Sharing community grief

The arkansas gazette did a story on three boys who killed themselves one after the other, and had to present the story in a way that would be sensitive to the community's mourning, but also give straight facts. They decided to make the story the front page news story, as it was a big deal, and put another sensitively written article about the community's lost beside it. Many news stations and other news papers got involved as the story became national. There were suicide help notes being run on TV, they even went through imitative suicide guidelines on how to write their story.

In my personal opinion I think they did the best of their ability in a very tricky situation. I believe that they did justice to the story. The purpose of a news story is to give facts and inform people about what had happened, it shouldn't dwell on emotions or glamorize the story, it should be a straight story on the events that had occurred. They did do this, but they also put a sensitively written article reaching out to the community, which I thought was a good way to handle the sensitive nature of the story.

I don't think I would have done much differently from what the arkansas gazette did, however I would not have put it on the front page considering it's nature. However I understand that was inevitable due to the national attention it was receiving from other news sources. It was a big story that had to be told, but had to take in the account of public community's response, and grieving. Despite the odd I think the gazette did all they could and presented a well done piece of work.

The resident.

Lori Harfenist presents news in a very interesting way. Where mainstream media tells you what you need to know about the world, Lori tells you what you want to know. Her approach to sharing news and interviewing people is very laid back, and informal. She has a great personality and interacts with the publicly easily. She even goes so far as to putting in her own opinions during her shows, which we're taught in journalism not to do.

I find that she goes out on the street and talks to people about what they want to talk about. Which I really enjoy watching since those topics are also something I take an interest to. I also love that she is honest and truthful with the news she presents. In main stream media you find that they tend  to over exaggerate big events and stories, and tell you that it's something everyone is looking forward too. However not everyone is looking forward to these big events and stories, and she is brave enough to go out and ask why.

What I like most about the topics she chooses is that they are big in their own way. The topics she chooses are different, and a lot would be something that not a lot of journalists would want to talk about. One topic she put out to the public that really sparked my attention was the "Why people hate the USA" I found this interesting because she is an american talking about why people hate the USA to an american public. It was definitely a ballsy topic, which got many educated and positive opinions. Personally it informed me on what the country is like in four minutes than any news article would have.

I think what people find appealing in her is the same things that I find appealing. I think she's a brave young woman who is going out to the public and getting answers. I think people are attracted to her show because it's different from what you see on everyday news, but at the same time it's just as informative. She also puts out her for of media online, which is a growing source of media in at the current time. It's also very entertaining because of the way she puts her own twist and personality to the stories, which you are rarely able to see in mainstream media.

Anons, evil or good?

Being anonymous has proved to be very useful, but also very hurtful to the internet world.

Journalist may choose to be anonymous to reveal a story, and save their own name if the story is controversial. Even if credibility is lost, this story may still be published, which can spark someone else to investigate on the matter. Anonymity in this way proves to be very useful to a journalist, and not as harmful as other uses of anonymous. Still it's very hard to trust sources when they are anonymous, which may erase the use of the the piece of writing.

On the internet people can become anonymous and choose to write anything they want. From experience people tend to use anonymous to bring down people using hurtful comments. This is when Anonymity on the internet goes a little to far. Behind a computer screen people can choose to act in an unthoughtful manner which can effect the people they are targeting.

People choose to become anonymous for two reasons. Either they want to say something mean, or they are too scared of the reaction that person will give them back. I do not believe it's okay for anyone to be anonymous because it shows that they are scared to show their own face. It's not okay to be anonymous because I believe that people should always take credit for their work, and responsibility for their actions. The only way that anonymous will ever be justified is if the person is trying to send something to someone that is not hurtful in anyway, and is just scared to see how they will react. However I feel that if it's something nice people should not be scared of the response they will hear, and it would be better and more personal if it was sent not anonymous.

Cheating!

Generations of students have been told that cheating is bad, yet all of us seem to have done it at some point in our life. It seems to be the ultimate challenge of "how long can you last without getting caught"? Now the practice of cheating has evolved from "how long can you last?" to "How creative can you be?"
Cheating has gone beyond the classic writing answers on your arms, there are plenty of video's on the internet that teach students how to cheat, and not get caught.

At Mary Ward I've yet to hear about someone cheating on a test; which makes sense since we are confined to a room which do not contain any possibility of cheating. However I have heard of kids copying reports and essay's from older students, thinking that they can't possibly be caught.

I think the whole idea of cheating comes from the fear of failing. Students cheat so they can get a passing grade and not let down the people expecting them not fail. Cheat on an answer here, cheat on an answer there, it doesn't seem like a big deal, but we are only setting up ourselves for our own failure. As a young kid I have felt the temptation of cheating, and I must admit I have done so once or twice. But now that I realize what I have done, I've realized that cheating has only hindered my learning, and now I tend to struggle on those specific subjects.

Cheating is a simple way of solving your immediate problem, but in the end you end up not learning anything. Our teachers and parents tell us this every year, but they also say that failing is not acceptable. Therefore in our minds weighing out the options of failing and cheating, and their repercussions, we seem to choose cheating over failing.

Crowdfunding.

spot.us is a website for citizen funded community journalism. It's a place where anyone can pitch a story idea to the public. The public then pledges for any story they want, and if enough pledges are given then the story can be published. I find this idea interesting because it's refreshing to see in a society where you rarely experience this kind of contribution in everyday life. Looking through the site, the stories that are pitched are not your everyday newspaper story. These are stories people live everyday and want to see, and pay money to see published.

So, is crowdfunding democratic media? In my opinion, yes it is. People are paying the amount of money they want to pay to support something they want to see. All the money is used to support the writer and their research to be able to publish the story. If enough people pledge, and enough money is raised then the story will be published. It's not about who pays more money, it's all about coming together as a community and helping other writers and other citizens get their stories across. 

I think spot.us as the ability to become something great. With everything, every little project there always has to be some funding, involved to make it happen, and there are always people behind that to make it happen. This website is a place for any aspiring writer to get their start, and it's good to see a community help these writers get their start. It's a great idea, and with more help from the community and more attention it could take off. 

Re: Can you do a digital detox?

Carmen Joy King's article talks about Facebook and it's connection to a self absorbed generation. I can agree that there are people in this world that try very hard on social networking sites to gain some level of appreciation they do not receive in real life. On the internet we can muster up the courage to show the world just how "cool" we are. We post up pictures and status updates, and anything we possibly can to gain attention from our peers, then we go crazy waiting for some sort of comment, opinion, or acceptance. I can agree with her, that our generation can go to extremes to feed our self esteem by becoming "Twitter famous" or "Youtube famous" because it makes us feel like we are  special and important.

However in my own opinion Facebook and other social networking sites are much more than a cry for attention to feed our ego's . It's become a way of communication much like the telephone. People no longer have to meet up with their friends to see what's happening in their life, they can just check their twitter account. It's away to talk to friends and family simultaneously without having to hang up the phone and call the other person. With social networking sites you can communicate with someone across the world easily without having to wait for an appropriate time for the both of you to tell them a tiny little rumour you heard. From personal experience, being without the internet for a couple days I found myself coming to school the next day not knowing what everyone has been talking on facebook the previous night.

So, as for going on a digital detox, Whether it is my own ego, or my need to communicate with friends and family on a daily basis, I wouldn't manage to last two days. Maybe if i didn't live in a time and society where social networking was mandatory for social and business matters, I would last a lot longer without it. However seeing as a very high majority of the earth's population is hooked up to Facebook or twitter or whatever site it may be, going on a digital detox would most likely be equivalent to putting yourself on a desert island.