CHAPTER 15: MAKING

NEWS DECISIONS

ABOUT TASTE Use a two-step process to make

decisions about news content that the

audience finds:

Insensitive

To contain offensive words

To contain offensive images

WHAT IS TASTE IN NEWS?

By P

ab

ak

Sa

rka

r

DEFINITION: TASTE Conformity or failure to conform with

generally held views concerning what is

offensive or acceptable.

Used in a sentence:

“That joke is in very bad taste"

WHAT IS THE ETHICAL DILEMMA?

Seek truth and report it

Minimize harm

Is it in the public interest? Will it offend the audience?

Will it harm those in the story?

3 WAYS TO OFFEND THE AUDIENCE

1. Insensitive words or images

2. Words that are obscene, vulgar,

profane, sexist or disparaging to

ethnic or racial groups

3. Images that portray graphic violence

or nudity

TWO-STEP PROCESS ON TASTE

TWO-STEP PROCESS ON TASTE

Step 1: Apply the

“Wheaties” test.

Could the average

news consumer

handle reading,

watching or hearing

this news at

breakfast?

TWO-STEP PROCESS ON TASTE

Step 1: Apply the

“mohinga” test.

Could the average

news consumer

handle reading,

watching or hearing

this news at

breakfast?

TWO-STEP PROCESS ON TASTE

CASE STUDY:

INSENSITIVITY Was NBC News’ broadcast of the video

made by mass killer Seung-Hui Cho

insensitive?

32 KILLED AT VIRGINIA TECH, 2007 Gunman and student Seung-Hui Cho also kills himself.

NBC NEWS RECEIVES PACKAGE Receives:

25 minutes of video, 45 photos and 23-page document

Broadcasts:

2 minutes of video, 7 photos and 37 sentences

htt

p:/

/ww

w.y

ou

tub

e.c

om

/wa

tch

?v=

Vya

lPi1

Ge

DY

NPR REPORT ON NBC’S VIDEO

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9692304

DISCUSS: SHOULD NBC NEWS HAVE

BROADCAST THE KILLER’S VIDEO?

CASE STUDY:

INSENSITIVITY What should news outlets use of the

two videos from the killing of two

journalists on live TV last week?

2 JOURNALISTS KILLED ON LIVE TV •A fired TV station employee shot 17 rounds during a live TV report Wednesday.

•Killed Parker, 24, and Ward, 27. Wounded the interviewee.

2 JOURNALISTS KILLED ON LIVE TV

August 26, 2015

WHAT THE TWO VIDEOS SHOW

GUNMAN’s VIDEO

• 56-second video shows

how close the shooter

stood while the crew was

on the air.

• He pointed the semi-

automatic pistol at Alison

Parker while she

continued the interview.

• He backed off for a few

seconds, then raised the

weapon again and began

firing point-blank.

CAMERAMAN’s VIDEO

• It shows Alison Parker

screaming and stumbling

backward as the shots

ring out and a set of

jumbled images as the

camera falls to the floor.

• Eight shots can be heard

before the broadcast cuts

back to the stunned

anchor at the station.

• It appears to show the

shooter.

DISCUSS: WHAT SHOULD NEWS

OUTLETS USE OF THE 2 WDBJ VIDEOS?

DISCUSS: WHAT SHOULD NEWS

OUTLETS USE OF THE 2 WDBJ VIDEOS?

• Use the video unedited

with audio.

• Use the video up to the

moment that screaming

begins and cut the

audio but continue the

video.

• Use the video with no

audio.

• Use still frames and no

video.

• Use none of the images.

AL TOMPKINS ON USING

THE CAMERAMAN’s VIDEO • “It depends on why you are using the video

and how you will use it and how long you will use

it.

• “We know now that the video itself is news — not

just because it shows the shooting but also

because it appears to show the shooter. That is

reason enough to show the video in some way.

• “But consider alternatives. In the early hours after

the shooting, the video (complete with horrific

audio) was news because the ‘what’ of the story

was still unfolding. As the story turns to ‘why,’ the

graphic video becomes less newsworthy.”

THE NEW YORK TIMES LINKS

TO CAMERAMAN’S VIDEO

AL TOMPKINS ON USING

THE SHOOTER’s VIDEO “Journalists can be justified in airing or publishing

graphic images when the images resolve disputes

about what occurred….There has to be a journalistic

purpose to justify the graphic image’s use.

“Other than the astonishing nature of the video, it

adds little information about what happened….There

was a lone shooter at close range….The first-person

video shows an execution. Airing it may serve to

encourage copycat violence. The shooter may have

meant to show the video as a way of punishing and

humiliating his victims. It might have given him a

great sense of power to be in control, and airing the

video only feeds that emotion.”

WHAT NEWS OUTLETS USED

OF SHOOTER’s VIDEO • Less reputable papers -- New York Post, New York

Daily News, Daily Mirror and The Sun) --

published still frames from the shooter’s video on

their front pages.

• Of the three US major network evening newscasts on

August 26:

ABC World News Tonight did not show any part of

the shooter’s video.

NBC Nightly News broadcast a still frame from the

shooter’s video.

The CBS Evening News showed a 25-second segment

from the shooter’s video.

CASE STUDY:

OFFENSIVE WORDS Should news outlets publish offensive

words used by the vice president in

addressing a senator on the U.S.

Senate floor?

AVOID STRONG LANGUAGE

Myanmar Media Code of

Conduct (page 16):

12.1: The gratuitous use of

strong swearwords or obscene

or blasphemous language

should be avoided. The

dissemination of such terms is

justified only where it is

essential to the audience’s

understanding, including

because it forms part of a direct

quotation, or to the dramatic

development of a story.

POLICY, REVISED 2014

“If the precise nature of an obscenity, vulgarity or other offensive expression is essential to the reader’s understanding of a newsworthy event – not merely to convey color or emotion – editors should consider using the term or a close paraphrase; readers should not be left uninformed or baffled about the nature of a significant controversy.” – The New York Times 2014 guidelines on profanity and

vulgarity

NEWS OUTLETS

GENERALLY AGREE

“When offensive language

is used by a ranking public

official in a public place,

they need to report it.” – The Ethical Journalist

CASE STUDY: VP DICK CHENEY B

y L

wp

Ko

mm

un

iká

ció

Vice President Dick Cheney Sen. Patrick Leahy

By h

ttp

s:/

/ww

w.c

on

gre

ss

.go

v/

GO F---

YOURSELF!

In 2004, on the floor of the U.S. Senate:

DISCUSS: SHOULD YOU QUOTE THE

VICE PRESIDENT USING PROFANITY?

WHAT NEWS OUTLETS DID

Used “an obscenity”

“Go … yourself.”

Quoted him exactly.

WHY DID THE POST QUOTE HIM?

Executive Editor

Len Downie

By c

ron

kit

e.a

su

.ed

u

“When the vice president

of the United States says

it to a senator in the way

in which he said it on the

Senate floor, readers need

to judge for themselves

what the word is because

we don’t play games at

The Washington Post and

use dashes.” – Executive Editor Len Downie

CASE STUDY:

OFFENSIVE IMAGES Should The Associated Press have

distributed a photo of a dying U.S.

Marine in Afghanistan against the

father’s and Pentagon’s wishes?

Mortally wounded Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard by

AP photographer Julie Jacobson in Afghanistan, 2009

INTERVIEW WITH SOLDIER’S FATHER

https://thebloviatinghammerhead.wordpress.com/2009/09/04/mainstream-media-outrage-ap-exploits-marines-death-ignores-familys-

anguish/

Lance Cpl. Joshua

M. Bernard

Memorial service for

Cpl. Bernard shot by

AP photographer Julie

Jacobson

PENTAGON ASKS AP NOT TO

DISTRIBUTE THE PHOTO

“Your lack of compassion

and common sense in

choosing to put this

image of their maimed

and stricken child on the

front page of multiple

American newspapers is

appalling.” – Letter from Defense Secretary

Robert M. Gates to The AP

Defense Secretary

Robert M. Gates

By D

ep

art

me

nt

of

Defe

ns

e

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/behind-13/

WHAT AP’S PHOTO CHIEF SAID “We appreciate the anguish

of the family of this

marine….At the same time,

there’s a compelling reason

to show the real effects of

this war. Sanitizing does

everyone a disservice….

Limiting casualty counts to

numbers and names and

nothing else; that’s a very

incomplete picture of what’s

going on.”

– AP Photo Director Santiago Lyon

AP Photo Director

Santiago Lyon

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/behind-13/

WHAT THE AP PHOTOGRAPHER SAID

“It is necessary to be

bothered from time to time.

It is too easy to sit at

Starbuck’s far away across

the sea and read about the

casualty and then move on

without much of another

thought about it. It’s not as

easy to see an image of

that casualty and not think

about it.” – AP photographer Julie Jacobson

AP Photographer

Julie Jacobson

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/behind-13/

DISCUSS: 1. SHOULD AP HAVE

DISTRIBUTED THE PHOTO?

2. You are the editor of the

soldier’s hometown

newspaper.

• Do you run it in the paper?

• If so, on what page?

• Color or black-and-white?

• Do you run it online?

• With a warning to click to

see it?

3. You are the editor of The

Washington Post?

• Same questions as above.

WHAT THE WASHINGTON POST DID • Published the photo online – with warning – but not in

the newspaper

• Ran an article explaining its decision.

htt

p:/

/ww

w.w

as

hin

gto

np

os

t.c

om

/wp

-dyn

/co

nte

nt/

art

icle

/20

09

/09

/0

4/A

R2

00

90

90

40

363

4.h

tml