White Fuzz

Tony Consiglio and Cindy Michaels were invited come and speak to my CMJ 236 class. Overall they spoke about what they do at there jobs and how to get started in the field of broadcast.

Tony and Cindy work at the Fox 22/ABC 7 station in Bangor ME, which is one of the local stations that Orono relies on for its local news. Though the Bangor area is not as big as Boston of New York, there is still plenty of work to do. There are more responsibilities spread around due to not being able to hire a lot of people on a small budget.

Though our class is titled “Writing for the Mass Media” it is important to learn broadcast in case there is a huge medium transition, making print journalism a thing of the past. It would be wise for somebody to have something to fall back on.

Salaries were also discussed and ultimately it can be broken down into this phrase “If you love what you’re doing, it will not matter what you are making.” It was also announced that the station Tony and Cindy work out may be looking for some interns. Also we as a class were encouraged to grasp or goals rather than just wait for an opportunity to arise.

Bangor being a small market, well I was kind of disengaged. Not much happens in the state of Maine, and when it does, it is usually far away. It might just be me, but it seems like the citizens of Maine have a local set of mind rather than a national one. It may be this set of mind that has me believing that in order to really succeed in the broadcast business; you have to move towards the bigger cities.

What’s Next?

If you have not already heard, Barack Obama it the president-elect. While this is a great step towards solving racial conflicts with in our country, I am thinking about what can be done next to improve relations between our very diverse nation.

Some of you may know that Milk is coming to theater soon. It is this movie that raised the ultimate question towards diversity in our country. Would you vote for a openly gay candidate. If a candidate had the stage presence and same level of education of Obama, would you vote for him/her?

I believe that if our country is truly ready to move on towards unity, that is should not matter what makes an individual different. Whether the candidate is a different ethnicity or has a different sexual orientation, it should not matter.

I hope that America can come to elect Muslims, Hindus, Asians, or even Native Americans. Because in order to promote America has a place where anybody can make it, it needs to show that it is not afraid of putting people that are not white skinned in the white house.

Over Our Heads?

Nathan Stormer, from what I have observed from his website, teaches what sounds like complicated material. That definitely came across during his presentation with our class.

It was unorthodox of Nathan to base his presentation solely the questions that we as a class had for him pertaining to Print Journalism. A class that I might add that has people in it that are not sure if they want to go into Journalism, or simply taking a class to fulfill a requirement for graduation.

Though Mr. Stormer had an excellent presentation, I feel that he talked over our class by using complex words. I was finding it hard to keep up with him during the presentation since he would elaborate so much on a subject. I think it was disengaging to the audience even though the questions that he answered were directly from the audience.

With that said he did have some great tips for writers. Being aware of the audience, word choice, and the use of a thesaurus were emphasized throughout the speech. Nathan also touched on his feelings towards objectivity and how it is nearly impossible is a journalist opinion can not be changeable. Nathan also emphasized the use of analogies and metaphors, saying that they are essential in order for the reader of an article or a person who may not know about a certain subject, to get a clear picture of what the writer is trying to convey.

Although I thought it was a mediocre presentation at best, there was some valuable information given during the presentation. The town-hall like presentation really disengaged me because I do not view that kind of presentation to be effective. Maybe it was just our class, but I am sure we could have come up with better questions if we knew that Mr. Stormer was going to be asking them for the material in his presentation.

Early Voting

When I woke up this morning, I saw a bulletion on the BBC America website, and being a early voter myself I thought I would share the areticle with you.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/us_elections_2008/7687953.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/us_elections_2008/7687495.stm

Beat

I have chosen the Science/Environment/Green Living beat.  I choose this beat because I have a personal interest in the subject, though not planning to pursue it as a profession.  I think that the UMaine campus has taken an interest in Green Living, as well as the Environment.  So I figured I could write about something that i feel is important, and hopefully my enthusam will show in my writings.

Cup Of Democracy

For all those Voters that have yet to decide who they are voting for, Captain Capitalism is here to help you out this November!

Newspaper Writing

It seems to me that Newspaper are on their way out.  Though I have heard about the eventual fall of newspaper writing ever since I took my first Communications class, it seems like things could change within a decade.

I can notice that people who do not have a lot of time to read a newspaper anymore.  A lot of there news sources come from TV. news stations, a little bit of news from a car radio, or the ever so popular internet.  I can see a clear transition from Newspaper writing to the Internet.  Though the writing styles maybe different, it may be possible one day to read the New York Times in its entirity on thier website.

A lot of information today is usally spread by sound (such as TV., Radio) or by blogs.  This maybe because people today are busier than the older generations.  My grandparents still take the time in the day to read their local newspaper to see what is going on in the world.  But my parents are more reilant on TV. and News Radio for their sources of information. Now it may fall on our generation to transition into the internet, since we are the ones who grew up check our email and instant messaging our friends.

Though I feel that Newspaper Writing is going to be non-existent sometime in the future.  I believe that it is unparalleled in any other type of News reporting.   There is a certain appeal to the written word that grasps me when I read an article.  When I watch CNN or BBC, I feel more disengaged than I would reading the paper.  Hopefully the medium will stay around for a little while longer.

10/17/08 Print Journalism Interview

On Friday October 17, 2008 Paul Grosswiler came into the CMJ 236 class to lecture on print journalism. Students were expecting a lecture but instead they were asked to get into groups to come up with questions to ask him in order to later write a 500 word news story. This news story was to be posted on their blogs by the end of the day.

After a couple of minuets coming up with questions, the groups were reluctant to give a question to the impromptu interviewee. After a few questions answering some personal questions, he began to speak about what makes good journalist.

Paul Grosswiler got his start in print journalism being a Grad Student at the University of Missouri. Having an English degree, he figured that he could make more of a living by being a journalist rather than writing poetry or short stories. He ultimately went to print journalism because he never wanted to be in front of a camera.

Paul then made his way up to Maine by working for Bangor Daily News. It was this job that him his start at the University of Maine. One of the Journalism classes in the University is taught by a professional in the field rather than a faculty member. So after Mr. Grosswiler started teaching, he then moved his way up to becoming an associate professor.

When asked if print journalism is dying if not dead, Paul answered that “the death of print journalism has been forecasted for years.” He also went on to speak about some of the newspapers in the Northeastern part of America have begun to use pod casts. Joking that they chose the less attractive people due to the lack of a camera being needed.

Mr. Grosswiler gave some solid advice to become a print journalist. Research, reliable information, good notes, and good direct quotations were explained as essential for being a successful print journalist. Being able to use these tips a person came become an effective journalist. Paul also touched on keeping a scrapbook of work that an aspiring journalist can show future emploers to show them that they have some experience in the field. He also stressed the importance of having the will to be a print journalist. Stating that if a person is willing to put in the hard work, they will be able to become a print journalist.

His ultimate goal in journalism is to become a much raker. A muck raker was a negative term that the public called investigative journalist in the early 1900’s. Paul also believes that there should be more investigative journalist in the world of journalism since it seems that currently there is not enough.

As time cam to a close, the classroom fell silent as students were trying to think of any questions to ask. The class came to a close as Mr. Grosswiler briefly reviewed on what he felt made a good print journalist and a reminder to post the news story to the student’s blog.

Trouble Down Under

http://www.smh.com.au/news/entertainment/tv–radio/john-laws-libel-case-set-for-high-court/2008/09/30/1222651058129.html

After reading an article in the Sydney Morning Herald, I can see why defamation is taken so seriously.  At a broadcast station, there is a lot of emphasis put on a person’s character and their reputation.  Take for example a person like Rush Limbaugh.  He is someone who is very successful at what he does.  Now when the news surfaced that was addicted to pain killers, he lost some respect in the public lie.  It does not take much for a person’s career in broadcast to completely vanish or be servilely hurt.  Just ask Don Imus.

Now this story took place in Australia.  But what John Laws (the person that was being taken to court for defamation) did was none the less textbook defamation.  He claimed  that Ray Chesterson was fired from 2UE (a radio broadcast station) and that Ray had blamed him.  While trying to see how the High Courts decided the case,  i found that John Laws had been the center of controversies many times.

Though it is true that controversy does make bigger audiences (see Howard Stern), defamation is something to take seriously.  Make sure that whatever is being said over the air or on TV. can be backed up with hard facts.  Besides taking down somebodies reputation just to give a show a couple of more listeners/viewers is no way to show how great of a broadcaster somebody is.

This Weeks News

The most important news story of last week was the ongoing 700 billion dollar bailout.  Now if I remember corectly the House of Representatives are suppose to be voting on it today.  It already has the apporval of the President.  The bailout is suppose to stop the spread of a massive crisis that has been compared to the Great Depression.  Right now there are a lot of banks that are being bought out and stocks that people had in those banks (Such has Lehmen Brothers) are now worthless.

This bailout has been an ongoing process, but it did pick up some steam with the senate voting on the purposed deal.  It has also been mentioned by both presidential canidiates as it will probably be one of the first things that they are asked to take care of.