Category Archives: Opinion

Take the Twitter Plunge

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Posted by Joe on February 1, 2010 – 11:07 am
Filed under Communication, Featured, Journalism, Opinion

I have heard mixed messages about Twitter from my friends. I hear the well it’s like just a bunch of Facebook statuses – except you’re limited to 140 characters. I invite you to look past the Twitter is just like Facebook statuses stage. Once you do look past this stage, then you can see what Twitter is all about.

Twitter is what you make of it and people have different uses for Twitter. Twitter could be simply one status update after another, if that’s what you make Twitter to be. That’s just half of Twitter, you see. Twitter is a conversation piece; a topic of conversation. Twitter holds many conversations that are going on across millions of people globally, nationally and locally. In the grand scheme of things, you are just a tiny speck in the large Twitter world.

Discovering and using Twitter as both a conversation piece and as a place to update your status, you’ll allow yourself to grow from a tiny speck to a large speck. A large speck which has hundreds and may be even thousands of followers – gravitating to your every word.

Twitter is scary and daunting at first. I didn’t really understand it and I too thought – hmm, this is just like Facebook statuses. Once I dug deeper, I found myself imersed in a world with conversation and life.

Don’t let Twitter scare you, because the longer you wait – the more opportunities could pass you by.

Write at your own risk

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Posted by Joe on November 29, 2009 – 7:56 pm
Filed under Journalism, Opinion, Tips

Word

Photo by: websuccessdiva

Each one of us has the opportunity to reach millions of people with what we post online. With so many online outlets such as chat rooms, message boards, blogs, social networking sites we have to be careful with what we post.

We all get heated about certain things we are passionate about in life. It’s easy when we’re in the moment to go online and post our frustrations. This may not be a good idea because if you damage someone’s reputation they could sue you.

UNDERSTANDING THE RULES

We hold many news agencies and journalists to high standards. We expect the truth and we expect our news to be accurate. New agencies and journalists have to be careful about what they say and do on the air because it could have an impact on how we perceive or view someone. With that being said we can not damage somebodies reputation reputation online, on TV or in a magazine or newspaper.

“To avoid defamation, journalists need to recognize it. Libel is written; slander is spoken. Although local laws define defamation differently, as a general rule, libel is an unprivileged, false statement of fact that is published and that injured a person’s reputation. Reporters and publishers get into trouble when the statement is published as a result of negligence or malice”1

As citizens, we need to be held to the same standard. We have the right to disagree but we can’t make false accusations and damage someone’s reputation.

PREVENTION

By following the basics of journalism, you can limit the risk of having a lawsuit on your hand by posting inappropriate content about individuals.

Tell the truth. One of journalism’s foundations is by telling the truth. Lying not only damages your reputation but it also could land you in a lot of trouble. If you tell the truth then you have nothing to worry about. This includes slanting the truth to make the story more interesting.

Private vs. Public. This is important to know. We hold public figures differently than we do private individuals. Public individuals must prove that you acted maliciously or purposely lied causing them to be brought under false light. A private individual only has to prove that you acted negligently.2

Balance. Every story has two sides. Another foundation of journalism is balance. This causes the story to become unbiased. I wrote a post last week on the risks of journalists posting on blogs and social media. In that post, I discussed one of the keys is to remain balanced in posting online. We all have opinions, but balancing them with other people’s opinions will not only attract more people to your story but it will also be good journalism.

Wait. Stop. Think. So you are really annoyed with someone. They did something unforgivable to you and you’re ready to go off the deep end. Don’t immediately go to your computer and start going on the defensive. Cool down and think about things objectively before posting. Take a couple hours or a day to let the situation calm down. You may also realize that it really wasn’t as big of a deal that it seemed at first.

Proof it. As a journalist, proofing your work is important to catch typographical errors but also to make sure you have things right. In certain instances this may not be plausible like in breaking news.  Furthermore, some journalists are under incredible time restraints which limit them the appropriate time to check their work. However, if you have the time proofread – do it. It doesn’t hurt to also have an extra set of eyes read it as well.

What are your thoughts on this issue? Leave a comment below and let me know what you think.

  1. http://www.j-learning.org/promote_it/page/online_libel_issues/ [↩]
  2. http://www.j-learning.org/promote_it/page/online_libel_issues/ [↩]

Mainstream Media Misleading on Purpose?

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Posted by Joe on November 20, 2009 – 12:28 pm
Filed under Joe's Life, Journalism, Opinion, Rant

The media has turned from a once credible source of information to a biased projection of thoughts. Cable news has become outlets for opinion and entertainment then actual journalism. The higher ups wonder why people are turning away from the media. I do not.

It’s fair to say that we do have balance – but it’s not balance in the right way. You have Fox News who tends to lean to the right with conservatives while CNN and MSNBC are more liberal and lean toward the left. So where is the real balance?

What’s going on?

We sometimes hear stories like what happened earlier this week at Fox. Fox News mistakenly aired the wrong tape for the Palin book  signing in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This comes after an earlier incident this week, where Sean Hannity showed footage from a conservative rally held over the summer [that] was played on “Hannity” during a segment on a more recent rally.1 So the question is now, is Fox News intentionally misleading the public?

Fox has stated that there has been a “production error.” They also released this statement:

“Yesterday we told you about Sarah Palin kicking off her book tour and then we spoke to Sean Hannity about an interview that he did with former Governor Palin. When introducing the segment we showed you footage of people lining up in Michigan for a book signing that evening. In the tease before the segment, the tease to commercial, we told you how those people were already lining up to meet Palin. The problem is we didn’t show you the video we were actually referencing. Instead we mistakenly aired what’s called “file tape” of Sarah Palin. We didn’t mean to mislead anybody in that tease. It was a mistake, and for that we apologize.”2

Fox News hasn’t been the only cable news company to be caught altering “news.” According to Yahoo news, Fox News rival MSNBC caught heat last week for using altered images of Sarah Palin on the air, for which they later apologized.3

How should we react?

As the public how should we respond to this? Can we believe that these are accidents and acts of “production errors?” As a journalist student how should I react to hearing about this? What are your thoughts on this?

  1. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts988 [↩]
  2. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts988 [↩]
  3. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts988 [↩]

Real Time Journalism

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Posted by Joe on November 16, 2009 – 1:35 pm
Filed under Journalism, Opinion, Rant

Social media is changing the journalism landscape. Websites like Twitter, Myspace, Facebook, Delicious, StumbleUpon are allowing users to share information at record breaking speeds. I find it fascinating to be able to share a link with all of my Twitter, Facebook and Myspace friends. I see something cool on the web – boom I share it. The same goes with my friends – they see something they think is interesting they share it with everyone. This is a new way of sharing information. Traditionally, we shared information through email, instant messengers and word of mouth. All of those forms were to one individual or may be a couple of people depending on how many people we emailed, instant messaged and or spoke to. However, now with social media we can reach a broad range of people; faster, quicker and easier. This new way of transmitting information is revolutionizing media and journalism field.

There are many questions and even doubts of how “real-time journalism” will affect the field. Over the past couple of years, I have noticed a distinct change in how mainstream media has used broadcasting. When I am watching the news, many of the stories are posted online after they are broadcasted on air. Anchors often guide viewers to go to their website for further information. News agencies are using Twitter and Facebook to bring attention to their stories. They want and hope that you share their stories with your friends. This gains them viewers, listeners and readers.

The real question is, where do citizens come into this process and do they? Journalists are like detectives, curiously trying to find information and get to the bottom of the story. Journalists try to find sources and determine whether the information they have gathered is fact or fiction. This is important because if journalists do not fact check their information – they personally lose credibility and so does the news agency they’re reporting for. In this business, your name and your credibility are everything.

Sometimes I wonder if citizens can produce accurate information and actual facts. Sites like Twitter are surging with information at the moment of breaking news. It’s almost like chaos with hundreds of tweets being sent every minute. How much of this information is accurate? Where is this information coming from? How do we find out what is true and what is not? I think a good example of this is with the Ford Hood incident. I saw people naming the suspect before CNN, MSNBC and other news agencies. It took some cable news stations up to ten to fifteen minutes to get that information out, while Twitter was already discussing who this person was, background information and his role in the army. All the background information that was provided wound up being correct, but we can not guarantee that this will be true in other cases. The media and Twitter both claimed that the gunman was killed – but later reports indicated he was injured and in a coma at a local hospital.

Citizens are an important aspect in journalism and I think we need their accounts to help us write our stories. I think Twitter and other social media websites are an excellent way to gather this information. I think journalists should be the ones to determine the facts from the fiction. I’m afraid that with all of this information being submitted to these sites – we lose a sense of clarity. There is such a thing called too much information.

I think the bigger issues here is that our society thrives on constant updates and needing that information right this second. It’s almost like a subconscious need for information. Television news, newspapers and radio can not keep up with these social media sites because they are too quick. Imagine if television news was like Twitter – it would drive you nuts!  These social media websites have us all wanting up to the minute updates – which is not necessarily a good thing. As a society we want information right this minute and we want this information to be accurate. Unfortunately, you can not have both. You can’t have information updated every minute and expect them to be factual. It takes time to sort out the details and to make sure the information you have is credible. For me, I would much rather wait the extra ten to fifteen minutes and have accurate information then have it right away and have it changed a million times because it was incorrect.

I think the potential is there for real time journalism – we just need a way to organize all the clutter.

What do you think of real time journalism? Leave a comment and or vote on the poll! I am curious what you think and how it may change our field.

Obama’s Fort Hood Speech – A Lesson.

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Posted by Joe on November 11, 2009 – 12:46 pm
Filed under Joe's Life, Journalism, Opinion

Yesterday I remember watching a live feed from my computer of the Fort Hood memorial. It was sad, tear jerking moment and I would like to send my condolences to those who have lost their lives and to their family and friends.

I saw something in Obama that I haven’t seen in a long time from him. His speeches over the past couple of months have been rather dry and boring. Obama does a very good job with storytelling and getting that message across to people. By storytelling he pulls on the heartstrings. Regardless, this was a sad moment – 13 soldiers lost their lives last Thursday. The speech remembered each soldier individually and commemorated each soldier for who they were.

“Neither this country — nor the values that we were founded upon — could exist without men and women like these 13 Americans,” Obama said. “Their life’s work is our security and the freedom that we too often take for granted. Every evening that the sun sets on a tranquil town; every dawn that a flag is unfurled; every moment that an American enjoys life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness — that is their legacy.” Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1937544,00.html#ixzz0WZOA1glN

As a broadcast journalist a lesson can be learned from this if we take a look at Obama’s speech. As journalists – we need to be able to story tell. We need to be able to move an audience. Storytelling achieves that because people are able to relate to it. We want to show not tell and if we do that we will find success.

As I conclude this article, I would also like to remember all of the Veterans who have fought for this country. Thank you for serving our country – We wouldn’t be here without you. I would also like to thank all of those actively serving our Country. Thank you!