JOUR 1002 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Ernest Hemingway, Bullshit Detector, Catchphrase
19 Jun 2018
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What is news for?
- Anthropologists and primitive tribes
- Human need
- “The Awareness Instinct”
- Storytelling with a purpose
- How a free society engages in a conversation with itself
- Journalist as a trained observer-accuracy
- Public Service
- One of our basic human needs is information, the need for information is going up
exponentially, people have more and more ways to access information, our product has a need
What is news?
- News: an account of shift in the state of things in the material world, or beyond our senses.
- Come up with your own motto or catchphrase for news
- Such as; Being there. – Thompson
The Mind of Journalist
- The love of reading and writing
- An intense curiosity
- A desire to contribute- you want to help people fulfill that human need for information
- The independence factor- having the right to ask questions of whoever you want
- Being on the inside
- The challenge of going deeper
What does critical thinking mean?
- People talk about it all the time, but do they really know what it means?
- Not like being a critic
- It is “the systematic evaluation or formulation of beliefs or statements by rational standards.”
- It is not simply repeating everything you hear
- Journalists are different because they apply a rational standard
- What every editor says they want- critical thinking
- Ernest Hemmingway- “Develop a built in bullshit detector” “When people talk, listen
completely. Most people don’t listen.”
find more resources at oneclass.com
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- LISTEN. Train yourself to listen. The difference between a good interviewer and bad interviewers
is their ability to listen. If someone says something intriguing a good interviewer will change the
direction of their interview, not just stick with their questions.
- “Thinking about your thinking while you’re thinking in order to…
The new Journalist
- Logically assess a statement, claim or information
- Ask questions to help us understand, evaluate and resolve the claim or information
- Decide rationally, through a logical…
The Elements of Journalism
- Think for yourself- George Harrison
- Don’t follow authority
- “Most people are followers of authority; most do not question, are not curious and do not
challenge authority figures who claim special knowledge or insight. Most people, therefore, do
not think for themselves, but rely on others to think for them… Most people, therefore, do not
think critically.”
- Donald Trump Arabs cheering on 9/11 example
- Michael Bugeja
- To think like a journalist, ask yourself: Do I seek information or affirmation? Are my beliefs and
convictions colouring how I see a topic? What is the difference between skepticism and
pessimism? Skeptics does not equal being negative.
Some basic guidelines:
- The proponent of any claim must provide the evidence
- Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence
- Anecdotes and testimonials are a low form of evidence
- We want people to tell us stories, but the court system has shown us that their stories can be
false- be careful
Other key principles:
- Open-mindedness
- Healthy skepticism
- Intellectual humility
- Free thinking (beware of conformity)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
How a free society engages in a conversation with itself. One of our basic human needs is information, the need for information is going up exponentially, people have more and more ways to access information, our product has a need. News: an account of shift in the state of things in the material world, or beyond our senses. Come up with your own motto or catchphrase for news. A desire to contribute- you want to help people fulfill that human need for information. The independence factor- having the right to ask questions of whoever you want. It is the systematic evaluation or formulation of beliefs or statements by rational standards. It is not simply repeating everything you hear. Journalists are different because they apply a rational standard. What every editor says they want- critical thinking. Ernest hemmingway- develop a built in bullshit detector when people talk, listen completely.
