Who is a Journalist and what is Journalism?

We have talked a lot in class about what makes someone a journalist and what something needs to be considered journalism. I think through discussion my ideas on what defines these terms has changed. A Journalist is someone who reports the news through television, radio, print and other forms of media. Merriam-Webster defines journalism as “The activity or job of collecting, writing, and editing news stories for newspapers, magazines, television, or radio.” Although this seems accurate, I think that the medium used to show journalism can be very different. Journalism in my opinion is the action of sharing something that is newsworthy with the public. The way that this information is shared can differ. In class we saw examples of song, Prezi slides and images. I would not have originally considered these mediums as journalism but why? I think that in my mind is had a preconceived idea of the definition of journalism. I imagined radio and television broadcasters and the newspaper when I was asked to define journalism. My view has now changed, the idea that a picture or song is journalism seems reasonable to me. If it shares accurate, newsworthy information with the public then that is to say that the method in which it is shared is correct or incorrect. After all, a picture is worth a 1000 words.

            At first I was certain that the image I created in Photoshop was NOT journalism but now for sake of discussion I am going to argue that it is journalism. My image contains no text but simply images that chronologically display the key happenings in the story. I think because the images are placed in the order of occurrence and share the story with the public it is considered journalism. However, the lines do get blurred when the ability to comprehend what is being said is addressed. The images do show what happened in the event but without background knowledge on the actual event it may difficult to fully understand the timeline of images.

Journalism or not..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOsqkQytHOs

The video Can Video Games make you Smarter? By Asap Science was published to YouTube on January 19, 2014. It provides facts and statistics on how video games can be intellectually stimulating oppose to the counter popular belief. The video illustrates its facts though active illustrations and narration. The video is journalism because it provides facts that support the overall focus of the topic. Although the film may not fit into what some consider traditional journalism, it still provides facts on a popular topic that can be debated. The visuals correspond to the information being presented and bridge an audience gap by making the facts easier to understand by a younger audience. The video includes interactive activities to further their point and shares information from different studies. The narrator addresses opposing viewpoints and acknowledges them as valid opinions but continues use facts to strengthen their argument. Even though the video does not feature a well-known reporter out on the scene interviewing and investigating whether video games are beneficial or not does not mean it is not journalism. The narrator has his facts on the topic and is reporting to an audience to pass on the information. Does this make the narrator a journalist or just a narrator? Whether the voice on the video was given the facts or researched them himself does not entirely matter. He is the person reporting the information and delivering it to the public which would make him the journalist of the video. A film that interactively teaches facts about the positives of playing video games can be journalism because it is presenting facts about a topic that is relevant and easily debated.

The video Can Video Games make you Smarter? By Asap Science was published to YouTube on January 19, 2014. Although it provides facts and statistics that playing video games can actually make you smarter and increase brain activity it is not journalism. To be journalism something must be newsworthy. This topic, although interesting and popular in many debates is not newsworthy. It is not providing any breaking news facts that have never been shared with the public before. The topic of whether video games are intellectually stimulating or contribute to lazy youth and unproductive brain stimulation is one that has been debated for a while. The question is, is it actually journalism? The video is addressing a side to a popular debate and although acknowledges the opposing view, sticks with the one side and provides information to strengthen the case. This is almost a bias which is not really journalism but more of a very well argued stance on a debate topic. The fact that the video uses illustrations rather than real people and uses a narrator rather than a reporter does not make it any less newsworthy. The video engages the audience and the voice provides well researched facts in a clear manner. However, the real question stems from whether the topic of the positives of video games is one that can accurately be labeled as journalism.