Response to Emily Nolan's Blog

Out of all the blogs I have seen, Emily has one of the more lengthy blogs. One blog post that stuck out to me was her post about newspapers titled, "Why Do Newspapers Still Exist?". In the first half of the post, Emily basically regurgitated information from class. It's the second half of the post that intrigued me. Emily talked about how technological advances are changing the newspaper industry. I pretty much agreed to everything she said, except for the last paragraph. Emily ended her post by saying that in fifty years, newspapers will most likely be extinct. I completely disagree with Emily. I think that newspapers are going to be around for a long time. This reminds me of how people don't like kindles because people want to be able to physically turn the page. I think that a lot of people will agree with me when I say that it feels more traditional holding a newspaper in your hand rather than going to The Washington Post and clicking on the link to see today's newspaper online. To visit Emily's creatively titled blog click this link: http://controversialwaffles.blogspot.com/

Response to Kathryn Minor's Blog

Despite not having artistic ability in Paint, Kathyrn Minor has a thoughtful, organized, and incisive blog. One post that I particularly enjoyed was her post comparing newspapers, books, and magazines. It was creatively titled, "Let's Compare, Newspapers, Books, and Magazines". I liked the fact that she had headings and posted her response in a cause and effect fashion. While she doesn't go too deep into detail, she doesn't have to because everything is explained thoroughly without being wordy. You can check out her blog here: http://kathrynminorblog.blogspot.com/

School Teacher Wins $1 Million Dollars! How is this News?

A story about a school teacher in Maryland who won a million dollars on the popular game, Wheel of Fortune was posted today. Can somebody explain why this is news? This story was found on The Washington Post. There were a couple of the 9 principles and 7 yardsticks of journalism that were violated. First of all, Emily Yahr, the author of this story tried making the interesting important, something that shouldn't really be done especially on a news website such as The Washington Post. The yardsticks that were violated are newsworthiness and local relevancy. This story isn't really newsworthy because it doesn't affect a mass number of people. The money affects the teacher's friends and family, but pretty much nobody else. Local relevancy ties in with newsworthiness. It doesn't really affect anyone in Maryland, besides the winner's friends and family. Who cares if this teacher made Wheel of Fortune history? It will ever make it to an actual history textbook. Journalists are supposed to report stories about events that can change the lives of a mass number of people. Obviously, Ms. Yahr does not know that. Aside from the opinion pages (which can't really be critiqued) she has written multiple stories about non important subjects. Some other examples include Darrell Hammond is the new 'Saturday Night Live' Announcer, Kanye West stops concert, singles out audience members to stand up-except one is in a wheelchair, Chris Pratt to host 'Saturday Night Live' with (obviously) musical guest Ariana Grande, and many others. Ms. Yahr should stick to opinion articles instead of unimportant filler stories that have little effect on anyone. There is no way Ms. Yahr could improve upon an unimportant story about Wheel of Fortune. It should have not even been on a site such as The Washington Post. It seems more fit to be on Buzzfeed.

What Makes Magazines So Great?

Magazines are basically a mesh of newspapers and books. Magazines are generally cheaper than books, but more expensive than newspapers. Newspapers come out daily and books take many months to make while magazines are usually printed on a monthly or weekly basis. Books tend to be more entertaining while newspapers are informative, but magazines are both. The first magazine was invented in 1741 by Benjamin Franklin. It was called "General Magazine". Not a great name, but it's the first magazine ever made so give him a break. Magazines allow for more in depth investigative journalism. Newspapers couldn't do that because they only had one or two columns to write a story. Imagine going into detail about a story while still trying to get all the sides of the story. Newspaper stories have to be short and to the point. People read newspapers because they want to get their news fast. They don't have time to read detailed reports about current events. Magazines also allowed us to develop photojournalism. Magazines don't have as many time constraints as newspapers do so this gives journalists time to incorporate pictures into an article. Magazines can let you see the whole story while newspapers will only give you the most important pieces of information. One final thing that makes magazines great is that they're colorful and durable. Mr. Miller showed us his oldest newspapers last week and they were worn out. They began to fade because of how old they were. I guess it makes sense for newspapers to fade away. You can't go back to a newspaper from last year and expect it to be relevant one year later. I guess this is why newspapers aren't made from more durable materials. A magazine can sit on a table for a year and still look great. It most likely will still be relevant since magazines don't report on breaking news. Newspapers are fast paced and have to be short and to the point. Magazines are more steady and allow us to enjoy all the descriptions and information.

Newspapers Are Still Alive!

Last week in my journalism class we learned about the history of newspapers. Newspapers were definitely popular back when they began making newspapers, but over time they have became more and more obscure. Even though newspapers have declined, there are many reasons as to why a bunch of people still read them. One reason as to why people read newspapers is because they are portable. Yeah you can take a cell phone with you and read the news, but what happens if your phone dies or you have no internet connection? You can't read the news anymore that's what happens. Newspapers are low tech which redeems the newspaper. Another reason why people still read the newspaper is because it's traditional. The older people have been reading newspapers for a long time. For them to just stop reading newspapers all together goes against the tradition. Newspapers are also physical objects so you can see an entire page right in front of you. When on a phone you can only see what fits on your screen so you have to scroll around and find the story you want to read. The final reason why newspapers still exist is because they are nonlinear. You don't have to read the front page to know what's going on in the other pages. You can pretty much start and end wherever you want. As you can see, newspapers are very much alive and they aren't going anywhere for a long time.

Daycare Centers and Ms. McKim: The Second Disney?

Yesterday in my journalism class we talked about binary models and monopolies. Although I could right entire posts about the aforementioned things, the one thing that I found interesting was conglomeration. Conglomeration is basically when a large company buys all these smaller companies. Some examples of these large companies are Time Warner and Disney. Mr. Miller talked about how Disney strictly enforces their copyrights. Apparently painting Disney characters on the side of a building is a copyright violation. I honestly think it's ridiculous. I honestly see nothing wrong with painting Mickey Mouse on your daycare center wall. I guess Disney hates when people use their content in PUBLIC because it attracts people. In that case wasn't Disney Day during red white week last year a copyright violation? There was a large number of students last year who dressed up as all sorts of Disney characters in a PUBLIC school. For example, Ms. McKim, my science teacher from freshman year went all out and dressed up as Cruella de Vil. According to Disney, I was supposed to stalk her all the way home because Cruella de Vil is a Disney character and that attracts people. Well I didn't stalk her that night. It's all pretty much harmless. It's not like Ms. McKim or that daycare center be the second Disney. Obviously if people are using Disney characters for the sole purpose of making money off them then they should be punished. A parent doesn't send a child to a daycare just because Mickey Mouse is painted on the side of the building. This is harmless use of their characters so they shouldn't be punished by Disney. So as long as the characters are used in a harmless way then Disney shouldn't get angry with the people who use their content.