IBT (International Business Times) points out that some Japanese citizens aren’t too happy with the way foreign media and bloggers have covered the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear plant disaster. Specifically, they are sick of the “sensationalist, overly speculative, and just plain bad reporting” that has been used as a means to capture the attention (and $) of foreign audiences – we are sick of that too.
Out of that outrage, a Journalist Wall of Shame was born on the JPQuake website.
This Wall of Shame is being assembled by various people, many of whom are on the ground in Japan as residents, not temporarily assigned journalists, who are sick of the sensationalist, overly speculative, and just plain bad reporting that has gone on since the Tohoku quake in Japan last Friday (March 11). We feel that contacting each and every publication and reporter every time a bad report shows up is not effective, and it is our sincere hope that this will encourage journalists to aspire to a higher (some would say minimal) level of responsibility in their reports.
Unsurprisingly, many popular names are found among the shamed publications. The Telegraph, The Sun, FOX TV, CNN (US & International), Reuters, Guardian, Daily Mail, Der Spiegel, to name just a few.
Each “shame” entry contains the name of a shamed journalist, the publication he works for, the date when the offense took place, the nature of the offense and a numerical value describing its severity (1 – 10, where 1 is probably unintentional and 10 is hysterical fear-mongering). Below is a screen capture of the FOX TV entry, rated 5 for “reporting without checking easily-confirmed facts; lazy.”
Typical FOX reporting.
There’s also a Blogger Wall of Shame, but this list isn’t nearly as populated as the one dedicated to journalists.
Not #winning.
But wait! It’s not all about hate, there are also pages dedicated to good journalists and bloggers.
PS: I think the internet (desperately) needs more of these shame lists.
PPS: The 1 – 10 offense scores also contain a rating of “11 : Satan” that’s never been used. They probably missed this Tamar Bohem cow.
