The News About The News: Aug 31, 2008

Russia's New Foreign Policy....While at War

Sunday, August 31, 2008

Needless to say Steffen gave me a wonderful slap of reality during class, pointing out that there are bombs from Russia pointed at us every hour of every day. After this, my interest in the Russia/Georgia War has increased a lot and I am a little taken back and confused by what is going on.

Russia's President, Dmitri Medvedev, has stated that Russia will now follow five specific guidelines for their foreign policy. These include: observing international law, rejecting what Medvedev called United States dominance of world affairs in a “unipolar” world, seek friendly relations with other nations, defend Russian citizens and business interests abroad, And it would claim a sphere of influence in the world.I want to talk to their office's P.R. for annoncing these wonderful ideas while your country is bombing cities and killing people every day.How are they to be taken seriously about being what they claim "a sphere if influence" in this type of situation.

Russians made another checkmark move by calling an emergency meeting of the United Nations where they stated in a short speech that "Georgia and Ossetia need to cease hostilities and to return to the negotiating table." How is Georgia to stop defending themselves while they are in the middle of evacuations and nightly bombings?

So far the United States Defense Department has reported that they have not recieved any official requests for assistance. For our sake lets hope we don't have to join the war. It worries me to think that our country could be involved in two wars at once.

NYTimes links: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/01/world/europe/01russia.html?hp
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/09/world/europe/09georgia.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&sq=russia%20and%20georgia&st=cse&scp=1
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Russia's Upgraded Foreign Policy. . .While at War

Politicians or Celebrities?

by: Shauna Agan

Amongst articles concerning who the Jonas Brothers’ newest love interest is, which celebrities are too thin or increasingly gaining weight, and who wore which outfit best, the latest and hottest celebrity gossip is no longer about movie stars, rock bands, or even porn stars. A new uprising group of celebrities has taken over the celebrity gossip magazines; politicians.

Us Weekly is a celebrity magazine generally covering topics of celebrity news, style, and entertainment. So, it is not a surprise that on usmagazine.com there are videos, articles, and photos of celebs such as Michael Jackson, Ashlee Simpson, reality stars Speidi, and of course Madonna. What is shocking to me though is that eight, I repeat EIGHT of the feature stories on the home page of the website is about the presidential and/or vice presidential candidates. Headlines include “Sarah Palin: Former TV Sports Reporter”, “Sarah Palin’s Mother In Law: Considering Voting for Barack Obama”, “Obama’s Speech Tops Idol; Oscars In Ratings”, the “Obama Family [photo] Album”, “Sarah Pain Didn’t Give Birth to Down’s Syndrome Baby?” an article about why McCain chose Palin, an article about Oprah going to see Obama’s speech, and a poll to see who readers think should run our country next.

The next webpage I came across was people magazine’s website. People magazine is a magazine most commonly known for its celebrity and human interest stories. I was not quite as surprised to find three headlines about the presidential hopefuls here, but I was shocked to see the headlines of RollingStone, a magazine commonly known for music and pop culture, saying “How Bush Destroyed the Republican Party”. Even the website contained articles such as “Obama’s Big Night, and “Five Ways Bush Sunk the Republican Party”.

Ultimately the news and media have made politicians the biggest celebrities around. So, John McCain referring to Barack Obama as “the biggest celebrity out there” in his campaign ad really is not that far-fetched. However, McCain needs to take the initiative to realize that he as well is amongst these celebrities.

Politicians being portrayed as celebrities because of the news is not a brand new phenomenon, but it is the latest hype. What will the future of news be when the personal lives of politicians is the only concern of the media?

Jon Stewart

By Quinn Albrecht

When we filled out the information in class asking the question, Who do you feel is a newscaster, I read Jon Stewart and immediately laughed. I was thinking how can someone on Comedy Central be considered a news caster? I then talked it over with several people who think he is a news reporter. They brought up the idea that he gets millions of college age kids interested in the news.

With those conversations, I kind of laid that topic to rest. Then the next day we discussed the same idea in class. I still defended my theory that he has nothing to do with legitimate news reporting.

When it came time to start thinking about what to say in this blog post I though, what the heck, write about how he doesn't have a news reporting bone in his body. I then went to his web page and scanned around for a while. On his site he gives us the ability to watch clips of episodes, or even whole shows. The more I searched on his site the more I see that he could be considered a news caster. He gives a touch of humor to a situation that most college age students wouldn't even care to listen to. He makes the news fun and easy.

I still have one problem with Mr. Stewart, I can never tell if he is serious about something or if he is being sarcastic. He has this face that says, I am serious, at all times on this show. That makes me uneasy because he says some outlandish things, that are not true, but almost could be. I can be sort of gullible from time to time and I can make myself believe any of those random things he says.

His website makes him look more legitimate than the show on television does. Check out his site.

Iowa Football's Rollercoaster Ride

This weekend marked the beginning of the 2008 college football season. Along with the first games, journalists are taking advantage of reporting on the poor decisions many of the football players make. Since 2007, 22 crimes have been reported against different University of Iowa football players. There has been speculation that the lawyers chosen to represent the players are giving them special treatment and doing more than what they would do for the average client. I agree with the fact that all of the athletes should be represented in court, but they should not be given different sentences than the average citizen.

Division I athletes are being paid to represent their school on and off of the playing field. They should not abuse this privilege by taking advantage of their higher status. Several cases deal with the alleged rape of female students. The athletes know when they are taking advantage of an intoxicated female and should take responsibility for their actions instead of hiding behind the college’s hired attorney. The article does point out that in some cases the females are trying to take advantage of the athlete for attention, but the players should just avoid the situation entirely. I think that investigations ran by off-campus sources are the best way to deal with situations like these to avoid favoring the athlete or the victim.

Unfortunately everyone makes mistakes and these athletes have to deal with the fact that their mistakes will be publicized. I think that if the NCAA creates stricter policies that deal with criminal charges for athletes and supports their policies, sooner or later the athletes will learn make better decisions off the field so that they can remain on the field.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080831/NEWS10/808310335

Jessica Hartgers

Who is this Palin Chick?!?

By: Christina Woldt

In St. Paul, MN at the Republican National Convention, John McCain announced his running mate for the Republican Presidential ticket. His choice was the famous, Sarah Palin from “Middle of nowhere, Alaska.” Has anyone heard of this girl? I sure haven’t and I’d like to think that I’m pretty caught up with my politics and political figures. So who is Governor Palin? Catching up on my daily news fix, I logged onto Nytimes.com and found out all about this wonderful woman. Palin is a mother of five, a social conservative, and "rose to prominence as a whistle-blower uncovering ethical misconduct in the state government.” Palin might have won over Alaska with her charm and hard-assness, but she’s now trying to charm a whole different crowd. Furthermore, Governor Palin knows as much about the World, Foreign policy, and National Security as we know about them and about Governor Palin herself. This does not have me feeling secure about our right-winged friends.

I wasn’t the only one surprised by McCain’s V.P. pick. "Fellow Democrats were considerably less welcoming, and most said they were flabbergasted by what they characterized as a desperate, cynical or dangerous choice, given Ms. Palin’s lack of any experience in national security." Democrats as well as Republicans were shocked by the news. The New York Times article by Michael Cooper and Elisabeth Bumiller reminded readers that, on his campaign trail McCain repeatedly stated that his, “running mate should have the qualifications to immediately step into the role of Commander in Chief.” Being McCain just turned the ripe age of 72; his Vice President may have to take over the Presidency before McCain’s term is over. Governor Palin isn’t the person I’d like to see take over when McCain’s time come.

But, maybe I’m being to critical and to prideful about my left-wing “celebrities” that are hanging out with Obama and all the cool young people. But, It seems like an easy victory for Obama now that the running mates have been chosen. Joe Biden has been at the forefront of politics for more than 20 years and this is his second time getting up close and personal with the presidency. Sarah Palin has only been up close and personal with Alaska, she has barely traveled outside of Alaska, the article by Cooper and Bumiller even added that Palin didn't get a passport until the age of 44 (her current age). Are you kidding? I like the rulers of my country to be pro-choice as well as cultured, and have at least traveled to more then three parts of the world.

There is so much more I could complain about but I need to spare myself the stress even though I really shouldn’t be stressed. I have no reason to be worried, I’m voting for the cool people remember? So, I don’t really care if McCain chose his running mate based on the “eye candy factor” and by the amount of things he can teach Palin about all of the things she should have known before deciding to potentially become the Vice President of the United States of America. Nope I don’t care because I’m rolling with Paris Hilton, Biden, Brittney Spears, Obama, and his pretty family!

‘Many Eyes’ on the Data

By: Sara Crouse

Journalists and researchers alike often find themselves with needing more than the perfect lead or lift out quote. Only a few decades ago a few reassuring words from top journalists and political figures were enough to calm Americans.

Words no longer hold truth, and we take it upon ourselves to look for it. Today the average American views it as their responsibility to find truth in news stories. Helpful data and graphs can help aid in this effort. I know visual aids are always appealing to me, and seem to be a reassurance of the facts.

Recently developed in 2007, by two IBM researchers in Cambridge, Many Eyes is a data tool that helps compare text from political speeches to interviews and pinpoints the most frequently used words. This has proven to be a very helpful tool in analyzing what issues are truly close the hearts of the presidential candidates.

Who wouldn’t mind this new tool that helps viewers recognize politician’s most addressed themes? No longer do we have to read five page speeches to grasp the most important things at stake. I’ve found this tool to be helpful in my busy schedule, while trying to catch up on the most recent convention speeches.

Finding the truth in the news isn’t as hard and time consuming as one would think. The average American just needs to be aware of biases within news, and be able to recognize them. Many Eyes certainly recognizes various ways to view and discuss data, which prevents from bias.

A New York Times article explains the tool Many Eyes is great for creating conversation amongst those who view its data and, “…when you have a group look at data, you protect against bias. You get more perspectives, and this can lead to more reliable decisions.”

Perhaps we should all take a look at Sarah Palin’s acceptance speech words on Many Eyes, rather relying on liberal reporters taking an automatic offense to her ideas. At least a visual lets me decide my own thoughts, rather than a biased reporter.

Not Again!!

By Kellie Green

Hurricane Katrina was a devastating catastrophe that happened to Louisiana. Once again mother nature has created another blow that is about to affect the coast of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and parts of Texas. Hurricane Gustav is set to hit Monday. Is is said to have 115 mph winds and surge up to 12 ft high. Gustav, a category three hurricane, is not as big as Katrina, a category 5, but it is still expected to cause damage.

Government officials have ordered a massive evacuation of many parts of Louisiana. It is said to be "the biggest evacuation in the states history." Ninety percent of those ordered to evacuate have fled. Many citizens have left in trains, buses and cars. Officials even changed all the incoming lanes leading to cities that are being evacuated to outgoing, allowing more traffic to leave the area. Anyone left behind will be without any kind of emergency care. A curfew has also became in affect by Governor Bobby Jindal in southern Louisiana. Anyone caught looting will go to jail. Seven thousand National Guard members have been brought in to protect property and sixteen thousand more are on their way.

Hopefully Gustav will not cause the devastating affects that Katrina did. However, with the levees still not completed it is uncertain what may happen. This time around the citizens and government officials seem more prepared and warned. We will all just have to wait to see what is going to happen later this week.

News Analysis: Helping or Hurting?

By: Pat Tierney

Today the hot topic on any news station is the much contested presidential race. The news media was left stumped on Friday morning with the surprising announcement of Sen. John McCain's running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin. During the morning of August 29th the media was sent scrambling, trying to cover this surprise pick of the relatively unknown governor.

Shortly after the announcement however, the media was already on top of the new candidate for vice president, trying to turn up as much information about her that they could. Immediately, the day's headlines began shouting the Senator’s pick. But as a few hours passed, news sources started to post analysis of the possible Vice President.

This analysis by news sources brings me to my question of whether or not analysis really provides fair and just reporting. NBC news ran a whole section of analysis on the new candidate, showing both sides of the coin, showing her controversy but also what she potentially could bring to the table. To be fair, the section on their web site was indeed labeled analysis, but in a society that often times gives unjustified credibility to the media, is it responsible for them to tell the consumer why this is a good or bad thing?

On one hand, it seems as if the days of just reporting the facts are over, and whatever happened to the consumer making up his or her own mind? While on the other, as a voting American, it can be a pretty useful guide to try and have all this information broken down, in an easy to ingest format.

So in the end is analysis by news agencies responsible for the public, or is it the news agencies telling the consumers what to think? There are some facts, now I’ll let you decide.

Even a Journalist can be VP!

By: Sarah Harl

In the short time since John McCain named Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) as his running mate for the upcoming campaign, the announcement has been met with either a confident nod in her direction, or a fierce attack on her character and experience. As a voter who caucused for McCain in January, I was eager to find out more about Governor Palin, beyond the media hype.

On December 4th, 2006, Palin was elected the 11th (and first woman) Governor of Alaska. She quickly and forcefully took out an incumbent governor, and had a string of priorities as she took office. Everything from education and workforce development to transportation and infrastructure development.

Palin was also able to overhaul education funding and put a program in place for low income older Alaskans, all while maintaining $5 billion in state savings.

Perhaps most remarkably, Palin has been able to do all of this while maintaining an 89-93% approval rating making Palin one of the most popular governors in the United States. And she continues to have a high approval rating with her family of five children, with whose lives she continues to be involved in.

Many liberal bloggers chose to attack Palin for her lack of "experience", but I would put to those bloggers to answer what constitutes "experience". Palin graduated as a Communications-Journalism major from the University of Idaho, and then worked her way up to the governorship of Alaska, starting as a small town mayor. It seems that through many of these blogs, bloggers mention in a condescending way that Palin is the governor of Alaska, almost as if anyone could be the governor of this state. Or that her experience as the mother of five will in no way benefit her in the vice-presidency. From what I have gathered, she is a woman who has been able to maintain her high approval ratings because she says she is going to do something, and then she gets it done, something the men of Washington seem to be lacking as of recently.

Perhaps what endears me so to Palin is that she is honored to have been picked as a running mate--one of the few genuine statements that I've seen come out of this election so far.

So, she's just a journalism major, and just the governor of Alaska. I'm just a communications major from a little college in Iowa. But that doesn't mean that I haven't taken on some big projects with more "experience" than someone from a bigger school. Experience isn't what you can list on a piece of paper, it's what you can go out and DO, and I think we should all give Palin a chance to put this country back on track.

Cover Me

By: Adrian Aitken

On the opposite end of the world the best summer athletes gathered in Beijing to be proclaimed the best in his or her event in front of billions of viewers. Unfortunately many events occur simultaneously and coverage on television can become difficult. This year NBC provided a web page in which to enjoy full coverage of each event live. Similarly other media sources are reporting on Gustav with as much eagerness and anticipation.

Al Tompkins, a blogger at Poynter Online, created his own website dedicated to covering Gustav's and the Gulf Coast's progression over the next month. The site gathers information from many other networks, blog sites, and twitter (a microblog site)and compiles the reports together. Much like nbcolympics.com his web page provides minute coverage of the storm and the movements in cities along the coast. Al's main source of information comes from twitter. Twitter which acts as a blog site for smaller posts gives access to phones, so during those hard times when the Internet is down those with working cells can comment on current events.

Tompkins is not the only place to get good coverage of the coming destruction. Colleges and Universities in or around the path of the storm will also be covering how the next couple of weeks unfold. For those students in Journalism or have a hobby of blogging get the chance to experience first hand reporting on a large story. I'm sure there will be no shortage of sources covering the Category 3 hurricane and its aftermath.

"Even ESPN Leans Left"

by Gabe Gilson

As somebody who describes myself as a moderate in the ways of politics and as an avid ESPN viewer, a recent story on the networks show SportsCenter seemed rather out of place. Today few would disagree that the news is presented in a very liberal format; but why would sporting news have to fall under the same catagory?

SportsCenter, which is a show dedicated to giving highlights of sports related activities from the previous evening as well as sports related stories, decided to interview Presidential hopeful Barack Obama. Anchorman Stuart Scott interviewed Obama about Chicago sports, the Olympics, and his love for basketball. Obama told Scott how he had grown up a fan of Julius (Dr. J) Erving, and they talked about how he loved Chicago sports teams like the White Sox and the Bulls. The story was repeated on SportsCenter for three days, meaning countless viewers saw it multiple times. It seemed rather ridiculous that Obama was interviewed while the Republican candidate John McCain was not.

This brings up quite an interesting question. Does McCain not like sports in the same way Obama does? One would think that with McCain being from Arizona, some anchor could quiz him up on his Arizona Cardinals knowledge, or talk about how Arizona Diamondback pitcher Brandon Webb is having a season worthy of the Cy Young Award. But apparently, Obama is the only Presidential candidate that is enthralled by sports enough for an interview on ESPN. The issue at hand is not McCain being a better candidate that Obama, or vice versa, it is more the fact there are people out there voting for the first time who only watch SportsCenter for their daily “news.” Once somebody who is old enough to vote only sees one person in the spotlight on their show, not to mention sees this candidate look like an outstanding person in the spotlight like Obama did, they will most likely become very partial to that candidate. It seemed as if it was not fair for SportsCenter to only interview him. Also, when watching SportsCenter, people want to see highlights and stories about real athletes at a level above the local YMCA pickup game. Maybe Barack Obama has a good jump shot for a 47 year old dude, but that does NOT make him the type of athlete people want to see a story about. It is too bad that every level of news these days has to lean to the left.

Newspaper Buyouts on the Rise

By: Allison McNeal

Buyouts. Layoffs. Plunging sales. These are what many newspaper companies around the United States and locally are currently facing due to the increasing advances of the Internet. Online Websites and newspaper companies are starting to gain speed in replacing old-fashioned newspapers that used to be delivered to the doorstep.

On August 14th, Gannett Co., owner of The Des Moines Register, first startled the public that it would be cutting 1,000 current jobs and laying off 600.

Later, on August 29th, other top newspaper companies, such as The Chicago Sun, The Chicago Tribune, and McLatchy Co, which owns The Sacramento Bee and Fresno Bee, announed job cuts and buyouts as well. In south Florida, The Miami Herald, the South Flordia Sun-Sentinel, and The Palm Beach Post stated they would be merging for a three-month period because of the lack of newsroom employees (aol.com).

In this past year, newspaper sales have declined dramatically, leaving copy editors, reporters, and publishing companies to scramble to save their jobs.

According to the Associated Press, "Gannett saw non-broadcasting advertising revenue drop 11 percent year-over-year during the first five months of 2008 [... and] 16.3 percent in June and 16.7 percent in July compared with a year earlier" (aol.com).

Why have these newspaper companies declined so much in such a short amount of time? One reason may be because of online companies like Google Inc., which are finding support from international markets. With the access to different countries at a click of a button, it is hard for newspapers to keep up.

Another reason could come down to how fast news can be posted on the internet rather than in the newspapers. Most individuals want to know what is happening at the exact moment and do not want to feel like they are missing out. When a newspaper shows up at their doorstep, they may already know most of the news, so why would they read it?

On the other hand, newspaper publishers and people like Randy Bennett, who is senior vice president of business development for the Newspaper Association of America, believe that newspaper production will turn around and become sucessful again (aol.com).

I also am a firm believer that this cycle of internet reporting will start to dimish. Many online newspapers are making people subscribe to the publications, which could cost more than a standard newspaper.

Also, America prided itself in the invention of the printing press and the newsreel. What will happen to all the dedication that went along with distributing newspapers and the whole-some values that a newspaper could portray?

Media's Obsession Creates Hype

By: Kelsey Knutson

In what seems to be, so far, one of the craziest presidential elections ever (one that actually hasn't even taken place yet) it must be said that everything is getting pretty old. However, what's new with that? Are we really surprised that the media takes something and runs with it? When hasn't the media come up with something and then run it into the ground?

The new obsession of the media with the current election is obviously Senator Barack Obama. However, do we really need the parallels between this current senator and the senator from Massachusetts in 1960? Patrick Healy of the New York Times printed an article August 28th dedicating the title, "Decades Later, John Kennedy's 'New Frontier' Speech Echoes," and the article to the similarities of former president John F. Kennedy and current Senator Barack Obama. However, what is the significance of this? Let us hear about Obama's policies, solutions, and ideas. Tell the voters across America about the issues of 2008 and not the speaking abilities of a president in 1960. Obama speaks of "hope and change" so let us hear about "hope and change." We've passed the "New Frontier" of President Kennedy and we've moved forward into another era. Obama's speaking abilities and rallying tactics are similar to that of John F. Kennedy, however, let us hear what Obama has to say now in 2008, not what Kennedy said in 1960.

"Decades Later, John Kennedy's 'New Frontier' Speech Echoes." Lets leave it in that decade and respectfully silence those echoes; let us hear Obama.

The News About The News

Russia's New Foreign Policy....While at War

Sunday, August 31, 2008

Russia's Upgraded Foreign Policy. . .While at War

Politicians or Celebrities?

Jon Stewart

Iowa Football's Rollercoaster Ride

Who is this Palin Chick?!?

‘Many Eyes’ on the Data

Not Again!!

News Analysis: Helping or Hurting?

Even a Journalist can be VP!

Cover Me

"Even ESPN Leans Left"

Newspaper Buyouts on the Rise

Media's Obsession Creates Hype

More News About The News

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