"With a media blackout in Kenya mobile phones played a vital role in covering the Kenya elections and now they are playing an even more important role in covering those elections bloody aftermath."
What a great opportunity I think this is so great for the oppressed citizens of Kenya to let the world know what is really going on in their country when their government is trying to conceal reality to the rest of the world.
This shows how the development of technology has created vast improvements in communication across the universe. Anybody can document the daily events in their communities in their country's and publish it to the net to get the word out to the universe. Bloggers are quickly becoming citizen journalists and providing vital information to the world when the Kenyan government is trying to conceal information.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
"Color Blind"
" The media must do more to reflect the reality of France today"- Jacques Chirac in a special address to France during the height of the riots in 2005
Reading this article by Jeremy Harding, I could only think of one thing; Hurricane Katrina. The stories show a similarity with the reporting of a tragedy while simultaneously ignoring the minority faces behind the events . The French Riots were spawned mainly by people of color. The French media reported on the riots themselves but failed to report on the causes of the riots and the oppression of the Northern African and Sub-Saharan migrants.
Azouz Begag says the problem is with French television and that it doesn't correctly portray the demographics in France, it fails to reflect its diversity and thus does not portray a correct reality. He does say, however, that it has gotten better ever since the CSA "is now required to ensure that the networks 'reflect the diversity of French society.' "
University of Paris Sociologist Marie- France Malong found this problem to be true when she did a study of French television at the request of the CSA. She summed up her findings like this, " “the visible minorities are invisible people {on television}"
Although she says the integration of more minority faces on TV is a step towards progress in the French media, she also says that "Merely increasing the quantity of black faces on television is not going to solve what she sees as a 'fundamental qualitative problem.' ”
I think that France is not alone in their lack of minorities in mainstream media or their lack of "why" reporting instead of just "how" reporting, i.e. only reporting on an event or story but not reporting on the issues behind the event or story. This was seen in the reporting of Hurricane Katrina in the U.S. media. The press covered the destruction and devastation of people's property and belongings well but failed to report on the social implications of the aftermath.
I believe that ignoring the socioeconomic parts of stories has been an inherent part of the press and they have historically left that reporting and conversation to sociologists and historians writing books. The only way we can change that is to educate those going into the journalism field ( that's us!) of the problems of our profession and hope that with a new generation we can try to make the change.
Reading this article by Jeremy Harding, I could only think of one thing; Hurricane Katrina. The stories show a similarity with the reporting of a tragedy while simultaneously ignoring the minority faces behind the events . The French Riots were spawned mainly by people of color. The French media reported on the riots themselves but failed to report on the causes of the riots and the oppression of the Northern African and Sub-Saharan migrants.
Azouz Begag says the problem is with French television and that it doesn't correctly portray the demographics in France, it fails to reflect its diversity and thus does not portray a correct reality. He does say, however, that it has gotten better ever since the CSA "is now required to ensure that the networks 'reflect the diversity of French society.' "
University of Paris Sociologist Marie- France Malong found this problem to be true when she did a study of French television at the request of the CSA. She summed up her findings like this, " “the visible minorities are invisible people {on television}"
Although she says the integration of more minority faces on TV is a step towards progress in the French media, she also says that "Merely increasing the quantity of black faces on television is not going to solve what she sees as a 'fundamental qualitative problem.' ”
I think that France is not alone in their lack of minorities in mainstream media or their lack of "why" reporting instead of just "how" reporting, i.e. only reporting on an event or story but not reporting on the issues behind the event or story. This was seen in the reporting of Hurricane Katrina in the U.S. media. The press covered the destruction and devastation of people's property and belongings well but failed to report on the social implications of the aftermath.
I believe that ignoring the socioeconomic parts of stories has been an inherent part of the press and they have historically left that reporting and conversation to sociologists and historians writing books. The only way we can change that is to educate those going into the journalism field ( that's us!) of the problems of our profession and hope that with a new generation we can try to make the change.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Re-thinking Objectivity
"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.
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.
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.
Friday, April 18, 2008
THE FUTURE
I cannot even fathom what the future is going to be like. I think it could go two ways. We've already seen such an instant evolution of technology and media over these past few years. I think that things we can't even imagine will be invented in the future and completly change the way we live our lives. I do believe that one day televisions will be cut out of the picture, much like any old technology. I think that there will be flat screens all over people's homes which can perform any functions they would like; telephone, internet, TV, etc. So technology can either run almost every aspects of our lives, or it can pretty much stay the same amount as it is involved in our lives right now. I think that some people will be very weary of technology running people's lives as it takes out the human aspect of our very existence. But as long as the world keeps turning, people are going to be inventing new technology and new ways of live, just as it has been done for as long as man has been living!
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Journalism 2.0 on Science 2.0
I can completly agree with the scientists who oppose the open access to scientific journals. That is their work in progress (some of them it's their life work!) and it is just opened for anyone to see, I wouldn't want that either. I especially agree with the part that some people might try and steal others work or ideas and publish it first, that is not cool! On the other hand I can see where people would think this would be a good idea so that the general public could know what scientific research was going on and what conclusions were found. I think we are coming into the age where ALL information is going to try and be published online and that is already creating a lot of arguments and debates. I just got an email with this link {http://aclu.org/pizza/images/screen.swf} about the scary future of personal information being available to anyone throughout computer systems. crazy to think about!
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