Chapter 15 – Discussion Questions
Chapter 15 – Discussion Questions
1. If I had to choose between a job in a financially stable weekly newspaper several hours from a capital city or a job with an online publication which payed twice as much but would only give me a six month contract, I would choose the former. After my research into rural newspapers as an avenue to becoming a journalist, I think it is not only a stable and steady-paced learning environment, it also ensures you develop the skills you need fully. The best way to learn the skills of the journalism trade is on the job, but if you start off in a fast-paced environment although you will have to learn quickly, there will be holes. In a rural environment not only would there be an opportunity to learn skills comfortably and thoroughly, there would also be a chance to pick up broader skills. Rural newspapers have fewer staff to do all the necessary jobs each week which means new staff would be given greater responsibility and would gain greater experience. From there it would be possible to work your way up to bigger newspapers or different fields. Being out of the city would also have the advantage of less competition when applying for jobs and less harsh punishments when mistakes are made. Internet journalism is a market with growing possibilities and increasing audience interest. But I believe it is important to learn the traditional methods of journalism before beginning work in the loose structure of the internet. Just as it is important for an author to read historical literature, a journalist should know the history of their trade.
2. I would interview the politician via email. I would attempt to gain as much information as I could in order to write a good story. I would see if any of the information in the email was worth quoting and use it. Then I would put together a list of all the points I needed comment on and ring the politician to ‘verify’ some information and hope to get enough to quote. Otherwise I would try to find other parties concerned and seek comment from them. I would also look into using appropriate quotes from recent public addresses although I would be extremely careful to ensure they were accurate and relevant.
3. If I found information which indicated a colleague had plagiarised a story from an internet site the first thing I would do is look into it further to make sure it was definitely the case. I would then go straight to the colleague and confront them about their actions. I think the most embarrassing thing for them would be facing up to what they have done. I would give them the chance to tell the chief-of-staff and if they refused I would probably tell them. From there it would be up to them to decide what to do. I don’t think it would be my responsibility, as just another member of the staff, to take action. The only thing I would feel responsible for doing would be to expose the truth. Although having said that I think it would be different being involved in a similar situation in real-life, there would be other influencing factors such as friendships and loyalty to other staff.
4. I would probably tell the police about the situation, if a criminal was on the run from it would be important to ensure he got caught. Otherwise I would probably go to meet with the source in the hope of finding some valuable information. Yet I wouldn’t go alone and I would be extremely wary concerning the credibility of the source. I would probably take someone else and get them to wait in the car where they could see the location. I would be worried about the motives of the source and the reason they wanted me to be alone. Such a massive claim would seem extremely unlikely, yet it would be a bad idea to ignore the email as there could be an intriguing story behind such an exaggeration. If I managed to meet the source and interview him/her I would then research the claim and see if there was any proof behind it.
5. If I found six quotes, three the same and three different but the same as each other I would try to find the original source. If the quote was taken directly from his book I would go to the library and take down the quote. If it was a quote from him in say, an interview I would try to track down the original manuscript. I would check the references in the site in which I found the quotes. Then I would search for the quote in a more credible website such as a literature site or a journal database. If I couldn’t find the original I would be very reluctant to use the quotes as it would be hard to tell which is the correct. If I had to choose between the two I would use my gut instinct to decide which of the sites are more credible and would thus be more trustworthy.
Chapter 15 – Interesting Point
After reading chapter 15, I did a quick google search about Computer Assisted Reporting (CAR). The first thing I found which was an incredible resource, was a sight by one of the authors of ‘The Daily Miracle’: Stephen Lamble. It can be found at: http://members.optusnet.com.au/~slamble/index.html
It is a fantastic research which contains hundreds of links to useful sites, advice and information on CAR and a history of Freedom of Information. One of the links I found very helpful was ‘Plain English Alternatives for Jargon Words’ which gives a wide range of common difficult phrases and their simple news writing alternative, this site can be found here: http://www.kerryr.net/webwriting/plain_english.htm
From this site I accessed the ‘International Federation of Journalists’ website: http://www.ifj.org/ which is full of valuable information. By this stage I have already realised what a journalist could do with simply the internet as a tool. There are so many sites, contact numbers, event listings and so much advice online.
The IFJ allows you to zoom into the journalists federation for your area simply by clicking on a map, in my case I was redirected to the Asia-Pacific site which contains news, meetings, issues and reports amoung other things. It really gives a sense of connection and community in the world of journalists.
Going back to Lamble’s website I was able to scroll through and explore sights for maps, journals, government, libraries, police, real estate, industries, science and much more. Each site has their value and it seems to be a quick and easy way to research and develop ideas for stories through an organised and categorical site.
It also surprised me how easy it was to get out of the google-zone and find serious and credible sites with real information. From my searches I discovered that by exploring different means of searching it was easy to find the information needed.
