The News About The News

News media challenging sealed filings in Utah case

Thursday, October 22, 2009

By Laura Reid

The News media is fighting to open files sealed by the courts so that the press could not access them. These files deal with the mental competency of Brian David Mitchell, the abductor in the Elizabeth Smart case.

The courts sealed these documents, some of them without telling the press that they would be sealed, so that it would prevent the press from gathering more information on the case.

Michael O'Brien, the attorney in this case, believes that these files are in the public interest, and should not be sealed to the press. The press, he says, is the middle man for court proceedings for the public because not everyone is able to make it inside the court rooms.

This is definitely a violation of the press's right, and the public's right, to access what would be considered public information. If it is on file, it is fair game. The News media has a right to these files, and the public has a right to know more about the case.

(Photo Credit: Penright)

Fox Ignores the Left Wing Side of the News

By Tessa Leone

The National Equality March, which was held on October 10-11 (last weekend), was a highly televised event. Tens of thousands of protesters stormed the capital waving flags and yielding signs demanding equality and equal rights concerning bisexual couples.

All of the major networks covered the story, all of the networks except Fox News . Fox, a widely speculated 'Right Wing' broadcast spent little time on the story and used ABC's footage of the event.

The main focus of the rally was to appeal for gay marriage and abolish the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy. The turnout alone was newsworthy by the very definition of the word.

Comedic newscaster, John Stewart was also offeneded by Fox. He covered the fact that Fox News didn't cover the rally on his program, The Daily Show.

"You didn't even send your own camera crew?" exclaimed Stewart. "You have a Washington bureau! Tell them to go to the window and point the camera down!"

A good reporter must remain biast and tell the news like it is. Omitting a story on the grounds of personal opinion is very unprofessional for a reporter and defienitely a major faux pa for a network news station.

Photo Credit: Michael T. Luongo

Malcolm Gladwell Talks With TIME

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

By Zach Jevne

Best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell has written some of the most thought-provoking books in recent years and shared his interesting takes in an interview with TIME.

The author of the best-sellers Blink, The Tipping Point and Outliers, said he likes the notion that two mildly good stories put together can equal one really good story.

"I'm interested in placing things in a larger context and in making lateral connections," Gladwell said.

When it comes to the educational system, Gladwell believes that experimentation with schools could possibly improve things.

"There's precious little experimentation in education," Gladwell said. "I think we need to try 100 different things. I don't know if it will work, but it's certainly worth a shot, and we could learn something really useful.

As someone who enjoys and studies statistics, Gladwell had an interesting take on making predictions for people and their careers based on test scores and other measuring tools.

"If you want to find out if someone can do the job, you have to let them do the job," Gladwell said. "If you want to find the best teachers, you let everybody into the profession, monitor them for two years, and then pick the 10 percent that are the best. That's how you do it, and that's completely the opposite of the way we do it now."

The former staff writer for the New Yorker also shared some advice to young journalists.

"The issue is not writing," Gladwell said. "It's what you write about. Aspiring journalists should stop going to journalism programs and go to some other kind of grad school. If I was studying today, I would go get a master's in statistics....and then write from that perspective. The role of the generalist is diminishing. Journalism has to get smarter."

(Photo Credit: Brooke Williams)

Magazines Doing Better in 2009

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

By Ryan Franker

Out of the 249 magazines the Magazine Publishers of America keep tabs on, only 22 magazines actually saw their ad revenue increase. The other 227 lost ad revenue compared to the figures in 2008.

Meredith Corporation is one of the companies that has a magazine will an increase in the ad revenue, Meredith actually has five different magazines that saw an increase in their ad revenue.

It is a small miracle that Meredith was able to get the revenue of five magazines up, since the company had to lay off 7 percent of their workers in 2008.

An employee for Meredith believes the company's success was with Meredith building a brand for the magazines and the internet, said Patrick Taylor. Making the website really user friendly helped give the magazine more exposure, which also helped the ad revenue go up too.

(Photo Credited: flickr)

With All of the Other Popular News Headlines, Iraq Seems to Be the "Forgotten War"

By Taylor Finch

Now that news is starting to pay attention to the war in Iraq again, many wonder, now that it is fresh in our minds, why there has been barely any coverage on the war for the past couple years.

In early 2007, the Iraq War dominated headlines. Mark Jurkowitz, PEJ's associate director, believes this was merely due to the battle going on between former President George Bush and the Democratic Congress about persecution of the war.

Although the war was perceived to be covered fairly well in 2007, the coverage of the war still only added up to be about one percent of the total news hole.

2008 was about the same, with the Beijing Olympics overshadowing any hope for a headline featuring Afghanistan or the war.

A small turn around from the preceding years happened in 2009 though, with a spike in coverage of the war, ironically beginning the week of the Aug. 20th elections. Coverage reached 10 percent for that week, which was much higher than the last two years.

This spike can mostly be contributed to President Obama's U.S. Domestic Policy Debate, which is the exact reason 2007 was also a better year for coverage on the war.

The Iraq War is obviously seen as being neglected in the news, but many factors, such as the distance from Iraq and the fact that the president must deal with other pressing issues at this time, can be the answers to the lack of coverage.

(Photo Credit: christinaaddie.wordpress.com)

Cracking Down On Social Networks

by: Amy Johnson

Sometimes, the world of Twitter and Facebook aren't all they're supposed to be. It is a great way to keep in touch with family and friends, but what happens when updating status' puts you at risk with your job?

Professional sports leagues such as the NFL to media outlets like the Washington Post are all struggling with how to make sure their employees don't expose the inner workings of their transactions. The goal is to plug the leaks of confidential information about potential productions such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Contracts with clauses about the use of Facebook and Twitter are not out of the ordinary for many newspapers. Some journalists have gone as far to create two different accounts, one for family and friends and one for co-workers.

Seeing a crackdown by many different companies is not out of the ordinary, especially when the employee is in the public eye. It can cause backlash to a story the company is working on and get the word our before all the facts are there.

The problem with social networking sites is that it is hard to tell when people are being serious or when they are being sarcastic when updating a status. In the world of big business and Hollywood, anything someone says is under scrutiny. The idea of two Facebook accounts for business and family isn't a bad idea; nor is it a bad idea for companies to put clauses in their contracts for confidentiality.

(Photo Credit: flickr.com)

New York Times Cut Jobs

Monday, October 19, 2009

By Brianna Carlson

The New York Times will be cutting 100 jobs within the end of this year. The Times is trying to recover from the loss in advertisement money.

Earlier this year, the Times reduced it's salaries by 5%. This is also the second time in a little over a year that the Times has had to cut it's staff. In 2008, 100 jobs were also cut.

Many other publishers are also in this situation so The New York Times does not stand alone. The Times is cutting the jobs either by buyouts or layoffs. They are trying to do the best they can for their employees.

(Photo Credit: flickr)

Always Read the Fine Print

Sunday, October 18, 2009

By Michelle Zimmerman

If something seems to good to be true, read the fine print. Over the past few years as the popularity of Internet, cell phones, and cable broadcast has grown so have the prices. While companies associated with these products many pretend through advertising that they are the cheapest option, more then likely this is false.

Through advertising in television and radio commercials as well as magazines, companies are able to disguise they're products to be cheap. Using asterisks on prices to refer to the actual prices listed in size 9 point font at the bottom on the television screen isn't being exactly honest. It isn't fair that these companies are allowed to falsely advertise their products for prices when they are actually going to receive more from the consumers.

By using this false advertisement, consumers are signing under false pretenses. Consumers are expecting they will pay what was advertised when in truth they're are many charges not listed on the advertisements. Charges such as a one-time activation fee, price increase after so many months, as well as the price to break a contract.

Not only are companies misleading their consumers with prices but as well as their products. Internet companies are known for advertising their highest speed when in contrast that is only a possibility rather than an average.

As a reaction from the consumers of these acts, cases have been filed in attempt to put an end to the entrapment of these companies. The plaintiffs are in pursuit of a law for advertising that protects consumers from being mislead.

Is social media harmful for journalists?

By: Mallory Tandy

Are Myspace, Twitter, and Facebook causing stress on journalists? Social Networks such as these, used to be used as a way of getting information, but as time has went on it has become more personal information and not news worthy.

It seems to be causing trouble in some newspapers. At the New York Times, staff members tweeted about information about an internal meeting going on at the paper. They did not mean any harm by doing so but what if critical information could have been leaked out for their competitors to see, it would have been bad for the Times.

Some have solved the issues of mixing business with pleasure by having two Facebook pages, one for personal use and one for busniess and co-workers. But does this solve the issue at hand? Is social media harmful to journalists or helpful?

I can see it from both sides, I can see how it can be harmful but I can also see how it can be helpful. They can find good stories on social media sites, but also can be destructive in how they use their own sites.

Earn Your Degree By Watching iTunes

By Keri Waterhouse

The knowledge of business professors, was only available to MBAs and business students, it is now available to anybody with an Internet connection.

Many universities and business schools are making recordings of their lectures, seminars and conferences available to everyone through Web sites such as iTunes and YouTube.

Professors making their lectures available through iTunes will make lectures so much easier and more convenient to students with full schedules. It will also help the technology industry grow by students purchasing iTunes, computers, or even phones with internet accessibility.

Hacking Into Twitter

By Meghan Vosberg

Identity theft,Password trafficking,Counterfeiting of currency,Child Pornography or Exploitation, and computer intrusion (hacking) are all types of cyber crime. We have all heard how to prevent these, and what sites they usually happen on, but now a new site has fallen victim of cyber crime. Are you safe on your Twitter account?

Twitter, the popular social networking site, has recently been hacked. This is troublesome for users, because the majority of people use the same password on different accounts. Some of these accounts hold financial or person information, such as shopping sites like ebay or amazon.com.

High profile celebrities have also had their Twitter accounts hacked. Britney Spears, Bill O'Reilly, and President Barack Obama.

Hacking has been around since the dawn of the internet therefore making it a common and easily found skill. If you are sent a link asking for your log in credential, be aware that it may not be secure.

Photo Credit: Yahoo! Inc.

Better Economic Days Ahead

Thursday, October 15, 2009

By Tessa Leone

If Google's profits are any representation of our economy then we truly may be out of the recession. Google's quarterly revenue displays a strong increase in profit. It is 7% higher than last years, a number that exceeded expectations.

The revenue from the adds placed on Google also increased in the last Fiscal year.

"While there's obviously a lot of uncertainty about the pace of the economic recovery, we believe the worst of the recession is behind us", said Eric Shmidt, a Google CEO.

The growth in profit may have been related to the decrease in employee headcount but Google advertisers also reported a signifigant increase in overall numbers from last year.

If Google is improving I wonder what businesses will follow suit.

Photo Credited to Google

New Age Musicians

By Tessa Leone

The latest musical instrument to hit the market...your i Phone? A new application called ZOOZbeat allows you to make music from your phone and upload it to the web. Quick flicks of the wrist create higher notes and gentler slower movements produce low tones. You can select multiple instruments and rhythms from the program to create a totally unique sound thats all your own.

" You don't have to know anything. You go in there and click on it and you're playing guitar chords", said John Sheridan, a ZOOZbeat musisian from Florida.

A recent update to the program also allows users to 'toss' beats from phone to phone and share songs.

The application can be downloaded from Apple and costs a $3. It is revolutionary design also allows actual musicians to download keyboards and scales right to their phone. What will Apple think of next?

Photo Credit to CNN

Times Co. Will Hold On to Boston Globe

By Laura Reid

After months of trying to find a buyer for the Boston Globe, The New York Times has decided to not sell the newspaper.

The decision to sell The Globe came because of poor profits being produced. But The Globe saw better results recently which prompted The New York Times, which has owned the New England newspaper since 1992, to decide to keep it, although talks about selling The Telegram & Gazette.

While I think this is a good, short-term decision, the newspaper in the long-run is not going to last, not even The New York Times newspaper will survive the world of technology. But I think this will at least keep jobs for a little while, which is one of the reasons The Times decided not to sell as well; they didn't want more jobs lost.

(Photo Credit: Joe Schlabotnik)

60 Minutes Story Very Similar to Rather's

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

By Zach Jevne

Over the weekend, 60 Minutes ran a story about the effects of concussions in football players that was very similar to a story featured on Dan Rather Reports six months ago.

The Rather story, which aired on HDNet, featured interviews with ex-New England Patriot Ted Johnson, who suffered concussions and the side-effects from them. He was also seen on 60 Minutes retelling the same stories.

The three other people Rather interviewed, a neurosurgeon, a doctor, and a father of a player, were also used in the 60 Minutes piece.

This is not only interesting in the fact that 60 Minutes is using a piece that features nearly all of the same sources, but that they are following Rather's footsteps. CBS and Rather have had a very public falling out, including a $70 million lawsuit filed by Rather.

In the lawsuit, Rather said that after stepping down as news anchor on March 9, 2005, CBS News essentially buried him at 60 Minutes. His court complaint said, "CBS provided very few assignments...and did not permit him to cover important stories."

Feature stories are sometimes recycled in the news business, but its interesting that this concussion story was covered by Rather at HDNet, a cable network, and then six months later it appears on the network show he used to work for.

(Photo Credit: Jim Wallace)

Twitter and Facebook soar; Myspace loses ground

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

by: Amy Johnson

Countless college students use Facebook as their means of procrastination. It appears that not only are college students doing this, but people of every age.

Twitter has also exploded onto the social networking scene, joining Facebook as one of the top five social networking sites on the Internet. Both Facebook and Twitter have been on a roll this year with Facebook adding its 300 millionth user in September.

Myspace Inc.'s business took a major fall, but still found itself in second place among the social networks. Tagged is in third place.

In computer lab's all around Simpson, one can easily notice that most students may be working on a project or paper, but Facebook is also up in a different tab.

“There are so many more advertisements on the sides of my Facebook, and I find them very distracting,” junior Amy Brandt said. “The topics seem to be ridiculous too.”

Perhaps if the top advertisers on television would start putting ads on Facebook that might benefit people, they would sell more of their product. Judging by the statistics in this article, advertisers would see an increase in sales.

(Photo Credit: Jay Cameron)

NBC Hurts After Changes

Monday, October 12, 2009

By Brianna Carlson

The "Jay Leno Show" is now two weeks into its new season. NBC is questioning if it was a correct choice to present the show five nights a week at 10 p.m.

"Law & Order SUV" has suffered since it was moved from Tuesdays at 10 p.m. to Wednesdays at 9 p.m. It was the leading drama when played on Tuesdays, but now it turned up last due to the change.

"The Tonight Show" has been a major hit and strength for NBC, but now they no longer are ahead of the competition, CBS.

Jay Leno has been doing everything NBC asks for his show. About five million viewers ages 18 to 49 watch Leno's show each night which allows advertisers to reach the group they want.

NBC only has two main shows now, "The Biggest Loser" and "The Office."

(Photo Credit:wikimedia)

Obama's Team Threatens to Cut-ties with Fox News

By Taylor Finch

This weekend, the White House communications director, Anita Dunn, announced that they would no longer be doing news exchanges with Fox News.

Dunn explained to the New York Times that "Fox News often operates almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party" and that it is "pointless" to try to convince Fox News to portray the Democratic Party fairly.

Isolating Fox News is a good way to make a stab at them for good short-term affects, but there are a few negatives that could have lasting affects on President Obama's reputation.

By giving up on Fox News, it will give the network's speakers, such as Glenn Beck, even more power to sway moderates into joining the Republican view. If Obama himself does not follow up on these certain comments and attempt to correct them, Fox News watchers will forget to acknowledge his side completely.

Fox will simply use this war with the White House to boost their ratings by picking on Obama and make him look weak.

Obama does not have to necessarily put up with the unfair treatment of Fox News, but adding fuel to the fire by running away probably would not help either. This is clearly a lose all situation for the White House.

(Photo by: chattahbox.com)

Does Obama Deserve Nobel Peace Prize

Sunday, October 11, 2009

By Keri Waterhouse

U.S. President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize because of his healthcare reform plans.

Shortly after word of it got out, social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook users were updating their status' and tweeting.
Half of the topics on Twitter were about the Nobel Peace Prize and Obama.

On Twitter, the opinions were seperated between those who think Obama is a worthy recipient, and those who wonder how he even won the prize having only been in office not even a year yet. Many tweeters think he should refuse the prize.

If he is going to be awarded this known prize, hopefully it is for all the right reasons. I hope that in the end it won't be a mistake.

http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/

Educating the Public with Television

By Michelle Zimmerman

It has always been important to our country that everyone receives an education, so important that it is required by law. The only way to maintain a strong government is to continue teaching the citizens so they are able to continue the success of the country with generations soon pass.

Although Internet is considered the largest source for the media it is not available to all citizens whereas television broadcast can be obtained from a simple television free of charge. The idea is programs would be developed to educate people in the departments of science and civics.

Top scholars in the country would take their knowledge and broadcast it on an educational channel. The information would be important and anyone that wants to further their education could as simple as a click of the button.

There would be no physical attribute of watching these broadcasts. The reward would be the privilege of receiving the knowledge free of charge. The broadcasts will only be beneficial to those citizens that are willing to take advantage of the oppotunity.

PBS is an example of a television broadcast that is already pursuing something similar to this idea. Not only would these programs be delivered to the public but as well as institutions. It can change the way education is received.

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