Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Blog Post # 6: Assignment – Rick Sanchez: Excellent Source of New Media BUT is this Journalism?

To be a good journalist, you should posses the following traits:

- Be objective. This means that you should be reporting the news in a non-biased way and free of opinion.

- Be accurate. Never report a false story and make sure that you know all the facts before you write a story.

- Acknowledge your sources. Cite your information where it is needed and know how to properly attribute sources.

- Have good people skills. Always be curtious to your subjects and treat them how you would want to be treated.

- Be responsible. If you printed a false statement, own up to it and correct it by printing a statement with the correct information.

- Stong writing skills. Being able to write an interesting story will help you succeed. If you can accurately write a story as well as make it exciting to read, then you have done your job.

- Stong work-ethic. Being a journalist means staying up late writing and even longer work hours during the day. Being able to keep your composure and work dilligently is a must.

- Stay curious. The passion for finding stories must always be burning inside of a good journalist.

- Be innovative. Keep learning and try new methods of reporting your stories or obtaining your stories.

- Learn from your mistakes.

I think that even though Rick Sanchez does not follow all of the characteristics of a good journalist, he is still out there reporting the news to the people. Sure it may be a little unorthodox at times but it is just a different and innovative way of reporting. I also think that not everyone can be a journalist just because they are blogging and interacting with newcasts online. Journalism won't be overrun by citizen journalists because there isnt a big enough audience that follows that kind of journalism to make it bigger than normal newscasts.

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