JRN3005: Critique of My Reporting on the Story of Power

This report offers a comprehensive critique of a student's role in reporting the "Story of Power," as part of their JRN3005 assignment. The student reflects on their professional practice, emphasizing the importance of influencing readers' thought processes and considering the perspectives of various stakeholders, including the masses, political figures, and the media. The report analyzes the student's approach to gathering and processing information, ensuring objectivity, and addressing issues relevant to minorities within a democracy. The critique also highlights the student's efforts to balance commercial aspects of storytelling with social and constitutional responsibilities, referencing course themes like politics, wealth, citizens, diversity, and conflict resolution. The student discusses challenges faced, such as selecting relevant information and presenting facts effectively while avoiding sensationalism. The report concludes with reflections on the importance of responsible journalism and recommendations for future practice.

Critique
My influential role in the reporting of the “story of Power”
According to my, good reporting is not all about collection and representation of the facts from
any given place or incident. It is equally about instigating a thought process in the mind of
readers where they can find relevance of the report in their respective lives. The terminology of
journalism introduced me to the term “influencer.” An influencer is a person that has the power
to change the thought process of any other person related to the issue (Gottfried et al,2016).
Working as an influencer becomes a job of great responsibility when we are dealing with masses.
As a journalist I was facing this challenge to address the issues of a big chunk of the population,
it was important for me to generalize the issue that I was dealing with. Corridors of power have
this amazing ability to change a few things in the life of ordinary people. As a journalist it was
very difficult for me to set the list of the stakeholders. After the initial processing I figured out
that there are three stakeholders. First stakeholders are the masses of our country, second
stakeholders belong to the political clan. The third stakeholder is media. I was representing the
media. While looking at the stance of the political clan, I realized that they are trying to utilize
media as the vehicle to promote their ideas among the masses (Glasser, 2012).
It could have become a simple exercise of communication if I abide by the role decided for me,
the vehicle or the messenger. A brief study of the course material and related external sources
gave me the idea that media has got a reputation of being a pillar in any given democracy. This is
why I decided to play the role of a bridge and not of a vehicle. I decided to first collect the
information from the political sources and then process it for the best interests of the masses and
the welfare of the system (Graham, 2017).

After the collection of the information, I went for small research where I tried to figure out the
synchronization of the present material with the previous promises and the policies of the
government. Here I realized that as a media person it is my responsibility to inflict objectivity in
the issue from the point of view of the general masses and the books that are taking care of the
issues in a democracy. Here I realized that as a journalist it is my responsibility to raise the issues
that belong to the minorities surviving in a democracy. While reporting for the power corridors I
made sure that I am bringing out the point of view of these individuals (Chinni et al, 2017).
As a journalist I was required to present a salable and interesting story, it was important for me
to design an attention gainer. Here once again the wisdom installed by my academic pursuits
supported to me fixes a certain angle to the story. Most of the seasoned journalists in the field
often give it the name of creating a “sugar-coated pill.” They coat sensationalism in the headlines
to make it a commercial success, however, while delivering it to the readers they made it sure
that they are delivering a sincere message that has relevance with the welfare of the society
(Carson, 2017).
Another issue that I faced while preparing this report was related to the merit of the information,
the wisdom obtained through academic pursuits helped me in selecting the right pieces of
information to build up my story. It is important for a scribe to select a few pieces of information
that are in common domain, after this selection a journey of the evolution can be prepared. Every
journalist may have his own style of presenting certain stories, in my case I want to do it with the
help of the facts (Camosy, 2016). I want to drive all my stories with the help of facts. Sometimes
the right representation of the facts can add merit into an ordinary story. While covering a story
from the corridors of the power it is very important to corroborate the statements with the help of
adequate facts. It is a presumption that politicians try to manipulate the facts all the time. We

cannot deny the existence of phrases like “being politically correct.” This is why as a journalist it
is very important to challenge a fact with the help of contradictory facts or coming up with the
facts that are over sighted (Allcoat, et al, 2017).
The development of this report also forced me to face an antithesis, I was doing a simple job of
presenting my opinion under the light of certain facts, and it was easier for me to find out certain
wrongdoings. I realized that it was a difficult task for the politicians because of the proverbial
truth that says “we cannot please all, all the time.” This fact enveloped my mind when I was
developing the conclusion part of my report. While writing down the conclusion part I once
again brought my focus back on the great good for the society. Instead of criticizing the present
developments I appealed to introduce corrections in the existing drafts (Aisch et al,2016).
In the end, I once again wrote the draft from the point of view that whether it is healthy
journalism or I am dwindling in the favor of the attention gainer that I affixed on the story. I
realized that while reporting for the power corridors, it is important for a journalist to look at the
commercial aspects of the storytelling along with the social and constitutional responsibilities
attached to the main reports.

References
Aisch, Gregor, Jon Huang, and Cecilia Kang. 2016. “Dissecting the #PizzaGate Conspiracy
Theories,” The New York Times, (online) available at
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Accessed 22-10-19.
Allcott, Hunt, and Matthew Gentzkow. 2017. “Social Media and Fake News in the 2016
Election,” Journal of Economic Perspectives, vol. 31, no. 2: 211-236. Accessed 22-10-19.
Camosy, Charles. 2016. “Trump Won Because College-Educated Americans Are Out of Touch,”
The Washington Post, November 9. (online) available at
https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/11/09/trump-won-because-college-
educated-americans-are-out-of-touch/?utm_term=.b900fe12b964. Accessed 22-10-19.
Carson, James. 2017. “What is Fake News? Its Origins and How It Grew in 2016,” The
Telegraph, March 10. (online) available at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/0/fake-news-
origins-grew-2016/ Accessed 22-10-19.

Chinni, Dante, and Sally Bronston. 2017. “Despite Attacks on the Press, Public Supports
Watchdog Role,” NBC News, July 9. (online) available
at https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/despite-attacks-press-public-supports-
watchdog-role-n781046. Accessed 22-10-19.
Glasser, Susan B. 2016. “Covering Politics in a “Post-Truth” America,” Brookings Essay,
December (online) available at 2. https://www.brookings.edu/essay/covering-politics-in-a-post-
truth-america/?utm_campaign=brookings-
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19.
Gottfried, Jeffrey, and Elisa Shearer. 2016. News Use Across Social Media Platforms 2016.
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Graham, David A. 2017. “’ Alternative Facts’: The Needless Lies of the Trump Administration,”
The Atlantic, January 22. (online) available at
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/the-pointless-needless-liesof-the-trump-
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