J203 Assignment #6

Part I -- Identify the shamed journalists in the mugshots

1. The New Republic- Stephen Glass. Was caught basing his articles on fake quotes, sources and events. The story "Hack Heaven" shed light that Stephen has committed numerous cases of journalistic fraud.

2. The New York Times- Jayson Blair. His plagiarism came to light after an article he'd written and it's similarity between a story written by an intern Macarena Hernandez, years earlier. She had worked closely with Blair, and called and complained that many of his details and quotes were exactly the same as they appeared in her work. An internal commission was formed and he was found to have fabricated much of his work.

3. USA Today- Jack Kelley. An extensive examination of about 100 of the 720 stories uncovered evidence that found Kelley’s journalistic sins were sweeping and substantial. This was after he spent 2 1/2 hours denying wrongdoing, saying he was set up. "Perhaps Kelley’s most egregious misdeed occurred in 2000, when he used a snapshot he took of a Cuban hotel worker to authenticate a story he made up about a woman who died fleeing Cuba by boat."

4. The Washington Post- Janet Cooke. She's an American journalist who became infamous when she won a Pulitzer Prize for the fabricated story, "Jimmy's World." She blamed the pressures of the Washington Post and the nagging editors for fabricating the story when she could not find the actual boy Jimmy.

Part II -- The Mustang Daily even found itself embroiled in a plagiarism scandal last year. What were the details of the incident? (BONUS QUESTION: What ethical dilemma did local media (Mustang Daily, New Times and SLO Tribune) face when reporting this story)?

To date, The Mustang Daily has been mum on the name of the reputed journalist, but a suspected name is Rebecca Laman. She was caught for suposedly lifting articles from online sources and posing them as her own. The paragraphs that were lifted "from various websites in articles: a profile of the Cal Poly men's barbershop quartet, Men-So Forte; 'July Fourth do's and don'ts' and a movie review of 'Fantastic Four.'" (http://vocuspr.vocus.com/VocusPR30/Publish/14442/Forward_14442_997609.htm#10698656)

BONUS: The ethical dilemma the local media faced while reporting this story was, while everyone was pushing for the journalists anonymity, the Tribune, figured out the offenders identity, saying, "Hey, news is news. And this girl is news." (http://www.newtimes-slo.com/index.php?p=showarticle&id=1234)


Part III -- Identify the 'character' of each organization or individual listed below. Some questions to answer: What do they do? Who pays them? What is their agenda, if any? Who’s interest are they serving?

1. Corpwatch- "Holding Corporations Accountable."
"CorpWatch investigates and exposes corporate violations of human rights, environmental crimes, fraud and corruption around the world. We work to foster global justice, independent media activism and democratic control over corporations.

Corpwatch is made up of five employees and is based in San Francisco. It has been tracking companies who have made a profit off the war in Iraq, such as Bechtel, Dyncorp and Halliburton.

2. Globalwitness- They strive to achieve real change by highlighting the link between the exploitation of natural resources and human rights abuses. Global Watch accepts donations on their web site, where a majority of their funding comes through grants from trusts and fountations, governments, an non-governmental organisations. They also only accept donations from individuals and corporations that have adheared to the agenda they preach. If anyone has violated what they stand for, they will not accept donations from them. They are severing the interests of the poor in countries where poor have no voice, because large corporations have moved in and are abusing the population, making them their work force. They also rape the countries they enter of their natural resources, rarely pumping any of that money back into the economy they devistate.

3. Laborstart- "Where trade unionists start their day on the net." This company fights for the rights of labor unions around the world. They recieve money by selling merchandise and advertising space on their web site. They support union memebers and oppose scabs. They promote legislation on their website that benifets union members.

4. Associated Press- Information about the world's oldest and largest newsgather ogranization. AP employees over 3,700 employees around the world to provide full and breaking coverage for news stories everywhere. AP was founded in 1846 and is the backbone of the world's information system serving thousands of daily newspaper, radio, television and online customers. AP is non-profit and has received 48 Pulitzer Prizes and 29 photo Pulitzers.

5. Reuters- Was founded in London in 1851 and now has 15, 300 staff in 89 countries. The Reuters Group 2005 revune was 2.4 billion pounds. Reuters is among the most read news sources on the Internet reaching millions in their offices, homes or on PDAs

6. Electronic Authorization Partnership-

7. David Romero- David is an accomplished, versatile musician whose various styles of playing include, but are not limited to, Pop,Jazz, R&B, African, Brazilian, and Latin music. Whether playing with jazz trios, bands, or symphony orchestras, David's personality and great sense of humor add to his creative and rhythmic performance. He has put out numerous ablums and has stared in many movies. He was in Earth, Wind and Fire.

8. Jack T. O'Conell- Jack is a California politician and is currently serving as the California State Superintendent of Public Instruction. He is best known for writing the legislation for the California Exit Exam.

9. Julie Rodewald- She is the Clerk-Recorder for the SLO Board of Supervisors.

10. Deborah Linden- Police Chief Deborah Linden has served as the chief of the City of San Luis Obispo Police Department since 2003. She is a member of community and law enforcement organizations including the Tri-Counties Anti-Defamation League Advisory Board, the California Police Chiefs' Association, the California Narcotic Officers' Association, and the University of California, Santa Barbara Center on Police Practices and Community.