There are many important lessons that I have learned from the lectures and case studies we discussed. For example, I learned the importance of honesty and transparency from our discussions on the movie, Shattered Glass. The movie taught me how lying and deceiving not only ruins relationships but can also cause a lot of damage to the reputation of a news source. This is why Stephen Glass had to be fired by the end of the movie. Charles Lane had to fire him to help save the reputation of The New Republic. The New Republic, then decided to be transparent with their readers by writing an apology for all of the false information and stories that they had published due to Steve Glass and his deception.
Another lesson I learned from the lectures was the importance of the news media’s duty to the public. News outlets have a social responsibility to the public to inform and to inform with accuracy so that the public can trust and rely on these outlets. If news outlets did not serve this duty, the public would never know what sources to trust and would have a lot of trouble identifying real news from fake news.
Out of all the case studies we looked at, the Karla Gutierrez case stood out to me the most. I found this case impressive because even after the victim’s family requested that the 911 recording of Karla on the phone before her death, not be released, it was still released anyway. Many news sources completely invaded the privacy of the family by releasing the recording and I found this to be extremely shocking and disrespectful.
I think this course has really helped me to understand the complications of life as a journalist. When I envision my future self, I know that I will be careful in my personal life and as a writer. When it comes to the truth, trust, and transparency especially, I feel that I am more likely to do the right thing because I took this course.
This course as a whole, has been so impactful and has opened my eyes to see that not every situation is black and white. I have learned that the right answer is not always clear but we should always try to find it. I think that looking at case studies was a great way to learn this because you can learn so much from the mistakes of others. Overall I think that this class has been informative, helpful, and enjoyable.