Friday, October 23, 2015

Communication and Broadcast Journalism

Broadcast Journalism and communication are literally two peas in a pod, if not the same pea! Communication within broadcast journalism consists of reporters going out and talking with people, asking inspired questions, writing appealing and unbiased packages and most importantly, delivering current news in a timely and vibrant fashion!

I haven’t been in the broadcast journalism field for very long, but from what I’ve learned, the most important part about being a broadcast journalist is finding the most interesting/current thing to report on, making kairos a vital part of our work. If we don’t report on things in the right moment, it could badly damage the ethos of the news network.



The audience for broadcast journalism must be earned and maintained on a daily basis. Through different topics of invention broadcast journalists shape their approaches to fit the situation best. After collecting information and formatting it correctly, they have the chance to retell the information in front of a camera. I think this is one of the easiest ways journalists get audiences to trust them! It’s the perfect opportunity to show personality and charisma which helps persuade people to follow their news feed.

I was taking a communications class in the summer and Professor Walz showed a few interesting video clips of himself in action when he was a fulltime journalist. He showed different news stories of various events but decided to end with one that was about fishing. Not to dog on fishing because I know that’s someone’s view of heaven, but it should’ve been extremely boring! Bro. Walz taught us through this clip that with the right description, balance of puns and good delivery you can make almost anything interesting. His witty introduction addressed all the fish lovers of Utah County and then went straight into hard facts about certain fishing areas of Utah, making the story seem credible and important. His arrangement was simple yet catchy, and made us want to watch until the whole 4 minute clip was over. 

Bro. Walz was able to deliver this news without much bias or fake persuasion, and that’s really what caught my attention. For a while I really hated watching certain newscasts because of the way they would manipulate stories to increase their viewer/readership. I began to appreciate the importance of news again after this class and understanding more what journalism should be from Bro. Walz examples. I want to be able to inform people of what’s happening in the world without spinning a story out of control to make myself, or the company, look good. With a balance of most of the rhetorical tools we have talked about, true journalism arises and can be used in powerful ways.





2 comments:

  1. Hey Tahi! I just posted mine on written journalism (like print and online)! It will really cool too see what similarities and differences we come up with between print and broadcast. I think it is really interesting what you said about earning an audience. A difference I was thinking about between print and broadcast is the delivery. The way you look and hold yourself, the way your speak and your tone can all affect your audience, like you mentioned with Bro. Walz (great teacher). I'm excited to read more about your project.

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  2. Broadcasting definitely gives a new view to journalism than the written text. So much of the communication is based on body language, presentation, and eloquence.

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