25 August 2019

PH Old Vs New Journalism – Drama Vs Development


That is drama – the image from US Dave Webb Creative, davidmarketing.net.

This is drama – the first paragraph of PH news report by Ralf Rivas, rappler.com)::

Pigs are dying because of an unidentified disease. Raisers are reportedly making sausages out of the infected hogs. The Department of Agriculture holds a media briefing, but hardly offers answers.

That is from Rappler, the Truth-seeking online Media: 3 strikes and you are out! That is:

(1) Scary – You are frightening people, because "pigs are dying" implies that a great many pigs are dying – in fact you do not know how many because the DA is not telling you! For safety concerns; if people knew how many and where, kibitzers and reporters will flock there and likely spread more the disease-causing organisms.

(2) Incorrect – "Unidentified disease" is notcorrect – the DA does not yet know whether it is a single or multiple of diseases causing those deaths, the number of deaths they do not want to reveal, to avoid panic.

(3) Sensationalism – "Raisers are reportedly making sausages out of the infected hogs" is making people evil without checking facts – "reportedly" is not good enough; in fact, it is bad enough!

(4) Equivocating – "Hardly offers answers" – Why do you complain? Why are you after the numbers and not the consequences when those "numbers" are revealed to the public?

The point is: Do you want to make a good report or not?! Are you for development or not? Are you an enemy of the leaders of the DA or not? Do you think that if you bring out the worst in the DA leadership, this is best for the country?

That is immature journalism that never grew up!

Whatever kind of journalism you studied (or not), you fail the Rotary 4-Way Test:

1.      Is it the TRUTH?
2.      Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3.      Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4.      Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

Are you trying to scare people to increase public attention to your Media?
Or are you doing journalism to help develop your Country?

Development journalism is helping your Country grow so that more people can share in the growth big and small. 
Drama journalism is helping only your Media grow!
Drama journalism is sensationalism, that is, media growth journalism, at the expense of the people.

Development journalism is educational, not sensational, that is, social growth journalism, in the name of the people.
Drama journalism excuses you from finding out more about the subject. It is refusal to learn more than you already know. It is cultivating prejudices to the credit of your media at the expense of your audience.

Development journalism is learning more about your subject so that you can say more about it intelligently. Not only that, if you provide more details and connect more dots, your journalism becomes more interesting – it informs people as well as delights them.

I am almost 79 as I write & blog this on my own. Even if you are an old dog, you can learn new tricks!@517

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