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.