Election coverage

I’ve never been much into politics, so when I was first assigned to write blogs on the 2008 Presidential Campaign, I was kind of dreading it. I voted in the last election, but I admit that I was not really sure what each of the candidates stood for. I didn’t watch much of the coverage, because well… I was in high school and in all honesty I had other things to do. But now as someone who is studying journalism, I feel that it is my responsibility to watch the election coverage.

Throughout the past semester I have been watching a lot of election coverage. Not because I was assigned to do it, but because I’m actually starting to get interested in it. My first observation about the coverage, is that there is a lot of it! Stories about the candidates seem to have consumed most of the news.

When I wasn’t watching actual news coverage, I went online to ABC News most of the time to get stories. They have their own “Politics” link on the page, which directs you to all the political/ election articles. Every single story about the candidates is there to click one. I even remember one silly one about some of the republicans having a lunch or something one afternoon. Not that the story was relevant in anyway… but I guess if they needed to fill up their page and had someone to report on it, why not?

Although there are 17 candidates, as feel as though I only know things about “some” of them. I took quiz on ABC to find out my “potential” presidential candidate, and my answers best matched those of Dennis Kucinich… honestly, I don’t even know who that is.

I feel like most of the coverage followed on the frontrunners.. such as Obama, Clinton, Giuliani, and McCain. I’ve especially been seeing a lot of coverage on Obama and Oprah.. and Clinton and her husband. Maybe it’s because the two people endorsing them have a bit of a “Celebrity” status.

A lot of the coverage I’ve been seeing has to do with health care and most recently I’ve heard and seen a lot about religion. Last week the big deal in the news was Mitt Romney’s speech on him being Mormon and how that would NOT affect his presidency in any way. I’ve heard it being compared to JFK’S speech in 1960 many times.

Now after Romney’s speech many politicians are ganging up against one another on their religious positions. I’ve actually heard that the interaction between religion and politics is helping republican candidates in the race.

Not that this has to do with the coverage or anything.. but I think it’s really cool/funny/ weird that the presidential candidates have their own facebook’s and myspace’s to help get younger people interested.

So far, these are my only thoughts about the coverage on the 2008 Presidental election… I will continue to follow the news throughout the weekend, and report back with more themes and comments.

Mormon: Mitt

It was Mitt Romney’s biggest speech of his presidential campaign just as it was John F. Kennedy’s in 1960.. both topics were about their religions. One has to wonder, in a country where there is separation of church and state, why does the religion of a presidential candidate matter to the people so much?

Why does it matter if Romney believes in Jesus Christ? Is it going to help him to lead our country? No it’s not.

Last week on CNN Live.. someone asked the presidential candidates whether they believed what the bible says? Once again, does it really matter what they believe? How one reads the bible, or believes the bible is not moving us forward or helping us at all with this presidential campaign.

“But some scholars and evangelical Christians, who make up a crucial voting bloc in the Republican Party and consider Mormonism to be heretical, say that many voters would like to hear more from Mr. Romney about exactly what he believes, even though he has studiously avoided discussing this except in the broadest terms.”

This coming from ABC News says that people want to know what Romney’s beliefs are… but why? Romney said that he is not a spokesman for his church and that theological matters dealing with his religion have absolutely no bearing on what he would do as president.

Okay.. I understand that a president’s believes may have an impact on how they make certain decisions, but why are the making such a big deal out of it?

Soundslides

Really the only thing I can say about the Soundslides article from Poynter Online, is that I think it's really how how the inventor came up with it. I think it's a medium that will continue to grow and journalists continue to experiment with their work.

The article said that not many hard news stories have be done using an audio slideshow... and I wonder what these stories actually look like.. it's kind of hard to image a "hard" news story like that.

While i haven't seen a hard news story, i have watched really long audio slideshows that just drag along... I like visuals, but unless there is something that really goes with the audio, definetly don't use it. I've been confused numerous times by slides that have nothing to do with the audio. it made me wonder why they were using that picture at that exact time.. and then i completely forgot what the person was saying!

Poynter Subjects..

After reading about Merrill’s case of plagiarism, I can’t help but feel disgusted. I mean how can a “professional” journalist think that it was okay to take quotes from a student’s article? There is no excuse for that. If this man was in the profession for 40 years, how could he have not known what plagiarism was? I have to question the fact of whether or not this was the first time that Merrill took someone’s quotes without attributing them. I mean this girl just happened to be reading the paper, to see her own words… lucky for her. But for those that maybe haven’t been reading the Missourian they would have no idea if their work was stolen from them.

Now after reading Merrill’s response, I feel bad for the old guy.. and I do mean old, he is 83 after all. I only feel bad because his apology does sound sincere, but at the same time.. I still question why he didn’t just attribute the quotes?! I mean come on, John. It would have been nothing to just say that you go the quotes from somewhere else, no one would have looked down upon your writing. Now you have to pay the consequences.

Just to touch on the ‘Places Journalists Should Go for Politics’… I think it’s a great tool if one is writing about a political subject and needs information. Everything is right there for you! I’ll definitely be bookmarking that website!

The O's Have It... AGAIN.

I've commented on this story once before, but since it has come up again in the news I'll do it once again.

By now we know that Oprah is endorsing Barack Obama in the 2008 Presidential Campaign... and starting next week Oprah will follow Obama to four different appearances across three key states.

If you're thinking that this could be trouble for Hillary Clinton with women's votes.. you're probably right. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll showed the two separated by just a point among women in Iowa.

So with Oprah being voted "The Most Influential Celebrity"and following Obama's campaign trail for awhile... it's going to be interesting to see how many people she's going to influence.

eTHiCs!!

Even after taking a whole semester of Ethical Issues in Mass Communications, ethical dilemmas in journalism are NOT any easier to solve. Journalists are faced with ethical decisions everyday.. and since there’s no set of “rules” people will respond to the dilemmas in very different ways.

Whenever I am faced with an ethical decision in journalism I always turn to the Society of Professional Journalists ‘Code of Ethics.’ Journalists should:

1. Seek Truth and Report It: Journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.
2. Minimize Harm: Ethical journalists treat sources, subjects and colleagues as human beings deserving of respect.
3. Act Independently: Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to know.
4. Be Accountable: Journalists are accountable to their readers, listeners, viewers and each other.

A journalists duty is to seek truth and provide a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues. Although no one “hopes” to be faced with an ethical decisions.. it is inevitable.. as long as you (the journalist) stay true to your own morals and use the Potter Box to identify the Facts, Values, Principles, and Loyalties… hopefully you come out with making the right decision.

LINKS

“You Must Be Streaming” tells us that the world of news is constantly changing. As journalists, we know that. We know that web news is different from both newspapers and television news. The article also tells us another obvious thing… “Don’t do Web video if you don’t have anything interesting to show, and don’t compete with TV unless you can do something they can’t or won’t.” Either way, television news does have some competition, because of course people want to pick the news they want to hear about and of course they want it anytime they please.

The blog talking about Ken Speake I found was both quite interesting and truthful. Speaking from experience I agree with what Speake said about not knowing how the story is going to unfold until you actually go over the footage/ visuals. I can also completely agree with how he thinks some broadcasters have an awful tone of voice. They do sometimes sound “inhuman” and their voices sound very forced sometimes. When I watch the news and experience a reporter like I am very tempted to change stations.

I found the article “What Journalism Can’t Do” very interesting. I was unaware that there was an actual study done on the numbers in a tragedy. Although I didn’t know one existed, as a journalist I tend to use the story of one individual person to bring something to my telling of it. I feel that focusing on one individual person and then relating it back to the bigger picture does have a deeper impact. It puts a face to the story and that greatly affects people.

The site about Online Storytelling forms sounds pretty interesting. I’ve never done any sort of online journalism and I think it would be very helpful if we could possibly learn something about it in class. Even the idea of mixing different tools to produce online storytelling is very exciting to me!

Mini-scandal

The Clinton campaign has admitted to planting questions in Iowa. Yeah...so, this happened last week when apparently a college student was approached by a campaign staffer and was asked to ask Senator Clinton a question about global warming during her stop in Iowa.

In a later meeting, Clinton said that she had no idea that the questions were planted.
So either Hillary has no idea about how people are running her campaign or she's lying... either way i don't see what the big deal is. i mean yeah it is kind of sneaky to have questions planted.. but if the questions were of that much important to her campaign, don't you think someone would have asked them anyways?

this is only being called a "mini-scandal" but i feel like there are alot more to come before next november.

chapter 19

Working on newswatch 16 has really helped me with all of the aspects discussed in chapter 19. One of the most difficult things about writing for television i have found is writing the lead. With print, you write the most important facts first, using the inverted pyramid. But with tv news, the audience's attention must be grabbed, so you need to make the lead interesting to grab the viewers attention.

Another thing that i have struggled with while writing for television, is writing for videotape. I'll go out get my story, know what quotes from what people i want to use.. but it takes me quite a while to actually figure out how to put the story together with what voice-overs i am going to use. Writing is probably what takes the longest... but once i have that down, i'm fine :)
i definetly suggest working on writing for videotape in class. i've been working on it for the past semester, and i still have difficulty doing it. i hope that eventually writing for videotape comes so naturally that i will not have to struggle with it anymore.

i can't say much about writing for radio, because i'm not interested in writing for radio... but i can imagine it being very difficult because there is no use of pictures, or no visual cues at all.

Investigative Reporting

This chapter tells me that my computer skills along with the techniques taught in this chapter will help me be well-equipped for reporting in the 21^st century.

This first thing before starting out an investigation is to have some suspicion about something, without some idea of what we are looking for, the investigation might turn out to be nothing.

As with any other reporting, this chapter tells us that the most important element in investigative journalism is the accuracy of your work. There is no good excuse for an error, so it is a good idea to use verification from two independent sources before an allegation could be published.

Something I didn’t know about investigative reporting is the fact that you need to consult with a lawyer before your story is published, and that they are the most important part of an investigative reporter’s career.

The IRE website is a good example of how the internet is the most important new tool of investigative reporting. It allows us to obtain, analyze and present information in ways that would have been impossible a few years ago. But the book tells us that the internet is only a “tool,” and we shouldn’t rely solely upon that to do our investigations.

IRE

This is not the first time I have visited the Investigative Reporters and Editors website. I used it numerous times in my J. Research class and think that it is a great website to utilize while doing investigative reporting. With 23,250 stories to browse from, finding some more information on an investigative piece is very easy.

In the Extra! Extra! Section of IRE, I find it quite interesting that everyday there are atleast 2 investigative storied published everyday. That amazes me that journalists are constantly finding new and interesting stories, and investigating them thoroughly.

One of the investigative stories from the Extra! Extra! section that caught my eye was the story about the gas stations in Florida failing accuracy tests. I never really thought about whether or not I’m getting cheated out of gas when I fill up my tank, and I’m pretty sure that the people in Florida are very glad someone investigated that problem. I know if I found out I was being cheated I would want something to be done about it- and by the publishing of this article, I’m sure something is now being done.

After reading this story, I wonder if accuracy tests like this are being done in our area, to see if we are getting cheated on gas. If not, that is a great story idea!

1,000,000 Strong for Stephen T Colbert

In only 8 days, over 1 million people joined a facebook group called " 1,000,000 Strong for Stephen T Colbert." On the other hand, Obama’s 1 Million Strong Group took more than 8 months to get about 380,000 members.

I joined Colbert's facebook group... this doesn't mean that i am backing Colbert as a political candidate- I did it just for fun.. as i'm sure is the case with many others that joined the group. I'm not sure what this is even saying about the presidential election.. is it showing that young people really do care about who is the next president? Or is it saying that we think politics need a sense of humor?

"There is incredible dissatisfaction with the idea of Hillary Clinton as our next President, so much so that young Americans are willing to support a comedian,” Mr. DeMaura wrote in an e-mail," states the NYT's blog, i think it's not only the idea of Hillary Clinton as our next President, but i think it has something to do with the dissatisfaction of all political candidates.

Colbert isn't even a presidential candidate in South Carolina yet.. but i think it is going to be fun watching what will happen.

Court Cases - Chapters 8 & 9

I think it's very important to know that the Associated Press style book requires its reporters to use the word “innocent," rather than not guilty…to guard against the word ‘not’ being dropped inadvertently.

As reporters, we would hope that there are no deals made out-of-court. Because they are conducted privately, we wouldn't be able to hear what the sentence is until after. Although out-of-courts deals aren't great for reporters, they probably are for defendents. As reporters, we would also hope that there isn't a "gag order" placed upon the case.

I was a member of the mock trial team in my high school, where I served as a witness, as well as an attorney, and understanding exactly how court proceedings worked was hard, and it's not getting any easier as I get older. I understand the evidence, opening statements, cross-examinations, and closing arguments.. but there really is so much more than that. I believe as reporters, we should try and indulge ourselves in as much of these things as possible, that way we have some idea of how things work in a court room.

"Evidence uncovered during the discovery phase of a civil case can be the source of many and important news stories," the author tells us. That's why it is especially important to pay attention during the case, because a lot of the time, new evidence is presented.
These two chapters present A LOT of information concerning criminal and civil cases, going over it once will not be enough if we are to report on either one of those cases. To truly understand it, i think it would be benefical not just to keep re-reading it, but to also go to some court cases- as a bystander and not a journalist- and just get the feel for how things work in court.

Covering Crime: Chapters 1,5,7

Chapter 1

I completely agree that because most reporters have no criminal justice background, news organizations should help the journalist and allow adequate time and resources for training. If it was my first day on the job at a news station, and I was told to go out and cover a murder, I’m sure I could do it, but there would be some major hesitation on my part. I would try to find great sources, because after all the best reporters are those with the best sources.
I think it’s important for a journalist to go over the definitions of some crimes because if a journalist doesn’t know the different between larceny and theft and confuses the two in a story, then not only is it inaccurate, but it’s just bad journalism.

In crime beat basics we are told to “try to accept suggestions graciously, and try not to take criticism (or editing) personally.” I find that not only true in crime beats, but just in all editor/reporter relations.

“Editors and producers often call on police reporters to provide information about photo or video access to suspects.” I think perp walks photos or videos are a great thing to add to a story. I can still remember watching Timothy McVeigh’s perp walk in his orange jumpsuit… things like that stick in peoples minds and may engage the audience to want to know more about the story.
I really like the quote, "Police reporters deal with lives, reputations, and careers. So you keep on – ask one more question, knock on one more door, make one last phone call, and then another. It could be the one that counts." I like it because the quote is true and gives great advice to a reporter, but the reporter must keep on thing in the back of their mind… Show compassion for those who may be affected adversely by news coverage (SPJ). Two-thirds of journalists are satisfied with their jobs? I sure hope I am one of them some day.

“One-third of those surveyed said they would be leaving the media field…Among those who said they were leaving in the most recent survey, nearly half cited job-related stress as a dissatisfaction factor.” I don’t understand this because if you go to college to become a journalist, you know full well that it is going to be a stressful job… so I don’t understand why they would go through with schooling if they know they can’t handle to pressure.

A mass killing IS news. We know this is true from even the most recent school shooting, Virginia Tech. I know journalists got a lot of crap over showing Cho’s video on the air… they gave him fame/infamy, and some people believe doing that can result in copy-cat killings. I believe that the public had a right to see the video- it was important information- but I do not think it needed to be repeated over and over and over, as we all saw it. This also translates later in the reading when we are told “while details can make a story, the use of certain information (including photographs and video) can cross the boundary of good taste.

Crime coverage is reactive, so we are told to listen to a scanner, discover a crime, and cover it. I find this part true and funny in the same sense. I only find it funny because we just fixed our police scanner in the newsroom at Newswatch, and our producer told the assistants to listen to it for stories because it was a slow news day. This I believe shows that crime stories really are an important aspect of the news.

Chapter 5

The author says that “when a victim has been hospitalized, family members are at the hospital, awaiting news about their loved one's well being. It's best to get permission from a hospital official before trying to find the patient's room.” While this is true, I personally believe that it is inappropriate. Yes, we as journalists need to get the story, but my personal ethical belief is that you shouldn’t bother the victim at the hospital right after the incident, especially if their family is still waiting to hear of the victim’s well-being. Maybe that is just a personal choice, but I would wait (I don’t know how long I would wait, but I think there does need to be some time to recover.)

I feel that a lot of tips on covering crime and its victims are pretty much common sense. It’s obvious that a victim will sometimes be very emotional after a certain incident, and I think as a journalist we should have enough common sense to know how to handle the situation. Handling a tough situation shouldn’t be hard as a journalist, because we are human beings after all.

Chapter 7


This chapter is “not intended to provide a legal education, but more of an understanding of how the court system operates and how a reporter can go about reporting on what occurs there.” Although I feel like it is legal education.. While learning to deal with victims and crimes and such for a report may be somewhat common sense, when it comes to laws, trials, and such… I feel that as a report you really need to know and research your stuff!

I know it seems obvious, but as a reporter it is important to know what state you are in since each state is empowered to determine how its court system will be organized under its own constitution and laws.

Because a reporter is reduced to the status of an observer when court is in session, it is extremely important for a reporter to be a good note taker, observer, and critical thinker. If they is all they are relying on to write a story, then taking good notes is the most crucial.
I know in my case, if I were reporting on a trial and did not understand the case, I would not be afraid to as questions. I would ask lawyers to explain points of law or procedures that i don’t understand, because if I don’t understand my audience is probably not going to understand, and I would not want to lose their attention, because that would mean poor journalism on my part.
I think the most important thing in this chapter is just try to research as much as possible and when you are in a court, listen! The lawyers will break down the questions so they are easy for the witness to understand so you just need to pay attention to the answers and where everything is leading to, and hopefully a good story will come from it.

Blog--*

http://reporterandrea.blogspot.com/ -- 08

http://the23yearoldsophomore.blogspot.com/ -- Saving One Polar Bear at a Time

http://lvpdnews-lara.blogspot.com/ -- $$$

http://lvpdnews-lara.blogspot.com/ -- Booming Baby Bonds

http://newsreportingicjessg.blogspot.com/ -- BarackStars and HillYeas!

http://fallingfornews2007.blogspot.com/ -- And this is why the presidential campaign should start much later...

http://seagullatemycheetos.blogspot.com/-- $$ Clinton Beats Obama $$

http://hollysmithnewsi.blogspot.com/-- to wear or not to wear?

Being Sensitive

One of SPJ’s guidelines says to “show compassion for those who may be affected adversely by news coverage.” In the case of crime reporting, I find this especially true.

We as reporters need to understand the sensitivity when reporting on crimes, court trials, disasters and other events that tremendously affect people’s lives.

Going over this chapter starts to help us prepare for this kind of reporting, and I think it was a good idea to go over it, before we actually go out there and cover these kinds of events.

But on the other hand, it is kind of basic stuff. Most of crime stories so rely heavily upon police reports… but as a reporter you should also know enough to interview others involved, such as witnesses and victims. It may be difficult to interview the victims, and I don’t know if practicing this task will make it any easier in tough situations, but I guess that’s the risk we take as journalists.

Overall, the most important thing is to be sensitive… and I can’t forget according to the author, the most important thing is to be accurate. Gather the facts who, what, when, where, why, how and write in the inverted pyramid style.

Fighting like little girls...

“John McCain insinuated that rival Gov. Mitt Romney is conning New Hampshire voters when he implies that he is the "real Republican" in the race,” said ABC News' Bret Hovell.

Apparently McCain listed several things of Romney’s record which shows that Romney has more “liberal” tendencies… then Romney’s campaign fired back arguing that he does speak to Republican voters.

“That frustration may have been building for some time. Top McCain aides say that Romney's comments yesterday rubbed the Senator the wrong way, that he was anxious to respond, and that there will be more to come,” reported Hovell.

So the battle is on between the two. But does it really need to be?

Making comments like that to each other is just making them look stupid in my opinion. I don’t care whether the next President is a Republican or Democrat. I only care if they can lead our country and lead it well.

So I tell them both to stop getting in stupid fights and start worrying about what really matters.

Libel. TMI. Writing.

Libel… a written or oral defamatory statement or representation that conveys an unjustly unfavorable impression b (1) : a statement or representation published without just cause and tending to expose another to public contempt (2) : defamation of a person by written or representational means.
You would think we wouldn’t need to learn about libel as journalists, because it is our job to be truthful and report only the facts. But we do need to learn about it, because it still happens in the news. I’m sure most of it isn’t on purpose; people may print false information because of bad reporting or just plain misinformation.
It is good to know that if something ever does happen where someone doesn’t like what was written about them in the article, the legal system will favor the journalist and help them out. But to avoid it at all costs, journalists should just strive to be truthful at all times.

I was very comforted reading The Accident at Three Mile Island. I was comforted because when we did the exercise in class and wrote the article I got a lot of information incorrect, and to know that journalists who actually reported on the story had a hard time with it makes me feel a little better.
Not that it’s a good thing that journalists can misinterpret information, but people don’t realize how hard it is to write a story about something of that matter, when you don’t have a scientific background.
The report tells us that since we don’t know what is possible or not possible, and what is right and wrong, we as journalists have no choice but to report each statement and try to give it the weight that it may deserve and let the public judge.

Honestly, the readings of Orwell and The Five Characteristics of Academic or Scholarly prose…… I found very confusing. I know the English language is “bad” as Orwell states and since we are journalists we need to fix it.. if anyone had problems with writing (such as myself) The Elements of Style is a good reference guide for help and it is much easier to read than Orwell’s article.

Separation of Church & State

Rudy Giuliani is Roman Catholic. Rudy Giuliani supports abortion rights. These two sentences are supposed to contradict each other and because of that, many Catholics are upset.
In the article, it explains that “the Giuliani campaign has long been expecting to be confronted with this issue, but made a calculation that a small percentage of Republican voters and conservative Christian leaders would never support a candidate who supports abortion rights.”
To that, Giuliani said that “when talking about the life issue, first of all, ‘I will do no harm. I will not seek to liberalize existing law on abortion.’”
When reading the article I kept thinking about the separation of church and state.
I know abortion is an important issue, but I don’t think it belongs in politics… it is a religious and personal thing. I don’t think religion and politics should be mixed… and the sad thing is is that they are.
Everyone has a right to their opinion, and I think people should respect Giuliani for his opinion, but not hold it against him when it comes to the elections.

news releases/speechs/meetings

I’ve written a news release only once so far in school… but I practically use them everyday- and I’ve never realized the importance of them until I read the news release chapter.
Working on a news station-- we don’t have to search too hard and deep to find stories, we get them sent to us -- so receiving press releases helps tremendously with assigning stories to reporters. News stations would waste so much time if there were no press releases, and in the newsroom, time is precious.
So I think this chapter on writing news releases is a huge help, because they are different than writing an actual news story, and I look forward to practicing writing them in class.
*Writing about speeches, news conferences, and meetings is a very difficult thing to do as well. The book tells you to prepare in advance as much as possible, and that is truly crucial to the writing process. On a personal note, when I went to a community meeting for my town once, I didn’t know what the meeting was about… so I got there, began taking notes, and realized that I had no idea what they were talking about! Instead of listening to what was going on, I had to keep asking others around me to fill me in on the subjects, I feel by doing this I missed tons of important information and good quotes from speakers. If only I had our news reporting book at the time to use as a reference on how to cover that meeting!

Don't judge others...

“But many conservatives continue to view him warily either because of his personal life, which includes two divorces…” this was written in a New York Time’s article about Rudy Giuliani.
The article spoke of his two divorces at least twice, “Giuliani acknowledged mistakes but said he hoped that people would not be overly judgmental.”
I don’t understand why people would not vote for him because of his personal life. It’s “personal!!!” Not being able to stay in a marriage has nothing to do with being able to run the country. Maybe the reasons for his failed marriages are because he is too focused on his career. The problem in that… is not anyone else’s but Giuliani’s. I’m not sticking up for him, but I think it’s unfair to judge anyone in that matter… and as Giuliani said in the article: “Don’t judge others, lest you be judged.”

Hillary, Hillary, Hillary

I wanted to write something about the republican side of the 2008 Presidential Election... but honestly, all I keep hearing about on tv is Hillary Clinton.
Yesterday, she hit up FIVE Sunday morning talk shows-- defending her proposed health plan and talking about pulling the troops out of Iraq as soon as she becomes President.
Many people get defensive when they talk to her and don't think she'll be able to do any of it. But i give her props for actually making the initiative and speaking up, and getting on talk shows. People need to see that- they need to hear what she has to say in order to make and educated decision when it comes time for elections.
Bad press for her... maybe? Put is bad press every really a BAD thing?

O'bits.

“An obituary is a news story,” says our book. “Too many obituaries read as if they were written by a computer-program—efficient but lifeless.”
I completely agree with both of those statements. Coming from personal experience, when I read my grandmother’s obituary in the paper I was a little disturbed by it. My grandmother was very well-known and loved in her community and the obituary only had small general statements about her. It did not include any achievements, or memberships, or community service… nothing of what my grandmother was about was included in there.
I feel obituaries need to be full of life. That they need to tell what the person was all about. And I think it is the reporter’s job to find these characteristics and do a fair amount of research to get an accurate account of the lost-life.
The book says that most obituaries or “stories” are not written well because most of the time the reporter is afraid to do the reporting. I do believe this is true, although I don’t know why. I know it is a tough time for the family, but if a report approached me and asked me about my grandmother, I would have been more than happy to brag about all of her accomplishments and her life.
I think reporters need to feel empathy/sympathy in that situation, but also remember that they are still a reporter and need to get the news out in the most accurate way.

Don't Knock It.

Hillary is at it again. Thirteen years after her first attempt at improving our nation’s health care, Clinton is offering some new ideas oh how to get every American assistance.

It really irritates me how people are already criticizing her and the plan. I’m a firm believer in the saying “Don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it.” So I tell the critics to shut up because something needs to be done about health care in America.

…. More to come on this story…

Serendipity

Serendipity. The effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something else entirely.

I’m not talking about the movie; rather I’m talking about Poynter Online’s, E-Media Tidbits. Echo didn’t expect to have such a response to their site and I think that it’s truly amazing that they did. I believe that the way the public reacted to the forum shows how the world of journalism is changing.

It’s not just simply about print anymore; it’s about change and making good things better- even if it was discovered accidentally!

In reference to the timeline story:
I believe that if it makes it easier for the reader to understand, use it. Maybe it’s a matter or preference (I’m more of a visual person,) so looking at a timeline- or something of that sort- while I’m reading the story helps me to better understand what the writing is saying.

But at the same time, if you chose to use this multimedia function, don’t make it too complicated! And as the story says, “You must avoid "mystery meat" navigation -- that is, a timeline that doesn't give them anything but the time information.”

Moyers & Interviewing

Since freshman year, I’ve been learning the art of interviewing (and I say art because it really is an art). Even though I’ve been interviewing people for years now, it really is nice to refresh my memory. Knowing how to approach the interview and actually preparing for it, I believe is the most crucial part. If you prepare for something you’ll be ready for anything I always say.
In one of my interviewing classes last week we watched Bill Moyers interview Jon Stewart from the Daily Show and in the entire 30 minute interview you knew that Moyers had done intense preparation for it. Moyers even said that it takes him months to prepare for interviews like that.
And I think that is something to strive for with up and coming journalists. Prepare the best you can, take your time with it and if you’re going to do it, do it right. Moyers is a great interviewer and I think we can all learn something from him.

The O's Have It

Just the other day in one of my classes the professor had us write down the name of someone who we would want to be for a day. To no surprise, Oprah Winfrey was the most popular name that came up. I suppose that is why Forbes gave Oprah the number one spot on their list of Most Influential Celebrities. Being so, does that mean that if Oprah were to endorse something it would sell? Absolutely. Each month she gets millions of people to go out and read a book from her book list. On top of that she has over 49 million people tune into her show each week.
The reason I’m talking about Oprah is because just recently she has endorsed Senator Barack Obama in the 2008 Presidental Election. Good for Obama, bad for the other candidates. Although she is for Obama Oprah states that she still has a great respect for Hillary Clinton and the other candidates, stating: “I have great respect for Hillary Clinton. I think I’ve said this before and it’s true: Because I am for Barack does not mean I am against Hillary or anybody else."
She may not be against anyone else, but with her back behind Obama and with her being the most influential person in America, I’d say that Obama has a pretty good shot at becoming the next U.S. President.

Road Trip with Hillary

While listening to Good Morning America the other morning as I was getting ready, I overheard Diane Sawyer tell America that in a recent GMA poll, 48 percent of Americans said they'd rather have Hillary Clinton as their traveling companion on a drive across country, versus 39 percent who'd want Rudy Giuliani along for the ride (she also beat out all her Democratic competitors.)The GMA poll voters also said that they’d rather Clinton over Giuliani as a business partner. Although neither of these poll results signify voter preference, serving as a business partner does seem to correspond to serving as the next president in my eyes. Maybe it’s just because Clinton has more of a “celebrity” status. I don’t know the answer, but we will find out soon enough.

Network TV and Katie Couric

“Network TV” was the first chapter that grabbed my attention in The State of the News Media. Not that I’m not interested in the other forms of media, but I get most of my news from network television; so I felt the need to pay special attention to the section. The first sentence in the introduction states that it was a year that people where waiting for, and it truly was. The part that really caught my attention in the reading was the question of whether or not the older audience would adapt to the new faces and changes that network television was bringing about. This is interesting because I’ve seen numerous reports throughout the year about the CBS Evening News and their falling ratings. In a way I found the ratings sad, because I wanted the first solo female night anchor, Katie Couric, to do well, and I truly thought she would. But as she said in an interview recently, she didn’t think the world was ready for that kind of change. Personally, I think change is a good thing and I don’t really understand why the rest of the world is against it. But it’s not just Couric’s fault, because the reading also stated that every media sector, except for two, has stopped growing. Could it be that people have become generally uninterested in the world around us? I can’t see how this could be, but it makes you wonder what really is going on.