Difference between truth and fiction

In Journalism, there seems to be a stark contrast between what is truth and fiction. In commercial Journalism, the journalists gravitate towards any leads to make their story seem appealing or on the edge. They often do not know what is really going on behind the scenes and don't know the truth of the situation. For example, in State of Play, the journalists on the television covering the story of the the killing of the woman did not really know what happened to her and kept jumping to false conclusions. The guy who had relations with her found a video tape of her after her death, meaning that the puzzle still had not been solved.

Contrasting that, in the Pulitzer prize story, the photo journalist knew exactly what was going on. He was on the inside of the story and was really there and got concrete pictures to support his validity. Small-time, local journalists give a voice and a heads up on the situation that bigger news sources simply cannot.

Guest Speaker: Web Journalism

Associated Press

Louisiana residents jittery over Mississippi flooding

By Ashley Hayes

As the Mississippi River was cresting Tuesday near Memphis, Tennessee, residents downstream in low-lying Louisiana were eying the rising waters nervously -- and worried about a plan to open a spillway, which is expected to trigger flooding in southern portions of the state.

Web Journalism seems like a very exciting aspect of Journalism. HTML and CSS is something that I have had some hands-on experience in and its very interesting working in this division.

Response to techniques used by Bernstein and Woodward

The techniques that Woodward and Bernstein used to get information was admirable, even though they were questionable. The number game used seemed incredibly dubious. Anybody would question this and think about the credibility of such a method to get answers.

Their method of getting information was tiresome and extremely repetitive as some sources did not give them credible information. Deep Throat was somebody who helped tremendously and Bernstein was incredibly grateful to him because of it. If it was not for him, their whole story would most likely fall apart on itself.

One has to commend the two reporters though because they stuck through with the story no matter what and got through with it despite all their false leads and misinformation. Searching for information through stacks of Library card check-outs seems incredibly daunting and one painful process. But the two reporters looked through them and kept at it. Also, finding the right sources, the right leads, and the people with the right information had to be repetitive as well. Especially being under pressure by your own government and being wire taped had to be incredibly disheartening if one likes the president Nixon.

All of this can be summed up to say that one should not be so willing to bow down to the feet of their government. Government officials put on a facade for the American people, more often than not, and many things we probably will never hear about go on behind closed doors. Even though this kind of journalism is incredibly hard, it is commendable as it grasps for the real truth behind matters.

Watergate Burglary Response

The connection between the White House and the Watergate Burglary is simply astounding. The two journalists who pursued this story were very tenacious and never gave up trying to try and get the facts of this story. It was a long and drawn out process for them trying to find the right leads and the people who knew the right information. I admire that they never gave up on it, even if the facts weren't so evident for them when they started.

The Watergate Burglary story is something that tells the truth of a situation, instead of fabricated lies like in other stories of the newspaper where people give false information on them. I learned that the reporter needs to be steadfast and pursue the right leads and the right information that holds up so that there are no loop holes or inconsistency in their story. Overall, this has opened my eyes to the world of reporting and how dedicated one has to be to pursue the right leaks and people. A reporter needs to seek the truth and they can't settle for anything less.

Media Week Reflection

The meeting I attended was for Eagle Vision on April 5th, 2011 on Tuesday. The meeting started at 5 P.M. and ended at 5:53 P.M.

The meeting went over the techniques used in the weekly show on Eagle Vision. Stew Olsen introduced himself to the students and gave everybody sheets on how to make a TV package and how to make proper voice over techniques for videos. The key to this, he explained, is to make sure you talk in an audible area, not be in a confined space, and then talk clearly and sound conversational. Afterwards, he started the Eagle Vision broadcast and went over various things during its run.

The first segment he showed was packages on certain crises hitting people across various countries like the outbreak in Libya and the radiation in Japan. Then what was shown was an interview with a professor here at Biola that was shown to make use of various shots and angles. Housing and a story on voting for the Biola president was then up next. There were more uses of different shots and interviews with students on the housing issue. Some of the students messed up in their voice over and made it sound muffled and their voice echoed. After that, there was a weather update and sports update. The weather update was a still image, but Mr. Olsen stressed the importance of using a green screen. In the sports update, one of the students went down to Pomona to see NASCAR races. Finally, the last story was on how Savers, a thrift store just down the street, is a great place for students to buy cheap clothes if they are low on income.

In terms of deadline work, all of the students needed to report with one of the head students and tell her what package they were to do for the week and how to go about doing it. Each student in the class does their own individual package and they are responsible for doing some sort of topic for the class. They need to set up shots correctly and make sure they engage in conversations with people they interview. Then there was banter between various students on how they could approach their stories and what else they could do to touch it up, including graphics and transitions.

I observed many different types of techniques and film cues that I had never seen before. The term of a package was a very new thing for me. But it is basically the same thing as a story in a newspaper story, just condensed for television audiences. Mr. Olsen said they are getting condensed because of our ADHD society.

This field of journalism has a lot in common with what I have learned in this class. Using clear, descriptive and tight information is crucial not only in broadcast journalism but introduction to journalism as well. Many of the same techniques are used in both fields. Getting good information and good quotes was vital to the taping of Eagle Vision and made up the bulk of every package. The exact format of it is very similar to the some of the stories in the newspaper and the news on television. I feel I could be a decent camera man, because mainly I don’t have the skills required to be in camera for broadcast journalism. Overall, this was a good peak into broadcast journalism and I know more details about this area of journalism that I didn’t know before.

Why Journalists should write about controversial topics

Journalists are very valuable to people of the world. In a time where evil and hypocrisy are very common atrocities, honest, true people need to be able to bring unedited, unbiased information to the masses.

9/11 is something that will be remembered as one of the worst tragedies in American history. It was that morning that terrorists hijacked an American airliner and smashed it, killing thousands and burned down both twin towers. The whole world was shaken up and New York City became the center of attention. Its stories like these that matter most to the American people.

People have a right to know events like these. Newspapers need sources that are upfront and do not hide information. These are topics that affect everybody, negatively or positively. Journalists should not be so concerned if the story they are covering is too controversial because real news is potent. Audiences have a right to know the truth of every situation.

I believe that Christian journalists can indefinitely find their voice in this too. Having a Christian perspective on issues like this is very important so that Christians do not lose their focus on God. God is bigger than anything one could ever face and stressing that is valuable in a time where chaos and terror reign supreme.

Response to Christian Journalism

Being a Christian is a complicated matter sometimes. God tells us to spread the word of His love and tell others that Christ died for every person's sin. However, that does not arise in every situation or context and many times that can turn certain audiences away. Lots of people have a predetermined biased towards anything to do with Christian living or God in general. I believe that people do not necessarily have to profess their faith in tremendously vocal ways like a lot of Christian publications try to accomplish.

The Paste Magazine is an example of a publication who is Christian, yet they do not flaunt that label in your face like other Evangelical magazines tend to do. Paste reviews video games, music and other medium that might not have anything to do with God in fact. How then would somebody go about incorporating some lesson about living closer to God in a review of a Boxing video game? The idea is absolutely absurd. Its simply a piece of entertainment people play in their spare time and to have fun. Especially if one is fond of such media, incorporating some kind of spiritual meaning is nearly impossible. One could argue that it is not about the video games, but having a closer relationship with God and we should be killing off any lustful, fleshly desires. But we are all human and enjoy various activities one way or another (whether that is video games, sports, music, etc.). These activities should not be the center of a believer's life, but to completely abolish them out of their life would be nearly impossible for must of us and only reserved for the most religiously devout. There should be a balance in one's life. That is the most important thing about being a Christian and living a healthy life for God. If the video games and other media start eating away at that healthy relationship, then it is up to the individual to seriously reconsider their choices.