One lesson that I learned while in this course is just how difficult being a journalist is, how many different elements and characteristics it takes to be a successful news reporter. Another lesson I learned is just what it exactly means to be an ethical reporter. The style and the different ways to report and just making sure a journalist is 100% ethical all the time.
The one case study that impressed me and made me think and learn about the most is definitely the one I did with my case panel which was on Undercover reporting. It was interesting the amount of steps and the process you have to go through to be an undercover reporter. When you really did take a deep dive and research about undercover reporting like myself and my panel did, it really is amazing just how dangerous undercover reporting is.
For our undercover reporting case study, we researched and discussed the Shane Bauer undercover reporting case. He under covered a lack of guard training due to cost cuts, forced labor inmates, twenty five percent death rate of prisoners in the state of California, and a ratio of 800 prisoners to two guards during meal times. It was interesting the way Bauer went about his undercover reporting and how careful he had to be.
This course had a big impact on my future because I am majoring in broadcast journalism and I want to be a sports broadcaster. In fact, I already started writing articles for a small, relatively unknown sports website. I also am currently with The Lion 90.7 FM here on campus broadcasting some of Penn State’s football and basketball games and on sports talk shows. So, this is a necessary course for me to take because this field is definitely the field that I want to be in as I continue my career.
This course as a whole was very helpful for me as I move forward with this major and further along my journalism career. I learned many very valuable lessons when it comes to how important being an ethical reporter is and how to be an ethical reporter. I will absolutely take the many wonderfully valuable lessons that I learned and have taken from this course into my future in news reporting and beyond.