We are the District 51 Court, here to bring justice to the world. Today we will examine the controversial issue of the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque" in New York City. Here is the jury:

Our first jury member is Sarah Jolley. Judge Jolley learned everything she knows from watching People's Court and Judge Judy. She has kindly brought her point of view to our current issue.

Next is Katie White. Judge White gave a stunning performance as Jury Member #8 on an episode of CSI. She was so inspired by her own talent that she decided to join our ranks.

Following Judge White is Natalie Sagers. Judge Sagers is an avid "Law and Order:SVU" fan. That means she's legit. Too legit to quit. She often spends her time stalking her favorite celebrities, namely Hugh Jackman. She has yet to violate her restraining order.

Natalie Johnson now makes her appearance. Judge Johnson gave up a career in the circus to bring justice to the world. This will be her last case, after which she will devote all her time to improving working conditions for lion tamers.

Last, but not least, comes Mandy Morgan. Judge Morgan earned her spot on the jury through the Miss America Pageant. She is striving for nothing less than world peace.

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Our mission as a jury is to expose the truth. A prominent issue today is the mixing of truth and truthiness.

Dictionary.com tells us that truth is an actual state of a matter, conformity with fact or reality; verified or indisputable fact (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/truth).

According to Stephen Colbert, "truthiness is what you want the facts to be as opposed to what the facts are. What feels like the right answer as opposed to what reality will support" (http://getmediasmarts.blogspot.com/2010/01/team-project-1-journalism-ethicstruth.html).

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Media Ethics and Theories

According to the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA), the Code of Ethics and Professional Journalism are as follows (http://www.rtnda.org/pages/media_items/code-of-ethics-and-professional-conduct48.php?g=36?id=48): public trust, truth, fairness, integrity, independence, accountability.

First and foremost, journalists should realize their primary responsibility is public trust. Journalists need to show recognition that public interest and commitment to providing the public with credible information affects the entire spectrum of the public, not just a single demographic.

A truthful journalist is a credible one. Reporting information that is true (and also exploiting information that is false), undistorted - both prints and images, fully credited (listing sources) and without plagiarism.

A journalist also has a responsibility to fairness; providing information that is without bias and favoritism, giving a professional and opinion- free report of an event, and, if possible, from as many view points as possible. Subjects being reported on and also interviewed should be treated with respect, especially when protecting and providing privacy for children in the news.

Having integrity as a journalist includes labeling and citing sources, clarifying between facts and opinions or commentary, refraining from putting people in dangerous situations, and accepting gifts or favors that would alter the story reported.

By refusing to allow corporations, story subjects, advertisers, peer pressure, influential people, etc. to alter or impact a story is displayed by an independent journalist. Independent journalists should also defend the rights of the free press against any attempts by corporations or government to limit that freedom.

At the end of a story, at the end of the day, journalists are accountable to not only the public and their profession, but also themselves. This accountability is achieved by responding to public concerns and investigating complaints or errors in report. Also, by adhering to the ethical and professional codes (such as the ones listed here) for journalists, and creating awareness for these codes of conduct.

Here are the four media effects theories we will focus on.

• Gatekeeping—There are gatekeepers in any communication system, including interpersonal, written, and mass communication. These are elements that make constant decisions about what information is or isn’t important enough to pass along—what information gets through the “gate” from the sender of a message to a receiver of that message. Not only does gatekeeping occur in deciding the end message, but also as a reporter decides what stories to cover, what sources to interview, what questions to ask, and what parts of her reporter’s notebook are important enough to make it into the story. So there is both “front-end” gatekeeping as a media message is created, and a “back-end” gatekeeping as an editor decides what stories to put in the paper, on what page, with what headline, and what part of the reporter’s story gets edited out. Clearly, individual perceptions of the world and what things are important in it are in play in this process. The ultimate gatekeeper in the mass communication process is the news reader/viewer—what do they think is important/relevant enough to permit through the “gates” of their conscious minds? In this context (and under agenda-setting, below), the media do not reflect “reality”; they filter, shape and construct a “reality."

• Agenda-Setting—This theory holds that although the mass media can’t tell us what to think, the media are stunningly successful at telling us what to think about. That is, through their selection or de-selection of what is “news” (gatekeeping), the mass media serve to create an agenda for social discourse. When there were only three major national TV networks, and some 70-80% of Americans watched them nightly, a very clear national agenda of what’s most important was created. Even in such a monopolistic and dominated mass media system, the networks couldn’t make people think in certain ways (because of individual selective perception), but they were and are able to focus attention of some issues while ignoring others. Consider the implications of agenda-setting for public policy debate and creation of laws.

• Framing—This subset of agenda-setting concerns how news and information are “framed” or presented once through the news “gate” and on the public agenda. A media “frame” is the central organizing idea for a news story that supplies a context and emphasizes certain aspects of a story while minimizing or ignoring others. As media literacy theory tells us, media messages are constructions or representations of “reality.” It is impossible for a media message to be anything more than a summary or representation of the world. Thus, the question for message consumers is always: “What aspects of this story are not being told?” “What information lies outside the ‘frame’ of this message?” and, perhaps most importantly, “What might be the intent (ideological, intentional or inadvertent) of the senders (gatekeepers) of this message?” So framing suggests that the bottom line in news coverage is not just what to think about (agenda-setting), but how to think about it, based on how the story is presented. Framing is not a conspiracy to skew the news (although it can be done that way); individuals, based on their selective perceptions, not only select different things as important, but inevitably frame them in different ways to conform to how they see the world.

• Cultivation—The images and impressions and topics (and how they are framed) that appear in the mass media serve to “cultivate” in all of us certain impressions of the world. These messages and the way they are framed—if they are a stable set of images consistent over time—may serve to change our own individual perceptual frame of the world around us. The mass media build and maintain a stable set of images—stories about our culture, our society, who we are—that govern our lives and how we see the world, and influence the decisions we make. Ultimately, mass media messages in sufficient accumulation may influence our behavior, attitudes, decisions and life choices. This has wide implications for both individuals and for societies. Based on the amount and kind of stuff we include in our mass media diets, we may over time start to “cultivate” new perceptions of people, ideas, issues, etc., with which we have little direct involvement. In short, the cultivate media “reality” may become more real to us over time than real reality.

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We will focus on five main issues surrounding the "Ground Zero Mosque." These five issues are whether this is a cultural center or a mosque, the building's proximity to Ground Zero, the location and need for another mosque, legal issues and funding, and politics. We will use the aforementioned theories and ethics codes to judge whether or not these news sources report truth or truthiness.