Category: Journalism

Misleading headlines are the real fake news

Recently, a story surfaced about the now ex-assistant men’s basketball coach at Texas A&M-Commerce, Josip Maric, who was arrested for sex trafficking.  

The story’s headline stated he was an ex-ACU basketball coach, which is true, but misleading.

Maric was an ACU coach almost a decade ago. Since 2010, he has worked at six different universities before beginning his most recent position at A&M-Commerce in 2017. 

If we’re being honest, it’s clear most people only read the headline of the story, which doesn’t clarify that Maric hasn’t been an ACU coach in nine years. Instead, they are led to believe he was recently let go from the university because of his actions, which is completely false. 

Not only does this stir up controversy in the city, but it also brings unnecessary scrutiny to our university.

ACU has been under a microscope for other matters in the athletic department, but now it is being criticized again for the false narrative that is created by this story. The university has very little to do with this entire situation outside of being a previous job position on Maric’s resumé.

If the New York Times had written a story like this, there would have been so many people “fixing” the headline in the comment section on social media, or rage-tweeting about it. If the Times can’t get away with writing a misleading headline like this, neither should local news organizations.

Local news is important to small communities like Abilene, but it needs to be held to the same strict standards as large news organizations like the Times. If we expect high quality content from larger news sources, we should expect it from local news sources, too. 

It is understandable that KTXS cannot be held liable if readers don’t read the full story, but they need to understand how much weight headlines carry and how much they influence a person’s opinion. The headline they wrote negatively impacts the university for no reason and doesn’t mention the more important details of the story.

The purpose of journalism is to report the facts, not to skew the facts to create a false narrative. For KTXS’ motives, “ex-A&M Commerce basketball coach (that also happened to work for ACU nine years ago) gets arrested for sex trafficking” doesn’t have the same ring as “ex-ACU coach.”

Local news organizations need to do better than this.

Job Searching in Austin

Last summer, I interned at the Texas Standard – and just over a week ago, I applied for a job there. It’s one of the few full-time jobs I’ve found in my job search, and I’m praying that I at least get an interview with them.

Finding a journalism/media job in Austin is just as difficult as it sounds. There’s quite a few opportunities, but a large percentage of them are part-time or they don’t pay as well as they could. I’ve worked multiple part-time jobs for the last three years and I don’t want to do it anymore. I need a full-time job.

Interning with the Texas Standard was one of the most amazing experiences and I would love the opportunity to do it again as an employee. I learned how to do everything they do, I even got to have my own reported story air on the show. I also produced news for the newscast host, Becky Fogel. Everything I’ve learned through my classes and my jobs directly transferred into their newsroom. I don’t even mind that I won’t be doing videography; I grew to love radio journalism just as much as TV news.

There are a few other jobs I’ve looked at in Austin; I’m going to apply for a couple of them within the next week or so. My goal is to get a full-time job that will be comfortable enough for me and my fiancé to afford living in Austin. Even if I get an interview with the Texas Standard and ultimately don’t get the job, I will be happy knowing they even considered me.

The weekly about the Daily

I wasn’t so much into podcasts up until Christmas break, but now, I’ve become inspired by one.

The Daily, a podcast produced by the New York Times and hosted by Michael Barbaro, discusses current events and issues facing the nation. Often, Barbaro hosts other Times reporters and other relevant sources to make the show more credible.

Since I’ve started listening, the Daily crew started a weekly newsletter about the production and history of the show, and facts about the people who create it.

The first (and only) newsletter, The Names We Almost Called This Show, talked about all of the aspects that made the Daily what it is – the name, the introductory song, the people and the research process.

Barbaro said,

“This newsletter grew out of our sense that you might want to better understand how we make the decisions we do. How we think about stories. How we process the news. How we use sound.”

I agree with Barbaro that creating the newsletter is so important for audiences. Often, readers get so caught up in the content of stories without thinking about the work it took to reach the final product.

During the Trump administration, while journalism is under attack (especially organizations like the New York Times), it is important to evaluate the steps journalists take to ensure they are avoiding bias and seeking the truth.

Aside from personal interest, I applaud the team of the Daily for actively taking steps to reach a higher level of credibility. I’m interested to see what the future newsletters look like and how they will relate to the podcasts.

I hope to see more organizations seeking to produce behind-the-scenes content such as this, and seek to have a more personal relationship with their audiences.

“We’re beginning a conversation — and hope that it really is a conversation, with two sides. You and us. We’ll highlight responses to episodes (good and bad) and answer questions about our decision-making.

“From the start, “The Daily” has been about deepening people’s connection to the news and the reporters who gather it. For us, this newsletter is about deepening our connection to you,” Barbaro said.

Off the Basketball Team…Now What?

Last week, the university announced it had removed juniors BJ Maxwell and Jalone Friday from the basketball team for “violating university policies and behavior inconsistent with the values of the university.” And that’s all we know about it as of now.

I, just like many others, want to know what caused them to be removed from the team, yet still remain at the university. But ACU has since been quiet since releasing their statement. There’s the possibility that they could be under investigation, which is why the university aren’t talking about it. The Optimist reported that neither Lance Fleming, Allen Ward nor any of the coaches commented on their dismissal – and Emerald Cassidy would not comment further on it after releasing the statement.

I hope that the situation is not swept under the rug like other incidents that have happened within ACU Athletics in the last few years. If Friday and Maxwell did something wrong, the student body should know about it. The university shouldn’t try to hide it or sugarcoat it.

In full disclosure, Maxwell works as a writer for The Optimist, and I’m the video director. At the end of the day, I hope that the outcomes of the situation are in the best interests for Maxwell and Friday. They are very good basketball players. Maxwell has always been respectful towards me and other staff members. I don’t know what happened and maybe I never will. But we, as students, deserve to know the good and bad things that happen within the campus community.

A Cuddling Program Is One Hospital’s Solution to Treating Opioid Addiction in Babies

When I think of the opioid crisis, I don’t often associate it with the state of Texas. It makes me think of states in the northeast – like West Virginia or Pennsylvania. But a story I heard Monday on the Texas Standard made me aware of the opioid crisis in our own great state.

In a new legislative survey, Bexar County has the most babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) than any other place in Texas. One way University Hospital in San Antonio is helping these babies overcome their opioid addiction is through volunteer cuddle programs.

The story follows partly through the lens of Doug Walters, a volunteer baby cuddler who’s been with the hospital for over three years. So far, the program has been successful.

“We see a big difference in their scores (in) the babies that either the mom, or a volunteer, or someone is here holding them all day,” says Dr. Meredith Flores, a pediatrician who handles babies in the NICU at University Hospital, “Their scores are lower. Sometimes the dose of the medication they require is lower. They’re able to wean faster off of that dose.”

I thought it was heartbreaking and heartwarming to listen to the story. I hadn’t really considered what the opioid crisis could be doing to our state. It was deeply saddening to hear how the hospital is seeking more volunteers as more and more babies are being born addicted to opioids. However, listening to Walters talk about his time as a baby cuddler gave me hope for the future of these babies. It also made me want to volunteer as a baby cuddler, but as far as I know, no hospitals in Abilene have a program like University Hospital does.

It’s definitely a story worth listening to.

A Cry For Baby Cuddlers In San Antonio As the Opioid Crisis Deepens

 

Bezos endangers the Enquirer

A couple of weeks ago, the National Enquirer published a news article that Jeff Bezos had been texting with a mistress, including inappropriate pictures. They claimed to have access to both the messages and the photos, and threatened to leak them.

Bezos had announced via Twitter that him and his wife were separating prior to the article, and accused the National Enquirer of extortion and blackmail after the article was published.

The Enquirer prides itself on being a celebrity/entertainment gossip site, and hasn’t ever had any real news published (you know.. the stuff people should care about). They use words like “SHOCKING STORY” and “ROYAL TROUBLE!” in all capitol, bold, red letters to entice readers, similar to the way checkout lane magazines do.

Their Bezos stunt was nothing more than a ploy to gain attention and get a reaction out of the public. Thankfully, it really didn’t. They posted a link to their Twitter article twice, and neither time got more than five retweets and two replies.

Publications like the Enquirer endanger real journalism by publishing information that is so far off, and often incorrectly sourced. It is nothing more than gossip, and hurts the reputation of sites like the Washington Post (owned by Bezos) and the New York Times. The owner, David Pecker, has been under investigation multiple times for a variety of things including accepting hush-money from the Trump administration.

Bezos recognized the ridiculous stunt and harm it could cause to more than just himself and published a response to the stories on website called Medium.

Be assured, no real journalists ever propose anything like what is happening here: I will not report embarrassing information about you if you do X for me. And if you don’t do X quickly, I will report the embarrassing information.

I appreciate Bezos’ recognition of what true journalism is, and investing in it (owner of the Post) rather than stooping to the level of indecency that the Enquirer was. His response was professional and humble, and I think it was the perfect way to end the quarrel.

 

 

Developing an Investigative Mindset

This past weekend, I attended the Investigative Reporters & Editors Watchdog Workshop at Texas State University with two of my coworkers from KACU. I decided to attend the workshop just because I was offered free food and I wanted to see what it was about. I don’t usually do reporting for KACU; I’m an on-air host and producer. I did not have any expectations and I had no idea what I was even going to be doing. Coming out of the workshop, I was persuaded to do less hosting and try more reporting.

The workshop was geared towards reporters and students who wanted to learn about investigative reporting. I got to hear fantastic stories and presentations from individuals that work for KXAN in Austin and the Houston Chronicle. I even got to meet Kimbriell Kelly from The Washington Post and Melissa Del Bosque, a writer for the Texas Observer and the author of Bloodlines (which she gave me a copy of!).

A major element the workshop focused on was the Freedom of Information Act and filing FOIA requests. IRE wanted to emphasize the importance of finding as much information as possible when doing an investigation, and taught attendants how to be extremely specific about the information they want to request. The spokespersons also offered tips for what a reporter can do if a request is denied. Most importantly, they wanted to make sure that all reporters know their rights when they are trying to dig for information that a government entity might not be too keen to share.

Overall, I had a great time and learned so much (and now have a million ways to search for information about people). I have decided to try reporting more for KACU and taking a small step back from hosting. Hearing the stories that Kimbriell Kelly told about her own reporting inspired me – and networking with dozens of other reporters from NPR member stations all around Texas was amazing.

Is BuzzFeed the new Bernstein?

What I’m sure was intended to be a “courageous” article – even comparable, for some, to Woodward and Bernstein reporting on the Watergate scandal – has become the newest face of the “fake news” monster.

BuzzFeed published an article releasing documents (almost 300 pages) that President Donald Trump directed Michael Cohen to lie about real-estate conversations regarding the construction of a Trump Tower in Russia.

With no credible sources, at least none named, BuzzFeed seemed to have dug their hole pretty deep. Despite very little journalistic integrity to their articles, social media seemed to support the “news” outlet.

*profanity warning*

Since the article was published on Feb. 5, Michael Barbara of the New York Times hosted an episode of the Daily comparing the situation to the Watergate scandal, when the Times published documents regarding a break-in to the Democratic National Committee headquarters directly related to the Nixon Administration.

I might not go as far as saying the four BuzzFeed reporters are as courageous as Woodward and Bernstein, but maybe after more research by the House Intelligence Committee.

Though I haven’t ever considered BuzzFeed a credible news source, and still don’t, the amount of risk involved in publishing a story like the one they did leads me to believe their facts are true and their documents reliable.

Today, Cohen is scheduled to be interviewed “behind closed doors,” according to the New York Times.