Reader Response 3

In a Zimbabwe Jail: A Reporter’s Ordeal

In the article about the reporter in Zimbabwe I found it interesting how they were treated. It is amazing what we take for granted here in America. I really enjoyed the description that he used in the article, it really gave me a visual of the state of the jail and the country. His experience seems like it could have been much worse and it is good that it wasn’t. I think that the citizens of the country probably don’t get the treatment that the two reporters do, which was obvious by the food they received everyday, the lawyer they were given and the blankets that they got. I think they’re treatment was probably based around the assumption that they had money and the police knew that. In all, I believe that this article tells a good story of what the countries normal citizens go through, and what they have to deal with in everyday life, the state of their government and how it is a slow and painful process to get rid of a bad leader. 

Elizabeth Edwards

I believe in most of what this article has to say. I think that is obvious that the media spends more times making thing news, which probably don’t deserve to be, than talking about the things that are really important. But this is two sided, because I believe that the public is somewhat to blame for this. The public are the ones who are interested in the weird things that celebrities do, the news has went from what people believe in and what they are going to change, to what did this person have for dinner, or what is their weird hobby they do in their free time. I think that the media has an obligation to make things news that is important for us to know, as well as entertaining. Another thing that I think is interesting about this article is it talks about the Internet having the articles about the candidate’s views, but you can’t find it anywhere else. I think that should be flip-flopped. The print and television media should be the ones with the important news and the news about the candidate’s views and ideas. And the Internet should be the one with the other weird entertaining articles.

Athletes and Prosthetics

I got inspiration this week after I read an article in ESPN the Magazine about athletes and prosthetics. The article told about the advances in artificial body parts and told the stories of several athletes around the world making strides to become active in sports. 
After reading the article I went online to find more on the advances of individuals with prosthetics and found some interesting stories. Many of the stories have to do with war veterans who lost arms or legs in combat and are now trying to incorporate there old lifestyles in with their changed body. I found it interesting that in almost all the stories there are people becoming extremely skilled with their prosthetics and are pressuring sports, such as running, skiing and golf, to let them participate competitively. 
The ESPN story went into detail about how and why athletes with prosthetics are not being allowed to compete. The advances in technology are now so great that in one case where a sprinter wanted to compete in the Olympics was denied because a committee believed they would have an advantage over the others. This looks to be a case that will become more of an issue as technology continues to develop at a faster rate then evolution. 
The great thing about the technology as it has given people another chance to enjoy the things they love to do. Every year there is a veterans event held in the mountains of Colorado where all kinds of veterans with disabilities get a chance to ski using new and improved forms of skiing technology.

Reader Response 2

 Average person spends more time using media than anything else

 

 

In reading this article I found several things interesting. The first thing I learned was that about 30 percent of the time spent involved in media is spent with multiple mediums. This means that 1/3 of the time people are multi-tasking, which doesn’t surprise me. I spend much of my time doing homework in front of the television or listening to music. The second thing I found interesting was the fact that “levels of concurrent media exposure were higher among those 40 to 65(years old) than people 18 to 39(years old).” This is interesting because it shows that people in the workplace have learned or are forced to be doing multiple things or activities in order to survive or prosper. 

Beat Journal

          For our first beat journal I looked into the changes in journalism, and how bloging and the Internet has helped or hindering journalist. I read several blogs from pointer.com and found some good information on how the Internet has affected journalist. There are still some question to how you qualify people who write and what you read on the Internet. After reading there is a couple things that I found that the Internet has helped evolve journalism.

            First, blogging, there are some downfalls to blogging as well, but I have found that they help journalist do many helpful things. They are there at anytime for any reason, journalist can reference them for small stories not worthy of the newspaper or a whole article, but just something they witnessed and thought was interesting. Also live blogs have made it easier for journalist to write stories. Say a journalist have to write a story about the Monday night football game, well he/she can watch the game while live blogging and once the game is over they have a great set of notes to write a detailed story. This way journalist can remember important aspects of the game.

            Next, I read blogs that reference websites. I looked at the websites, but not too in depth. The Internet has given journalist the opportunity to create they’re own websites that can center on many things, including studying and writings they have done. Websites make it easier to navigate through a large amount of information and with the types of programs we have now, they are catchy to the eye as well. 

            I believe that some of the major downfalls to the Internet that I didn’t look too much into but know that they are there and scare me are how personal information is easily distributed and accessed. I feel like privacy is going to become a big problem in the near future. Another problem is reliability, to find that a journalist or a writer is trust worthy there are many steps that you might have to take. People find things on the Internet and automatically think that it is the truth. These things need to be looked at and dealt with.

Reader Response 1

 I first read a couple blogs from the Wired Journalist blog. One about how the future of print media depends on the youth in the industry and how the youth don’t really care if it fails. And another one about someone’s opinion on the steps the print media could take to improve its stance and sustainability. I read another from a different source from poynter online and found some similarities in them. I think that the first blog I read made a good point. It explained that people are relying on young journalist to revive the print media, but the young journalist are the ones with the least amount of experience, and they are also the ones that have been more influenced by technology. The other blog titled, My Humble Suggestion, talks about making print media more visually pleasing, and using the Internet in conjunction with newspapers to improve the industry. I think that the first blog was more on the right track. I believe that print media is on the outs. I don’t think that it can be revived, advertisers are making too many strides on the Internet and so are other forms of media. The last blog I read was called, The Platform: Reading newspapers on the Kindle, and was one man’s experience about when his morning paper was late and he went to his kindle to purchase it online. This article makes some good points, and I think that this one is more on point to the majority of people. The writer points out some great aspects of the online newspaper. Things that make it more appealing and what I believe make it steps above a regular print paper. Things like a brief description of all the articles, no advertisements just print, quick and easy navigation, once you download it you don’t need to be connected to the Internet anymore. The writer said that when he did finally receive his newspaper that it was more visually pleasing, but since when is the Internet not capable of making great photos, designs and art. I think that online newspapers are in some beginning stages and I think that eventually no matter what people think they will take over from print newspapers. 

What Am I Doing?

This is a test post, I am trying this for the first time and just want to see if it works. This blog is for the world to view, I think.