Thought Of The Day

http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/060212pryor/

http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/EDITORIAL/oped0701.shtml

Some people believe there is no future in journalism, however I believe the future will burn bright and the way of delivering the message will be the change. People have a need for information, and feel more like a community when they are connected and aware of what is going on around them. There is always going to be a need for journalists as a way of documenting history, and the truth. Sure maybe newspapers will fade out as more people become computer savvy, but all that means is we’ll be doing more writing online. The interest in blogs is growing, as online features take off. This doesn’t mean there is no future for journalists, it just means we will have to learn how to adapt and change with the time, and use the medium the audience is most comfortable with.

We have access to more information than at anytime in history. The question remains: How much information are humans able to process?

http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Human_information_processing

http://www.transhumanist.com/volume1/moravec.htm

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/newton/askasci/1993/biology/bio024.htm

It is a comforting thought to have when we know that computers have not yet reached the same capabilities of the human brain. With technology and fear of machinery running this world in the future the simple comfort that yes, we humans are still more efficient then machines! humans continue to process information every second throughout their entire lives. Our brain is made up into compartments which make the information easier to categorize and store. However how much we are able to process really is hard to say and changes with each person, but as we get older we lose certain memories and information in order to make room for the constant intake of information. 

“We know there is a vast morass of information out there that our audiences want us to try to make sense of.  The danger consists in trying to leap above it, not by getting more dramatic or salient or verifiable facts, but by analyzing, speculating, predicting, interpreting – by drawing definitive conclusions while the bodies are still warm.”    Paul Knox, The Globe and Mail 

http://www.universalbyline.com/ethicsandstandardsofjournalism.php

http://www.progressiveu.org/192622-facts-and-truth-in-journalism

Our job as journalists, is to present just the facts to the reader and allow them to form their own opinion. When we slant our stories, or do not cover both sides of a situation, the reader is basing an opinion and receiving inaccurate information. When we report with a bias, or an opinion we take away the right the audience has to decide for themselves. In order to present the news well and succeed as a journalist, I believe one must be detached to an extent from their topic, so emotions do not muddle the facts. It is not our job to interpret facts and draw definitive conclusions because we are simply the tool used to record history. People must interpret and decide for themselves and thats a freedom that we offer in this country.

Actually the thing is with our class, with our friends, I was being dragged into situations and keeping these secrets that had little to do with me. It was my way of getting the weight of other peoples crap off my shoulders because all I have been surrounded by is petty non important quarrels and drama that in life are never really going to matter. The movie was supposed to point out how all the drama and gossip really is nothing more then that and we are all guilty of so much unneeded stress to the people around us. I never intentionally edited anything to make anyone look any different and anyone who participated in it knew exactly about what was going into it before hand. The point of gossip is that a lot of it isn’t based on fact and that is what the video was supposed to make people realize. Everything said in that video is the truth, and yet we’re living in a world where it’s easier to just lie and talk behind people’s backs then to just bring it all forward and say it to a persons face. I mean me talking about how rick was trying to make out with me is a part of my story and my life so why should I not be able to comment on something many people witnessed first hand. Whats wrong with being angry at a guy who hurt your good friend? Anything that was said was everything I would have already said in person. The fact that so many people have spent SO much time discussing and commenting and feeding into the situation just proves my point that people are addicted to the drama of situations, and in order for us to grow up and live life we’re eventually going to have to leave all the high school crap behind. It may seem like a petter gossip piece and that’s fine because everyone should be entitled to their opinion, just like I have mine. But the movie I made was for me more then anyone, and was my own way of speaking up, and bringing all the issues and gossip to peoples faces instead of allowing people to continue talking behind backs. It was my own way for uninvolving myself in other peoples “soap opera” lives, because I no longer wanted any part of the drama. If people can’t understand that thats fine, I’m not asking anyone to understand me. because at the end of the day who really cares? Is it worth wasting breath even discussing it? I haven’t lost any sleep over it and I don’t intend on loosing any, everything you do in life makes you who you are. So if a lesson can be learned out of the video I made then I’m glad.

Hey everyone! For my last project in this class we had to upload a video introduction from youtube to our blogs. So here I am!! This is what I look like when i roll outta bed in the morning, oops.

Many people have discovered the wonderful world of touching up and editing photos. But from a journalists point of view, how far is too far?Fixing contrast and color, brightening a photo, or changing the image in a way that leaves the actual image untouched is acceptable in my eyes. What the picture is showing and what it captures must remain unchanged. There was a debate on a photo not long ago that showed an image of a fireman with a beautiful orange sunset behind him. The sunset never existed it was just color added in after the photo was taken. Now in this particular instance it changed the perception of the photograph. It went from a picture taken in the afternoon to one taken during sunset. Which in reality never happened. The fireman never stood with the sun setting in the background, therefore that moment of time that was captured and shown never existed.It is similar to the blemish on the flower. By looking at it from a journalists point of view, and not from an artists, by fixing the little black blemish on the flower, you’ve created an image of a flower that doesn’t exist. In reality the flower was imperfect, and as journalists we are driven by the truth, no matter how ugly it may be. The point is that the flower like everyone is imperfect, but it was still beautiful.

My thought of the day….  The poet John Donne once said that any persons death diminishes us. But what happens to us when we lose someone we love? Diminished… Yes I suppose that word does fit. A part of myself died the day my grandfather left this earth. It has been nearly 5 months and the pain in my chest still comes and goes. I don’t know why the last few days have been particularly hard, I haven’t even been able to look at a photograph of him.But with every death comes a better understanding and respect for life. What would be beautiful about a life that went on forever?The fact that life is temporary makes everything that much more special. Who knows when your eyes will look their last, or when your lips will give their last kiss.Yes there are days I miss him so much, it is difficult getting out of bed and facing the world. The only thought that has gotten me through is the fact that I am allowed days to cry. If you feel the need to cry then cry, it is our ability to love so deeply that makes us so special. Life is taken away from us in an instant, even if you know someone is going to die their death still comes as a shock.Since my grandfather died I’ve tried to do one thing, to make sure that every moment I live, I live it with all of my heart. That way if it ended up being my last moment on this earth, I’d be ok with that. And if that moment or situation in my life isn’t to a point where I could die happy I change it till it is. Today it is hard to look at his pictures, yesterday I cried because I miss him, but maybe tomorrow will be remarkable. Thats the beauty of taking it one day at a time. The only thing we know for sure is that one day we will die. One day everything we know will be gone, so why not live today like it’s your last? It very well may be.

“No I’ll do it tomorrow.”All of us are guilty in putting things off, a paper, a date, a talk, an appointment. Sometimes it’s putting something off that won’t matter in a year or so, and sometimes it’s putting something off that can put the rest of your life on hold. How much can you really live when your mind is preoccupied with things that you still have to do tomorrow?Tomorrow doesn’t actually exist, the only day we have ever lived is today. So why wait a moment to do or say the things that are on your mind now. Why have this selfish notion, this invincible attitude towards life to assume that you will have the time to do it later. People get caught up in the drama of their everyday life, and stressed by things that won’t matter tomorrow, or the day after. If you love someone, you tell them regardless of their reaction. The one thing I have learned about life is that it’s temporary. You can’t live life standing on a ledge, gripping the railing till your knuckles go white; you have to jump into every moment and live it like your last… because in the end there are no more tomorrows.