American journalism's secrets revealed

 

Objectivity is declining in U.S. journalism, which is in danger of turning back the clock more than a century to a time when nearly every city in America had newspapers aligned with the Democratic and Republican parties. /Fox News image

American journalism was once widely known as the Fourth Estate, an elite sector of American society responsible for keeping an eye on the government and helping to inform the citizenry.

Now more commonly known as members of The Media, U.S. journalists walk a very fine line. Despite the necessity of a free press to serve as a bulwark of democracy, Americans are virulently skeptical about elites. There is little love for the fat cats of corporate boardrooms, political power mongers, ivory tower dwellers, or an arrogant know-it-all of any ilk.

It is hard to imagine a more public enterprise than journalism, but it is amazing how little the public knows about the inner workings of the Fourth Estate. In the spirit of benevolent know-it-allism, here is a glimpse of the newsroom's secret society:

• Headlines are the high art of journalism, whether they appear in print, online, television graphics, or at a radio broadcast's "top of the hour." The best headlines are promotional without overselling. Headline writing is a mysterious craft. The masters of this art are nameless and faceless editors, not the reporters seen on the street or working the phone gathering the news.
• Prior review of news stories has always been rare and is nearing extinction. Allowing people who serve as sources of news to review a story before publication or broadcast is a cumbersome process. When gathering news, a reporter assembles notes, video footage or audio snippets into a story format, then at least one editor massages the material into a final form. For prior review to be meaningful, it must occur after the editing process. One of the harsh realities of journalism is that only the most financially successful news magazines have the time and resources to accommodate prior review.
• Deadline pressure is intense in news media organizations. The sense of urgency is at least two-fold: avoiding the possibility of a competitor beating you to the punch and the fundamental truth that the best news is new not stale. As is the case in any industry, deadline pressure is one of the prime drivers of media errors.
• In America, journalism is a business, particularly if a news media organization produces quality content. Even in the blogosphere, which has been a democratizing force for the Fourth Estate, production of high-quality journalism is a high-cost venture. The public rightfully gravitates toward expertise and eye-catching presentation when consuming news. Expertise requires formal education or years of experience, neither of which comes cheap in America. Attractive presentation requires a knowledge of design and mastery of technology, which also come with a price.
• Story selection is a constant source of consternation in the public, but it reflects one of my best friend's favorite adages: be care what you ask for, you just might get it. Editors have always known sex and violence sells. With the rise of the Internet as a journalism medium, now editors have data that shows conclusively the kinds of stories that draw the public's interest. There are media outlets that consistently present important stories about government policy and community affairs, but there are many more that pander to prurient page clicks.
• Trust is the secret sauce of journalism. Reporters have to establish a level of trust with their sources to gather information that is often sensitive in nature. Editors have to trust their reporters are gathering accurate information and representing it truthfully. The public is best served when it can turn to trustworthy news organizations for information that affects individuals, families, communities and the country.

Ebola bares hospital training, disease control flaws

Nina Pham, a critical care nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, is the first American to contract Ebola on U.S. soil. /Image via pbs.org

Despite confident statements from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, America's first test treating an unexpected case of Ebola teetered on the brink of total failure.

Missteps at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, insufficient CDC protocols, and an apparent shortfall of preparedness across the public health spectrum have exposed gaping holes in capabilities to stave off potentially cataclysmic biological threats. As the crisis deepens, a moment of truth looms for U.S. health care.

Beyond containing the outbreak in Texas, there are colossal challenges in the weeks and months ahead:

• Rearranging the CDC's national response to Ebola on the fly
• Boosting preparedness at more than 4,000 acute care hospitals
• Restoring confidence in hospitals, both among caregivers and the general public

Russian Big Lie Watch: Lost Paratroopers in Ukraine

After Russian paratroopers were captured in Ukraine in late August 2014, they were quickly swapped for Ukranian prisoners of war. /AFP image

Big Lie: Ten Russian paratroopers captured recently in Ukraine "really did participate in a patrol of the Russian-Ukranian border, crossed it by accident at an unmarked section, and as far as we understand showed no resistance," the Russian Defense Ministry said according to the BBC.

Closer to the truth: "This wasn't a mistake, but a special mission they were carrying out," a Ukranian military spokesman said.

Ukraine bulwark against Russian aggression

A resident reacts to shelling damage in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, in August 2014. /CTV News image

Ukraine is a fledgling democracy, and young governments of the people are more imperfect than their mature counterparts such as Australia, Switzerland and the United States.

Vladimir Putin's Russia is imperfection incarnate.

The Russian president, ex-KGB officer, Judo expert and all-star power monger has pushed his James Bondesque villain game to an Ivan the Terrible level. In 2014, Putin has racked up a string of stains on humanity, from exterminating dogs at Sochi during the Winter Olympics to launching an aggressive war against Ukraine.

Putin's Russia, which ranks as an authoritarian regime in indexes of democracy, appears determined to re-establish key elements of the Soviet Union, including large chunks of Ukraine.

This is starting to look a lot like Stalin's Russia.

Russian tanks are invading an Eastern European country and the Kremlin has dusted off a propaganda tool imported from Nazi Germany during World War II: The Big Lie. Joseph Goebbels, who operated Hitler's propaganda machine, was the master of the WWII whopper: "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it."

For weeks, the Russians have been deploying The Big Lie about their military activity on Ukrainian soil. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov shamelessly fired up the propaganda machine, claiming NATO satellite photos showing heavily armed Russian military units conducting operations inside Ukraine had "turned out to be from video games."

NATO satellite imagery reportedly shows Russian military units operating inside eastern Ukraine.

Ferguson reminder about race in America

Police in riot gear confront protesters in Ferguson, Mo. The fatal police shooting of an unarmed African American teenager on Aug. 9 inflamed racial tensions in the St. Louis suburb. /Image via npr.org

Many Americans want racially charged issues to go away.

But the final steps in the country's 400-year-long journey through the pitfall-strewn landscape of racial injustice have yet to be taken.

Whether it fits into your view of the United States or not, the racially charged violence sparked by the police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., is an ugly reminder about the country's struggle to overcome centuries of bias against African Americans.

As long as African American teenagers walking down the street are at high-risk of being shot to death, America has more steps to take.

As long as white men think it is acceptable to drive around in their pickups with battlefield Confederate flags flying from the truck bed, America has more steps to take.

As long as nearly half of the people incarcerated in the United States are black, America has more steps to take.

Iraq War: Surge II decision looms after U.S. election

Marines maneuver in Umm Qasr during a hot phase of the Iraq War for U.S. forces. /U.S. Department of Defense photo

The Iraq War is far from over.

In yet another journalism tour de force, Frontline has laid bare the folly of two American presidents in Iraq. From George W. Bush's bumbling occupation of the country to Barack Obama's ill-fated rush to find an exit, successive U.S. administrations have been poking a hornet nest in the heart of the Middle East.

The Iraq War smeared Bush's legacy. As Iraq's bubbling cauldron of sectarian animosity between Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds threatens to explode, Obama's standing in the eyes of history now weighs in the balance.

If Obama is not pondering renewed intervention in Iraq, he should be.

With the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) threatening to overrun the central government in Baghdad, al-Qaeda and other groups openly hostile to the United States and its allies in the region are flourishing in the Fertile Crescent country.

The current occupant of the White House faces a challenge dripping with irony: Obama inherited the Iraq War from his predecessor, and he has wanted to disengage from Day 1 of his administration. Now, he faces the prospect of launching his own war in Iraq.

The clock is ticking.

If Obama intervenes to rescue Iraq from chaos, he would likely doom many Democrats running for Congress in November. The Iraqi state could meet its doom any day.

Pain pills an excruciating necessity

Hillsides at the Aquinnah Cliffs on Martha's Vineyard start to turn green in May 2014. Death stalks us even at the most beautiful places on Earth. /Christopher Cheney photo

Opinions are almost never news; but when they are, the stakes are almost always astronomical.

For nearly two decades, I steadfastly avoided writing opinion columns, fearing it would loosen my desperate grasp on objective reporting. The possibility of crafting a weekly health plan column that would have any significant impact was not even the shred of a thought in my mind when I was covering the town of Franklin, Mass., as a cub reporter in the mid-1990s.

As I reach the six-month mark working at HealthLeaders Media, a weekly health plan column installment has become a surprising source of pride, albeit of the bittersweet variety.

A rarely shared secret of the journalism profession is the frequency of occasions when reporters are required to become nearly instant experts, with varying degrees of success. When I decided to write a health plan column about efforts to curb painkiller medication abuse, my opinions were supportable but insufficiently expert to capture the full truth.

One of my best friends, who worked with me in the Franklin Bureau back in the day, shared his expert opinions on painkiller medications and helped me shine light on one of the country's darkest medical quandries. The Mayor of Martha's Vineyard started forming those expert opinions the dark night death visited the seat next to him in the twisted wreckage of car on the island.

Read his truthful account about painkiller medication abuse in America.

China playing rough in superpower game

The U.S. Department of Justice accuses five Chinese military officers of cyber espionage, including the theft of intellectual property such as product designs from American companies. /CNN image

Still have any doubts about the Chinese playing rough on the world stage?

The U.S. grand jury indictment of five Chinese military officers last week on economic espionage charges is the latest proof of Beijing's relentless quest for superpower status. While only a symbolic legal gesture, the 31-count indictment accuses the spying suspects of hacking into the computer systems of American companies to steal information "that would be useful to their competitors in China," a prepared statement from the U.S. Department of Justice says.

"For too long, the Chinese government has blatantly sought to use cyber espionage to obtain economic advantage for its state-owned industries," FBI Director James Comey said.

The U.S. attorney who prosecuted the Chinese People's Liberation Army officers before the Western Pennsylvania grand jury condemned Beijing's cyber snooping.

"This 21st century burglary has to stop," U.S. Attorney David Hickton said. "This prosecution vindicates hard working men and women in Western Pennsylvania and around the world who play by the rules and deserve a fair shot and a level playing field."

This cat was more than an 'animal' or 'pet'

Chop Chop was a great companion but an awful editorial assistant. /Family photo

I lost one of my best friends yesterday.

Anyone who thinks house cats lack personality, intelligence and complex emotions never met Chop Chop.

When I was working nights at the Portsmouth Herald, she would hear my car pull into the driveway at 1 a.m. and greet me at the door. She knew how to push my buttons when she was hungry and wanted more food in her bowl. She fought cancer for the past two years, but she was filled with love until the moment she took her last breath at the vet's office.

Humans are not the only sentient beings on this planet.

Arkansas on epic healthcare reform quest

Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe signs the state's "private option" Medicaid expansion law in April 2013. /npr.org photo

I have been politically aware since Jimmy Carter was elected president and a member of the U.S. workforce nearly as long. Arkansas' level of cooperation and conciliation on healthcare reform seems unprecedented.

The Natural State is on the verge of creating the country's first public-private, universal payer, value-based healthcare delivery system. This pioneering effort could show the way forward for many other states.

In the most exciting project I have worked on so far at HealthLeaders Media, top Arkansas officials including Gov. Mike Beebe share their amazing healthcare reform journey in a three-part series of stories and accompanying health plan column:

Health Plan Column: An Unlikely State Schools Nation on Healthcare Payment Reform

Part I: Crisis Spurs Healthcare Payment Reform in Arkansas

Part II: Governor Details Healthcare Payment Reform Path in Arkansas

Part III: Payment Reform Paying Off in Arkansas, For Now

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Truths

Millions of Americans are gaining access to healthcare for the first time not only in their lifetimes, but also in generations. The poorest Americans are most likely to be uninsured. One third of Americans who live in poverty are children. /Heifer 12X12 image by Betty Londergan

Practically and politically, all Americans need to make up their own minds about the federally driven healthcare reform efforts across the country.

Practically, the reforms are so far-reaching they will touch most of our families directly or indirectly. For the first time, the majority of Americans are being asked to become informed consumers of healthcare. If you pick the wrong healthcare coverage, it could cost you or a loved one thousands of dollars in deductibles and other cost sharing.

Politically, healthcare is this year's dominant issue. Republicans have cast the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as President Obama's Waterloo, with this fall's midterm elections billed as a referendum on the Obama administration's signature domestic policy initiative.

After spending the past three months deep in the weeds of U.S. healthcare reform efforts, I can report the following truths to help guide my fellow citizens for practical and political purposes:

• Underperforming: The U.S. healthcare "system" is broken and needs fixing. America has the best doctors and medical technology in the world, but healthcare quality and accessibility varies greatly from state to state and community to community. And the current fee-for-service healthcare model promotes volume, not value. Fee-for-service promotes a twisted incentive for healthcare providers: the sicker the population, the higher the volume of patients, the higher the fees.
• Desperate measures: Obama probably lied when he repeatedly said "you can keep your health plan if you like it." President Franklin Roosevelt definitely lied when he maneuvered the United States into World War II. Hitler had to be stopped, so Americans forgave FDR for fibbing. If Obama can fix U.S. healthcare, Americans will forgive him, too. 
• Dialogue: The focus on healthcare reform from DC to every American's downtown is a good thing.
• Blended approach: The PPACA is closer to a Republican road map than a socialist plot. The PPACA is a patchwork of market-based reforms and expansion of existing government programs. On the market side, new "exchanges" established by federal and state officials provide a marketplace for private insurers to offer health insurance policies to individuals and small businesses. The exchanges hold the promise of expanding healthcare access to millions of low- and moderate-income Americans. On the government side, Medicaid is the biggest program expansion. Half the states have embraced Medicaid expansion, with some crafting a "private option" through the new individual exchanges. Millions of poor Americans have already gained health insurance through Medicaid expansion efforts over the past year.
• Common good: The primary goals of the PPACA are to expand access and lower costs while maintaining a high level of healthcare quality. Any alternative to the PPACA should be measured against these worthy aspirations.

In 2011, more than 1.1 million Michigan residents were uninsured, or nearly 12 percent of the the state's population. /The Daily Mirror image

Fox News: Right turn into irrelevancy

Bill O'Reilly serves up a favorite whipping-post story tailored to Fox News' conservative viewership. /Fox News image

A battle for the heart and soul of the Grand Old Party is about to rage in congressional districts across the country. Then in 2016, the Republicans will get a shot at an open seat in the White House.

There's a bitter irony ahead for FOX News chief Roger Ailes and other conservative Republican kingmakers. Fox News has been successful in energizing the far-right of American politics, but the candidates and policies generating the most passion in the Republican Party are now so extreme that winning a presidential election seems unlikely.

Benghazi, dead diplomats and scoring political points

The April 1983 U.S. Embassy bombing in Beirut, Lebanon, killed 63 people.

Politics can get ugly, but the partisan bluster over Benghazi is revolting.

U.S. embassies and consulates are among the most dangerous places on Earth ... easy and frequent targets for the enemies of America.

U.S. diplomatic missions have been flash points for assassination attempts and bombings for decades. The April 1983 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Beirut is among the deadliest attacks, with 63 killed including 17 Americans. The Beirut embassy bombing was followed in October 1983 by suicide bomber attacks on U.S. Marine and French paratrooper barracks in Beirut, with 241 U.S. troops killed.

For those keeping track of the political points, Ronald Reagan was president in 1983.

In Benghazi, four Americans were killed at the U.S. consulate on Sept. 11, 2012.

It's a tragedy whenever lives are lost.

It's a farce to play politics with casualties at U.S. diplomatic missions.

American troops suffered heavy losses during the 1968 Tet Offensive in Vietnam, including a deadly attack on the U.S. Embassy in Saigon. /Image via historyimages.blogspot.com

U.S. consulate building in Benghazi, Libya, September 2012. /Image via amnesty.org

Al-Qaida-linked Egyptian Islamic Jihad bombed the US. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, in August 1998. About 212 people were killed and more than 4,000 were wounded. /Image via www.newstimeafrica.com

Racism New England-style: This is how we do it

The state of New Hampshire has meted out a slap on the wrist for a supervisory-level employee who walked around her office referring to Chocolate Babies as "Nigger Babies." After the supervisor was "investigated," she was promoted to a position of higher authority over more workers.

All three of the New England states where I have lived have a problem with race.

The economic disparity of American racism is on full display in Connecticut, my birthplace. The Constitution State has historically been the top per-capita income state in the country, with four of the nation's poorest cities, where the people of color live.

Boston has been dragged kicking and screaming into racial harmony, from Elijah "Pumpsie" Green to public school busing, to the ongoing slow pace of economic development in blighted minority neighborhoods.

There are some hardcore, KKK-like racists in New Hampshire. If you have lived here long enough, you have probably seen them. The classic sighting is two white guys in a pickup truck, with two big stars and bars flags flying from either side of the truck bed.

But most New Hampshire racists have prejudice based in ignorance. Just a sampling of quotes from working folk and professionals in my 3-plus years in the state prove the point:

• "Yeah, some of the worst niggers I know are white." -white male, construction worker, commenting on lack of racial diversity in New Hampshire
• "I don't know what you are, but you sure are beautiful." -white male, doctor, trying to put move on woman of color
• "When we were little, do you know what we called these? Nigger babies." -white woman, state of New Hampshire supervisory-level employee, commenting in the workplace to several colleagues about Chocolate Baby candies

Earl Wilson, left, the first black Red Sox pitcher, and Elijah "Pumpsie" Green, the first black Red Sox fielder, hang out in the dugout on Aug. 30, 1959. A decade earlier, the Red Sox held tryouts for Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays, declining to sign both Hall of Famers. /Leslie Jones photo via Boston Public Library

Journalism mission marches forward

New Year's Eve fireworks in Market Square, Portsmouth, N.H. /Seacoastonline.com photo by Ioanna Raptis

Nearly 18 years ago, I looked into a computer screen for the first time as a professional journalist and wrote:
By Christopher Cheney
Staff Writer

Later this month, I return to fast-paced writing as a journalist at HealthLeaders Media. Given the pressures in the journalism industry, it is humbling to continue working as a journalist. It also is a great honor to report on the U.S. health care industry at a key time in its evolution.

The change sweeping through U.S. health care is hard to underestimate and the stakes are astronomical. Innovation at the institutional and market level are in full swing, or rearing back to swing, across the country.

A hospital CEO recently told me: "We need to keep people out of the hospital." Clearly change is here.

I look forward to reporting on the reform efforts in the health care industry: working with professionals in the medical field to understand both fundamentals and emerging trends, then sharing stories with valuable information for those inside and outside the boardroom.

As Bullwork of Democracy closes in on 15,000 page views, I also look forward to producing more valuable journalism with this blog.

• Bullwork tweets @cccheney
• Like Bullwork on Facebook at Bullworkofdemocracy

9/11 scam: The death of shame in America

Firefighters help an injured comrade at the World Trade Center in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001. /Image via nationalgeographic.com

One of my best friends has a dire view of modern America: The only way you can get ahead is to do something illegal or unethical.

Is this how the American Dream ends?

More than 100 New York City police officers and firefighters have been accused of gaming the pension system for benefits linked to the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

Have we truly no shame?

Army tackling leadership's role in soldier suicides

Army Spec. Christopher Journeau died by suicide less than six months after his honorable discharge in 2010. He was 23. /Family photo

"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo

In a heartening development in the U.S. Army's efforts to combat suicide in its ranks, steps are being taken to address "toxic" leaders who torment troubled subordinates.

While I found no evidence of toxic leadership playing a role in the 2010 suicide of retired Army Spec. Christopher Journeau, his parents are convinced that callous leadership contributed to his descent into isolation and desperation.

In early 2009, Journeau completed a nine-month deployment to Iraq that included many combat missions in Baghdad. When he returned to the United States, his Stryker unit was sent to Schofield Army Base in Hawaii.

"Apparently, that's when things started surfacing," his mother, Jo-Ann Clark, told me during an interview at her Stratham, N.H., home. "He was having a hard time with coming back."

Before receiving his honorable discharge and coming home to Stratham in January 2010, Journeau was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and was directed to attend counseling sessions. But his commanding officers were unsympathetic, Clark said.

"The chain of command wanted him on duty," she said. "They didn't want him to keep his counseling appointments."

In taking measured steps to examine how officers and other leaders may be contributing to suicides, the Army has made a leap forward in addressing problem. It will not be an easy or quick process, but this kind of self examination shows the Army is recognizing there are complexities involved in every suicide.

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