Broadcast Critique Project 

In the Special Report with Bret Baier on Fox News at 6 PM Eastern Time, the main focus was on the real time events of what’s happening in Baltimore. Baier started out the broadcast explaining the chaos happening in the city of Baltimore as a result of the death of 25 year old, Freddie Gray.

As far as the audio and visual aspect of this broadcast it was very well done, not too overpowering or distracting. While watching the news broadcast I noticed how clean the audio sounded in the on camera interviews, desk segments, and live videos of Baltimore itself.

Sometimes when reading a magazine or newspaper I often find myself getting distracted or bored after a while due to the lack of visual or audio appeal. Fox News does a great job with piecing these elements together for their broadcasts. Even information needs to be colorful and attention grabbing in this day in age; Fox, and many affiliates like it do a great job with that aspect of media.

Bret opened and closed the show with real time video and news reports from the riots in Baltimore. In the middle of the Fox News segment at 6 PM, he also talked about the controversy surrounding Hilary Clinton and her husband Bill regarding their beloved foundation.

Brit Hume joined Bret to break down the controversy surrounding the Clinton’s. Hume explained to Fox News viewers that the Clintons have “managed to go from being in deep debt to fabulously rich, to the tune of about 140 million dollars.”

This information, as well as the information from Baltimore is relevant because it is happening right now. As a broadcaster, the aspect of timeliness is essential if you want to keep and gain viewers. No one wants to hear about what riots happened last month, they want to know what riots are happening at the very moment they sit down to watch the news.  

Bret did a great job delivering the immediate news in the 6 PM news broadcast. He gave the facts as well as gained perspective from contributors such as Brit Hume.

As far as information vs. explanation goes, there were three main topics of discussion in the Special Report with Bret Baier; the riots in Baltimore, Hilary’s financial scandal, and President Obama’s deal with Iran.

Bret provided quick, informational intros to each story, usually leading up to an interview or a pre-recorded package explaining more on the subject. Bret then shared his closing comments before moving on to the next piece of news. There was information and explanation without creating boring content that would make people change the channel.

In all this broadcast was very well done, it went very quickly and caught me up on many things happening around the country and around the world. I would like to start watching more Special Reports with Bret.

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8.1 Basketball Death 
A fifteen year old basketball player died during a practice game at Central High School on Monday morning.

Freshman Todd White was running during a practice game when he fell. He was later pronounced dead after being rushed to Central Valley Memorial Hospital where efforts to revive him failed. White did not have any history of illnesses, according to his trainer Mike Way. An autopsy will be conducted to further investigate the cause of death later this afternoon. A memorial for Todd will be held at Central High School this Saturday at noon.

Energy Plan
Secretary of the Interior, Grace Green, announced a new $800 million energy plan while traveling through the western United States.

While on her 3-day tour, Green announced the plan at the Western Governor's Conference meeting in Salt Lake City. This plan includes a five-year program to diminish strip mining, but at the same time also ease licensing of new nuclear power plants. Grace Green praised this new plan, saying it was the newest way of reducing dependence on foreign oil while simultaneously making America greener. There have been similar plans like this in the past, but Grace believes that this one will work without any problems.

8.2 Faculty Death 
Education professor a the University of Washington pronounced dead at 58 years of age.

Elizabeth Billson had suffered from cancer for 10 years while continuing to teach at the University. She taught at The University of Washington for 36 years and was awarded the university's "Outstanding Professor" last year. Billson was estimated to have taught about 10,000 future educators during her impressive career. Both faculty, staff, students, friends, and family will come together on May 4, 2015 to mourn her death.

Wreck
Two trucks involved in an I-59 collision on January 23, 2015 at 9:00 PM.

Both drivers involved in the accident were unhurt. The accident caused a major traffic jam on I-59 for about an hour until the trucks could be cleared. Also fuel from both of the trucks spilled, causing a major oil slick across the highway. One truck carrying refrigerated contents lost an estimated $10,000 in products due to thawing.
The accident happened in a construction zone on I-59 where lanes become extremely narrow, both trucks collided head on. Although no one was hurt, both drivers were cited with reckless driving and speeding.

Chapter 12 and 13 Summery

Thanks to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, writers in the United States have tremendous freedom in their writing. The First Amendment was ratified in 1791 and provides significant protection for speech and writing communication. "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press." Although some still argue to this day about what free speech involves, the amendment is pretty clear. Congress does not have the power, however, to abridge free speech. The First Amendment protects speech about politics, religion, and culture most highly. Fully protected speech, such as political, religious, and cultural speech, can only be restrained or punished by government in dire circumstances. The First Amendment protects speech about politics, religion, and culture most highly. While the free speech protection rules may seem reasonably clear, recent years have proven difficult for writers and media organizations. In a famous case, supermarket chain Food Lion sued ABC for an undercover news story that purported to show questionable food handling by Food Lion employees. Food Lion chose not to sue for defamation -- which is essentially challenging the truth of the information. Food Lion chose to sue for fraud and trespass based on the methods used by ABC to acquire the information.

In addition to Libel, writers can be sued when their stories invade someones privacy. Privacy is defined four different ways in the media; publication of private facts, intrusion into seclusion, false light, and appropriation. Violation of publication of private facts is understood to be publishing intense personal facts about an individual. Intrusion into seclusion is committed when a writer trespasses into someone's "personal space," whether physically or using technology. False light looks very much like libel, but there are important differences. A writer commits false light by presenting someone as being something that he or she is not. Appropriation arises most frequently in the context of advertising and public relations. It is defined as the unauthorized use of an individuals persona for commercial purposes.

Copyright law in the United States originated as a way to protect those who produce creative works by giving them the right kind of commercial monopoly on their works. If creators are rewarded, they will work hard and create great artistic works. Copyright protection, however,  does not last forever. At some point works cease to be legally protected and enter the public domain, which means that anyone can use them. But just because work is copyrighted does not mean that no other than the copyright owner can use the the work.

Up until fairly recently, advertising was not protected by the First Amendment. The Supreme Court apparently felt that advertising was beneath the notice of the Constitution, which is concerned with weightier issues than ads for products and services.

Many people try to become journalists, but not everyone succeeds. So what does it take to become a good journalist? The first and foremost personal attribute of a good journalist is a strong and confident sense of personal integrity; honesty. Journalists must be honest about themselves and their place in the world.

News Release

For more information contact:

Jim Lard

Mountain East Hospital

(443) 567 – 9874

JLard@MEastHospital.org

For release after 11:00 a.m.

Tuesday, Apr. 7

New Department Head at Mountain East Medical Center

         Bob Wilkinson, Department of Purchasing Head at Mountain East Medical Center has resigned. Assistant Head of Purchasing, Johnny Toler will take over as the new department head, effective immediately.  

            Johnny Toler has been with Mountain East for 13 years. His wife, Carolyn, is the gynecology department head at MEMC and they have 2 children.

            Toler started his medical career in Pharmacology. He began as an assistant druggist in the Mountain East Medical Center pharmacy 13 years ago and was moved to the purchasing department as an assistant in 1978.

            No information was given as to why Bob Wilkinson has made the decision to resign on such short notice. All that can be said is that he did good work while he was here, and there is to be no bad blood between executives.

            Hospital administrator Harry Illscott said: “Bob’s abilities will be greatly missed at this hospital, but I know that Johnny Toler is a person we can all depend on to do whatever is necessary to keep this department going. I have great faith in him and in this hospital.”

            Johnny Toler was quick to make a statement of his own: “This hospital means a great deal to me and my family, and I will give my best efforts to making our purchasing department the best. I learned from a fine man –-Bob Wilkinson-- and I hope I can continue to build on the foundation he established.”

            More information about Johnny Toler and the Mountain East Medical Center Departments can be found on the hospital Web site at www.MEMC.org.

Chapter 9 Summary

The creation of photography in the 1830’s had a profound impact on the world and the way it see’s places, people, and events. During the average persons lifetime most sights are not experienced in person, but with the invention of photography those sights could be experienced virtually.

When photographs are used in journalism they bring a certain life or visual aspect to the story that words fail to bring. It’s one thing to read a story, but it’s another to see visually what the story is describing.

When picking the right photo for their story, photojournalists look for five key aspects; drama, action, expression, unusualness, and relationships. Drama, expression and action in the photo create life and movement to the picture, while unusualness and relationships bring difference and connectivity to each story.

As a photojournalist it is also important to get different shots from different angles. Long range, midrange, and close-up shots are standard in the industry. Long-range shots are also referred to as establishing shots and they set the scene. Midrange shots give a little bit more of an idea of the subject while continuing to show the setting. Close-ups get up close and personal with the subject and are often the best and most interesting pictures.

When including pictures in journalism, cutlines are necessary to identify, elaborate, describe, and explain the pictures being shown. When writing cutlines it is important to use present tense, double-check identifications, be specific, and avoid cliché statements. Cutlines give useful information while enhancing the appearance of publication.

Charts are also used in photojournalism, such as bar, line, and pie charts. It is important to remember accuracy, clarity, simplicity, and attribution when including charts in journalism publication. A good graphic contains a headline, chart, labels, explainer box, legend, source, and credits.

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