Insanity...

As journalist we are always told to make our stories engaging for our readers. Many times when we do this, we forget the most important part of the story, making it relevant.  The Elements of Journalism states the definition of journalism perfectly here, "Journalism is storytelling with a purpose. That purpose is to provide people with information they need to understand the world." If we try too hard to make our story engaging, it will lead to sensational journalism.

As I was reading this chapter this idea came to mind: Sensationalism has spurts of popularity, but the real hard news will always have its place and need in society. Think of it like the Harry Potter verses Twilight war on websites like http://mlia.com. Twilight is popular every time a movie comes out or whenever the guy who plays Jacob Black takes his shirt off, but Harry Potter will always be important to the readers.

The point is that we need to be wary of this type of journalism. If all we do is give them celebrity gossip stories, that is all they will want to hear about. We need to find a way to make real hard news an important part of the readers life. So how do we tell a story, make it engaging, but still keep it relevant? The book gave us several ideas of how to do this:

1. Do a profile- on the people, place or event behind the story. The National Geographic did a profile piece on the first African American to explore the North Pole. It was a super interesting article. http://tinyurl.com/6uzd78u

2. Do an explanatory piece; why something happens, how it works. "When bugs fight back" was a Pulitzer Prize winning article about bugs and pesticides I read in the Library. I can't find it online unfortunately.  

3. Issues and trend stories- on things like crime, or the economy, or health. http://tinyurl.com/nksw
This article explains very interestingly about how different sleep positions affects your health.

4. Investigative- look into a wrong doing. The New Yorker did an investigative work on the religion of Scientology. Super interesting. http://tinyurl.com/3f3qhek

5. Narrative- A story with a character- http://tinyurl.com/7gvu9sn

6. Descriptive- A day in the life type of story, like this interesting article about the day in the life of a tour de france bike, written for a bike magazine. http://tinyurl.com/6notukc

7. Voice or perspective- Tell the story in a unique way like Q&A. http://tinyurl.com/7aqhdep

8. Visual- spices it up with charts, pictures, video bits. Because of this article I can actually understand the European debt crisis (http://tinyurl.com/84stayx).

If we feel that hard news is losing to sensational journalism and there is no way to change that, our attitudes are wrong. This would be, as Albert Einstein said, Insane. Insanity is doing something wrong over and over again but still expecting the same results. If our stories aren’t selling it isn’t because the readers aren’t interested in hard news, it’s because they are bored. The burden falls squarely on us as journalist to spice things up. We need to be creative with our work. If we dedicate ourselves to make our work true, accurate, and interesting, there is no way we won’t have readers.

Don't Get Naked!

Citizens’ main requirement for journalist and the media is to be able to trust what they are being told. Too often as journalist we forget about our relationship with our readers. In The Elements of Journalism we learn, "The key element of credibility is the perceived motive of the journalist. People do not expect perfection. They do expect good intentions." We need to build a bond of trust with our readers. As long as we have this bond, our readers will stay true. How do we build this? According to Harvard's recent study on Blogging, Journalism, and Credibility (http://tinyurl.com/blbcvs) we must be completely transparent with what we aim to achieve in each article or story we right. Without transparency it is impossible to build that bridge.

The recession has scared many media companies into pursuing a path called sensational journalism. An example of this type of journalism is my title. Using grabbing titles, doing excessive reporting on scandals, turning from hard news to soft news. This type of journalism has become so in demand that, according to this New York Times Article (http://tinyurl.com/6u8as9l) journalist are putting personal ads in newspapers to find "exclusive, sensational news." Many newspapers or broadcast stations search for sensational news during times of financial uncertainty believing the exciting and guilty pleasure headlines will draw in more customers. While this may be true, the new readers will soon leave or the old readers will be disgusted with the sudden change and leave. Sticking with the original plan of the company and reporting on hard news will always be the best option. If your company is struggling, you can use tactics like the following found from the experts in the book:

"Find out what the community is doing... Once you get those answers you can design coverage that responds directly to the people you are trying to reach." -Butch Ward

"To rarely do people in news companies think about what citizens' needs are." - Valerie Crane

This is truly a simple answer. If you want people to read your newspaper or watch your television show, find out what the people need and give it to them. In my Student Development class this summer we discussed the issue of finding a way to make a living in this economy. My professor, Alberto Puertas reputedly told us that the best way to make a living was to, "Find a need in the community and fill it." I believe this statement is what we need to do with journalism. While this may mean not always doing hard-hitting stories, it will always mean serious journalism that will mean something to a reader out there.

In Morning Glory, the age old battle of sensational journalism verses hard news is the core issue of the story. Finding the mixture of the two eventually saves the company. Not an incredibly accurate film, but one worth watching for those who like journalism and production.

Let's Get Ethical!

This past weekend I went to an Abba tribute concert. It was fun and exciting, but when they sang their song about money, it reminded me of the last lecture in my communications class. Is money really funny in a rich man's world?

 We had a pretty heated discussions about what is ethical and what is not for a journalist. You ask, "Why? What's ethical is ethical, follow the guidelines and you will be fine." This is where being a journalist can get a little messy. There are no set rules to follow. Everyone personally defines what they will and wont do, cover, say, attend, etc. Yes, you must follow the rules at your specific network or station, but as a profession as a whole, there has yet to be made a concrete law. This is where the Society of Print Journalism Code of Ethics, (http://www.spj.org/), helps out. Read around the web page to get an idea of what is the ethical trend right now.

In this debate, we talked about the Valdez Oil Spill in Alaska in 1989. I wasn't very sure about what it was, so I did some research(http://tinyurl.com/7bxhur4). It was one of the biggest environmental disasters at the time, spilling more than 10 million gallons of gas into the icy Alaskan waters.

This video shows the impact that is still found today because of the spill.

We were given a situation and had to decide how we would deal with it. In Alaska, most of the money made is made by the extraction of oil. They call it "Oil Money." So when a tiny News Radio company, struggling to survive, is offered a thirty-two thousand dollar grant from Exxon to cover oil related news it didn't seem like a big deal. But it was. The company decided against taking the grant, and eventually went out of business.

This didn't make sense at first. Most of the money in that part of Alaska was being made from oil companies anyway, so why couldn't they accept the grant and allow the company to survive?

The answer is because it wasn't ethical to take the money. I agree with their decision. Even though Alaska is full of "Oil Money" this money was going to be given to them as a "gift" if they would cover the oil spill. If they had accepted the gift, they would have had to cover the oil spill in a light that positively reflected Exxon, because they were now obligated to support the company that supported them.

It all comes down to your worldview. What you view as right or wrong is different from the person next to you. When you get stuck in situations like the little news radio company in Alaska, you have to have made solid decision on what you believe is right. You need to make your own code of ethics and stick to it, no matter the situation. Now is not the time to be a fair-weather journalist.

We've got a mystery!

When trying to decide how I could best explain Watchdog Journalism, I brilliantly thought to myself, "Let the experts do the talking!"

So I will. This clip explains how a journalist can perfect his watchdog journalism skills. This is the Associated Press Washington bureau chief Ron Fournier and Accountability Editor Jim Drinkard.

Now that we know how to do watchdog journalism, we should expound on the deeper question of why. Rex Smith of the Times Union said, " I’m convinced that a focus on watchdog journalism is not only the right thing to do journalistic, but also a smart business strategy." To read his whole article, click here : (http://tinyurl.com/3umeu6m) Investigative reporting builds trust with the readers. When you become an activist, reformer, and and exposer, your readers will have faith that you are trying to get the truth out the best you can.

I was impressed when the presenters in my class last week talked about D. Todd Christofferson and his role in the Watergate scandal. In a speech to Duke University, Elder Christofferson talked about Sirca's decision on the case,“Nobody knew how that was going to turn out, [Sirica] could have been a goat as well as a hero and had his head handed to him on a platter by the Supreme Court. But he said ‘This is right,’ and he signed the order.”(Emphasis added)(http://tinyurl.com/3jbcve5)
This is what watchdog journalism is all about, telling the truth. Who better to teach BYU students this lesson than an apostle of God? We need to do the right thing to give our readers the freedom to decide for themselves what to do in any situation. We must give them the correct information, despite the retributions that may occur. It reminds me of when I was little, watching the detective Mary Kate and Ashley Videos, they searched for the truth and told it no matter what the cost!

 

"I am the Founder of Diversity Tomorrow, becuase today is almost over."

This is a subject that journalists discuss time and time again, or at least that is the way it feels in my journalism classes. Because it is discussed so much I think that sometimes we tend to let it slide, to think we already know it, and don't take it as seriously as we should. As journalist we need to be independent from not only the topic we cover, political parties, and big businesses, but also from our close relationships and friends. As a member of the press we cannot show our political affiliations and support. The best way to describe this is, as said by group 7, is "True to a set of ideas rather than a member of a team, someone who put his readers first."  This is what we need to strive to do continually. This is what separates us from the millions of bloggers, tweeters, and mlia-ers.

We also need to be aware of the readers. We need to giver independence to our readers regardless of economic status, race, ethnic, religion, gender, etc. We cannot only cover certain types of people and isolate the rest. We also need this independence in the newsroom. As a good friend of mine, Michael Scott would say, we should celebrate diversity.

John Swinton, former Chief of Staff of the New York Times, is attributed to saying that there is no such thing as an Independent Press in America, nor has there ever been.  (http://tinyurl.com/6cl8le) We are all too connected with the people around us. So how are we supposed to be fair to the readers if we can never be truly independent? It is our ethics and morals that do this. The study of professional journalists has many useful links and outlines on the conduct that journalist should maintain throughout their career. While looking through this I realize how tough it can be to do this, but it is something that is necessary to be done in this career field. (http://tinyurl.com/cyuot5)

Change From Within

Verification: The beating heart of credible journalism in the public interest. I love the imagery of the beating heart, but when I think about it, it's literally the beating heart of our profession. Without constant and thorough verification, we cease to be journalists and turn into normal citizens reporting news. In a sense, we die and become someone new. Verification is what sets us apart from the rest.
Unfortunately, with the onslaught of fast and easy media sources open to the public, this is getting harder. Not only do we have to verify our facts, but any pictures or video that we decide to use as well. Images and video can be easily doctored and played with. Last month a guide was produced to help journalist learn how to verify images. (http://tinyurl.com/42puhcd) This guide goes step by step on how to figure out if the image you wish to use is authentic. In this it talks about a website called http://www.tineye.com/. This is a reverse image search website that can take any image you have and find where it came from and what has been done to it. Usually. I'll admit it isn't quite 100% accurate, but it is extremely helpful for journalists.
Along with verifying, a journalist must also be open with their audience. This is called transparency. This means to show your audience why and what you are doing. This involves explaining how you learned something and why you believe it (if you are using an anonymous source). This will help gain the trust of your readers. I think transparency is extremely important. You need to be completely open with the readers and hide nothing, or else you could end up with no readers at all.

This video is inspiring. This was a call for change in New Orleans called silence is violence. It was started when the city was struggling with violence tremendously. One out of every five people in the city was in prison. The goal was to reform criminal justice for the people of the city.  The people had no face, no voice, and no one cared. They were the invisible men in the community. A community organizer, a journalist, and a public defender made this short series shared these members of society story. How did they get this story out? Transparent journalism. They were raw, open, and truthful stories and images that the public was before blinded to. Because of this story the real life of the "faceless" men and women of New Orleans gained their voice. The story is called a Change from Within. It is one of the most open, moving, and real pieces of journalism I have seen in a very long time. It is the perfect example of transparent journalism.

For the Love of the Job

In my past post I've spent all my time talking about why I want to be a journalist and why I think the media is important but haven't once said what journalism actually is. While this answer seems simple, like most things, it is not.  Journalism is not just the newspaper or the news. As I was searching for words to describe it I found an interesting site called savethemedia.com. Deep in its archive(http://tinyurl.com/ddao3a), I found Gina Chen, a newspaper journalist for 20 years. She described journalism as, "Telling true stories, communicating information that will help people make sense of their world, and getting the story behind the story." I think this is the perfect description of what all journalists truly want to do.
One of the key things that hit me while learning about this was how important world views are to journalist. Having an open mind about the world is extremely important as a journalist. Where you are from, so for me Happy Valley, also influences how and what type of things you will report. As a member of Happy Valley, I may tend to report things from a different point of view than others. In this article (http://tinyurl.com/ylcadwz) the author calls for a more unbiased press. She calls the media biased because of our world views. I disagree with her. Like Gina Chen said in her article, we are to help people make sense of their world. As strange as it sounds, we all are living in different worlds. Everything we do, see, taste, hear, smell, or communicate will change the way we view the world, so in a sense we can never be unbiased.
As journalists this means we have to make certain we have pre-set beliefs, attitudes, and values. We need to make sure we report the truth in the best, most fair, and accurate way we know how. Then, maybe one day, we will be lucky enough to report on a story like this: