Shattered Glass focuses on a journalist by the name of Stephen Glass. Stephen Glass is played by actor Hayden Christensen, who also known for playing Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars prequels. The characters are likable and developed very nicely. The story is compelling and I was on the edge of my seat for most of the movie.

This movie provides a solid perspective on fabrication and other illegal journalism methods. Journalists can get into a lot of trouble if proven guilty and this movie does a great job in showing an event that actually took place.

I thought this movie was interesting but it’s not for everyone. People that like Hayden Christensen or journalism will enjoy this film but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone else.

Citizenfour is a transcending documentary film that gives valuable information about today’s society and its connection with the government. The movie tells the story about Edward Snowden who submitted a report that provided information that proved that the United States Government was spying on millions of people. This is the most extreme sense of reporting that I have seen and the film is a crazy ride when the viewer sees all the steps Eric Snowden had to take.

I liked this film and I recommend it to others if they are into insane investigations. This movie is about true events and it is hard to believe this happened because one man tried to take on an entire government.

All the President’s Men is one of the best movies of all-time and came out in 1976. This movie is a drama about Watergate and the downfall of President Nixon. This film does a great job of explaining this story because it goes into extreme detail in a 2 hour and 20-minute movie. Actor Robert Redford is unbelievable in the movie and is very entertaining to watch on screen. It’s very informative and shows the compelling sides of investigative journalism.

I really liked this movie and I recommend this movie to others. In regard to journalism, it shows how the gritty aspect of making phone calls and doing in depth research can lead to big insights. Investigative journalism is really showed off in a positive manner in an all-time classic.

Spotlight is a movie that has a star-studded cast consisting of Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, and many others. The movie is based on the true story about Boston Globe writers that worked in a section called “Spotlight” in 2001. The main premise is about investigative journalism that is directed towards finding information on priests that are possibly touching children inappropriately.

I really enjoyed this movie and it showed the true power that journalists have if they go above and beyond in their job. I felt so connected to this movie and it was an emotional joy ride that really connects with the viewer. It has very tough subject matter but worth the intense events that occur in this fantastic movie that shows off the power of investigative journalism.

The “Syria and the Media” lecture definitely took me into a place where I haven’t been to in a long time and made me think about how lucky we have it here in America compared to other places. Cara Finnegan lead the lecture and went into detail into the photo aspect of reporting in regard to what is going on with refuges and the process they are going through.

Ever since President Trump signed the executive order that suspended the entry of Syrian refugees into the United States, I have been extremely interested in this topic with Syria.

It was great to hear in first person from Cara Finnegan about how powerful photojournalism can be in the perspective of the public and once again how any form of journalism can capture the facts and inform the public about the important issues going on in this world.

Before attending this event on April 13^th, I didn’t read the description of the event and assumed it had something to do with actual war. My uncle was in the Vietnam War so I’m always interested in hearing different perspectives on war from others.

Once the lecture began I quickly found out the lecture was not something I expected it to be. The main purpose of the panel was the discussion of “fake news” and different types of ways fake news can be ignored and avoided. The constant controversy between President Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton during the presidential race and both of their imperfect pasts were brought up as well. Also, the power of trumps twitter account and how he presents a for sure “war on facts” was present in the panel.

It is tough in today’s society with the amount of people reporting and the numerous news channels that can be reported through, to truly know what is real news and fake news. It takes a little bit of effort from the normal individual to do some proper research to find out the truth. This was certainly the case for the email scandal with Hilary because it seemed like there was a different angle on the story every day and was tough to realize what the actual truth was.

The war on facts will continue to be an issue in my opinion especially considering the ways people can report news, continues to expand.

History and journalism are connected in many ways dating all the way back to the 1760’s during the American Revolution.

While looking at all the events that have occurred from the American Revolution to present day, Rodger Streitmatter came up with a list of 10 recurring traits that suggest some of the methods the news media have used while helping to shape this country.

Rodger Streitmatter’s trait number nine states, “Throughout its history, journalism has remained an endeavor in which a person-if endowed with talent, determination, and wherewithal-can make a difference, though not always a positive one.”

People such as Tomas Paine, Ida Tarbell and Margaret Bourke-White are only a few examples of people throughout history who have joined the Fourth Estate and have actively shaped society over the past two centuries.

The way of communicating through different mediums throughout history has provided the public with important information that changed the way events occurred. The power of the news not only shaped people’s views on issues but on how certain decisions were made by the government, organizations and individuals.

History and journalism are clearly connected and will more than likely continue to be connected as time continues to go by.

Coming into Journalism 200 in January, I thought journalism was just another basic English class where I had to write papers. Now that this class is coming to an end, I realized that I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Over the past 16 weeks I have learned that journalism takes certain skills to master and is the foundation of how outstanding news reporting is done today.

In Principles of American Journalism Stephanie Craft and Charles N. Davis state, “The facts should get in the way of a good story. Journalism requires more than just merely reporting remarks, claims or comments. Journalism verifies, provides relevant context, tells the rest of the story and acknowledges the absence of important additional information.”

Great news contains all of these components. At the end of the day people want to hear about the facts of a situation and then worry about all the additional information later. It’s also key for journalists to always tell the truth and show that their sources are always reliable. Consistency is the key to success and one mess up can possibly ruin a journalist’s career.

Before I just thought of the news as a waste of time and people would make a bigger deal out of non-important stories in order to get attention. Now I realize that there is a plethora of journalists in the world that take their job extremely seriously and go through the rigorous process of reporting the facts that the public deserves to know.  I certainly respect how the news is told and what it represents because of the information that I have learned throughout the duration of this course.

The company Uber has taken off in a positive manner over the past couple years becoming a 50-billion-dollar company. They have changed the transportation industry towards multiple forms of transportation besides only being able to call a taxi.

Uber has now encountered a negative situation that has received a lot of criticism. An old engineer at Uber by the name of Susan Fowler, said that she was sexually harassed by her direct supervisor during her time at Uber and that after she reported those claims to the human resources department, they were ignored.

Mike Isaac, a journalist at the New York Times went all in to investigate the situation.

According to Isaac’s report, “Ms. Fowler’s account is another sign of Silicon Valley’s struggle with women’s issues and diversity in a male-dominated engineering environment. In 2015, the venture capital world was put under the microscope when Ellen Pao, a former partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, claimed in a lawsuit that she was discriminated against at the blue-chip venture firm because of her gender — a case she lost.”

Sexual assault is no joke and needs to be handled extremely seriously. Individual situations such as Susan Fowlers’ should never go unnoticed and treated with extreme detail.

With prior history of women’s issues being unnoticed, Uber can capitalize on this common issue and create change by showing effort and importance on behalf of their company towards sexual assault and harassment.

The ongoing media affiliated events with President Donald Trump continue to occur.

President Trump’s new ordeal is about libel laws dealing with the media. Something libel is a published false statement that is damaging to a person’s reputation; a written defamation.

Journalist Adam Liptak, went in depth on President Trump’s comments on the possibility of changing libel laws. The initial reaction from President Trump was seen on twitter where he stated his unhappiness with the New York Times.

President Trump stated, “I’m going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money.”

According to Liptak’s report, “It is indeed hard for public figures to win libel suits. They have to prove that something false was said about them, that it harmed their reputation and that the writer acted with “actual malice.” That last term is misleading, as it has nothing to do with the ordinary meaning of malice in the sense of spite or ill will.”

Trump’s ability to change libel laws is certainly unlikely to occur but people should never doubt the capabilities that President Trump possess. The media and President Trump will constantly be going back and forth for at least the next four years and this little episode has only put more fuel on a giant fire.