I was glad to find that the reading analyzed both sides of many concepts, as good journalists should. While I have a grasp on the inverted pyramid, I have always had a personal struggle with its structure. The book illustrates this. "There is no suspense...Interest...diminishes as the story progresses" (145). I feel that the extent to which the inverted pyramid is used should certainly depend on the story and the fact to be delivered. I also found the exercises in lead writing to be useful. I grew so accustomed to writing creative, in depth openings for essays in high school that I needed to make a transition into this form of writing. I find the "you" lead to be one of the most effective, especially in the context of TV news. This lead forms a connection to viewers, readers, listeners, etc.
I enjoyed chapter 8 as well, because my ultimate goal is to be a broadcast reporter. I have been practicing through Newswatch 16 and internships my observation skills. I have come to realize the importance of finding patterns using all my senses, and understanding the wider picture, all skills mentioned in the reading. I also found the list of survey information to be important (138).
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I have relied on Journalism.org's reports on the State of the Media for a long time now, because I appreciate the fact that they are open, honest, and informative. I reviewed it last year for a class, and I turn to it now, especially about broadcast journalism. The Audience Trends are the most important section to me because it allows me to gauge how the public processes information. I also have access to SPJ's resources, which I can use on a regular basis (http://www.spj.org/ppress.asp).
Much of the focus of the report deals with the Internet, which is a new direction for the media to move in. According to one section, YouTube and DVR technologies are making demographic measurements next to impossible. However, we do know that 92 million people go online for their news. This has caused readership of newspapers and magazines to face decline.
I grew disappointed to read this statement in the report. " Yet the argument that journalism was more than a business, that it had some larger public-interest obligation, began to fade. "
This is disheartening because I have been following the ownership of media outlets, and its effect on honest and fair coverage. I hope for this to change as more and more people become aware of the problem. After all, the report says that 68% of people prefer unbiased news sources.
I will discuss the local TV section because it is an area that I am most strongly interested - one that I have worked in, and hope to work with in the future. The report asserts that the public depends upon and appreciates local news coverage, but worry about its role in comparison to advertisers and other modern threats. The report claims that local TV journalists need to be innovative and to "improve" the field of journalism. I would agree with this sentiment, because I have found that many journalists experience a boredom, and carry out a process on a regular basis. I feel as though journalists need to be passionate about their job in order to get people interested. Statistics say that it is difficult to tell if local news websites will make a strong profit, but it looks as if sites are moving in that direction.
"When asked to rank all the different news media depending on whether they thought it was “definitely news,” local evening TV newscasts came out on top again (a rank of 4.4 on a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 meant that the program was definitely news)." I appreciate and agree with this sentence.
I enjoyed chapter 8 as well, because my ultimate goal is to be a broadcast reporter. I have been practicing through Newswatch 16 and internships my observation skills. I have come to realize the importance of finding patterns using all my senses, and understanding the wider picture, all skills mentioned in the reading. I also found the list of survey information to be important (138).
__________________________________
I have relied on Journalism.org's reports on the State of the Media for a long time now, because I appreciate the fact that they are open, honest, and informative. I reviewed it last year for a class, and I turn to it now, especially about broadcast journalism. The Audience Trends are the most important section to me because it allows me to gauge how the public processes information. I also have access to SPJ's resources, which I can use on a regular basis (http://www.spj.org/ppress.asp).
Much of the focus of the report deals with the Internet, which is a new direction for the media to move in. According to one section, YouTube and DVR technologies are making demographic measurements next to impossible. However, we do know that 92 million people go online for their news. This has caused readership of newspapers and magazines to face decline.
I grew disappointed to read this statement in the report. " Yet the argument that journalism was more than a business, that it had some larger public-interest obligation, began to fade. "
This is disheartening because I have been following the ownership of media outlets, and its effect on honest and fair coverage. I hope for this to change as more and more people become aware of the problem. After all, the report says that 68% of people prefer unbiased news sources.
I will discuss the local TV section because it is an area that I am most strongly interested - one that I have worked in, and hope to work with in the future. The report asserts that the public depends upon and appreciates local news coverage, but worry about its role in comparison to advertisers and other modern threats. The report claims that local TV journalists need to be innovative and to "improve" the field of journalism. I would agree with this sentiment, because I have found that many journalists experience a boredom, and carry out a process on a regular basis. I feel as though journalists need to be passionate about their job in order to get people interested. Statistics say that it is difficult to tell if local news websites will make a strong profit, but it looks as if sites are moving in that direction.
"When asked to rank all the different news media depending on whether they thought it was “definitely news,” local evening TV newscasts came out on top again (a rank of 4.4 on a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 meant that the program was definitely news)." I appreciate and agree with this sentence.
