Political Wrap-up

When I first started my journalism career here at Ithaca College I'll admit it, I was a New York City snob who couldn't relate to people who had never lived there themselves. Boy was I in for a rude awakening.

And so I surged ahead in my narrow-mindedness and read the New York Times daily at the praises of my politics professor Marty (a local legend by the way). When one day in the throws of my research for my thesis paper on Hillary Clinton last semester I spoke with politics professor that turned my Manhattan world upside down. She asked me if I read the Washington Post, because after all I was asking her questions about Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. I answered an indignant "no," (oh what a stupid girl I was) and she proceeded to chastise me for not reading the best newspaper for politics.

I have to say that once I saw the light...I've never really turned back.

Don't get me wrong -- I love the New York Times just as much today. But lately I find myself perusing the Washington Post website more often than not. When it comes to politics they just get it, especially for online journalism. Their comprehensive articles encompass not only what is going on in the Presidential campaign but what it all means for the average reader. They also use so many graphs and photographs that the page lights up when you go to it. Currently they have a large map of the United States to help explain the dates of the ever changing primaries -- very helpful and fun to use.

My other favorite part of the campaign coverage by the Washington Post is their section called On the Trail: A Daily Dairy of Campaign 2008. This is a great section of their coverage that has multiple reporters out on the actual campaign trail following around the presidential hopefuls. What a job! My only concern with this is the possibility of the reporter/candidate relationship being compromised. But in the long run I think I can fully trust the professionals at the Post to give me completely unbiased and accurate information. It's a great way to get fast and interesting information about any candidate.

And of course -- my third favorite thing about the Post's presidential coverage is Mr. Dan Balz. My rock star of journalism. I look forward to reading his articles in the section On the Campaign Trail, as he rides the circus with Hillary Clinton. It's not an easy job covering the former First Lady, but maybe that is why I like him so much. He does such a good job at not letting her get away with anything, but also treating her with a fairness that isn't always granted to her.

Overall I just wanted to say that I'm currently working hard to figure out the best way to land myself an internship at the Washington Post -- so if you know anyone who can help me out I would greatly appreciate it! (Nothing wrong with a shameless plug now and then....)

What really is Plagiarism?

I thought the readings for this week's blog were very interesting. The first two were about a former Missouri Professor, John Merrill, and the accusation of plagiarism.

First of all, the fact that the young reporter who worked for The Maneater, the college paper, was gutsy and a real journalist for first, reading the article and catching her quotes being used without proper credit given to her article, and second, because she had the guts to tell someone. I have to agree with her, if I saw someone in a major paper, even worse -- one that I respected highly, lifting quotes from one of my stories I would be so hurt and outraged.

Reading Merrill's response to losing his job at the paper and the accusation that he plagiarized made me a little confused. I just wonder how a man who says that he has had over 60 years in the journalism profession as both a teacher and a writer can make a mistake like that. Of course I understand that we are all human and that he probably didn't do it with intentions of plagiarizing a young reporter's work. But with the ever growing epidemic of copy-cats in journalism I can't seem to blame his editor for kicking him to the curb.

But I also thought his ethical argument for Kant's categorical imperative was interesting due to my recent studies of ethics. Though it reminds why the "good will" method doesn't always work. Even though someone as "good intentions" that doesn't mean it is always the right ethical call.

The last website we had to look at made me want to kick myself for not knowing it existed sooner. The Poynter Institute's helpful guide called "Places a Journalist Should Go for Politics" would have been great for me when I was writing my thesis on Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign last year. Some of the things like Project Vote Smart and OpenSecrets.org were things I already knew about.

But the website that one could use to find out about candidates permits or license's in a given state was pretty fun. And the magazine Governing.com is now probably going to be one of my favorites -- up there with anything Dan Balz from the Washington Post writes.

The area for state-by-state election laws will also prove to be helpful for writing any political story. Those things can always be so complicated and if one digs enough could probably find out some interesting things that most voters don't know about.

And as an aside...I loved that the Democratic National Committee's blog name is "Kicking Ass: Daily Dispatches from the DNC."

TOO FUNNY

Why does everyone hate Hillary?

So now it's come to the point where people are strapping pretend bombs to themselves and walking into Hillary headquarters.

Last Friday a man identified as Leeland Eisenberg walked into the Rochester, New Hampshire office of Hillary Clinton's presidential headquarters and took three people hostage.

Thankfully the day ended peacefully and without any injuries. Eisenberg apparently only had road-side flares attached to his chest.

As someone who might possibly be working in her Albany regional office next summer this event startled me a bit. In her Senate office in Albany I had to go through multiple levels of security before I was allowed upstairs to the offices. Perhaps her presidential campaign headquarters are not as secure.

Just something that has been sitting on my mind for a few days. I'm glad that every one is safe and that Hillary handled the situation correctly by canceling all events for that day. It's the least she can do I suppose. I mean I like her and all...but I don't think I'd take a bomb for her if it came down to it.

Getting ready for the end...

Looking over the audio slideshows in the past week of class has actually gotten me excited for the upcoming final project. I know that sounds strange and even sounds that way to me but it would be nice to adventure on to something different.

After reading up on the three applications -- iMovie, iGarageband, and iPhoto -- I'm feeling the most nervous about iMovie. Though it doesn't seem to be as complex as I thought it would be. I'm really a technologyphobe...I have to admit it. I'm the old lady in the class who didn't understand how to get into webct...duh.

iPhoto is not a problem, I use that all the time on my computer and I know how easy it is to experiment with it. I'm hoping that once I sit down with iMovie I'll feel the same way about it.

Garageband was also foreign to me and I was a little confused as to whether or not we were actually going to be using that for our final project. It talked about recording a podcast, an audio file basically, and I figured maybe we would use that to create audio?

At any rate it should be fun!

Getting back in the swing of things

I hope everyone had a Happy Turkey Day -- I sure did enjoying the sunny days of Arizona. But sadly we must jump back into the final weeks of classes and push through till Christmas.

So the moral of the story is...I'm keeping this one short.

I just read an interesting article about Sen. Clinton's relationship with the media mogul Rupert Murdoch. I guess I never thought that they even had a relationship. But I suppose these things make sense due to the fact that she is the Senator of the state that he primarily employees.

According to the New York Times Clinton was questioned about how she felt about media outlets being owned by one person or company -- primarily what she thought about Murdoch. Of course -- Clinton danced around it.

Again I think this is part of that reality of politics. In order to be powerful you need money. I wish it wasn't like this just as much as the next Ithaca student...but it's not reality.

So I guess that's all I have to say.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/25/in-iowa-clinton-is-pressed-on-murdoch/index.html?hp

Media Law/Ethics of Journalism

It seems this semester has been a real eye-opener for me as far as this subject matter is concerned. It's really hitting me hard for the first time -- what I do as a journalist effects everyone who reads it. And perhaps that is difficult to comprehend because I've never had anyone read my work outside of class up until this semester.

I'm also taking ethics right now so a lot of what was discussed in the chapter was basics of what I'm doing in ethics. Such as the Kant categorical imperative and the Potter Box which resembled what we call the SAD formula.

In the sidebar we read about ethics in digital journalism I was surprised and not surprised at the time same time that the ethical guidelines were the same. I feel that in digital journalism because of the urgency to get the news out fast there is more room for ethical errors. There should be a stronger emphasis on reporting accurately. Like that website we discussed in class where the news organization doesn't worry too much about whether or not the stories are completely true -- that's appalling to me.

One of the ethical problems that I have noticed the most this semester writing for the Ithacan is conflicts of interest and friendship in reporting. So many times I would want to cover a story because I was apart of the organization but couldn't. Or interview a friend that I knew would give me good quotes. But of course I didn't because that is against the "rules." And I'm glad that I was able to learn those lessons through real life experience.

I also thought the point made about when or if journalists are ever off duty. Now that I write for the school paper sometimes my friends wont say things in front of me about subjects they don't want public. It's kind of fun to have that power -- ok I'm over it...not really....no really! I'd like to know what the class as a whole thinks about that idea. Because sometimes I'll be in a conversation with people and something will spark my interest and knowing that I myself might not be able to report on it I can go and tell another reporter or editor about the story idea. Is that unethical?

And finally I wanted to tell everyone about my shock and horror to find out upon my arrival at Ithaca College that such a thing as a newshole existed. WHAT!?! They put the advertising into the paper first before the stories? The amount of advertising dictates how long the stories will be...hmmm....

These are just some of the things that have been milling around my brain lately.

Taking the Gloves Off

It's about time...let's get down and dirty with this presidential campaign...that's what I say at least. It's not politics unless someone is slinging mud at another person, and anyone who believes otherwise is idealistic and foolishly young. I too hope for goodness and candydrops from our candidates -- but that is just not the business that is politics.

According to the Washington Post and The New York Times, last night at a Democratic dinner in Iowa Clinton and Obama went head to head giving speeches descrediting the other. Obama focused on Clintons secrecy in her campaign and wantingness to always give the right answers. Meanwhile Clinton continued push home her experience over other candidates. Though names were not named the rapt audience knew who each was talking about.

Let's get ready to RUMBLE!

I have to say, I like Obama. I know you are all shocked by this news. I do. I like him. I just wish he waited a little longer. I wish that he had a few more scars and wounds to show for his political years. But lucky for me...I'm registered independent. So I don't have to make the difficult decision that Democrats will have to make in the next few months. I get to just support the candidate that comes out on top, and in the meantime sit back and enjoy the show.

I guess my point of this blog is this: politics is dirty. It's like Hollywood but with unattractive actors. The lighting is the same, scripts are rehearsed and rumors fly around like new marriages. I think we all as voters would be better off keeping a healthy dose of skepticism in our midsts...but what do I know -- I'm just the old lady in the back of the room.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/10/AR2007111001574.html?hpid=topnews
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/us/politics/11cnd-dems.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin