MMMM # 517 --- At the Movies: Newspaper VS TV Investigations, And The Click Affair.

I know I will eventually see both Truth and Spotlight, the two journalism movies came out almost simultaneously. After all, they are both about the business I've been in for a lot of decades. And I'll watch them both despite an excellent review in The Atlantic that praises one and laughs at the other:

As the 60 Minutes team (in Truth) sees their story unraveling, they cling ever more tightly to it. Despite the movie’s Always Ask Questions mantra, the reporters never ask themselves whether they might have simply gotten it wrong. When they finally offer a correction, it’s treated as a betrayal of principle rather than the fulfillment of one, a capitulation to power rather than a capitulation to the facts and a duty to their audience. They remain self-righteous and defiant to the end.
In Spotlight, by contrast, the Globe crew is riddled with regret even after they’ve nailed one of the most important—and labor-intensive—investigative stories of the decade.

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     There has been no shortage of commentary about the University of Missouri assistant journalism professor who asked for "muscle" to prevent a student journalist from taking photos of protesters on campus. 

    Talk about teachable moments!

    Eventually Melissa Click apologized:

  "I regret the language and strategies I used, and sincerely apologize to the MU campus community, and journalists at large, for my behavior, and also for the way my actions have shifted attention away from the students’ campaign for justice.”

      The key here is that the incident happened in the public square. As long as an individual (journalist or not) is not interfering with authorities, they have the 1st amendment right to take stills, video, or make sketches in ink of what is happening. Click, even just an associate professor, should have known that immediately and not as an afterthought.
     And note I have avoided using the "Click bait" reference. Oops. Till that moment anyway. 

 Join Olivia and me, Ellisia with weather and Darryl reporting live starting at 5:00 AM on CBS 8 or ABC Montgomery!


[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a longstanding feature of www.timlennox.com.]