Case Studies
Charles Porter, an amateur photographer, took a Pulitzer-winning photo of a firefighter and the body of a baby girl after this terrorist attack.
What is the Oklahoma City Bombing?
The flag-raising at this WWII battle was captured by Joe Rosenthal in a possibly-staged photograph.
What is Iwo Jima?
This Supreme Court case involving two Planned Parenthood doctors established a constitutional right to privacy for private individuals.
What is Griswold v. Connecticut?
These areas can be urban or rural, and tend to be places where people are more impoverished and are less educated. They are also areas without any regular local news coverage.
What are news deserts?
Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, or WELL, was the first one of these.
What are social media platforms?
This photojournalist and member of the "Bang Bang Club" died by suicide after winning the Pulitzer for a photograph of a starving child in Sudan.
Who is Kevin Carter?
These two journalists were murdered by angry sources for covering malfeasance in local government, nearly a century apart.
This NBC program hosted by Chris Hansen organized meet-ups between would-be pedophiles and actors pretending to be underage.
What is "To Catch a Predator"?
The journalists in this case lied about their resume and employment history to get jobs at a national grocery chain, which led the court to rule they were trespassing.
What is Food Lion v. Capital Cities/ABC?
This is a workplace condition that results from continued stress that has been improperly managed.
What is burnout?
When the news seems to ignore cases of indigenous women who have gone missing, it can be a symptom of this unproven media tactic.
What is "missing white woman syndrome"?
Nellie Bly spent ten days undercover in one of these to document the poor quality of care there.
What is a mental institution, or "mad house"?
In "The Blast Effect," the Washington Post showed illustrations that depicted this potentially violent content.
Brian Walski, a photographer for the Los Angeles Times, made this ethical editing mistake while on assignment in Iraq.
What is creating a composite image by combining multiple photographs into one?
This legal technique allows large corporations or powerful people to stifle protected speech, even if they know they'll likely lose a defamation suit.
What is a SLAPP suit?
The Texas Tribune is one of these news organizations that focus on charitable donations as a primary source of revenue.
What are non-profit newsrooms?
This type of law protects reporters from being forced to reveal confidential sources. [IGNORE FOR FALL 2024 -- IT IS NOT ON YOUR EXAM]
What is a shield law? [IGNORE FOR FALL 2024 -- IT IS NOT ON YOUR EXAM]
This national politics reporter was unusually transparent in his journalism when he posted photographs of his notebook to Twitter.
Who is David Fahrenthold?
Photographer John Harte took a photo of a family experiencing this tragic event at Hart Park in Bakersfield, California.
What is the drowning of a child?
Citing a conflict of interest, these two media organizations said "no thanks" to being included in the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) algorithm which determined the top teams in college football.
What are the AP and ESPN?
This Supreme Court case involving a Southern sheriff established the actual malice standard for defamation cases against public officials and public figures.
What is The New York Times v. Sullivan?
This type of false information is spread when the one sharing it doesn't know it is false.
What is misinformation?
This concept, which allows sources to share information not for publication, must be agreed to by source and reporter before the information is shared.
What is off-the-record?
This reporter made the controversial decision to jump into the surf to help a sinking boat of refugees get to shore.
Who is Ed Bradley?
The popular interpretation of David Hanig’s tongue map is primarily an example of this kind of false information.
What is misinformation?
This satirical disinformation campaign helped show how quickly conspiracies can spread — and how difficult it is to counteract them.
What is Birds Aren't Real?
This journalist sued her employer after they barred her from covering issues of sexual assault.
Who is Felicia Sonmez?
This Enlightenment movement concept guides the ethical aims of most journalists' today, and means a rational, replicable and observable definition of truth.
What is objectivity?
In this 1972 study, McCombs and Shaw researched what voters believed were the top issues in an election, what the candidates talked about, and what the news media covered.
What is the Chapel Hill Study?
BONUS: What was the theory they coined in this study?
This Washington Post journalist covered Watergate, was Janet Cooke's editor, and interviewed Donald Trump about his COVID-19 response.
Who is Bob Woodward?
Who is Shane Bauer?
This news magazine darkened OJ Simpson's skin tone of his mugshot.
What is TIME?
OK so this one isn't a court case, BUT...
This technique, popularized by midcentury journalists like Tom Wolfe, blends literary writing techniques (like character, plot and narrative) with nonfiction storytelling.
What is the New Journalism?
These crime photos disproportionately depict people of color in news coverage.
What are arrest mugshots?
These healthy media-consumption and fact-checking techniques include:
Check for previous work. Go upstream to the source. Read laterally. Circle back. Check your emotions.
According to The Social Dilemma documentary, false news spreads this much faster than real news on Twitter (X).
What is six times faster?