Equal Responsibility

In our class discussion last week, much of our focus was on responsibility and whose to blame for much of the misinformation if not lack of information in the news. It seemed there was a question of balance and who was to be held accountable for information: journalists, citizens, or the government. But I think much of it has to deal with journalists. These days we've been trained to believe that everything government officials say is completely true. As a result of that, journalists have become "lazy" to take an extra step to question whether or not the information they received is true. However their responsibilities are to the people and in trying to get the most accurate information out there. This inherently hinders citizens from accessing further information because of the limits created to prevent that.

When citizens feel there is a lack of credible, useful, and insightful information about what is really going on in the world, people take it upon themselves to gather as much evidence possible and blog about their opinions and findings. For the most part, others are drawn to blog or read others' blogs because of its uniqueness, newness in the realm of journalism and the hunt for the real news. Maybe there's a deeper meaning behind all this lack of 'real' news coverage from journalists. I would like to think journalists believe that if the public really wants to know more they'll stay tuned and support those bringing in the real news and refuse to give in to the consumer attitudes by watching news about celebrities.

It's a cycle of responsibility and accountability. Even though journalists get most of their information from government officials they should already know the real story doesn't end there; there's more to it and in order to fully understand it more credible sources and investigation is needed. Equally important is the citizen's responsibility to FIND the real news and proceed further to find relational information and piece the puzzle together.

I think I'm going Crazy....

The semester is soon coming to a close and it just seems there's too much to do in so little time. This semester went by so fast...it's such a challenge for me. I've been slacking on my posts, feeling overwhelmed researching for projects for other classes, getting my capstone started, while trying to balance being a mom. Honestly this is a big stretch for me. I'm really excited and quite relieved to be graduating next semester. Honestly, being a full-time student and a full-time mom to an 8 month old really is challenging. How do other moms do it? I find it nearly impossible to get work done at home because whenever I'm there my son wants to be with me 24-7. I miss being with him at home and being able to witness his first steps, hear his first words, and all that landmark stuff. It's amazing how much one goal in life creates what feels like a million sacrifices to be made.

This is completely off topic from class discussions, but it really got me thinking. Did anyone watch "The Pursuit of Happyness"? If you haven't you should! It's such a big eye opener. Totally made my life look peachy. Which brings me to this...have we each found happiness? What is it that makes us happy? Is it that big "A" you received for writing that 10 page paper, the rush you get from retail therapy, or is it simply in the company of family and good health? All these questions....