Week Five: Video, Audio, and Mars

I’d like to start by saying that not only am I doing an audio/video project on the Lilly renovations, but the newspaper also asked me to write a story about them. Way to do this multimedia! *self-five

Classes this week were interesting—now I anticipate learning lots about audio mixing and using microphones (my computer audio is awful), as well as using B footage in videos to fill out the awkward spaces in interviews. Lisa Pratt’s lecture about Mars rovers on Wednesday was interesting—one thing that particularly fascinated me was her acknowledgment of science fiction’s influence on actual scientific ideas. That was something I didn’t expect, but, then, “truth is stranger than fiction” might hold here.

My article choice for this week is from Wednesday’s issue: “Justices Reject Legal Challenge to Surveillance.” It just caught my eye, especially since I grew up with the Patriot Act. I glanced at it before watching Charlie Wilson’s War and then finished afterward. With a five to four vote, a challenge to the government’s ability of further eavesdropping on phones and emails was overruled. What I’ve heard is that this type of power fluctuates depending on the national state, with power shifting more to the people in times of peace and sidling toward the government during war. This may be gross oversimplification, but the theory does make sense. Here’s a hard-hitting quote: “‘Absent a radical sea change from the courts, or more likely intervention from the Confgress, the coffin is slamming shut on the ability of private citizens and civil liberties groups to challenge government counterterrorism policies, with the possible exception of Guantanamo,’ said Stephen I. Vladeck, a law professor at American University.” I do not like hearing this as an American citizen, especially when the answer is right there in improper search and seizure, fourth amendment. Maybe I’m getting a bit too political in these blogs, but I think these sentiments help get across what I’m taking away from the article. As usual, I wouldn’t have seen this if not for the New York Times. It seems like one of those things that might’ve popped up on my Facebook newsfeed, but if it did, I never saw it. This doesn’t make it any less newsworthy. Anything having to do with our rights is newsworthy. In fact, it seems that the more newsworthy something is, the less it will be circulated. Few people care about newsworthy stuff anymore, to sound off; it’s all about the ratings and/or entertainment industry. I agree with Postman—it’s horrifically like Brave New World.