Q&A on Journalism and Democracy

On Journalism

1. Now tell me again, what is your definition of journalism?

Journalism is the technique of people inquiring into important scenarios and situations to find out more information for themselves and the general public.

2. How many different models of journalism exist today?

4 different types exist: Traditional Elite, Advocacy, Public, and Citizen 2.0 journalism are all common types of journalism. 

On Democracy

3. What is your definition of democracy?

Democracy is a political system for the people run by the people.

4. What is the difference between “election politics” and “public politics”?

Election politics involve certain topics of discussion amongst candidates in an argument style debate, whereas public politics is a more discussion and scholarly style in which topics are debated but not argued or disputed.

5. What was the Lippmann v. Dewey debate?

Dewey disagreed with Lippmann by saying that the public could generate a 'great community' and become educated on public issues by themselves.

On the First Amendment

6. What does the First Amendment say exactly?

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

7. Are any of those protections important in your life?

Yes all of these protections are vital to my everyday existence in this democracy.

On Diversity

8. Everybody keeps talking about diversity: Why is diversity in religion, speech, press, assembly and petition so important to a democracy?

As a country we are referred to as a melting pot of cultures so it is important that in our everyday lives we experience a little of this diversity in a variety of ways.

9. How do journalists and the First Amendment ensure that people hear diverse voices in the marketplace of ideas?

Being unbiased is important in journalism and part of that is interviewing and including the opinions of all races and genders in your writing.

10. Can you speak from personal experience about how diversity, protected by the First Amendment or championed by journalists, made a difference in your life?

My mother was born in Turkey and moved here in her teens and shortly after became a US Citizen. So growing up  in a diverse family has been cause for both a respect for diversity but also an expansion in my cultural thinking.

Democracy needs Journalism and the First Amendmen

The first Friday of the semester our teacher instructed us to write an essay on why Democracy needs journalism and the First Amendment. Here is my revised draft.

Journalists and the First Amendment help us as public to know what is going on the world and in our own country as well. Newspapers and news broadcasts across the country help reveal new and sometimes frightening information to us about our own government. They help us to keep our own system of checks and balances on the government from a civilian standpoint. This aspect of our country is vital to maintaining our democracy as a whole

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Democracy needs journalism and the First Amendment for three reasons; to keep the government and citizens in check, allow citizens to freely express their opinions, and it creates an educated public. The state of our country and community is based solely on how the public sees things, and journalists have a lot to do with changing the perspective of the country as a whole.

The Frist Amendment states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” This amendment has always been the foundation of our democratic system, and is one of the more well-known amendments to our constitution.

Second, is the fact that the First Amendment and journalism allow us as citizens of this democracy to share our opinions with the world, without fear of retribution from the government. For example, recently Pakistan banned some 150 words from being sent via text message by citizens. That sort of thing cannot happen in the United States, thanks to the First Amendment and the freedoms it protects.

Lastly, and probably most importantly is that journalism with help from the First Amendment helps to create an educated population, which in turn creates a more educated country as a whole. This helps come election time because every debate is televised and every candidate has a journalist nipping at his/her heels everywhere they go. This helps to weed out the bad seeds and lets the public make an informed an educated vote come election day.

So in conclusion, Democracy needs journalism and the First Amendment because it helps perform a system of checks and balances on the government, it allows citizens to share and discuss their opinions in the public eye, and last it creates a more educated public.

            

Sample #3

Here is  piece I wrote previewing the UK, IU rematch in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

It was a cold December night and one word rang out over everything else, “UNBELIVEABLE…!!!!”

That was ESPN announcer Dick Vitale reacting to Christian Watford’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer that lifted the Indiana Hoosiers to an upset over the then #1 ranked Kentucky Wildcats.

Since that moment the Big Blue Nation, along with the rest of the country, has not been given a chance to forget that shot. Between commercials and the never-ending highlight reel that seems to occur after every UK game, the images, sounds and emotions from that night have been running hot in our blood for almost four months.

On March 11, when the NCAA Selection Committee released the Men’s Championship Bracket, UK fans were salivating at the road ahead. A possible meeting with UCONN, IU and Duke dubbed our Road to The Final Four, “Redemption Road.”

Like many UK fans, my eyes were not immediately drawn to the Hoosiers, but toward Duke and a chance to avenge another guy named Christian and his last second shot. Now the road seems to have cleared for the Wildcats with Indiana standing in the way of Kentucky’s 33^rd trip to the Elite 8 and a chance to advance to the programs 15^th Final Four.

Indiana and Kentucky are two of the “blue-bloods” of the college basketball world. With legendary coaches such as Bob Knight and Adolph Rupp, the two programs have very proud traditions. Kentucky ranks #1 on the overall wins list with Indiana at #4, and Kentucky is just above Indiana in National Titles with seven to Indiana’s five. Indiana is best known for the 1976 team, which was their last team to go undefeated and win the national title. Kentucky is widely regarded as the winningest program in college basketball history, and has a very storied tradition. 

In looking toward the matchup of these two top 25 teams, the second time around looks to be a lot different.
The first thing that looks to turn the tide for this game is the location. The game is being held at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Ga. (a predominantly pro-UK site).  The first game this season was held in Bloomington, Ind. where the young Wildcats, many of them only nine games into their young careers, faced the most hostile crowd they had seen all year.

Another factor that helped the Hoosiers upset the Cats was their 3-point shooting. The Hoosiers shot 60% from behind the arch in the first meeting, including shooting 8-9 in the second half.  You rarely see a team hit 60% of its shots from behind the arch, but in watching Indiana through the season, I realized that when they faced a tough road test they hardly ever rose to the occasion like they did against Kentucky.

One of the major headlines following the game in December was the absence of Terrence Jones. With Anthony Davis in foul trouble the Wildcats really needed Jones to step up, but something just wasn’t right and the lack of an inside presence really hurt the Cats.

Finally, I think the maturity level of the Cats will also help push them over the Hoosiers. People always say freshmen can’t win championships, but this team is out to prove them wrong. They have grown both as players and as teammates since that cold December night, and are now looking to march straight through Atlanta on their way to the Final Four in New Orleans.

Today in Class

Today in class we discussed more of our memories of the semester as we prepare for our final test coming up. We took a writing baby test/quiz in which we were quizzed over tricky spellings and grammar issues we have been going over since day one of the semester. After that we discussed our end of the year prep and that was about it. It was an uneventful day.

Sample #2

Piece I wrote describing the history of the SEC

The Southeastern Conference (SEC) has always been known for its prestige in athletics, but a lot of us don’t know when or how the SEC started. The SEC was established in December of 1932 and included 13 original members: University of Alabama, Auburn University, University of Florida, University of Georgia, University of Kentucky, Louisiana-State University (LSU), University of Mississippi (“Ole Miss”), Mississippi State University, University of Tennessee, Vanderbilt University, University of the South (Sewanee), Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), and Tulane University. Of these 13 the first 10 are still current members of the SEC.

Throughout the years the SEC has gone through expansions and teams leaving the conference. Sewanee was the first to leave when in 1940 when they decided to lessen their emphasis on varsity sports and concentrate on academics. In 1964 Georgia Tech left, and ended up settling in the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1978. Tulane left the SEC in 1966, and contributed to the founding of Conference-USA. In the year 1991 the SEC expanded for the first time adding the University of Arkansas and University of South Carolina to their ranks. Another major thing that came out of the 1991 expansion was the creation of an East and West conference.

The only other time members have been added to the conference was in the fall of 2011 when the SEC announced that, effective July 1, 2012, Texas A&M University and Missouri will become full members of the conference. The SEC’s strong history and tradition of excellence is displayed by how only four teams have been added to the conference in 80 years.

In 1992 the SEC set a new standard for football by becoming the first conference to receive permission from the NCAA to sponsor an annual conference title game.

The SEC is also known for its recent dominance in football and baseball. Most recently the SEC won its sixth straight BCS Title (football), and won its third straight College Baseball World Series.

Since its founding the SEC has won 185 team NCAA championships. When you average that out, it comes to approximately 2.3 NCAA titles per year. This is an astounding statistic considering the number of NCAA Division-1 conferences there are. Simply put, the SEC has been the most dominant conference of the last 20 years, winning an average of 8.65 NCAA titles per year. 

The SEC is currently under the leadership of Michael Slive, the conference’s seventh commissioner, who has been in office since 2002. Conference headquarters is located in Birmingham, Ala. and is considered one of the most successful conferences in the country. During 2010-11 fiscal year the SEC brought in and distributed over $220 million in revenue. That was a new conference record, and the forecast is that revenue will continue to climb over the next 10-20 years.

The Southeastern Conference has a long and storied history of excellence in sports, and the future seems to get brighter every year.

Today in Class

Today in class we discussed some of the more valuable lessons and most memorable speakers we have had in class this semester. Personally my most memorable speaker(s) was a tie between Mark Story of the Lexington Herald-Leader and Tom Leach, "The Voice of the Wildcats." These two are people I have grown up reading an listening to so to hear them speak was an awesome moment for me. Mark Story is someone I really look up to as a writer because he gets to go to work everyday knowing he is going to write about sports, and to top it off UK sports. It has always been a dream of  mine to get paid to either write or talk about UK sports. That's where Tom Leach comes in. For as long as I can remember Tom Leach has been calling UK games on the radio. I remember as a kid having to go to bed sometimes before the end of basketball games, and not wanting to. So I would turn my radio alarm clock on as low as possible an listen to the game. Unfortunately for me I am a very vocal fan and I got caught numerous times when it would be a close game, and my alarm clock would get taken from me.
Overall the lessons I learned from this semester included that you have to have a passion and a lot of determination to be competitive in this field. Mark an Tom both emphasized these points in their presentation. Another common theme through out this semester was that this job takes a lot of work and perseverance to get to the top, and without both these things you are destined to fail. Hard work is something that all of our speakers have strived towards accomplishing.
Overall this semester has been enriching in two ways,1. the connections and confidence I have gained in my own writing is amazing, and 2. life-long lessons from great writers are things that I will carry with me whenever I write.

Sample #1

Here is a piece I wrote about NCAA Bracket Competitions and some tips on filling them out.

It was 1939 when the term “March Madness” was coined by H. V. Porter of the Illinois High School Association.

He was referring to the Illinois State Basketball Tournament, but the term soon resonated throughout the country as a great adjective for the NCAA Tournament. In that same year (1939) the National Association of Basketball Coaches created the NCAA Men’s Division 1 Basketball Championship in which, at the time, eight teams would compete in a single elimination tournament to determine the National Champion. Since then the tournament has grown into one of the more popular sports events in the United States.

Last year the tournament expanded for only the eight time in history to include 68 teams in the tournament. Of the 68 teams that qualify for the “big dance,” 31 teams earn automatic bids by winning their conference tournaments. The remaining 37 are given out by the Selection Committee to the “best of the rest”. The Selection Committee also determines the seeding and placement of all the teams in the bracket.

The bracket is broken down into four regions, usually named West, East, North and South. In each region there are 16 teams seeded 1 - 16. The matchups are assigned as most tournaments are, with the highest seed playing the lowest and so on.

Since this format was created in 1985, no 16 seed has ever beaten a one seed, however #16 Murray State took #1 Michigan State to overtime in 1990, losing by four points. 

Some more history about the seeding is as follows:

• Only four 15 seeds have ever advanced to the second round; the last one to do so was Hampton in 2001.
• The lowest seed to ever reach a Final Four was an 8 seed which has happened 3 times. Most notably in last year’s tournament Virginia Commonwealth shocked the country by beating #1 seed Kansas to advance to the Final Four. 
• The lowest seed to win the title was Villanova in 1985 who, as an eight seed defeated Georgetown in Rupp Arena, which is considered one of the greatest basketball games in history.

 The point of this is that not many low seeds have overall success. They might make magical runs deep into the tournament but as history tells us the Cinderella story has to end somewhere.

Being a huge basketball fan my entire life I have always filled out brackets, yes plural, come tournament time, and I usually have certain things I look for when filling my bracket out.

My first step is to look at the #12-#5 matchup, because over the last few years I have had a lot of success in picking at least one #12 seed to upset a #5 seed in the first round. Since moving to a 64 team format in 1985 a #12 seed has upset a #5 seed 35 times.

For example, in last year’s tournament #12 Richmond upset #5 Vanderbilt in the first round. In 2010 #12 seed Cornell defeated #5 Temple and eventually made it to the Sweet 16 where they lost to John Wall and Kentucky. So, historically proven, the #12-#5 matchup is always a good one to look out for.

Other matchups to watch are the #7-#10 and #8-#9 games because usually these teams will be very closely matched.

However, as UK student Jessie Almon says, sometimes teams seeds may be misleading, “I try to look at each close matchup and see if one team has maybe played a harder schedule or if a team, in my opinion is a tournament made team, that lives in the moment.” 

UK student Lauren Travis pick her close games on other things.

“I first look for traditional names and programs, but if nothing comes up I will look at a combination of the team's colors, nicknames and mascots to be my tiebreaker.”

Everyone has their own style and way of picking winners and almost everyone thinks they could have the perfect bracket, and almost everyone is wrong.  The odds of picking a perfect bracket are 147.57 quintillion to 1.

However the ultimate goal of picking a bracket is to have fun and prove to certain people (cough, cough my girlfriend) that she will never again beat me come tournament time.

The ultimate goal of filling out brackets is to prove, once and for all, that you know the most about basketball amongst your friends.

There are many ways to keep track of your bracket and here are a few.

• ESPN.COM uses an online grading generator to help keep track of your bracket and you can create groups/pools to keep your office bracket in check. 
• Personally I use CBSSPORTS.COM to keep track of my bracket and the multiple pools I usually control.
• However, for the sake of being fair, I always make people turn in both online and print copies of their brackets so I can grade them manually and keep the computer honest. I haven’t checked but I’m sure every media outlet, such as CBS and ESPN, will have a bracket app coming out so you can fill out and receive updates on the go.

If I could give some advice, it would be to not over think things and go with your gut. If you think the 15 seed will defeat the 2 seed then go for it. After all, it’s all in good fun. Another thing would be that, being a huge UK fan, it’s hard to have UK losing, but usually the people that can get over their bias or have none at all are the most successful at the beginning of April.

Link to the article: http://www.hercampus.com/school/uk/bracketology-101