A paper on neutrality and reliability of news coverage

I am in the process of writing a paper on neutrality and reliability of news coverage and I need your help. If you are willing to contribute some of your free time to participate in this project, read further to know more and to see what you can get out of it. If you are a businessman (or a budget holder) interested in the world of media and you may want to fund, sponsor or invest in this project, please read further as well.

The paper will study in detail the characteristics of a “good” news article taking into consideration Impartiality, information, and related information. This process is currently done by common-sense because there is no objective scientific way to measure this. To be frank a computer will not be able to do this job, but we will be pursuing the objective scientific way of doing it by a human.

The aim of this project is to put a near to perfect definition of a good news coverage. The final paper will include a detailed explanation on how to study the reliability of a news article in addition to studies and statistics about major news providers. I will start by examining the following aspects:

• Neutrality and Bias
  • Statements that express a “point of view” (or “POV”) of the writer
  • The use of images, metaphors, comparisons and representations
  • Conveying of assumptions
  • Putting reasonably enough effort to cover the multiple faces of the story, or in the case of conflicts presenting objectively the position of all parties.
  • Inclusion of other stories (relevant or otherwise) to emphasize a certain POV

• Information
  • How much effort has been made to get the info
  • How reliable the sources of info are
  • Inclusion of references
  • Giving background information about the story
  • Linking to related stories about the same subject

The project consists of several phases.

The first phase: organize the team

The first phase will be dedicated to organizing the team and defining the tools of our work. Basically we will use the freely available tools to discuss, collaborate, share files, etc. For example a closed Google group for the team.

The second phase: criteria

We will hold extensive discussions, experiments, trials, case studies to come up with detailed discretion of the elements of a news article/ report.

This project does not depend on any other related studies or standards available. We will attempt to reinvent those standards by:

• Defining how to spot flaws in a news article and what aspects to look at in a study. We will also agree on a marking system to be followed in case studies.
• Define the widely used keywords that hold negative or positive meanings to influence a POV
• Define a way to spot embedded assumptions in an article and read between the lines
• Define the criteria to validate primary and secondary information
• And much more ..

Third phase and more!!

After finishing the second phase there will be other phases we won’t talk about now. Some of those phases are not yet defined.

However, you will need to know that if you join the team you will be involved in studying random articles from several news providers. Each article will be reviewed by two or three people ideally familiar with the subject matter of the article. The reviewers will put notes, do background reading, and follow the agreed criteria to put marks. No one of the reviewers will know about the work of the others results until everyone finishes. Results are then aggregated.

This is a very brief overview of the project if you are interested to join, please let me know. You will know much more details when you join

What’s in it for you?

• A chance to self learn, polish and practice your research skills
• Your name will be mentioned on the final paper
• You will get a share of the money, “in case” this project was able to attract any funding
• This project is part of a bigger business plan. You will have the priority to participate in any future business model based on this initiative

If you have any interest in the world of media, you speak very good English, you are open to new ideas and you like playing within a team, I would like to hear from you. Please send me an email.

If you want to put funding in this project, I will be happy to discuss any business idea for profit or non-profit. As I mentioned this project is part of a bigger business plan. If you are interested, let me know.

You can send me an email to: m@hooz.me

الجنس: غير مهم

جاء أخيرا .. و بعد انتظار طويل .. نظر في عينيها بهدوء و نظرت هي .. و كانت تفكر كيف ابتعد عنها بسبب ظروف الحياة القاسية .. و كيف كان يمكن أن تاخذه منها امرأة أخرى .. و لكن كل هذا لا يهم فهو الآن معها. قال لها أحبك و قالت له أحبك. و عاشا معا في سعادة طوال الحياة.

هكذا انتهى الفلم المصري في دار السينما حيث كانت أعين الفتيات تكاد تغرورق بالدموع من شدة التأثر و أعين الفتيان ذابلة لشدة البلاهة.

An Open Message to Geert Wilders

And a review of the Fitna Movie

I am writing to you after I saw your movie “Fitna”.

I will start by introducing my self, I am a moderate Muslem from Syria and I am speaking to you in the name of moderate Muslems around the world.

The purpose of this message is to clarify to you some of the misconceptions and inconsistencies in your film and return it to its correct historical context.

First I would say that I agree with you that there is a global need to identify and fight those extremists who continue to attack the peace of all nations around the world. It is a real pain in the heart of every human to see those hostilities taking place in our 21^st century world. And it is more painful to see the ideology behind those actions spreading in several cultures. But … it is a historical mistake to condemn a whole nation with the actions of a small minority.

I learned in 2007

This is my 50^th article which is interesting to me because it coincides with the 100^th comment on my blog. And it coincides with the end of year 2007 which held a lot of great experiences for me on the personal level.

Back when I started my blog in July this year, I wrote an article titled: “I learned – 2006“. I will tell you one little secret of mine; all through the year when I write my diaries I keep little notes about what I learned in special occasions. I summed it up for you in 2006 and here we go for the 2007.

For me, you’re just a “frown” !!

Guess what, those days I’m practicing my new habit of communicating with people. It’s a new game I’m beginning to love. I used to watch people “from a safe distant” like a silent observer of people and their social activities. But I found out recently that I can learn a lot more by getting closer.

One of the things I learned is that people don’t see you as you are; they rather see you as a pile of collective experiences.

Say I love you

Personally, I lived my life with a certain distance from people. I was never the kind of guy who starts a new conversation in a public place. And in general, I would not initiate personal relationships with colleagues or coworkers. People criticized me for this many times, but my point of view was that people waste too much time complementing each other.

One of my habits is observing people. I noticed that people who are over-friendly with others hardly manage to gain there respect.

A real love exercise!!

Most people, when in a relationship, don’t know whether they where really in love or they are, actually, in love with the fact that they are in love.

We see it some times when two lovers leave each other; one or both of them launches a war on the other. In fact they begin talking about each other as if they were never lovers.

The reality sense

I always remember the sense of reality when I see people applying theories and practices which they learned in collage or read in a book. Most of the time I see those people drowned in a world of their own trying to establish and enforce their rules on the real world.

We’ve seen a lot of marketers creating a “bad perception” or even a “bad publicity” because they didn’t study the social impact of a certain campaign. We’ve seen politicians waging wars because they thought it was the right thing to do (no better example than the Bush administration).

Give me to drink Mandragora

 

Cleopatra: Give me to drink Mandragora

“Mandragora: Juice of the mandrake plant which has sleep-inducing qualities”

Cleopatra asked her maids to bring her the enchanting drink of mandragora when she was suffering the absence of her lover Antony.

But how much are people capable of tolerating harsh incidents in their lives without the “mandragora” kind of things?

Diversity & integration: a citizenship test

I was reading an article in the BBC news website that Australia has unveiled details of a new citizenship test for immigrants.

Immigrants will be asked questions about history, institution and culture – as well as committing to Australian social values focusing on “mateship”.

The immigration minister said: “The aim of the test was to get that balance between diversity and integration correct in the future”