Monitor Power and Offer Voice to the Voiceless

“Journalists must serve as an independent monitor of power” is one of the elements of journalism, and that notion is still practiced by many contemporary journalists. To monitor what government leaders or powerful business elites are doing is essential for citizens to be free and self-governing. Throughout journalism history, many brave journalists seek to expose and uncover corruption of businesses and government to public. As citizens are informed about these abused powers, they will demand government to reform.
Original investigative reporting, interpretative investigative reporting, and reporting on investigations are the main forms of today’s practice of investigative journalism. These forms of journalism have accurately reported and documented what government and business are doing. However, I think the citizen journalism will be the dominant way to monitor government because many citizens frequent use the Internet to read the news among themselves through blogs and other internet forums.

Watergate Forces the President to His Knees

The Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward’s efforts to uncover the Watergate scandal have helped American people to secure the democratic form of government. Without these two brave reporters, the country will be controlled by a dictator. The methods of gathering information about the scandal were very resourceful. The reporters had to rely on anonymous sources and the Deep Throat to get the information because the scandal has linked to the oval office and President Nixon.
Bernstein and Woodward came from different background and political belief, such as one was republican and the other was democrat, but they all knew that as reporters they had to get the facts right about a event without any fear. When the reporters tried to get the information they needed, the government constantly threaten the Washington post and its reporters; however, the Post still continued to support the coverage of the Watergate scandal despite the government threats. The Post had fulfilled to be an independent monitor of government power.

The Civil Rights Movement

Television news has done a great job to awaken American people about the realities of black oppression in the south, and also television news pushed the Civil Rights Movement into the American consciousness and into the national agenda. Television news presented its audiences with vivid images of African Americans being beaten and brutalized by white American people rather than describing how the brutal events took place. Television audiences could see live coverage of the Civil Rights Movement and how policemen misused their powers to punish the peaceful demonstrators in Birmingham. The power of images has aroused strong feeling about the equal rights among all American people.
There is an old saying that “a picture is worth a thousand words”, that truth has used by the television news to cover every single brutal treatment that African Americans had received. Every image of brutal scenes and demonstrations has delivered to audiences’ TV screen, and it made the crisis clear in the whole country. Without television news’s coverage of the crisis, the Civil Rights Movement wouldn’t occur. Seeing is believing. TV audiences have to see the course of crisis otherwise it didn’t happen.

"Good Night, and Good Luck"

The film “Good Night, and Good Luck” is very fascinating film. I think it well reconstructs the roles of Edward R. Murrow and Fred Friendly during the Joseph R. McCarthy era. Their news program See It Now is the cornerstone of the new electronic journalism. It showed to the American public that the television has taken the role as public service from the newspaper journalism. The newspaper journalism has failed to protect and inform to its audiences about the tricks McCarthy had used to manipulate Americans’ mind during the communist threats.
To expose Joe McCarthy’s tricks, Murrow didn’t write about how McCarthy’s methods have used. Instead, Murrow showed his audiences about McCarthy’s televised performance in order to prove what kind of man McCarthy was. Murrow used excerpts from McCarthy's own speeches to criticize the senator and point out where he had contradicted himself. The technique Edward R. Murrow has used to expose McCarthy was unique and very effective.

The New York Times’s article “Army Doctor Held in Ft. Hood Rampage” by Robert D. McFadden

It is very horrifying and devastating about what has happened in Fort Hood Army post in central Texas, and I feel very sorry for the victims’ families. The gunman, Major Nidal Malik Hasan himself a psychiatrist trained to help others’ mental health, has “killed 13 people and wounded 30 others” according to The New York Times’s article “Army Doctor Held in Ft. Hood Rampage” by Robert D. McFadden. It’s another shooting rampage since the incident at Virginia Tech in 2007. The gunman has been shot four times and was hospitalized. In the day of this incident, some journalistic reports have misled the information about the rampage, but it was quickly corrected according to the Times’s article. At this devastating moment, people can not be misinformed about the incident; people need to know the facts about the incident, so they can give some proper response to it.
I think racial discrimination, prejudice, and pressures from military life led Hasan to kill many of his comrades. Hasan might have built up this pressures and stresses during his military life to the point that he couldn’t take it anymore, and finally he exploded himself and turned himself into a merciless killer. President Obama has given some comment on this crisis. He said that “‘to get answers to every single question about this horrible incident’”, and also I believe that we shouldn’t just hurriedly reach to the conclusion about the incident, and we need to get some basic facts right, so the incident will be effectively resolved.

The New York TImes's aritcle “Bloomberg Wins 3rd Term as Mayor in Unexpectedly Close Race” by David W. Chen and Michael Barbaro

We have some surprising results on New Jersey’s and New York’s election campaign. Christopher Christie became new New Jersey’s governor, and Michael Bloomberg is still our New York City mayor. It doesn’t matter who win the official position. The important things that what will winners do for their citizens in coming years. The New York Times’s article “Bloomberg Wins 3rd Term as Mayor in Unexpectedly Close Race” by David W. Chen and Michael Barbaro, many people felt that Bloomberg has re-elected as third term New York City mayor because he had poured a lot of money in campaign spending; however, his rival, William Thompson, didn’t raised much money for his campaign.
I believe that the primary reason Michael Bloomberg has won the campaign because people have seen he had done very good job during his last eight years. He has improved the education system, encouraged citizens to use public transportation and built the like lane alone the city, and he also effectively handled city’s economic system during the September 11 terrorist attack and the economic downturn. I don’t blame him for overturning term limit because he has proved himself that he was qualified to be re-elected. I still support Michael Bloomberg for running his fourth New York City mayor if that is possible.

Chapter 2--Americans and Their News

The beginning of this chapter states that the “disseminators of news have connected American citizens to the shared events that shaped their national experience”. Indeed, with the advancement of technology and transportation, citizens will get their news more reliable and faster than even. Many today’s newspapers are originated from the “penny news”. In order to attracted more readerships, the early newspapers began to improve the quality of the newspaper and the distribution method. They started to lower papers’ price and cover various social issues. Therefore, citizens can easily obtain the information they need to know, and they will change their viewpoints about a particular event.
As radios, televisions, Internet, and other electronic devices emerge, the news spread more quickly to every part of country. The electronic news becomes the main tool for accessing the news. Citizens can view live event through televisions, such as the Kennedy assassination. Newspaper begins to report and reveal the news about wrongdoings of politicians, crime investigation, celebrities, and other matters. With these abundant information the newspaper has covered, many citizens feel overwhelming. As a result, they only care about the big news, such as the terrorist attacks on September 11. However, I believe that citizens still care about the news because muckrakers have aroused the public awareness about the dark side of the society.

Chapter 6 MUCKRAKING

Muckraking is a part of journalism that exposes the misdeeds and corruption of big businesses or government to the public. By revealing the wrongdoings, society will be more democratic, and citizens will be freed from monopoly and corrupt government, and to be self-governing. Lincoln Steffens, S.S. McClure, Ida Tarbell and several other muckrakers are the forerunners of the muckraking journalism, and they have revealed the corruption of local government leaders, senators, Standard Oil Company, the meat packing industries, and other big businesses. Without these muckrakers, society will be controlled by dictators and monopolists. Once citizens acknowledge these wrongdoings and have full information about the potential dangers that investigative journalists have exposed, they will protest and ask government and businesses to reform.
The New York Times article “BP Faces Record Fine for ’05 Refinery Explosion” by Steven Greenhouse said that the BP Oil Company is fined again by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA, “after a 2005 explosion that killed 15 workers at its Texas City, Tex. Refinery”. According to The New York Times’ documents, the BP Oil Company didn’t correct and improve its safety hazards since the last explosion, and there’re more violations that the company had. With the Times has revealed this information to the public, the public awareness will arouse. The public wants the BP Oil Company to be more compliant with OSHA. Otherwise, there will be another explosion. The muckraking doesn’t only focus on exposing big business company’s wrongdoing, but also it also reveals the poor quality of the food, medicine, and so on.

Response to the New York Times's article “Bombings in Iraq, Deadliest Since 2007, Raise Security Issue” by Timothy Williams

The two suicide car bombings occurred in Iraq were very terrified and inhuman. This terrorists’ attack caused many people died and wounded, and it also damaged the two government buildings—the Justice Ministry and Provincial council complexes. This incident was not occurred only once in Iraq. It has happened several times last year. These kinds of attack have brought many casualties to the nation, but I believe this kind of incidents can be prevented by adding more security guards and troops to the Iraqi streets and neighbors and patrolling more frequently around. Especially, Iraqi presidential election is coming, so the government must be cautioned and be aware of any terrorists’ attack. The government should not just keep promising to its citizens that government “has kept the country reasonably safe”. The Iraqi government should take actions not just making promises to its frighten citizens. It feels very weird to me when I read a line in the article, it said: “The bombers apparently passed through multiple security checkpoints before detonating their vehicles within a minute of each other …”. Passing multiple security checkpoints, that is amazing how these bombers can pass through, and how the Iraqi security performs its work to protect citizen from terrorism.

Is the article “White House Art: Colors From a World of Black and White” by Holland Cotter a feature story?

The article “White House Art: Colors From a World of Black and White” by Holland Cotter is a feature story. At the beginning of the article, the author begins to talk about a list of paintings Obama had in his presidential home, the list of painting includes Jasper Johns’s, Ed Ruscha’s, and other famous artists’ works. The article doesn’t immediately begin with topic subject. These are just soft lead, but there is a transitional paragraph talks about Alma W. Thomas, and that is Cotter actually wants to talk about. He wants readers pay particularly attention to only one artist, Alma W. Thomas.
This article doesn’t look like any other news articles which have the answers to the five W’s—who, what, when, where, why, how. The author uses narrative writing style to describe the life of Alma W. Thomas. He gives detail information about Alma W. Thomas’s life and her career. Thomas was born in Columbus, and she taught art for thirty-five years and began her new career as a painter of abstracts in her age of sixty-nine. Alma W. Thomas was the first African-America woman to have a solo at the Whitney Museum and had several retrospectives. When he fully described Alma W. Thomas’s life and how she dealt with racial problem. At the end of the article, Cotter has given some opinions to the Obama White House: “forward-looking without being radical; post-racial but also race-conscious;…”

The observance of Hispanic Heritage Month

The observance of Hispanic Heritage Month, which starts from September 15th to October 15th, celebrates Hispanic heritage and culture of those people from Spain, Mexico, and the Spanish-speaking nations. LaGuardia Community College holds a Panel Discussion about the event from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, October 7th. The topic of discussion is “Hispanic or Latino, what’s in a name?” and “A discussion and debate on Heritage and Identity”.
Journalism Professor Victor Rosa, Associate Director of Student Life Office Irene Sosa, Cooperator of Women Center Joanna Deleon and Student Ambassador Candice Profit are invited in the Panel Discussion. Also, there are about twenty-five students and some professors attended the Panel Discussion. The host Kazembe Batts has asked a question to the guests: “How can you identify yourselves either a Latino/a or Hispanic?” The guests gave very interesting responses. Student Ambassador, Candice Profit identified herself as a Latina, the daughter of a African American father and a Puerto Rican mother, because she said she wanted to “keep the culture alive, and it is up to you”, so Profit is studying the Spanish language because as a child her father didn’t want her to learn. Joanna Deleon preferred Latina to Hispanic. She didn’t like the word Hispanic because the word as it consisted of “His-” and “panic”. There’s a answers and questions session about the words Latino and Hispanic, some of the audiences said that it is appreciate to refer to Spanish-speakers as Hispanic because the very early Spanish history has rooted and influenced every part of the world.
The words “Latino” and “Hispanic” have no difference for me because these two words basically have the same meaning which is Spanish-speakers. Because Spanish-speakers are located different parts of world, so they define these words separately. I believe it doesn’t matter which word is for your identity, and the bottom line is that do you know who you are?

Response to the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics

Every professional, such as doctors, lawyers, engineers and so on, has own professional code of ethics, and they must follow the code of ethic of their own and do what it supposes to do, and the professional misconducts won’t be allowed. For journalists, they have their own—the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics. Every journalist around the world has to obey every code from this journalistic code of ethics. If journalists are against this professional conduct, they won’t qualify to be a journalist.
From the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics “Journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information”, I believe this is one of the most important codes for every journalist. Being a journalist, he or she has to be honest and never deceive the readers with the information that provided. Also, journalists have to report the stories and information from both sides of an issue, and they can’t be partial towards either side. A journalist also has to be brave to report an issue from different kind of situation and environment. Even journalists try to provide the readers with the information about the soldiers in a combat; they have to risk their lives to report the information from the combat zone. In fact, if there is information about government officials have misused their power, such as in the Watergate scandal that reported by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. They risk their lives to uncover the misused power of the president of United Stated, and that led to the impeachment of the president.
Another code from the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics says that “Test the accuracy of information from all sources and exercise care to avoid inadvertent error. Deliberate distortion is never permissible”. This code is also essential for journalists, but in the early development of journalism, this code has rarely been followed by early journalists. According to the book Mightier Than the Sword by Rodger Streitmatter, Sam Adams had used incorrect information about the conduct of the British soldiers in Boston, and also he’d distorted and exaggerated the news about the soldiers. Although Adam had violated the code of ethics, he made cornerstone for today’s journalistic conduct.

Chapter one the “Sowing The Seeds of Revolution”

In chapter one the “Sowing The Seeds of Revolution” talked about early journalism helped American colonists to fight against British stationed troops, and it also let American colonists to think about seceding from the British government to form a new independent country. However, Without Sam Adams’s Journal of Occurrences and Tom Paine’s Common Sense and other early news publications, the colonists wouldn’t have their independence. Among the early colonial news editors, I believe Sam Adam and Tom Paine were the most important characters that helped colonists to raise a revolution. They had their own special ways to publish and spread news among American colony.
When Britain decided to station troops in Boston because of protests over tax initiatives and the dislike of the troops among colonists, Sam Adam published false rumors about how badly the misbehaviors of soldiers in Boston, and how they mistreat colonists. At the end, Britain withdrew the troops from Boston. I think Sam Adam has violated the journalism’s first obligation that is to the truth and the discipline of verification. Adam used news with “evidence that many of the items were either fabrications or extreme exaggerations evolves from the exact dates they were printed in the newspapers” to support the soldiers’ mistreats. Also, in the incidence of Boston Massacre, Sam Adam also exaggerated soldiers’ cruelty to colonists in the newspapers, and he gave an illustration in the newspapers. Nevertheless, Adam’s the false information about the British soldiers helps colonists to pursuit their independence from Britain.
On the other hand, Tom Paine began to talk about the independence from Britain, and he used simple and straightforward language to convey his idea in his Common Sense, so the common folks can understand the idea Paine had expressed. The method Tom Paine had used corresponds with one of the ten elements of journalism that is to keep the news comprehensive. The Tom Paine’s essays also inspire the colonists to fight for independence. Sam Adams and Tom Paine both have contributed their efforts to help colonists to be free from Britain and to advocate news publication.