Is It Journalism, or Just a Repackaged Press Release? Here's a Tool to Help
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Re: Is It Journalism, or Just a Repackaged Press Release? Here's a Tool to Help
#2As a former PR person I can tell you that this ap is AWESOME. the general public has no idea how much of their "news" is actually just corporate created "infomercials" I don't even mean to sound like a conspiracy theorist- but it is truly shocking when as an intern I would write press releases and then later that night hear my exact words said on the evening news. This is especially true of newspapers who are trying to create reams of content but with far fewer journalists. If this app works as well as they claim- this is a game changer.
Re: Is It Journalism, or Just a Repackaged Press Release? Here's a Tool to Help
#3This would be pretty awesome with a browser plugin.
Re: Is It Journalism, or Just a Repackaged Press Release? Here's a Tool to Help
#4This would be pretty awesome with a browser plugin.
Here you go: http://churnalism.sunlightfoundation.com/downloads/
Re: Is It Journalism, or Just a Repackaged Press Release? Here's a Tool to Help
#5It may seem like a minor nitpick, but the main Churnalism site[1] touts the byline "Discover the journalism you can trust and what you should question." The purpose of this tool is definitely a step in the right direction, but just because a given piece probably isn't a recycled press release doesn't mean you should stop looking at it with a healthy dose of skepticism.
Re: Is It Journalism, or Just a Repackaged Press Release? Here's a Tool to Help
#6Aren't good PR people supposed to "sell" their story directly to a "journalist", without an intermediate publicly available press release? Will this tool find those?
Also, there's a certain irony in that this story itself almost certainly is "planted" PR.
Re: Is It Journalism, or Just a Repackaged Press Release? Here's a Tool to Help
#7Reminds me of the fake web browser and IQ study (which claimed IE users are dumb). Basically every media house just copy pasted the press release.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence_Quotient_(IQ)_and_...
Re: Is It Journalism, or Just a Repackaged Press Release? Here's a Tool to Help
#8For reference, the term "PR Submarine" refers to pg's essay, "The Submarine" - http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html.
Re: Is It Journalism, or Just a Repackaged Press Release? Here's a Tool to Help
#9It may seem like a minor nitpick, but the main Churnalism site[1] touts the byline "Discover the journalism you can trust and what you should question." The purpose of this tool is definitely a step in the right direction, but just because a given piece probably isn't a recycled press release doesn't mean you should stop looking at it with a healthy dose of skepticism. [1] http://churnalism.sunlightfoundation.com/
Sometimes the press release is more accurate. There have been examples in the UK when something released by the Office for National Statistics[1] is looked at and interpreted by a journalist. Unfortunately statisticians get the numbers right and journalists don't, and so reporters make very dramatic statements that just aren't supported by the numbers.