Norris Steps Down from NPR

Journalists must remain objective at all times. Without it, we would lose our credibility and trust from the public.

Identifying conflicts of interest isn't difficult. A football player can't cover the homecoming football game, student body president can't report on the latest developments in student government and a fraternity president can't write a story about Greek week.

The Huffington Post reported that Michele Norris of NPR's 'All Things Considered' will step down from her hosting duties while her husband joins the Obama campaign.

Norris made the only decision she could in her situation. As journalists, we must remain objective and unbiased in order to maintain our credibility.

While it is unlikely that Norris would have interviewed her own husband, he is still a part of the Obama team. For instance, a sports reporters should not cover a game if their spouse is a player on the team.

Reporters who are in these situations need to separate their personal and professional lives. The balance may come down to, as in Norris's case, choosing a spouse over work. Ultimately, this decision may seem unfair, but it was necessary for Norris to maintain her credibility for her journalistic. future.

Photo by Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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No Opinions Please

Recently the Huffington Post hired a new contributor. What's the big deal you ask?





Radley Balko was hired because he's a liberatarian. The claim is this is because they are trying to be less liberal in their newspaper.





I really despise opinions on news stories. News should be unbiased and report just the facts.





It seems no matter what network or newspaper it is their opinion is front and center.





If someone goes to Fox News they know the news will have a conservative spin. Likewise if someone goes to CNN they know the news will have a liberal spin.





What do politics have to do with news? When reporting on the economy I'd rather hear about the issue not someone's take on the issue.





Politics may be a mess but journalists need to leave their opinion out of the news. Just the facts mam!

Photo Credit: Creative Commons

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Inadequate Journalism Needs WikiLeaks

After the release of 250,000 diplomatic documents on Nov. 28 and the commotion generated in the media by WikiLeaks, Julian Assange has exposed the need to improve journalism.

James Moore, writer for the Huffington Post, explained in his article the reason why he denies the fact that Assanges' "leaks" and "incorrectness" generated the governmental outrage seen throughout the media.

"There is a very simple reason WikiLeaks has sent a furious storm of outrage across the globe: the public is uninformed because of inadequate journalism," Moore said.

By inadequate journalism, Moore refers to the lack of details on government news reports, the lack of objectivity in the newsroom and the lack of coverage on international matters; all contributing to the delay of information for people who often ask themselves "how did such messes end up being such messes?".

"If journalism were functioning at appropriate levels, there would have been stories that contained information leaked in the cables now published around the globe," Moore said.

Moore argues that journalism will soon become even more endangered, thus, he believes WikiLeaks has the potential to become the source of information capable of inquiring upon secret government endeavors and challenging government pressure.

This is certainly an important moment for journalism as many oppose WikiLeaks' actions, while others strongly support its objectives.

If WikiLeaks had not been created and all the leaked documents and videos had been given directly to news organizations, it would be interesting to know how many of them would actually accept or reject to publish such controversial documents.

As a mere opinion, I really don't think the New York Times, the Guardian, or any other well-known news organization would like to face the same issues Wikileaks is facing.

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Newspaper Circulation Still Declining

Newspaper circulation is still falling according to Monday's figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations as reported in The Huffington Post.

Overall circulation is down 8.7 percent, for the period October 1,2009 through March 31, 2010 compared to that same period last year. Circulation for Sunday papers is down 6.5 percent.

Free news on the Web is still considered a factor. Publishers have increased subscription costs to adjust for lost advertising revenue and of course others have stopped or reduced delivery in certain areas.

The Top 25 newspapers in the country showed major losses.

• The Washington Post is down 13.1 percent; 8.2 percent down on Sundays.


• USA Today lost 13.6 percent - partially contributed to the slump in travel because it is popular in hotels and airports. It is now at the number two spot.


• The Wall Street Journal had a gain of .5 percent and now has the highest circulation at 2.09 million as it surpassed USA Today as the top newspaper. Although this is somewhat misleading because looser auditing standards allows it to count its digital online replica in the subscription count. In essence providing a double count. The Journal's paid online circulation rose by 31,000 offsetting the printed editions decline of 20,000.


• The New York Times has the third highest circulation at 951,063, which is a 8.5 percent decline.


• The San Francisco Chronicle is down 23 percent.

The Wall Street has launched a metro edition in New York City to compete even more agressively with The Times, its biggest competitor in the region.

The president of the Newspaper Association of America, John Sturm, says that you can't judge the industry by these declining numbers, because more and more people are turning to the Web for their news and 100 million adults still say they read a newspaper daily and 168 million read news in print or online daily.

These facts and figures help to paint a clearer picture of the state of the newspaper industry and how it is affecting journalism. I don't know that I would refer to it as a death spiral for the newspapers because people are still reading the news; where they are getting it has changed.

There are just so many options available. It is apparent that the business model has to change as we have heard from various sources throughout the BNR course. Perhaps charging for access does make sense in some instances. I also agree with the idea of public funding to protect the integrity of journalism and insure that students who want to go into journalism for the love of writing and reporting get the opportunity to do so without living in poverty due to thier chosen career.

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Profile Of A Journalist

For anyone considering a career in journalism, there's a great article in today's New York Times that is a must-read. It's the story of Eric Hippeau, a fifth generation journalist and current CEO of The Huffington Post.

Inspired to become a journalist by the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Hippeau talks about his early life in France, Switzerland, London and Brazil. His father ran the photo business for United Press International.

He began his career as photojournalist and sports editor, then became an editor in chief of a local English language newspaper in Brazil at the age of 20, where he learned all the details of putting a paper to bed each day.

Hippeau talks about paying his dues in the news business and marvels at how the industry has changed. Today, news is available around the clock. Just a few years ago, people depended on daily newspapers and the evening news for information. Current technology allows people to actually engage with the news by writing comments, blogging, sharing information on social websites.

Hippeau sums up his journalism career like this: "My career taught me that you have to go through life with your eyes wide open and be curious. If you do this, you'll find incredible opportunities. Just jump on them and follow your instincts."

Wise words for all of us, don't you think?

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