Hum 176 Final

Final Part one and two

Steven Estep

HUM/176

March 3rd, 2012

Larhonda Jackson

Final Part One

People rely on the news daily for accurate and informative stories and current events. The news should report relevant stories that affect the targeted audience. A local news channel has a great responsibility to let the community know what is happening around them. This paper will focus on a scenario about a local television station. The city council has just voted to close city parks three days a week to save money. Meanwhile, a major celebrity has died. The park story has a greater effect on the viewers, but the celebrity death will get bigger ratings. This paper will analyze which story should be the lead story and why.

The park story will have a greater impact on the viewers of a local news station. The story of the park closing may not be the most popular story; however, it is more relevant to the lives of the community. The celebrity death will get mentioned in the broadcast, of course, but the lead story should be about the park being closed for three days out of the week. The role of the media is to deliver reliable, updated, correct, and objective news to the public, “Most issues and events that journalists select as news are timely or new. Reporters, for example, cover speeches, meetings, crimes, and court cases that have just happened. In addition, most of these events have to occur close by, or in proximity to, readers and viewers” (Campbell, Martin, & Fabos, 2010). According to the reading, it should be the responsibility of the local news station to bring current and localized information to it viewers.

The park story has greater effect on local viewers because it affects their lives, “…journalists are expected to perform their duty without fear or favor, but with responsibility and ethical considerations” (Ibrahim, Pawanteh, Chang Peng, Hassan Basri, Abu Hassan, & Wan Mahmud, 2011). The community may rely on the park being open to spend...