A hope to reduce medical errors

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

By: Erin Floro

Medicare will stop paying for medical errors this Wednesday. Even if it is the doctors fault, you will be billed. Medicare is the largest insurer in the country and their decision has made other insurers follow the same guideline.

These insurers will not pay for as many as 28 "never events." They are called that because they are never supposed to happen. If a patient gets an infection after surgery, or gets bed sores, or needs a second operation because the first one wasn't done properly, Medicare will not pay for the treatment.

This affects alot of people, there are over 12.5 million people annually that are covered by Medicare.

Medicare is reducing payments to hospitals with high readmission rates and they grant bonuses to doctors that report quality measures. Nurses have been trained and are more careful with medications and to prevent falls from happening.

Hospitals strongly enforced washing hands, that even cut as many people from getting sick again. Some changes have been technological, like an electric prescribing machine which reduced medication mistakes.Hospitals are complying with the rule to report medical errors. Doctors and nurses are focusing on avoiding accidents. By Medicare doing this, they want to encourage hospitals to eventually have zero medical errors.

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A hope to reduce medical errors

By: Erin Floro

Medicare will stop paying for medical errors this Wednesday. Even if it is the doctors fault, you will be billed. Medicare is the largest insurer in the country and their decision has made other insurers follow the same guideline.

These insurers will not pay for as many as 28 "never events." They are called that because they are never supposed to happen. If a patient gets an infection after surgery, or gets bed sores, or needs a second operation because the first one wasn't done properly, Medicare will not pay for the treatment.

This affects alot of people, there are over 12.5 million people annually that are covered by Medicare.

Medicare is reducing payments to hospitals with high readmission rates and they grant bonuses to doctors that report quality measures. Nurses have been trained and are more careful with medications and to prevent falls from happening. Hospitals strongly enforced washing hands, that even cut as many people from getting sick again. Some changes have been technological, like an electric prescribing machine which reduced medication mistakes.

Hospitals are complying with the rule to report medical errors. Doctors and nurses are focusing on avoiding accidents. By Medicare doing this, they want to encourage hospitals to eventually have zero medical errors.

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Credibility of journalists



By: Jessica Hamell

I couldn’t find something that interested me more then what I wrote on in my last blog. Journalists and reporters are already criticized for not being reliable. It doesn’t help that there are countless web sites that run fake news stories that are just to catch people attentions, but so many people can let them go as just rumors or fiction.

I found a poll at GeoCities.com which was talking about reporters that stated "44% said they are 'often inaccurate.' "

People often believe what they read or see until someone proves to them that it is wrong.

I found an article telling about how television news station had been fooled by a video they found on YouTube. They aired it on an expose talking about tendencies at a local high school.

The video even looked fake enough that there were comments posted on it saying it was fake but the television station disregarded those comments and still aired it.


Reporters as well as readers should do a little more investigating if they don’t think the news is credible. If people would just put a little more time into getting the news maybe the credibility of journalists would go up.

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Something left out

On Friday, September 26, Brandon Routh, the actor who played Superman in the new Superman movie, attended Simpson College. He was here supporting Obama. I was a lucky student who got to hear his speech.

Something that I noticed while in attendance to Routh speech was all the photographers that were there. There were three or four photographers that were taking photos of Brandon Routh. As I was deciding what to write for this blog I came across one of those photos on Google News.

The photo was of Routh giving his speech in Simpson College's Brenton Student Center. However, the article underneath the photo had nothing to do with Routh's visit to Simpson.

The article focused on the early voting process. The article doesn't even mention Simpson College or really any purpose for having the photo of Brandon Routh. So why did they put the photo with this article?

I know that, at Brandon Routh's speech, he did talk about the early voting process and talked about how students should take advantage of it. The article mentions this idea but not that it was being discussed with college students. It doesn't even mention Brandon Routh.

When writing an article how does the publisher decide what photos, if any will go with it. It just made me question how the process works.

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Stock Market Crisis explained

by, Sarah Keller

In class we have briefly discussed how some newspapers are making it fairly easy to follow the Wall Street crises happening in America, particularly the New York Times. Newspapers are becoming more reader friendly on how to follow everything that is going on with the stock market issues, for those of us who other wise would be dazed and confused.

Newspapers such as the New York Times are doing a good job with explaining how the crisis will pertain to you and how you may be affected by what is going on and what to do about it. One such article was by Tara Sigel Bernard, a recent college graduate who is worried about paying off her student loans.

USA TODAY jumped on board to help readers understand the importance of what is going on in the world today as well, by giving daily reports and keeping us updated on the latest news. USA even wrote an opinion column about the $700 bailout, making it easier for readers to see where other people stand on the issue and to gain more insight on the issues at hand.

If readers still do not understand what is happening they can simply look at comic strips such as Brian Duffy’s from The Des Moines register to see his thoughts on the crisis at hand very plainly stated through illustration.

I would just like to congratulate and thank most top notch newspapers for keeping America updated on the crisis that our country is falling into and for making it understandable for me, a naive college student who in the past saw no use in following the stock markets, to grasp what is happening to our country.

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Just beat it

By: Gabe Gilson

Before this summer, I had no clue whatsoever what a beat writer was. After watching countless hours of ESPN, surprisingly, you seem to learn a thing or two about real life as well as sports.

Beat writers do not only talk sports from day to day but also news, traffic, government and other things as well according to the Harrower text. Writers assigned to the sports beat often cover a single team. This would make for a fun season.

The Chicago Tribune has a particular writer that every day writes about the Cubs. This is his or her job. Steve Rhodes who today writes for his own online publication, The Beachwood Reporter, used to have this dream job. Every day, Rhodes would go to the game, talk to the players, and write what he saw.

How cool would this be? Every day you are going to the ballpark, watching the game, talking to the stars of the team and writing 500 words on a pitcher with a bum elbow, or about the 14 inning marathon game. On top of all this, you get paid! What a deal.

It is not like I am about to jump ship now and become a beat writer. It is more this being a great option for a career that was unfamiliar to me before a few months ago. The only thing is, as a fan of the team one would be covering, staying objective would be difficult.

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Keep on inspiring

By: Kayla Miller

Today, I was reading the Des Moines Register online, and a very inspiring story caught my eye.

An Indianola man has been working with his third-degree burns since he was 18 years old. He also lost the love of his life in his early 40s and lost movement in his left side from a stroke. But even so, he is known as a very optimistic man. Journalist Daniel Finney described him as a "kind of guy who could have an empty, cracked glass in the middle of a desert and believe beyond all doubt that his cup will soon runneth over." Just to know this, makes me want to read to the end. Readers are saying, "Feed me more news."

This man's life is inspirational to readers. The thing is, the article was sixty paragraphs long, and I read it to the very end because I wanted to, not because I had to. I very rarely read lengthy news stories. But this one was inspiring to me, it changed the way I felt when I read article.

Journalists know this. They put it in a way that we will love. They know that personal life stories bring in the readers, and especially since it is so close to the home, like this Indianola man. He made news happen, and was glad to share it in a positive way. And the journalists wrote it that way...

"Half-full. Always, half-full."

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Tough times call for tough answers from reporters

Monday, September 29, 2008

By: Sara Crouse

Increasing concerns with the American economy has changed the average news viewer. Today’s viewers have become more skeptical of current news stories. Sometimes reporting a story isn’t quite enough for viewers.

Many viewers are turning to opinionated news sources such as Mr. Cramer from the TV program “Mad Money” for an insider’s tip on the economy. Reporters now have to put their own twist on a story.

Opinion news provides many viewers with a chance to further explore their own beliefs, which is relevant in a time of turmoil for the markets. Viewing a contrasting opinion in news engages the mind and leads to active discussion amongst its viewers. Discussion of the current bailout plan is a hot commodity these days. No longer are the stock market graphs, at the end of the nightly news, what people want to view. We already know it doesn’t look pretty.

The nightly news, although it serves a generic purpose, seems to be lacking in its relevancy to viewers. Neutrality in the nightly news just isn’t enough for worried watchers. People want facts and they want more than just the basics to help reassure them through difficult times.

There has been a significant trend in reporters turning to the details on many current issues with the economy. The New York Times reports,

“Mr. Cramer found himself having to explain arcane financial concepts like credit-default swaps to an audience that was double its usual size and spooked by the market’s moves.”

Whether we agree with Mr. Cramer or not, its a blessing to hear someone has a plan.

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Hate speech going too far

By: Shauna Agan

While doing research for another class, I learned about a court case involving the Westboro Baptist Church. This church is famously known for protesting certain events and relaying the message that God hates homosexuals and because of homosexuals the world is cursed.

Because of the First Amendment rights in the U.S. Constitution, media is allowed to speak out and express their opinion openly. The Internet has been a convenient source for media to relay their message to the public.

This is why sights such as that of the Westboro Baptist Church titled godhatesfags.com and godhatesamerica.com are legal in the U.S. On the reverse side, there are also sights out there such as godhatesfredphelps.com where people on the opposite end express their feelings about Fred Phelps, the leader of this church group.

There are also many other Internet Web sites promoting hate towards individuals, organizations, or items of interest. With the Millenial Age group of people, more and more Internet sights are being made for this reason.

Should these sights be allowed?

These groups and individuals have the First Amendment right to freedom of speech, so under the U.S. Constitution they are definitely allowed to express their opinions. However, where does the line get drawn so the Internet is not just a means to promote hatred towards different groups?

The Internet is a great source of media. However, soon it is going to be used only as a means to legally discriminate against people rather than for news and information to be received.

I believe that the Internet should be regulated more so Web sites such as these are monitored and used as news rather than a way to promote hatred.

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A final 'New York' Sun set

By: Quinn Albrecht


The New York Sun is set to publish its final paper on Tuesday September 30. The paper was started in October 2001

The paper was established with two goals in mind. One was to offer its readers a different prospective than the New York Times, and to make a profit. 

With a lot of economic woes in the past day or two, it is understandable that somethings like this might happen, but who would have guess they would happen so soon.

This sudden shut down of a huge paper just adds stress to a market that is already seeing signs of trouble.

Quite a few people are loosing their jobs, some have even turned down jobs at larger papers to stay with the Sun.

It is sad to see a up and coming outlets for the news fail like this, especially in a time when we need the news more than ever.

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Editing strikes back

By: Adrian Aitken

A couple of weeks ago Barack Obama appeared on the O'Reilly Show for an interview about the candidate's issues and the upcoming election. Unfortunately as ABC News was covering the television spot, the newsgroup edited the footage just right to make Obama's statements on the Iraq War different from reality.

Again controversy surfaces as another news group commits the same offence. MSNBC's news anchor Andrea Mitchell reported on the recent interview between Bill Clinton and Tom Brokaw.

During this interview Brokaw wanted to know if Clinton would endorse Obama the same as he had previously done with John McCain. Clinton replied with a fairly long statement, but when the clip was re-aired on MSNBC Clinton's answer seemed to be hollow and unenthusiastic.

The cropped footage was aired during two different news programs on MSNBC and has shown that the media has few boundries. In my last blog on this subject I said that a hidden agenda must be present in some of these shows. I was willing to accept that from Fox News and CNN, but now it would seem no where is safe for an unbiased, non-party viewer except for maybe CSPAN. If the news is to be trusted I believe more objective reporters ought to be on the air than these which speculate and spin.

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Punctuation!

By; Sarah Keller

There was an article in USA TODAY by Craig Wilson on punctuation day about… punctuation! This article made me laugh because the author discussed how bad he was with punctuation, particularly commas, semi colons, and exclamation marks, that was what his whole article consisted of.

I have to admit that the reason I found this article so funny was because I can completely relate with him and his difficulties to use proper punctuation marks. The main reason I normally get points taken off of papers is because of the editing, other wise known as correct uses of punctuation.

It brought some relief to me to know that there is at least one professional journalist out there who is as terrible with punctuation as I am. We both know what it feels like to get torn apart by editors for not using correct punctuation, and we both feel as though we were absent the day in school when the teachers taught us how to properly use commas. So I just want to say thank you Wilson for making it so I am not the only journalist in the world who feels incompetent with their punctuation marks.

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Tabloid Journalism

By: Taylor Browning

After talking tabloids in class today I was curious as to how much actual 'news' was written in them. They seem to have the less than professional journalism stereotype compaired to large newspapers but some of their stories were a lot more serious than I thought they would be.

The National Enquirer's home page listed the obvious 'I Made Brit Sex Tape' and ' Doped Heather DUI Bust' headlines were listed big and bold, but with some searching I found some actual news.

They discretely listed thumbnails about Palin's alleged affair years ago, as well as an article about Ted Kennedy's trip to the hospital. Although they aren't the tabloid's highlights, I was intrigued to see that the Enquirer covered these stories.

I previously have viewed tabloids containing only scandals and crimes by stars but now after actually looking past the cover stories and looking at the Web sites, my perception of them has changed and I now give them more credit on their journalism than before.

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I'm glad the advertisers aren't with it.

By: Katie Anthony

Over the past year, the amount of videos watched online has gone up an alarming 31 percent according to research done by The Washington Post.

You'd think that with the increasing popularity with online videos that advertisers would be jumping on the bandwagon to adapt to these videos. Yet, it doesn't seem like they're ready to dive into the world of online videos, television shows, and movies.

Good, it makes our lives a lot nicer.

While I understand the need for advertisements to keep stations up and running because of the money the advertisers put into their ads, it's so much nicer to be able to watch something online (whether it be a movie or catching up on a television show) knowing that I won't have to be interrupted every 15 minutes for a commercial break.

So, please advertisement companies, don't change your habits of the way you deliver of your ads, you're definitely making my life a lot nicer.

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Just A Laugh?

Sunday, September 28, 2008


By: Kelsey Knutson


According to Fox news, Tina Fey took the stage at SNL again portraying McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin. This time it was a sit-down interview with "Katie Couric" (Poehler) on the CBS news. 

The SNL skit made jabs against Palin and her "lack of knowledge" on many policies in Washington D.C. One part of the skit had Couric (Peohler) asking Palin (Fey) what she wants to do when it comes to spreading democracy abroad, Palin (Fey) replied, "Katie, I want to use one of my life lines...I want to phone a friend."

Saturday Night Live may just be comical show that many young people watch every Saturday night, but does it actually influence young voters?

This question has been raised and is being debated across the country. Many people are wondering if this election is at the hands of stand-up comics and sharp humor. And are the jokes biased?

I think that shows like SNL do effect some voters and how they look at candidates. If you make fun of people on t.v. some people may just simply assume that they deserved to be made fun of, and in turn assume they are stupid. 

However, I don't think this applies to the majority of people that will be voting this November. I feel that many of the young people that will be voting in this election are well informed and have already formed their opinions from what they've learned and read and not from what they've seen on SNL or other comedians. 


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Political bloggers becoming staple in American politics

by: Pat Tierney

With the presidential elections just around the corner, there is no doubt that this race is one for the history books. Along with all the “firsts” that have come with this election, the prominence of blogging in the political circles in quickly becoming historic as well.

Democrats and Republicans alike are turning to the web to voice their opinions and draw support. During this election cycle political bloggers are generating interest on their blogs for candidates, raising funds for their political party and “getting out the vote.”

Bloggers are not just waiting to see presidential debates on television but rather logging onto blogs and starting new debates daily. This is giving people an opportunity to openly discuss the current issues almost in real time.

During the first presidential debate on Friday night, many websites opened up blogs that would run live during the debate. This allowed viewers to blog in real time about the issues the candidates were discussing.

As the race continues the impact that the political bloggers will become clearer. For now however, these dedicated bloggers will continue to hit the web, in search of support and promotion and maybe even a little debate.

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Sorry, you can't have an opinion about that...at least not here

Saturday, September 27, 2008

By Liz Tjaden

We have talked a lot about how blogging has become a great source for information, communication and news. They can give a voice to people who normally wouldn’t be able to be heard. Opinions can be raised and disagreements can be played out. However, rarely do we hear much about students being punished or chastised for what they write. Alana Taylor never thought that would happen to her until her blog got national attention.

On Sept. 5, Taylor wrote a blog about her thoughts on a journalism class she is taking at NYU called Reporting Gen Y. It is a course about journalism and how it affects Generation Y, those born roughly between 1982 and 1994. The blog that she wrote, posted on MediaShift, was Taylor’s personal opinion about classes, professors, and fellow classmates at NYU.

Her blog covers three main points: her disappointments of NYU and their “traditional” journalistic views, the lack of bloggers around her and how important she thinks it is to get beyond print and focus on digital new media.

While she has every right to publish what she wants to, this didn’t make many people happy in the Big Apple including her classmates and professor. Taylor wrote about things her professor said in class and talked about other students and their lack of blogging.

These events have sparked a lot of controversy and questions about freedom of speech rights compared to privacy rights.

If Taylor isn’t making any libelous or untruthful statements about the actions of her class does posting it make it right?

Sure it does! College is a time for self expression. It seems like Taylor is light years beyond her fellow classmates in terms of technology and digital media and now she is being chastised for it?

It could be argued that Taylor had right to say those things about her professor and department. There are things a professor says in class that don’t need to be repeated. Especially to the whole world.

Great, it’s glad to hear that we are going to start silencing those with opinions that we don’t agree with now. Hasn’t anyone sat back and thought maybe she has a point? Obviously, she feels like there are problems within her school that are not being addressed. The question is, if her blog should be the place do that.

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Soaring Gas Prices... No problem

By: Katie Schaefer

Everyone these days are struggling with the soaring prices of gas. The National Research Council is trying to develop a way to get around this problem though.

They have developed a way for people to not use gas, but hydrogen instead. They have had this idea for a while now, but they haven't really acted on it. There is a lot of difficult pieces to put together to make the hydrogen cars, so researchers are having problems with it.

A problem that comes along with the hydrogen cars is that there is no place to fill the cars up with hydrogen. Every car runs on petroleum so we only have petroleum pumps around. It is going to cost a lot of money to put in new hydrogen pumps.

The question is is the new hydrogen cars really worth it. I think they are, and I think a lot of good will come from them.

One thing is that the gas cars we have now produce one-third of the carbon dioxide we have in the air. With hydrogen cars they only produce water and it would get rid of a lot of the carbon dioxide in the air.

The bad thing is that we would have to spend a lot of money putting in pipelines below the ground. A lot of money that our government doesn't have.

All in all the hydrogen cars are going to be a place. They are going to be expensive at first, but when the researchers figure out how to mass produce the cars then they will get a lot cheaper.

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Determining news from sleaze

Friday, September 26, 2008

By: Hannah Pickett

It is a journalist's job and duty to report facts and unveil information, secrets, and bits of information no one else has done. But, when does the search for the fresh new spin teeter on the fine line between reporting relevant facts and reporting National Enquirer trash?

Just this week, an Alaskan man released what is believed to be 100% genuine video footage of Republican vice presidential candidate, Sarah Palin's participation in the 1984 Miss Alaskan beauty pageant swimsuit competition.

Once the video was out, it hit broadcasts like Entertainment Tonight, as well as CNN. My question is this: Sure, this is a trashy interesting bit of information worthy of the print and broadcast tabloids, but does it deserve time on reputable newscasts like the Today show or CNN? Where is the line drawn between tacky, irrelevant, gossip-style information seeking and good journalism?

How is 'good' journalism defined? This video footage would have been more suiting and acceptable to report of an actress, pop singer, or well-known reporter, rather than the first woman vice presidential candidate.

Was there an agenda behind the timing of this specific 'release of video' with the election just around the corner? Was this a liberal attempt at further attempting to point out that Palin may not be the model of conservative views?

Journalistic ethics are an issue in everyday reporting. Deciding news from sleaze is obviously arbitrary to the reader and reporter, but definitely raises some flags in situations like this one.

Who cares if the VP candidate was a beauty pageant contestant? Will this honestly affect her desired position in the White House? Those are the questions a reporter must struggle with in determining news from Hollywood, in this case, presidential race, sleaze.

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The latest news-delivery technologies


We're just starting to get used to getting our news from computer screens via the Web or maybe our cellphones or BlackBerrys. But it seems that those technologies are going to be so yesterday — perhaps even as soon as, well, tomorrow.

What are the newest technologies? Poynter's Ellyn Angelotti is back from the Online News Association convention in Washington with a heads up on the 10 newest technologies for news delivery. Some of them are going to blow your mind. At least they did mine.

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CBS raises questions of newspaper ratings

Thursday, September 25, 2008

By: Allison McNeal

Print newspapers are starting to face opposition by large media corporations.

Leslie Moonves, chief executive officer of CBS Corp., recently stated how the corporation wants to move away from print media and more towards the Internet.

With the purchase of CNET, the company got an instant boost and may become a major player in the media world. The main aim of the corporation is to shift the corporation away from an older media company to a technologically advanced one.

According to Wired.com, the CEO "plans to position his company as a one stop shop for news and information, potentially eliminating the need for dead tree media." He exclusively stated that 'one of the advantages of the Internet is [that] we’re taking money away from the newspapers.'

This statement was opposed strongly by many blogtalkers, including Phil Bronstein. Bronstein acknowledges that the newspaper industry is declining, but is hopeful that they can come out of their slump.

He did not agree with Moonves about how the Internet should take money away from newspapers.

"Newspapers are still making some money, most of them. And Les, [...] I'm guessing your CBS nightly news still gets a fair amount of content from the journalists who work in these teetering places and the stories they produce. And you get to borrow it for free. What a deal for you."

The way Moonves expressed his opinion on print media did raise some eyebrows, but print newspapers are declining and online publications are steadily increasing.

A recent report from Scarborough Research shows the differences between print newspaper viewings and the viewing of both newspapers and online publications. The study shows that individuals tend to view a combination of print media and online publications more than just the print media.

For example, the Des Moines Register is shown as having 68% of viewers that either read or looked at the just the paper. The percentage rose to 70% for those that looked at print and the online site.

This percentage might not seem like it has a very strong effect, but it does show how online newspapers are increasing.

As we discussed in class, do we try to fight the online trend or embrace the "go-green" approach that society is undertaking? There is no clear answer yet, but society will eventually express what they want and give meaning to the people's voice.

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When easier becomes worse

By: Lexie Hagerty

I have always wanted to be a writer. I wanted to write a novel or articles for a magazine, both of which would feel like accomplishments worth achieving. The idea of holding my first completed book in my hands would be umbelievable to me.

However, recently I have changed my mind due to the easy ways in which a work is published. I am glad that writers can blog, write articles, and even publish their books online; however, I truly think that it diminishes the whole sense of accomplishment because it is easy.

Yes, it is easier, but is it supposed to be? Some people would argue that it is about the quality of the information, not the way in which it is accessed, but I believe that the only true sense of accomplishment in writing would to hold my work in my hand.
In an article on 10,000 words.net, the writer said that it is easier to screw the system and put a work online rather than go through the normal routine of getting it published. I beg to differ. To me, the publishing world is becoming like a monetary unit in that the more that is produced, the less each individual link is worth.

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Tough times for all

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

By: Callie McBroom

Most of the news attention today is focused on tough economic problems for the country. Issues with personal finances that have a limited impact have now come alongside wide-spread concerns of failing financial institutions and insurance companies. Failure is not, however, limited to only financial institutions. We are also seeing some of these failures within the newspaper industry.

We all know that print newspapers have taken a substantial hit in recent years. Print revenues have been in a continuous downward spiral for years. This can be attributed to newspapers bringing in billions of dollars less every year in advertising revenues. Many newspapers are taking their news to online sources in hopes of finding revenue to balance out print sources. But even these revenues, according to Erick Schonfeld, were down 2.4 percent in the last year.

This could be turned around for newspapers soon because of a new platform just introduced by Yahoo. ATP brings the opportunity to publishers to sell into Yahoo local inventory and then brings several newspaper properties to national advertisers.

Newspapers are the first to have access to the new technology, which allows them to target advertisers and sell audience as opposed to section. Many are hoping that these new abilities will bring in revenue and save the future of newspapers.

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A picture's worth a thousand words, but what about YouTube?

by Peter Merchlewitz

Following my last blogs' theme of censorship, I found myself once again at David Lee's jBlog, and this time, he's not talking about cropping sections of a photo from a Middle East reporter, but this time, he tackles the topic of removing footage from video.

Peter Horrocks, head of the BBC newsroom, posted on the BBC Editors' Blog, commenting on the YouTube clip showing gunman Matti Juhnai Saari, stating:

"Our competitors chose to run the full footage of Matti Juhnai Saari issuing his threat 'You will die next', followed by him firing towards the camera and the explosion of pieces of fruit across the lens as his bullets found their target. The BBC chose only to run the verbal threat, but not the firing or the splattered fruit."

Well, that's all well and good...but the fact of the matter is, you lied. As it turns out, the BBC did end up showing the YouTube clip in its entirety. However, when the six o' clock news came on, the BBC had ended up censoring the clip. Is there even a valid reason as to why the BBC would want to edit the showing of the clip?

First off, news is news, no matter how graphic or violent it is. At least have the newscaster comment on the graphic nature of the video clip, and then offer viewer discretion. Secondly, wouldn't the YouTube clip be considered a terrorist act? By definition, terrorism is the act of using violence and threats to intimidate or coerce the public. So by that means, wouldn't the BBC be fueling terrorism by editing their broadcast of the shooting clip during their news?

The clips were shown, Mr. Horrcks, so why lie?

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If you can't write, don't post

By Austin Bates

Recently, I stumbled across a small blog post that reminded me of one of my greatest pet peeves: incorrectly spelled, edited, punctuated, or otherwise written comments, forum, or blog posts. Of course, this also extends to news media and print media in general.

I'm a bit of an amateur blogger, as in I constantly post to discussion forums and group walls on Facebook. Some very contentious topics are brought up on occasion with some of the discussions, and though I may completely disagree with them, I respect their contributions, thoughts and opinions. That is, unless they misspell everything, have improper grammar, and no or limited punctuation.

Some of these people bring up good points, and frankly, they could have the secret to the meaning of life, but as far as I'm concerned, if they're not even willing to take an extra minute or two to spellcheck, use punctuation, and make sure that sentences read correctly, than I have to assume they're also that unwilling to check their facts and make logical arguments. Besides, as much as I want to take two minutes to read a 30 second post, I have more important things to do, including reading and responding to the posts of people who care about presenting a proper argument and have the decency to write correctly.

The same goes for professional print media. I can understand a simple word misspelling every 200 words or so, or an incorrect word-swap (for example, "their" instead of "there"), but if the publication is routinely using incorrect sentence structures, fallacies in their arguments, have dozens of words misspelled, and generally make the publication harder to read than it should be, I begin seriously questioning the legitimacy of the publication.

In terms of a newspaper, one must consider that there are supposed to be a slew of people looking over and working on one article, and if ALL of those people missed something, that calls into question their dedication to accuracy and just how factual their facts are. And a book with major errors is even more suspect, because of any lack of urgency or deadlines that must be met (in most cases).

Words are things that, once said or written, cannot be withdrawn or redone or corrected. It seems only logical then that one take even more caution with what one says and writes before it gets sent to the public. Making an incorrect product of manufacturing is one thing, but spouting a bunch of non-sense and typographically filled sentences damages, or even destroys, your reputation, and a reputation is not something easily repaired or rebuilt.

Besides, with all this modern technology, including spell-check, you would think that people would be better than ever at writing. That seems not to be the case, though. In the end, all I ask is that if you're going to post a response to what I, or anyone else, has to say, do yourself a favor, and those reading your response, and take time to spell and write it correctly. Then I'll take what you have to say more seriously.

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Palin preps for debate

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

By:  Erin Floro


Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin met with world leaders on Tuesday, September 23.  These included Afghan President Karzai, Colombian President Uribe, and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.  She was preparing herself for the upcoming debate next week with the Democratic VP candidate Joe Biden.

At least five U.S. news networks protested the fact that she would not let them sit in on the meetings.  She also refused to take any questions from journalists.  In meeting with these dignitaries, Palin was trying to prove that she is comfortable and can handle herself in these situations dealing with foreign policy.

The Democrats are trying to draw attention to her inexperience in foreign relations.  However the Republicans defend Palin, that she is no different than Reagan and Clinton who also prepped themselves with international leaders.  

Palin herself, even though she is being attacked for lack of knowledge in international affairs, feels confident that she is ready for the job of Vice President.

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Chrysler and GM's eco-friendly investments don't look promising

By: Kathryn Lisk


As gas prices continue to soar, the features people seek in a new car have shifted immensely. People care less about the convenience of SUVs and more about gas mileage. Americans continue to buy into the foreign car industry because the Toyota Prius simply can't be beat by any American car. 

It seems  Chrysler is ready to stand up to the challenge. They have designed vehicles that still have the convenience of an SUV or the luxury of a sports car without the gas price. Tom LaSorta, president for Chrysler, unveiled their plan to release three electric cars, including one resembling their current mini van, a four-door Jeep Wrangler, and a Dodge sports car by 2010 that will run exclusively on a lithium-ion battery.

Chrysler is not the first company to bring these ideas to the table. General Motors has already released information on the Chevy Volt, which is also scheduled for 2010 and will run exclusively on battery, as well.

 Chrysler and GM are both praying that releasing eco-friendly vehicles will be exactly what the public has been waiting for. But is it?

The Chevy Volt is currently priced around $40,000, which is a little expensive for a family looking to save money from gas prices. Plus, most cars within this price range are faster and obviously don't need to be charged every 400 miles. This makes long road trips inefficient and difficult. 

Not to mention that neither company has formally contracted someone to produce the lithium-ion batteries. Producing this product on a large scale has never been done before and will be a challenge for either corporation to find someone who can do it by 2010. 

I was very happy to see that American car companies were trying to go green, but I don't think 2010 will be a shifting point for GM or Chrysler. It is definitely a step in the right direction, but it looks as though America hasn't found the answer to the energy crisis yet.


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Fake news story

By: Jessica Hamell

Writers from the Los Angeles Times are suing ex-subscribers because they “failed to appreciate our bodacious journalism and recklessly canceled their subscriptions.” they are suing 425,000 of the ex-subscribers.

A piece of the lawsuit states, “By recklessly canceling their subscriptions, these morons have caused irreparable harm to the newspaper, breached their civic duty to stay fully informed, and missed some totally awesome articles by Pulitzer Prize-winning auto columnist Dan Neil, as well as money-saving Sunday coupons that could easily offset the subscription price.”

It isn’t fair to sue these people because they don’t know for sure what their reason for cancelling was. You can’t prove that every one of those 425,000 people cancelled just because they didn’t appreciate the writing.

Who would think of suing someone for not wanting to read your newspaper? If you have 425,000 people cancel their subscriptions you must be doing something wrong.

The lawsuit is seeking damages of $2.99 a week.

I am pretty sure this is a fake story because is comes from The Fake L.A. Times Web page. This somewhat shows that you can’t believe everything that is written.

This Web page has established itself as untrustworthy by the stories it writes which are just to amuse the readers.

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Journalist's Display of Tact Refreshing

By: Sarah Harl

Over the last few weeks, it has been no secret that the economy has encountered its most difficult stage since the Great Depression. It has caused a financial crisis of epic proportions. But one place where you won't find words of doom and despair is the printed pages of a newspaper.

Not wanting to cause panic or rash decisions by readers, journalists at many newspapers across the country have refrained from using language that would cause panic among their readers--words such as "crash" or "failure".

This is not to say that journalists are not accurately and harshly reporting on the shortcomings of many of the financial institutions in the US. Nor are they downplaying the current economic status of the country.

Instead, many journalists have consented to the fact that they are not, in fact, financial experts, and realizing the weight of some of the articles they write with everyday Americans.

It is the job of a journalist strictly to report the news and what is happening. Not to convince people to move around their money or pull out of the stock market. That job belongs to professionals who are frantically working to minimize the damage of this economic downfall.

A display of journalists remembering what their job is, as opposed to trying to offer advice they have no expertise in giving is refreshing, and will help to keep panic to a minimum. And if panic is kept to a minimum, we will be able to recover from this period of time hopefully on slightly worse for the wear.

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How old are you again?

By: Jessica Hartgers

A 37 year old woman has been arrested for allegedly having sex with a 15 year old boy. Shannon Rew of Indianola was turned into the police by her mother who was fed up with the whole situation, later Rew admitted to having romantic feelings for the boy.

Rew is being charged with 12 counts of third-degree sex abuse after having a sexual relationship with the boy that lasted approximately two months. Rew is also being charged with dissemination and exhibition of obscene material to minors and admitting minors to premises where obscene material is exhibited.

The day after the Indianola police got the call from Rew's mother, the police and local news crews showed up at Rew's place of work which happens to be a day care in Indianola. In the background of several interviews held at the day care there are children playing outside on the playground. The news crews should have chosen a different location to use as a background for their interviews, young innocent children should not have been in the news at all.

In fact, the local news stations should not have even shown up at the day care. The 15 year old boy Rew was having sexual relations with was in no way connected to the day care, yet the journalists made it seem that way.

News reporters and journalists held out this major detail until the very end of the story to keep the viewers attention and to keep them tuned into their channel. The way the journalist reported this story on television was a sneaky way around the truth.

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Gay news is great news

By: Kayla Miller

Of course, we all have a tendency to make sure we are up-to-date with the latest news of the celebrities. Especially those who are gay. I mean, of course, it is juicy gossip when you hear that Clay Aiken came "out of the closet" to People Magazine.

I can hear it already, friend to friend, "Did you know that Clay Aiken is gay and has a baby?" Most people had a clue about his sexuality way back from when he won American Idol. But now it is finally real news when it comes out into the public and makes the topic of conversations.

How does the media know what kind of stories bring in viewers? Do they ever think that they are invading Aiken's space? Well, by the looks of it, Aiken wanted people to know by saying, "I cannot raise a child to lie or hide things." And according to People Magazine, they wanted the world to know, too, because of course... gay news is great news.

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Wall Street for dummies

By: Gabe Gilson

There are many newspapers out there for a college student to read. Of course, any student would like to read the local student published paper, or maybe the city run paper. As a college student, I cannot be sure how another student my age could read The Wall Street Journal for more than five minutes.

Over the past few weeks, I have tried and tried to keep up with the newspaper. It seems as if one would have to have multiple degrees from Harvard or Yale just to understand the topics of some of the articles.

And while not everything is that confusing, inapprehensive and downright befuddling, how can a newspaper come out without even a sports section? Is this not unconstitutional? Yes, this may be the business man’s paper but, would you not want to know a few scores here and there?

U.S.A. Today has become my favorite nationally published newspaper. When reading this particular publication, one can find out everything you ever needed to know in the sporting world as well as the news about the $100 billion tax break passed by the Senate, or about Clay Aiken coming out of the closet, or even information about business that The Wall Street Journal could provide.

So here is my proposal to The Wall Street Journal: make a daily edition of the paper entitled The Wall Street Journal for dummies. This is why it would work. The writers that would be hired could be just people that got C’s in college rather than A’s. The reading audience would be much larger because America has become stupid (watch Idiocracy anybody that argues). There could be an entire section that defines those hard vocabulary words in the big boy Wall Street Journal
of that day.

So why not Wall Street? Why not make my day and publish a newspaper for those who were not the valedictorians of their respective high schools. Hell, why not a paper for those who do not have to use spell checker to spell valedictorian? Just a thought.

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Blogs are media

By: Alex Jones


Blogs are becoming more popular among today's Web-surfers. 77.7 million people in the U.S. visit blogs each day and  Along almost 1 million posts per day are made. Blogs are even being compared in relevancy to the New York Times. 

With the growing number of viewers, blogs are slowly being transformed into a source of media. They are providing lots of people with information that is credible for them. Not only is blogging a way to get information to a large audience it can also be a way of earning an income. 

Attract 100,000 viewers and you could be looking at a $75,000 paycheck per year. Blogging is a simple and effective way to get your points heard. You no longer have to be a serious journalist to have people listen to your opinions, perhaps why blogging is so popular? 


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First Amendment Doesn't Protect Poor Choices

By: Kelsey Knutson 


According to FOX news an 11-year-old boy was suspended from school after he refused to take off an anti-Obama shirt. Daxx Dalton walked into school Monday sporting his "red, white, and blue," however he did so in tasteless fashion.

Dalton was given the option of turning his shirt inside-out or being suspended from school - the 5th grader chose to be suspended. 

The FOX article suggests how Dalton's father was upset about his son being suspended, and how Dalton and his father both agree that they are taking away his right to freedom of speech.  Freedom of speech or not, how in the world does any parent allow their child to leave for school in a shirt like that?

Over the course of time the media has gotten away with outrageous print and accusations towards people in society. Our culture as changed and allowed people (even fifth graders) to test the boundaries and limits set up in society that are actually set in place to protect them. The "freedom of the press" and therefore "freedom of speech" issues have trickled down into our everyday lives.

We now have parents who think it's okay to let their kids go to school with homemade t-shirts bashing a particular individual - and then say that it is considered "patriotic."

Where are the parents, where are the rules, and where is the respect? 

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What we do for a story

By Kellie Green

Governor Sarah Palin has been big news ever since Senator John McCain named her his Vice President running mate. The media keeps coming up with more news about her for citizens to read. However, when does it just become to much?

I know last week in my blog I talked about how I wanted more. Now I am contradicting myself. In going over an article in Journalism.org , I found an interesting story on Governor Palin. It was talking about Palin's religious views and how they can and might affect the votes.

We have heard almost anything and everything about Governor Palin but the media keeps coming up with more. I am not a support of Governor Sarah Palin but I still don't think that she should have things, like their religious views, strung out through the papers.

In the article, it talked about how a journalist reported in World Magazine about Palins views on religion and how she expresses them. Religion is a big thing in our country but is it what makes a person who they are?

Seeing all the stories being posted about Governor Palin I thought this was the most interesting because it is basically saying that her religion is what is going to swing people's votes. Which may be true. However, shouldn't our society be focusing on what she is wanting to change or do if she holds office.

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New change of topic

By: Lexie Hagerty

In the campaign coverage index on Journalism.org, there was an article about how economics has become the new topic for the campaign. The article focuses on how it took a meltdown on Wall Street for anyone to notice that the candidate's views and ideas to help the economy might make or break their campaign.

I personally love the article and am glad someone has finally pointed out that the elections are getting off track.

It is not necessarily society's fault, however. Society learns of the elections through the media. The campaign article said that the Wall Street story is only the second time this year that an event other than the compaign emerged to the no. 1 topic of the week.

Thus, the media should quit focusing on Barack Obama's race and Sarah Palin's sex and instead inform our nation about important issues like the economy and the financial crisis that could take place.

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10 years of music reporting

Monday, September 22, 2008

By: Sara Crouse

Reporting today is about getting the facts fast. Its about getting the facts accurate though too. Breaking news is perhaps the hardest to get accurate, but reliable sources can be a reporter’s best option. One TV station, MTV, dedicated a show to getting the facts straight about new music.

Total Request Live, (TRL), is a commonly known MTV show that focuses on world-premier music videos and artist commentary on CD releases. How else would the public comprehend what the latest Miley Cyrus song is truly about? TRL provides fans with direct interviews to get the latest on Miley and many more A-list stars.

The show dedicates itself to not only showing the latest videos/interviews, but also the most popular ones. This concept of
viewer voting was relatively ground breaking when TRL started 10 years ago. A viewer having the option to pick their Top 10 videos perhaps limits the public’s accessibility to a range of music though. What if the nightly news were done in the same format?

Instead, the American public relies on reporters to pick the Top 10 news stories of the day. Reporters are perhaps more credible than the everyday man in the street. Reporters strive to bring us ‘news’ and educate the public.

Whether TRL reporters are credible is debatable, but they have left an impression on the music world. The zany interviews with some of the past decade’s most famous celebrities are unforgettable. Such interviews have pushed viewers a step closer into the world of musicians.

With TRL’s recent cancellation, music lovers will have to decipher the best new music on their own. Reporters won’t be available to help us understand the latest love songs on the radio. We’ll have to become our own reporter.

As N’SYNC would have said 10 years ago, “Its tearin’ up my heart” that we’ll have to become conscious of our music tastes.

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Editing does make a difference

By: Shauna Agan

When visiting Lincoln High School in Des Moines, I came across a copy of The Railsplitter, a student-ran newspaper. I haven’t read this newspaper forever and wanted to see what was new at my former school, so I decided to pick up a newspaper.

From what I have been taught already, I saw a lot of things in the paper that can and should be changed in the writings, but of course these students may not have learned proper techniques to writing yet beings they are still in high school. What disturbed me, though, were the inaccuracies and contradictions in the sports section.

As a former softball player for Lincoln, I decided to look at the softball article wrapping up last season’s results. The article said, “A key highlight of the game was Junior Courtney Ghee’s three run homerun which made the final score 2-1”.

Correct me if I am wrong, but if Ghee hit a three run homer, shouldn’t the final score have been 3-1? A little bit of simple editing would have caught this mistake.

Next, I read an article about the varsity football team. The article said that the sophomore team last year had a record of 7-1. However, right after stating this, a quote from football player Devon Miller says, “Our sophomore year we went 0-8”.

Now, either the writer completely messed up the record of last year’s sophomore team, or he was referring to a different class and did not clarify the distinction to the readers.

While I understand that these students are still in high school and have a lot of room for improvement in their writing, the editor or even the teacher in charge should have caught these errors. Maybe a little extra time editing before sending the paper to print wouldn’t hurt.

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Media outlets also struggle during economy downfall

By: Taylor Browning



As the economy takes a turn for the worse, everyone relies on newspapers, the Internet, and television to get their facts. Due to this reliance it would seem newspapers would be booming with profits, but in reality they are also at a downfall.

Companies are cutting back on advertisement spending in order to save money, which is taking away from newspaper's income. Along with the accessibility of the Internet, it is difficult for these newspapers to make back the money they are losing through empty advertisement space.

Newspapers are now subject to budget cuts as well as laying off employees due to their shortfall of money. Altering newspaper layouts and cutting out 'unnecessary columns' such as fashion and opinion columns to shorten their paper is becoming an alternative to help money issues.

While insurance and banking companies are receiving billions of dollars in loans to keep afloat, many other niches of businesses are not receiving the financial help they may need. Newspapers are the ones informing us about the economic turmoil, while feeling the burn they initially report about.

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Time for change

By: Adrian Aitken

Web logging is a trend which spread through the country like wildfire. Anyone can do it from anywhere in the world and can also be viewed by anyone everywhere. Today though what is the point?

True many blogs give exclusive information about items people care about yet countless more don't. Finally the fire has reached the tops of the trees and the celebrities have joined the blogger's ranks. Paris Hilton for instance has recently posted about her latest promotional trip to Europe. This really seems unnecessary and distracting in the media world.

On the other hand not all celebrity blogs are bad. Bono for instance has recently started a new posting. It is not filled with which shirt he decided to buy today, but rather the post informs people of an international peace conference from an inside reporters view.

Blogs need to have a purpose beyond random tidbits of useless information and more regulation. Now I'm certainly not saying blocking people from blogging, but separate it into different categories. For example, a blog about sports where a guarantee of seriousness in facts is present could be called a splogg.If everyone "Blogs" it will lose its meaning much like saying a word out loud over and over.

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NBC.com & CNBC.com reach new heights

Sunday, September 21, 2008

By: Katie Anthony

As a firm believe of "every negative holds a positive," I searched long and hard for the positive of the Wall Street misfortune.

The best I could come up with is that CNBC's website hit new heights of "abnormal" customer usage that Monday of the Wall Street crash. I suppose someone has to benefit, right?

The Wall Street drama brought a new number of "abnormal" (non-frequent) users to CNBC's website. Their new total of "abnormal" users reached to 1 million. Which is a 26 percent increase from the previous site's best.

Not only was the Wall Street trouble what helped CNBC hit a new peak, Tina Fey's "Saturday Night Live" Sarah Palin impression was posted on their other Website, which also made iTunes' rating soar as well as many people downloaded the Palin impression.

Within four days of the Fey video being posted on NBC, it had reached a new height of 5.7 million views, and it's still growing.

I think this shows that while a lot of people are concered with the issues on Wall Street and what the latest poll shows on the race for the office, many people are also taking a few minutes to lighten their day by laughing at the numerous puns throw to Palin from Fey.

If you haven't seen the impression yet, I urge you to catch up on Wall Street and follow up with a few laughs from Tina Fey as Sarah Palin.

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Media & Conflict

Saturday, September 20, 2008

By: Pat Tierney

This past week I had the opportunity to hit the McCain Palin campaign trail during their mid-west tour. One of their largest rallies, was right here in Iowa, at an airport hanger in Cedar Rapids.

Having a photography background really makes me key into the press pool photographers. This Cedar Rapids event was no different. The rally started off with the excited cheers of a couple thousand McCain and Palin supporters. After only 10 minutes though the domineer changed.

From the back corner, right in front of one of the largest media platforms, a girl jumped on a man's shoulders and started yelling in protest as Sen. McCain was giving his speech. Sen. McCain calmly ignored the taunting but the press did not.

As if wild wolves on a pack of sheep, all cameras focused on this girl. Photographers we're scrambling around the press area to get that "shot."

That "shot" was taken over and over again, as Sen. McCain tried to continue his speech. As I was standing there surrounded by press, my mind couldn't help but think about the media's obsession with conflict.

Time and time again the public has seen the headlines that scream about conflict. Conflict sells papers, it attacks viewers, and will get reader attention. Some may say that the protester at the McCain Palin rally was or wasn't the biggest news from the event. But there's no questions about it - that the media had it covered all over.

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The world of journalism.

By: Sarah Keller

At our Simpsonian meeting last Monday a Simpson Alumni, who is now an editor for The Record Herold and Indianola Tribune, came and spoke to our class about his job and the world of journalism.

Something that he said which really stuck out in my mind was that today's papers are about 40 percent news and 60 percent advertisements. It used to be that news papers were about 50/50 or even 60 percent news and 40 percent advertisements. This statement just reinforces what we have talked about in class about the subject of a reader only giving a few seconds to an article, things in today's fast past society need to to be short and informative. One web site showing support of the statement that newspapers have more advertisements than news is the popular site slate.com, where there are advertisements on the top and the side margins

Another thing that the editor spoke of that I really enjoyed was regarding the subject of jobs in journalism. Many people in the classes have blogged about how it is impossible to get a job in journalism in the world today. However, according to the editor who spoke to our class last week, when his newspaper is looking for people to hire, they look for people with experience; but they also look for new young talented adults who can write stories well and fast. This could be any number of students in our class.

The last thing that the editor spoke of that I would like to share is about the importance of the inverted pyramid, which we have been discussing in class. He said that it is necessary to use the inverted pyramid about 90 percent of the time, and it is an important thing to know in the field of journalism.

It disappoints me a little bit that news in today's society has to be very short and to the point, and that there is more room for advertisements than news itself. But that is what society wants today, and I believe that journalist are doing a great job of meeting these requirements.

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Journalists criticizing movie critic journalists

Friday, September 19, 2008

By: Hannah Pickett

In a recent entertainment article I read criticizing movie critics was journalistically interesting. The MSN writer was criticizing movie critics in general. Aren't movie critics just journalists who form opinions about blockbuster movies?

The MSN writer discusses three main criticisms of the movie critic profession.

1. They have the dream job--getting to see movies before everyone else. 2. The "geezer syndrome" saying that the current critics have been around since the beginning of time. She goes on to suggest that they shouldn't allow critics over the age of 30. 3. They have no respect for the superhero movies. 4. Lighten up. The writer thinks that movie critics need to realize they aren't criticizing Shakespeare, but rather modern writing and acting.

The MSN writer believes that we are the true movie critics-bloggers. Movie critics for print and broadcast are a thing of the past.

If a journalist specializing in criticizing movies' job is becoming obsolete, when will other journalism professions follow?

In a nutshell, the MSN writer thinks that because of her view of the average movie critic's age, movies don't get the reviews they deserve. Would this be considered age discrimination?

You think of age discrimination in the professions that are in the spotlight. A journalist to end his/her career at the age of 30 because they are considered "ancient" in the industry is insane. Movie critics are just journalists publishing their opinions on a film.

In the journalism world, how old is 'too old'?

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It's their right

By: Jessica Hartgers

Protesters heckle Sarah Palin, vice presidential candidate, in Cedar Rapids, IA while delivering a speech on Thursday.

Palin stood her ground during the verbal attack and waited for the protesters to be removed. McCain supporter and interpreter for the hearing impaired, Donna Carroll, said that the protests did not bother her either and agrees with their rights to speak their minds saying, "All I can say is, praise the Lord they can do that in this country, it's their right."

The protesters of this rally have the right to speak their mind, however the government has restrictions on political speech regarding time, place, and manner. These protesters violated this restriction and were removed for the event without punishment. After several minutes of protests, the rest of the crowd rallied behind Palin with shouts of "USA."

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Happy National Punctuation Day

By Liz Tjaden

National Punctuation Day is just around the corner, so polish off your quotation marks and exclamation points and get ready to party!

Jeff Rubin, also known as the Punctuation Man (seriously, he has a cape and everything….) is the founder of National Punctuation Day that is celebrated on Sept. 24. His idea for this day started in 2004 as a clever way to remind professionals and business people about the importance of punctuation. He has turned this day into a way of helping children learn the importance of proper grammar and punctuation at an early age.

It also is a reminder that by not using the correct form of punctuation can cost your company millions of dollars. A Canadian company, Rogers Communications, misplaced a comma in one of its contracts, costing the company almost $2.13 million.

Whoops.

I am a “comma happy” writer who never really learned the correct way to use a comma. My rationale is, “When I feel there should be a comma, so be it!”

Thankfully, as an intelligent and resourceful journalism student, I can now rely on my “Working with Words” book and my “AP Stylebook” to bail me out of these sticky situations.


However, thanks to Rubin, we now have a reason to celebrate the nerds in all of us.

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What has happened to loyalty

Thursday, September 18, 2008

By: Kayla Miller

This week the MLB franchise Brewers fired their manager Ned Yost. The funny thing is the Brewers are only one game out of the wild card in the NL. Has the media played a huge role in the firing of Ned Yost? I would say yes. The Brewers had a large lead over the Chicago Cubs and with no avail the Cubs caught the Brewers in the last fifteen games of the season to steal the playoff spot from the Brewers. However this year the Cubs have been in control of the division all year long. Though the Brewers for most of the season lead the NL wild card by almost eight games. And as it happened last year and this year the Brewers lost their lead of the Wild Card. Now, has the media played a huge role in promoting Ned Yost's classic meltdowns? I would say yes, and it does not help that the Brewers have thrown in all their chips this year to reach a playoff birth. I believe that the Brewers fired their manager because the media was demanding action.


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Status solves problems, sometimes

By: Katie Schaefer

I'm not talking about your facebook or how you feel for the day, but I'm talking about your social or celebrity status. Being a celebrity or someone with a higher status, can get you out of things that most regular people can't.

How many times has Lindsey Lohan and Britney Spears hit other cars or were out in the clubs underage? Just because of who they are, gets them out of trouble.

Kobe Bryant, a LA Lakers basketball player, was found innocent of rape because he is really rich and he paid the girl off. Well I guess I shouldn't say he paid the girl off because that was never disclosed, but it's an educated guess. Two former University of Iowa football players are not as lucky as Bryant was, though.

The football players have pleaded not guilty on the account of sexual assault. Due to the fact that the University has flaws in the way they handled the case, the players may get off anyways. The school didn't protect the alleged victim from people saying things to her about what happened that night, so the school is in a lot of trouble for that.

Another thing is that everyone has a right to a fair and speedy trial, so why has this trial taking over a year to take place? I realize some trials take a long time, but this one should have taken place by now. It happened in October of last year.

It's mostly just celebrities that we find getting off for things that most people get in a lot of trouble for. Being in Iowa, though, a good athlete at the University of Iowa is enough to keep you out of trouble sometimes.

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The countdown for MTV's countdown

By: Callie McBroom

The New York Times TV Decoder is reporting that MTV has cancelled the once very popular show "Total Request Live." The top-ten countdown for music videos, has been on the air for ten years now. Dave Sirulnick, the executive producer of TRL told the Associated Press that it feels like the right time to pause in order to celebrate and reward the last ten years.

"TRL" peaked just a year after it debuted with 757,000 people viewing the show daily, according to Nielson ratings. Ever since, the show has been losing ground slowly. MTV claims that the show is not permanently eliminated but just taking a breather.

Many current famous celerities got their first exposure on "TRL." Now, the television show is hoping that the same celebrities that helped make TRL a hit will come back for the final 2-hour special. The last show will air in November.

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Online news discuss charging the public

By: Allison McNeal

Free viewing of online news organizations may soon become non-existent to the public.

The Financial Times recently introduced a new registration and subscription model to their Web site for daily viewers. This new method is trying to show that the media is not going to be free, like it has been in the past.

The Internet has been struggling to keep up with other media organizations because these companies have subscribers and funding from large corporations. With more and more large companies buying advertisements on media programs, the Internet is falling behind and has little, if any, money to support itself.

Since 2005, many Web sites have tried to turn their slump around and impliment a plan of charging customers. According to webmarketinggroup.co.uk, a survey conducted by "the UK Association of Online Publishers, showed that 63% of their members charge for online magazine content, up 5% from 2004".

Even though this survey was taken in England, it shows how the Internet is slowly gaining subscribers.

Advertising director, Rob Grimshaw, said that even though the Financial Times has more free subscribers than paying subscribers, revenue has grown from these non-paying users. Also, private corporations have also started helping out with the production of this new tactic.

This poses an interesting problem: How will these online media sources compete with other large corporations that lay a heavy hand on society?

Online newspapers and media sources will have to get out the word and keep pursuing other larger companies or privately owned corporations to help with the subscription process. Since there are many smaller corporations located around the world, they could influence these Web sites and give them a huge boost.

Individuals need to take this new subscription seriously and know that if they want to receive information online, they will need to start subscribing or paying to use these sites. Many people might not have a problem with subscribing to online media sites, especially if they do not subscribe to an actual newspaper.

With technology increasing each day, the general public will need to decide if online subscriptions will start to catch on or if they will get lost in cyberspace.

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The future of newpapers

By Austin Bates

A lot of debate rages constantly about whether newspapers have any place in the future. Some think they do, but in more limited form. Others think they may have little to no future at all. I have to believe they will survive.

Without a doubt, newspapers will change how they work, how they're distributed, how they're read, how they're formatted, and how popular they might be. But I do not believe that those neatly bundled collections of folded together recycled paper will go the way of the dinosaur. News outlets that own print newspapers will have some serious changes to make, but doing away with newspapers altogether may be too extreme, and end up alienating a lot of readers.

I am the kind of person that will ALWAYS enjoy the feel of a paper book in their hands much more than sitting stiffly in a mildly uncomfortable chair while I strain my eyes into a too bright monitor and have to wade through a miasma of links, information tags, and scroll bars in order to read the same thing. Besides, it's not like you can take a computer, even a laptop, everywhere you could a book. Same goes with newspapers; I think they're easier and more enjoyable to read.

I'll admit, I read most of my daily news online, mostly from MSN. However, I get my news from there when I'm in a hurry or doing something else and something just catches my eye. When I'm trying to relax, and have time to do so, though, I enjoy opening a newspaper and casually scanning through the pages for interesting pieces of information.

Now, of course, many of newspapers's most faithful readers will be older generations, especially those that have yet to figure out how a computer mouse works, and, objectively, it is wise to worry less about them than the future generation, where your money will be coming from. But losing print newspapers altogether could still end up costing newspapers a good chunk of change and might not even solve all their problems anyway.

I believe that in the future, the print newspaper will become more of an elective novelty type item, more like a novel, than a needed source of news. More likely, newspapers will become weeklies only, serving to wrap up, in detail, the major stories and events of the week on Sunday, the source of most revenue for print papers. For daily news, readers will know to turn to the Internet, and this will most likely be automated through small fee subscriptions that automatically send the daily issue of the newspaper to your inbox every morning.

Newsprint has a long way to go before it ever really dies, and I do not believe that day is anytime soon.

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Palin still dominates the media

By: Kathryn Lisk

While the presidential polls between candidates have leveled out since the Republican National Convention, Sarah Palin is still attracting quite a bit of media attention.

With so many controversial issues surrounding Gov. Palin, including her pregnant 17-year-old daughter, her 5-month-old, disabled son, and the fact that she is a woman who will be on the final presidential ballot, the media is still having a field day.

It could be that Americans still don't know enough about Palin, since she was an unexpected vice presidential candidate for the Republican Party. Or it could be that she has more baggage than Joe Biden does. Regardless, everywhere I look, whether it's on newspaper Web sites, magazine covers, or blog sites for my BNR entry, Sarah Palin dominates.

Palin is mentioned in a story in The New York Times because she drew 4.9 million people to one of Fox News' shows on Wednesday night.

The Huffington Post covered a story about how an unknown group hacked into her Yahoo e-mail account and posted her personal e-mails onto Wikipedia.

Finally, all three newspaper Web sites I checked, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and the Des Moines Register, each have a story involving Palin on their home page.

As someone who is very interested and informed in politics, I have been equally intrigued by Sarah Palin. It's important to know what she stands for and her political experience.

But I've hit my limit. I know more about Palin than I need to and the media needs a new story.

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Old School vs New School

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

by Peter Merchlewitz

I know that there are people afraid of change. Some people believe that the old ways are best. Or in the words of one of my favorite musicals: "Tradition!". Dave Lee's jBlog reports the feelings of Middle East reporter Robert Fisk, who believes that the new age of internet blogging is crippling the quality of news writing. "To hell with the web. It's got no responsibility." said Fisk after being challenged about a quote whom the caller stated that he "...read it on the Internet."

Lee comes to the defense of blogging by reminding journalists what it is that we try to accomplish: to inform, educate, and and apply a sense of public voice. He even goes a step further, talking about an image shown in one of Fisk's articles, one of a man holding his dead daughter whose bones were protruding from her legs. However, due to traditional news reporting mediums, part of the picture was cropped, cutting the daughter off just below the bone, thus changing the caption of the photo "A man carries his wounded daughter."', ergo, completely changes the initial impact that the image presents.

Had Fisk actually given this new fangled thing called blogging a try, he might have realized that he would have been able to post the entire image, instead of just most of it. But not only that, blogs are becoming more and more popular source of news information, when compared to ABC's figures of people who read the news paper.

Some people say that without tradition, our lives would be as shaky as a fiddler on a roof. One of these days, that fiddler might fall and break his neck. And when that day occurs, make a picture, and make sure you post it on your blog.

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Web site pros

by Sarah Keller

My blog last week was about a small paper that was not utilizing their web site and resources properly, but this week I would like to blog about journalists who are using their tools and congratulate them for being resourceful.

As been discussed on various people’s blog entries from the classes, the world of journalism is being turned toward the internet. There is more and more blogging being done, and mostly all newspapers have a web site in today’s society, even small colleges like Simpson have web sites for their papers. Since the dynamic of journalism seems to be shifting toward the web I have to applaud sites such as abc news.

The home page of abc news is probably my favorite web site to check for daily news, I am there at least once a day and I have to say that they are doing a great job of keeping the world updated on top news stories. They are using the things that we have discussed in class as being important for journalists today. They do a great job with their photography; every good journalist needs to have the ability to take good pictures. The abc network also updates their articles throughout the day portraying the immediacy element of journalism. On top of all of that abc also has videos to watch and not just from abc news channels they also give you the opportunity to watch news broadcasts from shows such as 20/20, Good morning America, Primetime, and more.

Not only is abc on top of their game these days but sites such as cnn.com and google news are also going along with what society is craving. They are staying on top of things and making great news with pictures, updates and video clips.

I have to salute abc news, and other popular web sites for their commitment to making their web sites the best they can be, updating the world daily, and for drawing me in.

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Dirty Cops

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

By: Jessica Hartgers

During a traffic stop Friday two citizens claim to have been mistreated by two Des Moines police officers. Des Moines residents Octavius Bonds and Erin Evans filled formal complaints with the department. The case is now under review.

I think it is a very interesting as to what angle the reporter takes on this case. A wide range of evidence and facts are being left out of the report in order to protect the two Des Moines police officers under investigation. If the situation had been turned around and the police officers were the ones being mistreated the content of this story would be much different.

The reporter waits until the near end of the story to mention that the Des Moines residents were African Americans, while both the police officers were Caucasian. Either the reporter didn't want to draw attention to the race issue on behalf of the police or he didn't want readers to stereotype the alleged victims.

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