Page 4 - Dinuba Sentinel 1-24-19 E-edition

Opinion
In My Opinion
A4 | Thursday, Janauary 24,, 2019
Occasionally the simplest
of endeavors can become complicated far beyond one’s
wildest imagination. Being fed a daily diet of what contemporaneously passes for journalism, I thought I would check- -of all sources--the internet to see what is being taught these days. Yes, it’s garbage.
Out of page after page of phony practitioners, it was really a disappointment that only a couple of “platforms” even had an inkling of what the standards of this profession should be. Asone“clicks”throughthesites,
a dead giveaway of a complete know- nothing would be an article by some soy-boy expounding on the methods for driving up the number of clicks onyoursite. Immediatelyonefeels thequicksandofignorance. Someone should have taught him that this business isn’t about sensationalism or agenda promotion. It’s about straight- forward, honest writing and reporting— notviewsorclicks!
Journalism today is busy committing suicide! That’s not just my opinion, you cancheckforyourself! Thatstatement is inclusive of many of the larger journalistic operations that were—at one time—considered the gold standard ofourindustry. Aparticularbitofcrap (pleaseexcusemyuseofthetermbut nothing else fit) published by The New York Times about a week ago accused DonaldTrump,intheirheadline,of working for the Russians.
The problem with that was there was absolutely nothing presented anywhere inthestoryinthewayofproof. All theirsourcingwasanonymous. That, alone, is an absolute no-no! There
was a time people would have been summarily fired for such reporting. Sadly, not today.
It may not be a subject over which people get wildly excited, but because it is a part of everyone’s daily life, I would beg your indulgence for a few minutes while we discuss some of the elements that were once required to meet journalistic standards for reporting agencies and organizations. Yes, here were standards not so long ago nor far, faraway. Storieswereactuallysourced, by more than one person.
Journalistic ethics and standards comprise the principles of ethics and good practices which are specifically applicable to challenges for those
who hold themselves forward as practitioners of journalism. This specific subset of media ethics known to and identified by journalists as their “professional code” or the “canons of journalism.” Followingarethefive core principles of journalism. We hope it will provide a larger picture for you, the reader, to help guide you through the daily dump of information that is happening in this country.
Number one would be truth and accuracy: Althoughajournalistcannot always guarantee “truth” getting the facts right is the cardinal rule. We should always strive for accuracy, provide all the relevant facts we
have and make sure they have been checked. When we cannot corroborate information we should say so.
Number two is independence: Journalists must be independent
Guest Column
Arti cial Intelligence wants W toreprogramyou
Fred Hall
voices; we should not act, formally or informally, on behalf of special interests whether political, corporate or culture. We should declare to our editors—or our audience—any of our political affiliations, financial
Fred Hall - Publisher Rick Curiel - Editor
Truth should be at the root of all journalism
arrangements or other personal information that might constitute a conflict of interest.
Number three is impartiality: Most stories have at least two sides. While there is no obligation to present every side in every piece, stories should be balanced and add context. Objectivity may not always be possible and may not always be desirable (for example, in the face of brutality or inhumanity) but impartial reporting builds trust and confidence.
Number four is humanity: Journalistsshoulddonoharm. What we publish or broadcast may be hurtful, but we should be aware of the impact of our words and images on the lives of others.
Number five is accountability: A sure sign of professionalism and responsiblejournalismistheabilityto holdourselvesaccountable. Whenwe commit errors we must correct them and our expressions of regret must be sincereandnotcynical. Welistento the concerns of our audience. We may not change what readers write or say but we will always provide remedies when we are unfair.
Although it is not specifically addressed in the five preceding rules, we have a real problem with media’s newfound fascination with advocacy journalism.
Personally, I have a real problem with the words being used in conjunction with each other. If the piece is written in advocacy it belongs on the op-ed page and if it’s straight matter reporting then it belongs in the paper’s news hole. We’ve seen far too many newspapers— some of them in the local area—which publish stories that are little more than hit pieces.
Realizing that this column was written to be informative and apolitical, I still hope that many of you will find some useful information contained with my weekly ramblings. The professional standards which I outlined will eventually lead to the internet becoming pure entertainment because of their inexperienced, unprofessional writers having no idea that there are even standards which apply to our trade.
A giant step toward that end would be for all these sites to be declared “publishers” instead of “platforms.” That simple movement would results in everyone coming under the application of libel laws. The threat of huge financiallosseswouldquicklystop some of the idiocy and they would function on a level playing field with professionals on television and in the newspapers.
But, as always, that’s only one man’s opinion.
Fred Hall is publisher of the Dinuba Sentinel.
In My Opinion
Hollywood's fat-shaming is getting old
In the new film Isn’t It Romantic, actress Rebel Wilson plays a woman who suffers an injury and wakes up trapped inside a romantic comedy. The trailer shows one incredibly attractive man after another making romantic gestures to her.
Rebel Wilson, I should note, played “Fat Amy” in Pitch Perfect. She was the fat girl, the comic relief — not the romantic lead.
Last year, Amy Schumer’s movie I Feel Pretty is similar: She’s an unattractive-feeling woman who hits her head and wakes up with tremendous self-esteem.
Both films put women who aren’t exactly Hollywood’s ideal of feminine beauty at the center of romantic comedies. In each, the gag is that a “fat ugly girl” either believes that she’s beautiful or that men do.
I grew up on a steady diet of romantic comedies in a household dominated by a fat-phobic mother who berated us every time we put food in our mouths.
It was the 1990s, when fat was public enemy No. 1. My mom would buy low fat and fat free snack products, and even chips with the fake fat Olestra a few times. The Olestra chips tasted great, but by then I had such a link between junk food and guilt that I couldn’t eat them and enjoy them.
Food has been a struggle almost my entire life, from about the age of 10. As a teen and in my early 20s I tried several strict diets of various sorts. I gave up French fries, I limited myself to one order of my college cafeteria’s chicken tenders a month, I tried to give up chocolate but it didn’t work. I still can’t enjoy certain foods because they are too fattening.
In my 20s, I found a new route to take. Instead of worrying about fat, I’d worry about health. I became a food writer and, for a time, a vegan. I researched the heck out of every aspect of food, ultimately getting interested in agriculture. I’m now working on my PhD, researching
Jill Richardson
cattle ranchers.
Here’s what I’ve learned in
adulthood. My obsession with only eating the healthiest food all of the time was unhealthy. Instead of focusing on fat and calories, I got serious about my mental health and, as that improved, food got easier. The cravings went away, weight came off, and I tell myself it’s OK to just eat food I like even if
ith chaos in the White “machines are House, worsening climate straightforward.” disasters, more wars than Indeed, so
Sentinel rowback
Photo contributed
we can count, and a wobbling economy here at home, the last thing we need is another big challenge. But — look out! — here comes a doozy!
It’s AI — artificial intelligence — the fast-evolving science of autonomous machines that can think, learn, and even reproduce themselves.
Consider self-driving vehicles. Once the stuff of science fiction, the future
is suddenly upon us, with Google, Daimler, and GM rolling out driverless taxis, commercial trucks, and even cars with no steering wheel or gas and brake pedals.
An army of corporate lobbyists is rushing to legislative halls, literally changing the rules of the road to allow full deployment of these vehicles.
What about the hundreds of thousands of professional drivers who’ll lose their jobs? Not our problem, say the financiers and AI barons who’d profit from a mass bot- mobile conversion. Besides, as AI champion David Autor coldly asserts, those drivers get sick, take vacations, etc. “People are messy,” he notes;
Jim Hightower
straightforward that these two-ton, non- sentient “drivers” will be driving straight at a world of defenseless pedestrians. Already, one of Uber’s experimental cars killed an Arizona
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it’s not good for me sometimes. (Also, I’m still fat by Hollywood standards, and I think I look OK.)
I also learned that my attraction to people has very little to do with their weight or their appearance. When I fall hard for someone, it’s purely because of who they are on the inside. That doesn’t mean I don’t find certain people physically attractive and others unattractive; I do. But in love and relationships, it’s inner beauty that matters to me.
Hollywood and rom coms didn’t cause the trouble in my household, but they fed into it. And given the size of the weight loss industry, the popularity of rom coms, and the fact that we can only see a fat girl as a romantic lead if she hits her head and wakes up in an alternate reality, I wasn’t alone.
In real life, people of all shapes, sizes, and colors are the romantic leads in their own lives. Instead of portraying this, Hollywood still thinks of a fat girl as a romantic lead is a hilarious joke. Movies like these might not cause harmful cultural trends like the fatphobia I grew up with, but they feed into them. It’s time Hollywood was more responsible with the messages it sends.
OtherWords columnist Jill Richardson is pursuing a PhD in sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She lives in San Diego. Distributed by OtherWords.org.
pedestrian last year.
We can fix that, says Andrew Ng, a
prominent AI investor: They just have to be reprogrammed.
By “they,” Ng doesn’t mean the self-driving machines — he means pedestrians! “Please be lawful,” he scolds, “and please be considerate” of the computer-driven vehicles. Give right-of-way to the new technology!
So, don’t just prepare yourself for A Brave New World of automation. Prepare to be re-educated so you interact properly with machines and don’t get in their way.
OtherWords columnist Jim Hightower is a radio commentator, writer, and public speaker.
In this week's Sentinel Throwback, the Dinuba Sentinel pays homage to the family behind this publication's history. The above photo was on display at a memorial service held Saturday at the Alta District Historical Society for former owner of the Dinuba Sentinel Diane Raison. She is pictured here with husband, Bob, and her parents, whose family owned the Dinuba Sentinel since 1914. Bob Raison, who was present at Saturday's memorial service, thanked those in attendance for reminding him how lucky he was to be marrried to Diane. In a 2009 article, marking the 100th anniversary of the Dinuba Sentinel, Bob wrote, "Diane, who grew up in the business, has been my constant helpmate, advisor and co-worker. I would not have made it without her never-failing support."
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