journalism Archives - Page 3 of 8

Yahoo-Murdoch: A marriage made in hell

Yahoo News’ possible partnership with the News Corp. could jeopardize its credibility This column appeared March 12, 2000, in the Online Journalism Review. Here’s the version on the OJR site. Word comes that Yahoo and the News Corp., Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, are thinking of hopping into bed. The announcement, revealed in the March 6 New Yorker, was treated by the tech and business press as just another in a series of possible strategic alliances between corporate titans. Under the proposed broad partnership, News Corp. — now practically invisible in the online space — would get access to the Web’s biggest platform of all. Yahoo, trying to counter America Online’s pending merger with Time-Warner, would get access to News Corp.’s

Clash over exit polls pits new vs. old media

This column appeared March 6, 2000, in the Online Journalism Review. Here’s the version on the OJR site. The online publication Slate raised a ruckus early in the primary season by publishing the results of exit polls in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Michigan hours before the ballot boxes closed. When Slate stopped the practice last week under threat of legal action, the National Review stepped into the breach, publishing exit poll data from Virginia while voters were still casting ballots. They plan to do the same during tomorrow’s Super Tuesday primaries in New York, Ohio and California. So does Matt Drudge.

Lewinsky scandal: Case study teaching notes

The following teaching notes accompany Internet Journalism and the Starr Investigation as part of Thinking Clearly (Columbia University Press, 2003), a textbook on journalism case studies. By J.D. Lasica Synopsis Most journalism students today have grown up using the Internet as an important way of receiving news. They are likely unaware of the various stages of its development and may accept current practices as the only possible way of communicating. This case was designed to help students think through the challenges the Internet created and the choices journalists have made. Use of the Internet slowly broadened from use by the technologically savvy to use by the general public as a form of communication. According to public opinion surveys, as late

Speed vs. context and accuracy in covering the scandal

Part five of Internet journalism and the Starr investigation Because of the Internet, when a major story breaks, people now tend to go online. On the day the Starr report swooped into cyberspace, news sites saw their online usage surge. A poll by the Pew Resarch Center for the People and the Press found that the public turned to Internet sites in large numbers as a news source during the scandal. Journalists should be heartened by the knowledge that online users gravitated to the major national news sites: MSNBC, CNN Interactive, USAToday Online, nytimes.com, washingtonpost.com. But they should not be smug or complacent about their role in cyberspace, for millions of users accessed the report directly — without the filter

The Starr Report

Part four of Internet journalism and the Starr investigation On September 9, 1998, the House of Representatives received special prosecutor Starr’s report. The report — formally titled Referral From Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr in Conformity With the Requirements of Title 28, United States Code, Section 595(c) — was a document without precedence in U.S. history. It contained graphic accounts of Clinton’s affair with Lewinsky and alleged that the president had committed perjury, obstructed justice, tampered with witnesses and abused his constitutional powers. The report laid the foundation for Clinton’s impeachment by the House along party lines in December 1998; he was acquitted in his Senate trial two months later. Two days later, the House voted to release the report

The sourcing problem in the Lewinsky scandal

Part three of Internet journalism and the Starr investigation During press coverage of past scandals such as Watergate or Iran-Contra, perhaps the biggest challenge facing journalists involved news gathering: teasing out enough information from reluctant sources for a solid story. In the Clinton sex scandal, information flowed like water. It was everywhere, but much of it was murky or polluted. The real challenge came in filtering the information to sort out fact from rumor. Authenticating the news became critically important in two ways: • News organizations covering the story first-hand had to determine the reliability of the information obtained from sources with politically tinged motives (many participants had Republican ties and had a strong, visceral hatred of President Clinton from

Revisions on the fly: Two case studies

Part two of Internet journalism and the Starr investigation According to news accounts, the sequence of events involving the Wall Street Journal report unfolded as follows: Shortly before 4 p.m. on Wednesday, February 4, 1998, Joe Lockhart, the White House deputy press secretary, said a Journal reporter approached him for a reaction to accusations that a White House steward had once seen Clinton and Lewinsky alone in a study next to the Oval Office. The reporter said he needed the information quickly because the paper planned to publish the story on its web site. Lockhart said he and the reporter agreed that Lockhart would get back to the reporter within 30 minutes unless the reporter paged him to say he

Internet journalism and the Starr investigation

The following five-part 10,000-word research report appears in Thinking Clearly (Columbia University Press, 2003), a textbook on journalism case studies. It’s already in use in college classrooms around the country. Syndicated columnist Geneva Overholser and former Los Angeles Times Washington bureau chief Jack Nelson are among the other chapter contributors. Also see the teaching notes on the topic. Posted Jan. 20, 2000. The Internet came of age as a news medium in 1998 during independent counsel Kenneth Starr’s investigation into whether President Clinton had a sexual affair with a White House intern and lied about it. This case examines three principal issues: (1) the rise of new media as legitimate and important sources of breaking news; (2) sourcing and verification

Citizens as budding reporters and editors

Seniors & teens bring personal experiences to Web publishing This column — my last for AJR — appeared in the July-August 1999 issue of The American Journalism Review. Where will online journalism be in five or 10 years? In the hands of more and more regular folks, who may not even think of themselves as journalists. The Internet has long held out the ideal of Everyman as publisher — ordinary citizens who take back journalism from the professional class. As the Web matures, we’re starting to see a flourishing of community journalism, a phenomenon that has both distant roots and a promising future. “The news consumer is turning into a news provider,” says Walter Bender, associate director of the MIT

How the online news industry is evolving

I was interviewed by PBS’s Online NewsHour in 1999 and received permission to republish our exchange on my site. Online News Industry The Internet news industry has undergone some major changes over the last five years. To discuss these changes is JD Lasica, new media columnist for the American Journalism Review and the Online Journalism Review. In addition to writing about online ethics for the Industry Standard newsweekly, Mr. Lasica is also managing editor of BabyCenter, an online resource for new and expectant parents. The following are Mr. Lasica’s answers to 5 questions asked by the Online NewsHour.