Media Critique - Woman who flipped off Trump motorcade is now running for office in Virginia

On September 12, 2018, WHAS11 published a news story titled: Woman who flipped off Trump motorcade is now running for office in Virginia. This is a violation of two of the Seven Yardsticks of Journalism: Local Relevance and Newsworthiness. 

WHAS11, a local news organization, published a story that originates in Virginia. Because of this, local relevance is violated. This story may sound very interesting to the public, or maybe it is seeminly insignificant and irrelevant. Regardless of the views of the public, this story is not nessecary news. This article is likely newsworthy in Leesburg, Virgina, however, WHAS11 publishes news in and directed towards the local area of Louisville, Kentucky. Just as this story is not locally relevant, it is lacking in newsworthiness. This directly ties into its lack of local relevance. Because it is not locally relevant, it is not newsworthy. 

This does not mean that the story itself does not include these two yardsticks. If this story was published in a local newspaper in Virginia it would definitely include these yardsticks, but it was not published with relevance on WHAS11. To prevent the violation of the ten elements of journalism, or seven yardsticks, the organiztion could simply prevent publishing such stories. "She's hoping others in her district are as angry as she is with the Trump administration and will vote for a finger flipping Democrat." This comes directly from the article and proves that a story can be just as irrelevant as it is intriguing. This is when caution needs to take place. The national public could focus more on relevancies in local news organizations for national improvement in them. Acknowledgement and use of the elements and yardsticks is important.

-Guinn

Response to the 10 Elements of Good Journalism - A Response to Liz Klein's Blog

Liz mentions in her blog (https://elizabethklein01.blogspot.com/) that making the important interesting seems like the most familiar element to her personally. I understand what she means, that this element in particular can be a good guideline to give yourself in your writing. I also believe that this is a goal that journalists work hard for and don't always meet. Occasionally there is an article providing an unrelenting chain of words that doesn't seem to have any relevance to you whatsoever. Journalists do their best to convey stories the public must know in a way that will intrigue the readers.

There are also articles that seem to have no purpose or relevance in your life, but you can not seem to tear your eyes away from the page. When journalists make these mistakes you are able to see that even professionals can occasionally make the mistake of neglecting to follow these expectations. It is very important for journalists to make the important stories interesting, and to spend less time on news stories of little relevance.

-Guinn

Local Relavance: Class Discussion - A Reponse to Evie Reed's Blog

"Out of the seven yardsticks that we talked about, local relevance really stood out to me." This comes directly from Evie Reed's blog (https://eviereedjournalism1.blogspot.com/) and is something that I can relate to. 

Evie mentions how local news stations often present stories of irrelevance in our lives. This fact did not occur to me previously, but is a very true statement. 

If a local news station puts forth an article about a child who has been assaulted in Charleston, West Virginia, people outside of the city do not necessarily need to know about it. If the person who committed the crime was doing similar things all around the country and the news story is expressed through warning the story would definitely be relevant to not only the people in Louisville, but to the national public. 

I believe, as Evie expressed in her blog, that local news organizations often present these unsuitable news stories and need to put more focus onto newsworthiness.

-Guinn

Response to Communication Discussion

I never actually payed attention to the fact that communication comes in different forms. I never really took the time to think about the fact that not all communication is between two individuals. There are three different categories of communication: mass, group, and individual. When I hear the word communication my immediate thought is that between individuals in relationships. In a way the only category, or form of communicating, that I have ever taken the time to appreciate and process is individual communication. This might reign true for others as well. However, our class discussion a few days ago made me realize that there is more to this process than I might have thought. Often things are more interesting, detailed, and complicated than we give them credit for.

I have never really thought about how mass communication (has the potential to reach a mass audience, message travels through time and space, and there is no immediate feedback) is a form of communication. For example, books are words written onto pages and we have the capability to pick them up and read the contents. In the past I did not see this as as form of communication, but I was wrong. This is a form of mass communication; although it has the ability to reach a mass audience, it is still the thoughts and ideas of an individual or individuals being conveyed to the public. In Mr. Miller's class I learned that communication is not always an individual conversation, but that there is more behind the concept.

-Guinn

Response to Binary Models Discussion

Mass comunication can be divided into binary models. One example is hot and cool. When you divide different forms of communication into hot and cool binary models you are able to see which forms of communication demand your full attention and which do not. For example, books will always demand your full attention, so they are a hot binary model. You can do other things while watching television, making it a cool binary model.

However, you can give any of  the cool binary models your full attention. For example, if you had an obsession with Seinfeld you would give it your full attention while you are watching it. In my opinion, this is why it is very difficult to categorize hot and cool binary models.

You can give any of the binary models your full attention which makes it difficult for me to differentiate between the two, however this is also why I enjoy discussing the matter. The difference between the two is very obvious, but at the same time it is difficult to see. We divide communication into three different things: mass, idividual, and group. I think it is intriguing that we can divide each one further.

-Guinn

Response to 10 Elements of Journalism Discussion

The majority of journalists strongly believe in the ten elements of journalism and follow through with them, or they at least strive towards these expectations. Disregard for their importance is, believe it or not, dangerous. Truth, loyalty, verification, independence, watchdog, forum, make the important interesting, inclusive, room for dissent, and analyzation are the ten elements that in the opinion of many are of utmost importance. It is dangerous when these are not given attention because of the inevitable consequences. For example, if journalists were not independent, or separate from certain groups, we would have biased news outlets. If we did not have verification, or multiple sources/witnesses and objective methods, we would not be able to trust our news outlets. If we did not have the truth, well I think it is obvious what would happen in that situation. My point is that lack of participation in each and every one of these elements would be consequential. A large amount of the American public will not question the validity of the news making them oblvious to bias and lack of truth. I am not saying that our country is plagued with dishonesty. In fact this is a bold, biased, false, and an uneducated statement, but I am saying that if a single news story has a lack of sources and witnesses, or an article has one unchecked fact we are not being loyal to our public. Fox News is most often told from a conservative viewpoint and this fact is widely acknowledged, however I don't believe there should be any left or right wing news outlets. If all of our news outlets were unbiased the public would have no choice but to make up their own opinion. In my opinion the greatest resposibility of a journalist is to present citizens with independent and truthful news so that they can come up with their own independent, ideas, thought processes, and opinions. 

-Guinn

Response to Conglomeration Discussion

Disney is something I am personally passionate about. I personally like how each of its subsets are synergized. However, that does not mean every little corner and crevice of the company is as bright and shiny as it is made out to be. The Walt Disney Company is one of the largest conglomerates in America, but what exactly is a conglomerate? Mr. Miller’s journalism class taught me that a conglomerate is when one company (usually an already successful company) essentially absorbs another company, or buys another company.

I guarantee you Disney owns a company you might think of as independent. This exponentially successful company owns Touchstone Pictures (Dead Poets Society, The Waterboy, etc.) , ABC, Marvel, Lucasfilm (Star Wars), Pixar, Hollywood Records, eighty percent of ESPN, fifty percent of The History Channel, etc. This bit of information sounds overwhelming.

You might think that Disney sounds like some sort of monopoly. You are not wrong. Disney is a vertical monopoly. However, this is legal in the United States. This means that Disney owns something in each part of the communication process. While to some this may sound slightly frightening. I personally do not have much of a problem with it. In my opinion, Disney strives for purely good intentions, and is simply extremely successful. Everything they do is to benefit the people, and make money in the process. However, to make money they have to please the people in some way, meaning that this is most likely their primary goal.

Other companies similar to Disney, such as Microsoft, strive for similar goals. In fact I believe most companies begin with good intentions. It is when the sole power source is corrupted, that the companies’ ideals become warped with twisted premeditation. To contradict what I have previously said, you cannot necessarily judge a business without thorough investigation, whether you judge something lightly or harshly. You can, however, merely have an opinion on a matter.

-Guinn