Hypocrisy

By: Shauna Agan

While many people believe the media is accurate, or at least fairly accurate, many also believe a lot of truths are left out.

One group of people feels so strongly about these inaccuracies that they started a Web site about the accuracy in the media. Browsing this page, one could find many things this group of individuals believes to be inaccurate within the mainstream media.

Some allegations appear to have a basis of truth while some in fact are far-fetched.
One article I found interesting was titled “Obama Truth Campaign”. This article accuses the media of withholding information about Sen. Barack Obama because reporters are more interested in other things.

While I do not know if there is any truth behind these accusations, there is a phone number, address, and e-mail address listed in this article to try to gain readers’ support for the writer’s cause. There is also an advertisement at the side attempting to make readers believe Liberals say unmentionable things.

Although this Web site is probably not reliable, the name is ironic. The people who wrote this particular article are obviously a group of Conservatives who feel media takes a Liberal stance.

Internet sources in today’s society are said to be a source of media. Although this Web site may not be in the mainstream media, it is still a source that many people look to for information.

While accusing the mainstream of being biased and inaccurate, this article has also become biased to the opposite extreme. How can they accuse the other sources of being biased when they themselves are biased? Hypocrites.

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Taking a lickin' and keepin' on ticken'

By:Quinn Albrecht

Amidst the destruction of Hurricane Ike, one newspaper is still finding a way to stay in print. The Galveston Daily News lost its roof due to the hurricane last week, but is still ticking.

The Victoria Advocate is printing their stories for them and is also helping them deliver to shelters and homes alike. The paper is doing its best to keep its readers informed of all that is going on, with many different outlets.

A sister newspaper, The Herald-Zeitung, is letting the staff use their facilities to type up stories and edit them. The Galveston Daily News is yet to miss an edition, thanks to their help.

They are using a cell phone blog site called Twitter, and also they are posting all news on the website. This is a huge change from years past, when a situation like this would shut down a newspaper for a long time and keep readers in the dark.

They are utilizing technology to; first of all get in touch with the members of their staff to make sure they are all okay. Secondly they are using what they have to keep people up to date on the latest efforts and breakthroughs with Hurricane Ike.

Its seems that today we are forced to deal with larger problems than ever, but for the Galveston Daily News, these problems will never slow them down.

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Google to be or not

By: Adrian Aitken

In my last blog entry I reported on the new Google News Archive and its unveiling. Now after a week controversy and debate has sprouted.

Publishers have taken two sides on the program, either a way to boost revenues or finally die off and give up. Google is taking the stand that the new venture will bring newspapers into the twentieth century.

One of the specific conflicts the publishers have stressed is where the profit is going and how much-if any-money will they see? Because Google is a dominating and well established corporation the company will pay for the costs of digitizing the microfilm. This will allow for a steadier flow of income to the publishers.

The question of how the digitization of newspapers will affect journalism will not be answered until the program is in full swing and has had time to settle. Personally I believe if done right both the publishers can make a lot of money through subscriptions and the user friendly aspect of the website will attract many customers.

I will try to keep updated as this situation unfolds.

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