The Buzz - 27 September 2011
In this week's Buzz: the state of investigative journalism, video games as an educational tool for reporters and CNN journalists open up on their most embarassing reporting mistakes.
1) Mark Thompson worries for the state of investigative journalism
BBC director general Mark Thompson has expressed concern over the increasingly routine demands by state authorities for media organisations to reveal confidential sources. While he's aware of the public pressure for more regulation of the press following the News of the World phone hacking scandal, he warns that over-zealousness hampers the media's ability to conduct investigations. The Guardian has the story.
2) Video games: helping war journalists stay alive on the front line
Former ABC journalist Tony Maniaty believes that video games may offer a valuable training to keeping war correspondents alive as they risk life and limb chasing stories in the heat of battle. Maniaty, who provided coverage of the first Gulf War and broke the Balibo Five story in East Timor, also expressed concern about the accurate portrayal of conflict reporting.
3) A vicious cycle of political gotchas.
The Sunday Age's Farrah Tomazin writes how Victorian's politicians have been quick to make use of the "gotcha journalism" and shallow analysis that she believes the media has increasingly adopted.
4) CNN Reporters confess their biggest journalism mistakes
Batteries in a tape recorder running out mid interview, accidentally including Wales as part of England on a map, trying (and failing) to come up with a witty headline involving Madonna and 'Snakes on a Plane'... these are just some of the biggest journalism mistakes CNN reporters have made. In this article, journalists open up about some of their reporting errors which, while they can laugh about them now, must have had them seriously worried at the time.
5) Unneccesary journalism phrases
Without a doubt, there are some cliched phrases that journalists often use. Chris Pash has been keeping track of them in The Australian via his 'Cliche of the Week' column. Now there is also a Tumblr blog documenting all those tortured turns of phrase.
Mark Thompson
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