Welcome, JOUR 379! Here's your first response assignment. Please read the following articles and post your responses to both of them here. This is due by class Friday, June 1.
"The Danger of Always Being On" – New York Times blog
"Eight Reasons Plagiarism Sucks" – Slate
These two stories essentially go hand in hand. The pressures to get out news stories faster than everyone is the new challenge for journalists, and with this new challenge there is new risk. At the beginning newspapers had time to get an idea then go back and check facts, now that is impossible and both must be done at once. This makes copying somebody else's words a very tantilizing option, but by doing so the plagarist is perpetuating the stereotype of the "sleezy" reporter.
ReplyDelete" The Danger of always being on," is a compelling article about the New York Times developing an online video broadcast of their daily briefings about what goes on behind the scenes. In the few days that it began they found many problem with being on air. The first problem they found was that the deadline is always. Meaning, you come to the board room with your sources checked and your facts corrected. There is no time to wait or double check them later because the time is now. By doing this a lot of times they found their journalist and/or reporters scrambling to get their work done and this left them with their accuracy jeopardized.This also lead to grammatical errors and errors behind the scenes made public. Another issue, they found is that early morning issues of simply being exhausted, tired or whatever the case may be, released to the public eye, sometimes leaving their viewers upset. This also leads into problems with social media sites edit free, leaving room for personal opinion and comments to filter out as if they were from the press. (Which they are but they should maintain professional standards.)
ReplyDeleteAll in all what I thought major point made in this article was that not using the old fashioned style of reporting conduct with new social media tools can get you in trouble. Untrustworthy sources are being accredited for falsified information and reporting due to the urgency to push it out. What it comes down to at the end of the day is think before you speak, know facts before creating a story, and double check your story before publishing.
The second article "Eight reasons why plagiarism sucks," was a very interesting argument as to why plagiarism really pisses him off. The journalist that steals is a liar who is obviously misinformed ,lazy and out of line. He had eight bullets throughout the article pin pointing these major reasons explaining his thoughts behind each. The first I thought was very true is that plagiarism steals the writers thunder. This person is obviously hurting the writer and taking credit for something that isn't theirs. The next was that it destroys the meaning of "original work." There is no art is craft involved in copy and pasting. Another quite embarrassing point made was that mistakes that could have been made the first time around, aren't sought out and are never corrected the second time around. Making this writer not only look stupid but it is out there to be documented. The Last and final note was that when someone plagiarizes they "Cheats the reader out of the true story." This is the most heart felt point made because time, craft and lots of hard hours went into the reporting done in a particular story. Not actually seeing something for your own eyes, has no meaning behind it when you go to write about it. Chances are the meaning or experience that structures and carries the reader through the story will be lost in their own laziness.
Both of these articles in my opinion stress the importance of the integrity of journalism as a whole. A journalist is looked to as someone who will deliver accurate and precise information in a timely manner. Both articles highlight the point that information should be accurate and original, while also being timely.
ReplyDelete"The Danger of Always Being On" is an interesting insight on the terror some social media outlets can provide. Granted, social media can be an extremely useful tool, it must be used correctly. I agree that information should be double checked and inspected for errors, but now that we have the power to simply come up with a "quick-hit" bit about a story and immediately publish it, I can see where the fear of errors and inaccurate information can come into play.
"Eight Reasons Why Plagiarism Sucks" is the downright truth in my opinion. I think most journalists agree that they hold their personal work at a high level and want it to be respected as well as read, and would be extremely angry if it was to be reproduced without their knowledge or approval. I thought the point made about a plagiarizer receiving a promotion was genius. Not only does the work of a plagiarizer effect the original author, but also, if they were given a higher ranking job, would also effect the paper as a whole and readers. This point hits the nail on the head and I believe that the journalism world should be aware and go the extra mile to attempt to eliminate plagiarism.
"The Danger of Always Being On" really displayed the raw factors and flaws of on the spot coverage. With social media and the direction its heading, these mistakes and errors that journalists make will probably be something that readers have to learn to accept. It will be very interesting to see how journalism and reporting integrate with social media in the future and if or when the rules of reporting will change.
ReplyDelete"Eight Reasons Why Plagiarism Sucks" contains a lot of strong points and relevant truths regarding journalism. Plagiarism has no place in the world of writing or publishing and this article points out some of the main destructive aspects of plagiarizing.
The first article told of the speed and age of social media and the internet. It carefully explained in depth and also illustrated the speed of the internet and instead of focusing on the positives of the speed it allowed me as a journalist to understand and realize the precautions that I must take if ever given the reigns to a large company with social implications. It explained that even people across the world like Mr. Toyoda can receive the message and it have an impact on the company's relationship with one's own as soon as the next day. The author also talked about misspellings and the 1000 person nude subway ride, that because of social media was significantly altered. While technology is faster than ever, we must still take time o correct and view our work or it may be the downfall of a career in the near future.
ReplyDeleteThe second article was simply an informative, bullet outline of the eight reasons that plagiarism doesn't always hurt others, but more so hurts oneself more in the long run. The bullets were well organized and really gave an insightful opinion into the arts and crafts of cheating. The author tells of how it alters work ethic as well as accountability.
The New York Times blog concluded with the appropriate advice to this new fast-paced technology. Journalists need to be reminded about the Code of Ethics and realize that it takes time to check things out. Ordinary people do not have reputations for delivering fair and accurate news, journalist do.
ReplyDeleteThe "Eight Reason Plagiarism Sucks" article describes how plagiarism is an unlawful act of stealing. Beyond that fact, the person who commits the crime is decreasing their learning ability to gain more knowledge and to contribute more ideas to the body of knowledge. Plagiarism is not profitable. It definitely should not practiced under any circumstances.
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