Dominique Strauss-Kahn: Duke University Spectacle, Yes [Tawana Brawley, No]

July 4th, 2011

That’s the assessment of WNYC’s Jami Floyd, whose opinion should not be ignored:

Take the Duke Lacrosse case, in which the district attorney of Durham County, NC, Mike Nifong, failed every measure of prosecutorial conduct and judgment. He tried his case in the media for nearly a year, failed to turn over exculpatory evidence to the defense and court even when he had it, and he was ultimately disbarred, fined and sentenced to a symbolic one day in jail.

In the DSK case, Vance is to be credited for his due diligence and coming to terms early on with the impossibility of proceeding with a accuser lacking credibility. At the same time, he and his investigators had to know what they were up against – a fully financed defense, with its own top-notch investigators that would no doubt uncover the same damning information about the accuser.

Read full article here.

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Tawana Brawley Redux? A Knee-Jerk Response

July 1st, 2011

New York Times headline: Strauss-Kahn Accuser’s Call Alarmed Prosecutors

Twenty-eight hours after a housekeeper at the Sofitel New York said she was sexually assaulted by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, she spoke by phone to a boyfriend in an immigration jail in Arizona. Investigators with the Manhattan district attorney’s office learned the call had been recorded and had it translated from a “unique dialect of Fulani,” a language from the woman’s native country, Guinea, according to a well-placed law enforcement official.

When the conversation was translated — a job completed only this Wednesday — investigators were alarmed: “She says words to the effect of, ‘Don’t worry, this guy has a lot of money. I know what I’m doing,’ ” the official said.

This news feeding frenzy reminds this writer of the Tawana Brawley paroxysm of news, fact, hysteria, race, class. bullshit and more. This is a knee jerk response to breaking news. Something less knee-jerk is in the offing.

Maybe.

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An Ethical Dilemma & Mom & Dad

July 1st, 2011

Nope.

Date: Tue Jun 28 10:52:39 EDT 2011
From: [Spring MEDP292 Student]@aol.com
Subject: Campus MovieFest Article
To: “Greggory W Morris” <gmorris@hunter.cuny.edu>


Hello Professor,

A girl I interviewed, named [Anonymous], for her participation in a movie at Campus MovieFest, said that she needs her name removed from the article posted on HunterWORD[sic]. Her reason is that she kissed a girl in the video and her parents searched her name, found the video, and have her on lock down threatening to make her drop out of school. She needs to cut all ties with the video and article so her parents will let her stay in school. Though she agreed to the publishing of the article, she believes her reputation and education are at stake and would like to be removed from the article. Please get back to me as to whether this can be done.

Thank you,
[Anonymous]
Media292
Section 002
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

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“Seeking Writers for The Envoy” – The Never Ending Lament

July 1st, 2011

This intended spring 2011 post, below, is just seeing the light of day.

From: “Ming Fearon, Chui-Hung Wong”
To; Hunter-L@HUNTER.LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU

Dear Hunter students + staff:
I’m trying to get the word out about The Envoy, Hunter College’s print newspaper.

The complete lament of the Envoy Editor-in-Chief rests at the end of this post. In between this sentence and that lament is a succinct accounting of student journalism at the College and undergraduate journalism in D:F/M, both waddling in a bad states of affairs.

Student journalism and subsequently D:F/M undergraduate journalism were hijacked many years ago, dumped in a septic tank of woe, essentially for  students serious about journalism as a career or interest. It didn’t have to be that way.

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A Quickie Wrap-Up, Spring 2011

June 27th, 2011

Spring semester 2011 was the fourth consecutive semester of the DUH running amock. One basic reporting class ended with only about six students of the original 15 or so who had enrolled. The other br course closed the semester with more C-pluses, Cs and Ws than I’ve ever given. And three students who received Cs actually flunked the class but passed because the instructor didn’t believe at the time that they had been given sufficient warning about their dismal performances.

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Hiatus

June 27th, 2011

Posted little in April. Posted nothing in May. Just resuming in late June. There was sooooo much going that this writer will be attempting a re-cap of sorts in the coming weeks though significant moments were missed but the resonances of some may be captured.

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J-Ethics

April 12th, 2011

From the J-listserv of the National Writers Union of which this writer is a member:

Dear NWU Journalism list members (hoping you’re still out there!),

I recently published an article with a music magazine–a profile of an up-and-coming artist. Unfortunately, two factual errors turned up in the published piece. One was a misunderstanding between the editor and me; the other was an honest oversight on my part. It was (understandably) embarrassing to me. I later received an email from the artist, who said (rightly) that I had never run the final draft by her before submission. If I had, the errors would have been caught. The reason I didn’t run it by the artist was mostly due to my own ego: I was trying to stay “objective,” to play the role of a “professional” journalist. The piece, however, was not so much a review as a profile, so my opinion played only a small part. Nonetheless, I wish now I had run the piece by the artist.

My question is, what are the ethics or proper conduct in consulting the artist? It seemed to me the artist and I, after hours of interviewing, had formed a nice relationship. Then by my “professional” behavior, I built a wall between us. Should I have just forgotten the damn “etiquette” and shown the artist the draft? It would have prevented the problems.

I will appreciate all good input.

His name is not important. But he was concerned about issues that are universal. This writer’s response:

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March Madness: Ignorance Isn’t Bliss

April 3rd, 2011

“You’re anal,” concluded a student in one of my writing classes after I told her I wasn’t accepting her late class assignment. It’s clear in the class guidelines that first drafts of story assignments must be turned in on time or the grade for the assignment is F. But she seemed to believe, for reasons I didn’t understand, that I would overlook her serious omission. Well, said a student in another news writing class, we feel that the class is disorganized. We show up we and we never know what to expect.

These were the most notable comments in the face-to-face meetings I scheduled with my student writers in March. This semester, like the others, many didn’t read the syllabus nor the assignment guidelines and many came to class unprepared. Some can’t or won’t follow simple directions.

They, like many before them, Do the DUH a lot.

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James Everett Graseck – Recklessly Romantic

March 27th, 2011

Heard and felt the melody’s sweeping and moving waves. Whipped out camera spotting him. IRT Subway Station, N, R, 6th Avenue.

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New America Media: Advice for Reporting on Quake and Tsunami in Japan

March 17th, 2011

Advice for Reporting on Quake and Tsunami in Japan

Editor’s Note: New America Media correspondent Yoichi Shimatsu was asked to write a comprehensive guide to covering Japan’s triple tragedy—earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown danger—by the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma [http://bit.ly/hTt3ZG] at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. A veteran environmental issues writer and editor, Shimatsu filed this illuminating article. More than a professional “Tip Sheet,” it includes insights about the concerns and dangers triggered by the disasters in Japan.

Read entire article here.

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