KC News Meeting

I've been reading about some of the following things this week. But please remember this posting is not exhaustive. Some of you are relying too much on these notes to understand what's going on in your world. Remember, a daily diet of news is critical to participating as a citizen, a worker, a consumer. News isn't important because "KC's News Meeting" says it is.
Here's what I've been learning about. Use comments to add your own ideas.
- Madison tuition initiative
- NCAA tournament
- AIG bonuses
- Detroit bailouts
- plan for Afghanistan
- stock market rallies
- who is Tim Geithner and what does he want to do for us?
- violence in Mexico

Facebook firing

Blog post from a 202er:

Hey Katy,

As a resident of Philadelphia, I found this article to be particularly interesting. Not only does it relate to my beloved Eagles, but it relates to our class and the right to privacy vs. the workplace. I thought this would be a great blog article because it raises the ethical question of whether the employee should be fired for what he did outside of the workplace. Here is the article from ESPN.com:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3965039

And the blog from ESPN.com
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/nfceast/0-8-229/The-Eagles-release-another--part-time--employee.html

Let me know what you think.

I know what I think. What do you think?

Cable ad targeting

Interesting cable industry development, enabling ad delivery according to customer demographics.
Online ads have been targeted (not just by demos, but by behavior) extensively. But that targeting is not without controversy.
It's well worth your time to understand why targeting is desirable and why it can be controversial.

Herald rape story

A 202er submits this post:

Katy,
The Badger Herald published a transcript from a rape victim who was supposedly raped at Sigma Chi. We talked a lot in discussion today over whether its fair that the victim was able to mention the fraternity, but didn't have to release the name of her sorority. Looking at it on the flip side, what if the accused went forward with his side of the story and said the girl's sorority but not his fraternity. Should the accuser have more rights than the accused? Also, would testimony like this unfavorably sway opinion in her favor because the investigation is ongoing? This reminds me a lot of the Duke Lacrosse trial where the team was negatively affected by the charges, even though they were found not guilty. Let me know what you think!

http://badgerherald.com/news/2009/03/04/transcript_of_herald.php

I'm curious what the rest of you think of this case. It's being discussed all over campus. But for our purposes, what are the specific media ethics implications? One thing I found particularly interesting was the content of anonymous comments posted to the Herald site. What are the ethical questions there?

Turf battle in covering high school sports

This is a case worth watching. The organization that sets up high school sports tournaments in Wisconsin would like to establish a right to control coverage of those tournaments, so it can profit from sale of those rights. News organizations want to be able to cover the action themselves, using whatever media they please. I imagine everyday folks will want in on the action too.

KC News Meeting

Here are some developments I followed during the week. Add yours via comments:
- football players in boating accident
- unemployment increases
- possible plea deal in Madoff case
- AIG needing more help
- market hits 12-year low
- efforts to help homeowners in mortgage trouble
- court arguments over California gay marriage ban
- Obama administration and stem cells