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Local news viewers and bullies

Posted by: | October 8, 2012 | No Comment |

How many people pay attention to local news? According to a recent study by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism and Internet & American Life Project, 72% of Americans are tuned into what is happening in their communities.

According to the study, which was conducted with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the majority of these adults who follow local news get their information from local newspapers. This is especially important to consider given the decline in newspapers and the advent of online news.

Followers of local news aged 40 and over seemed to be more attached to these local newspapers. Of this group, 35% said that if their local newspaper were to go out of business it would majorly impact their ability to get the news they wish to read.

These followers of local news tend to be more in touch with their communities and believe that they can positively change their communities. The followers tend to be older, more conservative, and religious.

Maybe people watch local news for this reason?

Separate from the study, local news watchers can also be harsh critics. Recently, news anchor Jennifer Livingston of La Crosse, Wisconsin received a mean email from a viewer criticizing her weight. The viewer believes that Livingston is a bad role model and wrote comments like “I leave you this note hoping that you’ll reconsider your responsibility as a local public personality to present and promote a healthy lifestyle.”  This case is just one of the many unfortunate examples of the bullying that can take place over social media.

Watch her reaction here:

 

under: Comm 455
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Travel writing: doing what you love where you love

Posted by: | October 8, 2012 | No Comment |

With graduation not far down the road for most of us, it is time to start spitting out resumes left and right and pray someone takes us in and sees our worth. As aspiring journalists, we are lucky to live in a world where the ability to deliver news is right at our fingertips.

However, with the job market still not improving it is gonna be a tough fight to get the journalism job we have always hoped for. I know I’m already stressing out thinking about my future career. So when I found out my family, who has moved me all around the country my entire life, was taking off once again, I decided it was the perfect time to go for a journalism career I had not given much thought to. With my family moving away and me graduating, travel writing seems like a great idea!

Travel writing is something every young journalist should try once. If you’re in a lull looking for a job, why not travel and get paid to do what you love? Making the decision to move after graduation to a new place is exciting, frightening and gives you the opportunity to write about a new place and new experiences. When are we going to have this freedom in our lives ever again?

Doesn't look too bad, right?

Perks of being a travel writer:

  • One word: Freelance! You can get sent to new, interesting places or write about what you want and send it in for publication.
  • Meet new people
  • See the places you’ve always dreamed of… and get paid to do it!
  • Try new things like food, music, culture, etc.

    • Yes you might not get the biggest paycheck in the world, but you will gain experience as a journalist while also enjoying yourself. You have to start somewhere. Hopefully, with the right determination and desire, I can have the experience of being a travel writer and it can lead me to the career I have always dreamed of.

    I have heard that sometimes you have to lose yourself to find yourself.

    under: Comm 455
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    What’s Worth the Big Story?

    Posted by: | October 7, 2012 | No Comment |

    What’s the latest scoop?!

    Big story reporting is what the media has always aimed for. Aside from sensationalized stories about anything and everything people would be interested in, the biggest stories always get the front page and the most attention. Presidential elections — like the one we are presently witnessing — are a huge deal for the United States and will absolutely always be given a spot on the front pages of newspapers the most time on television broadcasts.

    In fact, we care so much about the principles of democracy that we publicize other nations’ elections. Venezuela recently voted for a new leader this Sunday, making the top story on The Washington Post‘s world news webpage.

    Reporting on big stories like this do get most of the attention, but what about the dangerous stories? Reporting on wars like the War in Afghanistan and, more timely, the violent protests in Libya can lead to some dangers for reporters. Taking their lives into their own hands at times, war reporters are able to report on violent events up close. It’s stories like these that capture the world’s attention.

    What is Newsworthy:

    • Impact
    • Emotional Appeal
    • Conflict
    • Timeliness
    • Proximity
    • Prominence
    • The unusual
    under: Comm 455, Uncategorized
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    History of News

    Posted by: | October 7, 2012 | No Comment |

    Author of the book “A History of News,” Mitchell Stephens gave a short synopsis of the history of news for the Future of Journalism Project’s Youtube Page. The themes that we continue to discuss in our class are nicely summed up in this five minute video.

    What Stephens remarks on is the human race’s desire to get information. He also notes that “news was always in the hands of amateurs  news was, through most if it’s history-through most if it’s human history, was not a spectator sport. it was a sport that we all participated in. we all gathered news, we all told news. at a marketplace, at a campfire, when we met each other in our paths….it’s built into us. it’s a survival factor; this search for awareness to know what’s going on.”

    Whether one watches the news, reads the paper, or people talk with one another we all have a desire to learn and know more information. The shear velocity and access to news now is so overwhelming that one sometimes becomes lost in all of the abundance of news. The access and abundance of news is both a benefit and a negative.

    While we have access to lots of information, in some cases for free with an internet connection,  it becomes increasingly more difficult to tell what is fact and what is fiction. Who can the people trust to deliver them not just news, but accurate news.

    The prime example is that conservatives tend to watch FOX News which reports on issues and brings on guests that reaffirm the conservative values and thoughts. The same can be said for MSNBC which focuses on liberal issues. It has become easier and easier for individuals to reaffirm their own beliefs and ideologies without doing much searching of their own.

    We have become a society with access to news, along with the abundance news.  However, are we also an educated public that thinks for ourselves and questions what we see as fact.  This is a question that I do not have answers for. But I am interested to see what others think about the growing amount of news and access to news that allows individuals to become tunnel-visioned into finding news that only reaffirms their own beliefs.

    under: Comm 455, newspapers, social media
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    Society of professional journalists and the first code of ethics

    Posted by: | October 4, 2012 | No Comment |

    The Society of Professional Journalists adopted the very first code of ethics and made journalism more credible than ever.

    The SPJ was founded in 1909 at DePauw University in Greenville, Indiana.  At that time it was the Sigma Delta Chi fraternity.  The society is now a professional organization for print, online and broadcast journalists, students, educators and more that are in the field of journalism or aspire towards the career.

    The SPJ made history in journalism in many areas including the first code of ethics.  They adopt a new code every few years to make it better and revise it.  The first President who helped form the first code was Laurence H. Sloan.

    Sloan also won the first Wells Memorial Key in 1913 which is still given by the SPJ today.  From that point on the SPJ continued to develop and create and give more awards making journalists everywhere continue to strive for greatness.

    Without the SPJ, journalism would not be what it is today.  There would be no structure or correctness of journalism and stories.  The SPJ is only going to continue to grow as long as journalism exists.

    Recent version of the Code of Ethics

    Photo Credit:http://www.spj.org/a-wellsmem.asp

    under: Comm 455
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    Those who stand for nothing will fall for anything

    Posted by: | October 4, 2012 | No Comment |

    It’s election season. We’re about a month out from the election and things are heating up. Wednesday was the first presidential debate which you can find here. The debates are an essential part of a presidential campaign because you really get to hear the candidates’ views from their own mouths, not that of the commercials or advertisements.

    courtesy of Timescall.com
    As long as I’ve been around there have always been presidential debates. Granted, the furthest back I can remember watching was Gore vs. Bush, but still. There was a time when there was no debate and you just relied on what you knew or had read.
    The first televised presidential debate was aired in 1960. Seventy million people tuned in to watch Nixon and Kennedy fight it out, that’s considerably more than the amount of people that tuned in last night.
    This televised debate brought politics to another level because it allowed people to see the candidates and  how they interacted. Many said that this debate was one of the main reasons that Kennedy won. Kennedy looked like he cared, whereas Nixon was just recovering for an illness and looked a little sickly.  People got caught up in the visual aspects of the debate and may have lost the true purpose of the debate…the candidates views on the issues.

    courtesy of CBS

    Do you think that the televised debates are a good measure of the candidates stance on issues, and are you really listening for that when you’re watching? Or, are you looking at body language and who looks better in their suit?  Or, are you that person that just waits until the end to see what everyone else has to say to say and then side with the majority?

    Get informed. Know what you believe and find a candidate that supports that. Your vote counts.

     

    under: Comm 455
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    Propoganda is not dead

    Posted by: | October 4, 2012 | No Comment |

    Propoganda is generally thought of as the comic-like posters on city walls or public service announcements that have been left behind in mid-20th century antiquity. However, all one must do to realize that propaganda is alive and well is turn on their television, especially during election season.

    It’s presence is ubiquitous: before practically every Youtube video, in the commercials segmenting your favorite shows, and slapped on the back of opinionated individuals’ cars.  Every fall during election season can be remembered as a flurry of mud-slinging and finger pointing.

    These advertisements are filled with attacks on the opponent’s credibility mixed with praise for the belligerent’s own, and no attack goes unanswered by the other side.  For many voters, this back-and-forth exchange can be overwhelming.

    So with such equally feverish attacks by both sides, how does one know who is telling the truth?

    Thanks to the internet, there are now organizations and websites dedicated to helping sift through the vitriolic sludge churned up by television advertisements and debates and find out when a candidate (or any public official) is speaking the truth or just running their mouth.

    FactCheck and PolitiFact are two popular options, and they can be accessed by anyone, no membership or fees required.   Yet even with organizations like these that help clear up misconceptions about what politicians say, it is worthwhile to look into the sources of funding for these organizations and who writes them.

    Ultimately, it is up to the individual to do their own research on the issues to form their own stance.  It is crucial that voters be swayed not by advertising campaigns or incendiary language, but by the substance behind each candidate.

    under: Comm 455
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    Sensationalism and “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo”

    Posted by: | October 2, 2012 | No Comment |

    We live in a culture where the latest episode of “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” pulls in more ratings than the Republican National Convention during  the 2012 presidential election. The latest TLC phenomenon, “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo,” is a prime example of how sensationalized news is undermining the foundation of ethical journalism.

    “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” is a reality television show, reporting on the lives of a Southern-American family, featuring a child who participates in beauty pageants. The show is supposed to be about the child, Alana’s, participation in beauty pageants but it focuses more on how the family deliberately disregards all social expectations regarding manners and maintaining a level of dignity and class.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RS2SzGUwaMI

    This sensationalized news is essentially putting the family on a pedestal of mockery.  The ratings for the season finale of “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” made it the most watched show on all of television. Besides the ethical issues that arise from watching a TV show that mocks others for entertainment, the ethical issues that arise from such poor reporting are even greater.

    As students of communication, it is easy for us to see the distinction between serious journalism and sensationalized “fluff” such as “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” but this distinction may not be so apparent to the rest of the population. Whether the distinction is clear or not, this latest television sensation is yet another dismal reminder that the face of journalism is moving farther and father away from the days of quality reporting set by Edward R. Murrow and closer to the standards set by the creators of entities such as “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.” 

    under: Comm 455
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    A new “raw” word of mouth

    Posted by: | October 2, 2012 | No Comment |

    There is a new website heavily promoting the use of word of mouth called Rawporter, which offers rather nice benefits to users or “rawporters” who post pictures and videos on the homepage of this site.

    Rawporter’s claim is this; with the increase of social media sharing of pictures and videos across the web, any large news source can snatch said pictures or videos and use them in their own stories without giving the photographer or videographer any credit.

    Rawporter wants to change this concept.

    With this website, the hope is (as it has only been up and running for about 2 years) that citizen journalists and bloggers can catch raw newsworthy material and post it onto their website before sharing it elsewhere via social media.

    Rawporter has an App on iPhones and Androids that sends assignments to any registered “rawporter” that tells where a news channel needs some raw footage or pictures from an event that just took place. The news outlets offer a price for these pictures or videos and the first rawporter to get to the scene simply takes the shot or shoots the footage, uploads these onto their app on their phone, and gets their cash reward by having Rawporter sell it.

    And the credit of your snapshot or video is finally given to you.

    Rawporter App on iPhone and Android

    As of now, users must have a PayPal account to receive their compensation for their work, which Co-Founder Rob Gaige says “will change once the website works out more of its ‘kinks’.”

    But how will Rawporter protect your entries from being taken by the mainstream news without them first paying?

    With each entry submitted into Rawporter, it is embedded with an encription code and copyright card that can only be taken if bought by a local media outlet.

    So, it is a good idea, but it has some downsides to it, as most ideas still in their early stages do.

    This website assumes that mainstream news stations will send out messages to Rawporter before sending their own cameramen.The mainstream channels could see this as saving money, offering less for pictures then paying their own cameramen.

    It also hopes and believes heavily that their rawporters can “be in the right place at the right time.” which is not too far of a claim as any person can have an account for free and any person can upload what they want in the hopes of a cash reward.

    So who’s to say you could not end up being in the right place at the perfect time and catch a great story in the making?
    under: Comm 455
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    Remembering an honest storyteller.

    Posted by: | October 2, 2012 | No Comment |

      “If I’d written all the truth I knew for the past ten years, about 600 people – including me – would be rotting in prison cells from Rio to Seattle today. Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism.”

                        – Hunter S. Thompson      

    You’ve undoubtably heard of Hunter S. Thompson, who wrote some of the most telling and influential stories journalism could possibly offer. “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” and “The Rum Diaries,” to name a couple, are extremely educational tools for the young journalist. What could be taken away from these teachings in Gonzo journalism you ask.

    If you take a moment to understand the context and setting of Thompson’s works, which were distributed by several of the largest magazines and newspapers in the world, you’ll begin to absorb just what he was for the generation he belonged to, and even more so, the time we live in now. HIs stories were radically honest. 

    He could be sent to an NFL game to write a story, and come back a month after deadline with a story that blows the top off the whole organization. He got away with running past deadline because he could be trusted to tell his audience a story, while immensely upsetting to some, about the unreal truths of a time and place.

    Thompson infiltrated realms in American journalism that no one else could. After writing “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” in 1971, he started covering George McGovern’s campaign and published “Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72.” Thompson was fiery and driven to report on what he felt was the real American Dream, and what aught to be.

    Ultimately, he didn’t change the way Americans acted, but instead brought forth the truth as no one had ever seen it. Thompson’s way of writing is more important now than ever before. During political and country wide unrest over issues that matter most, honest journalism is the only journalism that deserves an audience.

    The quote that introduces this story should give you an idea of the kind of difficulty Hunter S. Thompson faced in being as honest as he was. He always had more to say, yet he understood that the line must not be crossed if he was going to play the game. We, too, play the game.

    Photo and courtesy of TheChive.com

    under: Comm 455, newspapers
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    News vacuum in the dark ages

    Posted by: | October 2, 2012 | No Comment |

    People have always had an innate desire to know what’s going on around them. As Professor Klein worded it in class, “News doesn’t like a vacuum.” When their need for information is not fulfilled, people become very nervous and frightened.

    Take the Dark Ages, for example. Literacy was much lower in this time period than during the flourishing of the Roman Empire. The only way people received their information was through the Church, which not only delivered the news, but served as a gatekeeper to control the flow of news. Students learned how to read with the text of the Bible. With only one source of information, and a natural tendency to feel vulnerable without news, the Church was able to exploit this and hold power over its subjects.

    Bibles during this time often contained illustrations for citizens who could not read. This allowed Christianity to reach a much broader audience. Unfortunately, only the wealthy could afford to send their children to school, which contributed to low literacy rates and the need for news to be disseminated by a higher source.

    medieval bible

    under: Comm 455
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    Blogging and its importance

    Posted by: | October 2, 2012 | No Comment |

    It is amazing how quickly blogs became a primary means of communication for individuals online.   In the 1990s, however, most people regarded Web pages as things to read and not a place to publish or post.  The growth of the Internet has allowed blogs to become a competitor to newspapers and other traditional mainstream sources of information.

    Today, access to a computer and global networks make it possible for anyone to publish their opinion on the Internet.  Blogger, created by Evan Williams and Meg Hourihan, is credited as largely responsible for bringing blogging to the mainstream.

    From Matt Drudge’s notable blog, the Drudge Report, that broke the news of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, to The Huffington Post and blog wars of today, blogs turned traditional publishing upside down. Blogs have allowed individuals to become news-tellers and gain a global voice for free.

    Today, with the advent of social media, blogs are only a portion of person’s online persona.  While blogs are unlikely to go anywhere soon, there is definite room for growth in style, presentation, credibility and content.

    Blogs have become an integral part of our online culture.  In his account of the blogging revolution, Scott Rosenberg  described that thanks to technology and media, all of us have the same marvelous power to reach out to the rest of the world.

    under: Comm 455
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