Media Critique: The Courier Journal

Justin Sayers and Kirsten Clark Report 

on "Floyd Central student arrested after 'credible

threat' to safety."

September 13, 2016 

    The Courier Journal printed an article by journalists Justin Sayers and Kirsten Clark in their newspaper on Tuesday, September 13, 2016. In this printed article, the two journalists wrote about a Floyd Central student posting a selfie that contained him and a shotgun with the caption, "Ready for school tomorrow" and what effects it had on the community. They covered the story fairly well, stating the facts and informing the public about this local travesty, but these journalists failed to meet two of the most important elements of journalism. 

     In the article the two journalists wrote, "I would like to take this time to praise not only law enforcement and central office administration for their help and cooperation, but the teaching staff and student body." As soon as I read that one sentence I knew that this article was in need of reformation. Justin Sayers and Kirsten Clark failed to meet the element of journalism known as loyalty. They broke this element because being a journalist means that your first loyalty is to the people, not praising the law enforcement. 

    Most, maybe all, people would agree that the law enforcement needed praise for stopping this threat but that does not mean you can state that in your article. These two journalists failed to meet these two standards of the ten elements of journalism because this article devotes itself to a certain group, in this case the law enforcement. It makes you wonder if this source is credible and not just an article devoted to saying how well the police handled this problem. This element of journalism that they have broken is known as independence.  

    They included what happened and what was done to help the Floyd Central student body. The only problem in their article was when they gave praise to the law enforcement, no matter how needed it may be. They could've left those few sentences out of the article, making it free of prejudice. 

    After reading this article, I can determine that it focused on praising the law enforcement agencies and that the first loyalty this article needed to have is the people.

Classmate Response 2

laurenhunter77 Response

September 12, 2016

    For my next classmate response, I came across Lauren's blog and I was intrigued. After reading all of her posts, I decided to respond to her blog titled, "Class Discussion Review: print journalism." This blog post intrigued me because Lauren explained print journalism thoroughly. She explained Gutenberg and how he contributed to the world of printing and journalism. She did a great job of relating the past lives to our lives and our world. 

    While reading her blog Lauren stated the effects of print journalism such as the literacy rates began to steadily rise and that there was a spread of religious beliefs around the globe. This article was very informative and had a very detailed explanation of Gutenberg's technology and how it affected the printing world. 

    Lauren, in her blog post, stated that only the wealthy had the ability to receive an education. She found that this was a travesty, that everyone could not receive the same education and I totally agree. Overall, this was a great blog and I am grateful I had the opportunity to read it. Below is Lauren's link to her blog, check it out!

http://laurenhunter77.blogspot.com

Classmate Response 1

Maple Leaf Mag Response

September 12, 2016

    After finishing my four blogs on class discussions, I decided to move on to the classmate responses. In these next two blog posts I will be discussing with you on what I agree with my classmates and what I disagree with. I will share with you what I have learned from their blogs.   

    After perusing through the many blog posts of my fellow classmates, I came across an article by known author of slam poems, Maggie. I read her many blog posts and found them very interesting and thought provoking. Not only were these articles helpful in understanding the lectures and putting them in real world examples but they were well written and executed. I thoroughly enjoyed the blog post called "Class Response: Demassification ." Her article explained how television has become demassified and is targeting niche audiences. 

    I totally agree about what Maggie was trying to convey. Maggie had several great points about television and it's history. She explained how specific channels target their audiences through different ways such as having their episodes online or having them in a specific language. 

    Overall, this was a great article and I have attached the link so you can read it too!

http://maple-leaf-mag.blogspot.com

Life Without Print

Life Without Print 

September 9, 2016

    Fewer and fewer people that know how to read, no democracy, no journalism, and no public schooling. These are just some of the effects that our world would be going g through if printing technology didn't sweep through the world. Our world today would be unbelievably different if these technologies didn't come into play earlier in life. 

    During class today, we developed a list of what our life would be like without printing technologies such as Gutenberg's and print in general. Our lives would've consisted of dull jobs and smaller views on the world. We would go to work in large factories or small farms. There would be nothing to read or write, and no public schooling to learn these necessary skills. We wouldn't know what was going on outside our communities or country. We would be behind in scientific discoveries, have fewer religions, and there would be no consistent history because no one could write it down. Life would be without purpose. 

    After discussing this list of events that would've happened if printing technologies didn't exist, each table in the classroom drew a card and on this card was a word like "poster" or "poem." Using these words, each table had to present to the class what our lives would be like during these times of low literacy and terrible work conditions. 

    Each group was unique in presenting their ideas to the class but we all had practically the same underlying concept, which was that life would be dull. After hearing and listening to every group I realized how lucky we are to be born in a time where print journalism has come to life and we have the ability to connect with other people through it. 

     During these trying times, people didn't know or understand what life was like outside their community's walls. People had no journalism and many people couldn't read. This activity helped me understand how people's lives were like back than and what they had to go through, it really put it in perspective. 

    I am glad that I live in a time where there is democracy, journalism, trade between countries, public schooling, and that most people know how to read and write. But I also know and understand that it wasn't always like this and that a lot of people have worked hard to make the world what it is today, a land of opportunity.

Newspapers; Through the Years

Newspapers; Through the Years

September 7, 2016  

    Our class discussed the topic of newspapers today during class and what their rules were/are in history. We started the discussion on the history of the newspaper. We talked about how it was made, how it was distributed, and why it is still around today. 

    Did you know that newspapers have been around for hundreds and hundreds of years? Or that newspapers will be here till the end of time? These are just some of the interesting and complexing moments during our discussion today. 

    What I found compelled to blog about this discussion is how and why the human race has decided to keep reading and using the regular newspaper. This 'Old Tech', as we put it in class today, really shows how deep tradition can become. That after hundreds and hundreds of years, we are still reading practically the same newspapers that were once made. Not only is the newspaper a tradition to some but it's a way of life. Newspapers have also survived the dawn of time because it's affordable, portable, and a physical piece of media. Newspapers have always cost little to read and to print. In one point in history, you could ship one pound of newspapers for one penny. The newspaper, unlike a television, is portable, so you can take it with you throughout your day. We began talking about the origin of the newspaper and how it progressed throughout history. The ability to retrace the history of printed newspapers is truly inspiring. 

    During our discussion in class today, Mr. Miller said something that stuck with me. He said that newspapers were here hundreds of years ago and will be here hundreds of years after we have died. This really put my view of newspapers in perspective because news now, in this moment, will be news hundreds of years from now, and our children, children's children, and their children can read the news we put in newspapers. 

    Magazines, another source of print journalism, also shaped our history and world today. Magazines were able to give America, as a nation, an identity and culture. When America was first colonized by the British, we didn't have a distinct culture or identity, we were not our own. Magazines helped America become it's own nation and have it's own culture. 

    Overall, newspapers have been through booming times and tough times but no matter what, they'll be here. What we write in them will be on this Earth forever.  

Print Journalism

Print Journalism

September 2, 2016 

     In class today,  Mr. Miller explained the origin of print journalism and what effects it has had on our civilization. He also talked to us about the advantages of print journalism when being compared to other journalism sources, such as broadcast. 

     Print journalism, such as magazines, books, and newspapers, usually contains more thorough details than broadcasting. One downsize of print journalism is that you do not receive the information or news as soon as it happens. With print journalism, you have to wait for breaking news for weeks or in many cases months. On the other hand, broadcasting captures the news as soon as it is happening and sometimes is right there in the action. 

     I enjoyed discussing with Mr. Miller the different aspects of print journalism, because it made me realize that newspapers and magazines cover news that happened weeks or months ago and not at the time I happened to read it. I guess I did know this but putting it in this perspective made me realize what timeline exists when reading print journalism. 

     The next part of our discussion in class was the history of printing. We spent a lot of time discussing the different dates that influenced the history of printing. This was very helpful in understanding how some inventions went hand in hand with others. It was also interesting to see the growth and impact some individuals had on the history of printing. One common theme was presented in many of these dates, powerful organizations acted to increase their power. Some examples of this theme is the Catholic Church and many other powerful institutions during the time of the new press technologies. I think that we did spend quite enough time discussing these dates in class with Mr. Miller. 

     We, as a class, developed a list of effects that printing technology has had on the world. I did not know how much press technology has affected our lives. Some effects of press technology was that it was the very beginning of journalism, helped spread many scientific ideas, and it helped the growth of literacy. Those are just some of the ways press technology has affected our history and our everyday lives. Learning about different effects of print journalism helped me realize how important it is and what happened because of it.