Why are the People of the United States of America being insulted by our elected leaders, Part 1

I am not a blind follower of anything. I have a Mac Book as my main laptop, yet use the Sony for some accounting matters and I have an Android for my phone. I swore by Honda as the best motorcycle in the world until my last one cost me an internship, job and other hardships, including leaving me and my daughter stranded on a dangerous mountain road. My spiritual life is similar, there is no proof and we only have our feelings about the matter, oops the right word is faith. This way of thinking goes for my politics too---go figure. I lean to the left, though I do have some strongly conservative feelings.

I think that our President is the best person for the job dispute the constant harassment and down right belligerent attitude he has been dealing with on a daily basis. The choices for republican side a couple of years ago were very poor, though sexy. Economics is not my forte, but I do understand that to get this mess cleaned up the people, “masses” if you will, need to have money to buy things. It is very obvious that the “job creators” are indeed creating jobs. Unfortunately, those jobs are in other countries or, as in Rich Perry's case, are minimum wage jobs are and not sustainable. 

Of course the whole minimum wage debate is interesting too.

1. Get the slobs working
2. But don’t pay hem enough to live without government assistance 
3. Then call them lazy and good for nothing.

That is a topic for another time.

This post is about our President. I understand, to a limited degree, some of the obstacles he has had to hurtle, yet it seems that at very turn to get anything passed for the people, the bills get watered down to a faded reflection of the original intent. The President has capitulated and been walked over in so many ways it is insulting to the people of this great country. Some say that he is playing chess while others are playing checkers. The implication being there is so much going on behind the scenes and we just don’t know all the moves being made.  However what if the game really is checkers and not the more nuanced chess? Perhaps the game has been defined as checkers and President Obama is still playing chess. 

To continue the analogy further, the game of chess is thought out and never done from an emotional base, at least if the game is to be successful, while checkers is faster and less considered. This simile works even further, look at our recent past. One side throws out insults, jabs and slights and takes piece after piece, while the other considers and plans. One side bates the other, letting it collapse on itself.

This is a game of ego. Consider last weeks latest insult to the Office of the President. We all know it; the President wants to speak to Congress discussing the high unemployment rate. It is a routine matter to request time with the Congress and has NEVER been denied. The flimsy excuse given was that there was a debate going on for the Republican Presidential nominee (I did not hear about before this BS situation came along) and there were concerns about one side upstaging the other. We are talking about the Office of the President of the United States of America compared to someone who cannot get her history facts straight, a religious zealot, a political chameleon and some guy who is trying to create a political dynasty over the backs of the people he says he serves.

How many insults will it take before President Obama says that is enough? He has an incredibly important message to give the people of this country generally and Congress in particular and is getting bounced for a political reality show of NO real meaning.

Is it time to start considering another Democrat for President? Has President Obama been so thoroughly targeted as to become ineffectual? What is up with this battle of wills between Boehner and Obama? Could this brinksmanship be the downfall of our great nation?

These are some questions we need to look into and answer before we really do go over the edge of insanity.

OLC

What is News Part 2

We continue our discussion of What is News. Have a look at my earlier post.

The next definers (?) of What is News is Prominence, and Currency. A common event can be elevated to the level of news if a person or place of importance are involved. Take for example, the plane that crashed into a building in Florida, right after September 11th. There were two reasons that crash made national news. The first is obvious, but the second may not be so apparent. The building was the local headquarters for the IRS. 

The next reason why news is news can be attributed to is Oddity. As the saying goes, “If a dog bites a man, that is not news. But if a man bites a dog…” What this means is the extraordinary and unexpected are fun to follow. Of course what one consumer of news may find interesting and news worthy may not be interesting to another. So as reporters and journalists we need to find what is being watched by our audience. There may be an interesting event in a community that is of little actual value to the main audience, but they find it interesting. This can still be news. News does not have to be earth shattering, but it does need to have some value to the audience consuming it.

There are two main types of news.

The first is the hard news; the stuff at the beginning of a broadcast. Hard news includes the news of the day. It is controversial and has an impact on a wade swath of the audience. Slam!

On the other hand, softer news is more for entertainment, or background. It still has value, but the immediacy is not there. A tornado swarm that destroys whole neighborhoods is hard news, but a wedding in England. Aw, but is the wedding is of a royal family...this could be a feature story. Well, the royal wedding could be seen as hard news because of the prominence of the people involved. But it could also be seen as gossip---is the dress she wears really important to people not involved?

What would happen if a tragedy happened during the wedding in England, say there was a major fire at Buckminster Palace during the reception, now we have a story that is considered hard news? On the other hand what if the same tragedy happened at a wedding of a friend---nope not so much, at least on a national scale. Now we find ourselves in the gray area of each kind of news.

One of the most important goals a journalist must strive to accomplish is to provide the complete story, not just one side, or a slanted version that is weighted toward one side or the other. While public relations professionals have the interests of their companies or organizations and try to put a positive light on their information, a journalist has the responsibility to show all sides of the story, even if some are not positive. Bill Keller, of the New York Times said a primary responsibility of a journalist is, “Applying judgement to the information.” To me this means that though a reporter may report on a rumor or opinion he or she, cannot report it as fact. 

Objectivity and Fairness

“The term ‘objectivity’ was originally used to describe journalistic approach or “method”(from What is News, by Deborah Potter). As we discussed earlier, a journalist is human and has her own bias and outlook. As a journalist he needs to overcome these and report only the facts and not personal or corporate opinion. This is objectivity.

The story should be the giver of facts to a journalist and must she must be aware of her own biased thinking and find a way to over come it. Or better yet, she should report on subjects that do not affect her personally. The journalist needs to use a scientific and well balanced method of reporting that does not reflect on their of point of view. As journalists, we should be impartial and fair.

There are those in the media who say they are journalists, but in reality they are propagandists. They use only the facts that support their point of view and discount dissenting opinions. Balance to some means there are only 2 points of view. If only the world were that black and white. We also may think that all aspects of an issue are of equal importance. While all issues have important weight in an issue, we sometimes get bogged down with mute facts, ones that have been proven insignificant, or totally bogus to the issue at hand. The challenge to journalists is to find and report on viewpoints that have merit to an issue. The climate change issue comes to mind. There are those that say there is no climate change going on and not to worry about it anymore. But most reputable scientists agree there is indeed a shift in the climate of the world. There are two or more, ways this story can be reported on; (1) it is because of the affect of man, and the other, (2) these are cyclical changes that are not the fault of man. These are side issues, and another one may be what can we do about it.

So what do you think of how I have interpreted this part of the course. As I stated in the intro to the site, I want to have an open conversation concerning journalism. So speak up and let’s start talking!

OLC 

Citings

http://www.america.gov/st/freepress-english/2008/April/20080416211618eaifas0.8870203.htmlWhat Is News?
By Deborah Potter

Photos

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