I believe the basis of journalism is to research, fact check, and produce accurate information for a certain audience. Without the truth, your finished product is simply bogus; unless you’re writing for satirical news sites such as The Daily Currant, ChristWire, or The Onion. I think, or very much hope, that journalism practices the tradecraft of verification. Because technology has evolved so much, readers want news at a faster and faster pace. This poses a problem for news organizations that need to produce a product for a tech based, information hungry following. When news organizations value speed over accuracy they aren’t doing their jobs correctly. They move from being a credited news journalist to a discredited, inaccurate writer. I feel like when people strive to become a journalist they value the facts. It’s only when they get lost in the money, or the pressure from their superiors to produce news valuing speed over accuracy. The other problem, especially while on air, journalists are expected to fill in time when covering a breaking news story. The issue of speed verse accuracy is especially important when it comes to celebrities because it’s irrelevant whether the information being presented is true or not. News sells when it comes to celebrities. The life of the rich and famous becomes even more interesting when there is a scandal. For example, a few weeks ago a story broke out about Kanye West who allegedly yelled at a concert goer to stand up. The man happened to be in a wheel chair. A few days later West’s wife, Kim Kardashian-West, came to her husband’s defense. She explained that Kanye had asked for everyone to stand up and dance unless they were in a wheel chair. This shows how media sometimes doesn’t listen to the facts. Just like how money hungry celebrities sell their stories, some news outlets don’t listen to the facts because they are trying to make money and get readers. I don’t think news readers can wait while journalist’s fact check. Journalists have to produce news and information at a fast pace because if not, the reader can always click away or check another channel. This was especially the case on the day, of September 11, 2001. Visual news was coming in so fast, but there wasn’t really any accurate information earlier on in the day. I remember seeing video of the towers constantly on the television screen and news anchor kept repeating, “We have unconfirmed reports this morning that a plane has crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center”. I understand reporters use words such as unconfirmed and allegedly; however I think some of the news reporters that day made a mistake. I remember seeing the videos play over and over again and at certain times the news anchors were in such shock they kind of forget that they were journalists because they were watching the scene unfold at the same time we were. I remember a lot of the on air conversation that day was just that; conversation. People were expressing their personal thoughts on air which I don’t think is a quality of a good journalist. I do understand though, during time of terrorist attacks the world kind of stand stills and you forget what your job is as you are reporting. The reading in Blur touches on the reality of verification and truth seeking in the digital age. Journalists are pressured by their readers and employers to produce information at a fast pace, but that puts the integrity of their pieces in danger. I think fact checking is at an all-time low; when it comes to celebrity pieces. Reports on celebrities sell because readers are fascinated by their fast paced lives. I do think that credible news sources fact check and can’t put out lies because they would lose their jobs; they would become a joke to their peers. It’s simply embarrassing if you put out a piece that hasn’t checked all the facts. Manipulating information to appeal to readers definitely happens, but I think journalists who love and feed on the art of journalism practice the tradecraft of verification.
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On November 4, 2011 I met my best friend and the love of my life, online. It was by chance; my work friend had downloaded a dating app onto my phone after he broke his own and I created a profile for myself while I was bored on my lunch break. I didn’t know what I was doing clearly because I received a message from a man named Torey from Omaha, Nebraska. Immediately after our first conversation I knew something was special about him and I deleted my profile and the app from my phone. On his end, he was home sick from school the day he downloaded the app which he had heard about from some of his football buddies. For two years we called, Facebooked, texted, emailed, FaceTime’d, and Skyped each other. Through FaceTime I got to see he was real (and not a Catfish) and I even got to meet his closest family members. He wasn’t a creep trolling for girls on a dating app; he was a man I was falling in love with. I got to know him through technology, but there wasn’t always a screen separating us. Well, technically there was, but I was able to actually see his face and his facial expressions. I got to see him laugh, smile, and sometimes, when he was at his worst, cry. On August 14, 2013 I moved from my home in Marin County, California to live with Torey in Omaha, Nebraska, after not having the chance to meet him in person. (We never had the time to take off work, and not enough money to get from point A to point B.) Although I knew this was risky, there was so much technology that had confirmed he was who he said he was. After two years of talking to him and video chatting with him I felt comfortable enough to take that risk, especially after I got my acceptance letter from Creighton University. I would have never applied to Creighton if I hadn’t met Torey; so with going back to school I knew this was the adventure I was supposed to be a part of. Almost three years later and we are happier than ever. We have been living together for over a year, and will be moving into our second apartment in Papillion in the end of September. In December of 2013 we even got to take a two week vacation to California so he could meet my family for the first time and they loved him, for the most part. My dad understandably still has issues with the way I handled this. There are many drawbacks of a life and relationships lived online. You don’t get to touch or feel or spend time with the other person. You don’t get to smell them, or go on dates, or share experiences with them. You could even be talking to someone who isn't actually the person you think they are. In my case, I was extremely careful as well as very lucky. I made sure to get all the details of his life, and made sure they checked out. I talked to his family members, and got daily pictures of him so I knew he wasn't stealing someone else’s pictures and, above all, I FaceTime’d with him at least once a day. On the contrary, I believe the biggest benefit to an online relationship is that you do get to know someone in a more personal way (if the person is being genuine). I gained something that is so important to me. I got to know him as a person, at his core; his soul. I got to know every little detail about his life and his stance on every issue from abortion to whether he eats his pizza hot or cold. The best part, and most special part, I think, is that there isn’t any sexual pressure in the relationship because you aren’t physically together. You get to be exactly who you are, if you are being true to yourself and the ones you are talking to online.
When I was a sophomore in high school I had the pleasure of traveling to Costa Rica and Panama with a group of friends and classmates. The ten day trip was planned out day by day with activities from river rafting to a ten mile hike through the Costa Rica jungle. I left my family, my home, and most importantly all of my electronic devices for an adventure. When I came home it felt like the world had changed; my ex-boyfriend and I were officially over (after not being able to discuss things after I broke up with him right before I left), NSync had broken up, and there was a new hip song with the lyrics “this shit is bananas, b-a-n-a-n-a-s”. At the time I thought that I had missed out on so much, but looking back on it, those experiences I had in South America were much more valuable, interesting, and fulfilling than my ex-boyfriend and a song that faded out as fast as it came on the scene. Even though I learned the lesson of distancing myself from my devices, I still find myself refreshing my Facebook, and checking my text messages. I think, for myself personally, I do this because most of my friends and family is back in California with my twin sister who sees them every day. A few of my friends and I are in an ongoing group text with my twin that I always get information about our extended group of friends from, which is something I am always checking or asking for updates. I rely on that group text to always know what is going on with the friends of my friends. There is a constant joke with my friends that I am so behind on the times and late to new information because I live in Nebraska where life is simple. For me I don’t necessarily have a fear of missing out, because I am always missing out being in Nebraska. On the other hand if I know a bunch of my friends are going to an event, I’m always asking them to send me pictures or I am checking out their Instagram page to feel more included. It’s not that I have a FOMO because I’m not being included because I physically can’t be there. At times I do feel like I want to turn it all off and enjoy my surroundings which I do. The downside to this is once I turn my phone back on I’m greeted by a list of notifications. Sometimes the notifications are simply my mom saying hi, but other times I’m getting invitations to do something, and because I didn’t answer right away the invitation no longer stands because the event time had passed.
On side note to end this post, I’m sitting in class right now multitasking and I opened up the Yahoo homepage to see that Joan Rivers has died. Checking on information and refreshing pages has become a lifestyle, but you sure do get to information much faster. I am in this class because of a few reasons. One, I love learning about any topic related to journalism. I sat with my adviser trying to create my fall 2014 schedule, and I asked her if I could take all journalism classes. She laughed and said no. Two, I had the pleasure of interviewing Carol for an article I was writing for the Creightonian last semester, and she was wonderful. I hadn’t taken any of her classes yet, but enjoyed that short period of time we spent together. Lastly, it was a credit I could use to fulfill my journalism requirements. My experience with media started very early on. When my twin and I were around 4 years old we got our first mac desktop; although we usually only used it for school work and playing games. Now, I am most often connected to social media – Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. I get all of my news from my phone through the weather channel, CNN, and my hometown paper the Marin Independent Journal among many other avenues. I tend to get a lot of news and information from Facebook. The news and information might not always be true so I usually Google the news and get the information from a credited source. I do find myself always on a screen when I am bored. Whether it’s my laptop, iPad, or iPhone I'm constantly checking them. I gravitate more towards my phone for quick information because of the easy access. I use my laptop strictly for school work, and I use my iPad for watching television shows on mediums such as Netflix and Hulu Plus. The only part of news media that frustrates me is when it comes to reporting on celebrities. You always see “from a source” who is usually anonymous. It bothers me how people can write about someone’s life when they essentially don’t have all the facts. This has been a huge debate from my peers and me when it comes to Queen B (Beyonce) and her husband Jay-Z. There have been numerous reports that he is cheating, and that they are getting a divorce. As a huge Beyonce fan I dispute any of these claims. I think that news media is all about getting viewers or getting someone to view their blog or webpage. On the other hand, I think that journalists, or people that refer to themselves as journalists take their job more serious. Journalists check the facts and ethically won’t print something that isn’t true. I have zero experience with programming; however I am in a Computers and Scientific Thinking class so as the semester goes on I will have more of an idea on what programming is all about. I think it’s awful how connected we are as a world, especially in America. Children especially are glued to the television, their tablets, and want a cell phone at a younger age. Instead of playing with sidewalk chalk outside or having a lemonade stand during the summer I’ve seen a lot of children rather stay inside glued to their devices. I think the only benefit of having the world so connected is that we get information incredibly fast. When there is a tornado watch, an alert can be sent to your phone from the Weather Channel. When there is an Amber Alert, the alert is directly sent to smart phones. Technology is only becoming more advanced.
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PaigeCreighton University Archives
December 2017
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