Watchdog Journalism.

I think that one of the most important roles of journalism is that of being a watchdog. It is empowering to me to think that I my job as a journalist is needed for the public--not only for informing them, but also in uncovering the truth of organizations, situations, etc. that wouldn't be realized without my work. It makes me feel obligated to find the real truth the best that I can, and to investigate into matters that haven't been looked into before I noticed them.

In 2010, a team of journalists uncovered the truth about the health hazards of asbestos. Millions of people die due to asbestos related illnesses, and many of the hazards of asbestos weren't realized until they were discovered by journalists. Click here to see the story. 

I think it's fascinating that journalists possess the power to uncover such stories as this. It excites me for my career and makes me eager to develop a more critical eye now so that I can be better when I'm actually practicing journalism down the road. 

Proportionality.

Last week in class, we talked about news and proportionality. I think that it's interesting to think about how proportionality has changed in the last 50 years. Even during the "golden age of television" in the 1950's, news was only delivered one to two times daily. Today, with the invention of the internet and 24 hour news channels, news must be broadcasted and updated frequently, even continuously, throughout the day.

While there are pro's to having a constant stream of freshly updated news, I think that it sometimes diminishes the quality of news we receive today. Often in the past, stories were studied in greater depth, they took more time to write, and they were edited multiple times before being published or broadcasted. The stories were "beefier" because they were updated less frequently. Today, often stories that can hardly be considered news are being published as if they are. Proportions of news often get out of whack, and then we get stories like this one:


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While I support the President and I care about what he is doing for our country, I really do not care how he spends his money or what he buys on his shopping trips. I do not care that he spent $194.00 at Best Buy. To be honest, embarrassing to me that this is considered news today.

I wish that media today could understand that quality is better than quantity, and integrate this into their business models. I'm not sure what the best way to do this is, but I do think that most media outlets could be reminded of the importance of proportionality.