Within “Mightier Than a Sword”, Rodger Streitmatter elaborates on the connection between history and journalism. Rodger states throughout the chapter that American history was influenced by the public press. He explains events that have happened in American history that were recorded by American Journalism. For example, he discusses the American Revolution, 9/11, Watergate, and many other significant events. He describes Journalisms role in these events as not only recording them, but shaping the events as well. He stresses throughout the chapter, that Journalism plays a major role in history. To add to that, he connects both history and journalism as assisting each eachother in the process of creating and communicating history.

I’ve always been very interested in Journalism. Throughout high school and the college decision process, I knew that I would want to learn more about Journalism. During this course, I have learned knowledge about Journalism that I didn’t know before. To add to that, I have appreciation for Journalists that I didn’t have before. I think that Journalist’s ways of distributing news is very significant in modern day. The SPJ Code of Ethics is a code that I was unaware of until this course. The different parts of the SPJ Code of Ethics: seek truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently, and be accountable and transparent, is a very important concept within Journalism. I think that this Code of Ethics keeps Journalism as a whole in line. This adds boundaries and rules to the distribution of news throughout Journalism.

The “Straw Hat Bandit” has finally been sent to prison by the FBI. Richard Doyle, the businessman from Philadelphia went to prison 8 years ago for a string of heists. Boyle has been accused of stealing $495,686 that he took during 11 stickups. Boyle laundered the money through his failing photography business, keeping his crimes as low key as possible. These 11 stickups occurred between 2012 and 2016. Doyle earned the name ” Straw Hat Bandit” because he commits his crimes while having distinctive disguises, which typically were a straw hat and mask. To add to that, Doyle was always armed with a handgun throughout his robberies. Tracy Connor, the author of this article, interviewed the lawyer that’s assigned to this case. Craig Pengalese, the lawyer on the case, reported to CBS news, “It wasn’t exactly a whodunit. He walked into banks with no mask, wearing floral print shirts and no mask and asked politely for the tellers to give him the money”.

On April 10th, a video was posted on Twitter showing two policemen dragging a passenger off the plane. Due to overbooking the flight, the workers need passengers to exit that plane and catch the next flight to Louisville, Kentucky. At random selection, a doctor who needed to see patients in Louisville the next day, was chosen. The police wrestled the man, and dragged him out of his seat. The passenger’s face was beaten, resulting in his face and mouth bleeding. Several passengers documented the encounter and the released footage has made appearances on very important media. The publics reactions to the footage and this terrible incident, has shined very poorly on United Airlines as a company.

Does it matter if the Passover story is literally true? Eric Schwitzgebel from the LA time states that yes, it does matter if the Passover story is literally true. The story of passover revolves around the death of children, and that’s why the question of it’s legitimacy is true. Eric writes about his experience with being prompted by his Rabbi to answer that question. He states, ” In belonging to an old religion, we honor values that are not entirely ours. We celebrate events that no longer quite make sense.” Eric explains that the Jewish religion celebrates events that no longer quite make sense and it’s not acceptable to change the basic tale of Passover. To add to that, Eric offered the option to add different commentary in order to better recognize Egyptian suffering. The holiday of Passover can then add a new celebration of equality.

How did Enrique Acevedo of Univision use social media to track down and report about the location of a portrait of Donald Trump? While reading through this shocking, but also expected, article written about Trump, I found myself amused at what happened. Acevedo anchors the late night newscast, and after one certain night, he didn’t leave after he finished his broadcast. His assumption sparked from a report circulating Twitter, from the Washington Post. Within this report, he found that the semi-famous portrait was being housed in Trump National Doral Miami. The painting of Trump was a self portrait, which was auctioned off and was bought by Trump himself. After the auction, Trump ended up writing a check from his charity, The Donald J. Trump Foundation.

The Chicago Police arrested a 14 year old boy for sexual assault. This news story was shown online on NBC News, written by Avalon Zoppo and Associated Press. The 14 year old boy was arrested in the sexual assault of a 15 year old girl. The footage of the sexual assault was posted on a Facebook live stream, and there were 40 people who viewed the live stream and did not contact the police. The attack involved five to six males, and the 14 year old had been ” one of the offenders in the video”. The boy under arrest faces felony charges of aggravated criminal sexual assault, manufacturing of child pornography and dissemination of child pornography. The video was shown to the police by the victims mother, weeks after the incident had occurred. This incident is the second time in months that Chicago have investigated an attack streaming from Facebook live.

The weekly television newscast that I decided to write about is ABC news. When I lived at home I watched this newscast nightly with both my parents, and I’ve always found it to be very interesting and informative. On March 28th, ABC news released a story about two uncover cops that were shot and rushed to the hosptial after being ambushed while they were conducting surveillance. These type of situations are very intriguing to me, and that’s why I decided to talk about it in my blog. There were several aspects of this newscast that had values that define “news”. Whenever I think of the word news, I automatically think of a news reporter or news station informing it’s viewers of recent events that will warn or benefit the public. Within news, there is typically some sort of conflict, human interest, timeliness, prominence, and impact. For example, in the news that I decided to discuss, ABC news states the conflict between the undercover cops and the people who ambushed and shot them. To add to that, the story highlights the importance of how current this situation happened, and has the intention of warning people about this incident. This type of situation can impact anyone, especially in a negative way. For those people who have been in a similar scenario, or understand the tragic pain and suffering that the uncover cops are going through, are majorly impacted by this news. Weekly television newscasts are very important because they provide the public with the brutal reality of what’s going on in this world, it would be difficult for people to find that information without the help of the newscasts.

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Hi! My name is Kayla Feldstein, and welcome to my blog! I was born and raised in Chicago, and I plan on moving back there after my four years away at college. I am a freshman at University of Illinois and I am having the time of my life! I am a Graphic Design major, and I plan on minoring in Public Relations. During my senior year in high school, I was enrolled in AP Art and that’s when I decided I wanted to continue doing art in college. To add to that, I have always enjoyed writing and reading, and minoring in Public Relations allows me to keep doing so. My blog is focused around the course I’m currently taking, Journalism 200. I have always loved writing and sharing my ideas, so I’m very excited to have this blog in order to do those things. I’m very focused on making this blog exciting, interesting, and unique. I love taking pictures so I’m planning on including just as many pictures as text. I hope that my blog keeps viewers smiling, laughing, and educated on what I add on each week. Enjoy!