Midterm Lecture Recap

Since we started this course in January, I have learned so much about journalism and the history of news in our country. We started off the course with a refresher on the First Amendment and Constitution, looking at some of the things we studied in media law and ethics/literacy.

Something that I personally needed a refresher on was the journalists role in society of being a "watchdog." This is why we are an "adversarial" press and not a "cooperative" press. Because of this, journalists are part of the system of checks and balances. 

I needed to be reminded of this because sometimes it is hard for me to be critical in my work as a journalist. I always want to share the good news, and at times I dread sharing bad news, particularly when it is something I am personally criticizing. In general, you could say that I struggle with opinion pieces that are more negative than positive, but I am working on this in our opinion writing course. I need to remember the importance of being critical when it is necessary, especially when it comes to the government.

 

Something that I found incredibly interesting in media law and ethics/literacy was the State Action Doctrine, and I am glad I was also able to be refreshed on it in this class. The State Action Doctrine reads, "Without government involvement no constitutional claim can be made because only the government can violate your constitutional rights: Therefore, the first amendment doesn’t reach private actors." This is why people can still sue for libel, or defamation.

Along with the "watchdog" role and State Action Doctrine, we also learned about the Twitter Files. In this case, accusations were made that the government was involved in the censorship. Journalists defended the government and tried to cancel fellow journalists for reporting on the truth. Those journalists were trying to play the watchdog role. Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss, two American journalists, showed thousands of emails from social media companies that have direct conversations with the government. This was a really fascinating example of the principles we have learned about in class being seen in real life.

The Printing Press

Later in class we learned about the Colonial, Partisan and Penny Press Eras.

Colonial Press: Learning about this era, I saw how important the press was in working towards America's independence. In 1729, Benjamin Franklin started his own paper to vaguely hint at independence. On the opposite side of things, there were also incidents where the government tried to halt independence. In 1722 James Franklin was put in jail for using a confidential source who criticized the government. In good news for the press, in 1769, Isaac Doelittle made a major advancement for the press by creating the mechanical press, allowing multiple pages to be printed quickly.

Partisan Press: By this time, America had just declared its independence. In 1776, Thomas Paine created an editorial style pamphlet called "Common Sense" in which he criticized the government. In 1789, James Madison wrote the First Amendment, a major step towards protecting the press. However, in 1798, the Sedition Act went into effect and made it a crime to criticize the government. Luckily in 1800 after the Jefferson vs. Adams election, Jefferson got ride of the act. In 1823, Jones Booth created the steam-powered press making printing even faster.

Penny Press: This era begins in the 1800s. In 1833, Benjamin Day of the New York Sun makes newspapers more affordable and available to the public by only charging one cent but printing more papers. In 1844, Samuel B. Morse invented the telegraph allowing information to be spread quicker and across larger distances. In 1852, Charles Dana of the New York Times began the "objectivity standard" by reporting both sides. This was the opposite of the Partisan Era. In 1861, the Civil War began, and it was a time of censorship.

These are just some of the key facts from these timelines. The timelines really allowed be to gain a better understanding of journalism history and how it effected journalism in our modern world.

This post includes just a small portion of what we have learned in class, and I am excited to learn more and grow in my knowledge of journalism history.

Why Am I Here?

My freshman year of high school I joined our school news broadcast group, Griffin TV. After shadowing for a few days, I was set to finally work on a basic job behind the scenes soon, like operating the teleprompter, writing scripts or creating graphics. It was my last day of observing the show before this transition. The show was starting soon, and the crew was looking for someone to fill in as a co-anchor last minute. Our teacher looked to me and asked if I thought I could do it. I said yes and jumped right in.

For the next four years I spent countless hours in the studio, learning every job both behind the scenes and in front of the camera. I recognized that what we were doing was just a minuscule part of the greater world of journalism. I knew that I wanted to become a journalist and immerse myself in that world.

My High School Logo

Going into my senior year, I began applying to colleges. Because this  was less than two years since the covid-19 pandemic began, I was unable to go on college tours throughout junior year, as many high school students do. I did most of my visits during senior year. However, many of my applications were due in the fall. Because of this I had to apply to schools I hadn't even visited yet. In total, I ended up applying to 17 schools, which is a LOT. 

I knew long before senior year that I wanted to study broadcast journalism in college. As I was making my list of schools I wanted to apply to, I was looking for places that had great journalism programs, and I really wanted a school with a state-of-the-art broadcast studio. This would allow me to practice in a professional environment. 

I applied to Newhouse at Syracuse University, Fordham University, American University, Hofstra University and more. The one thing they all had in common was they had exceptional journalism programs and were located in the North East. 

High Point University was not on my radar until an admissions counselor visited my school and convinced me to apply. I trusted his opinion immediately because he studied communications at HPU and attended my high school. Before I knew it, I was applying to my first and only school in the South. Needless to say I visited during presidential scholars weekend, took one look at the studio, and I was convinced. I put down my deposit that weekend and said goodbye to the 16 other schools I had applied to.

NQSC

So that is how I ended up at the HPU journalism department. But how did I end up in this class?

Of course this class is a required course for all journalism students, but this class is more to me than just that. This class is an opportunity for me to learn more about the journalists who have come before me. By studying journalism history, I can learn what things I should do and what things I should not do. I firmly believe that studying the past is the best way to improve our future, and I hope that this class will help me do that as a journalist. I also couldn't pass up the chance to take another class with Dr. Smith. (This will be my 5th class with him!)

Overall, I have no doubt that I will learn so much this semester about what I consider to be one of the best professions in the world.