When I personally think of journalism, I think of news. There is a lot of emphasis on news because it’s seen as recent and important events. I do think news is important but there’s just too much breaking news coverage sometimes that it ends up taking all the space and room in journalism.

In the movie Spotlight (extra credit movie), the journalists had to drop everything they were doing and their big investigative piece to cover 9/11. Although 9/11 was a big event, why does it have to mean that their piece about sexual abuse and molestation in Catholic Churches has to have less importance? Even after 6-9 weeks after the event, the journalists felt like they could not resume their original assignment. I believe this example can be applied to many real life journalists and journalism situations. A more recent example would be the presidential election and coverage of President Trump. Everyday in the news, it never fails for me to hear something about Trump. On January 21st, the Women’s March took place. However, journalists were covering pieces on Donald Trump and how he was reacting to the public’s claims on his inauguration crowd. This can be due to one of the news values, prominence/ impact.

Journalism is powerful in the sense that it has the power to change people’s perspective and opinions. However, we place so much emphasis on the value of prominence. It is unfair that someone with prominence or a topic with impact will overshadow all the other news topics. News is important, but so are other “smaller” topics in journalism. It is important for not only journalists and editors, but the public to relook at what they value in journalism so they don’t overlook other critical events and stories.