The Media Create an Open Forum (But Can You Take the Negative Criticism?).

A STUDENT JOURNALIST AT American University wrote a column stating that "date rape" does not exist."Let’s get this straight," he wrote. "Any woman who heads to an EI party as an anonymous onlooker, drinks five cups of the jungle juice, and walks back to a boy’s room with him is indicating that she wants sex, OK? To cry 'date rape' after you sober up the next morning and regret the incident is the equivalent of pulling a gun to someone’s head and...

Can You Handle Being a Journalist?

A JOURNALIST WORKS IN the public eye, and we often catch people at sensitive moments - after losses, crimes and failures of various sorts. On occasion, people yell at us in response. Can you handle it? The video above shows the University of Florida football coach Urban Meyer snapping at a reporter from the Orlando Sentinel. The reporter had published a story including a quote that one Florida player made about a former player. The quoted player sounds critical of the former player.Does the coach have the right to be upset? Did the reporter do...

Do the F*****g Asterisks Do Any Good?

VP JOE BIDEN dropped the f-bomb while whispering to the president yesterday ... in front of a live microphone. In the White House. As he was introducing the president. In front of reporters and cameras. Classic.Today's Metro ran this cover, featuring asterisks rather than printing the actual word. Did they make the right decision? If we all know what the asterisks represent, isn't it sort of pointless to use them? Even children would probably get...

STOP! Or Your Picture Will Run in the Paper!

A NEW NEWSPAPER in Texas gets the majority of their content from the police department: mugshots. For $1 per issue, you can purchase Mugly! and see the faces of the recently arrested (as well as read their names and why they were arrested, though convictions are pending).Is there anything wrong with building a business model off the backs of those charged with murder, aggravated assault, criminal trespass, DUI and other crimes? Is this journalism...

Should the Media Feed the Angry Teens' Egos?

A BRITISH TEENAGER followed a politician doing a tour of the youth's town back in 2007. With the media filming video and shooting still images, the youth made gun gestures while walking behind the politician. The BBC tracked down the teenager and his friends. The youths are obviously showing off for the media during the interview, and the BBC blurred out the faces of the other youths.Should the media have blurred out the faces? Should the media have...

Is a Politician's Sexual Orientation Newsworthy?

SIX DAYS AFTER being busted for DUI after leaving a gay bar, California state senator Roy Ashburn told the media that he is gay.Rumors had floated for years that the divorced father was gay but the media never reported them. Should they have?A columnist asked Ashburn, who has been adamant in his opposition to gay rights, about his orientation in 2009. Ashburn answered, "Why would that be anyone's business? I think there are certain subjects that...

Blatant Self-Promotion: Your Teacher is a Multimedia Journalist (and You Should Be Too).

PHILADELPHIA SPORTS FANS have long had the reputation for being jerks. Our teams were so bad, for so long, that we were, well, angry.All of the sudden, our teams are good (except the Sixers, who continue to be awful). Will success change the Philly sports fans? Will we become happy, gentle people who smile and say polite things rather than scowl and give the finger?Read my story from the cover of this week's Philadelphia Weekly. Let me know what...

How Much Photo Manipulation Makes it Fraud?

A PHOTOJOURNALIST WHO won third prize in the sports feature category of the prestigious World Press Photo competition was disqualified after it was discovered that one of his images was digitally manipulated.The original image is above. The image that was deemed manipulated (part of the winning series) is at right. It is a severe crop of the original, changed to black and white, burned generously, with a tiny little bit PhotoShopped out of the image...

Is it Presenting Reality or Promoting Ideals?

THE WASHINGTON POST ran the image above on their front page last week after applications for same-sex marriages were accepted by the District of Columbia for the first time.Some readers freaked out. One person wrote to the paper saying, “I would appreciate it if your cover pictures would not be so disturbing where my kids can see it easily on the kitchen table... please don’t shove this “Gay” business in our face. This is something that should have...

Is Iverson's Off-Court Drama Newsworthy?

BASKETBALL STAR Allen Iverson has been a controversial figure since before he arrived in the NBA. In high school he was arrested after a huge brawl between groups of teens. He left Georgetown University to enter the NBA draft before graduating, the first player at Georgetown to do that under the former coach. While playing with the Sixers, Iverson was constantly in the media spotlight because of his his work ethic, his tattoos, and his brushes with...

Is an Anchorman Really a Journalist?

DURING A WASHINGTON POST web discussion, a reader asked former CNN anchor Leon Harris if news anchors are really journalists. Harris responded:"An anchor SHOULD be a journalist! I can't imagine a company in this business that would risk putting someone who wasn't in this position. We are the gatekeepers, the last check on whatever is going to go on the air in the name of the newsroom and the company. Plus, context is so important. It allows you, the consumer, to understand the "whys" of the world. You can't deliver that reliably - RELIABLY - without...

Is It Acceptable to Censor Hate Groups?

THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON student newspaper accepted a web advertisement from an organization called the Committee for Open Debate on the Holocaust (CODOH). The CODOH claims that the Holocaust never happened as portrayed in the media and history books.Some people were outraged that the school paper would accept an ad (published for $75) from such a controversial group.The editor of the paper defended the newspaper by writing, "The UW community...