Can You Tweet Star Power?

Actress Katherine Heigl is suing drugstore chain Duane Reade because they tweeted a photograph of her exiting a store, bags of stuff in her hands. They used her handle and said she can't resist shopping there.

Is the store allowed to send that image into the social media world? Is she fair game since she is in public? Can they make that statement as well?

Is the store taking advantage of her star power to market their goods? Is there anything wrong with that?

Is this an unauthorized use of her likeness or is it just a silly tweet of a paparazzi photo, with a silly caption?

Here's the next big question for you: if you retweet the post, can you be sued as well?




Am I Bothering You? Am I Bothering You? Am I Bothering You? Am I Bothering You?

A Philadelphia sports reporter went to Dulles International Airport to find former Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson, who was arriving to meet with the Redskins about a possible job. See the story that aired here.

The reporter repeatedly called the "interview" an exclusive, even though Jackson seems to be politely trying to tell the reporter to go away.

Instead, however, the reporter continues to ask questions.

Is this good journalism? 

First, did the journalist do a good job of trying to extract information from the player? Just because the player seems annoyed, should the journalist have stopped asking questions?

Second, did the journalist present the information in a proper manner? 

Barbara Laker and Wendy Ruderman: "We Were More Scared of The Police Than The Drug Dealers."

A drug dealer who became a police informant walked into the Philadelphia Daily News office and asked for Wendy Ruderman. After he started explaining to her his plight - that drug dealers wanted him dead, and cops might also - Wendy grabbed fellow reporter Barbara Laker.

They then listened to the dealer/informant explain the previous seven years of his life, which revealed a world of police corruption that took place largely in a destitute area of the city.

For more than a year, Wendy and Barbara followed up on the information, digging through public records and interviewing countless numbers of people - including drug dealers and prostitutes. They discovered that police had allegedly fabricated evidence, robbed neighborhood grocery stores and sexually assaulted women. Under the series label "Tainted Justice," they did numerous stories over 14 months, detailing the unsavory actions of the people expected to keep the public safe.

"The first phase of the series was not popular at all," Barbara said.

The police were in an uproar and the Fraternal Order of Police held a press conference denouncing the series. Off-duty cops appeared near the Daily News office making threats. A lawyer representing one specific officer threatened to sue both of the reporters individually, as well as the newspaper.

"That made me mad," Wendy said. "I have a little bit of a temper, like a chihuahua."

"We were more scared of the police than the drug dealers," Barbara continued.

The series of stories won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting. Wendy and Barbara took their experiences and turned them into a brand new book, "Busted: A Tale of Corruption and Betrayal In The City of Brotherly Love."

Here are a few things they said in class that stood out to me:

- When Barbara walked around Kensington interviewing people, the dealers assumed she was there to buy drugs. "I'm too geeky," Wendy said. "Nobody tried to sell me drugs."
- Barbara was slap-punched by a woman while she was reporting the story. Despite the melee, she was able to crawl on the ground and retrieve her notebook full of quotes and information.
- As a reporter, your reputation is all you have. You need a good reputation to earn people's trust. 
- Once they learned what Wendy and Barbara were doing, the drug dealers started looking after Wendy and Barbara.
- Shortly after they broke the story, the Inquirer tried to catch on to the story as well. They assigned five reporters to dig through information.

- In the book, they present themselves in a very revealing fashion. "We decided to put ourselves in there, including the foibles and failures," Barbara said. 
- There are anecdotes about their love lives, friends, co-workers and children.
- "I really am a train wreck of a parent," Wendy added with a laugh. During the gathering process for the story, she said her then-husband did most of the parenting.

- "I don't like to do stories about politics or famous people or rich people," Barbara said. Instead, she prefers stories where people with no voice have been wronged by people in power. Wendy agreed, saying, "We can use our words to affect change."

- Wendy's name first appeared in a newspaper after she was busted for underage drinking.

- "We don't know how to make money," Wendy said of the newspaper business. "People find stuff on Google, Twitter and Facebook ... but that news is being generated by journalists."
- "It's a great time for you guys," Barbara told the class, explaining that news organizations like young people whom they can hire at lower salaries, who will work very hard.
- Get an internship and start getting experience and making connections.

What stood out for you?

If You Disagree With Your Employer, Should You Quit So Publicly?

An American news anchor at RT (formerly known as Russia Today), announced that she was quitting her position as a protest against the Russian government, which subsidizes the network.

First of all, should she have quit? Was that the best decision if she did not agree with the agenda of her company?

Second, did she have to make her resignation during an actual broadcast? Was that grandstanding a little bit or was she just using her position to denounce the network and Russian government?

FYI: here is RT's response.

Can You Say That On Television? Should You?

After three teenagers were shot and killed in the Juniata section of the city in 2012, Mayor Michael Nutter was asked for a reaction. His comments are in the video above.

Is it acceptable to air his comments without bleeping?

Legally, it is fine for print. Ethically, would you print such a comment from a prominent figure? Or does his prominence make the quote all the more powerful?

Would you post the video on the online site of a news outlet?

What Should The Journalist Do After Realizing He Massively Messed Up?

Clearly, there is no journalism ethics question here. This entertainment reporter just plain messed up. Badly.

Still, we can learn from a situation like this.

What are the takeaways? How do we ensure that nothing like this ever happens again? How should the journalist have responded once Samuel L. Jackson began his takedown?

What Do You Do When You Spot a Bear?

A reporter in Rhode Island worked on a story about a bear sighting in their viewing area. Rather than simply provide the information about the bear, the reporter learned what you should do if you happen across a bear.

Is the information she provides good and useful? Or is she making a mockery of the situation?

Can a Journalist Also Do Promotion?

A news anchor in Ohio posted a series of videos about what happens during commercial breaks in newscasts.

They are meant to be amusing, I believe, and at times they are.

Should a journalist be creating humorous videos about the news team? Is this good promotion for the station or is it stepping over the line from journalist to entertainer?

Should Journalists Report On Suicides?

Last week, a 19-year-old University of Pennsylvania freshman on the track team commit suicide in Center City. Her death has become news around the world, as the understanding is that her actions were caused by the stress of the academic setting.

The reality is that no one knows with any certainty why she jumped off a parking garage.

A Philly Mag writer questioned why this situation has become such a large story, when the media generally shun suicides as personal situations that are therefore not deemed relevant to the public at large.

Last fall, when a Temple student threatened to commit suicide and police evacuated a city block near campus, news outlets covered the story but never released the distressed student's name. Once the block was reopened to the residents, the story pretty much disappeared from the news.

Do the circumstances of the more recent situation deem it to be newsworthy? It's an Ivy League school and she was an attractive young woman. Her actions were in a very public place, and there have been other suicides at Penn over the past few years.

Should journalists change their longstanding policy of not covering suicides and report on them when needed? Or should we allow these families to deal with the situation in private?

Justin Bieber is a Vandal (Maybe). News at 11.

Justin Bieber was almost busted after allegedly throwing eggs at his neighbor's house in California.

Most of the local Los Angeles stations covered the story on their newscasts. One outlet even aired the police press conference about the event live as it was going on. It even made news in the United Kingdom (above).

Is this a news story? Should journalists cover such relatively minor events as a pop singer's alleged vandalism?

Or, is this such goofy, fun stuff that you have to run it on the news?