Media Critic

Just recently, am article was posted about a stolen puppy from the Louisville Metro Animal Services being reunited with his brother that does not follow the 10 elements of journalism or the seven yardsticks. Although this story is very touching, and may be interesting for some to hear, it breaks some of the rules of the 10 elements of journalism and the seven yardsticks for what makes good journalism.

One important rule of the seven yardsticks that was broken was newsworthiness. This story was listed in the mainstream news section. This article was not newsworthy at all. In order for for something to be newsworthy it has to have a lasting effect on a wide range of people, not just one specific group of people. This article on the two puppies did not affect hardly anyone,except for a small group of people. It affected the puppies, the people who work in the shelter, the puppy thief, and the people who found the puppy. That is not even close to a wide range of people. Therefore, it is not newsworthy, and Wave 3 should not have taken the time to cover this story. Instead they should have covered a much more important story that was more meaningful to it's viewers.

               Another yardstick that this article broke was local relevance. Local relevance deals with how the article affects its audience. In this case, this article does not affect its audience at all. Although it is great and heartwarming that the puppies were reunited, this article is not relevant the the lives of its audience.

               Last, but certainly not least this article breaks the section of the 10 elements of journalism where it discusses making the important interesting. Instead of making the important interesting, this article did the polar opposite, and made the interesting important. This is what you are not supposed to do when writing an article for the news. This article was not important at all, but instead it was interesting. The Wave 3 Staff managed to make this story seem important, in order to receive more viewers. Overall this article was missing a lot of key points when it comes to following the 10 elements of journalism, and the seven yardsticks. This article really fell below the bar. It really needs some major improvement, and reminders of what is considered good journalism.

http://www.wave3.com/story/30048280/puppy-missing-from-lmas-facility

Plagiarism

Many of us plagiarize every day unknowingly. In fact it is way too easy to plagiarize. All it takes is for someone to copy and paste information from a website and claim it as their own. Although it is stealing, most people do not see it as that , and often it is not intentional. In fact copying anything without attribution is considered plagiarism. Although, many do not consider this stealing. I know that there have been plenty of times when I myself was guilty of plagiarism unintentionally. I simply just forgot to add my sources, or did not leave enough time for my sources. Although, the consequences of journalism are quite costly. If caught plagiarizing, at the least you will receive a zero on the assignment without the opportunity to make it up. You will also receive a referral. If you plagiarize in college the consequences are even bigger. I really enjoyed hearing this lecture. I now feel really up to date and properly informed on the ins and outs plagiarism. This lecture was also not just relevant to my life in Journalism 1, but this lecture had information that I could carry with me wherever I go, in school, college, and even the workforce. I am really glad that I had the opportunity to hear this lecture, and be properly informed on plagiarism.

Response to Hunter's lecture about Gutenberg

Earlier this week I read Hunter’s response to the Gutenberg lecture from Mr. Miller’s class. Earlier this week I also read Mattie Townson’s response to the Gutenberg lecture. I found it quite interesting that although both of them heard and responded to the same lecture, their responses are both very different. They both have very different perspectives, and outlooks from the lecture. But, as far as Hunter’s response I very much agree with him. I also found the lecture in class about Gutenberg and his life changing invention an interesting topic. Also, the times prior to Gutenberg's invention was a dark time. The printing press did very much impact our world for the better. It did give the common man the power to think for himself and to become himself to the fullest, and not who the government or anyone else wanted him to be. For me it was another "Go Humanity" moment as Mr. Miller would call it. Also, Hunter’s response was very well written. I like how Hunter got straight to the point. He did not beat around the bush, like a lot of people do. In my opinion , Hunter did a great job, and I enjoyed reading this. I would recommend for everyone to read it.

http://inkspilleddaily.blogspot.com/

Response to Mattie Townson's Gutenberg Blog

Earlier this week I read Mattie Townson’s post on Gutenberg, and his effect on our society. For starters, this post was very well written. I strongly recommend everyone to read Mattie’s  blog. Her post was very detailed, and constantly kept me interested. I did not get lost in her words.  She did a great job. Her blog was also very insightful, and informative. I also really liked the perspective that she took when she wrote this blog. I also really liked her quote that she included from Mr. Miller “Good job humanity!”. I also really liked all of the points, and aspects that she included that Gutenberg affected, that we take for granted every day. I also agree with all of the points that she made. Our daily ways of living would not be as we know it today, if it had not been for Gutenberg. He has affected every aspect of our lives including public schooling journalism, and the rest that follow. All in all Mattie did a great job.

http://datsomattie.blogspot.com/2015/09/gutenburgs-contribution.html?showComment=1442538356239#c4580322462296234331  

Newspapers

Although an old technology newspapers are still relevant and useful today. Newspapers have been around for a while now. The first newspaper was created in 59 BC when the romans had a print newspaper called Acta Diurna. This is one of the main reasons that it surprises me how long newspapers have managed to stay alive.  Over the years as technology has progressed  newspapers have been falling further and further behind. Also over the years, new competitors for newspapers have been slowly popping up. For example radio,television, and the internet.  These new ways of receiving information are pushing newspapers off the scene. The main audience of newspapers is senior citizens. My grandparents are the only people I know who still subscribe to the newspaper. Although, the newspaper does have some advantages. One advantage that is responsible for the long levity of newspapers is that they are non linear. You can read any part of the newspaper any time you feel like it. Where as with television, they have a specific time for their news, and once it's gone, it's gone. You also have to sit through what seems like hours of pointless commercials. Newspapers avoid that however. They are also savable. I know plenty of people who still have newspaper clippings from the seventies, including myself. These are two of the many reasons for newspaper longevity. I also really enjoyed this lecture and found it very informative.

Books/Gutenberg/Printing Press

Gutenberg has had a major impact on our society. I had finally made this realization during Mr. Miller's lecture on September 7, 2015. Without the creation of Gutenberg's printing press, our world would not be the same as we know it. Gutenberg's printing press had some lasting effects on the world. One of them was widespread literacy. Prior to the creation of the printing press, the only people who were literate in society were priests, royalty, and wealthy merchants, meaning the vast majority of society was illiterate. Books during this time period were far too expensive for the common man to buy. I can not imagine not having books at my disposal. Everyday I pick up a book I take it for granted. The printing press made books much more accessible, at a much cheaper price, which meant that the literacy rate raised. This also meant that the public had the ability to find and learn information for themselves. They no longer had to rely on the government officials to tell them information, because now they could read it for themselves. This meant that the government and the priests could no longer force feed their people only information they wanted them to know. Priests used to tell people that they had to pay for their sins, literally with a system called indulgences. I am really thankful , and glad that because of Gutenberg I can read and learn information for myself. I would hate to live in a world where the government can force feed me any information it wants me know, and that only. As Mr. Miller says "Education is power."

Even religion would not be the same, if there had been no printing press. If it had not been for the printing press we would probably all still be running around here Catholic and still paying indulgences. The printing enabled there to be more copies of bibles.This meant that someone other than the pope could read it. Finally. This enabled other people to speak out against the church. Through this, other branches of Christianity were born. This really intrigues me when I think of it, because that would mean that my own religion would not exist. This lesson overall really caught my interest. This personally had to be one of my favorite lectures so far out of the six lectures we have done thus far. The reason being, because when I think of how much this one person, and this one invention impacted my life, I am just at awe.

Magazine Lecture

 I never knew that magazines had such the impact on us as they do. I had always just imagined that it had had just started with magazines such as" People" and continued on from there. I was surprised to learn that Ben Franklin was the creator of magazines in 1741, and that the creation of magazines helped the literacy rate improve in colonial America. It was also interesting to me that just one magazine had something to offer for everyone. It's hard for me to visualize all of the different materials aimed at so many different people all compacted into one magazine. I'm used to the idea of roaming down the magazine aisle at Kroger, and seeing numerous magazines geared towards all different audiences all stacked on display. For example, there is a sport's magazine geared towards men. There is a home and gardening magazines towards mothers, and there is a teen vogue magazine geared towards teenage females. It was also interesting for me to learn that magazines were the first to have a national audience. I could have never guessed that magazines helped create a sense of national identity for early Americans, along with a sense of culture. Also, earlier in our class discussion, Phoebe's question made me curious. Where does the name magazine come from?