With this post, I'd like to get all of your opinions on an ethical issue in journalism that I've been thinking about for some time. Many newspapers, especially college ones, publish some sort of "joke" editions - whether they be April Fools issues where all of the stories are satricial and false, or just highly tongue-in-cheek stories or editorials published ever once in awhile that students are not meant to take seriously.
There seems to have been a backlash against these kind of joke issues lately. A simple Google search on the topic brings up dozens of examples where college papers have apologized for offending readers due to stories that they published in joke issues. Some people believe that it's problematic for journalists to publish such issues because they blur the line between reporting and editorializing.
You all probably know that the State Press puts out the Stale Mess on the first day of finals each semester. As part of the staff that puts together that paper, I've usually only heard good things from students about the Stale Mess, but I'm wondering from a journalistic prospective, what do you all think of the State Press' fake issue? Do you think it's funny and tasteful? Borderline offensive? Is it warranted on a college campus or does it totally lack in journalistic integrity? I'm curious.
Here are a few stories about other fake or April Fools papers that have led to backlash:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/205926/college_paper_apologizes_for_gay_cardinal.html
https://www.daytondailynews.com/n/userreg/ursignup/signup.jsp?UrUsecase=800100&SendBackURL=%2Fn%2Fcontent%2Foh%2Fstory%2Fnews%2Flocal%2F2007%2F04%2F03%2Fsns040407torch.html
http://www.thetartan.org/2007/1/29/forum/yummyboarded
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I love the joke papers. When you do something as controversial as that, there will always be an upset few. But you have to remember, most comments will be from people that are upset. I'm sure if a poll was taken, an overwhelming majority would be in favor of them. Just because some people can't take a joke doesn't mean we should stop publishing them. The world is PC enough.
I'm torn when it comes to the joke paper. One of the tenets of journalism is that we remain a detached, third-person, neutral, objective, etc. entity and do not exhibit any bias. I say this because if a paper were to satirize a public official or public figure on the front page, some readers would construe that as how the paper really felt about that person. Subsequent, "real" articles covering that figure/official would be scrutinized heavily and probably perceived as stretched or slanted. And once you lose the readers' trust or they have reason to doubt you, you've dug yourself into a big hole. On the other hand, they are fun and an opportunity to experiment and be creative. I'll close with this: A couple (three?) years ago, a Stale Mess centerpiece depicted a Photoshopped Michael Crow slumped down in a chair, looking all hungover and stuff. I was immediately in on the joke. However, I had to convice my friend it was satire. That's scary.
Post a Comment