Reading Abstract – Week 4
Under the Sources and Subject section of the journalism readings, “Reflecting the Audience” and “Women are Still Missing as Sources for Journalists,” one can’t help but question the media’s objective role. There are currently 374 all-white staffed newspapers in the country, and only 13 percent of newspapers responding to a report for the Knight Foundation “meet the goal of parity between newsroom and community non-white percentages,” according to www.poynter.org. In addition, although women make up about 52 percent of the population, more than three quarters of all stories contain male sources. Based on these findings, writers and sources do not accurately reflect the average American citizen. Journalists are told to be objective, non-biased writers who simply inform readers. However, if a story doesn’t contain diverse sources and doesn’t come from a diverse and open reporter, than the story fails to be objective. The reading “Newsroom diversity attitudes affect content” proves that a positive newsroom climate to diversity issues can positively affect the quality and quantity of an organization’s news coverage of minorities. Since most newspapers aren’t run by diverse newsrooms, minority news coverage is lacking, which results in a majority of one-sided coverage.
In a society where people often question the media and its actual motives and responsibilities, minorities have a right to do so. If a black woman read the first page of each of the top five major newspapers in the country, she would not find as many sources and stories that she could relate to, as compared to a white man reading the morning news. As a result, it is not surprising that readers have formed blogs and other outlets to create their own forums for communication through citizen journalism. Improvements in diversity is a slow progress, but “the key is to have a person who is empowered and signed-on to promote diversity causes and issues in a decision-making role,” fellow researcher Subervi said. In a true decision-making model, objective criteria need to be the source of the decision, and multiple avenues and alternatives must be researched. By having a news staff that is educated on a broad spectrum of issues pertaining to diversity, a newspaper can effectively cover diverse and objective news. The Newspaper Association of America’s “Cover Story: 20 under 40” illustrates the media’s attempt towards incremental improvements in diversity. The people chosen represent the “enthusiasm, talent, hard work and innovation that’s needed to carry the newspaper industry into the future.” While only four are non-white, the top finalists consist of 10 women and 10 men, showing a step forward in diversity that women are being recognized for their creativity and passion. The finalists are opinionated and recognize that there are other stories to tell in the local market, further appealing to diverse audiences. In order for newspapers to last in to the future there needs to be a loyal readership. If readers can not relate to the editors and content, then the newspaper fails. By finding innovative and diverse ways to cover news, news can be more objective and can be appreciated by an increasingly broad audience.
Case Study: Jimmy’s World
When first reading Jimmy’s World, a copy editor should first ask himself if the story is actually possible. While anyone would want to believe that a story of such magnitude were true because it does make valuable news, it is highly doubtful that an 8-year-old boy would talk in the manner that Jimmy does. One would also have to ask what kind of mother would allow her young child to be addicted to heroin. Also, since drugs are illegal, it is also questionable how a drug dealer allowed a reporter to come into his home, conduct an interview and take detailed notes on his home and the people who come and go. Another thing that comes to mind is to question what kind of drug dealer would waste costly drugs by personally injecting a child, who probably is not mature enough to understand the legal and medical consequences. There are also language inconsistencies, and the story seems a little exaggerated in some places in order to be completely true. The street life she depicted seems too stereotypical at times as well.Jimmy’s World relates to last week’s readings in that this could have been prevented if reporters and editors worked as adversaries in the newsroom. This is an example of an editor having too much faith in the reporter. If the editor asked for the source information before the story was published, the problem could also have been prevented. While there are exceptions to confidential sources, a drug-addicted 8-year-old and his drug dealing family would probably not be one of them.
