Evaluation of Scholarly Sources

Journalists follow a specific process to complete their work. In my last blog post, I wrote about the Rolling Stone UVA gang-rape controversy, in other words, a failure of journalism. The author of the original article failed to complete sufficient research before publishing his article to Rolling Stone, where it was immediately acknowledged by the public. However, because of all the attention the article was receiving, further investigation of the alleged gang rape took place. The girl who claims she was attacked at a fraternity party in 2012, "Jackie," mentioned to the author a few names and locations where he would be able to find further information. The author of the original article could not get ahold of the fraternity or any of the names that Jackie had mentioned, so he posted Jackie's story anyway. 

When looking for scholarly articles related to journalism, at first I found it difficult. However, because journalism is so important and has such a large influence on our society, I was able to find many controversies within the realm of journalism. Two of the most common controversies I found were journalists who published articles that lacked credibility for various reasons and the imbalance of morality in journalism. 

"Moral dilemmas and ethical controversies"

In this scholarly article I found on JSTOR, the author, Stuart Kirsch, writes an editorial on the publication of Pulitzer Prize winning author, Jared Diamond's, "Vengeance is ours." The journal was published in The New Yorker in April, 2008. According to Kirsch, several months after it's publication, the essay became a center of controversy when Rhonda Shearer, a media critic, investigated the accuracy of Diamond's article. In Diamond's article, he publishes the name of someone involved in the criminal activities he was writing about in his article. Shearer believes this to be questionable within the boundaries of moral responsibility. 

1. What is its purpose?
The purpose of the scholarly article was to discuss the importance of ethics and accuracy in journalism. The truthfulness of Jared Diamond's work was questioned as well as the lack of moral responsibility due to the fact that he exposed the names of people involved in criminal activity.

2. How and where is it published?
The scholarly article was published as an editorial in the academic journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland and was written by Stuart Kirsch. The editorial was published after being reviewed by professional anthropologists.

3. What kinds of sources does it cite?
In addition to citing some of his past work and Jared Diamond's journal, "Vengeance is ours," Kirsch cites several published research papers and essays to back up his argument of the responsibility of ethics when writing. Kirsch also references quotes from Diamond's journal in his editorial that provide clear contextual evidence for the reader and are properly cited.

4. Who is the author?
Stuart Kirsch is an anthropologist who writes scholarly articles on various topics like human ethics, politics, and other anthropological topics.

5. Who is its intended audience?
Kirsch's article is intended to be read by anyone who has reviewed Diamond's journal, "Vengeance is ours," or by anyone studying anthropology who is interested in the topic of human ethics in writing.

6. How did I find it?
I found this article by using an advanced search on JSTOR, entering keywords including: "journalism controversy," "publication controversy," "moral controversy," "journalism ethics," and "journalism failure."

"Is journalism pharma's new dance partner?"

In the second scholarly article I found on JSTOR, it discusses questionable the relationship journalists have with pharmaceutical and other medical organizations. The author, Ray Moynihan, writes about how some journalists go about receiving information when reporting commercial products, and how that process can be questionable for the credibility of journalists. Some journalists receive profit when reporting on products that may not actually be as ground-breaking as the articles report. This is dangerous ground for journalists, seeing as they are promoting a product that may have negative effects on it's users. Additionally, like the first scholarly article I talked about above, this questions the moral responsibility of journalists. Moynihan concludes his article with a compelling point, "when a drug company has a valuable product or a valid point to make, let's report on it fairly and accurately, without having to sell our credibility and threaten the future of journalism." 

1. What is its purpose?
The purpose of Moynihan's article is to bring to attention the questionable relationship between journalists and pharmaceutical or other medical organizations. Journalists want to report on products to make money, however, that is where the boundary of morals is crossed. Journalists should not only be concerned with money, but the fact that they could potentially lose credibility if they report on a product that isn't as groundbreaking as they reported, or if there are unreported health issues from the product.

2. How and where is it published?
The scholarly article was published in the British Medical Journal, a magazine that reports on new technologies, medicines, and research.

3. What kinds of sources does it cite?
The article one JSTOR does not provide the citations from the actual article itself, however after reading a few other articles from BMJ, I found that the citation would normally be located at the end of the magazine.

4. Who is the author?
The author, Ray Moynihan is an award winning researcher, health journalist, and author.

5. Who is its intended audience?
His intended audience are journalists, to reiterate the importance of truthful journalism as a form of moral responsibility as well as to the journalists readers who use the products, to be wary that not everything we read is true.

6. How did I find it?
By doing an advanced search using keywords including: "journalism controversy," "publication controversy," "moral controversy," "journalism ethics," and "journalism failure."


The most unfortunate outcome of Rolling Stone's failure of journalism, was the response it received after further investigation took place. Many people were furious about the accusation against UVA and the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, that it fueled the accusation against women in that they invent rape stories for attention. So, if Jackie is in fact telling the truth, she has now lost most her support. 

These mistakes that the author made when gathering information and in his article, completely annihilated all credibility of the article and takes away from the most important moral of the original article, or story if-you-will, that rape and other sexual assault is prevalent on university campuses throughout the country. To me, this controversy proves that a failure to produce authentic and credible work as a journalist can lead to a major conflict.