Washington DC. The story focused on pediatric dental clinics that care for poor children. The story contained graphic video of kids being strapped down and forced to open their mouths. The dentists are rewarded for selling more baby root canals and crows rather than just drilling cavities. Here is a link to the WJLA story.
Here was the panel’s reaction to it.
The focus group gives their reaction to the WJLA story.
The viewers shocked the journalists when they said they believe that commercial advertisers have a heavy say on what does and does not get covered on the news. Several panelists said they thought it would be reasonable for an advertiser who spent money on commercials to expect positive news coverage.
The focus group comments on commercial influence in the news.
We asked the members of the public to give the journalists some final words of advice. One panelist was especially concerned that journalists only seem to report crime stories from “non-white” parts of town. She asked for more “diversity” in news coverage.—Al Tompkins is the broadcast/online group leader for The Poynter Institute. He may be reached at atompkins@poynter.org.
The focus group discusses diversity coverage in the news.
“Professional electronic journalists should present the news with integrity and decency, avoiding real or perceived conflicts of interest, and respect the dignity and intelligence of the audience as well as the subjects of news.”
The Radio Television Digital News Association, wishing to foster the highest professional standards of electronic journalism, promote public understanding of and confidence in electronic journalism, and strengthen principles of journalistic freedom to gather and disseminate information, establishes this Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct.
What is the journalistic purpose for airing the 911 call?Does using the call help better tell the story in a way that is not sensational? Can the 911 tape illuminate broader issues about the 911 system and its effectiveness? Can using the tape help critically examine the 911 system or help illustrate how effectively the system works? When deciding to use the call, ask yourself these questions about the 911 system.
Television and radio stations should provide the information necessary for the safe return of a missing child. News staff should insure information is factual and detailed and carefully evaluate its validity before going on the air. News staff should find answers to the following questions when making decisions to broadcast or stop broadcasting an Amber Alert.
"Professional electronic journalists should gather and report news without fear or favor, and vigorously resist undue influence from any outside forces, including advertisers, sources, story subjects, powerful individuals and special-interest groups." The Radio Television Digital News Association declared this traditional journalistic value when it revised the RTDNA Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct in September 2000. Times of economic pressure test that value, challenging journalists to see it anew-and to practice it in new ways.
When journalists cover funerals, they must do so with the highest degree of sensitivity and professionalism. Although stories of funerals can be deeply moving, newsworthy and even healing for an audience, there is great potential for journalists to intrude on a family's privacy and cause pain to already vulnerable people.
Ask: what is my journalistic duty in reporting this story? What do our viewers need to know? What is the threat to life or property? What are the consequences of the event itself? How significant is the evacuation and the interruption to normal life in your community? What is the impact this event has on law enforcement or emergency crews ability to respond to other calls? What else is this story about? What is the story behind the story? (In some cases, racial slurs and threats have been sprayed on school walls.)
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