"To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible;
to be credible we must be truthful." - Edward R Murrow
Showing posts with label rush limbaugh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rush limbaugh. Show all posts

Lindsay Lohan is not dead: Rumor started from Wikipedia post By: Nikky Raney

Posted in Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | at 10:27 AM

Lindsay Lohan has been the victim of the most recent celebrity death rumor. While there have been two recent deaths within these past few days: Lindsay Lohan is not one of them.


There have been so many blog posts, tweets, videos and e-mails sent "confirming" that Lindsay Lohan is dead and urging all bloggers to post about it. The numerous e-mails from readers asking to post about Lindsay Lohan's death was astounding, because why would readers advocate covering a story that had no evidence.

(Screenshot of Wikipedia post taken from Earsucker.com)

So why cover it if it isn't true? There are enough blogs that have actually "exclusively" reported that Lindsay Lohan is in fact dead, that maybe a couple posts stating that this is a rumor will slip in there. Rechecking from minute to minute it seems like some blogs are DELETING the "exclusive" posts about her UNTRUE death. There are over twelve questions on Yahoo answers asking if Lindsay Lohan is really dead.

Now, without any interviews directly with Lindsay Lohan there is no direct proof that these are false rumors. How do these rumors begin? Well, sources are citing WIKIPEDIA for the finding out Lindsay Lohan's death.


(Screenshot from July 14 at 10:00 am. Google search: "Lindsay Lohan dead.")

Wikipedia also claimed the Rush Limbaugh was dead a while back. Wikipedia should not be used as a source to find complete accurate information. Wikipedia is not considered a credible or reliable source, and to be honest I see more magazines using Twitter as a credible source. There are quotes in Newsweek taken from tweets, and tweets are proving to be more reliable than Wikipedia.

What's even worse? People are using tweets from a FAKE Kim Kardashian Twitter account to justify this - the account doesn't even spell "Kardashian" correctly. Fact-checking and researching before clicking that "PUBLISH POST" button is important.

Never will Wikipedia be cited within a blog post from me - except in circumstances like this where Wikipedia is being exposed for its unreliability. So many readers use Wikipedia as a source for information, and so many believe that Wikipedia is truly reliable. Although there may be studies that claim Wikipedia is just as accurate as other web encyclopedias - the celebrity death rumors and inaccuracies that Wikipedia posts are more frequently discussed and misinforming.

Looks like The Future of Journalism is going to be expecting a post about CREDIBLE SOURCES and how to do research and find credible sources. This is crucial to journalism AND blogging, because bloggers become "citizen journalists," and people actually use blogs (and even Wikipedia or Twitter) as their [only] way to obtain news on a daily basis.

Maybe this post took over an hour to write, but that's due to the fact checking, looking for other sources to confirm, and making sure to get everything straight. It doesn't matter if this isn't the FIRST post confirming Wikipedia was wrong - it matters that this post is accurate and provides the reader with the information needed from reliable sources.


Nikky Raney
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Watch Journalism 101 on Youtube.com/NikkyRaney
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Keep up with Zennie62 blog posts at Zennie62.com

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Follow up: Radio Journalism

Posted in Labels: , , , , , , , | at 5:37 PM

First of all let me say that I was pleased to see a comment from a user other than one of my classmates left on my previous post. It makes me smile knowing that I am reaching others, and it makes me want to work even harder.


As I was doing the homework for my Radio Writing & Reporting class I did a lot of thinking. I flipped through the Broadcast Stylebook and wrote my copy in broadcast format. The class is required for Journalism students at NESCom, and the radio station here is very well established. The radio station here is also an alternative one, and I love that type of music.

I found the website Newscript.com. The website is focused on news writing for radio. I thought that the ideas expressed on the site were interesting:

" Radio journalism has been especially hard hit, with diminished teaching resources given over to television instruction because TV is the more attractive broadcast medium....In this sink-or-swim environment, far too many radio journalists have figured out only how to float. They haven't been introduced to the wide range of possibilities in preparing radio news and are often frustrated either by not being able to move up to a larger market or by not having the satisfaction of becoming respected journalists within their communities. --http://www.newscript.com/"

Isn't it hard to distinguish who is a journalist on the radio? I have a friend who I shall not name who is in my Radio Writing & Reporting Class. I know that he has no interest in journalism whatsoever; he just wants to be a radio personality. I look at him as an example, he wants to be a dj and put music on the radio, he wants to be able to interview musicians, and he knows that he will be required to report news throughout the day between music blocks. Does this mean that he is a journalist?

Is every dj that interviews a celebrity or musician considered a Journalist? Or is the journalistic training and technique apart of their job as a whole. I am not talking about NPR or any news-only radio stations. I am talking about the radio stations that have music, weather and traffic reports, and news. The stations are featured on the FM tuner and that we tune into during morning drive to hear our favorite morning radio shows.

And when reporting over radio objectivity may be harder to convey. Within print there are words, there is no tone of voice and no body language to represent how the person who wrote the words felt about it. But on the radio when someone is reporting on something their tone of voice may be a dead give away to that person's point of view. And then there's the radio personalities like Don Imus that let their opinions flow freely from their mouths. Is he considered a journalist? He covers the news and does interviews, and I am sure he writes his scripts in a broadcast format.. so does that make him a Journalist?

Is a radio DJ, radio personality the same as a radio journalist?

Without exerting my opinion in this too far let me say that I appreciate the Radio journalism course that I am taking; I enjoy gaining this knowledge and knowing if I am ever in a radio studio I will be able to successfully give the news, or I will be able to write a script for the radio anchor to read over the air.

I believe that NPR journalists and radio journalists that work for news only stations will always be able to advance in the future of journalism. I think radio is great for Sport's Journalists as well.

A blog is the place that opinions from a journalist are acceptable, and I am not required to keep my objectivity. And my findings have lead to me believe, in a respectful way, that true radio journalism is done within NPR, and other radio news hours, or stations that specifically target a news audience... but when it comes to the radio station that plays music as well as gives the hourly news tidbit to the audience; I think that the journalism aspect has just become part of the job of a radio personality/DJ.

So, apart from radio sport's journalism or strictly news radio stations (talk radio), I think that having journalistic skills to be a radio personality/dj doesn't make you a journalist-- but it is needed in order to get the job done.

To further solidify my opinion Deb Neuman, debneuman.com, radio personality host of Back To Business, came by my Web Reporting class to talk about her radio program and the columns she writes weekly for "The Maine Edge."

Talk Radio = Radio Journalism.

P.S. Notice I avoided the name Rush Limbaugh


CHEERS.


"A reporter is always concerned with tomorrow. There's nothing tangible of yesterday. All I can say I've done is agitate the air ten or fifteen minutes and then boom - it's gone. " - Edward R. Murrow

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