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TRUTH in MEDIA. The Issue. CBS failed to live up to its written standards of “accuracy and fairness” when it reported that George Bush had shirked his responsibilities as a National Guardsman.
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The Issue CBS failed to live up to its written standards of “accuracy and fairness” when it reported that George Bush had shirked his responsibilities as a National Guardsman.
The story, which aired last Sept. 8, relied on four documents allegedly written by one of Mr. Bush's Texas Air National Guard commanders in the early 1970s, Lt. Col. Jerry Killian, who is now dead. Questions about the authenticity of the documents were raised almost immediately.
The documents suggested that Mr. Bush disobeyed an order to appear for a physical exam, and that friends of the Bush family tried to "sugar coat" his Guard service.
The panel noted that the Guard segment was rushed on the air only three days after 60 Minutes Wednesday had obtained some of the documents from Burkett and that preparation of the piece was supervised by a new management team of executive producer Josh Howard and senior broadcast producer Mary Murphy.
The producer of the piece, Mary Mapes, was also faulted for calling Joe Lockhart, a senior official in the John Kerry campaign, prior to the airing of the piece, and offering to put Burkett in touch with him. The panel called Mapes' action a "clear conflict of interest that created the appearance of political bias."
A key factor in the decision to broadcast the piece was a telephone conversation between Mapes and Maj. Gen. Bobby Hodges, Killian's commanding officer during the period in question. Mapes told the panel Hodges confirmed the content of the four documents after she read them to him over the phone.Hodges, however, denied doing so.
Hodges said that when he finally saw the documents after the Sept. 8 broadcast, he concluded they were bogus and told Rather and Mapes of his opinion on Sept. 10.
After rushing the piece to air, the panel said, CBS News compounded the error by blindly defending the story. In doing so, the news organization missed opportunities to set the record straight.
Result Four CBS News employees, including three executives, have been ousted for their role in preparing and reporting a disputed story about President Bush's National Guard service.
Achieving TRUTH 5 characteristics of a good news report 1. Fairness and balance 2. Accuracy The facts that you need to check are: • Names and their spellings • Designations • Incident details. In case it is an accident you must know the exact number of people who were injured or killed. • Statements: The quote reported in the news report must be accurate, and in context. It should not be misinterpreted to imply another meaning. • If it is a science story you must make sure that all scientific names are correctly spelt, and explained. • If it is a sports story then you must make sure that the number of runs made or goals scored are mentioned accurately. • If it is a court story you must make sure that the court verdict is presented accurately.
Achieving TRUTH 3. Attribution - All news reports, with a few exceptions, must be sourced. a. Individual b. Organisation: The spokesman can be referred to by: i) Name and designationMrN.Guruswamy, Police Commissioner, told the media… ii) Designation aloneThe Police Commissioner told the media … c. Anonymous sources: reporter must know the source well d. Exceptions: The reporter need not worry about attribution in those cases that he has witnessed. For instance, the reporter can report a cricket match or a rally stating what happened. This is because these are statements of fact that have occurred in public domain, and have been witnessed by scores of people. The same applies to the swearing in of a new government or historical facts.
Achieving TRUTH 4. BrevityYou must learn to write short stories without missing important facts. Please remember that today’s reader is in a hurry. He does not have the patience to go through long news reports. 5. Clarity There should be no ambiguities. The facts must be sourced, and accurate.
How does a news organization ensure that its reporting is accurate? Kelly McBride : “There’s probably nothing in any code of ethics that indicates all the ways that a reporter is supposed to verify that something is accurate,instead, there is merely the presumption that you will do everything you can to make sure that it is accurate.”
Different paths to the same destination “There are some basic principles that are probably widely accepted throughout the industry, but every newsroom has different standards that speak to the specific actions you are supposed to take,” - McBride “The culture and policies of the news organization — and sometimes a department within a news organization — dictate what is done.”
The rush to publish “Shortness of time certainly would be a reason for an incomplete story, but not an inaccurate story.” – Gene Foreman There is “pressure to cut corners and get the story out, even though you would think in a calmer moment that it needs more checking.”
The difficult art of self-scrutiny But it also means attacking your own story, the way a scientist attacks his hypothesis — a difficult challenge to a journalist who “wants so much for his story to be true,” -Philip Meyer ”putting all the information out there, so that others can try to replicate/challenge your conclusions.”
