The News About The News

Paying for stories

Thursday, November 13, 2008

By: Callie McBroom

Crowdfunding is the practice of receiving mini donations through the internet to help fund a venture. It has worked for bands, film makers, and political figures, and now MediaShift is asking if it could work for newspapers.

This site references two local newspapers, Spot.us and Representative Journalism, that are giving the process a try.

Spot.us or anyone else comes up with a story idea, and people pledge money toward the story. Once a freelance Journalists is covering the story, people can donate up to 20% of the total cost of the story to help fund it. After the journalist has written the story, news organizations can pay the full cost to receive exclusive rights, or the story will be posted online for all to see.

Representative Journalism hires a journalist to cover a specific community or issue. The community then supports that journalist to write stories.

There are some bloggers who are using crowdfunding to raise money as well.

Representative Journalism believes that this process can provide high quality journalism, familarize a community with a journalist, and help members of the community value the news in the area.

This could be a good idea if it's used correctly. If not, crowdfunding could lead to conflicts of interest, biased stories, and narrow story selection.

If people are paying for the news, they will demand only that in which they are interested. This could be a big problem potentially for truth and ethics in reporting.

Associated Press still thriving

By: Erin Floro

The Associated Press is a huge nonprofit news organization owned by 1500 newspapers and employs 3,000 journalists in 97 countries. The AP sells to over 15,000 news outlets worldwide, including 5,000 radio and TV stations and 4,000 Web sites.

Last year revenues were $710.3 million and showed a 6 percent increase due to this year’s election. Tom Curley, CEO of the 162-year-old AP, reports $30 million in the bank for the organization. The AP has avoided layoffs and has diversified its business.

The biggest source of revenue 27 percent comes from U.S newspapers, which are facing their own revenue problems. Many have announced plans to cancel their AP subscriptions. Curley believes they are just blowing smoke and using these threats to negotiate.

Jim Willse, editor of the Star Ledger of Newark, N.J. reasoned that canceling is due to shrinking revenue and layoffs, not that the AP is invaluable. His paper did print an entire issue without any AP stories in September to prove it was possible to live without the service.

Other news organizations are sprouting up around the country. CNN is launching their wire service in December and GlobalPost is starting an international network of correspondents in 2009.

Under Curley, the AP has a vision for the news organization to set up ways to share premium breaking news yet it can’t start up a portal that would compete with those they sell their stories to, somewhat of a catch-22.

Economy hurts even the big boys of media

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

By Peter Merchlewitz

The recent economic stutter is on everyone's minds these days. Can I afford to go back to school? Can our family make the annual holiday vacations to distant relatives? The list goes on and on.

One would be surprised to find that this crisis doesn't affect just us mere mortals, trying to get by, day to day. According to The Editors Weblog, it appears that even media giants such as The New York times are quickly trying to figure out what cuts they can make to meet their ends meet before the Repo Man comes knocking at their door.

The bottom line for the short-term financial picture for the Times is that it owes $453 million more than it has.

Blodget reports, based on recent NYTCo. filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission:

What NYT has:
• $46 million of cash
• $366 million owed to it by advertisers
Total: $412 million

What NYT owes:
• $398 million of short-term debt (due in May)
• $161 million of accounts payable (newsprint, travel, etc.)
• $100 million of payroll (salaries)
• $159 million of other expenses
• $50 million owed on long-term debt and rent
Total: $865 million

So the question is, what can the NYT do to cut costs and remain afloat? Will cutting jobs be enough? Will they need to end print editions?

Whatever they decide to do, they'll need to find a solution that both allows them to maintain their status and have the resources to provide quality news coverage before it's too late.

The Glitz, The Glamour, and The Glory

By: Kelsey Knutson

The media has a solid reputation for sticking its nose into business that does not belong to them. However, isn't the media supposed to seek out the truth and report it?

But we must ask, what truths do we as a society need to care about? Does my well-being depend and hang in balance on whether Jennifer Aniston is pregnant or not? Or can I not sleep peacefully if I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is dating... or what her sexual orientation is for that case? (You can tell that I do actually pay attention this stuff.)

Television shows like E! and Access Hollywood are dedicated to giving us updates on the lives of movie starts and music idols. Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus, Paula Abdul, Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie. But, who cares?

The answer is everyone cares. The real question is, why?

It's human nature for us to want to know what is going on with other people's lives. So why not inquire about the lives of the rich and famous and... somewhat... talented?

This interest goes beyond Hollywood. We now see special features and articles in gossip magazines about our political figures and sports heros.

The media feeds into our interest of other people's lives.

The media gives us information and opportunity. And above all, it gives us access.

Newspapers consider merger to stay afloat

By: Erin Floro

All across the country newspapers are facing an economic crisis, with more than 24,000 jobs being cut this past year. The Internet is taking over not only their readers but also television, radio, and magazine audiences.

With this decline and dropping revenues, some newspapers are trying to restructure to stay alive. This is the case for the Star-Telegram, a Fort Worth Texas paper. Staffed with 400 journalists its newsroom was once considered huge for a paper its size. This paper has been a moneymaker for decades.

On Friday, November 7, the Star-Telegram announced it may collaborate with the Dallas Morning News, it’s oldest rival. Advertising, its major source of revenue dropped 17.5 percent in September. Annual revenue is $40 million lower than 2006. Stock price of its parent company, the McClatchy Co., fell 87 percent last year. Analysts have speculated bankruptcy.

The Star-Telegram has eliminated 250 positions three times this year, accounting for one-fifth of the work force. Its historic headquarters building in downtown Fort Worth has been put up for sale, shocking to many who want the presence of the paper to remain in the business district.

Employees of the newspaper are also very concerned about job security with the approaching merger.

Falling circulation has affected both papers. In the past year, the Star-Telegram circulation fell to 3.9 percent while the Morning News reported a 9 percent drop in only six months. They are looking at combining their daily print runs as printing is a major expense.

With only 220 journalists, including those who work online, declining revenue, and their overwhelming debt, the Star-Telegram believes that the consolidation with the Morning News makes sense.

Mind blowing tools

By: Sarah Keller

The web is constantly finding bigger and better ways to demonstrate reporting. In an article from the New York Times today, it discussed how google has now made up a search engine that people can go onto to see if they have flu like symptoms. This search engine even has the ability to say in advance what location is going to get hit with the flu next.

This just blows my mind that something like this can be reported about. In my last blog I talked about the how people can view a map and click on a state to see how many people voted for which presidential candidate, I then said who knows what they will think of next. Well this is definitely another step in altering our world with online reporting, I really cannot wait to see what people will think of next to report about online.

Perfect Match

By: Alex Jones

Recently the Des Moines Register published a story about Shannon Michelle Rew, an Indianola resident who had an affair with a 15 year old boy.

Rew being 37 herself was attracted to the boy after her daughter had dated him for 6 months. There seems to be an epidemic of older adults targeting young children. My thought is where is the balance?

It seems that the media only portrays naughty priests or attractive cougars on the prowl. I want average Joe's to create a better balance of who is portrayed in the media for corrupting the youth with their sex.

Where are the men in these stories? The middle school basketball coach that seduced his young female player. I want to know where the heterosexual males fall along this story? They're out there so why are they not getting the media coverage that bubbly soccer moms or priests are getting?

Who is to say one is worse than the other?

Associated Press plays god

By: Kathryn Lisk

Romenesko posted a blog informing editors that after Thursday, Nov. 14 at 3 a.m. EST, an Associated Press change will go into effect.

"The AP will use the title and first and family names on the first reference," said Romenesko's blogger. Essentially, instead of writing "President Bush" in first reference, AP style will ask for "President George Bush". This also applies for "President-elect Barack Obama" and other commonly known leaders.

I understand why the change is being made, but can't help from wondering what it's like to work for the Associated Press style team. This group of individuals dictates how thousands of reporters around the globe write.

Obviously this change will only cause minor shifts in the stories that are reported. However, the AP Stylebook demands specific rules on hundreds of words, phrases, numbers, etc. They play an extremely important and powerful role in today's journalism world.

It starts here and sometimes ends here

By: Shauna Agan

It has happened so recently lately that one does not know if they are watching the entertainment or politics. While politics appearing on the late night television shows is not a new trend, it has sure become a trend in recent years.

In 2003, Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that he would run for office in the California gubernatorial race. This was not just any announcement though. He made his announcement to Jay Leno on The Tonight Show.

His announcement proved to be successful when he was elected as the governor of California. Maybe that is why Senator John McCain also chose to use this form of medium to announce his bid for presidency in March of 2007.

Although there was already much speculation that McCain would run for president, he made it official on The Late Show with David Letterman. His announcement proved to be successful for a while as he claimed the GOP seat in the bid for presidency.

Following McCain, another GOP candidate, Fred Thompson also entered the race using the late shows as his media option. In Sept. 2007, Thompson announced during "The Tonight Show" that he would run for President of the United States.

A week after the elections, Leno was the first person to receive an interview with McCain, who had been defeated.

So many politicians are resorting to the late night entertainment media to announce their candidacy and give interviews to, but why? Does it have anything to do with the ‘serious’ media options such as CNN, MSNBC, Fox, etc. is not good enough?

I believe it has to do with the relaxed atmosphere these hosts provide to the politicians. When giving interviews to other journalists in media, the politicians feel as if they are being stuck between a rock and a hard place when some of the questions are asked. Hosts such as Leno and Letterman put a humorous light on the situation.

I also believe it has a lot to do with the American public. More individuals watch the late shows than watch actual news channels, so it is a smart move for these candidates to announce their bids for presidency via entertainment programs. It grabs the attention of the public.

I believe using the late night entertainment media is a very smart decision on the politician’s half.

Is it necessary to keep a tally?

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

By: Jessica Hartgers

Many of you may have heard of the most recent suicide at Southeast Polk High School. You probably heard that it was another teenage boy who committed suicide and he is the fourth student to do so in the last seven months.

My problem with the way journalists are reporting this subject is that they all seem to be keeping a tally to the number of students to commit this act. Journalists seem to be focusing on the total number and the timeline that things have occurred, focusing on the first and the latest.

I know the timeline and number of students is just a fact of the case, but is it necessary to keep bringing the previous cases up in each news story. In a way the journalists are making readers relive each death.

Journalists need to leave previous suicides out of the story.

Palin in the news

By: Jessica Hamell

I’m so relieved the election is over but why is there still all this publicity about Sarah Palin? She is getting more news than McCain is and he was the one running for president.

There has been so much news about who her first interview would be with. She was invited on Oprah but she decided that shouldn’t be her first interview. This sort of stuff should not make news.

The New York Times wrote an article today about Palin. The said “She put herself on full display, in interviews with NBC and Fox News before Mr. McCain had a chance to take a no-victory lap on The Tonight Show. And she has many more appearances scheduled throughout the week, including a star turn at the Republican Governors Association meeting in Miami on Thursday.” She shouldn’t have gotten invited for an interview before McCain. That seems like a slap in the face towards McCain to me.

Now there are rumors about her running in the 2012 election. O please No!!!

Newspapers downturn

By: Jessica Hamell

So now that the election is over will everything get better? Will our economy and newspaper industry be saved. I hardly think so.

The Kansas City Star is letting go of 50 employees. They are in their third round of cost cutting in nearly 5 months and nothing is getting better. The said 2008 is “one of the most challenging years in Star history.” All of them will receive severance pay, benefits continuation and outplacement services. If that is the case then why not keep them and just cut their wages. The newspaper won’t be making much more money by letting go of these employees if they keep giving them money.

These newspapers are trying to do everything they can to save themselves but nothing is working. When will all this stop.

“Many newspapers, including The Star, are attracting record numbers of readers to their news and advertising content. But most new readers are coming through the papers’ online Web sites, while readership and advertising revenue from their core daily printed products continue to soften.” Why don’t more papers make people pay for online subscriptions? That is where they are losing money, I think that would be a very good idea. If people pay to for an online subscription the cost of printing the product is taken out of the equation and money could be made.

It's about time Kenny

By: Gabe Gilson

The funniest sports caster on ESPN finally has a new gig. Unfortunately for him, it is not as big of a deal I was hoping for.

Kenny Mayne now is the star of his own show Mayne Street, which was the idea of ESPN. The thing about this show that makes me rather unexcited for it is the fact that it only appears on espn.com. This truly is a bit of a bummer because a show that is half an hour of Kenny being Kenny that would appear on ESPN one night a week would most likely get tremendous ratings.

So far, there has only been one episode of the show online in which Mayne and Scott Van Pelt did a four minute bit on how Mayne had a hard time saying Rafael Nadal’s name when signing off at the end of the show Sports Center. If one would fully understand Mayne’s dark, sarcastic humor then it would be hard to do anything but laugh.

In this new technological era, this show got me thinking. Is it possible that the new, hip thing is going to be television shows only available to view online? I certainly hope this is not the case because I like to sit down and watch television. Every now and then, when I miss Monday’s How I Met Your Mother on CBS, I like watching the replay online. This is a lot different than only being able to watch the show online. For everybody’s benefit, I hope we can always be able to watch our television shows on television.

Tired of hearing about it

By Kellie Green

The election is over and we know our 44th president but the media keeps printing about the outcome. I understand that it is a huge excitement that we finally know our new president but when does the media stop?

As I was reading the newspapers and some online blogs I kept coming across stories about Barack Obama and his views and how people are against them. In in an article in USA Today it talks about how the Catholic Bishops are going to fight Obama on his views of abortion.

I know that Facebook is not really a newspaper or deals with journalism but it is a media source because so many people use it. When I enter Facebook I always see people putting on their status how our country is going to fall and how we picked a communist for a president.

I just don't understand when it will all end. There are so many people against the idea of Obama but he is now our president and we have to stand behind him.

I just don't understand when the discussion of the new president will end. The New York Times is even running an article on a man named Howard Dean helped the President win the election. It just seems like enough is enough and I think people are tired of hearing about it.

A whole new level

By; Sarah Keller

In class we have been talking about the web and how everything is starting to be published online. You can do so much more things with web sites. We also talked about how you could look at a map and click on states to see how many votes each state had for which presidential candidate, you can even look at previous years votes. I found this to be really cool so I decided to take another look at it.

I am very impressed with the way the map shows the state winners for each candidate. This is taking reporting to a whole new level, which I find very impressive. I only wonder what people will think of next to put up on newspaper web sites. I would just like to congratulate the New York Times for being so clever as to think of something like this to put up on their site, because it really is drawing people in to look at their paper and it is impressive.

Newspapers need to kick it into high gear

By: Erin Floro

Consumers buy newspapers in record numbers when a historical event happens. Such was the case last week when Barack Obama was elected president.

This enthusiasm for the post- election editions proves that newspapers still matter and are valuable keepsakes of a memorable event. People can preserve these souvenirs better than YouTube videos or blogs.

Our nation also turned to newspapers after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 and after Hurricane Katrina. It shouldn’t have to be some shocking event to capture a reader’s attention.

Circulation won’t be retained with vague news stories or boring accounts of civic meetings and press conferences. Newspapers need to rejuvenate themselves and ignite their readers on a daily basis. They need to report on stories that will grab people’s attention and pique their interest and then have them talking about it.

If newspapers don't succeed in this they could possibly become extinct.

A day to honor Veterans.

By: Sarah Harl

In honor of Veterans Day, I decided to do a Google search on the day.

The most interesting piece of information that I learned is that according to United States Department of Veteran's Affairs, as well as the AP style book, the veterans in Veterans day is simply plural. It is not a possessive noun.

According to the Veteran's Affairs website, this is because this day does not belong to Veterans. This a day when we honor Veterans.

I found this to be a very profound statement, as well as very fitting of the men and women that this day is meant to honor.

The men and women who are Veterans of our armed forces, put themselves in harm day after day, and it was never for them. It was for something larger than themselves.

Maybe they did it for their family, or their grandchildren, or the next generation.

But they always did it out of love for their country, a patriotism in which they never asked for anything in return.

And so, instead of just giving them a day, and calling it enough, the responsibility for once rests on the American people to give these men and women the honor they deserve, because they day does not do this, it is something that we must, and should do.

Facebook ads are not going to work

By: Lexie Hagerty

An article in the Wall Street Journal reported that Facebook is trying to find new ways to get ads out to its users.

The article reported that the website hasn't been able to keep a steady revenue out of any of its advertisers. I can understand that Facebook would want a steady revunue, but I don't think any attempts to display ads more will help the website.

I am a Facebook user. I like the website because it doesn't have a lot of ads and its safe and efficient in providing communication between my friends and I.

I think a lot of users like how simple Facebook is. They like that they aren't bombarded with ads every twenty seconds like some websites are.

The way I see it, Facebook can try to add more room and opportunities for advertisers to get their brands out there, but Facebook users won't like it and begin looking for new ways to avoid the ads. This could be a bad move for Facebook.

Multimedia for a different cause

Monday, November 10, 2008

American journalists use multimedia to provide readers and viewers with

Collaboration

By: Quinn Albrecht

As we talked about Monday in class, collaboration is key in getting anything done in journalism. In doing some research for todays blog, I came across this article from Poynter.org.

This article talks about the need for collaboration in the work place. It tells readers what they can do to become better at working together.

It also shows what to do to increase team work and what obstacles are in the way, keeping people from working together.

This idea is important in any job that you will have co-workers, but is especially important in journalism. Journalists need to work together to hit deadlines and make stories more efficient.

It was just supposed to be funny!

By: Sarah Harl

In its November 9th edition, the Murfreesboro Post allowed an opinion column to be run by humor columnist Stephen Lewis.

Shortly thereafter, Michael Pirtle, publisher and editor of the paper, was issuing a formal apology for the racist and narrow-minded humor that was published in the Lewis column.

The column, entitled "Ode To Obama" includes a song written by Lewis which I was warned I wouldn't "get" because I was under the age of 30.

And he was right. I didn't get it. In more ways than one.

First, apparently you need to be familiar with the television show The Jefferson's to fully understand the reference, which I decidedly am not.

And the second reason that I didn't get it is that there is never under any circumstances warrant to make racist remarks about anyone, but specifically not about the man who has been chosen by a significant majority of this country to be our leader.

It is never appropriate to refer to the White House as a "pimp pad." I don't care if the occupant is black, white, or Hugh Hefner. It is the home of our president, and just as I would expect anyone to treat my home with respect, so we need to treat his with respect.

Also, regardless of anyone's feelings on Sarah Palin, she does not deserve to be referred to as a "cute, cheap thrill."

And apparently Lewis does not restrict his ridiculous comments solely to blacks and women. He also refers to newly elected Tennessee state representative Dr. Rishi Saxena.

Lewis is adamant that Dr. Saxena should learn to talk with a southern accent. Or at least make "y'all" and "fixin to" a part of his vocabulary.

The fact that we don't need our state senators furthering the use of horrible grammar in this country is even beside the point in this situation. The point is that the south has continued to be seen as a safe haven for racists for so long because they have been resistant to change.

And now that there are people in place who can possibly transform the ways of some southern racists, a story like this gets run in the Murfreesboro Post, taking us right back where we started.

You can disagree with someone on policy. This is perfectly acceptable, and even necessary within the framework of the United States government.

But it is inexcusable to disagree with someone because they are not a white male. Most of the country has been able to move beyond that, and its time that Tennessee join us.

As long as columns like this continue to be published, the south will continue to look like a bunch of uneducated hicks, and the Republican Party will continue to be seen as inherently intolerant, since, unfortunately, many of these narrow-minded, ignorant people align themselves with this party.

So shame on Stephen Lewis for writing this article, and shame on the Murfressboro Post for running it. Issuing an apology after the fact reeks of irresponsible decisions in editing. Saying that the article was written in humor doesn't help the cause either, because it wasn't funny.

When you print something, people are going to read it, and when you print something asinine and racist, people are going to talk. And whether or not you believe it should reflect on your newspaper as a whole or not, it does.

I bet it's not so funny anymore.

Too much news

By: Shauna Agan

My grandpa was watching his soap operas today as he does everyday. He must have really been watching them today rather than falling asleep because when I went to visit him tonight he was very ticked off.

My grandpa’s soap opera was interrupted by a newsflash that he didn’t like. This news was a video of President-elect Barack Obama walking up to the White House and shaking hands with current President George W. Bush.

The reason my grandfather got so ticked off about this was because he did not believe it was newsworthy enough for the station to completely interrupt his television program just to show this. We all knew sooner or later Obama and Bush would get together and eventually shake hands. Why is it news just to show it on television?

Since the election has happened, media is trying hard to find something else to focus on. Their answer is to show anything and everything they can about the transition of power.

While I do believe it is newsworthy that Obama and Bush met today, I do not think it was important enough to interrupt a television program to show them shaking hands. Big deal.

I agree that the transition of powers is very significant in our country right now and it does deserve media coverage. However, I think media is going to focus way more on it than needed.

A lot of things that are newsworthy become old news fast because of the rapid media coverage. When a story is covered too often, people get sick of hearing about it.
Often times, media goes too far and over emphasizes the newsworthiness of a story. The media will cover the story too much, and it is no longer news. There is such thing as too much media coverage.

The news their way

By: Adrian Aitken

Here in America we take the privilege of the freedom of press for granted. Its is the only profession protected under law and journalists push their boundaries everyday. Others though aren't as lucky.

Vietnam has a fairly strict grasp on the country's media because of its communist government. Journalists are held accountable for everything they publish, especially if the material makes the government look bad. Vietnam though is a little unusual in how it regulates the media.

The government is communist but when a more conservative party is in charge they give the media a little more room to work. The party found that the unraveling of corruption is popular among the people so they ordered journalists to find such stories. One such man in Vietnam found a story and reported on it illustrating a case of corruption in the country's government. Later he was brought to court and sentenced to two years of detention.

This shows how we have been given such a privilege here in the country and ought to try and show some more respect for the media and the founders who gave us such a gift.

Stating it simple

By: Lexie Hagerty

When people talk about the future of journalim, the talk seems to go on and on.

However, I recently read a blog called "If I had three wishes, I'd ask for more wishes..." and thought it was an awesome, but simple blog about the future of journalism.

The author, Sarah Jappy, implied that the only way to save journalism if to rely on luck. Otherwise, it is a lost cause as far as salary goes.

"There is a pleasing symmetry to this unjustness: I have no laptop, so can’t get the job…I have no job, so can’t get the laptop. Catch 22, journalism stylee!" Jappy said at the end of her blog.

I love this line. She wrote her blog to point out what a large amount of money could do for the journalism industry and how without this large sum, the journalism industry could go downhill. This is due to the low salaries that journalists are paid.

This last line states it plain and simple that an increase of salary is the only way to save the industry. Otherwise, journalists aren't going to be able to afford their own job.

Get the facts right

By: Kayla Miller

Once again, I was reading two different, online newspapers and found two articles that told me different statistics from a bombing in Baghdad.

From reading New York Times, I found the article titled Triple Blasts Kill 28 in Northern Baghdad. Well, that's interesting I suppose, until I reached another article of the same sort from the Wall Street Journal titled Twin Blasts Kill at Least 31 in Baghdad.

Now what the heck? Who is to believe? Twin bombings or triple? Twenty-eight people or 31? I mean, gee, the journalists already got it wrong in the title!

This reminds me of the time in class when we talked about how reporters needed the exact number of people killed in the plane crash. I guess now I understand why journalists need to get the facts straight. Especially when two articles telling the same story are spreading different facts.

One of these two journalists (or maybe even both), need to check into what really happened.

All I got to say is, "Get the facts right, people."

Reliving the past, one day at a time.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

By: Taylor Browning

Everyone looks forward to the daily newspaper, or the updated version online, but some are looking forward to yesterday's newspaper. I never really thought twice about keeping old newspapers, until it had a special value to me.

Pictures and articles of my team's journey to the state tournament, or an article about my brother's football game are important to me. On a larger scale, many kept the newspaper on September 12, reporting the previous day's terror. Recently, many people are saving and selling newspapers over Barack Obama's newly won presidency.

Maybe this is a small key success, even a niche, in the journalism world. Hard paper provides more sentimental value and keepsake than an Internet bookmarked site. Reliving the past can become more of a reality and hold more meaning when one actually has an article of the past on hand.

Journalism versus the law

By Austin Bates

In my weekly search of media related news, I came across an interesting news story about a young man reporting the news becoming part of it himself, through the use of the College Media Matters blog. Apparently he is a photographer with the Daily Collegian on Pennsylvania State College's campus, and after a football game one night, decided to start photographing a riot that began shortly after. Police breaking up the riot saw the photographer and asked him to leave the area. After several times of refusing to do so (by not leaving, that is), he was lead out of the area, had his driver's license confiscated, and later in the week, was charged with several criminal offenses.

This situation vexes me a little. By some accounts in the news story, the photographer displayed his identification signifying him as an official reporter for the college paper, and conceded to most of the officer's demands, even assisting them at one point; it's not like he was directly involved in the riot, like the police are claiming he was. He was peacefully photographing the scene and events like any good reporter should do, and does, without consequence.

The Constitution, specifically, the First Amendment, guarantees the rights of the press to do their duty, and the photographer was apparently doing just that. Therefore, he should be allowed to continue photographing the events of the riot, so long as he does not interfere or block police work (which would be something for which a criminal charge would be justifiable and understandable). People have as much a First Amendment right to say what they want to say as they have a right to hear (and see) what they want to.

As an up-and-coming photojournalist myself, I'm not sure if I would have the courage to ignore police requests to leave an area, like the photographer covering the riot apparently did, but I can only hope I would stand up for my rights as a citizen and member of the press. I agree that there should be cooperation between the press and police services, especially in the area of coming up with a quickly verifiable method of identification of the members of the press. Obviously, there is a need for the police to be able to perform crowd control on a riot, and just because you have a camera or a recorder does not mean you are a member of the press, but there is also a right of the press to cover the news.

Hopefully, future generations will be courageous enough, like the photographer at the riot was, to cover the news regardless of attempts at police intimidation.

The New York Sun is forgotten

By: Kathryn Lisk

The New York Sun, a newspaper in circulation from 1833 to 1950 and again from 2002 until the end of September, didn't get the goodbye it should have.

A blog posted by The New York Times said that while the paper is gone, the remnants of the paper still remain within New York City. Empty newspaper boxes and the yellow and white paper weights used by newspaper vendors are everywhere, but no one seems to care or even notice.

This story makes me sad for those who work for or even read The New York Sun because it was a paper that helped create news history. After so many years of producing a daily paper, saying goodbye surely isn't easy.

The New York Sun stopped printing its news because of the same struggles other papers are having. A rough economy mixed with people who prefer news on the internet or don't get any news at all creates an economic disaster for the newspaper business.

The New York sun does still provide news on the Web, but is finished for good in print.

As more and more papers are forced to close, journalists need to learn how to report on the Web. Links, videos and audio attachments in addition to pictures and text are necessary to appeal to viewers.

Great change

By; Sarah Keller

Ever since Obama was announced to be Americas next president I have been hearing great news. Of course there are still some people out there who are not very happy with the outcome and are more than willing to tell you how disappointed they are, but I must say that the news is doing a great job of showing their support toward Obama and speaking about how happy others are that he won and what good he is already doing for our country.

According to an article from the New York Times, Obama’s win was not a blow out, but it was a clearly cut win, so people can not try to argue the fact that he won the 2008 election. This was an election that many feel will change our country forever. According to an article from ABC.com “African Americans across the country are pinning their hopes on an Obama administration, seeing his victory as the ultimate fulfillment of Dr. Martin Luther King's ‘dream’ .” Many prominent African American leaders could not be happier about the outcome of our election, the article went on to discuss. I have read many articles that help to show how important the election was to different individuals, showing the emotional side of reporting, drawing me into the articles and making me want to read more.

An article in the Chicago sun times talked about how Oprah Winfrey announced that "It was the best paper of all the papers in the world”; referring to the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper the day after Obama was elected. The paper had to make 350,000 extra copies of the paper due to the overwhelming requests for extra papers. Obviously the Sun-Times paper was doing a great job of reporting and covering the big story making it so many wanted a copy of the phenomenal announcement.

Not only is it a big deal in America that Obama was announced the next president of the United States, but other countries are jumping on bored with celebrating the wonderful announcement.
An article from AOL news.com discussed how people in other countries are accepting Americans more, how it is now considered “cool” to be an American because of our new president. The article told a compelling story about a girl who was a stranger in Australia, but once people found out that she was American this last week, they started excepting her and showering her with kisses on the cheek.

All of these articles just go to show that a huge part of history was made last week, and that things are in for a change. The articles I talked about reported really well on the emotions of the readers and showed great support for our next president of the United States.

Get your degree by playing games

By: Katie Anthony

While browsing for a blog topic, (by randomly clicking links), on Poynter Online, I stumbled across a link for a board game entitled "The Be A Reporter Game." I was extremely intrigued, so I clicked on the link to see what I could find.

From that link, I was taken to News University, and given a brief overview of the game. Under the "What Will I Learn" section, this is what the game description is; "Be A Reporter, a game developed for an audience of all ages, helps users understand some of the basics: how journalists probe, clarify, verify and race against a deadline."

Along with this game there's also "Beat Basics and Beyond," "Math for Journalists," "Beyond the Inverted Pyramid: Creating Alternative Story Forms," and pretty much any other journalism course you can imagine.

Granted, these are both courses and games, but you're offered the same journalism degree if you get all of your online courses taken.

Cheaper, convenient, but just as effective as college courses?

I doubt it.

Careful of the sources

Saturday, November 8, 2008

By: Kayla Miller

On Wednesday, an 8-year-old boy killed his father and his father's friend with a 22-caliber rifle. Wow. Now, this is an article that caught my attention.

Even though the event happened in Flagstaff, Arizona, I wanted to read til the end, and good thing I did. Because, from class last Wednesday, I remember talking about whether or not some sources are good to talk to considering what position they play in the event. At the end of his article, I noticed that the journalist had put, "Family members declined to speak on the record."

Now, that makes me wonder if the journalist really went to the family and asked them questions, and if he did, what did he ask? Was it against the Code of Ethics? I guess that is something I will never know. But just the fact that the journalist wrote that in the article makes a person wonder what really happened with those sources?

Newsworthiness with demographic

Friday, November 7, 2008

By: Hannah Pickett

This week was the most political of the 52 weeks in a year with the election held Tuesday. Tuesday's election was not just to determine our country's next president, but also local communities' sheriff, and other offices.

With the Madisonian's deadline Tuesday night, the main editor decided to stick around and wait for the ballots to be counted to run a lead story on the results. I thought that went without saying, but also thought that the front page headline would have more to do with community results. I imagined it would read something about not only the presidential results, but about the county's offices.

When I looked at the paper after it was printed Wednesday, the main headline stretched across the front page was "It's an Obama Nation" and the sub-heading read "McCain leads in Madison County." Much to my disappointment, there was one sentence in the story naming the county's newly elected sheriff, but the key point of his story was a lazy version of a CNN report announcing Obama the winner.

I was more disappointed to read the last line of the story saying more results of the local election next week. More? Try all of it.

The main problem here is realizing what news is to your demographic, to your key readers. If I wanted to know who won the presidential election, I am not going to wait for the Madisonian to come out Wednesday afternoon to find out. I will turn on my television, get online, or read a daily more credible newspaper for the inside scoop.

The readers of a small town paper already know who the presidential elect is by the time the Madisonian is available; what they don't know is who won the local election seats. Writing a knock off, lazy report on Obama sweeping the country and mentioning McCain's Madison County victory is not what the average Madisonian reader will be interested in. That stuff is reported everywhere. It's like beating a dead horse after a while. People get sick of it and want to see new angles.

People want to read about what changes their votes have made that will directly affect them; i.e.:sheriff.

Considering newsworthiness of a topic within your publication's demographic is very critical in my opinion, and is something that I think should be taken more seriously.

Economic crisis doesn't phase Facebook

By: Alex Jones

Through these hard economic times there is one company that is not having troubles coming up with enough money.

Facebook has a staff of over 700 and is still hiring. The company is growing in their revenue and has no problem finding the advertisers necessary to fill their Web site.

In a time where more media is moving to the Web, it is no surprise that advertisers themselves are jumping from traditional print advertisements to Web advertisements. Media will inevitably follow the money.

This is just another contributing factor to the slow decline of print media. Low readership and advertisers that are moving to the Web are slowly but surely going to drain print media for good.

Did she say that?

By: Pat Tierney

Recently in class we have been talking about what media can and cannot publish.

This reminded me about a story that appeared in a local paper, the Record Herald. This small town paper has a distribution of roughly 14,000 but is owned by America's largest newspaper publisher, Gannett.

A couple of weeks ago, a story was written by a staff writer, who interviewed a woman who has had a relatively traumatic battle with cancer for over 10 years.

This story of Teresa Jacobsen documents the ups and downs of the last few years and currently she is fighting one of those "downs."

The story opens with a little background, all of which sets her story, but then about half way through she discusses why she hasn't given up.

"I'm too big of a bitch to die." Jacobsen said.

I realize that "bitch" really isn't the worst of curse words that could be pulled out, but I thought that it was interesting that a Gannett owned paper, in little old Indianola, Iowa would choose to run the quote.

Not only did the reporter have to be sensitive in talking to a woman (who is in pretty tough shape) and her family, but he had to use discretion as to put the quote in the story or not, all of which are things that we just got done talking about in class the last week.

This article got a little bit of buzz around town as well.

When talking with some people at work, they thought that putting the comment about her being a bitch was unnecessary, even though Jacobsen did say it.

So was the newspaper right? I believe that if you are old enough to have read all of the article down to that point and understand it - then you are old enough to hear the word bitch.

No, putting that quote in the article wasn't overly flattering to Ms. Jacbosen, but that's what she said, and that my friends, is the job of a journalist.

Did you get yours?

Thursday, November 6, 2008

By Liz Tjaden

If you have been living under a rock for the past three days, you would have probably still heard about the outcome of the election. No matter what party lines you agree with, it can’t be denied that America made history Tuesday night.

However, newspaper stands also made a mark on history the next morning.

In class, we often talk about where people are getting their news and how they are using the media. From our discussions, we have concluded that although people like to use a newspaper to get caught up on current events, it is not always as popular as using an online version. Traditional newspaper can’t vie with the Internet and how convenient it is, the continuous updates that are available and how the stories are linked with video, audio and pictures.

However, the Internet may have just met its competition last Wednesday.

According to MSNBC.com newspapers announcing Barack Obama’s Presidential victory were flying off the shelves and major news companies had a hard time keeping up with the demand for copies. If buyers missed their opportunity to grab their own personal piece of history, eBay was at their rescue.

By Wednesday evening more than 800 sellers were offering copies for sale. Some bids were up to $400 by early Wednesday evening.

Looks like newspapers finally had their day. After taking an involuntary backseat to different forms of multi-media, people returned to the traditional and reliable source of pure paper and ink.

New York Times creates electronic dashboard

By: Allison McNeal

The presidential election created a wave of new milestones, including a new interactive technology for journalists.

The New York Times recently impemented a new API, which "gives users and third-party developers access to presidential campaign finance data from the Federal Election Commission collected by the paper".

This new API would also allow for detailed and interactive mapping.

One concept that Aron Pilhofer, editor of newsroom interactive technologies at the New York Times, expected to work the best during the election was the election dashboard.

"The idea was to create a smallish, sort of standalone page that you could pull up on your PC or on your iPhone and see the entire state of play without having to flip around network-to-network or Web site-to-Web site," he said.

The dashboard showed the most current results and also allowed a state-by-state breakdown.

This technology also allowed individuals to see what other competitng stations, such as CBS, NBC, ABC, the Associated Press, FOX and CNN, were reporting about the status of the election.

According to Pilhofer, this dashboard was a complete success.

The technology that these journalists used encorporated video, multimedia, graphics, and reporting that added an interactive approach.

Even though NYTimes.com used different strategies to showcase the election, this site still has large competition.

"We'll never be able to keep up with television or even larger Web sites like CNN in terms of speed, but we can be the first place people look when they want to know why something happened the way it did," Pilhofer said. "Our entire package was designed with that in mind: you may go somewhere else for the breaking news, but you'll come to us for the analysis. I think it's really our sweet spot."

After all the success with the election database, this newspaper has plans to start up a campaign finance API, with complete congressional roll call votes.

With the increase in technology, other newspapers have moved toward more interactive journalism.

Organizations like CNN had a similar election page where an individual could click on a state and see the results of each city and county.

As technology is increasing, does that mean that journalists can keep the world updated more efficiently and possibly allow for higher voter turnout?

Even though different forms of multimedia like videos and maps are being widely used by journalists, voters and individuals will have to give online newspapers positive or negative feedback about new technologies that can be used.

Historical vs. biased

By: Kathryn Lisk

When reporting on hurricanes or floods, it is easy for journalists to remain objective. They state the facts, cover the story in an inverted pyramid form, and move on. Even when covering sports stories or movie reviews, most journalists are able to provide information to readers without offending and can stay neutral.

However, during the past week, endless stories have been written on the presidential candidates and more specifically on Barack Obama's victory. Have journalists still remained completely neutral?

Various reporters have regarded the Democratic Party's victory as an historical event and

a blog posted on npr.org questioned whether this was a fair statement. The blogger said the claim may imply a liberal bias.

In this specific example, I disagree. Whether or not a journalist supports Obama really shouldn't matter. He is the first minority to be elected president and has made history. This election is without a doubt historically significant within the U.S.

In fact, I disagree with the argument that newspapers have reported unfairly since the election ended in general. It is certainly news that Obama won. After two years of speeches, rallies, debates and so on, the president elect should be front page nationwide.

Papers would have done the same had John McCain won.

Let's stop it before it gets worse

Google executives are now facing trial in Italy for a video that was posted on an Italian website, according to Reuters. The video displayed four youth tormenting another youth with Down sydrome.

The executives are arguing that they shouldn't be punished for a third party's video.

I am not sure which side I agree with more, but I also feel that I shouldn't have an opinion considering I am not an expert on the subject.

However, I do think that Internet users are taking advantage of their independence online. Things are being published that I don't think should be. It is not all that bad right now, but it will get worse. Just look at the things that are now being shown on T.V. and movies.

Something needs to be done to monitor the Internet. Otherwise, violent and inappropriate messages are going to be spread from home to home with the click of a mouse, which may lead to actual violence in our communities.

With the way things are going in our world today, I don't think we should take that risk.

Everything will be alright.

In the aftermath of this years election, John Carlson of the Des Monies Register wrote a compelling opinion piece on moving forward as a country.

An assurance that every citizen of this country, whether they voted for President-elect Obama or Senator McCain, will be able to move forward from this election, and hopefully under Obama toward a better and stronger country.

Perhaps the most important thing that Carlson pointed out is that our country is bigger than any one person. And, importantly, Obama recognizes that this country is bigger than he is. He has called on every American to work a little harder to put this ailing country back together.

Another point that Carlson makes is that the media was "in the tank" for Obama. But more importantly, it didn't matter. That perhaps the media has been given too much credit for their "control" over the American people.

Instead, Carlson gives credit to the citizens of this country. Crediting them with being able to look at what was happening in the world around them and make the decision that was best for them, without consideration of what media moguls were saying.

So it doesn't matter if you celebrated on Tuesday or were disappointed. What matters is that we recognize that this country is bigger than any one person. Be they Democrat or Republican. And this country is also ailing, and we need to take the words of our next president seriously, and we all need to work at putting this country back together.

His Charisma score is at least 20!

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

by Peter Merchlewitz

In case you've been hiding under a rock for the past 24 hours, a rather historical event occurred last night, and many people are saying that Barack Obama's acceptance speech last night was one of the best that the American people have heard in a long time. Not to mention that he's one damn fine speaker in his own right.

Perhaps Obama's strongest point within the speech was his referral to a 106-year-old, Ann Nixon Cooper. Using the woman from Atlanta life as a metaphor to show how much America has gone through in at least 100 years brings a glimmer of hope, knowing that we've gone through two World Wars, woman's rights, the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall, placed a man on the moon, and of course, segregation.

During Obama's acceptance speech last night, I couldn't help but notice that my entire fraternity house was dead silent, save the many TVs tuned into CNN, MSNBC, and FOX News. And while I was sitting there, watching Obama use his gift of the gab, I realized that since all the TVs each had their own delay of sound, it gave the emulation of hearing the speech live at Grand Park in Chicago, giving it a feel of Martin Luther's "I Have A Dream" speech, or JFK's "City on a Hill" speeche.

Truly, there was history made last night.

CNN wins

By: Callie McBroom

CNN had the most viewers watching election coverage on cable Tuesday night. In fact, only ABC beat CNN's numbers during prime time last night. ABC had 13,135,000 total prime time viewers compared to 12,292,000 for CNN.

"This was CNN's highest-ever viewership in prime time," according to TVNEWSER. And, the cable channel beat out network channels NBC, CBS and FOX.

Prior to the election, Brian Stelter for The New York Times pointed out CNN's countdown to poll closing time that started days ahead of the election. This was all in an effort to stay ahead of their competition. Mainly refering to FOX and MSNBC.

Stelter is also calling the 2008 election "a cable news election" because the big network broadcasters are slowing dying, and cable tv is changing the way elections are covered.

"TV ratings for Presidential election nights have shown an upward trend over the last 44 years," according to TV by the Numbers. This and the high ratings already during the debates and the national conventions coverage, lay the foundation for record tv ratings for this year's election.

Michelle Obama claimed best-dressed

By: Kayla Miller

Journalists nowadays are focusing more and more on fashion. At first, it was Sarah Palin's rimless, designer glasses. Now, it is focused on what Michelle Obama is wearing.

Obama is claimed to be one of the the best-dressed woman there is. For the second year in a row, she has made the Vanity Fair's International Best-Dressed List. It is claimed that her best dress was the purple one she wore last month, according to Fine Collins in the article found at MSNBC.com.

The question is though, do people really care what kind of dress Obama is wearing? If I was to answer the question, it would be no. The gossip on what celebrities are wearing does not matter to me.

To me, writing about this and showing viewers what celebrities wear is just something journalists are using to fill in gaps. To get more stories they just write about the obvious. Yes, I know Palin wears glasses, and yes Obama may have a nice dress, but it isn't worth publishing.

And Obama wins the race

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

By: Jessica Hartgers

The voters have cast their ballots and Barack Obama has been named the next president of the United States.

Flipping through the channels of Mediacom tonight I notice that something regarding the election is on almost every channel, as it should be. However, the way each station covered and broadcast their production was different from other stations.

Early on in the night, the stories focused mainly on which candidate was winning each state, and the stations were very similar at this point. Then the range of topics started to differ. Some stations talked about each age group and the candidate that they picked for president. Others focused on a world scale and showed people of Kenya surrounding televisions to see who America voted for to be our next president. A couple other stations talked with elderly voters and all the changes they have seen in their life time. Simpson's own, Professor Epperson appeared on a local station as the political analysis to answer questions regarding the election.

My point here is that all of the stations were essentially covering the same story, just taking their own special angle to the topic, hoping to win viewers time.

The election does not involve sports.

By: Jessica Hamell

I was watching a football game last night on ESPN and for the half time show they played interview from Obama and McCain. I know by doing this the sports news channel was affecting many people who hadn’t yet decided what they wanted. Their web-site also has a link to ABC so you can go straight to election stuff. Is it necessary for a sports channel to play stuff about the election?

Later last night on E!, a channel that follows news about celebrities was tell people to vote and what they thought about Obama. MTV does the same thing with their “Choose or Lose” campaign. A channel that normally focuses on music and news about music.

Watching news about sports is an escape for people. I know this election is very important but news channels need to stick to what they do best. If you are good at covering sports or celebrities that you should stick with that. We have gotten enough news about the election everyday for pretty much the past year. We don’t need even more when we are trying to relax.

Playoffs in D-I

By: Gabe Gilson

The election has come and gone. As far as I’m concerned college football is still here.

Every year about this time, teams are getting close to the end of their seasons and some of these teams may be undefeated. Because of the current BCS situation, not all teams will get a chance to play for the national title. Right now, five teams out of the 119 in D-I college football are undefeated. This coming with three to four games left for most teams.

Every year about this time, sports writers all over the nation are begging for a playoff. Pat Forde in his weekly column, Forde Yard Dash, has proposed a playoff for this year that would send eight teams into a three-round playoff to determine the national champion. Every other level of college football determines a winner by the playoff system, why not D-I?

Every year about this time, fans and sports writers both have to come to the realization that this is not going to happen this year. In 2003, when the University of Auburn was snubbed out of the national championship game because of three undefeated teams at the end of the year, Tiger fans, coaches and players all were in a state of disbelief and anyone that knows anything about college football knows that it was unfair. Unfair yes, but with the current situation at place, it could end up happening to a team this year.

I can see how a playoff would be totally beyond exciting. Forde proposed games and matchups that made my mouth water. However, I do not see this ever happening and I can tell right now that it will just be a repeat of previous years for years to come. The BCS is not always a fair system but with the amount of money that bowl games make, there is no way that they will be leaving us anytime soon. As far as I’m concerned, every sports writer in America needs to focus on something else then the proposition of a playoff because it is a long way from happening.

Higher turnout of voters in Iowa

By: Erin Floro

Iowans set a record high Tuesday to vote in the Presidential Election 2008. An increase of 16 percent of Iowans voted from the last record in 2004. Over 534,000 Iowans returned absentee ballots this year.

Iowa shows to be more Democratic than Republican in this election favoring Senator Barack Obama. There was an increase of 27 percent in absentee ballots returned by Democrats than in 2004. For the Republican party there was only a 9 percent increase.

The media really attracted people to vote this election. Over 2 million voters were registered in Iowa compared to 1.5 million in 2004. There were substantially more newspapers across the country that endorsed Obama over John McCain and I wonder if that played a part in people's decisions.

The Democratic party campaigned well in Iowa and got many first-time voters. American citizens were well informed about this historic election.

What people want to read

By Kellie Green

In class the other day we had a discussion about what more people would rather read in newspapers. The idea started when we got on the discussion about some articles that were put in The Simpsonian a few years ago.

I began to think more on it and as I was going through newspapers like The New York Times and The Des Moines Register I began to see that each one has more of an audience that they are directing their stories to.

The New York Times in my opinion tends to lead to more of a liberal audience. I am just basing this on what I have seen. For example, the paper tends to be more focused on Barack Obama and the support he is getting then the support that John McCain is getting.

Journalist can not be biased but at times they are at times by what their newspapers want printed. If a paper is wanting stories about Obama, for example, then the journalist might have to lead more to being biased for him.

Papers write for their audiences. The Simpsonian writes for college students and what they are wanting to read. The articles might be a little outrageous but that is because more students want to read outrageous stories.

A newspaper may strive to not be biased but they some what are. They write for their audience members and anything their audience wants to read about.

Scary future

By: Lexie Hagerty

On NPR's website, I read a small paragraph about the future of the T.V. once this election is over.

I have never really thought about it before, but the election is a great revenue for T.V. stations and once the election is over, that revenue won't be there. Of course, the economic downturn has a lot to do with future downturn.

This is a very scary subject to me. As a college student, I want there to be more jobs available once I graduate. I don't want the economy to downturn and leave me in the dirt.

However, everyone keeps telling me that it will bounce back and everything will be all right by the time I graduate in three years. The way I see it, though, is if a popular, entertaining business like a television show can't survive in this economy, then there is definately no hope for me in the business world.

Media in elections

Monday, November 3, 2008

By: Shauna Agan

With the Election Day tomorrow, the media is about to have their biggest day of the year. No matter who wins the election, it is big news.

This is nothing new, though. Elections are always like this. However, the media is finding new ways to get the message out to the public.

Online, voters can watch the election state by state and literally see the results the second they come in. One place to view the elections is on msnbc.com.

Another way for voters to see election results is to get them send directly to their cell phone. Many media outlets are offering this opportunity, but one example in Iowa is a newspaper out of Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, The Gazette, sending out text alerts.

If all else fails, results will be scrolling at the bottom of the screen of every major news station out there, and even some stations that aren’t news stations.

With technology and more media coverage, it is really easy for individuals to become informed about election results. A century ago, individuals would not find out results until they heard it from word of mouth or from the newspapers the next day.

Today, people can track every minor change throughout the night. This is not just limited to the presidential election, but it extends to congressional and senate races as well.

Who would have thought that technology in the media would come this far? Who knows what the future of media will be when it comes to elections!

The media is doing a great job of finding new ways to get information out to the constituents.

Liberal media the night before an election

By: Quinn Albrecht

The night before the biggest election in the history of our generation there is news surfacing about one of the candidates.

Apparently this info has been around since the beginning of the year, sitting on a website. No one really cared that it was there, until the last few days.

It just seems like really ironic timing that a newspaper would have something so controversial going out about a candidate hours before the election.

Can and should things like this be planned? Do campaigns do this, or do newspapers? It seems a bit unethical that there is such slander coming out at such a big time in the race for the white house.

To release or not release

By: Adrian Aitken

Earlier today in class we discussed ethics and decency in the news and what is appropriate to print. Eventually the choice comes down to what the publisher wants which is acceptable because it is their paper. What if a publisher refuses to release something with no good reasons?

This is the case with the L.A. Times. A video was submitted to the Times with Barack Obama and the alleged terrorist Rashid Khalidi which captured the two at a party. Supposedly the video contains Obama praising Khalidi for racial remarks he made along with other statements which contradict Obama's "views".

I don't understand why the publisher continues to release the video. At this point I see two outcomes of showing the video to the public. One is that Barack is guilty and he loses many voters. Two, the video contains none of the above allegations and pressure is relieved off of the Times, Obama, and Khalidi.

I believe it is the responsibility of the publisher to release such crucial information especially so close to elections. Every second the tape is withheld I become more wary of Obama. Plus the Times are only making it seem that there in fact is something to hide from the masses.

It's not just a vote

By: Taylor Browning

With the election being tomorrow, voting is on everyone's mind. There is always a lot of doubt on whether the youth will turn out to vote, and I think the answer is yes.

The push in newspapers and media has always been what demographic groups are going to vote for which candidate. I feel with the mass media urging the youth to vote, the more we feel we matter in the election. We're not just simply voting, but choosing our future.

If media would emphasize how our actions through the polls effect our future rather than just counting it as a number, then the more the younger generations will feel the need to vote. Instead of just counting as another vote, we are the voice of future generations. That is the message which needs to be spread.

Just put it on the map

By: Sara Crouse

All journalists know the importance of proximity, but a British news company is going beyond the journalism standard in proximity.

Independent Television News, a British news company, is currently developing a way to pinpoint a reader’s proximity to breaking news. ITN is combining forces with Google Maps to develop a way for users to view news by pinpointing their location on a map, and then selecting stories that are flagged in the surrounding area. The flag will give a headline for a news story, and the reader has the option to view the full story.

Furthermore, the official name for the tool is Geolocation API. The tool has been used for many things in recent years, for example Geolocation API can pinpoint changes in a user’s location over time. Pinpointing such changes can lead to better service for the user.

Imagine, a tool so advanced that it recognizes a change in address automatically, through the location of one’s Wi-Fi connection. The tool will then prompt the user to view relevant news stories in the user’s new area of residence.

Though in its early stages, Google Gears Geolocation API, has the potential to expand into providing more videos and potentially music. Ave Wrigley, head of new media at ITN, says,

“The Geolocation API is a real breakthrough, allowing content providers like ITN for the first time to easily develop location aware services without complex and potentially costly arrangements with third-party service providers or mobile operators.”

For now, users can filter news stories on the website much like a hometown newspaper. In upcoming months users may even be able to listen to their favorite local garage band, or view an advertisement for the boutique just down the street.

The anticipation doesn’t end there either. One can anticipate many helpful flags popping up in the next few months.

Tuesday can't come soon enough.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

By; Sarah Keller

Only in a matter a days we will know who our next president will be. Every where you look on the news it is discussing the elections, the candidates, and nothing but the next president. For instance everything on Google news today was over the election, there was only about five articles not over the presidential candidates on the web site.

To be honest I can not wait until Tuesday is over with. Don’t get me wrong the election is very important; I strongly believe that everyone should go out and vote, because every vote truly does matter, but I am getting really tired of hearing about nothing but the election. Everything you read in the news is about who said what about which candidate today. “Look at what Sarah Palin was wearing today.” “Listen to what Obama said today.” It is all getting a little old to me. Even while I am sitting here a commercial from one of the presidential candidates is playing on the television.

At this point I am really wondering if any big news story were to break out if any one would really know about it, because the only things you are seeing in the newspapers over the last couple of days have been about the election. So honestly after Tuesday gets finished with I will be a happy person, maybe I will be able to read about other things rather than “who is up in the polls today.”

Cuts, cuts and more cuts

By: Katie Anthony

On my search to find a blog topic, the first site I checked was I Want Media. About halfway down the page, there are the titles of "Disney Execs Prepare for Possible Layoffs," "Electronic Arts to Cut Costs, Employees," "Metro Free Newspapers May Face Shutdown," and "CBS Eyes More Cuts as Ad Sales Drop."

As the economy plummets, obviously, so do job opportunities. However, this hit home with me.

We always speak about how the media industry is changing, and how it's becoming more and more online and less and less in print; which results in less required jobs.

While I realize that everyone will suffer from the current economy standings, society needs media. Without media, whether it's print or online, how are people going to hear about how the stocks are doing for the day, or who won the game?

Both presidential candidates have plans for improving the economy (two vastly different plans), but none of the necessarily mention how it's going to affect the jobs that are already solid right now. They say that there will be more job opportunities, but for people that have what type of degree?

How are people going to get quality news and information if the industry has to keep cutting jobs due to a lack of funds?

The answer is depressingly simple; people just won't get the news.

Without the news mediums, how would society function?

If the job cuts keep up, I have a feeling that sooner rather than later, we're all going to know how society would function in a world with no news mediums.

Mother and daughter blues

By; Sarah Keller

On MSNBC there was an article about a mother and daughter who were more like best friends than mother and daughter, but the daughter decided to support Obama and the mother is supporting McCain, ever since this decision the two women have not been very close and have been fighting over this issue.

I am really glad that this article was written. It goes to show how intense the elections are, and how important it is that America selects the right president. I have heard that this election is one of the most controversial and most heated elections there have been. Either way that America votes we are either going to have our first black president or our first woman in office.

According to the article the election is splitting some families up, which I find too bad and sad. I can kind of relate to the mother and daughters relationship from the article. My Mom and I have always been very close, and have had a lot of the same beliefs on issues. I came from a very conservative family. My mom is going to be supporting McCain this election, where as I will be supporting Obama, just like the mother and daughter discussed in the article, but unlike the two women my mom and I still get along perfectly well. We listen to each others opinions as to why we are supporting who we are, without getting mad at one another. My mom and I won’t let our beliefs in the election split our relationship apart like the mother and daughter in the article.
It surprised me quite a bit when I read that a family that was so close was now in a big fight due to who they wanted to win the election, the article really opened my eyes to the controversies over the election.

To reveal a source or not to reveal a source

By Austin Bates

Poynter Online recently brought up a story that the LA Times originally published concerning presidential candidate Barack Obama and his behavior at a party some six months ago. The knowledge of this party is largely obtained from a video given to the newspaper by an anonymous source. The story itself is of interest because of Obama's seemingly conflicted positions in his support of Israel AND Arab-Americans. Poynter Online brings attention to this story because a spokesman for presidential candidate John McCain is claiming now that the LA Times is intentionally suppressing information about the video's source, which for them could reveal more about Obama's relationship with members of the party, and, probably give them something to use against Obama in the continuing campaign for the White House.

Now, another reason this story is important, and that Poynter Online brings it us, is because of the issue of anonymous sources for stories, especially concerning politics. Poynter references the debacle with CBS and President Bush's supposed shirking of duties in the National Guard that lead to so much embarrassment for Dan Rather and CBS. In other words, anonymous sources can be excellent ways to make a story, but if what they have to offer is not verified, it can also lead to some seriously embarrassing admissions and apologies later.

One reason I found this article interesting is the questions offered on whether the anonymous source used for LA Times' story was appropriate. Kelley McBride, the author for the Poynter Online story, points out that, in this case, the video from the source was a good idea because it could not apparently be obtained any other way, and was crucial to the construction of the story (since the video was used for the description of the event Obama attended; the video itself as not been displayed to the public, possibly for fear of revealing who the source is). Further, McBride says, "If someone offered up a video that would document one of these events [the social event which Obama was recorded at], on the condition that he not be revealed as the source of the video, I'd advise a reporter to make that deal".

The questions come in at the end of the Poynter article, though, where McBride, rightly so, I believe, suggests that newspapers should be more transparent to their audience as to why the anonymous source they are using (or for that matter, any source) is trustworthy and accurate. McBride also suggests that newspapers be sure to provide reasons for why, if the source is anonymous, it is anonymous, and why the information they have is important to the story being presented.

In all, I found this article interesting, as I had been considering the issues of sources for stories in journalism, especially if they want to remain unknown. Now, of course this story is nothing of legal importance, such as the situations that have come up in my journalism classes, but the basic concept remains: how much are you willing to remain true to your word, and leave an anonymous source unknown? Under what conditions will this trust be granted? Under what conditions might this trust be broken? Revealing a source you promised to leave unnamed might not just damage their livelihood (maybe even life), but it could threaten your livelihood (or maybe even life) by having future sources be unwilling to give you information, knowing you broke promises in the past.

These are some interesting questions to consider for anyone moving into the realm of journalism.

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