Journalism school

While the education system requires teachers to cover specific topics and schools to maintain certain test scores to keep their funding, such a strong emphasis on gaining “hard knowledge” (e.g. reading, writing, and arithmetic) takes away from the students acquiring “soft knowledge” (e.g. etiquette, social skills, and patience)…

Abstract This report discusses the presentation of psychobiological determinants of behaviour in the media. Focusing on online newspapers, this report will discuss seven examples of reductionist reporting. Although some parts of psychology have biological underpinnings, it is important to take more of a holistic approach when trying to develop an understanding for them. Examples include sibling aggression, internet usage and depression, diet and depression, natural remedies for relieving anxiety…

In recent year’s news coverage have presented information as a form of individual biases to the public, while undermining the opposing viewpoints of others towards the same issue. As a result, viewers are often misinformed about the true face of contentious issues broadcasted throughout news stations. The news that the public perceive as truth is quite often just the point of view of a group of few. For that reason, the fairness doctrine was introduced back in 1949 its purpose was to avoid the…

The Impact of the Media on the Fear of Crime With so many forms of media at the tips of society’s fingers at any time, in no way is it surprising that the public’s fear of crime has generally increased over the years, even though crime itself has decreased. There is instant and seemingly unlimited access to multiple forms of media within seconds now– having access to media sites with user-generated content, the ability to access and read news articles on the recent local crimes, crime programs…

Media today has become extremely corrupt while spreading the news about today’s politics. Today's new articles on politics are usually either biased, the story is slightly altered, or the information in the articles are just found to be rumors later on. There aren’t many news sources today that are producing reliable articles that aren’t biased one way or another towards politics. I believe that all sources of media today have had a combined negative impact on politics today because people use…

The portrayal of current events in the media wields a formidable power over the opinions of its viewers. By watching or reading the news, the recipients are formulating their own judgements on the content based off of the supposedly objective information given. However, if the media chose to broadcast false or biased news, it could affect the mindsets of the entire nation and rally support for a private agenda while misusing freedom of the press to spread lies. The media also has the power to…

In Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman discusses “the news of the day”(7), and his opinion on it. Had it not been for the mediums that we get our information from, we would not pay attention to certain stories. He states that the news of the day is simply “a figment of our technological imagination” (8) and without the platform to display it, “the news of the day does not exist” (8). I agree with Postman's view because in my everyday life I choose to get information from not only the people…

In “How to be a Skeptical News Consumer,” Donna Halper, a professor of media, describes the importance of fact checking when reading news, both online and in print. She explains how often pieces of information are inflated, whether it’s done to make a point or to make a profit. Many citizens spread stories around as a joke, but some rather gullible people believe them to be true. On occasion, a company advertises a false statement accidentally. The author supports her claims using examples of…

The Powers That Be by David Halberstam takes a look back at the history of the news media industry. The stories in the book, first written in 1979, talks about how traditional companies like Time, CBS, and the New York Times were small startup companies. In their early days, they were very similar to the new form of media taking the world by storm, Buzzfeed. There is so much to knowledge to learn when it comes to this new form of news media and yet the way they startup is similar to those before…

For my internship, I worked with the Stony Brook Press. I did not have an exact role going in but I was willing to do photography and writing. It was only a one credit internship and luckily, I was able work most hours whenever I had time, especially when it came to writing and editing pictures. I mainly worked with Niravni Williams who was the managing editor, but is now the executive editor. Before I even started my internship officially, I had talked with one of their writers who wanted to…