Amy Winehouse Coverage

Amy Winehouse died in her apartment in July of this year. I remember going online to check my facebook and reading “RIP Amy Winehouse” on a friend’s page.

I switched pages and googled it to see what information that I could find. I didn’t go to a news source because I knew that serious news sources like CNN and Fox News couldn’t possibly concern themselves with the death of a junkie celebrity when there were actually stories worthy of coverage in the world.

The coverage could not comment on the cause of death until the autopsy was complete. There were candlelit ceremonies paying respect to the artist. 

As soon as I saw that she was dead, I knew that it was from drugs or alcohol. I know a couple of lines to one of her songs and that is the extent of my knowledge of Amy Winehouse other than the irony of those couple of lines that I did know. “They tried to make me go to rehab, and I said ‘no, no, no.’”

After the initial shock wore off, there was no more coverage of her death or autopsy report. I had to dig online to find that the coroner labeled her death due to “alcohol intoxication.” There was never another story after the story of her death. The media does not bring its stories full circle.  

Trick or Tweet

After listening to the comments about Twitter the other day in class, I decided to check out what all the fuss was about. I agree with Professor Dawers that Twitter is more for celebrities, writers, and corporations than for the normal citizen.

As I created my account, the site instructed me to pick some popular tweets to follow. I chose my favorite Food Network chefs and the US Navy to keep up with the big Navy vs. Army game this weekend. As I tried to tweet my first message, I got the message that the site was “over capacity” and that I should come back later and try again.

I didn’t understand the faded text in some of the posts, but found out that they were links that did not work in many cases.

From just the quick look that I took on the site, I see how twitter can be a great marketing tool for businesses and celebrities. I know that the tv show “Let’s Make a Deal” uses its Twitter account to alert the audience to bring certain items to the show that will get them monetary prizes if they are selected. 

Coverage of Occupy Wall Street

Coverage of the Occupy Wall street movement was extensive in the beginning of the movement. Whether the news program agreed with the movement or not, there was ample coverage of what the movement stood for and the message that they wanted America to receive.

Every news station had coverage of this new social movement. There were personal interviews and expert opinions on the movement. The news programs took the message of the movement and dissected it.

I understood who the 99% were and who the 1% were and what each was fighting for in the beginning. Then the coverage showed a break down in the philosophy of the 99%.  Some demonstrated for global human rights while other protested “the delusion of free will” and governmental control.

Despite the recorded breakdown, the Occupy Wall street movement became global and now has people planning a global protest on Saturday, December 10. This protest encourages every citizen in every country to stand up for their rights and take back democracy.

Troy Davis Trial & Execution

This very controversial trial began when I was only a few months old. After twenty years on death row, Davis was executed by lethal injection for murdering off-duty police officer Mark MacPhail, former Army Ranger.

The coverage of the Troy Davis trial was scattered and inconclusive. I had never heard of the Troy Davis trial except for a few weeks before his execution. I wondered about the case that was moving so many of my fellow students to action.

I watched my local news programs that were all covering the execution.I had to watch several different news programs on different stations and piece the information together myself because some information was given on one channel and not given on others. 

One channel reported on the witnesses who recanted their original statements while another station reported the death of witnesses.

I thought that Davis was just a cop killer who was being executed after waiting for twenty years. It was difficult for me to see the other side of the story through only the news coverage of the trial and execution.

I still wondered what all the fuss was about until I talked to the campus President of the NAACP about the trial and her efforts to support Davis and stay his execution.

Future of Newspapers and the General Media

The future of newspapers is more uncertain now than ever. Not just the future of the physical newspaper with the invention of Kindles, but the future of news sources is also uncertain.

Reading the newspaper is becoming less of a daily ritual every day. There are a few people who still drink their coffee and read the newspaper in the morning, but most people are too busy with their lives. They grab Starbucks on the way to drop the kids off at school and might peak at the newspaper online during their lunch break.

I have a subscription to the New York Times on my Kindle because it is so convenient to automatically have the newspaper every morning that I can take with me in my pocket. The actual printing on newspapers has declined with the invention of Kindles, Nooks, IPads, and other e-reader devices.

 Many newspapers are solely online now and do not even go to print because of the cost and sustainability of newspapers.There are so many news sources that compete with online newspapers that the future of even online newspapers is uncertain.

I think there will always be a need for newspapers because of the security that they provide. Newspapers have reputations for being the most credible in contrast to all of the unfounded stories on the internet.

Nancy Grace

Where do I start in my dislike against this woman?

It all began with the Casey Anthony trial. Nancy Grace convicted Anthony before the police even found Caylee’s body. Grace had Americans so convinced that Anthony was guilty that people assumed she would be found guilty in court which led to the shock of the year when Anthony was released with a “not guilty” verdict.

Maybe if Grace had found real evidence and had not sensationalized Casey as a person, the people would have pushed for iron-clad evidence instead of just assuming that everyone would agree with Grace.

I don’t understand how Nancy Grace counts as a source of news. One of the basic principles of journalism is inviting criticism and being able to refute that criticism. Grace will invite an expert onto her show, and then interrupt and cut them off the air when that expert disagrees with her.

But she is effective at bringing in viewers. My dad who hates her still watches her everyday just to “see what she’s bitching about today.” So obviously, she is adept at creating interest in the stories that she supposedly “reports” on.

Caylee Anthony Murder Coverage

The media coverage of the Caylee Anthony murder was outrageous. I remember sitting in the living room with my mom watching Nancy Grace’s news hour when the story first broke about the missing three year old.

We watched Nancy Grace every day waiting for news on Caylee. Every day she had something new, but it was like watching a soap opera. Every day is a new challenge, but if you don’t watch it for several months and tune in one day, you find that almost nothing has changed.

My biggest concern with the news coverage of Caylee’s murder was that the news covered issues that were salacious instead of covering factual investigative reports. After three years of covering the same story every single day, the media couldn’t produce enough evidence to convict Caylee’s mom of the crime that the media condemned her to years ago.

 It really speaks to the investigative powers of the media that after three years of “finding” evidence, a court of her peers couldn’t convict Casey Anthony of her daughter’s murder.

I remember hearing the verdict over the radio on my way back from a trip to Ohio. My husband commented, “Who is Casey Anthony?” The rest of us could not believe that she wasn’t convicted in the face of so much evidence. My mother was disgusted and could not believe the justice system would let something so corrupt happen.

Looking back at all the “evidence” that was presented by the news media, I still don’t understand how the defensive and prosecutor left so many holes in their arguments. I suppose the influence of tv shows like CSI, Criminal Minds, NCIS, and other crime dramas have created a more thoughtful society where people can easily spot faulty logic.

Dr. Photos

Doctored images are an everyday occurrence in today's society where perfection is easily attained with a simple computer program. There is a big debate about photo manipulation in the newspaper industry. 

It is easy to say that manipulating photos is wrong and unethical no matter what changes are being made. Photos are supposed to be accurate representations of the subject and any changes to alter the subject are unethical. 

But if you think about all of the pictures that you have of yourself, can’t  you find at least one where you wished that someone could get rid of that giant pimple on your face? 

I’ve taken pictures at my grandmother’s yearly class reunion. These people are in their seventies and many of them comment on the wrinkles and age spot that weren’t there last year. Is it unethical to make the subject of the photo look as he remembers himself?

Is it a completely different issue when the manipulations change the story of the photo? Yes.

A picture is worth a thousand words, so if you manipulate a photo to up that number to thousands of words, that is unethical. It is wrong to manipulate a photo to create talk about that picture or if the manipulations change the subject of the photo. 

An example of this type of manipulation is to merge to photos that were taken in the same place. Merging photos to create one photo is a type of manipulation that changes the story of the subject. This type of manipulation is unethical and will likely get you fired if you are a serious journalist.

Drunken Firefighter Debate

In class, we debated an issue about a drunken firefighter showing up to a fire in which he died. It was an industrial fire of an empty building. The local newspaper wrote a glowing feature about the dead hero.

Does the fact that he was drunk change all the moments that made him a hero? I argued that the newspaper should leave out the fact that he was drunk when he arrived at the fire because it doesn’t make him any less of hero. His life and all the other important fires where he was one of the many heroes can’t be disregarded just because he was drunk.

Should he not have answered the call? Probably.

I did amend my argument to say that if there was some legal issue that developed out of it, such as if the man’s family tried to sue the fire department or owner of the building, then that fact should play a role in their decisions. Every firefighters walks up to every fire knowing that he or she may not make it home that night. Their sacrifice shouldn’t be nominalized.

Advice on writing articles

One of the best tidbits that I picked up at the soccer game was to be next to the announcer’s box (if possible) when you aren’t familiar with the game. The announcer will talk you through the entire game and never even notice you.

I waited until the second half of the game to go over and explore the teams’ side of the field. I took up the least amount of space as possible and didn’t distract anyone, but it was great hearing the announcer tell the audience at home or on the radio what was happening because then I knew what was happening.

For example, there was one play in the game where I thought Armstrong scored against the other team. The ball went into the net, but the announcer talked about different rules and explained why the goal didn’t count. I didn’t agree with him, but it was extremely helpful to have a know-it-all standing nearby.

Writing Process: Third Article

My third article was about the girls’ Soccer team’s first game of the Peach Belt Conference. I researched the team and their stats online at the Athletic department’s webpage on Armstrong.edu. Soccer was another sport about which I knew next to nothing, but I was excited to actually go to the game and my editor wanted me to take pictures.

I printed out all the information from the teams’ webpage and read the back issues of the Inkwell to catch up on their season. I showed up to the game knowing the big players and knowing basic facts, but all my preparation did not prepare me to me amazed by these athletes!

Even not knowing the rules and plays of the game, I could appreciate the precision and physical stamina that these players had. I saw one player take a full-force kick to the chest! Her teammates cheered her on and she stood up and got back in the game, at least in football they have pads to protect them.

After the game, I interviewed the players that made big plays. Those players were not necessarily the “big players” that I thought I knew before the game.  I talked to about five players and took some more pictures after the game. I talked to the coach who was nice and excited about the win.

After the game, I had a week before the editor wanted the story. I didn’t write it until the following weekend, but by that time, the team was in the final game of the conference. They won the conference with a goal in the last ten seconds of the game.  I emailed my editor and she said to include the new games in the article.

The following week I got married and went on my honeymoon. The story was supposed to run on November 17, but when I got back, there was a different soccer story on the front page of the paper. I have tried to contact my editor to find out what happened to my article, but she hasn’t replied back.

Writing Process: Second Article

My second piece for the Inkwell was to profile an exercise group leader at the Student Recreation Center. I went to classes at the Rec. Center, so I was familiar with the instructors. I chose Christina Marmo as my topic because her work schedule fit best with the days that I had school.

Before I interviewed Marmo,  I went online to Armstrong.edu and looked at their profile that they have for each of their personal trainers. That was another angle I could explore. I looked at the schedule of when she taught classes, so I could attend different classes than the ones that I took.

I interviewed Marmo after watching one of her classes. I learned her rituals for conducting a class. I learned her mantras because several of the students could repeat it. Actually going to the class and seeing how she interacted with the different groups was very helpful in writing the article.

After the class, I interviewed her and was prepared with questions that made it easier for her to give me great quotes for the article. After I finished interviewing her, I talked to several of the students who took the class and got quotes from them about the class and Marmo.  This was a great asset when writing the article because it gave me more fuel for the article.

Writing this article was significantly easier than writing the first article because of my familiarity with the subject and the amount of research that I had.

I sent the article into my editor. She pulled one part out of the middle of it and wanted me to beef it up and make it the lead of the article. That was the only re-writing that I had to do on the article and only basic grammatical problems had to be changed before it went to print.

Writing Process: First Article

My first writing assignment for the Inkwell was for a Volleyball game that had already taken place. I had no prior knowledge of Volleyball and did not understand the game much after I finished with the article.

Since I knew almost nothing about the sport or the team, I did my homework online.  I researched the team’s stats on the Armstrong.edu webpage. The Athletics department has extensive profiles and brochures available in .pdf on the page.

I wrote this article almost completely without quotes. I wrote about the information that I gathered from the website and emailed a few of the girls for little updates.

Writing this piece was very hard for me. Not only was it my first journalistic writing since high school, it was about a subject that I was not familiar with.

I began by gathering all of my information in front of me and outlining what I wanted to cover in the article on a piece of paper (because I am old-school like that). I put in those few quotes to transition between main ideas. I stared at the computer screen and typed up everything that I had.

300 words.

I needed 500 words.

What do you do when you’re only 60% done and you’ve used all the information that you have. I used my extensive creative writing skills to fill in the other 200 words. I found another angle in one of the quotes that I explored.

I definitely had to use my creative writing skills after all my information was tapped out.

My editor had a few suggestions for me to use more quotes next time, but there weren’t many changes from my original draft to the print copy in the Inkwell.