No News is Better Than Fox News

Citizens who read no news are more informed than those who view Fox News.

The Huffington Post reported on poll conducted by Fairleigh Dickinson University. The results revealed that Fox viewers aren't informed about the government stability in the Middle East.

Also, the University of Maryland conducted a study last year "found that Fox News viewers were more likely to believe false information about politics".

The function of the media is to be a watchdog, inform the public, and remain objective. Clearly, Fox News is can't juggle all of these functions.

Fox drops its first ball with not informing the public on current events. Perhaps too much time is devoted to other programming, such as political analysis, because a majority of viewers couldn't answer questions about political unrest in Egypt and Syria.

Remaining objective is another short fall for Fox. Viewers need to rewire their brains after Fox exposure because they are more likely to believe false political information.

Although Fairleigh Dickinson's pollsters point out that this poll had less to do with political biases and agendas and more to do with quality of programming.

Misinformation is dangerous. It makes the reader seem ignorant and the reporter mediocre.

Photo by sousa919

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The Rack is Back

For a long time citizens were not able to purchase news papers from news racks at Raleigh-Druham International Airport. After taking legal action for six years they are now back in the airpot and people are now able to buy the New York Times, USA Today, and News and Observer.

These newspapers sued the airport after they only allowed papers to be sold in the airport stores back in 2004. In 2008 U.S. Judge Terrance Boyle ruled the band of news stands unconstitutional. In an article with Poynter Institute Boyle said the ban on news stands will take away informed citizenry which is the heart of our democracy.

The airpot tried to appeal the judges ruling but were unsuccessful. The reason the airport wanted to ban the news boxes was because they thought that it would create competition for the airport shops, cause more traffic, and even pose a security risk.

The newspaper companies now have to pay a rent of $12.50 to have their boxes there. Airport representative Jim Tatum says that everyone has come to an agreement that will work out for everyone and make them happy.

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Vlog 2 NATN Newspaper Advertising

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Keeping the Old and Ignoring the New?

News websites have been making an interesting discovery when it comes to their website's news. They are seeing that there is remarkable strong traffic towards older stories than their newer stories...this is bringing up the question: Is it really important for News to be new News?

What appears to be happening is that one person would read a weird story and it would automatically link the story that they had read to his or her facebook wall. This could lead to his or her friend's reading it and then it would be automatically linked to their facebook wall as well. Leading in an unending cycle of sharing this media. It is very unlikely that the readers know that this story is an older one, or perhaps they really don't care. After all some people tend to generally look at it this way,a good story is a good story as long as it's new to you.

I believe that this is an interesting story and it does show some of the things that I agree with. I don't mind if a story is perhaps even a few years old when I read it. As long as I haven't read it before and it perks up my attention, I have no issue with reading it. Its more for amusement and the 'Wow' factor really.

works sited: creativecommons.org ; poynter.org

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What Does Christmas Mean?

Black Friday draws huge crowds, greedy people, and bargain shoppers. According to Amazon, online sales in 2010 were raised only 9 percent and this year a whole 26 percent online sales were raised.

People are becoming more reliable on online purchases because it’s fast,easy, and convenient. Online sales have steadily increases and will continue to grow if stores continue to have bargains online as well as in the store.

Dale Hudson, Nevada Reporter, stated that 50 million people flocked in and out of stores on Black Friday in Nevada. Top four stores that received the most sale increase from most to least was Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Target, Apple.

Is standing in line for 5 hours waiting to get in the store, waiting to check out for 2 hours, and losing 8 hours of sleep really worth it? Most people would said yes according to Hudson’s report on Black Friday. People live to save $2 dollars on almost all purchases anymore. A sense of accomplishment comes from Black Friday.

We should forget the presents, stop with the greed, and drop the Santa image. We should all stop and think what Christmas really means. Does Christmas mean spending $5,000 and being greedy towards others? People go overboard on Christmas shopping and overboard on greed.

Black Friday is becoming a holiday that destroys the image of Christmas. Should standing in line for over and hour and becoming greedy really what Christmas should be all about? No! We should all take the time to be with family, do a kind act, and donate to the Salvation Army or charity.

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Lying A$$ Bit?h

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Faulty Study Left Uncorrected

It's hard to admit you made a mistake. Daniel Klein, an economics professor at George Mason University, can tell you that, but he can also tell you how to move past it. Klein wrote an opinion column over a year ago saying that liberals score much lower than conservatives on a test over basic economics, according to his newest study. He published his column in the Wall Street Journal, which headlined: "Are You Smarter than a Fifth-Grader? Self-indentified liberals and Democrats do badly on questions of basic economics".
Klein later took a second look at his data and concluded that his questions were loaded, or followed what he termed the "myside bias"- human's tendency to judge an argument based off of how closely it fits to their standard political views. Klein recently recanted his earlier findings and published the new results- but not in the Wall Street Journal. The Columbia Journalism Review emailed Klein asking why the new column appeared in the Atlantic instead of WSJ, and he responded that they had "declined the idea of a follow-up".

But shouldn't that be considered irresponsible journalism? The well-respected journal now has full knowledge that it ran an erroneous article, and the author is stepping up of his own free will to correct his past mistake. For the Wall Street Journal to decline the corrections is a loss of responsibility to their readers, some of which will never see the corrections simply because they don't read the Atlantic. The editors need to swallow their pride and put their reader's needs first.

Photo credit/creativecommons.org

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Reporting Mortgage Fraud

A local Las Vegas television station tackles mortgage fraud in the area.

There are many ways that television stations try to improve their ratings like Poynter stats, topless reporting to voice analysis, but KLAS is covering mortgage fraud in the city.

In the article, link here, journalist found that the mortgage crisis was the worst of all the reporting.

The journalist investigated the Clark County property records and found that the foreclosure papers were being robo signed or signing with a single notary.

In doing this many residents of the area that did this have problems with their titles when fore closing.

Journalist that bring this information to the people is a great way to bring up the ratings because the residence can trust the information that is being past on.

This is a great example of how journalism can help the viewers out by informing them on what is going on in the community and what they can do to fix the problem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=har6vZgb_sI

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Social Media and Female Harassment

For years women have had to overcome certain hurdles. With the growing integration of social media in the world of journalism, female journalists have a new hurdle to leap over. 

An article on Poynter  discusses the increases harassment women have seen through social media outlets. Sexual comments and sometimes worse are being thrown around. This usually occurs when a woman reports on mainly male field of interest like politics or sports. Apparently men feel the need to rudely assert their dominance. 

This issue doesn't disappear after shutting down the computer. These online posts, sometimes lead to off-line fears. 

So, basically, all women journalists must immediately get off Facebook and Twitter, lock themselves in their room and pray for safety. No. 

There are some precautionary measure that can be taken, as mentioned in the article on Poynter. 

One women keeps personal information that she puts online to a minimum. Also, she waits until  she leaves a location to check in on Foursquare, never tweets about the hotels she stays in. It is also very common to have a professional Facebook page. 

Women must take control of the situation, and let all viewers know they need and want to be taken seriously. Clearly people are going to do what they want and that may be to harass women, but hopefully this doesn't scare the world of female journalists offline. 

Photo Courtesy of Photo Bucket

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Reporter Goes Topless for Story

While covering a story about a naked drunk driver involved in a high speed chase, WOIO reporter Paul Orlousky appears topless while recreating the drivers stunt.

Orlousky, a reporter for WOIO Action News in Cleveland, Ohio, went to the courthouse to try and get some answers from the woman who was arrested for drunk driving while wearing nothing but a thong.

At first Orlousky was confronted by the woman's lawyer who ended up swatting the video camera with her file folder.

Then after an attempt to get something from the drunk driver herself, Orlousky went topless.

In the video it shows Orlousky sitting in the car wondering why the woman would be almost completely naked while driving. The camera then zooms out to reveal he himself has no shirt on.

This could be an attempt to get more ratings for his station, or Orlousky thought humor was the best way to connect with the audience during this segment.

Many people commented on an article by Andrew Gauthier at TVSpy at mediabistro.com, showing their negative feelings toward the topless story, calling Orlousky biased and unprofessional.

Whatever the reason for Orlousky taking his shirt off was, it did bring in some additional viewers to the station to see this topless reporter in action.

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Online Buzz for TV Shows

A study by Optimedia US concludes that a television show's advance buzz doesn't predict its rating performance.

This study focused on five new shows: X-Factor, Playboy Club, New Girl, Whitney, and Charlie's Angels. The study measured Tweets, Facebook likes, Google searches, and Klout scores before the show premiered.

An increase in social media buzz reflects the network's marketing efforts and doesn't reflect how many people will actually tune in to watch.

Ad executives conclude that online buzz isn't a good predictor of which shows will be popular but measures how engaged people will be when watching shows.

Every show on television has a Twitter and Facebook. Many shows actually post their hashtag in the lower right hand corner of the television screen while the show is on so as to increase the online buzz.

The most affective way to promote a TV show with social media cites is to get viewers to Tweet or post a status on Facebook about the show while it is on. This will get more people to tune in if they see people they know and are following commenting on the show.

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Citizen Journalism Provides Answers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktIJzeH8PBs&feature=player_embedded

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Police arrest journalists covering Occupiers

When journalists go to work in the U.S., every day they know they might inadvertantly annoy or anger those who hold public office or employment. However, this is America- we hold expectations that journalists have the right to freely gather and distribute information to the general public. Lately, in the name of "protection", as New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg charactized it, journalists have been dealing with serious obstacles.

According to the First Amendment Center, on November 15 over a dozen journalists were arrested while covering the overnight raid of Occupy Wall Street's encampment, and many more were kept at a distance from the developing story. Julie Walker, a freelance radio journalist working for National Public Radio, was arrested for disorderly conduct while walking a few blocks north of Zucotti Park. She said the officer grabbed her arm twice, took her recorder and arrested her after she asked to know his name and badge number.

Why is the police force wasting time trying to block journalists from accessing an event of national interest? American foreign correspondents risk their lives travelling to many brutal dictatorships to cover protests, yet here in the American democracy journalists are arrested for their own "protection". City officials are protecting no one but themselves. It is a journalist's right to put themselves at risk for a story, and they are not in need of officials helicoptering over them. The American public deserves to know the story.

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Scooping Where You Sleep

Twitter is the ultimate instant news source.

Reporters have the ability to tweet from anywhere with cell reception or Internet access, and most put this on-the-go capability to use every day.

An article from Poynter. reported that because journalists were tweeting and updating statuses about being arrested at Occupy Wall Street. While this use of social media is effective, some critics argue that the arrested journalists actually scooped their own newsrooms.

Although an official statement was released by the journalists' newsroom denying that the employees' tweets scooped employers, there is an idea that other news sources could become obsolete.

The biggest (actually, shortest) obstacle for Twitter's takeover of breaking news is 140 characters long. Limited to 140 characters, Twitter is heavy with headlines but short on content.

For a quick news fix, Twitter should be the go-to; however, other media, such as print and online newspapers, television, and radio, are better equipped for whole articles and in-depth pieces.

Photo by Creative Commons

Video Blog

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The News About The News: Too Much Bieber Fever

The News About The News: Too Much Bieber Fever

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The Internet is Not Permanent

There has been recent concern about the speed of the internet, the promise of access to a vast amount of information, and a reliance on the internet and computers, and, that if these needs and expectations continue to increase there is a large possibility the the world system will crash.

In a recent article published by The New York Times, the founders of the company known as Arista Networks, discussed their uneasiness with the quick expansion of technology and speed of technology. The article discussed that people are now able to pour civilization online in the forms of Facebook posts, video chats, music, and so much more; and now just about all of this information is available via phone, tablets, etc. With so much information, business, and news conducted using the listed networks in the article, there is great danger in the loss of it all.

There have already been numerous recent occurances of networks shutting down for several hours to repair their networks--it has happened on too many occasions to count at Simpson College. One of the founders stated that Americans, as well as many others, think of the internet as a permanent thing that will always be there, simply because we rely so heavily on it; but, he makes it clear that the internet is not a certain resource. Furthermore, there is the risk of halting commerce, destroying financial records or enabling hostile attacks because nearly everything is conducted online.

I found this article extremely alarming because as we speak, I am using the internet to complete this blog. So much of the world's information and communication with one another, and other countries, is conducted through the internet. And, with the move of news from print to the internet, it is alarming to think that all communication with other countries, as well as being able to receive could come to a complete standstill from the crash of networks worldwide.

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Premature Tweeting

A recent article posted to Poynter.org brought to light that some news corporations are getting upset with journalists who use social media to report news to early.

The article focused on Brian Stelter's criticism of the Associate Press' guideline requiring its journalists not to break news before it reports it.

Stelter makes the point that the journalists shouldn't have to wait for their respective news outlets to publish news in order to report on it.

He criticizes that the wire should react faster and I couldn't agree more.

The news should be reported swiftly and accurately. If both these terms can be met there is no reason not to publish.

What appears to be the biggest concern with journalist publishing news before their employers is that it undermines the employer.

Big news argues that the journalists they employ are serving to promote their own brand instead of the companies.

However, they wouldn't have this problem if the news organization worked to publish quicker.

It would give the journalist a better chance to link to news sources and increase visitors to their websites and other pages.

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Sandusky Who?

Last week, dozens of Facebook status' clogged up my newsfeed spouting opinions on the Penn State scandal. "JoePa" was flowing off the tongues of people who had never watched a college football game before in their life.

As the indictment news of multiple Penn State employees was revealed, media outlets went wild and the stories poured out- Joe Paterno involved in sex scandal. Joe Paterno to retire at the end of the season. Joe Paterno fired.

Wait, legendary coach Paterno sexually abused multiple boys in the showers at Penn State? Not the case, but if you would have been watching ESPN or any other station covering the scandal last week, it would be easy to think just that.

In the seemingly nonstop coverage of the scandal, Paterno was at the helm. The actual villian here, Jerry Sandusky, was given an almost-free pass from the media.

Sandusky, former coach for the Nittany Lions, was the one who abused those eight boys over multiple years. Mike McQueary, assistant coach, was the one who witnessed Sandusky molesting a young boy in the Penn State showers. Paterno is the one who is getting all the blame.

Now, understand this, I am in absolutely NO way trivializing what happened here or saying that Paterno was in the right by not making sure that Sandusky was punished for his inexcusable actions. In my opinion, all three of these men should be fired and held accountable for their actions, but I don't believe that the media coverage is providing fair coverage.

I would be willing to bet that a significant amount of people thought that Paterno was the alleged assaulter.

If Paterno was not the legendary coach that he is, and was let's say someone like Iowa State's Gene Chizik, would we be getting this same sort of coverage? Would we be hearing more about the president of the college also being fired along with the coach? I'd like to think so.

We, and the media, need to remember that this is bigger than football and bigger than Paterno, no matter how prolific he may be.

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Political Figures Reporting the News

Recently, NBC News hired Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of Bill and Hillary Clinton, as a full time correspondent who will be reporting "feel-good features."

Hiring this highly-politicized character seems to be a publicity stunt and an attempt to boost ratings. Many journalists find it ironic Clinton is being hired to report the news when she has showed the press the cold shoulder in the past, refusing to ever be interviewed.

Clinton has no reporting experience and this makes NBC's hiring of her look like an attempt to captivate audiences with the use of famous figures, not professionals, as their reporters.

Additionally, some question whether Clinton can be seen as a trustworthy news reporter. Since both of her parents are active political figures, how can she be seen to present the news without biases? Won't people always associate her views with those of her parents?

Even though Clinton cannot escape being linked to her political family members, her starting role as "journalist" will keep her away from hard-news and politics. Clinton will be covering the fluff stories.

Clinton is not the first person from a political family to enter the world of journalism. In 2009, Jenna Bush Hager, George W. Bush's daughter was hired to NBC as a reporter. Is getting these political figures worth potentially harming the credibility of the station? Or do these women have the potential to break away from their parents' legacies and create their own?

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Twitter Engagement

Journalists and news organizations primarily use Twitter to broadcast links, and they rarely ask for audience input or retweet others.

A study by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism focused on tweets by top newspapers, broadcasters, websites, and individual journalists.

The key finding is that news organizations use Twitter in limited ways. The main use being linking to their own material.

Ninety-three percent of tweets by news organizations link to their own articles while just two percent asked for audience input, and just one percent where retweets.

Individual journalists had about the same percentage of links and retweets.

Fox News had the most audience interaction on Twitter with 21 percent of tweets seeking feedback and 44 percent retweets.

Fox also increased its followers the most rapidly, maybe because of their Twitter interaction approach.

The New York Times had the least amount of audience interaction on Twitter.

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