Journalism

When I watched the trailer for the movie Truth, I had no idea what it was about, so I was surprised to discover that someone had made a movie about the Killian documents, the journalism scandal that effectively ended the careers of news anchor Dan Rather and news producer Mary Mapes. I thought it was great that someone had made a whole movie about what happens when journalists … [Read more...] about A Truth Not So True

A few days ago, when I first decided to try to write something about the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in Indiana, I looked for a quote I could start with, and I found one about a small family-owned pizza joint called Memories Pizza in Walkerton, Indiana, where the owners were saying they won't cater any gay weddings: “If a gay couple came in and wanted us to provide … [Read more...] about A Few Words About the Memories Pizza Story

Scott Greenfield is a little peeved that reporters don't give credit when they pick up stories from bloggers: For many years, mainstream media got a lot of juice as a result of links from the web, from blogs.  We would see a story and pick it up, run with it, comment on it, and people would find it sufficiently fascinating to go read the source article in a paper they would … [Read more...] about Sources and Credit

I just noticed that Matt Haiduk posted a complaint a few weeks ago at his Kane County Criminal Lawyer blog about how often news stories about crime are based on nothing but press releases: If you read a newspaper article and don’t know what’s going on, you’d think a newspaper reporter was sitting in a courtroom watching trials as they unfold. That certainly does happen a lot … [Read more...] about When Press Releases Rule the Media

I keep telling myself I'd like to do more actual journalism here on Windypundit, and to that end, I've been reading the Associated Press Reporting Handbook by Jerry Schwartz. The first few chapters give examples of AP news stories and then discuss the reporters' approach to getting them.The third chapter discusses "Main Street Welcomes McDonald's -- but Worries" a story … [Read more...] about Journalism Is Hard…Like Oak