Are Journalists human?

It seems like a silly question. Of course journalists are human. But should they be allowed to act like humans? I read an article posted by the New York Times just a few days ago. The author, Mathew Ingram, was critiquing a new standard for journalists by the American Society of News Editors. In a nut shell, journalists should refrain from social networking. This could mean anything from twitter to Facebook and even Myspace (which is still around I am told).

There have been cases of news editors and reporters losing their jobs over something they tweeted. Does anyone remember the video of President Obama calling Kanye West a jackass after he interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the VMA awards? That video was hilarious – it was such a real moment from the President but we only know about it because Terry Moran, a former White House Correspondant who worked for ABC tweeted it. The network immediately apologized for its employee’s careless behavior.

Apparently, Moran should have apologized for being human. If I were in the same room as the President and heard him say that, I would of course go and tell all my friends and family. It was funny. That’s exactly what this guy did, he also jut told all of his followers on Twitter. Apparently this is bad? Are we as journalists not allowed to separate our social lives from our professional lives? Maybe not, when so many headlines and stories are broken over social media networks (take, for example, the killing of Bin Laden). As a journalist trying to stay on the ball, you would be open to these social media, find your sources and get updated regularly on what’s going on.

So where does that leave a personal life? Or opinions? As journalists, are we working 24-7? Is there never a break? I guess you could answer this question by saying keep a journal; a blog could work too but still people can access your blog. Personally, I think it’s all a little over the top. Journalists are trained to report the facts. That doesn’t mean we don’t have opinions, we just tend to not let them show in our stories. But having something to say on an issue shouldn’t get you fired from your job. Being a social person shouldn’t be a bad thing. I am very perplexed by this whole issue to be honest. I agreed to be a journalist but I didn’t agree to give up my life. Or have feelings, opinions and emotions.

What if being a human being is what makes me a better writer? What if crying with the mom whose son has brain cancer, helps me write a better story? I am not a brick wall. I don’t think journalists should be. We should care about what we are writing about, have passion, have motivation and cry a little if you need to. This isn’t George Orwell’s 1984 – yet anyway. We are still allowed to be people and express ourselves.

Times are a Changing

It’s incredible how fast the media changes and adapts. I was thinking about this today when I was trying to remember my twitter account password. I think I had a twitter my freshman year, mainly to follow famous people or characters on TV shows. My sister talked me into it and frankly I thought it was pretty stupid.

Then I was taking a class where it was mandatory to read the New York Times every day. This required either spending $80 on a subscription or getting to campus early enough to pick up a complementary issue before they were swooped up. I will shame ably admit I wasn’t much for reading the NY Times in print. It’s very massive and wordy and frankly displeasing to my eyes for some reason. So, I went the twitter route. I started following the NY Times and getting their little updates all day, every day. This was a lot easier than sifting through several pages every morning; I could scroll through the list and click on anything that piqued my interest.

This only lasted for maybe a term though. Twitter still couldn’t keep my interest. About a year later I had classmates telling me their teachers were having them cover events and give live twitter updates. I was dumbfounded. These classes were the same ones I had taken, only I had to go to the event and turn around a story before midnight. I can honestly say I have never taken a class where I have had to use twitter as homework. But students only a year behind me have. That’s how fast things change in the world of technology and media. By the time my sister gets to the School of Journalism in 2012 it will be a completely different ball game. My 2009 style book will like that pathetic 2003 version floating around the editing lab at Allen Hall. People pick it up when they want a good laugh.

Such is life. Should I re-enact my twitter account? Eh, one thing at a time I think. I am just finally (and still with slight trepidation) succumbing to the world of blogging. Part of me feels that blogging is going against everything I believe in, but the other part of me that kept a journal nearly every day for almost ten years likes the casualness of it all. A classmate of mine once said she can write the story for the newspaper but she needs her blog to reflect and get her personal thoughts out. Maybe blogs are more like diaries. I know one thing, in the short time I have been blogging and researching blogs, I have found some really great ones that I will continue to follow. I have a feeling this won’t be a fleeting fad like my twitter account.

And now that Facebook is being more hands-on in the journalism world, I will have to stay connected. I admit I am extremely fond of my Facebook and eager to see the things they come up with to keep journalists and sources connected. The world is getting increasingly smaller with time. Journalists will develop interconnected online communities to share news and find sources. As The Next Web put it, with the help of Facebook, “journalists can create communities of mini news reporters, that will use the page to post information they find in their area, whether this is geographical or within a particular industry.”

Journalists are going to have to get on board to stay on top. I don’t want to graduate from college and already be behind…