Woodstein, ethics and women engineers

“How Do You Photograph the Amish? Let Us Count the Ways” brought up the subject of ethics and sensitivity toward religious tradition. After the murder of five Amish girls, a reader of the Columbia Journalism Review, the publication in which this article was published, wrote in asking how the photographers handled photographing the Amish. The author of the article, Liz Cox Barrett, asked a few photographers from publications that covered the shooting how they handled photographing a group of people whose religion advises against being photographed.

 

The most logical response was from Ed Hille, a Philadelphia Inquirer photographer, who said, “This isn’t a story about the Amish and their quaintness … We’re covering a news story.” It’s true that journalists need to respect religion, but the news aspect needs to be addressed as well. At the risk of discrediting religion, anyone can make up a cult that states that something is offense and their beliefs would have to be passed off as religion. If the media was forced to respect every aspect of every religion, it would be difficult for journalists to cover the news for fear of impinging on beliefs.

 

In “What the F—k Are They Driving At?” which was also published in the Columbia Journalism Review, Gal Beckerman writes about the New York Times’ omission of the word “fucking” from a quote. Beckerman talks about the importance of tampering with a quote because it the makes the reader question the integrity of the paper. Also, the word which was omitted is taboo among high-ranking officials. The word’s inclusion showed General Tommy R. Franks character. However, the paragraph telling how Douglas Feith has to sit alone in the cafeteria was unnecessary. What did the reader gain from this? It might be based on truth, and the intent might have been to include this paragraph to verify the validity of Franks’ statement about Feith, but it seems it might embarrass Feith.

 

James Dooley, the author of “Readers question use of Lexington, Ky., crime scene photo” confronted the issue of whether to run a picture with showing a dead body. The article focused specifically on the printing of a picture a police officer photographing a dead woman with only her legs showing.

 

Unlike the omission of the “F” word in the New York Times story, this photo didn’t give any new information to the reader. I thought that running this photo on the section’s front page was tasteless. The photo should have been buried. There’s not a lot that the reader can gain from seeing a dead woman’s legs, and there’s a point when this kind of imagery becomes all shock and no news.

 

There’s a marked difference between showing people grieving, such as in the story “How Do You Photograph the Amish?” and showing the victim. I’m sure the people of the Amish community would have had a problem with photographers taking pictures of the legs of the five slain girls. People tend to have a morbid curiosity, which can turn into a disorder, creating copycat murders for notoriety. Although newspapers main objective is to make money, the decision to run this photo was distasteful and ethically unsound.

Case Study:

 

I’m so glad we got to watch this movie. Movies from the ‘70s seem to have this unself-conscious, genuine quality lacking in most blockbusters out today. If this movie had just come out, I’m certain the writer would have been asked to inject some sort of made up love story or sex scene.

 

Even though I found this movie charming, I couldn’t help feeling frustrated throughout the film. Woodward and Bernstein were extremely lucky: they had underground help from Deep Throat, and the slip-ups from those involved with the White House helped reassure the two reporters that something was going on—that there really is a story.

 

For example, the White House librarian at first slips up, saying that the one guy (I cannot recall his name despite attempts to find it online) checked out many books on Kennedy and Chappaquiddick, and then she comes back on the phone and denies even knowing the guy. I would imagine that because of stories like this one, now every person who works for any company or organization, such as the White House, would be trained in how to talk to journalists.

 

Stories like this one make our jobs as journalists more difficult. Back when Woodward and Bernstein were working on this story, records were printed on paper. I imagine that with changing technology, records are now mostly recorded onto computers to save space. It makes me wonder who gets access to these records. My other concern with records going digital is that it makes them easier to hack and easier to alter. I know I’ve got a case of paranoia, but I can’t help thinking of George Orwell’s “1984.”

 

Woodward and Bernstein built their case from oddities surrounding the case—scraps they found throughout their investigation. I found it incredible that they were granted access to records I would have figured would be private, such as the receipt of the $25,000 check. It seems like anyone could pose as a journalist, there’s no badge of authority you can flash once you become a reporter, and because of this, most likely records will be more difficult to access. Presidents and other officials can hide information. Especially since Sept. 11, they can pull the old “compromise to national security” b.s.

 

Story idea:

 

The Society of Women Engineers is hosting an all-day event called “Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day” on Wednesday, Feb. 20 in the Reitz Union. According to the event ad on Facebook, more than 100 middle school students will be able to participate in hands-on science activities, engineering lab tours and a panel discussion. I think this would make a good preview story so that parents reading the story have time to get their child involved if interested.

 

I would start out by talking to the event creator, Cherona Levy. I’d like to find out why she and the Society of Women Engineers wanted to put on this event. I’d also like to talk to some of the other members of the club and find out how they first became interested in engineering, what or who influenced them and why they think girls should become interested.

 

Cherona Levy

954-683-6828

ig2ed.ufl@gmail.com

 

I would also like to find out the statistics on the number of women in the University of Florida’s College of Engineering and the ratio of females to males in the college.

I’d also like to consult a professor in the Center for women’s studies and gender research about the event, why women have previously not been prevalent in the world of science, and if the professor sees any indication of more women entering the trade.

Milagros Pena, Director

mpena@soc.ufl.edu

This story would probably work best to start out from the point of view of a member of the Society of Women Engineers with the most compelling story of how she became interested in engineering. I’d also like to talk to some of the girls who will be participating, a teacher from a participating school and the parents of a participant.

In the print version, I would include a box with the key information on the event, as well as contact information of the event coordinator. If there has been a past event similar to this one, I would include a picture from the past event. The story should run at 25-30 inches. In the online version, I would compile an attractive video of interviews with the members, parents, teachers, and the women’s studies professor.