Our Industry in 10 years

This week in lecture, we were asked where we see our industry in 10 years. I would like to add my two cents. Honestly, I feel newspapers will be no more in 10 years. All news, other than TV and radio, will be online. People will start having to pay to visit Web sites such as nytimes.com and chicagotribune.com. I also see protests outside of newspaper buildings begging them to print again.
This may seem like a bleak future, but with new times come new technology. Let’s face it; people are not paying for a newspaper anymore. They are going online, for free, where they can search for what they want to read. Old school people will not like it, but these are the times we are living. Better get use to a computer screen.

Understanding Diversity

This week I would like to talk about my conclusion from my research paper. I researched newsroom diversity. For the last 15 years, newsroom diversity has stayed relatively consistent at around 12 percent. Honestly, I feel that this number is fine.

Obviously, minorities will not agree with me. They will argue that in order to cover a diverse populace, you need a diverse newsroom. This is simply not true. Journalists are professionals. They need to master their craft. They need to be able to cover topics that don’t relate to them. The reporters themselves can and need to cover a diverse population.

Keith Woods, the diversity guru from Poynter, helped journalists with this problem when he came up with the equation E = w (y + c + f). E stands for excellence. W is the amount of work. C is your craft and f is your frames. Woods substitutes excellence for diversity because journalism is not about diversity. In “The Values and Craft of American Journalism,” Woods explains why he didn’t put D into the equation. He says that all journalists in a free press adhere to the same principles. “They stand for truth, accuracy, fairness, courage, precision, comprehensiveness, independence, giving voice to the voiceless, holding the powerful accountable, informing, educating, taking people where they can’t or wont go” (Woods 106).

Our job is bigger than diversity. Our responsibility is to the people. To fulfill our responsibility, we need to understand them. We need to get out of our comfort zones. We need to feel comfortable asking questions. These are the things the journalism industry should be concentrating on, especially in a time of economic uncertainty. These ideas, as Woods says, are “an ageless journalistic truth, not new math” (115).

Writing Captions

Until this week, I never knew how hard it was to write captions. I honestly thought photographers had one of the easiest jobs in the world. All they have to do is take a picture and then describe it. Until you have actually written caption, you have no idea how hard that is.

How about writing lead-in captions? The photographers have to not only describe the picture in three words or less, but also have to grab the reader’s attention. It’s not like a headline where you can explain more in the lead. You have to do everything in three words or less. That is not easy. I almost feel lucky that I want to be a reporter and not a photographer.

I know no one except people in our class will be reading this, but this post is meant for people not in journalism. It is a call out to all those people who think being a photographer is so easy. Go to newspaper Web site and try to write a caption or two for stories you know nothing about. Try to write a caption in less than three words and then ask yourself; would people read this story? I am willing to bet you can’t do this as fast as you think. Good luck.

Our Industry

This week, the journalism industry took another big hit. Certain papers have decided to decrease their circulation or even go to online only. This is just another casualty of the economy. This is probably the third or fourth time this semester where we discussed a topic that makes me question why I am going into journalism. Why am I going into journalism? Is it because I have the need to know things? Is it because I want to be underpaid? Is it because I want to do sports writing? The fact is I am not sure. I'm sure I am not alone on this case.

It is hard for a 21-year-old to figure out what he is going to do with the rest of his life.
I think we need to discuss more positive issues in class. We should be talking about why journalism is such a great career. We should talk about how important our future jobs are. Let’s be optimistic for a change.

Diversity

Diversity was the topic this week. Honestly, this has been the most interesting topic we have talked about so far. Before taking this class, I thought that all papers did a good job being diverse. I thought, since we are learning how to be diverse in college, professionals in our field must know how. However, after going over some examples in lecture, I realize that’s not the case. How can a paper expect to be diverse if they don’t have a diverse newsroom? The fact is you can’t. Editor in chiefs need to send their reporters out of their comfort zone. If the reporter is white, send them into the African-American community. If the reporter is Jewish, send him to do a story about a church giving back. Through diversity we can have understanding. But I’m sure all major papers knew that already.

Take a Chance on Language

This week in lecture, we talked about language that newspapers tend to avoid. I am here to tell the publishers to take a chance.
Language is our way of communication. Sometimes, “bad words” are needed to tell a story. Here are two examples.
Let’s say a man was just arrested for killing his wife. The local media got the arrest on tape and some quotes on their recorders. While the police were taking him away, he said to the media, “I killed her because it was my fucking right to kill her.” Now, despite the fact that this quote is crazy, it adds color to the story. Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t reporters supposed to quote color? I realize that papers have to look out for their entire audience, but realistically, who would be reading this story who hasn’t heard the word “fuck” before?
My second example deals with sports. This really bothers me. We see coaches go off on TV swearing every other word. This intensity is what makes sports so great. Why take that away? If a coach says, “We need to beat those cross-town bitches,” it adds flavor to the story. It shows how much these teams despise each other. It creates a better atmosphere at the park. It builds up the rivalry.
This is my call to publishers to take a chance with their language. A good newspaper is careful. A great newspaper takes chances. Anyone agree?

Racism in Papers

This week I would like to address a letter that was written by a DI staff member. Terrell Starr, DI staff reporter, wrote a letter to the Editor in Chief Steve Contorno about the DI’s coverage of the Cotton Club after-party. My first thought was that this letter was going to be another boring editorial. I was wrong.

Terrell’s words really showed me how important is to be careful with our words. In our text, “When Words Collide,” the authors addressed this issue in chapter 12.

“Language should help us appreciate and write about differences among people as it promotes fairness and tolerance.”

Starr hit this rule right on. Starr talked about choosing our words wisely, always keeping in mind the unintentional messages we send to our readers.

“I am writing this to you because I care about the unintentional messages we are sending our readers,” Starr wrote to Contorno.

Honestly, I have never really thought about this issue, other than in journalism classes. I always assumed that the DI, Chicago Tribune and other major newspapers did a good job of fairly representing all races and groups. I never realized that unintentional messages could be inferred from seeing certain headlines next to each other. After reading Starr’s letter, I am always going to be looking for those inadvertent messages papers are sending. Hopefully, through recognizing these messages, I myself will never be the one who sends a mixed message to his readers. Thanks Terrell.