Senior Women Web > News & Issues

The Project for Excellence in Journalism has surveyed the changes in the Wall Street Journal's coverage since Murdoch assuming control at the end of 2007:

"Under the Murdoch regime, the single biggest change in front-page coverage occurred with politics and the presidential campaign. From December 13, 2007 through March 13, 2008, coverage more than tripled, jumping to 18% of the newshole compared with 5% in the four months before the ownership change.

"Since the front page has a finite amount of space, that increase in political coverage seems to have come largely at the expense of business news. In the Murdoch era, coveerage of corporate America has plunged by more than half — to 14% of the front-page space from 30% in the months before the sale...

"Aside from the business beat, other subjects that experienced drops in coveerage under Murdoch include health and medicine, which fell to less than 1% from 5%. trasportation issues fell to 0% on the days studied from 3%. And the environment dropped to 1% from 3%."

Pew Looks at Gender Differences in Following the News

"A look at the public's news interests over the past year shows continuing differences between women and men in the types of news stories that they follow very closely. Women consistently express more interest than men in stories about weather, health and safety, natural disasters and tabloid news. Men are more interested than women in stories about international affairs, Washington news and sports.

At the same time, men and women often express comparable levels of interest in the top news stories of the day. For example, the presidential campaign has attracted only modestly greater interest among men than among women. In five weekly news interest surveys in 2008, 37% of men and 32% of women say they have followed campaign news very closely.

Yet there are substantial gender differences in news about several subjects. Weather news was of particular interest to women: in 2007, 37% of women, on average, followed weather-related stories very closely compared with 29% of men. The largest gender difference in interest in any news story last year was for the tornadoes and violent storms that hit the South and Midwest in March. Four-in-ten women followed this story very closely compared with only 25% of men. Floods in the Midwest in August also attracted a much larger female audience — 32% of women compared with 20% of men followed this story very closely.

Not only do women and men follow different types of news stories, they go to different places for their news. According to the 2006 news consumption survey, women are more likely than men to regularly watch network morning shows — 28% of women and 17% of men regularly watch the Today Show, Good Morning America or the Early Show. Women are also more likely than men to watch the nightly network news (31% vs. 25% watch regularly) and network TV news magazines such as 60 Minutes and Dateline (25% vs. 21% regularly).

Men, on the other hand, are more likely than women to get their news from the radio — either radio news or talk radio. Men also use online news sources more often than do women. And more men than women read the newspaper regularly.

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Here's the way that Neiman Watchdog, Questions That The Press Should Ask, describes its role:

"Why Watchdog? And why questions? Great questions are a key to great journalism. But often, in the press of deadlines, the flood of raw information, manipulated news, deliberate misinformation and just plain junk, great questions are hard to develop. Reporters and editors need to know what's happening, why it happened, who's involved, who's affected and what happens next.

"The premise of watchdog journalism is that the press is a surrogate for the public, asking probing, penetrating questions at every level, from the town council to the state house to the White House, as well as in corporate and professional offices, in union halls, on university campuses and in religious organizations that seek to influence governmental actions.

"The goal of watchdog journalism is to see that people in power provide information the public should have.

And here's a description of the Neiman Fellowships: The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University was founded in 1938 "to promote and elevate the standards of journalism in the United States." For many years now the program has included international reporters and editors as well. Nieman Fellowships enrich outstanding practitioners by bringing 24 of them to Harvard University for a year of study in fields of journalistic specialty.

The Walrus

One of our Canadian writers, Pat Beurteaux, mentioned The Walrus magazine in a recent essay, Stuff the Stocking. We had never heard of it and so investigated its pages.

The feature, Outlook, took us on a many-splendored journey through the events and festivals that the magazine had identified. Here is a sampling of their entries:

Perhaps bored by the ho-hum world of alpine mountain-biking, bog-snorkeling competitors incorporate the threat of drowning into their extreme-cycling experience. The racecourse is a forty-metre-long, two-metre-deep water-filled trench cut into a peat bog. Cyclists wearing masks, snorkels, and lead-filled backpacks must complete two laps of the channel fully submerged riding bikes with water and lead in the tires to stop them from floating. Participants sometimes panic in the murky depths — in 2000, one woman had to be rescued twice before eventually winning the female title — but thanks to vigilant, wetsuited medics, all the entrants in the race’s eight-year history have made it out alive.

What elected office has Hillary Clinton won repeatedly without even trying? That of unofficial patroness of the Festa del Cornuto (Festival of the Betrayed Spouse), held yearly in a village just outside Rome. Clinton and her fellow cornuti share the glory of the day with the chestnut, a local delicacy that the town celebrates at the same time. Both classes of honourees are roasted in one way or another: the nuts over open fires, the victims of infidelity through ironic poetry composed with them in mind.

Enaction of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage

With thirty-plus countries ranging from Dominica to Japan on board, and more signatories on the way, unesco will take on the mind-bending task of preserving “intangible” cultural heritage. “Intangible” heritage, practitioners may be amused to learn, includes oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, and Living Human Treasures” (people who possess important cultural knowledge and skills). These traditions and more are covered by the treaty’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and its List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding. Whether the initiative succeeds or not, signatories can rest easy knowing that their most treasured impalpables will henceforth be circumscribed

We also fell for the article, Maritime Monotony; Where the excitement never starts which begins:

"Cranstock, New Brunswick, is not, as is often claimed, the most boring town in Canada’s Maritime provinces. While its Festival of Sand is among the least exciting events in the Atlantic region, the town falls somewhere in the middle of the range of lacklustre area destinations."

You'll have to subscribe to find out just how exciting Cranstock can be capable of.

And I Quote

A collection of advice, inspiration and other words of wisdom on the craft of writing compiled by Chip Scanlan of The Poynter Institute:

“If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, if the writer is writing truly enough, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water.” — Ernest Hemingway

You have to fall back on the basics: Sit down and tell a story. What happened? “What did it look like, sound like, feel like? Who said what? Who did what? And why does it matter? What’s the point? Why is this story being told? What does it say about life, about the world, about the times we live in? Newspaper writing, especially on deadline, is so hectic and complicated — the fact-gathering, the phrase-finding, the inconvenience, the pressure — that it’s easy to forget the basics of storytelling. Namely, what happened, and why does it matter?” — David Von Drehle, The Washington Post

A scene is a point in time. Summary carries you between points in time.” — Stuart Warner, Cleveland Plain Dealer

You are your own brand. Be a thoroughbred in the newsroom. Thoroughbreds wear blinders so they can’t see what the other horses are doing. Run your own race.” — Diana Sugg, The Baltimore Sun

The trouble with doing nothing is you never know when you’re finished.” Anonymous

Athletes teach you that behind any kind of confidence is conditioning. And behind any inspiration is hard work. They also teach you that creative decision making — clarity of thought, and composure — is directly related to your physical state. There is a saying: “Practice beats talent when talent doesn’t practice.” And it’s absolutely, utterly true. I’m continually, constantly, everlastingly, refreshingly surprised by how hard writing is. It’s like a case of amnesia — between stories I forget how awful it was. But I remember again as soon as I sit down in front of the computer.

I’m also surprised by how much writers fumble around in the dark, just hoping for a blast of fortunate inspiration. And I’m surprised by what a minor factor inspiration is in the overall process. It helps. But frankly it’s the glazed donut of thinking. Writing is breaking rocks with a shovel. It takes a certain kind of strength.” — Sally Jenkins, Washington Post

TV's Local News & Health Care Reporting

Medical News for the Public to Use? What's on Local TV News

Background: Local television news is the number 1 source of information for most Americans, and media health reporting has increased significantly during the past 10 years. Objective: To evaluate the health topics and reporting characteristics of health stories on local television news across the United States.

Study Design: Content analysis of full-length broadcasts of local television news from a representative sample of the top 50 US media markets (122 stations). Methods: Two trained coders evaluated all health stories for topics and reporting characteristics. Any discrepancies were resolved by a third independent coder.

Results: Among 2795 broadcasts reviewed, 1799 health stories were aired. Seventy-six percent of all stories were about medical conditions. The median story airtime was 33 seconds. Breast cancer and West Nile virus were the 2 most common topics reported on. Among 1371 stories about disease, few gave recommendations, cited specific data sources, or discussed prevalence. Egregious errors were identified that could harm viewers who relied on the information.

Conclusions: Local television news devotes significant airtime to health stories, yet few newscasts provide useful information, and some stories with factually incorrect information and potentially dangerous advice were aired. Regularly reaching 165 million people, local television news has the power to provide health information to most Americans. It is crucial that television reporting of health news be improved and that reporting errors be eliminated.

Doctors: James M. Pribble, MD; Kenneth M. Goldstein, PhD; Erika Franklin Fowler, MA; Matthew J. Greenberg, MD; Stacey K. Neol, MD; Joel D. Howell, MD, PhD

Outright Radio

Outright Radio is distributed by Public Radio International (PRI), and is the leading nationally syndicated radio show featuring first-person narratives, personal stories, and insightful interviews from America’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) communities. Outright Radio seeks to entertain while helping to eliminate homophobia based on ignorance and invisibility by featuring true-life stories of positive, out, GLBT people, sharing a glimpse into their lives. Although no new programs will be created, there is a archive of previous shows to be listened to.

Pointing Out Responsibility

The San Francisco Chronicle carries a feature called Chronicle Watch. The weekly column states the nature of a problem on public lands, be it a broken light fixtures, elevators that have not been inspected as they should and projects that have been delayed beyond their promised date.

Not only have the problems been identified, the person responsible is named with telephone numbers, email addresses and pictures displayed. The feature, obviously, makes it easy for the public to get in touch with the identified public servant to express their displeasure with the service not rendered or completed. Another aspect of Chronicle Watch is to encourage local volunteer efforts to help solve some of the specific problems.

Does your newspaper carry such a feature? If not, how about encouraging them to do so? Let us know (email swwpub@aol.com) if there's a similar service granted by your newspaper or your own efforts. We promise to run them in our letters column.

Resources: Looking Ahead

A few calendar resources to inform you about events before they happen from the ResourceShelf:

Sightings

Spy Sighting: Spy School program, International Spy Museum, Women Spies during war, Chapter Two: Sisterhood of Spys + A Selection of 'Yeah, Right" emails from the Newsroom

Spy School - The Discovery Channel has put together an entertaining site detailing the history, tools of the trade and stories relating to well-known spies and their missions. To Catch a Spy is a game that allows you to put together clues to capture a spy.

The International Spy Museum opens this week in buildings constructed between 1875 to 1892 with a mission to reveal the role spies have played in world events throughout history. It collects, researches and plans to exhibit artifacts in the art of spycraft. One feature of the site is a game called Whack a Mole, testing your skill in catching notorious Cold War spies. School for Spies examines over 200 spy gadgets, weapons, bugs, cameras, vehicles, and technologies. An exhibit displays "microdots and invisible ink, buttonhole cameras and submarine recording systems, bugs of all sizes and kinds, and techniques developed by Hollywood for the CIA."

Women Who Were Spies in War is a site that lists the women involved in this business through the Civil, First and Second World Wars. Perhaps one day the site will continue its research into the wars (conflicts, legally) that have taken place since that last declared war.

"At a meeting with BSC officials on 10 March 1942 it was determined to schedule the embassy break-in for mid-June. Huntington would have the entire month of May to organize his team. His first step was to establish contact with the mysterious Mata Hari upon whom the BSC placed such reliance. He was impressed with her record: earlier she had helped obtain German and Italian codes, and she had also developed an intimate relationship with one Charles Emanuel Brousse at the French embassy. With his connivance she had supplied BSC and COI/OSS with a steady stream of diplomatic cable traffic between Vichy France and the Washington embassy.

Links

BBC News On-line (U.K.) - As the well-known United Kingdom news service, this site is easy to use and navigate, with news in audio and video if you have or can download appropriate software. Although we haven't tried it, you may put "the BBC ticker news tape onto your desktop from here to keep you up-to-date all the time on categories of choice."

Common Sense Media is a group of "concerned parents and individuals, with experience in child advocacy, public policy, education, media and entertainment." The membership of the Board of Directors is varied and impressive. The Media Guide outlines content for movies, television programs, video games, music and books prior to a child's exposure to that program, game or event. Reviews contain recommendations based on content and age. There's a newsletter with articles, new releases and advice about making a media diet contract with your children and grandchildren.

C-Span - The network funded by the cable networks offers political and historical programming without commercials. One of the features of the site is the ability to search C-SPAN campaign footage by keyword and then view speeches by candidates by segment or in their entirety or just by text.

Curve Magazine - A print as well as on-line magazine devoted to Lesbian news, articles, employment and lifestyles.

Electronic Policy Network (Moving Ideas) - A network of online resources covering policy, politics, and ideas. A project of The American Prospect magazine, EPN highlights the best and most timely reports and research from its 60 organizations which are liberal and progressive in nature.

Gossip: If you can't say anything nice...we'll read it! By going to these sites, you're hoping they dish the latest gossip: Page Six of the New York Post has always been favored in New York, especially by journalists (registration needed). Liz Smith's columns are always entertaining and E!Online is tartly funny. For Political gossip go to the Reliable Source at the WashingtonPost.com in the Style section.

Las Mujeres - Las Mujeres, under the leadership of Maria Amaya-Roldan, provides various resources of notable Latin women who contributed to Hispanic culture in diverse ways. Article on the lives of politicians, entrepreneurs, writers, singers, painters, actresses, educators, and others. "Some of them live through their legacy and others are still around us changing our communities with their work."

Latina Style - An E-zine that is totally owned by Latinas focusing on cultural, business, fashion, and entertainment news and encompassing all ages. There is a listing a national listing of the top fifty companies providing the best professional opportunities for Latinas

National Geographic - Well-organized and navigable site with interesting and good-humored features from the magazine and its newsletters. The forum, in terms of communicating with people interested in adventure, seems a cut above those that populate the Internet.

Nature: Science Update - A resource from Nature magazine that's accessible to the nonprofessional in terms of language and references used; each day consists of a couple or more new articles by subject (lifelines, brain, biotech etc.) and a brief summary of each article.

New York Review of Books - The well-known and oft-lauded magazine with reviews, articles and essays. Just that.

Political Science Quarterly - Published by the Academy of Political Science (with distinguished board and honorary members) , this is one of the oldest magazines of this type (1886) and is now available on-line.

"Washington Post journalist Marcela Sanchez reports the latest scoop on the policies, legislation, and debates that are shaping events in Latin America."

Media

Examining the WSJ, Post-Murdoch