Major Wars

Otherwise entitled, "An Argument With Myself Over Switching Majors for the Third Time."

Being in a writing mood, I started arguing with myself on Facebook. Yes. I did. I blame finals. Anyway, it all started with my status, "...I hate my life right now..." Which was a stupid, emo thing to say--but again, I blame finals. Two of my friends commented, and I felt I had to explain to them what was up. Besides, I needed to vent. So, here's the transcript:

Me: I'm wishing I hadn't switched my major... and finals kills everything. Heck, global warming (or pollution) takes too long! Just have year-round finals!

Me: But my new major has potential. I mean, who wouldn't kill for a good chance to rustle through archives! I've dreamed of it since... well, since I found out about awesomeness and libraries.

Me: But on the other hand, I've been bombarded with the awesomeness that is journalism. Why did I let myself get so freaked?

Me: On the other hand, who wants to spend the first few years of working life LIVING in the office? Especially when I'm planning on taking time to live at home. Let the men live at the office; I like home better, anyway.

Me: But then there's the question of dedication. If I won't dedicate myself in my career, who says I'll dedicate myself to more important matters?

Me: Priorities? Spend your time on what's more important.

Me: You could have left off the explanation and had a killer one-liner.

Me: Tangent. But now for the conclusion: I shouldn't hate life; being at a crossroads (or several, for that matter) is crazy, but a blessing, because it shows what an exciting point in my life I'm at, and I don't like boring, anyway. So I should be grateful.
And just to get the final word: One-liner's are REALLY important to happiness in general. Not.

Me: (I'll let that pass, being the magnanimous person I am.) That's the thing about having so many fantasies about what I could do with my life: if I'm indecisive, and lose one opportunity, I have another one. And another one. And another one.

Needless to say, I probably have some annoyed people who regret leaving their comments on my status in the first place. But thanks to them, I have had yet another small, but fruitful, talk with myself, and am in a better mood to do my take-home final. Yay!
On a side note, I'M GETTING MARRIED IN SIX DAYS!
Yeah, who am I to complain? I've got life so good.

Journalism According to Jon DuPre

For my journalism class, I completed an interview with Jon DuPre, a broadcaster who works for ABC 4 in Salt Lake. Basing my questions off the rubric Dr. Cressman provided, I succeeded in conducting a great interview. I learned many good things and some fascinating bits of recent history.

Jon DuPre was discouraged from following in his father’s footsteps as a lawyer, but he wanted to advocate for people, and so he decided on print journalism. As it happened, he accidentally took a broadcasting class instead of print. He liked the field’s use of pictures and sound, as well as words, so he stayed in the program. His first job was at KTVX in his senior year at BYU. As with other broadcasters, he worked long hours, filled in for others’ sick days and vacations, worked on holidays, and was paid very little for his efforts. But he loved it.

His definition of good journalism is to get the facts, double-source them, then double-check them. More than that, however, it is the responsibility to “tell the story behind the story;” in other words, to explain the situation and what the facts on the surface mean.

In my Communications 101 class, we watched “Outfoxed,” a documentary about the Fox network and Rupert Murdock. The movie’s purpose was to expose what the producers deemed bad journalism. In light of this, and the fact that Jon DuPre worked for Fox News in the past, I asked him what his thoughts were on the subject. “It’s a different sort of company,” he answered thoughtfully. “It has a particular political preference and serves a particular audience, namely conservative Republicans.” As for practicing good journalism, he replied, “I did seek to get the story behind the story, but the stories were supposed to appeal to a specific audience.”

Also necessary for good journalism is serving one’s community. Storytelling has its purpose, Mr. DuPre said, in helping people to make better-informed decisions. “I hope the people who watch are a little bit smarter and better at protecting themselves and their money.” For instance, he covered a story exposing NuSkin as a pyramid scheme in 1992. People were informed, and the company was forced to restructure.

Through journalism, Mr. DuPre feels that he has made a difference, advocating for the people. He told me of a Tooele woman who was charged for the murder of her ex-husband, and that the county attorney was corrupt and inept. He says the woman probably would have been acquitted without the story (her ex-husband was trying to kill her with a crowbar, and she acted in defense of herself and her children), but the attorney might not have been exposed. The benefit of the story was that the county attorney was exposed, and therefore couldn’t harm others in the future. In telling the story, I felt that being able to make a difference was the highlight of Mr. DuPre’s career.

Journalism has its difficulties, however. Due to the economic recession, a news source cannot afford to lose its company advertising, and therefore cannot say things against that company. Also, in order to get the audience interested, news operations have to focus more on entertainment and celebrity gossip, he told me. But why must news people do things they didn’t have to before in order to gain an audience?

He didn’t say this, but it appears that new technology and social media has made it possible for the so-called audience to gather and share news without watching the ten o’clock newscast. I asked him what his views were on the changing environment. “We have to put primary emphasis on posting news and information on the website immediately,” he told me. “The secondary interest is gathering and preparing it for news at six and ten.” That system poses a shorter deadline for verifying sources, and makes the job much different.

Social media has changed the news environment in other ways as well. Because of the internet, people can blog and Twitter news as it happens, making people less inclined to wait for the news report. His reaction to bloggers was simple. “I think that a lot of [social media] is valuable in that it encourages people to communicate, share their stories, share information; but it also allows for a lot of dissemination of misinformation,” he explained to me. “It’s important to know the difference between that and information that’s been validated. I get information from people. I think it’s valuable as long as you know the difference.”

After covering a few of the pros and cons of being a journalist, I asked him what advice he would give to students wanting to go into journalism. He answered immediately, “Don’t.” A brief laugh, and then he continued. “No, I’m kidding. Sort of, but not really. Something Walter Cronkite said, ‘If you’re not willing to do it for free, don’t do it.’ You have to be passionate about it. It’s hard work and crazy hours, and a thankless job, and as soon as you’re finished with your day’s work, you have to start over tomorrow. There’s never a time when you can rest, because news is always happening.”

The words are telling, but what impressed me was how he said them. I could hear how much he loves his job, and that to him it is all worth doing. There was one last word of advice he gave me, though. “Make sure you pay attention to every word Dr. Cressman says, because he is the smartest person in the business. He’s, like, borderline genius when it comes to news.” With the semester over, I wish I would have gotten the interview sooner. However, I have learned a lot, and hope to use the information I learned in whatever I do in my life. I have to love my job, and be willing to put forth the effort and do it well.

Code of Ethics

The season for evaluation has come. My topic for this post is to detail my personal code of ethics in journalism.
A journalist should have his or her first loyalty to tell people the truth. Although money, in many instances, "makes the world go 'round," I believe that people will trust those who have integrity. Not being a journalism major, however, I will apply this to Family History as well as journalism. In order to publish, or give a good report to clients, I must research thoroughly and present things in a proportionate way. In doing so, I will be completing my work with integrity. It frustrates me to see paintings in which people aren't portrayed with their own faces. Writing about someone's family history also creates a portrait; it would not be ethical to portray people in a way that historians, looking back, could date another historian's work by the stereotypical qualities integrated in the history. Newspapers, too, have their stereotypes. For instance, the name "yellow journalism" has significance because of the trend of reporters during that time. If we reported on the news of that era, it would be different, because while the trend of sensationalism still lives, making stories up is looked down upon when it comes to serious news (although fun stories like Bat Boy and Tiger Woods' mistresses are still contrived as junk news).
Due to the history of American journalism, I think that the news today is mainly divided into two categories: tabloid stories and substantial news. Everyone reads tabloids because they are so eye-catching. And if the purpose of writing is to entertain rather than inform, and people know that, I feel it is an honorable way to make money. Mark Twain did it on the radio, and everyone loved it.
Serious news, however, has had a good readership, because highly educated people have typically wanted more bulk and less drama. The honor of news writing is in informing the readers of the world around them. Not interfering with their ability to make decisions for themselves, or providing balanced information, despite taking a political stand.
To apply that to writing family histories, I believe that a historian should avoid tabloidisticity, unless it is a book like "1776 and All That." This is my ethics code, and I hope to fulfill it.