The News About The News

Deadlines come and go

Monday, October 27, 2008

By: Taylor Browning

One thing I've come to realize it that a deadline is not the end of the world, just the end to your project at hand.

I thought about our stories we are writing in class and thought about the reporters for major newspaper and multimedia outlets. Being assigned a strong project with a short amount of time, on the national news basis, would be really difficult to accomplish.

With the election coming up and newspapers trying to find new angles on the subject, it would be even more difficult to create, research, and write more and more articles on the same thing, but with a twist.

I am thankful we get to relate our stories to Simpson Campus, or else I would probably still be researching and writing my first story!

NRA gets shot down by Virginia newspapers

By: Erin Floro

The National Rifle Association has proposed to several newspapers in Virginia and other states about wrapping their products in plastic anti-Barack Obama advertisements on Election Day. The plastic wrap would read: "Vote for Freedom... Defeat Obama."

Although the Richmond Times-Dispatch originally told employees they would accept the NRA's deal, they now report that the newspaper's wrapping will not feature the gun lobby's political advertisement. The Virginian-Pilot also rejected the proposal.

This tactic may be unusual, however the current scheme is not the first time the NRA has employed ads in newspapers. Two years ago in Montana, the gun lobby used a similar technique to support a candidate for re-election in the U.S. Senate.

The newspapers' say they rejected the proposal to prevent appearing as though they only endorse one point of view. The Pilot's policy, for example, is to sell space on its print pages to candidates or interest groups of varying persuasions.

Breaking news in Northeast Iowa

By: Quinn Albrecht

There has been some late news coming from Northern Iowa today. A woman and her two children went missing sometime Sunday evening and where reported missing Monday morning.

The three were found about 8:00 am Monday in rural Littleton.

This would not be such a strange situation, had this been the first time these three have been in the news. In December of 2007 the woman, Michelle Kehoe, and her two sons, Sean and Seth, plunged into the Iowa river in Iowa City. Several people passing by helped recover the three out of the icy waters.

I remember this story very clearly and thought it was fairly odd. No further investigation followed the accident however. The accident got extensive news coverage at the time. This recent accident is receiving a lot of coverage as well, but the Buchanan County Deputies are keeping a lot of information to themselves at this time.

They say that there is not public threat at this time and no warrants have been issued. I am concerned with the large media coverage that is hitting this very small town, but there is no news to report on at this time. When do news stations decided to let something like this go, and move to the next big story.

There are two main new stations in the area, and the one that is the furthest away, seems to have better coverage of the story. It seems that to one station the story is dying before it even gets started.

MTV: get out the vote campaign

By: Shauna Agan

While watching MTV tonight I saw a commercial where a bunch of young adults, including the members of Fallout Boy, were sitting around having conversations about the election. In this particular commercial, a young man was speaking about how many opportunities Barack Obama is providing for minorities and that this has never happened in a campaign before.

As I continued watching my show and more commercials came on, I saw four more MTV made political commercials. Two were repeats, but two were new commercials.

One of these commercials featured musical artist Pink. Pink was briefly explaining the need to voice your opinion and vote.

In the end of Pink’s commercial, she expressed that she had the right to her opinion just as Sarah Palin has the right to her opinion. To me, this insinuates that their opinions are different, and Pink is an Obama supporter.

The final commercial I saw was another group of young adults in a conversation about the election. While I cannot remember exactly what was said in this commercial, I do remember that the commercial supported Obama also.

These commercials do not specifically tell individuals to vote for Obama, but rather they promote the power of voting. However, every one of these commercials does mention support for Obama somewhere in them.

MTV has a lot of power and influence, especially within the community of young adults. Teenagers and young adults are the target audience for MTV.

By running these ads, MTV is campaigning for Obama and promoting his name to young voters. I do not have any problems with MTV running advertisements for Obama because MTV has a right to voicing the opinion of their company just as any other company has the right to voice their company’s opinions.

The problem I do have with these advertisements is that MTV has always been about getting out your vote no matter which candidate you vote for or which party you are in favor of. These commercials do promote individuals voting, but they also add towards the end of all of them that they are supporting Obama.

If MTV wants to openly endorse Obama, they should do that rather than running commercials that just insinuate they want Obama to win.

Furthermore, I believe that commercials promoting to get out and vote and voice your opinion should be separate from commercials supporting Obama. It is okay to have both, but MTV should keep them separate so it does not look like they are saying get out and vote for Obama.

New Gen. New Times

By: Adrian Aitken

As technology advances today so must the media to keep up with the times. Newspaper publishers especially need to keep this in mind because the medium has been around for quite some time with little change.

Recently publishers have begun uploading videos onto their respective websites including Simpson's own. Even now this technique alone has become outdated and the New York Times are combating it.

Videos are being uploaded to the Times' website in high definition bringing the company into the latest generation of technology. To usher in the new format the site itself is getting an overhaul.

The entire library is being transferred to the high definition format and given a wide screen format. Also the videos are given their own window to enhance downloads and the quality of the video. Another piece now added to the site includes a "most viewed" videos section for quick picks.

By staying caught up with the times and technology newspaper publishers have a chance of increasing their lifespan a little longer. Also upgrading the site may attract younger people who could become customers in the future which is also need to stay alive.

The bashing is getting out of control.

By: Katie Anthony

I will begin this by just stating that I am a supporter of Barack Obama and that this blog is going to be extremely biased and it could possibly make a lot of people angry. Somehow, I'll live with that.

Today in class we discussed the scandal that happened over the weekend with the woman that faked the "B" in her face claiming (stereotypically at that) that an Obama support had sexually molested her. Considering the "victim" ended up confessing to doing this to herself (after, of course, realizing that the "B" was backwards) it got me thinking.

This "victim" talked to both Palin and McCain after the alleged incident. Not to mention the amount of "free publicity" she got for McCain and Palin. Now, I'm not saying or implying by any means, that McCain or Palin supported her doing, but are McCain supporters getting desperate?

This evening in Dayton, Ohio, McCain gave a speech at his rally. However, it was reported by Slate that his message could be summarized into one word; "Boo." This headline got my attention because it read "Political Halloween," and those two words normally don't go together.

McCain seems to have fallen back into the Obama bashing, again, grasping at anything he can get his hands on in order to get his number back up. However, and correct me if I'm mistaken, but I believe the results were that the more McCain bashed Obama, the lower his numbers got.

Call me crazy, but I think that McCain really is grasping at all straws. I'm not sure what's going on in his head, but I don't understand why they [politicians] find it necessary to bash each other. I realize it may be "part of the race," but I think that the media can find another angle to report on.

For me, the bashing has become old news, and doesn't need to be reported on over and over and over again.

The bad stuff means the most

By: Jessica Hamell

Why is it that the bad stuff said about the candidates gets the most attention? It isn't what they say they want to do that gets the top spot. It's what relations they have with certain religious figures or what their supporters fabricate.

The news went wild Thursday and Friday about a McCain supporter who thought up a fabricated story about how an Obama supporter had attacked her. Even after they knew it was a fake story people were still going crazy about it.

People have been saying that Obama has been connected with terrorists when he was just on a committee with them. Some people even believe that he isn't even American. If that was the case, I don't think he would be running for president, obviously.

Isn't it more important what the candidates are say or what they want to get done? The people in today's society pay way to much attention to rumors that they hear about the candidates and not about their ideas.

Their ideals are what are going to make a difference in our lives and this country, Not who they were connected with in their past or news about their supporters.

Sale decisions

By; Sarah Keller

Have you ever had trouble making money decisions dealing with sales people, such as getting insurance on a rental car, or more likely for college students; insurance coverage on cell phones? I am sure at some point you have come across a salesperson who has tried to get you to take some kind of warranty, whether it be over an iPod, camera, or something completely different. If you are like me you probably have had trouble deciding whether it was a good deal or not, whether you would be saving more money or spending more.

Luckily people like Ken and Daria Dolan from Wallet Pop had people like me on their mind and decided to make a blog about “When salesmen put you on the spot: Answering eight common questions”. In the article that they wrote they answered questions on what are good deals and what are bad deals to take up. They make valid points, points that will help me to be able to say yes or no to a salesperson the next time I am asked if I would like coverage on a certain type of plan.

I might not be asked if I would like fuel coverage anytime soon on a new car because I do not plan on buying a car anytime in the near future (as discussed in the article), so I do not have to worry about turning them down, but I was asked recently if I would like a three month free trial of magazines, it sounded tempting, but luckily I turned the offer down. I am glad I did, because according to the article, I would eventually have had to pay the subscriptions off, and it would have been charged to my credit card. I really enjoyed reading this article, it gave me a lot of insight on things I was not previously aware of, and I would recommend people reading it because it really does give you valid information.

Newspapers endorsing candidates

Sunday, October 26, 2008

By Austin Bates

By now you've probably heard of various newspapers endorsing one of the presidential candidates. Recently, the Chicago Tribune made news by endorsing a democratic nominee for the first time in its 161 year existence. The Los Angeles Times also made news by endorsing Barack Obama after 36 years of endorsing no one. These are just a few of the many papers across the nation that are endorsing political candidates. So the question becomes whether their actions have an effect on who the next president will actually be or not.

According to NPR reporters, it does. Specifically, Greg Mitchell of Editor & Publisher says that editorial endorsements of candidates can determine who the next president might be. He related that in 2004, when John Kerry ran against George Bush, in the remaining 15 toss up states, he looked at the number and size of newspaper endorsements. Based on that, he says he correctly predicted what candidate would win what state 14 out of 15 times.

Now this is of course an unofficial method, and anecdotal at best, but the question still remains: can a newspaper endorsement influence who the next president will be? I would say "yes" as well. A newspaper, despite recent declines in readership, is still a very trusted, very much respected source of information. To many, a newspaper might be the most trusted source of news available. So when these papers then endorse a political candidate, why wouldn't their readers, especially the dedicated ones, instantly jump on board with their judgment?

Another question I have is whether these papers should endorse a candidate. After all, as I mentioned, newspapers are one of the most trusted sources of news by many, so should they be tainting that trust, that reputation of mostly unbiased reporting with a political endorsement? Politics is one of the fastest ways to alienate people in a discussion, so why would a newspaper, especially at this time of their existence, risk alienating many potential readers by endorsing a candidate?

My thoughts are that they should never endorse a political candidate. After all, when reporting news, one is supposed to remain objective, unbiased, and outside of the current events (with most topics). While you might argue that endorsing a candidate is something else entirely, I think that it ultimately isn't, and makes a paper, in general, look opinionated. If a newspaper can have an opinion on a political candidate, who's to say it might not have an opinion on other topics that it's reporting on?

Bottom line, a newspaper probably shouldn't endorse any political candidate, ever. Reporting avenues get accused too often as it is with having an agenda.

Presidential Debates

Saturday, October 25, 2008

By: Katie Schaefer

What is it about the presidential candidates always saying bad things about the other?

Now I understand how by making one presidential candidate look bad, it'll make the other look good, but it always makes them look bad too.

Nobody likes a person that talks bad about everyone around them, but isn't that what the presidential candidates are doing?

I realize that Barack Obama isn't going to go around praising John McCain, but he could say how McCain does have some good points in his plan.

The public would have a lot more respect for a candidate that has his own ideas, but can also admit when his opponent may have a good idea.

Someone has to win, though, and no matter what things aren't going to change. Presidential candidates are still going to put down each others plan.

With all of the debates going on and Nov. 4 closely approaching, Obama and McCain are neck and neck in the polls.

Time to focus on the real issues

By Liz Tjaden

The fault could be placed on the media. Or it could be placed on the craziness that comes when a huge election is approaching. Whichever it is, not even the best journalist could have made this story up.

On Oct. 22, a woman in Bloomfield, Pennsylvania, claimed she was attacked because she was a McCain supporter. Standing at the ATM, she recalled that her attacker, a black male, knocked her down and carved a ‘B’ on her face after he noticed she had a McCain sticker on her car.

Friday it was discovered that the incident had been fabricated. The woman had been attacked by mental health issues in the past but not by an angry Obama supporter. Maybe this story needed some fact checking but the reporters were only telling us what they had heard from the police. The media cannot be blamed here for the story being false but maybe for giving it so much coverage in the first place.

It’s time to get back to the real issues and celebrate the upcoming holiday by carving pumpkins, not faces.

Journalistic hierarchy in sports

Friday, October 24, 2008

By: Hannah Pickett

In the journalism world, there is a definite hierarchy of news-topics taking precedence over others and stories having hierarchies over others.

In the small-town sports newspaper world, winning teams take precedence over losing teams. In the case of Winterset, however, certain sports take precedence over others as requested by the publisher.

For instance, in the fall, football is the key focus, regardless of how the team is doing or how well the other sports-cross country and volleyball-are performing. In the winter, wrestling takes precedence over basketball, again regardless of the grapplers’ success. In the spring, track has a hierarchy over soccer and golf, and in the summer softball reigns higher than baseball.

This season Winterset and I-35’s football teams are arguably the worst and most embarrassing in the schools’ recent history. Earlham football is doing alright, though. This week Winterset and I-35 will lose another football game, and Earlham may or may not pull out a win. Thursday night, two cross country teams and seven individuals qualified for state.

According to my publisher’s requests, all three football teams will be on the front page, the only color page of the section, and the cross country teams will be on the second and third pages.

I am the sports editor and will write all of these stories as well, and I take issue with the losing football teams getting press on the front page and state qualifying runners getting the shaft. I plan on disputing this, as it is not objective whatsoever.

Where is the line drawn in a small town newspaper between being objective and running what the publisher, aka the cash cow, is more interested in? My guess is that this would never be an issue in a larger town. Where do small town, private newspapers get off running what the cash cow has a personal interest in?

New tool for journalists is unveiled

Thursday, October 23, 2008

By: Allison McNeal

Journalists use a variety of tasks and functions to get the inside scoop on a story.

Since many companies use different tactics, organizations like the World Wide Web Consortum (W3C) have started to develop semantic tools and language to integrate these functions.

Web 3.0 recently was introduced to showcase semantic tools, which are applications that are used to show different formats and can be understood by new applications that are used in reporting.

"The semantic web is an engineering solution that will allow [new applications] to be meshed and available for use by machines globally," journalism.co.uk said.

With this new tool, projects like OpenID, Friend of a Friend, and Semantically-Interlinked Online Communities have started to open up.

OpenID eliminates the need for multiple usernames across different Web sites, and allows users to have control of their login.

Businesses also benefit by allowing a lower cost of password and account management, while drawing in new web traffic.

Friend of a Friend gives makes it easier to share and use information about people and their activities like photos, calendars, and weblogs.

It also can be used to transfer information between Web sites and to automatically extend, merge, and reuse it online.

Semantically-Interlinked Online Communities can be used to enable community sites to merge their data and enables new kinds of usage scenarios for online community site data.

This organization also allows innovative semantic applications to be built on top of the existing social World Wide Web.

According to journalism.co.uk, an individual could do a search on Facebook and get results back from within that site, but also blog results from Technorati, comments from Flickr albums, and YouTube videos.

"In the semantic web, it is not just people who are connected together in some meaningful way, but documents, events, places, hobbies, pictures, you name it!" said John Breslin, the founder of the Semantically-Interlinked Online Communities project. "And it is the commercial applications that exploit these connections that are now becoming interesting."

Even though these corporations believe that the Internet will allow individuals and different systems to interact with each other, will consumers want to embrace this new tool?

If a consumer searches Facebook or MySpace, will they want to be have results pop up from other Web sites?

While there may be no clear answer, only journalists and consumers will have to put this new tool to the test in the months and years to come.

Journalists lie to tell the truth

By: Kathryn Lisk

Last week, my blog was centered around the idea that journalists must ensure that they get their story right before running it.

Most people would assume that telling the truth to everyone involved in the story would be included in this. But is it?

On The Media examined several cases where journalists went undercover and lied about their identity to their sources in order to cover a story.

Nellie Bly used her theatrics to fool workers of an insane asylum. She spent 10 days as a patient and once she was released, she wrote a two-part story about the unethical conditions. Her efforts led to more funding within the facility.

On the other hand, Ken Silverstein took undercover reporting to the next level. He called himself a consultant in the market for a Washington lobbying firm and was equipped with a new suit, fake glasses and even false business cards.

I understand that certain stories cannot be written without undercover journalists. In Bly's case, her reporting led to a positive change. However, as an editor, I would never encourage one of my reporters to go undercover.

If the public expects its news source to be reliable and truthful, reporters must remain truthful to all members of the community. Even to those who may not be honest with reporters.

Internet videos: Not just for college students anymore

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

by Peter Merchlewitz

It seems that being a news reporter just isn't enough anymore. According to Beet TV, the Wall Street Journal is now training their new employees to not only edit, but also produce videos for their online version of the paper. As of June 2008, the Wall Street Journal has trained 185 print journalists to produce such videos.

These acts of journalism in the Internet Age just further emphasizes the importance of multi-platform journalists being able to produce news through different mediums.

I can't help but give kudos to the Communications Department at Simpson for having the hindsight to update their curriculum in the direction of new journalism abilities, thus helping students gain more experience to make them become more desirable when looking for a career in news writing in the real world.

Media Madness

By: Kelsey Knutson

A recent Fox News article reported that most of the McCain coverage in this election has been negative.

The report showed that 57% of the media coverage of McCain is negative while only 29% of the media coverage for Obama is negative. Is this right? Or does it actually matter?

Statistics like these lead people to believe that certain media groups are biased one way or another to a candidate. Especially with 24-hour news coverage of the candidates and their campaigns we begin to see opinion and "not so objective" viewpoints coming into news reports. However, you get different bias' with different media outlets and stations.

For example, Fox News is considered "more conservative" where as CNN is considered "more liberal." Does this actually matter?

I say no. I say the media plays a large role in how people view candidates; however, I also feel as those people who actually care enough to watch certain news channels to listen to what is going on in the campaign are also people who know what bias' they are hearing.

People already think what they think and know what they know. Which channel or station they choose to watch (that has which ever bias it has) just reinforces already existing views.

Halloween scare

By: Kayla Miller

I was clicking on practically every link on the Des Moines Register Web site (once again) when I came across a link that I had to blog about.

Well let me ask this. What or who would you want to be for Halloween this year? A cowgirl? A pumpkin? Heck no, you want to dress up as a superhero, right? I can tell you are dying to be either a Hillary Clinton or Sara Palin superhero! Yeah, I could say that's not really what I was thinking either.

I went to search out the new and funny Halloween costumes, and I can most definitely say I ran across a "funny". I would have never thought of dressing up as a politician.

How is this news? Well, people love to see different, new, and funny things. People like me do anyway. Crazy costumes of lady politicians will make the news considering it is election year.

All I got to say to the ladies (or men-- if you choose) is if you choose to be Palin, be sure to wink and most definitely wear those glasses.

Tweeting Journalists

By: Callie McBroom

Journalists now have a new tool to use in their reporting. Twitter. This is a rapidly growing social media service that provides a way to stay connected and communicate with others quickly and frequently.

One website describes the twitter experience as "an ongoing Headline News version of what’s happening in the minds and worlds of people you know or find interesting." This can be good for helping journalists engage personally with people and spreading news quickly.

Amy Gahran suggests using twitter on beats. She says, "Beat reporters can use Twitter on an ongoing basis to give their communities a window into, and opportunity to assist with, reporting projects -- as well as spread the word about their work in order to drive online traffic and spur public discussion."

Twitter can also be very useful when combined with blogging. Which as we know as become very important to the news industry. Maybe Twitter can add to this and help out the industry even more.

Kids vote for Obama

By: Alex Jones

Nickelodeon, a popular television station for children held an election recently that only kids can get involved with.

Accessing Nickelodeon's Web site kids are able to vote for their pick in president. This year over 2.2 million viewers voted. Naming Barack Obama as the kids' choice for president.

Nickelodeon has held this mach-election for kids every election year since 1988. Viewers have picked the next president of the United States correctly 4:5 times.

Kids were able to vote online from October 12-20th. The network sees the mach-election as a chance to get kids involved and excited about the voting process. More viewers turned up this year to vote than ever before.

This process is incredibly important for kids. They are able to get involved, get informed and therefore are more aware of the voting process when they are old enough to vote.

This method also keeps the younger generations who aren't yet old enough to vote, interested. Obviously it's working, check out the voting numbers!

Where do these rumors come from?

By: Gabe Gilson

Earlier this week, my favorite football team, the San Francisco 49ers, fired their head coach Mike Nolan. The firing was not something that anybody did not see coming as the 49ers slipped to 2-5 and have been having a lot of problems offensively.

Since the firing, Mike Singletary has been named the interim coach, changing his role from the team’s assistant coach. Singletary is a good short-term fix but everybody in the media knows that he will be just that and will most likely not be the head coach at the end of the season.

Because of this, the rumor mill all over the NFL and college football is lighting up. Many people try and speculate who will be the next coach based on what makes sense. One man that makes sense to fill this void is another Mike, Mike Holmgren (side note: the NFL is filled with coaches who are named Mike. It is really odd how many there are named Mike) Of course, Holmgren says he will stay away from football next year and does not want to coach for awhile.

Another man that would be a good fit according to those in the media is current USC head coach and former NFL head coach Pete Carroll. Bad thing for the 49ers, Carroll will decline to comment on the coaching situation. This basically means he knows he is the head of a college football dynasty and will not leave there anytime soon.

Here is how easy I think it is to start a rumor like this. Bill Cowher, who is a former head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, might be the next 49ers head coach. He has been out of the league for a couple years, wants to coach again, and could possibly be a good fit.

The rumor mill in the NFL is worse than any other professional sport just because of situations like this. In all likelihood, Singletary might be the coach of the 49ers next year. Is he the best fit? 49ers fans may not think so. The media might not think so but, maybe instead of formulating opinions on who the next coach might be, they could just talk about how poor my team is.

Being truthful

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

By Kellie Green

I think that it is great that the news tries to be accurate on everything that they do. In an article that I read on The New York Observer they talked about how the New York Post had earlier this month had post a statement about Michelle Obama.

The statement had said that Michelle Obama had ordered a lobster and caviar dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria. However, the statement was false. Michelle Obama was not even staying at the Waldorf-Astoria.

The New York Post reported today that this was an incorrect statement and that they apologized to the Obamas and stated that they were misinformed by their source.

I think that it is great that the New York Post did this. It shows that they really care about the truth in their news. They should have made sure of the facts before the paper was printed but it does help that they tried to correct the incident in the end.

Having true statements is essential to have in articles because statements can always lead to something bigger. Like in this case, where the Obamas were being scrutinize for something that they didn't do.

Journalists should always check their facts to make sure they are true. However, if they do make an error it is great that they come out and admit it and correct it.

That's where he's getting all that money...

The Barack Obama campaign recently confirmed that members of the media would have to pay top dollar in order to cover the senator from Chicago's Grant Park on election night.

While the cheapest option (a single 2o amp circuit) is going for $165, top spenders can get all of the luxeries for a mere $1,870.

$715 will get a reporter the cheapest credentials. What the campaign fails to mention is where, exactly, that money will go.

Journalists have the right and reponsibility to bring their viewers and readers the best information they can on the eve of this very important and historical election. And by making this move, the Obama campagin is eliminating smaller news sources from the mix of those that will be covering the event.

What will Obama start putting charges on next? The Washington Monument, perhaps? This is the exact same man who says that we need to finance more government sponsored programs for the under-privlidged, yet raises more money for his own personal campaign than any other presidential nominee ever.

And this latest taxing of the press seems to bode well for the future of this country. It seems like once long ago we tried to get away from the man that was taking our forms of communication. Maybe history does indeed, repeat itself.

Rachel Maddow doubles audience

By: Erin Floro

MSNBC has a new host for the 9 p.m. prime-time hour that is doubling the cable news channel's audience. Rachel Maddow's liberal news program, "The Rachel Maddow Show," has averaged better ratings among 25- to 54-year olds than "Larry King Live" 13 nights since airing on Sept. 8.

The number of viewers has climbed from 800,000 to 1.7 million in her short time on cable television. This makes MSNBC competitive with the top leading news networks, CNN and Fox News. Phil Griffin, the president of MSNBC, says it usually "takes two to three years for a show to find its audience." Maddow is finding her audience almost immediately.

She accounts for her show's success on "The Countdown," hosted by Keith Olbermann. Her show follows directly after his both in time and similarity. She is retaining over 90 percent of his viewers.

Interestingly enough, Maddow doesn't even own a television and has never watched Mr. King's program or Fox News. She wants to remain original on air.

All I want for Christmas

By: Lexie Hagerty

I read this cute little article on Broadcasting and Cable about what the average consumer wants for Christmas.

In previous years, the top three choices ranked from most desired to least desired were computers (#1), "peace and happiness (#2), and televisions (#3). This year, televisions have dropped to number six, while computers still rank in the top two.

Those who said they would buy a TV, 85 percent said it would be an HDTV or at least a 40 inch screen. About 28 percent of those people said they would buy a TV simply to prepare for the DTV transition.

After learning these statistics, I think the TV is headed in the same direction that the CD and the newspaper have gone. Soon, there won't be any left and they will become an item of the past.

It is sad to think about, considering the TV was such an extraordinary invention, but I know that people will get over the loss quickly when they are introduced to new technology.

My only question is what will this new technology be like and how crazy will it be?

Colorful Reporting

Monday, October 20, 2008

By: Adrian Aitken

One of the topics this election period brought up in the early part of the campaigns was if America was ready for an African American president. I believe this to be an okay idea to focus on because whether you like it or not is a big deciding factor. Yet to report on this the reporter needs to be objective and sensible.

Quinn and Tennent are two radio talk show hosts on The War Room with Quinn & Rose who discussed Colin Powell in regards to his racial status. Rather than focusing on his achievements and advancing his race the pair talked about which race he belonged to.

At one point they agreed Powell was a white man as he served on the Bush Administration. The hosts agreed the public as a whole also thought the same way. They then moved on to stating that after Powell left he became "black by popular demand," as stated by Quinn.

Quinn and Tennent are tarnishing the media by taking such a hot topic and playing with it like play-doh. The media isn't seen in a good light as it is now, but this type of reporting does not help. I'm not sure if the radio hosts were punished by the FCC for calling Powell an Oreo, but their credibility must have taken a dive.

Anti Web sites

By: Shauna Agan

Every once in awhile there are objections to certain media outlets and the way they report certain stories. One student in China had enough disapproval with the American media that he created his own Web site.

Jin Rao, a Chinese student, created the website anti-cnn.com. This Web site is designed so he can express his concerns about the distortions in all the Western media, and not just specifically CNN.

This site generates around 500,000 visits per day. The majority of these visits are from individuals who live in China, but many are from non-China residents.

Rao believes that the Western media does not expose the facts correctly. In an interview he conducted on China Central Television, he said his purpose in creating this Web site is to inform as many individuals as possible the truth about the people of China.

Rao would like peole to know that it is the Chinese police, and not the rioters, who killed people during the Tiebetan unrest, a series of activities to protest the Chinese rule in Tibet. He says the Western media makes it sound as if the individuals are the ‘bad’ people and not the government.

Web sites like these allow individuals to express their side of the story, especially when they believe the media is not doing them justice. I think more people should speak out when they don’t think the media is presenting the stories correctly.

One similar Web site is foxattacks.com. I think more Web sites or media sources should be devoted to showing different individuals’ perspectives on how media reports stories incorrectly.
Although I do not necessarily agree with personally attacking one individual Web site, I think it is a good idea to research inaccuracies or distortions in all sorts of media and present them to the public. Many individuals are apt to believe whatever they are told from the media, so Web sites such as anti-cnn.com are a great way for individuals to show their side of the stories media is publishing.

First Amendment Issues

By: Quinn Albrecht

A Florida high school has hit a rough patch in producing a long time running student news paper. The Red and Black has been around since 1899 and currently is putting out an addition daily.

One of their writers wrote and article and printed it that the administration was unhappy with. While it was being printed, they cut the article out of all the copies of the newspaper, over 2,000 papers.

The local media has picked up on this story and is running with it. The article was about the achievement gap of white and black students at the Hillsborough High School.

The article was not run because the administration felt that the article could harm students self esteem. Where does the First Amendment come in and protect these students, don't they have a right to print this, and a right to know?

The principal felt that he had the legal right to take that article out. Also, the students involved are not supposed to talk to other news outlets about this story.

Would the administration been better off leaving this alone, of did they in fact save their students from harm.

Curiosity killed the cat

By: Katie Anthony

For this particular blog entry, I decided to do a little bit of investigating. After story two for class and hearing "TOPIC LEAD," "TOPIC LEAD," "TOPIC LEAD," over and over again, and getting frowned upon for leads that were more than 30 words, I wanted to see how true those rules stand for real journalists. Honestly, I'm grasping at any straws I can get my hands on that will help leads not suck as much for me.

The one thing I struggle the most with leads is writing a mere topic lead. Some of us don't have the creativity like Gabe Gilson does, and if you don't believe he's creative, I'm 90 percent sure he's the only student who has hyperlinked the urban dictionary in his blog.

For my investigating, I went to GoogleNews and made a collaboration of random leads that consisted of one or two leads per section (news, entertainment, sports, etc). Overall, my findings weren't what I wanted them to be. Simply put, we've been taught correctly in class.

I was hoping to find that in at least one section the leads would run over 30 words, but all of the leads were 30 words or less. In the sports section, the two leads I pulled were both under 20 words.

There is no hope for people like me who suck at leads.

In simple terms the media may be changing, but AP style is here to stay.

Racism and Presidential candidates

By; Sarah Keller

I have been curious as to whether racism would play a factor in how people vote fore the next president. I read an article from AOL news over this subject. The article did a pretty nice job of reporting. It talked about how people who are normally considered “racist” are actually thinking about voting for Obama because of his educational background and half a Caucasian ancestry.

The article did however discuss that some people who said that they would not discriminate based on the color of skin are the ones who are voting for McCain. I am really glad that this article was written. I think that it is important for people to read about how racism could affect the presidential outcome.

Racism is a real issue that is at hand and one that needs to be discussed. It needs to be known that the next president of the United States should not be elected based on the color of his skin but rather the way he can lead our country, I feel as though some people tend to forget that key detail at times.

Online magazine gets a clean 'slate'

Saturday, October 18, 2008

By: Sara Crouse

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

AP losing newspaper membership

By Austin Bates

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gas Prices

By: Katie Schaefer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Harmful or helpful?

By Liz Tjaden

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

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

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

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

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

Cadidate projects

By; Sarah Keller

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

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

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

Small town newspapers rely on reporters' honesty

Friday, October 17, 2008

By: Hannah Pickett

With my job as a sports editor, I am in charge of two correspondents from two surrounding towns. These correspondents cover the sports in their town/school, email their pictures, stats, and stories to me, and have relatively no face to face contact with me.

Since we cover three schools, it is difficult for me to keep up with every sport at every school, which is why I rely heavily upon our correspondents from that particular school. This past summer, one of our correspondents' daughters was playing softball for a team that should have made it to state, but didn't.

About halfway into the season, I started to notice a trend while editing her stories. Every single story highlighted the game with her daughter doing something incredible. I found this a bit fishy, because her daughter had the type of athlete to make game-clinching plays for the win. Also, I had received quite a few emails saying that the game didn't actually pan out the way it was reported. So, I headed to one of the team's games the following week.

Our correspondent's daughter warmed the bench until the bottom of the sixth when she pinch hit. I talked to the coach after the game and he said this girl had seen action in two games this season. I confronted our correspondent about it and she started throwing a fit, denying everything.

The publisher, the editor, the correspondent, and myself had a conference call later to discuss the repercussions her choices had on the company. For the next few weeks, we printed retraction after retraction, and I had to double check every single claim she made in her article.

This goes to show the importance of reporting the facts straight. You wouldn't think that in a sports section you could get away with fibbing through a story, but in this case, she did for a few weeks. I felt like a complete idiot because a sports editor is supposed to catch this type of error, but I had no way of knowing. She even changed the stats to match her story. The score always matched up with the actual score, too.

We could have been slapped with so many lawsuits for libel because of her ulterior motive to put her kid in the spotlight. Not only did she make a fool of herself, but of me, the editor, the publisher, and the entire publication in general. Needless to say, she is no longer employed.

Google not phased

By: Alex Jones

Google is optimistic despite the current global economy's uncertainty.

Pulling in 30 percent profit year-after-year Google is precise with their spending and has invested its previous earnings very conservatively. Rather, the company has saved and earned interest on their money resulting in $14.4 billion profit.

Google is also involved in a "currency-hedging" program that saves the company from the fluctuations in currency markets. This program has already started saving the company money.

Another strategy the company uses is avoiding negative notions regarding the current economic situation. Rather, the company keeps a positive outlook on the situation believing that more people will look to Google in the future for bargains online.

Media is going to get hit

By: Alex Jones

The economy is plummeting leaving many people and businesses to suffer.

The media industry is no excuse. Some experts predict that the media market will go through a non-profitable stage for the next few years.

It is predicted that many big print names will fall. Traditional media is not adapting to the newer online trends of media (such as blogs) and are therefore losing money.

Another observation made by researchers is that readers now want a say in what is covered in the media. Previously the media tended to publish news that was thought the readers should know, now the information has moved towards information the readers want to know.

This new way of presenting the media is another reason why more readers are looking online for their news needs. There are more media sources online, more opinions and readers are able to participate more in the news.

Promoting the news as more of a conversation where there is communication between the media and the readers will help companies stay alive during this trying time.

Newspapers start to rely on advertisement rather than content

Thursday, October 16, 2008

By: Allison McNeal

Many newspapers have started to merge toward online advertisement.

The World Association of Newspapers stated at the world digital publishing conference that more than 800 U.S. newspapers have signed up for Google's online advertising, which is promoted through Google's AdWords Print Ad Systems.

Since this advancement, Google's advertising has gradually gained opposition by many industry leaders.

Moritz Wuttke, chief executive officer in Asia & China of the media sales company Publicitas, said that "it's time for newspapers to stop putting 'all their ads in one basket' and start challenging Google."

He also stated that it was unnecessary for Google to have so many companies join their network, because newspapers should work with other individual companies to expand their organizations.

Other companies, such as Comcast, Dell, and General Motors, are trying to gain more support and money through micro-blogging sites like Twitter.

Micro-blogging allows individuals faster access due to technology and is a common social networking site.

Online newspapers have invested heavily in micro-blogging sites, such as one Web site in China, which spends 80 percent on blogging compared to 20 percent on traditional advertising.

Even with the move toward blogging, "newspaper companies need to regain their advertising spending from other non-media companies," Wuttke said. "To overcome this competition newspapers need to copy Google and other online sites, by looking at the sales channel and [their] pricing model."

Will companies want to face the competition? Or will they align with Google and other large media corporations?

If companies want to gain revenue and become a media giant, online newspapers will start to move toward independent organizations.

This movement would showcase the content of newspapers, rather than placing emphasis on advertisements.

Micro-bloggers and other individuals will have to wait and see what online newspaper organizations will decide in the months to come.

More problems for newspapers

By: Callie McBroom

Some newspaper companies are making decisions to drop news services provided by the Associated Press. This is related to AP's recent plans to change the rate structure for their services.

The newest newspaper to give notice of their plans to drop AP services is Tribune Company. This company owns 9 big daily newspapers, including Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times. And before this, at least 4 others pledged to do the same.

The plan causing so much controversy would only provide some of the stories it is currently providing now for a lower price. The rest of the coverage would be available for an extra fee.

AP expected the plan, that will go into effect as of 2009, to save members money overall. However, many companies believe that this plan is not cost-effective for their operations. This has led to them giving the required 2 years notice to AP to drop services.

The question now is will these changes help or hurt the newspaper industry's major problems

Getting it right

By: Kathryn Lisk

During class, we have often talked about how hard it can be to get a story right. Whether it's AP style, quoting sources, or simply understanding the topic, there are so many factors that can cause a journalist to get a story wrong.

In the presedential debates that took place Wednesday night, an article from the Washington Post was misleading about what Joe Biden's proposal for Iraq was and a blogger from Media Matters for America was quick to notice.

What was interesting was that Washington Post's Michael D. Shear didn't misquote anyone. He stated exactly what John McCain said in the debate. However, he didn't clarify that McCain's statement about Joe Biden's Iraq proposal was incorrect.

In the Media Matters blog post, the blogger states exactly what was said in Shear's article and then clarifies where Biden actually stands on the issue. This informed the blog's readers that both McCain and Shear had misinformed their audience regarding Biden's stance on Iraq.

I found this article interesting because it shows those learning about journalism just how hard it is to be accurate when writing a story, which is an important lesson to learn.

If any of us in Beginning Newswriting could learn this lesson from others' mistakes, we would surely save ourselves a headache as journalists in the future.

Media Matters

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

By: Kelsey Knutson

After the third debate is finally over, we can all breathe a sigh of relief - kind of.

McCain and Obama went at it again Wednesday night battling over the economy and taxes on national television. The national stage was a media hot spot and just another opportunity for each candidate to get their voices out there before this November's election.

Not only are the debates an opportunity for media attention and a chance in the spotlight go gain attraction, but the many ads and commercials that have been aired recently show the significance of the media and the effect it plays on voters' opinions.

The way a news story is portrayed in the media (be it Fox News or CNN) the bias or lack there of can effect the the way a vote goes.

McCain and Obama have effectively been using the media to get there messages heard this election season. Each candidate has spent millions of dollars on television ads just so the average American can catch a glimpse of them everyday, and also so they hear what they have to say.

The candidates have worked hard and have done a great job, but let's hear it for the press who have been working twice as hard to bring YOU the news.

Woman journalist has come a long way

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

By: Erin Floro

Boston University Communications professor, Caryl Rivers was recently awarded the Society of Professional Journalists Helen Thomas Award for Lifetime Achievement honor. She began her journalism career 40 years ago as a sports reporter, which was unusual because most assignments were given to males to cover athletes.

Her notable career has spanned over four decades. She has gone from interviewing local swimmers and baseball players to attending press conferences with important political figures such as FBI director J. Edgar Hoover.

Rivers is now a role model for potential female journalists. As a Washington newspaper correspondent she has covered such issues as, the civil rights movement, the Kennedy presidency, and Vietnam. She has written 14 books and continues to contribute to major newspapers in the United States. While appearing as a panelist on a Boston television program, she focused on discrimination in the media against women.

She feels that she is paving the way for her students in the field of journalism, especially women. By looking at her accomplishments, she hopes that they are inspired that anything is possible.

Risky business

By: Jessica Hartgers

The McCain campaign is in attack mode and taking out all aggression on Obama and the democrats.

Opinions of McCain have started to drop as the republican presidential nominee has taken a negative tone and is throwing personal attacks in the direction of Obama. As a result, Obama looks to have a clear lead in the recent polls, whereas before the margin was smaller.

With three weeks to the upcoming election the topic is on every one's minds. Why would McCain use such tactics this close to election day? The McCain campaign is at an all time low and it is critical that they recover from this drop.

McCain's intentions were to use the personal attacks to decrease Obama's rankings, however they were viewed to the public as "low blows" and resulted the opposite for McCain. Majority of voters think that McCain has spent too much time attacking Obama in a time that he needs to be explaining his plan of action for presidency.

Journalistic waste

By: Gabe Gilson

College students these days have too much time on their hands. I know, anybody reading this probably thinks it was written by a crazy guy who was bored at the time but it is true.

In preparations for writing this blog entry, I sat down at the computer and looked at the Des Moines Register for inspiration. After flipping through the fifth section, the Iowa Life, I found a section at the top for an article online about popular pet names. Oh buddy! Time to waste some more time!

I see the advertisements for dogs and click on something entitled English Bulldogs for $500. Being a lover of these ugly mutts, I had to check this out. Immediately after reading through this I realize, wow, I have a blog to write. I better go somewhere else to look for blogging inspiration.

So after exiting out of the tabs that had facebook, my Simpson e-mail, McDonalds Monopoly and espn.com, I looked back to the Register’s homepage. I clicked around there for awhile reading about Phillip Bates quitting the Cyclones, and some stuff about the local elections. I decided that nothing here was worth putting inside blog that had to be journalism related.

Of course, the place where news happens is the New York Times. I had to go look at their website. I read a little about McCain attacking Obama then saw an advertisement for my credit score. With me being the curious cat that I am, I had to spend twenty-five minutes looking that up only to learn absolutely nothing at all.

With all the wasted time that I spent doing absolutely nothing, I have learned something: This is only going to get worse if I was to become journalist. Journalists are always doing research with their stories and if I was to be in this field, I would really have to buckle down more when that time came.

Protecting its readers

By Kellie Green

What should the media post and what should they not post? On editorswebblog.org I came across a blog referring to a news paper in Scotland that publishes photos of the worst criminals within their area.

I found this really interesting because I think that the media should print this information so that their citizens know about dangers that may be lurking in their area.

In the newspaper, News and Star ,it has a gallery of photos of these criminals. It is a lot like how the Des Moines Register puts in a list of Iowa sex offenders. It shows photos of the criminals, their name and what they did.

It helps keep people aware of what is going on in their area. I think that allowing these in newspapers is very important but at the same time it makes me wonder how far can media go with this.

What if the newspapers start publishing everyone, that gets arrested, in the newspaper? Not saying that they will but it might get out of hand someday. However, at this point I think it is well needed.

The newspapers are printing about criminals that everyone needs to know about. The ones that knowing who they are might save or protect a citizen in the long run. It feels as if the media wants to protect their readers as much as the police try to protect their citizens.

Here's what I know

By: Lexie Hagerty

Matt Haber wrote a blog in the Media Mob of The New York Observer about magazine retouches on political candidates like Sarah Palin and Barack Obama.

First, Newsweek published a close-up picture of Palin, revealing a small mustache.

Second, The Weekender is running an unretouched picture of a weird birthmark on Obama's face.

Why are these magazines revealing these small "imperfections?" Are they out against these candidates or are they trying to reveal everything about each candidate in order to keep things fair?

Either way, a birthmark or a mustache is not going to make my decision in this election. These issues, however, do remind me that not all things said and shown in the media are true. Even now, I am not sure if the mustache or the birthmark is real.

Once again, I don't know what to believe. So, I am going to stick to what I know is true about this campaign, which is very little.

A different breed of journalist

Monday, October 13, 2008

By: Sara Crouse

Not all journalists are the same. In fact, there seems to be a different kind of journalist for almost every occasion. It seems as if some journalists have an agenda almost foreign to others.

Science journalists have some difficult stories to report on and write. Their subjects are often so complex that they must put the words into lay language.

Besides ‘dumbing down’ the breaking science news, science journalists must recognize their story in relations to the changing world too. Not only are scientific breakthroughs constantly changing, but so is the world in which they are discovered.

It is difficult enough for science journalists to be aware of all the potential changes in their discovery, let alone take notice of the changing world around them. Yet, the great science journalist takes it upon themselves to do so.

There is a larger underlying importance in the work science journalists though. They are the connection between science breakthroughs and the public. Therefore, it is important that science journalists inform the public in a non-biased manner.

Is the role of informing the public about science best left up to the science journalist or the physicist? The journalist will use entertaining, fluff words to make the topic sound more appealing than what it really is. The physicist will at least state the accurate truth and findings. Some may say science news should be left to the scientists who discover them.

Do science journalists function with a ‘code of ethics’ to protect against exaggerated fluff words? There isn’t a ‘code of ethics’ for science journalists, but there has been recent talk of creating one. Science journalists should take it upon themselves naturally to provide accurate research and findings on today’s breakthroughs and discoveries.

Isn’t it the role of any journalist, no matter the topic, to provide the truth to his/her reader? Perhaps science journalists just have harder topics than most.

Political bias

By: Shauna Agan

During this presidential election, I have seen both candidates being advertised in many different ways. One way is through magazines that appeal to the younger generation of voters, particularly the female group.

I think that featuring the candidates through different feature stories and articles in magazines such as Cosmopolitan is a great way to generate knowledge about the candidates to the voters.

Although this is a great way to get messages out, I do not agree when the messages are biased. I understand that most political articles are biased to a certain extent. It is very hard for a writer not to show any bias at all in a political article.

This bias I am referring to is what I am going to call a hidden bias. This is where the writer uses certain words such as “promises” and “pledges for one candidate, and “refused” for the other candidate.

The article “How the Candidates Stand on Women’s Rights” in my November issue of Cosmopolitan magazine is a perfect example of showing a hidden bias.

In this article, Cosmopolitan address how both Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama stand when it comes to women’s rights issues. The issues discussed are access to contraception, reproductive rights, pay equity, Title IX, and domestic violence.

I am not arguing the legitimacy or the truth that Cosmopolitan expresses as the stances of the two candidates. The part that I disagree with is the verb choices used to explain the stances of these men.

When discussing access to contraception, it said McCain, “Refused to address why Viagra may sometimes be covered while birth control may not”. The article said that Obama, “promises to require birth-control coverage by insurance companies”.

Although there are more examples than just these, there is one more example I would like to share. When discussing Title IX, the article said Obama will “urge compliance” with this law.

When referring to McCain’s stance on Title IX, the article said that he finds “flaws” but does not point out what these flaws he finds in the law are. It is important to point out the flaws he finds because by just saying McCain finds flaws, the article insinuates that he does not like the bill. This may or may not be the case, but a little more explanation would clear this up.

This article is definitely biased towards Obama. It tries to make the women voters believe that McCain is going to take away their rights while showing Obama at the opposite extreme.
I am all for articles communicating to voters where the candidates stand, but I do not agree with articles like this one that steer readers towards one candidate by using certain words. If an article wants to promote a candidate, they should just do it.

The Matthews Record

By:Quinn Albrecht

The Matthews Record is a paper that is published once weekly in Matthews, North Carolina. This does not sound like anything to ground breaking, lots of papers are doing this around the country.

What is special is who this paper is run and published by, two people. Mr. and Mrs. Denk. They have a few part time workers, but for the most part they do all the work.

The paper has a special emphasis on human interest stories around their town. In one instance they wrote a story about how bad of shape some of the sidewalks where in around the town.

The paper prints 11,000 copies and is read by more than 20,00 people. This paper should be an inspiration any future journalist, with a little hard work and determination anything can be done. With a small staff they manage to put out a highly regarded newspaper in their community.

Body Image

By; Sarah Keller

We have all heard that girls in the world today are viewing themselves poorly, that they have low self esteem and low body image. Where are girls getting this idea from? As many may know, they are receiving this poor perception from the media, whether it is by watching movies with very thin stars or reading popular teenage magazines.

When I was younger I loved Seventeen magazine. I thought they were great, they always wrote about how young girls should perceive themselves as beautiful no matter what shape they were, they even tried to put “bigger models” in the magazines to show that it does not matter what size young girls are. Looking back at it now though the models that they showed as being “plus size” were what I would call normal size, such as a size eight or nine. If they are taking women who are normal size and putting them in under the category of “plus size”, how do you think that affects girls today? If journalists show young girls that they are considered “plus size” if they are not a size five or below, it is going to give girls a poor self image.

I do appreciate that Seventeen tries to mix up their models, but they need to let girls know that they are “normal” if they are above a size five. Magazines today such as Cosmo Girl, Allure, and Seventeen are putting sections in their magazines for workout exercises. I think it’s great that they are trying to get girls to stay healthy, because obesity is also a big issue in today’s society, but maybe in their pictures they should not get stick sized girls to do all of the workouts; it might lower girls self esteems if they do not look like the models in those pictures.

Some magazines have done spreads over Whitney Thompson Who was the “America’s next top model” winner last year; she was the first “plus size” model that had ever won the show. Magazines think that it is great that they are showing girls that even if you are the size of Whitney you are still beautiful and not fat, of course your not fat, Whitney only wears between the sizes of eight and twelve. According to an article in The New York Times, the “average” woman wears between the sizes of 12-14; even Marylyn Monroe may have worn a 14 at one point.

Models are wearing smaller and smaller sizes today, and I think that we need to take it back to the way things used to be and have models wearing bigger sizes so girls today do not get the wrong image, it is up to journalists to show young girls that they are beautiful and that they are normal even if they are not a size two.

Cartoons is the new math

By: Katie Anthony

Yes, you read that correctly. I am declaring that cartoons is the new math. What do I mean by that?

As far back as I can remember, I was taught that math is the universal language. However, in a recent study done by Paul Bradshaw of Poynter Online, cartoons are quickly becoming the new universal language.

Bradshaw, a Poynter blogger, added a cartoon to the blog that he wrote last week. The result was astronomical. Bradshaw ended up getting 40,000 hits in one week which was more hits than Bradshaw has ever received.

So, how can cartoons become a universal language?

"You need not read English to understand them," said Bradshaw. "Cartoons, therefore, are a good strategy to attract a global audience."

If you think about it, Bradshaw has a very good point. Considering the way the media is changing today, I believe it to be true that soon the media will be grasping at any straws that are available to them in order to get more readers.

Bad News Spreads Like A Disease

By: Adrian Aitken

The economy today isn't looking to good and people are questioning what kind of outcome this slump in finance will bring. Others though decided to look at the cause rather than the effect and some are pointing their fingers at the media.

Today we live in a world of communication and messages are being thrown at us from all angles. Taking this idea people are starting to make the connection that a lot of bad news creates more bad news. This theory is currently being directly applied to the recent fall of the Dow Jones.

Eric Rauchway is a history professor who has recently published a book about the media and the Great Depression. During an interview on national public radio he stated that the media was just as accessible then as it is now and that the idea of the media making the situation worse is plausible.

I understand that the media isn't attempting to make a mass panic and that it is just doing its job, but I wish that there could be some way that the news is buffered and not have such a big impact on touchy subjects.

Raising prices in papers

Sunday, October 12, 2008

By: Erin Floro

USA Today decided to up the price of its newspaper 25 cents to make up for the rising in newsprint costs. Newspapers all over the country have been facing a decline in circulation and low advertising revenue because of all the readers who have turned to the internet. With the economy in a rut ad sales have also gone down this year.

The New York Times rose 25 cents in August to $1.50, and the Wall Street Journal increased by 50 cents in July reaching $2 for a paper. The USA Today is still lower than both of those papers reaching $1. Newsprint costs have risen to a 12-year high and prices are presumed to keep ascending.

Larry Lindquist, USA Today's senior vice president for circulation hopes that there will still be a big demand for USA Today from consumers, and the marketplace will support their new price.

The price increase puts more pressure on journalists and publishers to make sure the paper is full of good information and is worth $1 to readers. The increase could also help the paper's profits if circulation doesn't have a severe drop as a result.

What this world has come to

By: Kayla Miller

Really, is it that exiting to keep illegal animals in your home? Well, to some I suppose it is. But the fact is, once a person finds out that someone is holding illegal animals, wouldn't you get rid of them? To some, I suppose not.

A Des Moines man by the name of Larry Eddinger has been keeping two pythons, a pair of alligators, and many other animals in a vacant home. Kids in the neighborhood were attracted to his animal house. Soon parents caught wind of this, and posed that it is harmful to the children that are only going there to see the smaller animals, such as guinea pigs and turtles. Eddinger was then put on probation for a year and charged $1000.

First of all, what was this man thinking? Why is it cool to keep death threatning animals in a house, especially where kids could be prone to get hurt? I don't know what this world has come to, but I'd say Eddinger had gotten off the hook pretty easy.

5,000 condoms and a truck

Saturday, October 11, 2008

by: Pat Tierney

That's right - condoms and a truck, clearly the makings of any good news story.

When doing research for another class, I ran across a news article that dealt with two things: condoms and a truck in Mexico.

This article dealt with a truck which travels through Mexico giving giving away free condoms to promote safe sex. The truck has given away 1.2 million condoms in its 10 years of existence to nearly 700,000 people.

An article like this, particularly appearing in an Iowa newspaper, is a clearly case of novelty in a news article. Being that it's located in Mexico, there isn't a lot of proximity, and it doesn't really deal with anyone overly famous or well known.

No, this story isn't all laughs. The truck was part of an initiative to spread awareness about HIV/AIDS and promoting safe sex.

However, in times where most headlines read of the current economic crisis, or the largely publicized election, it's refreshing to see something that our "inner immature child" can't help but smile at.

Despite the fact that there isn't a ton of newsworthy value in this story, it definitely caught my eye as a reader.

A step in the right direction

By Liz Tjaden

For a young journalism student, there is nothing more disheartening than being told that their story will not be printed because administration doesn’t agree with it. First Amendment laws have been argued and discussed in many high schools and colleges all over the country. Should student voices be censored? Hell no.

A few weeks ago, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the Teacher Protection Law that blocks censorship in schools for student journalists. Teachers and advisors have been removed from their positions for standing up to the administration when it comes to censorship in student newspapers.

Others have the right to freedom of speech, why not students? Just because someone has the title of being a student does not mean that their rights can be taken away from them. If anything, I would want my students to write controversial pieces. We need to learn at a young age to make a voice for ourselves and to take negative criticism with a grain of salt.

Learning how to go after a story and get the facts is what we should be important. Instead, we often teach students to quiet themselves when faced with controversy.

Why must we get so feisty

By: Christina Woldt

The Huffington Post composed quite a spread on the "ferociousness" of politics expressing that, "McCain is finally expressing a little humanity." After one of his campaign stop speeches, McCain opened it up to the audience for questions. The right-winged audience had some pretty ruthless questions as well as pathetic. Questions included Republicans being, "scared of an Obama led country." An old lady got up to speak and said, "I don't like this Obama man, he's Arab." See it for yourself:

Not only were these questions ignorant but, the look on McCain's face was one of sadness and almost horror. Much like how Mary Shelley's gruesome creator looked at his beast Frankenstein for the first time. McCain looked like he couldn't event believe e what he was hear. If I were McCain I'd be appalled at what kind of monster the republican party has created. In this video the audience seemed almost cruel and disrespectful not only to presidential hopeful Barack Obama, but for John McCain as well.

Is being a democrat and supporting a Black presidential candidate so bad? From this video, my feelings of many Republicans as racist and small-minded only heighten. Don't get me wrong, many people I love and care for are republicans but, could we all just take a deep breath and relax a bit. I'd be more afraid of our government being run by people who shun others away for being different and "wrong" than afraid of a government that wants equality and REAL change. I'm sick of this mindset of freedom, we aren't free until we are truly free from all prejudices and ignorance about our neighbors. Maybe it's going to take a Black president to make this happen.

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

© Blogger template On The Road by Ourblogtemplates.com 2009

Back to TOP