Sleepless Nights

I could barely sleep the nights my high school paper went to the printer. A million little doubts floated in the darkness and I stayed awake to listen to them all. Did I check my sources? Was I fair to my interviewees? Should I have put that quote in? On and on it went until the million little doubts fed my sleepless dreams. Lurking in the darkness was the knowledge that soon my high school newspaper, Neirad, was going to be in the hands of my classmates.

In our assigned reading from The Mind of a Journalist, Jim Willis says, “Reporters spend many sleepless nights worrying over whether they treated sources and the subjects of their stories fairly or whether any innocents were harmed by the published or aired stories” (49).

Maybe that is the reason why I keep telling the doctor I need sleeping pills. I hope being a part insomniac will make me a better reporter.

I believe the only way a reporter can sleep at night is by abiding by their conscience. Yes, stress will keep every reporter up at night but following one’s conscience will eventually lull a reporter to sleep. When I was on my high school paper, I made it a habit to question myself (I already told you, didn’t I, that I am a natural stress case?). For every article I wrote, I worried about getting the quotes right, getting the multiple sides of the story, and thinking beyond the immediate consequences.

I realize now how beneficial it was to worry. By worrying, I asked myself the right questions to ensure the truth. As Professor Campbell said, “You can ruin a reputation in a day.” The power of the press simply cannot be trifled with. In high school, I especially did not want to wrongly ruin the reputation of people I see on a daily basis. But I was reassured by the simple fact that I knew, in every step of the researching and writing process, for every article, I had taken the time to listen to my conscience.

In class, we used the Poynter Institute “Checklist of Questions to Make Good Ethical Decisions.” One of the questions led us to consider sources’ family members. Indeed, a reporter must think of the many people an article can affect. When my group was discussing whether or not it was moral for newspapers to print the BTK letters, our conversation led to multiple considerations. We had to think about how the letters would affect the newspaper, the community, the victims, and the victims’ families.

The title of the chapter assigned for reading from The Elements of Journalism is “Journalists Have a Responsibility to Conscience.” My conscience is a little like that stress bird I told you about a few blog assignments ago. Except my conscience bird is somewhere humming around in my head. It flaps its wings whenever anything of moral consequence is considered in my mind. While this conscience bird can give me quite a headache, I know I must listen to it. By listening to my conscience, I can write articles that readers can trust.

In the chapter from The Elements of Journalism, the authors discuss the “pressures against individual conscience.” One pressure is time. In a fast-pace newsroom, checking facts can be time consuming. They argue, “In this atmosphere it is easy to conclude that a good story is any story that is finished” (241).

On politicsdaily.com, Walter Shapiro argues for a “slow-news movement” to end the “P.T. Barnum media age when being first trumps being accurate.” He says, "It is as if the motto of today's journalism has become: 'He who dies with the most clicks wins.'"

What will a reporter do for a story? Some will do almost anything. But reporters must not disavow media ethics for a story. The media ethics I will always tuck into my reporter's notebook will be to take the time, even if I have to do it on the way to the printer, to double check the facts. While getting the most clicks would be nice, getting the truth right is the only way I can sleep at night.

Lessons on Watchdog Journalism Learned From Kate Hudson

For our past movie assignment, I was hoping to get the DVD version of the film “Absence of Malice” and curl up on my couch at home. Instead, I was stuck with the VHS version of the movie. So, of course, I was stuck in the library listening to the high pitch mosquito sound from the rewinding film. However, I will admit that I found the old quality charming. There is an endearing quality to old journalism movies. Likewise, on a black and white screen, I enjoyed watching Citizen Kane lose himself in his newspaper empire and Mr. Smith go to Washington. Perhaps what I like most about these films is being able to see how journalism was perceived in the past.

Fast forward to the DVD era and this weekend some friends and I watched the movie How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days. Okay, okay so I highly doubt Professor Campbell would ever put this chick flick on his list of journalism movies. But as I watched Kate Hudson bat her lashes and then try to rid herself of Matthew McConaughey, I couldn’t help but notice the journalism principles tucked into the script. Kate Hudson plays Andie Anderson, a journalism major who writes the “How To” column for Composure magazine. But Andie is restless at her work. She admits early in the movie, “I busted my butt in grad school to be Andie Anderson, ‘How to,’ girl, and write articles like, ‘How to Use the Best Pick-up Lines’ and ‘Do Blondes, Do They, Like Really Have More Fun?’ I want to write about things that matter, like politics and the environment, and foreign affairs—things that I’m interested in.”

I believe the desire to “write about things that matter” is primarily what drives a journalist. While journalists often become lost by the glamour of seeing their name on the front page, the true front-page stories should be those that will help make the world a better place. In class, we discussed the eight “enduring values” sociologist Herbert J. Gans identified in the media. The value of “order” seeks to maintain a sense of organization in our country. Other values like “leadership” and “rugged individualism” are values that have significance in our country. While I suppose a story about pick-up lines can somehow identify itself under the “rugged individualism” category, it is not a story that is truly world changing.

In class, we also discussed watchdog journalism. Watchdog journalism, at least the idealized form of watchdog journalism, also strives to help society. Through uncovering corruption and scandal, journalists strive to maintain order. However, investigative stories require extensive research, time and money. All of which the media is having a hard time providing. In an article from “Columbia Journalism Review,” titled The Survival of Investigative Journalism, Cristine Russell discusses how some freelance writers have taken it upon themselves to fund their investigative work. While the media should consider how it spends its money, investigative journalism is an investment that must be made. Joseph Pulitzer said, “More crime, immorality and rascality is prevented by the fear of exposure in the newspapers than by all the laws, moral and statute, ever devised” (The Press, 172).

Preventing crime contributes to maintaining order in society. In the book “The Elements of Journalism,” Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel argue that “too much of the new ‘investigative’ reporting is tabloid treatment of everyday circumstances” (151). No small wonder why Andi is upset over her column in the movie How To Lose a Guy in Ten Days. Investigative work on blondes’ ability to have fun is just not the stuff of Watergate.

Yes, investigative work is more expensive. It is more time consuming, too. But how can society hope to maintain order without watchdog journalism? Indeed, society needs a watchdog to prowl on the streets that no one else will walk on.

In the Rush to the Printer

I have another confession. Yes, another one. Do not get any ideas that I am going to start writing out the secrets found in my diary. This is a journal after all and not a diary but, nevertheless, I will confess one more attribute about myself: I am a stress case. To sum up the extent of my stressing ability: If I was a nail bitter I would have no nails. However, I have found that stress is what drives me. I have heard stress before related to having something annoying on your shoulder, like a bird. For me, stress is a constant little bird on my shoulder that reminds me of upcoming assignments and deadlines. When one day goes by…peck. When two days go by…peck, peck. By the third day, my little stress bird is nearly nipping off my ear. Thankfully, I usually start working when that frustrating bird first lands on my shoulder. I simply cannot take all his pecking and have found it is better to start off early. Learning to consult with my stress bird has prepared me for the work field I hope to enter one day: the newsroom. A newsroom is a place where stress is not breaking news. I believe I will fit in perfectly.

In my Communications class, we had the opportunity to hear from Mr. Tom Nelson. Mr. Nelson said that a newsroom is a microcosm for the “tension that is America.” When he said this, I thought to myself, “great, bring on the acne stress cream.” I am ready to face the tense environment. Mr. Nelson also advised us not “get too righteous in the newsroom.” I believe these two ideas relate. In stressful situations, journalists are more willing to abandon morals to get the story. Yes, they are more willing to surrender their independence and work with a source to make sure they get the story. But no matter how much my stress bird is nipping at my shoulder, I do not plan to ever abandon my journalistic independence.

Independence in journalism is both a journalist’s duty and right, I believe. The Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics has a section titled “Act Independently.” In this section, journalists are told to “avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.” Over the weekend, I watched the movie Absence of Malice. In the film, a journalist for a newspaper called The Standard becomes romantically involved with one of her interviewees. By doing so, she hurts her own journalistic judgment and harms the paper’s credibility when they have to write a re-write. Indeed, our homework reading asked, “Can anyone reasonably be expected to cover those to whom they have personal, even intimate, loyalties?” (Elements, 130). No, they cannot.

Furthermore, Megan in Absence of Malice is so driven by the desire to be the first to scoop the story that her research is not well done. While journalists work in stress-filled environments, they should not submit to stress and turn in half-baked research and half-checked quotes. Neither should journalists agree to work with sources in order to get the story. To do so would be to give up one’s independence. While deadline is important, journalists should be “wary of sources offering information for favors or money,” as the SPJ councils and take the time to find other sources. In Absence of Malice, Megan did not put an honest effort into reaching the other side of the story. She had given up her independence and consequentially, the truth suffered.

I was discouraged to read in The Press that “journalists leave their profession sooner and at an earlier age” (392). Likewise in a New York Times article, “In a World of Online News, Burnout Starts Younger,” stress is identified as one of the reasons journalists retire from the profession earlier. Well, I am used to stress. And I still have plenty of time to get into the habit of biting my nails. But when I rush to the printer, I promise to never leave my morals behind.

Put Down the 'Quick Quotes Quill'

I have a confession. I am slightly worried that you will no longer want to hear from me after I admit this dark secret. But nevertheless, I will admit it…

I have not read the entire Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling.

When I admit this to people, they give me incredulous looks and question our friendship. Yes, I was the person at Harry Potter themed events who didn’t know the difference between a quaffle and a snitch. But I promise, I started to read the Harry Potter series this past spring and just recently finished the fifth book: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

I have loved losing myself in Rowling’s magical world. In the wizarding world, I see a world from a mythological dream complete with bubbling potions and wizards wielding wands. However, I must admit that I am often discouraged to read about the journalistic world in this magical realm. And I am not the only one. A study at Baylor University pointed out the disheartening depiction of journalism in the series. “As if declines in subscription and advertising revenue weren't damaging enough, now the newspaper industry has to contend with the world of a certain bespectacled boy wizard,” said in the article about the study, “Newspapers Already Struggling – And ‘Harry Potter’ Doesn’t Help.”

In class on Tuesday, we discussed the “discipline of verification.” There is nothing that irks me more than when misunderstanding broods because of lies. Thus, the need to verify the facts, to me, is essential in good journalism. In the Harry Potter series, the newspaper, The Daily Prophet, struggles to find the truth. The paper prints quotes from sources that are high in authority, yes, but unknowledgeable. The information the paper provides does not properly educate readers. While our muggle press can be seen as an “information disseminator,” it fails to be such when it gathers faulty facts. This is not unlike how “voters sometimes understand less at their [elections] close than at their beginning!” (118).

Now, I do not like Vol… er…I mean “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.” But the person who makes me most upset in the Harry Potter series is the woman with the quill: Rita Skeeter.

Rita Skeeter, a journalist, lacks morals. With her “Quick Quotes Quill,” she distorts the truth.

Our guest speaker on Tuesday, Mr. Don Hudson, an anchor on ABC4’s “Good Morning Utah” show, discussed the need for the truth. Indeed, he said that a journalist should try to have “fair management” over their particular biases.

Rita Skeeter is not a journalist who can manage her own biases. She is a journalist who is just looking to sensationalize the news and her own name. In class, we also discussed the need for humility in journalism. Again, Rita Skeeter is not humble journalist. She is a journalist who mars the reputation of others so that her name can be on the front page. Because of her lies, confusion occurs. Indeed, it is as Walter Lippmann said, “There can be no liberty for a community which lacks the information by which to detect lies” (Elements 80).

However, there is still a new for newspapers in Rowling's magical world. In book five (spoiler alert), Hermoine reads in the newspaper that death eaters have escaped from Azkaban. When Harry hears about this, he “could not understand why his fellow students were not looking scared or at least discussing the terrible piece of news on the front page, but very few of them took the newspaper every day like Hermione” (545).

While the journalists are far from perfect and could use a refresher course in ethics (may I suggest Comms 239 to Rita?), Rowling still recognizes the importance of the media. Indeed, The Quibbler, a magazine, eventually prints the truth about Harry.

To fight against the dark lord or just troubling taxes, citizens need to be aware of current events. Media outlets have the duty to verify the facts and give readers the truth.

Yes, there are numerous Rita Skeeters in the muggle world. But I will never be one of them. Instead, I wish to be a journalist who prints the truth.

Facing A Blank Page

I hate facing a blank page. I think that is why, right now, I will fill this blank page with my distaste for its utter blankness.

There, that is a wonderful, not so very sophisticated way to confront a blank page. My rambling may now begin.

I suppose as a hopeful future journalist I will have to learn to confront my fear of blank pages. Yes, an article begins when a reporter faces that empty column in the newspaper, that blank television screen slot, and that unseen empty pocket on the vast Web.

It is a journalist’s job: to fill in the blank pages of humanity’s story.

In my Communications class on Thursday, we discussed journalism as a profession. I believe the word “profession” is what differentiates a journalist from a blogger. For journalists, reporting is their profession. Bloggers have demonstrated their ability to publish the news but their blogs lack a degree of professionalism. In the Nieman Reports by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, Douglas Rushkoff says of bloggers, “Just because a kid now enjoys the typing skill and distribution network once exclusive to a professional journalist doesn’t mean he knows how to research, report or write. It’s as if a teenager who has played Guitar Hero got his hands on a real Stratocaster—and thinks he’s ready for an arena show.”

Citizens cannot rely on bloggers for their news. No, citizens need journalists who are educated and fully dedicated to finding the truth.

Jim Willis argues in his book The Mind of a Journalist that journalists believe they belong to a “professional priesthood” (13). In this priesthood, journalists see themselves like the clergy who “surrender to the higher calling of serving others” (13). When I first heard the term “priesthood,” I have to say, I imagined journalists grasping the paper like a clergyman grasps the bible. Nevertheless, I wish all journalists believed their calling to be aligned with a religious kind of fervor towards service. However, too often, journalism can become a hunt for the front-page spot. In these moments, journalists lose sight of their journalistic calling to serve others and even trample over others to pursue their careers.

I am beginning to sound like a preacher of the press. But I do believe that journalists should never forget those they are serving. My view of who a journalist should be is idealistic, yes, but idealism leads to better outcomes I have found.

In my assigned reading for class, I read about different types of journalists. I try and find myself in these journalists. Maybe that is why I was so worried when one journalist, Michael Walker, was quoted to say, “I wasn’t angry, but I was definitely an outsider…All my friends were….Nobody was on the football team or worked the school paper or even student council” (26).

Oh no, I thought.

I had worked on my school paper.

And I had loved it.

I began to worry what this meant. Thankfully, I decided and was assured in the reading that journalists can have different childhoods, different passions, and different worldviews. Yes, different kinds of journalists make a paper more interesting.

In the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics, the SPJ argue that journalists should “avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.” On this subject, again, I was worried I was somehow unfit to become a journalist. I know myself. I know that somewhere in my future if I was where I wanted to be: reporting a story in some poverty-stricken area, searching and imploring the world to recognize the people there, I would have a hard time avoiding conflicts. Thankfully, I read former New York Times reporter Barry Bearak’s thoughts on this matter: “Some journalists would say your job is to let the person die and record the death accurately. Not me. If I had to make that choice, I’d put my notebook away and try to save the life” (Mind 35).

In a life or death situation I, too, would put my notebook away. I hope I will never become so lost in writing a tragedy that I write away a life.

In The Mind of a Journalist, Willis related worldview to an umbrella that will “provide us a means of protection from confusion” (27). While journalists can differ in their views on life and their profession, all journalists, I realize, have to get a little wet sometimes. I may not be able to set down my umbrella, or my beliefs about the world, completely but I can hold out my hand and let the rain splatter on my fingers. To be a reporter, I must try and understand others to try and help others. I must look out and try and see the world blurred by the rain. Yes, a journalist must often face the confusion of the rain.

Apples, Grade A Meat, and Magazines

Today, I saw some of Hollywood’s hottest at the grocery store. No, Sandra Bullock was not in the dairy section when I picked up my gallon of milk. But she was at checkout. At least her picture was. I saw her face in the midst of magazines at checkout. Splashed on the magazines’ colorful covers were faces of impossibly beautiful people. Large, bold headlines in the media menagerie promised readers delicious secrets if only they turned their glossy pages. Yes, inside their pages the headlines promised readers the secrets to beauty, love, and weight loss. I stared at the woman on one cover. Beside her trim figure the headline announced that this celebrity had lost ten pounds in ten days! When the grocer called my attention, I pushed my cart forward and left the magazine behind.

My mom taught me the best way to pick out products at the grocery store. Apples should be firm, hamburger should be grade A, and magazines should be credible. Today in my Communications 239 class we discussed the term “loyal” as associated with journalism. In our assigned reading from The Elements of Journalism the authors Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel argue that, “journalism’s first loyalty is to citizens” (52). I fully agree with this statement. When magazines are loyal to citizens, they do not try to sell fabricated tall tales. Indeed, when magazines are loyal to citizens they are credible sources of news.

Newspapers were not born in the dusty study of an unnamed journalist. No, in the book The Press, the authors say that newspapers began with printers who were “small-businesspeople, not journalists.” And these printers “pretty much invented the newspaper as they went along” (18). I must admit that I wish it had been a genius’s epiphany that created journalism. It would sound much more grand. But as we studied past papers and the media evolution itself in class, I am amazed by how far media has come from being something printers made “as they went along.” Did those printers realize what they were creating? Did they realize what would come from that simple project they made as they “went along”? No, probably not. Those printers made pamphlets to lure in more customers, but what bloomed from those simple pamphlets is what is truly most impressive.

I personally shirk at the sight of the business school and hope to never have to tread in its pin-stripped suit corridors. However, business is important in journalism. Only by finding the key to good business will newspapers fulfill their rightful duty. That is, media must listen and be loyal to needs of its customers. In all points regarding journalism’s obligations, citizens are the main focus. Indeed, journalists should not mock citizens’ own intelligence by trying to sell lies. Citizens deserve more from this institute that was created as printers “went along.”

Former newscaster Nick Clooney said, "...my loyalty will be to the person who turns on the television set" (Elements 53). Always, a journalist's loyalty must be with those who pick up the paper, who watch the television, who listen to the radio, or who visit their Web site.

If media fails to consider citizens and what they need, that is, the truth, then they simply lose customers at the checkout line. Indeed, who wants to buy a bruised apple?