http://www.wdrb.com/story/30218607/health-officials-say-louisvilles-needle-exchange-program-is-working
The package entitled "Health officials say Louisville's needle exchange program is working" was a very well thought out news piece because it impacts both our community's health and environment. The journalists who wrote the story interviewed multiple sources that work with the needle exchange program, which is using the element of verification which is having multiple witnesses or sources. The sources that WDRB interviewed seem to be credible and official which is a major element to look for in good journalism. This situation with the needle exchange program helps a big portion of our local population that could be exposed to HIV/AIDS.
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Response to "Jeffersonville Police say man confessed to killing his father"
http://www.wdrb.com/story/30250413/jeffersonville-police-say-man-confessed-to-killing-his-father
After watching WDRB for about eight days, I have discovered that there are a lot of crime stories. Before I started to take the Journalism 1 class, I would have considered all of it news. Now, after learning what good journalism is, I have realized that it is not. Newsworthy news stories affect a large group of people, and crime stories do not affect citizens unless the community is in some kind of danger. This news story is about the confession of the man when he said that he stomped his dad. This does not affect large masses of people. What is even worse is that there were continuations to this story talking about his current legal state. That does not affect our community's everyday life. This is what we could consider "infotainment". It's valid information, but instead of being newsworthy, it's just entertaining.
After watching WDRB for about eight days, I have discovered that there are a lot of crime stories. Before I started to take the Journalism 1 class, I would have considered all of it news. Now, after learning what good journalism is, I have realized that it is not. Newsworthy news stories affect a large group of people, and crime stories do not affect citizens unless the community is in some kind of danger. This news story is about the confession of the man when he said that he stomped his dad. This does not affect large masses of people. What is even worse is that there were continuations to this story talking about his current legal state. That does not affect our community's everyday life. This is what we could consider "infotainment". It's valid information, but instead of being newsworthy, it's just entertaining.
Response to "Louisville scouts have extra special sales pitch when selling popcorn"
http://www.wdrb.com/story/30234174/louisville-scouts-have-extra-special-sales-pitch-when-selling-popcorn
I personally found this story kind of humorous. While seeing this on the news I often thought, why am I seeing this? It's not newsworthy at all, and it's just telling the story of two boys who made it onto the face of the boy scouts popcorn box. The story took up about three-fourths of the block, and in my opinion that is way too much time to be seeing two twin brothers and their mother talk about how they were selected to be on a boy scout popcorn box. I know this was a human interest story, but it was way too long and drawn out. I know that it is interesting that two local boys got on the national boy scout popcorn box but it often felt like I was just listening to a mother show excessive pride in her kids. This story, like many others on this news station, took the place of more newsworthy material. There were many sections of the package that just took up time and did not add significance to the story. One of these moments was when there was close to 45 seconds of footage of the twins jumping on a trampoline and about 20 of those seconds had a voiceover clip.
I personally found this story kind of humorous. While seeing this on the news I often thought, why am I seeing this? It's not newsworthy at all, and it's just telling the story of two boys who made it onto the face of the boy scouts popcorn box. The story took up about three-fourths of the block, and in my opinion that is way too much time to be seeing two twin brothers and their mother talk about how they were selected to be on a boy scout popcorn box. I know this was a human interest story, but it was way too long and drawn out. I know that it is interesting that two local boys got on the national boy scout popcorn box but it often felt like I was just listening to a mother show excessive pride in her kids. This story, like many others on this news station, took the place of more newsworthy material. There were many sections of the package that just took up time and did not add significance to the story. One of these moments was when there was close to 45 seconds of footage of the twins jumping on a trampoline and about 20 of those seconds had a voiceover clip.
Response to Radio Lecture
I found learning about how radio went through its rises and downfall very interesting. Like any other mass medium, it had its peaks and has also plateaued and fell. Whenever I think of the downfall of radio, I think of the song "Video Killed the Radio Star", because my dad always played it when I was a young child. The song sparked stimulus so the whole process has seemed interesting ever since. The timeline that we received in class helped me fully understand the events that sparked what radio is today. The first TVs were sold in 1939 and that is when radio's popularity started its descent. The radio sales started to plateau and this process reflects amongst all of the mass mediums which I find very interesting.
Response to "Man conquers addiction, cancer and weight to compete in IRONMAN triathlon"
http://www.wdrb.com/story/30234460/man-conquers-addiction-cancer-and-weight-to-compete-in-ironman-triathlon
This news story was among many others on October 11, 2015 that was about the IRONMAN triathlon. The others were more about what roads would be blocked and when the race would be ending. This was a story about a man who overcame his personal obstacles and how this led him to participate in the IRONMAN. This package took up the majority of a block on WDRB, and it was just a human interest story. That is aggravating for a viewer who is interested in seeing actual life-impacting news stories. I know that human interest stories are a common thing and in this case inspirational, but it did not require such a large portion of the block. I enjoy an inspiring story as much as anyone, but I feel that far too much news coverage is focused on personal stories that may be nice but are not particularly newsworthy.
This news story was among many others on October 11, 2015 that was about the IRONMAN triathlon. The others were more about what roads would be blocked and when the race would be ending. This was a story about a man who overcame his personal obstacles and how this led him to participate in the IRONMAN. This package took up the majority of a block on WDRB, and it was just a human interest story. That is aggravating for a viewer who is interested in seeing actual life-impacting news stories. I know that human interest stories are a common thing and in this case inspirational, but it did not require such a large portion of the block. I enjoy an inspiring story as much as anyone, but I feel that far too much news coverage is focused on personal stories that may be nice but are not particularly newsworthy.
Response to "Political trackers work to catch candidates at their worst"
http://www.wdrb.com/story/30319536/political-trackers-work-to-catch-candidates-at-their-worst
Personally, I am so tired of seeing the political party commercials that I always see on WDRB that bash Matt Bevin or Jack Conway. They have gotten really old really fast. In this story, WDRB covers the people behind them, and why they do it. The people are known as "trackers" and they say their primary reason for keeping a camera on the candidate is for "accountability". This news story proved to be interesting, but it is not what we need for our political news. The election is about a week and a half away, and there are barely any stories about our candidates. WDRB needs to prioritize their political news, because stories like this do not help the community with their choices on who they want to vote for. WDRB needs to cover the issues that the candidates support so the community can make a more educated vote.
Personally, I am so tired of seeing the political party commercials that I always see on WDRB that bash Matt Bevin or Jack Conway. They have gotten really old really fast. In this story, WDRB covers the people behind them, and why they do it. The people are known as "trackers" and they say their primary reason for keeping a camera on the candidate is for "accountability". This news story proved to be interesting, but it is not what we need for our political news. The election is about a week and a half away, and there are barely any stories about our candidates. WDRB needs to prioritize their political news, because stories like this do not help the community with their choices on who they want to vote for. WDRB needs to cover the issues that the candidates support so the community can make a more educated vote.
Reaction to Movies Lecture
The movies lecture truly gave me a lot more insight into both cinematography and videography. When Mr. Miller explained to the class that videos are just many images of motion put together, I was very confused. I immediately had so many questions. But then I took a few minutes to think about it and it suddenly made more sense. The idea of many pictures being taken at one time and sequentially played back at a speed that the eye cannot detect is intriguing to me. Mr. Miller's description made this amazing technology easier to understand.
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Media Critique
http://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2015/09/06/waitress-receives-huge-tip-dnt.kstu/video/playlists/thanks-for-the-tip/news
In this article from September 2015 CNN covers the story of an everyday waitress who gets a $3000 tip from two men who had just had a normal night at the bar getting food. At the bottom of the receipt there was a $3000 tip in the tip section that the two gentlemen left for the waitress, Bre Snow, after having a total bill of $500. The two men were with an instagram page called @tipsforjesus. Overall, this is not awful footage and it is a "feel good story", but it is not newsworthy. This article violates the first and fourth yardsticks of journalism which are newsworthiness and local relevance. While watching the video for this story, a person may think, how is this going to affect my community? This story was highlighted as one of the top stories in the "money" section. Instead of being informed of pertinent, relevant financial news, the viewer was given a minute and thirty seconds worth of material that was designed to entertain and uplift. Stories like this should not be treated as top news alerts thereby wasting the viewers' time.
In this article from September 2015 CNN covers the story of an everyday waitress who gets a $3000 tip from two men who had just had a normal night at the bar getting food. At the bottom of the receipt there was a $3000 tip in the tip section that the two gentlemen left for the waitress, Bre Snow, after having a total bill of $500. The two men were with an instagram page called @tipsforjesus. Overall, this is not awful footage and it is a "feel good story", but it is not newsworthy. This article violates the first and fourth yardsticks of journalism which are newsworthiness and local relevance. While watching the video for this story, a person may think, how is this going to affect my community? This story was highlighted as one of the top stories in the "money" section. Instead of being informed of pertinent, relevant financial news, the viewer was given a minute and thirty seconds worth of material that was designed to entertain and uplift. Stories like this should not be treated as top news alerts thereby wasting the viewers' time.
Response to Binary Models: Information vs. Entertainment and Elitist verse Populist (Lucy Calderon)
I can relate to Lucy because if I am honest, I do enjoy hearing about all of the celebrity drama that comes with a lot of media sources. I know that news like that is pointless, but it is entertaining, and therefore many people would prefer to hear it than an elitist news organization that only gives you cold hard news facts. Sometimes, I feel we have to lighten up a bit and have a bit of fun with the news. Although, in the little time that I have been in journalism 1, just like Lucy said, I have begun to appreciate elitist news just as much or more than a news organization that just gives you gossip. I love the feeling of actually knowing in-depth information that is going on in our community and in our world.
http://livinginthefastlucy.blogspot.com/2015/09/binary-models-i-nformation-vs.html#comment-form
http://livinginthefastlucy.blogspot.com/2015/09/binary-models-i-nformation-vs.html#comment-form
Response to Conglomeration (Maggie Mitchell)
I agree with Maggie because having only a few companies that control all of the content that is made in our media industries reduces the amount of new content that we receive as an audience. Also, all of the smaller companies that are within the large company that owns them will produce content that only the larger company approves of. Maggie says this as, "Therefore, when a company under the conglomeration is creating something, they have to worry about pleasing their boss." I thought this statement was very valid because media networks and businesses should be able to be their own creative force and produce original content. With conglomeration, one large business ultimately has the control over its smaller businesses.
http://moderatleymaggie.blogspot.com/2015/09/conglomerations-good-or-bad-for-consumer.html?showComment=1442364726954#c7306155411037105007
http://moderatleymaggie.blogspot.com/2015/09/conglomerations-good-or-bad-for-consumer.html?showComment=1442364726954#c7306155411037105007
Sunday, September 13, 2015
Demassification
I personally found demassification an interesting concept to learn about because it is the way our media is presented today. In my lifetime I have only witnessed the separation of the different types of media such as television, radio, and magazines etc. It is difficult for me to imagine only one channel on the TV or for example only one magazine in the grocery store aisle that would appeal to everyone. My dad sometimes refers to his childhood and will say that his family only had one or two channels on the TV to choose from, and therefore the whole family would sit together and watch the same program. I think that one television station must have had to go through the process of demassification to prevent extinction within its network. Thankfully, because of the demassification of networks that happened, we have television channels that fit everyone's interests and likings.
Conglomeration
My younger brother is a huge fan of the Disney Channel, and sometimes while sitting with him I see commercials for channels such as ABC or ESPN. I often wondered, why is Disney advertising for these different networks? After our class lecture on conglomeration I understood the purpose of Disney advertising for these other channels. I thought it was really cool that what I learned in class was applicable to what I witness in my own living room. Conglomeration is where one large company buys and sells smaller companies to increase profits and become more successful. Disney is a fantastic example of conglomeration because it owns so many different companies and media organizations. After our lecture I thought about the Disney to ABC/ABC Family connection. Many actors and actresses star in shows on both networks, thereby bringing in more money to a company that is already worth almost 80 billion dollars.
Objective Reporting and Inverted Pyramid
Learning how newspapers have progressed and slowly morphed into what they are today was very interesting to me. I assumed that objective reporting would have existed as long as the genesis of the newspaper. You have to wonder how long opinion was being used in news stories where opinion is not appropriate.
During the lecture I was surprised to discover the inverted pyramid continues to be the most widely used style of journalistic writing. The idea behind the inverted pyramid was to get the important information into the telegraph first so that if something prevented the reporter from putting their message into the telegraph, the important information would still make it to the publishers of the newspaper. Today, we really don't have the worry of being unable to deliver our news messages out to the media companies that produce them. As I thought more about this I decided that it really is not all that surprising that the inverted pyramid is still used today. What do people really want to know? They want to know the most important facts first. Unfortunately, some people are too lazy to search through an article to retrieve the main idea of the news.
During the lecture I was surprised to discover the inverted pyramid continues to be the most widely used style of journalistic writing. The idea behind the inverted pyramid was to get the important information into the telegraph first so that if something prevented the reporter from putting their message into the telegraph, the important information would still make it to the publishers of the newspaper. Today, we really don't have the worry of being unable to deliver our news messages out to the media companies that produce them. As I thought more about this I decided that it really is not all that surprising that the inverted pyramid is still used today. What do people really want to know? They want to know the most important facts first. Unfortunately, some people are too lazy to search through an article to retrieve the main idea of the news.
Gutenburg's Contribution
Books are obviously a huge contribution to society and how our world works. Almost two-hundred years ago the majority of the world's population was illiterate and now approximately only 26% of people do not know how to read. In the words of Mr. Miller, "good job humanity!" What was intriguing to me was Gutenburg's contribution of making books more accessible and the stirring of huge historical movements. It was a surprise to me that if we lived in a world without Gutenburg today there may not be separate denominations of the Christian church, journalism, public schooling, and we possibly would not even be living in America. Books are the root foundation to the media technology we have today. Without the development of the printing press, we may have none of the forms of media we take for granted in today's society.