As for many aspects of life Calvin has provided a metaphor for many issues surrounding the field journalism. Posted above is a bumper sticker I made for my COMMS 239 class. The bumper sticker assignment told students to find a favorite quote or saying about journalism and present it in a bumper sticker format. Although mine was overlooked in class by the professor I feel the dialogue presented between Calvin and his mom, from the book The Essential Calvin and Hobbes.

Lately some of the complaints about news media have regarded their credibility; can the public really trust the media anymore and what stories and material they produce? Some argue that many news organizations are seeking more entertainment or sensational type news because that's what sales. Also, given the current state of the media and the economic downturn news organizations are trying to keep their businesses alive.

The other day in class we talked about Tiger Woods and the how much media coverage that incident was receiving and even amongst top news agencies like CNN and FOX News. Certainly there are far more pressing and less trivial news stories that need coverage and when the question was posed to the class whether or not his bothered them no one had anything to say. Which brings me to another issue that the Calvin and Hobbes comic addresses: Media literacy.

As citizens it is crucial that we educate ourselves about the workings of the media industry. We need to know that it is ultimately a business and we shouldn't always take everything they give us for face value. Media literacy has been something I've come to appreciate immensely during my Comms 239 class and i find it a responsiblity that all citizens need take upon themselves.

Tweet Tweet Tweet, Here Comes the News

Twitter as a News Source

In our comms 239 class a group of students presented the news element "Providing a Public Forum". In this presentation we discussed the issue of social media sites as a credible public forum and news source. Wanting to know more about social media in the news I checked out what people were saying about the social media site "Twitter" as a news source... Here's what the people had to say:






Twitter As News-wire

Twitter is increasingly being described as a personal news-wire—shared world events like this morning's earthquake near Los Angeles support the definition. This chart illustrates the beginning of this morning's earthquake followed seconds later by the first Twitter update from Los Angeles. About four minutes later, official news began to emerge about the quake. By then, "Earthquake" was trending on Twitter Search with thousands of updates and more on the way.




Many news agencies get their feed from a news wire service such as the Associated Press. "Strong quake shakes Southern California" was pushed out by AP about 9 minutes after people began Twittering primary accounts from their homes, businesses, doctor's appointments, or wherever they were when the quake struck. Whether it's updates from best friends, internet pals, companies, brands, or breaking world events, the real-time aspect of sending and receiving Twitter updates continues to motivate our work.

http://blog.twitter.com/2008/07/twitter-as-news-wire.html



Twitter - World’s Fastest News Source

Written by Matthijs Roumen on February 25th, 2009 |

Twitter isn’t the new kid on the block anymore. Globally, the amount of users is growing day by day. Today Twitter showed me once again the viral spreading speed it has to offer. News is going like crazy and doesn’t only reach a tremendous amount of people, but also reaches high influential sources like newspapers.



This post describes the case of Twitter and the Schiphol airplane crash.

Just like the Hudson crash earlier this year, within minutes after the crash the first reporters were born -regular Joe’s started spreading the news. As soon as the crash was noticed, Twitter users started reporting from the scene and broadcasted the news even before authorities gave out the official word.

First pictures were published by Twitter users and word on the streets is that Twitter even beat BBC by 15 minutes. The crash became a big topic on Twitter and 6 out of 10 trending topics on Twitter were related to the crash: it really was a global phenomenon if I may believe the search.

Whats even more amazing is the fact that journalists from newspapers, television channels and other official authorities claim Twitter as a source for their material. Broadcasting news to the masses isn’t a thing for just official journalists anymore. Even though the traditional media might be more effective in quality, news sources like Twitter (and other blogs) will be heavier in quantity and in speed.

Twitter is still growing. Celebrities keep joining Twitter and word of mouth is spreading faster and faster. Twitter might not be the tool that’ll still be the tool that stands out in the future, but microblogging itself will keep growing and showing opportunities.

http://www.viralblog.com/social-media/twitter-worlds-fastest-news-source/






I Can’t Believe Some People Are Still Saying Twitter Isn’t A News Source

by Michael Arrington on November 27, 2008

Update: CNN says “It was the day social media appeared to come of age and signaled itself as a news-gathering force to be reckoned with.”

Twitter is emerging as a major force in breaking news. But some people disagree.

Today we saw yet another illustration, when people in Mumbai got the word of terrorist attacks out to the world well before mainstream media even knew something was happening. Mathew Ingram points out previous examples of Twitter users breaking important world news.

If I didn’t hear about something important happening by watching my Twitter stream, it’s the first place I go to get an idea of what’s going on. Years ago I would have turned to the cable news channels, now it’s Twitter.

It’s not just the speed of early reports either. Twitter also serves up a constant stream of updates as situations progress.

The facts seem to be irrefutable. But some people disagree, as they wrote in comments to my Mumbai post. You should also read TomsTechBlog, who argues that it’s irresponsible to think of Twitter as a news source. The reason? The facts are often wrong.

This is the same argument that mainstream journalists used against blogs when they rose to fill a void in the news over the last few years. Yet even the NY Times admitted years ago that blogs were an important news source when disaster struck: “For vivid reporting from the enormous zone of tsunami disaster, it was hard to beat the blogs.”

But blogs are nothing compared to Twitter, which lets anyone with a cell phone instantly update the world with what they see and hear, via the simple and ubiquitous text message.

Sure, lots of Twitter messages are flat out wrong and can spread disinformation. But as Ingram notes in his blog post above, other people tend to immediately correct those errors. Bad information is quickly drowned out by good information.

You can jump up and down and shout all you want that Twitter isn’t a real news source. But all you are doing is viewing the world through a reality lens that’s way outdated. People want information fast and raw from people who are on the scene. If it gets a little messy along the way, that’s ok. We’ll soon see tools that help us distill the really good stuff out of the stream anyway.

What matters isn’t any individual Twitter message and whether it’s right or wrong. It’s the organism as a whole, the aggregate, that lets people stream what they’re witnessing in real time to the world. That aggregate stream gives us more information, faster, than anything before. It’s news, and it’s incredibly valuable.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/27/i-cant-believe-some-people-are-still-saying-twitter-isnt-a-news-source/

SO....

There are hundreds more blogs, posts, tweets and news stories arguing that Social Media sites like Twitter are a force to be reckoned with as a news source. We can see the evidence. But this doesn't mean news seekers shouldn't use these social media sites with caution and sometimes skepticism. I would also argue that news organizations need consider evolving, though not entirely of course, around social media sites like Twitter due to the clout and influence they are gaining in the news industry.

Journalist Interview R.J. Johnson: Daily Universe

1. Why did you go into journalism?

Sports reporting has always appealed to me, but when I got my first part-time job covering high school sports, I immediately fell in love with the business. There’s something about getting to know the players and coaches on a deeper level, while enjoying the atmosphere of sports.

2. How did your break in the field?

I did some work in high school, and so during my freshman year of college, I saw a part-time job published in the local daily St. George newspaper working on the sports desk. I applied, and three months later, they moved me on the desk and started sending me out to cover local events. That experience really helped me when I finally graduated, allowing me to land a copy desk job and eventually move to sports after 10 months on the desk. After two years of working in sports, I moved into a news position as the Bureau Chief in Cedar City for the Spectrum & Daily News, then eventually moved into a supervisor role at BYU.

3. How do you define “good” journalism?

Good journalists are ethical and know that they are the fourth estate. Journalists are professional and understand that their jobs are not to “get” somebody “or bring them down” but rather to inform the public of what it wants and needs to know.

4. Do you feel like your news organization practices “good” journalism?

Yes. I believe that since we’re in education, there are occasions when students cut corners or simply are not far enough along in the process to understand good journalism practices. But I believe the faculty and staff understand good journalism and do their best to train the students in good journalism practices.

5. How would you define the type of journalism you do?

Right now, I work in an education role, training journalists in skills they need to get jobs.

6. Does your organization allow you to do the type of journalism you want to do?

Sometimes I miss getting out of the office and covering games, but I really love mentoring students.

7. How does the journalism you practice serve your community?

This job allows me to share what I’ve learned and help train the next generation of journalists. We also are able to help inform the BYU student of issues that affect them.

8. What is your opinion about recent movements such as community, citizen, civic, and public journalism?

I think it’s great to get the public involved in issues they care about. However, I believe there will always be a need for professional journalists to act as a filter. They know how to act ethically, have been trained to be objective and present all sides of an issue, and understand how best to present the information. However, one thing I think journalists have always struggled with is a “disconnect” from readers. Too often, try to tell the public what it wants, instead of listening to the public’s needs. Involving consumers in journalism is a good way to connect and make sure you are fulfilling your public’s needs, instead of what you perceive to be its needs.

9. Have you ever had an experience in which you felt your work as a journalist really made a difference?

People joke that sports journalism is the “toy section” of the newspaper and that it’s not important. But every time I’ve ever had a reader or a source thank me for a story, I really feel like I reached somebody — even if I didn’t help “bring down” a political administration. I think that type of journalism is important to the people you cover— reaching out to people in the community and sharing their stories with others.

10. How have your views about journalism changed over the years?

I think I have a better understanding of the role of a journalist from the experiences I’ve gained than I did when I was in college.

11. Have you been affected by dropping circulations, ratings, layoffs, and growth of citizen journalism?

Not personally, but I know plenty of people who have.

12. What advice would you give students wanting to go into journalism?

Don’t be afraid to work hard and pay your dues. Make sure that you understand that as a journalist, you serve the public, and not the other way around.

13. What importance do you place on new media and social media in the journalism industry and do you

have any examples that express its importance?

I think it’s the next step in the future of journalism. I believe young readers are more interested in social media because there are so many options out there that you compete for their attention.

14. How do you think BYU’s online newspaper compares to other college online newspapers or local or national online newspapers?

We’re still behind. We are far better than we were a year ago, but we hadn’t updated our Web site in eight years and it showed. In the past year, our multimedia content, the increased convergence with the Daily News TV show and the redesign of the Web site have helped. But if we’re going to prepare students to get jobs as online journalists, we still have a long way to go.

15. What future media ideas or plans do you have for the online Daily Universe?

Right now we’re working on implementing more social media tools: Twitter, Facebook, use of mobile technology to cover stories, cover it live. I see that as our next big step.

Photojournalist Interview

As a photojournalist, this aspect of journalism has hold of my highest interests.  I've had the chance to chew the fat with a few other photojournalists here locally.  One who has sort of become a mentor and example to me is Jeff Allred, who shoots for the Deseret News in SLC, UT.  I had a chance to pick his brain about some of the plights, challenges, and expectations of the photojournalism industry:

Jeff Allred Deseret News:  On the Photojournalism Industry

 

            Jeff Allred is a veteran Photojournalist for the Deseret News in Salt Lake.  Having a chance to talk with him about the Photojournalism profession and the future of the profession was insightful yet unsettling at the same time.

 

            He first discussed the type of skills and education needed to pursue a career in photojournalism.  Many photojournalists come from different education backgrounds.  If feel that I’m on the right track as far as my school goes but that I might also need to seriously consider graduate school for (photo)journalism.  He also mentioned the importance of multimedia in the journalism world today.  Photojournalists as opposed to only requiring still photography are requiring more and more photo, video, and computer skills.

 

            Photojournalism as an occupation, Allred said, can be a narrow field.  You are basically looking news publishing.  However, it is possible to break off to other areas of photography, i.e. advertising, teaching, wedding photography, etc.  Unfortunately with the way the economy is going, Allred doesn’t believe things will be getting better all that soon.  Many photographers have been getting laid off from major newspapers in major cities. 

 

            Security lies in being a veteran photographer with a newspaper, but even then that isn’t a guarantee for employment.  The salary of an established photographer depends on the newspaper, its size, and its circulation, but the expected average is around 40,000—45,000 dollars.  For any entry level photographer the expected salary is around 30,000 dollars.  I do believe, however, that this is on the higher end.  Most newspapers consider a 5-year photographer and established or veteran photographer.

 

            When looking for a newspaper or company to work for, Allred suggested reading the newspaper for a few weeks before considering a job there.  As a photographer you want to know the layout of the publication to make sure it meets your standards and so you know if your work will be properly published. 

 

Despite the weird hours, having to work some weekends and holidays, Allred considers Photojournalism “the greatest profession on the planet.”  He also stated, “…If you love something you’ll do good at it and the money will follow.   Photojournalists get to do and see things that most people only dream of.”

Snow Regan Buck is face masked by Butler's Deandre Howard In the Top of the Mountains Bowl Dec 6, 2008 in Sandy.     --Jeffrey D. Allred

THE RABID WATCHDOG

Today in our comms 239 class we were given a presentation from our peers about how journalists and news organizations must be a monitor on power, AKA "the watchdog principle". During our discussion it was stated that journalists as watchdogs take a subjective approach to there journalism, meaning journalists take sides... with the truth. This led us to the discussion of how scrupulous should journalist be in keeping an eye on prominent and powerful organizations in our society, as well as prominent and powerful figures.  

One of the purposes of this watchdog principle is to hold these organizations and people accountable for the wrong that they do.  One issue is whether or not we should hold them accountable for mistakes or crimes they've committed in the past, say 10, 20, or 30 years ago.  Often times journalists will dig up this information just to get a story. We agreed that sometimes this information is relevant and sometimes it isn't.  Sometimes journalists use this information which discredits this person just for the sake of a story, ultimately having no relevance to the public.  We must be good judges as journalists.  

I would now like to present to you the case of the "Blogger" in all this.  Journalism outlets now take the form of blogs and one might even say "tweets".  As unofficial news sources should these news outlets be subject to such journalistic ethics as traditional news organizations are? The case which arouses this question appeared in a Nov 26th NYTimes article "Network feels the wrath of a blogger misled" http://tinyurl.com/ylrhbda in the business section. 

An editor from www.deadspin.com http://tinyurl.com/yze67pt basically uses his popular sports blog to reinforce (not so flattering) rumors about an ESPN employee.  In a way a blog editor has twisted this idea of watchdog journalism to slander a person and a companies reputation without following a proper journalistic ethical procedure to verify his information.  

This is a problem with so much new media and it acting as independent news outlets.  Not all bad comes from this new media taking on the role of journalism, however; we must be mindful of the abuses that are occurring within them.  

Ethics of Objectivity in Journalism

A journalist from Baltimore once said " the objective viewpoint is the one that agrees with mine."  To some degree objectivity in journalism is a fantasy.  As humans by nature we have biased views and affiliations.  So journalists (as humans, we think anyways) are biased. 

 I suppose because of it's inherent nature we put so much enfasis on the idea of objectivity in the news.  Its the duty of news organizations not to deceive the pubic or their audiences, and we feel the best way for them NOT to do that is by presenting both sides of the stories that are published.  For a journalist to do his job objectively he should represent voices from both sides or even multiple sides of an issue, that way a reader can come to a fair or balanced conclusion. 

 In our Comms 239 class some of us came to agree that journalists are not objective but their methods or form of journalism can be.  

This focus on objectivity some what bothers me.  As I continue to read and view multiple news sources i notice that objectivity leaves me unfulfilled or with a vague view of what the real picture is.   A program that i feel proves my point is the Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

  I understand that it is a mock news source but in its subjectivity it makes strong affirmative statements about how things really are. An objective approach is hesitant to make affirmative statements in fear that it might be wrong.  Last week Jon Stewart criticized CNN for a lack of fact checking on their part.  Those sort of things are good for the public to know, and it takes a subjective approach to do that.  

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-october-12-2009/cnn-leaves-it-there

Another example, and its kind of an extreme one, is Bush and the Iraq War. The media continually published and objective view of the facts or on what the government was telling the public.  Of the few news organizations that investigated and tried to portray a subjective view point and make an affirmative statement that the president was wrong were hardly ever published.  

Regarding objectivity: it's a good general rule that probably should be followed most of the time, however; focusing on the ethics of it journalists loose perspective of the picture they are really portraying to their audiences and of the picture the public really might need to see.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=objectivity%20in%20journalism&oe=UTF-8&safe=active&um=1&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=iv&start=0#

Thoughts on the future of print journalism

I read two article recently; one dealing with apple's new gizmo titled the apple "tablet"(http://bit.ly/C0y1V), and another discussing the future demise of print newspapers.  Both article's i felt discussed the same issue but from different perspectives.   

The first article (go to http://bit.ly/XBVaB) addresses the wave of new online media that is revolutionizing newspapers as we speak.  The article claims that print is loosing its value because audiences are all going online for their news.  Print subscriptions are dropping for all major newspapers across the country. News organizations are trying to keep up by downsizing their employee numbers and by moving more content onto the internet.  Government bailouts have been spoken of but most agree as does the writer of the article that this is a bad idea.  But does print journalism need to die and is the sooner it dies the better?  

Its obvious with the appearance of gadgets like the apple "tablet" or the "kindle" that the future of print is bleak. However, their is something artifact-esqe about having a tangible paper or magazine in your hand that holds value and will throughout the ages.  

I remember being a kid and going into my parents basement and on the bookshelf their were hundreds of yellow National Geographic magazines lining two or three entire shelves.  It was sacrilegious to throw one of those magazines away.  One of my favorite possessions is the 1983 National Geographic with a cover portrait of the Afghan girl.

Besides the timeless value of physical print, the truth is advertisers are still paying to put their ads in newspapers and not online.  Sure, most larger national newspapers or struggling but local newspapers are doing reasonably better. Frankly that is where newspapers are doing a decent job; covering local stories (not international news).  

Preparations for handling online audiences need to be made by every major and minor newspaper organizations, its true, but as long as people are still confiding in their local print papers and as long as advertisers are still willing to put their ads in the printed papers and not so much online, then print will be around to stay.