AJR in the Classroom

Discussion questions for the August / September 2007 issue, along with suggestions for further readings on photo manipulation, the wave of layoffs of film critics, and the media's stereotypical treatment of women.


Story 1: "Distorted Picture"  |   Story 2: "The End of the Affair"  |  Story 3: "The News Media's Woman Problem" |
 Story 4: "Justice Delayed"



Time's cover, with the darkened O.J. Simpson
Newsweek's cover
June 1994 covers of Time and Newsweek highlight the potential for digital tampering. Sherry Ricchiardi notes that Time darkened the skin and added a 5 o'clock shadow to O.J. Simpson's photo, making him look sinister.

STORY 1: "Distorted Picture: Thanks to Photoshop, it's awfully easy to manipulate photographs, as a number of recent scandals make painfully clear. Misuse of the technology poses a serious threat to photojournalism's credibility."  By Sherry Ricchiardi 

MORE INFO FROM THE STORY:  In April, veteran shooter Allan Detrich was forced out of his job at the Toledo Blade after admitting to being seduced by the software Photoshop to alter images. Ricchiardi reports that of the 947 photos Detrich submitted for publication from January through March 2007, 79 had clearly been doctored. But Detrich is by no means alone: Numerous other photographers in recent years have been fired or reprimanded for distorting reality in their images. The lapses have prompted discussions on ethics in newsrooms and at journalism conferences and have pushed some to turn to the Poynter Institute, the White House News Photographers Association and the National Press Photographers Association for guidelines to keep up with changes in technology.

CLASS DISCUSSION AND RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT:

  • Photoshop may have accelerated the frequency of ethical lapses in photo editing, but photographers practiced fakery long before the software was created in 1989. Ask students to write a 1,000- to 2,000-word research paper, including informal citations, on lapses in photo editing ethics throughout history -- and the impact of those lapses on news publications' credibility with the public. Students may use Dr. Hany Farid's site on digital tampering (see related link below) as a starting point.
  • Ask a photo editor from a local professional news Web site or newspaper to join a class discussion on the ethics of photo editing. What specific rules and guidelines are followed by photographers at the organization? What beyond photo cropping and simple color correction is permissible during the editing process?


    • RELATED STORIES AND WEB LINKS:


     

    STORY 2: "The End of the Affair: Squeezed for profits, newspapers send their staff film critics packing. Is this sound cost-cutting or a missed opportunity?"  By Jennifer Dorroh  

    MORE INFO FROM THE STORY:  Dorroh reports that this year the newspapers in Tampa, Atlanta, Fort Lauderdale and Denver laid off or reassigned their staff critics, often replacing their voices with wire reviews. Last fall, one of the two full-time film critics at the Dallas Morning News took a buyout and wasn't replaced. The remaining Morning News critic writes fewer reviews and more features about the film industry and local movie scene. The staff losses beg the question: Are these smart moves that will free up resources for local coverage? Some editors say that's true. Others argue that the loss of the reviewers -- and the important conversations they spark about our culture -- will be missed. Meanwhile, a former arts columnist and reporter for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Seattle Weekly says that newspapers should be leading the way to make their sites home for the local film-loving community--rather than allowing Web startups to beat them to that.

    CLASS DISCUSSION AND CONTENT ANALYSIS:

  • How important is it to a film-loving community to have a local voice reviewing movies -- vs. only being offered a national reviewer's spin?  Invite in local leaders in the arts community for a class discussion about their thoughts on newspapers' cost-cutting trend to axe film critics. Be sure to ask the leaders, and the students, where they turn for movie reviews: local newspapers, news Web sites, TV or radio stations, or Web site aggregators?

  • If your local newspapers or news Web sites offer staff-produced movie reviews, ask students to compare their content to those offered by national syndicates or wires--perhaps comparing reviews of 10 movies over a month or two. Were the local staff-produced critiques tailored to the community, or were they similar in points and point of view to the national reviews? Students should summarize their findings in an analysis paper, injecting their thoughts on the importance (or lack thereof) of the local voices.

    RELATED STORIES, COLUMNS AND LINKS:


    Selling Anxiety: How the News Media Scare Women

    STORY 3: "The News Media's Woman Problem,"     a book review of Caryl Rivers' book, "Selling Anxiety: How the News Media Scare Women." By Carl Sessions Stepp

     

    MORE INFO FROM THE REVIEW: Stepp notes that a central question of the book is: Why do the media still treat women so stereotypically? He says author Caryl Rivers records numerous examples of "chain reaction stories" -- superficial trend reports spread from one media outlet to the next. They deal with topics like "miserable career women have lousy sex ... day care kids who become nasty bullies ... scary women who get power." But Stepp notes it remains unclear how representative Rivers' bad examples are.

     

    CLASS ANALYSIS / RESEARCH / DISCUSSION:

  • Some have argued that news publications' coverage of women might be fairer if more women were leading the coverage. Ask students to write a 1,000- to 2,000-word research paper on the progress women have made in obtaining newsroom management positions over the last three decades. Organizations such as the Newspaper Association of America, the Radio-Television News Directors Association and the Online News Association may be good starting points for statistical information (see the NAA link to a 2006 study, below). Students should include citations for their sources, as end notes or foot notes.

  • How well are women covered in television news? Ask students to do an informal qualitative analysis of two weeks worth of coverage of women on a local station's 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. newscast. Students should list a slug or phrase for every story reported in the newscast. Every time a woman is mentioned in one of the stories, students should note that, and jot down words used to describe her. (Are they inflammatory or demeaning, positive or straightforward?) At the end of the two weeks, students should type up a summary of their findings on how frequently women are included in the reports, as news sources or subjects, and how well their lives are covered. Students should be prepared to present the summaries to the class.

    RELATED COLUMNS, STORIES AND REPORTS:


     

    STORY 4: "Justice Delayed: Many in the media jettisoned caution--and the presumption of innocence--in their coverage of an alleged rape by Duke lacrosse players, and were too slow to correct the record as the case unraveled. But some journalists distinguished themselves with skeptical and incisive reporting."  By Rachel Smolkin 

     

    MORE INFO FROM THE STORY: Fueled by then-District Attorney Michael B. Nifong, many in the media latched on to what Smolkin describes as a "seductive narrative": rich, wild, white jocks allegedly brutalizing a working-class, black mother of two. Too often the preconceptions dictated the tone of the coverage and its volume, Smolkin reports. In retrospect, after the accused college students were declared innocent of all charges by the North Carolina attorney general, some said the case was a reminder of the need for journalistic skepticism -- even when dealing with official sources.

    CLASS DISCUSSION / RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS:
  • How often are journalists intentionally or unintentionally misled by official sources -- such as elected officials, policemen and prosecutors? Invite in a panel of professional journalists from area TV and radio stations and newspapers to discuss beat coverage and the art of successfully navigating around bad information, spin and outright lies. Ask the journalists for concrete examples.

  • Is it time for many news organizations to re-visit their standing policies of not identifying alleged victims of sexual assault? Ask students to write a 1,000-word, well-researched opinion piece on the question, weaving in background on why the policies were put in place and the pros and cons of keeping them in place.

    RELATED COLUMNS, BLOGS, STORIES AND ROUNDUPS:

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    Teachers' guide written and produced by Chris Harvey, online bureau director at the University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism and a former managing editor of AJR.
    First     three items for this issue published Aug. 23, 2007;  fourth item published Aug. 28, 2007.

    Copyright © 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 Philip Merrill College of Journalism. Permission is granted to freely print, for classroom use, up to 100 copies of the most up-to-date version of this document, as long as the document is not modified.