Bloggers v. Journalists

There was one point in Jay Rosen's article "Bloggers v. Journalists is Over" that really struck me and I just wanted to quickly comment on it. On page eight he quotes Andrew Sullivan saying "They [blog readers] were hungry for communication, for checking their gut against someone they had come to know, for emotional support and psychological bonding." I don't exactly know why but this quote just really got me. I realized how true it is for me as a blog reader. I do not follow many blogs on a regular basis but I can tell you I was captured by blogs on one very specific occasion and for very particular reasons. When New Orleans was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina I felt somehow cheated by the mainstream media's reporting of the events. I think the thing that really bothered me was the black v. white looting/finding dialogue that became a constant. So I turned to blog reports and I was amazed at how many first hand stories and analysis I was able to find. But I wasn't looking for statistics in those blogs - I was looking for stories, for meaning and to make my own personal sense of the events. I really liked this one quote and I definitely think that Mr. Sullivan made a great point.

A Visit from Ari

I LOVED having Ari come and speak with us in last Thursday's class period. Okay, so I will admit I love Obama and have been a huge supporter of his from day one. So for me it was a real treat to talk to someone who was so close to him and following his day to day campaign trail so religiously. I think it is really cool that a small website/blog paid such a huge amount of money to have him on the plane day after day. What a cool job! How do I get that job?

I think there are so many great opportunities for journalists to get involved in political reporting in this day. With technology so advanced we are able to keep up with everything on a campaign trail literally minute by minute.

I really liked a lot of the points Ari made about the possibilities of Obama as president and the changes we will see coming along with his presidency. His email list, for example, and website are more techy than any previous president's attempts to reach supporters. I personally think that Obama's emails and website/blog make him so much more of a public servant than a public figure. I feel like I can write a letter or email to the president of my country and expect a response. I think that due to increased ability in technology we have so much more access to him, not only as a leader but also as a person. The President of the United States is, first and foremost, America's most dedicated public servant - so what makes this seem more true than his exposure online.

Natural Disasters and the Media

Are natural disasters happening more frequently or is the emphasis on their coverage that makes it seem this way? I think this is a very good question that I honestly do not know the answer to. The way the media covers natural disasters is amazing. When something so visually devastating happens to an area the media are all over it. They show images of the floods, fires, ruined homes and sometimes even dead bodies to such an extent that most viewers are horrified. However, when the flood waters disperse and the flames diminish, so too does the media. This hit and run style of reporting the chaos but not following up is a huge problem in the media today, and something I find personally upsetting.

Another aspect of natural disaster media coverage that I find fascinating is citizen journalism. With today's technology everyone can be a journalist. Everyone can blog, twitter, YouTube. It's remarkable how much media we are exposed to that isn't created by "professionals." Why, even the term media is changing with the access to create and share almost anything these days. I think it is really cool how people can use the technology to cover and update the world about natural disasters, especially from those people who are experiencing it.

Myanmar and Kenya

I really enjoyed reading Macha's article and talking about the media coverage of Myanmar together. I think it is fascinating how quickly and easily information can be transported around the world today. Even in a country like Myanmar where journalists were forbidden from entering and the state controlled media tried to cover information and visuals from the Myanmar riots got out to media outlets around the world. The same with Kenyan citizen journalism. Access to the web has enabled more citizen journalism and exposure of world events. I think it is pretty amazing. 

Color Blind

I was really bothered by Harding's article, "Color Blind." As a French student during the time of all the protests and riots I remember following both American and French news extensively and I am shocked to hear how despairingly the true minorities in France are represented. I remember seeing coverage that no doubt showed the insurrection but of course slanted it towards an anti-immigrant type of spin. I think it is interesting being an American where we have such a diverse population to see how other countries handle national diversity. 

I don't know if I agree with France's ethnic quota decision for media. I mean, I guess that it is probably the only way to ensure equal representation especially on television, but I think that when you force quotas it can make the problem worse. For example, people who would hire an ethnic minority for a part might write a part written for a character who is stereotypically of that race or background. I think that by creating an ethnic quota they could perhaps be only furthering the problem. 

The Business of News

After class and the reading from the State of the News I was really thinking about news and the business of news. I guess I am shocked to see the actual statistics about how profitable newspapers still are. I feel that since my freshman year I have had the thought hammered into my head about how newspapers are dying, circulation is floundering and the newspaper world in a panic. While it is definitely true that newspapers must find news ways to adapt to a changing consumer market, the problem is by no means as dire as IC has always made it seem to me.  To be honest, before reading the State of the News article earlier this semester I didn't realize that newspapers were actually still making profits. They are still making a ton of money, why not devote a large chunk of those profits towards evolution of their news media?!

News Reporting in Iraq

I really liked the two small articles we read for class that were all journalists quotes about reporting in Iraq and under the CPA. I think that back here at home Americans did not realize just how bad it was over there until things were really looking dismal. As someone who has friends that have died over there fighting I find it appalling that with news like this being created the American public did not learn enough about it. Things have been really bad and scary in this war, this endless war that doesn't seem possible to end. I think as a journalist the scariest possibility I could think of is reporting in war times. It is no secret that reporting in the Iraq war is highly dangerous and perhaps fatal. I wonder what news organizations do to help their reporters adjust once they return from the battlezone.

The Rhetoric Beat

I know we were not assigned anything to post about Cunningham's article "The Rhetoric Beat" but I enjoyed it so much I need to just vent about it. I found this idea fascinating. I have never studied it before, or even heard of it. The media and government's use of the word war and war-like language during 9/11 and after is so true. I began thinking back to the coverage I saw on that fateful day and I actually remember the most horrible image I saw where a man was falling out of the WTC building and people were running from the dust and rubble and the ticker lower third said America at War? Just simply using this is a great example. I think that we were all so shocked and scared by the acts of 9/11 that war seemed the only natural response to us. We felt so threatened and vulnerable I think we needed to feel like we were on top again and war seemed the only way in which we could reassert our strength. 

Tabloidization in the News

I find tabloidization in the news inevitable with the way our world is today. I am not saying that this is either right or wrong, merely an observation. These days people (and myself included) are bombarded all the time with fictional super sensational films, television shows and even advertising. Look simply at a detective/police show from 20 years ago and today. For example, look at the differences in violence and graphic nature between Magnum P.I. and 24! How can we not expect our news media to become more sensational. People almost need the sensational aspect to be attracted to the news. I think there is a big split in my head between ideal and true journalism and then the business of news. News as a business needs to be more sensationalized these days to attract customers.

Jeff Cohen Visits

After our visit from guest speaker Jeff Cohen I am finding myself very confused about my thoughts on his lecture and the world of independent media. I thought Jeff was a very interesting speaker with a lot of experience working with mainstream media. His focus on independent media really fascinates me along with his dedication to its importance in our future. With more and more people becoming reporters and starting their own media trends I think that independent media could not be more vast and expansive than it is now. I was however really troubled with what Jeff had to say about objectivity. His viewpoint about the fact that independent media are not object but rather highly subjective and politically driven to the point of bias as being okay really bothered me. I keep trying to think about objectivity and reporting to an audience that needs the facts and not my personal opinion. To hear Jeff applaud independent media producers for using this bias way of reporting really bothered me. As someone who is so intelligent and steeped in media and its effects on a nation I was hoping to hear more from him about the need for objectivity. He was so bothered by the way in which many media markets handled left wing ideas right before the War in Iraq began that I was really disappointed he wasn't more for objectivity. All in all he had a lot of really good things to say and I think he is definitely an instrumental player in the switch towards independent media.

Bias in the News

I think that Linn Jr. Washington made some very valid points in his article entitled "Facts, Fallacies, and Fears of Tabloidization." I feel that as a journalist I am constantly caught in the struggle between reporting unbiased and objective stories of events and telling the fun and exciting sensationalized story. Especially as someone who wants to work in television news - television lives on sensationalism. How does the news manage to combat this idea and try to report as objectively and nonbiased as possible? "Today," says Washington, "the wall between the so-called fact-based standards of mainstream journalism and the 'never-let-facts-stand-in-the-way-of-a-good-story' standards associated with tabloid journalism is porous." (Washington, p.1). I think this is a very valid and relevant point. Why are journalists blending the line between good solid hard news reporting and soft news tabloid-like reporting? As I mentioned earlier, perhaps it has to do with television's sensational aspect. We as a nation are becoming more and more desensitized to violence and gore. But is this because of journalistic practices of sensationalizing the War in Iraq by showing horribly gruesome footage night after night on network television? I think that bias is something that is very hard to fight from a journalistic perspective - especially in an age where sensationalism sells. People like excitement and entertainment, what better way is there to sell news than making it exciting and entertaining? Form a business perspective it's genuis, but from a journalistic standpoint something needs to be done to change these practices in the mainstream media.

Agenda Setting

I think that McCombs quotes are very true and very telling. I strongly believe that the way in which the media presents the news strongly influences the way in which I and other people who consume news perceive the importance and prevalence of stories and issues.  For example, my parents have a subscription to the Boston Globe and my father "reads" the paper everday. However, he reads the front page (and I highly doubt he flips to the continuation of the stories inside the front cover) and the sports pages. My mother however will read the paper almost from front to back without skipping anything. I think that I am very lucky to be able to grow up in a household where my parents read newspapers and we discuss current events and important issues of the day, however, my mother always seems to take much more expansive and well thought out view points on current issues. My mother uses different sources of news (radio, television, online, and print) that come from a variety of different vendors. My father however has much narrower view points that usually consist of what the Globe has told him about an issue or event. Now, I don't think that is wrong in any way I just think that it makes a big difference in how our world perceives the world around us. In my personal opinion I would rather have people with narrower view points from only one source that has its stake in what goes on page one vs page two then people who are not involved with what is going on in the world around them at all. I guess any exposure is good exposure in my mind.

A Year in the News

I found the Year in the News article to be really fascinating. I found the study in depth and very extensive. There were some points I found particularly interesting. One of those was that there is a real disconnect between what the public wants to see reported in the news and what we are actually receiving. I found that really interesting because most of the time I am used to thinking that we are getting what most people want. I guess I was a bit happy and relieved to hear this as well. While I am a bit of a celebrity fan I was so sick last year of the Anna Nicole Smith coverage and the nonstop Paris HIlton watch. I guess I am just a little curious as to why we aren't getting more of what we want (i.e. gas prices or the toy recalls according to the graph on page 9). I was also really interested by the article and the class discussion about the majority of our international stories surround U.S. interests abroad. While I do wish I knew more about international news and happenings I think it only makes sense that we would report about our interests abroad. For people to care about the information being presented to them it has to be somehow relevant. Our presence and interests abroad are very relevant to how we live our everyday lives and I think it makes sense that these are the kinds of stories we hear. And to be honest, I don't think that we are the only country who thinks this way. We may be very American-centric but you can't tell me that people in other countries care at all about irrelevant foreign politics. For example, I was in Beijing this summer working with an Australian girl. She mentioned how she was concerned about the war in Iraq and its international consequences but she knew nothing of the VA tech massacres. For her and her Australian classmmates she said that gun control and safety on campus were not relevant threats to her and that she knew nothing about the whole thing. And while it shocked me I guess I can understand her logic.

Test

Hey,

This is  my Issues and the News Test blog post

Jules