News Wars: 4th Hour Blog

Chapter 17 “Network News: Then and Now”

This chapter focused mainly on the differences of the news both before and after the 1980's. It talked about how before the 1980's news was more focused on what the people needed to hear and not about making money. Whereas during and after the 80's the news not only focused more on making money but also on public appeal instead of public need. The fact that networks are now have focus not only on the news programs but are also putting more emphasis on magazine shows, illustrates the change of direction in news production. Magazine shows are shows which combine interviews, commentary, and entertainment, instead of just the straight forward news that used to be presented. It seems as if news has no longer become news but instead has become just another form of entertainment and another way to mask the truth of what is actually happening in the world. This could be because the motive behind news has changed and is now a for profit business when before the 80’s many if not all believed that news could not make a profit. Although this not be the case for all news programs produced it seems as if most have fallen into the category of entertainment instead of just straight forward facts. I know that sometimes I will just watch a news segment because they make it look interesting and entertaining in the previews for the show. Also, with shows like Entertainment Tonight, which were made to both inform and entertain, it seems as though the line between news and entertainment has blurred.

The future of blogging seems as though it may go the same way as news did, in terms of profit. When blogs were first done they were created not for a profit but to inform people, just as the journalism news industry was created. If blogging goes the same way as news and becomes a for profit business then it would seem as if it’s original motives would be compromised and it would then focus on things that it would not have originally focused on.


Chapter 19 “The New Universe of Online Media”

With the world changing everyday it’s no surprise that there are different forms of media and journalism emerging as well. Instead of just one set group of people being able to report the news, now anybody can be come a journalist. Although, we still do have professional journalists there are now citizen journalists, who are becoming a bigger and bigger part of the journalistic world each and every day. Jeff Jarvis nailed it when he said, “anyone can perform an act of journalism”. He feels as if anybody with a laptop, computer, or cell phone that has access to the internet can now become some form of a journalist. This makes you wonder though, if anybody can become a journalist then what will happen to the actual field of journalism? Being a communications major, my first instinct would be to disagree and say that not everybody “can perform an act of journalism” as Jarvis says, but the fact is that they can. Anybody and everybody is in some shape and form a journalist, some just have more experience and professional training which makes their information stand out more. Professionalism does not mean that their information is more correct then anybody else’s is just means that they know how to get it across to the audience better then others may.

The fact that just about anybody can become a journalist has a huge effect of blogs and blogging because that is basically what blogs consist of. They are everyday people who are putting information out onto the internet for anybody else in the entire world to read. If journalism was restricted to only those who had the training and “knowledge” to produce it then perhaps blogs would have never even come into existence and nobody would be reading what I’m writing at all.