“Mightier Than The Sword” by Roger Streitmatter depicts how American Journalism, starting in the 1760s, shaped history by visiting sixteen landmark events in US History. These events created our country into what it is and Streitmatter expresses that they also demonstrate how american journalism “recorded” and “shaped” it.

Throughout history, societal changes are talked about and spread throughout different mediums. When it came to documenting these events and political occurrences on paper, “Journalism” was formed and changed how we see, read, and experience news. From happy events, to political news, to crime, everything was taken into a new perspective and has embedded its way into our history. They are connected in the way that they played a significant part in America in general. It became a force for American Independence in politics.

I think news and reporters is needed now more than ever. It isn’t for everyone and it involves a lot of work. After watching the movie “Spotlight” and seeing all the dedication and fact checking they did for one story, it is clear to me that journalists put hard work into their stories to make sure they are true and relevant. There’s news everywhere and in order to get the right story you have to investigate and find sources that matter. I think news is told honestly and clearly on purpose to convey to people what is going on around them and keep the public up to date. One key thing professor Follis has taught us is to show up. This is one thing I have taken from Journalism 200 and applied to make my stories better and more purposeful.

Spotlight won best picture last year and exceeded my expectations when I watched it as well. I think the part that made the movie moving was the fact that it was a true story and was based off the journalists perspectives. The movie is based off a true store, depicting the investigations against priests in Boston accused of molesting over 1,000 victims. Over 90 priests were on “sick leave” indicating they were in fact molesting boys. The part that stood out to me was when the reporter found the priests house and it was down the block from his house. It made the story real to think that this molester lived down the block from the journalists house, where his kids walk to school everyday and have to pass this house.

“All The President’s Men” goes into the professional lives of its characters and their part in the Watergate story. I see investigative reporting at its finest in the film, as Woodward and Bernstein make the movie a reality. I really got the sense that it was a documentary with all truthful information from the real Watergate scandal. I think the director uncovered the greatest political scandal truthfully. I found the most interesting part to be at the end of the movie when the previous white house aide revealed that Nixon recorded his conversations in the oval office. Overall, the movie displays a truthful viewing of two journalists, Woodward and Bernstein, that brought down Nixon in the watergate scandal.

On April 19th, 2017, Chancellor Robert J. Jones presents the senior leadership conference at the Illini Union.

Based on article: Bill O’Reilly Thrives at Fox News, Even Though Harrassment Settlements Add Up

Bill O’Reilly has worked for Fox News since 1996, generating more than $446 million in advertising revenues from hosting his weeknight show “The O’Reilly Factor.” However, there is an ongoing investigation consisting of over five dozen interviews with current and former Fox News employees giving allegations against O’reilly’s sexual assault.

The article also mentions how The Times examined over 100 pages of documents related to the complaints. Over five workers on Fox News received settlements after accusing Bill O’Reilly of sexual harassment or verbal abuse. These workers include: producer at Fox News Rachel Bernstein, producer on “The O’Reilly Factor” Andrea Mackris, and several hosts and anchors.

O’Reilly denies these allegations and over $13 million has been paid out to hide these claims made by women.

In an article with the Chicago Tribune, written by Anthony Faiola and Stephanie Kirchner, Berlin’s Chancellor agreed on a draft on Wednesday to ban fake news and hate speech. The fines can be up to 53 million for someone who posts fake news, and according to the article

“the proposed law would apply only within German borders. But Maas said Wednesday that he would press for similar measures to be adopted across the 28-member European Union.” 

If an online post was seen to possess “illegal” news, the company will have to remove it within 24 hours to avoid fines. The draft bill would also target terrorism and allegations towards child pornography. Critics quickly accused the draft bill of an impediment of free speech. This new bill being proposed correlates with Media law and the rights of the people and journalists. It puts an infringement on the rights of the people. The article states that drafting this bill in Germany will give America an idea of what to expect if they were to do the same.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-fake-news-law-germany-20170405-story.html

Isabella Winkler, a sophomore at the University of Illinois, advocates for fraternity hazing to be taken more serious as one student every year since 1970 has died from hazing. I believe Winkler makes a good point in her opinion piece by bringing up this issue that is seen as ‘tradition’ within fraternities and by expressing how she as a student doesn’t approve of this and how you shouldn’t either.

I think it’s important to not just turn the other cheek at an issue like this that is reoccurring and potentially dangerous. As college kids, we have the most say to stop this issue that has been seen across almost every college campus since 1970. Winkler makes a good point in her article and gives awareness of a topic that is not talked about as much as it should be.

Campus community can’t keep ignoring hazing

7 planets have been revealed to be similar to Earth; the first time it has been realistic to have signs of alien life. According to an article from The New York Times written by Kenneth Chang, “the planets orbit a dwarf star named Trappist-1, about 40 light-years from earth.” This distance is close enough to be studied in depth by NASA within the next few years.

The planets appear to be rocky and Rob Verger with Fox News says “they could contain the six right elements in the right concentration for life, Sasselov said: stuff like carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen.”

These findings give hope to scientists to find out what keeps life from flourishing.

I watched ABC News over the weekend and noticed a lot of values we discussed in class in the newscast I watched. One story, called The Sweetheart Scam, applied to human interest because Valentine’s day is on Tuesday. I think it’s smart for ABC to do a newscast based on Valentine’s day and tie in some of the statistics and costs. In the story they mention how 18.2 billion is spent on Valentine’s day related purchases, over 4 billion of that will be spent on jewelry alone. The average spender will spend 130$, this applies to human interest and ties into the everyday spender on Valentine’s day. One story that stuck out to me was how US authorities were rounding up illegal immigrants around the country and deporting them, this applies to the Impact and Conflict values because yes, Trump is upholding his promise to get rid of violent and dangerous criminals making in impact on this country, but this also presents the conflict value as not all these families are violent and some have children who are in fact legal citizens. ABC defines news well with these core values that I believe every newscast should incorporate to make their stories as effective as they can be.