JeremyBarrick

The Language of Journalism Is Democratic: When "plain style" is used powerfully, it flows from democratic impulses and creates a model for public discourse. Described by Hugh Kenner as he discussed the language of journalism.
I guess what this all means is, write simple so the words can be understood and dissappear into thought. A good story grows from the words it is contrived from, words paint a picture, when used successfully. The term "democratic" means that everybody are able to understand what the author is saying in his/her article or story. To achieve good journalism, avoid the unnecessary and meaningless jargon and simplicity will appear from the mist. P.299-300

Posted by JeremyBarrick at 10:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Television News in the Age of Cable. With the advent of cable, there was more of a selection in what a viewer wanted to watch. I can remember when I was a child, many years ago, and being at my grandmother's house, she had cable television, we thought that it was the greatest thing on Earth. My entire family would gather around her console television and watch it all evening. My fondest memory of cable was watching The Deer Hunter on HBO, the cable box had two buttons on it, one for accessing HBO, the other to convert back to cable television. The concept was so pure and somple then, now it has become a nightmare, high definition, 5 HBOs,Cinemax, Showtime...... Cable has definently been a landmarker of my generation.

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I thought the section on "News and Hollywood" was rather interesting, due to the columns breakdown of how the Hollywood scene unvailed itself. Journalists and the news was referred to as "Press has its evil eye in every house..." by Charles Dickens when he had visited the United States. When the press reached Hollywood, it established itself into something bigger than it ever was before. Gossip columns became the "in" thing, celebrities were made, photography was also a lending hand in exploiting this scene. News organizations found themselves tied to entertainment organizations, William Randolpf Hearst became a power in Hollywood when he set up his own film studio, Hearst was a newspaper publisher. The trend continued as newspapers, the Chicago Tribune and the Washington Post, became owners of radio and television stations. I feel that the press, journalists, and photographers made an era that was defined as the Hollywood scene, but eventually destroyed them by taking Hollywood over. The press controls these peoples lives.

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Anne Hull,a journalist for The Washington Post, had been a Pullitzer Prize finalist six times and a Nieman Fellow at Harvard. Reconstructed a crime committed by a teenager who lived in the projects pulled a gun to a policewoman's head and shot her. I feel that what Hull did was interesting but a little embarrassing. Just to get attention or yet another award, Hull exposed this young man. A nobody becomes a somebody from a little exposure, too much will get you burnt. I think this story compares to The Oprah Winfrey Show, Oprah sometimes takes a tragedy, exposes it, and then turns in into a cry for help. Leave these poor people alone, let them deal with this on their own, not the publics. If you want publicity, do it on your own time! I felt no different about this teenager after reading what Hull wrote, it did not affect me. I am not one for sympathy unless it deals with animal cruelty.

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Fuson, known for his long stories is now faced with the issue of writing a short article. A process that complicates such an esatblished newspaper writer. But, a short narrative goes a long way. A few sententences to explain something that can be long-winded gets the point across faster. I know that when I am faced with a long writing or reading, I sneer at it, sentences combine and the words become blurry, making it hard to understand what I am reading or writing. When I read or write a short story or article, I understand it more, and have less trouble analyzing it. A photo or brief sentence can sum the article up in a few words. A picture of a robbin can define that Spring is on the way, or a sentence such as "Rockin' Robbin gets a taste of warm weather".

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A 1938 OPINION AND PERSUASUIN CLASSIC-DOROTHY THOMPSON
I found this section to be relevant to the upcoming article that I will be writing. Mrs.Thompson, a journalist who wrote a column on media and mass delusion. Inspired by Orson Welles' 1938 radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds. Thompson called the event "the story of the century". Thompson meant that quote in two different ways, to say that it was "big news", and secondly that it had deeper meaning, embodied in the event was an important story about the century, in which media, politics, culture, and celebrity mix in a dangerous concauction. The article that I am writing about relates to culture, society, celebrity, and the media. The writer's strike has affected all three of those. The media is affected by their reporting on the strike, how they respond to the writers that are out of work. Celebrity wise, actors who perform on stage, talk, and television shows are now out of work because they are supported by the writers, and have relied on them for work. Without writers, there would be no dialogue. Maybe silent films will make a comeback! Society is affected majorally because we are the consumers of television, we are a couch potato nation, that demands bigger televisions to fill our minds with hours of fantasy, and pay astronomical cable bills so we can watch the life of a meercat. The strike has affected our culture as well. Our world is a diverse one, I feel though that television brings us closer together. We were all able to witness the Berlin Wall, for those who remember, crumbling down, broadcasted in other countries other than North America. There is a moral lesson to all of this. Writers deserve more money and benefits, they to have families to support. The underlying issue is not just the strike, it is how people's lives are affected.

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Ch. 13:
(212) I had learned that news often reached readers only after some lengthy wanderings, before settling into the pages of the newspaper, it might have traveled through the mails, through conversations and through other papers. The example given was from the Ney York Gazette and Mercury of Feb. 2, 1778: The Hartford Post told them that he saw a gentleman in Springfield who informed him that he saw a letter from an officer from the army that war was declared on the sides of France and Spain, against the mighty kingdom of Britain. It took that long to get to the paper, who knows what had happened between that time, an entire war could have dominated the states.
Ch. 14: The Moral War: The people who have done the most to advance the news are not always the most respected figures in the news business. Such figures are Rupert Murdoch and James Gordon Bennett, these figures are reviled and acclaimed. I guess one can be seen by the public as hated, while others love the work they have accompolished, depending on their views and opinions.

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I enoyed the section on Karl Marx: Journalist, who was a political radical between 1852&1862. Marx's most revolutionary journaliam came when he edited his own paper in Germany. When he came to control the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, using it to fight for the cause of Democracy. As Marx attempted to keep his newspaper writing going, he was banished from the city. Although I do not believe in Marxism, I still feel that Karl Marx fought for wjhat he believed in, trying to sell his ideas to the free press.

Posted by JeremyBarrick at 6:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I enoyed the section on Karl Marx: Journalist, who was a political radical between 1852&1862. Marx's most revolutionary journaliam came when he edited his own paper in Germany. When he came to control the Neue Rheinische Zeitung, using it to fight for the cause of Democracy. As Marx attempted to keep his newspaper writing going, he was banished from the city. Although I do not believe in Marxism, I still feel that Karl Marx fought for wjhat he believed in, trying to sell his ideas to the free press.

Posted by JeremyBarrick at 6:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

1. Interviews- I have e-mailed three people so far that I have gotten quotes from and more connections. The three people are: Dr. Arnzen, Denise Pullen, and the Writing Center.
2. I have not scheduled any interviews as of yet. I am waiting to hear back from a few before I schedule anything.
3. I would like to get a professional writer via e-mail, and some creative writing majors that want to enter the script or play writing field, it is a work in progress.
4. Background research: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21386389/, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/02/business/media/02cnd-hollywood.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin, http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/TV/11/05/hollywood.labor.ap.ap/, http://www.forbes.com/business/2007/11/05/hollywood-wga-update-biz-media-cx_lr_1105strike.html, http://www.wsws.org/articles/2007/nov2007/dems-n08.shtml, http://www.wsws.org/articles/2007/nov2007/writ-n16.shtml
5. Coming up with the angle was the toughest part of the assignment. I had come up with several, as they were not that good. Ex. How the strike will affect future writers from Seton Hill University. Or How the strike affects the candidates, Republican and Democratic, and the SHU government. How writers get paid for online work. I want to keep everything local, that is why I have been e-mailing contacts from SHU.
6. Lead: The Hollywood writer’s strike has affected more than just the West Coast, the strike has bled onto Broadway and the campus of Seton Hill University. Are students trying to elope from a major that may need a big bandage when its all done?
7. No key person. If all else fails, I will e-mail film schools in NYC and California, known for producing big named script writers, like George Lucas and Martin Scorcesee.
8. I may need the assistance of obtaining more e-mails, leads for my article. I may also require your help in coming up with a better angle, although I feel strong about a few of them.

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(40) "Readers increasingly
are aware that something is wrong with the way
the press is reporting crime and violence."
Just reporting the few will tune in an audience. When one adds statistics, then one is putting a math and science take on the story. I feel that people watch the news or read the newspaper to get a story that interests them, whether it is full or not, not to figure out a statistic (ex) 12 children were shot in a church on Sunday, but 2 children are strangled daily by their parents for not going to church on Sundays. Who cares, the story I want to watch on the tube is about the children who were shot in the church.

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“Scandal has a
thousand stringers, but good news can’t even
find the editor’s phone number.”
— William Raspberry, The Washington Post (38)
If negativity sells, then whey not? I believe that a negative bias will get the readers tuned in to the article more so than a positive take on the story. I want to read about the(ex) Earth crumbling and falling apart, not the birth of Madonna's new child, who owns a third of Green Peace, and will someday aid in the process of bandaging the Earths boo-boo. I don't think that most readers are optimistic.
“Digging investigative work is one of journalism’s
proudest genres. But presenting an accurate picture means showing the courage
and joy and victory that surrounds us, too. Avoid framing everything as conflict, letting
‘wedge’ issues drive the report. Emphasize substance over process. Don’t exaggerate
problems and pathologies. Behave as a citizen and a journalist: Report, write and edit
as if you care about where you live.”
Just because a reporter writes with a negative attitude does not mean they disrespect the subject at hand. I feel conflicted to this quote. I feel that sex sells and little ponies are rediculous.

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I was shocked to know that newspapers make alot of errors, but television gets even more criticism for their errors. I would certainly think that something in bold print would be more at blame than that of something on television, when a reporter could cover up more easily, or admit their fault right then and there on screen. "large percentage of the public is much more interested in corrections and clarifications than most newspapers apparently are" I think the case with the miners, in West Virginia, who were stuck would be classic evidence of this. Newspapers were reporting that the miners were all alive and well, to some extent, it turned out that they were all dead except for one person. Reporters were so quick to get this story out that they probably interviewed someone who was at the site, a relative of one of the miners, who overheard something they shouldn't have. I never thought the public cared as much for errors as newspapers would, I thought that covering up an error would damage a newspaper's reputation, if done frequently. It is understood why families, friends, and co-workers would be pissed over such a mistake. Report accurately, not quickly!

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Article 2 Pitches

(1) I want to do a story on the Hollywood writers strike, how different media reports on them (CNN, NY Times, MSNBC, and the Democratic Party). I have read in some reports that the writers do not make that much money, the equivalent of a teacher’s salary (conflict). I will do more in depth research on the strike, find actor’s opinions who were affected by the strike and some of the writers involved in it. I will also get quotes from Creative Writing majors at SHU, also the opinions of consumers (media) who live in the Greensburg surrounding areas. The angle I will take is, how the strike affects students who major in writing, and actors who are out of work while the strike is going on, possibly television shows that were cancelled. The hook is the affect on students.
(2) I want to do an article on small businesses in the Greensburg area, how they may be affected by the opening of the new performing arts center in, will the businesses sink or swim(conflict)? I will interview several businesses in the area as well as JoAnne Boyle, professors who will possibly work at the center, and freshmen who will get the chance to attend classes there, getting their opinions on the opening. The hook I will take is, the possible opening, does it affect only Drama majors? Or the entire university? I would like to report statistics of students, pro and con. (ex. Out of 100%, 30% said they were against the center, 70% reported that they were for the opening of the new center). The angle I will take, the prolonged opening of a new arts center for SHU, does that mean that small shops in the area will suffer? Or prosper? If small businesses are affected, then the school will be affected by a growing number of students coming into SHU.

Posted by JeremyBarrick at 7:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I found the section on Anne Hull interesting. Hull, a journalist for The Washington Post, had been a Pullitzer Prize finalist six times and a Nieman Fellow at Harvard. After a teenager in a public housing project put a gun to a police-woman's head during the sumer of 1993, Hull reconstructed the crime and its aftermath in a three-part series called "Metal to Bone". During the documentary, she played on the sympathy of the community by riding along with a special police squad, and interviewing Eugene, the teenage suspect, his family, and even sat through Eugene's trial and sentencing. I feel that going through the emotions of the suspect, the family, and the police department will gain the necessary publicity that she acquired by playing on emotions. It seems like a great story, Hull made it a little to dramatic for my taste.

Posted by JeremyBarrick at 11:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

SETON HILL UNIVERSITY NEW MEDIA JOURNALISM CONTEST ENTRY
FORM

Please print or type

SCHOOL____________________________

STREET ADDRESS____________________________

CITY______________ STATE (PROVINCE) _________ ZIP___________

JUDGING CLASSIFICATION

1. Type of Institution
 Senior High School (9-12) or (10-12)

2. Is there a journalism class in the school? Yes  No
If yes, must the staff be in that class? Yes  No

3.What year did this publication begin? __________

CONTACT INFORMATION

Name ___________________________________

Contact Phone Number (_____)_________________

E-MAIL address ______________@_____

Street Address___________________________________
City__________________________ State___________ Zip________

Deadline November 26th 2007
Submissions are at the discretion of the person in charge of the newspaper.
Length-Undetermined
Topic-Undetermined
Prizes will be announced after the contest/ Student & Teacher will be Notified Via
E-Mail
Return Information:
Please return submissions to: Jeremy Barrick
425 Brandon Street
Apt. b
Greensburg, Pa
15601 E-Mail @ zoopiegbv20@hotmail.com

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Part 1. Lab Report.

The Setonian has produced its third issue, volume 89, on October 31,2007. Jeremy Barrick, a once contributer to the newspaper, has become an official staff writer, as he had written his third article for The Setonian entitled "Greensburg businesses provide shopping variety" , the article discusses how the buisnesses of his, Barrick, home town, Greensburg, suffer when a Wal-Mart is built in the area, eventually the small buisnesses fall into ruin when this occurrs. Barrick had also done the photography for his story, and assited in the distribution. Barrick had not yet contributed to any work at the office of The Setonian, but plans to in the future. In a statement by Barrick, he stated " I am proud of myself this semester, I have done more on the school newspaper than I had ever thought I would", he continued on to say "During the next production of the paper, I am going to go to the office and help copy edit, I also would like to do the photography for the fourth issue." Barrick and his coursemates are in the class EL200, it is a Media Lab that focuses on the production of The Setonian by getting students to help out by writing, distributing, photography, copy editing, cleaning the office, and just coming down to lend a hand. The course is mostly made up of freshmen who are fairly new to journalism, although some of them have worked on their high school newspaper, this course is one of 4 media labs to be taken in accordinance with a Journalism degree at SHU, Media Lab focuses on something new each semester, this year it is the history of news, also the name of the book used in the course, written by Mitchell Stephens. The Setonian has two versions, one an online version, the other type is in print form, the paper carries both, to cater to those who prefere to read online and those who prefere to read a newspaper. Barrick has hopes of becoming a professional writer, as he utilizes his own unique style of writing, "I would love to become the next Hunter S. Thompson , but the world has already witnessed that, I want to create my own style, I want to make my own name for myself, to achieve this, I will have to dissassociate myself from the confines of practical style" stated Barrick during an interview, at a book store, in which he was autographing his latest article in The Setonian.

Part 2. Progress on term project.

I have gotten alot completed on my term project, by myself, the project this semester is a journalism contest. I have already gotten the addresses of the high schools, the envelopes, stamps, and the submission form. I had recently revised an older version of a high school journalism contest. As one partner to the aid of the contest had dropped out, I used my strategy wisely and picked up a new one, Michell Polly, so far Polly has shown interest in the contest, as she has been very active in the pre-production of it. The next order or buisness I want to achieve for the journalism contest is mailing out the submission forms with a pamphlet on Seton Hill University, describing the university as well as the New Media Journalism department. Befor any thing is sent out, I will have it proofread by Dr. Jerz.
Part 3. Informal self-assment.
I have been blogging on my readings, as well as coming up with agenda items each week. Chapters 6&7.
Chapters 8&9. Chapters 10&11. I had left comments on Maddie Gillespie's blog. There weren't too many students blogging on the chapters or posting their blog entries. As far as the history of journalism goes, I think it is drab. I get nothing out of the text other than trivial knowledge, do you think I will be sitting in an interview, and the interviewer will ask me "do you know the year paper was invented? I am not slamming the course, just the text!

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What I found interesting about these chapters was the section "News of Business-The Speed of the Newspaper" a read in that section states "Letters and word of mouth, like that exchanged at London's coffeehouses, were disseminating much of the news." "at that time the newspaper was becoming an economic force in the second half of the 17th century." Th relationship between news and buisness-that established in marketplaces as it was strenghtened by the handwritten letter-would later become formalized in the newspaper. Early printed weeklies began to attract merchants, traders, and financiers booth with reports on Continental and customized events. Word of mouth and letters gaveway to the newspaper, a periodical printed weekly that spread news throughout England. During the late 1600s London witnessed a journalistic explosion that produced a wide variety of vigorous and frequent periodicals. Most of the papers out at that time included "post" in the title, the papers relied heavily on the post for news, and that journalists proved no adventure in their choice of titles.
Samuel Adams wrote in 1768, There is nothing so terrible and vexatious, nothing so justly TERRIBLE to tyrants, and their tools and abettors, as a FREE PRESS.--------AHHHH! That's one reason I chose to become a journalist.

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Coverage:
IANS: Introduction & Chapter 1. Chapters 2-4. Chapters 5&6.
Chapters 7&8. Chapters 9&10.
Depth:
The Prince by Michaivelli was the last book I had read, so I will discuss this in depth. The Prince is a concept book rather than a romance or murder mystery novel. A bit on the conservative side, rather than a discussion on liberal views, I still enjoyed the read, as I had read it several times. Used as a guide for the role of leadership, The Prince has and still is used by many leaders of countries that want to rule effectively. The Prince has supposedly been used by George Bush jr. in his rule of the Bush Administration. "as I have said, to be rapacious, and to be a violator of the property and women of his subjects, from both of which he must abstain. And when neither their property nor honour is touched, the majority of men live content, and he has only to contend with the ambition of a few, whom he can curb with ease in many ways.", this quote can be interperted several ways, I had construed it only one way, as a defaming of males. The author should have come out and called all men "PIGS". "Women of his subjects", isn't that sexest? A bit on the old fashion side. Modern day man does not react that way. As they never should have. Control I believe is the underlying theme of The Prince.
Interaction:
I will list one student for every chapter that I have left a comment on their blog.Tiffany Gilbert, Intro and Chapter 1. Jackie Johns , Chapters 2-4. Bethany Merryman, Chapters 5&6. Corey Struss, Chapters 7&8. Daniella Choynowski, Chapters 9&10.
Discussions:
The blog I had written on Chapters 2-4 stemmed some reaction from a classmate. The coursemate was in agreement with me on that fact that percentages really do not mean much. Numbers add up to nothing eventually. Who cares about the percentage of men who have erectile dysfunction, I don't, it doesn't apply to me. Data and statistics are just babble to me.
Timeliness:
The interview with JoAnne Boyle, president of Seton Hill University, sparked comments on my blog. My blog, "The Official Meeting of President Boyle", several students commented on the need to expand the media department at SHU by adding radio broadcasting.
Xenoblogging:
3 students I commented on, that I feel comfortable with are: Tiffany Gilbert "Do we ever get the information we really want?", Jackie Johns, "Are journalists now doing a multitude of objectives other than writing?" Corey Struss, "Television is a pollutant"
Wildcard:
My favorite blog, this year, that I feel confident with is entitled "Dreams of Fudgecicles and Marshmellow Balloons" I feel this shows my ability to be serious and humorous at the same time.

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In light of things that are necessary to learn the fundementals of journalism, I read "It Ain't Necessarily So" to get a better understanding of the relationships betweem journalists, scientists, and the public. The introduction and chapter one set up the rest of the chapters to make any kind of sense about scientific findings and how journalists present them. EL 227 also had the chance to interview JoAnne Boyle, the president of Seton Hill University. What an experience for such an inexperienced class. In Newswriting, students are taught in depth the ins and outs of journalism. The class is given exercises to expand their minds on the subject. Another way of doing that was through workbooks, several of them are given throughout the semester. Workbook 8 dealt with statistics. Newswriting EL227 is an interesting class to take at SHU, a must for anyone choosing a degree in journalism or any type of writing profession.

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I found the chapter to be particularly interesting. We do blame the messenger for speaking the message to us, is it their fault? No. The section on Global Warming: "If it's Not the Heat, Is It the Cupidity?" This section looks in depth at two sides of the Global Warming argument, that is ongoing, the skeptic side vs. the enviromentalists. One group debates that the tempeture will only increase between 0.8* and 3.5* Centigrade by the year 2100, skeptics believe. The other side, enviromentalists, stresss the urgency of the global climate change. Obviously the enviromentalists are more of the activists on this subject, so they tend to become more argumentative. The source of the skeptics findings are often called upon by enviromental activists rather than the skeptics arguments. "...much though not all funding for research comes from sources with at least some mild preference for particular substantive findings" Ex. Greenpeace funds a project, focusing on oil spills that have come up on shore, killing all the wild life that encounter it, due to oil drilling off of the Atlantic Ocean. The findings you want to know about may not be the findings you need. "A single expanation, in short, shouldn't automatically cause us to ignore alternatives" Do not focus on one argument of the subject when there is more than one side to it.

Posted by JeremyBarrick at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)