Never Stay Silent and Media Law and Ethics Review

 

During my spring semester as an sophomore, I had the opportunity to take Never Stay Silent and Media Law and Ethics with Professor Dean Smith. I have had Prof. Smith before with Media Law and Literacy. I enjoy his teaching style and I love how he values and teaches his students about the importance of the First Amendment. 

In Never Stay Silent, we were able to dissect different journalistic heroes and learn about the timeline of the journalism era. I valued this dissection because it put me out of my comfort zone learning about people and things that I normally wouldn't read about in my free time. I am forever grateful for Prof. Smith for pushing me out of my comfort zone during this class. 

Media Law and Ethics was another class that pushed me out of my comfort zone. Media Law and Ethics was similar to Media Law and Literacy, yet it was definitely more academically heightening. Media Law and Ethics is usually a class for seniors, yet I was able to take this class as a sophomore. I remember the first day of the class, I asked Professor Smith if it was okay if I was in the class. He was confident in my abilities for the class. Although I wish I did better on the quizzes of this class, I appreciate learning more about important court cases regarding my major. 

FINAL BLOG POST

 ERNEST HEMINGWAY 

Little Ernest Hemingway 

Early 20s 

Early life

    Ernest Miller Hemingway was born on July 21, 1899 in Cicero, Illinois which is now Oak Park, Illinois. Hemingway's parents were both successful. His dad was a physician and his mom was a former opera performer. Young Hemingway loved the outdoors. During the summer, he and his family would go to their lake house in Walloon Lake Michigan. 

    In highschool, Hemingway started to develop his passion for writing. He wrote for both of his schools newspapers - Trapeze and Tabula, the yearbook. During his writing career in high school, he went under a specific pen name - Ring Lardner Jr. 

    Although Hemingway didn't end up going to college, he went to Kansas and started his writing career. When America got entered WWI Hemingway wanted to enlist in the war, yet he wasn't physically eligible. He still wanted to connect ties and help out - Hemingway's efforts were to help out with the American Red Cross. 

Writing Career

Hemingway's writing and journalist career covered most of the 20th century. His works were around the mid 1920s to the mid 19150s. Hemingway wrote short stories and poems. His first publishing work was Three Stories and 10 Poems while his last one was True at First Light. Most of Hemingway's stories encapture his unique experiences and interests. For example, most of his work portrayed soldiers ad hunters. He liked to show the ways people live in the modern society at the time. 

In May of 1953, Hemingway won the Pulitzer Prize in response to his book The Old Man Sea. He found out he was the winner when he was on a ship for personal leisure.

  

  

Mental Health 

According to The National Library of Medicine, Hemingway had a variety of mental health disorders. Although he battled these conditions, to a sense, it allowed him to become even more successful in writing.  Hemingway battled with the following: severe depression, paranoid delusions, alcoholism, and hemochromatosis. Out of the following conditions, the hemochromatosis, by far was the most significant. Hemochromatosis is a genetic iron metabolism disorder that has the symptoms of fatigue and memory loss. Hemingway's family struggled with mental health issues. His father, sister, and brother, included himself, committed suicide. At the time of Hemingway's "death", his wife, Mary Welsh Hemingway, swore his death was accidental suicide. Hemingway was "cleaning" his gun when he passed away. Due to his past family circumstances, the accidental death wasn't believable. 

Journalistic Hero/ What We Should learn From Hemingway 

    Hemingway was known to be a journalistic hero by paving the way for how an ideal journalist should write. Everytime Hemingway wrote he made sure he kept things descriptive yet concise. There are several things current and upcoming journalists can learn: 

1. Be concise 

2. Don't write when you're not in the mood for it

3. The best edit may be a rewrite 

4. Listen to others 

5. Don't rush life 

Life and the media industry is such a fast paced environment, I feel like we all forget to take #5 in consideration. Specifically for my generation, we don't do #4 enough. We always think we know everything which leads us to the mindset of not really listening to others who have the experience. 

In all, learning about Hemingway has been a valuable experience for my journalism career and as a person.

In Class Video Reaction

In Media Law and Literacy, we watched the video of the murder of the two Reuter employees. I did a similar blog post: https://corrinajoyner1450.blogspot.com/2021/10/in-class-video-wikileaks.html

However, we watched it again during Never Stay Silent. I had a similar reaction the the disturbing video. The main thing that stood out to me this time was the reaction of the U.S troops trying to kill the Reuter employees. The racial slurs turned my stomach as our troops are supposed to protect and serve our country being discriminatory as well. 

Back in Media Law and Literacy, we talked about how Julian Assange made it possible for the video to come to light with the website: wikileaks. I wanted to focus on where Julian Assange is now. Julian Assange is still in maximum security jail in London. Within three weeks ago, Assange actually got married in jail. He got married to his long term lover, Stella Morris. Their ceremony took place outside of the jail.

What I Learned EOTO #3

 Citizen Journalism 

Darnella Frazier is the prime example of citizen journalism in this day in age. Darnella Frazier, 17 at the time, filmed George Floyd's murder. The impact it had on her personally skyrocketed to a national issue of police brutality.

Citizen journalism is conducted by people who are not professional journalists however they use the tools that are accessible to them.

Citizen journalism has been around for awhile, however, the prime example of the century was by far Darnella Frazier. 

Without her video, America wouldn't have confirmed the strong prevalence of police brutality. The police officers who are supposed to be protected all in the country continuously target black men. However, Frazier's efforts of citizen journalism have given the officers who murdered George Floyd punishments and even maybe slightly provided some closure for Floyd's family. 

With our society being so society heavy, we should all be apart of it. The saying see something say something now should be turned into see something, say something, film something, and post something. By doing this, we might bringing a lot of things to light and highlighting more things that need to be brought to light more.

Political Cartoons EOTO

 

  For my third EOTO, my partner and I focused on political cartoons. Here in this blog, I will focus on what a political cartoon is, the historical context of political cartoons, the importance of them, and first amendment freedom/limitations within the political cartoons. 

What is a political cartoon?

    A political cartoon is a cartoon that makes a point about a political issue or event. Many political cartoons are in the daily paper or in this day of age - online newspapers. With social media being a lot of societies way of getting news nowadays, many people post political cartoons on twitter. Political cartoons are a satire which tend to be funny. They tend to display caricature which over exaggerate certain physical features for humor effect.

Historical context of a political cartoon

Benjamin Franklin, Join, or Die campaign 

    Political cartoons have been ingrained in American history. Benjamin Franklin's 1753 "Join or Die" was the first Political Cartoon. This specific political cartoon was a snake cut into eight pieces that represented the American colonies. Back in 1753, literacy wasn't that widespread so it allowed for a different outlook providing and relaying a message to the community. It also was  a lot easier to provide information with pictures than messages. 

Satire and Defamation

     Political cartoons are satire. Satire is a literary genre that uses humor displayed by irony or hyperbole. It takes a strong understanding of the idea of satire to understand what exactly a political cartoon is trying to display. Political cartoons click for people when they identify politics overlapping with the satire. 

    When researching more about political cartoons, defamation came up constantly. Defamation is the idea that encompasses false statements that may harm someone's reputation.

Many times, satire and defamation can come into legal realms because it does pick fun at people. However, it is for humor purposes. 

Women in the Editorial Cartoon Industry

    When researching political cartoons, many of them were male dominated. However, I wanted to do some research about the women who were in the industry. The first known editorial cartoonist was Anne Mergen. Anne Mergen's work covered the Great Depression and Cold War Era.

First Black Political Cartoonist 

After our presentation, Professor Smith shared that someone in his class before did research on the first Black editorial cartoonist and that peaked my interest. 

To further on my research, I wanted to find the first Black political cartoonist. The first Black cartoonist was Henry Jackson Lewis.  Henry Jackson Lewis was an ex slave who made political cartoons focusing on social injustices.

"Goodnight and Good Luck" Movie Review

 

    Goodnight, and Good Luck is a very eye-opening movie. Although it is a fictional portrayal of the media industry. There was a lot to dissect and digest from the movie that we can currently apply to our world now. This film analyzed how powerful the media is and how to can be used for one's personal and political game. Murrow, one of the reporters, wanted to report on the truth to expose the truth on senator McCarthy. As a journalist, it is important to be honest with the audience so you can build a trusting relationship. 

Throughout the movie, I pulled away key concepts that we still apply to media today. 

1. Media has a strong influence on how we make our decisions. 

We tend to have a certain preference on what media outlets we have access to or choose from. Based off of that, it is easy to make decisions based off of what you are watching. 

2. We need to allow and force ourselves to figure out what media outlets are reliable or not 

Within news today, although it is essential to get the news out to the catered audience, we tend to allow immediacy trump accuracy. 

3. Trust goes along way

Once a journalist builds trust with its audience, it allows for an easier following.

I've never heard of this movie before this class, yet, I am very glad we were able to watch it. It showed that some things definitely didn't change within the media industry and we still have a long way to go. 

The Black Press and the Civil War

 Black people have gone through countless years of racism and injustices. From social life to work life, Black people have had to adapt. 

One of the most important assets to the Black community and Black history was the Black Press. The Black Press was a compilation of Black-owned newspapers that informed and highlighted people about the Black community. Let's take a look at some examples of some Black Newspapers.

Freedom's Journal Background

John Russwurm on the top and Samuel Cornish on the bottom

The Freedom's Journal was the first African American owned and operated newspaper in the United States. They were founded by free born African Americans - John Russwurm and Samuel Cornish on March 16, 1827 in NYC. This newspaper allowed for a safe space for African Americans to get updates on "foreign and domestic news, editorials, biographies, births and deaths" within the local African American community. The idea of this newspaper wasn't to defend African American rights but to create a union and a forum for African Americans to express and advocate their views and rights. The purpose of the journal was to also improve the conditions of the freed Black men and women living in the North.

Phillip Alexander Bell's Colored American 

Picture of Phillip Alexander Bell

Phillip Alexander Bell was a Black Journalist who was born in 1808 in NYC. Bell was in to abolitionist politics in the North East. The original name for this newspaper was The Weekly Advocate. The paper focused on "moral, social, and political elevations of free colored people and the peaceful emancipation of slaves". Many Black writers at the time wrote under different pen names to remain safe during that time. The Colored American was very well known to the Black community and allies. 

The North Star 

Picture of Frederick Douglass

The North Star, later known as the Frederick Douglass Paper was an antislavery newspaper. It was first published on December 3, 1847. The name of the newspaper was just important as the content within it. t was a tribute to the escaping slaves who used the North Star to guide them to freedom. The paper was published in Rochester, New York Rochester was the city that was well known for the opposition to slavery. The motto/mission of the newspaper was "right is of no sex- truth is of no color - God is the Father of us all, and we are the brethren". 

Black Press during the Civil War

The Civil War dates to April 12, 1861 to April 9, 1865. The Civil War was fought between the northern and Southern States or also known as the Unites States of America and the Confederate States of America. Due to many blatant discriminatory ideas and practices, many African Americans were assigned to non-combat related jobs. During the times during the Civil War the New Orleans Tribute was created. It was the first to be published in the South. A journal I read emphasized that the New Orleans Tribute was the voice of "many Black people to form a union to fight for the abolishment of slavery, same rights for and to form political group."

What I learned EOTO #2

Nellie Bly and the Chicago Time's Girl Reporters 

What I learned

The role of women in America over the past centuries have really been a trying time for the idea of identity. Elizabeth Jane Cochran is just one of the prime time examples of this. Elizabeth Jane Cochran was born May 5, 1864. She was later known as Nellie Bly due to her Journalism career. The name change was due to the fact that it was deemed as inappropriate for a woman to write under their own name. 

Bly continuously fought for equality even if that meant to expose certain publishing companies. This idea for fighting for what she thought was right led to the idea of the Girl Reporters. 

Bly spearheaded the founding of the Chicago Time's Girl Reporters. Their purpose was to bring the dark news stories to light. They covered several stories ranging from factory work, child labor, and undercover abortions

What I didn't know

From the presentations, I was able to learn more about my person that I did a blog post on which was Joseph Pulitzer. Joseph Pulitzer's, The New York World, writing varied from a lot of categories. Some of the articles that The New York World published happened to focus on injustices. Pulitzer was one of the few papers that recognized the importance of Bly's work. However, Bly's work wasn't just handed to Pulitzer. Bly had to talk her way to Pulitzer. SInce that talk, she continued to work closely with him. During Bly's time at the NYW, she decided to go undercover and investigate the Women's Asylum on Blackwell's Island.  This was one of the many highlights of her journalism career. Bly then and still to this day is one of the most famous female journalists in history. 

Joseph Pulitzer EOTO

Background on Pulitzer

    Joseph Pulitzer, the one most famously who has an award named after him, was born in Mako, Hungary, on April 10th, 1847. Pulitzer was born into a relatively rich family which allowed him to attend private school for some of his life. Pulitzer wasn't always known as the famous journalist, at the age of seventeen he decided to join the Austrian Army. However, due to some physical ailments, he wasn't able to continue within the army. While Pulitzer was visiting Germany, he interacted with a recruiter from the U.S Army Union and that's what let him to the States during the American Civil War (1851-1865). Pulitzer was determined to continue his military career, however, in this case with a change of scenery. 

                                                        

Pulitzer knew very little english when he came to the states, however, that would soon change as he began to build a name for himself as a "tireless enterprising journalist".  Once the American Civil War ended, Pulitzer became a reporter on a daily newspaper called the Westliche Post.  The Westliche Post was a newspaper based in St. Louis Missouri. After he noticed his talent for writing, he decided to buy a share in the paper. Pulitzer then ventured off to another St. Louis based paper called the Staats-Zeitung, however sold that one to the St. Louis Globe. After that huge move, he acquired the St. Louis Dispatch which then merged into the Post Dispatch. Pulitzer's idea of acquiring newspapers went on and on and eventually led him to NYC. 

                                                        

Pulitzer's papers ranged from a variety of topics. He focused on the following: politics, investigative reports, and later on focusing on what we call normal for news papers... comics, sports, women's fashion, etc.

                    

                                    

Many of us may have heard of Pulitzer even despite all of the background I gave before. Joseph Pulitzer's name may have come up when you've heard the phrases: Pulitzer vs. Hearst or the Pulitzer Prize. As a journalist in the making, Pulitzer vs. Hearst is a great chunk of history to be aware of. Within this battle, the term yellow journalism comes to mind. Yellow Journalism is the idea of a newspaper reporting that emphasizes (sometimes over emphasizes) sensationalism over facts. In this day of media, yellow journalism is a lot like the term fake news. 

The idea of the Pulitzer prize was unintentionally invented by Joseph Pulitzer. As stated several times in this blog and throughout researching with him, he was never 100% healthy. With that being said, in his will he wanted to endow in Columbia University School of Journalism annually which opened the door for the Pulitzer Prizes.

Doing this blogpost truly opened my eyes and connected the dots on a famous journalist hero.

The Mahla Method

*My Free-Write*

     My mother, Corrine Robinson Joyner, was diagnosed with stage 4 uterine cancer early January of 2021. After many doctors appointments, gruesome chemotherapy, surgery, and lots of hope, my mom fought a hard, long, and courageous cancer battle. She passed away on December 22nd, 2021. Since then, I have been trying to figure out a way to honor her love, how she lived, and maintaining her legacy. Personally, ever since that somewhat cold day in December, I have felt somewhat empty. 

    After the constant showers of love and support from everyone who knew my mom and even those who didn't know her, there has been one person and more specifically, one family that has constantly provided comfort whether they knew it or not. That comfort would've been represented through eating dinner all together. Something I definitely took for granted.. and something that will never fully be complete without my mom for my family.

    For this blog post, I wanted to focus on observing people and their interactions with each other.  I chose to observe The Mahla family. This blog post will emphasize the main idea of being observant within the journalism realm. Throughout this observation, not only did I learn more about each and every person in the family, I was able to see the key values rooted within the Mahla household. 

Parents

When you think of a mother, one may think of certain things....

• The backbone of the family 
• Forgiving 
• The "motherly" love  

When you think of a father, one may also think of certain things....

• The protector 
• Other backbone of the family
• The "Dad" jokes

Siblings

When a family has siblings, the stereotype is that they may "fight a lot" or "not support one another", however, that hasn't been the case here in the Mahla household.  According to the University of New Mexico of Health Sciences, people with siblings develop certain qualities faster such as the following:  "empathy, prosocial behavior, and academic achievement". 

The Mahla Method 

    Within close observation, I have seen certain values within their family which all heightened throughout observing the dinner and their game night interaction. Family is love, care, lifetime commitment/dedication, and loads of support.Sometimes disagreements or conflict may arise, yet being reminded of the strong support system, a family will always push through. Just throughout my two observations, I can see all of those things within the Mahla household. The hospitable environment has resonated with me since my observations. 

What I learned from my EOTO #1

 What I Learned From the EOTO Presentation: 

        The one EOTO presentation that I decided to focus on was The National Press Club. 

                                             

The National Press Club is an organization in Washington DC journalists that allows a safe space for journalists and anyone else within the communication realm. The NPC was founded in 1908 as a relaxing space for journalists to unwind. Graham Nicol, one of the reporters for the Washington Times, was the mastermind behind this place of comfort.

The mission statement of the National Press Club is understanding that the NPC "serves its members through professional development and activities that bolster their skills through services to the community".

Throughout the two presentations, the main points that stood out to me about this organization was the journalism institute and membership. The journalism institute of the NPC promotes civil responsibility and global citizenry. Through this non-profit club it has helped many journalists to understand the power of their work. The website side for the journalism institute includes many articles that feature current members of the club. These articles show the wide range of topics from how we need diversity within journalism to how the first amendment rights are so important in writing. 

One can become a member of this club through the website. Compared to other organizations, this one by far is the most expensive. For a student membership it is $200/year. Other organizations try their best to keep it under a $100. Being apart of this membership allows for special access from special discounts to events, access to certain facilities, and special opportunties and professional developments.

EOTO #1

    For my EOTO presentation, my partner, Madelyn, and I chose to cover The Society of Professional Journalists. The Society of Professional Journalists, SPJ, is an association that focuses on protected and improving journalism one journalist at a time. SPJ's official title use to be Sigma Delta Chi Fraternity. This journalist fraternity was founded on DePauw University's campus in 1909. However, the name changed into The Society of Professional Journalists in 1988. 

Within taking Media Law and Literacy last semester and Media Law and Ethics this semester, I have learned the true importance of the first amendment. Within SPJ organization, they are advocates and fighters for the first amendment. In Media Law and Literacy last semester and the quick recap of the first amendment this semester in Media Law and Ethics, we learned the following:

                        

1. As a journalist and a citizen in society, we must be aware of our rights. 

2. We must know what the first amendment details and what is protected/unprotected.

                                       

The SPJ's key component of understanding the first amendment is to increase the awareness and to support the First Amendment through education. Many schools don't go into depth about how journalism and the First Amendment go hand in hand with one another. After reading the importance the First Amendment has on SPJ, I found a scholarly article by Clay Calvery. This article described the First Amendment, and Credibility. When talking about the news, we expect the broadcast journalists to be credible. In the article, it stated that" credibility is a mainstay of the journalistic enterprise", however many journalists "damage their own or their organizations credibility" by not covering both sides of a story.

                            

One of the other key components of the SPJ is their importance on their Code of Ethics. When any organization has a code of ethics, it showcases the backbone of the organization to help maintain credibility throughout the members. After reading the SPJ's Code of Ethics, there are definitely some takeaways that all journalists can use: 

1. Seek truth and report it 

-Take ownership by doing research on both sides

- Avoid stereotyping 

- Always Attribute 

2. Minimize Harm 

- Be aware of Bias 

-Don't stereotype 

-Check your emotions 

3. Act Independently 

-Don't pick sides 

-Serve the public 

4. Be accountable and Transparent 

-Civil Responsibility 

Civil Dialogue 

    Doing this project and writing a blog about it, helped me find a new journalist association to join. Not only did it do that, it allowed me to repurpose some key ideas of how journalism is essential to our society. Often times, I feel like we forget that journalism isn't just a newspaper or watching the news on television. Journalism is everywhere, especially on social media.

Why Journalism?

    

                             

Picture of me (Corrina Joyner) at school when she was little. 

    Ever since I was little, I always told my parents that I wanted to be IN the tv. Growing up, I wasn't sure what that meant. Did I want to be the next Beyonce? Did I want to be an actor?  Yet, I remember during the summer, my parents would be at work and my Grandma would look after me. The day would go as follows: 

1. Wake up and say bye to my parents before they go to work 

2. Go back to sleep 

3. Eat Breakfast with Grandma 

4. Brush my teeth 

5. Watch kid shows/Play Hide and Go Seek with Grandma. 

6. Go outside for a bit 

7. Eat dinner with mom/dad/grandma and watch WSB-TV (the local tv station) 

8. Bathe/get ready for bed

9. Repeat the next day

Ok... Yes, you may not think that my schedule above is beneficial. However, let me ask you this what 4 or 5 year old actually enjoyed watching the local news. Ever since then, throughout middle school and high school, journalism has been my passion.

Picture with me and Byron Pitts, broadcast journalist in residence.

                        

Although, High Point University was my top choice for college for a variety of reasons; the journalism program really drew me in. I hope to be the echo for people who are underrepresented in the community and feel like their voices aren't being heard. By doing that, I plan to cover stories that aren't heard in the media.