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.