Journalistic Excellence

Throughout the semester Dr. Cressman has been continually presenting us with the question of what is journalism. Never before in my life have I given the subject a thought but this class has really opened my eyes to the journalistic world around me.
A very important element of journalism is objectivity. Objectivity can refer to fairness, disinterestedness, factuality, and nonpartisanship or some combination of all of them. It is an important element in journalism because society needs to feel like they are making up their own minds. Journalism is to present the facts in a non biased way as to let society do just that. Advocacy journalism is quite the opposite. If there ever was a place for opinion its in advocacy journalism. As a journalist it would be nearly impossible to have your own opinions at the same time practice objective journalism. Having your own opinions is the opposite of objective journalism. If I were to become a journalist I think I would work very hard to not put my own opinions in. I could see it being very hard if it was a situation I felt very strongly about. Honestly I most likely would put my own spin on things because I felt it was right.
Excellence in journalism is a very noble concept. As well it is an elusive one to many journalists. Excellence in journalism can be identified as journalism that meets all the elements of journalism such as objectivity, obligation to truth and loyalty first to citizens. Aspects such as independence and vigilance are also very essential to journalism. A journalist needs to not be influenced by outside sources as to what he or she reports on. As well they need to be vigilant in seeking after the facts and the truth. A true journalist is obligated to finding the truth and reporting that to the community they represent. In my semester long examination of the Alvin Sun I found that evidence of objectivity were rather lacking. They were very much biased in their reports of events such as a new “Grand Parkway” highway coming through the town as a bad thing for Alvin. I suppose in serving a smaller community that is obviously biased one way already as a whole, journalism must adapt to its environment in order to keep readers interested. The readers of Alvin Sun all felt that the new highway would only make the town grow unnecessarily and the paper reflected that feeling.
Journalistic truth could be described as a process. It is a “practical or functional form of truth…a process—or continuing journey toward understanding. Indeed, journalistic truth, as a nexus of much social communication, is perhaps the most pragmatic variety of all” (Scheuer 64). Reality or absolute truth is a “what you see is what you get” type of thing and journalistic truth simply isn’t. Journalistic truth contributes a continuous flow of facts to civic knowledge. That’s its job. Society needs that regular flow “make judgments, formulate opinions and arguments, and function as citizens” (Scheuer 68).
It seems like a regular thing now to read about a newspaper failing or a television news operation downsizing. The answer to why that is lies in part to where I personally read about them happening: the internet. I don’t get my news from the actual papers you pick up or buy from a newsstand; I get it from websites and certain reports with many top headlines. The old way of reporting news just can’t keep up with this new world of instantaneous gratification and the need to know now. The idea of having to wait until 6 o’clock that night to watch what happened that day or even worst, to have to read about today’s news tomorrow is just a horrible idea. I need to know now. That’s the attitude of society now. Sadly it is just impossible to keep up. The implications of this are already starting to show in our country. Many papers have already gone under and many more are heading that way. Honestly I think the impact of this won’t be good in the long run. Right now it seems great that so many independents are able to report the news but so many of them are just copying from the professional journalists which is really hurting the professionals. A new journalism is emerging and greatly changing the way the news is being reported. If I were going into a career of journalism I think I would make sure I had a degree in computer science of some sort and that I knew how to make a web page. I could see five years from now working exclusively on a web page for news. Ten years from now I can’t even imagine what news will be like, which is also probably one of the reasons I won’t be going into journalism. If I can’t see ten years down the road to what my career field might look like then I’m worried. It’s a tough path to take nowadays.
My own personal code of conduct if I were to become a journalist would, I hope, be a good one. From my upbringing I value truth. I know how to recognize truth and have always sought after it. I have always been taught that when you have the truth it is your responsibility to share it. I suppose I would treat the news the same way. When I had the facts I would share them in the most unbiased way I knew how. I would recognize the fact that it is not my job to tell society what to think, only to give it something to think about. And to give it to them constantly and the quickest way possible. There should be no room for my own opinion unless I was doing a type of advocacy journalism in which my opinion was asked. I enjoy coming up with my own feelings about the facts and I would reserve that right for my readers.
In conclusion, as Joseph Pulitzer once said, “Journalism is, or ought to be, one of the great and intellectual professions.” I agree with that. I hope journalism continues to grow in its new direction and I am excited to see how it evolves. Thank you Dr. Cressman for my teaching my favorite class of the semester.

Advertisements

Advertisements are meant to get our attention and encourage us to buy a certain product or service. Many ads are very helpful, letting you know where a good deal is and where a certain product can be found. However there are some pretty weird ones out there too. The first bad ad I found is actually one of an advertising company. "Virtus Communications" creates advertisements for companies to help them get noticed. However this particular ad I couldn't even figure out what their angle was that they are trying to portray. Yeah its different. But creepy. The second bad ad I found advertises a funeral home. Not the hardest thing to advertise of course but this one seems to cross the line as well. "Memory Garden" puts the fun back in fun-eral. Now, I don't know about you but I don't remember the last time I had "fun" at a funeral. Also creepy.On the plus side there are some good advertisements out there. This one from Benetton shows the similarities between the races. I thought it shows that on the inside, we're all the same. The photo of the three kids sticking their tongues out also shows that kids are the same. It shows simplicity. Another great ad that shows how powerful the zoom on a camera is comes from "Kodak". The ad that has a man standing very close to a lion. I liked this ad also because its simple and it gets the point across.Advertising is very effective. I was influenced to buy a PlayStation 3 because of the games I saw that were available for it on TV. And in contrast, advertising can be very ineffective when I watched an ad showing me that if I used a certain shaving cream that I would get promoted and a beautiful Swedish woman would fall in love with me. I just laughed at it because it doesn't matter what kind of shaving cream you use. It was ridiculous.

TV

After tracking my television watching for a week I've learned that I watch most when I feel like I really need to escape. Sometimes I have a lot f homework or upcoming test that is causing me stress and I just want to stop thinking about it. Really, to stop thinking in general. That's what TV does for me. I learned about television that most of the commercials are aimed at women. I started counting the number of commercials for women vs. the number for men and I was amazed the it was close to an 8 to 1 ratio. Interesting.Many networks often appeal to the lowest common denominator in order to offend no one. Programs like FOX I think do just that. There are some shows on there that definitely appeal to the lowest common denominator. I think the network CBS and ABC tend to have a little more varied shows to appeal to certain groups of people.Many people say that television has had a greater impact on society than any other form of media. Whether or not this is true could be a tough argument. I think it has affected modern society more than any other media form. But looking at society broadly, I might say the written word has affected it more.

Image Consulting

Is image consulting ethical? To be honest its kind of a grey area question. Some might say sure its ethical, whats wrong with improving the image of a company or a person? Don't we all do that to ourselves every morning before we go out? On the flip side, wouldn't it be considered wrong to change the image and distort the truth of what a company really is and does?Like most things I would say when you cross the line of distorting the truth is when it could be considered unethical. And in each case that really is a judgment call.Promotional exaggerations such as Tom Thumb and Jenny Lind do exist today. PR for the purpose of financial gain exists in most every company today. You could consider exaggerated claims in ads that picture models with perfect bodies that are created using airbrush techniques and photoshop. While not the same method as Barnum did for Tom Thumb but the same principle.

Censoring CBS

If I had to say there were five things that are inappropriate for television I would have to work very hard to narrow the list down to only five. I can think of many things that I would rather not see on TV each night during prime time. But the five most inappropriate things would have to be:1. Nudity. There is absolutely no place for nudity on television. Pornography is completely wrong and disrespectful and is actually a disease that breaks up families and destroys the souls of men. There is no place for the filth on TV. Children shouldn't have to have their eyes shielded by parents if ever something is shown that wasn't expected. I would censor that first.2. Sexual Content. This just about goes hand in hand with the first thing. It is just so inappropriate and unnecessary. What happens behind closed doors should stay there. There are many other ways to make a show exciting and interesting without having to include sex. It isn't needed whatsoever.3. Swearing. This is one that I'm sure I would have to be careful in fully censoring. Most people swear and "hell" or "damn" aren't necessarily offensive to the general public. While I wouldn't mind not having to hear them I know if I worked for CBS they would think differently than me at censoring every swear word. So I would compromise with them and censor the very offensive words and phrases.4. Drugs. Illegal drugs should not be shown or portrayed as being normal or accepted. Drug use also has no needed place on television.5. Excessive Violence. Anything that would require a mature audience probably isn't needed on TV. Gore and bloody violence isn't necessary to get a point across. Children would be a lot less likely to turn to violence if they weren't shown how to do it every time they turn the TV on. I would censor excessive violence as well.

Curbing Freedom of Speech

While I was trying to think of a situation in which a personal or public expression went to far I began thinking of the ads against Proposition 8. One in particular stuck out in my mind of a commercial in which two supposed missionaries of the LDS church were portrayed as breaking into a lesbian couple's home and tearing up their marriage certificate and thus officially "stealing their rights".Now of course freedom of speech means that the Courage Campaign who funded the ad are able to express their views and even outrage for the legal passing of Proposition 8. However, their is a law against slander. The Courage Campaign was smart though, they never mentioned the name of the LDS church only led viewers to understand that was who was being represented. I for one think it's flat out wrong that this commercial would be allowed to be aired. The LDS church as an organization did not spend a single dime on funding the passing of Proposition 8. It did encourage its members to stand up for what they know to be right. And that meant giving time, energy and even money to support the proposition. I would remedy this situation in court. Fortunately the LDS church is a lot better than me and doesn't tend to sue people over wrong doing, instead takes the higher road of turning the other cheek.

Are movies becoming too violent and promiscuous?

Movies
There are many reasons why one could assume the amount of sex and violence are increasing in the movies today. Perhaps the movies are simply appealing to the masses. Perhaps society is becoming increasingly more numb and we need bigger explosions and more scandalous women to get our attention. Or maybe its just that the values of the movie writers and directors simply just don't match our own. Whatever the reason may be, its obvious that movies just ain't what they used to be.Many studies have been done on the increase of violent crimes and divorce rates in the recent decades. One might argue that these statistics are a result of the media teaching children lower values. Or is it our lower values that have caused the movies to reflect our own promiscuity? I would argue that this is a case of Hollywood force feeding society and we, as a society, simply accepting what we are given. I know many good people in and out of the LDS faith that have good morals and are offended at the road the movies and the media have taken.If I were a movie producer I would make a movie that actually had a real story line. How many times have we been watching a movie whether it be action or horror or drama and have been able to predict what would happen and who the bad guy would be? Now I'm not going to be a hypocrite and say violence in movies doesn't belong. Real life is violent. Now is there a line that is more often than not that is crossed by having too much violence? Of course. Can a movie be good without violence? Sure, why not? But to say it has no place in entertainment in my opinion would be going too far. I mean, I am a guy. Explosions have been an area of awe since I first saw fireworks. I don't know why, they're just cool.