Blog #10: Response to "The News about the News: American Journliasm in Peril"

I agree with Leonard and Robert many people turn to the news when its significant or major. From the beginning, news have connected citizens to the shared events that affected their lives. News outlets have evolved over time dating back to the Civil War to presidential elections.Journalism has evolved dramatically through centuries thanks to famous journalists such as Tom Paine, Ben Franklin, Ida Tarbell and etc. Through their work they won the support of the people. The country has always give a special status to journalism. Nine of the original thirteen states  added the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: "Congress shall make no law..abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press." Over the years, the media and the government officials went back and forth repeatedly talking about this and how far the press could go in challenging the politically powerful. The american newspaper made it a regular practice to print not just political news, by foreign and domestic and for the first time, it printed reports from the police, from the courts, from the streets, and from private household. Journalism was gaining steam and it was catching everybody's attention.

Blog #9: Response to Chapter 13, "Watergate forces President to his knees"

Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein changed journalism entirely. There nonstop investigation found "solid evidence" connecting the White House to "The third-rate burglary." the break-in led to revelations about the misuse of campaign contributions, laundered money, political sabotage, deception, immortality, and other misdeeds. It led Nixon becoming the only U.S. president in history to resign from office. Woodward and Bernstein pushed the limits of investigative reporting, they lied, begged and badgered sources. Woodward relied on an anonymous source the whole time, Deep Throat. The newspaper they worked for The Washington Post was the only news organization investigating the Watergate story. Television news did a bad job covering Watergate unlike the Civil Rights Movement and The Vietnam war. It made The Washington Post famous.    

Blog #8: Response to the movie "Good Night and Good Luck"

Through the movie, "Good Night and Good Luck" I learned more things about Edward R Murrow then before. In the movie, it portrays the conflict between veteran radio television journalist Edward R Murrow and U.S. Senator Joesph McCarthy of Wisconsin especially relating to the anti-communist senator's actions with the senate permanent subcommittee. Edward R Murrow, See it Now and Person to Person show on CBS attracted a lot of people to watch it. See it Now was a TV news magazine and Person to Person was a celebrity interview show. Through Murrow's show journalism expanded through radio and television. It gave a reason for people to tune in to his shows. Edward R Murrow had a big impact on media journalism

Blog #7: Response to the handout: "The Rise and Fall of Edward R. Murrow"

What propelled Murrow's career was his program on beleaguered Air Force Lt. Milo Radulovich and his later, more famous attack on McCarthy in 1954 enhanced the credibility of See It Now and its views. Many people praised how Murrow balanced his own stardom with his instincts for hard-hitting journalism. Murrow left a huge impact on media journalism and left an impact on television through CBS.

Blog #6: Response to handout "Code of Ethics"

I agree with the Members of the Society of Professional Journalists to adopt the code and declare it as a standard practice because now in days journalists are willing to do anything to be on the front page. They tend to forget the principles of being a journalists and rely on uncrediable sources. The Code of Ethics consist of four parts. The first one is to seek the truth and report it; journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information. Second one is minimize harm; ethical journalists treat sources, subjects, and colleagues as human beings deserving of respect. Third one is to act indepently; journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to know. The last one is be accountable; journalists are accountable to their readers, viewers and each other. Journalists should try maintaining these standards throughout their career and this what separates good journalists to bad journalists.

Blog #5: Response to Chapter 6, "Muckraking"

The Muckrakers played a huge role in our history if it weren't for them society would still be denoted by robber barons and corrupt politicians. These reporters provoked political, industrial, and social change by describing the horrid details to create a new style of magazine writing. Consequently the rise of the magazine was instrumental in the success of muckraking. Muckraking was called "The Literature of Protest." The first Muckraker was in 1902 name Lincoln Staffers, he began writing journals. He wrote articles exposing the "illegal and unscrupulous practices" among state government officials. He went through public records and interviewing city officials. Another famous Muckraker was Ida Tarbell known as the queen of the Muckrakers. In 1906, congress passed the Hepburn Act, "which made the penalties for preferential arrangements by railroads so severe that the practice quickly ceased." Muckrakers were an important part of history.

Blog #4: Chapter 4 Response, "Journalism of Vertification"

In the 1920s, Walter Lippman said that journalists should focus on "evidence and vertification." He's refering to how journalists should mainly focus on the evidence and verify it to maintain credibility. Some of his principles of reporting was to never add anything was not there, never decline the audience, be transparent as possible about your methods and motives and rely on your reporting. I agree with him because now in days many journalists write/report about random things and aren't reliable because of where they got the sources from. They don't validate their evidence. This could lead to bad journliasm for the public by misinforming them with false information. These journalists rely on misleading sources instead of creditable ones. According to Walter Lippman, "In journalism, only by explaining what we know can we approximate, the idea of people being able, if they were of mind, to replicate the reporting. This is what is meant by the objectivity of method in science and in journalism." Articles written by these journalists don't explain much on their reporting and don't elablorate much on it.