Fox News can't seem to tell the difference between file footage and live shots lately.

On Wednesday Fox News host Gregg Jarrett told viewers Sarah Palin's book signing in Grand Rapids, Michigan had a huge turnout. But the video used in the segment was from a 2008 McCain/Palin campaign rally.

Fox senior vice-president of news Michael Clemente issued a statement calling the incident a "production error." On Thursday Fox issued an on-air apology as well.

Fox executives are reportedly considering disciplinary action against those responsible for the gaffe.

Just last week, the "Daily Show's" Jon Stewart ripped Fox's Sean Hannity for running video of a big tea party protest in Washington last fall while discussing a much-smaller rally outside the Capitol this month.

"When that clip started, it was a clear fall day in Washington, D.C.," Stewart said on his show. "All of a sudden the tress turn green again, it's cloudy, and it looks like thousands and thousands of more people arrived...It seems Sean Hannity used footage of a bigger crowd from a totally different event to make last week's GOP health care rally appear more heavily attended."

Hannity later apologized.

Read more about controversy at the cable news networks.

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Is Newsweek's cover photo of Sarah Palin sexist?

The photo, seen here, was taken for Runner's World magazine in August. Its use in Newsweek has raised the ire of the one-time GOP veep candidate, who writes on Facebook:

"When it comes to Sarah Palin, this 'news' magazine has relished focusing on the irrelevant rather than the relevant. The Runner's World magazine one-page profile for which this photo was taken was all about health and fitness - a subject to which I am devoted and which is critically important to this nation. The out-of-context Newsweek approach is sexist and oh-so-expected by now."

The Newsweek headline accompanying the photo, "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Sarah?", is a play on a "Sound of Music" song about frivolity. And the articles inside are critical of Palin, whose book "Going Rogue" has shot to the top of bestseller lists.

Meanwhile there's word that Newsweek may have violated copyright by using the Runner's World shot.

Daily Finance reports that the photog who shot the pic violated his contract by reselling it to Newsweek. The shot was embargoed until August 2010, the site says.

What do you think? Is this photo okay for the Runner's World cover, but sexist in the context of the way it's used in Newsweek?

In the photo above, Palin changes into her running shoes for an autism awareness walk in Purchase, New York, in June.

Photo by Michael Nagle/Getty Images

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You can churn out the greatest article ever written, but if it doesn't have an attention-grabbing headline to get people to read it, what's the point? Whether you're at a newspaper or blogging from home, a great headline (or "hed") will always get more eyeballs scanning your copy. Here are some tips.

Be Accurate. This is most important. A headline should entice readers but it shouldn't oversell or distort what the story is about. Always stay true to the spirit and meaning of the story.

Get the full story here...

Photo by Tony Rogers

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Google "Tim Harper" and the first thing you'll find is his website. The freelance writer, author and journalism instructor's busy site includes an archive of his articles, a bio, contact information and even journal-type entries chronicling trips he's taken.

Harper started the site in the late 1990s to promote his books, but soon realized it "could be used for all my work, for building my brand as an author, freelance journalist, editorial/publishing consultant and part-time professor. I put up more and more samples of my work as editors and prospective clients became more and more likely to say, 'What's your website?' instead of 'Can you send me some clips?'"

Harper may have been something of a pioneer. But given the turmoil facing the news business, more and more reporters are starting their own websites or blogs, driven by the need not just to archive their work, but to create an online presence - a brand - for themselves.

"The climate (in journalism) has changed so much," says Columbia University journalism professor and new media specialist Sree Sreenivasan. "One of the most important things you can do right now is have an archive of your work available at all times."

Read more....

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CNN has picked John King to fill the 7 p.m. time slot abruptly vacated by Lou Dobbs on Wednesday.

Here's the good news:

King, currently CNN's chief national political correspondent and host of the Sunday show "State of the Union," is a great choice. He cut his teeth in wire service journalism, working for The Associated Press for years before making the jump to CNN. (In the 1990s I toiled at the same AP bureau where King had worked and even then he was something of a legend.)

King is known as one of the best political reporters in the Beltway, someone with more contacts than anyone else in D.C. who knows how to dig up a story.

He's also an objective journalist who isn't interested in broadcasting his own political leanings. He has already said he'll welcome pundits of all political stripes on his as-yet untitled show. And as a tough interviewer, King will be particularly effective at cutting through the pundit-speak.

Dobbs' departure comes as something of a relief at CNN, where execs had made it clear they want the network to be seen as the straight-news alternative to the opinion-mongering on Fox News and MSNBC. Dobbs had infuriated Latino groups with his increasingly strident positions on immigration, and things got even more bizarre over the summer when he appeared to lend credence to the wacky "birthers" movement that questioned whether President Obama was a U.S. citizen.

Here's the bad news:

CNN continues to get pummeled in the ratings, trailing behind both MSNBC and Fox, the perennial no. 1 cable news channel. Whatever the virtues of straight news over editorializing (and I'm all for more hard news and less punditry), it seems clear that the mostly aging audience that watches cable news is more interested in opinions than facts.

King, as good as he is, is a just-the-facts-ma'am reporter at heart; when his new show debuts early next year, he'll face an uphill battle in the ratings war.

Photo courtesy Getty Images

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A growing number of journalists use Twitter as a reporting tool the same way an earlier generation of reporters used notebooks and cellphones.

For instance, When WCCO-TV Reporter Jason DeRusha was doing a story on allergies triggered by Christmas trees, he put that out in his Twitter feed. Within 15 minutes he was contacted by someone who had such severe allergies, she had to decorate her tree wearing industrial gloves.

Cincinnati Enquirer reporter Alex Shebar uses Twitter extensively.

"I am a breaking news reporter and go through Greater Cincinnati covering events like shootings, fires, suicides, robberies and crimes, often in my follower's backyards. They like to know what's going on in Cincinnati - it's why they read the paper and check the website in the first place," he says in an e-mail interview.

"With Twitter, I can let them know as soon as it happens - as soon as anything happens. They don't have to wait for the story to pop-up online... Even if I'm just going down to check something out, I'll tell them about it. And when I find out what's actually going on, I update them again," he adds.

Read more...

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Two high school newspaper editors and a student newspaper adviser who fought censorship attempts by school officials will be honored at the fifth annual Courage in Student Journalism Awards at the National Scholastic Press Association/Journalism Education Association National Convention in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, Nov. 14.

This year's winners are Seth Zweifler and Henry Rome, editors of the student newspaper, The Spoke, at Conestoga High School in Pennsylvania; and Barb Thill, former adviser of the student newspaper at Illinois' Stevenson High School. The student winners will share a $1,000 prize and Thill will receive $1,000 to support student journalists at her school.

The Courage in Student Journalism Awards are presented each year to student journalists and school officials who have fought for student press. Rome's June 2009 story, "Obligation to Report," detailed how a janitor at the local middle school was able to remain on the school district payroll despite multiple run-ins with the law, including his arrest on bank robbery charges.

The article prompted the school administration to demand prior approval of all student newspaper content before publication. Zweifler and Rome fought the move. They sought support from Spoke alumni and publicity in the local media, and did research to counter the district's case for prior restraint. Eventually the demand for pre-publication review was dropped.

"These winners exemplify the sad fact of life that provocative, hard-hitting student journalism is often celebrated with retaliation," said Student Press Law Center Executive Director Frank LoMonte. "Exemplary journalistic work was met with a crackdown by administrators who believed that the best way to deal with unpleasant disclosures about their school systems was to stop the disclosures."

Thill is the former adviser of Illinois' Stevenson High School's student newspaper, the Statesman. Her students came under fire for a January 2009 package of articles documenting the prevalence of casual "hooking up" relations among teens, much of it alcohol-fueled.

The school's response was to impose mandatory prior review, robbing students of their autonomy to decide what would go into the paper. As a result Thill stepped down as journalism adviser.

"Thill is an example of the price some of the most talented journalism educators pay for their commitment to teaching quality reporting," said Mark Goodman, Knight Chair in Scholastic Journalism, Center for Scholastic Journalism at Kent State University's School of Journalism and Mass Communication. "All of the students who are missing her training are the ones who ultimately suffer."

The awards are presented by the Center for Scholastic Journalism, the Student Press Law Center and the National Scholastic Press Association.

Read more about how student newspaper advisers often face retaliation for controversial stories, and about a new California law that protects student newspaper advisers.

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One of the first things a student in a beginning journalism course learns about is Associated Press style, or AP style for short. AP style is simply a standardized way of writing everything from dates to street addresses to job titles.

AP style was developed and is maintained by The Associated Press, the world's oldest news service.

Learning AP style is certainly not the most exciting or glamorous aspect of a career in journalism, but getting a handle on it is absolutely necessary.

Why? Because AP style is the gold standard for print journalism. It's used by the vast majority of newspapers and news websites in the U.S. A reporter who never bothers to learn even the basics of AP style, who gets into the habit of submitting stories filled with AP style errors, is likely to find himself covering the sewage treatment board beat for a long, long time.

So get started here with the basics of AP Style, then test your knowledge with our AP Style quizzes.

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The Fox News-White House fracas raises issues aplenty about objectivity and fairness, especially at the cable networks. The Obama administration was clumsy in its attempt to single out Fox, but its larger point is well taken: Fox News (and MSNBC for that matter) are many things, but fair and balanced isn't one of them.

But there's another, more disturbing aspect to this: The tendency of more and more news consumers to tune in only the coverage and commentary they agree with.

This isn't theorizing on my part. A study done at Ohio State University found that people spent 36 percent more time reading articles that agreed with their point of view than they did reading text that challenged their opinions.

"We found that people generally chose media messages that reinforced their own preexisting views," said Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick, co-author of the study. "In general, they don't want their views to be challenged by seriously considering other viewpoints."

The result? A decline in informed opinion formation, a more polarized and fragmented electorate, and reduced political tolerance, the researchers say.

In other words, right-wingers watch Fox, lefties choose MSNBC, and they're all living in an echo chamber that reinforces the views they already hold.

But it's the echo chamber that people seem to love. Fox News and opinion shows like "Glenn Beck" bring home ratings gold, while the newsier CNN's ratings are in the tank.

Jill Geisler, who teaches management and leadership skills at the Poynter Institute, a journalism training center, says the splintering of the once-monolithic news media has only aided this all-too human tendency.

"There was a time when we tended to hear multiple sides to a story in the mainstream media," she says. "The effort was there in traditional newsrooms to vet for bias and fairness."

Now, she says, "It's so easy to set up your RSS feed on your web browser to keep you in touch with a world that reminds you everyday that the opinions you have are right. All you hear everyday is that your opinions are right.

"People are more able than ever to expose themselves to things selectively, to choose to hear only what they believe already," she adds.

The only problem is, when all we hear are opinions that echo our own, real thinking stops, and a kind of intellectual autopilot takes over. We stop questioning our own assumptions and biases, and become ever-more entrenched in our own partisan positions. Real dialog between people of differing viewpoints is replaced by rancor and shouting that sheds lots of heat but little light.

Sounds like an episode of "The O'Reilly Factor."

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Millions of Americans get their news from the cable networks CNN, MSNBC or Fox News. Yet two of those - Fox News and MSNBC - have gained notoriety not for their news coverage but for their prime-time opinion programming featuring such voluble hosts as Bill O'Reilly and Keith Olbermann.

Critics say these shows shed more heat than light, and contribute little to their viewers' understanding of important issues. But opinion and controversy sells: Ratings for these opinionated shows have shot through the roof.

So what are the ethical implications of putting opinion before facts? We tackle that question here.

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