Saturday, January 17, 2009

Look, folks, we've got a straggler!

Hi, everyone. I'm Kelly, and as you can see, this posting is a day late, due to my commonly manifested forgetfulness. And that's me, in a nutshell- I am forgetful. That's all you really need to know. (Also, I'm a print journalism major who's minoring in art.) I remember useless things, like what I was wearing the day I gave my cat her first bath or something mundane like that, but deadlines- well, they're more of a challenge. Forgive me (Ms. Nancy, I'm talking to you). If I'm counting on being a journalist, I might want to work on this. But I ramble. Now on to the reason I'm here- brownies. I mean, media ethics.

When I consider personal values, the first thing I always think of is loyalty. I don't really know why, other than that I've always tried to be loyal to friends and family, no matter what. I'm not saying I've been perfect at it, but I've tried. But in the world of media, loyalty inevitably does not mix. To be an unbiased, objective reporter, one cannot be too loyal to one school of thought, organized group, or person, or at least keep their personal beliefs inside and out of the news. As much as I value loyalty in my personal relationships, the news is news, and should not be slanted by a journalist's loyalty to particular parties. Ideally, anyway. I feel that if you've signed on to be an unbiased relayer of information to a group of people, loyalties cannot stand in the way. If they do, the result is slanted news stations. Fox leans to the right, CNN leans left. It's a tough conflict I face as a potential journalist, needless to say.

I also strongly value kindness. A little bit goes a long way, and it seems to to be valued by the media as well. As a reporter, one needs to be able to develop a good rapport with interviewees for obvious reasons. Without this, reporters can miss out on crucial details because they have not connected with the subject on a personal level. I've personally found that interviewees appreciate kindness, and it doesn't take a big effort to be kind. In turn, they will receive you warmly. On the other hand, kindness can conflict with the media. Inevitably, unflattering stories get published about people, people get angry, etc. Though journalists can try their best to be kind, they will find that they cannot please everyone all the time. And poor editors- no matter what they do, there's always someone who is offended. A resolution to this is simply coming to terms with it- being prepared for people who are unhappy and learning to act professional and not take things personally. That is something that I, being a people-pleaser, will have to come to terms with if I really want to be in the journalism profession.

Anyway, I hope this all makes sense. Thank you for reading. There are many more things I value, but this is already really lengthy. I'm also a big fan of integrity and honesty- I really could go on about them, but I'll spare everyone. Now, to go eat brownies...

No comments:

Post a Comment