WEBINAR – REPORTING CREDIBLE NEWS USING DIGITAL MEDIA
DISCUSSION GUIDE FOR A WEBINAR FROM THE OFFICE OF THE U.S. SPEAKER PROGRAM
This Discussion Guide is designed for virtual programming at American Spaces to create a greater awareness of issues related to a free and ethical press.
ACCESS TO VIDEO
Link: https://vimeo.com/212293938
Password: cairo2017
Duration: 72 minutes
Recorded: April 5, 2017
Posts: Cairo, Egypt
Speaker: Vince Gonzales
TIPS on Virtual Programming
- Once downloaded, you can capture the video feed with OBS or another streaming tool. You can upload it to your social media account to host a watch party.
- Consider inviting a local expert or U.S. official to facilitate discussion during and after the webinar.
- Preview the video beforehand to determine which parts you will show.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Vince Gonzales is a veteran broadcaster whose area of expertise is investigative journalism. Prior to working as a professor at the Annenberg School of the University of Southern California, Mr. Gonzales served as a correspondent for both CNN and CBS News. He received his BA Degree from the State University of New York, Brockport and his MA from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Mr. Gonzales is passionate about the role that journalism plays in a democratic society. According to him:
[Journalism] is the one profession listed in the constitution of the United States. Our job is not to tell people what to think, not to tell them how to vote, not to tell them what to believe – but to give them the information they need to walk into the voting booth and be a responsible citizen.
Vince Gonzales
RESOURCES
- Cat Park toolkit – learn how to counter disinformation in a game designed for mobile devices.
Useful Links
- American Spaces Media Literacy Toolkit
- The Newseum has online materials, including self- paced courses on disinformation and media literacy.
- The Importance of Media Literacy – YALI
- Media Literacy 5 Core Concepts – YALI
- Virtual Programming Toolkit
Key Terms
- Fragmented Media – the increasing number of news sites and outlets
- Eyeballs – a slang media term for saying how many readers, viewers, listeners a particular media source has.
- Cross Platform Journalism – distributing news through numerous platforms, such as social media, broadcast, print, photography and internet sites.
- One sided story – showing only a part of a complicated or controversial issue.
- Balanced Story – refers to a news report that discusses all views of a particular story and leaves it to the readers to make a decision.
- Anonymous News Source – some sources, for a variety of reasons, will not reveal the identity of the informant.
About the Webinar
In this presentation, Professor Gonzales discusses the current multi-media digital platforms and why journalists must maintain the ethical standards of the traditional media outlets if they are to be considered credible and trustworthy. Professor Gonzales also looks at how traditional print and broadcast outlets have adapted to the new digital environment by developing ways to repurpose their stories in order to gain audiences on social media platforms such as their own internet websites, Facebook and Twitter.
Discussion Questions
Preview the video beforehand to determine which parts of the webinar you will show. Also, consider stopping the webinar periodically to engage your audience with the below questions.
- What platforms (social media, news websites, newspapers, podcasts, etc.) do you use to access news stories?
- Which news outlets do you normally read and why?
- What makes a credible news source?
- When should a journalist attribute information in a story?
The views expressed in these links and resources do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. government.
Updated April 2023
