What is a journalist?

 Simply put, journalists are informers. They are writers, speakers, photographers, persons who have made it their interest and passion to tell others about what is going on around them. A journalist is a person that gathers and/or presents recent information and news to the public.

  Now, this broad definition can apply to most people. And one journalist, Nathaniel Clark Fowler writes on journalism, “Nowhere in this book will be found definite rules or regulations, which would be of no use to the intelligent reader, and which would not be understood by the ignorant one.” His mindset is that a journalist's job should not be regulated. However, there should be qualifications for true journalists, established to preserve their honesty, clarify their purpose, and instruct the public rather than deceive them.

 Most essentially, journalists must be characterized by honesty. This begins with informing others about whether the journalist's information is biased or not."To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; to be credible we must be truthful." a journalist, Edward R. Murrow, explained.

 This extends to a journalist's purpose for doing what they do too. If someone is simply a journalist for the money, rather than having a passion for that business, they are in more danger of dishonesty in their work. Honesty about what you're presenting and why you're sharing it are essential to be a true journalist.

  Still, journalist's must be cautious. Honesty must come with the grace of considering the people you are sharing about and your audience. Tell the truth, absolutely! But be wary that you are presenting things in a way you would be willing to see them, or a way you would want to be seen. "Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible. He is a kind of confidence man, preying on people's vanity, ignorance, or loneliness, gaining their trust and betraying them without remorse." Janet Malcolm claims. Yet this seems to only reflect the majority of journalists. Not all truth is picture-perfect, glamorous, or beautiful, but even the harshest truth should be given with thought to graciousness.

True journalist's must be honest, true to themselves, and gracious in their work, because it's their life, their work, and what they do will mold the minds of the next generations.

My TeenPact Story...Or something like that...

I found this as I was preparing for my presentation the other day. Apparently I had written in the weeks following the 2015 TeenPact State Class and completely forgotten about it's existence. It's rather lengthy, but I had no idea how inspired I was by attending TeenPact.....Perhaps it will inspire someone else as well....

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   Did you know a chimpanzee once ran for the Presidential Primaries in New Hampshire? Did you know New Hampshire is the only state to have a Governor and Executive Council? Did you know the first battle in the American War for Independence was actually fought in Northern NH?.....Did you know New Hampshire established the first free government in the world?

   New Hampshire is one of the freest and most unique states in the US. Despite our small size, we have more Representatives in our State House than almost any other state. This means each of us have some of the best representation in the world. We have more freedom than some people even dream of having, but so few of us realize this. So few people of this generation understand the gift they have. And so many of this generation don't want to know or care either.

  That is just how a society crumbles. That is exactly how freedom is taken away. In fact, it isn't really taken at all. We are giving our freedom away. Or, probably a better analogy, we're throwing our freedom away. 

   To me that is a crushing thought. To realize that we are throwing away one of the greatest gifts we could ever have so we don't have to be inconvenienced. Do we really think so little of all the freedom we enjoy that we aren't willing to work hard to keep it?

  This past week I met, talked with, and listened to so many men and women who challenged me not to be that type of person. People like Rep. Dan Itse, Rep. Josh Moore, Secretary of State Bill Gardner, and Executive Councilman Dave Wheeler expressed to me and the other young people I was with the need in NH for young men and women to rise up and become involved in our government. While a group of TeenPact staffers encouraged us to learn more about our government and prepare to become the men and women our country needs. And I watch dozens of young people walk away inspired to be whatever God planned for them to be.

  The program that made it possible for me to meet and learn from these people is called TeenPact. I attend their four-day State Class for NH terrified about what I would be pushed from my comfort zone into doing. And I left, still terrified of the great job that I now realized loomed before me. But, you know what? I also left those inspiring days behind to become a much braver young citizen of the United States. 

   Over and over again, I used to get discouraged by the way I saw our towns, state, and country heading. Honestly, that discouragement makes it hard to hear or learn anything more about government, politics, etc. However, slowly, I realized though how accessible our state government is, how well represented we could be, how much freer we are than the rest of the world...Suddenly, that little seed of hope my mind was watered. It's just a seed - a tiny thing really in light of the great world we live in - but it was watered anyways. And it grew; I grew. God still has hope for this nation. So, I pray, He will continue instilling that hope in other hearts, like He did in mine.

Thoughts on Government...Part 1

A friend challenged me with these questions about myself and what I believe, so I decided to think through them here. After all, I've found talking to someone else is the best way to clarify what you have jumbled up in your heart and mind. And, in other words, my brain works better than my mouth.

***What is your stance on a Christian's role in government?***

   We live in a culture that wants to remain kids. Meaning, they want all of the privileges of freedom and liberty, just like children want all of the privileges of adults, but few of them are willing to shoulder the responsibilities of freedom and liberty. We need an army of men and women, not children, because those are the people mature enough to take responsibility for our culture, government, churches, and homes. God again and again calls us young men and women in His Word because that is what He desires us to be, that is what the world and Church need us to be, and that is what we must be. We must also be humble, knowing we are prone to be childish and that only the Lord can work in us the maturity to be adults in this world. We must not be naive, pleasure-loving, irresponsible children - God would never have us be so “humble” that we become these kind of people. We must show true humility and maturity by stooping to shoulder the great burden of responsibility in our government, church, and homes. God chose us out of this world to be salt and light, to preserve it. And how can we preserve it if we are either beating it down from the inside or sitting aside, ignoring it as it crumbles. Between those two options there is a balance of standing out, taking responsibility, and preserving our government and culture. And the only way to find that perfect balance is to look to the perfect God.

  Therefore, a Christian's role in government is to stand up and fight for that balance, to point others to God who has made a perfect balance. It's true, we must not force our religion on others. We must proclaim Christ, but this earthly government was not given for us to enforce our religion.

  Still we must also follow the pattern of the Founding Fathers who knew that to have a free and moral country we have to base our moral principles on the ones that Divine Providence has established. In essence, no free government can stand without holding on to morals-what is right and what is wrong-and the moment we begin removing God from our lives and government we begin losing our morals. And what is graver still is the thought that the only form of government that thrives on a lack of morals is a tyrannical one: an unjust, oppressive, arbitrary government. Does that sound anything like our government now?

  So there is, again, the fine line, perfect balance, narrow way we as Christians must walk in. We must preserve our government; it is our duty as Christians to be salt, to preserve. But it is also our duty to be light; we must fight the darkness that is so prevalent, especially in our government. We are soldiers of Christ's Kingdom! We are not allowed to give up! Unlike the rest of the world, our duty before God requires us to influence, work, and learn about our government, so long as we are able. Christians have to care about government!

News through several decades

  "I used to faithfully watch the news, but now I find it discouraging...and with my job, I just don't have time to watch all of the news I should..." Mrs. Harlow* remarked sadly. Without missing a beat Mrs. Martin* responded, "I get my news from Facebook. If there is something important happening my friends will be talking about it, then I will go look up more information if I'm concerned." "Oh, I guess I get my news on the radio because it's easiest. But, when I get the  chance, I do watch Fox news..." Ms. Smith* replied.

 These interviews took my by surprise. Despite the decades, no matter the advancements in technology, amid differences, there is still a prevailing reason for how and even why people get their news. It truly hasn't changed much over time. We see the news that is most convenient to get. Our time and lives go by fast, so if something isn't easy to find or convenient to learn about, we may never know it exists.

"I'm really not the best person to ask about that. I really don't watch the news at all." My first interviewee, Mrs. Harlow's reply showed that she viewed getting news as watching it on TV. She only guiltily admitted that she usually used Facebook to stay updated on events and quickly wanted to explain that she still stayed informed without TV. As a young woman, she read the papers that she sold on her paper route, but, when it became more available, she switched to TV to get her news and finally to Internet.

Mrs. Martin's and Mrs. Harlow's pattern of getting news over their lives I found relatively similar. Mrs. Martin also got most of her information about local and worldwide news from TV until using the Internet became a more accessible. "I just look up things that I hear about on the news websites. It saves me time and I can learn about what I want to hear about, and not be overwhelmed with all the news." 

Besides the fact that she began news-journey by reading the papers, Ms. Smith had little in common with the older ladies I interviewed. She explained to me how she rarely used the Internet and watched Fox News when she could, but the majority of her knowledge of events and politics came from listening to the radio. With her job and many classes, she spends much time driving, therefore the radio is the most accessible source of news for her. "Why do I use the radio? Because it's convenient." was Ms. Smith's response.

 One thing that was similar between Ms. Smith and Mrs. Harlow was their thoughts on what is up-coming for news media. They both think alerts through phones will be the next big push, which I believe is already happening in some places. Mrs. Martin had a different opinion however, that streaming the Internet news through your TV is closer on the horizon. And she seems to be right. As our worlds grow bigger with all the information we are bombarded by, we are looking for faster, easier, simpler ways of getting the news we need. Truthfully, we are looking for convenience.


*Names changed for privacy.

Beginning Journalism

   This isn't much of an introduction, but I believe one of the greatest parts of life is the suspense over what is next in the way we are running. So here I begin, sort of in the beginning, and yet right in the middle of  a fantastic, amazing, difficult, but always purposeful journey to share the Truth my Lord has put in my heart and mouth to proclaim. 

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  Early American journalism represents a pattern that we would be wise to continue to follow. We now have many helpful developments in gathering, receiving, and printing which allows us to get information from all over the world in hours, rather than months just to get news from England. We have numerous major newspapers, radio stations, and TV networks that instantly update us on worldwide events. Yet in this flood of information, the small, local newspapers which generated the unity and patriotism among the thirteen colonies to rebel against the most powerful nation in the world, has now been diluted.

  However, this broad focus in journalism on the rest of the world merely reflects what people want from the news and media. Freedom of the press, protected by the First Amendment, changes according to our interests. And, though it may be harmful at times, this is how it should work: the people should have the freedom to receive and direct information as they choose.

  If this freedom were ended, restricted, or even hindered by the government so much would be lost! Lack of or distorted information leaves us to make error after error that would ultimately lead to the crumbling of our democracy; it could lead us into an unnecessary war or hide from us the truth about how our small actions effect the grand scheme of things. In essence, an uninformed people are not a people, but robots doing someone else's bidding, and if we have been given minds to use we must not be content to let someone else run them. We must search and fight for the truth now, otherwise we may never find it. It is there, God has it waiting for those who will run after it, but we must run to it now!