1. The Mirror, the Watchdog
and the Marketplace
Principles of News
JOUR 2300
Professor Neil Foote
Mayborn School of Journalism

2. 2
Group Assignments
• Each group leader is responsible for:
1. Leading his/her group in a 20 – 30 minute
discussion during class time to respond to the
assigned questions based on the readings
2. Be ready – upon request – to personally
respond or have a team member respond to
key questions about the readings, e.g.
offering a summary of an article, highlighting
major themes or findings or identifying the
most significant sources or people featured in
story
3. Report attendance of group to the Graduate
Assistant

3. 3
Group Assignments
• Each group should choose only one
of the following questions to prepare
for:
 Chapter One, Question No. 1, p. 27
 Chapter Two, Question No. 2, p. 57
 Chapter Three, Question No. 1, p. 81

4. Lasantha
Wickramatunga
“The free
media serve as
a mirror in
which the
public can see
itself sans
mascara and
styling gel.”

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Journalism a key player in
democracy
Information dissemination
Representation
Deliberation
Conflict resolution
Accountability
Needs of self-governance include:

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Information dissemination
• Democracy requires a method for
distributing all the information people
need to make decisions and govern
themselves

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Accountability
• Holding the power accountable,
responsible for their actions – actions
that affect all members of societies

8. 8
Representation
• All people have a chance to be heard
– regardless of race, income,
education attainment
• Providing voice to voiceless

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Deliberation
• Create a forum in which the interests
of the public can be aired and
debated

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Conflict resolution
• Allow for the diversity of ideas to be
discussed so some kind of conclusion
can be reached

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Three common metaphors
• The Mirror
• Journalism shows us who we are
• The Watchdog
• Journalism alerts us to what needs attention
• The Marketplace
• Journalism offers us ideas to consider and a place to
discuss options

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The press as a mirror
• Fulfills democratic needs for:
•Information dissemination
•Representation

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The press as a watchdog
•Fulfills democratic needs for:
•Accountability
•Information dissemination

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The press as a marketplace
•Fulfills democratic needs for:
•Representation
•Deliberation
•Conflict resolution

15. Is the role of
journalism
more or less
important than
200 years ago?

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Journalism and democracy around
the world
• What does it mean for the press in a
country to be free?
• Free from what?
• Free to do what?
• Which nation’s press is most free? Least
free?
• What kinds of challenges to press freedom
exist in countries, both free and not so free?
• Why is press freedom important?

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The vanguard of liberties
• “A popular Government, without popular
information, or the means of acquiring it, is but
Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps
both.”
James Madison

18. Journalism
Investigates
Creates
conversation
Generates
social
empathy
Encourages
accountability
Informs

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Social responsibility theory
• What happens when the press doesn’t
perform those functions?
• Hutchins Commission: Free press in
danger
• In danger of what?
• What was to blame?
• “Behave, or else!”
• Gave rise to the idea of journalism as a
profession
• Along with freedoms come (public)
responsibilities

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Freedom and responsibility
But if we say it MUST perform them,
then how free is it, really?
Has to be FREE to perform those functions
Performs necessary functions
“The press” is important to democracy

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Chapter 1 - KEY Takeaways
• Journalism plays an important role in
democratic self-governance
• Performs functions related to
information dissemination,
accountability, representation,
deliberation and conflict resolution
• The mirror, watchdog and marketplace
metaphors are common ways of
describing those functions

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Chapter 1 - KEY Takeaways
•Journalism must be free to
perform those functions, but also
responsible for doing so
•A key tension in journalism
•Many barriers to performing
necessary functions
• Elements of Hutchins Commission still
ring true today

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What Is Journalism?
•You Define?????

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Our definition
• Journalism is a set of transparent,
independent procedures aimed at
gathering, verifying and reporting
truthful information of consequence
to citizens in a democracy.

25. Key adjectives
Transparent
• About what?
• Open
• Accountable
• Similar to…?
• Necessary, but difficult
Independent
• From whom?
• Free
• No divided loyalties
• Similar to…?
• Also difficult

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Kovach & Rosentiel:
Elements of journalism
1. Obligation to truth
2. Loyalty to citizens
3. Discipline of verification
4. Independence from those they cover
5. Monitor of power
6. Forum for criticism/compromise
7. Make the significant interesting and relevant
8. Comprehensive and proportional
9. Personal conscience

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Let’s discuss
• Which news organizations do you
consider the most accurate and
credible? Why?
• What makes one news organization
more credible than the other?
• What drives the perception?
• Types of stories? Political viewpoint?
Quality of writing/reporting?
Pictures?

28. What does the definition omit?
Objective
• What does that really
mean?
• What’s in the definition
that addresses
objectivity-like
concerns?
Professional
• Suggests status or
authority
• Implies standards are
a defining feature
• So why not include?

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Aren’t “news” and “journalism” the
same thing?
• Check out this definition:
• “A current, reasoned reflection, in print or
telecommunications, of society’s events, needs and
values”
• News can mean different things in different
places
• Our definition suggests information is the raw
material of journalism.
• Is news the output? Why or why not?

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A person or a practice?
• Less concerned about whether or
not to label a person a “journalist”
• More concerned about whether the
process is “journalistic”
• People committing “acts” of
journalism

31. Citizen journalism
• The idea behind citizen journalism is
that people without professional
journalism training can use the tools
of modern technology and the global
distribution of the Internet to create,
augment or fact-check media on their
own or in collaboration with others.

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Credibility based on…
• Trustworthiness
• Expertise
• How do we know?
• Interestingly, the cues we’ve used for a long time might
be getting lost in the shuffle

33. Journalism is not…
PR or Advertising
• First loyalty to client,
not the public
Entertainment
• Entertainment, not
democratic information,
is primary function

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Chapter 3 – How News is Made
• Distinctions among news, information and
journalism
• Criteria of newsworthiness
• The news-making process
• Beats
• Enterprise stories
• Pseudo events
• News as a construction
• Commodification of news

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Newsworthiness
Timeliness
Proximity
Unique
Human
Interest
Impact
Helpfulness
Celebrities
Entertainment
Dramatic

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Where does news come from?
• Spontaneous
• Random
• Extraordinary
• Planned/staged: Press releases,
press conferences
• Beats
• Enterprise/investigative

47. News v. information?
• News
• Reported: interviews
with knowledgeable
sources
• Requires judgment
• Verified
• Transparent
• Organized
• Answers the questions:
who? What? Where?
Why? When?
• Information
• Anyone can share
information
• It’s everywhere –
become a
commodity
• Not always fact-
based

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What’s news?
• Rescued Subway Kitties, Arthur and August,
Getting "Much-Needed TLC": ACC
• Service was suspended for about an hour on
the B and Q lines when the kittens ran on
the tracks last week
• http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Kittens-
Subway-Tracks-Brooklyn-MTA-Delays-Shut-
Down--221662261.html

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Let’s discuss…
• Do readers and viewers understand
the difference between information?
News? Journalism?
• Examples????

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Let’s discuss…
• Are certain types of media better at
conveying stories with certain types
of news values?
• Examples????