Journalism one of the worst jobs of 2012, according to some.

The employment news site CareerCast just published a list called “The 10 Worst Jobs of 2012,” where not one, but two journalism jobs were listed. Newspaper reporter was number five on the list and broadcaster was number 10. “As the digital world continues to take over and provide on-demand information, the need for print newspapers and daily newscasts is diminishing,” CareerCast said.

In response to CareerCast’s list, several journalists have defended their profession. One of them is Nepalese Rajneesh Bhandari, who published “5 Reasons Why Journalism Is Not the Worst Job in the World” on the news site Policymic. Bhandari claims that searching for the truth is appealing, information is power, journalists have a social responsibility, and that it is an adventurous and challenging career.

While those are all definitely valid and truthful facts, the problem is that it has become harder to find a job in journalism over the last few years. “The sad thing is that there are many college graduates that still want to work in this field and due to the existing crisis, in many cases they are working for free,” BBC Mundo and Tony Lee, one of the authors of the study said.

However, the importance of journalism should not be overlooked, the news site Phylly.com reminds us. “Since journalism is vital to self-government, threats to its survival should be a focus of national debate,” according to Phylly.com. Journalism also helps communities tell their stories because “freedom of speech is worthless if you don’t know how to make it heard,” the news site ZDNet explained in a recent article.

Yes, a journalism job may not be the best-paying one out there, but the value of this profession is priceless. According to BBC Mundo, broadcasters make about $27,324 per year and newspaper reporters make about $35,275 per year. Instead of focusing on the negative news about the future of journalism, we should be thinking about how we can save it, as it is indispensable in any society. Journalists are already finding new ways to use their skills as it is. The future of journalism is not grim, just more challenging. 

Arizona proposes a bill that many say violates freedom of expression

A bi-partisan bill that would make leaving annoying or offensive comments online a criminal offense is being proposed in Arizona, prompting several people to declare that the bill violates freedom of expression, according to the Associated Press. “The bill would update telephone harassment and stalking laws by adding the use of computers or smartphones,” the Associated Press said.

The punishment for breaking this new law, if signed by the state’s governor, is a fine of up to $2,500 and/or six months in prison, the news site Examiner explained.

Although cyber-bullying has become a problem over the last few years, passing a law such as this one would cause too many problems as to what is and what is not considered a criminal offense.

In a letter to Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, the Media Coalition group, an association that defends the First Amendment, wrote that while protecting people from harassment is a worthy goal "legislators cannot do so by criminalizing speech protected by the Constitution,” according to the website Digital Trends.

On April 4, The Huffington Post reported that because of the public’s outcry regarding this bill, it is now being revised. According to the Huffington Post, “Legal experts argue that the proposed bill violates the First Amendment, offers a vague definition of exactly what speech would be prohibited, and stands to criminalize communication that is commonplace -- and protected -- online.”

People are always making inappropriate comments, especially on social media sites, such as Facebook. To try to oppress people from speaking their mind is a violation of freedom of expression. The government of Arizona should realize this and be cautious of what they are proposing.

Women and minorities underrepresented in journalism honors and awards

In honor of the 100th anniversary of journalism education, the faculty at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University and an Honorary Committee of alumni, announced “the 100 Outstanding Journalists in the United States in the Last 100 Years,” at a reception at the university on April 3. The list included only 22 women, 8 African-Americans and no Asian Americans or Latinos, which prompted many to criticize the list. 

   

UNITY: Journalists of Color, an alliance that advocates diversity in news coverage, published its own list, “Journalists seeds list of top journalists of the past century,” because they felt “it was necessary to suggest journalists whose inclusion in NYU’s list would have better represented the full diversity of our country, our industry and the past century.”

The Atlantic Wire also criticized the small number of women on the NYU’s list, which represents less than one woman for every four men, and emphasized that the women on the list had to fight a harder battle than men.

As if the NYU’s list was not enough of a disappointment for women, the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) has also been criticized for including zero women for their National Magazine Awards. “I find it hard to believe that ASME's judges couldn't think of a couple of their own selections to create at least the appearance of parity in their nominations,” Alexander Nazaryan, from the New York Daily News said.

Sid Holt, the chief executive of ASME, said the criticisms were “kind of silly,” according to the Poynter Institute, explaining that the decision process was fair.

It is obvious that women are still fighting to be fairly represented in a world dominated by men, as these lists show. It is just too hard to believe that there are not enough women journalists or minorities out there that are not worthy of being nominated or honored for their work. We live in a diverse world, and that is simply not represented on these lists, which is truly a shame.  

Argentinian press expresses concern for lack of freedom of expression in the country

The Argentine Association of Journalistic Entities (ADEPA in Spanish) highly criticized the state of freedom of expression in Argentina on a report published last Thursday, March 29, stating that although freedom of expression does exist in the South American country, “it develops in a context of low tolerance for criticism,” where monologues, verbal aggression and fear proliferate.

The report discussed various topics of concern that journalists in Argentina face, such as the criticism of the law that regulates the production, distribution and import of newsprint paper, the need for more press conferences, and the need for a freedom of access to public information law, the newspaper Clarín reported.

Although Argentina ranked 48th (out of 179 countries) on the Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index 2011-2012 report, compared to 57^th for the United States, one of the issues that has caused the most concern is that of the law that controls newspaper production, which was approved in December 2011, according to the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas.

There were also several abuses to the press in 2011, which the Argentine Journalism Forum (FOPEA in Spanish) documented, the Committee to Protect Journalists noted on their Attacks on the Press in 2011 report.

Concerned about all these issues, the president of ADEPA, Carlos Jornet, asked the government for more open dialogue and tolerance toward the media, stressing that the value of open dialogue and freedom of expression are “tools for strengthening democracy.” 

Tips on how to combine social media with reporting while respecting privacy

Last week, the Poynter Institute published an article called “How to decide what can be published, what’s private on Twitter and Facebook,” which gave advice to journalists on trying to decipher this dilemma, “as more journalists rely on social media to find ideas and sources,” the author of the article Nisha Chittal said.

The main issue discussed was trying to figure out which social media posts should be used in reporting and which should not. “Anything said on Twitter is generally fair game to be reported upon,” Chittal said. But, when it comes to Facebook, “some journalists make the case that public posts are fair game – but others disagree,” she said.

It is no secret that Twitter has become one of the most powerful tools for journalists. It helps journalists find stories, find more varied sources, and engage with a much broader audience. As CNET News pointed out, Twitter is also the place where major news stories first break out.

Twitter is mostly public and tweets can and have been used for reporting, as it is done with other news sharing platforms such as Storify. Facebook however has different privacy settings and users choose whether to share their posts with everyone or just with friends, making it more difficult for journalists to decide whether or not to use other people’s posts for reporting or not.

Journalists must also be careful about what they can and cannot say themselves, as more journalists have been getting reprimanded or fired by their employers over personal posts lately, according to the International Journalists’ Network (IJNet).

As social media rules for journalists are still considered rather new, the Poynter article suggests journalists ask themselves these questions when trying to decide what to publish and what not to publish:

·      What was the author’s intent? If shared in a closed group or personal profile, was it intended to be kept private?

·      How did the source respond when you asked about including the information in a story?

·      Is the author a public figure? How public? There is a difference between a school principal and a professional athlete.

·      What harm could come to the individual if the information is made public? Is that harm justified by the public benefit of the information?

·      What alternatives do you have for getting similar information?

If trying to decide what you as a journalist should post on social media platforms, the most logical solution, and one that will also allow you to connect with a wider audience, is to have public accounts to be used for journalism purposes and keep your personal accounts private if you choose to. Alternatively, due to the growing number of social media platforms, journalists could also choose to use one as private and one as public, i.e. – a private Facebook profile and a public Google+ profile. What journalists should keep in mind in the end is that the trend of combining social media with reporting seems to keep growing, and journalists should embrace that and not shy away from it.

Tough times for the journalism field in Colombia

Two journalists have already been killed in the month of March in Colombia. Journalist and political leader Argemiro Cárdenas Agudelo was shot to death on Thursday, March 15, and journalist Jesús Martínez Orozco, a community radio reporter, was killed Thursday, March 29, the International Press Institute (IPI) reported.

In February, IPI published a special report expressing concern for “the threat to regional media in Latin America,” stating that “the vast majority of the journalists in those cases were known for their criticism of local politicians or their reporting on drug cartels or illegal mining operations.”

Although only one journalist, Luis Eduardo Gómez, was killed last year in Colombia, at least 202 cases of violence against journalists were recorded in 2011, according to a report by the Colombian Federation of Journalists (Fecolper in Spanish).

The Foundation for Press Freedom (FLIP in Spanish) also presented a report earlier this year expressing its concern over the state of freedom of expression in Colombia. Violence, self-censorship and impunity were listed as the biggest problems journalists face in Colombia. Additionally, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) also published a report expressing their concern that criminal gangs "intimidate and silence" journalists in Colombia.

Although these recent killings have not yet been confirmed as to whether or not they had anything to do with the victims’ professions, these reports show that being a journalist in Colombia is a risky choice. Moreover, Colombia also has one of the lowest rankings (143 out of 179 countries) on the World Press Freedom Index 2011-2012 report published by Reporters Without Borders earlier this year.

Judging how people rate freedom of the press in their countries

Although freedom of the press seems to be suffering in various parts of the world, according to the Reporters Without Borders 2011-2012 Press Freedom Index results published earlier this year, a new Gallup poll showed that two-thirds of people worldwide say that the media are free in their countries.

Out of 1,000 people in 133 countries and areas surveyed, people’s views vary widely, ranging from a high of 97 percent in Finland to a low of 23 percent in Belarus, with a median of 65 percent of adults saying that “the media in their countries have a lot of freedom,” according to the report.

The countries with the least perceived press freedom were found in the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa, and the former Soviet Union. “Perceived press freedom was highest in developed countries in Asia, Europe, and North America. Finland ranked the highest, with 97 percent of respondents describing the media as being free,” the Huffington Post explained.

In the Americas, Haiti had the lowest percentage (51 percent), and the United Sates had the highest percentage (87 percent). Interestingly, the U.S. fell 27 spots to number 47 on the Reporters Without Borders’ 2011-2012 Press Freedom Index mentioned above. This was due to the many arrests and problems that journalists in the U.S. have dealt with during the Occupy Wall Street protests in 2011, according to the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas. According to the independent news media organization Free Press, "70 journalists have been arrested while covering Occupy protests in 12 cities around the country."

Consequently, there are “small discrepancies between what experts who make external evaluations assume, and what the people being polled think,” WebProNews pointed out, indicating that this observation has been noted by independent research organizations such as Freedom House.