Chapter 17 of Steritmatter’s Mightier than the Sword gives ten reasons for why and how journalists have shaped history. My favorites are:

1. The news organizations that have been influenced important events have been willing to set the agenda.
2. Many of the news organizations that have shaped history have placed journalistic principle above financial gain.
3. An important characteristic of many of the news organizations that have influenced history has been an eagerness to harness the power of visual images.

Out of the ten points listed, these are the ones that resonated with me the most.

Throughout the semester in Journalism 200, I have come to realize the integral part that journalism plays in society. Covering important and controversial issues takes bravery and a strong mind to be able to set the agenda in order to find out the truth.

As an advertising student, I am very interested in imagery and its influences on the human mind. Most of my curriculum is studying how words and images affect people’s thoughts and actions so that one day we can develop campaigns that will influence consumers into buying the brands we represent.

I believe that the pen is a mighty tool, after all that is what this book is all about, but images play a really important role in proving to the reader what something actually is like. Images cause reactions and draw attention because of the inherently visual nature of humans.

Journalism has shaped American history and I cannot begin to think of where we would be without it.

This movie follows the reporters who uncovered all of the information regarding the Watergate Scandal. Through their investigative journalism and tenacity, these reporters were able to uncover secrets about the Nixon Administration that had been buried. These reporters brought to light the corruption of the administration.

Watching this movie in today’s current political climate increased the relevancy of the film. The Trump Administration has a lot of hidden secrets with Michael Flynn and his talks with Russia, Trump’s inability to release his tax returns and recent firing of a judge who disagreed with the Trump travel ban.

This movie showed the importance of journalists in government and that message is more relevant now than ever.

I’ve seen “Spotlight” a number of times now but I will never forget the first time I watched the film.

I was on a break from school, watching with my parents in our living room. Both my parents had been raised by devout Irish-Catholics who held immense pride for their heritage and faith.

As we turned on the movie, the sun was setting and the orange sky could be seen from the bay window in our living room. The dark outline of our Catholic church, where my family had been parishioners for nearly two decades, took up most of view from the window. The church and my family’s home are next door neighbors.

Throughout this first viewing of the film, hardly a word was spoken by either of my parents, a very rare fete in my house. After the film ended there was not much discussion as people got up from the couch and shuffled upstairs to bed.

The experience was uncomfortable and surreal. I imagine also incredibly hard hitting for my parents who grew up very involved in the church. My parents and their siblings, a combined group of 18, grew up as altar boys, members of the choir, regularly attending Sunday School and knowing every response to every prayer and intercession during mass.

This movie followed a team of Boston reporters in their investigative efforts to uncover the truth behind the allegations and covered up secrets in the Catholic church.

Watching the movie again, after having completed most of Journalism 200, allowed me to look at the movie through a different lens.

Much of our lectures have covered controversial issues where journalist’s ethics and integrity were put to the test, like the Pentagon Papers, Watergate and much more.

Chris Baraniuk, technology reporter for BBC, wrote that Facebook has observed propaganda efforts by foreign governments. Facebook has seen false news, disinformation or fake accounts on their platform and has removed tens of thousands of them from around the world. The amount of people getting their news from online social media websites is 62%, according to Pew Research Center. Facebook has been very public and forthcoming about these issues and their efforts to combat the spread of fake news and propaganda. They are creating artificial intelligence systems to create a faster response to false information or spam. I believe that these efforts have not done enough to combat the issue.

It was exactly one week ago that students at the University of Illinois woke up to the news that a fellow student had committed suicide the night before. The Daily Illini was one of the first outlets to break the news and shortly after, campus was stirring. This day also happened to be when the Senior leadership at the University of Illinois was holding a state of the University address and Open Forum in the Union. The room was packed with professors and faculty, but hardly any students. The main items on the agenda were the ever prevalent budget crisis and advancing diversity and inclusion initiatives on campus. I went to the event with a friend and throughout the course of the meeting we could not believe some of the things we heard. Towards the end of the meeting they asked for questions, and my friend and I were very interested in hearing what University of Illinois leadership had to say about the status of mental health resources on campus. Renee Romano, the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, proceeded to talk about how the Counseling Center on campus has wonderful resources and outreach services. The response to my friend’s question showed was less than satisfying for the both of us. Luckily, the event ended shortly after and we could leave to talk and compare thoughts on how the University was handling the situation.

The Chicago Fire Department has paid out nearly $92 million in discrimination charges since 2008.

Jared Rutecki of the Better Government Association, a Chicago based investigative journalism firm, explained that the Chicago Fire Department has come under fire in recent years from lawsuits brought on by African American females who claim that the CFD puts physical tests in place to deter females from joining the force. The CFD has less females working for its force than the national average, but when you factor in paramedics and ambulance personnel they are right on par with the national average. He further explains that under Rahm Emmanuel, the city has settled and paid out the majority of these lawsuits.

I believe the Better Government Association is a great resource for all Chicagoans to take stay educated on the government and operations of our city. We need investigative journalists like these to shed light on the corruption and unfairness that runs deep through the different agencies of Chicago.

Data from public records requests | Jared Rutecki, BGA

I arrived at the Diversity Fest at the Illini Union a little bit after 7pm on Sunday, April 9th. A student took the stage shortly after my arrival and began singing his original composition “New Horizons”. The artist, Cedric, described the song as moving out of a negative place in your life and into a positive one. The message of this song fit the theme of the event very well. It was the first time I had attended an event like this one in the Union. There was a sizable crowd of people gathered around to listen to the music. The lights were turned off in the Courtyard Cafe which gave the room a more relaxed vibe. I think the event could have been developed and publicized a lot more to bring out a larger crowd of students.

Cedric, performing his original composition “New Horizons”

Poster positioned outside of the Courtyard Cafe while the event was going on.

New York Times Reporter Adam Liptak published an article exploring how libel is affecting the Trump administration.

Donald Trump has been waging a war against journalists from some of the nation’s largest and most respected news outlets, including the New York Times. Personally, I believe that his constant attacks against these news outlets is harming his administration’s credibility and the system of democracy in the United States. In a recent Tweet, Trump described his unhappiness with how he is being portrayed by the news media and said that he would like to “change libel laws”. Liptak explained that libel laws are controlled by the states, meaning that state legislators are the only ones that can change them. Additionally, a precedent was set in the Supreme Court Case New York Times v. Sullivan that required public figures to prove that there was actual malice. Supreme Court Justice William Brennan wrote that debate may include unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials but this would not be considered libel because of the need to have uninhibited, robust and wide open debates. Libel laws will not be able to change without the Supreme Court overruling the case that set the precedent.

On Wednesday, March 22nd a group of College of Media students, including myself, travelled down to the ABC7 studios in Chicago. We were able to watch the 11am newscast with Judy Hsu and Terrell Brown as anchors and Tracy Butler as the meteorologist. As soon as the newscast started, we heard that there was an act of terrorism in London. The newscast was interrupted by ABC’s national correspondents who cut in to every local newscast to share this breaking news. They cut in a total of two different times and during each cut in the anchors and producers of the show had to work together to rearrange the script and cut out stories that would no longer fit in the newscast. The atmosphere of the newsroom was very stressful while this was going on because they had to be ready at a moment’s notice when the national news was going to give the newscast back to the local stations. After the newscast, Judy Hsu, a University of Illinois Journalism alumni, gave us a tour of the entire building. We were able to meet with the director and the producer in the control room to learn about some of the new technology they have implemented and where the technology is going in the future. We met with the social media coordinator who gave us some insights as to how ABC7 is using various social media platforms to engage with viewers and gain new ones. Overall, this visit was such a valuable experience where I was able to learn so much about reporting, television and journalism as a whole. The station and Judy offered great advice for how to break into the industry after graduation, and the main piece of advice was to not wait until after graduation, start working or volunteering at stations now. I asked them about what direction they saw journalism as a whole heading in considering the many attacks on news by the current presidential administration and they said that this is such an interesting and important time to be a journalist and it is more important than ever to keep delivering the truth and to be completely correct and honest in our reporting.

Below are some pictures that were taken of us with Judy Hsu and Rob Elgas (both University of Illinois alumni), Terrell Brown and Judy Hsu at the desk during the newscast and Tracy Butler. I am wearing the white and black striped sweater.

Last Wednesday Jay Rosen lectured a packed classroom in Lincoln Hall. There was a mix of students, professors and faculty ranging all different ages. Jay Rosen is currently an associate professor of Journalism at New York University, has a Ph.D. in Media Studies, has written multiple books regarding journalism and media studies, sits on the Wikipedia advisory board and has a very large and active blog that has been cited numerous times in scholarly articles. His lecture outlined various reasons why he believes winter is coming for American journalists and Americans in general. These points include: an economic crisis that has led to poor quality reporting especially at the local level, low trust in government institutions, a historically low level of trust in media. Rosen went on to explain that the only way journalists can rebound from their epic failure of falsely predicting the election is if they can start reporting and capturing the true beat of the American people. Does he think this has happened? No, he said that while there was a discussion about changing the way journalists work to report the sentiments of the public there was no time because after the election there was no slow down in events.

Dr. Jay Rosen lecturing the crowd about Donald Trump and the future of Journalism.