Online magazine gets a clean 'slate'

By: Sara Crouse

Slate Magazine is an innovation all its own. Online magazines were relatively unheard of before 1996. Then Slate was launched with the hopes of providing an easier way to get all the latest news stories.

Slate had its difficulties in the early years though. The magazine had trouble adjusting to things such as basic web layout and fundamentals of HTML.

One reviewer, Jakob Nielsen, said, “Slate is mainly a failure due to its inability to adjust to the online medium, though it sports several promising innovations and appropriate uses of the Web.”

Besides poor adjustments to online media, Slate was also lacking in its journalism foundations. The articles were simply too long for readers. Almost all stories were well over the traditional 500 word limit.

It seems Slate has adjusted since its beginnings. In fact, its internet reach has grown 175 percent since its subscription went entirely free. Slate does offer the option of a paid subscription to certain columns if you prefer them delivered to your e-mail inbox.

Perhaps the most helpful thing for readers is Slate’s design of displaying the top headlines from national papers. Slate does a great job of giving readers quick access to the top stories of the day from various papers.

Today, the articles are still long, but they are easier to navigate. Articles are grouped into sections, and even provide hyperlinks to as many as three other opinions concerning the article.

Just this weekend, Slate took another step in making its magazine even more user friendly. The website over went a redesign that now feature three top headlines. Users can take their pick.

The redesign was also necessary for Slate’s most recent adaptations to innovations in journalism. Slate now has six blogs linked to its site. Video and podcasts also display the day’s newest stories.

The online magazine has come a long way since its start in 1996.

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AP losing newspaper membership

By Austin Bates

Recently, the Tribune Company, which owns the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, among other newspapers, announced Thursday that, in two years time, it would end its contract with the AP, from whom it gets wire services from. Other companies have announced or considered similiar moves, but none as prominent, apparently, as the Tribune Company.

This got me to thinking about what the AP's future might be. Currently, the AP, among other duties, offers wire services, multi-media content, and national sports teams coverage. Non-contributing members of the AP have to pay fees to use this material, and this seems to be the chief reason why some papers are ending their contracts (the two year notice to the AP is actually required by contract).

In another report, AP's Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll pointed out that while the Tribune Company ending their contract is worrisome, this is not the first newspaper to leave the AP. Most cases have been confidential before, though.

In any case, the profit downturn for newspapers seems to be the driving force behind some of them leaving, seeking to cut costs by ending the fees some have to pay.

By all accounts, the newspapers that are leaving will do more harm to themselves than to the AP, as the AP is looking to move toward more profitable ventures in the changing landscape of journalism, and newspapers in general are still struggling with this issue.

The AP, by its nature, has more news information, more media, from more spots, more completely than any single newspaper could hope to have, since the AP is a coalition of newspapers contributing to a central source. Apparently, some of the newspapers, with the changing percentage of actual news in their papers, are seeing the AP's services as less and less important.

Still, in the end, I wonder if the newspapers won't come back to the AP several years from now, hoping to remedy a continually decreasing level of profit. I see the AP as continuing to go strong, by the blessing of sheer mass of information and services, while individual newspapers who shun the AP's services could be "left out in the cold", figuratively speaking. I know that, considering the AP is the heart of many news feed services, the writer of the book on standard newspapers style writing, and has been around since the mid-19th century, I wouldn't readily leave their services behind.

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Gas Prices

By: Katie Schaefer


Gas prices are as low as they have been in months. The price for gas hasn't been under $3 since Feb.


How did prices get so high? Why are they just now starting to drop?


Gas prices were getting so high because the price of crude oil was starting to raise. The amount of crude oil available was also starting to drop.


Still, even with these two factors how can we go from gas being $2.81 a year ago to gas becoming $3.83 the average just a month ago?


Everyone can remember when gas use to be $.99. Crude oil prices kept raising and raising until we got to where we are today. A month ago gas prices were the highest average they have ever been. Just now gas prices are finally starting to drop and become affordable again.


Experts expect that crude oil will once again drop from &74.50 to $50 a barrel, which will bring the prices down below $2.50. Some places, like Indianola, has been fortunate to already have prices below this. Walmart has their gas prices at $2.39.


As prices soared we saw less and less people on the road. Even today as "low" as the prices are, people are still hesitating to take long vacations or fly anywhere. The prices of gas fluxtuate so much that people are still worried about where and how they spend their money.


With prices starting to drop, though, people need to start taking vacations now before they start to rise.

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Harmful or helpful?

By Liz Tjaden

The LA Times endorsed Senator Barack Obama for president on Thursday Oct. 16. This announcement comes as the first Democratic endorsement from the newspaper and the first endorsement of any presidential candidate since 1972.

The real question is whether this “celebrity” support has any influence on the actual voters come election day.

People want to be associated with a “winner” and to be comforted by their decision. Endorsements from these stars or companies help voters feel at ease with their choice of candidate, and therefore can be very helpful.

The idea of endorsement can be compared to parodies from Saturday Night Live and shows like The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Some argue that this form of media has no influential power whatsoever, while others feel that they actually help people define their own perceptions of reality. When they see, for instance, Sarah Palin’s actions being exaggerated by Tina Fey, it helps point out her actual flaws through comic relief and gets the viewer interested in finding out more about her.

Ultimately it depends on the individual and whether they allow these endorsements and programs to affect their choice in the voting booth come November.

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Cadidate projects

By; Sarah Keller

I came across an article on MSNBC talking about products made based off of the presidential candidates. I decided that I needed to blog about it because I found it really funny. The article discussed how people are making items such as dolls, Pez dispensers with the candidate’s heads, shirts, and even Sarah Palin paper dolls and lipstick.

I found this article to be entertaining and well reported. It might not be the most important article to write or for me to blog about, but it sure was entertaining to read about how people are making Palin lipstick, glasses, and high hills.

It just goes to show that the election is becoming as much as a show and part of the entertainment industry as some movies and television shows are. One can almost compare the candidate’s fame to such things as Hanna Montana shirts and dolls. I think that the election should be taken more seriously than just making funny items having to do with the presidential candidates, but I did find the article funny and enjoyable to read, and I must admit that I did enjoy looking at pictures of the items that are being made.

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