Category Archives: Sociology/culture

Call me, or email me, or something. No. Maybe send me a letter.

I spent yesterday afternoon on Iowa City’s “bad side.” What was interesting, in my conversations with young, African American youth there, was that they – without prodding – focused on how the news cover them. To counter the poor ways media cover their lives, I said that we all need to contact reporters about such coverage. But, I realized after I said it, that this is easier said than done. Continue reading →

A watchdog report, finally!


Clipped from: dailyiowan.com (share this clip)

Yay! Adam Sullivan, the editor of the student-run Daily Iowan, published this good report taking on how mainstream media cover politics.

Here’s what’s good about it:

– It names a specific reporter and a story, a newspaper, and the problem with the story. In this case, it was a softball story on a political hardhitter.

– Adam’s piece goes deeper into some of the problems of the media, including that how media work tends to create a cultural that allows for such weak journalism.

Here’s what’s not so good about it:

– In a time of transparency, Adam’s piece should be more clear about a) his role at the DI (that he is the editor) and b) that he has worked at news organizations that compete with the paper he is taking on — The Des Moines Register. These two bits of information wouldn’t kill his argument, or maybe even change my mind about him being right about what he wrote. That information would have just added context, which bolsters his credibility.

All of this said, I am so happy to see this kind of approach, and I hope more of this media watchdog work can keep coming!