Response: Wave 3 - Further Than Chemotherapy

http://www.wave3.com/story/33446350/going-further-than-chemotherapy

While scrolling through the news section of Wave 3's site, I came across a very interesting story - one that is uplifting and an encouragement to people across the world. The story detailed one patient to explain how cancer is being treated for some. Clinical trials may be the next step and a breakthrough we've all been looking for.

Anytime a new way of treating cancer is seen as successful, it is a big deal - to me at least. While I've never known anyone personally with cancer, I can imagine the heartache to those who have. This story definitely proves that the money so many give every year is not going to waste. What this has made me realize is that when we think there's no hope, we're almost always wrong. 

This medicine is really cool. In the article, one of the doctors says that it is like chemo - but has no side effects. The fact that people can take medicine and not have to deal with the side effects of hair loss, etc on top of cancer they already have is absolutely amazing. I am able to see that while we have not found a cure for cancer, we are making the treatments a whole lot better. 

In an uplifting and hopeful story such as this, it really points out how pessimistic we can be. After taking this medicine, her most recent CT scan has come up clean - I find that incredible. I am really surprised it took us this long to find something that worked. While I'm sure it won't work for everyone, the increase in options to treat cancer will hopefully decrease the number of patients with it. I am very happy to see how far we have come with cancer research, and one day, I am expectant to see a cure.

Critique: Wave 3 - Halloween Candy

http://www.wave3.com/story/33434661/the-most-popular-halloween-candy-by-state-is

A story posted by Wave 3 News, found on their main stories on their front page, and in their news section mentions the most popular Halloween candy by state. While it's interesting to see what everyone likes as far as candy goes, this breaks two important elements/yardsticks of journalism. 

The first one being make the important interesting. Wave 3 has this reversed. It is really cool to see which states prefer which candy, but it is not important. It seems that Wave 3 has posted this story to their front page for it to gain attention by emphasizing it for everyone to see being with their main stories.

It also breaks the yardstick of newsworthiness. While the story is interesting, it does not deserve to be in the news section nor on their front page along with their main stories. First off, this isn't really news. It is a poll that was taken and these are the results - not something important enough to make a big spectacle out of. The most important thing is, not only should it be in the news section, but it also took the place of many more important stories that affect a lot of more people, and that people who are viewing the main stories on the front page should know. 

In conclusion, it is an interesting story, but it should not have been emphasized the way it was. There is much more important news that affects more people and is overall more important. Considering Wave 3 has a whole section devoted to food they should definitely reconsider the placement and classification of this story. 

Response: Truck Falls Off Bridge Into Crowd

http://www.wave3.com/story/33399856/truck-plunges-off-san-diego-bridge-into-crowd-below-4-dead

This story I found very interesting - not due to the outside meaning. While it is a horrible incident that happened I personally believe it has a deeper meaning. To me, this shows that the things that we would never expect to happen can easily become reality.

No one at this festival would have ever expected this to happen. If they did, they wouldn't have gone. The thing about it is - when people drive drunk, they do not realize the consequences to themselves, but more importantly others. Impaired judgment is a common thing with being drunk so people I'm sure they think they're safe to drive, but what we, as people have to understand, is: this story proves that what seems impossible, never really is.  

We don't live our lives expecting something bad to happen constantly, and that's good, but maybe we should consider the risks. There was a tent set up - the truck crushed the tent and a few people inside. No one expected the truck to come off of the ramp, but it was definitely a possibility to be considered - overall the chances are slim so we can't live our lives like it's a horrible place, but I do think that we should be more aware of things that could happen.

I also believe that companies should do more background checks, and encourage their drivers never to drive if they've had any beer at all - whether or not this makes the company lose money, it's better for everyone. In conclusion, I feel like this incident taught us all the importance in being more self-aware, even if it was hard to in this situation. It also brings to light DUI, since that's the probable cause - which will hopefully make companies consider their current policies on it.

Wave 3 News: Pence on Trump's Comments

http://www.wave3.com/story/33347209/gov-mike-pence-i-do-not-condone-his-remarks-and-cannot-defend-them

I found this story very interesting. Trump's comments about women are definitely very insulting, and I find it very intriguing that Mike Pence, his VP, will not defend him.

I completely understand where Mike Pence is coming from when he says he won't, but I sure didn't expect him to say he wouldn't defend him. The way Mike Pence portrayed himself at the vice presidential debates was in such a way that it seemed that Trump could say/do anything and Pence would always have his back. As Trump's running mate, you would expect it - and I would still expect it here.

While I completely agree with Pence's stance on Trump's comments, it is very unexpected to me. This has given me the realization that political positions do not take the place of moral obligations. Trump's comments were rude, and Pence agrees and even takes it a step further and says he will not defend him. 

I think this article and statement by Pence really goes to show the importance of values in the political and personal world. Trump might have said some horrible things, but maybe Pence is a better person than most people thought he would be. 

Wave 3 News: F-150 Article  

 http://www.wave3.com/story/33314360/ford-f-150-under-investigation-for-brake-failure-issues

 When I first saw this article, I knew exactly what it was - another issue with a vehicle. We don't often consider the facts of what could cause these malfunctions that seem to have taken over the news lately. 

 This article isn't very long at all, however, the message that it contained gave me the realization that something the manufacturers are doing to these cars is causing several issues. In the article, it mentions that this is North America's best-selling vehicle. This made me realize that maybe we as consumers are putting to much trust into the vehicles that are pushed out. On the advertisements, they make this truck look great, but here we are with a problem that it has. I'm not sure what's causing all of these malfunctions in the vehicles but when it affects a widely used vehicle such as the F-150, where do we draw the line?

 Sure, cars are nice. I just don't understand how companies can continue to allow malfunctions to happen. This truck was supposed to be one of the most anticipated and well-tested trucks but where did that fail? Was it the assembly line's fault, or maybe the tester's faults? I have no idea - but when we see an iconic American brand, Ford, and their most popular vehicle - have we reached a point where the manufacturers are just pushing out so many cars that they can't stop and do a thorough check of the vehicle before mass selling it?

 Overall, this article has made me realize - even the best of the best vehicles will never be perfect and if has a deeper meaning than that - the things that we assume are perfect by purchasing it, really aren't. At least right now, there isn't any for sure way to guarantee you have a car with no problems. The article goes on to say two other vehicles are being investigated for malfunctions as well. Maybe we as Americans should encourage stricter policies to be put in place to decrease the headache of having to take your car to get fixed every time you choose to buy a new one. There might not ever be a day where cars are perfect, but we can at least hope for one.

 

Response: "The Newspaper: A Worthy Competitor"

A Link to Carmen's Blog can be found here!

I thought that Carmen did an excellent job responding to what she learned in class. We share a lot of the same views, and we both originally thought we knew more than we did, it must be  a common thing!

In her blog she states,

Once again, I forget how much I was unaware of. Being in this class has taught me very much even though I’ve only been in it for a short period. It really puts things in perspective about how much I don’t know.

Which is true for a lot of people!

She also states

 Newspaper’s don’t necessarily compare to much of our modern technology but they do play a part in how we go about our daily lives

Which I happen to find very interesting. Personally, I never would've thought that something so old would still be around. It's really interesting the legacy that newspaper carries that keep it around.

Carmen worded her blog perfectly and it flows really nicely and even if you weren't a fan of newspapers, her blog would still be interesting to read just because of the language and format of it. She did a nice job overall, and it would be an interesting read for anyone.

Review & Jeopardy

Today was a very fun, educational and competitive class. Overall, I had a lot of fun and I also learned a lot. The thing about playing Jeopardy is that what a lot of people don't really take away from it is the knowledge learned. I don't mean what you learn from it - that's important, sure, but the signifigant knowledge is learning what you need to study.

We played Jeopardy today and I am very appreciative of what I learned - learned I need to study. There were some things on there that I feel like I've never even heard of, the 7 Yardsticks of Journalism especially. I have to give a lot of credit to Mr. Miller because no matter if someone got the answer right or wrong, if someone seemed confused about it, he would explain the answer. This was a really good way to have class involvement in reviewing the material he taught us this far. 

After Jeopardy, we had a small discussion about the things that could be on the test. I was really appreciative of Mr. Miller telling us things that will definitely be on the test, and reviewing them with us. We talked about Gutenburg, and that's definitely going to be a question on thest. 

Overall, what I've learned in Journalism thus far has been really interesting, and I'm excited to see what the future holds for this year, and years to come. 

News Media Critique: WLKY

WLKY has decided to post and emphasize a child's church baptism where he is so excited, he baptizes himself. While this is definitely an interesting and funny story, it breaks several elements/yardsticks of journalism. 

For starters, WLKY has decided to post the story on the front page of their home/main page. When you go to their site, it is one of the first stories you will see. Not only do they have it on the front page of their website, it also is grouped together with news. All of the stories next to it would be considered newsworthy information, which is the next point.

This story breaks the Element of Journalism known as "Keeping the Important Interesting". It seems that WLKY has reversed this element and made the interesting important by emphasizing it on their front page. While other local news organizations have the story on their site as well, WLKY is the only ones that have it on their front page. The other local news stations have the story well tucked away into their populist sections.

This story also breaks a yardstick - "Newsworthiness". As I said, it is a very entertaining story, however, that does not mean that it is newsworthy. In fact, there were many other stories that held a lot more newsworthiness than this one did, and they were lower on the page/harder to find. They attempted to make this story news when it definitely was not.

In conclusion, WLKY should focus on newsworthy things and make those more important than entertaining things. While this was a nice minute of fame for the family, and even the church, it had little to no effect on anyone else and definitely shouldn't have taken the place of more important news articles.

The Mixed Days

I would call a day like today "Mixed", simply due to the nature of what occurred. We started off by taking the current events quiz, and then we had a nice discussion about current events. We then took a test on print journalism, and reviewed what we had learned from last class and even extended that knowledge. After that, we did something pretty interesting and fun - describing and presenting the world without print.

We started off by discussing recent current events. We talked about the Trump/Hillary Forum. It was my understanding that the overall class opinion on the forum was that the in-depth questions asked did not warrant enough time to answer them. We went on to talk about the Oil Pipeline, Education, and the iPhone 7.

I really was intrigued by a class discussion we had. We described what the world would be like without print. Until today, I had no idea how big of an effect print had (and still has) in the world. We spoke about how if print didn't exist, there wouldn't be schools, and the majority of the students in the class would be working on a farm. There would be widespread tyranny due to the fact that royalty would be the only literate ones, and since books are powerful, they could influence the world to their beliefs.

We then broke into groups to present "The world without print". It was really interesting seeing the way everyone interpreted and described how the world would look if print wasn't around.

All in all, it was a pretty chill Friday, other than the quizzes of course, but even then - it was a nice day. We talked about current events, and even learned the importance of something that many people take for granted.  

Response: History of the Printing Press

Kyra's Blog can be found by clicking here!

I decided to check out Kyra's blog and came across an interesting response to a class discussion that she posted. I thought that she included lots of information and detail that provided a sound explanation of the history of the printing press.

In her post, she states

"At first, I thought that learning about the history of print would be something I would never need nor would it be something I use.

Which is the same opinion I had, until the lecture came around. I realized the connection the world has to print, but I didn't realize it until then - which happens to be what she goes on to say.

" As we continued our discussion I realized that many aspects of everyday journalism came from or were used in the innovation of print.

Overall, I had a lot of connections the Kyra's views, and I was very happy to read about the history of the printing press. She did an excellent job describing the printing press and a great job describing her views about it - and the lecture.

Newspapers and Magazines

Today in class we learned a lot, and by a lot, I mean a lot about newspapers and magazines. How they came to be, what it involves, and why it's still around today.

I really like the history aspect to the recent lectures. The majority of the things we are learning relate to history in very obvious ways. I've always enjoyed history, and so being able to talk about Colonial America and the impact that's had on the newspaper industry is incredible. 

I really like the idea of setting a timeline and then going through the major events in that timeline, but I feel like we should've spent more time emphasizing some of the stuff on the timeline - not because it was too fast, but because it was really interesting. The timeline helped me understand how the newspaper achieved a high peak back in the 1850s-1950s, and then how and why it lost popularity.

We learned about Zenger who, in court, established that truth is the defense against all defamation. This really made the newspaper industry boom, and there wasn't much that Britain could do about it. 

If someone were to ask me why the newspaper was still around, I wouldn't have known until today when we talked about it being affordable - at least compared to other mediums. It's portable, and you can carry it easily, and it's tradition, people like to read the newspaper because that's how they get their day started. That's only a few, but it's really neat as to why the newspaper is still around

We didn't talk too much about magazines, but I did learn that magazines are really important, and were really important to the culture in Colonial America - so important that congress allowed magazines to be shipped for a penny a pound!

Overall, today's lecture was really interesting, and I enjoyed the history component of it. While a bit overwhelming, I'm really intrigued by the formation and the process of newspapers and magazines - something I had never really considered before.

Printing Through History

Today in class we had a really educational lecture. We're starting a new "series", I guess you could say. It's all about different forms of media, and how they've improved and changed over time. We started the series by discussing print journalism. We made a timeline of how print has occurred through the years, and how it effected the world around us. We learned about how printing goes as far back as 3500 B.C,, and it was really interesting overall.

As we created the timeline, Mr. Miller took us back through history and described the way that printing has developed through the centuries. I never knew how far back printing went, but now I can appreciate the complexity that they had to go through back then, and I am definitely more appreciative of the technology we had today. 

Printing had a huge effect on Journalism, it basically created it! Without print, journalism wouldn't have been existent for the time being. We talked about Martin Luther and how print journalism affected the protestant reformation and I found that really interesting. We've all heard the story, but a lot of us didn't know the big effect that the new printing technology (metal printing press) had on the world. Not only did it lead the protestant reformation, but increased book production which increased literacy, but it also spread ideas of revolution and helped us document history!

This was definitely a very interesting and educational lecture, and I'm definitely glad I was there to hear it!

Conglomerates & Demassification

Today in class, we had a very interesting lecture about Conglomerates and Demassificaiton. Coming from not very much journalism experience, I had never heard of these things before, but I feel like I've learned a lot. Today, August 29th, marks day two of this lecture, and I absolutely loved how Mr. Miller reviewed what we learned from last week, however, I feel like he spent too much time reviewing the things we had already learned, and we should've moved on to more important matters. Nevertheless, before this lecture, I had no idea that one big company owned so many things. I really got a grasp on conglomeration's benefits with the example he gave in class today. He said that after Marvel was first released, the company saw it as a huge success. Therefore, the company that owns Marvel, decided to expand it - now not only is it comics, but it's books, movies, and TV shows. The examples that were shared today really helped me learn and understand the meanings. 

We also learned about demassification today. It's really interesting because it's almost the opposite of conglomeration. Big corporations use their networks to reach a mass audience, but when a company demassifies, they focus on one niche, or smaller/specific, audience. Mr. Miller gave an example about how the TV demassified radio by saying that first the radio lost its staff (since they went to the TV business), then they lost their audience (who also went to the TV side of entertainment/info, especially since their favorite people had done so that worked at the radio), and then due to the lack of audience, the advertisers pulled out which caused the radio industry to focus on a niche crowd, such as those who like pop music, or who like country music, etc. It really helped me get a grasp on what demassification is. From when TV took over, the radio is still focused on niche audiences - broadcasting Rock on one station, and Rap on another.

Personally, I felt that we talked a little too much about Time Magazine and how they focus on a niche audience as well. While it was helpful, by this point, I feel that we understood the point of demassification already. I will say though, while we knew a lot about demassificaiton already, Mr. Miller gave an example about the movies and the reason why they're still successful to this day, and about the audience (younger people) that go and view the movies. This was really interesting to me, because I had never thought about it before that the movie industry caters towards the younger audience because that's who can afford, and who has time to go see it. 

Overall, today's lecture was very interesting and I feel like I've learned a lot about how different forms of media came to be and how they're functioning to this day, and how they will in the future.