Discussion Questions from Reading Assignments 2/2/2000
 

Day, 4, Truth and Honesty in Media Communications

1/ Does the press exhibit an increasingly casual attitude toward the truth?  What is truth?  Do we live in a world of limited truth?

2/ Day states that the public relies on accurate and truthful information to make informed judgments.  What responsibility does this cast upon journalists and PR professionals?

3/ How does social responsibility relate to PR?

4/ New journalism, as Day mentions, was popular in the 1960s, but continues today.  It is fiction based on real events.  Proponents of new journalism say that they are able to achieve a greater truth by abandoning journalistic principles of objectivity and truth.  Hunter S. Thompson's work including Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Thomas Wolfe's books including Bonfire of the Vanities are examples.  How is it that "truthful" traditional journalism often fails to provide in-depth analysis and understanding of important issues, while fictional new journalism often does succeed at this goal?  What is going on here?  Why do Thompson and Wolfe receive accolades while Janet Cooke loses her job?

5/ Should journalists clean up quotes to be fair to the person being quoted?  Should PR writers write quotes for CEOs or other top managers of companies, non-profit organizations or government agencies?  Should a journalist ever fabricate quotes?

6/ When journalists use quotes from official sources, or any source for that matter, are they obligated to check the accuracy of the quotes before using them?  Does this happen often?  How truthful are journalistic reports if there is heavy reliance on sources and experts?

7/ Day notes that Procter & Gamble funded a study which found that disposable diapers were just as environmentally friendly as cotton diapers.  Day states that "...the media are often willing partners in the uncritical dissemination of studies that are funded by advocacy groups."  He states that journalists should at least provide source information for such reports.  What responsibility would you place on PR professionals who disseminate such research findings regularly?

8/ Day states that truthful stories should be essentially complete and promote understanding.  What are some of the ways in which the seven basic news values might get in the way of this goal?

Seven news values:
conflict
impact
timeliness (recency of an event)
currency (issues with current interest)
prominence
proximity
bizarre

9/ Feeding frenzies or pack journalism both seem to have dominated national and international news over the past couple of years.  Lewinsky-Clinton, Princess Diana, Jon-Benet Ramsey, O.J. Simpson and JFK Jr. have taken large slices of the news hole.  How do PR professionals at companies, non-profit agencies and government agencies combat this to make sure their news gets heard in the public?  Is there a danger that they too will resort to conflict, prominence and the bizarre to gain news coverage?

10/ Day faults news organizations for staging and re-enactments.  What about staging done by PR practitioners in order to get news coverage?  How do journalists know whether events described in news releases and video news releases are factual?

11/ Day likewise faults journalists for altering photos for dramatic effect, as was done in the Time magazine cover of
O. J. Simpson's police mug shot.  Should PR practitioners follow a strict rule of no photo alterations?  What about photos or videotape submitted to news organizations?

12/ Are TV docudramas "headline TV" or "true operas of our culture"?  How might a TV docudrama unfairly damage the reputation of a company, non-profit organization or government agency?  How could PR professionals respond?

13/ Are TV shows such as COPS nothing more than free public relations for the police departments depicted?

14/ Is intentional ambiguity ethical in public relations?

15/ Day states that "...the media serve as a willing and sometimes uncritical forum for the dissemination of governmental and corporate messages and information."  Why is this the case?  How can PR practitioners ensure that they are operating in a an ethical manner in this information environment?  How can the news media be sure that the stories and video news releases produced by PR and government sources they use are accurate and truthful?

16/ Consider the six philosophical orientations to ethics outlined earlier.  How would followers of each philosophical perspective interpret telling the truth?

17/ Objectivity is often cited as a worthy goal of journalists.  Others argue that objectivity results in news reports  that are devoid of much analysis and understanding, therefore depriving the public of vital information needed to make decisions.  Jack Fuller, publisher of the Chicago Tribune, in his book, "News Values," takes the view that reporters and editors should provide more analysis that will result in an "intellectually honest" approach to journalism.  In other words, Fuller says that journalists should provide interpretation of events and issues rather than relying entirely on objectivity and official sources.  Which approach, objectivity or intellectual honesty would best provide the public with the information they need to make rational, informed choices about whom to vote for, what food to eat, how to protect their health, etc.?

18/  A former graduate student of mine summed up the issues of truth in media communications by saying that the media primarily practice what he called "marketable truth."  What do you think about this description?

Read Case Study 4-4, Tainted Research and the Right to Know,  in the Day book and be ready to discuss.
 

Day, 6, Confidentiality and the Public Interest

1/ Confidentiality issues involve confidentiality of sources and confidentiality of information.  Explain the difference.

2/ Day discusses the different types of confidential relationships between reporters and sources:

off the record- information is not for public release
without attribution- okay to release information, but do not disclose source, do not quote source
on background- reporter is told information, institution is disclosed, source's name is not, source is disguised
deep-background- source and information are not for public release

If a PR practitioner works for a company that is engaged in a cover-up that affects public health and safety, how might she use a reporter to confidentially make the information public?  Is this ethical?

3/ Imagine that you work for a large PR firm and have managed the national Toyota account for the past three years.  You are wooed to another PR firm at a much higher salary and better working conditions.  After six months, you are asked to manage the national Honda account.  Your new employers do not know that you used to work on behalf on Honda's biggest competitor.  Should you disclose this information to your new employer?  Should you use your insider information about Toyota's PR efforts in your PR work for Honda?  Should you decline to work on the Honda account, knowing all the while that it may propel your career to new heights?

4/ Should PR practitioners have client/professional privileges such as lawyers and doctors enjoy?

5/ As Day points out some reporters, for various reasons, do break their promises of confidentiality with sources.  What does this mean for the PR professional?

6/ How would would moral agents who follow deontological, teleological and Aristotle's golden mean approaches to ethical decision making likely view confidentiality?
 

Stauber and Rampton, 2, The Art of the Hustle and the Science of Propaganda

1/ Why did the journalistic practice of muckraking lead to increased PR counseling by Ivy Lee and others on behalf of corporations?

2/ How does Bernays' concept of "engineering of consent" relate to efforts to influence public opinion today?  Are PR practitioners still manufacturing consent?  Is this ethical?  Does it affect the democratic process?

3/ Pick an example of early press agentry in the chapter and discuss it it terms of the SAD model.

4/ To what extent do you think the Penny Press, which attracted large numbers of readers, might have affected P.T. Barnum's ability to hoodwink so many people with his outrageous claims?  How did newspaper readers of the 1830s compare to newspaper readers before the penny press era?

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