rocioespirituobf-blog

[rocioespirituobf-blog]

Shattered Glass (2003) 

Stephen Glass was the youngest writer for the New Republic Magazine in 1998. The film  Shattered Glass, is a biographical film that revolves around how Stephen as a journalist is exposed for fabricating his facts and stories for the magazine. Fiction was made fact in his writing and pieces were only published because of how entertaining the stories were. The movie also focuses on Stephen’s relationship with the other journalists / writers of the magazine and new editor, Chuck Lane. Because Stephen was the youngest in their group, a lot of the other writers had a soft spot for him and fought against Chuck constantly trying to protect Stephen; even if Chuck was correct about the fabrications in the pieces the entire time. 

The movie’s title, Shattered Glass, is appropriately named because of how Stephen Glass’ stories were torn apart and “shattered” when being picked through. In search for the integrity of the stories, it is revealed that there is none. At the start of the film, Stephen is even quoted saying “Journalism is just the art of catching behaviour,” this would prove to be ironic because in his work, Stephen did not catch any true behaviour at all, and was forced to fabricate areas of the stories in hope to make them more exciting and interesting. 

The biggest issue the movie presents is how Stephen went against what a journalists job is meant to be, which is to reveal the truth to the public. All of their work is based on telling the truth. In this film, Stephen completely lies, makes up stories, and worst of all states them as fact just to get a story out in the magazine. In trying to further his career and make his mark as a writer, Stephen makes the wrong decision in choosing to invent not only parts of his pieces but sometimes the article in its entirety. 

His lack of integrity is first shown in his article Spring Breakdown, an article mainly speaks about the parties and drunk antics of young Republicans in a convention the Stephen had attended. In this, editor Micheal Kelly catches Glass lying about the fact that there are mini bars in the Omni Shoreham hotel. Although this is a white lie, stating that there was a mini bar when there really isn’t already questions his reliability as a writer.

The next time his writing was questioned was when the article Hack Heaven, was published. Journalist from Forbes Magazine, Adam Penenberg, gets a hold of the article and immediately begins to question the credibility in its writing. Adam searches the names and companies mentioned in the articles online, only to find out none of them exist. This then makes all of Stephen’s sources unverifiable. When questioned, Stephen creates fake numbers, emails, and a fake website to “Jukt Micronics”, which he then gives to his editor and other journalists as “proof” that his facts are indeed true. When his editor, Chuck, looks further into the numbers and locations that are mentioned in the article, he slowly unravels Stephen and all his lies. 

Because Stephen was publishing fake news and creating fictional stories that were being passed as true, firing him from the job was the right decision to make. Although Chuck had trouble doing it, knowing that it would provoke the other writers into not liking him as the new editor even more, he did the right thing by firing Stephen. As an editor, publishing and promoting fake news on their magazine is not right. If Stephen’s stories were marketed to be fiction, then he would have had no issue, but he was coming out with them and saying that they were non-fiction and stating them as fact. He was a journalistic fraud, and his writing should not have been published in the first place. The writing team did the right thing by coming out with a statement apologising for Stephen’s pieces, trying to clear the name of the New Republic Magazine. They also got Stephen to admit which of his pieces were fabricated in a meeting with Chuck, Stephen and Stephen’s lawyer. Chuck says that he would read out the titles of Stephen’s articles and if Stephen stayed silent, it would be assumed that the piece had been faked in some way. At the end if the film, it was revealed that 27 out of the 41 articles that had been published in the New Republic had been faked. 

Even if the situation was handled well, it is still shocking how the journalists only noticed that Stephen was lying when another magazine questioned the article. In the movie there is even a montage where Stephen explains how many different editors and writers pieces get put through for grammar and fact checking, how had they not have caught him sooner? Although it had taken them a long time to reveal the journalistic fraud, they were quick to fire him which was the right thing to do.

By Rocio Espiritu 

Photo Source : http://yellowmagpie.com/shattered-glass-film-review/

[rocioespirituobf-blog]

Profile on Marielle Racoma

Marielle has spent her whole life in Manila, graduating high school in Beacon Academy and studying Interdisciplinary Studies in Ateneo. She is the youngest amongst her siblings, with only an older sister before her. 

Fearless, Marielle likes to spend her time mountaineering with her family. On her first hike to Mount Kibig Batangas, she was not prepared. She came down the mountain with a stomach full of buko juice and taped-up broken sneakers. She left that trip extremely exhausted, even counting 70 mosquito bites on her body on the ride home; her gut told her it was something she wanted to do again, calling this first hike her “greatest adventure.”

From that moment on she has hiked yearly since 2015 with her family, creating a new tradition of going mountaineering every year. Amongst the 4 mountains she had climbed, her favourite would be Mount Pulag in Benguet, which is ranked the third tallest mountain in Luzon. The nine-degree climate calmed her, being much cooler than the other places she had been to before. The climb started at 2am, and ended with a beautiful sunrise. 

To go along with her love of mountaineering, Marielle wishes to be a National Geographic photographer. Her hobby of photography helped push this dream of hers. She picked up this hobby at 11 years old from her father who is a photographer, and inherited cameras from him. Marielle taught herself, learning though experience which let her discover her love for landscape photography.

Marielle is currently taking her first photography class this summer in Ateneo, which she is thoroughly enjoying. She has learned more photography jargon as has been taught more tips and tricks. Because of her love for mountaineering and landscape photography, she is able to practice both fields at the same time. 

By: Rocio Espiritu 

[rocioespirituobf-blog]

Top 5 News Blogs

Here I have ranked my top 5 news blogs. I ranked them from 1 being the best, where I felt like I got the most information as well as the shorter length of entries / articles , which is easier for brisk reading.

1. The Huffington Post

Huffington Post is a good source not only cause it updates its news frequently, but it also does not have a lot of ads, which can be quite distracting. Their articles are straight to the point and often accompanied by a news video. 

https://www.huffpost.com

2. The New York Times 

The New York times is quite word heavy, yet they update frequently and is a reliable source for news. They provide a lot of information ranging from breaking news, to movies and travel. This is a very well rounded source of information that you can trust. 

https://www.nytimes.com

3. IGN

IGN is one the best news sites for video games and movies. They always update on the new game releases and even have videos on play throughs of the games they talk about. It a great source for when you are searching for a new game to purchase and what movies to anticipate. 

https://sea.ign.com

4. Gizmodo 

Gizmodo shares mainly news on new tech, shows, and movies. If you want to be updated on the new release of Stranger Things episodes, and teaser trailers, this is the website to look out for. Their articles are also kept quite short and often have links to the videos of trailers and shows they are posting about. 

https://gizmodo.com

5. Buzzfeed News 

Buzzfeed is great for news on pop culture and what’s happening with celebrities. Their articles are entertaining and really lean towards the younger/millennial audience. They also have basic articles on news from around the world, which is what you may find on a friend’s Facebook. Articles the publish are often entertaining which is why it gets shared on social media sites.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com

By Rocio Espiritu 

[rocioespirituobf-blog]

Top 5 Animal Blogs

I have ranked my top 5 Animal blogs where the first would be my favourite. I decided to choose this topic being a known animal lover, sharing not only cute videos and photos, but also important information on different forms of wildlife. I hope you enjoy these blogs as much as I have. 

1. National Geographic Animals 

National Geographic is a great source on information on wildlife. This website not only gives facts about the different exotic animals but also has informative articles (such as an scientific explanation as to why we are afraid of sharks) as well as different fun facts about exotic animals. 

They also have a segment where “pet stories” are shared. This part of the website is more on the pets that can be found in homes. These can often be helpful to pet owners, such as the post about “Why You’re Probably Training Your Cat All Wrong” 

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/

2. Robert Irwin Photography 

Robert is the son of Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin. Much like his father, he has taken a liking to animals and on this blog he shares photos he has taken of wild animals across the globe. He does not only focus on wildlife but also takes street and landscape photography. 

https://www.robertirwinphotos.com

3. Animal Planet

Animal Planet is known for its shows on TV, such as River Monsters. Their blog site is dedicated not only to these featured shows, but also on animal news. Here you can watch the different episodes of their shows as well as go learn about different pets. Pets 101 is very helpful for people who are researching on what dog/cat breed to buy. This website is quite informative and viewers/readers get a lot of information while on this site. 

https://www.animalplanet.com

4. The Dodo

This blog is directed to animal lovers. They share funny and cute videos on different animals, ranging from puppies to elephants. A lot of their videos circle around Facebook, yet they have their own blog where people can scroll endlessly on the different videos and photos they have on the website. 

https://www.thedodo.com

5. Dog Shaming 

This blog is where dog owners can share their dogs biggest mistakes, which often end up hilarious. Here, people submit photos of their dogs beside wreckage, or mess, they had made with a sign held up against them admitting to what they did wrong. Often times the dog’s facial expression is enough to give the viewers a good laugh. 

https://www.dogshaming.com

By Rocio Espiritu 

[rocioespirituobf-blog]

Broadcast News (1987) 

by Rocio Isabel M. Espiritu 

The film Broadcast News (1987) revolves around three people who work for the national television network, and have different parts in report the news; namely, Jane the producer, Aaron the writer and reporter, and finally Tom a news anchorman. The story follows the three as they go about their lives working for the network and the problems they encounter along the way.

Upon having already seen both the Paper and All the Presidents Men, which are films focusing on working for print news, there is a clear difference in the types of work and stress between writing/creating a newspaper and producing/filming a news show. For one, being able to film footage of what the journalists are reporting on is a big plus. They are able to appeal to the audiences emotions through this, by choosing what footage to include and exclude. The only problem of this would be the temptation to stage what had happened, which would break a journalists goal: to tell the truth. Another difference would be that in the newspaper, writers have all day to edit what they are gonna say, being precise with word choice. On live television on the other hand, the producer/anchor do not have a lot of time to thoroughly think out what they have to say. They present all the information that they can, without trying to include personal opinions while doing so.

The journalists in the story experience different types of stress while producing live television. We first see this when we are introduced to what it is like to work in a television station. Jane, the producer, is running on a deadline and only has 15 minutes to finalise the piece that she wants to air. In the rush of her telling the editor what to cut and what to include, she has other people shouting at her, counting down the moments she has left to fix the tape. As soon as she finishes, her co-worker Blair grabs the tape and in a comedic dash runs straight to the camera men who put the tape in just in the nick of time and air it on television. The network loves what Jane had created, and she gets congratulated. It is amazing to see how her character is able to keep it calm and cool throughout this scene, considering the amount of stress she is put under. The stress of the high-pressure job gets to her though, and is shown in short scenes of her crying and sobbing once a day for a quick moment, before collecting herself and going back to work. This was Jane’s form of dealing with the stress that is put on to her. 

Another problem I had observed would be how difficult it was actually filming the live show, and how much work is put into the more produced bits and clips of the show. When filming a shootout, both Jane and Aaron put their lives in danger by being at the site as the battle unfolds. Aaron has to keep calm while talking to the camera and thoroughly explain what is going on, even as chaos goes on around him. Even under that stress, he is able to keep his composure on camera.

In this same scene Jane also makes a point about how how nothing should be staged on the news. A cameraman films a fighter and tells him to put on his boots when Jane cuts him off and says, “we’re not here to stage the news. Sir you do whatever you want.” This all comes back when Jane finds out how Tom had staged himself crying during his report on abused women. She says that he made a breach of ethics because he was faking that footage to get a reaction out of his audience, instead of showing them the truth. 

Through this film I learned how much work goes into the live news and how important everyone’s role is; people like the cameramen, editors, producers, anchors, and even the makeup artists all have to work quickly. While they are live, the producer is still feeding information into the anchor’s ear, as more news is being revealed to them. This is difficult because in that very moment the producer has to choose what and what not to include in the telecast, and the anchor has to be able to clearly and thoroughly express that information to the audience. Because not a lot of what they say is scripted the specific and right wording has to be chosen in those crucial moments. Even when they are off air the journalists are still working, doing things such as filming and producing other bits of the show, doing research, and choosing what stories to cover on their next live show. 

Photo Source: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/broadcast-news-stars-where-are-they-now-1050504/item/jane-craig-portrayed-by-holly-hunter-cast-broadcast-news-are-they-1050666

[rocioespirituobf-blog]

The Paper (1994) 

by Rocio Isabel M. Espiritu 

The Paper (1994) is a film that focuses on a group of people working for a fictional New York City tabloid called The New York Sun. The entire movie takes place within a span of 24 hours, and focuses on what goes on in a newsroom.

The main message of the story is that the newspaper is more than just a way to spread the news, to the public eye the about of effort and work put into these stories is not recognised. With the help of this film, the importance of everyone working on the paper is shown, giving the audience a bigger appreciation for the work put into it. 

Working for a popular paper comes with a lot of stress and issues, and they are very clearly portrayed in this film. The beginning of the movie shows that the Sun had missed out on a big headline: the murder of two white businessmen in Williamsbur, Brooklyn. Instead they had published a story on the double parking of the commissioner. This sets the paper back considering they had missed out on a huge opportunity and popular story that is circling the press and other news outlets. Not only do the editors of the Sun have to compete with other newspapers, but they also compete amongst themselves. The two editors, Henry Hackett and Alicia Clark always get into arguments. They have a huge fight, which lead to a fist fight, about what the front page headline of the following day should be. These kinds of disagreements can make their workspace more stressful. 

Another difficulty shown would be the strain in the relationship of the people working at the paper with their families. For example, Henry is married to a reporter named Martha who is on leave due to her pregnancy. Because Henry is so focused on this murder story, he is not able to invest in time with his wife. In the film, he spends most of his night out running around trying to get information on the story, as well as trying to stop their paper from running wrong headline, that he isn’t home when his wife calls the paramedics. When he sees ambulances outside his home he rushes to find his wife on a stretcher, having uterine haemorrhaging. If he had gone home and spent time with his wife, he would have been there when she needed him most. This same strain in family communication is also shown in the relationship of the paper’s editor-in-chief, Bernie White, and his daughter. In a quick scene at the end they show that he does not have a proper relationship with his daughter, with him having to see his grandchild through the window. 

In addition, a minor subplot that show’s another struggle would be of the paper’s main photographer. For the next day’s headline on the murder, she needed to get a photo of the two suspects that the police had arrested earlier that day. She rushed straight to the courthouse where the suspects were exiting and being escorted to a police car. This scene shows the struggle of how newspaper photographers have to push through large crowds of other photographers and news casters as they try to get a good clear shot. The Sun’s photographer ends up getting shoved onto the ground by the crowd of people and is forced to try to get a shot from the awkward angle that she is in. As soon as she gets back to the news room, she rushes straight into her office to look at her film negatives to see if she got the shot she needed. You can see the worry in the character as she shakily goes through each photograph muttering to herself that she was going to lose her job because of this. To her surprise, she gets the perfect shot. In her joy is clearly seen she runs out into the office and shouts “I got it!”

This movie really revealed to me more about what it is like to work in a newsroom. Prior to watching this movie, the only idea I had of what a newsroom was like was what was shown to me in Spiderman, which is clearly was not an accurate depiction of what it is truly like. I discovered that when working for a newspaper, you need to constantly be on your toes, working against a deadline and trying to publish important, meaningful, and accurate headlines while at the same time trying to come out with a story better than their competitor’s. It also showed me how quick the news is and how so much effort goes into the stories published, when in a weeks time it may have already been forgotten, or people would have already moved on to the next headline.

Image Source : http://scrippsmediaethics.blogspot.com/2014/11/applying-ethics-to-paper.html

[rocioespirituobf-blog]

All the President’s Men (1976)

by: Rocio Isabel M. Espiritu 

The main message of All the President’s Men is to show journalism is important in the sharing of truth to the public. It displays the importance of how journalists do what they can to get the information needed in their stories, as well as how brave they are coming out with their headlines. For example, this movie’s main focus is on the two journalists working for the Washington Post, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who researched on the burglary of the Democratic Party Headquarters, or what is famously known as the Watergate scandal (1972). Researching and coming out with this story was very dangerous for them because of the Watergate issue being connected to the government, specifically to the president of that time, Nixon. They put their own lives in danger for the public to have the truth. 

The two journalists do not gain their information easily, they go through a couple of dilemmas as they uncover more of the story. First, they go through extensive research and talk to anybody they can reach involved in the situation. Not everyone gives information of course, people react differently; people get mad, others irritated or agitated, and some even scared, making interviewing / interrogating them quite difficult to do. Because of this, they are either forced to read the tone of the person’s voice or body language, as well as learn different persuasive tactics to get their interviewees to talk. For example, when Hoffman was trying to get the book keeper to confirm the people involved in the scandal he says, “I don’t want you to feel like you are in a position where you have to dispose names. I can just ask for initials, and that way you are not divulging information.” He later on says that she could just nod in agreement or disagreement to the initials that he stated.  By doing this, the book keeper is willing to agree and gives out the confirmation that he was looking for. Both journalists gain the trust of who they are interrogating and use different persuasive tricks to get them to give out more information that they intended to. 

Another dilemma they go through is that some of their sources are quite mysterious and know a lot of information about the topic being covered; their code-named source, Deep Throat, is an example of this. Because these sources deal with untrustworthy people, the lives of the journalists who contact are put into a position where they are endangered. At one point in the movie, after Woodward meets up with Deep Throat in a parking, they see a car suddenly start and leave, this surprises the two and Deep Throat disappears. When walking back to his car after this incident, Woodward has a feeling that he is being watched and followed. At the latter end of the movie, Deep Throat also says that the journalists are in danger because of surveillance bugging, meaning they are being watched or listened into by bigger, more powerful men. This made the journalists have to communicate through type writer, and prevented them from using phone calls. This of course, slowed down their research and therefor their writing, which is what was probably being prevented by the people they were writing about.

Finally, the journalists also get attacked by the government after the release of their headline: “Testimony Ties Top Nixon Aids To Secret Fund”. People that they had interviewed earlier in the movie that confirmed a lot of what they had said, began to deny even telling them the information that they had shared. This made the journalists look unreliable and made their story look false because the testimony was denied. This also put the credibility and the name of the paper on the line.  

By watching this movie, I learned more about what it is like to be a journalist. The way that journalists are portrayed in this movie is closer to what a person’s idea of a detective would be. They do investigatory work by conducting interviews, reading logs, going through files, etc., and then piece all the small information they had gathered to come out with a story that is solid and is truthful. Their main goal is to give the truth to the public, no matter the extent they have to go through to find that truth. 

Investigative reporting is important because through this, journalists unveil and reveal stories that some people may want to hide and share it with the public. For example, the police may not want to give the whole truth on topics, for reasons that may make the police department, the government, or different people in power, look bad to the public. A journalist’s writing and findings lead and guide the public to the truth, without any fabrications or lies. 

Photo source:https://billsmovieemporium.wordpress.com/2009/05/19/review-all-the-presidents-men-1976/