What is journalism? Who is a journalist?

When I first entered this class, I said that journalism should be "an unbiased record of events."  I have found that my opinion has evolved.  Now I know so much more about journalism.  Transparency, verification, truth, ideologues, religion, objectivity, independence and so many other elements factor in to journalism.  It's not enough for a journalist to record events.  A journalist has to have a passion and a commitment to the truth.  This passion both defines journalism and journalists.  Anyone who has this passion, who tells the whole truth as unbiasedly as possible, who doesn't sensationalize for attention, can be a journalist.

Journalism is about truth.  Its first responsibility is to truth.  Journalists must be dedicated to the pursuit of it and it must fuel any news outlet.  There are so many other factors that contribute to journalism, but this is by far the most important.  Journalism protects the public by informing them.  Ultimately, journalism is a check on our society.  News outlets let public figures and the government know that every action they make will be brought into the public eye and that they will be held accountable.


I once said that journalism is a promise.  I still believe this.  Journalism is a promise to the public.  As a developing journalist, I want readers of my articles to know that I will deliver unbiased, impartial information to the best of my ability, and I want to have the trust of the public.  That's what journalism is.  It's an agreement between the public and journalists.  The public trusts us to bring them the news and to inform them and that is a responsibility that journalists need to take seriously.  It’s a lot of weight.  Journalism isn’t just a job and anyone who treats it or thinks of it that way isn’t a real journalist.  It’s about passion—a passion for the truth and a passion for what is happening in the world.  Staying informed is great, but it goes deeper than that.  Journalism requires dedication because you can’t be successful at it without complete commitment. 

So journalism is a promise.  Journalists are those with passion for the responsibility that comes with this field.  As a journalist, my first responsibility is to truth because through truth, I inform and protect people, and that’s not just a job.  That’s something I want to commit to.

Comprehensive and Proportional news is kind of important.

Certain stories get seriously hyped up in order to sell.  That's the problem with news today.  It's all about ratings.  News outlets care more about money than actually providing news.  That's all good and well because without money a news outlet can't function, but it does compromise the integrity of news itself.  The generation growing up now and becoming adults care much more about the latest celebrity scandal than uprisings in the Middle East.  It's not that there aren't people who care, it's just that when you walk into a grocery store, the industry knows that you're more likely to grab a magazine with a cover that blasts Teen Mom stars for getting plastic surgery than a cover that talks about an oil crisis.

As journalists, we have to try not to hype a story in order to get readers.  It is our responsibility to deliver news as it is as opposed to a hyped up version that will produce more dollars.  A good journalist doesn't have to hype up a story, but rather tries to deliver the hard facts of a story in an interesting and entertaining way.  It's hard to do and it's becoming a dying art, but I still firmly believe that this is the mark of a truly accomplished journalist.  A journalist should write or report on a story and be able to capture interest without hyping it up or cheapening it with misleading statements meant to sensationalize the story.

We need to focus on making our news comprehensive; there should not be one niche of stories reported on because of the dollars generated.  More money comes from celebrity stories, but that lets too much real news slip through the cracks.  News needs to be proportional.  It needs to meet many aspects of life and events in order to truly inform the public.  That's our job: inform the public.  Without proportionally and comprehensively covering all of these stories, we might as well just all be celebrity bloggers who never change out of our pajamas and dropped out of high school sophomore year.  It's important to report with integrity and part of that, I think, is reporting on stories that might not generate the most dollars simply because they are important to inform the public about.  Journalists have a responsibility to simply cut the hype as much as they can.

Engagement and Relevance in Journalism. This title is in no way engaging, but it's pretty relevant.

"When you're bored, you stop learning and communication fails." I think this is the truest statement I have ever heard.  This should be doctrine.  Can I say that?  Whatever.  It totally should.

Anyway, that quote doesn't just apply to people, but to the news. You have to have an entertainment factor or else no one will read articles or watch the news.  At the same time, you have to have stories that matter and are relevant.  Unfortunately, sensational and purely entertainment oriented news is becoming more and more prevalent in major news outlets. It's a shame, really, because a lot of news that ought to be reported on slips through the cracks so that the American public can learn how much Justin Bieber is SO IN LOVE with Selena Gomez. 

There are people who have scrutinized various news sources or reporters for sensational stories but I think that in general, the American public just likes to be entertained more that it likes to be informed.  That's a wide generalization, of course, but the sheer number of gossip columns and magazines attests to this.  Despite condemnation of entertainment journalism, it still thrives.

I think there definitely has to be a balance between entertainment an journalism but I also think that there's way too much sensationalism of news.  We talked in class about how some news outlets make a story appear to be way more interesting and relevant than it really is when advertising.  I think that's just an accepted part of journalism now but I also think that it proves that we need more informative reporting. 

Religion in Journalism

I think journalists definitely need to put more of an emphasis on faith.  That's not to say that they need to declare their faith or even write from a faithful viewpoint.  I'm just saying that it is a basic and enduring component of life for every single person on the planet.  Every person has some kind of belief.  Even an atheist or agnostic believes in those views.  Therefore, religion shouldn't be such a taboo subject.  I feel that it can "enhance coverage of almost any topic" as this article states.  I feel like religion needs to be less of a topic that is an occasional factor in a story and instead focus on it more often.  Religion and beliefs often drive people's actions.  Even politics has a place for religion that needs to be reported on.  A candidate's faith may influence his or her actions and a voter's faith may influence his or her vote.  Denying this fundamental element of human life is detrimental to the field of journalism and to journalists as a whole.

There are many solid reasons why religion stories need to be covered.  This article points out a few, one of which I would like to share:

6 in 10 Americans say that journalism is very important in their lives.  Clearly, this shows that there is a need for reporting on religion.  Newspapers report regularly on sports and business and other aspects of life, so it makes sense that religion needs to be covered as well.  I think that a lot of papers and news outlets do a good job of reporting it sometimes, but I do feel that it needs to be more instrumental in our articles as journalists.

There does need to be balance in journalism which covers religion, it's true.  But it's also true that without a focus on religion, there is really less for people to connect to.

Beckham Lecture Impressions

I attended Dr. Nicholas Mason's lecture entitled “The Rise of Mass-Media Puffery and the ‘Death’ of Literature in Georgian Britain.”  I am glad I went because it was definitely worth the time I spent there.  I have often considered going into the field of writing myself and hearing this lecture definitely made me think more about advertising in our modern world.  Something that really struck me was that the puffery and buttering up of advertising goes on on websites like Amazon.com.  I checked out this website after hearing the lecture in an attempt to focus on Dr. Mason's point and apply it to real life.  I also looked at Barnes and Noble.com, which was very interesting to me since I am a writer for that company.  I even looked at Sparknotes.com, which is the website I write for.  I found that there was some of this going on as there were reviews from editors and readers on all of these websites.  I don't know that I condemn it so much, though.  I think that these are lucrative industries and there isn't anything wrong with advertising or in trying to make a work look good.  It's up to the consumer to make a good buy.  All in all, I was interested in the idea that advertising does have this puffery involved and I'm definitely on the lookout for it now, especially being bombarded with it the way that I am.  I hope I can use this information to further my understanding of writing, publishing, and even advertising in journalism.

Journalism as a public forum. Everyone has a freakin' opinion.

With new technology being introduced basically every other week, journalists have become like foreboding soothsayers of doom and destruction.  Actually, so has everyone.  If I ever tell anyone that I'm going into journalism, they immediately start up with the, "But it's a dying field" and "I never read the newspaper" and "I care very little about you and your life choices" types of comments.  But I can't agree with them.  I think that technology is a tool that journalists can use, and I think open forums are one of the best ways to use that tool.

A universal truth about every person on the planet is that they all have an opinion, and they ALL want to share it.  The internet has made it incredibly easy for everyone, from the level headed normal citizens to the crazy psycho nut jobs who believe that Ford is a conspiracy, to post their opinions.  A LOT.  The best thing journalists can do with this phenomenon?  USE IT.

As journalists, we can use Twitter, blogs, niche websites, actual forum sites, video hosting sites, and more to spread the news, report unbiasedly, and open up discussion with citizens.  We don't HAVE to be bound by a newspaper company anymore.  It's an entirely different course and career from professional journalism, and yet at the same time, it's journalism at it's core.  Providing an unbiased, fair view of current events, independently and unhindered by so many market and time pressures.  I definitely think this is something we can use.  I mean, look at the Associated Press's Twitter feed.  People can retweet, comment on it, etc.  Newspapers online even have a sense of community because people can comment on any article.  They can talk about the paper itself, about the article, about how Ford is a conspiracy, ANYTHING.  That's the beauty of this time.

We are in an age of communication.  Might as well use it to our advantage instead of trying to preserve the old ways of journalism.  Or anything, really.  Except, like, electricity.  We should probably stick to that formula for a while.

And now here is a series of interesting links that has absolutely nothing to do with the link requirement on the grading rubric.  I assure you, these are all relevant.

Ethics: Because Printing a Photo of a Dead Body on the Front Page is Generally Frowned Upon.

The subject of ethics is one widely discussed by journalists and journalist students.  As well it should be; I think it could be argued that an  unethical journalist cannot be a good journalist.  What are ethics, though?  There is room for a whole lot of debate in this area.  I think that there are facets or principles of ethics wherein there can be room for interpretation.  There are many hard and fast rules for ethics in journalism, though.  Every newspaper has a code of ethics, such as the New York Times.  These codes can largely be found on this list of freaking everyone's code of ethics.

Everyone has their own idea of ethics.  Everyone has their own limit to how far they will go to cover a story.  I think one of the most interesting aspects of ethics in journalism is whether or not the benefit of the story counteracts the harm done.  The Society of Professional Journalists says that "Ethical journalists treat sources, subjects and colleagues as human beings deserving of respect."  The Society goes on to explain several rules such as treating children with compassion, providing fair coverage of trials, being discreet about names of victims of sex crimes, etc.  There is some amount of specificity, clearly, but the above statement and even some of the rules can be somewhat vague.  In the end, as journalists we have to decide ourselves what is and isn't ethical.

I really think that an ethical journalist is a trustworthy journalist.  As journalists, we need to be sensitive and compassionate as well as honest and willing to investigate.  That is part of our chosen profession.  I think that anyone who disregards ethics in reporting clearly does not understand the field of journalism and what it means to be a reporter in this field.