Media Critique: WLKY vs. WDRB vs. CJ on Fluff Stories

Even though "Fluff" stories aren't really essential in our everyday lives, as humans, we tend to enjoy listening to gossip and celebrity break-ups over important diplomacy issues in Iraq. It's important to balance such stories with ones with more impact. Often times, news stations choose ratings over their own journalistic integrity. If you look below, you'll see the large difference between the percent of fluff stories in different stations. For example, WLKY has only 2% of its stories as fluff while WDRB has about 12%! Though I find it commendable that WLKY has so few of its stories on fluff, it might be more enjoyable for some of the audience and a news station should take into account the consumers interest and WDRB has far too many fluff stories at %12 but CJ has a good amount at 7% because it keeps a good balance between needs and wants. 

This graph shows the percent of fluff stories average in an episode of WDRB, WLKY,
 and CJ. Note how CJ is almost perfectly in the middle of the two extremes next to it. 

Class Response: Radio's Relationship with Music

Radio, though thoroughly demassified, is still very much a presence in today's society. What do most people listen to radio for? For the music. Though there are those who listen to news or political/sports commentary, music is very popular. In all, it was a very wise decision for radio to focus on music. Radio provides a free and easy way to listen to all of your favorite songs. Of course, radio music has also been demassified. Each specific station has one specific genre that it focuses on. Though music within radio has been demassified it was also what keeps a radio in every car and keeps them around at all.  

Media Critique: WLKY vs. WAVE and WHAS on Crime

Look at the graph below. Almost all of the points line up except for the category listed as "Crime". WLKY has almost six crime stories out of about fourteen per episode. This may just be because there is a sudden burst in crime when this data was collected but this isn't the case. Both WHAS and WAVE have significantly less stories. There are many reasons why this may be. Perhaps both WHAS and WAVE missed all of the high-profile crime stories but it is more likely that WLKY is digging up insignificant crime stories to make for a more interesting thirty minutes. This is breaking the Principle of Journalism "Make the Important Interesting". Reference the chart below for all of the data mentioned above.  

This graph shows how many stories of different types were in three different
stations. Make sure to look at the differences between the different data points

Class Response: TV, Too Much Influence?

Television had an overwhelming influence on the masses, as we discussed in class. When you see someone wearing an outfit on TV, you instantly accept at as an ordinary part of the fashion world. Someone watches a story on increasing crime in the neighborhood, then that person might begin to lock their doors at night. The question is whether this influence is a good thing or a bad thing. The answer to that question is a very complex and difficult one. It's the same as asking whether or not propaganda is a good thing. I think that it's really all in the way you use it. Obviously influencing the fashion world doesn't seem to be too harmful unless, of course, it becomes a TV trend for characters to wear a Swastika pins. It's all in the way TVs influence is used.

Media Critique: WHAS Comes Short on Stories

WHAS's number of stories per episode average makes very little sense. Though you can obviously fit more articles on a webpage than in a thirty minute show, shouldn't you be able to get all of the major stories from the television show alone? All of the other stations, though there aren't the same number of stories on both the webpage and the the television episode, there id never a distance larger than eleven stories but in WHAS's case there is a gap of about thirty-eight stories. You might point out that the news-crew over at WHAS puts out too many stories on their website but there is also, on average, about eight more stories meaning it doesn't meaning WHAS doesn't keep the general public as up to date as it should. To see all the data, look at the chart below.

This chart displays how many stories each of the news-stations in Louisville
KY had over a several-week period on average. Note the large difference
 between the data on WHAS and on all of the other stations

Classmate Review: "Media Review" by Yamini

I thought that Yamini's media critique of WHAS11 was very good and to the point, which is how you should format news articles. All of the points she makes about the news story "Carmel, Ind. named one of America's best cities-again" I can completely agree with. The story does not have local relevance nor does it have newsworthiness on its side. The only part of this critique that needs fixing is that Yamini accidentally used "peripheral" and "core" synonymously when in truth they mean totally opposite things but in the end it was clear that it was just a miscommunication and the message she was trying to get across did come through.  There is also a link to her article below.

Yamini's Media Critique 

A Classmate Review: "Car Crash Story..." by Cameron

I thought that this was an excellent review because not only did it state which law of journalism it violated, but Cameron also thought outside the box and wrote about what ulterior motives the news station might've had in putting up such an unnecessary article. She also points out how unspectacular the event in question was and though the story may have deserved some sort of reporting, it definitely does not belong under the "Top Stories" section of the news website. She writes in detail of why this story does not, in her own words, "meet journalistic standards". So, overall, a very good and thorough review. The link to her media critique is listed below.

Cameron's Media Critique

Media Critique: CNN's "The Latest"

When you look at the sidebar that says "The Latest" on a a news website, you expect all of the need to know news pieces for that day. That is not the case with CNN. Instead of putting important events, it displays a feature articles titled "Breast Implants in Short Supply", "Miley Cyrus Flag Stunt Condemned", and "Did LeBron get his hairline fixed". I don't know about you as readers, but these excuses for feature articles hardly even qualify as journalism. They break a multitude of principles and yardsticks of journalism.

The first principle this section of the website violated was Watchdog. Not a single article featured was censoring or even centered on politics. The only mention of any American, political leader was in the article "Obama's Republican cousin is...?" which focuses on the fact that Senator Ted Cruz is Obama's cousin. A fact that is this worthless for the average American. The next principle broken by this sidebar is Make the Important Interesting. This principle doesn't work the other way around. Make the Interesting Important is definitely not a principle. Not only are none of these articles important, but CNN also tries to make them seem far more essential than they truly are.

Now to start on the seven yardsticks. Obviously none of these articles are newsworthy, for reasons previously stated and because hardly anything written there will have any sort of lasting impact. This sort of household gossip should not be allowed on a national website. This section of the CNN website definetly needs some reviewing and should be edited to only show events that are actually meaningful in peoples' everyday lives. 

Classmate Review: Oliva's "Fox News Media Critique"

Olivia did a really great job on this media critique. I agreed with everything she said. It's true that Fox News should not have reported on the story that they did. It definitely didn't hold up to the standards of journalism. Not only was the article not newsworthy, it also lacked verification! It was a great catch on Olivia's part that I don't think I, personally, would have noticed.

Classmate Review: Ella Mays' "Class Discussion Response #3"

I really enjoyed this response. It explained the three types of communication very soundly. Though, perhaps it could have been improved upon. It would be better if she had discussed her own thoughts and opinions in the piece rather than just repeating the information. Although the explanations were great and contained a lot of detail, I would have found it interesting to hear a bit more on her thoughts about the discussion and less of what we ourselves heard in class.

Class Response: The Importance of Zenger

John Peter Zenger published a reputation-destroying, career-hurting, and totally true article about a governor. He was then sued for his totally true report. You would think that the power governor would have won against the lowly reporter, but he didn't. This is the first sign of America's potential for total freedom of speech (assuming it's not liable). Not only did this case pave the way for freedom of speech, but it's also what pushed journalist to become government watchdogs too. Before this case, a journalist had to live in fear of publishing an article about the misuse of power. No matter how true, the article would be thought as as an "act against god". But after the Zenger Case, this was not longer an issue because not the truth was the ultimate defense against a slander charge. This case is what made journalism what it is today.

Class Response: Melding the Models

We discussed in class about how the different binary models are staring to become obsolete because of things like conglomerates and infotainment. One model that cant be combined is the "Hot-Cold" model. How can something that is intense and takes all of your concentration be background sound as well? On further examination, I decided that there are a few gray areas. Magazines, for example. A magazine could take all of your time and attention if you choose to sit and read every single word, but what about if you skim the headlines and chat with your friend beside you. This is one of the rare items which you can allow to take up different amounts of your concentration.

Class Response: The Important Principle

Journalism encompasses such a wide scope of ideas that I find it hard to imagine nine principles, much less a single one can truly explain everything about it. But after reading the nine principles and seven yardsticks, I felt differently. I began to realize that maybe their was one principle that outweighed the others in importance. I decided that "truth" is the most important. If people can't even believe what you say then there isn't even a point to the rest of the principles. First and foremost, an article must be truthful to the world as a whole. 

To prove what I said, think of all of the principles and yardsticks and think of a time when it has been violated. When someone fabricates stories, it is much more harmful for the audience than when a news outlet doesn't cover a story they probably should have. Though all of the yardsticks and principles are undoubtedly important, truth is among the most important.  

Class Response: The Printing Press

I got to thinking after the class took the One Question Quiz on what the world would be like without the movable-type printing press. I wondered about what events could have been avoided if humanity had had the printing press long before it was actually invented. My first thought was of the Crusades and the horrible bloodshed caused on religions behalf, mainly by illiterate farmers who decided to march for a place in heaven. But where does it say that in the Bible? This is exactly what we talked about in class earlier today. The more knowledgable the people got, the more they began to question religion. 

Just think of how illiterates would just march off to do whatever the Church told them to do. If the movable-type printing press had been invented sooner, then the Church never would've been to able to amass the power that it did and perhaps Christianity would not be as widespread as it currently is (not that wide-spread Christianity is a bad thing). The religions of the world might also be vastly different because of the ability to record the religions text, word for word. The inventing of the printing press changed humanity in a way nothing else could; it enlightened the masses on things that really effected how they lived.