Meeting #1 Notes

What is News and Good Journalism: JFresh Meeting #1

-“News is the first draft of history” -Peter

- As reporters in any given story, how much history do you have to give your audience to be current on the story? Enough to enlighten your audience but not too much

-Video from Mike T..? The average 2 minute news story has 8 to 10 sentences from reporters, 2 or 3 sound pops, perhaps 30 shots chosen by the editor, and contains only 210-220 words.

-Peace journalism is a list of ways to approach conflict that is a little bit different from the norm.

-How do you find a way to look at a conflict truly from both sides. Not “he said she said” but about covering things so that both sides are people and there are two sides to a conflict even if its violence.

-“All we know is what the news says”

-Think about news in terms of 360-degree perspective rather than side A and side B

News is…

            -Something that directly affects your life or something relevant to you

            -What people care about

            -A form of education

            -The past and the future

            -The answer to what the public wants to understand

We came up with this definition of news:  News is a form of education; it informs readers with the whole truth. News is what happens in the world; it’s soon-to-be history. It’s the past and the future. News is telling the story of what is happening in our lives. It’s stories which are, not made.

Journalism is…

            -What brings the news to life

            -Journalists are the creators of news

            -“Journalism is a call for activism”-Evan

                         - In response to this, Peter asked, “Is activism the same as advocacy? Where do you draw the line between the two?”

We came up with this definition of journalism: presentation of a story in a way that is coherent, easily relatable, and understood by audience.