The past week of class was a bit frustrating for me, and it wasn't due to the class material. My computer breaking last weekend put a damper on my ability to participate in class and I also had a WGRE commitment, but I still feel that I learned a pretty decent amount about SoundSlides on Monday. I think it's a great program. It's undoubtedly an application that I can use in the future for media related projects. It's easier than users expect and it allows for an easy upload of both photo albums and audio. I thank Marilyn and Chris for showing the class over the past couple weeks about how to use the program. I am somewhat worried now without a computer on how to tackle my project. My original project is all but lost and none of my computers at home have Sound Sides. I am hoping that I can resolve the situation because I plan on using great photos from The Ohio State University for my project. Additionally, I felt working on the videos we created with Larry using Vegas was a learning experience. I am used to working with Final Cut Pro, but I feel Vegas is now another viable option for my future video projects.

In terms of the article I chose from the N.Y.T., it was about politics. I haven't really referred to the Republican race in a while and I feel that it is reaching its tipping point. The article, paired next to a similar one about the Romney camp, is entitled, Santorum Takes on Urban America, and His Own Party. It is my belief that Santorum is all but finished. The article is more or less a personal account from Santorum describing how he believes that he is the only true conservative candidate. Santorum's depiction of the race is that he has an advantage in Republican areas and has the ability to win moderate areas as well. Contrarily Romney is the democrat, winning urban areas. Therefore, Santorum poses more of a realistic threat to counter a liberal Obama.

Although I feel that the latter statement is a fallacy, Santorum failed to win Illinois, but dominated Louisiana keeping him in the race with more mainstream Republican areas. Maybe it is true. Maybe a conservative outcrop will give Santorum an advantage over Romeny in party viability. I think that the N.Y.T. did a nice job of comparing both Romney and Santorum in objective ways. The way they framed the article centered around letting the candidate and voters tell the story. They also took a different slant on the race, posing a different viewpoint on how Santorum can win the race. Objectivity and originalism were key elements to this story making it a must read story in the political landscape. It is not a simple regurgitation of the basic elements of the race, who wins what states. It provides a thoughtful analysis of what is to come and how the Republican race can play out in the future in hopes to beat Obama. I feel that this story is also concise and an example of truly classy reporting, a huge element of iron core news that should be the basis for our knowledge about not just politics, but other important topics.

As a democrat, I also feel increasingly more safe about an Obama victory. I'll just let the Republican candidates bicker and split their ideals among the base so we can find another victory in 2012

College Drinking

To start out, I felt this week was another great week of productivity.We put a lot of practical media practices to work throughout the week and I had fun in the process. I felt the most helpful presentation was The Soundslides rotation. I didn't really know how to use this program at all going in and I came out with a great, basic knowledge of how to use the program. I found that it was a very easy and mainstream way to accomplish. I was able to put together a pretty respectable presentation with audio that I can use in my projects not just for Media Fellows but into the future. I look forward to continuing work on my projects and delving into my story on meth use in the Putnam County Area.

As for my article, I felt that the selection I chose about drinking rates over Spring Break time for college students would be prevalent. The article entitled "Spring Break Gets Tamer With World Watching Online." The article gives a new perspective of what most people would consider a generation with more liberal boundaries than the one that came before.

Twitter and Facebook are also seen by many as websites that have a negative influence on teens because it creates a largely impersonal experience with peer groups. The article gives an alternate perspective, a job of hard news. Even though thousands of college students flock Key West, Florida for spring break, many bartenders in the article claimed these students are from the 'prude' brand, and do not engage in as many risky behaviors.

The latter stems from teens recognizing that one bad photo can lead to a firing or difficulty in trying to find a job. Many young people hide beer cans in photos or try to stay out of them altogether in fear of being judged by out of context photos on the internet. So, in a sense, these websites for the better or worse have acted a taming mechanism that disallows young people from choosing to commit regrettable acts.

I find this article to be an essential component of hard news. I think one of Jones' main points is informing the public to the best possible degree. With this inherent responsibility to take a story and give an alternate perspective with a new element of truth. Without reading this article I would even perceive Facebook and Twitter as casual sites, but when you think about using them in the context of the professional or academic world, the results are much more important. This is a story that epitomizes the variance in stories covered in the N.Y.T. another principle of Losing the News. A story like this one can change perspectives of those who judge too quickly and lays out a new trend in society that shows how younger generations have evolved. Within this story lies the small story and the big story, a change in young people's overall societal standards. Without a larger context to a local or regional event, the story will cease to be hard news.

Putin Wins, Election Fraud Possible

Before I dive into my article from the N.Y.T., I want to discuss class the past week. One of my complaints was a lack of hands on experience with the class, and I now feel that we are starting to get more into an interactive section of the class. I am extremely happy to move forward with this class after laying some groundwork.

I enjoyed each class the past week because, in terms of practicality, it was the most productive week in Media Fellow this semester. The first class with Chris Newton for me was nice because I learned how to use Audacity effectively and import audio clips to edit with the program. As an aspiring broadcaster, this skill is important for me. It is made even more prevalent to learn Audacity considering I will be making my demo reel for the STAA's soon.

The next two classes were just as valuable. Doug is a cool dude. He definitely relates to the students well and gave me a refresher course on how to properly conduct lighting for video. That was important from my perspective as someone who also wants to get back into the television seen with D3TV. The photojournalism class was pretty great as well. It was interesting to hear what makes a photo great and the rule of thirds for taking a photograph that I had completely forgotten to consider after having learned it in high school. Definitely a productive round of classes.

As for my article, it was in the Monday, March 5th edition. It was entitled, "Putin Wins But Opposition Keeps Pressure." In relating this article to Jones, one must consider that a hard news story is not complete without a variety of sources. This article did one of the best jobs I have seen in a front page article describing the situation in full using a variety of sources, all of which related to the story.

Part of also making an effective news story is taking out the spin, because such a tactic is more on the lines of Yellow journalism. Well, in addressing Putin's victory in a beyond superficial way, it is interesting to see the issues of contention with this election. Although Putin won in a landslide, winning a six year term, the legitimacy of his victory is not set in stone. The communist party was furious because they viewed this election as another move by a fascist regime. Putin has received a lot of criticism and this article framed those opinions with an extremely objective framework.

I found it fascinating that even in a country like Russia, election fraud is still extremely prevalent. Even in this election, Putin's clan was convicted of "carousel voting"; the act of having one individual vote at multiple polling locations. Putin was also accused of "centralized voting,"forcing individuals at a given workplace to vote a certain way under economic threats.

The article goes on to describe how some individuals find Putin's stability as a leader to far outweigh the communist, left wing radical option. But, with the multiple perspectives available in the article, we see that some feel that this election was not fair and the percentage of the vote for Putin is flawed. Protests have ensued, marking another tenuous election in this country.

The information does a fantastic job of synthesizing the important information, while giving a comprehensive framework of the political system in Russia. I feel that just from this news story, I feel a broader sense of awareness about the perils that those voting in Russia still face. Hopefully, they can one day achieve a fair democracy.

Past Week and Jobs in America

The past week of class in Media Fellows was not totally what I expected. I think the class lacked pertinent information and structure, because I honestly don't remember much about it. I had talked about interactivity with the class in my previous posts, and I didn't feel this was accomplished with the multimedia part of this class. This past week was simply lecture and on that point, I don't think it was effective as I would have liked. My classmates can attest to this. Granted, I did learn a great amount about journalism from Professor Tatge. I think the most I took out of this week's classes was what makes a story? Well, it just can't be interesting because that doesn't always indicate depth and just because one finds a story interesting doesn't make the story interesting in a universal sense. We watched a series of videos that progressively advanced toward a pertinent story, and that was cool. The video about the man alone in his home, though it could have been larger in scope, was a very in-depth presentation. The other side to this debate, is small-story vs. big-story. A good story has both of these components. Any type of story has to have a goal in mind, and that is the biggest thing I've learned from Professor Tatge, always keep digging.

As for my article I read in the N.Y.T., it was entitled Where the Jobs are, the Training Might be Missing. This was a very in depth article. I think its a story you wouldn't find anywhere else because it takes an alternate slant to a very common issue in domestic politics, we need more jobs! The article points out that for the markets in which jobs are needed, the training for them at the post-high school education level is simply not available. Programs such as nursing are being cut. For example, in North Carolina where the latter occupation is needed, schools have had to cut the programs for a lack of subsidies given by the government to fund them. Therefore, schools with nursing programs have to put students on waiting lists, and there is also a waiting list for the waiting list. The problem is deeply rooted in poor economics and a lack of decision making from state governments.

These governments must recognize education as the bread and butter for future successes and job growth. According to the article, "studies show that an educated populace leads to faster economic growth and a more stable democracy." When programs such as computer science and math are cut, other countries such as China and Japan take advantage.

The democrats recognize these problems, and President Obama recently proposed he $8 billion federal stimulus of sorts for community colleges. Getting at the root of the problem will helpful grow our waning job force.

The analysis and progression of this article is fantastic. Realistically, so many stories could have been written from the ideas in this article alone. The synthesis of these ideas into a cohesive piece that ties together is brilliant reporting. The article exemplifies that more aspects of society are interrelated than one may think. The root of the problems in America are not always are simple as they are made out to be.