Entries from December 2008
Arguing that the individual freelancer will gain more power, Andy Dickinson predicts 2009 will be the “Year of the Journalist” . His argument is, of course, more complex than that and is definitely worth a read.
I certainly hope he is right. So many talented journalists are out there looking for work, and we need their skills and insight. I have a bumper sticker from The Newspaper Guild on my office door that says “Democracy depends on journalism.” So true, yet in this day of journalistic uncertainty, also so scary.
Categories: newspapers
Tagged: future of journalism, future of newspapers
WIVB-TV, Buffalo’s top-rated news station, fired a long-time morning news anchor this week. By all accounts, she was liked and had a good reputation. She was, however, not your typical female TV news anchor. Although attractive, she was not a young, slender, model-like woman. (See an older clip of Lisa here.)
My first thought was she was fired because of her weight. I was not alone. Posts to The Buffalo News’s Talkin’ TV blog echoed my thought. For example, one poster writes:
I don’t care if the person reading the news weighs 250 or 85, is 4″2″ or 6’6″. All I care about, is that they know how to read, and do it in a professional manner. Lisa Scott did so, for many years for Ch 4, and to get rid of her is stupid, stupid, stupid.
I realize these are hard economic times and journalists everywhere are losing their jobs. WIVB says Scott’s firing was part of a restructuring of the station. (Lisa wasn’t the only one to lose her job. Reporter Ellen Maxwell, who had worked for WIVB for eight years, and an internet manager lost theirs, too.) I also realize that salaries for new reporters are a helluva lot less than for experienced ones.
However, I can’t help but think about Christine Craft and whether things have really changed much for female TV anchors and journalists. More than 25 years ago Craft was fired from her job as a TV anchor following a consultant’s report that said viewers thought she was too old, not attractive enough and not deferential enough to men. She sued and initially won her sex discrimination case, although that judgment was overturned eventually on appeal.
For Lisa Scott and others like her, I can’t help but think that things have not changed as much as we would like.
Categories: women in journalism
Tagged: future of journalism, journalism
Thank goodness 19 news organizations are fighting a ridiculous New Jersey appellate court decision that said that journalists could be sued for libel for accurately reporting legal complaints.
The groups — which include ABC, the New York Times, the ACLU and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press — have asked the New Jersey Supreme Court to overturn the decision.
Categories: Media Law
Tagged: libel
The Supreme Court has declined to overturn the case of a U.S. scientist incorrectly linked to the 2001 Anthrax killings. Steven Hatfill sued The New York Times for libel, but an appeals court dismissed of the case, saying Hatfill was a public figure and hadn’t met the higher burden of proof in the case.
While I sympathize with Hatfill’s plight, the court made the right call. Hatfill’s problem stems from the government, not from The Times. Case in point: Earlier this year the Justice Department agreed to pay Hatfill $5.8 million to settle his case that government officials violated his privacy by talking about the case with the media.
The Times reports its attorney David E. McCraw said this is:
“an important reaffirmation of Times v. Sullivan,” the seminal 1964 Supreme Court decision that placed constitutional limits on libel suits. That decision, Mr. McCraw said, “is designed to encourage the press to report aggressively on matters of public concern.”
We should all be thankful that NY Times v. Sullivan not only exists, but continues to stand the test of time, regardless of changes in administrations and justices.
Categories: Media Law
Tagged: anthrax case
The New York Times’s Sewell Chan writes about an unusual libel case involving whether it is libelous to incorrectly report that someone is not circumcised.
A Queens man is suing Centropa, a group with the mission of preserving Jewish culture, for just that. The story is worth a read.
Categories: Media Law
Tagged: court filing, libel
Wonder what copy editors do?
Well this great piece by the American Copy Editors Society explains it and takes the Tribune’s Sam Zell to task at the same time.
My hat is off to you, ACES. Keep it coming.
Categories: newspapers
Tagged: copy editing, Tribune, zell
A 60-year-old reporter whose work once led to a Pulitzer Prize for public service is fighting to keep his source for a story on an internal government investigation of a lawyer confidential.
David Ashenfelter of the Detroit Free Press did not reveal his source, and instead claimed the Fifth Amendment. Attorneys for the lawyer, who was in charge of terrorism cases, argue the use of the Fifth Amendment was improper and will continue to pursue the case.
At the heart of this issue is the lack of a federal shield law to protect journalists from revealing their sources. Many states have shield laws, but there is no such federal equivalent. (Does your state have a shield law? Find out here.)
The Society of Professional Journalists and other journalism groups have been calling for a federal shield law for years.
Perhaps with the same party in majority in Congress and in the White House something can be done.
Categories: Media Law · newspapers
Tagged: federal shield law, journalists in court
December 9, 2008 · 1 Comment
First bankruptcy, now bribery.
The Chicago Tribune reports that Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich:
Blagojevich and Harris conspired to demand the firing of Chicago Tribune editorial board members responsible for editorials critical of Blagojevich in exchange for state help with the sale of Wrigley Field, the Chicago Cubs baseball stadium owned by Tribune Co.
Whoa!
The one truly great thing about this is it points to the power of the press. If newspapers are truly dying and have no influence, why was Blagojevich allegedly going to such great means to quiet critical voices?
Categories: Media Law · front page · newspapers
Tagged: politics, Tribune
I mentioned earlier today that the Tribune Co. was considering filing for bankruptcy. It’s happened.
Categories: front page
I can’t believe it. I toured the Chicago Tribune last summer and thought it was a model for what newspapers need to be in today’s world. It had an online operation in its main newsroom along with a small TV “studio” (a camera, a screen, a chair) where reporters could do broadcast interviews or reports.
Now I read that the Tribune Co. is considering Chapter 11. So sad.
Categories: newspapers
Tagged: future of newspapers, Tribune
