Of course I will rant. When it comes to criticizing local television journalism, ranting is too easy, too necessary to avoid. And that is the goal of this blog: to monitor, analyze, and personally react to the quality of television broadcast news generated in my home town.
What I won't do is babble. I will use industry tools to lend credit to my judgements. I am a student at the University of Minnesota's School of Journalism and Mass Communication and I will often relate my critiques to coursework, but mostly I will use ethical guidelines set by the Radio and Television News Directors Association to weigh the quality of local TV news. In the case of local news and national news, ethics (or lack of ethics) affect everything from the form and quality of reporting to its content.
Some of the most relevant, most ignored guidelines include (in no order):
Electronic Journalists Should:
* Resist distortions that obscure the importance of events.
* Clearly disclose the origin of information and label all material provided by outsiders.
* Refuse to allow the interests of ownership or management to influence news judgment and content inappropriately.
* Use technological tools with skill and thoughtfulness, avoiding techniques that skew facts, distort reality, or sensationalize events.
* Seek to understand the diversity of their community and inform the public without bias or stereotype.
* Manipulate images or sounds in any way that is misleading.
I will also look at and react to results from the Minnesota News Council's hearings as they happen, and rant appropriately (or inappropriately).
I will rant. Expect the rant.
