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.