I began reading Farhad Manjoo’s book True Enough: Learning To Live In a Post-Fact Society expecting to just get through it and get a grade for reading it. After two weeks of reading, and class discussion, I believe I am now a more open person, and a better journalist.
I have never been assigned to read a book in a class that I have taken more out of, or that has opened my eyes to more things. Instead of reading this and taking a quiz on it, I started to notice myself thinking about what he was saying, and questioning our current type of “journalism.” In all honesty, this was one of the few times in my collegiate career that I felt like I was in an actual journalism class.
Me saying that is not necessarily a knock on previous courses or teachers, but I believe that this book, and its ideas sparked a deep interest inside of me in the way we think of journalism. Instead of learning about how journalism has always been, I found myself thinking about where journalism is going, and whether or not where it is heading is good.
I have had my thoughts and ideas about journalism, and the current change that our industry is going through, and this book helped to show me that my ideas and beliefs may be true. I feel like the type of journalism that we have come to know will soon become the journalism of tomorrow, and despite the fact that people may think this is a bad thing, I believe it is a necessary change.
The first aspect of journalism that Manjoo discussed that really interested me was the fact that people don’t necessarily choose a side of an argument, but rather they side with someone who makes the argument for them. People tend to agree with a certain news anchor, analyst or station. This is what has caused the switch from, “unbiased, straight-fact” journalism to “opinion and hard-stance” journalism throughout the last couple of decades.
In a world of hundreds of TV stations, multiple newspaper cities, twitter, cell phones, the internet and blogs, the way people get their news is completely different. People now have more power than ever to determine what is important to them. The public chooses what they want to hear, and who they want to hear it from.
This subject was the most interesting to me, because for a long time I have felt that people only want to listen to news that has the same viewpoints and ideals as they do. People choose their favorite newspaper or news station, based on their ideals, and who is associated with that company.
I think this is not just a trend, but it could very well be the future of journalism. We now have opinionated blogs, twitter and opinionated news networks that people turn to to find out what is happening in the world, and the more that people watch or subscribe to this type of “news” the more journalism will switch to news with opinions.
For many in the journalism world, this is very troubling. We are all taught to think that journalism should be unbiased while presenting the facts and both sides of the story.
If there is one thing that I have learned from Manjoo’s book, it is to question everyone and everything. That is what I did with this issue. Is this type of journalism bad, or can we take this stance and run with it?
Who is to say that multiple networks with different viewpoints shouldn’t just give the news with their opinions and stance on each subject? Wouldn’t that at least be more responsible? Shouldn’t news come out and say their biases and let viewers decide what they want to believe instead of pretending that they are neutral?
I think this may be the new type of journalism that we will see in the future. People will only listen to who they want to believe, but there will be many different opinions out there for people to base their decisions on.
Journalists now-a-days are so worried that the industry is dying, and that we are getting away from our roots, but I believe that we are just adapting to the new type of audience that we have. People want everything that they want to know delivered to them with all the details in a concise form. So, if this is true, why don’t we change the way we give people the news? I know this blog was not meant to give our crazy ideas on where we think journalism is going, but that is what Manjoo’s book did to me. It made me want to be proactive in changing the journalism world, instead of just letting our field die out. If I can do it, why can’t everyone else?
I would love to discuss all of the little details and ideas that Manjoo expressed in his book, but the overall theme was the most important to me. We have to rethink what people want from the news, and we have to rethink the way we give it to them. Keep asking. Keep questioning. Keep reporting. And most importantly keep rethink ourselves and everyone else. Those should be our roots as journalists.
The world may be changing, but who said change had to be bad?
As journalists, our role is to inform the public about issues that are important to them, so why are we doing it in ways that are not capturing their attention. The public has evolved, and now it is time for the news industry to do the same.
The public doesn’t trust politicians, they don’t trust advertising, they don’t trust the media. The current system is broken, and I will not sit around and let the current way of journalism just die out. It is time to revamp journalism, not just at the national level, but locally and we have to begin finding and teaching these new ideas and ways of communication in our journalism schools.
I, for one, am glad that one of my teachers has seen this, and I am glad we were exposed to this book.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Justice Served
A gavel is a powerful tool.
Last week, I took my second visit to the county courthouse in hopes of observing on a closer level the type of people, business and proceedings that happen there. What I found was somewhat shocking, but also reassuring.
I spent much of the first hour of my trip looking through the records for my public profile. I wanted to find documents that would help me paint a picture of my person’s past, but I also wanted to go through the public records process to see what was good about it and what needed to be changed.
To my surprise, the people in the records department were extremely outgoing and helpful to me while looking for different types of documents. It wasn’t a difficult process, and I actually the employees seemed genuinely interested in helping me find things that I needed, even if I didn’t necessarily always know what I should be looking for.
The second thing I wanted to achieve in my visit to the court was to examine and observe the people that were there. I wanted to see what people said, did, wore and how they interacted with other people there. I wanted to see how people acted while they didn’t think people were watching.
I made my way up to the cafeteria, and I grabbed a seat next to the glass railing overlooking the entrance. In my half hour eating and “people-watching,” I saw a person wearing a tall t-shirt with a picture of Elmo on it. He headed to the trial part of the building. I saw a woman with seven kids pick one of her children up by the leg and drag them to the escalator. I saw blacks, I saw whites, I saw young and I saw old. I noticed that people take the court system in different ways.
I saw people there in suits with lawyers and I saw people in pajama pants and sunglasses. I think what I learned is that the court system gives everyone their opportunity to express their side of a story, and an opportunity to apologize and make up for their wrong doings.
After observing the courthouse, I wanted to see the judicial system in action.
I headed to the felony trial court.
In the court, I listened to a couple of trials, but I wanted to see one that I thought could make a good public record story.
After a few cases, I listened to a trial of a middle-aged white male who was using public records to determine which houses he wanted to rob. He was a former UPS worker who was laid off, and needed income. Instead of finding a new job, he would log onto the internet and find out the property values of houses, and he said, “I would rob from the rich.”
The current-day Robin Hood was sentenced to 15 years for many cases of armed robbery.
Criminals, meet the gavel.
Last week, I took my second visit to the county courthouse in hopes of observing on a closer level the type of people, business and proceedings that happen there. What I found was somewhat shocking, but also reassuring.
I spent much of the first hour of my trip looking through the records for my public profile. I wanted to find documents that would help me paint a picture of my person’s past, but I also wanted to go through the public records process to see what was good about it and what needed to be changed.
To my surprise, the people in the records department were extremely outgoing and helpful to me while looking for different types of documents. It wasn’t a difficult process, and I actually the employees seemed genuinely interested in helping me find things that I needed, even if I didn’t necessarily always know what I should be looking for.
The second thing I wanted to achieve in my visit to the court was to examine and observe the people that were there. I wanted to see what people said, did, wore and how they interacted with other people there. I wanted to see how people acted while they didn’t think people were watching.
I made my way up to the cafeteria, and I grabbed a seat next to the glass railing overlooking the entrance. In my half hour eating and “people-watching,” I saw a person wearing a tall t-shirt with a picture of Elmo on it. He headed to the trial part of the building. I saw a woman with seven kids pick one of her children up by the leg and drag them to the escalator. I saw blacks, I saw whites, I saw young and I saw old. I noticed that people take the court system in different ways.
I saw people there in suits with lawyers and I saw people in pajama pants and sunglasses. I think what I learned is that the court system gives everyone their opportunity to express their side of a story, and an opportunity to apologize and make up for their wrong doings.
After observing the courthouse, I wanted to see the judicial system in action.
I headed to the felony trial court.
In the court, I listened to a couple of trials, but I wanted to see one that I thought could make a good public record story.
After a few cases, I listened to a trial of a middle-aged white male who was using public records to determine which houses he wanted to rob. He was a former UPS worker who was laid off, and needed income. Instead of finding a new job, he would log onto the internet and find out the property values of houses, and he said, “I would rob from the rich.”
The current-day Robin Hood was sentenced to 15 years for many cases of armed robbery.
Criminals, meet the gavel.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Meeting No. 2, Or Lack There Of
I recently attended a Tampa City Council Meeting to satisfy my second meeting requirement, and I was surprised at how this one went.
In my first meeting, I was exposed to a variety of different types of business, such as creating bike lanes for the Courtney Campbell Causeway, as well as many Tampa Improvement plans. It was a very interesting meeting to go to, to find out what was going on in my city.
My second meeting was not as intriguing.
Three of the chair people were missing from this meeting, which I feel helped add to the lack of productivity for the council. They only had five of the eight people attend the meeting, and most of the business regarded setting up dates to meet for the next couple of months.
I felt like that if I was attending a City Council meeting, that it should be packed full of business that needed to get done, but ended up leaving unsatisfied, and questioning what was so important to the council members that three had to miss it.
While at the meeting, I kept looking around at citizens who wanted their ideas and plans to be heard, just for them to get tabled at a later date.
I got the impression that if you are appointed to the City Council, that is should be a requirement for you to attend the City Council meetings, but there were three who did not feel the same way.
The Council did address the merging of the “Tampa Convention Center and Tourism Director and the Neighborhood Services Administrator to be called Convention Center, Tourism, Recreation and Cultural Administrator and the reorganization and renaming of various departments,” which seemed like a big deal to me, because I thought that it would mean job cuts.
If I were writing a piece for a newspaper on this part of the meeting, I would look into what this meant for the people that worked for the two departments, to see how many jobs that would cut, and who may have lost their jobs.
I would want to take a look at the budget’s for both departments, to see if there was any unnecessary spending that was taking place that could have been cut before those jobs were. I would also want the records of the Tampa Convention Center and Tourism Director as well as the records of the neighborhood Services Administrator. By examining these two positions, and who held them, you can begin to piece together information to tell you why the positions were joined, and to see why there was convergence.
Overall, I found an interesting story idea, with a great deal of public records behind it, but I also came out saddened by the attendance of the Council members.
In my first meeting, I was exposed to a variety of different types of business, such as creating bike lanes for the Courtney Campbell Causeway, as well as many Tampa Improvement plans. It was a very interesting meeting to go to, to find out what was going on in my city.
My second meeting was not as intriguing.
Three of the chair people were missing from this meeting, which I feel helped add to the lack of productivity for the council. They only had five of the eight people attend the meeting, and most of the business regarded setting up dates to meet for the next couple of months.
I felt like that if I was attending a City Council meeting, that it should be packed full of business that needed to get done, but ended up leaving unsatisfied, and questioning what was so important to the council members that three had to miss it.
While at the meeting, I kept looking around at citizens who wanted their ideas and plans to be heard, just for them to get tabled at a later date.
I got the impression that if you are appointed to the City Council, that is should be a requirement for you to attend the City Council meetings, but there were three who did not feel the same way.
The Council did address the merging of the “Tampa Convention Center and Tourism Director and the Neighborhood Services Administrator to be called Convention Center, Tourism, Recreation and Cultural Administrator and the reorganization and renaming of various departments,” which seemed like a big deal to me, because I thought that it would mean job cuts.
If I were writing a piece for a newspaper on this part of the meeting, I would look into what this meant for the people that worked for the two departments, to see how many jobs that would cut, and who may have lost their jobs.
I would want to take a look at the budget’s for both departments, to see if there was any unnecessary spending that was taking place that could have been cut before those jobs were. I would also want the records of the Tampa Convention Center and Tourism Director as well as the records of the neighborhood Services Administrator. By examining these two positions, and who held them, you can begin to piece together information to tell you why the positions were joined, and to see why there was convergence.
Overall, I found an interesting story idea, with a great deal of public records behind it, but I also came out saddened by the attendance of the Council members.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Tampa City Council: Stories Buried In Boredom
I decided to attend a Tampa City Council meeting on March 11 for my meeting assignment for a variety of reasons. One reason was because I had never attended a city council meeting, and I felt that the Tampa one would have the most important “newsworthy” topics to report on. Another reason being that I live in Tampa, and I felt that it would be beneficial for me to see what is going on in the council meeting that affects me the most, and the area that I live in.
I decided to attend the meeting to see what story ideas that I could take out of it. Once I found story ideas, then I could use the ideas to figure out which public records I would need to do the reporting.
At first, I thought the meeting would be hard to follow, and that I would not be able to take much out of the dry format of it. With all the motions and voting on every aspect of the meeting, it is a little hard to find out what is important. They were discussing the amendments to the Tampa Comprehensive Plan, which is a plan of upgrades and changes that need to be made in the city. There were a few proposals and ideas that were discussed, such as using land near Rocky point for Community use, even though it had previously been residential use.
There were some stories and discussions that I felt would make for good stories, such as where they should locate the train station once the high speed train is built, but there was one discussion that stood out to me.
They talked about a pedestrian that had been struck by a car and killed on the Courtney Campbell Causeway, and addressed reasons for why it happened. They said how there is no way for pedestrians, bicyclists or anyone not in an automobile to cross the Causeway, or to travel to the other side.
This is a major issue for many people who are not fortunate enough to have a car, and must travel by foot or by bike. I looked at this part of the meeting as I believe a journalist would… There is a problem that affects many residents in Tampa. There is a disaster (the person being struck to death), and there is strong support for change.
The changes suggested include building or incorporating a walkway, or a bicycle path that is shielded and protected for motorists. This would allow for easy travel across the causeway for automobiles and pedestrians as well as bicyclists. I feel as though the story is perfect for television news, because it has a background, as well as a proposal and a plan to change an area in which many Tampa residents use each day.
I decided to attend the meeting to see what story ideas that I could take out of it. Once I found story ideas, then I could use the ideas to figure out which public records I would need to do the reporting.
At first, I thought the meeting would be hard to follow, and that I would not be able to take much out of the dry format of it. With all the motions and voting on every aspect of the meeting, it is a little hard to find out what is important. They were discussing the amendments to the Tampa Comprehensive Plan, which is a plan of upgrades and changes that need to be made in the city. There were a few proposals and ideas that were discussed, such as using land near Rocky point for Community use, even though it had previously been residential use.
There were some stories and discussions that I felt would make for good stories, such as where they should locate the train station once the high speed train is built, but there was one discussion that stood out to me.
They talked about a pedestrian that had been struck by a car and killed on the Courtney Campbell Causeway, and addressed reasons for why it happened. They said how there is no way for pedestrians, bicyclists or anyone not in an automobile to cross the Causeway, or to travel to the other side.
This is a major issue for many people who are not fortunate enough to have a car, and must travel by foot or by bike. I looked at this part of the meeting as I believe a journalist would… There is a problem that affects many residents in Tampa. There is a disaster (the person being struck to death), and there is strong support for change.
The changes suggested include building or incorporating a walkway, or a bicycle path that is shielded and protected for motorists. This would allow for easy travel across the causeway for automobiles and pedestrians as well as bicyclists. I feel as though the story is perfect for television news, because it has a background, as well as a proposal and a plan to change an area in which many Tampa residents use each day.
Milage, Budgets, and some Valuable Trigg Information
Milage seems like it is a little outdated.
I want to start by trying to define Milage, which is something Preston Trigg talked to us about in our most recent visit. It is very complicated, and I believe there could be better systems, but here it goes…
Milage is a formula for determining the amount of taxable property value that the government can charge you taxes on. Pheww… Now let’s get to the specifics.
Milage has to do with property taxes, and how much you can be taxed on based on the value of your home. A “mil” is equal to 1/1000th, and a “mil” is equal to $1000 of property taxes. Based on the value of your home, the government sets how many mils you can be taxed on.
Now, if I haven’t killed my readership by defining that, we can move on.
Trigg has visited us before, and the thing that amazes me the most about him is his mindset towards his job. Trigg works for the Hillsborough County Tax Collector’s Office, but he doesn’t come off as someone working for a government agency.
Trigg comes to us with a reporter’s mindset, which is a great learning tool for us. As reporters, we will be dealing with people and offices like Trigg and the Hillsborough County Tax Collector. The way he describes things to us, is advice from a reporter, but with an insider’s perspective.
He tells us all the different hoops we will have to jump through to get what we want and he always tells us little tips to look for when investigating something. I have taken a lot out of his two visits.
He came to talk to us about budgets, and what to look for such as what increases in the budget could be suspect. Trigg broke down a budget into three simple areas Personnel, Capital and Operating.
Personnel includes salaries, benefits and costs related to having a staff.
Capital purchases are usually over $1,000 and include large expenses for companies (keep an eye out for these expenses).
The last part is the operating budget. This usually includes utilities, leases, education, travel and food costs. Pretty much anything that is required to OPERATE the company. This is another area to keep an eye on.
Learning how to read and understand a companies budget is a very useful and valuable skillset, and I am glad we got the opportunity to learn it from a “former” journalist.
I want to start by trying to define Milage, which is something Preston Trigg talked to us about in our most recent visit. It is very complicated, and I believe there could be better systems, but here it goes…
Milage is a formula for determining the amount of taxable property value that the government can charge you taxes on. Pheww… Now let’s get to the specifics.
Milage has to do with property taxes, and how much you can be taxed on based on the value of your home. A “mil” is equal to 1/1000th, and a “mil” is equal to $1000 of property taxes. Based on the value of your home, the government sets how many mils you can be taxed on.
Now, if I haven’t killed my readership by defining that, we can move on.
Trigg has visited us before, and the thing that amazes me the most about him is his mindset towards his job. Trigg works for the Hillsborough County Tax Collector’s Office, but he doesn’t come off as someone working for a government agency.
Trigg comes to us with a reporter’s mindset, which is a great learning tool for us. As reporters, we will be dealing with people and offices like Trigg and the Hillsborough County Tax Collector. The way he describes things to us, is advice from a reporter, but with an insider’s perspective.
He tells us all the different hoops we will have to jump through to get what we want and he always tells us little tips to look for when investigating something. I have taken a lot out of his two visits.
He came to talk to us about budgets, and what to look for such as what increases in the budget could be suspect. Trigg broke down a budget into three simple areas Personnel, Capital and Operating.
Personnel includes salaries, benefits and costs related to having a staff.
Capital purchases are usually over $1,000 and include large expenses for companies (keep an eye out for these expenses).
The last part is the operating budget. This usually includes utilities, leases, education, travel and food costs. Pretty much anything that is required to OPERATE the company. This is another area to keep an eye on.
Learning how to read and understand a companies budget is a very useful and valuable skillset, and I am glad we got the opportunity to learn it from a “former” journalist.
Monday, March 22, 2010
"The End Point For Public Records"
Our visit to the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner’s office may have been the most chilling one that we have taken this year… literally.
I had always heard that the medical examiner’s office was cold, but I didn’t realize it until the tour. Being there put everything into perspective for me on a personal level, as well as a journalist.
As we have visited the many places throughout the first half of this semester, I have learned about public records, and the different places that you can go to find out things you need for a story, but I have also learned a lot more than that.
I have learned not to take anything for granted, and that it is important to stay on your track, otherwise things can go downhill very quickly.
One quote summed up the medical examiner for me.
“This is the end point for public records for people.”
It is chilling to hear. All our lives, we are compiling public records, but once you end up at the medical examiner, and they fill out that death certificate, there is nothing else to find out.
We have followed the paths of certain people through public records, and it was an unbelievable experience to see it all come to an end, but that is the reality of reporting.
It is not all warm stories, and funny features. Sometimes it is about the cold, hard truth. As journalists, we have to program ourselves to look for exactly that, the truth. In journalism, it is all about supplying the public with the truth, and sometimes that means know that all cremations require an autopsy, or to know what records are public and what are private and reserved for the next of kin.
What is nice to know, is that the final resting place for public records for a person, in this case, the medical examiner, is that they are fair, open and honest with everything they do. I was surprised to know how well, and how open the Hillsborough office was, and that is reassuring as a person as well as a journalist.
I had always heard that the medical examiner’s office was cold, but I didn’t realize it until the tour. Being there put everything into perspective for me on a personal level, as well as a journalist.
As we have visited the many places throughout the first half of this semester, I have learned about public records, and the different places that you can go to find out things you need for a story, but I have also learned a lot more than that.
I have learned not to take anything for granted, and that it is important to stay on your track, otherwise things can go downhill very quickly.
One quote summed up the medical examiner for me.
“This is the end point for public records for people.”
It is chilling to hear. All our lives, we are compiling public records, but once you end up at the medical examiner, and they fill out that death certificate, there is nothing else to find out.
We have followed the paths of certain people through public records, and it was an unbelievable experience to see it all come to an end, but that is the reality of reporting.
It is not all warm stories, and funny features. Sometimes it is about the cold, hard truth. As journalists, we have to program ourselves to look for exactly that, the truth. In journalism, it is all about supplying the public with the truth, and sometimes that means know that all cremations require an autopsy, or to know what records are public and what are private and reserved for the next of kin.
What is nice to know, is that the final resting place for public records for a person, in this case, the medical examiner, is that they are fair, open and honest with everything they do. I was surprised to know how well, and how open the Hillsborough office was, and that is reassuring as a person as well as a journalist.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Finding A Story At The Courthouse
We went to the Hillsborough County Courthouse looking for information on how to report stories. What I took out of the trip was the fact that there is a story there already.
The Courthouse has been forced to cut budgets and spending, including forcing employees to take furlough, or days off without pay. These furloughs force the courthouse to be short-staffed, and they are not able to handle all of the cases that they need to.
The courthouse was a very nice building located in downtown Tampa, and from first look, it appeared like it was a well-run machine. Get in, get charge, get out. From the outside, there was a bustle of people coming and going, and detour signs sending everyone in 100 different directions.
It appeared that the courthouse was thriving, but in essence, they are struggling to keep up.
When we finally got through security, we were joined by Pat Frank and her staff, who began to tell us about what they handle on a day-to-day basis. What surprised me with Frank, was how frank she was, no pun intended. She WANTED us to know about the problems that they were having. She told us about the cuts she was forced to make, and she discussed what other things could be cut from the courthouse.
Facing eight percent budget cuts could cripple the amount that the courthouse can do to help protect and serve the county.
It was interesting to hear her perspective on the legislature, and what they were doing to “help.” She served on the state legislature, and knows the problems from a local and state level, and she knows how they go about handling them.
She seemed genuinely upset that she was going to have to make more cuts. I think that I went to the courthouse to learn different ways to cover stories, but what I actually found was a big story in itself. There are problems down at the courthouse, and they need to be solved.
The Courthouse has been forced to cut budgets and spending, including forcing employees to take furlough, or days off without pay. These furloughs force the courthouse to be short-staffed, and they are not able to handle all of the cases that they need to.
The courthouse was a very nice building located in downtown Tampa, and from first look, it appeared like it was a well-run machine. Get in, get charge, get out. From the outside, there was a bustle of people coming and going, and detour signs sending everyone in 100 different directions.
It appeared that the courthouse was thriving, but in essence, they are struggling to keep up.
When we finally got through security, we were joined by Pat Frank and her staff, who began to tell us about what they handle on a day-to-day basis. What surprised me with Frank, was how frank she was, no pun intended. She WANTED us to know about the problems that they were having. She told us about the cuts she was forced to make, and she discussed what other things could be cut from the courthouse.
Facing eight percent budget cuts could cripple the amount that the courthouse can do to help protect and serve the county.
It was interesting to hear her perspective on the legislature, and what they were doing to “help.” She served on the state legislature, and knows the problems from a local and state level, and she knows how they go about handling them.
She seemed genuinely upset that she was going to have to make more cuts. I think that I went to the courthouse to learn different ways to cover stories, but what I actually found was a big story in itself. There are problems down at the courthouse, and they need to be solved.
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