Even though a majority of WHAS’ top stories are about things that aren’t actually important on October 16 they covered a very important story on an E. coli outbreak. This story follows the yardstick of newsworthiness; this yardstick is often broken by WHAS. 66% of their top stories were about crime. This was an exception. This story is very relevant when talking about the wellbeing of anyone who had been to Huber’s recently. It not only affected the people at Huber’s but also it was a great public service announcement to help remind people to wash their hands frequently. So good job WHAS for covering a very good story that will help a lot of people and a story that wasn’t about crime!
Thursday, November 14, 2013
WHAS Critique-- Fairness
A story on WHAS was covered on November 13 talks about how schools all over the nation are starting to expand school days so students can work on things that are important but can’t necessarily be fit into the normal school day. These lessons include personalized learning techniques, world cultures, foreign languages, living healthy and things involving the arts and creativity. These lessons are very important to the cultural awareness of students. The article talks about why the superintendent made the changes. They fail to talk to people that the changes really affect: the students in the district and the parents of the students. This breaks the principle of fairness which talks about covering all sides of the story. WHAS fails to mention the people it will affect most which is bad journalism.
http://www.whas11.com/news/education/Longer-school-days-in-store-for-some-in-5-states-231744871.html
WHAS Critique-- The Truth
Over the past two months or so the David Camm trial has been all over the news. Not only is this story not newsworthy and over reported on but it also breaks the principle of journalism truth. The principle of truth talks about how journalists need to fact check what has been released to the public. Instead they are stenographers. WHAS reporters just talk about what happened in court and how people reacted this is not good journalism. The second part of the principle is journalists have to fact check what is said. On October 24 when the verdict for the trial was released they were stenographers. Their story about the verdict was just play by play of what happened in the court room. They also had quotes from family members and some of the lawyers involved in the case. The lawyers and family members don’t hold the facts. This story breaks both components that go into being truthful when reporting. This is not affective journalism. WHAS needs to go further and expand on what has been said.
Ginny's Blog Response
Ginny your blog post about the David Camm trial and how it was over reported about is amazing! I love how blunt you are when talking about how no one should care about the David Camm trial as much as they actually did. The part of your post I agree with most is the very end where you talk about the things that could have been covered that are of more importance than the David Camm trial. Around the same time as the Camm trial the government shut down occurred. This affects the whole country unlike the Camm trial which just affects one maybe two families. The David Camm trial was the top story twice and was covered in depth almost every night that I watched the news. The government shutdown was the top story once and was hardly ever even talked about. This is not ok. News stations need to report on newsworthy topics that’s why they are called news stations! I think you summed it up very nicely when you said that the coverage on the Camm trial was both ridiculous and outrageous. Frankly who cares about this guy anyway? I know I don’t.
Class Response-- Television
One of my favorite discussions all year has been about the effect that TV has on our everyday life. Before the lecture I realized that TV makes people stay inside but I never realized how it has affected politics. Television ads are insanely expensive; and for a television ad to be effective it has to be well made and played often. The repetition of ads gets the ideas they are trying to prove into your head; whether you realize it or not. For example, when you see a McDonalds ad repeated over and over again whenever you pass a McDonalds you will think about how good the ads made the food look and that sways your decision when looking for a place to eat. It works the same in politics the more you hear about a person the more likely you are to vote for them. This theory causes politicians to spend millions of dollars on TV ads or they feel they have no chance of winning. This is a sad truth that I had never realized before this lecture. It really makes me look closer at the type of people who are in office.
Class Response-- The Internet
Today in class Mr. Miller brought up an interesting
topic when discussing the internet. While talking about the impacts of internet
he said that with every story there are two types of people. People X are those
who want news that is interesting but not necessarily true and people Y just
want to know what is actually going on and what is true. One of the impacts of
internet is that it’s harder for the latter type of people to get the truth. As
the popularity of the internet continues to grow it makes it easier for people
to hide behind their computer screen and tell lies about people. The internet
has made it possible for people to either post anonymously or make a fake
identity to post from. Computers act as a barrier between the things people say
and the consequences they face when they do something wrong. The internet is
making people X strongly outweigh people Y. This is not good because soon it
will be very hard to tell whether what someone is saying is true or not.
Class Response-- Movies
I don’t know about other kids but one of my favorite things to do with my friends is go to the movies. I was very excited when Mr. Miller told us we were going to be talking about movies because I love them. After a really bad day I love to sit at home and watch sad movies (I know I’m a loser.) I had never really thought about why I liked going to the movies so much until Mr. Miller asked us why we like to go to the movies. This was an interesting question; it was never something I gave that much thought to. Movies are just something I like to do, it’s a tradition. One of my favorite parts of going to a movie is seeing it before everyone else just so I can brag. It’s fun to see something your other friends haven’t seen yet. This was one of the reasons we talked about in class, the fact that it was a cultural experience. Another thing we talked about was how movies are an immersive experience. The screen is so big, the theater is so quiet and dark and the movie is so loud. These are all things I can’t get at my house with my very active family and very talkative little brother. The last thing we talked about was how movies are a social experience. I love to get a lot of people together to see movies together. It’s kind of weird to see a movie by yourself because society has made it such a social experience. You go with people so you can share the immersive experience with one another. These reasons are so obvious but at the same time no one really thinks about why people love movies. Everyone just goes to the movies without even really thinking about it. It was cool to finally understand why movies have stuck around so long, and why they will continue to stick around, even when newer technologies are invented.
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