Rathergate

When researching and learning about rathergate I learned the importance of credibility. 

CBS and 60 minutes are big corporations that have many viewers who trust and rely on the information they report. But after releasing one story they were trialed and tested for the documentation they used about George W. Bush. It surprised me how many people (bloggers, and internet forums) were on their case to show that these documents about George W. Bush weren’t authentic.

Of course CBS couldn’t prove these documents and that makes me wonder why they still ran the show. Shouldn’t they have waited to make sure that they were credible? This makes me a little frustrated as an inspiring journalist – how is it that CBS would let this story run even when they weren’t 100% sure of these documents?  

Something I have to wonder is since the documents that they used proclaimed that George W. Bush illegally got out of doing service in the Vietnam War was someone behind this? This story was released less then 2 months before the 2004 election and would probably affect a huge amount of people’s opinions on George Bush. The bottom line is that CBS should have made it a priority to make sure that their documents were authentic.  Dan later admitted to the public “If I knew what I know now I would have used the documents”.  What does he mean? How did he not know?

 This is one thing that we need to be aware of as journalists when we are writing we cannot have any sort of bias towards anyone. We need to have our guard up and make it our personal business to know that the material we are using is credible. We have to include all sides of stories and not be slanted in our writing.

Dan and CBS decided to defend the authenticity and usage of the documents for a two week period but later couldn’t prove that this was true. This has opened my eyes to remember no matter how big the name or corporation is – you may not be able to trust everything that they say.

So what does this say for journalists? Should we be worried about our chances in the future and job opportunities? I would say that we shouldn’t be.

Even though blogging has become a huge thing in our society people will never stop listening or reading traditional journalism. Traditional Journalism meaning: the newspaper, television, or radio. Traditional Journalism has a presence that shows people credibility, and professionalism. There will always be people who want to stick with their traditional news source. For some people finding blogs would be very difficult and confusing for them. This means that it is easier for them to turn on the television or pick up a paper.

Traditional journalism has a huge representation for being credibile. Journalists have certain ethics that they follow when reporting, not only do they have to follow it for themselves but they could loose their job if they aren’t credible in their writing. When people see a name like CHCH News, or CTV they know that it is credible they have built trust with certain news stations knowing that they get their information from sources.

Traditional journalism can also be more professional then social journalism. Although social journalists can also have advertisments and funding, traditional journalists will be able to have a lot more funding and be given more opportunities to advertise which makes traditional journalism look more professional.

Although a lot of people love to read blogs I think people still like having a news source that is professional and trustworthy. You will always find people that are only comfortable with getting their news in one way. Or people who will be to confused with updating their news on social journalism. People love the way our news is broadcasted and I don’t think that journalists should be worried about where they will fit in the future. Traditional Journalism isn’t going anywhere – or it already would have.

This is something that mankind has questioned over the years. But lets break this down and start at the core. Starting with the information central of the body – your brain. Scientists have proven that our brains are so powerful that they can calculate up to 100 million MIPS. (million computer instructions per second).

Comparing this to a computer, brains are more powerful than every computer in the world. Not only that, but our brains are continuing to grow and get bigger so we will be able to continue and process more and more information.

So how much information can we really take in? Lets start with our retnas they take in roughly 10 million point images per second. Now to give you an idea of how long it took your brain to calculate this blog lets do a little math.

There are roughly 950 letters on this page in total,

There are 12 points in each of these letters,

That is a total of 11, 400 points in this blog,

This divided by 10, 000, 000 is 0.00114

This means it took your brain 0.00114 seconds to process this page.

Now that’s what I call a process of information by yours truly, the brain

To say more than the facts. But as journalists we write nothing but the facts we go in and come out without opinion or drama.

We need to focus on writing without slanting any of our facts and leaving it without the extra things that aren’t needed. You may not realize but when you write, most times you include opinions or points that may affect the reader’s thoughts on the issue.

When we try and dive into stories more we end up digging to deep into unknown waters, we then try to explain something we may not know well enough to do so. We a journalists need to stay on the surface and keep peoples attention by explaining the things we do know.

This all falls under journalism ethics.

There is so much information the public wants us to be able to sum up. In doing so we shouldn’t be changing the facts to make them more interesting or important but only using them to their extent. To inform the reader what has happened while they are interested before they want to move on.

It was helpful to have a whole class devoted to learning these techniques so that we could take time to really learn the different ways we can search for different topics. Not only was the class time helpful but after I was in the library and I asked peggy to help me with finding academic sources. She took time to explain and show me how I could search for my topic. I felt more comfortable talking to her and asking for assistance because of the class.

This class was useful and I appreciated it.

while we were there we worked at an all boys Orphanage. The first day we went just to see the site and where we would be working. As soon as we arrived the kids were exstatic! My friend and I had brought bubbles and colouring stuff so we played with the kids but it was hard considering we didn’t know much spanish.

We started out project at the orphanage the next day which was building another room for computers that were being donated to the orphanage. It seems like a small project but when you are doing everything by hand it is a long process. For the first couple days we simply took dirt from a pile, put it in a wheelbarrowl and dumped it on what would be paved over as the floor. We had to mix all the cement by hand. I never realized how much work there is to do! We also got to play with the kids that were there when they were on their recess breaks from school. They were so much fun to play with. You could do anything with them and they would be happy. They even helped us do some of the work.

We met some other people when we were down in Honduras, magdelano was our body guard during the nights and he had a family of fourteen! So to help his family out we got him a weed wacker so he could start a bit of a buisness and make some money. As well as his son a camera because he loves photography.

Another family that we got to help was a family in one of the poorest areas. She was a single mother with 6 kids. They all slept on one bed together with a ratted matress. Their house didn’t have anything inside except a couch with no cushions just the layer of material over the springs. So we donated them 6 matresses so all the kids would have a place to sleep. It was so incredible to see the looks on their faces and the tears in their eyes from getting a matress. It’s amazing how we take those things for granted.

Well we didn’t just work while we were there. “work hard” – “play hard” that was our motto. We got to do some cool things while we were there. We went snorkeling at a deserted island, went to the movies, and we even went to a club. (sketchy I know) But the best part is that there was karoke and all the guys in our group got on stage and did the YMCA.

That trip has shaped me and changed part of my life’s plan. I now hope to continue traveling which I have been able to do. If you’re interested then check out my next blog.

adios, karynsita