Last Friday we heard Dave Weatherwax, photographer for the South Bend
Tribune. His lecture was pretty interesting. What stood out for me,
however, was his point that some local story beat Bin Ladin’s capture
for the front page story and picture. Pardon the strong reaction that is
to follow, but... what the hell? Is small town media really that
self-absorbed? I understand that a drastic occurrence hitting a little
closer to home (literally) is the easier draw, but why not at least put a
little of both stories on the front page rather than allow a huge photo
to hog all the room? (Yes, I understand that this is in direct
contradiction to the lecture, but... I think what I think.) This is
nothing against Dave--it’s more a question for the editor than
anything--and most newspapers in smaller towns are surely in this vein
of thinking, but I just find it ridiculous to condone the insular frame
of mind that is exhibited by many Americans today.
On Monday we were graced with the presence of Kim McDaniel who works with various media for the Salt Lake Tribune. I didn’t really understand the ideas surrounding various online media, but the manner in which the Salt Lake Tribune,
a print source, connected to audiences using Facebook, Twitter, etc.
was really fascinating, especially in how it reached differing
demographics. I think it ties in really well with Losing The News in that the Tribune,
along with many other papers, is doing what’s necessary to
survive--going multimedia. I only know what Facebook and Twitter are and
have no clue about anything other platform mentioned, but I think I got
the gist of it: online media are being integrated into print news.
Papers are reaching out to new audiences by expanding their output to
online media. It’s neat.
Wednesday
might’ve been my favorite class this week. Even though I couldn’t
really relate to Jill’s stories about the Ellen (Degeneres?) show, her
enthusiasm was infectious. Besides, I’ve always wanted to go to
Australia. What she said about working her way up by doing tasks quickly
and thinking on her feet is applicable to most any occupation, so I did
appreciate that bit of advice. I learned from Alyssa the benefit of
interning at smaller locations. She mentioned getting to do a lot of
things while she was in Paducah, KY, even directing a little bit.
There’s the logical progression of everybody knowing each other and then
the also obvious idea of less people, more work. It sounds vastly
appealing. I enjoyed Dave’s talk and appreciated that he disagreed with
the commonly-held belief that downloading songs was leading to the music
industry’s demise. I did wonder why he wasn’t in the School of Music if
he aspired to be a musician as early as college, but I forgot to ask.
Whoops.
Talking
to Angie over Skype on Friday was really cool because before college,
I’d listened to NPR for most of my life. Now that I don’t own a radio or
a car, it’s less practical to do so. However, I’ve always been
impressed by the balanced perspectives. (At a young age I recognized
this; Dad never failed to scream at an opposing viewpoint, provided it
was dumb enough.) Of course NPR also exudes a quality in its news output
that is nothing to be sneezed at. It’s the only source I trust that
isn’t a newspaper. Anyhow, what I found perhaps most interesting about
Angie’s lecture was the fact that NPR receives no government funding. I
knew that they pushed the donations from listening to the show so often,
but I guess I didn’t realize why.
For
this week’s article analysis, I chose Friday’s “With Police in Schools,
More Children in Court.” So far police officers are creating new
problems, and it’s unclear as to whether or not they’re solving the
problem at hand. (The NRA has seized the opportunity to advance their
views according to the anecdotes they provided in the article.) What
seems to be the issue here is this: school officers are hypervigilant.
They’re wasting their time on the smaller issues, which could mean
they’re missing the bigger ones. (Marijuana crowd: does this sound
familiar to you?) Until this problem is solved and officers learn to
treat school principals as superiors except in cases of emergency, it is
unfair to judge their effectiveness. I would not have known about this
were it not for the NYTimes.
Without a working laptop, I didn't even know Margaret Thatcher died
until Media Fellows class later on that day. The one I have right now
has a slow connection because I haven’t got an ethernet adaptor, so I
still don’t receive much news. Anyway, my point is proven.
I
know not what my expectations are for subsequent classes, but I do know
that they are high. All of the alumni and guest lectures this week got
my head spinning about internship possibilities, and, needless to say,
I’m excited.
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