10 Take Aways from the Burleigh Lecture
- Journalism is Important
In this world of new technology, online books and media, I had begun to think that journalism was irrelevant. Samantha Grant proves that not only is journalism relevent in this ever changing world, she also comments on societies need to protect, enforce, and trust the credibility of our writers.
2. Persistance is the key to success
Throughout all aspects of life, hard work, problem solving, and being persistant will get create results. Samantha Grant reached out to Jayson Blair at least a dozen times before he replied to one of her emails! If she had not bombarded him with emails, Samantha Grant would not have gotten his voice that she needed for the film to be successful.
3. One person can break a lifetime of trust that has been created
The New York Times, what seemed to be a reputable newspaper feeding relaible and fact-checked information to the public was suffering from this scandal. Not only did it take years for them to regain their credibility with their audience, they constantly work now to be transparent. Jayson Blair erased this trust between many of The New York Times consumers because of his plagarism.
4. Writing and communication is vital
Communicating with other people is part of our inate human nature, and is a skill we continue to foster and cultivate throughout all aspects of our lives. Samantha Grant found that writing allows her to “draw people in with an account of this fascinating story, and then keep them engaged long enough to explore issues of media ethics, media literacy, media responsibility, and media power in a deeper way”. And then hopefully learn and shape how we communicate based off what we have learned in these different aspects of media.
5. Find a profession you enjoy
Samantha Grant gave background information on how journalism was in her blood. Her father and grandfather were both journalists and throughout college she felt this constant high when she wrote. Although I do not particularrily enjoy writing, a lesson I learned was to find a profession that you enjoy waking up everyday and pursuing.
6. Institutions are run by flawed people
Our world is not perfect and our companies and organizations are not perfect. This does not mean that Jayson Blair’s mistakes should ruin journalism for The New York Times and for that industry in general. We learn from these mistakes and rebuild the system to elliminate holes such as these.
7. Asking questions is ok!
The only way to learn from these mistakes is to acknowledge what Jayson did, and then question why he made those choices. Samantha Grant “takes a deeper look into the mind of Jayson Blair and explores what caused this promising young man to make so many bad decisions”.
8. Think of your audience
Jayson Blair was focused on his personal success. Part of being a good journalist or even person is to think about your audience or who you are trying to communicate with. Samantha Grant and her personal hero Macarena Hernandez are examples of journalists who focus on their audiences instead of themselves.
9. Challenge yourself
Do not give up. It took Samantha Grant 7 years to research and produce this film, and throughout that time she seriously considered putting her project to rest. There were times between her children being born and her mother dying that she thought she could not finish the film. But it was a message that needed to be shared something she was passionate about.
10. MILWAUKEE IS TOO COLD!!!
Enough said on this one…