Blog Post 11; EOTO #4 - Who is Katie Couric? - Journo Heroes 2

Who is Katie Couric? 

    Katie Couric can easily be recognized as one of NBC's Today show's most notable cohosts, but her career as a journalist goes far beyond that. Couric worked extensively with other major news stations such as ABC, CNN, and CBS. These extensive and admirable positions helped her form the legacy she has today as an American author, journalist, producer, and presenter.  

    Katie Couric was born on January 7, 1957, in Arlington, Virginia. Couric is also the daughter of a writer and journalist, John Couric. 

        

    Couric pursued her undergraduate degree in American studies at the University of Virginia in 1979. Shortly after she graduated, Couric decided to move to Washington D.C. to pursue her career as a journalist and TV host. 

    Her first job was at ABC News where she served as a desk assistant. Katie mainly worked under anchorman Sam Donaldson as well as some others. A little while later in 1980, Couric began working at the Washington bureau of the Cable News Network, CNN. However, it is worth noting that after watching Couric fill in for an absent news correspondent, a CNN executive said that he never wanted to see Couric on the air again. Despite this criticism, Couric continued to work at CNN locations around the world, most often in the Atlanta base, for the next seven years as a producer and on-air reporter. 

    Even after years of Couric's hard work and dedication, CNN failed to offer her a full-time job as a reporter. As a result, she returned to Washington in 1987 to take a job as a reporter at an affiliate NBC news station. While at NBC, the then anchor of the Today show, Deborah Norville, left for maternity leave. Couric ended up serving as her co-anchor alongside Bryant Gumbel and eventually replaced Norville in 1991. Over the next three years, Couric covered major stories that included the U.S. Invasion of Panama, the Persian Gulf War, and others all from her newly-incorporated position on NBC's Today show.

    At this point in her life, Couric had served at all of the major American news stations at the time: ABC, CNN, and NBC. Her success with the Today show flourished into the 1990s and in the summer of 1998, she signed a four-year-long contract extension with the NBC news program. Couric's salary and rankings were elevating her with some of the most popular TV personalities such as Dan Rather of CBS, Tom Brokaw of NBC, and Diane Sawyer of ABC. 

    Unfortunately, that same year, 1998, Katie Couric's husband of ten years, Jay Monahan, who was a lawyer based in Washington, passed away due to a six-month battle with colon cancer at the age of 42. 

    Following her husband's early death, Couric decided to launch a campaign in March of 2000, titled the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance to encourage preventative testing and research. To
raise more awareness, Couric started a two-week-long TV series and even underwent an on-air colonoscopy herself to make her viewers understand the importance of testing. By the end of the campaign's first year, it had raised more than 10 million dollars for colon cancer awareness. In addition, Couric also underwent an on-air mammogram to raise awareness for breast cancer. 

    In the midst of her campaign in 2000, Couric wrote and published a children's book, The Brand New Kid. Her book reached the top of the New York Times best-seller children's picture book for three weeks. In addition, Couric published another book in 2004, Blue Ribbon Day, and another in 2011, The Best Advice I Ever Got: Lessons from Extraordinary Lives which achieved a best-selling position as well.   

    In January of 2002, Couric again signed a contract with NBC for another 4 years. This contract gave Couric the opportunity to keep the reins of Today and explore other available possibilities within the network. This decision in Couric's career led her to be the world's highest-paid TV personality. 

    Katie Couric continued to make television history in 2006 when she left the Today show to sign a deal to become the first woman to anchor CBS Evening News solo. Couric was now the first woman to solo anchor a weeknight news network broadcast. In addition to this, Couric also contributed to the newsmagazine, 60 Minutes, and anchored specials for CBS. 

    Couric's first solo debut on CBS was on September 5, 2006, which was the first evening show to be broadcasted simultaneously on the internet and local radio stations. Roughly 13.6 million viewers tuned in to listen or watch. Couric's newfound position brought in the highest ratings for the show since February of 1998. After a long and successful career with CBS, in May of 2011, Couric delivered her last broadcast of the Evening News.

    After her time at CBS, Couric signed a deal with ABC in the following month of June 2011. The following year, Couric began hosting her own talk show titled Katie which debuted on September 10, 2012. Her show was the most-watched inaugural show on daytime television, but interest soon depleted and the show was sadly canceled after the second season. 

    Two years later in 2014, Couric took on a new position as the global news anchor for Yahoo. This role gave her the opportunity to fulfill traditional anchor responsibilities that included reporting and conducting interviews and hosting special series for the network such as World 3.0 and Now I Get It. It was officially announced in 2015 that Couric agreed to terms on a deal with the internet giant. 

    Today, Katie Couric now runs her own media company, Katie Couric Media, among other things like her podcast, Next Question with Katie Couric, and a daily newsletter, Wake-Up Call. Couric has also appeared in documentaries about American news.  

   

 Couric's extensive success has earned her multiple rewards and recognition for her television reporting. A few of the most notable ones include:

- Six Emmy awards from 1994 to 2004 for "Outstanding Special Cast Program"

- Peabody Award in 2002 for her colon cancer awareness series

- Edward R. Murrow Award for best newscast in 2008 and 2009

- Grand Allen Award in 2009 for "Outstanding Anchor"

- Emmy in 2010 for her extensive work with CBS

                                                            & many more.

    

    Katie Couric is truly a modern journalism hero who used her large media platforms to bring awareness to issues that affected her, as well as others, to advocate for change. Couric is easily described as kind and caring and embodies her devotion to these forms of awareness in her everyday life. Couric has an inspiring story that shows how as journalists, while our paths may shift and change throughout our careers, we still can have a major impact on the world. 

    

    

    Even today after her years of extensive television work, Katie Couric is still using her voice to spread the truth of what she reports. I believe that Couric's story is inspiring and comforting to any journalist because even despite her career and personal struggles, she persevered and worked her way to the top. Katie Couric is not only an inspiring journalistic model but an inspiring personal model because of her kindness and devotion to issues that matter. 

To be successful, you have to be brave enough to try and fail.

- Katie Couric 

Blog Post 10; EOTO #3 Presentation Reflections - Terms & Concepts

EOTO 3 Reflections 

    For our third EOTO, we discussed specific terms and concepts to help understand certain implications or actions within journalism. 

    The first topic that I learned about was halftone. Halftone was a new and more productive way of printing. Halftone only uses small dots of black ink to print on paper. This technique consists of breaking up an image into a series of dots to produce all of the tones within a photograph. The tiny dots use a kind of gradient effect to create certain images or words. The dots are actually made by screens that have a varying number of lines per inch, these lines determine the number of dots. For newspapers, the range is between 50 to 85 dots per inch. In higher-quality work, it is closer to 120 to 150 lines per inch. The halftone was actually quite

remarkable, as the first image was able to be published in a newspaper with this technique in 1880, seen in the image to the left. Halftone techniques are still used today, but instead of a screen, it is generated digitally. That alone proves how influential the halftone technique was and that its design is still very beneficial and effective in printing today.

    The second topic that I was able to learn more about was wire service. A wire service is a large news organization that sends stories or reports to several other news stations to help with the spread of information. One notable example of a wire service today is the Associated Press. Wire services are basically 24/7 news outlets. The Associated Press, for example, is the oldest and largest wire service in the United States. The Associated Press is also one of the preeminent news sources in the world.

    The AP began in 1864 when four New York City daily newspapers joined together to provide continuous news about the Mexican-American War. Through the Associated Press' existence, it became one of the largest and most widely trusted wire services. Today, the AP employs about 4,100 workers worldwide and has received over four dozen Pulitzer Prizes.

    Due to the impact of the Associated Press along with other wire services, wire services are extremely important and valuable to creating and distributing news across all different platforms today.

    Finally, I was able to learn a bit more about citizen journalism. Citizen journalism is any form of journalism conducted by people who are not professional journalists. Citizen journalism has had a burst in popularity with all of the new technological advancements. Think about the number of people who post important journalistic information onto websites, social media, or even blogs. This subtle act of sharing information is actually quite beneficial and some citizen journalists have provided crucial information to developing stories. For example, people in disaster zones whether that be war, climate, or other crucial events can easily snap a photo and independently report on what is going on. This kind of journalism and independent reporting is extremely helpful to professional journalists who need help
finishing a story, incorporating true facts, or using someone's first-hand experience.

    

Today, it is debated if the term citizen journalism is even accurate when describing the influence and importance of citizen journalists across the globe.

    

    While there are a number of others, these specific terms and concepts were very interesting to me and helped me in understanding some of the more specific aspects of the kind of journalism we see today.

Blog Post 9; The Press & War Part 2 - "Collateral Murder" & More

 The Press & War - "Collateral Murder" & More

    How and why is it that we still see the press following and supporting the government in times of war, and why are the journalists who spread the truth punished? 

Continuously throughout the history of our country we see the press tracking behind the government to deliver the news. Even today, with catastrophic events such as Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the media is blatantly lying about what's truly going on. The media portray the cause of the invasion to be a result of Putin's damaged mental state and use that as an excuse rather than an explanation. This vague coverage of this event leads to extensive speculation and further uncertainty regarding our government and war. 

    Why are the press and the media today assisting in spreading war propaganda and what is done to those who aim to spread the truth? 

    If we take a step back to the year 2006, we can look at Julian Assange. Assange was an Australian journalist that was the founder of WikiLeaks in 2006. His goal for Wikileaks was for it to be a site of  'scientific journalism' or in better terms, truthful journalism. Wikileaks also served as a platform that held classified or sensitive government documents for the public to read. 

    Assange's effort to do good quickly turned bad, as Wikileaks published a video titled "Collateral Murder" that contained unreleased footage of a United States Apache helicopter shooting and killing innocent men and children in Iraq. Wikileaks obtained this video from a second party affiliate, Chelsea/Bradley Manning, who was a United States Army intelligence agent. Manning leaked the video clip to Wikileaks from the first party, the American government.  

This video was released by Wikileaks on April 5th, 2010, by a third party.  

    After the publication of this video, Assange was being immediately tracked down (and still is) by the American government for publishing this video of their war crimes. However, Assange is not an American citizen, so the United States government came up with false accusations of rape to try and arrest him. These cases were dropped in 2017.

Assange was granted asylum in Ecuador's embassy in 2012 to keep the American government from arresting him. Assange stayed in Ecuador for 7 years until he was ousted in 2019 and sent to jail for 50 weeks. 

    While there are no legal biases to arrest Assange, he is currently being held in a London prison without due process. Mr. Julian Assange also suffers from some severe health issues, so at this point, it is assumed that the government is waiting for his death to completely drop his case. 

    What is seen here is a third party being punished for spreading the truth. The truth that the government doesn't want to be exposed. Notice how no United States based journalist, news source, or publisher spread this information. It was an Australian journalist whose life is being destroyed by a country he has no direct affiliation with all because he shed light on the severity of the government's war crime. Why haven't the pilot or the soldiers received consequences for their actions? Why is an innocent journalist, who did not even film or hack the United States government being punished so brutally?

    Maybe it's for reasons such as Assange that American journalists don't go digging for the truth, or if they do, they don't express it. But isn't this a problem? Journalists are so afraid of standing up for what's right and exposing the truth because of the repercussions they may receive from the government. 

That doesn't seem like democracy. 

That doesn't seem like a reflection of our First Amendment rights. 

That doesn't seem like the values journalism should be built on. 

Blog Post 8; EOTO 3; What are Whistleblowers?

 What are Whistleblowers?

    What is whistleblowing and what effect does it have on journalism? Why do we see people accused or punished for whistleblowing and are there ways to whistleblow safely?

    To explain it simply, a whistleblower is someone, usually someone who works inside a company or agency, who reports and exposes the company’s or agency’s wrongdoing. These range from waste, fraud, abuse, corruption, public health, or safety dangers. These whistleblowers typically report the wrongdoings to someone who can rectify the situation, or make it known to the public. Whistleblowers are important because they are individuals who are brave enough to disclose information about the wrongdoing that would have otherwise gone unnoticed and unfixed. 

    As for whistleblowers and journalism, they actually serve an important purpose. In general, whistleblowers can provide information that can easily be published in journalistic stories and investigations which spark reporting work. In that sense, the relationship between journalists and whistleblowers is a complementary one. Whistleblowers need journalists to gain publicity for their information and journalists need whistleblowers to provide them with useful bits to fill in missing parts of the story. Whistleblowers have a strong effect on the process of news-making yet

the research about whistleblowing in journalism as a news source practice is oddly limited. On a large scale, journalism studies seem to have devoted little attention to whistleblowing and its impact on the news. While whistleblowing is helpful when filling in gaps in a story, journalists tend to only cite their information from “official” sources. These usually include political leaders, law institutions, courts, ministers, corporations, or other largely recognized companies. 

    While whistleblowing is helpful and informative, it comes with its own set of consequences. Due to this, there are dozens of laws in place in the United States at the local, state, and federal levels that have their own unique set of definitions and procedures to protect whistleblowers. 

    Under most laws, whistleblowing is defined as “disclosing information that you reasonably believe is evidence of a violation of any law, rule, or regulation, or gross mismanagement, a gross waste of funds, abuse of authority, or a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety.” As stated previously, whistleblowers are protected by a network of laws, but the level of protection depends on what information is disclosed, to whom, and how. This is why it is not always in the best interest of the whistleblower to work within the press. This is why it is also important for journalists to know how whistleblowing works because if journalists work with insiders, it will produce stronger stories and treat sources more fairly if they know how whistleblowing works. 

For journalists and whistleblowers alike, the National Whistleblower Center offers these tips to understand whistleblowing and how to approach it:

1. Know the Laws: As stated previously, the laws for whistleblowing differ at the local, state, and federal levels so it is important to familiarize yourself with those protection laws.

2. Protect Anonymity: Anonymity is an essential element of a successful whistleblower case and can offer protection. Especially in the digital age, revealing someone’s identity is an easy mistake so take extra precautions when communicating or meeting with whistleblowers. Confidentiality can be breached in numerous ways, so be aware of the risks as well. 

3. 
   Understand what is a stake for the whistleblower: Whistleblowers often experience retaliation for doing the right things. Understand the implications of public whistleblowing and the risks along with it. Careers are ruined, reputations turned bad, and harassment can even occur, so be as sympathetic and cautious as possible. It also may be wise to get in contact with their lawyer for extra safety. 

4. Whistleblowers have their own set of rules: While there are protection acts for whistleblowers, those policies don’t always apply to those who work in an intelligence committee since they work in a classified field with sensitive or secret information. They rarely can go up to the chain of command to an agency inspector to whistleblow, that’s usually as far as it can go. 

5. Leaking vs. Whistleblowing: Leaking is an unauthorized release of sensitive material, that can be criminally charged by federal agencies. Leaking goes drastically beyond whistleblowing, so again, know the laws. 

    Whistleblowers have an important role even beyond journalism. They also perform a valuable service to the Department of Justice when they report evidence of wrongdoing. All employees of the Department of Justice are protected from retaliation for making such disclosure through the Department of Labor, which also benefits from whistleblowers. 

    Under the Department of Labor’s whistleblower protection laws, an employer cannot retaliate against you for exercising your rights. Retaliation can have an overall impact on employee morale, and the Department of Labor seeks to prevent that from happening. Retaliation from companies has the grand possibility of ruining that persons' life, so it is crucial that these protection laws are in place to protect whistleblowers for doing the right thing.

    

    Whistleblowers are valuable in many aspects of our day-to-day lives and are the ones who are brave enough to point out when something is not right. Even though spreading the truth can have its consequences, whistleblowers do it for the benefit of bettering or exposing the corruption within an organization to shed light on the issue and push for a change.  

Blog Post 7; EOTO 2 Presentation Reflections - Journalism Heroes

                    Journalism Heroes

For our second EOTO, we dove into the history of journalism heroes and their legacy. Three major journalists and journalism legacy’s that I learned about were Frederick Douglass, Mary Shadd and The Black Press. All three of these journalistic legacies had a great influence on journalism and African Americans who weren’t able to speak for themselves during the 1800s. 

Frederick Douglass was a famed abolitionist, journalist, and author. Douglass was an escaped slave who learned to read and write independently and through the help of others after he escaped.

Later in his life, Douglass moved to New York where he began to publish his paper, The North Star. The name was a reference to slavery, as slaves who tried to escape would follow the North Star to safety. Its first issue was published on December 3, 1847, and was a great success. The North Star continued to be a successful paper up until the 1860s when the Civil War was emerging. Even with this challenge, Douglass was still a respected writer. Douglass was even famed for his speeches that cast great influence on the public. Another interesting fact that leaves Douglass a notable legacy is that he was a feminist. Along with promoting anti-slavery, he also fought for women’s rights and was one of few men, and the only African American man, to attend the Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls. Due to Douglass’ leadership and efforts to end slavery, be a voice for the voiceless, and feminist movements, he is influential and important to the history of journalism.

The second journalism hero I learned more about was Mary Shadd. Mary Shadd was the first African American female journalist. She owned her own paper in Canada in 1853, the Provincial

Freeman, but could not even put her name on it because she was a Black woman. It was a weekly newspaper first published in March of 1853, making Shadd one of the first female journalists in Canada, and the first Black woman in Canada and North America to produce a newspaper.  Mary Shadd also had connections with Frederick Douglass. They both were fighting for anti-slavery laws and she is famously quoted for telling Douglass that as journalists they needed to “do more, talk less” if they wanted to see a change. During the Civil War, Shadd worked as a recruitment agent for the Union Army until she later moved to Washington D.C. to be a schoolteacher. Later in her life, Shadd decided to attend Howard University to pursue law studies and was also one of the first Black women to complete a law degree. 

The final journalistic legacy covered was The Black Press. The Black Press was a group of Black-owned newspapers in the pre-Civil War era that used their voices to help abolish slavery and other issues they wanted to see a change in. These papers aimed to attract and inspire the Black middle class of the time as they were the people who were capable of helping spark this change. Interestingly enough, these papers refrained from writing about slavery and other hardships and rather decided to

focus on the resilience and determination of Black writers to elicit this change. Notable papers that were a part of this era were The Freedom’s Journal started by John Russwurm and Samual Cornish. It was also the first Black-owned and operated paper. Frederick Douglass’ The North Star was also an influential paper in the Black Press. A few others included The Colored American Magazine and The People’s Advocate. These papers, along with many others, were significant in promoting anti-slavery efforts, emancipation advocacy and overall informing African Americans and being a voice for them throughout the Civil War era.