Friday, March 6, 2009

The World of Journalism

I wanted to thank Emily for coming and talking to our class. The news story was one we all needed to be informed on. I felt the Herald Journal did a great job with the decision of whether or not to run the story and carefully thought through the different consequences before printing the story. I can only imagine how hard that decision must have been for each individual involved. It was a hard story to read about, let alone write about.

Talking with Emily about the truth of journalism and the real world really opened my eyes to how many ethical problems journalist face in the newsroom day after day. We learn about it as "armchair quarterbacks," but don't ever have to deal with the consequences of our choices. It can't ever be easy to make a decision that will ultimately hurt an individual, but I appreciated when Emily said she had to keep reminding herself that she didn't cause the hurt in the first place, or choose to act in such a way, she just reported it. I thought that was one of the best ways I have ever heard the job of a journalist described.

America has depended on the media for many years and it breaks my heart to see so many papers closing. If pepople make such dumb decisions, they deserve to be in the news. I wonder though, are there less ethical questions when it comes to online journalism because people have to search out the stories for themselves instead of just having it come to their door, or not?

No comments:

Post a Comment