▼
Saturday, September 22, 2018
Mass Communication
We had a very lively class discussion about mass communication. I feel like I learned a lot during it. An interesting way I learned to tell if something is mass communication or not is that with mass communication there is no immediate feedback. I has also never thought in depth about the steps in communication. I think that having that knowledge will help me communicate in the future.
Friday, September 21, 2018
Class Discussion on The Elements & Yardsticks
One of the first class discussions we had was about The Elements and Yardsticks of Journalism. Before we talked about this, I had NO idea there could be so many rules about journalism. I had watched news and read articles with no regard for the quality of the news and more just what the event was. Now I can’t even look at a news article on my phone without going through some of the Yardsticks in my head to test the journalist on. I think one of the most important elements is “Make the important interesting.” If journalists need to inform the public about some new very important information, the should make it interesting so that readers will be engaged and happy to read about it. This will mean more people will read the article, and therefore more of the public will stay educated about the discovery.
Analyzation of Anna Schroll Blog J1
annaj1blog.blogspot.com
In Anna's blog post about the Yardsticks/ Elements of she brought up some very good points. She explains how before learning about these 'rules' of journalism that she watched news without looking at it for quality. I am guilty of this too and now I realize how important GOOD journalism is. I think that these rules will help me write in the future and are in general good for anyone spreading information to follow. I do have a criticism though, when she says "When reporting on a story, all sides should be included and given an equal say in the issue at hand." There are a large amount of stories where this does not apply. For example, if you are doing a story on a terrorist group caught by police, you do not need a quote from the terrorist group.
In Anna's blog post about the Yardsticks/ Elements of she brought up some very good points. She explains how before learning about these 'rules' of journalism that she watched news without looking at it for quality. I am guilty of this too and now I realize how important GOOD journalism is. I think that these rules will help me write in the future and are in general good for anyone spreading information to follow. I do have a criticism though, when she says "When reporting on a story, all sides should be included and given an equal say in the issue at hand." There are a large amount of stories where this does not apply. For example, if you are doing a story on a terrorist group caught by police, you do not need a quote from the terrorist group.
Thursday, September 20, 2018
Analyzation of Sam Watkins Blog J1
http://samshottakes.blogspot.com/
I thought this blog post was very well worded. The intro was very catchy and led me in to the post like it was a professional writer. I liked his use of complex words and writing techniques. I agree with what Sam said
"I found this to be really interesting because there’s now, there’s so much fighting between different partisan news networks… but even so, this standard still really isn’t met." I think this is very true and I think this standard should get more attention from journalists.
Sunday, September 16, 2018
Media Critique J1
I chose to do my media critique on journalist Artemis Moshtaghian based on her story for CNN linked here https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/11/us/wanda-barzee-elizabeth-smart-kidnapping/index.html.
The major problem with this article is that it is not newsworthy. According to the first yardstick of journalism, the topic should have a lasting effect on a large group of people. This article is simply talking about a kidnapping in small-town Utah. Unless you personally knew any of the people involved or live in the town, you will probably forget about the article in a week or maybe within the day. Now, if this article was about a string of kidnapping around the country, or other nationwide matters then there would be no problem and it would be newsworthy. However, it is only effecting a few people in Utah therefore it is not an article suitable for CNN’s website and would be better placed in the local newspaper in Utah.
This article also violates the second AND third yardsticks of journalism. The journalist completely ignores the purpose of the third yardstick which is ‘not what, SO what”. The journalist writes that this criminal woman is going to be released from prison, but she does not explain why this matters to the people. Moshtaghian also includes NO sources whatsoever for her article which clearly violates the second yardstick of journalism. In conclusion, Moshtaghian should have cited her sources and explained to the readers why we should care about this article.
The major problem with this article is that it is not newsworthy. According to the first yardstick of journalism, the topic should have a lasting effect on a large group of people. This article is simply talking about a kidnapping in small-town Utah. Unless you personally knew any of the people involved or live in the town, you will probably forget about the article in a week or maybe within the day. Now, if this article was about a string of kidnapping around the country, or other nationwide matters then there would be no problem and it would be newsworthy. However, it is only effecting a few people in Utah therefore it is not an article suitable for CNN’s website and would be better placed in the local newspaper in Utah.
This article also violates the second AND third yardsticks of journalism. The journalist completely ignores the purpose of the third yardstick which is ‘not what, SO what”. The journalist writes that this criminal woman is going to be released from prison, but she does not explain why this matters to the people. Moshtaghian also includes NO sources whatsoever for her article which clearly violates the second yardstick of journalism. In conclusion, Moshtaghian should have cited her sources and explained to the readers why we should care about this article.