Reading Response 4

Of course the part I gravitated to in the reading was the discussion of the transcript from when Jon Stewart was a guest on Crossfire. I think this exemplifies the news in a meta way; Jon Stewart - a news host himself - was compelled to chastise a program for not really delivering the news. I liked the idea that Stewart could be a watchdog as well, and he upholds the importance of journalism.

In News Reporting and Writing, I was interested in the chapter on reporting with numbers. I find myself guilty of trying to use too many numbers in any story. The idea that numbers can be misused and make things unclear is the exact opposite of their purpose. Even though numbers always seem like hard facts, they can be skewed based on context and made to make a point that isn't necessarily for the purpose that they were collected.

Week 4 Reading

Chapter 7 of The Elements of Journalism introduced us to the concept of "Argument Culture". I found the entire chapter interesting, but the idea that shouting matches and not-always-civil debate had, and is, been condoned and encouraged by not just the general public looking for a new form of entertainment but also by those entrusted with the dissemination of news and information, somewhat unsettling. I understand that news is a commodity, and as such has, to a certain extent, be run like a business, however when television programming is operating within this Argument Culture partially because it is cheaper, verification of facts can fall by the wayside because there is a greater emphasis on furthering that culture that brings in money rather than checking facts. That idea is somewhat discouraging if not unsurprising. One of the reasons that news programs aren't frequently on at my house is because they often seemed to be peppered with bickering. Are they all that way? Certainly not, but I guess in this instance I operate under the "one bad apple can spoil the bunch" mantra.

I still see the significance and value in journalism being a public forum, however. I agree that it will be important for journalism as a whole to expand the foundational values of correct facts and contextual details (184) to that forum. I also thought the point that there is potential in the future for the public to correct one another. Hopefully this will be done politely or at least respectfully, but I think the concept of a conversation could ultimately provide new insight and perspective (perhaps questions raised that hadn't been considered) that we would otherwise be lacking.

Week 4 Reading

The reading this week tackles a major advantage that we as young journalists have in the 21st century: search engines and social media. With the click of a button, we have access to tons of research before we even begin to conduct interviews or receive a formal briefing. What is scary about a career working in a newsroom, is the constant pressure for timeliness in journalism. The news is typically reported as it's happening or shortly thereafter. But no matter how great the demand is to get the news out there quickly, it is so important not to forget fact checking. One mistake in accuracy could end your career.

The reading also warned us about the trustworthiness of online news sources and aggregate journalism. I like the assertion that relying on online news sources as a crutch. We should let materials picked up from other sites serve as lead. In a culture of aggregated journalism, that can be the difference between a good journalist and a great one.

Week 4 Reading

This weeks reading is about investigative reporting and the weakening watchdog role of journalism. I thought it was interesting when Kovach and Rosenstiel talked about how new investigative reporting is mostly “tabloid treatment of everyday events” (151).  When I first read this I was surprised because I hadn’t really thought about what was investigative journalism and what wasn’t. I just watch or read the news and don’t think about which stories are investigative.

When I thought more about what Kovach and Rosenstiel said, I realized I had been exposed to these types of stories a lot without even realizing it. Watching things like local television news and seeing stories about what’s really in your food…I never thought that was investigative journalism. It’s sad to think that this is what we consider investigative journalism and that we are relying on each other as watchdogs.

The press was designed to keep those in power in check and now it’s primary job is being compromised.

Reading Response 4

This week's reading talked a lot about verifying information. With the development of technology, we get used to getting news from Internet. However, the authors of News Reporting and writing reminded us that good reporters don't simply pick up and use materials from other websites. They will verify the sources and find experts they need to interview. We must be very cautious when we use materials from websites like wikipedia and yahoo answers.

Another thing is how to find the news in news releases. I think most of  the news releases are very boring. It's really not easy to find something interesting and worthy to write if you don't know much background of those news release.  Maybe that's the reason that news companies prefer to hire reporters who know very well in a certain area.

The Elements of Journalism talked about investigative news. It is really an exciting process to write an investigative story. And many journalists won the Pulitzer Prize because of  investigative news. But in the meantime, writing investigative news means huge risks. Several investigative journalists died each year because of their reportage.  I remembered that one investigative journalist from my internship company always wore sunglasses and respirator because some people wanted to kill him because of his reportage.

When writing an investigative story,  it is very important to serve as independent monitors especially if the story related to some anyone's benefits.We must make sure that no one takes advantages of us if we want to expose something. Recording is necessary when we interview deep throats. And we also need to verify everything from different sources and try to keep balance.

Reading Response 4

The first chapter of News Reporting discussed history, and how journalists are the shapers of history. I also recently learned that journalists are also considered to be America’s first historians in a way because the stories they wrote are what people look back at to remember important time in history.

I was reminded how tedious the job is. Every fact in their reporting has to be accurate and cited to show how it’s factual. The more information a journalist can gather for a story, the better the story is, but I was so surprised by some of the scandals journalists can uncover just by doing some reporting.  

The layered editing was something that we’d brought up during class, and it is something that can makes a news story great. When writing a story, I need to keep in mind that it helps to take a break and come back to it. Good editing can make a story 10 times better. Something that surprised me during this chapter was how many sources are needed for the reporting of a good story. Journalists have to talk to many different people and do a lot of research to make sure that the story is accurate and interesting to read.

Research is a big factor in reporting because it’s what makes a story credible. Something that can bring your audience in because it relates to them is numbers. I never realized how heavily a journalist’s job relies on numbers, but as Chapter 8 explains, being bale to interpret and understand numbers can make a different in a story. When a journalist factors in numbers for their story people are able to see the impact that whatever the story is reporting has.
It was really interesting hearing about how investigative reporting got started and how essential it can be in investigating a crime. I enjoyed hearing how the court has supported the need for journalists to report news stories on what they’ve investigated, and I feel like because of journalists, a lot of crime could have gone unnoticed in the past.