Journalism: Too Much Pressure!

Needless to say, there are dozens of things a journalist needs to be wary of when writing an article. Bloggers are less beholden to many of these issues, both legal and ethical, but the closer they adhere to the same rules as a Sun reporter, the more seriously they'll be taken, and the less often they'll get sued.

Unless their name is Perez, in which case there is no reason to be taken seriously, and every lawsuit is another 20,000 hits.

I think the most important rule for any journalist, print or internet, is accuracy. If a journalist is inaccurate, people won't be interested in reading what they have to say, and sources will be less willing to talk to them for fear of being misquoted or misconstrued. A journalist who doesn't verify information is no better than a rumor-monger: they may get much of the story right, but God is in the details.

Further, if a journalist is thoroughly accurate, many other problems will fade into the background; even if he's biased or unfair, as long as his facts are facts, people will listen to him. And, he'll be harder to sue.

That being said, fairness and objectivity (which go somewhat hand in hand) are also hugely important for a writer. It's impossible to take an author seriously who takes a clear side on a not-so-clear issue. If you don't look at both sides of an issue, even if it's just a glance at the opposition's logic, then you're not writing a good article. No good assessment of a complicated matter is totally one-sided; if there was no merit to one side of an argument, it wouldn't be an argument at all. It belittles everyone involved.

The final issue I'll discuss if that of transparency. While many of the legal and ethical issues discussed in the book are important, maybe even more important than transparency, the idea has always been important to me.

Transparency brings with it a kind of automatic trust and respect. It shows a journalist respects the audience enough to tell them of any possible biases he might have, trusting the audience to use its discretion in taking that information as it is, without attributing any unfair subjectivity to it. No one can be totally unbiased, and for a journalist to tell the readers that he is would be ridiculous, and intelligent audiences would dismiss him out of hand. However, telling the audience, for example, "Yes, I vote Republican, but that doesn't mean that this report on Obama is untrue," shows that you respect their ability to distinguish between objectivity and subjectivity.

Even in everyday conversation, transparency brings trust. Phrases like, "I could be wrong, but...," make a speaker seem more trustworthy somehow. There's always the risk that people will think, "Oh, see, he's not 100% about it, he's making it up," and not believe you...but I'm not 100% about anything. And I don't trust people that are.

Oblivious student mauled by bronze tiger

When I was in high school, I took a photo class. The teacher, Mr. Lehr, was an overly ambitious MICA grad, and perhaps he tried to pack in too much for the one-semester class.

Since it was 1998, digital cameras were still priced out of reach, despite being unable to break the megapixel barrier. For this reason, we spent the majority of class-time in the darkroom, developing film and printing test strips, and had little time to discuss or practice photo theory.

The only things he really taught us of practical photography, or at least the only things I remember, were the Rule of Thirds, and to never split a subject's head with a line.

Hooray! It turns out, though I remember little, what I do remember is still good advice. Lighting was also always important to Mr. Lehr, but I never really got it down...and I guess that's something I'll need to work on still. I've always been a big fan of taking shots from odd angles, particularly from below the subject, so I like that Dr. Spaulding (and Patrick Smith) are into that too.

Another thing I have trouble with is not taking enough pictures of a particular shot; I'm always hesitant to take five shots of the same thing, and I'm not sure why. Flashbacks from the days of film? Too lazy to click 'delete' on my Canon? I'm working on it.


Dylan Rothman, a junior at Towson University majoring in business, pushes himself up on a makeshift see-saw for the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity's testicular cancer fundraiser. The 48-hour see-saw-athon was to benefit the Lance Armstrong Foundation, but it was unknown as of press-time how much money was raised, nor whether the fraternity was aware of the irony in see-sawing to benefit testicles.

(Photo by Dillon Nestadt/ Oct. 29, 2008)