Fellow blogger Melissa Callahan and myself brought this up in ethics class the other day, but I thought I'd bring it up again in print since we didn't have much time to discuss the ethical dimensions of the issue....last spring NBC 5 reported on the "leprechaun in Mobile, Alabama" news story. It became an overnight sensation. T-shirts, rap songs and other comical memorabilia were sold, and clips of it popped up all over the internet. When one first watches it, it is quite funny. But when you take a moment to consider what is really happening in the video, it becomes apparent that the people of Mobile might actually be the butt of a nasty joke. The news casters chuckle and make snide comments throughout the story and ridiculous quotes and interviews were put into the final cut...it's almost as if the people who put the story together are making fun of an underprivileged, poverty stricken community. Maybe I'm overreacting a bit...I'm not quite sure. What do others think? Exploitation or just a light hearted St. Patrick's Day story? Does this story meet the ethical standards of fair and objective reporting?
Here's a link to the youtube clip of it...check it out if you haven't already done so:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=nda_OSWeyn8
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Monday, December 3, 2007
America is too fat for this type of reporting: A Grade the News Discussion
I was browsing through the "Grade the News" website over the weekend, and I came across and ethics issue that the site brought up over the summer. I know it's a bit dated, but it's certainly worth discussing.
Basically, 'Grade the News' reported that back in july of this year that the San Jose Mercury News ran an "above the fold page 1A story about the 'sport' of competitive eating." The huge article read "could you eat 59 1/2 of these?..He can!!" (Shows a picture of a San Jose Student beaming away, surrounded by a sea of hotdogs).
Now, aside from the fact that this was the BEST front-page story that the paper could come up with that day, 'Grade the News' brings up an interesting point -- was it ethical of the paper to run this story front and center, knowing how much of an issue obesity is at the moment. In the editorial section, they even wrote that the concept of an eating contest merely reflects our country's negative relationship with food, however, they also felt the need to reward the mighty eater with a news spread, because of all of his hard work.
In my opinion, this is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard of. The paper is basically saying, yes we know that it was slightly bad of us to support this story, but because this student ate so much, we feel the need to honor his achievements anyway..regardless of the consequences it could have on the community.
Grade the news agrees that stories like this only glorify America's gluttiny. You don't see the Merc. putting health stories on the front page, so why on earth should this get such recognition. There are too many morbidly overweight people in this country to be running a story about a fat kid who can eat 60 hotdogs (esp. on the front page). It was unethical and personally, I think it was very distasteful of the editors to let it go to print.
No wonder 'grade the news' only gave the Merc. a C+ in terms of its choices of newsworthy stories. Step it up kids!
What does everyone else think???
Basically, 'Grade the News' reported that back in july of this year that the San Jose Mercury News ran an "above the fold page 1A story about the 'sport' of competitive eating." The huge article read "could you eat 59 1/2 of these?..He can!!" (Shows a picture of a San Jose Student beaming away, surrounded by a sea of hotdogs).
Now, aside from the fact that this was the BEST front-page story that the paper could come up with that day, 'Grade the News' brings up an interesting point -- was it ethical of the paper to run this story front and center, knowing how much of an issue obesity is at the moment. In the editorial section, they even wrote that the concept of an eating contest merely reflects our country's negative relationship with food, however, they also felt the need to reward the mighty eater with a news spread, because of all of his hard work.
In my opinion, this is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard of. The paper is basically saying, yes we know that it was slightly bad of us to support this story, but because this student ate so much, we feel the need to honor his achievements anyway..regardless of the consequences it could have on the community.
Grade the news agrees that stories like this only glorify America's gluttiny. You don't see the Merc. putting health stories on the front page, so why on earth should this get such recognition. There are too many morbidly overweight people in this country to be running a story about a fat kid who can eat 60 hotdogs (esp. on the front page). It was unethical and personally, I think it was very distasteful of the editors to let it go to print.
No wonder 'grade the news' only gave the Merc. a C+ in terms of its choices of newsworthy stories. Step it up kids!
What does everyone else think???
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