Political Coverage

I find that an important, but often overlooked aspect of journalism and politics has to do not exactly with coverage of ISSUES but of coverage of CANDIDATES. All channels of journalism can provide people with quotes from candidates, with campaign slogans, and photographs. However, I find that the profiles that are provided on journalistic websites are often integral to a person's viewpoint on them. If a person consistently uses Fox News, or watches CNN, will tend to turn to that specific coverage in order to form their impression of a candidate. I (of course) chose to review the profiles that are provided by CNN, The New York Times, and BBC News about Barack Obama. While it is not a flashing headline, or scrolling as a ticker, the profiles are often visited.
On the CNN website, the data provides his previous jobs, family, religion, education, and campaign website. Those are the bulleted points that appear next to his picture. As the reader scrolls down, I find it very interesting that the next available set of data has his totals in terms of money spending and earning. This places an emphasis on this aspect of his campaign. Further down, there is the obvious standing of how he is doing in the polls. I appreciate the fact that off to the right side, there is a list of his standings on important issues. However, just below lies my greatest pet peeve: a list of celebrities and famous names who either support or oppose him, and the totals that they have donated.
The New York Times, however, provides a much different set of data. The profile is more extensive, and includes information about his political experience and his children. Instead of graphics and subheadings, however, this site contains archives of articles about Obama that have been featured in the New York Times. There are opportunities to research financing and supporters, but it would involve clicking on another link. (THANK YOU, NY Times!)
Finally, the BBC simply provides an article, a feature-type story that describes Obama. The subheading is quite enticing: "Rock Star and beach Babe are not labels normally applied to US Senators." While I do enjoy the BBC, there is a very clear impression of Barack Obama given in the opening. He seems to be portrayed as a young contender for the Presidency with little experience and a glamorous appearance. There are links to more information about his life on the side of the page, but I think that the best format is on the other 2 webpages. It is much easier for the typical reader to break down the facts about education, etc., than to sit down and search an article for these facts.

Reading for the Week

The Poynter article is an important one in the context of our last assignment. I can certainly understand the laziness of student journalists. I think that it easy for us to discredit ourselves - "I'm just a student," "no one will know," "I'm not a real journalist yet, so it doesn't matter" and the like. I also, however, can understand why the school wanted to set a strong precedent and to declare punishment of the person involved, because he is supposed to be setting an example. After all, the point of education is that it simulates reality in a career, and plaigarism is unacceptable. "In forums since, including Poynter Online and the Missourian, professional ethicists, practicing journalists, former students and colleagues of Merrill, and Missouri faculty members have been divided over both the allegation of plagiarism and the punishment exacted."
Pulling quotes is a form of plaigarism that is unacceptable for faculty to disrespect.
After reading Merrill's defense, it is easy to see his point of view. It was simple carelessness, in revealing information that he felt was "public domain."
The last reading from Poynter is a very useful resource. At first glance, it looks like a mixture of different links, and appears confusing. But when I looked at it closer, I found that it was a great culmination of tips on researching candidates in an election. I found the wires to be especially important as compilations of issues provide for organization of different subjects. I also appreciate the "New Ideas in Coverage Section." I think that journalists try to ignore all bias in many ways, but I think that awareness of influential sites like moveon.org helps us to be more well-rounded.

08

My journalism research piece was about YouTube, and the changing pace and evolution of online video, news, and search. Recently in the NY Times, an article tied this together. It seems that political candidates are makings stops at the Google headquarters consistently so that they can be seen at the forefront of technological innovation. This is important on a number of levels. First, Google is at the helm of culture. Executives there have a strong grasp on exactly what the public knows and doesn't, and what they are curious about and need to know. That said, the CEO of Google asks questions to candidates in an open forum. According to the article, candidates do not know in advance about the topics that they will be asked to cover. "With his Google visit, however, Senator Obama succeeded in drawing attention to his plans for using technology to make government more accessible and transparent with, for example, live Internet feeds of all executive branch department and agency meetings." I think this is a great idea. The article also mentions an important aspect of our culture. The video "I've Got a Crush On Obama" is a video of a superficially good-looking girl singing lyrics about the candidate. 4 million people have viewed it. As much as this scares me, I think that it's a good idea to examine cultural patterns like this, and be open to addressing why they exist. For example, YouTube has invented You Choose 08 for the population that is interested in using the new media to obtain information.

Reading for the Week

I consider Poynter online to be a great source for journalistic resources. I agreed strongly with the comment by Weiss in which he stated, "As a photojournalist, I like to think there's some built-in idea of the rememberance of a still image." This is part of the reason that I enjoy broadcasting - it is another element of story-telling. I also appreciate his regard for all types of journalism. Instead of asserting his own personal views, he admits that there are strengths to video, audio, and print journalism. I also agree that the photojournalism deserves more respect from reporters, and I think that this is an important subject to address. I also laughed when I read "Journalism, gotta do it." I fell in love with the field of journalism in a similar way- I just knew it. Finally, I like that he wanted to make the program available, accessible and affordable for all journalists. Seems like a great guy.