Mistakes can be found almost anywhere throughout newspapers, blog posts, or news agencies, all having to do with journalism. Even though mistakes are accidental and are humiliating to fix, there is a positive side once a mistake has been made. On the bright side, after an error is commited, you have learned from that mistake that has become a rememberance and know to never commit that mistake again. On the other hand, mistakes can be negative and may give you a one-way ticket to underemployment or humiliate you in public. An example of this is if a journalist was to type a blog post on the death of Osama Bin Laden and how the war continues but the computer auto-corrects the word "Osama" into "Obama." Such an error consummated is necessary to fix and may get you fired. When we make a misconception, a mistake, we may lose media credibility or jobs. Although these losses may be commited, we can learn from our mistakes and know to never do them again. Overall, mistakes are positive and negative at the same time.
Let us say you are a journalist and you find out classified information on a scandal led by the government. You want to publish the article on the government but you don't know whether to publish it or not. Mainly because there are 2 perspectives. One connected to the government and the other is connected to the public. If you expose this to the public, the public will know the truth and adore you for it, while the government will get you punished no matter what. Meanwhile, if you don't publish the article, the public will not know the truth. What should you do? The same problem has been faced throughout the 1900's with various people. There have been people that might just not face a punishment and are just as dishonest as the government after not publishing an item based on a government secret. Even though I would be punished, I would rather publish an article based on the government that the public does not know about them, which lets the public know the truth.
When you think about the word, "whistle-blowers," you may be thinking about people who have whistles and blow them, but that is not the definition of the word in journalism. Whistle-blowers are people who reveal or expose illegal activity, or classified information, to the public. To the government, whistle-blowers are a nuisance and traitors, due to the fact that they release classified information that is illegal and can get you punished. On the other hand, whistle-blowers are heroes to the public for telling them the truth of the government's actions. Though the whistle-blowers may receive most of the glory with the public, there are some ethical problems they may face with the government. For instance, if some people such as Edward Snowden or Julian Assange were to release classified information about the government, they would surely go to jail as soon as they step foot on the U.S. For now they are known as crooks to the government for making them look bad. Meanwhile, they are heroes to the public for providing access to the truth that the government was hiding. Wherever you go, though, whistle-blowers will be known as either an idol to thank or a bandit who cannot show his face to the government without being thrown into prison.
"Attention!Attention! Senator Thompson has gone for 9 days missing and his secretary has gathered all the clues to help you and your team must find out where he is." This is the whole point of the latest teamwork game called BREAKOUT EDU, which is what I experienced today. After the game, I learned various techniques and skills about teamwork, problem-solving, and being a journalist. First of all, with various people in different areas, researching and cracking codes, the whole team is able to finish much quicker than working alone if you are working together. The whole game is based on problem-solving, which is when you are using clues and events to find the answer to the problem. Furthermore, the game is a skill that a journalist has to face which is to keep track of time and do things at a pace.
Anything you read, watch, or hear can be a lie. On the other hand, though, the items you hear, read, or watch can be telling the truth. How do you know if it is true or false? Well, you will need the ability to fact-check. Like it says in the word, fact-checking means to check the facts to know if the statements are true or false. This skill might be helpful for people, but do average people actually use this skill? Probably not. Though very helpful, many average people will just believe what they hear, watch, or read. For instance, if Donald Trump supporters were to believe something he said about Hilary Clinton that was false, the supporters are most likely to believe that lie, without actually fact-checking. This shows people can be believe mostly anything without fact-checking. Fact- check to not believe lies.
Newspapers, online news, TV news (such as CNN or ABC), social media, and radio news broadcasts all come from specific type of people. These people will be in special events like protests, presidential debates, or accidents, ready to ask a speaker questions and take notes. What type of people are they? These people are journalists, who work in various ways, from asking questions to publishing newspapers to speaking out to the public in live stations like ABC. People may not notice this very often, but journalists are a huge part in our society. Journalists are allowed to release the truth to the public about whatever they want, even if it means releasing horrible news about the government, if they have freedom of the press. They provide the public the truth about our world, international attacks, etc. and many people will appreciate the news. However, life is not so great for journalists, due to the great responsibilities and worries they have. Journalists have many steps and rules to follow when they are reporting news. Lying to the public about a news story is a rule they must follow. They cannot just make up their own story and release it to the public, for the job of a journalists is to release the truth to the public. In addition, another rule for a journalist to follow is to not take shortcuts to researching or interviewing. A journalist can take a shortcut while interviewing by interviewing the wrong people or a few people. Furthermore, while researching, a journalist must gather huge amounts of information to explain an event, rather than to gather very little information to not explain a good story. As you can see, a journalist can have great power, but "with great power comes great responsibility."
Our country is one of the few countries that are not really part of censorship. However,other countries like North Korea,Russia,Iran,Ethiopia,and China are part of censorship.What is censorship,though? Censorship is how the government controls over information, books, media,and etc. Actually,our country is far lucky not to be part of censorship,while other countries mentioned are not.But why are these countries doing this,you might wonder? Well, the media,those who publish anything from newspapers to social media, will usually want to publish news on the government that will make them look bad. Obviously,the government doesn't want that to happen,which is why they can ban the written item or they can have the media be run by the government. This helps the public be hidden from the truth that the government does not want to show the public. People do deserve to know the truth,even if it means losing sponsorship from the owners.
Our country is a free country with freedom and liberty. It is a democracy. We thank our founding fathers for this after creating the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights are made up of amendments. Moreover, to have a democratic government,we need the freedom of the press. What is it, you may ask? It's the first amendment that allows the press such as journalists and interviewers to be allowed to write or say anything and not be punished for it when publishing the information. This law also allows whichever person to be able to speak out and not be punished. This is also known as the freedom of speech which is part of the freedom of the press. There is no democratic country without the freedom of the press. In colonial times, there was a man name John Peter Zenger who published articles in THE NEW YORK WEEKLY JOURNAL criticizing a governor. He was arrested and put on trial. His lawyer spoke out for him, defending the importance of the press. It is important to all to speak out and be able to publish anything and not be criticized for it. After all,this IS a free country. In order for a country to have a democracy,people must speak out to change laws in order to have the freedom of the press.
Tweet!Tweet!-goes your phone. It's a new post on Twitter. You pull out your phone to see a post saying," O.M.G- there's a shark on the street!,"attached to a photo of a shark in a flooded area next to your vehicle. Should you believe this or not? It's about time to rely on news literacy. What is it,you may ask? News literacy is critically thinking for analyzing and judging on whether to rely on news,information,and facts. Why do you need it,though? News literacy can help you within social media and society. Like the picture above,for example, many people believed it was real,that a shark was in the flooded street. However,if you were to have news literacy,you would be different and would know it's fake. News literacy is actually pretty helpful if it is used as a necessary component.
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