The surfing journalism world is awash with accusations of censorship and gutter journalism following an expose in the Australian last week, writes Stuart Nettle.
Journalistic ethics
Should journalists protect pedophile sources?
Debate is raging in the French media after a TV reporter used pedophiles as sources for a story — then dobbed them in to police. So what’s the ethical thing for a journo to do?
Posing as a hitman, Ben Fordham puts hidden recording to the test
A Current Affair has a good chance of avoiding conviction over alleged breaches to the Listening Devices Act, a surveillance expert has told Crikey. But the media watchdog is another story, writes Tom Cowie.
How the media has manipulated America’s minds on Afghanistan
Glenn Greenwald’s comprehensive take-down of the US media’s “mindless” and “unquestioning” coverage of the war in Afghanistan, comparing it to far more objective reporting by Afghani news agencies.
Ethical wipeout at surf magazines
A gnarly expose on the surf magazine industry, where reports of racism and drug scandals have been spiked and censored in an effort to keep relationships with multi-million-dollar surf brands sunny. Bummer.
Spinning the Media: Pack your suitcase for some free advertising
Welcome to a world of junkets and media familiarisation tours: also known as the travel section of your local newspaper, write Giselle Nguyen, Ajay Khandhar and Yasmin Geneva.
Spinning the Media: Pre-packaged journalism: just download!
PR companies are now delivering sound bites, interviews and footage straight to the journalist’s desk — and TV and radio news often run them unfiltered and unedited, writes Biwa Kwan.
Spinning the Media: The line between advertorial and content just got blurrier
While advertorials put together at the request of the advertising department have run for many years at the Sydney Morning Herald, the distinction that they be clearly marked as an ‘advertising feature’ seems to have softened, reports Emma Kemp.
Spinning the Media: Spin doctors have plenty to say in health reporting
When it comes to health reporting, the relationship between journalists and public relations people could be in need of a check-up, writes Flint Duxfield.
Chris Mitchell on pervasive PR, press releases, and paywalls
Yesterday, Crikey revealed that over half of Australia’s newspaper stories are driven by PR. Editor-in-chief of The Oz, Chris Mitchell, fires back at the claims.
Over half your news is spin
Crikey reveals the results of a six-month investigation into the role PR plays in the Australian media, finding that 55% of newspaper stories analysed were driven by PR.
Who’s really controlling the media message?
Our Spinning the Media investigation strongly confirms that journalism in Australia today is heavily influenced by commercial interests, and is constrained and blocked by politicians, police and others who control the media message, write Wendy Bacon and Sasha Pavey.
graph pr0n The spin cycle: how your newspaper fared
A joint study between Crikey and the ACIJ has found that nearly 55% of Australian newspaper articles analysed were driven by some form of PR. See all the damning data.
Spinning the Media: Key findings in a week in the life of the media
2203 separate stories were analysed across 10 Australian newspapers between September 7 and 11, 2009, to see whether they were initiated by public relations or promotions. Here’s what came out in the wash.
Editor of The Courier Mail, David Fagan, responds
Courier Mail editor David Fagan responds to our Spinning The Media study findings that 55% of the articles analysed in his paper were initiated by public relations.
Editor of The West Australian, Brett McCarthy, responds
The West Australian editor Brian McCarthy responds to our Spinning The Media study findings that 55% of the articles analysed in his paper were initiated by public relations.
Wankley Awards: Mrs Nowra answers her husband’s critics
Louis Nowra’s wife Mandy Sayer answers her husband’s critics in today’s Australian, in an item running under the awful headline: “Louis, Louis, oh baby, you gotta go.”
Read Reuters’ new social media guidelines
News agency Reuters has released a new set of social media guidelines for its staffers: don’t break news on Twitter, don’t reveal your political preferences, and no hacking. Read the full “handbook” here.
Why peer review is not gospel
The process of peer review is vital to the integrity of scientific research, but as the recent IPCC scandals have shown, peer reviewed publications are hardly infallible — influenced by hidden agendas and egos.
How my Gordon Brown prank call became a media scandal
It’s easy to make the news these days. Just call a radio station, pretend that angry British PM Gordon Brown threw a tangerine into a lamination machine at your work and watch the media outlets lap it up. It worked for Robert Popper.
The ethics of blogging
Citizen journalism gets it fair share of criticism for its lack of ethics, so Upstart offers a guide to ethical blogging, from linking to sources to realising that anyone may see your work.
revealed 
The illegal activities of News of the World
Former editor of News of the World and now communications director for UK Opposition leader David Cameron, Andy Coulson, is under further heat for the illegal activities that occurred at the newspaper, including new allegations Coulson hired a known criminal as a private detective.
The big book of plagiarism excuses
In the wake of the latest NYT plagiarism scandal, Jack Shafer rounds up the 12 most common excuses copycats give for their word thievery.
leaked The WSJ accuses the NYT of plagiarism
The Guardian has a copy of a letter sent from the Wall St Journal to the
