Jour.4460 Blog #2- The Power of Social Media

With social media networks like Facebook and Twitter becoming more popular than ever, it’s no wonder the President and Vice President of the United States have joined the crowd.  The number of people that have joined social media sites are now higher than ever. According to the Huffington Post, “half of all American adults are now on social networks.” The growth of social media has increased drastically over the past year.

Vice President Joe Biden gave his first ever Twitter interview on Thursday. According to the Huffington Post, “The vice president answered 13 questions during the interview, which was billed as a way for people across the country to submit questions about the State of the Union Address President Obama delivered on Tuesday.” Who would’ve ever thought that social media would become a way for the public to communicate with our nation’s leaders?  Social media networks like Twitter provide a means of communication that would be almost impossible to do so without having access to it.  Sure, you’re only limited to 140 characters, but it will be well worth it.

Vice President Biden isn’t the only one using social media to reach out to the public. President Obama will also answer the questions from the public about the State of the Union speech. He’ll be answering questions submitted through http://www.youtube.com/whitehouse  

So why has social media become the new craze all of a sudden? I can remember back 3 years ago when I didn’t even know what Twitter was. It still amazes me today, as I try to get the hang of it. It’s unbelievable how fast information can travel through social media sites. Before social media, we would wait for a newspaper to deliver the news or just turn on the television. Now, we can receive it instantly through our Twitter and Facebook feeds.

With all the capabilities that social media has, it doesn’t surprise me at how fast it’s growing and will probably continue to grow even more. Also, it probably won’t be long before the rest of the political figures join the social networks and start taking advantage of the power of social media.  

Sources:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/01/growth-social-media-infographic_n_945256.html 

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/story/2012-01-26/biden-twitter/52808652/1 

http://www.youtube.com/whitehouse   

http://www.4socialmediaconsulting.com/sm/Social-Media-Collage.jpg 

Jour.4470 Blog #1-The need for ethics in media and business decision-making

There always seems to be some kind of breaking news going on in the world. Whether it’s a terrorist attack, celebrity death, natural disaster, or election results, there will always be someone there to cover it. With social media networks like Facebook and Twitter, people know about the breaking news before it even airs on live television. According to the class lecture, “ethics is the study of what constitutes right and wrong in our society.” Even though we hate to admit it, journalists don’t always do the right thing.  Getting every last detail of a story is so important to them that they’ll do anything to do it, even if it costs them their job. So with this being a known fact, there is obviously a need for ethics when it comes to reporting in the media. Yes, we want to know what is going on around us but when reporting crosses the line and goes way too far, someone needs to put an end to it.

 In news reporting there is always a need to be the first to cover the story. However, in some cases we have seen that being first isn’t always a good thing. You have to be giving out truthful information as well. As journalists, people rely on us to give them factual information and keep them updated on what’s going on in the world.

Ethics are extremely important when it comes to media. One case that can be used as an example is that of the famous phone hackings involving Milly Dowler which was revealed recently from an article in the LA Times that  “Journalists from the defunct British tabloid News of the World lied about their relationship with police as well as having hacked into cellphone messages in order to gather information about a missing teenager.”  This definitely doesn’t fall under being ethical. Not only was it illegal but it also gave journalists all around a bad reputation. It also gives questions as to what kind of ethics the journalists employed at the News of the World were taught.

According to the SPJ Code of Ethics, “Journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.” So then why are we always seeing cases where this doesn’t apply to some journalists?  There are certain rules and guidelines to follow for a reason. If we didn’t have ethics in the media no one would know where to turn to when seeking the truth. As journalists, we want to be credible and reliable sources.

Ethics come to play an important part in the business world as well. When making a decision, you always want to make the most ethical one, even if others might not agree with you. There will always come a time when there’s a big decision on the line and the pressure is on. Whether it’s having to lay off employees, joining with another company, or speaking up about a situation that you know isn’t right. Business owners as well as other employees in the business world partake in decisions like this on an everyday basis. If it weren’t for ethics though, they wouldn’t know how to deal with situations like this.  

When dealing with making decisions in the business world, it always depends on the person making the decision to see if they will make an ethical choice. As Poznack Law states, “The subject of business ethics is complex. Fair-minded people sometimes have significant differences of opinion regarding what constitutes ethical behavior and how ethical decisions should be made.”  Money can sometimes be the cause of someone choosing to do the unethical. If it means closing a big deal or when it involves going behind the company do what’s best for you, it may just be the money getting to your head. People in power tend to get greedy with their money. As Bill Taylor mentioned in his blog Money and the Meaning of Life, “Everywhere you look, there's compelling evidence that the single-minded pursuit of wealth often leads smart people to do incredibly stupid things — things that destroy what money can't buy.”

Many people in the workplace, both media and business professionals, sometimes don’t have the proper training in dealing with ethical decision-making. According to Joshua Joseph a lot of companies offer ethics programs in the workplace “that are meant to affect how people think about and address ethical issues that arise on the job…they provide employees with ethics standards, training, and resources to get advice, and create a comfortable work environment where employees can ask questions and be guided through these dilemmas before making big decisions.”

When it all comes down to it, without ethics in media and business decision-making, everything would fall apart. People would get away with the impossible. There wouldn’t be fairness left to anything. Unethical behavior would take place at all times. No one would know the right from wrong. There are just some decisions in life that people need guidance with, and thank goodness for the rules of ethics.

Sources:

http://www.asaecenter.org/Resources/articledetail.cfm?ItemNumber=13073

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/01/british-police-reveal-close-rapport-with-phone-hacking-tabloid.html

http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp

http://www.poznaklaw.com/articles/bizethics.htm

http://blogs.hbr.org/taylor/2011/05/money_and_the_meaning_of_life.html

http://www.asaecenter.org/Resources/articledetail.cfm?ItemNumber=13073

http://printmediacentr.com/files/2011/03/79-ethics-road-sign.jpg  

http://www.flprobatelitigation.com/uploads/image/Got-ethics(2).jpg

          

Jour.4460 Blog #1- 4-year education…is it worth it?

My whole life I’ve always been told that in order to be successful in life, you had to have a college degree. It’s been estimated that “college graduates earn, on average, about $20,000 a year more than those who just finish high school.” After reading an article in texastribune.org on the projections for Texas occupations in 2018, I started to question whether this was true or not. 

It’s true that our economy hasn’t been in the best shape, but I’ve still managed to keep an optimistic view for my life after graduation.  I’m a first generation college student; so going to a 4-year university has always been my goal. I knew that going to college would allow me to have a better life than just settling for a high school degree. Furthering my education was something that was always pushed on to me. Also, the job that I’m currently employed with, strives in assisting high school students with that next step after high school and helping them with the whole college application process. We’re pretty much promoting a “college-going” culture.

In 2008, Tom Pauken was appointed chairman of the Texas Workforce Commission and said, “one thing particularly surprised him: “this notion that everybody needs to go to a four-year university and blue-collar jobs are not as good as ‘knowledge industry’ jobs” (http://www.texastribune.org/library/data/texas-occupation-projections-2018/ ).

There was one statement I read in the article that shocked me the most and it was that “According to the workforce commission, the occupation expected to add the most jobs in Texas between 2008 and 2018 is fast-food services.” Does this mean that I should just drop out of school now and go apply at McDonalds? It doesn’t make sense. Or could it be that now a days, more and more people are deciding to go for that college degree and by 2018, there wont be enough non-college educated people to work in the fast food industry?

If people aren’t choosing the 4-year degree path, they’re usually going to trade schools or a 2-year community college. “Pauken is calling for a greater emphasis on the skilled trades - many of which only require up to two years of post-secondary work - throughout the education pipeline” ((http://www.texastribune.org/library/data/texas-occupation-projections-2018/).

However, Texas Higher Education Commissioner Raymund Paredes disagreed with Pauken and “argued against the de-emphasis on four-year programs.”

Many people might not think that a college degree is worth it just because of the loan debt that they accumulate over their time at a university. “The higher incomes that college education brings may not make up for the savings it consumes or the debt it adds early in the life of a typical student” (http://money.msn.com/college-savings/is-a-college-degree-worthless-smartmoney.aspx).

“College is still worth it,” Paredes said. As evidence, he pointed out that people with advanced degrees have lower unemployment rates and most jobs that pay well require some form of post-secondary credential” http://www.texastribune.org/library/data/texas-occupation-projections-2018/).

There was also question as to whether or not people were getting educated in the right field. So again, is a college education really worth it? For me, it is. I don’t care how much I’m making in 2018, as long as I have my college education to back it up. Someone can take your job, but no one will ever take away your education.

References:

 http://www.texastribune.org/library/data/texas-occupation-projections-2018/

http://www.usnews.com/education/articles/2008/10/30/how-much-is-that-college-degree-really-worth

http://www.texastribune.org/library/data/texas-occupation-projections-2018/

http://money.msn.com/college-savings/is-a-college-degree-worthless-smartmoney.aspx

http://aspanational.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/educationfuture.jpg