For my blog this week I found a clip of legendary singer-song writer Bob Dylan discussing case, specifically the difference between who and whom. This obviously fits in perfectly with what we have been learning in lab and what we were just tested on before spring break.
Dylan's tutorial on case was inspired after playing Bo Diddley's song "Who Do You Love?" on his Sirius XM Radio segment called "Theme Time Radio Hour."
After all of our discussion on case, I know that in the sentence "Who do you love?" the 'you' is the subject to the verbs 'do love,' therefore leaving 'who' without a verb. Since 'who' cannot be a subject without a verb, 'who' should really be 'whom' in this sentence. Bo Diddley obviously never took Journalism 420 with Jean McDonald or he would have known better to title his song so ungrammatically.
To here Dylan's explanation of the great who/whom debate in that famous raspy voice of his, click here.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Week 7
Yet another week with no specific assignment. By now you might have noticed that on weeks like this I tend to veer towards the pop culture side of journalism, and, yes, that's where I'm headed this week as well.
I was actually doing homework for a different journalism class when I found my topic for this week: USA Today's pop culture blog titled Pop Candy.
This blog is dedicated to absolutely all aspects of popular culture, whether it is movies, television shows, books, music, etc. The blogger, Whitney Matheson, gives her opinions on the shows people should be watching and the ones they shouldn't waste their time one; movies past and present that she's seen lately and what she thought of them; and books and songs her readers should give a try.
Of course I love how I can get my fill of celeb gossip at the blog, but what I truly love most is how interactive Pop Candy is. There is a "Candy Mailbag," where Matheson answers questions from her readers like, "I've been trying to figure out how to get a reservation at Hell's Kitchen but I cannot find it. Can you help me out?" or "I loved the green hoodie Shane was wearing on the L Word finale. Where can I buy it?"
Another feature on the blog I enjoyed is titled "Pop Forum: Meet Today's Featured Reader," where one of her loyal readers gets their picture and a few finish-the-sentence blurbs posted on the blog. One question Matheson always makes the featured reader answer is "One famous person I've actually met," which is followed with the story on how they came across the celebrity. A picture of the featured reader and said celebrity is almost always posted as proof of the encounter.
Overall it's a truly great pop culture blog for anyone who is interested in hearing about new books, movies, music, etc. in an interactive fashion. I for one can see myself going back and checking Matheson's posts in the future.
I was actually doing homework for a different journalism class when I found my topic for this week: USA Today's pop culture blog titled Pop Candy.
This blog is dedicated to absolutely all aspects of popular culture, whether it is movies, television shows, books, music, etc. The blogger, Whitney Matheson, gives her opinions on the shows people should be watching and the ones they shouldn't waste their time one; movies past and present that she's seen lately and what she thought of them; and books and songs her readers should give a try.
Of course I love how I can get my fill of celeb gossip at the blog, but what I truly love most is how interactive Pop Candy is. There is a "Candy Mailbag," where Matheson answers questions from her readers like, "I've been trying to figure out how to get a reservation at Hell's Kitchen but I cannot find it. Can you help me out?" or "I loved the green hoodie Shane was wearing on the L Word finale. Where can I buy it?"
Another feature on the blog I enjoyed is titled "Pop Forum: Meet Today's Featured Reader," where one of her loyal readers gets their picture and a few finish-the-sentence blurbs posted on the blog. One question Matheson always makes the featured reader answer is "One famous person I've actually met," which is followed with the story on how they came across the celebrity. A picture of the featured reader and said celebrity is almost always posted as proof of the encounter.
Overall it's a truly great pop culture blog for anyone who is interested in hearing about new books, movies, music, etc. in an interactive fashion. I for one can see myself going back and checking Matheson's posts in the future.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Week 6
Last week we watched the video about the last days of the Rocky Mountain News, a daily newspaper in Denver that has been around for almost 150 years. As journalism students, we constantly hear about the diminishing future of print journalism, so much so that I feel as though I've become immune to news of newspapers folding. My point is that if our teacher had just said, "Today was the last issue of the Rocky Mountain News," I wouldn't have been phased much; but actually watching the documentary and hearing the stories of the Rocky's loyal staff and readers, I was saddened.
So, for my blog entry this week I decided to explore the Rocky's website. Among many features, I found the blog section and fittingly all of the most recent blogs are in tribute to the last days of the beloved newspaper.
The blog I've decided to talk about was written by staff writer and media critic Dave Kopel, and can be found here.
I liked Kopel's blog for many reasons. Firstly, he urges all of the loyal fans of the Rocky to please subscribe to their old competition, The Denver Post, because "a city with one major daily is a lot better than a city with none at all." However, at the same time he stays faithful to his paper, stating that he personally finds that the Rocky covered many stories that the Post did not bother with and covered them thoroughly, as opposed the superficial coverage of some of the Post's stories.
Kopel then goes into the specifics of why newspapers like the Rocky are folding: the internet. He states that although papers gain readership by posting online, they also lose quite a bit of revenue by doing that as well. Likewise, an advertisement online is only one-tenth as effective as a print ad in a newspaper, so with more readers getting their news online, ad revenue obviously decreases. Because of reasons like this, newspapers like the Rocky will continue to fall victim to the internet.
A last thought of Kopel's that I appreciated had to do with those people who only rely on online news. Sure, that quick and convenient, but what Kopel said in reply to this is what really stuck with me: that at the end of the day those online "news sources" get their information from news reporters. And what happens if their are no newspapers, and consequently no true news reporters, left to retrieve that news?
Hopefully it will never reach that point, but I guess only time will tell.
So, for my blog entry this week I decided to explore the Rocky's website. Among many features, I found the blog section and fittingly all of the most recent blogs are in tribute to the last days of the beloved newspaper.
The blog I've decided to talk about was written by staff writer and media critic Dave Kopel, and can be found here.
I liked Kopel's blog for many reasons. Firstly, he urges all of the loyal fans of the Rocky to please subscribe to their old competition, The Denver Post, because "a city with one major daily is a lot better than a city with none at all." However, at the same time he stays faithful to his paper, stating that he personally finds that the Rocky covered many stories that the Post did not bother with and covered them thoroughly, as opposed the superficial coverage of some of the Post's stories.
Kopel then goes into the specifics of why newspapers like the Rocky are folding: the internet. He states that although papers gain readership by posting online, they also lose quite a bit of revenue by doing that as well. Likewise, an advertisement online is only one-tenth as effective as a print ad in a newspaper, so with more readers getting their news online, ad revenue obviously decreases. Because of reasons like this, newspapers like the Rocky will continue to fall victim to the internet.
A last thought of Kopel's that I appreciated had to do with those people who only rely on online news. Sure, that quick and convenient, but what Kopel said in reply to this is what really stuck with me: that at the end of the day those online "news sources" get their information from news reporters. And what happens if their are no newspapers, and consequently no true news reporters, left to retrieve that news?
Hopefully it will never reach that point, but I guess only time will tell.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Week 5
I found this week's blog assignment to be slightly challenging. I believe that all of the pictures do a great job of telling the story at hand, but then again when I think about whether or not it would be ethical to publish some of those photos, the line between informing readers and respecting the people in the pictures and their families, becomes very blurred.
After much consideration I decided that I would publish all of the photos in the first group. Dwyer called the press conference on his own and knew that reporters and photographers with cameras would show up and snap pictures of the event. He could have taken is life in the privacy of his own home or anywhere, but he decided to hold a press conference in order to do it. Therefore, I think getting the pictures published was probably his goal. Also, the pictures are not graphic so I see no harm in the publication of them.
Of the next group, I would publish the first and fourth pictures only and I would only publish them if it was necessary. Both are very good pictures because they are so full of emotion. However, both of the boys' faces are very clear in the photos, which is one of the reasons I would hesitate to publish them, as they are both so young. But since it is a dead animal instead of a dead human in the first picture and since the boy in the fourth picture ended up being fine, if the picture was necessary and relevant to the story, I would publish it.
As far as the other three pictures go, I would not publish them, whether or not it was locally. The second and third photo both show a dead human being, which I would find to be inappropriate and disrespectful to both the deceased as well as their families if published.
I found the last picture to be downright disgusting. I would absolutely never even consider publishing a photo of a woman being sexually assaulted by dozens of men with smiles on their faces. The blurred face does not make publishing the picture okay; the woman did not deserve the sexual assault and she would not deserve the publication of this photo.
After much consideration I decided that I would publish all of the photos in the first group. Dwyer called the press conference on his own and knew that reporters and photographers with cameras would show up and snap pictures of the event. He could have taken is life in the privacy of his own home or anywhere, but he decided to hold a press conference in order to do it. Therefore, I think getting the pictures published was probably his goal. Also, the pictures are not graphic so I see no harm in the publication of them.
Of the next group, I would publish the first and fourth pictures only and I would only publish them if it was necessary. Both are very good pictures because they are so full of emotion. However, both of the boys' faces are very clear in the photos, which is one of the reasons I would hesitate to publish them, as they are both so young. But since it is a dead animal instead of a dead human in the first picture and since the boy in the fourth picture ended up being fine, if the picture was necessary and relevant to the story, I would publish it.
As far as the other three pictures go, I would not publish them, whether or not it was locally. The second and third photo both show a dead human being, which I would find to be inappropriate and disrespectful to both the deceased as well as their families if published.
I found the last picture to be downright disgusting. I would absolutely never even consider publishing a photo of a woman being sexually assaulted by dozens of men with smiles on their faces. The blurred face does not make publishing the picture okay; the woman did not deserve the sexual assault and she would not deserve the publication of this photo.
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