WDRB: Mail Order Brides J1

We're back with WDRB.

While checking their website for up and coming news, I saw an ad for "Russian mail order brides, tonight at 6 and 10." 

Why is this on the front page of the website? After searching for confirmation that yes, that really happened, I found a recent post on their Facebook page with a link to a story. It described a mail order business bringing brides from Russia to America. While briefly delving into the topic of domestic violence, the article focused on the mail order business itself. The headline states, "Prospect business owner says mail order bride company is just another way to start a love story."

The story is certainly interesting, but why is this relevant to the local audience? Domestic violence is a serious issue, but it is just barely discussed. Why is this story important? Most of its information describes how the business works, interviews one or two people involved in the business, and doesn't follow the principle of fairness. If domestic violence was the main topic of the article, then to be fair, get a quote from someone concerned about the danger of being a mail order bride. If that was not the main point of the article, don't include something and barely cover it.

WDRB Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WDRBNews/posts/788166147895960

WDRB Article: http://www.wdrb.com/story/27320574/prospect-business-owner-says-mail-order-bride-company-is-just-another-way-to-start-a-love-story

In conclusion, where does this story belong? Not on the front page. Perhaps Lifestyle? Entertainment?

WDRB J1

BREAKING NEWS: It's football time!

On October 18, 2014, the news station WDRB had "no new" as stated by the group. It was all football. All of the stories listed for that night of news were online, coming to a total of 12, one third of which was fluff. Other news stations, such as WLKY, WHAS, and WAVE all produced stories on the television that night. 

That night for WDRB was all sports coverage. The ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) website shows that the event covered was a Red-White scrimmage between U of L and NC State. (We won, by the way.) 

While this event is locally relevant, does it fulfill the yardstick of newsworthiness? As local news, no. If WDRB had a sports block to cover that story in, then it would be perfectly acceptable.

ACC events Louisville: http://www.theacc.com/#!/school/lou
WDRB website: http://www.wdrb.com/

Stuff on Fluff J1

And now for your nightly fluff online at WHAS.

For the past ten weeks, WHAS 11 News has had the most fluff/celebrity/other stories on their news website. While they do a great job of keeping fluffy stories off of their broadcast news, it dominates their website. Amassing a total of 101 stories online over these ten weeks, it has the most stories online than any other of the stations observed. WAVE 3 News had a total of 32 stories, WLKY had 10 stories, WDRB had 23, and the Courier-Journal Online had 86 total celebrity/fluff stories.

This brings us to the yardstick of newsworthiness. While WHAS as a business wants to attract consumers, it must also follow the 9 principles and 7 yardsticks of journalism. The seventh principle, "make the important interesting, not the interesting important" also applies here. While WHAS as a business wants to attract consumers, it must also take care to balance what the public wants and what the public needs.

An example of a non-newsworthy story would be "Reality TV's new extreme: Being "Eaten Alive" by a giant anaconda snake." Credited to ABC News, the story appeared on WHAS's website, more like a blurb than an article. 

Read it here: http://www.whas11.com/story/entertainment/television/2014/11/06/being-eaten-alive-anaconda-snake/18589743/

While certainly interesting, this story isn't necessarily important. It is not the job of the media to provide a look at what's new on the television. It violates the seventh principle as previously mentioned. So, WHAS, what's up with all the fluff? 

Response to Kathryn Minor J1

While I agree with the statement that WLKY did a good job of limiting celebrity news, I feel that their crime stories were newsworthy. The crimes featured would impact those affected for a long time. For viewers living in the area where the accident took place, hearing about the crimes committed will inform them of important things happening around them. This follows the yardstick of local relevance.

" I feel like all news organizations should strive to make significant articles for their viewers rather than cater to the viewers desire to be entertained. " -Kathryn's Minor's Blog

While this is something news organizations should do, I feel that the crime stories shown weren't shown as a form of entertainment. It was not clear why WLKY was showing so many crime stories taking place in court, but I do not feel this is what the public desires.

Check out the blog post here: 

http://kathrynminorblog.blogspot.com/2014/11/wlky-only-has-4-of-all-celbrity-stories.html

WLKY 1 J1

For the past ten weeks, a group of classmates and I have been watching the six o'clock news for the station WLKY (We're in Louisville Kentucky). We documented the stories we saw on the news by writing down headlines and classifying them by content in order to critique our chosen station. 

In our very first log, the head story (the first story aired) was all over the Fern Creek shooting that had taken place earlier that day. The online headline, however, was the riverfront Tumbleweed restaurant going for broke. 

Throughout the ten weeks, my group noticed an influx of crime stories. It dominated the station. While alerting the public that there is crime in Louisville, I feel that many crime stories create a sense of danger and wariness. What we see on the media has the ability to influence our mindset and how we feel about the world. There's also the misconception that "if it's on TV, it must be true." However, my group also noticed that WLKY avoided fluff, both on the website and live show. Fluff is defined by celebrity news and things not locally relevant, like that awesome viral kitten video on YouTube.

I also noticed the number of national and international stories on WLKY. Renowned as a strictly local news source with a slogan of "Live, Local, Late Breaking," WLKY lacked coverage on the Ebola crisis. The only mention of Ebola was on the website, stating that national airports would be screening incoming travelers for Ebola, a disease which has been terrorizing South Africa and has been brought over to the United States. The WLKY website contained slightly more stories pertaining to national coverage.

Read the Ebola story here: 

http://www.wlky.com/news/louisville-hospitals-airport-prepare-for-ebola-threat/29201656

Recordings J1

Way back when, recordings were a big thing. Music used to be something rare that you only heard on special occasions, like at the village dance. It wasn't like setting a record on a record player and setting the needle down; you had to find someone who knew a song, someone to play as musical accompaniment, and maybe then you'd get to listen. Of course, people were way too busy trying to survive to indulge your whims and sing a bit.

Until we get to Thomas Edison. He invented the phonograph, which a more fragile version of the record player. It recorded sounds and you could play them back again and again until the tin foil ripped. It was also impossible to reproduce perfectly; the original message would always be the best.

After that came the Berliner gramophone, not ten years later in 1887. His gramophone followed the general idea that Edison's phonograph did: record sound, play it back. His metal disks weren't as fragile as tin foil and were reproducible. Suddenly, records were becoming forms of communication. You could listen to the words of a loved one long after they were gone.

However, it wasn't until the 1920s that recordings became a form of mass communication. It was the birth of pop (popular) culture. Everyone on the street could listen to the latest recording by a famous band and talk about it. Recordings, by then, could be rapidly mass produced. Audio became electricity and with that came microphones and speakers. 

Paranormal J1

I'm back with some news.

While reading the Courier-Journal website, I saw something shocking: under the "Top News" tab, a story was featured about a 174 year-old house in La Grange, Kentucky that experienced paranormal activity. Why is this making top news? It IS Halloween related, but that could also go under the "Lifestyle" or "Entertainment" tab of the Courier-Journal's website.

http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/oldham/2014/10/13/paranormal-activity-featured-la-grange-tours/17206709/

The rest of the tab features updates on the Grimes-McConnell debate, the Indiana candidates addressing pay equality, family court debates on Wednesday, and more about the latest political scene. So why is there a random article about Halloween activities in the middle?

Life Across the Atlantic

Hello, people of Planet Blogspot!

I stumbled across a blog by "Courtney the Ami" as she is known in  Germany. Her blog created many laughs and entertainment this past weekend to a bored teenager (namely, me). She tells about her adventures and laughs in Germany, as well as comparing life there to America. I'd suggest checking out her "Mispronunciation Monday" posts--they're quite hilarious!

Courtney recently posted a few blogs about Oktoberfest, including how to wear a dirndl. Don't know what that is? Instead of Googling it, check out her post!

 http://www.courtneytheami.com/2013/11/how-to-wear-dirndl.html


 

Media Critique J1

In Sarah Larimer's latest article "Will the Ebola Virus Go Airborne? (And is That Even the Right Question?)," the message is unclear. It ranges from questions about Ebola going to airborne to the subject of the public's perception of scientists. Larimer failed to provide an answer to her question. The headline gave little clarity to the real subject matter of the article. This violates one of the seven yardsticks-- Explanation. 

She could have stuck with one topic or segued more neatly into the question of public perception of scientists. Where is the basis that they may be withholding information from the public?

Check Out This Blog J1

Kathryn Minor had an excellent post on her blog detailing a lecture we had in class a few days ago. She explained the lecture in a way that was very clear, detailed, and accompanied by a chart. Kathryn discussed the different binary models of media and explained how companies may eliminate steps in providing content or swallowing up smaller companies. The diagram makes the subject easier to comprehend. She gets a huge thank-you from the visual learner here. All in all, check it out. 

http://www.kathrynminorblog.blogspot.com/

Those Glossy Pages--Response to Lecture #5 J1

In my last post, I discussed a lecture on newspapers. Now, let's talk about magazines.

In 1741, Benjamin Franklin introduced the first magazine, which he aptly named "General Magazine." Not as flashy as "Poor Richard's Almanac" but it got the job done. A general magazine has something for everyone, which we don't see very much these days. General magazines would feature recipes, news (but not breaking news), opinion pieces, political cartoons, kid cartoons, even a book published chapter by chapter called a serial. Charles Dickens published his novels as serials. By 1821, the Saturday Evening Post was the most popular general magazine in America. 

Magazines were a national media outlet. They weren't local publications, were read by a national audience, and created what was known as a "national identity." You could talk to your neighbor about the same article because you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who hadn't read it. Like newspapers, they are portable but unlike newspapers, they were made to last. Besides a national audience, they provided places for businesses to advertise. A person at home could now operate a mail-order business through magazine advertising. Magazines were also cheaper than books, spreading literacy. 

The Postal Act of 1879 was passed by Congress, supporting the magazine industry in a way known as subsidizing. Magazines now cost one cent to ship per pound. Magazines became even cheaper. 

As for content, magazines had the ability to run a series of articles in investigative journalism. Newspapers only covered breaking news; series of articles were something exclusive to magazines at that time. Magazines also ran personality profiles. They'd interview an individual, then talk to family, friends, and even enemies. After, the magazine would present a personality profile. Magazines such as National Geographic brought photojournalism popularity. 

Needless to say, magazines are a great part of culture. Many of our famous American novelists started off serializing their works in a magazine. Where would we be without them? 

Another Cool Blog! J1

I have recently visited a new blog in the universe of blogs. My friend Emily Nolan had a post about newspapers also, though I don't agree with her final words. 

"   Why do newspapers still exist? Most likely because we are living in an age of people who still remember what it's like to read the daily print paper. Will they exist fifty years from now? I'm going to have to disagree with Mr. Miller, and end this with a "no." " Emily Nolan, at controversialwaffles.blogspot.com

I don't agree. Newspapers will still exist. There are MANY people who still read the paper today and will likely continue to do so thirty, forty, or fifty years from now. Human beings are creatures of habit, and as we well know: habits are hard to break. Especially fifty-year habits. While I do agree with the statement that technology is quickly becoming accessible and a preferred method to get the news, I don't agree with the demise of newspapers. 

Emily's blog has many well-written posts that make great points. Check them out!

 http://controversialwaffles.blogspot.com/

Binary Models J1

In a class lecture on August 29, 2014, we talked about binary models. We talked about hot and cool media, elitist--populist, content--distribution, and information--entertainment models. 

The Hot--Cool binary model has many different media forms within it labelled hot or cool depending on how much of your attention they require. Books are very hot media; you can't read a book and drive a car at the same time. Both need all of your attention. Music, however, is a cool medium. You can have it playing in the background while you wash dishes or go for a run. It doesn't require all of your focus at that point in time. 

Next up is the Elitist-Populist model. Elitist media focuses on getting their message to their readers. Even if it's a tiny target audience they're writing for, Elitist media will stick with them. An example of this would be Slashdot, a news website for "nerds" as they put it. Most of what they write is incomprehensible to people who don't speak the language. 

Populist media looks to please the people. What do the people want? How can we get more people to read/watch/listen to our magazine/television show/radio station? An example of Populist media would be Buzzfeed, a website for "hot social content."

Now we come to the Content-Distribution model. Let's look at this in terms of television: content would be a TV show such as, say, Doctor Who. There are companies that create television shows, like Warner Brothers Television. Then you have the distributors, such as Amazon or iTunes. They make content available to the consumer (you). There are also such things as companies that are both content provider and distributor. Netflix is a prime example. They've created their own shows, but have shows available from other content sources as well.

Finally, we come to the information-entertainment model.  Informational media is aimed toward informing the public. Entertainment (obviously) aims to entertain. These two mix, but only one way. Unlike the content-distribution model, we see more cases of infotainment. This is the shift of television (or any other media) from an informational view towards the aim of entertaining. They want to please the public.

WHY ARE THEY STILL HERE? J1

WHY ARE THEY STILL HERE?

An interesting question, if I do say so myself. Why are newspapers still here? We have so much technology at our fingertips--why would anyone use paper? I'd like to go over the answers discussed in class today.

 This is a very real question. In our age of technology, paper has started to disappear. Everything is online. News stations. Television. This blog. So why would anyone still get the classic newspaper?
The answer: because it is classic. How many times have you seen the master of the house reading the newspaper (Think Disney's Lady and the Tramp)? Chances are it was a common occurrence to see a family member reading the newspaper at breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Maybe that was you. A newspaper is a tradition. 

Like most traditions, newspapers are timeless. You don't have to have wifi or an Internet connection to read the newspaper. They are available anywhere, any time. Folding one up and carrying it on a plane is easy as pie. Sure, newspapers can pile up, but so can open tabs in the Safari browser on your phone. It's merely a matter of recycling. You can't do that with Internet tabs.

Another thing we will all like: newspapers are cheap. They don't cost much, for which we are grateful. A subscription is definitely worthwhile. You don't have to read the newspaper immediately either.

All of these things are the answer. Newspapers aren't dying, people. They might have a slight cold due to the Internet, but it's nothing they can't handle. Newspapers are delivered every day to houses all over the continent. People continue to read them, as they have done for a long time. It's a routine. It's habit. And what are we? Creatures of habit.

Welcome!

Come one, come all to the Blue Ink Blog!

A few words before this blog kicks off---

Oddment, bobble, pipsqueak (thanks, Dumbledore).

Welcome!  

Note: Dumbledore belongs to J.K. Rowling. I do not own this character in any way, shape, or form. Go Ravenclaw!