Let's take a different tack this week. I know what I'm reading about. You post a comment to tell me what YOU are reading, hearing and watching.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
In the News
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We spend time learning WHAT media workers do, but it's just as important to think about HOW they do it and WHY they do it. Let's get some ideas percolating about what we see and how it affects us. I call it "Sunrise on Media" because I often arrive at work obscenely early and will update this blog then.
Let's take a different tack this week. I know what I'm reading about. You post a comment to tell me what YOU are reading, hearing and watching.
Posted by
Katy Culver
at
9:42 AM
Labels: current events, quiz
19 comments:
The government's violent reaction to protesting monks in Myanmar. A very sad situation
I am also reading about the governments violent reaction to the protests that have been going on in Myanmar.
Also, earlier this week I read about how Bush isn't attending the U.N. conference on establishing new environmental standards (because Kyoto will expire soon)
He's only going to dinner, according to the NYT, earlier this week.
But, he is holding his own conference about the environment and promoting a system where every country could establish its own environmental goals and standards....wow.
Hahaha... nice finish, Alex.
I know this isn't as important as international events, but I could not put down the story on the front page of the NYT this morning about "Tania Head", supposedly a 9/11 survivor, who now appears to be a huge hoax.
Talk about a new twist on old news!
This one fit in with our discussion of fact-checking in lab today...
Citizen Marketers - seriously. I think all j-school students should read this.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/002-0145148-7618478?initialSearch=1&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=citizen+marketers&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go
Judge Ziegler's conflicts of interest
Warren Jeffs, the leader of a (former) Mormon polygamist sect, was convicted of being an accomplice to rape. He forced a 14-year-old to marry her cousin knowing he would force sex upon her.
I just started following the story of the five year old girl who appeared in a sex tape. Authorities are attempting to identify the young girl. In doing so, they have posted pictures of her lifted out of the video. None of the pictures actually show her doing anything explicit, but she is shown on a bed in a leopard-print, tiny tank top.
I realize they have to show the pictures because they are trying to identify her, but seeing the images makes me literally sick. How twisted.
here is the link to the story lizzer pointed out. worth discussing the photo ID and AP's responsibility to the girl and the audience.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hbRRAc62IYBXM2vSAfUGFSz0He5w
A bit older, and not nearly as important... but I was fascinated by all the coverage devoted to the death of Alex, the talented african grey parrot famous for his reasoning skills. NY Times ran three articles and one opinion piece on the bird in less than a weeks time...
I read about the Iranian president's trip to Columbia and its various free speech/bad message implications. Beyond the controversy, I found it actually somewhat comforting that student protests are remaking a name for themselves in national news media (despite the fact that I personally think freedom of speech prevails in this case).
Katy, your link doesn't work!
This is kind of along the lines of what we have been reading about this week:
Headline: "President's grammar will be uncorrected"
This is in reference to his "childrens" remark while talking about education.
A press secretary said that the transcript was originally corrected, but now is getting a [sic]
This is pretty recent news, actually, I think it just went on the Times Web site... Apparently the U.S. is the number one arms dealer to the developing world, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. Sadly, we actually maintained that title, as we have been in this position in the past. This reminds me of that movie, "God of War", if anyone has seen it.
I'm reading about the early onset of political/election advertisements in an odd year, and the expected record breaking amount that will be spent in 2008 - over $2.3 billion. CNNMoney
I am extremely interested in the ongoing situation in Myanmar. I will be going on the spring 2008 voyage of Semester At Sea, where until recently (June) Myanmar had been a port. However, after protests were started by Archbishop Desmond Tutu who was on the Spring 2007 voyage they have changed the port to Penang, Malaysia. Myanmar is a beautiful country with an enormous amount of culture, it saddens me that I will not be able to travel there next semester, but hopefully one day I will be able to without the political and economic turmoil.
The Iranian president's trip to Columbia University was also really interesting.
Apparently D.C. is starting a new infrared tolling system that allows car-poolers to slide right through traffic for free. But first cameras will have to make sure that there are at least 2 or 3 people alive in your car, and that you're not just dragging along the autopilot from "Airplane." People are screaming about privacy as usual but the only thing that bothers me is the precedent this is setting for the future.
The "Nazi Bedspread Collection" in India is an interesting story to me. The new bedspread line was released by a home furnishing company, which maintains that "Nazi" means "New Arrival Zone for India."
The furnishing dealer claims that the name just came to mind and doesn't really care who it bothers.
Also interesting is that the swastika symbol is very common in India--but has historical Hindu significance far predating Hitler.
Indian Jews are naturally upset...but they total under 6,000 in all of India, a predominantly Hindu nation of over a billion.
I can empathize with the Indian Jews' discomfort, but considering their minuscule representation of the larger population should the dealer really alter his product line to please them? Just happening upon such an acronym is peculiar, but knowledge of Hitler's infamous legacy is apparently not widespread in India, so you kind of have to take him at face value. Odd story.
This is an extraordinarily interesting story. A Pennsylvania man has apparently tossed a stone that skipped 51 times , shattering the old Guinness Book World Record of 40.
"I actually threw 40 stones that day, but that was the first skip that I threw," Russell Byars informed the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspaper.
Comments:
--51 skips is outrageous and, to me, a dubious feet. I've never personally achieved more than 4 skips on a single cast in my entire life, and I fancy myself a moderately strong young man.
--Is it possible this man was doing steroids?? Should Guinness perform steroid testing on all applicants for world records?
--If found to be on steroids, should Byars have an asterisk by his record, no asterisk at all or be removed altogether from the Guinness Book of World Records?
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