Media's Involvement in Occupy Wall Street

Occupy Wall Street is a movement that has been spreading across the nation. People gather to show their protest to the "financial greed and corruption" shown today. Despite the number of people who have been active in this movement, large media corporations were slow to cover the story.

MSNBC led the way with coverage, with Keith Olbermann being the first anchor to cover the story. Better late than never I suppose.

Now that the story is starting to get more publicity beyond the world of Twitter, several criticisms are being made of journalists.

The number one mistake: media only shows the stereotypical outcast or "dirty hippie." This is not giving a proper representation of the masses.

Even though this may make the story more interesting, media should show a variety of people that accurately represents the protestors as a whole.

Another critique of the stories covering Occupy Wall Street is that they are being framed poorly, with a "law and order" bias. Arrests are being shown, but the innocent acts are less noteworthy.

“[Social] movements are ragged — they’re patched together, and they’re improvised, and if you want to size up where they’re going, you’ve got to talk to a range of people and decide what’s relevant.” says Mallory Jean Tenore.

I think this quote sums up the issue facing Occupy Wall Street coverage perfectly. Media organizations need to work harder to get the story, the whole story.

Photo Courtesy of Photo Bucket

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Breaking News and Your Credibility

With the use of Twitter, Facebook, and other social media devices news travels at an astounding rate. Getting the story out in the newspaper the next day is considered a snails pace comparatively. With the race to beat the clock journalists have been facing the problem of releasing misinformation.

For example, in late July a journalists tweet was released stating Pierce Morgan had been suspended by CNN.

Clearly this was false, but the false information was published because the journalist didn't act responsibly and wanted to get the breaking story out.

This release of misinformation tarnished the image of this particular journalist. I bet that viewers will find it difficult to trust news from this source from now on.

In order to prevent these occurrences a website was founded called RegretTheError.com which focuses mainly on educating journalists to be responsible news sources. In addition to information on their website RegretTheError.com hosts conventions to inform journalists of how to avoid certain mistakes.

It's risky to be a minute to minute reporter. One can never be 100 percent sure if their information is true. Just because Joe the plumber spewed the information off doesn't necessarily make it credible.

Thats why it is important to make one extra phone call or email to fact check before releasing the news to the masses. To be a successful journalist when it comes to prompt reporting be responsible.

Being the first to Tweet the most interesting breaking news can be an exciting thrill, but make sure the facts are accurate. If not, all credibility could be lost.

Photo courtesy of Photo Bucket.

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Mistakes

Everyone makes mistakes, including journalists too. Although some mistakes may seem minor, they are all important because you can learn from them in the end.

The worst mistake that a journalist can make is to spell names wrong in some peoples opinions. Irene Epstein asks, "How would you like it if the newspaper misspelled your name?" She follows this rule so close to heart that if one of her students misspells a name they get 0 for that assignment. Another mistake with names is mixing up the names.

The next big mistake is to misquote someone. It is important to get what they say correct, especially since it is worth quoting in the first place.

Another mistake is mixing up the facts. Although, it may seem like a minor detail it could make or break the story.

The last common error I am going to bring up is AP Style Book errors. Typing email instead of e-mail or not capitalizing or capitalizing a word.

The most important part of making a mistake is correcting it as soon as you know it is wrong. This will keep you a crediable and respected journalist.

"Mistakes are part of being human. Appreciate your mistakes for what they are: precious life lessons that can only be learned the hard way. Unless it's a fatal mistake, which, at least, others can learn from." -Al Franken "Oh, the Things I Know" 2002

Photo Credit Via: Creative Commons

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Mistakes in Journalism

Everyone makes mistakes. Even journalists.

These mistakes can come in a variety of places: spelling errors, grammar mistakes, false quotes, or even false information.

One huge example of this that comes to mind is when NPR mistakenly reported that Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was dead after receiving a shot to the head.

As is talked about in this article, there are many ways in which mistakes such as these can actually be avoided.

1.Be sure of your source. This is essential. If you just choose a random person off the street, your information may be less reliable than say picking multiple people off the street or using a source you know is trustworthy. Also with this, make sure that your source would have access to the information they are claiming is true.

2. Make sure they have evidence. Otherwise, it could all just be speculation or rumor. Having concrete evidence increases the reliability of a source and the information you are receiving.

3. Don't assume. As we were always taught, it makes "an ass out of u and me". Just because something appears a certain way doesn't mean that is always the case, as like what happened with Giffords.

4. Don't hop the bandwagon. Don't simply report something that someone else has reported, even if it is big news, unless you have actual confirmation from trusted and informed sources. Doing this could have prevented the rapid spread of the false news that Giffords had died.

For more tips be sure to check out the article mentioned above or feel free to comment if you have any questions.

Photo credit: via Creative Commons

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