Final Questions

The following are my responses to the final questions and my reflection on what I have learned this semester in Communications 139.

1. Objectivity
In the ideal world, objectivity would exist as the ever present balance to society. Unfortunately, objectivity cannot completely exist because there are no perfect people in the world and bias is present in the simple process of choosing what stories to report. In the loose term we use to define objectivity, yes, objectivity does exist, but in the complete form it does not exist. While objectivity might not exist in the perfect sense, objectivity can be strived for through creating balance and fairness in an article. “Objectivity is thus a narrow but useful matrix of certainty, in a universe that is full of uncertainty, ignorance, and error” (Scheuer 71). According to Jeffrey Scheuer, objectivity is equivalent to sharing the truth. Perfection in objectivity can be defined as trying to present the truth without bias and opinion to the best of ones ability.

Opinion in journalism belongs on the editorial page and no where else. It is not only allowed, but unavoidable for a journalist to hold their own opinions on current issues. These opinions and feelings must remain out of their writing when reporting facts about the occurrences surrounding these issues. A journalist’s job is to set aside their own opinions in order to present the most factually accurate story they can.

To avoid bias, I plan on sticking to the facts, research, and quotes I collect. My articles will never include the words “I” or “my” so that I can avoid placing my opinion in them. While I am not naïve enough to believe in perfect objectivity, I will strive daily to create fairness in my article without bias to the best of my abilities.

2. Excellence in Journalism
In Scheuer’s book, The Big Picture, Scheuer defines excellence in journalism with “the three graces” of journalism: truth, context, and independence. Both broadcasters and print journalists alike need to constantly work to find and report the whole truth; this can include digging deep into an investigation of a story or reporting something distasteful, but the public always deserves the truth. The context that makes up excellent journalism refers to the historical research and studies that further help the reader understand the story. Independence in journalism requires thwarting the two things that fight it: power and profit. Excellence can be achieved in journalism by focusing on making the right choices on what your company wants to share by forgetting about the power and need for profit hanging over you. Scheuer said, “…journalists who care only about their paychecks are hacks” (Scheuer 48).

I would add to these three concepts the idea that stories must be relative and entertaining (well written) to those that are the audience. If an article contains all of the above and is written in a mundane manner, people won’t be able to keep their eyes open through the first paragraph. When I say that entertainment should be present, I mean that the story should vividly be brought to life, not necessarily that news needs to be a bedtime story.
Over my semester-long examination of the Loveland Daily Reporter-Herald, I have discovered that they are an excellent newspaper that exercises community journalism. They constantly work on sharing relevant community news with the public and they provide adequate background information for understanding all the articles. The Reporter-Herald strives to provide the complete truth while keeping stories interesting and well written. It is clear that they are independent in their thoughts through the stories that are reported. I was impressed to see that about half way through the semester the Reporter-Herald took the step to join the changing society by getting a twitter account. It has been exciting to watch the changes of my hometown newspaper through the eyes of a journalist.

3. Journalistic Truth
Perception plays a big part in all aspects of life including journalism. Journalistic truth involves two aspects, which Scheuer stated, “We must collect the dots and connect the dots” (Scheuer 67). The absolute truth or reality is the definite facts that a journalist collects in their interviews and research; in other words, the absolute truth is the dots that journalists collect. The journalistic truth is the connecting of the dots. While the facts are all the same, the way or angle a journalist chooses to write their story from determines the journalistic truth. Both journalistic truth and absolute truth contribute to civic knowledge; the way that ideas are formed and knowledge is created is influenced by the way that an article is written. For example, one journalist could write a story about a car crash where from the passengers view as opposed to another journalist writing from the drivers view. The stories would both give civic truth about the case, but would give different ideas of the situation.

4. Changing Journalism Industry
The age of technology has proven itself as a blessing to society it making everything accessible and just within reach of your fingertips; however, it has also been the cause of a deteriorating news industry as we know it. In class, we discussed how most people between the ages of 18-29 now get their news off of the internet by surfing the web to find the news that most appeals to them. Newspapers and television are becoming unnecessary in obtaining the news where as before they were essential. There is also the impact of everyone having a voice through blogging that deters people from the newspaper. Broadcast news has to face the popular world of youtube.com and other online industries that allow people to broadcast themselves, which often gives funnier accounts about news in contradiction to the serious evening news.

While the realization that the profession I have waited to enter for about 12 years of my short life is dying, the indications show that neither the newspaper nor the broadcast industry will become extinct. In the next five years, I see my position in my career as a journalist as developing new ways over the web to draw people to the tangible newspaper I am writing for. It will be my job to not only write stories for the daily newspaper, but also set up online extras to go with the newspaper articles. My responsibilities will include posting video blogs of my interviews, sending out teasers for future articles, and governing forums about reported stories online. The newspaper will have to become even more interactive with its readers as time passes by if they are to survive the growing technological industry.

Similarly to what I will be doing in five years, I anticipate in ten years that my responsibilities will expand. It will be important to continue to develop new ways to interact and get the readers involved in the news. The future might mean only a weekly tangible paper and the rest of the stories will be quick updates online. While it is hard to think that the simple ways of news are changing, the excitement and complexity of the future news is thrilling.

5. My Personal Code of Conduct as a Journalist
As we have discussed different aspects of journalism over the semester, I have come to know the type of journalist I desire to become. My code of conduct as a journalist includes being respectful and professional in all situations. In a journalism career, I will meet people from all different lifestyles and I need to learn to listen and understand all of them.

In our studies, we learned that the citizen should come first when we think about reporting; I will live by this element. As a journalist, I consider it my duty to be the eyes of the public and to provide the community with information that they can’t obtain themselves. It is my responsibility to represent all voices, including those I might not agree with.

In the future, I anticipate a need to make many moral decisions concerning what is proper or not appropriate to report. These decisions will be approached with high standards, prayer, and carefully examined from all aspects before a decision is concluded. I will not make decisions lightly, but I will meet my deadlines.
While my articles will show independence and originality, I will keep my opinion to myself unless I am writing an editorial. I will be objective as possible in my writing so that there is no bias present.

The final aspect I wish to include in my code of ethics is my work will, “fear[s] God and honor[s] Man,” as it says in the Journalist’s Creed at Missouri School of Journalism. My stories will fear God in writing truth and being honest, which is following His commandments. By fearing God and being honest, I also honor man by giving man what he deserves to know and hear.

Defining News in a non-tradional way

With today's news sources, it seems like any tiny piece of information is considered news. During the elections and continuing today, the clothes that Michelle Obama wore/wears was/is a hot topic for reporting. A lot of times you read an article and you think that the journalist had a random thought that they went off on a tangent about. When defining news, there are outlines in determining news such as proximity, timeliness, relevancy, and many others. The truth is that news is any knowledge obtained that you didn't know before. So, let's share every minuscule piece of information about life; after all, it keeps the traditional news more interesting. However, I hope that people continue to seek out news that effects them such as news on the War in Iraq.

Exinction can't be coming...can it?

It is clear that in order to progress things must change. Technology advances and with it the world seems to move on to a life that seems greater than the previous. It used to be that newspapers were sufficient in providing the news. Then the radio became the elect news source followed by television. Today the internet and its variety of options draw people in to surf its many websites, blogs, and other sources considered news. The effect of the shifting society is evident in the epidemic that is beginning to sweep the journalism nation.

The Tribune Company, a prominent news source, has filed for bankruptcy on December 8, 2008. Are newspapers on the endangered species list? Are they the next medium to become extinct?

Journalism is a reliable news source and I used to think it wouldn't ever vanquish, but now I worry. I have a feeling that the major newspapers in the country will nearly diminish with a few exceptions; people will rely on the internet for national news and the Associated Press articles (or one of the new competitors) in their local newspapers. The community newspapers have a chance at survival though because people are always concerned about how things relate or effect them. They will always like to see themselves in the newspaper; however, downsizing is inevitable.

Should we read or should we blog now?

Over the course of this semester, we have been presented with the question on whether blogging is considered journalism. I do not believe that blogging is the same thing as journalism. Journalism includes research, association that makes one credible, and objectivity. Blogging is a response to the news; without journalism bloggers would not know about news to write about. The only news they would know about is what directly effects them in their own lives, which breaks the objectivity rule in journalism. While blogging is not considered journalism, bloggers will fulfill an important role in society as far as getting more opinions and material for people to read.

What have you concluded after this semester? Are bloggers journalists?

Will you take the risk?

While I have considered the possible physical danger that a career in journalism can include, I have never thought about the emotional danger that stories can impose on a journalist. This weeks assignment about reporting on trauma on newsu.org was an eye opener for me. The job of a journalist is to communicate and connect people through the news, whether that be soft or hard news. In the course of their research, newsu.org said that journalists can develop emotional illness by reliving these situations with the interviewee.

Since reporting trauma can be detrimental to the journalist as well as emotionally difficult for the people reliving their traumatic incident, should the news industry refuse to report on traumatic events?

Trauma stories are often humann interest stories; while people would never want to be in the terrible situation such as losing all their children in a drunk driving incident, people like to feel all emotions. Through these trauma stories, people feel more connected to others. Also, these trauma stories can be preventive and informative to people. It would not be beneficial to remove the stories on trauma completely; after all, those stories are news as well as part of life.

While it is not an option to stop reporting on trauma, journalists need to learn to protect themselves both physically and mentally. The newsu.org text recommended taking personal days to sort through your emotions for the interview and reporting the story. Although the consequences on reporting trauma can be dangerous, I am sure the positive effects are greater than the negative.

Mumbai attacks reveal trends on twitter

While twitter seems to be working its way into the world as a new source of news, one has to question whether it is fulfilling the role journalism is supposed to play. With the recent attacks on Mumbai, it is evident that twitter is now playing a part in providing a news like forum where people can discuss the news on their own. Tweets on the discussion of Mumbai's attacks poured in and are still pouring into twitter.com. The ability for people to get their voice heard on the matter at first appears to be a strength, which it is; however, the freedom of speech can be misleading. People on twitter claim to be eye-witnesses when in reality they aren't and blanket statements are common. There is a trend of self proclaimed authority seen throughout twitter.

While this rapid access to tweets seems to be the future of journalism, I believe it will be the future of teasers. Just like we use catchy headlines to attract classmates to our blogs, the news organizations will need to use twitter to give the reader a heads up about tomorrows news or to draw them to their website to view the full story. Then readers can have an open forum on the article viewed over twitter where they can voice their opinion, but it won't be taken as fact.

Twitter is a new tool that can be considered successful in letting everyone have their say, but it can't be taken as serious news.

Searching for Truth

The world is full of questions and unknowns, but people are dying to know the truth. There always seems to be an ambiguous feel to supposed truths floating around in the world. While everyone would like to have truth, it is difficult to find truth and have a sure knowledge that what is being shared is truth. As journalists, we seek to find answers to life's mysteries and to clear up the haziness in the stories we report. However, how can journalists be sure that they are writing truth?

Naturally, journalists turn to facts in order to ensure truth in their articles. In Jeffrey Scheuer's book, "The Big Picture," Scheuer states, "They (facts) are by definition islands of agreement in a sea of uncertainty" (67). Facts are certain, unchangeable statements that provide clarity and evidence to a story. Truth is the equivalent to facts.

By researching and interviewing a variety of people from all angles and perspectives, a journalist is opening up to knowledge that helps easier decipher between the truth or a lie. Since there is so much gray area in truth, journalists need to have a critical eye. They need a skill of discernment and dedication.

Public Forum

In class, we discussed the newspapers obligation to provide the public with a forum. Forums open up an opportunity for many parties to state their honest opinion without interference from the news gatekeepers; however, forums are more conducive to those that are best with public speaking. In a way, forums can be dangerous when they become more emotionally involved. There is a power in emotion that many people don't know how to separate from truth, which makes it harder for people to chose their sides according to where they stand on a topic.

The public deserves a forum where they too can state their opinions; as we discussed, Rick Sanchez opens up to the public's opinions live on his show by using Twitter. My hometown newspaper the Loveland Daily Reporter Herald has the RH-line where local citizens can call in and have a short paragraph sharing their opinion in the newspaper. The Daily Universe does a similar thing by allowing students to write in and share their opinions on matters. These types of forums are important in involving the reader: the more the reader feels they are part of that newspaper or news program the more they will regularly tune in to that specific program.

Bias in Journalism: Is it impossible to remain objective?

On October 18, Clark Hoyt wrote a column for the New York Times titled, "Keeping Their Opinions to Themselves." With the election being this year, there have been a collection of complaints to the New York Times over them being biased. While I too believe that every medium holds some degree of bias, I know that there is always a goal to maintain as much objectivity as possible.

In the article, Clark Hoyt writes, "Like a lot of news consumers — and at least some Times readers — O’Reilly appears to have a hard time with information that does not fit his view of the world. It is a tough reality every news organization faces."

This comment suggests that readers see biases because they too are biased and only want to hear their side of the story. Do you think newspapers are biased, or is it really the readers that search for bias? If so, how can journalism mediums keep bias out of their work?

To view the article by Clark Hoyt click on this link: http://tinyurl.com/55qxmr

Newspaper Analysis

Throughout this semester, I have been examining the Loveland Daily Reporter Herald. The Reporter Herald is Loveland, Colorado's local newspaper that focuses on community journalism. As far as I have seen, the newspaper does a good job of bringing the community stories on matters that effect the community or would interest the population. Each story is written in a way that the average person should be able to understand the article.

It is easy to interact with the reporters and other workers with the Loveland Daily Reporter Herald. When I needed to contact them, I checked their website and immediately found an phone number and e-mail address that we could contact them at. The e-mail I sent them was promptly responded to within 24 hours.

The format of the website for the Loveland Daily Reporter Herald is very basic. The website makes it difficult for the eye to know what to look at first because the page is busy with typed text. There is hardly pictures or colors to liven up the web page. It would help the Loveland Daily Reporter Herald if they would make their website more attractive and easy on the eye.

The Loveland Daily Reporter Herald is a newspaper that tries hard to serve the community they write for and successfully does so. They focus on matters that effect the community and they make the news easily accessible. With a little work on their website, the Loveland Daily Reporter Herald would be a prime example for presenting good news to the public.

Check out their website and share your opinion: http://www.reporterherald.com/index.asp

Community Journalism

This week in class we had the opportunity to have a small town journalist,Heather Bowser, speak to us on community journalism. This partnered with the journalist interview that I completed this week helped me to see where I would like to go with my journalism career; both Jeff Stahla and Heather Bowser discussed how their primary purpose as a journalist is to serve the community and that is precisely what my goal as a journalist is.

Community journalism is the focus of the small town happenings: the citizens, their activities, and random stories. This soft news is what makes people smile and the news people can find joy in. While community journalism does lean towards the entertainment side of news, it also can carry important messages and news aspects to the community. It is through community journalism that small town newspapers will stay alive.

Serving the Community

Growing up in Loveland, CO I was part of what would be considered a small town. In this small but growing community, I felt close to all of my neighbors and can attribute that to my local newspaper. While the small community's population has matured to 59,563 citizens according to Loveland's online profile, I still feel that the Loveland Daily Reporter-Herald is working for the people to maintain a tight knit community.
In an effort to remind myself why I am choosing to obtain a degree in journalism, I went to my roots. I contacted the Loveland Daily Reporter-Herald to interview one of their reporters and was fortunate enough to get in contact with the city editor Jeff Stahla. Stahla shared his story on how he became a journalist with me as well as his personal opinions about journalism with his newspaper.
Stahla's journalist path began during his freshman year of college. As a math major, Stahla was not satisfied, so he searched for alternate activities to participate in that would be as he said, "more intellectually and spiritually stimulating." In his search, Stahla ended up volunteering for his school's newspaper and began to study communications. From there, Stahla took a job with a "small community newspaper in Wyoming," which he attributes for teaching him more about journalism then school.
Now as the city editor for the Loveland Daily Reporter-Herald, Stahla is able to mold the newspaper into a true community journalism medium and share what he believes is good journalism with the Loveland community.
"Good journalism makes readers smarter and empowers them to take appropriate action to have a more fulfilling life and better community," Stahla said.
Through out the questionnaire, it is evident that Stahla is devoted to serving the Loveland community and dedicated to bringing citizens "good journalism." Stahla and his staff have developed a relationship with the readers, so that the community will come to the Loveland Daily Reporter-Herald to share their story ideas with the reporters. This enables the newspaper to cover community activities that might go over-looked with a limited staff.
While Stahla admits that his newspaper is affected by the shift in how news is shared, he says that the circulation continues to grow. He gives the supportive community the credit for the Loveland Daily Reporter-Herald's ability to stay afloat; the public is willing to share their personal news with the community, which makes a difference when the newsroom is smaller then desired.
"I went into journalism because I am impassioned by the duty of making th people around me more aware of the world around them-- including matters of substance, like government and finance, and matters of more entertaining value, such as features on personalities and other topics," Stahla said.
Stahla reinforced my beliefs in journalism and reminded me of my motivation to become a journalist who writes for the people. I hope that I can channel my passion for serving the community into the news I share with them; Stahla's opinions have shown me that I can make a difference in the community that I write for.

News mediums need to find a new stride

In class on Wednesday, we watched a PBS special called, "News War: What's happening to the news?" This documentary focused on the challenges faced by both broadcast and print journalists; since the development of cable and the internet, people now have a variety of mediums to choose from considering that they can dial through hundreds of television channels and surf the internet using a key word search. With these technological advancements, people are now tuning into the news that focuses on what they want to hear. This means mainly finding the news they enjoy over the internet. The PBS special said that part of being a journalist now requires that reporters, "Give the public what it wants." Not only does satisfying the reader become the only priority, but the segment suggests that hard news is being put second next to soft news.
In order to survive the shifting society cased by the technological advancements, newspapers will need to learn to use the technology to lead readers to the hard copy newspaper. Today there are websites developed that are giving a quick feed on stories or one sentence updates on what news is happening, such as Twitter. If newspapers can learn to post news headlines as the news happens and tell the public to look for more details in the following days newspaper, then they will be able to compete in the live news industry where stories are posted online or headlines cross the television screen immediately upon learning news. These quick headlines shared on websites such as Twitter will direct the curiosity of the public to read the following days paper, which would hopefully increase circulation.
Another shift the news industry will have to make in order to survive the changing times is making the news the community's news. Newspapers will need to save more spots in their layout for pubic columns, broadcasts will need to show more pictures shot by the public, and community members names will need to be shown frequently in the paper. The community has a voice and they will find a way to be heard even if it isn't through the news mediums provided. In order to share the important news, journalists first need to address the public's desires; these desires could be learned through allowing readers to give suggestions on Twitter.
Although the destruction of the news industry as we know it seems inevitable, I do not see the world not needing the news. The news is what connects a community and keeps it together in trying times. Yes, times are changing, but the both print and broadcast journalism will stay alive as long as they find a way to use what is changing to improve their news.

The Reporter's Privilege

There is a need of a reporter's privilege in today's society so that journalists can fully bring their readers the truth. Sometimes the only way to collect credible sources is to agree to keep a source secret. This helps reporters to gather accurate information that otherwise wouldn't be accessible. The purpose of a reporter's privilege is to give journalists rights to keep important sources information private from the government or courts. This helps reporters maintain the confidential sources trust and continue to provide the public with the truth. After all, a reporter is nothing without its sources. As the slide said at the panel discussion, "A reporter's sources are the one treasure he cannot live without."

Who is a journalist?

In a world where the web is wide open for people to post their opinions at their convenience, there has been a question posted as to who is considered a journalist. It seems impossible to proclaim that anyone who types an account of their experiences and observations online could be labeled and held to the position of a journalist. While anyone can voice their opinion in blogs or other online applications that are made accessible to people through out the entire world, not any one of the bloggers can claim the status of journalist.

To be a journalist, there are rules that must be observed as in any other profession. A major difference between these citizens who acknowledge their right to the practice what is stated in the first amendment and those that are trained to work as a journalist for a pronounced newspaper, magazine, news channel, or website is merely the backing an opinion with sources. While there is clearly bias in all news sources, there is facts and research to back the ideas of the journalist. Most opinions posted by adamant bloggers is their opinion alone.

While a journalist respects everyone and their privacy, their first priority and obligation is to bring truth to the people. A journalist is someone who works for the people. Not everyone has that obligation that is posting their stories on the web. Everyone can share their opinion and stories with the world, but not everyone can be called a journalist.