Revisiting Hotspots in Journalism

1. Journalism in Politics

(How Politics effects the way that journalists write)

• Historical Connections: During the reformation, reformists like Martin Luther took action on what they thought should change within their society. For Martin Luther, he saw a lot of problems within the Catholic Church and he did something about it. He wrote his famous 95 Theses and nailed them to the door of the Wittenberg Castle. His tone within his 95 Thesis is said to be remarkable in his manner of questioning and not acusing the Church. He wrote about the sale of indulgences and not works to reach salvation. It was through Luther's written word that the Protestant Reformation could take flight. It was because of Luther's bravery and dedication that others joined the ranks to fight for a reformation. The Catholic Church made changes through his great courage. 

• Communication Connections: When it comes to communicating in journalism within a political genre, Journalists uses a lot of persuasive appeals. It is just part of the job. In order to be good at it, you need to persuade. When it comes to logos, journalist need to write things that make sense and appeal to reason because if they write something that doesn't make sense, people will just think that they are crazy. A great persuader also can draw upon pathos to persuade. This part may be hard to do, but knowing your audience can help one understand what emotions to bring up through writing. And lastly, ethos, this has a lot to do in politics. If a journalist working for a candidate on the opposite side of the spectrum can tear down another candidate successfully with good facts, people can be persuaded instead to maybe vote for the other candidate.

2. Freedom of the Press

(freedom to report news or circulate opinion without government censorship)

• Historical Connection: At about the time of the American Revolution, before the thirteen colonies declared independence from Britain, the government in Britain tried to censor American media. They did this by not allowing some newspapers to publish their opinions and other information to be communicated to the public. One of the first cases including freedom of the press involved John Peter Zenger. William Crosby did not like what Zenger wrote about him in his commentary. He was proven innocent.

• Communication Connection: When it comes to communication in media and the freedom of the press, there is a lot of freedom now a day. People are able to say what ever they may on different forms of media. Often times, people lie in order to selling things in marketing products. This goes with the persuasion that happens within each of these marketing techniques. It is everywhere and especially in social media. On platforms like Twitter, it has become trendy to speak out about things that have traditionally accepted. This is where the Freedom of the Press has taken us. This is one negative effect of it, but their are plenty great examples where it has helped better our society.

3. Freedom of Speech

(freedom to express without restraint or censorship)

• Historical Connection: Without this Amendment in the Constitution, there wouldn't have been a place to help slavery be abolished. This is very similar to what freedom of the press was able to do for America during the time. This is how we came to have a democracy where everyone has a say in government and in their lives. When something isn't right, they can speak out against it. 

• Communication Connection: When it comes to public speaking, I think of Ted Talks. There are Ted Talks on just about every topic. This would not be the case without the Freedom of Speech. We would be very limited to what we could say in media if it wasn't a thing. The emotional connections that we now have because of it wouldn't have happened either. Being able to say what we think and say helps others to be able to do the same and we mutually can benefit each other. 

The one of these three that I am leaning towards is Journalism within politics. During the time of the Reformation, the Catholic Church was the main powerhouse or in other words, it held all the power. Where power is found, there is interest from the people and personal want for some of that power as well. When we vote, we are using some of our only power to voice our opinions in politics. This is great and ultimately, the people are the ones to control the government in this way.

Connecting all of these things to me, I have an interest in presenting my unique perspectives to the world because I believe that they are beneficial to others in allowing them to see the goodness that can still be found in the world even though bad things happen. You may be reading this and be thinking, "well how does that relate to politics and why did you choose that?" Great question. I believe that it is within politics that opinions matter the most and are seen the most and therefore are the strongest in that form of writing and journalism that is done.

Previous post: https://rhetciv.blogspot.com/2019/05/hot-spots-in-journalism.html#comment-form_2934695534062836229