His Girl Friday

Sometimes I forget how much I love old movies. Occasionally, I'll randomly watch one and fall in love all over again with the thickly developed plots, the witty humor, and the deep personality of each characters. Modern movies often lack one or even all three of these elements, which is why I found His Girl Friday to be so refreshing, funny, and enlightening for my understanding of journalism.

Being a young female journalist, I found myself focused on Hildy's character throughout the movie. Hildy is a young, talented, female journalist surrounded by obnoxious, overanxious, rude, middle-aged men. But the one thing they all have in common is that they will do anything--quite literally anything--to get their story.

In the film, many ethical principles of journalism were blatantly violated. There is one scene where the male reporters know that they are being unethical when they read aloud Hildy's unfinished story from her typewriter. It's ironic that they exercise some conscience about this because that it's probably the lightest ethical issue that they violate. The whole plot of the story is based on how reporters made up lies about a man who is later imprisoned and set to be hung. It becomes obvious that the reporters are driven and don't give any second thought to making up facts to create an interesting story.

The reporters also don't try to remain independent or neutral in anything they write--and this includes Hildy. Each of them completely immerse themselves in the situations they are reporting on. This makes their writing biased, not based on fact, and probably false.

Another way the reporters in the movie violate ethical principles is that they don't really seek to minimize harm for those they are reporting on. They don't treat Earl Williams or his girlfriend with any respect, sensitivity, care, or even basic decency. They promote his name as a criminal and don't even give any second thought to how they might be portraying him. They don't try to tell his story, but rather they push their own biased take on his situation.

All in all, I found the film to be very entertaining, humorous, and interesting. While you can't really take away any good journalistic values from the movie, you can come away from it with a good laugh and a renewed excitement to be part of the media.

Truth & Verification

Last week's group presentation discussed journalism's relationship with verification. How accountable should news be to reporting the "truth"? For that matter, what does "truth" even mean? How can we, as journalists, even be sure that we've found "truth"? The video below shows how one man is upset because he believes that media doesn't think they have an obligation to report the truth.




This man does have a bit of a pessimistic view toward media, and he has little faith in a person's inclination (or lack thereof) to be honest. However, he does raise a good point, and this is that there is no contract or formal bind for media to report the truth. This is why principles are taught to us, as young aspiring journalists, about how to report the truth the best that we can. These principles include things like what we were taught in class last week:

1. Don't add to any story
2. Never deceive your audience 
3. Try to be transparent
4. Do your own reporting
5. Exercise humility

While it is true that journalists have no formal obligation to reporting truth, they do have a conscience, they have their own credibility on the line, and usually do employ some sort of verification in what they write. If journalists consistently try to report using the five principles outlined above, they can get closer and closer to the believed unobtainable truth, and will become more successful and credible journalists. 

Cultural Immersion in Journalism: A Good Idea or Not?

In last week's class, we talked about a little bit about cultural immersion and ethnocentrism in journalism. This is basically when a journalist leaves the culture they are most familiar with and moves to another country to report on what is happening there. The question can be raised: is this a good idea, or a bad one?

Personally, I think that cultural immersion is a good idea. I think in most situations though, the reporter needs to be familiar with the language being spoken--as this is essential to effective communication. But this is part of what makes a career in journalism so promising and exciting: the opportunity to completely immerse yourself in a culture while reporting would expand your horizons as a reporter, it would help you grow as a person, and you would learn things you could in no other situation.

This video demonstrates a program where US journalists and Pakistani journalists traded spots across the globe to report in a completely foreign culture to them.


For young reporters especially, this would be a very beneficial experience. While just starting out their careers, they could expand their views of journalism, other cultures, and the entire world while starting out on the brink of their careers.

I'm sure that others would disagree with me and claim that reporting in another culture would make it extra hard for journalists to be objective, fair, and honest. But I think that by bringing in an outside opinion, it almost makes journalism more fair. It's a beginner's new view of things that could bring out things that would not be brought out otherwise.

What do you think? Is cultural immersion a good way to report news?

Beckham Lecture: What I learned.

When I was a Junior in high school and wrote my very first news story for English class, journalism seemed so simple. I learned to write about news in the most straightforward and simple way possible. I learned to get down the main facts first, and then add the rest throughout the story. There was no fluff, no need to debate on elaborate word choice, no need to build up the facts. Journalism seemed simple and straightforward, and this attracted me to the profession. 

While parts of what I understood back then may still be partially true, I am coming to learn that the practice of journalism is actually rather complex. Reporting the truth can be harder than one might  think, personal biases are often hard to ignore, and a journalist's duty for the public can easily be forgotten. 

Professor Campbell shed some more light on the complex practice of journalism for me this week by teaching his approach to creating a philosophical model for practicing journalism. This model included "6 Cs":  constitutional, constructive, community oriented, credible, courageous, and conscience. 

To become a successful and respected journalist, one would be wise to remember these "Cs". By understanding that the constitution was divinely inspired and that freedom of the press is the basis of our profession, we become successful journalists. By learning how to wisely educate the public, we become successful journalists. By respecting our public officials, we become successful journalists. By checking our facts and establishing a basis of credibility for ourselves, we become successful journalists. By giving a voice to the voiceless, we become successful journalists. By remembering our integrity in our writing, we become successful journalists. 

I think that it is important for journalists to establish a personal model for practicing their own journalism early in their career. By having a commitment to each of the areas discussed above, we can become successful and experience joy and reward in our careers. I look forward eagerly to my career as a journalist and I feel committed to remember these attributes as I embark on that journey.