Liar Liar .. You Don't Win.. Ever.

As an aspiring journalist I have high hopes and goals set for me. But would I lie to get to the top? I think not. Not only would I be disappointing those around me, but I am almost 100% sure my grandpa would 'give me a whippin' as they say. As a child I was taught that lying was a 'no-no' and it hurts others. I took that in stride and told little lies here and there... "Yes I did my homework Dad". But to lie about the work I write, or to make something up completely?? That is just way out of my league. That takes more time to do than to actually write the story yourself.

Stephan Glass apparently thought it was the easy way out. After watching the movie Shattered Glass, I am amazed that someone would go to such lengths to make sure they are number one and to have people like them. It is obvious that Mr. Glass was (and maybe still is) a people pleaser. He needs constant reassurance that he isn't in trouble or to make sure no one is mad at him. He also undertakes going after a law degree because it is what his parents want.

While I can understand why Mr. Glass fabricated over 25 different stories while working for The New Republic, it does not make it morally right. As a journalist I think that you are taking an unspoken oath to “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth”. Journalists are the eyes and ears of the people and it their job to make sure the people know what is really going on. The stories Stephan Glass made up not only damaged his credibility but the credibility of the magazine. Once you lose the peoples trust it is hard to gain it back. By lying and falsifying the things he did, Stephen Glass broke the oath of a journalist.

Set The Mood .. I Mean Tone

A recent chapter reading was presented to the students of En212. It was information pertaining to storytelling and techniques to use when writing a feature piece. In the section that was containing tips on narrative writing I found an interesting technique that I had never given much thought too - creating a 'tone' for your pieces. As a writer I have never thought too hard on the tone of my pieces, but in a way I think that it comes naturally to some. I reread several pieces I wrote in the past, and I think I did a good job on helping the reader 'see' the picture I was creating for them.

"She's the crazy one," Jeni said as all three sat bundled in coats and hats and wrapped in fleece blankets. Carolyn Smith cooked Thanksgiving dinner and delivered it to the three women."

"A row of brand-new tents along the sidewalk beyond the Smith encampment indicated that Walmart had won at least one round of early shopping sales."

Both of these quotes from an article about Black Friday customers creates a picture that readers can 'see'. This writer takes the tips that the textbook provides and intwines them within her article. Just by reading the short excerpts above, you can imagine how cold and the measure the customers were taking to make sure that they were first in line for the annual Black Friday deals.

Web Journalism : Helpful or Horrifying ?

“Interactivity can be as simple as providing a discussion question at the end of the story or as complex as creating searchable databases for school test scores or crime statistics.” (255)

While this textbook excerpt is true, there are also many downfalls to having an interactive news page/blog. Things can go wrong and decrease your credibility. Many users think the interactivity is a great thing because it allows the readers to become involved with the news that they are wanting. But at the same time, these users are the first to complain that something isn’t working correctly. And if one link isn’t working, someone has to use time to fix it; this time could be used in a different area to improve the site instead of repairing.

As En 212 quickly found out, interactive work is difficult. Though it was not interactive with the readers, we were working on the same documents at the same time. This quickly leads to frustrations and headaches. In the end our work came out pretty good. All of the pictures were added by photographers, the writers managed to get everything they wanted into the piece, and the videographers finally got their slideshows to work. So even though there is not a link for a discussion board, or a “searchable database”, there was a lot of interactive work involved.

This type of work is difficult and can lead to much more stress in the journalism field. However in the end, I think that having interactivity is worth it because you build bonds with your readers, or in En 212 case your classmates, and this makes a difference in the long run.

The finished product is available right here !