Five Star Final

                    IMDB

Poster for Five Star Final 

               Five Star Final:

            A Study in the Radicalization of News 

      Five Star Final is a film that showcases an extreme example of when journalism ethics go out the window. 

    Joseph Randall is the editor of the New York Gazette newspaper. In his attempts to make the paper more legitimate, the number of copies sold has dropped dramatically. Thus, his bosses come to him with an idea on how to increase the number of copies. The simple answer is their idea amounts to pure sensationalism. 

    They want to do a retrospective on an older murder case from over twenty years ago. They task a reportor who is disguised as a priest to go to their home and get any information. Nancy Voorhees (the killer) and her husband Michael Townsend belief he is a priest with relation to the church their daughter Nancy is getting married at. So, they give the fake priest Isopod a photo thinking it would be used for marriage purposes. However, the next day the find the retrospective and photo plastered on the front page of the paper. 

   The scandal explodes and, in the aftermath, both Nancy and Michael kill themselves. Leaving Nancy and her fiancé Phillip Weeks furious at the Gazette. Randall himself already reflected and said he's not releasing any more issues to right in front of the higher ups. Nancy confronts the group and screams "why did you kill my mother." She even attempts to shoot Randall before Phillip stops her and tells the Gazette to never write anything about their family ever again. The final shot sees the suicide article being swallowed by the rain, showing that the public is fully against the paper and their sensationalism failed. 

    The film is of course entertainment first and a allegory second. However the ideas about journalism have grounds in history and even in the real world today. One of those was the Penny Press Era. The idea of selling copies for cheap to everyone to turn a profit. That was all the higher ups at the paper were worried about. They wanted to be the highest selling paper through any means necessary. No matter the effects on the people which brings up an ethical issue. 

    The goal of the journalism to inform the people and also to produce news that gets eyes on the newspaper. However posing as someone else and breaking into homes are obviously not included in that. The other less obvious issue is the retrospective isn't newsworthy. It's not relevant to anyone any there are more timely issues that could have been covered. There's been a implied barrier between a journalist and the person they're doing a story. It's always why most interviews aren't conducted in peoples homes. 

    The characters often fail and these ethical considerations. Randall is seen to be pushing the story and orders Isopode to pose as a preist to obtain senstive information. It takes him until after the suicide to realize he's gone to far. Hinchcliffe and the other higher ups never really understand how what they've done is seriously damaging, and have to be shamed by Nancy to not be as braizen in their support. 

    The film is a entertaining time and also serves a front for the consideration of journalism ethics in the modern day. I highly recommend giving it a watch. 

   

The History of Broadcast News

 

            Inspired Pencil   

                                                         1950s Family Watching the News 

     Broadcast News:

       From Radio to TV

    The news world of today is so vastly different from today it's almost incomparable. From social media and other short form content dominating how people obtain news. To streaming become a more appealing option for the dying market of local broadcast news. However it wasn't always like this. Without the information age, people had to find other ways to find  news. Radio and later broadcast news came to the resue. 

  Radio news was first introduced in the 1920s. The National Broadcast Company and the Columbia Broadcast Company did news segements and even radio dramas. Radio really started to hit it's stride during the 1930s when people were seeking happier times due to the depression. Comedy shows like Easy Aces and The Adventures of Gracie helped people have a bit of humor during the trying times

    Rural areas weren't just left out in the dust either. Radio shows like The National Farm and Home Hour saw lot's of engagment when being provided by WLS in Chicago. Even the music and entertainment sphere appealed to the rural areas as well. The longest live broadcast radio show: The Grand Ole Opry was broadcast by WSM out of Nashville and is still running today. 

 

    Starting in the 1930s, the radio became used for more than entertainemt. Politicians came to the realization that they could use it to speak directly to the people. Warren Harding was the first president to take full advantage of the technology. However it was Franklin D. Roosevelt used to great effect to speak directly to the people (often called fireside chats) and radio listenership drastically increased.  

 During World War 2, the public wanted constant updates on what was occuring. Newspapers couldn't get printed fast enough and were always a day late. Thus war reporting took off. The White House did place restrictions on reporting special operations (such as the atomic bomb) on reporters and they agreed to supress the information until the war had concluded.

    

    Despite the war ending, news people were optimistic about the future of radio. This is ironic as a whole new technology was about to take center stage. Higher ups at CBS and NBC were already looking into TVs to be a great unifying force for all of America.

    

    The "big two" had already been broadcasting in the late 30s after Lowell Thomas did the first television broadcast for CBS. Thus TV was poised to be massive for sharing news all over the country or what's going on in your community. 

    

    However local news orginizations were not using the technology to it's fullest effect. It wasn't until the tragic accident of Kathy Fiscus who fell into an abandoned well, that local news changed forever. A 50 hour resue effort was broadcasted locally to families in California. It unified the states and they became "an instant family of the nation." 

    From this point every major incident was publicily viewable via local news channals. Long term coverage of national events were the norm.  From John F. Kennedy's assasination to 9/11 it became the expectation of the people and the reason that local news remains valuable even in our fast paced information age. 

Joseph Pulitzer's New York World

 

         Library Columbia                                                                                                           

Joseph Pulitzar shown having influnce over the news 

The New York World:

Influential and Infamous 

    The late 19th century marked a big changed in how the news functioned and what companies did to attract readers. No man took advantage of this more than Joseph Pulitzar. Born on April 18 1847, he was on track to being in the Austrian army. However, he was turned down due to bad health and poor eyesight. Due to this, he immigrated to America and served in the Civil War. After the war he began to work for a  German newspaper the Westliche Post. He was extremely ambitious and served in the Missouri legislature, before becoming head of The Post. Because of this he became extremely weathy buying The Evening Dispach and merged it with The Post. 

    Due to his vast amount of wealth, he moved to New York and began his journey to save a collapsing newspaper: The New York World. 

    

    Before Joseph Pulitzer saved the paper, The New York World was continously loosing 40,000 dollars a year. Joseph Pulitzar purchased the paper in 1883 for over 300,000 dollars, over 20 years after its founding. Pulitzar hired Nellie Bly as a writer for the paper and Richard Outcault as a artist. 

   Pulitzar rebranded the paper as one that would focus on sensationalism, scandals and human interest stories. Pulitzar intended to use the paper to expose fraud, fight public evils and battle for the people. Outcault specifically played a major role in the paper's success. He created cartoon comics set in the slums that resonated with readers at the time. His most famous work was The Yellow Kid which would go onto be massive aspect of the rivalry with Hearst's Paper. Nellie Bly wrote about poverty and labor conditions in New York City. She even pretended to go mad to get into the insane asylum on Blackwell's island. 

    Pulitzar had major success with his focus on sensational writings and big taglines that would hook readers in. However William Hearst, the son of a wealthy mining tycoon moved into New York City and founded The New York Journal. In order to compete with Pulitzar, Hearst offered higher wages to Pulitzar's staff causing even the most loyal like Outcault to join him. 

    Pulitzar and Hearst got into a heated rivalry after Outcault's defection, both doing anything they can to get a leg up on the other. The two papers' comic strips became key players in the rivaly, naming the era yellow journalism. The era boosted circulation for both paper's especially in major cities. 

    Joseph Pulitzar died in 1911, and his son Ralph Pulitzar took over New York World. The era of yellow journalism ended in the 20th century however many of the idea's it sprung still remain today. People still see bright and appealing headlines with catcthy titles not just on newpaers, but even when on their search engines today. Human interest stories and attract readers still dominate the newspaper and broadcast spaces today as well. Despite the end of Pulitzar and Hearst's rivaly, their ideas remain a core part of the industry today and into the future. 

   

Me in 500 Words

 

               Jack Allen With His Family after High Point University's Family Weekend Choral Concert

From Miracle Baby 

To Journalist

    From the moment I was born my life way immediatly more chaotic than the average person. Not many people can say they were born almsot 4 months early after all. It all occured when my parents were doing a big vacation in the west coast. During the trip my mother started it feeling like she was having contraptions despite the fact my birth wasn't till July and it was currently March. They kept going but after a particularly grueling morning one day they decided to contact their doctor in Louisville. He said this was probably nothing but just in case to head to the nearest hospital just in case. 

    

    They went to a hospital San Louis Obispo and met with the doctors there. Much to their surprise I would be born that very day. 

    

    When I was born I weighted one-a-half pounds and was about the lenth of a ruler. My parents had no clue that I would survive however six months later after many tests and surgeries I was cleared to go home. I flew back on a Kosair plane as I still needed to go to the hospital in Louisville once I got back just to make sure everything was still ok. After six months there I come home with my parents. 

    

    I was held back in Kindergarten, but otherwise you'd be unable to tell I was premature today. While socializing was hard in elementary school since then I've grown tremendously in that regard and have a great group of close friends. 

    

     I always loved telling stories. Whether it be playing pretend in elementary school to writing campus news stories today, it's always been a way to showcase my creativity and later my intellectual capabilities in a college setting. 

 

    Due to my enjoyment of storytelling and writing. Going into local news seemed only natrual. I was able to do a internship at WDRB this past summer, and learn all the ends and outs of the news room. From camera usage, to editing and how to go out into the field and report. It was a great experience and may push me to go in the direction (although I am also keeping my options open).

    

    Outside of school my creative juices continue to shine. I've been a choir in one form or another for most of my life. Most recently in High Point University's chamber singers. It is something I take seriously as the five day rehersal with difficult repitore demands it. I also did musical theater in high school which was a massivve time commitment. Despite this, it was one of the most fun thing's I've ever done. From learning choreography and improving as a singer, to the many people I got to meet. It will always be something I look back fondly on. In the future I hope to do voice acting. Most likely for commerical and corporate naration. It's been something I've been interested in for a while, so it'll be nice to do on the side while I work. 

    From my chaotic birth till now I've had a life full of ups and downs. Even so, the education and experiences I've had over that past few years have prepared me for the future, both in the workplace and beyond.