October 2007 Archives

"What the mass media reports about hazards-which ones they select for emphasis and what information they present about them-becomes crucial in shaping public perceptions of hazards and their attendant risks."  It's really sad that scientists and activists have to put a dramatic spin on facts or "offer up scary scenarios" in order for the media to report important information to the public.  Breast cancer awareness is completely out of control-and I'm saying this as a woman- I'm aware already!  We're inundated everything from pink keyrings to pink mixmasters (seriously, who's going to put that in their kitchen?) because of all the hype.  Who ever came up with the little pink ribbon campaign was a genius because it's generating huge amounts of money and that's all the way from Wall St. "These efforts have borne obvious fruits, in the form of heightened media attention and increased governmental funding for breat cancer research."  Not only are women aware, they're obsessed.  The other cancer associations need to learn a few tricks from the pink people. 

I still don't get the hang of blogging.  There should be a button to click on that says send and that should be it.  I don't think I'm asking for too much because everyday they're coming out with avanced technology why aren't they making blogging any easier if it's so popular?  My plan is to bypass the blogging scene-ignorance is bliss-and hope there is going to be so new phenomena by the time my kids are old enough to know how to use it and then they can show me.  I don't know if age has anything to do with it, but I can't stand technology.  The only reason I have a cell phone is in case my kids get sick at school.  Other than that, what ever it is can wait until I get home.  I only gave my number to a few people, because, as I stated earlier, I don't want bothered.  My best friend, Laurie, however, is fascinated with her cell phone.  I don't know how many voice messages and texts she left before my mailbox filled up and she asked me why I don't listen to my messages.  I don't understand the purpose of leaving a message on a cell phone when I have a phone at home.  I don't have time to screw around checking fifty different mailboxes everyday.  If it's that important you'll get a hold of me.  This leads me to texts.  This has got to be the stupidest thing invented.  Are you that lazy that you can't pick up the phone and call?  Not only that If I want to press the letter c I have to press the button three times.  Do I sound like Archie Bunker?  Everywhere I look people are looking under their desks texting one another and it's annoying and rude.  When I teach I'm going to blow a gasket at the first person to pull this trick because people have no idea how disrespectful technology has made them. THe whole time you're talking to them, they're texting down by their thigh, and don't even know how rude they are.  Now on to driving with cell phones.  I'm lucky I can drive and find a radio station at the same time let alone have a conversation wtih my mother.  So now you've got some teenager who's only been driving for six months with three of her friends in the car, the radio's blaring and the driver's got a conversation going on her cell,"Brad asked me to the dance, but I want to go with Craig..." and trying to read a text from Josh at the same time. Do you want to be on the road with this clowncar?  So far the farthest I've gotten technology wise is an MP3 player and that was a big jump-but I'm happy with it.Which is more than I can say for blogging

The first quote from chapter 5 discussing the fact that two bits of data do not contradict one another, but can be read two different ways is not rocket science.  The media knows exactly how to read the numbers so that they seem a certain way.  However, if Joe Sho reporter who didn't major in physics understands this concept, then why doesn't the average American sitting at home reading the morning paper?  It's also the job of the journalist to be totally objective and to keep any bias out of the wording.  If a journalist has to think about keeping predjudice seperate from work then why enter the journalism industry.?  Chapter 6 focused on how poll outcomes are gotten.  Instead of taking the results at face value, you should pollsters.  Once again, this is not rocket science.  This just goes back to everything we've learned in class since day one - verify or duck.

I was pleasantnly surprised that Dr. Boyle agreed to drop in on our class.  She was really open to our questions and went out of way to answer everything.  She encouraged comments and feetback and made us at ease, which is something I'm not sure will happen at a real press conference.  I like the way she handled Corey's question about the booing in the cafeteria due to the announcement of the football team.  She has probably heard that question a thousand times before, but handles it with greace.  She was also very receptive to new ideas such as a radio station and went out of way to explain everything such an endeavor would entail.  I can't like, I don't like watching the news, press conferences, or the State of the Union Address.  I could not be this type of journalist because I find it annoying, but can see how someone else finds it exciting.

Here is a collection of my blogs that I have worked on for the first half of the semester.

Different Hooks-`(Timeliness/Coverage, Depth, Interaction)

Rape Report-(Timeliness/Coverage, Depth)

Crime articles-(Timeliness/Coverage, Depth)

Interacion

Mitchell's Blogg: Some unnerving trends?

These are my blogs for the first half of the smester, and I can see what I do have to work on to get better at this blogging portion of the class. I look forward to interacting more with my classmates to get the most of the class readings and classwork.