Journalism

Background

Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on current events based on facts and supported with proof or evidence. The word journalism applies to the occupation, as well as collaborative media who gather and publish information based on facts and supported with proof or evidence. Journalistic media include print, television, radio, Internet, and in the past, newsreels.

Concepts of the appropriate role for journalism vary between countries. In some nations, the news media are controlled by government intervention and are not fully (or even partially) independent. In others, the news media are independent of the government but instead operate as private industry. In addition to the varying nature of how media organizations are run and funded, countries may have differing implementations of laws handling the freedom of speech and libel cases.

The proliferation of the Internet and smartphones has brought significant changes to the media landscape since the turn of the 21st century. This has created a shift in the consumption of print media channels, as people increasingly consume news through e-readers, smartphones, and other personal electronic devices, as opposed to the more traditional formats of newspapers,   magazines, or television news channels. News organizations are challenged to fully monetize their digital wing, as well as improvise on the context in which they publish in print. Newspapers have seen print revenues sink at a faster pace than the rate of growth for digital revenues.

Additional Reading

This year (2021)'s Nobel Peace Prize recipients - two investigative journalists from the Philippines and Russia - used their acceptance speeches today [2021-12-10] to criticize social media companies for spreading disinformation and to warn about the growing spread of authoritarianism.

Maria Ressa, the CEO of Rappler  [Wikipedia: Rappler], a Filipino news site, said social media companies have a responsibility to fight disinformation and its corrosive effects on public discourse and democracy. "If you're working in tech, I'm talking to you," said Ressa, addressing dignitaries in Oslo's cavernous city hall. " How can you have election integrity if you don't have integrity of facts?"

Russia has labeled many journalists enemies of the people, awardee says

The other winner, Dmitry Muratov, editor-in-chief of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta  [Wikipedia; Novaya Gazeta], spoke of the growing dangers of practicing journalism in an authoritarian state. Since 2000, six journalists and contributors to the newspaper have been murdered. "Journalism in Russia is going through a dark valley," Muratov told the audience, which had been reduced from a planned 1,000 to just 200 in recent days because of rising COVID-19 cases in Oslo. "Over a hundred journalists, media outlets, human rights defenders and non-governmental organizations have recently been branded as 'foreign agents.' In Russia, this means 'enemies of the people.'"

But Dmitry Muratov said investigative journalists are crucial to helping people understand current affairs. Muratov cited a recent example in which reporters discovered that the number of Belarus flights from the Middle East to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, had quadrupled in the fall. Belarus was encouraging refugees to mass at the Belarus-Polish border to engineer a migration crisis that analysts say is designed to destabilize the European Union. Muratov added that, despite growing risks, reporters must continue to dig for facts. "As the great war photographer Robert Capa said: 'If your picture isn't good enough, you aren't close enough,'" Dmitry Muratov said.

For the Philippine government, Rappler's reporting has been far too close for comfort

Rappler's reporting has been too close for the Government of the Philippines. When the Rappler website exposed the government's murderous war on drugs five years ago, supporters of President Rodrigo Duterte turned to social media to attack and spread false information about Maria Ressa and Rappler. Since then, Ressa said, other countries, including the United States, have seen how the unchecked spread of disinformation can create alternative realities and threaten democracy. "Silicon Valley's sins came home to roost in the United States on 2021-01-06 with mob violence on Capitol Hill  [2021 United States Capitol attack]," she said. "What happens on social media doesn't stay on social media."

This is Fresh Air. I'm Dave Davies, in for Terry Gross. According to one study, 1,800 local newspapers have gone out of business or merged since 2004, and many communities are becoming so-called news deserts without any source of regular local news coverage. Today we're going to listen to the interview I recorded in September 2021 with Art Cullen, editor of a local paper struggling to stay alive and serve the rural town of Storm Lake, Iowa. The Storm Lake Times is profiled in a new documentary which airs Monday on PBS. The Storm Lake Times is family owned and run. Art Cullen is the editor. His brother, John, is publisher. And his wife, Dolores, is a photographer and culture writer who will happily pen a story about a two-headed calf. Also on the staff are Art's sister-in-law, Mary, who writes a food column, and his son Tom, the paper's lead reporter.

Art Cullen won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing for what the Pulitzer committee described as tenacious reporting, impressive expertise and engaging writing that successfully challenged powerful corporate agricultural interests in Iowa. Cullen is also author of the the author of the 2018 book "Storm Lake: A Chronicle of Change, Resilience, and Hope From a Small Town Newspaper." The documentary film "Storm Lake"  [Wikipedia entry], directed by Jerry Risius and Beth Levison, will appear on PBS stations Monday night [2021-11-15], part of the Independent Lens series.

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John Cullen began publishing Storm Lake Times  [website] as a weekly newspaper, on June 29, 1990. It was delivered on Fridays. In 1993, the Storm Lake Times moved to daily publication, then to twice weekly the following year. The Storm Lake Times became a direct competitor to The Storm Lake Pilot Tribune, which had been publishing in the town since 1870.

Storm Lake Times Editor >Art Cullen receivedPulitzer Prize in Editorial Writing  [Wikipedia entry] for a series of editorials on dark money in corporate agriculture in Iowa. Cullen's coverage of corporate funds being used by the local public utility to fight a federal lawsuit related to the release of nitrogen into drinking water earned him national acclaim. The newspaper's coverage of ethnicity-related issues in Storm Lake, where 21 percent of residents are Latino, also earned praise from the Los Angeles Times.  [Source for the preceding two paragraphs: Wikipedia, 2021-11-12.]

A court in military-ruled Myanmar on Friday [2021-11-12] sentenced detained U.S. journalist Danny Fenster to 11 years in prison with hard labour after finding him guilty on several charges, including incitement, for allegedly spreading false or inflammatory information.

Danny Fenster, the managing editor of the online magazine Frontier Myanmar, was also found guilty of contacting illegal organizations and violating visa regulations, lawyer Than Zaw Aung said. He was sentenced to the maximum term on each charge and ordered to pay a 100,000 kyat (approximately $71 Cdn) fine.

Than Zaw Aung said Danny Fenster wept in court after hearing the sentence and had not yet decided whether to appeal. He is the only foreign journalist to be convicted of a serious offence since the army seized power in February 2021 [2021 Myanmar coup d'état], ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Danny Fenster has been detained since May 2021. He still faces two additional serious charges in a different court for allegedly violating the counterterrorism law and a statute covering treason and sedition.

"Everyone at Frontier is disappointed and frustrated at this decision. We just want to see Danny released as soon as possible so he can go home to his family," editor-in-chief Thomas Kean said in a statement after the sentencing. "There is absolutely no basis to convict Danny of these charges."

Danny Fenster was detained at Yangon International Airport on May 24 2021 as he was about to board a flight to go to the Detroit area in the United States to see his family.

The military-installed government has cracked down hard on press freedom, shutting virtually all critical outlets and arresting about 100 journalists, roughly 30 of whom remain in jail. Some of the closed outlets have continued operating without a licence, publishing online as staff members dodge arrest.

The army takeover was met by widespread peaceful protests that were put down with lethal force. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners has detailed the deaths of more than 1,200 civilians, in addition to about 10,000 arrests. Armed resistance has since spread, and United Nations experts and other observers fear the incipient insurgency could slide into civil war.

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