Did journalists finally tell the truth?

If someone had traveled through Iowa City on Thursday, picked up the local newspapers, and later sat down, asking, “What is this Iowa City place?”, here is a selection of prominent stories they would have seen:

Story 1: A UI student says she and other students have been subjected to racial slurs, including the word Nigger, and that the university “has done nothing about it.” Continue reading →

Prom gone wrong (and how the press loved it)

Letters to the editor are always interesting – too often overlooked. Today, though, there is a most-interesting take in the letters to the editor of the Iowa City Press-Citizen which focuses on journalistic practice.

The letter comes from two City High School students who suggested that Press-Citizen reporters (here is the story) failed to meet journalistic standards in the coverage of a “brawl” during prom night. The students suggest that the reporters failed to verify information (a traditional journalistic value and practice) by not contacting school officials and students to understand what the incident really was. Continue reading →

Pulitzer Prize for telling the “same old story”

In the stories included in the 2011 Pulitzer Prizes that were announced today, we see an interesting celebration of local journalism that is supposed to have revealed the “silent voices” that influence urban crime. The stories and multimedia produced by journalists in the Chicago Sun-Times were similar to what we see from any kind of news reporting on crime — stories of daring cops, violent minorities, and urban environments that somehow breed violence. Continue reading →