Bias Activity, Jennifer Carbert

Good writers have a world view and an opinion. Opinions give a writer an angle and often encourage the writer to find the story. Yet these opinions and world views can sometimes come across as biased if the writer is not careful. Articles covering the death of the Georgian luge athlete at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics did a decent job of keeping bias out of articles while still presenting different views of the accident. Stories taken from The Seattle Times, The Vancouver Sun, and Time Online all talked to the Olympic organizers as well as other athletes at the games who use that track either for luge, bobsledding, or skeleton races. Vancouver is the host for the Olympics this year, they have a bias is wanted to present Vancouver as doing a good job of organizing the games. The Seattle Times has advertising from Budweiser which is supporting the Olympics games, the Vancouver Sun has numerous Olympic advertisements showing a strong opening for biased opinions from advertisers. Within the stories themselves people who disapproved of how Vancouver has run the games, or didn't want the games in Vancouver stand to gain; however, presented with the other bias VANOC (Vancouver Olympic Committee) stands to benefit from good press. The Seattle Times articles judges the Vancouver Olympic games, later the articles turns around and becomes better balanced. The Vancouver Sun presented an article that was based from the Olympic committee perspective. All three articles are written by different people and the opinions of the writer flow out through the order in which they put the information, the sources and the word choices. All the articles end in a balanced matter having presented both sides of the story and shown great respect to Nodar Kumaritashvili, however the opinions driving the writer to investigate the article are present.

Links:

Image: http://www.randomfate.net/MT/images/biased.gif

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2011056216_apolyluglugerdies.html

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/olympics/article7025669.ece

http://www.vancouversun.com/sports/2010wintergames/sports/2010wintergames/Georgian+president+says+fatal+luge+accident+athlete+fault/2561957/story.html

Evaluating Ryerson.ca/journalism, Kris Hoyt

Overall Content:

The point of the website is ultimately to advertise the journalism program in Ryerson University. It mentions that the students learn their trade on the streets under the tutelage of professionals. As it has a list of all faculty, I can search to see whether or not this is true. It also claims that the magazine the program publishes won awards, although the actual site for the magazine does not make any reference. It also states that journalists claim that the school is one of the best, but they do not mention any specific professionals.

Author:

The author of the site is presumably under the employ of Ryerson University, and the site is obviously made to promote the University. The purpose of the site is to convince people interested in the Journalism program to attend their School.Links:

I could not find a specific author.

Links:

Most of the relevant links lead to other Journalism sites. These sites include Poynter and other such sources, looking at journalsim itself and smaller issues that fall under journalism, such as religion.

Piture was found at http://www.downtownyonge.com/files/images/Ryerson%20Rendering.jpg

Evaluating "To Find People, Think Before You Click", Ricki Cundliffe, Megan Perras

Link to WEBSITE

Overall Content:

The purpose of the webpage is to inform the public as well as journalists how to properly search for a person/topic online. The information is factual due to the fact that it comes from a professional journalist. There is no product being sold, or organization being advertised.

The information is complete, the author is named, and his qualifications are as follows- Julian Sher is an award-winning investigative journalist in print, TV, radio, and on the Web, yet that doesn't stop him from not editing her work throughly: "Now imagine you tried to the same searches 20 years ago before he web existed." We found this grammatical error in his blog entry.

The intended audience is for any and all internet users, specifically journalists or writers or investigators.

Compare With Other Resources:

This blog entry is non-specific, but it is relative to online and it is online. Information concerning Internet usage should originate from online sources for convienience. You would not necessarily have to go through another source to verify Sher's information as he is a professional and he has working links to all of the websites that aid in an Internet search for your convenience.

Sher's blog was published on July 29, 2009. Historical materials are not necessary, though current sites and social networking links help ensure accuracy and timeliness.

Author:

Julian Sher is the creator and webmaster of JournalismNet, and is an award-winning documentary TV producer. He has written five books. He is also an Internet trainer and consultant for top media clients around the globe. As stated above, Julian Sher is an award-winning investigative journalist using many mediums.

The information given is factual rather than opinon and biased.

The website where his blog is posted is "People Search Pro", which may have some lucrative motivations.

You cannot directly contact Sher, but you can comment freely on his blog article.

Check The Links:

Sher intertwines links to websites aiding in people search within his blog. They are comprehensive links and they also give you a variety of choices in which internet search mode you would like to use.

Note: Image From: http://www.peoplesearchpro.com/journalism/images/juliansher2.jpg

Evaluating "The Darfur Blog," Jesse, Terra and Jayme

Accuracy in "The Darfur Blog"

Links
This site links to other sites around the web that can verify what the author has written. Some stories have more links than others, but for the most part links are ubiquitious. One link we clicked on brought us to The Washington Times' home page, which was not relavent to the link name. Links should be directed to the appropiate data it's refrencing. Most links are overly generic and don't give the reader insight to the story itself. One link brought us to The China View's webpage which seemed credible because we were able to research the author and editor of the article.

Displaying Author's Names
There is no direct attribution to the author's names, the name is printed but there is no link complements the name. There is no established credibility because it is a blog, but there is wide selection of links to bring you to more well known news sites.


Timeliness
The latest blog entry was from August 20, 2009 which means it is not constantly updated and verified. That is likely why the links no longer took the reader to the appropriate article but rather the homepage. The author probably hasn't used his computer in quite some time.


Note: photo from Static

Evaluating "The Journalism School-Columbia University", Claire Theobald

Overall Content:- The purpose of the web page is to educate the reader on the Journalism Program at Columbia University. Used to Advertise? Why yes, yes it is.
-The information on the web page is presumably correct (however, I don't feel like calling the university to grill them on the information on their web page. I'll just take their word for it)
-Although the specific author is not named (as in the creator) it is labeled with Columbia Universities brand, and contains in it extensive contact information.
Compare With Other Resources:
-As this website is hosted by Columbia University, and is about Columbia University, I would speculate that it may be a fairly credible source when it comes to facts.
-You for sure should contemplate a secondary source, just because the web site looks good doesn't mean you should throw tuition money at the all willy nillie.
-It seems to be current and up to date
-It seems to cover the program content fairly well, however it focuses merely on the positive aspects and does not give voice to those who may wish to raise concerns (for painfully obvious reasons)
Author:-Although there is no specific "author", the website does drop several names that can be used to verify it's credibility.
-Well, Columbia is pretty credible and a well known institutuion so it seems to be pretty well set in that aspect...
-Of course there is bias, it is advertising the Journalism program! It WANTS applicants
Check the Links:-The links are utilised mainly to navigate the internal structure of the Columbia website, specifically throughout issues that would concern Journalism students.

*picture stolen from the wiki

Evaluating "CAJ: The Canadian Association of Journalists," Aden Cruz

Overall Content

• CAJ's website is designed to inform and update CAJ members. It also provides the general public with information regarding what CAJ does, as well as ways to contact CAJ. There are also general information available regarding journalism, such as ethics, guidelines, and principles.
• It was last updated January 2010, and is quite up to date.
• The intended audience are those in the Journalism profession as well as those with related inquiries such as public relations.

Compare With Other Resources

• Though information in this website appears to be accurate, it is very limited compared to other websites, like Poynter and J-Source, that provide more in-depth information in topics relating to journalism.
• Secondary sources would definitely be needed as content is limited.

Author

• The producer of the content is the Association it self.
• Bias is not apparent as the site simply serves to inform for the most part. However, it is also designed to get members to join.
• Under "contact", members of their executive committee is listed. They all appear to be working editors or journalists.
• Affiliates include CNW Group, Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Marketwire and CBC Radio.

Check the Links

• The links are mostly internal.
• Links to affiliates.

Note: Image from CAJ Website http://www.caj.ca/

"The Canadian journalism project" (Jennifer and Pam)

J-Source is a Canadian journalism site where journalists can find facts, opinions, tools, advice, and connections.

Overall Content

The prupose of the page is to present information about journalism and provide connections with others in the business. There is no reason for the information to be fabricated, there is also a long list of resources which can be used to to backcheck as well as links to original sources. There is no advertisments in the site to sway it on any point of interest. The author is clearly identified with current dates visible on all articles. This site is directed towards Canadian journalism and aspiring journalists from Canada offering information on schools, useful resources and mentors.

Compare with Other Resources

As compared to books and hard copy aricles this site runs circles around them. The information is up-to-date, visible in real time, and porivdes a wide range of information and topics related to Canada. It is easily searchable with a seach engine limited to this specific web site, and creates relevant and useful links to other places in the web. The web stie is news orientated therefore requires timely up-to -date information. Historical material is welcomed for refrence but not necessary.

Author

Authors differ by story, however the site was originally created in 1999 and has been well kept since with a large list of Editors and Managers. The founding Editor was Ivor Shapiro from the Ryerson University. The main editors are professors from Canadian Univeristies that teach Journalism. The authors have attempted from inform viewers of options for Canadian journalists and some of the issues related to being a journalist in Canada. The website is sponsored by The Canadian Journalism Foundation and leading journalism schools in Canada. It is a national project run by many instiutions in Canada. There is easily accesible contact information for the home office as well as the Editors.

Check the Links

There are no cleary stated rules for links, the majority of them seem to be up-to-date and in working order. They link to a range of information from all over the web that could be found elsewhere, but creates an easy atmosphere for curious poeople to investigate.