I would have to agree with almost everything he said throughout the interview. Good journalism is about reporting the events and news that people are interested in. You wont have success if you write these amazing articles yet no one picks up to read it. It wouldn't be news. No one would be talking about and it would go untouched, unnoticed. I liked how Boal summed it up at good journalism all gets people to ask themselves, "why should I care?" He then defines how KSL only gives good journalism. Now this may be true, but why would he say differently. He represents KSL, he works for them so of course he is only going to put them in good light. Knowing this, and having watched this particular news channel I can agree with Boal on this one.
I found it interesting that he will report the stories that are assigned to him yet he gets to put his own taste and feel to them. He can report them as he would like and he can even go as far as to dig up his own stories and have them get approved. I have worked in a newsroom but he said most don't work that way. They are assigned a story, they cover that story and that's that. What a great thing KSL offers to their coworkers to be able to get out in the field, talk to those in the community and write a a story that they are personally passionate about.
When it came to talking about civic, citizen and public journalism I found his answers to be rather interesting. He had to make a plug that this news channel is all about serving the people and the community. "KSL TV has done community journalism since it first went on the air." Right here, he is stating that this has been a central focus to their company since they first started and has continued to be that way over the years. He brought up an important part about civic journalism. When is comes to dealing with community issues like gang violence as he brought up, what better source to get the real hard facts than from the people themselves. The people who are living amongst gangs or who know people inside them. I do think he brought up the point that as citizens we can partake in a huge role of reporting and getting the news out there. We have different mediums like twitter and thing called blogging )what I'm doing right now) that helps contribute to our voice being heard. I thought the last statement he made was rather interesting. He brought up the fact that bloggers wouldn't have anything to talk about if it wasn't for the journalist relaying the story. I would have to disagree with this comment. I think news can be created through the people first. I think news can be heard through blogging and tweeting before it could even make it on air on the channel 5 news. Boal in a way underestimates the power of the community and the power of the people through this comment.
Boal's comment about making a difference was really inspiring. He brought up a story about how he was trying to raise money for someone who had leukemia so she could get a bone marrow transplant. While I think that a good majority of the news is pointless, and has little value to me, stories like this give me hope. Personally, I would rather hear about people doing good for the community, doing good for a fellow citizen that to hear that Britney Spears broke up with her boyfriend. Who cares? I definitely don't. I too think that a lot of the news stories have bad endings or are tragedies. That's what catches people interests, that's what shocks the world and in a way, that's what people like to hear. It's nice to know that a big news channel like KSL can still promote these stories that are for a good cause.
When it came to the question about how has journalism changed over the years, I thought it was interesting how he said their newsroom doesn't tell biased stories. Wouldn't all newsrooms like to think that. I think he should have stated that as a newsroom, they try not to produce biased stories, they try to hear both sides. People have beliefs in one thing, who has been raised thinking a certain way and who has developed their own personal stance in certain issues. How can you not say that these feelings aren't going to push them in certain directions. As far as the decline in TV viewership and the decline in people reading the actual newspaper, he addressed the same issue that we talk about tin class. He talks about how it will be important to work and know about the media because that is the future. Boal said earlier that KSL's website is the most watched over and that right there is a big leap ahead the other news channels. I believe just as Boal said that the news channels with strong websites are the one's that will survive.
His advice was beneficial. he told me to read the New York Times. Hmmmm....sound a bit familiar? Isn't that what Dr. Cressman has required of us in this Intro to Journalism Class. He told me to work hard and to be in this field I have to love it. This comment reflects what Amanda Butterfield had to say on Wednesday in class about how journalism is a life commitment. It isn't a 7-5 job Monday through Friday but you have to commit your life to it. If you don't love journalism, than do something else. He told me to spell check and what am I about to do as I close this blog post up, spell check. What a wise man he is. This interview really got me thinking. I am only taking this class because I have to, I haven't had any real desire to get into journalism but this class and an interview like this has made me appreciate this work and what journalist have to offer.
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