Sympathy for the Betrayed in Politics

Elizabeth Edwards, the estranged wife of Sen. John Edwards due to his affair with his former videographer, died today after a lengthy battle with breast cancer.

An article on CNN.com was written shortly after her death telling a story of her life, including the time when she struggled with her husband's affair which led to the birth of a son by her husband with another woman.

Though her story is tragic, and her character was well known and well loved on the political scene, I can only wonder if I would have the same feelings reading this article if she had not been one of the many 'betrayed wives of politics'.

If she had just been any other wife to a senator who had lost a presidential campaign, would we, the public, recognize her as the moral hero that we do?

She was betrayed by someone in our public eye...someone who was hoping to lead our country.

The affair led to the couple's separation leaving the reader to feel even more sympathy for her at her death--she not only had to struggle through a long battle with cancer without her husband, but she had to die without him as well.

Elizabeth was certainly the one who came out "smelling like a rose" (so to speak) through all of this, and yet she is the one who is now lost.

We not only have sympathy for her at her death after her long fight with cancer, but we also have the added layer of sympathy for her after she was betrayed.

Rest in Peace, Elizabeth Edwards. I certainly hope that John realizes now, more than ever, how much you should, and will, be missed.

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New Facebook design emphasizes photos

Facebook experienced a huge overhaul earlier this week giving user's pages a significant new look.

I had no idea that Facebook was coming out with the new design until I watched the 60 Minutes episode on December 5, the night of the transition. Facebook found that it's users greatly enjoy photos and the new design put a focus on photos.

Facebook has undergone mild to moderate changes in the past, but this most resent upgrade was quite substantial. I've seen frustration with users using the new Facebook and during slight changes as well. I think the main reason why users get frustrated is simply because it is different from what they are accustomed to. Examples of changes in years past are the inclusion of "Top News" and "Recent Activity" along with "Friendship pages" and the use of geolocation.

This newest upgrade goes all out in making profiles loaded with photos. User photos are significantly larger in the new design and are shifted horizontally in a row where the "Wall" and "Info" tabs once were. Don't be frightened, because you can still find those tabs underneath the person's profile picture. Right above the row of photos is where you'll see the user's information, as in their birthday, and where they reside for example.

The "Send message" and "Poke" buttons have also found a new home located on the upper right hand corner of the top of the page. Also new, is a list of ten friends streaming down the left side of the page.

Overall, I am definitely pleased with the update, I find it convenient and have not gotten frustrated at all. I really enjoy being able to take photos and video from my web cam and having it posted right then and there.

If you are unsure if you want the upgrade be sure to take a glance at the pages of your friends that have already converted, because there is no turning back.

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Internships before entry-level jobs

As students we're all anxious to get out there in the world and get our first "real job".

However, according to a CNN article it's not that simple anymore. It's hard to even get that entry level job.

These days most students aren't graduating and going straight to that first job. Instead they are getting internships.

Surprising? I know. During the low point in our economy companies would only come to college looking to fill internships, not jobs.

Then when you graduate it's almost impossible for some to get a job. The entry-level job market is super competitive with fewer jobs and the same amount of graduates each year.

Back when our parents were all in college an internship wasn't a must like it is now. Now-a-days internships are the first time that students enter the work field.

So, if you can't get a job right away don't fear there are other things you can do to stay active. First off network, network, network! Sometimes it's not what you know but who you know.

While networking you should be doing something to keep active. Get a temporary job to pay the bills while you look. Also it's smart to get internships.

All of this shows that it's better to be actively working towards that entry level job than sitting at home complaining to your parents.

If you think internships are a joke, you're wrong! It's very important to think hard about which internship to choose that will help in your future careers.

Remember, quality over quality. It won't matter if you get fifteen internships but it will matter if you get a few good internships.

Internships and job shadowing are both helpful in that they let you see what it is actually like. Through these experiences one can learn what they like to do and what they hate to do.

Make sure you're showing your future employers your skills in a way that will make them want to hire you.

And if all else fails you can start a blog about not getting a real job like the three ladies who started The Eternal Intern. It's actually quite interesting.

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Make an Impression in your Interview

Journalism and communications majors are increasing becoming a popular academic choice for undergraduate students in college campuses across the nation. According to The Princeton Review, communications studies sits at number eight out of the top 10 college majors with the best opportunities to succeed. That being said, a number of young journalists seek to enter the professional world of journalism fresh out of college, ready to embark on their career-adventure.

With the job market competition rising in nearly every field, student will have to work extra hard to stand out to potential employers.

In addition to having an impressive resume and an online/social media awareness and presence, students need to posses a variety of skills in video, broadcasting/sound, strong writing, photography and design.

But most importantly, a student looking for a job in journalism needs to have the interpersonal qualities and personality that will help them stand out in an interview.

Sometimes, employers get blessed with having a multitude of qualified candidates to choose from for an opening position. If that's the case, it may only take a minor infraction to get dismissed from a job opportunity. It may come down to likeability or how well you answer questions...even how you dress could make or break landing that first job in journalism.

So here's five simple things to keep in mind going in to your first interview as a student journalist:

1. Dress for success - It may sound corny, but it's true. Dress like you want to be taken seriously. No jeans. No tennis shoes. If you want to be a professional, you've got to start acting like one. It shows confidence, and that's an attractive quality in a young candidate.

2. Do your homework - Know the company you are applying to work for. It shows your potential employers that you're on top of your game and that you care about this job offer. Find out as much as you can, through a website or word of mouth, and ask questions about anything you don't know.

3. Ask questions - People in the journalism field are by nature, curious. If you ask questions, it shows that you're someone who wants the job, and ultimately is the job. Journalists focus their lives on finding the story in everything, so why not start in your first interview?

4. Show them what you have to offer - As mentioned previously, journalists need to have a pretty large skill set in their tool box in order to cut it in the profession. But if you're really talented in one area/medium, prove it. Put together a strong portfolio of your work to highlight your talents and make that the emphasis in your interview. You never know what employers are looking for, and you might have something unique to offer over the other candidates.

5. Bring the right attitude - There's a fine line between confidence and cocky. Don't assume you've got an interview in the bag. Confidence is a large part of the interview, but so is likeability and positive personality traits. Those are things that are going to make people want to work with you, which will ultimately enhance your credibility and reputation as a journalist.

A strong skill set and sense of awareness can compliment a good resume and work history...but nothing can make or break a job opportunity like an interview. With these ideas in mind, go into your next interview for a job in journalism, or any field, knowing that you did everything that you could to present yourself as the best possible candidate.

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PostPost Facebook Newspaper

PostPost is a recent launch by a company called Tiger Logic. It is through Facebook. The article I readcalls it a real-time " social newspaper." What does it consist of?

The PostPost consists of videos, photos, and links that you create on Facebook and share with your friends. Which becomes a news source when talking about social media.

PostPost takes your news feed and makes it look like an actual news paper site. There is different videos to click on and displays the different events people are participating in. It does not look like your news feed on Facebook. I would say it looks more professional.

It also, shows the recent pages you have liked towards the top of PostPost.
This site makes it easier for users to switch from different sections like from photos to videos. Whatever they are wanting to view at the time.

PostPost is said to be along the same lines as Pulse which is a mobile app and Flipboard which is used on the iPad. The difference between these is that PostPost is accessed on the web browser.


This video below introduces PostPost.




No this is not an "actual newspaper" with the news of politics and the articles you commonly read in a daily newspaper. Unless these are the types of videos and links you and your friends are talking about.

I see it more as the links and videos you view as news and want to s hare with your friends. Such as the fight at the NBA game or what the new style is for the week. These may be in news papers, but not as likely main topics.

This is like a newspaper that can relate to what you like to read and hear about while sharing with your friends.

I don't know everything about the new application to Facebook so I may be taking it the wrong way, but it is the understanding I have received from the article and the YouTube video.

Overall I feel it is a great addition to Facebook and will be a fun and different way of sharing social media throughout you and your friends.

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Inadequate Journalism Needs WikiLeaks

After the release of 250,000 diplomatic documents on Nov. 28 and the commotion generated in the media by WikiLeaks, Julian Assange has exposed the need to improve journalism.

James Moore, writer for the Huffington Post, explained in his article the reason why he denies the fact that Assanges' "leaks" and "incorrectness" generated the governmental outrage seen throughout the media.

"There is a very simple reason WikiLeaks has sent a furious storm of outrage across the globe: the public is uninformed because of inadequate journalism," Moore said.

By inadequate journalism, Moore refers to the lack of details on government news reports, the lack of objectivity in the newsroom and the lack of coverage on international matters; all contributing to the delay of information for people who often ask themselves "how did such messes end up being such messes?".

"If journalism were functioning at appropriate levels, there would have been stories that contained information leaked in the cables now published around the globe," Moore said.

Moore argues that journalism will soon become even more endangered, thus, he believes WikiLeaks has the potential to become the source of information capable of inquiring upon secret government endeavors and challenging government pressure.

This is certainly an important moment for journalism as many oppose WikiLeaks' actions, while others strongly support its objectives.

If WikiLeaks had not been created and all the leaked documents and videos had been given directly to news organizations, it would be interesting to know how many of them would actually accept or reject to publish such controversial documents.

As a mere opinion, I really don't think the New York Times, the Guardian, or any other well-known news organization would like to face the same issues Wikileaks is facing.

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Wikileaks will remain on Facebook

As Wikileaks abides by the rules, Facebook continues to allow theWikileaks fan page to exist onthe dominant social media site.

Major sites like Amazon and PayPal denying access to the Wikileaks organization bring up the question, who's next?

Facebook will not be one of the companies following suit. "The Wikileaks Facebook fan page does not violate our content standards nor have we encountered any material posted on the page that violates our policies," which was used after in depth research by Marshall Kirkpatrick with ReadWriteWeb's.

While Facebook is keeping Wikileak's Facebook fan page intact, Twitter is not speaking about the removing or keeping Wikileaks on there social media platform. Twitter did say that they are not removing the "trending topics" from their site.

So while the criticism continues to flare about the Wikileaks controversy, the Facebook fan page continues to grow and is close to one million followers.

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Facebook to Make More Changes

On Sunday, Facebook released their new design for profile pages. The new pages are designed to let users share more details, with the ability to link them to other users. These changes came about shortly after the release of Facebook's version of e-mail, in an attempt to keep up with the ever-changing social media world.

Stated in an article by The Wall Street Journal, Facebook profile pages will now include everything from where you are from to what classes you took in school to your political affiliations. By doing this, users will be able to find more people to connect with.

Users will still be able to control who sees what on their page, but it may take more tweaking. Pictures will now appear on your profile page, including your top five recent tags. People who are not allowed to see certain pictures won't be able to, and instead will see other pictures.

Starting today, anyone that wants can upgrade to the new profile pages can, and everyone will be changed early next year.

Facebook is trying to keep up with the times, and for the most part people accept the changes. Personally, I do not like these constant changes, and would like the option to stay with my current page view. It seems like by the time I get one thing figured out, they switch it again, and I have to re-learn everything.

I use Facebook for staying in touch with friends, so personally this new feature of connecting with people who have similar interests will not be of great use to me. To connect with people that way, I use Twitter and blogging.

What do you think of the new Facebook features? Will you use them, or do you prefer to keep things as they are?

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iTunes Newspaper and Magazine Subscriptions Could Change Media Forever

For a long time, people have been wondering if the internet will take over print media. Now the concern is more with how print media companies are going to make money off their content when people can get the same information for free online.

With the introduction of Apple's new iPad, this question is becoming a bigger concern. People can download content instantly from anywhere, music, movies and virtually anything else.

Currently, print media companies can create their own iTunes apps and upload their content onto them to get people reading it on mobile devices like the iPad and iPhone. According to this article though, there's no real guidance for companies to do this effectively.

There's been recent talk that iTunes will be creating a "Newspaper and Magazine Stand" for the world's biggest companies to sell subscriptions from. While there are already apps such as Pulse and Zinio that provide some content, this would be like a digital news stand for all content.

This could bring about huge changes for print media companies and the way the world consumes their media. These are some changes I could see coming:

1. People would not only have instant access to information online, but using this one app the would know that they were getting credible information

2. Print media companies already have their own website, most including their daily or weekly works, but they would now also manage their app version of their content. This would include adaptions such as more embedded videos and podcasts. According to this article, many newspapers are already willing to do this.

3. It seems that currently most media companies are hesitating to charge for online subscriptions because no one else has done it yet. If iTunes created this app, everyone would upload their content on it and begin charging at the same time, so it would make the transition from print to online easier.

4. There would of course be some problems, such as companies still wanting to reach out to older generations who still prefer print versions.

I think that an official iTunes app for newspapers and magazine subscriptions is a great idea. While it would take a lot of adjusting from companies at first, this is a transition we can't avoid forever.

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Checking Sources for Accuracy

In today's world of internet media it is easy to understand how a journalist can stray from a proper source. The problem is that we trust everything we read on the internet.

Why shouldn't we? Who would post something online that isn't correct?

The truth is a lot of people and as journalists it is our job to sift through all the clutter in order to report the cold hard facts.

I recently discovered two articles about this topic at cjr.org. One dealt with a reporter using an anonymous Twitter feed as a source and the other about the misuse of an online press release to cause hype about extraterrestrial life.

The story that was created based on the anonymous Twitter feed dealt with radio shock jock Howard Stern possibly moving his show to iTunes. It was posted by the Star-Ledger, a New Jersey based newspaper.

The article does note that there may be no reason to believe the claim as anyone can say anything on the social media site. This should raise a red flag right away.

Is this even newsworthy if you have to mention that it might not be in your story? The answer here is no and don't waste my time by publishing it.

As for the article dealing with the online press release about NASA finding extraterrestrial life, it shows a blatant disregard for thorough investigative technique.

NASA did release information about their findings about extraterrestrial life. However, it was not that they found life on another planet.

NASA simply released a statement saying that they were going to hold a press conference about their findings. It was independent blogger Jason Kottke that sent this spiraling out of control.

In his blog Kottke uses background information on those that participated in the press conference to create a vague and wild hypothesis.

Herein lies the point, if you have no idea about something don't start making conclusions about it.

As someone who is on a path to journalism as a career i see the importance of checking and double checking sources. It is easy to get lost in the world of online media and choosing a reliable source can become difficult.

However, it is our responsibility as journalists to seek the truth and if we do use a faulty source we have no one to blame but ourselves.

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Upstart News Agencies and the Death of Legacy Media

As journalism continues to evolve and change with the times many people are seeing legacy media slip away into a black hole of history. One of the many reasons this is occurring is because of online for-profit upstarts.


One such news upstart is the Alaska Dispatch. In an article by David Saleh Rauf, Rauf looks at the Dispatch's continued course to profitability in today's world of journalism. The Dispatch is a nonprofit, investor backed news website that covers many stories in Alaska, and even beyond, that are hard for bigger legacy media to cover.


Because the Dispatch is a non-profit small news agency there is no chain of command to go through. Many decisions are made over dinner meetings between co-founders and editors Tony Hopfinger and Alice Rogoff. They were the ones who decided to send a reporter to cover the BP oil spill which the Dispatch received high praise for its coverage.


Its definitely a unique business model. Many of these small news agencies are springing up all over the country and it is really hurting legacy media. There is no need for these giant news corporations any more when you can assemble a group of ten seasoned reporters and have the freedom to cover what you want.


The reason this works so well is because of today's digital age. The access to online news sources is taking away from reading traditional newspapers. Its all a matter of speed and timeliness. People want their news fast and they don't have time to sift through articles that do not peak their interest.


But maybe that is a problem in itself. Personally I do not like the fact that legacy media is dying. I feel that people would be more educated to what is happening around them if all they had to read was a newspaper.


Online news sites are good for variety and speed but people should be informed about everything that is happening in the world. There are many people who just look at what sounds interesting. By doing this people may miss something that is very important.


However there is nothing that can be done to reverse this trend now. People might as well get used to what is happening because before long online media will be the norm. It is just sad that it is happening and I feel that it is bad for our society.


But I guess as much as I dislike the change, I'll just have to suck it up like the rest of us legacy media lovers and face the harsh reality. Legacy media is on life support. Now may be time to pull that plug before it gets worse.

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Social-media trends with a cause

If you've been on Facebook lately, you've probably noticed some of your friends have turned into cartoon characters, by the looks of their profile pictures.

A recent Facebook trend is bringing awareness to child abuse. Facebook users are changing their profile pictures to their favorite childhood cartoons and updating their statuses to:

"Change your FB profile picture to a cartoon from your childhood. The goal? To not see a human face on FB til Monday, Dec. 6. Join the fight against child abuse & copy & paste to your status to invite your friends to do the same"

Many other awareness trends that Facebook has facilitated include breast cancer awareness and self-harm awareness.

I think these are refreshing and important ways in which social-media can and should be used.

Social-media is designed to connect people across the world and I think it's important that these devices are being used for good causes.

Although the help these trends are actually bringing to the problems they outline is unknown, the point is that Facebook and other social-media tools are getting the word out to the masses in the best way they know how.

A trend is designed to help people find out what issues are currently being talked about.

Other trends that social-media promote are trends in discussion. Twitter is especially popular in this respect and even has a "Trends" column that can include worldwide, national or local trends.

These Twitter trends change daily in accordance to what people are talking about most.

This article by Mashable outlines which Twitter trends were most popular for any particular week.

Social-media trends have a much more important purpose than to just give people something to talk about.

Trends inform people about breaking news, connect people across the world on the basis of a single subject and break down the bureaucracy of news coverage by giving everyone a voice on important issues.

Whether trends are bringing public awareness to an important issue or informing people about something new, they are always connecting people in ways that were never thought possible just a few, short years ago.

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Is Groupon Crazy?

Mashable is polling readers. They are asking if readers would have taken the money Google offered Groupon for control of its site if they had been the founders.

According to the poll, Groupon's founders denied the $5.3 billion offer Google made to take over the company.

The article references Graphic.ly COE Micah Baldwin:

"Basically, the motivation for a big exit is not longer motivated by 'how much money can I get;' it is motivated by 'what is my legacy,'" Baldwin said. "That simple shift makes their rejection of Google's $6 billion offer not that surprising."

I agree with Baldwin. Groupon is a great site that has been attracting users and has made good money.

Groupon made a good choice because:

1) it freed itself from potential harm under Google's control;

2) it brought attention to itself when it said no to Google, which might attract more users;

and, 3) I'm sure if the company ever decided to sell, there would still be an offer on the table.

Share your view on the subject by answering Mashable's poll or commenting on my blog.

Also, check out the video below showing how Groupon works. If you're like me, you will get very excited thinking about the deals Groupon may get for you.

Learn How Groupon Works! from The Point on Vimeo.

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Finding a Job or Internship

As we near the end of this semester, we are one step closer to the end of our college career.

Nearing the end of our college career means having to find a job or possibly an internship requirement that still needs to be fulfilled.

A tool I have been using to search for internships is JournalismJobs.com. It has been quite helpful in searching for an internship for the summer of 2011.

On the web site you may search for internships specifically.

You may also search for the position you are looking for, the location you'd like to end up, and what industry you'd like to work for.

If you want to be an anchor then you can search for it.

You can even look for journalism related jobs all the way in Hawaii.

I have found and applied to three internships located on JournalismJobs.com.

Now, hopefully one of them will pull through for me.

After I graduate, I will definitely utilize JournalismJobs.com to get some ideas as to what kinds of jobs would be available to me.

I think you should consider using JournalismJobs.com as a useful journalism tool as well.

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