Reporting Slideshow

Coming Up With Story Ideas

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Ethics

Ethics is something that is extremely important in all types of media. To be a good journalist, one must always keep in mind what is ethical and what is not. It's very important in this business to make sure you get your facts straight before publishing any type of story. Make sure you always know the 100 percent complete truth before trying to put a story together. It's also very important to avoid defamation and avoid any type of copyrighting. Also, always make sure it's okay to release the names of people before actually releasing them. Get informed consent always. In my opinion, any type of journalism career is a wonderful thing because you get to tell someone else's story, but just make sure the story is always true. You never know when a lawsuit can be slapped in your face for doing one wrong thing. This week in my interactive media class one of our modules covered ethics, which is what got me thinking about the topic. I learned a lot from the module and just wanted all of my viewers to know that it's extremely important to be careful and be ethical!

Widgets

This week in my interactive media class we learned about widgets which, according to wikipedia, are objects on a computer screen the user interacts with. I found two great news widgets to put on my blog from CNN and FOX news. The widgets will make it so the news is easily accesible from my blog. You can view the news with just one click!

Evaluating Online Resources

I went to google and typed in "how to be a good television reporter." I found an obscure website called "atotalwaste.com". The link is: http://www.atotalwaste.com/getajob/10stepstvreporter.html. At first when I read the top of the site,it sounded like a sarcastic, bitter person telling people what they think of the news industry. Once I read the ten steps they listed, I realized their advice was real.The website lists ten steps you can take to become a television reporter. The ten steps the author lists are 1. Become a news junkie, 2. Learn to write, 3. Find your voice, 4. Sharpen your appearance, 5. Get experience, 6. Make a resume tape, 7. Target the markets, 8. Hit the road, 9. Network, and 10. Ace the interview. While these steps are all important ones to take when wanting to become a television reporter, this website makes it sound like it's so easy when in reality it can be very difficult to get a television reporting job. The website has no advice on how to be a GOOD television reporter, it just has advice on how to become a television reporter in general. It seems to me that the website may give some people false hope if they do have a dream of becoming a television reporter because it makes it sound so easy to get a television reporting job when it's actually hard in some cases. However, I will say the advice given was pretty good for a website with the title being atotalwaste.com.If someone who wanted a television reporting job read this site, they would probably think it looks so easy to become a television reporter, so to me this website is very misleading. As a telecom major, I know how hard it can be to get a job as a television reporter off the bat. Although getting experience is one of the steps included in the website, the site makes it sound like getting experience is easy. Applying for internships is a long process and a lot of places don't take many interns. Also, getting into the broadcasting program can be difficult at universities. For instance, at the University of Florida one needs to take a writing test to even get into the broadcasting part of the telecom major. While the advice is good advice, the website's title is atotalwaste.com which probably makes people think the website is unreliable. There are no footnotes on the page, and there is no place to comment either. There is no author name, but the information provided by the author was taken from fabjob.com which is a website that has tips on how to get certain jobs. I actually thought the advice was quite interesting and had a lot of fun reading it. However, I don't think I would ever recommend this site to anyone trying to find a television reporting job!

Welcome To My Blog! :)

Welcome to my blog! My name is Lindsay and I'm a senior at the University of Florida majoring in Telcommunication News with an outside concentration of Theatre. I am from Winston-Salem, NC and spent my summer interning at an NBC affiliated television station there called WXII 12 News.

I loved my internship and wish it never had to end. I feel that I learned a lot about what it takes to be a television reporter, which is my ultimate goal. During my internship, I wrote stories with the producers for the newscasts as well as shadowed field reporters. We went all over Forsyth County chasing stories and I used a ton of gas, but I didn't even care because it was so fun and such a great experience. Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to ride in the LIVE trucks because hearst coporation doesn't allow interns to do so for liability reasons, so I had to follow them everywhere they went. My favorite part of the internship was putting together my own stories and watching reporters go LIVE from the field. I am currently a First Edition weather anchor for WUFT news in Gainesville, so watch me at 11:55 on Tuesdays! I also fill in for entertainment at 5:30 when they need me.

This blog is dedicated to the experiences a journalist goes through as well as news in general. When people watch, listen to, or read the news, I don't think they understand all the effort that reporters put into a story. It takes a lot to be a good journalist, and it takes a lot of time and effort to put a story together. I am really looking forward to this blog, and can't wait to share all my experiences with you!