Good night and a Good movie

A little background

Before we dive into the movie it’s better to get some background.  The movie is based on a famous reporter who pretty much turned into a personality.  His name, Edward R. Murrow.  Heard of him? Unless you are over the age of 27 you probably haven’t.  Don’t worry though, it doesn’t mean you or uncultured or ignorant.  It just means you don’t have the self motivation of crack a book open.  (I now must state that i was joking in the previous sentences as to not offend anyone.) Back to the subject at hand, Edward R. Murrow.  He was a renowned journalist and TV broadcaster known for his integrity and outstanding ethics in the field of journalism.  Murrow has covered an array of topics over his 20+ journalism.  His most famous topics come from things such as World War II, and his very public disagreeance with Mccarthyism.

Fred Friendly was a producer who worked on See It Now with Murrow.

Below is a picture of the actual Edward R. Murrow

The Movie

The Movie starts out with Murrow giving a a speech in front of an audience.  It then flashes to other scenes which further to explain the background of the story.  The premise of the movie is based on Edward Murrows crusade to expose to truth of Mccarthy’s campaign against Communism.  At the time not a lot of news sources went after Mccarthy for fear of being accused of being Communists.  There is an all star leading cast in this film.  David Strathairn stars as Murrow and was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal in this movie.  He makes Edward seem very stern while still being relatable. The type of newscasts he gave seemed more conversational than anything else.

Below is a picture of David Strathairn as Edward Murrow

This is a good movie for journalism/communication majors to see because it shows that although this is a movie it is based off of a man who had a very good reputation in the news community.  It shows that you can be successful while still keeping your morals and trust from your audience.  Personally, i think news anchors today could take some notes from Murrow.  He had integrity in what he did.  I’m not saying that anchors today don’t have integrity but it seems far less personal now than what it did when Murrow gave a news cast.  Throughout the course of the movie shows how Murrow goes after Mccarthy and his crazy idea with clever twists.  He shows how a journalist can take someones words and spin it to show the viewers how crazy an idea may be.  He even lets Mccarthy have the chance to defend himself  at every step.   So Murrow can teach you how to give a compelling telecast.  He can show you how to show a different side to a story without having to slander anyone’s name.  He also shows you how you can stand up for a different side when no one else has the courage to.

Internet or Bust

We all know the internet is growing at an amazing speed.  So many things that once were only set up for a specific medium are now being transformed or tweaked to work with the internet.  Take video for example,  The only place i used to be able to watch music videos was on MTV or some form of music channel.  Now Youtube has taken over as the place to go to watch music videos.  Along with video,  news is being geared towards online platforms.

Hyperlinks.

The web can offer many different things that a newspaper cannot.  Hyperlinks being one of them.  For example,  instead of typing out the definition of a hyperlink i am just going to “hyperlink it” for you HERE.  This tool is useful for a number of reasons.  One way is that it offers a chance for me to link you to an entire article that may help you further understand what i am talking about.  Another way it helps is that it can keep my article shorter.

Video

A video on the internet can take an article from just an article to an internet sensation.  Videos have a better chance of catching like wildfire and one week a video might have 100,000 views to 1 million.  Thus, exposing more people to your article and or website.  Exposure is the goal and as a journalist can open many doors for you.

Photos

A picture says a thousand words.  The only time a picture doesn’t say a thousand words is when you have a paper to write and have a specific word count.  However,  pictures can offer the general public insight into a story that words may not be able to describe.  Pictures are often always the most clicked things on a website.  More clicks=money.  Pictures also allow stories to be told in a more personal way.  What would make you cry more, a story about hurricane Katrina or a picture of a little boy holding on for dear life as water washes away his possessions?  Although that sentence is pretty horrific to think about it is more impactful in a photo.

See? Told you.  Now that we got the sad photo out of the way we can move on.

Randoms

You can add other things besides hyperlinks, videos, and photos.  There are a bevy of tools on the web you can add.  For example you can add a pole or infographic to your article

 

The point i am trying to make here is that as a journalist or writer you can’t limit yourself to just using words.  Yes you need words to make a story but you have to use the internet to your advantage.  When i go online i have the opportunity to just click on a different pages.  This causes my attention span to decrease by about 114% so you need to find ways to keep the reader interested.  The newest generation is a generation of instant satisfaction and if you have a giant article with just words it will only be read by people 30yrs old and up.  I mean even STLMoms has pictures.

This Story Better Be Good

Where do stories come from? That was the first words that come up on the slide our journalism class teacher showed us. I want everyone reading this blog (all 2 of you) to answer the question before reading the rest of this.

Scheduled Events

If you as a reporter are stumped on where to find a story then a scheduled event is a good place for you to start.  Start attending school meetings or political events.   If you attend these events enough then maybe you can gain sources.  If people see that you are attending meetings often then they might trust you enough to fill you in on information.  A source can be formed from any situation.  Maybe not every source may have valuable information but it is always important to listen to people.

Unscheduled Events

Okay, so maybe going to a school board meeting isn’t the most exciting thing for you to do with you Saturday night.  However, there are things that happen occasionally that make being an enterprise journalist exciting.  Those things are unscheduled events.   Unscheduled events include things like: fires, crimes, chemical plant explosions, and weather-related incidents.  These are the types of things that people find exciting and the most interesting to do.  Well, in general this is what people find exciting.  Of course there are exceptions to this but in general this is exciting.

Political Events

These events include local, national and international political things.  Sure this may sound a little over done but you never know what a politician is going to say.  The majority of the articles written about politicians are written about statements they have made and trying to make them look “stupid.”  It seems to me that the real juicy stories come from political scandals.  Political scandals can be written about time and time again.  I can almost guarantee that if i wrote a story about Monica Lewinsky and said i had a “New development” people would read it.  Some stories just will always be interesting.  To me, it seems that the most fascinating things about political scandals is the fact that these politicians have so much power and money but risk it all doing these crazy immoral things.

Current Event Reaction Stories

After a major story breaks there is a lot of fallout.  Some of the best stories about major events is the reactions people have to it.  September 11th is one of those stories that still to this day, 10 years later, stories about how people were impacted are being written.  Reactions offer you an angle that you may or may not have thought about before.  Reactions also offer a personal element to a story that you may or may not have thought about before.  Being an enterprise journalist can be exciting if you give it a change.  At first it may seem weird but the longer you do it the easier it becomes.  After a while, everything will feel like everyday conversations and not forced.  So go out and find a good story.  Uncover things that other have yet to uncover. Or go to a school board meeting and start there.  There is no one specific way to find a story so your possibilities are endless.

Libel for What You Say

Freedom of speech seems to be a recurring theme on my blog.  This blog is going to be slightly different than freedom of speech.  Yes, they tie in together but this is more a case of when you can get in trouble for the things you say.  Libel is a word that is often thrown around but it is very hard to prove.  The definition according to Merriam-Webster dictionary is this “a written or oral defamatory statement or representation that conveys an unjustly unfavorable impression.”  Simple enough right? Wrong.

Downside

Most libel cases are hard to prove because the majority of people who are being accused of such a thing use the case of “it was an accident.”  Libel has a connotation of having malicious intent behind it.  Proving that someone had intent to harm another person (without actually physically harming them) is hard.  I believe that certain journalists write stories that contain libel because they know it will make the story juicy.  I also believe they do such things because they know how difficult it is to prove it.

Bright side 

Although it is very difficult to prove, it is still possible.  There is hope.  Here is a court case of a women who’s ex-boyfriend that wrote some nasty and untrue words about her and was sent to jail for it.  Granted, in the article it mentions how normally cases like this are tried in a civil court and the law that prompts him to be arrested is looked at as archaic.

Opposite End

People are used to seeing stories about stories in the tabloids about crazy accusations about adopting an entire family or something along those same ridiculous lines.  However, celebrities often don’t sue.  Is it because they don’t feel like using the resources or is it simply because they know it’t not true so it is not worth it.  This case is different.  This has to do with Courtney Love and how her statements landed her with a defamation lawsuit.  What makes this case so interesting is not the fact her court case had to do with statements she made in an article but on twitter.  Our society is being taken over by social media and the web 2.0 generation and our court cases have evolved with it.  However, when did we start taking twitter so seriously that you could be sued over it?  Yes, Courtney Love has a bunch of followers that might believe her no matter what she says but can a personal opinion be charged as libel?  Even though an opinion can be inaccurate and down right nasty at times, is it a form of libel once you express it?  A lot of questions are being raised about that.  To summarize the story.  Ms.Love ended up have to pay this women a solid chunk of money for things written on twitter.  So not only do future journalists have to worry about being sued for in-accurate said in a story but as a normal citizen using social media you must be conscience of the things written on social websites.

Proximity

Being a local celebrity is an amazing feeling.  Just ask Jake Bernstein, he was mentioned in Obama’s Back to school Speech.  He is a senior at a Clayton high school.  Although Jake was mentioned, by name, in the speech i doubt the majority of his classmates were watching the speech as he was talking.  I am sure that the majority of the people he goes to school with heard about it afterwards though.  I believe he is owed 15 minutes of fame.  After reading the article and being named by Obama, i believe that Jake Bernstein is well on his way to surpassing those 15 minutes.

Timeless

“We will never forget.” This has become a saying for the United States when it comes to remembering September 11th, 2001.  It is 10 years later and i open BBC and an article about a man planning to send a model airplane with explosives into the pentagon is on the home page.  An article like this is timeless because of the devastating events that happened on September 11th.  If there isn’t a story on this for the next 20 years and all of the sudden an article pops up about such events, than i believe that it would make national news.  Certain things happen to us that we will always be curious/fascinated about.  This is a perfect example.

Impact

The article I found on impact could also work for proximity.  The story is about a baby who had a neurological disorder and his parents wanted a procedure done to their son and the doctors wouldn’t allow it.  Where proximity plays into this is the fact that to get the procedure he wanted they had to come to St.Louis to get it done.  Unfortunately the baby in the story passes away which makes it a very difficult story to read.

Prominence 

Aside from Casey Anthony, The Michael Jackson murder trial has been one of the most talked about trials of the past 5 years.  The trial is ongoing so we do not know how the story will end but i know that even people of my age (20) have been glued to their television sets to see the latest news.  I am sure that this story has happened before.  A doctor prescribes medicine (drugs) to a patient and it ends up killing them.  The main difference here is that the patient who unfortunately died is the king of pop himself, Michael Jackson.

Conflict

Gay marriage.  Those two words make me uncomfortable when mentioned.  They don’t make me uncomfortable based on the fact i don’t agree with gay marriage.  They make me nervous because of the passion people emit when expressing their opinions on such a topic.  I know what i believe and i know there are both sides to every story but try having to write about something that is so controversial while being partisan.  The majority of people would not be able to do that.

Interest 

http://cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/living/2011/09/26/moos-pkg-tv-run-amok.cnn.html

I tried to posting this video but it wasn’t working so to see the video you will need to copy and paste it into the URL to see it.  It is a ton of clips of news rooms where things just go crazy.

 

Watch Your Mouth

 

Living in the United States of America it is easy to forget all that we have.  The first amendment is thrown around more than i can count.  The amendment says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech.” Now how many people who use the 1st amendment as an a escape goat can say that just by memory?  We use freedom of speech as a reason to say whatever we want but we fail to realize that it may have a consequence.

Blue

No one should be afraid to speak their mind.  Everyone thinks in a different way. That’s what makes us human How many of us though don’t get the opportunity to do something as simple as being ourselves.  America is one of the few places that is considered free.  We have freedom of speech which plays a direct effect on freedom of the press.  Travel a little farther south, pass a border and you will see that a place not separated by an ocean can seem worlds away.  Mexico is known by the majority of people as a place to go on vacation or runaway from the law.  My journalism teacher showed us a chart that showed nations that were free, partly free, and not free.  Free is represented as the color green.  Partly free as yellow and not free as blue.  Before you open said chart, you should make a guess on how much the map will be of each color. You might be surprised.  When the browser uploaded the map in it’s entirety i was completely shocked.  You could hear a soft “gasp” from the class.  Blue was splattered everywhere.  There was some green from big nations such as Canada and Australia.  However, looking at the key i couldn’t help but think they had made a mistake.  How can this much of the world be blue?  Some thoughts that ran through my mind were “What was it like to live there?” and “how much of my current lifestyle would change?”  As i write this blog i can’t help but realize that if i were living in a different country i wouldn’t be able to write it.  Even if i was able to write and maintain a blog would it be monitored?  What guild lines would i have to follow?

In my lifetime there have been countless number of articles written on social media and its effect on our nation.  Freedom of speech seems to be put into question or challenged more than ever.  What can we learn from places that are Blue?  And if you haven’t been following along I’m not talking about sad nations.  Stay with me.  Some argue that people have taken the right to speak our minds too far.  Others only agree with freedom of speech if the person’s opinion that is speaking agree’s with theirs.  Drawing a line between what is considered freedom of speech could take us into dangerous territory.  Maybe we will never a happen medium.  Maybe this is a never ending debate.  The only thing i know for sure is that i don’t want the debate to stop.

 

 

 

A Vast Limit

Past

Growing up in the 1990′s was fun.  There were awesome cartoons, sweet bands (N’sync), and fun toys.  Now its 2011 and just about everything i knew as a kid is a memory or flashback.  Cartoons don’t seem the same.  Music is still good but it can’t top what once was and board games/ toys break in a day.  I remember growing up with a VHS player that when it didn’t work you would just blow into it  hit it and hope for the best.  Although i miss it, I’m proud of what our generation has seen.  When i was young(er) childhood consisted of being outside more than inside.  It also consisted of board games and cards.  Quality time was easy to come by because the only way to keep a game going was to have a conversation or dialog.

Present

Technology has evolved to the point where you can’t escape it…unless you’re Amish.  When i wake up in the morning i wake up to an angry cell phone that was programmed to ruin my sleep,  i also wake up to a second (yes, i said second) alarm.  No more are the days where an alarm clock is 2 bells on a timer.  Now i wake up to the most current music on the radio.  What’s the first thing i do when i wake up? Open my computer.  The entirety of my summer break consisted of me being constantly wired into the internet and my computer.  Each day filled with constant hits of the refresh button.  The internet, and computers in general have become such a way of life that we depend too highly on it.  I remember y2k and the big scare about computers crashed.  So much hype was put into that.  What people fail to realize is that computers weren’t always here.  We survived before they were invented and we can survive without them if we absolutely had to.  A recent class discussion has raised a few questions such as, Are we the internet? or Is the internet us?  Explanation, is the internet evolving because of us or are we evolving because of the internet.  I guess it all depends on how you look at it.  One could say that we are the internet because it has the ability to show us things that we have never seen before.  Others might say that the internet wouldn’t exist if not for the information we feed it.

Future

So what’s next?  I was shown a video in class that brings up very good points.  I suggest everyone take a look at it.  It brought topics and questions up that i have never thought about.  The end of the video is my favorite part because it turns a video that starts out with facts and ends with an emotional side to this whole internet craze.  The future for us and the internet is unclear.  It all depends on how far we let it get.  Some are obsessed with the next big thing to hit the internet, others only use it to check email.  At the end of the day each person has a say in what he/she puts in or takes away from the vast world of cyber space.