Introduction
In the recent weeks, American airwaves have been filled with heated debates over Mr. Donald Sterling’s racial remarks. There have been accusations and counteraccusations, as well as legal battles in different media over Donald’s remarks and the sale of Los Angeles Clippers. In this paper, the main objective is to highlight constituents of good quality journalism and its role in the society. In an attempt to meet this objective, two stories covering the Donald’s saga have been chosen: TMZ.com and New York Times. These stories/articles will be analyzed as I seek to illuminate on what constitutes good quality journalism and its role in the society.
My view of Good Quality Journalism and its Role in the Society
With respect to journalism, quality is a highly contested issue, and analysis of various literatures highlights variations in opinions of what is meant by quality journalism. To some, quality journalism does not have a bias within news reports (Waldman, 2011). In other words, such news are presented in an objective manner. Another school of thought suggests that quality journalism has ethically sound and realistic news reporting (Christians & Glasser, 2009). The challenge of defining what constitutes quality journalism is based on the difficulty of attaining balance and objectivity in any human record of events (Christians & Glasser, 2009). In line with this, quality journalism is based on rigorous sourcing, as well as evidence building, with dedication to fact checking. I second this propositions as to what constitutes good quality journalism.
In addition, journalism plays a significant role in society. Journalism acts as the society’s watchdog, watchtower (Anderson, Williams & Ogola, 2013). It informs the society, educates the society in order to bring positive change (MaQuail, 2013). Whereas there are other roles of journalism such as entertainment, with respect to the objective of this paper, the educative/informative, watchdog and moderation roles of journalism will be evaluated.
Overview of the Selected Stories
Cacciola and Witz of the New York Times begin by bringing into focus the basis of Mr. Donald’s saga. According to Cacciola and Witz (2014), the entire story began from a recorded phone call in which Mr. Donald was captured suggesting to a female friend that she should avoid associating herself with Black people in public. The voice recording of Mr. Donald’s call was posted online by an authoritative online portal, TMZ.com. Apparently, Donald commanded her female friend not to bring Black people to the stands during matches, including Magic Johnson, a retired Black basketball star. Amazingly, Mr. Donald owns a basketball club, Los Angeles Clippers club that is dominated by Black stars.
Following these revelations, there were a burst of reactions from different circles, as people condemned Mr. Donald’s remarks. Many were hurt by Mr. Donald’s outrageous remarks and some warned that, so long as he is still the owner of the club, they would never attend a Clippers match. Mr. Donald’s remarks angered the National Basketball Association (N.B.A) and in a statement released to newsrooms, N.B.A was quoted saying that Mr. Donald’s remarks hinder the association’s goal of having inclusion and diversity in the league.
Cacciola and Witz (2014) highlight the remarks made Association’s boss, Mr. Silver. Mr. Silver stated that quick investigations would be conducted to ascertain the basis on those remarks. He was cautious in his statement saying that the due process will take its course, and if found guilty, Mr. Donald would face serious penalties.
The article authored by Cacciola and Witz highlights further the constituents of that phone call. Providing a link to TMZ.com’s voice file of the phone call, these authors breakdown to their audience the finer details. They note that in that phone interview Mr. Donald told her female friend that he was angered by her behavior in which she broadcasted a picture of herself and a Black person, Mr. Jonson, on Instagram. Quoting Mr. Donald’s statements, these authors highlight that Mr. Donald was angered by her female friend’s association with black people. In fact, he informed her female friend that he was saddened to see her bring Black people to basketball games. In addition, these authors provide a second piece of evidence that was posted on TMZ.com. In this case, Mr. Donald was quoted saying that he feeds, provides clothes and shelter, as well as cars, to Clippers players; players of the club he owns.
Cacciola and Witz (2014) further point out that Mr. Donald has been in the limelight over his perceived discrimination. In 2009, these reporters highlight that Mr. Donald was fined $2.74 million over a discrimination case. In that incident, Donald was accused by the Housing Department for racially discriminating against Latino and African American families. Families with children from these ethnic groups were driven out of the apartments he owns. Mr. Donald paid the fine, but denied that he did not act in a discriminatory manner. Furthermore, these authors highlight another previous incident in which Mr. Donald was sued by Elgin Baylor, a former executive at clippers, and a Black.
TMZ.com’s broadcast
This online portal was the origin of this case, and it has led to a series of reactions, court cases, and milestone decisions. Posted my TMZ.com’s staff (2014), the phone call voice file had provided proof to the allegations staged against Mr. Donald. Maybe because of security reasons, this website did not name the author of the Donald’s story. In that post, the website’s staff provided excerpts from a phone call records. TMZ.com gives excerpts from the phone call; this is massive evidence to their audience. From their post, anyone can see the racial discrimination remarks that were parroted by Mr. Donald. This post also brought into focus Mr. Donald’s previous lawsuits (housing and Mr. Elgin Baylor’s cases). From their post, their audience can tell that Mr. Donald has a history of discrimination cases; therefore, what they had reported was not new.
Comparison of the Two Posts
As noted earlier, good quality journalism is based on rigorous sourcing, as well as evidence building, with dedication to fact checking. Both posts have convincing sourcing and solid evidence. In the first post, Cacciola and Witz begin by bringing into focus the basis of Mr. Donald’s saga. According to these authors, the entire story began from a recorded phone call in which Mr. Donald was captured suggesting to a female friend that she should avoid associating herself with Black people in public. The video recording of Mr. Donald’s call was posted online by an authoritative online portal, TMZ.com. Apparently, Donald commanded her female friend not to bring Black people to the stands during matches, including Magic Johnson, a retired basketball star. Amazingly, Mr. Donald owns a basketball club, Los Angeles Clippers club that is dominated by Black stars. These reporters provide a link to an audio file that documents the phone call. In addition, they provide another link in which Mr. Donald is captured unleashing discriminatory remarks towards his former club’s players.
Likewise, the second post, which is the source of the entire story provides a voice recording that illuminates Mr. Donald’s racist remarks. Additionally, the second post highlights word by word the conversation between Mr. Donald and his female friend. In addition, these posts highlight previous cases in which Mr. Donald has been sued over his racist behavior. This element brings out the aspects of evidence building and dedication to fact checking. These two posts highlight that in 2009, Mr. Donald was fined $2.74 million over a discrimination case. In that incident, Donald was accused by the Housing Department for racially discriminating against Latino and African American families. Families with children from these ethnic groups were driven out of the apartments he owns. Again, Mr. Donald was sued by Elgin Baylor, a former executive at clippers, and a Black.
Post that illuminates good quality Journalism
On a scale of 1-10, I would give the second post (TMZ.com article) a score of 9/10. Quality journalism, as noted earlier, does not have a bias within news reports. In other words, such news are presented in an objective manner. In addition, quality journalism has ethically sound and realistic news reporting. TMZ.com meets this description. It took the hard task of investigating the racist behavior Mr. Donald. It did its homework and stumbled on a solid piece of evidence that has finally chopped off Mr. Donald’s ugly mask of racism. This medium does not only provide evidence, but also a historical view of the issue at hand; it has no bias in its reporting. The truth of the matter at hand has been reported in an ethical manner. Besides, this is a demonstrating of the political economy of the media. TMZ.com’s popularity has grown following the publication of Mr. Donald’s story, and for a website, the higher the traffic, the higher the returns.
Moreover, the two posts have demonstrated the role of journalism in the society. As indicated at the beginning of this paper, journalism acts as the society’s watchdog, watchtower. It informs the society, educates the society in order to bring positive change. The watchdog role has been exemplified by TMZ.com. This medium has managed to track and report the ugly side of Mr. Donald, and allowed for positive transformation. Mr. Donald was forced to sale Clippers and banned from associating himself with basketball. Though the efforts of TMZ.com, racism has been boxed out of the N.B.A. The informative or educative role has been played by both posts. The two articles highlight to the society current proceedings in the world of sports.
Conclusion
This paper has managed to highlight what constituents of good quality journalism and its role in the society by evaluating articles posted in New York Times and TMZ.com. TMZ.com has stood out as a leader in journalism by investigating, tracking and reporting Mr. Donald’s racist behavior. This paper has shown that quality journalism does not only have rigorous sourcing, but evidence building and dedication to fact checking. Besides, quality journalism has ethically sound, non-biased and realistic news reporting. Both articles that have been evaluated have proven to have these qualities.
References
Anderson, J., Williams, M., and Ogola, G. (2013). The Future of Quality News Journalism: A Cross-Continental Analysis. London: Routledge.
Cacciola, S. and Witz, B. (2014). N.B.A. Investigating Racial Remarks Tied to Clippers Owner. Retrieved June 13, 2014 from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/27/sports/basketball/nba- clippers-owner-donald-sterling.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3As#
Christians, C., and Glasser, L. (2009). Normative Theories of the Media: Journalism in Democratic Societies. Illinois: University of Illinois Press.
MaQuail, D. (2013). Journalism and Society. New York: SAGE.
TMZ Staff (2014).
L.A. Clippers Owner to GF: Don't Bring Black People to My GamesIncluding Magic Johnson. Retrieved June 13, 2014 from http://www.tmz.com/2014/04/26/donald-sterling-clippers-owner-black-people-racist- audio-magic-johnson/#
Waldman, S. (2011). Information Needs of Communities: The Changing Media Landscape in a Broadband Age. Philadelphia: Diane.
