Rebekah's Communication Blog

What is the role of journalism? At the beginning of the semester, I answered this question by stating that I believed the role of journalism was to inform the people. While this simple understanding was correct in its foundation, after studying journalism over the course of this class, I’ve learned so much more about the role of a journalist. In today’s society, the concept of journalism has broadened to incorporate not only newspapers, but outlets such as magazines, online sources, and most recently blogs as well. Because of this, the idea of what a journalist does is drastically changing. Some people believe that an education is an unnecessary step to becoming a journalist. However, there are many aspects of journalism that are necessary to know and understand before a person can produce excellence in journalism. Elements including independence, verification, and a sense of civic duty are some of the imperative features a journalist must understand in order to produce quality jour

In the class lecture, these questions were discussed: Major Questions What role, if any, should a journalist's own religious faith play in identifying which stories to cover, in reporting, and in framing those stories? Should a reporter distance himself or herself from personal spiritual values, or is that even possible? Can journalists allow their personal faith to influence their world views without it causing them to slant or distort their reporting and writing? In regards to that last question, I believe that journalism can, and in some cases should, allow their faith to influence their writing. As Mormon's interested in journalism, the topic of faith in journalism is extremely applicable to all of us. Sometimes it can feel like a challenge, but I'd like to see it as an opportunity. I'm not saying journalism is necessarily a missionary tool, but there are always ways we can display our faith in today's world in a positive manner.

Panel: "Comedy and Mormon Women" Jeff Parkin, BYU Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre and Media Arts, and Jared Cardon, BYU alumnus and adjunct professor at BYU, mediated a panel with BYU’s Divine Comedy actress Whitney Call, and BYU alumnus/ actress of the web show “Pretty Darn Funny” Lisa Valentine Clark during the Mormon Media Symposium early Friday evening. The panel was focused on how the role of religion and gender has affected these two women’s comedic careers. The topics discussed included comedy as a form of nurture, the role of the audience, how physical appearance has affected roles played, and creating comedy for an LDS audience.   Being at different stages of their lives, and having grown up in different atmospheres, the comments made by Call and Clark varied in content. Call spent most of her time talking about the social aspects of comedy. “It seems that people use comedy as a rite of passage or an alpha male badge,” said Call. “I’ve been

While I understand the importance of remaining objective, I love being an advocate. It can be really hard for me to simply report sometimes. That's why I love Op-Ed news. If I could, I'd just write reviews and columns my whole life. That way nobody can blame me for being biased. I'm supposed to be! But getting there takes time. So I'll learn reporting first and make my way up. We learned in our reading this week that "trying to silence a journalist's own felt emotions at the scene of a tragedy is an exercise no only in denial but also in futility: it does not work." I first watched the Walter Cronkite report of JFK's assassination in my high school U.S. History class. Here is a link to the best part:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBMs8JlYcgQ Reporting the hard facts was his job; and he almost got through it before choking up. Don't you think that five seconds of emotion was worth it though? The country had just lost a beloved president. It wa

In class last week we learned a lot about the ethics of journalism. It was SWEET! I've never had to put myself into some of those positions. The group presentation made journalism so much more exciting! They taught us that by following these guideline called "Poynter's Questions for Ethical Decisions" we can decide whether pursuing or running something as a journalist is a good choice.  Poynter's 10 Ethical Questions: 1. What do I know? What do I need to know? 2. What is my journalistic purpose? 3. What are my ethical concerns? 4. What organizational policies and professional guidelines should I consider? 5. How can I include other people, with different perspectives and diverse idea, in the decision making process? 6. Who are the stakeholders - those affected by my decision? What are their motivations? Which are legitimate? 7. What if the roles were reversed? How would I feel if I were in the shoes of the stakeholder? 8. What are the possible consequences of

How did the movie reflect (or criticize) the era of Pulitzer and Hearst in their approach to news?                Pulitzer and Hearst transformed journalism to be a product of mass consumption. However, their methods of doing this were not exactly ethical by today's standards. Their era of journalism, known as yellow journalism, was based upon sensationalism and crude exaggeration. His Girl Friday was filmed in the 1940’s, about four decades after this era died. Therefore, at this point in history, honest and trustworthy journalism was being openly appreciated. Because of this, I believe that this film was reflecting the era of Pulitzer and Hearst by mocking their methods in a comical fashion. It made journalism seem laughable and completely unreliable.   How do the film’s characters violate journalistic ethics? In the Elements of Journalism we learn that a journalist's first obligation is to reporting the truth. A metaphor we’ve discussed in class is this: w

So far in The Elements of Journalism we've learned about journalism's obligation to the truth , its loyalty to citizens , and in our last class we went over the concept that "the essence of journalism is a discipline of verification." When I first think of journalism's connection to the word "verification" I  only think about the importance of legitimate sources and fact checking. While these are part of verification, there is still so much more! This quote below helps me realize everything verification does for journalism: How do you sift through the rumors, the gossip, the failed memories,  the manipulative agendas, and try to capture something as accurately as possible,  subject to revision in light of new information and perspective?  How do you overcome your own limits of perception, your own experience,  and come to an account that more people will recognize as reliable?  By watching His Girl Friday we were able to see a lot of t

On Wednesday, Gretchen Morgenson, journalist for the New York Times, visited and spoke at BYU. What Morgensen spoke about (as well as what her novel "Reckless Endangerment" is about) was the aftermath of the 2008 credit crisis. While I may consider myself a journalist, I have never considered myself economically or politically savvy. With this much said, Morgensen's speech was at times difficult to follow; however, it was ultimately enlightening. What Morgensen has done is investigate past history and current events to discover that recently the financial side of government has become increasing immoral in its practices. One fact she mentioned that stood out to me was that in the sequence of the "Savings and Loans Crisis" of the 80's and 90's, more than 11,000 prosecutions were filed. Astoundingly, while this economic fail was much less significant than that of 2008, there has been only one successful prosecution filed. Morgensen also stated that she di

Professor Campbell spoke on Thursday about a "Philosophical Model for Practicing Journalism." There were many issues adressed but here are some of the point I thought were best: "I defie the Pope and all his lawes. If God spare my life, ere many yeares I wyl cause a boy that driveth the plough to know more of the Scripture, than he doust." - William Tyndale In Professor Campbell's lecture, he made the connection between this quote and Joseph Smith. Thought provoking don't you think? "To those who say people wouldn't look; they wouldn't be interested; they're too complacent, indifferent, and insulated, I can only reply: There is, in one reporter's opinion, considerable evidence against that contention. But even if they are right, what have they got to lose? Because if they are right, and this instrument is good for nothing but to entertain, amuse and insulate, then the tube is flickering now and we will soon see that the whole strugg

I thought the reading for this week was very interesting. In our book "The Elements of Journalism" we read the chapter entitled "Who Journalist Work For" and learned about the different ways print newspaper companies have gone about attempting success in a society turning towards technology.  The main concept that this chapter focused on was this: Journalism’s first loyalty is to citizens. What was so interesting for me was getting to see a newspaper from the business side. In my time working with newspapers, I’ve always found myself on the other side of this “wall” as the authors termed it. For a while in journalisms history, people tried to separate business from reporting. They wanted reporters to tell the truth, and the business-men to simply sell the paper for what it was worth. Some people believed that by mixing the two, corruption would find its way into the business as journalism would become more focused on selling and pleasing the readers then i

With the rise of the internet, the role of a journalist has become muddled. People can blog and post and be considered a "journalist." But with that type of set-up, who knows what the truth is anymore? You can't even believe what you see in pictures, because even those could be lies. The responsibility of a true journalist is to their community.  The press tells people not what to  think , but what to think  about .  To make it into the news, a story must include some or at least one of the following values: timeliness, proximity, human interest, conflict, novelty, magnitude, tragedy, eminence, prominence, entertainment, helpfulness, and many many more.  It’s the role of the press to report the truth to their community – but what for? Why does society need to know what any journalist has to say?  Why have you ever read or listened to the news? To know what’s happening in your city or neighborhood so that you can keep yourself and your family safe. You mig

What do I want to do as a journalist? I’d love to be an opinion writer . Columns, editorials, and reviews; I mean, who wouldn’t really? In high school I really loved page design (maybe it’s my ultra-Mormon habit of scrapbooking that makes me love it so much.) I did a little bit of editing, though I think I throw myself into other people’s work more than they appreciate. Being a photographer would be fantastic! National Geographic would be a dream. So would being a sports photographer. Front-and-center seats + free ticket = awesome awesome awesome job. Even being an anchor would be cool! I would get to wear those fabulous lady pant suits and have my hair done up just a little too foofy for my own good. When I tell people the only thing I’ve ever really wanted to do is journalism – though what part of it I’m obviously not decided upon – they wonder why I want to spend my college career (and money) going into a field that is allegedly dying . Journalism isn’t dying though! It

As an aspiring journalist, this is a question we all have to ask: what IS journalism for? As much as my comms211 teacher may deny it, the traditional form of news is undoubtedly fading. I sorrow in this as much as any other reporter might. It is simply nowhere near as satisfying to see your work published on an internet site as it is to see it printed on a bundle of papers 15 inches wide by 22¾ inches long. Newspapers may die, but journalism never will. It’s true. As long as stuff is happening in the world, journalism will always be there; maybe not in the form of a newspaper, but still there nonetheless. Now, moving away from the rant for the ever present need of journalists, I believe the question we began with could use a twist of rephrasing: what impact does journalism have?   That my friend, is the unanswerable question. Yes it’s true; journalism is a source for the minority to be heard. It’s also a way to heighten a society’s awareness of local, national, and world