Readinggg

Chapter 8: Covering Criminal Courts
Okay, so this is a lot more specific than the other readings. Or maybe I just know a lot less about this stuff. Everything I learned about this topic I learned from television, and had to have someone explain everything to me while watching. My brain isn't wired for this stuff.

So I'm reading this and I don't really know what to write about. It's just a whole lot of information right now. I like how they give all the definitions of motions though, considering I knew like 2 beforehand. The portion covering trials was helpful as well. It gives a good play-by-play of exactly what's going on and what a journalist needs to understand.

Normally when I write in my blog I try to compare the reading to something. I have nothing to compare this chapter with. It's straight facts. And my knowledge on courts is limited, very limited.


Chapter 9: Covering Civil Courts
This looks just as interesting as the previous chapter...hah. Sorry, this stuff simply does not interest me. It takes me a really long time to process it all. I feel like an idiot.

Alright, I know the examples they used for civil lawsuits. Now I don't feel as dumb.

Great quote: "For many court reporters, the civil court is the stepchild of the criminal courts."
(I just find it funny when they apply family terms to things that aren't related by blood)

The Liebeck example is useful in this chapter. I plan on spilling a lot of coffee on myself, not that I don't already. But in the future, I plan on making some sweet money off it.

I think I like reading about civil courts more than criminal courts. This is like Judge Judy stuff. When I was little, I would go to my grandparents' house at least twice a week. They had this computer maintenance guy who came over a lot (their computer must've been really messed up, and he just happened to be a good friend) and he would always watch hours and hours of Judge Judy on their couch. Because of this, and the fact that he adored his cats and fed them Doritos, my grandmother concluded that he was gay. Turns out, he is. I saw him at my grandfather's funeral this past Thursday and had a hard time placing him. I just saw his face and thought, "Judge Judy."

That is my comparison of the reading to my life for tonight. That's as good as I can get right now.


Chapter 14: Covering a Beat
This sounds exciting, but difficult at first. I take a bit to get used to things so I don't know how well I would do at this in the beginning. I like to know exactly what I'm doing, but I also have an interest for learning new things.

Okay, so clearly you need have a good broad knowledge. Hopefully, we are all getting that at school. I'm not so sure I am, maybe once I finish my minor I'll work on taking some basic classes. That would probably be a good idea.

This may be a line that I would normally skip over, but I somehow picked it up. And I like it, a lot: "History may not repeat itself, but knowledge of it helps you assess the significance of current events and provides clues to what you can expect." It's like the age-old history teacher motto "if we don't learn from our history we are bound to repeat it" but I feel like it says so much more. We need to be able to acknowledge what the public needs to know to help our society. As reporters, we need to know what we are writing about. One of my biggest pet peeves is when people write about something and they have no idea what they are saying. That goes more with opinion pieces, but still. It bugs me.

The textbook mentions that one of the most common mistakes of beginning reporters is giving up too easily. Lalala this is me. I'm getting better though.

I like how it says to "be there." It seems trivial to say, but maybe it isn't. For beat reporting the best way to get the story is to be right there. Otherwise, you are completely missing out.

Okay, so then the chapter goes further into each specific beat. My ear really hurts. I'm going to bed.

Giuliani for the Red Sox...what??

With game 4 of the World Series approaching in a mere half hour and after just returning from home in glorious Massachusetts, I had to pick this issue. And it is an issue.

Rudy Giuliani, huge huge huge Yankees fan, said he is rooting for the Red Sox.

What?? Wait, no really...what?

Don't give me the "I root for my league" crap. We don't buy it. We don't want you.

Just because he was talking in a Boston restaurant doesn't mean we want him to say he's backing our team. If you are a real Yankees fan, you would never root for the Sox. We don't want you to root for the Sox! We see right through you Rudy! Our mamas didn't raise no fools!

And don't think we forgot that New Hampshire is all Sox fans and just happens to be the first primary. We're not idiots.

Aaaand, don't go saying that Clinton is not a real Yankees fan then say that you are rooting for the Sox. It does not work like that Giuliani, nope not at all.

Idiot.

Go Sox!

chapters 1, 5, and 7

I know this post is a little past the due date, but it's been a very hectic week at home. Better late than never, right?

Chapter 1: The Crime Beat
I liked how this chapter started out by saying that crime can be a great story to tell, which is what journalism is at its core--story telling. As it continues, it seems like reporters are often happy when something criminal rolls along so they get a chance to write about it. Honestly, that sounds a tad bit selfish. It's one thing to write about it if it happens to occur, but it kind of comes across that reporters are almost hoping for something bad to happen.

The "sink-or-swim test" seems rather brutal, but I guess it makes sense. If you can deal with the pressures of a crime beat then you can deal with the pressures of almost anything. But this test can lead to not training beat reporters. If I was just thrown into police reporting, like the example with Prusher, without any guidance, I would be extremely nervous in the actual reporting and fearful that I wasn't doing my job correctly.

This quote from Stanley Walker is great:
"News is the inexact measure of the ebb and flow of the tides of human aspiration, the ignominy of mankind, the glory of the human race. It is the best record we have of the incredible meanness and the magnificent courage of man."

I do not think I would like the aggressive nature of crime reporting in NYC that Krajicek writes about. It seems like it could possibly get dangerous? The relationships between cops and journalists seems interesting, and I like this quote. "Cops are leery of journalists, and many journalists are cynical about cops. Perhaps this is healthy." I think that is very healthy. You don't want the two to be all buddy-buddy. It would be hard to trust.

The next thing that I found helpful were the definitions of terms used in civil law. Here they are.

• Larceny encompasses any wrongful taking of property.
• Theft is larceny without a threat or violence, such as a picked pocket. Many forms of white-collar financial crimes are variations of theft.
• Fraud is a form of theft, sometimes defined as theft by deception.
• Tax evasion is another form of theft.
• Auto theft is self-explanatory.
• Robbery is a larceny accompanied by violence or threats, including a finger under the jacket to indicate a gun.
• Burglary is the unlawful entering of a premises with the intent to commit a crime. A burglary does not involve violence. But if a homeowner discovers the burglar and violence ensues, the burglary becomes a robbery. ("Home invasion," a phrase that became popularized in the 1990s and was followed by special-penalty laws, is a break-in robbery.)

I like how it says to shadow a cop in this chapter and how that's what we're doing right now. I am scheduled to go tonight, but because of some home stuff jdhsdhfbjhdfb I cannot. I was really looking forward to go on a Halloween weekend night!

My eyes hurt from reading all of this online.

I thought the example of the kindergarten boy shooting a classmate was very interesting (under 'Bad News' Beat). Writing that story must've been extremely difficult. I can't even imagine where I would start with writing a story like that. How it was criticized was also interesting to read, and I can see where it is coming from. I don't think there will ever be a story that was difficult to write that won't be harshly criticized.

The excerpts from Edna Buchanan's memoir were equally interesting...and make me never want to be a police reporter. "It can be lonesome and arduous. People blame you for the bad news," she writes. I understand that this is how human nature generally works (people need to place the blame on someone, media can be an easy target) but that really sucks. It takes a strong person to be able to deal with that day in and day out.

All this safety stuff makes me nervous.... Note to self: "Consider protective gear, such as a helmet."

Okay, I need to stop writing about everything. This chapter is really, really long.

What to do if you ever face arrest...sweeeeet, I can get arrested for doing this stuff. Just what I want to hear. This portion of the chapter tells you more of how to avoid getting arrested, and not what to do if you actually are arrested. I guess that it's more important to know how to avoid being arrested.


Chapter 5: Covering Crime and Its Victims
Good, this chapter is shorter. One needs "perspective, persistence and patience" while covering crime and its victims. 3 p's. Good. Easy to remember. A lot of the stuff in the beginning of this chapter was covered in Chapter 1.

"As reporters, we must remember that though we have deadlines, victims or their families have quite a bit to do, too." Uh, yeah. Think about it. They are going through a lot more than you are. Be respectful. If they want to be left alone, just leave them alone. Let them be with their family. Get out of their face. You're probably just making it worse.

All of this is irking me right now. I don't think I could do this line of reporting. I would not want to annoy a victim. I mean, it seems really annoying to have a reporter asking you all these questions right after something tragic has occurred. Being interviewed is probably the last thing a victim wants, unless it's something they want the public to be aware of. It just adds on to all the stress they are already dealing with.


Chapter 7: Covering the Courts
The beginning of this chapter is informative about the courts. There was a lot I didn't know. Actually, I didn't know most of this before. If I was to include what I didn't know (which is what I mostly do in these entries) I would basically give a summary of the entire chapter. I'm not about to do that.

You need to do a lot of research when covering the courts. Not only do you have to do the research, but you have to be able to understand EVERYTHING. This chapter says where you can find every document you will ever need basically.

The portion on access was helpful. It is necessary to know all your rights in the courtroom.



This reading has taken me 3 days now. I'm done...until tomorrow when I do the next two chapters.

comments

http://fallingfornews2007.blogspot.com/
Guiliani and Hillary aren’t the same person.

http://reporterandrea.blogspot.com/
Hungry blondes.

http://man-o-man-journalism.blogspot.com/
XM radio

http://newsreportingicjessg.blogspot.com/
Gore for prez?! no.

http://lvpdnews-lara.blogspot.com/
baby bonds.

http://emokenews.blogspot.com/
Romney races

http://seagullatemycheetos.blogspot.com/
purple chicken-poxed map

http://archanatalk.blogspot.com/2007/09/
youth-of-nation.html youth votes

Gore for '08 presidential candidate?

Fans of Al Gore are pushing him to become a candidate for the 2008 presidential election, according to ABCNews.com. The fans are a part of a group named Draft Gore which has its own website. They bought a $65,000 ad in the New York Times to display a letter to Gore that basically begged him to become a candidate. Radio ads are also being played by Draft Gore using slogans like, "He won once, he can win again." They're hoping that his win of a Nobel Peace Prize will make him change his mind on entering the election.

The website DraftGore.com was fun to explore. One of my favorite parts is a song "Run Al Run" featuring lines like, "lately the White House is quite well known for having lots of lights on but no one home." There is also a poster available to order online! But really, the site is good and offers a petition, lots of media, reasons to choose Gore, etc.

Newsweek published an article about the Draft Gore organizations. It also said that supporters are hoping that the Nobel Peace Prize he won Friday will urge him to enter the race.

The Race to Informality

Informality of the lives of presidential candidates were addressed in an AP story published two days ago. Barack Obama's wife, Michelle, informed us of her husband's dirty sock habits and Hillary Clinton lets us know that she wants Bill to eat carrots, instead of chips.

The article addresses the fact that many see Hillary Clinton as harsh and that letting the public know random tidbits of her life may make her seem more real. All of the little aspects of her personal life being exposed are helping the public know of her character.

In a conference last month, Rudolph Giuliani shocked an audience as he answered his ringing cellphone. It was his wife and he said to her, "I love you and I will give you a call as soon as I finish."

Dirty socks, carrots, and cellphones are some of the tactics candidates are using to seem more "real". They want to be perceived as more than just political figures but as family members and friends.

A whole lot of reading...

Chapter 22

This chapter, with the topic being media law, opened up by telling us that people listen to Oprah. I do not. I do not like Oprah. She says mean things about cows...that was not the point of why the book used this as an example was it...

This chapter is necessary in a journalism textbook. Journalists need to know their rights and how to protect the rights of others.

Libel is extremely important for a journalist to understand. People are very protective of their own reputations and don't want something to taint their image. The chart "Defamation" was extremely helpful in understanding what constitutes slander and libel. The fact that the book mentions it at the beginning and the end of the chapter tells you that it is very vital for a journalist to understand.

Some of the wording in this chapter was kind of hard to get through but after a few reads it mostly made sense. I'll probably give it another read-through in the near future.


Politics and the English Language

First of all, I love how this was written.

"A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more completely because he drinks. It is rather the same thing that is happening to the English language. It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts," writes Orwell.

I guess what Orwell is trying to get to is that just like a cluttered desk makes a cluttered mind, so does an unclear language leading to an unclear thinking process. He finds it not only important for professional writers to write in proper English but for everyday people to do the same.

The five quotes he chose as examples of bad prose were difficult to understand and hard to even vaguely comprehend what point the author was trying to get across. He writes that authors are "almost indifferent as to whether his words mean anything or not." This is something that I feel is very common in some text books and academic essays. In other classes, I have read many articles that have barely made any sense at first glance and where sentences had to be picked apart to understand. The first thing nearly everyone says as they enter the class is how hard the reading was. I believe that reading should be something enjoyable and that writing should not be something you have to decipher like it is a foreign language. Even if the subject matter may not interest you, you should at least find something inspiring in the writing style.

The following section helped me understand what makes writing not as effective as it could be. I commonly do everything that Orwell says not to do. If not in writing, I definitely say it out loud. I've been catching myself and others lately using dying metaphors and cliches. I caught a great contradictory metaphor yesterday while watching America's Next Top Model. "What you see is what you get. Don't judge a book by its cover," said one of the contestants. She was called out on this by one of the judges and told to stop contradicting herself.

I find myself wanting to quote every other line of this article.

"[Modern writing] consists in gumming together long strips of words which have already been set in order by someone else, and making the results presentable by sheer humbug," writes Orwell

I now realize how bad of a writer I am. Hopefully I will be better now that I have read this article and know what all my faults are (and that they are indeed faults).

I bookmarked it.


Five Characteristics of Academic or Scholarly Prose

This is exactly what I was talking about before. Academic and scholarly prose oftentimes is near impossible for a regular person to understand. It can be wordy and use unnecessarily long phrases. It is not even effective many times.

The characteristics listed are exactly what I see when reading academic essays for school. I thought I was an idiot before for not understanding what the author was writing but it turns out that they are the idiots (kind of).


Assessment of Media Performance (in the Staff Report to the President’s Commission on The Accident at Three Mile Island)

Reading this assessment makes me feel that I need to double major in something like, say, nuclear power maybe? If I was in the situation of the accident at TMI, I would be like Paul Magnussen who had to cover the story just because he was back from lunch first.

I liked reading how many reporters each news outlet sent to report on the accident. I found it interesting that the Times sent enough reporters to fill an entire floor of a hotel while others only sent a few.

I also liked how they included why the accident was newsworthy in the assessment. The fact that "conflicting information" was one of the reasons why reporters covered the story was new to me.

The work that reporters went to to understand what was going is outstanding. They really wanted to know everything so they could report fully and accurately. The steps they took to obtain information were not easy ones. One of my favorites was: "Inquirer reporters had obtained names of the workers by matching up license plate numbers on cars in the Met Ed lots with the names of the vehicles' owners." Creeeeepy, but great.

"No amount of information is ever enough information."

There is no doubt that many reporters covering this story believed that phrase. They didn't want to get information from just one source either, they went all over the place.

The sensationalism portion was helpful in understanding what makes something sensationalized and why reporters would want to take this "angle". For example, it was intriguing to find that the press didn't report that no one died at TMI.

Concluding the assessment of the media was how the situation could have been handled better. This is something that needs to be looked into so that future stories won't have the same issues as ones in the past.