Chapter 14 & 15

    It is essential for journalists to understand the laws of the media, so they can be protected. They need to know when to not invade privacy whether it is through intrusion, private facts, false light, or using a person's name or photo without permission. There is a difference between online and printed legal issues and what can be posted. Corrections can only cover the journalist but so much. Not only do journalists need to be aware of the laws, but they also need to follow some sort of ethics. A journalist should proceed with caution when dealing with sensitive cases and realize when they have conflicts of interest when it comes to the story or certain people. 

    Journalist are protected under certain laws like the Federal Sheild Law where a journalist can not be forced to reveal a source when called to testify. It is important to not reveal the sources that wish to stay anonymous, making sure what you are posting is accurate, and continuing to make corrections when updates are needed. All of these can also follow under media ethics that journalist should follow as well. Deception and privacy issues can cause many ethical problems with journalist. It can make their story lose credibility when the reporter lies to get their facts or reports on information that they did not receive permission to share with others. Journalist need to make sure they remain on an ethical path when investigating and publishing a story. 

    I do not believe that every state offers a federal shield law. What states do not offer it? And why did they choose to not enforce this law? I feel like journalist are put in situations where they are ethically forced to keep their source anonymous but are required by law to reveal them. What are other suggestions to protect journalist from situations like this one? 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Chapter 16

      It is important for journalists to interview and report on subjects with sensitivity and care about certain issues. Gender, race, and age are all pieces of information that should not be identified unless it is relevant to the story. Journalists should f ollow gender-neutral language that does not specify male & female roles. For example, a writer should say a firefighter instead of a fireman. It is also essential to know your audience when you are describing specific groups. Just because people are the same color or look similar, does not mean they like to be addressed the same way. Overall, the best way to go about writing with sensitivity and care is to simply ask the source how they prefer to be addressed.     This chapter can also relate to the chapter on ethics. If a journalist does the right thing from the start, they will avoid any backlash from the public. It is important to b e aware of the current definition of a descriptor; some that w...
Read more

Chapter 7 & 8

      There are many different types of leads that a journalist can use for their story. They can use a hard lead which is very direct and summarizes the point of the story, or they can use a soft lead which provides a little bit more of a description of what the story will be about and not nearly as direct. Journalists do not have forever to write a story now because of the rise of social media. They need to be able to think quickly and get their story out. Chapter 8 goes into detail about the best ways to write a story which starts from the preparation of the story to the ending. It discusses key ways to construct the story by keeping readers engaged and is informative on how to organize the information in a story.      Both of these chapters provide helpful tips on how to keep the readers engaged with the stories through leads and through the content of the story. It is essential to have an intriguing lead, but it is also just as important to organize yo...
Read more

Chapter's 19, 20, 21

 These chapters discuss ways to successfully write a story about government and statistics, crime and punishment, and weather and tragedies. When writing about government and statistics, the journalist should always explain the changes and state the significance. It is important to use a hard lead and always include who is impacted by it and how. Stories about crime and punishment can have a soft or hard lead depending on how serious the case is. It is important to use full names and include all information about the people involved when it is necessary. When writing about weather and tragedy, it is important to seek stories that people would be interested in. Journalists need to be descriptive and use quotes to make the story more personal and interesting.  The type of writing about these types of stories can be very similar. Each story should answer the who, what, where, how, and why and discuss the impact the topic has on people. On stories about budgets, a journalist will ...
Read more