cattle drive

Herd Journalism. I like this. Puts a nice spin around coverage the 1996 murder of JonBenet Ramsey. I guess in JonBenet's case there would also be a Blunder Herd pushed on by the stampede of Herding Stupids. But back to “guilty until proven innocent” in Herd Journalism--

A Great Example of “Herd Journalism"
Posted in News Print Writing 2009
by Xiada Laoshi

"...When bias seeps into a newsroom it can drown a story before it even starts. This manifests in the “guilty until proven innocent” coverage of breaking crime stories (examples in the US: O.J. Simpson, JonBenet Ramsey, Michael Jackson).

Journalists assume they know what the outcome of the story will be, so they slant their coverage in order to appear like they were right all along.

Trying to separate themselves from the herd, reporters are overeager to report new information. As soon as one writer throws up information, another will immediately republish it as fact without first checking the accuracy of the info.[...read more]




News Print Writing 2009 is the course Web site for Miles McKenna. This course is run through the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Xiamen, China.