Bill Kovach

This is a well written book that reinforces the basics of good journalism. The difficulty that I have with the book is that the title seems to imply that the discussion would focus on critical thinking and fact-finding in the Internet era. Although the Internet is mentioned, most of the focus is on tried and true techniques illustrated by examples that are quite dated. Watergate, for example, is an excellent example of investigative journalism, but what would that investigation look like in the context of today's technology? The message seems to be 'let a couple of old-timers tell you about the fundamentals of journalism - they never change'. Well, I suspect journalism has changed significantly but you won't find anything specific in Blur. For example, say you were receiving messages on Twitter or Facebook from an journalist in, say, Egypt. Are there any tools or methods that could be used to verify this source? This book will not tell you about that kind of thing, it will just tell you that if you want to be a good journalist you should get your feet on the ground like journalists did in Viet Nam.

So I was educated by this book, but disappointed.… (mer)

A handy primer of news media and the impact various forms of communication have had on what constitutes “news.” Kovach and Rosenstiel focus on four key models of journalism: verification (emphasizing accuracy of facts and context); assertion (more passive, focusing on immediacy and volume); affirmation (selective data delivered to an existing audience, less to inform than to affirm a given ideology or mobilize audience members for action); and interest-group journalism (biased, funded by special-interest groups). In examining each of these models in detail, the authors provide readers with a solid introduction to the concept of critical thinking. With the advent of digital technology, where more and more people are self-reliant in sourcing (and disseminating) information themselves, this kind of questioning is vital to determine how meaningful and trustworthy the news we access really is.… (mer)