"Objectivity is seeing the world as it is, not how you wish it were."- Michael Bugeja
I love this quote. There are many different ways to define objectivity and each person has their own definition. I believe that most journalists strive for objectivity (however you define it) but there will always be the critics out there calling you out for bias. Every person sees the world through their own eyes. I like the ending paragraph about the reporter in Iraq who stopped his journalistic duties to help a wounded soldier and said that he is a human first, reporter second. I believe that should be true for any profession you are in but like the article says, it is sad that he had to worry about his reputation as a journalist at all from his actions.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Agenda Setting
Maxwwell McCombs' quotes are based off his agenda- setting theory that reality flows through the media which flows to the audience. I definetly believe in his theory because the news producers create the end product of information that is sinking into your brain. The editor of a newspaper could twist a story around and publish it on the front page and all of the publication's readers would believe what was written. He just created their reality for them, when in fact that might not be reality.
Probably the biggest lesson I have learned here at IC I learned during my first semester at school in my Media and Politics class: Don't believe everything you read.
Studying to be a journalist I now know to search multiple sources to get an accurate account of what the full story is, but how many news consumers don't know to do that or don't care? My whole life growing up I thought that because it was on the news it must be true. But that has turned out to be wrong many a times. Look at the whole Killian document controversy with Dan Rather back in 2004. CBS reported it and stood by their investigations and then a week later apologized to the coutry stating the documents they obtained were fake.
What McCombs is saying about editors and producers influencing our perceptions is true because they get to pick which information to publish or broadcast out to the public. By gatekeeping, priming and framing they get to create reality for news consumers.
Probably the biggest lesson I have learned here at IC I learned during my first semester at school in my Media and Politics class: Don't believe everything you read.
Studying to be a journalist I now know to search multiple sources to get an accurate account of what the full story is, but how many news consumers don't know to do that or don't care? My whole life growing up I thought that because it was on the news it must be true. But that has turned out to be wrong many a times. Look at the whole Killian document controversy with Dan Rather back in 2004. CBS reported it and stood by their investigations and then a week later apologized to the coutry stating the documents they obtained were fake.
What McCombs is saying about editors and producers influencing our perceptions is true because they get to pick which information to publish or broadcast out to the public. By gatekeeping, priming and framing they get to create reality for news consumers.
A Year In The News
As I read through the article by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, I am very intrigued. One of the biggest debates, I think, between the public and the media is media coverage. Throughout my years here at IC in my journalism classes, professors have talked about the struggle for journalists to report on the public's top interests. As seen in the Public Interest vs. Media Coverage graphic, 12 out of the 15 issues polled come in with high public interest and little media coverage. More than 50% of the public wanted to follow closely the rising price of gas in 2007 but the media only gave it less than 10% of its coverage. To me, that is pathetic.
In the past three years at school we have talked about the lack of world news coverage here in the U.S. and people say it's because news consumers don't care for that kind of coverage and all they want to see is celebrity coverage, but seen here it is not true! I think that the average person likes to follow news that most directly effects them and their community, that's why there is local news. I think that it would be far better for the networks to cover international news than covering the same national stories that local news media across the country are reporting on. This way, the consumer can get their local and national news from one source and rely on the network newscasts for their global news awareness.
Working at the NBC London Bureau in the summer of 2007 gave me a lot of perspective on how differently news is covered in the rest of the world. The BBC is almost all international news and not just reporting on Britain's national interests abroad like U.S. world coverage does. With so many people complaining about media coverage here in the U.S. I thinnk we need to have more niche outlets. If there was a more distinct line between news organizations and what they are covering, then people can know where to go to get the information they want.
In the past three years at school we have talked about the lack of world news coverage here in the U.S. and people say it's because news consumers don't care for that kind of coverage and all they want to see is celebrity coverage, but seen here it is not true! I think that the average person likes to follow news that most directly effects them and their community, that's why there is local news. I think that it would be far better for the networks to cover international news than covering the same national stories that local news media across the country are reporting on. This way, the consumer can get their local and national news from one source and rely on the network newscasts for their global news awareness.
Working at the NBC London Bureau in the summer of 2007 gave me a lot of perspective on how differently news is covered in the rest of the world. The BBC is almost all international news and not just reporting on Britain's national interests abroad like U.S. world coverage does. With so many people complaining about media coverage here in the U.S. I thinnk we need to have more niche outlets. If there was a more distinct line between news organizations and what they are covering, then people can know where to go to get the information they want.
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