Week 11: Comprehensive and Proportional

According to Elements, the eight principle for journalists is that "journalists should keep the news comprehensive and in proportion." What does that mean? It means to tell the story accurately, to not leave out or over-emphasize details, to tell things as they are. Sensationalism is out, and so is downplaying.

Elements used the example of cartography: when drawing a map, cartographers are careful to chart accurately. Distortion is a bad thing: you don't want to misrepresent the size of the Coast of Important Information. You don't want to play up the Goldmine of Misleading Information. And for the love of journalism, don't plop the Sea Monster of Made-Up Facts in the News Article Ocean in the name of selling a few papers.

However, as Elements also points out, the metaphor can only go so far: cartography is an exact science, and journalism is not. "Proportion and comprehensiveness in the news are subjective." Journalists must find the correct balance between minimizing and hyping.

Elements has a great litmus test for deciding when a story has been hyped: "Human emotion is at the heart of what makes something news. Once you try to manufacture it, or use it to bring attention to yourself, you have crossed the line into something there is already enough of--reality entertainment."

Addtionally, this Poynter article gives the criteria for hype:

1. Amount of coverage: How much time and space is this news occupying?
2. Dominance of coverage: Is this news taking over a platform (website, newscast, front page) and/or dominating several platforms?
3. Prominence of coverage: How prominent is this news? Is it leading a newscast, on the front page?
4. Type of coverage: Is the news trivial or vital? Are respected newsmakers acting as if it’s vital? Is the event unexpected, rare?
5. Tone of coverage: How urgent is the message, how intense the delivery? Are the graphics and images conveying crisis?
6. Context of coverage: What else could or should be receiving our attention instead?

So don't hype.

Week 10: Religion and Journalism

Okay, don't shoot me, but only one thing ran through my mind as my COMMS 239 class discussed religion and journalism: absolutely and without a doubt, my religion comes first.

I am not willing to sacrifice my beliefs and convictions for anything. And that's probably one of the reasons I've decided to get out of the journalism game. That's right, I'm switching majors: being a reporter was not right for me. Instead, I'm running away to the delightful land of linguistics where I can read newspapers and enjoy the work of journalists without having to worry about being one.

Back to religion and journalism.

Despite the stark conflict, these two actually have a lot in common. Foremost: their top and guiding principle is that of seeking truth. Journalists and the religious are expected to work hard with integrity, humility, fairness, and trustworthiness. They are expected to live up to certain standards. Both want what is best for the people and both (should) promote freedom.

However, journalists should work hard on being unbiased, whereas organized religion is greatly biased toward their own beliefs.

So how do journalists reconcile those two things? I don't know. It is a deeply personal decision, I'm sure. Perhaps you can follow David Waters of the Washington Post, who said, "Our personal faith deeply affects who we are and what we believe, but it doesn't always have to affect what we do." Personally, I hope my faith and beliefs always affect what I do, and that I will always live by the standard set for me by my religion.

But then again, I'm not planning of being a journalist.

Another issue with religion and journalism is how reporters report on religious things. Religion is such a huge part of the lives of the majority of this country's citizens. Isn't it biased to ignore religion altogether when reporting? This article from ReligionWriters.com presents a compelling case for religious reporting.

I appreciate the motto of The Religion Newswriters Association: "[We envision] religion reporting and commentary informed by civility, accuracy, fairness and insight."

And that should be the goal for all of us.

Week 8: Watchdog Journalism

Lets be honest. I say "Watchdog journalism" and you think "Watergate!" or "The Pentagon Papers!" Those are very good things to think of. Both are excellent examples of time where journalists fulfilled their role in being the Fourth Branch of our government. However,watchdog journalism is not just watching the government. It's any public official or organization.

Lets look at fictitious journalists in popular culture: Clark Kent aka Superman. Vicki Vale from Batman. Peter Parker aka Spiderman. Polly Perkins from Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (which is a wonderful, strange movie). April O'Neil from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. These are all EPIC characters who do what? Seek for the truth, and vow to present that truth to the masses.

Of course, the super heroes on that list to a little more than chase after and write the facts, but the metaphor holds. Journalists are, in a way, the super heroes of the world. They're the ones who look out for the people by watching over the policy makers.

It's our job to make sure the citizens know what is really going on by serving as their watchdog. It's also important to realize that this does not mean chasing down a scandal where one does not exist. It means finding the truth and telling the truth. If the large organization is actually being ethical and fair in it's practices, then write that! It's not as exciting, but it's still truth.

And truth is what we do.

Week 7: Independence in Journalism

From Elements: "[Journalism's] practitioners must maintain an Independence from those they cover." This includes race, religion, gender, economic class, nationality, and so on. This all makes sense to me--how else can we be the objective truth-tellers that citizens expect us to be.

Recently I was talking to a friend who attends USU. She was ranting about an article she had read in the school paper, the Statesman. It was a news article with an obvious slant, and additionally she felt the bias was a stance that only someone uneducated about the topic would take. I listened to her talk, and read the article, all the while taking notes about how I could avoid making the same mistakes.

The truth is, it’s hard for us to not put opinion into what we write, especially young journalists like us. But we cannot let personal feelings into our writing. To do so would be unfair to the audience and unfair to the story and the truth.

I really like the quote “comment is free, but facts are sacred.” Everyone has an opinion, but not everyone has the truth. As a journalist, my job is to find and present that truth, and I hope I always maintain the independence I need to accomplish just that.

Week 5: The Profession

There's a very interesting quote in Mind, brought up by Group 5: "If a culture is optimistic and expects things to work out well, then progress and safety before the expectation, and events threatening these are seen as news."

This makes sense to me. The things people consider news are those which are abnormal, break the social norm, or go against the shared values of a society.

With this and the quote in mind, look at what we consider news in the USA. Most of it is very negative news, highlighting crimes and the shortcomings of government and the threat of terrorism. Does all this “bad news” mean that we, as Americans, are generally an optimistic society?

This is really interesting to me. I have heard the argument that all the negative news we see on TV is going to turn us into a negative society. We are all going to have a terribly pessimistic view of the world. But doesn’t this become moot point when we realize that negative news is actually a reflection of a positive society?

Food for thought. As for me, I’ll try to find more happiness when I see negative news, because it’s a reminder of how good things really are. Would you want to live in a society where positive news is more common than negative news, because the bad is the norm? 

Week 4: Loyalty

Who will I be loyal to?

This is a big question, one people are constantly asking. “Choose you this day whom ye will serve!” declares biblical prophet Joshua. “Follow your heart!” coos the Disney Princesses. “To thine own self be true!” chokes Hamlet character Polonuis before he dies. It seems obvious that your first loyalty should be to yourself. We should never have to compromise our values to please others.

So, as a journalist, who should you be loyal to?

Later during this class, we'll create a code of ethics that outlines the personal beliefs we have that we should be loyal to. We generally accept that we must be true to ourselves and follow our heart and so on.

But the question asked by group 4 is complicated and interesting: As journalists, should we be loyal primarily to the citizens or our businesses?

We have an obligation to both, to be sure. If the business of our paper is unsuccessful, then the citizens are not getting information, and you're probably out of a job. But I hope that the answer in all journalist's hearts is an emphatic, "We are primarily loyal to our audience!"

Elements states in nice, bold text, "Journalism's first loyalty is to citizens." I believe this. We, the writers, compilers, and presenters of news, must have truth and accuracy as our primary goal. Information is what makes our society free and democratic.

We are the “middlemen.” We connect the newsmakers with the news-consumers. Our loyalty is not primarily to our boss, the corporation, the business. It’s to our audience. 

Pew Media Study!

Those interested in media, journalism, and the like, listen up! Read this. It’s an article on the recent Pew Research Center study that found some really interesting things about the public’s news diet.

Those who are more inclined to newspapers than television might find it particularly interesting. True, it’s been common knowledge that Americans use the TV more for news than other sources. And the study did find that television is the main source of news for three popular topics: weather, traffic, and breaking news. But the interesting thing? People rely on newspapers and their websites for 11 other topics, like local government, zoning, and crime news. Also, sources like texting and Twitter are the second most common distributors of local news.

Newspapers are not obsolete! 50 percent of the surveyed read newspapers or related websites for local news at least once a week. But here comes the most interesting part: 69 percent also said that “the death of their local paper would have at most a minor impact on their news diet” with young adults being “especially unconcerned.”

What a contradiction! It points to society’s tendency to, according to Pew director Tom Rosenstiel, not think of information as a privilege, but as a right. “There’s a feeling, I think, that in the digital age, information is a commodity that’s just available — and there’s not always a sense of how it’s generated or produced,” he said.

Read the article! It’s quick, interesting, and worth your time.