03.00 Introduction to Ethics

      To be ethical means to have morals and to know what is right and what is wrong. Depending on who the person is, they will most likely have different ethical standards that someone else. I believe that an ethical person has integrity, a caring nature, and a really good sense of what's morally right and wrong. 
      In this lesson, there was a story of a girl who gave her address to a stranger on the internet. I think that whoever saw her doing that should weigh the pros and cons of telling her parents. I think that in the end, her friend should tell her parents because it's the right thing to do. If her friend ends up continuing her relationship with this stranger, something really bad could happen to her. Telling her parents is what an ethical person should do. 
      I believe that ethics play a huge role in journalism. In order for a journalist to be true to his or her profession, they need to make sure they have a good sense of right and wrong. If they are researching a story, but they don't believe they have both sides of the story, they should have the morals to investigate further. 

Lesson 02.04 Broadcast—Television

       I watched America's Newsroom on Wednesday, March 20th, 2013. The two news anchors are Bill Hemmer and Martha MacCallum. This type of news covers everything that's happening across the entire country of the United States. For the most part, FOX News allows people to view the facts and then make up an opinion of their own. However, Within the first 7-8 minutes, each news anchor had already uttered an opinionated remark. 
       News anchor Martha MacCallum was discussing the voting going on in the House and the Senate that dealt with the resolution that would avoid a government shutdown. The voting was said to be done yesterday. After MacCallum finished reporting on this topic, she said, "Yeah, we'll see where they get with that, right?". The words she said and the tone that she said them in implied that this was an opinion. However, I don't think that she said it in a way that people would believe that her opinion was a fact. 
       Next, MacCallum reported on the fact that the government was still hiring  new people even in the state our economy is in. New positions are popping up that are paying over 100,000 dollars a year. These new positions will possibly cause Native American schools to close or just make their class sizes larger. After MacCallum finished talking about this subject, Hemmer said, "Government's still hiring. Even under the sequester. Government's still getting bigger. No white house tours though." It's more about the tone that he said this in than what he actually said. 
       However, I don't believe that these opinions inhibited my ability to separate fact from opinion. The topics that they reported on were mainly political or economical. I think that the news anchors were able to effectively report the topics and provide the nation with facts. 

2.01 Print--Newspapers

      Daily newspapers are quite different from weekly newspapers. One obvious difference is that one newspaper will be published every day and the other will be published every week. Because of this difference, the production of the daily newspaper will be more time consuming. The average daily newspaper will spend more time searching for the latest stories than weekly newspapers do. 
      Also, weekly newspapers are more likely to expand on news and give an overview on everything that has happened. Daily newspapers are more interested in finding the top stories of the day. Breaking news is more likely to be found in daily newspapers. Also, because of the rush of daily newspapers to meet deadlines, weekly newspapers will probably have more detailed news since they get to spend more time writing. 
      People tend to have a preference of either the daily newspaper or the weekly newspaper. I would guess that the readers of the daily newspaper typically have a bit more time in the day to review the latest news. Weekly readers might have a day that they set aside to read the newspaper and see what's going on in the world. 



http://www.ehow.com/info_8211623_differences-monthly-weekly-daily-newspapers.html

2.00 Introduction: What is News?

      News is something that comes different to different people. News can be heard on the radio during the drive to school or work. News can be viewed in videos on the television or on the Internet. News can also be read in newspapers or on the Internet. To me, news is simply the latest information. News is not defined by the source that it comes from, but rather by the information being given. 

      News can also be given through friends. For example, if a friend watches television or sees the latest video on YouTube, they can easily relay the information to another friend. From there, that person might tell many other people or post this information on a personal blog they have. News has a way of coming from almost anywhere, as long as it begins from a reliable source. 

      News and communication fall hand in hand with each other, but differ at the same time. For example, two friends or colleagues can be communicating about the latest story on the late night news. Also, in order to get a news story with different perspectives from each side of the story, communication is necessary. Communication is needed to interview each person and gain their views. However, communication between friends is different than news shared with the whole world. 

01.02 Evolution of American Journalism

       Early journalism has shaped our world in a way that we can’t even begin to understand. In the 1690s, someone tried to publish the first American newspaper. This person was arrested for trying to show his opinion! Had this brave individual not taken the first steps towards modern journalism, we might not have the luxuries of free press that we do today. 

       If the freedom of the press was not guaranteed,  I can’t even imagine where we would be right now. We would have no way to voice our opinions about certain topics. We would have no way to inform the public of what’s going on with our country. Without the freedom of the press, people could go to jail or be killed because they want to spread their opinion to the world. 

“In America the President reigns for four years, and Journalism governs for ever and ever."

—Oscar Wilde

       America has come so far as a nation when it comes to free speech. When the Bill of Rights was written, journalism became a protected profession. Journalists are free to speak their minds, even if it’s something that other people don’t really like to hear. The New York Times newspaper was founded in 1851, 75 years after the U.S. gained its independence. That newspaper is still a major source of news today. If we hadn’t ever gained the right to free speech, the New York Times would’ve never been founded. Also, radio and television might have been invented a little later than they were. If we didn’t have a need to invent some way to spread news quicker, the radio and television might have been invented 50 years later than they were.