The Importance to Blogging

Today every journalism student is said to need a blog in order to become a successful future journalist.

Many people blog all over the world for many different reasons. Some blog in attempts to become famous, while other people may do so in order to receive that A they want in class. No matter the reason all blogs are reaching a common goal, spreading information. This spreading of information is the main focus of journalism today.

At Simpson College there are professors that require their students to either be apart of a blog, or even create their own, such as professor Brian Steffen who uses blogger.com for The News About The News in his Communications 201 class. Why do professors do this? The blog prepares students for their future careers, and it is suggested by many professional journalists that journalism students create their own blog, such as Drake Snyder from the Drake School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Being apart of a blog is beneficial to future journalists in many ways, and it's essential for their future career. This skill teaches them how to write professional stories, and allows them to learn how to spread news professionally. These two aspects of blogging is exactly what will be expected of journalists by their editors; giving them a step up in the hierarchy of journalism when they start to interview for a journalism position. When an editor is able to look at a future prospect's work in action, you can bet that that prospect will have an advantage with his work being previously posted.

Setting up a blog account is easy, so why not set up an account today, and get started on your future career as a journalist? Blogging is beneficial and essential for the future journalist. The sooner you become apart of a blog the better.

Photo Credit: LuMaxArt, Flicker

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Online- Useful or Deadly?

Social networks are a great way to find old friends and make new ones. Launched in February 2004, Facebook became a popular site for students to keep in contacts with relatives, classmates, and co-workers. However, recently the question arises: Just what exactly are we using social networks for today?

Fortunately, social networks can be used positively by communicating with others and promoting business. Many journalists have created MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter pages to build readers, receive feedback from others on their work, and find good top stories from posts of other readers.

One major problem people face with social networking is cyber bullying. The reason cyber bullying is so much easier and harmful is because people are more willing to say something behind the screen of a computer than they would to a person's face. There have been stories reported in the news about teens taking their own life because of cruel posts found online.

The second, possibly most serious problem we are facing is unwanted people finding us online. Many people in this world known as "creepers" or "predators" use online as a tool to hunt down victims for sexual or abusive purposes. Many of us think of these people as being old men that live alone searching for young girls, but just exactly how young are these people that are using online as a way to harm others?

The most recent story in the news that caught my eye involves a 14 year old boy who used online to successfully kill a 13 year old girl. The two had been using Facebook as a way to get to know each other and eventually decided to meet up for a date. Later, the boy brought the girl to his home, attempted rape and failed. However, the girl was found later that weekend naked near a bus stop, strangled to death. Many times we say situations like this could never occur in our own life. However, we need to understand the world today has turned brutal, scary, and unsafe.

It's a shame to think there are people using online as a tool for criminal purposes. However, not all users are bad. Many journalists have found with the switch of mass media converting from newspaper to reading material online that using social network is an essential tool in the success of promoting journalism.

What can we do to protect ourselves from something like this happening to us? There are several steps that can be taken to protecting online life of yourself and those around you. Start now by spreading the news to family, friends, and classmates so you know you are doing the best you can to protect others. Keeping online clean will help journalists today be able to expand the growth of their business, both behind and away from the computer.

Photo Credit: Safe in YourSpace

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From 9/11 to Pearl Project

In Washington, a journalistic investigation funded by an Oklahoma City foundation concluded a link between the terroristic acts of 9/11 and the 2002 kidnapping of the late Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

After a much awaited three years of research, Georgetown University students have finally come to a verdict of the killer of Daniel Pearl. al-Qaeda leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confessed to murdering Pearl almost nine years ago in Pakistan. The reason his story is so significant is because they broadcasted his beheading to the entire United States.

They identified Mohammed as the man behind the knife while looking back at the actual murder video and comparing veins on both hands of the unknown killer and that of Mohammed's.

Along with this horrendous act, Mohammed is also known as the man who helped plan the attacks of 9/11. He currently is being held at Guantanamo Bay, but has not currently been charged for the murder of Pearl.

I for one am happy to know that the man that has affected thousands of American lives has been caught and put away. It's amazing how people would go to so much trouble and effort to bring pain upon others.

Photo Credit: U.S. Forces, Creative Commons.

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The Issues Behind Printed Issues

As newspapers become less popular, news readers are going to other sources to find out information.

Rupert Murdoch, owner of The Times of London, was one of the first people to enforce paywalls for his newspaper. Unfortunately, it was unsuccessful. Originally The Times had 150,000 registrations online. After applying the paywall over 120,000 people were unwilling to pay the paywall fee.

People aren't willing to pay for news that they can find elsewhere for free. With social media taking over people go to Twitter and Facebook to get their news fix. Tablets are also becoming more popular and with these tablets are applications that provide free news.

Also, because newspapers are printed at the same time on a regular basis, other news sources are able to get the news out quicker. Twitter is able to post breaking news immediately along with Facebook and iPad apps.

Let's face it, newspapers are going to become extinct in the next ten years. IPad apps, Facebook, and Twitter are taking over the news industry with their free information.

Photo Credit: Dorothy Parker, Loon Pond

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