Interviews

                   Interviews. An interview is a conversation between an interviewer and one or more persons with the interviewer trying to derive answers to certain questions. Journalistic interviews are usually set up so that people can understand more about an issue or subject, it is different from something like a job interview. In job interviews, the interviewer tries to find out if the person requesting a job has any useful qualities. To prepare for an interview, you must have one or more recording devices or a pen/pencil and paper, a time and place for the interview, a person or persons, and some questions to ask the person or persons. It is important to remember that during an interview you should be careful with the questions you ask and pay attention to the person being interview so you may be able to offer follow-up questions. After an interview, you should leave and make sure that your recording devices worked properly.

                   I will make sure to prepare for an interview properly. I will also pay attention to my questions and my interviewee. One thing that everyone should know about interviews is to not be stupid. Don't stutter or say, "Uh, um, you know,like," This may just be one of my pet peeves but I would be really annoyed if someone kept on using those filler words. Interviews are an important part of journalism and I hope to master the skill of interviewing.

Inverted Pyramid Structure

Inverted Pyramid Structure- A way of writing in which the info is ordered from most important to least important.

                The inverted pyramid structure is a way of writing in journalism. This structure is usually organized into three parts. The most important details of a story comes first, the second most important details comes next, and the background info and small details come last. If this was to be illustrated, it would look like an upside-down triangle. The origin of this journalism style was supposedly formed when the telegraph was invented to reduce costs(Info from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_pyramid).

                The inverted pyramid structure is very important in journalism. It can help the reader and the journalist. By explaining the main idea and most important things first, you can keep the attention of readers and keep them interested. If a reader does not care about the topic of your article, you can drive them away before they waste their time they could have used to read articles that they are interested in. Also, some people just don't have the capacity to read whole articles. These limits can be lack of time or being simply too lazy. Let's say a man only reads newspapers in the morning, before work. He is also too lazy to read the whole article but will be interested in the article. By making sure the main idea and most important details come first, this man will be able to know what is going on in the world and save time. This style of journalistic writing helps people in many aspects which is why it is respected in journalism.

                 I will make sure that I apply this knowledge to my work. I will make sure to explain the main idea and most important details first and save the lesser stuff for later. This inverted pyramid structure will help make me a better journalist and writer. Readers will be more interested in my articles as I apply this info. The inverted pyramid structure helps the reader and journalist understand more about today's issues and storys.

Info procured from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_pyramid

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/735/04/

Kovach, Bill, and Rosenstiel, Tom, The Elements of Journalism. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2001, 2007.

Media Bias

Bias- An Opinion



                    The word bias can be easily simplified to an opinion, but a bias can be looked over as a lot more than just an opinion. Not all biases are bad, the word just has a negative connotation. Although, in journalism, biases can be bad as people are only interested in facts. Biases are a favoring of a side based on an opinion. Biases can help or people of be bad. Biases are not respected in journalism, but it is almost always there.
                    Bias is not needed often in journalism but biases are found in everyday life. Most biases are good, such as liking to eat food instead of cyanide, and liking to drink water instead of bleach. In journalism, biases can really affect someone's life. By inserting your biases into articles and such you can easily destroy a man's reputation. Pretty much the only place where bias belongs in the news is in reviews, as people want to hear a professionals opinion, but in cases of actual news, not so much. In my integrity post, I said that if one of your family members was accused of a crime, you should not be biased and say that your family member was wrongly incarcerated, despite the evidence against them. Being biased can really change a man's point of view. Readers might start changing their morals and ideas just because of some biased article. Some biases can be good, but they should be avoided in journalism.
                    I will try not to be biased in my work. I will not insert my opinions into my posts and such. I will have my opinions, but I will not try to alter anyones views on certain issues in a wrong way. Biases can be good, but I will avoid them in journalism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_bias

Have a bias toward action - let's see something happen now. You can break that big plan into small steps and take the first step right away.
-Indira Gandhi

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