Apology to the readers

Hello followers of this blog.

I apologize profusely for my lack of attention to your needs regarding the reception of information. Please accept my sincerest regret and determination to pick up the slack that has been laid before you.

Now if all my posts were written that way, I'm certain none but the avid and forgiving Austen reader would read these posts.

I have a topic I wish to discuss with all of you that is journalism related but not necessarily class related. Why then, do I post it here and not on my other blog? Because the readers here, I hope, are just as involved in the journalism community as I am and would be able to help me understand this topic in greater depth.

There has been some talk in the world about the direction journalism is taking. Many people don't trust the media anymore. In a recent stream of political cartoons emailed to me by my dear grandpa, many pointed out, not only the corruption of the government, but the hand media has in that corruption. Now this disturbs me. Political cartoons generally portray what the public wants to hear. If media is being lumped in with a corrupt government, we certainly are not doing our job correctly. It is accurate in almost every sense, seeing as the media is supposed to give the power of knowledge to the people. Journalism is often quoted to be the fourth branch of government.

Maybe I'm getting defensive about my future profession but it seems there is a need for restructure. Now I know what you regular readers must be thinking, "She preaches an awful lot about laissez-faire and letting journalism evolve on it's own." I'm not suggesting a total overhaul of the system. I'm saying there needs to be a renewed vigor toward transparency and loyalty to the citizen. It is not enough to be loyal, the public needs to know our loyalty.

There is my short and sweet soap box. What do you think?

I Do Declare...

...That independence can be taken to an extreme so wide that it isn't ideal anymore. There seems to be a basic idea that pervades society saying that if one is to report objectively the news, one must cut all ties associating oneself with any group. Such associations taint objectivity, causing the public to distrust their news source. While the first statement is, of course, an exaggeration, I believe it accurately describes my point. Everyone leads a double life, to some extent. We have our work life and our home life. The two lives cross often but they are NOT one and the same. We, as people, have our own beliefs and ideals. The trick is to keep those beliefs and ideals separate from our writing.

I'm keeping this post short and sweet but the point is, while we have a duty to report the truth, we are still human. Allow us our likes and dislikes. If we are good at our job, we will keep our bias out of our reporting, but don't burn us at the stake if they creep up every now and again.