Perhaps one of the greatest difficulties in telling a story is drawing in the attention of the audience. If no one will listen, the story and the role of the storyteller are pointless. Many journalists, writers, or storytellers will add exaggerations and puffery to spice up a story just to make a story more readable and desirable. In this communicative process there are two contrasting ideologies fighting each other. The receiver of the message expects the truth and wants to know what happened. The person sending the message wants something that they want to share to be heard. The problem is that many stories can be boring and lack the flash that the receiver desires. This puts a great pressure on the person delivering the message to not only give the facts of the story but also to deliver it in a way that sparks an interest in the reader to follow the message. Let’s face it; most people are not interested in the truth as many want to hear the newest gossip or inside information even if it is not true or totally correct. This makes the job of a journalist difficult as they are being pulled in two opposite directions. However, the most important aspect of any journalist or storyteller is that their audience trusts them. This will keep them coming back to hear or read more stories and the best way to do this is to stay as close to the truth as possible and not add in person bias or additional exaggerations.
Perhaps overlooked, the words trust and truth go hand-in-hand in the journalism industry. It may not seem like a big deal to lie a little here and stretch the truth a little there, but in the end it can come back to destroy a journalist. A goal for journalists is to get people to read or listen to their work and then get them to come back again. This is why trust is such a huge part of a journalist’s work. As I often follow BYU athletics, I spend some time on message boards to learn the latest insights about the different teams. I often notice that many other fans criticize the work two local journalists that are leaders for their respective papers. Since they often display negative comments towards BYU many fans refuse to read their articles and even shun reading their newspapers all together and seek out other venues to get their news. These two writers have lost the trust of a community of people and not only does it hurt themselves as professionals but it hurts the success of their newspapers. They have lost the trust of the local readers and it will be difficult to gain them back.
A presentation in class last week greatly demonstrated the role and importance for truth in journalism. It once again showed how trust can be lost just from what you share with the public and how you say it. In a group activity each group received part of a breaking news story and was asked to share what we felt were the important details. I was involved with group five which had all the resources while other groups did not know all of the information. As each group shared, they were able to add information to what prior groups shared. When it got to our group we shared a few new things, but failed to reveal one of the most important parts of the story. Had we done a better job at sharing what we had learned we could have been the big-time breaking news group and in the real world received a ton of praise and credibility. Instead the presenting group seemed disappointed that we left important information out. We had some difficulties overcome. We were the most spread out group and on my side we thought that other students preparing what to share with the class when they actually had not. This lack of sharing and exactness in reporting the story would have a negative impact in the professional world and who knows it may have perhaps had a negative impact on others in the class as the professor and other students may lack trusting us; feeling that we may be unprofessional or sub-par students. This showed me that as mentioned in class that obtaining truth is a process.
Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post voiced his thoughts on the lack of truth displayed in the journalism world by saying, “No matter how good the story, lying to get it raises as many questions about journalists as their subjects." He felt that in the “underground journalism” world there is a great deal of lying and deceiving to get great stories. As mentioned there is a great need for trust and telling the truth in journalism. The readers trust that the journalists will give them the truth, those being interviewed trust that journalists will tell their side of the story, and anonymous sources expect and trust that they will stay anonymous. With the great blogging revolution of the last several years, more and more people became casual journalists. They can reach a great range of people and it is also important that they stay truthful as well.
As I have been following the recent Jimmer-mania that swept the nation in recent weeks I came across the following story that shows the need for truth in stories no matter who is writing it.
“Shortly after leading Brigham Young to an impressive victory over San Diego State in the biggest Mountain West Conference ever played, Jimmer Fredette eyed his teammates in the locker room before throwing all humility aside.
‘You’re welcome,’ Fredette said.One of his teammates asked for what, giving Fredette the opportunity to remind the rest of the Cougars that they wouldn’t be a Top 10 team without him.
‘For winning the game for you,’ Fredette said.
So it won’t go down as a modest moment but it’s not like the guy who has prompted ‘Jimmermania’ was lying. Fredette scored 43 points in then-No. 9 BYU’s 71-58 victory over then-No. 4 San Diego State in the showdown that captured national attention.
That’s 60 percent of his team’s points against a Top 5 team that happens to be a pretty good defensive squad. That’s 15 more points than the rest of the BYU players scored combined.
The victory temporarily pushed BYU into first place in the Mountain West but the Cougars collapsed in the second half against New Mexico three days later, losing 86-77 at The Pit in Albuquerque.
There’s been no word on whether any of Fredette’s teammates hit him up with this question after the game: ‘Jimmer, how come you didn’t win this game for us?” (mrsportsblog.worldpress.com)
This story has outraged BYU basketball fans and received a ton of negative responses from fans. There are many fans that know Jimmer and know members of the team and feel that this is outside his character and against the humble picture that his teammates paint him as. Some people have contacted members of the team and they have denied this ever happening. Several fans have contacted this blogger and he stands firmly by his story saying that he received it from a “highly reliable source who heard it from a player.” This makes finding a reliable and correct sources a serious priority for journalists.
Journalists have a responsibility to get the facts right and presented in a way that lessens bias and allows the reader to trust them. The news stories of our time can become like Edward Eggleston put as, “organized gossip.” However, although it may be a difficult task a responsible journalist that delivers truthful and adequate news will gain the trust of the public.
No comments:
Post a Comment