Memetic Journalism, Part Two-Final Release - Page 2© Donna L. Quesinberry
Page 2
Jul 20, 2003
Liberty Media Corporation
News Corporation
Sony
Viacom, Inc.
Vivendi Corporation
Walt Disney Corporation
An upcoming Fourth Estate article will cover who owns what. You will be surprised to learn who owns your favorite business journal and|or magazine.
As a member of a Listserv that represents journalists I was interested in a recent discussion. A journalist asked the other participants what makes a good journalist? Some of the answers are listed below. (These are excerpts-no opinion in particular can be attributed to any specific individual-their privacy remaining intact):
- A certain amount of background knowledge is useful...too much can actually interfere with reporting in a couple of important ways. One is that you get "captured" by one of the ideologies in the field and lose the ability to question its assumptions.
Good reporters require beverages:
- Beer - with lime regardless of brand.
- Bloody Mary - when I need some vitamins.
- Scotch - but forget the rocks.
- Vodka - quick fix.
- Whiskey Sour - but only when I'm in a sweet mood.
- Wine - all the time
- Ich habe meine Punkt gemacht.
- Maintenant je propose que nous essayons capter quelques neutrinos au-dessus dans notre caverne.
- Naturligtvis, blir det spännande!
- Parroting jargon to impress your sources with how knowledgeable you are. (mentioned as a bad idea).
- There are three main indicators of a
great reporter:
- An education arising from both classroom studies and life experience that provides a broad view of the world.
- Finely honed skills as a researcher, interviewer and writer.
- Specific character traits, notably curiosity, persistence and an unwavering moral compass.
- Too many journalists don't do their homework, so make errors, from simple ones to costly ones for the victims of the errors.
- Wakarimatsu. Domo arigato, Horwich-san!
- With an ever-proliferating media, what would this era of global journalism be like without reporters trained with a big-picture view on the FRONT end?
Journalism has a definitive role it plays in Memeology and social science. The ability for the human mind to process media, to intellectualize it, to interpret it, to agree or disagree with it, to debate and discuss concepts and ideas exchanged is not to be demerited or derided. We do have the ability to absorb data, to exchange Memes, and to create our individual hypotheses as they take root within memory banks and cells of our bodies. What we cannot determine is the sub-conscious absorption and subliminal seedings that take root right alongside them as Memes to which we may react without forethought and|or perhaps conscious understanding.
A fine example of this is the sale of candidate hopefuls in an election process. To wit, public relations representatives count on certain statistical groups of human beings to be swayed by specific word usage (culturally adapted Memes) such as:
Go To Page:
1
2
3
4
The copyright of the article Memetic Journalism, Part Two-Final Release - Page 2 in Fourth Estate is owned by Donna L. Quesinberry. Permission to republish Memetic Journalism, Part Two-Final Release - Page 2 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
What are your thoughts on journalism and journalists? Is it an art or a profession?
|
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to
Donna L. Quesinberry's
Fourth Estate topic, please visit the Discussions page.
|
