Monday, October 30, 2017

This week

Today, we'll watch a video (see below) and work on the blogs. Thursday, your feature first drafts are due for peer editing.

For a recent NEWS PROFILE example, click HERE.

Governmental bodies must post a notice to say there will be a meeting 48 hours in advance of it to give the public a chance to attend. A quorum (majority or the number of members present needed to vote) may not get together and discuss SUBSTANTIVE issues outside of the public's view. There are 10 exceptions under which a board may hold a closed-door session although it must later make the results of decisions reached available to the public. 
To review the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law: https://www.mass.gov/the-open-meeting-law

Links to Independent Media in a Time of War with Amy Goodman

This is a 2004 video, but the message is just as important today: the media has to remain independent and play a watchdog role with respect to the government. Instead of promoting powerful interests, reporters give voice to people whose stories provide perspective on the actions of those in power.

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcVDGefrbJc

Our understanding of world events is limited by what we observe ourselves or what is reported in the media. But we have to be aware of media bias. Even two divisions of the same media outlet, CNN and CNN International, report the news differently.
Is it appropriate to show "tasteless" photos of casualties of war? "War is tasteless," Amy Goodman says. But instead of the human consequences of war, we see images of war as if were a video game.
Goodman talks about the concept of journalists "embedded" with military forces. Journalism has to stay independent of the government it reports on.

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NZpM7E4v6A

We have to remain skeptical of media that promotes the agenda of those in power without analysis. News organizations shouldn't mindlessly adopt and promote the Pentagon's euphemistic titles  like "Operation Iraqi Freedom."
The "daily drumbeat" of who gets covered on the front pages of the established media helps solidify power in the hands of the few.  Media should provide (truly) diverse perspectives.

Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl5Y1j-9XxU.

"Reporters' role is to go where the silence is to bring us the voices of people who are at ground zero," Goodman says. Reporters have to tell the stories of people who are not in a position to tell their own.
But much of the media is controlled by large corporations in whose interests it is to squash dissent. The media has to remain independent.

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