Rebekah's Communication Blog

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 famil...

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...