Sunday, October 14, 2007
  Frank Sesno
After watching Frank Sesno's lecture, two main topics stuck with me. I was actually kind of disturbed to hear that news organizations prefer to be first rather than be the most accurate. I guess news is more about ratings now than anything else. I mean whatever happened to reporting accurate stories so that people can get a truthful sense about what’s going on in the world around them. Now, I understand that news organizations are businesses that need to make money, but is it worth it to sacrifice their integrity? Okay, so maybe being the one to have a breaking story out first will increase ratings, but how will that look upon the organization if it’s wrong? They can only run so many corrections until people start to lose faith in them!

One point that Mr. Sesno made that I really liked was that most reports seemed to have a grasp on their ethics. I don’t remember the details but it was a story about the war. He said that reports were told to not report a certain story because if they did, a lot of people would die. I liked the fact that most reports won’t report a story, even if it’s a really good one, to save lives. I knew a lot of journalist weren’t as cut throat as they’re made out to be.

After hearing the lecture, I started to think of what kind of journalist I would be, if I decided to become one. Let’s say I do become a journalist after I graduate. I would try to be ethical and non-bias, but I know that’s easier said than done. I know there will be a lot of pressure to try and skew a story to make it a ratings booster even if the skewered story isn’t the exact truth.
 
Comments:
Good post. What do you perceive the pressures on new journalists to be? How can one guard against them?

And the sad truth of our field is that some of the worst offenders are often the most popular because they're the most entertaining.

How can we correct this? Where can accountability come from if not the marketplace?
 
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This blog is a companion piece to CCJN4394:Media Effects taught by Dr. J. Richard Stevens at Southern Methodist University.

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