BYU Bean Museum

The Job Haunt

I must say that finding a job now is not the easiest, especially in today's job market. It seems online job applications are no good, and a waste of time. Applying for various jobs, most not related to your degree, but in desperation I have been applying for everything from insurance to electric energy sales. All of which are irrelevant jobs that I really don't want. For the most part, a lot of the job offers I have received, have been jobs that I don't even need a degree in. My thought are: Why did I even go to school then and spent all that money, if I am going to be working as a door to door sales men...It honestly frustrates me.

They say the best way to find employment is through networking, plus statistics show the same results, that networking is the best route on finding your next job. In my desperation, I have even signed up for a LinedIn account which I don't even understand the fruits of, and how to find someone within the company and network through them? Still confusing I must say, but I am going to keep on trying and try to figure this networking strategy out and test it. I should probably start attending more business career fairs and networking groups through word of mouth. We will see where this will take my employment status. Hopefully working at a good company that I will be happy and proud to work for.

The life of the unemployed, I must say it is boring and depressing. This is why one should always work and not complain when he or she has a job.

Person Code of Conduct

Everett Shell
Comms 239
Professor Cressman
April 13, 2010

Personal Code of Conduct


My own personal view of the code of conduct in journalism is simple, being we all have a duty and responsibility as journalists to report only the truth in our stories, as well as to be the people’s voice. Being a reporter comes down to having a voice in society that whatever story we may produce, it will help the people in a way to feel they too have an influence or say that can decide what is ethical in terms of making self-governing decisions. I have come to realize over the course of the semester that a journalist’s personal code of conduct and ethics are the foundation of what makes a good reporter. Ethics is one of the most important factors of being a journalist, getting all sides of a story and not being biased or skewing a story just to obtain a bigger audience. When it comes down to it, news reporting is not about us and our glory as journalist, but what is most significant, is in the honor of reporting reliable accurate news to the people.

Journalist should use the media in their best interest when reporting, remembering the audience first before their own opinions. This semester I interned with ABC 4 News in Salt Lake City, and found that it is important in the newsroom that they all work together as a team in order to have the best news reporting, and therefore, a more successful news station. When a reporter was out in the field and they couldn’t get the footage they needed, then it was my job to search in the video archives for some great b-roll to go along with the reporters’ story. Verification is another important factor of journalism. Always double-check your data and facts to make sure they are correct and accurate before reporting. Often, there will be occasion when some information may change within the next couple of days of an occurrence, so it’s a journalist’s duty to go back and update the story as needed.
I also realized during this semester that I’m not going into journalism to get rich, it’s more about making a difference in the society that I live in by reporting the truth. Journalist should keep an independence from those they cover by maintaining accuracy, verification, and serving the public’s interest, as well as the desire to inform the people. Parts of the trade in journalism includes, adhering to the principles of truthfulness, which is of the up most importance to journalist if they truly want success. Another may be an allegiance to the citizens and community, that as a journalist, you will give them the news they need as pertaining to their community. In many cases of reporting, it may involve playing a watchdog role and providing a forum for public debate, but this can often tend to become more opinion based. It's not wrong to have opinions in reporting, but we must keep in consideration not to be bias towards the other party, but to back up all opinions with facts that support the statement you are considering. The objective for journalism should be less of your opinions, and more of the people’s opinion.

Our goal as a journalist is to report accurate reliable news for the people and not to always state our opinions towards the subject. I have noticed some journalist start out with a story in mind, so that when they ask their sources questions, they will ask in a way that can verify or favor the initial story they would like to report. It seems like it is more towards the journalist’s interest and not for that which favors the people’s unbiased needs. Journalists tend to report from ideologues based off a set of aims or ideas to obtain one's goal. In reporting you often have a vision of what you want to report first, and a lot of those come from our own experiences. We should remain neutral not favoring any one stance or opinion but reporting only the facts as they are. Therefore we should not write from our own perspective but report truth from an unbiased standard. Before starting a story, we should first be well rounded in our story by researching out all its facets, issues, and possible stances. Any great story should always be researched, and time invested in collecting data and information before writing or reporting it.

We all see the world in our own perspective according to culture, religion, traditions, and political stand points. It is just in our nature to have an opinion on most things, which can control our reporting in the way we present a story. For example, if a reporter isn't as familiar with a certain group of people, the reporter may report the story only through personal experience or what he or she have seen or read in the media, which is not always the best way to report news. I know that we all have opinions, but it is important to not let our opinions effect our reporting. News should be more based on facts, evidence, and human sources we interview to make a great story, and therefore should not be skewed in a particular way that would make it appear biased. Journalist’s main focus on objectivity is reliance upon truth. It is more of a practical truth understood that journalists have opinions, of course they do, they are human, but since journalists have assumed a duty to report the news to the people, it is critical that each journalists should follow the guidelines of fairness, balance, and accuracy in every story. In other words, journalists should not be influenced by personal feelings, interpretations, or prejudice in their presentation of the news, but more so by that which is based on facts.
Watchdog journalism is a form of investigative reporting that consists of finding the truth in a confidential story by searching beneath the surface and finding out what is really going on, particularly in political or economical issues that our government may be withholding from its people. I tend to interpret watchdog journalism as a balance in the media by uncovering the truth behind crooked and greedy people. There are always records and evidence of truth within the government, but it is up to the journalist to find it. If something doesn't seem right, then start investigating and find out what is really going on; this can lead to a breaking news story that will put the government or whomever in check. It is important to realize that investigative reporting is not opinionated journalism because with unbiased facts and data, it is not the journalist’s opinion anymore. We may have assumptions towards someone or an organization, but without facts it's not a story. I also liked what we talked about in class over the credibility of a reporter who becomes a celebrity like Anderson Cooper, or Barbara Walters. Should they still be considered reliable reporters? I think they should, because they know the rules and ethics of journalism. They are telling the truth, but they add more emotion into their stories, which is not always the best approach to reporting. It can cause lack of credibility; people don’t trust their emotion-driven intentions. When Anderson Cooper went out to Haiti and helped move a little boy, who was bleeding due to people throwing bricks off a rooftop, I saw Cooper more as a hero, and not as the traditional journalist. Who knows, that may be where journalism ends up? What the clip resulted in was that it caught my attention, and I wanted to know more about this story in Haiti and why the people were fighting each other.

My own personal code of conduct that I plan to live by as a journalist is to be steadfast in getting all the facts and information that I need to have a great story by researching each story before going out and interviewing people, and always remembering to keep my morals and standards as a follower of the LDS faith. I can make a difference in this world, as well as be a voice to the people in reporting reliable and credible news stories by making ethical judgments in all of journalism. It is not my opinions that matter; it’s the facts that matter in news. I really enjoy journalism, and I think it is truly inspired by the gospel as it is grounded in serving others from an ethical point of view, and doing what is right for the greater good of society.

Engagement and Relevance

As journalist we are to engage the audience with captivating stories that they want to hear and know about, grabbing their attention by the stories we report.

The key to a successful journalist is to connect with the audience to receive feedback on how your story is portrayed in the media. It is always a good thing to get some feedback even if it may be a little critical, it will only improve our journalism skills. In the news today, it is important to engage and connect more with the people. On a lot of the news websites they have online polls and surveys as well as comments that can be posted with each story so the people can voice their opinions and give comments on the piece. For example on KSL they even have live chat for the audience to connect with the reporters and broadcast announcers to express their opinions on a story.

I think it gives the journalist a check and balance from the interaction with the audience. If it is the journalists initiative to tell the truth to the people, then the online comments, and surveys are a great way for the people to voice their opinions and thoughts in the news and how we can improve journalism.

It's also important to get the audiences attention in the stories we report. News is intended to tell a story to keep the audience interested and attentive in the story that relates to them in their community. A reporter must also remember that good journalism consists of the story it's not because of the advertisements in the article.

Another way to be engaged and have relevance within a story is to research a story thus, having more evidence and date into the story which will add interest to the viewers. Each story that is more in depth consist of more credibility and is affirmed to be more accurate.

It was hilarious during the presentation when they brought up the People magazine about Brad Pitts beard and how the social media is trying to be newsworthy. I don't consider People magazine to be news worthy material. From a journalist perspective People magazine is more on the basis of selling a product and advertising viewers, but it's true people love or adore certain celebrities wanting to know what's going on in their lives. Also, the comparison of a journalist being a celebrity, will it hurt their reputation or credibility as a journalist? Well if society is all about fame and glamorous life styles then it may not hurt the journalist reputation, but only boost their careers, like Barbara Walters and Anderson Cooper. I think as a journalist our job is not to seek fame, but to tell the truth and report accurate reliable news to the people that they want and should know. We are the voice for the people that they can have in society.

Related Videos:

Comprehensive and Proportional Journalism

As journalist, it is our drive to cover certain stories. We all have our best stories that we like to cover most and the stories that tend to get the audiences attention.

During the presentation, I thought it was really interesting of how we come to cover certain stories. For example, The Ease, are the stories that we see, the Economics are the stories we cover that people want to read, and the Elitism are the stories what educated people care about. We write and report news stories according to how these three principles applies to each journalist. I know a lot of journalist who are assigned to a specific story he or she may not want, but have to go ahead and report the story in order to make their news director happy. A lot of journalist argue in the sense of, "are we reporting for us or the people." Do we write the stories that the audience want to know or the stories the audience should know? I think as journalist we are free to write whatever we want, and the most important kind of story is reporting the truth, so the people can have a voice and know the things that are going on in society.

Some journalist tend to be pressured to hype a story because the news is subjective and some stories may not be as important as others, so the journalist will juice up the story to interest viewers.

In the presentation it was spoken that sensationalism coverage isn't proportional journalism, which is true I don't think by putting emotion into the story should be a value of what good journalism is. It seems like the journalist who add an emotional tied for the readers is not credible. They want an emotional story, not an emotional journalists.

The best support for a strong reliable story, is a story that has been highly researched. Research helps journalists make judgments, it doesn't replace their judgement according to market research.

In journalism, sensationalism is a strong mechanism that attracts audiences attention like the example of Michael Jackson's Death it was the top story at every news station and paper. Of whether he committed suicide or if he murdered, which captured audiences and fans to know the truth behind Jackson's death.

Reality-TV entertainment are taking the role of journalist to be more credible, which is an outrage because reality TV stars do not have any kind of journalism background or ethics pertaining to the field, but what they can do is capture an audiences attention.

We all know the famous journalist Walter Cronkite who is the man to be trusted and I thought it was ridiculous that people didn't trust him and thought he wasn't reliable from him tearing up when he announced the death of JFK. I watched the video and you can't really tell his eyes were watering, he just took off his glasses and paused then proceeded to announce the JFK assassination. If you call that emotional what would you call some of the reporters today, cry babies? The most emotional reporter in my opinion is Anderson Cooper, especially when he gets involved in natural disasters like Katrina, or Haiti earth quake victims where he acts like he is a raging citizens protesting for rights and for people to help these victims.

It seems like original reporting is just getting more expensive and time consuming. A lot of news are leaning towards soft news or featured news stories that just captures ratings and news that are not as significant as something that really affects the people. For example Anna Nicole Smith death was in the news and replaced other hard core news because it sells. Hopefully the journalist of today will take a stand on reporting news that the people want and need to know, so they can make self governing decisions on the matter and in society.


Journalism videos:

The Journalist and Faith

Journalist should really reconsider thinking about putting their personal opinions in an article on a topic of a particular sect of faith, because the article may have information that is skewed due to the journalists personal believes that are against another religion or faith. One must remember as a journalist it is not our opinion the people wants to hear, but the the truth with factual evidence backing up one's claim.

Some may believe that our personal faith can have evidence of affecting the way a journalist reports his or her story on religion. Whatever an individual might do is some form determined by his or her religion. As a Latter-day Saint, my actions and choices are influenced by my standards and values as being LDS. I want to choose the right in all my choices that I make, and most of all I want to do what our Heavenly Father wants me to do. I think it is true that religion can affect a person's point of view when telling a story of a religion different than their own. Thus, it is important when writing a story of another religion to start with an open mind, that you are here to write this story to let the audience know the truth about the religion.

It was interesting in the presentation that a lot of Americans are taught popular knowledge through the news. If this is the case, then I think we have a responsibility to not take sides in any story, but to report all sides of a story. For example, if a journalist is assigned to write an article on a Jewish rabbi who was caught stealing, you wouldn't want to go about interviewing people who hate the Jewish faith, but maybe someone who is apart of the faith who might of known the rabbi.

I think it is true that there are more articles about religion within the text relating to someone who is apart of a particular faith than articles based primarily on a specific faith it just doesn't happened as much in the media. Society tends to relate others based off of religious affiliates nowadays.

The quote: "Journalism and religion is a tough mix. Religion depends on faith, and journalism demands proof." This is a great quote, because when journalist write about religion it is just something that one must really be careful when writing or reporting in the media. Another tip may be when writing about religion maybe it is best to write as one in that particular faith, study and learn the doctrine interviewing people of the faith, that can give a better insight of what the religion really practices and teach its members. I have found that this is true, especially when the media portrays Mormons as just polygamist which is not true of course and our church get the blame for it. For example, my mom is a school teacher in Dallas, and some of the faculty at the school came up and ask her if she was apart of the Mormon church in south Texas with all the polygamist. She had to clarify and let them know our church has nothing to do with the polygamist in south Texas.

Again as a journalist, I think it is crucial that we don't sell short a religion of what they truly believe and practice. If someone wrote in an article that the Mormon's baptize the dead, what would the people think? Probably not good things, so it is important to give all the details and information to the people. In the LDS Church, they performs baptisms for the dead so the deceased can have an opportunity to be baptized in the Lords church and to receive the Holy Ghost according to their believes. Of course that would not be in the media hopefully, but my point is to not leave out information that may hurt any faith's name in society. It just is not ethical for the journalist to make his or her claim on what religion is right or wrong.


Video's of Religion in the Media:

Journalism as a Public Forum

Are journalist really doing their job in presenting the facts to the public and not just reporting for their self interest in obtaining fame in the public forum? I think that journalist should use the media in their best interest when reporting, remembering the audience first before their own opinions that they have in their stories.

Today we have the advantage to use the highest form of technology that is changing the history of journalism as we know it. The introduction of the Internet has made news became instant, and before the Internet, breaking news might take a while before its out to the public, but not with instant broadband and camera phones it can be live streaming right as a breaking news event is happening. One can even write a story and post it on the web in seconds, so breaking news coverage has really become instant.

I am currently interning at ABC 4 News in Salt Lake City, and it's crucial in news to have the story first, and already posted on the web before the rest of the competition. It also makes the news station you work for look great because of having the news first.

Even blogs are becoming another form of journalism, but to many reporters think this is not the best way of communicating to the audience, because it is more opinionated based rather than the facts giving in reporting from journalist. It is true that blogs may hinder the facts in the aspect of the truth because one must realize that a blog is more of a personal outlet for viewers to reconcile your opinions on a matter. It just seems that everyone is considering themselves as journalist who have blogs but it's not the case when they don't have the ethics and background knowledge as a trained professional journalist who can share a story with truthfulness and accuracy with sustaining data.

I agree with the book when it mentions The editorial pages of the newspaper, the opinion columnist, the talk show, and the point-of-view magazine essay, bloggers, and anyone else have every right to be opinionated. That is their mission. But if their authors want to call themselves journalists, then it follows that they should not misrepresent the facts that they should hold to the same standards of truthfulness or allegiance to public interest as any other part of the profession. Elements of Journalism, p. 167

These forms of media have the right to be opinionated, but for journalist our job is report the facts with data not expressing a bias opinion, we just give the facts. If they want to be considered journalist then they really need to reevaluate they way they report, because a lot of those types of forms of media are just to capture audiences attentions, and to obtain ratings to increase profit. One may say he or she does not go into journalism hoping to be rich but rather to make a difference in the world by reporting the truth.


It may all come down to having a voice in society that whatever story we may produce it will help the people in a way feel they to have a voice that can decide what is ethical in a sense of making self governing decisions.


Videos of forms of media portrayed as journalism:

Watchdog Journalism

Watchdog journalism is a form of investigative reporting of finding the truth in a confidential story, by searching beneath the surface and finding out what is really going on, in political or economical issue that our government may be withholding from its people.

I tend to interpret Watchdog journalism as a balance in the media of uncovering the truth behind crooked and greedy people. Theirs always records and evidence of anything that goes on in the government, but it is up to the journalist to find it. If something doesn't seem right and you can back it up with the data then go for it, start investigating and find out what is really going on, that may be a breaking news story that will put the government or whomever in check.

The example in the book of Watchdog: "Watching over the powerful few in society on behalf of the many to guard against tyranny."

As journalist, we are to watch, listen, and point out the facts with evidence, backing up our information within each story. It is important not to report freely upon suspicion or allegation but rather on actual facts. Of course we are going to have some kind of suspicion about someone, but without reliable accurate evidence backing up our claim against someone, we can be suspicious all day and it won't make a difference without the data.

Our goal as a Watchdog journalist is to help the people, by prosecuting and finding criminals. In order to do this we must research and investigate each story. One of the biggest governmental kept secret that the press uncovered was the Watergate Scandal, it was then that journalist had truly broke the barrier of the press and state. The Freedom of Information Act in 1966, passed allowing the press to obtain government records which helped the Watergate story.

This can open the door to numerous amounts of stories that are available. My professor told us about opensecrets.org it has information on any private or government organization available to the public. For example, a reporter was looking into a private school and noticed the school was lacking funds, but was donated the means by various donors. The reporter soon found out from records that the principle was using the money in his own interest from taking vacations, and buying new cars. The information is out their, but it's up to us, as journalist to investigate and find the truth.

If you are researching a company, organization, or person and you find some unusual information, find out what's really going on. You may be on top of a huge scandal story that the people should know. As journalists we are to report the truth by any means including interviewing and researching all files and data. A good example of finding top secret data would be in the movie Erin Brockovich, where she found data supporting that a chemical plant was dumping chemicals in the water which caused many in the community to get sick and die.

From taking investigative reporting class, I didn't realize how much information is available to the public and the more private information you just have to request a GRAMA or FOIA, depending upon what you want to know about the organization or person. We had an assignment of finding who lived at a location and all kinds of information was online that included: The school district, the taxes of the home, sex offenders in a one mile radius, previous owners, the value of the home, and its current market as well as if the owner has been paying their bills. Again, all the information we need is available to us, but we just need to learn how to obtain it.

I find it interesting that during the presentation they showed clips of various news stations and their investigative breaking news. It seems that you never know who could be doing something illegal in a high political position. For example when the press uncovered the top secret Pentagon Papers of political involvement in Vietnam of expanding the war that our President was involved in.

It is important to realize that investigative reporting is not opinionated journalism, because with facts and data it is not the journalist opinion anymore. We may have assumptions towards someone or organization, but without facts it's not a story.

From the book, I like the quote, "In the end, all reporting is investigating." This is true, because we must search and study each story before writing it, obtaining as much factual data as possible going through old records and evidence. By doing so, you can come across an amazing story that the world hasn't known and for you to reveal to the people.

Clips of Investigative Reporing:

Journalists as Ideologues

Journalist tend to report from ideologues based off a set of aims or ideas to obtain one's goal. In reporting you often have a vision of what you want to report first, and a lot of those come from our own experiences.

We all see the world in our own perspective according to culture, religion, traditions, and political stand points. It is just in our nature to have an opinion on most things that can control our reporting in the way we present a story. For example, if a reporter isn't as familiar with a certain group of people, the reporter may report the story only through personal experience or what we have seen or read through the media,which is not always the best way to report news.

I know that we all have opinions, but it is important to not let our opinions effect our reporting. It should be more based on facts, evidence, and human sources we interview to make a great story, and try not to skew a story in a particular way that it seems bias.

journalist main focus on objectivity is reliance upon truth. It is more of a practical truth assumed that journalist have opinions, of course they do they are human, but since journalist has access to report news to the people it is critical that each journalist follow the guidelines of fairness, balance, and accuracy in every story. And not influenced by personal feelings, interpretations, or prejudice, but again based on facts.

I agree with the presentation that the golden rule of journalist is to be fair, balanced and accurate in every story, but a journalist cannot and should not block out his or her biases, experience and gut-level emotion. I think it is what makes the story more personable that the people can relate to, not saying to take sides and report only your opinions, but just report the truth in all that you do, you can still report the truth and add your experience to the story. For example, if the reporter is reporting a story on a political campaign and the journalist has experience and relations in the political circle then yes, use it in your reporting. People want to rely on the people who knows what they are talking about and not just someone who is stating a fact, but to add in depth statements to help make the story so much stronger.

Passion and emotion only should fit into journalism when their is meaning behind it. It's not to obtain more fans or viewers, for example Anderson Cooper he has become known in the media for getting involved and who shares his emotions to the audience. It seems he has become more of a celebrity type figure than a journalist. I understand things are emotional, Cooper has been to war zones, seen people dying, but I think their is a time to report and a time to cry. I'm not saying don't have emotion in reporting, but not let it overpower your story that you have become less reliable in your reporting. It is up to the reporter to stay strong for the people and to share with them when a disaster has occurred that you are being strong like the people are as well.

To become a stronger journalist it is important to know the key elements of journalism, and to know our role that we are here to report the truth and what really counts in society. We can make a difference in the world if we are ethical and accurate in our stories.



Emotional Anderson Cooper:

Independence from Faction

Journalist keep an independence from those they cover by maintaining accuracy, verification, and serving the public interest and the desire to inform the people.

Parts of the trade in journalism includes, adhering to the principles of truthfulness, which is the key to journalism if you truly want success. Another may be an allegiance to the citizens and community that as a journalist you will give them the news they need to know for their community.

What makes good journalism is bringing the truth to the citizens, so they can make self governing decisions. In many cases of reporting may involve playing a watchdog role and providing a forum for public debate, but it can often tend to become more of an opinion based. It's not wrong to have opinions in reporting, but must keep in to consideration not to be bias towards the other party, and to back up all opinions with facts that support the statement you are considering. The objective for journalism should be less of your opinions and more of the people’s opinion.

Our goal as a journalist is to report accurate reliable news for the people and not to always state our opinions towards the subject. I have notice some journalist may have a story in mind, so when they ask their sources questions, they will ask in a way that can verify the story they would like to report. For my personal opinion I don't like this approach towards writing a story, I don't think it is the best ethical way of reporting. It seems like it is more towards the journalist interest and not for the people.



A good journalist should remain neutral not favoring anyone stance or opinion but reporting the facts as they are, and therefore he or she should not write from their own perspective but report truth from an unbiased standard.

I really like what was said in the group presentation on independence from class, economic, status, race, and ethnicity, that as a white Caucasian male, I should not be bound to only report news on white males, that we can write about anyone, and anything; that is how it should be, we are writing to vast audiences of all statuses and races and not to just one specific group. As journalist, we should be well rounded in many areas and if not, then we should always research our story, which I will say, any great story should always be researched and time spent collecting data and information before writing or reporting a lot of information that may not be as in-depth or important as it can be.

From the reading, reporter William Safire reports cold hard facts, and believes having a political background has helped him in his reporting. He was a speech writer for President Nixon, and that is basically what He did was state facts with evidence. I believe it is vital to say, whatever you put in your story to always back it up with facts and data in all that is reported. It will bring more credibility to the reporter.

Advocacy of opinion journalism:

Journalism of Verification

The objective of verification in journalism is to always check your facts, sources, and statements in each article. The best way to go about checking your facts is to have reliable information. If the reader can go back to the source or place where you received the information and it is the same every time that is a reliable information.

It is always best to think of what the audience needs to know, so they can evaluate the information for themselves and make self governing decision based on your article.

I really liked the example in the group presentation when they stated, that journalism is like science. If you have a fact, can someone else go and get the same fact or method as you reported in the story?

Sometimes you may come across some information, that as a journalist has to decide if it is relevant or may cause harm to someone. For example, If their was a rape victim who had went to court to prosecute their attacker and didn't want their name getting out in the public for confidentiality reasons, and their family doesn't want their information released as well. Then the journalist must decide to publish private information that the source doesn't want in the media, or to keep the wishes of the source? I think in this case, if her name was already released in a news press then it would be okay to state in your story, but if the person and their family asks not to be publicized, then it is best to grant their wishes.

The best way to report news is to site each and every source or information that the norm wouldn't know. Their will always be someone who reads your article who claims that the information is inaccurate or false, but having sited sources and information claiming where you got your information can override their claims. It is best to avoid having anonymous sources, well first it is less credible. A journalist should always identify each source. The audience does not trust many anonymous sources, especially when stating information that is against someone or something, because anyone could state their opinion, but if the person is sited then the audience will think they reporter is not just putting in information that will attract more audiences.

The way to obtain credibility, is to go right to the source when gaining information and to site word for word. The readers will trust the journalist when they have sited sources. Journalist must apply transparent and systematic method to journalism, the more you reveal the more credible the journalist is to the audience.

Having omniscience in what the journalist reports in their article is preferred when they are honest in where they received their facts and information, and not to write an article based on acquired knowledge that is not backed up by reliable sources.

Yes, we will come across some media that may be false, but the duty for a journalist is to report the truth. The audience will not trust the journalist who reports false information, so it is always best to double check each source and fact before publicizing.

The Profession

In the profession of journalism, it is best to get the story right than getting it first, and that is how it should be when it comes to reporting.

The journalist may be the first to have the story, but what if he or she doesn't have all the facts or data that can make the story ten time better. Of course their are always deadlines, but if the reporter can find all the information to have a in depth story that the audience would be appealed to, that is what makes a great news article. We must think ethical as well, the news is for the people not for making yourself as a journalist, look good. And don't publish false statements, the outcome is never good.

It seems the trend for a lot of high profile journalist are going to advocacy when reporting which is not always the best route to go on when reporting. If the journalist wants to help then turn off the cameras and notepads. Our job is to report the facts and information to the people; we are the medium from the story to the people and if we show heartache and sorry for a tragedy it can lead to a story that is not clearly based off of fact. For example reporter Anderson Cooper he travels across the world to war zones, to natural disasters and a lot of time when he reports a story to the people he tends to show to much emotion. Which I understand because he is experiencing these disasters, but the reporter job is to report the story and not get involved emotionally.



The group presentation brought up some good ideas of the 4th Estate of Check and Balance and Keeping your distant by making good decisions based on logic, not on emotion, which is great because we should constantly check ourselves as not being to involved emotionally in our stories. Again, to always think of the people, because our stories we report will have impact to our readers in some way. If we feel that we can't handle a story that it will be to emotional, then the journalist should ask their editor that they feel they will be to involved emotionally. It is best to stand back from the environment when reporting and just be the reporter.

Most believe, that a journalist should be well diverse in knowledge of other cultures and traditions, because when reporting in another country of total opposite traditions, and customs, the journalist may skew the story from a lack of knowledge of the different culture. When reporting it is best to be well educated in the subject or area, so research, study and travel; go among the people and become aware of their everyday lives. Being prepared and knowledgeable of the subject, is key to a successful story.

When it comes to granting confidentiality of a sources identity it has some pros and cons with doing so. Some pros of keeping a sources identity, may consist of relying on the source in later stories and obtaining more accurate information from the source, due from not being scared to reveal their statements. For the cons, it could be a decrease credibility of a story, and you are responsible for the source if information is leaked out. It is best for journalist not to agree to keep confidentiality only if they can give it.

Learning the principles and steps of journalism is vital in producing great news for the audience.



Emotion in Reporting:

Loyalty and Journalism

Journalist are first loyal to its citizens which is the main objective of journalism, and are loyal to the rules of journalism in reporting in an ethical way.

In journalism you must be loyal to the company, to yourself, and most importantly to the audience. It is best to present the facts in a way fitting to the story, and not changing the story in a way based on getting a better story to attract mass audiences. It is important to be honest in your writing and not change the facts. Always think of the public best interest and how you can apply those principles of loyalty to journalism.

I found it very interesting in the presentation in class of the loyalty in journalism within the context of the business side and the journalism side which are separate. It's similar to church (news) and state (business)clause. In journalism the news company has the rights to put whatever they want in the paper and provide good journalism quality stories. On the business side their job is to provide revenue for the news company from advertisements, marketing, and investors involved in the paper. As a journalist, you don't want to be told by the business side what to write, and put in each article primarily based on profit revenues. It is not based on that, it is based more on the quality of the paper and if you have good quality news articles you will have a successful news company. But, It is true though if the revenue decreases for a news company, the business side is in charge of the pay roll so they will cut employees, which results in lower quality of journalist. The more employees lost, the lower quality the paper will be. I think they should work together in providing both a loyal and successful news company that provides reliable accurate news to the public.


Tips on having a successful news company:
1. The owner/corporation must be committed to citizens first.
2. Hire business managers who also put citizens first.
3. Set and communicate clear standards.
4. Journalists have final say over the news.
5. Communicate clear standards to the public.

The movie "Good night and Good luck," is a great example, to be loyal in journalism of telling the truth even though it may cost the reporter he's job or the news company. The business side of the news tries to intervene and stop the reporter from publicly airing private information that can shot down the company.



Some Journalist are not loyal to reporting the truth to the people like in this Youtube clip of Jon Stewart and Jim Cramer Video.

Truth & Journalism

The first obligation for a journalist is to seek the truth in all news stories. It is important that the reporter get all sides of the story, and not take sides or bias towards the other source. It is not the journalists objective to state his or her opinion in the story, their job is to just state the facts with human sources, quotes and data to support the story.

Getting the facts straight is very important, even if the journalist accidentally stated the facts incorrectly it can cause major harm to the journalist and the news company. Misleading the audience is most definitely a big NO, NO in journalism. That is one of the problems in the media today. It can cause a law suit against the journalist for liable, slander annotations. I have always been taught if you think providing evidence in a story will harm someones safety, you may think before writing or publishing it in the paper. It is always safe to ask your editor or news director first before publishing anything that may harm someones reputation or safety.

Another problem in the media is making sense of the facts. I have seen many news stations state facts, but in a way that have made others look bad in just the way they have stated or rearranged the wording in the story. This is not a good thing, but can increase viewers to the story, which will take us back to the ethical side of journalism. Is it better to get viewers/readers or telling accurate reliable news to the audience; stating the truth? As for journalist, we must inform the audience with the truth and not any intuitive form of bias, because then your not doing your job as a journalist.

From the book "The Elements of Journalism" it states to journalist to, "Give citizens identifiable sources and verify the information, highlighting what is important to know and filtering out what is not. Rather than expanding the time to sort through information themselves,people need sources that tell them what is true and significant." Amen, I agree with quote from the book, to state facts and get rid of the falsity within the story, because people want the truth and not made up lies.


Here are some examples of biases in journalism:

2010 Grammy's Awards

The 2010 Grammy Awards, was a success compared to previous years, with all the various music performances. I really enjoyed Lady Gaga's performance compared to her performance at the Music Awards performance back in 09, where she hangs from a rope, bleeding from her chest at the end of the performance. At the Grammy's she performed a duet with Sir Elton John, both singing Gaga's song "I'll Never Love Again," with added lyrics from John's song "Your Song." The two performed on their piano's facing each other with sparkled shades. I thought the two performed an entertaining performance.



The Grammy's have always been a popular award show for vast audience to see which music artist will bring home a Grammy to put on their mantels at home.

Music influences society in such a magnificent way by the lyrics and the rhythmic beats of the melody. Music is art in so many faucets that everyone has a song that he or she can relate to in their life. It is an absolute wonder, music is in today's pop culture. Who knows what the future of music will bring to audiences?





Beyonce performed a great rendition of her "If I were a boy," song with soldiers walking up on stage with her and dancing to the song. Everyone enjoyed her hair flipping all over stage. She sure does add soul to her performances,in other words spice. It is awesome, how passionate, she is in all of her performances. I thought it was interesting that she added within her performance Alanis Morissette song "You Oughta Know." In my opinion it didn't make sense that she just changed songs in the middle of the performance.

But, overall the performing artist who performed were great in their ability to capture the audience and the ability to entertain. I'm sure most of America, will be looking forward to the next Grammy Awards Show, with new talent and performances from their favorite musicians.

Who is Journalism?

Reporters, Editors, Photographers, Writers are all apart of Journalism. Consisting of gathering information to create a story for the public. The question today for many writers are blogger's the new journalist? The answer is NO, because a blogger may report about an event in the news, but does not have the democracy and principles that a journalist applies to each news story that a blogger typically doesn't do. The articles are more opinion based on facts, as for journalist their articles are based on sources and data for more of the ethical approach to a news article that usually only journalist put in their news stories.

What is Journalism?

Journalism is news worthy information gathered by news reporters taken by human sources, data, and other facts of information to compile to create a story. Getting both sides of a story, is the key in journalism to not be bias to either side. It is the reader's job to have opinion favoring either side, the journalist is to state the facts and quotes given by sources involved in the story. The mission of journalism, is for the people to have fast accurate reliable news to rely on to make governing self decision making opinion, and not based on others opinions or ideas.