Current Issues in Journalism

Well, I think I agree with what was said in class. I believe it is purely an issue of distraction. I guess I'm guilty of not even watching the news or reading it because it simply is too depressing. For example, last night I watched Lost at 9 and then the news came on. I watched it for more than ten minutes this time only because I wanted to see how cold the weather would be, but turned it after that because I didn't want to hear about how many people had died that day. I'm not sure if this is a valid point, and many may argue against it, but I think the reason I avoid such disturbing and terrifying news is partly due to my mother. It's not that she would turn the news off at night, she actually insisted on watching it when I was growing up, but it's more the fact that she was in denial of everything I did. She never wanted to face the facts of what her teenage daughter was doing behind her back, and overall, it made it harder for her to even relate to the things going on in the world, especially things like Columbine. I'm not necessarily using my mother as an excuse, but I think I took it as an example that if I wanted to I could at any given moment just block out the world and live in my own safe little world.

your completely correct and i agree with you mandy. i hate watching the news bc its depressing! but the guy sitting next to me in class had no idea what we were talking about in class ( sundan) but he knew all about anna nicole i just think there should be some balance.

I don’t necessarily see it as a distraction. I think it is harder for us to relate because it is not personal to us. It is so huge and such a problem that it overwhelms us. We think what can I do? I don’t know anybody dying in the Sudan or dying of HIV. I went to a conference over winter break and one of the major themes they talked about was AIDS in Africa. At first I was not really interested but after hearing personal testimonies of people living with AIDS, my heart began to change. Those people and their stories put a face to the AIDS epidemic. They made it personal to me. Now I can’t say I don’t know them or I haven’t heard their stories, because I have. I think as journalists it is our job to make it personal to our audience. We have to write in such a way or take photos in such a way that people can’t help but take notice! Now the question is how do we do that? How do we make people listen? We all laughed in class when some joked about marketing Nike shoes on refugees. But that is a statement! If Nike did that people wouldn’t be able too look away because it would be right in front of their face! What if on every Nike shoebox they had bio and picture of someone living with AIDS in Africa? It’s not that people don’t care it’s that it’s not personal to them.

This has to do with Jessica's Little bro:

I think it is awsome that your little brother is trying to help! But my thing is he is pretty young whne kids get to college they are so busy focusing on credit hours, tuition, jobs, bf, parties, homework.. that news is something boring you wnat something that will cheer up your day and honestly girls you know we laugh when we see a shot of brit's cutchi. It is a way of lightening up since everything around us is happening so fast.

I agree with you Jessica. I t seems like we have become a generation that only focuses on things that are comfortable or close to home, instead of those things that have international relevance. We talk about how sad things are that are taking place around the world and how much we want to help, but when it comes time to listen to what is going on we rather talk about stuff like Anna Nicole.This speaks to the idea that small minds discuss people, great minds discuss ideas. We need to begin discussing ideas that will make the changes we want to see in the world instead of just trying to figure out whther Anna's baby's daddy is behind door number one, two or three.

I like your point about the awareness people even younger than ourselves often have but the problem i have with the whole distinction between the two stories themselves is not the massive coverage of Anna Nicole but the reasons for it. Simply put ANS (just to shorten her name) is a goldmine for ratings and rating means money and money means profits and so on and so forth. Our culture has become so concentrated on our capitalistic nature that issues like Darfur and child prostitution in places like Thailand receive no real coverage because they just aren't lucrative to the people giving us media. This concern is reflected in our governmental policies as well. Iraq is a potential oil goldmine that it seems obvious Bush and Cheney will stop at nothing to tap while turning a blind eye to other issues. Recently the US gave thailand one million dollars to help combat child prostitution and other sex crimes in their company of which our own citizens are often the main consumers. It seems crazy to me that our government can justify spending billions of dollars to rebuild and attempt to unite a country that our leaders have absolutely no understanding of (tribal politics, religious separatism, and customs in general) while tossing, what amounts to a drop in the bucket, at Thailand and fishing for international praise. All the while allowing our public school systems to fall in disarray and trashing our international reputation and accountability.

(sorry for the late comment, but better late than never, right?)
I agree with the idea everyone seems to share, that we have an easier time listening to gossip about a celebrity, even a celebrity death, compared to news reports about people suffering around the world. But there are just so many factors that make this so, that it's difficult to imagine this "bad habit" (for lack of a better phrase) ever changing. The media can't expect advertisements to do as well if they pop up after watching a report on an on-going genocide or other major atrocity. However, cutting to commercials from gossip about a celebrity death is not so difficult to swallow.
Then there's the fact that the viewers just don't like deep tragedy, let alone guilt, so out of the two sad news reports, Anna Nicole is the less unpleasant to hear.
Beyond that there's the basic vicious cycle that the photo-journalism guy in our class was having trouble accepting; people don't know much about things happening around the world, so there is no demand to learn more, so they don't learn more...and so they don't know much...and it goes around and around. Simple and horrible as that.

In Megan's comment she say that "It’s not that people don’t care it’s that it’s not personal to them." I completely agree with this statement. Megan's story about going to a conference over winter break with one of the themes being AIDs was an indicator that instead of putting all of the Anna Nicole Smith crap on for news, they should somehow make the Sudan stuff relate to each and every person watching. Journalists are creative so I don't think it would be that big of a deal of a deal to think outside the box and figure out ways to make the Sudan stories relate to everyone. I'd like to hear what some others have to say about this.

In Megan's comment she say that "It’s not that people don’t care it’s that it’s not personal to them." I completely agree with this statement. Megan's story about going to a conference over winter break with one of the themes being AIDs was an indicator that instead of putting all of the Anna Nicole Smith crap on for news, they should somehow make the Sudan stuff relate to each and every person watching. Journalists are creative so I don't think it would be that big of a deal of a deal to think outside the box and figure out ways to make the Sudan stories relate to everyone. I'd like to hear what some others have to say about this.

Your brother is a stud! I nanny for a 9 year old who's biggest concerns are Hannah Montanna and Her Cheata Gils Two DVD. It is interesting though that his class is talking about genocide. I think it is nothing less then great to educate our children on such an event to help bring knowlege to this horrible thing going on but i also wonder at 9 if worrying about genocide or Hannah Montanna is better. Innocence is such a precious thing that can be taken away within a second. For instance when the I was watching the news when Sudam was being hung and she came around the corner and asked me who that was. I knew nothing else to do but smile and her and saying "nothing".