Religion and Journalism

The issue of religion being very prominent in journalism has been something on the minds of many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the last 10 years. Between Proposition 8 in California and the Mitt Romney’s presidential campaigns, the church has been put in the spotlight thanks to journalists and media everywhere. The media coverage that has been surrounding the church has been both positive and negative. I think that it is very important that we as journalists in the making learn lessons from the ways we’ve seen our church covered and how religion comes into play in the journalism world so we can be prepared to handle it when we need to. 

It can seem at times that all aspects of the secular world might not align with religious ideas. Here is an article that addresses that very topic: http://www.scu.edu/ethics-center/ethicsblog/atthecenter.cfm?c=14207

I found one part of the student presentation in particular to be helpful in helping me understand where journalism and religion meet. First of all, religion is based on beliefs, and journalists are in tune with their beliefs when choosing stories to cover. Although journalists should not let beliefs bias their coverage, they are still important to have. Another connection is the importance of truth. Truth is the foundation of journalism as well as religion. 

Another interesting concept is what journalists are to do about writing about religion. In my opinion, and I think the opinion of many others, a good background on a wide variety of religions is important so the most truthful and accurate representation of a religion can be covered. Here’s an article that talks further on the subject: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/getreligion/2011/10/a-religious-journalist-on-religion-journalism/

March on Washington

Previous to this class I had never looked into the March on Washington really. I was aware that it had happened, but I never looked into the coverage behind it. I was shocked and not impressed with what I learned about how Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Had A Dream Speech" wasn't properly covered by the media. Having been raised in the generation that I was raised in it seems unreal to me how something like that just wasn't covered. Everything nowadays is covered, both the great and the awful. It's only been 50 years since it occurred, yet so much in journalism has changed. Here's a nice little read that agrees with the generally unanimous opinion of its poor coverage: http://madamenoire.com/295404/poor-journalism-i-have-a-dream-speech-completely-ignored-by-the-washington-post-newspaper-back-in-1963/

Something I found interesting from the student presentation was the difference between the coverage that print journalism did compared to broadcast. Journalists who covered the March on Washington in print were a lot more able to pick and choose what they wanted to include in their pieces than broadcast journalists who were capturing the events with video and radio, such as Martin Luther King Jr.'s speech. They weren't able to exaggerate the story because they facts were able to be seen by viewers firsthand instead of just reading about it after the fact. It held them to keeping the coverage truthful and accurate, which was a very good thing considering all of the bias that was going into covering the event in other methods.

I really liked the advice that was given in the presentation, which was to pop our media bubbles. We should be exposing ourselves to a variety of media sources to avoid getting a close minded single viewpoint from just one source. This concept is familiar not only in journalism, but in business, and other areas. Here's an example of a breakdown of how businesses use different medias: http://www.whiteglovesocialmedia.com/infographic-how-small-businesses-use-a-variety-of-effective-social-media-marketing-strategies/

Technology and Journalism

Obviously, the way journalism is put out for the public is different now than it was when journalism first began. And that is due to advances in technology. In the generation that we live in, we as college students are seeing advances in technology way more than our parents and grandparents ever did. Some points were brought up in the student presentation that we do with social media in the field of study that we are in. They included having a twitter account, an updated public blog that includes links to other sites, and an online portfolio available for reference by future employers.

I hadn't realized it before this journalism class and other media classes this semester, but Twitter is a MASSIVE news source.
https://twitter.com/

Short and easy to read summaries of news that is taking place is being updated and posted constantly, and it's all public because it's on the world wide web. This relates to some other points that were brought up in the student presentation about the Internet in general. It is ideal because of its convenience, inexpensiveness, and quickness.

There is one thing about journalism and technology that I disagree with, and that is that online journalism has taken off, but the advertisements haven't. I disagree with that because I am on the Internet every day and more advertisements pop up on my screen than I can often handle.

It's so excessive. And I'm not the only one who feels that way: http://techcrunch.com/2012/10/24/online-ad-survey-most-u-s-consumers-annoyed-by-online-ads-prefer-tv-ads-to-online-want-social-media-dislike-button-and-reckon-most-marketing-is-a-bunch-of-b-s/

A lot of times there are ads that pop up because they match me based on things I've searched or pages I subscribe too, but most of the time they are honestly so irrelevant and annoying to me. so I think there is no shortage of advertising on the Internet, and if anything, it should be filtered.