Does Obama Deserve Nobel Peace Prize

By Keri Waterhouse

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

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

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

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

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

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Educating the Public with Television

By Michelle Zimmerman

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

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

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

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

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

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NASA Satellite Slams Into the Moon on Purpose

By Meghan Vosberg

On Friday, Oct. 9, a satellite the size of a school

bus intentionally smashed into the moon. NASA hopes that with this mission they can find out if the moon has water. This could be used in the future as a resource for astronauts.

The Impactor bore a 13-foot hole into the moon's surface. The reaction kicked up a wave of dust that reached 6 miles high. After the satellite hit a robot the size of a Volkswagen

Beetle, went through the debris. It recorded and sent the information back to Earth before also smashing into the lunar surface.

Experts believe that the most water on the Moon will be in dark craters in the form of ice.
"We don't anticipate anyting about presence or absence of water immediately. It's going to take ups some time," cautioned Anthony Colaprete, the principal investigator for the mission. The mission was officially launched June 18, 2009 and now the project will have to wait longer for the information to be processed. One surprising find is that sodium is present. This is something that scientists were not looking for.

Photo Credit: 21st Century New Media Ltd.

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Economic crisis effects USA Today

By: Mallory Tandy

USA Today's sales drops 390,000 copies, 17 percent less than the usual. This decrease in sales will possibly threaten USA Today's No. 1 spot as the most favored newspaper in the country. The newspaper was expecting to decrease in sales because of the price increase last December.

The president and publisher of USA Today,David Hunke, says that there has been a decrease of around 100,000 in airports and newspaper racks. People are also not getting the newspaper delivered to their home which serves as a large impact of sale for USA Today.

Staff at USA Today are not getting too worried, they are staying positive and claim to have a good plan to jump back from this low point for the newspaper.

I don't think any newspaper that has been doing poorly in sales as of late will get any better if the economy stays the way it is right now. I think newspaper sales will keep decreasing in time.

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In NBC Universal Bid, Comcast Seeks an Empire

By Laura Reid

Comcast is currently in negotiations with G.E. to merge with NBC Universal. G.E. is currently the main owner of NBC, but if all goes accordingly with Comcast and its owner Brian L. Roberts, 51 percent of NBC will be owned by him.

Comcast is already one of the biggest owners of cable systems in the country, but with this merger, it could also own USA, BRAVO, CNBC and MSNBC, four major cable networks, not to mention the huge network broadcaster NBC.

If all goes to plan, Comcast will also inherit NBC's Web's premiere TV streaming site, Hulu, which will put Comcast into the digital media realm.

There is a trend that I am seeing among huge networks and the Web. The latest among these digital media broadcasts is CBS merging with GlobalPost, an online foreign news correspondant that boasts a great number of viewers. This is a great time for smaller media conglomerates to enter the market for broadcast network ownership because of this revamping of how people are beginning to view the news.

(Photo Credit: Abigail Hamilton)

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Limbaugh Out of Control

By: Chris Mars

President Obama has been accused of another outrageous claim by Rush Limbaugh. This does not come as a surprise, since Limbaugh's success depends on the number of listeners and followers he gains.

His latest antics stem from a St. Louis school yard fight between two students, one black and one white. According to Limbaugh the blame should be put on president Obama for causing black-on-white racism in America.

Limbaugh said "You put your kid on a school bus you expect safety but in Obama's America the white kids now get beat up."

This isn't Iraq bombing American territories or another terrorist attack, it's a school yard fight. I feel this goes to show how much some of the press, you could call it entertainment press, attempts to generate interest.

The sad part about it is there are many American's who probably get their news from these sources. It's a shame people base their political education on these sources when voting or protesting.

(Photo Credit: Time Magazine)

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Journalism Students Cover Local News

By Zach Jevne

The University of California at Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism announced it would be teaming up with public broadcaster KQED to create the Bay Area News Project. It also features a full-time staff and the project will be funded by a $5 million donation from F. Warren Hellman. The project begins next year and promises to offer "high-quality, original coverage" of the San Francisco and Oakland region.

The dean of the journalism school, Neil Henry, says the school signed up to figure out a way to give local communities when the industry is losing its ability to do that kind of work. Many courses include assignments require students to become "immersed in the local region providing journalism...but haven't been able to because of cuts in the industry."

The project will rely on 120 Berkeley students to cover 7,000 square miles and several million residents. They will serve as "foot soldiers for local news", Hellman said. Students won't be required to participate but the project is hoping that the grad students will be eager for the experience and be willing to work for free to get it.

Some don't see it as all positive. While the project may create a new model for the industry, it may do so at the expense of suppressing full-time, paid positions.

"They're giving themselves an unfair advantage by relying on unpaid labor," Robert Gammon, a longtime Bay Area reporter, said. He referred to the project as "slave labor".

While the project may help students now, the practice may undermine them in the future.

"The new venture promises to be bad for the public over the long term," Gammon said. "The public will be forced to depend on inexperienced, unpaid students to inform them about what's happening in the region."

Henry believes that nonprofit newsrooms like the Bay Area News Project is the best prospect to create jobs for laid off professionals and recent graduates. He feels that giving students job training while still in school will help news organizations across the country.

Stephen Shepard, dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York, likes the idea and it doesn't bother him that the work is being done for free.

"If they weren't doing the work for free, I don't think some other paid journalists would be doing it," he said.

Photo Credit: (UC Berkeley)

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Search Engine battle will help media

By Ryan Franker

Microsoft and Google are battling it out to see which one is the best search engines out there and to see which one has the best online news. The president and CEO of Associated Press, Tom Curley, said he believes that the battling between who has the best search engine sites will bring a more profit to the media industry.

Just this past July, Microsoft decided to team up with Yahoo! and go against Google. Microsoft wanted to give Google a run for their money, on which company could dominant the online news search engine.

Curley would like to see a way of getting the money back that is being lost due to these online news search engines. He believes that Microsoft has an edge over Google, but he refused to criticize Google on the improvements that are being made to its site.

Microsoft plans on improving how reliable the news sources are, which Curley thinks it would benefit the media. The company is coming up with a new way to search. The link would be an image galleria rather than the normal text links.

He hopes this improvement is going to enhance the readers' experience of reading news online. He thinks this improvement will happen within the next three to fifteen months.

(Photo Credited: flickr)

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The Associated Press Decides to Try Selling Early, Exclusive News

By Taylor Finch

The Associated Press has pondered on the fact that having the power to give a head-start on news stories, to paying publishers, could possibly be quite lucrative.

The AP licenses out stories owned by newspapers and broadcasters to many of the Web's main portals, such as Google and Microsoft's MSN. At this time, all of these portals receive breaking-news at the same time.

In attempts to capitalize on the ongoing competition between Microsoft and Google, customers, such as Google and Microsoft, will now be able to pay for exclusive information on "certain topics" up to a half an hour earlier than the news story would break publicly.

Tom Curley, AP's chief executive, believes this would also help to give due credit to those newspapers and broadcasters that the stories and information originally belong to.

This does not sound like a bad idea, because these days, with all the Web availabilities, there is a lot of fame in being the first to flood the Internet with a top news story. Problems would arise, though, if the process of selling and publishing the news story was not completed before the same story leaked elsewhere.

Everyone will just have to see if this idea will be able to hold its own in today's fast-paced media journalism.

(Photo By: Mediabistro.com)

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Lawsuit Against CBS is Over

By Brianna Carlson

Dan Rather, a previous employee of CBS, filed a $70 million lawsuit against CBS in 2007. Just recently, the case was rejected by the appellate division of the New York State Supreme Court.

Rather was seeking damages in a claim that his contract was broken, and he also said his reputation was ruined after his report on 60 Minutes II.

Rather stepped down from his anchor position before the report was even released. He later said his contract was violated which persued him to bring a lawsuit against the network.

The CBS lawyer estimated that Rather spent $5 million on the case. The case is now over, and the money was waisted.

(Photo Credit:Picasa Web Albums)

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Google

By: Mallory Tandy

Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google denies claims that Google is the cause for the decline in newspaper sales. In fact, Schmidt thinks it is Google's moral responsibility is to help the newspaper industry. He would like Google to start experimenting with ways of reading the news that has not been tried yet. Schmidt thinks this might help the news industry.

I think it is ridiculous that people are trying to blame Google for newspaper sales declining. Google is a search engine made to help find things.

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David Letterman Tells All

By Michelle Zimmerman

David Letterman's "The Late Show" had a different atmosphere Thursday evening when Letterman made a public announcement of a serious circumstance he had recently become involved with. Letterman made public of the attempt of blackmail by a suspect unknown at the time.

Letterman told the audience and its viewers in a very serious matter that he had been approached by a producer that was going to take bad information they had gathered throughout the past years about Letterman that could ruin his family, career and all together his life.

Complying with this unknown suspect, Letterman sent his attorney to meet with them and get a better understanding of what the obloigation was. The attorney discovers the suspect is going to write a book as well as a screenplay that would reveal unwanted information of Letterman unless Letterman was to pay him $2 million.

In defense Letterman contacted Manhattan's district attorney's office where he learned that the situation he was involved in was considered blackmail. The office advised him to give a fraudulent check for the amount being demanded and follow through with trial to testify Letterman's involvement.

Letterman then testified to the grand jury telling all of his sexual relationships with multiple women on his staff. Letterman admitted to being embarassed by the encounters but made it clear that if anyone wished to speak to the public of the relationship it would be their personal decision.

Making this announcement on television was an easy way for Letterman to say everything he needed to and clear any accusations that may formulate in the press once the charges are made public. Although Letterman was serious about the situation it still did not stop him from threading comedy throughout the revealing "tell all" speech.

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CNN Keeping Rio's Crime a Secret for 2016 Olympics

By Keri Waterhouse

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, won the vote to have the the right of the 2016 Olympics. Brazil beat Madrid, Tokyo, and Chicago. Chicago pulled out after the first round because of crime that was happening there, they had a good bid and the President of the United States and First Lady were there to support.

CNN reported on the two teen murders in Chigago that happened a week before the vote was to take place. They mentioned that the Olympics were considering being held there during the Chicago crim problem. However, CNN did not mention the issues of crim that was happening in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Rio has a big crime and drug problem, it is said to be as bad as, if not worse than Chicago's. Rio's issues with crime were not mentioned. The voting may have turned out differently if CNN would have reported on the issues with Rio as they did Chicago.

CNN is a trusted and respected news source. It is thought that maybe they were trying to hurt President Obama, I am sure that it will be talked about and people may want to revote on this now knowing about the problems in Brazil.

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News team assemble

By: Chris Mars

Yesterday, Fox Interactive took on a new name and new look. It's now known as News Corp. Digital Media, or NDM. This change took place to "empower leadership at our digital properties to operate in a more streamlined enviornment," said Jon Miller, chief digital officer. My Space, IGN Entertainment and others are all part of NDM and will all play a part of NDM. This new development has established a long-term plan across the entire company, something that seems hard to accomplish in today's ever changing technology driven world.

This comes after talk of layoff's and efforts to "resurrect Rupert Murdoch's News Corp," reported in the June 7th article by Barbara House. According to House's article Fox Interactive's revenue was reportedly down 11 percent from a year ago and costs were up 7 percent.

After seeing both articles, it seems the new approach is another attempt to keep the companies head above water. Are sites like Hulu.com too similar to keep the Fox Interactive site afloat? When looking at the two websites it seems they are identical and share the same shows and information. Why should Fox Interactive stay in a place where the market share is spoken for?

(Photo Credit: Barbara House)

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To Cover World, CBS Joins With a News Site

By Laura Reid

The CBS network has found a great way to cover world news. They have joined forces with GlobalPost, a foreign news Web site whose correspondents consist of freelance journalists.

Many news networks have been trying to find a way to cover foreign news, and CBS seems to have found a way to have better and faster news delivered to their readers.

In the early stages of this partnership, GlobalPost will only be involved in getting the information from their freelance journalists to CBS, where its journalists and reporters will broadcast the news to viewers.

GlobalPost has no problems attracting viewers to its site, which makes a good partnership for CBS, one of the four top networks on television.

I think this partnership is definitely a good start for expansion of news media in getting better global news to the nation. CBS has really taken action in the transition into the web, and with GlobalPost being such a huge foreign News site with freelance journalists, they have more of an inside scoop of what is going on in the world. Their freelance journalists will probably find stories that normal news journalists wouldn't even think are newsworthy. That is definitely a plus.

(Photo Credit: Arvind Jain)

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13 Crashes and 5 Deaths Force Toyota to Recall

By Meghan Vosberg

Toyota announced yesterday that they will be having their largest floor-mat recall. Toyota and Lexus owners have been advised to remove their driver's side floor mat to prevent the accelerator from sticking.

3.8 million vehicles have been affected, which details show to be Toyota's largest recall ever. Until given further notice, Toyota and Lexus owners should take out their driver's side floor mat to keep the unwanted and unsafe accelerating from continuing.

The majority of the models that are affected have start-stop buttons. This sounds like a safe solution, but the problem is the button does not turn off the engine unless pushed down for three seconds. This is a serious problem with issues like a stuck accelerator.

The recall was brought about by a reported crash in San Diego. An off-duty highway patrolman and his family was killed. Since this particular incident, the floor-mat and the sticking accelerator issue has been one of high importance.

According to the government, these events have been reported 102 times, in which there were 13 crashes, 3, deaths and 17 injuries. Toyota states that these reports have been announced since 2004.

(Photo Credited: David Neubert)

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Price on iPhone Application

By Ryan Franker

CNN just came out with a new application for the iPhone. This new application is going to cost the user to pay $1.99, to get all the news that you want.

Other companies have tired to put a price tag on their applications, and have failed doing so. If one company wants you to pay for the application, there is always another one out there that is free. The Associated Press tried to charge $2.99 for their application for a BlackBerry, and saw horrible numbers on people purchasing it. Once the charge was dropped, the application downloads sky-rocketed.

Chairman of News Corp., Rupert Murdoch, announced the company is going to start charging a subscription for The Wall Street Journal on mobile devices. The price will be $2.00 a week starting Oct. 24, or $1.00 if you purchase a subscription either online or paper. Everyone who has a subscription already, does have the capability to have The Wall Street Journal on their mobile device.

CNN is trying something different for the new application. You can actually be part of the reporting team, by submiting your photos and video clips to iReport. The app also has the ability to get live video feeds of breaking news. The app is also very customizable, by providing alerts sent to you, and you can also pick a local news company to follow as well.

Not all apps out there have the capability that this CNN app has, that is why CNN believes it is going to be able to get business from this application, where others haven't gotten business from.

(Photo Credited: flickr)

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Newspapers Worry About ESPN

By Zach Jevne

With the launch of numerous new ESPN Web sites, the newspaper industry is once again worrying about potential loss of revenue.

ESPN, which is glossed "the worldwide leader in sports", has recently started making Web sites for specific markets. They released ESPNChicago.com in April and is already the top sports site in Chicago, according to comScore. On Sept. 14, they launched ESPNBoston.com and in the first 10 days enjoyed three million visits, according to Omniture traffic data.

The new Web site is ESPNDallas.com and the company plans to start a Web site for Los Angeles and New York City. Eventually, they would like to have their own beat writers for each team in the region.

Some feel that ESPN is infringing on the newspapers turf and using their recognition to leverage advertising money for their new sites. The Chicago Tribune has created a new blog network called ChicagoNow in an effort to compete with the new ESPN Web site.

Bill Adee is a editor of digital media with the Tribune and said that he sees ESPNChicago as a direct competitor, but hasn't been made aware of a loss in advertising.

"We still have more local sports reporters on the street in Chicago than ESPN does," Adee said. "ESPN has great promotional venues, but we have 900,000 newspapers delivered on the weekends to people's homes in Chicago."

The newspapers in the mentioned cities had best be prepared for the competition. These Web sites are promoted constantly on SportsCenter and other ESPN shows. They also feature well-known analysts who have regional ties.

"In principle, it's a great idea, but it depends on delivery," Pablo Boczkowski, a professor and author, said. "Great companies in the past like Microsoft and AOL have tried to localize content and failed."

I hope that the newspapers and other regional Web sites are able to continue to evolve and gain a significant following. Even though ESPN is a channel I watch frequently, I generally don't go to their Web sites for my sports news. I like to get opinions and insight from other outlets, too. Maybe other readers will do the same.

(Photo Credit: ESPN.com)

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Taking Old Media Into The Future

By: Amy Johnson

The Walt Disney Company plans to take an old form of media and transform it into a media of the future. Beginning Tuesday, Disney Publishing plans to make their children's storybooks available online for a fee of $79.95 a year. Families will have access to hundreds of Disney's classical stories and brand new books.

DisneyDigitalBooks.com is organized by reading levels for children ages three to 12. For children just beginning to read, the books will read aloud to them. For children who can already read on their own, a guide can be found when the reader comes across an unfamiliar word; the guide says the word aloud for the child. For teenagers, chapter books and trivia games are available.

Disney's idea for a subscription online model for their storybooks could start a popular trend among publishers everywhere. The synergy of Disney works wonders. Disney on average sells 250 million children's books a year; the company is taking a big step by updating their storybooks, a media source of the old, and posting them on the Internet, a media source of the new.

This type of update is being seen often as of late. How long will it be until books and newspapers are never printed out? In today's age, major newspapers are becoming popular online sources, and books are easily found on the Internet to read. Publishers everywhere will be keeping an eye on Disney's new project; if it takes off, we may see more and more books being published online and less books being put on the shelves of book stores.

( Photo Credit Shareware Connection)

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Twitter Also Causes Problems for the Washington Post

By Taylor Finch

Last Friday, a memo was sent out to the Washington Post staff, by its senior editor Milton Coleman, warning them of a new policy dealing with their use of "individual accounts on online social networks, when used for reporting and for personal use," with emphasis on Twitter.

The reason for this stems from reporters and other staff members wanting to gain superiority due to reporting news first and in real time. Social networks are seemingly becoming a journalists only hope for job stability, and these new regulations are what could become the end for many of these hopes.

These specific regulations stated that employees of the Washington Post should "keep their opinions to themselves at all times." They are not allowed to post anything that would "tarnish [their] journalistic credibility."

The reaction to these new policies were very negative across the Web, including a comment from Stephen Bakerat, of Business Week, that stated that "he needs social media, because if his publications's ship goes down, he doesn't want to go with it."

It may be difficult for all news outlets to keep tabs on all of the news that goes out publicly on the Web, but using social media, such as Twitter, is something that journalists and reporters alike believe will help to build their affiliate's authority within the news world, as well as help them to keep their jobs.

(Photo by: Franc Podgoršek)

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Two Broadcasters Shut Down in Honduras

By Brianna Carlson

Two broadcasters, Channel 36 and Radio Globo, were shut down indefinitely today in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

To show support towards Manuel Zelaya, the two stations had provoked an open revolt against the government. The president of Honduras, Zelaya, was forced to leave office which caused this revolt.

Police agents and soilders made a barricade around the headquarters of the television and radio stations trying to prevent the start of any political march or protest. Both sides of the street were also blocked off.

Government officals said unauthorized public meetings in order of supporting Zelaya were prohibited, and the police were allowed to arrest anyone the seemed to be a threat.

Zelaya was removed from the country three months ago. He was living at the Brazilian Embassy with about 65 family members, supporters and journalists. Last Monday, he secretly came back to Honduras.

(Photo Credit: Wikimedia)

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Blind Man Running For Govenor 2010

By Keri Waterhouse

The New York Governor David Paterson vowed Sunday that he won't give in to the pressure of dropping out of the election in 2010. "I am not failing to stand up for my party." Paterson stated.

Our nation's first legally blind governor is facing approval ratings dropping below 20 percent. He is also one of two African-American governors. He doesn't believe that him having people disapprove of him are because of his race. He has had discussions with the White House and President Obama. He is keeping what they discussed confidential. He however said that they haven't told him not to run, but that they have some concerns about it.

I think that anyone with the knowledge, and crudentials for a position should be able to fulfull the duty that they wish. I am sure that he would have someone to help him in things that he absolutely needed help in. Nothing is impossible.

I am also surprised that he doesn't feel that his race has anything to do with it. I feel that a majority of Obama's opposers were because of race. I think that Paterson really wants to be a part of this and that if he is voted in he would probably do a good job in his position.

(Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

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Is There Still Hope for the Newspaper Industry?

By Michelle Zimmerman

With the rising attraction in free news over the internet the newspaper industry has plummeted significantly over the past few years. Internet has created a new kind of way to receive news and can be thought of more convenient. There are many positive aspects to to publishing news over the internet such as expediting information is much faster, and most importantly it is cheaper for the producer and consumers.

The newspaper industry has been in crisis mode as the internet industry has grown immensely. Trying to think futuristically the newspaper industry has thought of applying fees to online news similar to a membership for the newspaper. With one large fee the membership would last six months to a year, but in consideration with the price of a newspaper it would seem rediculous to pay that much money for an online subscription. This is what they industry is hoping many people will realize.

Although creating fees to access online news sources may seem like a good idea there are still other online websites that may not charge the fee and continue to grow as an online news source. There will still be a struggle for the newspapers and other online news sources but they won't be the only industries hurting.

The advertising industry has also taking slack due to the increase of online news sources. The newspaper is always filled with multiple advertisements ranging from cars to clothing to food. With the news being sourced on the internet it has become more difficult for the advertisers to adapt to the change with the idea of costs and amount a buyer is willing to provide.

It seems that over time the newspaper industry let themselves down in competition with the internet. Instead of fighting to remain a number one news provider they slowly fell off track. Instead of worrying about what the online news industry is doing it is important for the newspaper industry to focus on what they do successfully. Providing accurate stories that are interesting and compelling. If the newspaper industry has any hope of staying alive they need to start somewhere, and somewhere soon!

(Photo Credit: eHow)

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The New Multimedia

By Mallory Tandy

Multimedia has went from text on newspaper that might include a picture, to multimedia that includes text, pictures, tweets, and video clips. It wasn't long ago that we didn't have cell phones, now we are able to acess internet on cell phones, along with taking pictures, videos, voice clips etc. New technologies are changing the way we consume media. The job of a journalist is to keep up these new technological advances and capture the readers attention. This task becomes more difficult with each new technology. Less and less newspapers are being sold into today's society, a big portion of people would rather look up the news online where they can see pictures and videos tha go along with the text. Journalists now need to learn the skill of making an interactive multimedia story with contiguity. Not only do journalists have to learn this new skill but also be prepared for the new technologies that are to come in the future.

I feel like this story is so interesting. It's strange that we have went from having no cell phones or computers to now all the different types of cell phones and laptops we now have and we will only have more in the future. I will admit I never pick up a newspaper, I would rather get on the internet and go to CNN.com any day. I also own a blackberry but there are things on it that I still have no idea the purpose of it. Technology is becoming a way of living it seems, people have a hard time now going a few hours without a phone or internet. The fact that journalists have to now make their stories capture the attention of my generation is a lot more difficult then it used to be, it's a lot more work now.

(Photo Credit: Tom Swift)

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Marijuana Coverage Increases in the Media

By Zach Jevne

With medical marijuana being discussed across the country, many major media outlets have begun featuring more articles related to the "hippie lettuce".

This month's Fortune features a cover story titled "Is Pot Already Legal?" It features a man who gets his marijuana straight from the government and smokes 10-12 joints a day, legally. It discusses how more states are tolerating the use of pot for medicinal purposes.

Thirteen states have legalized medical marijuana, with 15 more considering it, pending legislation and/or voter initiative in 2009-2010.

The mainstream media picking up the more weed-related stories and discussing legalization more openly have re-opened the long debated topic. With more states accepting the medical benefits of the plant, many are looking at the possibilities of what benefits legalization could have on our struggling economy.

"I think the recession is making people take a second look at our current prohibition - marijuana," Bobby Black, a senior editor at High Times, said. "Weed is recession proof."

California would be considered the most "pot-friendly", based the hundreds of thousands of medical marijuana patients and 700-plus dispensaries. In Los Angeles alone, there are 186 legal marijuana dispensaries.

It's not just the Wall Street Journal, Harpers and Fortune that are featuring stories about pot. Television is now using weed as the subject of shows. Showtime's "Weeds" is a popular show about a mother of two who sells marijuana. KDOC-TV in LA airs a 30-minute show called "Cannabis Planet" weekly. The show "explores the merits of cannabis as a medicine, industrial resource, agricultural crop and more".

Personally, I have seen much more coverage of marijuana, through magazines, documentaries, and news Web sites. If legalization isn't the next step, decriminalization might be. I think we will also continue to see more states considering medical marijuana.

I feel that the more people know about it, the more likely it is to separate from other drugs, like heroin and cocaine. It is completely different from those chemical substances, yet is still classified with them as "Schedule I controlled substances" by the federal government, which describes those drugs as having "no currently accepted medical use".

The article in Fortune is very informative and can shed more light (a lot more, it's fairly long, but in-depth) on the subject than I can. I recommend reading it. The debate over medical use, decriminalization and legalization will not be going away any time soon, it will rage on for years. But based on my own experiences and "research", I don't need any more convincing on the subject.

(Photo Credit: Fortune Magazine)

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Exploring News by the Amish Online

By Laura Reid

The Amish have their own newspaper, called The Budget, which is located in Ohio. Because of the move of newspapers moving online, The Budget feels like this is a good move for them as well. Except they have been years ahead for about 100 years.

Their newspaper consists of scribes, or people who write stories to the paper about events taking place in their local community. Their method is like our modern day blogging.

Currently, The Budget is only in print, but the staff of The Budget, who are not Amish, want to get the newspaper on the internet, but are having a rough transition to get it there. Scribers, who are mainly Amish, are skeptical about having their work published on the internet for the whole world to be able to see.

For a small paper, which has about 9,000 subscribers,I think they are doing pretty well for themselves. Their rules are more lax than the bigger news corporations that have to print every day. While we talk about how important it is for newspapers to make the transition from print to internet, should these more traditional newspapers really have to worry about their readership going down if they don't make the switch? Especially since the majority if not all their readers are Amish and probably would not have internet, much less computers to look up the newspaper online. In fact for The Budget, they might actually lose readership that way, and for the skeptical scribes, gain readers who have become pros at attacking every issue that comes their way- the descendants of the scribes, the bloggers.

(Photo credit: Klingerman Information Services)

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Ex-NFL player Burress enters prison

By Ryan Fuerstenau

Plaxico Burress is supposed to serve two years in prison on charges of attempted criminal possesion of a weapon after he shot himself in the leg. Burress was not licensed to carry the weapon which was a 40. caliber pistol he had in his waistband. Burress is famous for his game winning catch in the 2008 superbowl but has recently fallen out of favor. First he missed practice and was fined, then he threw a ball into the stands and yelled at a referee.

For a person like plaxico Burress who is constanlty in the spotlight and scrutinized by the media he should have had the common sense to know he was taking a chance carrying the unlicensed firearm. The media looks for high profile individuals doing things that will sell them papers or bring them ratings. Since Burress is such a high profile target, especially after the superbowl the media could be considered a kid in the candy store.

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Newspaper Advertisments Making a Comeback

By Ryan Franker

"We have to see the bottom if these companies are going to survive." Alexia Quadrani, analyst at J.P. Morgan

Ever since the recession, the advertisers for newspaper have taken a large hit. They are the main source of income for newspapers, when the advertisements sales are bad then the newspapers does not have a lot of money to work with.

People are saying that others are slowing starting to buy stocks back on newspapers because they have heard the rumor that the advertisements are doing better. Gannett, McClatchy, and The New York Times Company have had their stock jump more than 10 percent or more. With the jump those companies have reached the highest prices they have had this year. The fourth quarter is suppose to look the best for the newspapers ad industry. Some major names in the media are saying that the ad industry will start making a rebound. But newspapers will be the last media that will get the comeback of advertising.

Even though the ad revenue will have a good fourth quarter, next year could possibly be worse. But it will only be modestly worse. 2008 was a horrible year for the advertising, they fell dramatically and hard. Holiday advertising is going to be very crucial for the media. The publishers need to see the advertisement numbers leveling off. People are seeing the loss of jobs in the media.

With the advertisements leveling off, that means the newspapers will have more money and will not have to cut that many people and everything else that they are cutting to keep the newspaper afloat.

(Photo Credit: ActiveRain)

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Katie Couric Moves to Social Media

By Taylor Finch

A new web show launched intself into social media tonight titled "@katiecouric." The web-based show features CBS Evening News anchor Katie couric, as she conducts one-on-one interviews with high profile guests. These guests range from politicians, business tycoons to celebrities, and even others involved in top news stories. These interviews include "integrated facebook chat" and is broadcasted live on CBSnews.com.

Tonight was the first night @katiecouric aired on the web, featuring special guest Glenn Beck, who discussed politics and his new book, "Arguing with Idiots, How to Stop Small Minds and Big Government."

Though tonight was the first night of this particular online show, Couric and those at CBS are definitely not new to web-news. Last year CBS covered the Democratic and Republican National Conventions on their website, with Couric in the lead. They also used facebook to allow followers of the conventions to submit video clips and feedback about what was going on in politics.

With CBS moving to the web and social media sites, it just makes sense that this will soon become popular and other T.V. news channels will follow suit.

(Photo Credit: Image Editor)

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Obama Overexposed?

By: Chris Mars

Last week we heard President Obama's opinion on the Kanye West and Taylor Swift incident at the 2009 VMA awards, this week Drew Westen of CNNPolitics.com reports that Obama may be overexposed. Westen focuses on Obama's healthcare plan and process for introducing it to the public, but the headline makes you wonder about the broad scope.

The two topics I noted above are very different in importance but receive about the same press time in the media. In my opinion, I feel like there is more interest in what Obama will have to say about Serena Williams' outburst at the U.S. Open rather than what he plans to do with our nations future.

(Photo credit: NY Daily News)

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The Future of Newspapers

By: Amy Johnson

Newspapers throughout the United States are battling with the Internet to keep its readers and advertising earnings. Several newspapers are being forced to shut down, and plenty of journalists have lost their jobs. The Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times owner Tribune Co. has filed for bankruptcy.

Congress has expressed interest in helping out the newspaper industry; several bills have been introduced that would approve newspaper companies to be considered as nonprofits with tax breaks.

President Obama recently talked about the financial crisis many newspapers are in. "Journalistic integrity, you know, fact-based reporting, serious investigative reporting, how to retain those ethics in all these different new media and how to make sure that it's paid for, is really a challenge," Mr. Obama said. "But it's something that I think is absolutely critical to the health of our democracy."

If this is the case, President Obama better take a good, fast look at the bills trying to be passed through Congress. At the interview, Mr. Obama stated that he had not even seen these bills yet, but he would not mind taking a look at them. The issue of newspapers filing for bankruptcy and journalists losing their jobs is nothing to fool around with. It did not take long for newspapers to lose their readers and money; if this is overlooked for much longer, the newspaper industry will be in a hole too deep to get out.

(Photo Credit Rebecca Coleman)

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False Filed Report In Ames

By Keri Waterhouse

Last night the Ames police charged 35-year-old Olga Margarita Macias Mero for reporting a false police report.

The woman said that she was abducted and held at gunpoint and then forced to drive her vehicle into a lake. She said she was abducted near Northern Lights and the lake was Ada Hayden Lake. The investigation for this was done today by the Ames Police. The woman is being charged with filing a false report to the law. After her investigation today.

When I first heard about this story today while I was eating dinner with my family I laughed and thought my little brother was just making it up. I really don't understand how people can just make up things like this to get attention. Obviously if you make your story dramatic it is going to be investigated and it will be figured out. I though it was interesting that it didn't last that long, and the Ames Police had it figured out.

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Twitter for Soprts Fans!

By Michelle Zimmerman

Following the rising Twitter fetish, SportsFanLive.com is made for the serious fans of baseball, basketball, and football. The website has created a new way of following college and professional sports teams. it is successful for those that cannot make a game or keep up with Sports Center.

The site works by someone creating a membership, then choosing a team or teams they wish to follow, possibly even the contendors, and stay updated with sports "tweets" daily, even hourly.

It has become more common that media soucres from television networks are being found on the internet. Sports are a great example. With a website such as SportsFanLive.come, there is a less demand for shows such as Sports Center. The "tweets" can be accessed easier as well as more convenient for anyone's lifestyle.

The new website must create tensions with Twitter being that Twitter.com also features sporting events. Rather than creating team tweets, professional athletes create their own twitter and allow fans to follow them personally.

Whichever you prefer, both ideas are changing the way information is received. No longer is the television, news, or newspaper such a priority. With the internet industry expanding, there is no need for these other sources when everything can be found with a simple internet connection.

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ISU shutting down market news service

By Brianna Carlson

The Iowa State University's Extension Service is shutting down WOI-AM's market news service. This service reports the agricultural market reports to the public radio station.

These reports have been a tradition since 1942. They are broadcasted 13 times every weekday. The reports are also online. The site allows you to hear the most recent broadcasting. Agricultural news and analysis was also being provided for half an hour each week on Iowa Public Radio.

Doug Cooper has been running this program since 1990. He was just told that his job would be eliminated so he just decided to take early retirement.

You can find these reports in other places such as on the Internet and in newspapers. The ISU Extension Service just feels it's unnecessary to keep someone hired in this position.

(Photo Credit: Iowa State University Extension Service)

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Unpaid journalists excluded from shield law

By: Mallory Tandy

On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to exclude all unpaid journalists from having protection under a pending media shield bill. This includes legal protection for journalists who want to protect their confidential sources. What is a journalist? According to Senator Chuck Schumer, a journailist is a salaried employee who works for media organizations such as, magazines, newspapers, wire services and broadcast networks. The article goes on to discuss that bloggers, citizen journalists and student reporters are not the definition of a journalist, therefore, would not be under the protection of the shield law. Some would say this decision is ridiculous, in that most of our news sources are not the definition of journalists. Should news sources, such as bloggers, be excluded from this bill?

Bloggers are a great source for news information, but I wouldn't think of a blogger to be an actual journalist. I am blogging right now but am not a journalist. Student reporters are still students, they can become a journalist after getting a job in the journalism work field. The definition of a journalist is fitting and I feel is fair for the requirements of the media shield bill.

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Obama: Health care anger not race-based

By: Bobby Reese

President Obama has said this past week that he believes the people who have spoken out against his plan for health care are outraged by "the proper role of government," and not by racism. This is a big deal because for the first time in the history of our country we have to worry about people being against the President's agenda's and policies because of his race. Obama knows that is how things work as well. "Absolutely. Sometimes they vote for me for that reason, sometimes they vote against me for that reason." Obama's Presidency has been very unique so far because of his race, but he still tries to stick to the political side of things.

However, President Obama thinks that more people are starting to concentrate more on the issue instead of skin color. I also believe that over time more people are starting to put race aside and starting to find their true feelings about Obama because of the way he wants to run the country. Earlier this week when Obama was addressing congress Republican representative Joe Wilson shouted "you lie!" to the president. And it is always interesting to wonder if race is a key reason for such outbursts. Never has a representative had such an outburst against a president before Obama. Former President Jimmy Carter believes that the comment against Obama was because of race. Obama still believes that it is all about the politics at this point, and all he can do is keep moving forward and trying to push his policies through.

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Michael Jordan redefines Hall of Fame

Michael Jordan is one of, if not the most, recognizable sports figures to ever live. From his Banned Jordan I shoe to his "tell me commercial," whatever MJ did became cool.

Through his career, the ultra-competitive Jordan used his doubters to fuel his competitive fire and become the best basketball player to play the game. Jordan won every individual award, set new records, and won six NBA titles during his time in the NBA.

So when Jordan was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame on September 11th, 2009 we shouldn't have expected anything else but for him to re-write the books again. Jordan freely called out all of his doubters, joked with them, and thanked them for their inspiration. His speech has been criticized by some and praised by others, but Michael was just being Michael.

Jordan is a rare breed, he's just Mike and it just so happens that everything he does becomes trendy or cool. So when Jordan recapped his career during his speech I watched in awe at his charisma, passion, and competitiveness. What else can we ask of each other or our kids than to be yourself no matter what the press or doubters say?

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Trust in News Media Falls to New Low in Pew Survey

By Laura Reid

According to recent research, trust in news media is declining. Those surveyed said that the news is becoming more inaccurate and reporters are becoming more biased in their stories.

Credibility in the news world was up in the 80s and 90s, but the surveyers have said that the news media are not getting the facts straight. These research came from being asked the same questions that were presented to the surveyers in the past decades.

Negative opinions about the news have grown, but the Democrats have jumped the most in their dislike of how the news is being portrayed.

The news industry has really been hurting and I think this is just adding to it. But I think this is a big component for the continuing decline of newspapers. Without trust in the news, there would be no point in trying to expand readership. Without accurate reporting, why would anyone want to believe a reporter, whether it is in print or online? Maybe the newspaper companies should focus on accurate news reporting before complaining that their readership is down.

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Star Tribune to Charge for Vikings Coverage

By Zach Jevne

The Star Tribune, of Minneapolis-St.Paul, will begin charging to view some of its content online in a few weeks, including "Vikings Access", one of the site's biggest draws. This will be the first time since 2002 the newspaper has walled off content and charged for it.

Terry Sauer, the assistant managing editor for digital, says that they will begin charging "in a few weeks" and that the monthly fee will be about "the cost of a cup of coffee."

Back in 2002 the site offered a "Purple Plus" package, which allowed readers to get stories, commentary, and live chats, for $30 a year. It was unsuccessful, by financial standards, as they only got 1,000 subscribers.

Part of the blame for lack of interest in 2002 was a brutal 6-10 season, which started out 3-10, according to then-editor Ben Welter.

So will fans be more likely to pay for premium coverage in 2009? Sauer hopes so.

"We know die-hard Vikings fans can't get enough information, but I think casual fans will find it a pretty good deal, too. We feel better situated with a superior Vikings product to give our readers a good reason to sign up."

The problem that they may face will be the free alternative sites where fans can get football information. Their hope is that the "die-hard fan" will prefer their local coverage of the team compared to other sites. But even that might not be enough for people to pay extra to view "Vikings Access".

Welter says, "There are too many other free alternatives to almost all the content we produce - even when we enhance it with exclusive material."

It may also help that many consider, especially in Minnesota, that the Vikings are potentially a very good team, with high hopes for the playoffs. They have the league's top running back and the signing of Brett Favre last month only made fans more excited. I can't help but wonder if Brett Favre and the team's potential were the deciding factors in the decision to charge for "exclusive" coverage.

I have to think that the Star Tribune is hoping for a huge season from the Vikings this year, even more so than in the past. If they have a winning team, fans will be much more interested in getting all the information and coverage that "Vikings Access" has to offer. They may even be willing to pay for it.

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Newspapers Soon Extinct?

By: Amy Johnson

In a recent interview with Rupert Murdoch, chairman and major shareholder of News Corporation, says he can see the day where newspapers will be gone and electronic databases will take over.

It could take 20 years to displace newspapers, “but I do certainly see the day when more people will be buying their newspapers on portable reading panels than on crushed trees,” says Murdoch.

It makes perfect sense. It would cost less money and eliminate the need for printing presses and paper. A vast majority of the United States' citizens already go online to read their daily news. Having the local newspaper available via the Internet or a cell phone seems brilliant.

The Wall Street Journal is one of the only newspapers in the United States that has been successful in charging for an online subscription. A plan to start charging non-subscribers a mere $2 every week has been put into action while those who already have subscribed will only pay $1.

One question is this – how are small town newspapers going to handle this? Not every small town is going to find this online newspaper feasible; the equipment needed may be too expensive and finding people who are familiar with computers may prove to be more difficult. Will this be the end to small time newspapers? Only time will tell.

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Student killed in fight at Florida school, officials say

When it comes to our childrens safety, especially in schools, officials need to take extra precautions. School is a stressful environment and kids knowing they are safe is a big issue that needs to be addressed. When school administrators become lax on security like they were in Florida, stressful environments lead to negative outcomes. This was the case when two students got into an argument, one student pulled a knife and stabbed and killed the other one. As far as safety is concerned kids in schools technically have no rights. The main reason is to ensure a safe stable environment for kids to learn. If a kid goes to class every day afraid of what may heppen to them they will not do very well. Simple things like metal detectors, that cost money and better training for teachers so they can identify problems before they begin would help make the environment safer.

In this story the media has kept all names quiet, and they should because both of these individuals were minors. They reported on the facts but were careful to respect the privacy of the familys and school officials involved, until at least, a later point in time when that information can safely be revealed.

Ryan Fuerstenau

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The Comeback of Traditional Media

By Ryan Franker

The traditional media should be making a comeback. A lot of people would pick a career in the media, because it was a secure field, and it was one that could make you some money. If you happened to get into the media before the Recession, then you did see the money, that people always talked about that was associated with people in the media. But, now media is one of the worst industries to go into.

Media was once very wealthy, people would start subscribing to different sources of media every year and that would keep the money coming in. Another reason the media was wealthy is because banks trusted these industries and were very comfortable to lend money to these industries in broadcast licenses, cable franchises, and print mastheads.

The internet wasn't really the reason to the decline in the media, but it did moderately decline the amount of other ways people were getting their media; it was the recession, since people stop subscribing and banks were being very conscious on who they were going to lend their money too.

According to some technology entrepreneurs, financiers, and retailers they believe that it is possible for the media to basically "re-boot" themselves, and start over again. But the companies that do the best when they "re-boot", will be the ones that have a strong brand and digital product. The media companies do need to invest into a good running website, because if they don't have a good running website it will hurt them even more because it isn't the greatest.

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Cops: No arrest imminent in Yale killing

Bobby Reese


Cops have confirmed that they have made no arrests this week after a young women named Annie Le was found dead in a wall in a University lab basement. Le was found dead the day that she was planning on getting married to Jonathan Widawsky. The police have ruled Widawsky out as a suspect, but according to Yale's president Richard Levin said that "police have narrowed the number of potential suspects to a very small pool because building security systems recorded who entered the building and what times they entered." The cops have been interviewing people all week on this matter and still have not managed to make an arrest.

Earlier in the week the media claimed that the cops had somebody in custody for the murder but it was later on clarified as a rumor. Other news reports say that the cops had a suspect fail a polygraph test and has marks on his body. This is a unique situation because most people don't think of Yale as a school of violence. There were a lot of security cameras in the building where the body was found and cops have spent a lot of time questioning people who work in the building. I think it is a very sad story considering the day of the wedding all of these events took place, but with the proper investigating the culprit should be brought into custody.

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Unexpected Advertisement in The New York Times

By Brianna Carlson

Over the past weekend, an unreliable and unknown person put a nasty advertisement onto The New York Times' web site.

As people looked at the site, the advertisement would take over their computer. The visitor's screen would fill with an image that seemed it was scanning for a virus.

The users were told they needed to buy a certain antivirus software to fix the problem. The software ended up being no good. It is unclear to how many users were affected.

As of now, The Times is working with law enforcement to find the criminal. They are also working on ways to make the site have new policies so this kind of thing will not happen again.

This issue is becoming a bigger problem. Since the internet is becoming widely used, more than just The New York Times are having issues. Computer criminals are recently known to attack online ad systems.

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