Response to Eli's Blog

          I thought that Eli wrote an excellent media critique that you can read yourself by clicking here. The critique opened with an interesting example that everyone would agree is not newsworthy. The story mentioned in the critique was laughable, and i think that nearly everyone would agree with her points about why it wasn't newsorthy. Eli explained why this story violated the yardsticks and elements of journalism, but she also went into depth about other times that the same news outlet had failed to produce good journalism. She talked about past patterns and she gave examples. Her reasoning was well explained. One thing that I found particularly interesting was the fact that after she had critiqued the media, she gave suggestions for how they could fix their weaknesses. For example, she suggested that the journalist review the article several times and that the specific, unnewsworthy, story be removed entirely from the front page to make from for more important information. This is something that I think I will try to incorporate more into my own entries.

Kim Davis Embarrassing Kentucky: Joey Schuster

          Joey Schuster raised what is, in my opinion, a very good point on his blog, The Schuster Post. He was responding to the subject of Kim Davis which has appeared on our current events quizzes. He made the point that she is embarrassing the citizens of Kentucky and harming the entire state's reputation, and I couldn't agree more. Kim Davis has created a nationally-known situation that reflects badly on our already negatively-stereotyped state. Whether Kim Davis has thought about the thoughts and feelings of the people she's turned away is debatable, but Joey's point that she is not thinking about how her actions are affecting the nation's view of Kentucky as a whole is entirely valid.

Conglomerations: Maggie Mitchel

          On the blog Moderately Maggie, Maggie Mitchel wrote an entry about today's conglomerations that raised some interesting points. While I will say that conglomerations do serve some important purposes, I agree with Maggie on the point that they have mostly negative impacts on consumers and mostly positive impacts on the companies themselves. She brought up some important issues that I hadn't thought of before such as the decrease in jobs and how it effects people and communities. Her entry made clear points and was easy to follow.

Response 4: Books

          As a person who loves to read, the lecture on books really made me apreciate how simple it is to get my hands on the latest bestseller. I read books in paper form as well as electronically, and neither would be possible without Gutenberg's printing press. Not only did it make real books cheaper and more accessible, it led to the creation of the books that led to the creation of the electronics like eReaders. I cannot imagine living in a world where I didn't have constant access to my favorite novels, and before we disscussed it in class, I had never given much thought to the fact that it hadn't always been that way. Before the printing press, most people couldn't read their own language, much less own expensive, hand-copied books.

          While it's probably occurred to me in the past to be grateful for my access to books, it has definitely never occurred to me to be grateful for my own literacy. Literacy and freedom to read and write what we want are things that didn't come about until after the invention of Gutenberg's printing press, and they are almost always taken for granted. Books are a very basic and simple form of entertainment and communication, but they are a luxury.

Response 3: Binary Models

          Something about the binary models lecture that interested me was how closely all the models (with the exception of hot and cold) related to each other, and to the seven yardsticks and ten elements of journalism. The discussion drew a line back to the subject of making the interesting important versus making the important interesting, especially with the model of elitist versus populist. Elitists are on the side of making the important interesting while populists are willing to make the interesting important as long as they can keep their audience entertained.
          There was also a question raised during the lesson that I've since thought a little bit about. Fox News is an organization that is largely republican, so the question was this: If republicans became nationally unpopular, would Fox News continue to side with them, or would they start to drift towards the more popular choice? If they did the former, they could be considered elitists, whereas if they did the later, they would be considered populists. It was interesting because they would probably receive much scrutiny for switching sides, but they've also portrayed populist qualities in the past such as publishing stories that are unimportant but interesting. However, this does not apply only to Fox. Many of today's media organizations are populists and have bias towards one side over the other, so it's interesting to think about how these populist organizations would handle it if the things that they were so used to saying suddenly became unpopular.

News Media Critique

          On September 13th, an article titled, "New York Woman Arrested After Pit Bulls Maul Man" was published on CNN's website. The article gave a lengthy and overly detailed description of an incident in which a man was attacked in the street by two pit bulls. While this is an unfortunate incident, it is not a newsworthy one. Something is newsworthy when it affects a large amount of people for a large amount of time. This incident fails to fit this criteria due to the fact that the only people affected are the victim and his family. The article uses dramatic language to blow the whole situation out of proportion, making it seem far more important than it truly is. One example of this is the use of the term "Good Samaritan" in various locations throughout the article to describe onlookers who threw things and sprayed water at the dogs.

          Another indication that this story has been overly dramaticised is the amount of repetition. It repeats the same facts multiple times to prolong the story. The article is a common example of journalists making the interesting important instead of making the important interesting. 

          

          The full article by Ray Sanchez and Lorenzo Ferrigno can be found here.

Response 2: Newspapers

          The lesson about the first newspapers surprised me. For one, I was surprised by how old newspapers are. I would have expected them to be a much more recent invention. However, the thing that I found to be the most surprising had nothing to do with the dates or locations, but rather with its effects. I'm speaking particularly about the precedent set by John Peter Zenger. He used the newspapers to help further the idea of freedom of press. The trial over his articles eventually led to the decision that one should not be punished for writing the truth. (Truth is the ultimate defense against libel.) 

          The thing that interested me about this, is the fact that this is not true internationally. It was explained that in other countries, you could be jailed for criticizing authority. It made me appreciate my freedom of speech and freedom in general much more. It also gave me a look at the importance of newspapers that was easier to understand. Newspapers had always just seemed like the thing my grandpa read every morning while he drank his coffee on the front porch and not much more, but they now seem to hold more worth because the earliest newspspers helped Americans establish their freedom in ways that some other countries have still been unable to do.