what values? wksp - Thursday, Sept 17 2009
The Senator from General Electric

The Supreme Court’s decision to give corporations the right to spend money from their treasuries on political campaigns is the end of civilization as we know it.
Once the primary season begins this spring, the airwaves will be swamped with political advertising underwritten by corporations looking to promote their favorite pol. As if that weren’t bad enough, you can expect even more ads trashing candidates opposed by corporations. Plan on buying spare “mute” buttons for your remote. More...

Once is Enough for Shocking Video

Video footage of the luge practice run in which Georgian athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili was killed led many news reports as the Vancouver Olympics were about to get under way.
The footage of Kumaritashvili’s forceful accident is blurry but the speed and impact of the crash are apparent and it’s easy to conjure the horror. Because viewers can imagine the gruesome details and the fatal outcome was known, journalists and viewers are rightly asking why the video was shown repeatedly in the hours and days immediately after the accident. (NOTE: By Feb. 14, two days after Kumaritashvili’s death, NBC News President Steve Capus had ordered that the luge video not be shown without his permission. The video is still available online.)More...

Poynter KSU Media Ethics Workshop ’09: “What Values?”

With more and more people getting some or all of their news online, the question of journalism values becomes more acute. From traditional media Web sites to company and advocacy sites to blogs, microblogs and social networking sites, information is readily available. But, the authenticity of online content and the veracity of information distributed online are inconsistent... More...