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.

Obituary 2 of other student

Oscar Gil was a father, pursuing journalist and commuter. On the fateful day of March 24th, 2011, Gil was struck in the chest with three bullets. Today, at the age of 25 at La Mirada, California, he died choking in a pool of his own blood. A few years before coming to Biola, Gil was a student at Fullerton Jr. College for his first two years. Before that, Gil was enrolled in La Serna High School which is in the L.A. County. He was married to his beautiful wife, Lyndsay Gil. He aspired to do work in the ministry field in regards to his emphasis in public relations for his journalism major. His focus was to do something with ministry work for the church in terms of evangelicalism. Tonight, students will hold a ceremony honoring the junior student.

My obituary; this is an exercise

 Helmer, behind the guy in middle, with friends and family on a Missions trip in New Orleans.

Christian Helmer, a 19 year old college student who attended Biola University, was a happy student who aspired to do something with his life. Focusing in the major of Journalism, Mr. Helmer focused on writing for his profession. Unfortunately, he died on thursday of this week in L.A. He had many hopes and dreams not yet accomplished.

On the night before his death, Helmer had spent the night at a friend’s house just about one hour away from Biola campus. While he was entering his friend’s car on his drive back, three teenagers had pulled up on the scene in a rickety Monte Carlo and blasted full rounds on him before he could even pull off. Amazingly, his friend was spared, but not without fatal injuries to his legs and his arm. “I thought I was a goner,” says best friend Brett Balough in full arm and leg casts.

Helmer’s family received news of the tragic event just an hour after school officials had called them. His sister, Saffiyah Rieff, says sobbingly, “I just wish we had gotten to spend more time with him before this happened.” Helmer had grown up in a normal middle class home like most Californian kids. Coming from the town of Rancho Cucamonga in the Inland Empire, he had spent his first two years of high school at Alta Loma High. 

After complications with his faith and his parents, Lesma Yorke, his mother, decided to enroll him in Ontario Christian High. “I remember that he wasn’t quite fond of it,” explains Yorke. “He always complained about the environment being unwelcoming.” 

During his last year, Helmer went back to Alta Loma and finished strongly as a senior. But this was not without taking part in a few extracurricular activities like Cross Country and Track & Field. “He was quite the runner,” remarks Chaffey College student A.J. Wilson, who was a senior when the two ran together.

In his last few days, Balough said Helmer had this to say about his life, “I think if I had to die today, I think I would have lived a pretty good life.”

Crisis in Japan

The dilemma in Japan right now has been the top concern for over a week as Japanese people have been hit by earthquakes, tsunamis, and are dealing with monumental radiation problems. It is certainly nothing to scoff about when hundreds of people have been reported as missing or dead. People have been living in shelters and other places of refuge as their homes have been swept away by the flood. Radiation has been found in milk and vegetables, contaminating food for everybody.

Students at Biola are very aware of the problems going on in the country and are concerned for their overall safety. When asked student Casey Bautista about what she thought about the event, she responded, "I have really close family there in Okinawa and some in Tokyo. We are always praying for them." Casey is part of a bigger group of people who had their family affected by this catastrophic event. Similarly, students who do not have relatives there, but know of others who have been affected are just as concerned. Dan Marino responded, "I'm worried. It's scary times we live in." Dan then stated that his girlfriend had been working in a student exchange program where one of the student's family in Japan had flood warnings and were haphazardly affected by the earthquake.

In dire times like this, the best form of relief is prayer. Student Ann Marie Cortez states, "I have been praying for them." God can work in ways that people aren't even aware of and will aid Japan in this event.

Tasty Food

Cheese pizza, when warm and right out of the oven, is brimming with hot pasta sauce and cheese on top. The aroma of cheese and oils cooked together gives it a satisfying aroma. When biting down into a slice, the taste is absolute greasy goodness. The texture of the bread is satisfying to bite into as it is chewy and soft at the same time. The sprinkles of garlic makes it that much more tasty and pleasurable to the senses.

Sensory Details

I touched the briskly grass with my fingers. As I reached down further into the ground, I felt the soft, complete dirt. It was whole, yet not hard like dry dirt. I gazed at the vibrant, colorful flowers that were pinkish and bunched together. As I walked further down campus, I came across loud, noisy, interrupting, construction workers. They were interrupting my quiet time to observe my senses. As I closed my eyes, I felt the soft, soothing air against my skin. Walking down by the Caf, talkative, noisy people pierced the quietness. The warm, bright beaming sun’s rays shinned down all around me as it warmed my body to the touch. The chirping birds bounced around and flew from tree to tree. The loud police siren could be heard down the street. Walking across Horton Hall, there was green, tall trees that loomed dark shadows over the sidewalk. An extremely loud lift machine was driving down the street. Finally, before I went back into Library as looked up into the cloudy, blue sky. It was all apart of God's beautiful creation.

Smell of Opposite Gender

The aroma of the female sex can be often times appealing to the sense of smell. It is very artificial, albeit attractive to most men. The perfumes sprayed on most girls give them a inviting and strong aroma that smell like flowers It is certainly more inviting and better smelling than that of men.

Feature Writing

The lead I found amazing is from the Pulitzer website that talked about a girl who has been abused in the most rundown, putrid home that has ever been found. The lead was amazing because it used emotions to captivate the reader to continue reading each and every paragraph to find out what would happen next. The feature has a group of police storming into the house and they find maggots and cockroaches everywhere along with feces and other matter. It makes the reader cringe and holds them onto the edge of their seat as they wait to find out what will happen next.

Every paragraph beautifully transitions from one obscene detail to the next. There are not many quotes but has lots of brimming information about the venture through the house to rescue the 7 year old girl. This is an example of the wonderful writing that went into this piece, "She lay on a torn, moldy mattress on the floor. She was curled on her side, long legs tucked into her emaciated chest. Her ribs and collarbone jutted out; one skinny arm was slung over her face; her black hair was matted, crawling with lice. Insect bites, rashes and sores pocked her skin. Though she looked old enough to be in school, she was naked — except for a swollen diaper." (DeGregory) This scene describes the unfortunate girl's situation living at this rat house.


The article uses lots of sensory detail to get the story across to the reader. ""It sounded like you were walking on eggshells. You couldn't take a step without crunching German cockroaches," the detective said. "They were in the lights, in the furniture. Even inside the freezer. The freezer!"" (DeGregory) As disgusting as this is, it appeals to the senses because cockroaches are very nasty creatures that appeal to the basic human senses of people's fears of insects.