Tangled in the worldwide web

“Fauxtography” Smackdown

2006-12-11T11:56:00.000-05:00

Instead of giving out journalism awards, some are dealing out “the worst of” this year.

For the full article with photos click here.
Note/apology to readers: Unfortunately, blogger.com is not allowing me to upload any photos at this time, which is very frustrating--and takes so much away from this entry. Apparently that's what I get for free blogging.

Here are some examples of the biggest winners or losers according to HonestReporting.com:

Worst Director: Salem Daher, a.k.a Abel Qudar, or “The Green Helmet”
Daher is Lebanese civil rescue worker. He was said to be instructing cameramen to pose with casualties as well as having a body re-loaded into an ambulance for effect so he could re-capture the moment.

Worst Newspaper Caption: New York Times
The caption which ran in along with a series of other photos suggested the man pictured was dead. Bloggers wondered how a man killed in the strike could look so very much alive in the slide show's other images. HR said “Ironically, the Times had Hicks' correct caption for the same photo in a separate report on July 27. The Times issued a correction and apologized to Hicks for the bungle. In October, Hicks explained to Photo District News his view of the affair.”

Worst Cartoon of the Year: Martin Rowson of the Guardian
“The day after publishing this nasty cartoon, The Guardian apologized, but only because the Jewish stars in the illustration ‘might have been interpreted as implicating Judaism rather than the Israeli government in the present conflict.’”

Sympathy for the Devil Award: CBC
HR reports, “When the CBC aired a sympathetic interview with the family of Samir Quntar about the possibility of the Lebanese terrorist's release in a prisoner swap (watch the interview here), they all but ignored the brutal attack that landed him in an Israeli prison, and didn't bother interviewing any relatives of his victims. After HonestReporting-Canada took action, the CBC followed up, interviewing Smadar Haran Kaiser, the woman whose family Samir Qantar murdered (watch the follow-up interview here).”

Dishonest Reporter of the Year: Adnan Hajj
Hajj was given this title because he was reportedly caught altering a photo of explosions in Beirut. Mike Thorson uncovered this on a Little Green Footballs blog. He said in reference to another photo altered by Hajj that more destruction was inflicted by the IDF than what really existed.

Freedom of expression can get you canned

2006-12-01T18:51:00.000-05:00

As I was just about to delete an email I received from MonsterTrak.com, I saw the heading “Keep your E-Image Clean.” So, I kept reading, and found that my paranoia about employers checking me out online was justified. MonsterTrak gives examples of people who had supposedly been sabotaged by their secret online lives:

A chemical engineering student at a university in the Northeast was eliminated from consideration for a job opening after a company recruiter Googled the student's name, discovering, among other things, that he liked to blow things up.

A student at a school in the Southeastern US was being courted by a small business owner for a key position -- that was until the owner saw the student's Facebook profile, which featured explicit photos and stories about the student's drinking and pot smoking.

A recent graduate of a small upper Midwest university was only a few weeks into her first postgraduation job when the boss called her into his office. He had discovered the young woman's personal blog, where she had been writing in detail about how miserable she was in her new position. She soon became a former employee.

MonsterTrak’s Career Coach, Peter Vogt, suggests that if you think you have potentially damaging materials on let’s say MySpace or Facebook, to take them off. He also said you should check the written content in your blog, making sure it is appropriate for professional eyes.

What if an employer reads a potential employee's blog and finds that their opinions differ from their own? How can that person know why they weren’t hired? Should people now censor everything they put online, making sure it doesn’t “offend” anyone? The line seems a bit blurry here.

Are Muslims being unfairly singled out?

2006-11-30T15:05:00.000-05:00

Recently there have been incidents in which Muslim individuals have been singled out and detained for what seems to be acting out in public. Two examples in the news recently include a Muslim student found in the UCLA library who refused to show a required identification card to UCLA security. As a consequence of his refusal, he was tasered five times and arrested.

Another recent incident was the “Minneapolis Six,” who made a scene on a U.S. Airways flight bound for Phoenix. The event occurred Tuesday, November 21, just before the Thanksgiving weekend. FrontPageMagazine.com reported six imams, three of whom bought one-way tickets and did not check luggage, as “praying loudly and spouting some kind of anti-U.S. rhetoric regarding the war in Iraq and Saddam Hussein,” according to airport spokesman Paul Hogan.

The imams proceeded to sit in separate sections of the airplane. They all asked for seatbelt extensions, functioning with as what appeared to be behavioral similarities to the 9/11 hijackers. After being removed from the aircraft, they were questioned by the FBI, but no formal charges were made against them.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations is calling for an investigation of the event, claiming it was discriminatory action. In addition, the imams are instigating a boycott of the airlines.

Why would they act with such shady behavior if they didn’t want to be singled out? What were the motivations behind their actions? Why would anyone act with this way in an airport post 9/11 if they didn’t want to get caught and leave a message?

News Coverage and the Web

2006-11-29T15:12:00.000-05:00

The Boston Globe reported twelve high school students were expelled from Edwardsville High School in Illinois. Unlike the Globe, The Edwardsville Journal reported the incident without mentioning a key element—that the fight was orchestrated through MySpace.com.

The Edwardsville Journal reported that “School officials heard about the potential conflict from other students at the school, while the Boston Globe maintained that school officials said the fight was arranged on MySpace.

Why did the Journal leave out this fact? Is the mainstream media overly concerned with occurrences happening on the Web, instead of the events themselves? Does this indicate that some news sources are trying to place blame on social networking sites when altercations like this arise?

Selling/Giving away Children on Craigslist

2006-11-28T11:27:00.000-05:00

This morning, as I was searching the CNN.com Web site, I saw a video clip about a five year old boy who was posted on Craigslist by his estranged father. The post ran, “Free to good home, 5 year old boy.”

In a November 11 article by Ben Charny on eweek.com the writer said that an ad posted by a California woman who was attempting to sell her four year old daughter for five hundred dollars was still posted on Craigslist days later.

Charny reported, “Craigslist founder Craig Newmark said the Martinez Police never contacted the company during their investigation, which led to the woman's arrest Tuesday on child soliciting charges.”

When law enforcement was questioned about contacting the site, Charny said “It may not have been necessary in this case. Plus, in general, law enforcers still chafe at the plodding pace of Internet companies acting upon official, or unofficial, requests for help or information. Often, it just isn't worth the wait.”

What else is being sold on popular Internet Web sites, and how can webmasters help prevent transactions like this from happening in the future? What will prevent people from selling sex, drugs, or stolen organs? Should there be more checks and balances on sites like Craigslist that give users complete control and power over information and ads posted online?

To watch the video, click the "More Law Video" tab to watch the on the CNN.com Law section.

JDate from Hell

2006-11-25T00:10:00.000-05:00

I know that I am supposed to do a post right now that is web journalism related, but I read/heard something today that is just too good/hilarious/outrageous to pass up. Here is the low down. A guy, Darren Sherman went out with a girl to snazzy New York restaurant "China Grill." The poor girls name is Joanne (last name not shown). They met on popular Jewish online dating service, Jdate.com.

This truly is the date from hell. If you want to have a hearty laugh click here, read all of the dialogue, and make sure to listen to ALL the phone messages left on Joanne's machine by Darren.

Anchors and TV news executives looking to young blogger for news

2006-11-22T01:24:00.000-05:00

How did Brian Stetler become so famous among big shot TV news people? Yesterday, there was a front page article on Stetler and his widely popular blog, tvnewser.com. The 21 year old Towson University student is now a news source for top anchors like Brian Williams from NBC news.

In the article, Stetler pretty much tells his readers to calm down. He said that he has a life outside of posting the most current new updates, and that he is trying his best. I found it pretty entertaining, and am curious how this young student initially got recognized.

To see The New York Times article click here.

What does it say about journalism that The New York Times is printing articles about journalism instead of real news on the front page? Are we (journalists) that obsessed with ourselves? Or, am I overacting?

Joe Sacco says NO to objective journalism

2006-11-19T23:35:00.000-05:00

Joe Sacco, award winning comic illustrator and writer, spoke at the Nieman Foundation conference on Friday at the Sheraton hotel in Boston. Sacco, most popularly known for award-winning “Palestine” and “Safe Area Gorazde,” went to Israel and the Palestine for 2 months before writing and illustrating his book. Inspired by Hunter S. Thompson, Michael Herr and George Orwell, Sacco is a frequent illustrator for Robert Crumb’s “American Splendor.”

Often a character in his own work, Sacco said, “It is almost organic that I would do comics about my experiences traveling, let’s say in Gaza or the West Bank." The comic artist expressed his desire to give a human angle when talking about his experiences going into Palestinians’ homes, drinking tea.

Sacco is not a fan of objective journalism. He said that when he went to the Middle East, he had prejudices as a Westerner among the Palestinians. “Women to me felt like pidgins,” he said. They were just faceless beings in headdresses until one woman talked to him in good English and asked him educated questions. That for him broke some of those prejudices.

Sacco said that he was very insecure about the journalistic part of his job. He expressed some uncertainty about what he was doing, but eventually figured it out. He shared advice with the audience when he said, "you have to find out what is important to the people you’re interviewing... if you know what’s going on around you, you’re in."

On the question of journalistic integrity Sacco admitted that some people dismiss his work as just comics, but over the years people have been more willing to see it as legitimate. He studied objective journalism at the University of Oregon, but said he didn’t think he could get the story across in that way. One thing about Sacco is that he did not pretend to function without having his own politics. He said he strives to be honest in his work.

When asked about why he only painted one side of the picture in “Palestine,” he said it was because the American media had already shown the Israeli side. “I’m not afraid to show that I empathize with the Palestinians.”

To my surprise, I learned Sacco hates the expression “graphic novel.” He said that both he and Pulitzer Prize winning comic writer Art Spiegelman hate the reference. A novel to Sacco posits fiction and he sees his work as non-fiction.

Sacco mentioned in his talk that his goal is to be honest. If that is true, why doesn't he paint both sides of the conflict? Isn't an innate part of journalism to produce fair and balanced reporting, even if one is trying to show the other side? Lastly, is it even true that the American media has only reported one side of the conflict? These are serious questions that must be asked before and after reading Sacco's work.

Calvin Trillin talks about the narrative, The New Yorker and the Web

2006-11-17T16:23:00.000-05:00

At a conference put on by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, Clavin Trillin, staff writer for the New Yorker since 1963, spoke in the grand ballroom at the Sheraton Hotel in Boston this afternoon. Professional journalists shuffled in along with some young adults, who I assumed were students such as myself.

Mark Kramer, who has written for the Boston Globe, The New York Times Magazine, National Geographic, The Atlantic Monthly, Outside and other publications said while introducing Trillin, “we have to get the story right, and listen to the people who live it.”

After Kramer thanked the crowd for coming, Trillin started his speech with a joke saying, “I wrote a poem in The Nation explaining why Karl Rove seemed so confident. Had a plan to keep Republicans on top by revealing a plot of two Muslim men who are getting married.” Chuckles ran through the room as I watched journalists staring at the speaker then at their laps with pens and notepads in hand, courtesy of Poynter.org.

Trillin spoke about his writing process for narrative journalism at the New Yorker. William Shawn, Trillin’s editor at the time, assigned the writer 3,000 word pieces every three weeks. Trillin said that regular people would ask him how he kept up the pace, while newspaper people asked him what else he did. Laughter flurried across the crowd, as the room was filled with journalists who I’m sure empathized with his situation.

He said that he wasn’t trying to write pieces about typical people, but wanted to tell a story. “The New Yorker was a unique place when I started working there,” he said, “it had no pictures, no table of contents, no poll quotes, or two to three line descriptions.”

Trillin said that the narrative and good writing is a bonus next to the necessity of being accurate. “The basic foundation of journalism is getting it right,” he said. He went on to talk about the temptation that journalists have to blur the truth a little bit when it comes to transition lines and straightening out the facts. He said, “Accuracy is a basic part of this.”

The formal part of his speech ended with a reading of some humorous corrections. He read off funny errors like person x didn’t actually “sache” across the stage, etc.

I found that the most enlightening part of his talk was in the question and answer section. A man asked what Trillin thought of online storytelling and blogs. Trillin responded saying, “I’m not familiar with them, but I agree that this stuff changes in form and venue, but is still writing.” The writer said that when he was a boy there were 4 major magazines, which no longer exist. “Now there are magazines devoted to ferret owners,” he said. He admitted that although he’s not familiar with too much of the online materials, he reads some of the political blogs, particularly during election time.

The last question was from a woman who asked if he ever made any mistakes. Trillin said, “Sure I did.” For Trillin, fact checking is a great comfort. “If you hear a writer at the New Yorker saying that a certain fact checker is a pain, that is a bad reporter,” he said.

Trillin agreed that the Web helps a lot, but said that it is a mistake to rely solely on the Internet for research. He mentioned Wikipedia as being one unreliable source. He expressed his frustration with the free online encyclopedia, saying that they wrongly wrote he is very fond of comic books. “It wasn’t true, I am not fond of comic books,” he responded.

On the Internet as a resource for journalists he said, “It’s wonderful and democratic, but gives you less of an excuse to get it wrong.”

To read what Romenesko says about how Trillin's writing has changed click here.

Manipulating religious customs with technology

2006-11-16T16:24:00.000-05:00

I was intrigued to read an article that explored the life of orthodox Jews and the loopholes they can find within a world of gadgets. My orthodox step father, Bob, sports a tool belt stuffed with his ipod, Trio, Blue-Tooth, and many other electronic tools that get him through the day. Now, he can have more gadgets to look forward to such as the “Sabbath phone,” which has a microprocessor inside it. The device is configured in a way that the user doesn’t have to activate any electronic circuit within that would make he or she break the rules of Jewish Law pertaining to the Sabbath. This phone is available for observant Jews to use from Friday when Shabbat starts to its conclusion on Saturday evening at sundown.

Technology allows us to manipulate three thousand year-old laws from the Bible to accommodate our rapidly evolving technology-based society. Hopefully, we can maintain our religious customs without jeopardizing the sanctity of tradition.

To read more on the subject click here.

Another Fox Fumble?

2006-11-13T16:03:00.000-05:00

I must admit, Fox News is one of my guilty pleasures. I am drawn to it like a deer in headlights, which segues to today’s blog entry. As I scoured through Fox’s top videos of the day, it didn’t shock me that a clip of a deer holding a plastic pumpkin head in its mouth made number one on the list.

Under the clip, a headline ran, “Michigan deer finds its way out of a tough spot.” All I saw in the clip was an idle deer holding a pumpkin for about 30 seconds. It would help if there was a short story that I could click on underneath the clip, but I guess it’s not enough of a story to actually write about. So, why is it considered a good enough story to broadcast?

I still don’t understand why Fox News continues to put up these videos, but I have been learning to except this trend, sit back and enjoy the mindless entertainment, for now.

In referring back to a conversation I had with Joyce Kulhawik from CBS4, I agree with her on some things discussed. She said that because networks have this new technology they use it, regardless if it’s good news or not. I think they use it even if it isn’t news at all. Maybe they are simply running out of material.

Cell phone use coming to a plane near you

2006-11-09T00:23:00.000-05:00

In a society where it’s acceptable for law school students to instant message each other in class and employers to conduct online interviews, are we even making a connection anymore? Is technology, created to enhance communication, further separating us from the outside world?

Emirates airlines announced future plans to allow cell phone use in-flight by implementing new GSM technology, deemed airplane safe. Instead of using designated airline phones, which cost $5.00 per minute, personal cell phones will cost $3.50 per minute. But is it even a question of money, or merely our obsession to stay constantly connected to technology?

In a CNN video segment with Robert Quest, one passenger in opposition to the Airline’s plans said that he gets some of his best work done while traveling by plane. He predicts that people yapping away on their cell phones will be annoying and disruptive. Reports indicate that 50 percent of other airlines will follow suit within the next two years.

If cell phone use is permitted while 35,000 feet in the air, there will be virtually no cell phone free zone on Earth. So, the next time I fly coach in a cramped seat, squished between two other passengers, I will imagine my mother quibbling with another lawyer on her cell phone in a high pitched voice atop a crying baby, tableware hitting food trays, and my friendly neighbor blowing his nose while the other files her nails. Sounds like I have a lot to look forward to!

Getting Readers to Click

2006-11-06T15:29:00.000-05:00

As I was checking my AOL email today the title, “German Victims Come Forward” caught my attention. I am not used to hearing the term German victims, without the word Jewish jammed in the middle. An AOL user who goes under the name, CITADEL43 seemed to have a similar reaction. The user said in the “Post Thoughts” section:

I don't know how the media can refer to them as victims. Right or wrong, the Reich's program gave them a life, while many others were having theirs snuffed out. Plus they are of good stock. Most will probably live to be over 100. Doesn't sound like much of a victim, just a product of the Reich.

CITADEL43 received four responses, all of which criticized him for questioning the AP article slug line. What’s interesting about this article is that when you click on the title to read the full story a new title appears, “Germans Tell of Secret Nazi Breeding Program.” This makes me wonder if they used the first controversial title to attract readers into clicking the link to view the full article. Or, are they really calling these Germans victims?

What has Fox News come to?

2006-11-03T12:48:00.000-05:00

I was searching on the Foxnews.com website this morning to find more information on their earlier broadcast about a U.S. based website that is providing Islamic Fundamentalists with instructions on how to build Weapons of Mass Destruction. However, I came across a video that Fox News put up instead. The video is of a monkey in the zoo who gets scared of his own reflection.

Judging by the quality of this very short video clip, I have to assume it was done by a citizen and not a professional reporter, or so I hope. Is this a joke? Who cares? Aren’t there more important things in this world going on than a monkey holding a mirror?

Click HERE, and scroll down to the “Download This” section to watch this video along with other frivolous clips.

Kerry gets stuck in his words

2006-11-01T12:46:00.000-05:00

On Monday, Democrat Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry created an upset within political campaigns and the military when he said, “Education. If you make the most of it, study hard, you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”

What did Kerry really mean by this comment, and why would he even tread on such a thin line? Was he referring to President Bush getting the U.S. stuck in Iraq or people in the military?

I’m not so sure that these questions even matter. Kerry offended soldiers, their families and anyone else who supports U.S. troops. I think that he intended to insult the President, but because he could not get his words out right, dug his own grave. Now he is the one who sounds uneducated, because an educated person would think twice about what they were saying to the American people. Not a smart move.

To watch Kerry’s remarks click here.

Irate Ali vs. Pissed off Aussie on YouTube

2006-10-30T10:41:00.000-05:00

There is a video posted on YouTube produced by standwithus.com. In the video, Amir Abdel Malik Ali addresses the Hezbollah-Israel conflict during a speech at the University of California, Irvine. Ali scolds Israel for being the “oppressors” and for attempting to destroy Hezbollah. This speech is clearly anti-Israel, with the ending being the most shocking part.

During the question and answer section of the outdoor speech on campus, a Jewish man in the crowd was vocalizing his agreement with Ali. He said “I want to say thank you because you’ve inspired me to do everything in my power to protect the state of Israel.” He then invited Ali to his family’s house in Israel for Shabbat dinner. The man said couldn’t wait until Muslims and Jews could live together in Israel peacefully.

But, instead of Ali agreeing with this man, he responded to this invitation by saying, “If history is any indication, there will be peace when you’re gone and when we’re in control again.”

After watching this video, I was surprised to see that a 1 minute, 57 second video below it entitled, “Israel Lebanon Conflict,” had 11,068 views, when the 5 minute, 37 second controversial Ali video only had 1238 views. The video below it is basically a pissed off Australian using the “F” word multiple times per sentence while talking about the newspaper coverage of the Middle East conflict. Why would the Aussie’s video have more hits than that of the one produced by Stand with Us?

Happy Homecomings?

2006-10-27T12:25:00.000-04:00

The Globe did a story on the 450 Reservists that returned from Iraq on Thursday. A Globe reporter said in a video clip that “their homecoming was complete.” But, was it really complete? Doesn’t the government or somebody in the military have a responsibility to follow up on how these marines are functioning in society after war times?

I have known a few soldiers that have returned from Iraq who are in a complete state of chaos, and unable to move forward from their traumatic experiences on the front lines. We certainly should celebrate their homecomings and thank them for the amazing work they have done protecting this country, but we should also make sure these men are functioning and getting help if they need it.

The cheering shouldn't stop when they come home. We need to take care of our soldiers.

It troubles me to watch the footage of these happy reunions and then hear about stories of ex marines who in very extreme and limited cases go as far as killing their wives and themselves because they have mental problems stemming from war trauma.

The Colorado Springs Gazette reported that a Fort Carson soldier who returned from Iraq in August of last year killed his wife and then himself. This happened only nine days after his homecoming in which according to the Gazette, “Stephen S. Sherwood, 35, came home to cheering crowds at a welcoming ceremony at the post near Colorado Springs.”

It is also troubling to watch cinematic depictions of men who can’t separate themselves from war in films such as Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 “Apocalypse Now.” This remake of the Vietnam War portrays soldiers who simply can’t re-integrate back into society because they identify themselves just as soldiers. Another film that shows this is Michael Cimino’s 1978 “The Deer Hunter.”

These examples are fictional accounts of men permanently scarred by the Vietnam War. Iraq is a completely different war in a different era, but we still have to deal with the issues of taking care of our soldiers when they come back to us. How much attention has been given to this subject? Am I overacting?

To watch the video clip that corresponds with the Globe story, click here.
To see the "Homecoming at Devens" Globe slideshow, click here.

Joyce Kulhawik, from CBS4 to Northeastern University

2006-10-26T10:52:00.000-04:00

Joyce Kulhawik, arts and entertainment anchor at CBS4, came to speak at the Northeastern University campus yesterday. She encouraged students, mostly undergraduates, to go for their dreams and not let obstacles stop them from getting what they want. The successful and well known anchor said that she had no clue as to what she was getting herself into when entering the business, but stuck with what she loved and ultimately obtained her goals. The three time cancer survivor talked openly about her personal and professional life. "You can survive," she said when discussing her experiences fighting cancer.

She also talked about her fight against other news networks. “It’s all about competition. It's a business and we are all colleagues in the field,” she said.

Kulhawik voiced her opinion on how technology has changed journalism-based television. She says that because we have so much technology, it gets things moving more quickly. She expressed that there is a desire to use it even when it’s not needed, so people are simply getting the news rather than making an effort to get it right.

“The line between reality and fiction is erased. You have to wonder if people are just performing for the camera and if it is staged,” she said.

New media is not only affecting print and online journalism, but television as well. With news stations constantly shouting out their URL’s on their broadcasts, viewers should remember to question the footage they see on TV.

Podcast Against Blogging

2006-10-22T17:14:00.000-04:00

After listening to a podcast from L.A. Times columnist Michael Hiltzik called, “Fog in the Blogs: Many blog critics of The Times seem more interested in making political points, than doing real criticism of the journalism,” I was left with many questions.

In this podcast, Hiltzik criticizes bloggers such as Patrick Fry, accusing him of writing 11,000 words of propaganda and distorting of the L.A. Times. He says that Fry has a liberal agenda, which he thinks to be a commonality amoungst other political bloggers. Hiltzik says that Fry’s techniques include short hand slurs and quoting the Times' articles selectively. He then compared these methods to the ones used during the times of Stalin in the 40’s and 50’s.

However, this scenario is quite the opposite. Hiltzik has it all wrong. Blogs do not hold the same prestige as a publication such as the L.A. Times, even though the Times’ readership is down and they seem to be in a steady downward decline. Blogs have the freedom to be biased. They do not have the same responsibility as newspapers do, whose main goal should be to distribute the news.

Hiltzik speaks in vague terms without quoting what the bloggers are writing. This podcast would be more helpful if I could access it in a print version. He says that bloggers don’t have experience in daily journalism but that doesn’t disqualify them from writing blogs. Hiltzik says that they couldn’t do real reporting if their lives depended on it. Is he taking into account journalists who write blogs on their free time?

It doesn’t matter if they are real reporters. People are listening and reading blogs so much that even reporters from the L.A. Times are dedicating entire podcasts to them. Hence, they do matter. People do listen, and the bloggers are heard.

Hiltzik uses fancy prose saying, “Let them embower themselves in their sedulously sought ignorance, if they can keep it.” Hiltzik’s column, “Golden State,” runs in the L.A. Times every Monday and Thursday. His podcast on this topic was recorded on January 4.

To hear this podcast click here.

Frightening Video

2006-10-17T15:29:00.000-04:00

There is a disturbing video posted on both a radical Islamic website and the websites fighting against it such as, investigativeproject.org. To see the video click HERE, and scroll down to choose which multi-media player you want to use.

This video is sickening on many levels. It is also ironic because the radical Islamists that are trying to encourage others to hate and destroy the West are using American rap music as the background for their video. Why aren’t they using Arabic music if they hate everything that the West and the free world stand for?

I have watched this video before, but am curious to know if others have seen it. So, if you want to watch it click on the link above.

Big Brother is Watching You!

2006-10-16T13:40:00.000-04:00

There is an interesting article titled, “Teen Questioned Over Online Threats Against President Bush” on foxnews.com. The story is about 14 year old freshman, Julia Wilson, who posted a comment, “Kill Bush,” atop a picture of President Bush, with a dagger stabbing his outstretched hand. Wilson replaced that image after learning it was a federal crime. I was shocked to read on that Federal agents pulled her out of her eight grade biology class to interrogate her. The agents brought her to tears and shook up her parents.

Was this young girl really such a priority to Federal agents that they needed to pull her out of school to find out if she was a serious threat to the president? This feels a bit “big brother-ish” if you ask me. This story makes me want to take down my MySpace page because I feel threatened that the government is looking at my images and reading my comments. The Fox news article also reported the text messages that Julia and her mother exchanged when the agents first demanded her for questioning.

The Associated Press reported, “Kirstie Wilson sent a text message to her daughter's cell phone, telling her to come straight home: ‘There are two men from the secret service that want to talk with you. Apparently you made some death threats against President Bush.’ ‘Are you serious!?!? omg. Am I in a lot of trouble?’ her daughter responded.”

After the story there was an interesting statement that said, “MySpace is owned by News Corp., which is the parent company of FOXNews.com.” Is this part of the article? If so, why is it there? I cannot help but feel uneasy about this story and the fact that we are all being watched online.

What you see is not always what you get

2006-10-11T10:44:00.000-04:00

In an email from honestreporting.com today, I received an eye-catching image. It is not a surprise that the New York Times skewed a caption because the reality of life and journalism is that people do make mistakes.

According to Honest Reporting, the caption from a photo by Tyler Hicks from the New York Times was supposed to say, “TYRE, LEBANON. WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, 2006: Israeli aircraft struck and destroyed two buildings in downtown Tyre, Lebanon Wednesday evening. As people searched through the burning remains, aircraft again could be heard overhead, panicking the people that a second strike was coming. This man fell and was injured in the panic to flee the scene. He is helped by another man, and carried to an ambulance.”

Instead the caption ran, “After an Israeli airstrike destroyed a building in Tyre, Lebanon, yesterday, one man helped another who had fallen and was hurt. Cars packed with refugees snaked away from the town.”

This was misleading because it led readers to think that the people in the photo were injured in the airstrike, when in reality they were injured in the aftermath.

I keep thinking back to YouTube and all of the video feeds it publishes and pictures that people look at every day. It kind of scares me at how many images are thrown out there and how many people will not question them.

Honest Reporting said, “Photographers are also reporters, and writing a correct caption is as important as taking an honest picture.” To the same effect, the publishers of a website are not just business people, but they are editors, and should be responsible for the content of their websites.

How can images be regulated and ethically judged? Is there a criterion for us to follow? Even if there are no answers to these questions, we should all keep them in mind when putting things out there, whether they are going on the worldwide web or a print publication. The smallest details can make the biggest differences.

This Weekend: The death of a journalist and birth of a massive Internet partnership

2006-10-10T14:02:00.000-04:00

This weekend Google purchased the 2 year old YouTube website from a couple of young male entrepreneurs. At first I was fascinated that these two guys, not much older than me, could make 1.65 billion dollars for posting video feeds onto a website.

Then, I came across an L.A. Times article that compared the shooting death of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya in Moscow to the transaction between Google and YouTube. Although these events have nothing to do with one another, the Times made some good points.

“IT IS HARDER TO quash the millions of citizen-journalists armed with photos and videos and blogs than it is to silence a single, bothersome reporter such as Politkovskaya,” Susan D. Moeller and Moisés Naím said.

Moeller and Naim also said, “YouTube, Google, Flickr and many other websites offer valuable tools for keeping the world informed. But they are not a substitute for Politkovskaya and her colleagues.”

So this weekend, a famous journalist died, and massive media Internet coagulation was born.

Click here for the L.A. Times article

A Conversation with Naomi Jacobs

2006-10-09T10:15:00.000-04:00

In a conversation with Naomi Jacobs, author of The Builder’s Daughter, a book recently published that chronicles her Jewish European ancestry and multi-faceted life journeys, she discussed with me the changing world of writing and journalism. As a longtime Los Angeles native, she is an avid newspaper reader and cspan watcher. Jacobs is one of the few readers left who sits aside their breakfast table, opens up the paper, and like a good book reads it cover to cover.

She responded to one of my blog entries on the changing world of the media and newspapers. “The media, newspapers and journalists—that is the key subject of our times. The newspapers are in trouble—they blame everyone, but they are doing a terrible job,” she said.

Jacobs has seen newspapers evolve from the late 1920’s to the current 21st century. I think that getting feedback from people in her generation is invaluable to our understanding of newspapers and the reader’s desires and needs. Sure, it is important to strive for convergent journalism and find a niche to attract readers, but isn’t it still important to reach out to those who are used to good old fashion hard hitting journalism? Shouldn’t journalists and newspaper folk try and help people who aren’t so quick to adjust to the citizen journalism boom? Don’t we have a responsibility to provide our grandparents with the necessary tools to keep up with their Internet savvy grandchildren?

These questions cannot be forgotten while newspapers run alongside blogs and live journals, trying to reach that finish line with them, but leaving their dedicated but slower counterparts behind.

Jacobs says that current newspapers are advertising mediums and not news informants or news analysis or even investigative reporting. She said, “The news if you can find it is on page 9 in the LA Times. No wonder so many people have cancelled their subscriptions. The television stations and newspapers are not independent anymore and are owned by large conglomerates. It used to be that television had to devote so much time free for news—not anymore. The only advertiser free programs are c-spanl and c-span2, which are owned by the cable companies and provide public service programs.”

This mother/ grandmother/ author/ playwright/ active member of the Jewish community, among other things, gave me her opinion on the changing business of journalism. Jacobs expressed, “The internet is providing competition because it is immediate, but the newspapers can still survive if they expanded the news rather than limiting it. Journalists are in for a rough time. That it why so many reporters are writing books about their experiences.”

According to Jacobs, journalism is necessary and vital for the continuance of an educated and informed society. “The journalists are keeping free speech and thought alive in this country because they try to get to the truth---they are the real heroes.”

You can have your wine and drink it too!

2006-10-04T15:05:00.000-04:00

I come from the West coast, so I am use to wine and hard alcohol being sold in grocery and convenience stores. Personally, I don’t think that a law being passed in Massachusetts allowing this to happen will increase the number of DUI’s (driving under the influence.) I think that it simply makes it more convenient for people to purchase alcohol and will give smaller stores a chance to make a bigger profit.

So, when I saw the article on boston.com, “Critics of wine in food stores cite fear of more drunken driving,” I was intrigued. According to the Globe, “Kim Hinden, a spokeswoman for supporters of the question, said the liquor stores are trying to whip up public fears when the issue is really economic for them and an attempt to quash competition.”

I would be interested to find out if the DUI’s in Massachusetts are higher than that of California. I think that giving this alcohol in grocery stores thing a try is worth the potential risks. The Trader Joe’s in Coolidge Corner is doing just fine and I think others will follow.

Newspapers teaming up with citizen journalists?

2006-10-04T12:59:00.000-04:00

In the process of researching newspapers that are attempting to integrate themselves with blogs and citizen sites, I came across Editorandpublisher.com. Steve Outing had some interesting things to say. “Given the state of decline of the newspaper industry, perhaps it's past time to give online leaders a chance to take the reins of newspaper companies and try out some radical ideas for publishing in the Internet age,” he said.

On the Los Angeles Times website under their “sponsored links” one link is keepmedia.com, a seemingly citizen journalist run website. But, in order to read more articles you have to subscribe.

In a February 20 article by Heather Green titled, Great Online Expectations Bayosphere wanted to reinvent journalism. Here's how the dream died, she said, “As services such as Craigslist have drained away classified ad revenue, papers have increasingly been deprived of the resources to cover local news.”

For the midterm article, it would be interesting to research big papers around the U.S. that link to citizen journalism pages. Are these papers trying to grab onto this new trend so they don’t get lost in the cracks of the Internet news revolution? Who pays these citizen journalists? Are they getting paid? Is this all part of a strategy to keep newspapers in business?

What would we do without email and hard drives?

2006-10-01T23:28:00.000-04:00

I found an interesting AP article by Jeannette J. Lee titled, “Family Believes It’s Found Missing WWII Sub.” Lee investigates 60 year old submarine, the USS Grunion, lost near Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. Lee’s lead is, “Underwater sonar images of a black shape against a background of grainy monochrome are safely stored on two computer hard drives at Bruce Abele's home in Newton, Mass.” Lee continues on about the sub and the relatives of 70 lost crewman who are still looking for any information.

The line that got me interested in this article was, “Four years ago, a man who had heard about the Grunion's disappearance e-mailed Bruce the links to several Grunion Web sites.” Now, this reminded me of the posting I wrote about Yad Vashem website and how Holocaust survivors are being re-united by websites compiled with names and information about people who were seemingly lost in the war.

Through email and images saved on hard drives, families now have hope of finding information on their relatives who were lost crewman on the Grunion.

Click here for information about the Grunion with the names of the 70 lost crewmen.

Click here for a website with a short article about the Grunion and links to photo archives and Grunion crew photos. This site has many helpful links relevant to the lost sub and links on how to find more info.

Click here for a pdf of the lost crewmen’s families names and contact information.

Total Recall

2006-09-30T21:01:00.000-04:00

A few months ago, I remember checking the serial number of my dell laptop because it was possible that my battery had been recalled. Thankfully, my computer wasn’t explosive, but recalls seem to be exploding on the technology scene.

Toshiba is recalling 340,000 laptop batteries made by Sony. Is it possible that advancements in technology can backfire on us, literally? According to an article on cnn.com, “Dell asked customers to return 4.1 million faulty laptop batteries, while Apple recalled 1.8 million batteries worldwide.”

Many years back my mother use to warn me that if I stood in front of the microwave for too long I would get radiation poisoning. Her threats have evolved. She has moved on from household appliances to technology infused gadgets. Her current warnings are more like, “your cell phone is going to give you a brain tumor” and “your back and eyes will eventually give out if you keep spending all that time by the computer screen.”

Maybe I am not so paranoid with complaints about my cell phone heating up on my ear or my keyboard burning my palms. Is technology getting too hot for us to handle?

Cnn.com found, “Earlier this month, Sony said it would postpone the European launch of its PlayStation 3 by four months to March over problems with producing a component in the Blu-ray disc part of the machine.” That’s not the only postponement made by Sony; the launch of their new digital walkman is not yet being released due to malfunctions.

Is this super competitive mentality leading to incidents like exploding batteries because companies are so busy trying to beat their rivals in the tech race that they forget about the people they provide products for?

Why is a cardinal's blog making headline news?

2006-09-27T14:59:00.000-04:00

On the front page of the Boston Globe's City & Region section today the headline ran, "O'Malley Recounts 'LOL' on his Rome Trip Blog.-- Cardinal reaches out to internet generation." Now, why is this news? According to reporter Michael Levenson, "Catholics and blog specialists are taking notice, offering praise for a blog they say is surprisingly readable." The use of popular internet phrase "lol" is a favorite for O'Malley. At first glance, the blog seems pretty typical. O’Malley introduces himself and discusses his travels.

What intrigues me about this blog is the reader feedback:

Dear Cardinal Sean,
Thank you for this blog. Your lovely sense of humor caused me to lol! I know Rome well and it’s delightful to revisit through your eyes. I loved your inclusion of quotes in Italian. Thank you for the spirituality this blog offers. It is a wonderful opportunity for the people of Boston (and the world) to really come to know their Cardinal. Preghiera, carita e la gioia de perdono!
Francine Bell
Comment by Francine Bell — September 27, 2006

This is yet another example of an older generation reaching out to the current generation and embracing the internet revolution. Will this gain the cardinal more popularity? It seems to be doing just that, but how will the religious community feel about it? The Globe observes, “The medium has forced O’Malley to walk a fine line between the dignity his position requires and the irreverence that fuels many of the most successful blogs.”

See the Time left until the Pope's planned visit to Turkey (up to the second) on the American Papist blog.

Entertainment Sans Professionals

2006-09-25T16:17:00.000-04:00

Today a classmate did a presentation on video feeds uploaded to people’s blogs. I didn’t realize just how popular they were until encountered a site called Real People Network. The first thing that caught my eye on the site was not the dozens of faces squished into small screens, but the slogan/ promotion on the top of the page saying:

A Hollywood Free
Podcast.
Video Blog.
Vlog

Now, what is the difference between a video blog and a vlog? Well, apparently nothing. The dictionary definition for vlog is “a video blog; a blog that is mainly video content.” So why all the different names? It seems kind of silly to me.

Boogie Nights meets the Newspaper Biz.

I hate to compare the two, but this conversion to reality-based video blogs and the rising popularity of citizen journalism over print newspapers reminds me of the transition that the porn industry made when they decided to go from professional porn stars to common folk porn. I can’t help but think of the 1997 film Boogie Nights. For me, Jack Horner, (played by Burt Reynolds,) represents the original newspaper business, while Floyd Gondolli, (played by Philip Baker Hall,) if I remember correctly plays the man who sells out to citizen porn. I think this all ties in together.

Although professionals creating porn is not completely dead, neither is the newspaper business. So, how much longer will professionals stay alive in industries where the average public consumer is rooting for their demise?

To Blog or not to Blog...Is that the question?

2006-09-25T12:36:00.000-04:00

I am writing an article for another journalism course on a speech given by John S. Carroll, former editor of Los Angeles Times, The Baltimore Sun and The Lexington Herald. His speech, “What Will Become of Newspapers?” outlines the demise of newspapers by “the flagrant betrayal of the reader” and the emergence of web based journalism.

As I try and find the will to live in this depressing state of journalism, I wonder how I will ever be able to keep afloat in a world where you really don’t need to buy newspapers or magazines to get the news.

In my search for some positive feedback and re-enforcement that I am not on the wrong career path, I stumbled over an article on Press Think entitled, “The Pros Gonna Blog You Under the Table.” It describes David Carr, a blogger at the New York Times as a quitter of his Carpetbagger blog. Apparently as stated in the article, “It was too hard to keep blogging with everything else he had to do!”

After reading the article, I wasn’t sure what to make of it, so I read the comments and reactions beneath it. They were pretty angry, protesting that journalists should stop whining and jump on the blogging bandwagon. I guess we have no choice… or do we? I wonder what advice Carr would give about all this?

Are virtual tours too informative?

2006-09-22T22:58:00.000-04:00

As I surfed through the Globe online, a headline in the art section caught my eye: “Audible Art: The Rose Art Museum.” So, just like any diligent web surfer, I clicked on it to find a visual tour of the museum and its history given by the museum director, chief curator and educational director. The museum is in Brandeis University in Waltham. I live in Brookline and am relatively busy, so when I do go to a museum it is usually a several hour affair. This leads me to the question, why should I take two trains to get to the museum when I have it right in front of my fingertips in the comfort of my own home with a guided tour of the museum given by none other than the experts themselves? Sure, the tour is only five and a half minutes, but I felt it satisfied my curiosity on what the museum is all about. Maybe I will go there someday, but for now I have had my fill.

How much information is too much? Will people get so dependent on the internet for stimulation that it will deter them from going out and physically seeing things for themselves? I am open to online adventures, but will never stop being a skeptic of this wonderfully evolving technology. Do virtual tours like these take business away from the actual venues?

When a friend of mine asked me what I did today I simply responded, "did some reading, went to the gym, took a short tour of the Rose Art Museum...how about you?" Am I wrong to say this? Where do we draw the line between reality and virtual reality? Does the line even exist anymore?

The internet gives hope to holocaust survivors

2006-09-19T13:51:00.000-04:00

I was moved by something I read on the Boston Globe website today. In an AP article by Aron Heller, Holocaust survivor Hilda Shlick, who thought she lost all of her family in WWII, was reunited with her 81 year old brother in Canada, all because her two grandsons have good internet skills.

This story amazes me because I know a few holocaust survivors who can’t operate a cell phone let alone figure out how to email or surf the web. It makes me think about the ways this generation can help other generations reconnect with a society seemingly lost in web space. This use of internet connection is one of the most positive kinds I have seen thus far. Sure, we can track down sex offenders in our neighborhoods and explore our innate paranoia through a different form of internet stalking, but we also have the chance to do good for others.

Although Holocaust survivors are a dying generation, they will live on through the Yad Vashem database on which Shlick’s grandchildren found her brother. Heller said, “They logged onto the Yad Vashem website and found a page of testimony submitted in 1999 by her brother Karol, of Montreal, who wrote about his sister Hilda, who ``perished in the Shoah."

I hope when I get old and out of touch with reality, my grandchildren will reconnect me with the things I love through whatever means possible.

Khatami's visit gets blogged

2006-09-16T14:36:00.000-04:00

The print version of the Boston Globe and online websites like the Center for Citizen media and The Daily Item discussed the arrival of former Iranian prime minister Mohammed Khatami to Harvard Universities Kennedy School of Government. The Globe recieved criticisms from Fox News commentator Bill O’Reilly for their editorial on the former prime minister. News Hounds said that O’Reilly “admitted he didn't understand what the Boston Globe was communicating but he just knows that Khatami is a "bad guy."

Globe staff writers, Scott Helman and Farah Stockman quoted governer Mitt Romney in a September 6 article entitled; “Romney bars state security for Iranian's Harvard visit- Cites unacceptable use of funds on `a terrorist'.” Helman and Stockman interviewed Romney, who did not support the arrival of the political figurehead. He did not want a terrorist to come and speak on 9/11, a day commemorating the people who lost their lives in the face of terrorism. He was quoted by the Globe saying, “There are some people who we can all imagine who by virtue of their acts would not be welcome at a campus, and this is one of them."

John Gibson from Fox News interviewed Romney in, “Gov. Romney on Harvard Inviting Former Iran President to Speak on Sept. 10.” Romney said:

I think it's a disgrace to have an individual who has been a supporter of Hezbollah, who has advocated the destruction of Israel, who has jailed dissidents and who developed nuclear technology, to have a person of that nature come to Harvard… I have insisted that our state agencies do not provide the support which we would normally provide for a visiting dignitary.

The online coverage of the opinions following Romney’s opposition to Khatami’s visit is more varied than it was with the print publications. Personal blogs are more openly opinion based, while professional ones like Fox and the Globe include interviews with the subjects themselves. Whether you agree with either publication, I think people will trust print news sources more than opinion blogs that rely mainly on secondary sources for information.

Some differences I observed between the coverage of this story and follow up reactions is that unlike print editorials, online website articles can be followed with unlimited posted comments from the public.

Anyone is free to read a blogger’s opinions and reactions as well as reader's comments. Even if I don’t agree with certain opinions, at least online I can leave my own; if I choose to do so.

Facebook

2006-09-13T10:14:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I received an email from the Facebook team inviting me to a group called, “I will quit Facebook if it is opened to all internet users." Members of the website are outraged over the new Facebook format. Groups like “Facebook is for stalkers” have been created because every movement or click you make is now shown to all members on the homepage. Where does Facebook draw the line between the public and private spheres? Are we all exhibitionists secretly wanting others to see intimate details of our lives by joining sites like this?

Founder and CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg recently wrote a letter to all members apologizing about the new format, but stated in his defense that he was proud people were protesting because that is what freedom of speech is all about. His apology was not enough according to one member who said, “Somebody's got to call Mr. Mark Zuckerberg about this new Facebook situation... First this news feed thing (thanks for the apology, but please get rid of it!), now rumors of it going public (as in creepy-old-guy status!) ew!”

In an open letter from Zuckerberg posted on Sept. 8:

We really messed this one up. When we launched News Feed and Mini-Feed we were trying to provide you with a stream of information about your social world. Instead, we did a bad job of explaining what the new features were and an even worse job of giving you control of them. I'd like to try to correct those errors now.When I made Facebook two years ago my goal was to help people understand what was going on in their world a little better. I wanted to create an environment where people could share whatever information they wanted, but also have control over whom they shared that information with. I think a lot of the success we've seen is because of these basic principles.
We made the site so that all of our members are a part of smaller networks like schools, companies or regions, so you can only see the profiles of people who are in your networks and your friends. We did this to make sure you could share information with the people you care about. This is the same reason we have built extensive privacy settings — to give you even more control over who you share your information with.
Somehow we missed this point with News Feed and Mini-Feed and we didn’t build in the proper privacy controls right away. This was a big mistake on our part, and I’m sorry for it. But apologizing isn’t enough. I wanted to make sure we did something about it, and quickly. So we have been coding nonstop for two days to get you better privacy controls. This new privacy page will allow you to choose which types of stories go into your Mini-Feed and your friends’ News Feeds, and it also lists the type of actions Facebook will never let any other person know about.
If you have more comments, please send them over.This may sound silly, but I want to thank all of you who have written in and created groups and protested. Even though I wish I hadn’t made so many of you angry, I am glad we got to hear you. And I am also glad that News Feed highlighted all these groups so people could find them and share their opinions with each other as well.
About a week ago I created a group called Free Flow of Information on the Internet, because that’s what I believe in – helping people share information with the people they want to share it with. I’d encourage you to check it out to learn more about what guides those of us who make Facebook. Today (Friday 9/8) at 4pm edt, I will be in that group with a bunch of people from Facebook, and we would love to discuss all of this with you. It would be great to see you there.

Thanks for taking the time to read this,

Mark

There are many unresolved issues here and people are torn between wanting news feeds and thinking that public information like “Alex is taking a nap” and “Erin is doing a 10 minute Pilates DVD workout” is downright creepy.

Are we Safer?

2006-09-11T16:13:00.000-04:00

The question is on everyone's mind. Are we safer five years later? I don't know if I feel particularly safer. The day before 9/11 I didn't really think about a terrorist attack occuring in the U.S. It never occured to me that we could be so vulnerable, but even Israel with the best intelligence agency in the world is attacked on a daily basis. So I guess anything can happen.

Journalism of the Web Course

2006-09-11T15:52:00.000-04:00

Today, I am starting fresh with a new blog in an attempt to keep up with the "Internet Revolution." I guess that Myspace, Friendster and Facebook aren't enough.

Me and Charles

2006-09-11T13:33:00.000-04:00

Bonding with my new city.