Windows. They act as a method of sight into other peoples’ lives. While a man may appear to act a certain way in the outside world, behind a window he lets himself turn to his real self. News fabricators especially hide themselves from public view until caught on the spot. Ex-journalist Stephen Glass must despise windows, because he certainly had enough blinds.

Journalism is integrity, because without it journalism is another being entirely. Now for fabrication… well that is what society calls storytelling. The film Shattered Glass portrays Glass, and his experience with magazine The New Republic. According to a 60 Minutes article I found online, the basic plot of Shattered Glass appears accurate to true events. This movie is a superior example of how the art of journalism needs careful attention, and that fabricators should open up their windows to let in fresh air.

Glass, now living with an open window, worked for The New Republic. Eventually he was fired, and for a good reason. In the following quote, Glass speaks in the 60 Minutes interview upon what he has done:

“I knew how the system worked. And I made it so that my stories could get through. I invented fake notes. I later would invent a series of voice mailboxes and business cards. I invented newsletters. I invented a website. For every lie I told in the magazine, there was a series of lies behind that lie that I told– in order to get it to be published.”

For the sake of journalistic integrity, newspapers and magazines must keep up fact checking, and in addition adding a whole other level of peer review. If a journalist is willing to cover up inaccuracies to great lengths, then the media can lever let go a grasp of truth.

Glass was never caught for making up his stories until an online version of Forbes noticed one story about hackers in particular did not seem solid. In Shattered Glass, the online crew of Forbes researched fake companies included in The New Republic article. They called telephone numbers to non-existing people that Glass supplied. Forbes investigated the foundation of Glass’s original article, only to find no support. Maybe that is what every media outlet needs, a collaborating newsmaker to double check news integrity.

Stephen Glass did write entertaining fiction. He was just writing on the wrong platform. Society deserves the right to accurate media information, and Glass was simply not doing his part. Journalists purely interested in fabrication should stick to writing short stories and novels. Otherwise, they should avoid Glass’s example and make sure their windows’ shading prevents the sun from shining through.

60 Minutes Stephen Glass Interview

Poetry is knowledge. Poetry is knowledge about the human emotion through storytelling, or metaphor. Poetry is just not complete understanding, for no one has gathered a full knowing of how humans think. Certain poets take the average level of emotional understanding, and push it to the next level.

On Thursday, November 20th poet Li-Young Lee spoke at Frederick Community College. Lee kept himself calm and collected: the ideal attitude for deep thinking. As written in his poems, Lee placed emotion with symbolism. After reading a collection of his poems, Lee took the symbolism and moved into higher understanding. Entertaining and insightful are not the only words necessary to describe this event. Important is also sufficient.

One of the poems Lee read, called “Tearing the Page,” uses symbolism for emotional knowledge. Lee spoke the following line to his son at a young age:

“Every wise child is sad,” said Lee.

“Tearing the Page” starts with that line, the beginning for a great body of symbolism. While the quote is a metaphor, Lee intended a deeper meaning. In FCC’s JBK Theater, Lee spoke that he thought that saying “every wise child is sad” did not harm his child, but only helped him turn into an adult. If a child is sad, he has some sort of grasp on the horrors of the world, and he or she can learn to live up the standards of daily obstacles faced. Grow into himself.

Lee also read a few other of his poems, with one being “After the Pyre.” Pyre is a large fire. Symbolism begins right in the title, and trickles down the poem. “After the Pyre” represents Lee’s three years as a “fugitive” in Indonesia, when Chinese were being killed. According to him, at that time pyres were a common sight, even for young eyes. Again with this work, Lee has written a strong meaning, which he explained its deeper emotional qualities at FCC.

“When you look at a poem on a page, any poem is a musical score for the voice,” spoke Lee.

Musical scores construct the message that is conveyed through song to the audience. Chinese poet Li-Young Lee knows how to score poetry, and equally perform his work. Poetry might not relay a complete understanding of the inner workings of human beings, but it definitely helps educate. He has a rare ability to comprehensively educate about emotion to the general audience, including colleges across the world. One interpretation of revolution can be seen as pushing current status to the next level. Lee with no doubt revolutionized poetry, as seen in his excellent showing at FCC.

Newspaper writing (now including online journalism) involves solid hard news pieces that states the point directly to the reader. Also, a soft news or feature piece can entertain the audience and help the reader further into the piece. Either a hard news, soft news, or third person feature articles will inform if written with care; but there is another alternative.

Narrative storytelling, the opposite of hard news writing, yet slightly different than soft news and features, can express the same information in an unusual way. A whole article can be a pure story crafted to tell the aftermath of a California wildfire, or talk about a new voter’s journey through the 2008 Presidential Election. This use of narrative for journalists is more of a feature crafting tool, but who says it cannot be the new movement in soft news? Motion pictures are narratives that inform audiences about important issues, why cannot journalism pick up the method?

The following quote is from The Inquirer, a newspaper in Philadelphia. This article, “A Defining Battle,” written by Mark Bowden, is a part of a series called ”Blackhawk Down.”

“Instead, two of their high-tech UH-60 Blackhawk attack helicopters were shot down. The men were pinned down through a long and terrible night in a hostile city, fighting for their lives. When they emerged the following morning, 18 Americans were dead and 73 were wounded. One, helicopter pilot Michael Durant, had been carried off by an angry mob. He was still alive, held captive somewhere in the city.” 

Bowden’s passage out of his article at first glance looks like it was meant for a short story or novel. In actuality, Bowden expressed a battle in a foreign country as a narrative. This piece does not come as a normal feature piece telling straight up what happened; Bowden adds a little narrative flow to increase interest.

Any article does not need to have full narrative writing in order to work, such as “A Defining Battle.” The action aspects of Bowden’s war theme are expressed with storytelling. Connecting points and not as interesting statistics are simply written in third-person. The idea of narrative journalism helps bring out what the audience want to read, and eventually the theme of the article.

Movies show events that move the point across visually and with storytelling. That is why millions of Americans viewers consistently attend the theater. Journalism needs the push, and the increased popularity that movies carry. Print or online journalism may never have the phenomenon that new blockbusters do, but narrative storytelling can help stabilize journalism for the future.

Philly Inquirer “A Defining Battle” article

The Internet is a dangerous place to journey. Not are just the web sites dangerous, but the viewers. The following passage in my Journalism’s class textbook explains the previous idea:

“The web audience is not as patient as the newspaper audience,” (Page 255).

News or informational websites are continously taking away from the newspaper audience, and in transition more newspaper readers are reading their news online. If news articles are not shorter or in a length of the reader’s need, the reader might go elsewhere for their sources. To keep this blog post short: readers can be dangerous to the journalist.

My journalism class created an integrated media project on our course blog. Our text and video are short enough for the viewer to fully understand the topic. No matter with comedy in our video or straight up writing for our article, the information included is suiting to a new generation of viewer, and the time limit readers have on the Internet. In sake of keeping this blog post short: readers can be dangerous to the journalist. And also, readers secure the direction of future media.

 

http://en212.wordpress.com/

Reliability. Whenever a story with high importance comes into play, any journalist must have reliable sources. Smaller stories need attention also, because even the untruth in the smallest topic can multiply into something negative. Newspapers as a news medium read by millions a day, especially have to keep reliability in check.

Earlier this year in March, the LA Times published an article by staff writer Chuck Philips, “An Attack on Tupac Shakur Launched a Hip-Hop War.” The LA Times found FBI documents mentioning new information never before released to the public. One of the FBI reports supposedly highlight Sean “Diddy” Combs as constructing an attack on Shakur. Finally, the world has found a truth in one of the greatest tragedies in music entertainment. Except for one thought: the documents were fake. The following is a quote from the LA Times:

“The Times has since concluded that the FBI reports were fabricated and that some of the other sources relied on — including the person Philips previously believed to be the “confidential source” cited in the FBI reports — do not support major elements of the story.”

One week after the article was published, TheSmokingGun.com editor William Bastone discovered the documents investigated were made up. James Sabatino, reportedly an associate of Combs, created the false papers. The LA Times retracted the article and all statements include, with an emphasis on Combs’s involvement.

Philip, as a worker of journalism, most likely had good intentions. He found new information of Shakur’s classic saga in the ’90s (leading to his murder), and wanted to make a revolutionary stance. Unfortunately, he did not view deep enough into his source’s reliability, which is crucial.

The LA Times’s retraction of the Shakur story matters to the entire world of journalism because of its public lesson in credible sources. A large newspaper published an article with inaccurate facts from an unreliable source, and that is something journalists across the medium can learn from to not duplicate. Fortunately, millions of people can learn from the failure of one or two. Reliability cannot die; journalism needs it to survive.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-quadretraction7apr07,0,2854119.story

In reality, no single person can understand all the world has to offer. Even the world’s population combined does not know all the information of their surroundings. I, as this blog’s writer, can safely say that I am unsure of 95% of knowledge found in the field of Journalism. Taking Journalism in high school is one thing, but attending a Journalism class in present day college builds a higher structure. From high school I learned about ending articles with kickers, but in this college year I discovered quote kickers. An idea such as using a quote to finish the article might be a small step to take, but every skyscraper needs that one vertical brace for structural integrity.

In a Chapter Eight class textbook summary from my Journalism instructor Hiatt, a quote kicker means, “a quote that sums up the mood of the piece.” Before this year, I never formally thought of a quote as the last material of an article. While I am familiar with the basic idea of a kicker, re-education about the subject increased my knowledge. Since articles are non-living typed words on a piece of paper, ending any article with a quote gives humanity to the piece.

Recently, I have completed an article assignment about a local film festival. Understandably I struggled with an ending to complete my assignment, and chose to include a quote. Using a quote kicker in my event preview moves along with giving humanity towards assigning voice. Yes, a preview can work if its entirely a third person perspective, but the article holds a tighter grasp with quotes from event organizers. The following is a section from my work on the 72 Film Fest of 2008:

“According to 72fest.com, the competition’s mission statement is ‘To bring under-screened and independent films to Frederick, MD, and to provide an outlet for the creative community by hosting challenges in the fields of filmmaking, stage, writing, and other arts.’” 

The preceding quote is not a direct quote from a human being, but its a combination of ideas from the film festival’s event organizers.  Personally, I felt this quote as a kicker succeeded in projecting human thought into the non-living article, and summarizing the main idea for the whole film festival. In a hard news piece such as my article, a quote kicker fits right along a walking path.

Basically, my previously unknown knowledge of quote kickers led to a learning of great possibility in Journalism. Unknowing and learning share such a connection with incredible strength that for however long civilization may hold on, humans will learn a thing or two.

The Internet has a hunger for physical media. Magazines and newspapers are consumed everyday by the electrical powers that exist within the common broadband box. In order for journalism to move towards the future, newspapers require accessibility through the Internet. Online journalism does not lead into the death of the field; reporters still need to investigate and write stories as usual. Various news readers might believe that having the same newspaper available online for free dilutes the substance of journalism. In actuality, the Internet immortalizes the reporter.

David Simon, the creator of HBO’s show The Wire comments on the current state of newspaper journalism from the Washington Post article “Does the News Matter to Anyone Anymore?”:

“Isn’t the news itself still valuable to anyone? In any format, through any medium — isn’t an understanding of the events of the day still a salable commodity? Or were we kidding ourselves? Was a newspaper a viable entity only so long as it had classifieds, comics and the latest sports scores?”

Americans need to know what is happening in their local communities, and the world as a whole. News holds a high importance that other outputs of media cannot achieve. Simon cannot be more correct in his message of a changing consumer. A society such as America has evolved into such a state that purchasing newspapers for news is not a necessity. Now readers can receive virtually the same material of a newspaper on its accompanying website free of charge. On Sundays, many people that I know still buy newspapers in a down spiraling economy: for the sales ads and coupons alone. Anyone with the Web can save fifty cents and go to Washingtonpost.com to catch up on news. Personally, I use online journalism as my main source of news for the fresh updates to current events, and the simplicity of navigation that newspapers lack.

On YouTube, a member posted a journalism video from the 1940s. This video in summary explains the daily construction of a newspaper. The essence of the news reporter is mostly accurate to current times in 2008. Reporters take their story, investigate, collect information and quotes, and write the article. Even with online journalism, reporters still have to achieve a story idea, investigate, collect information and quotes, and type the article all the same. In addition, a large number of news articles from the print edition are directly transferred to the website version anyway, so print journalism workings still exist.

Technology continually advances into something vicious. Newspapers such as The Frederick News Post with information historically exclusive in print are now placed on the website for easier access. The Internet violently consumes print resources, but gives the citizen of a technological society such as America an increased quality of life. Journalism’s future existence belongs to the Internet, especially as the Web evolves into one personified entity. In the near future the personified Internet, similar to a shadow, may follow the human anywhere he or she travels.

“Does the News Matter to Anyone Anymore?”

“Old School” journalism video on YouTube

Music flows through the halls of the new Linganore High School. Linganore’s band performs in a fresh music hall, attended by official ears for consumption. Thirty seven million dollars constructed the new musical setting.  Maryland tax dollars created the notes necessary for the music, while Governor O’Malley provided the melody. O’Malley’s visit to Linganore quenched the thirst of successful tax dollars in the name of harmony.

Journalism today represents the merging of two arts: news and entertainment. Television host Bill Maher on his HBO news talk program The Bill Maher Show spoke about the negative effects of news companies allowing these two arts to gain access to one another. Maher mentions, “This whole thing went downhill when they started to make… the news division the same as the entertainment division and turn a profit.” The whole possibility of news integrity becoming a broken shell compared to its younger existence is crucially important, and eye-catching.

Continuing into the new century, the important fact to know is that the world’s youth will feel the negatives. The majority of Americans depend on television channels, newspapers, and the Internet to understand what happens locally and around the world. If the future world cannot depend on news because entertainment has overwhelmed the media, then there is nothing to depend on. Yes, the news program would entertain, but how can someone expect to gain knowledge from a show comprised of just flashy transitions, irrelevant topics, and self-indulgence?

News entertainment is not always a horrible idea, as seen in The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and even The Bill Maher Show. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert gave news the necessary push to move into the future. America’s youth needs to visualize a path to gain interest in politics and different events around the world. Stewart and Colbert mix their news with comedy for entertainment purposes, but the news foundation still exists. Interviews with politicians, authors, and actors on news comedy for the majority entertains while asking questions of news relevance. All of the news value is not lost, just reformed to revolutionize for the future.

“That’s why you can’t find news on a new channel,” explained Bill Maher on his news talk show. Entertainment overwhelming traditional news reporting stands as the idea most emphasized in the segment from Maher’s program. A college student from California might turn to a channel such as Fox News intending to learn about the day’s events. Instead, he listens to a half hour segment about Lindsay Lohan’s latest controversy, on a program where solid news that matters does not thrive. Entertainment is a necessary component for drawing the future of the world’s attention to news. Although when media companies water down news for public consumption, negative effects will have to surface.

The Bill Maher Show video (with emphasis after the six minute mark):

When discussing pollution, Liberal or Conservative belief carries no importance. Pollution exists as a universal reality, with some countries afflicted more than others. Maryland’s current controversy with chicken farming depicts the fact that methods of polluting can appear anywhere, no matter how small or random. As of September 12, the Maryland Department of the Environment announced rules for a stronger hold on poultry manure. Washington Post writer David A. Fahrenthold’s article “Md. Gets Tough on Chicken Farmers” includes a paragraph which sticks out to the reader’s eye, and gives a graphic observation on how animal excrement is polluting the Chesapeake Bay:

“But advocates for the Chesapeake have long complained about its byproduct: “litter,” a foul-smelling mix of sawdust bedding and chicken excrement that is shoveled off the houses’ floors. It is piled up for storage or spread on fields as fertilizer. From there, environmentalists say, it takes only a little rain to start the chicken waste flowing to the Chesapeake.”

Realistically, discussion of chickens polluting Maryland’s waters does not carry high popularity between Marylanders. Newspapers help educate Americans to important topics occurring in the United States. The article “Chicken Farmers” publicizes the issue with chicken waste that Marylanders are not familiar with, and the preceding excerpt details the exact issue that the Maryland government is trying to regulate. One paragraph contains all of what readers need to know about how chicken waste moves from farm to bay. Fahrenthold simply explains the method of polluting with no complicated science terms necessary.

“Chicken Farmers” stands as writing worth extended thought because pollution is an expanding issue. According to the article, chicken waste only contributes five to seven percent of pollution in the Chesapeake Bay. Every single percent throws a catastrophic blow to the local environment. This passage of analysis can help shield increasing amounts of chicken fertilizer from running into the bay. Even if “Chicken Farmers” builds understanding alone, Fahrenthold would become successful in reporting the event beyond talk of government policy.

In summary of a prolonged story, society needs an amount of articles relating to pollution to increase by the day. Intentionally or not, newspaper articles and television segments could coach citizens of the world to help fight pollution. Any political party should understand the importance of pollution prevention, and how the media can make all the difference.

Md. Gets Tough on Chicken Farmers