Reading Journal Three

After comparing many mediums of news, I found that I had yet to incorporate an important form: the television. The television, as The Elements of Journalism states, is similar to the transformation that the Internet is providing now, in other words: the T.V. is just one of the many metamorphoses that journalism has undergone. This week I chose to write about a singular event, and the way in which the newspaper and the television have chosen to adapt it.

While watching ABC 7 at the Gym, I was unfortunately confronted with the suicide of college student Tyler Clementi. Clementi jumped off a New York City bridge because his roommate exposed his sexuality over the internet, through a secret spy webcam. Though any event so horrific would grab my attention, the way in which this story was framed was specifically intriguing: “A student at Rutgers State University wanted to play a joke…” the reporter soon went on to reveal the rest of the story, a joke that ultimately leads to a students suicide. This narration conveys something ordinary, something relatable that soon turned into a very disheartening tale. Such a framing, I suspect was necessary in order to foreshadow a message concerning the dangers of bullying. I wonder however, if this opening could survive in any other medium—would this framing me be appropriate in text, or would it be too literary?

The Guardian’s Ed Pilkington wrote an article about Clementi’s suicide as well. This article, sets a slightly different tone: “His last words, posted on Facebook about 10 minutes before he died were brief and to the point: ‘Jumping off the gw bridge sorry.’” Such an opening does not allude to a cruel prank taken too seriously, but to the exposition of Clementi’s suicide plans. Pilkington then goes on to tell the sad story of a boy whose secret lifestyle was not handled sensitively.

Both mediums go forth to connect the dots of the story, explaining how an adolescent prank, coupled with the huge force that is technology, can lead to an insurmountable tragedy. Television and the Newspaper have similar goals in mind: to inform the viewer/reader. I realized nonetheless, that the television has potential to be cinematic, such as the climactic narrative depicted on ABC 7. Unlike the differences between the internet and the newspaper, the television and the newspaper seem to coincide. Where the internet suggests possiblities of conversation, the television is still reminiscent of the gatekeeper.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/30/tyler-clementi-gay-student-suicide

Journal

In the recent news there has been four closeted teenage boys who have killed themselves due to bullying. I find this to be so upsetting, not to mention avoidable.

In one of the cases, a 13 year old boy in Texas told his father that morning that he was gay after enduring torture at school not only this year but previous years as well. His father, without a lot of time to react or talk to him, dropped him at school and said we can talk tonight, unfortunately that did not happen. After school the young boy went home and used his fathers gun to shoot himself in the head, he died instantly. The worst part about this story is the family had called the school, spoke to the deans, and had meetings about the constant bullying and after this tragic incident the school is now denying that they ever met! it is truly the most heart breaking story.

After this was reported 2 other teenage boys killed themselves over bullying at school for being gay. A freshman at Rutgers college, Tyler Clementi 18, jumped off the George Washington Bridge on September 22 after his roommate video taped him and broad casted on the Internet Clementi with another guy. Clementi last updated his facebook with a status that said "Jumping off the GW bridge. Sorry". Later that evening 2 people called into the police saying they say someone or something fall off the bridge. Clementi's wallet and car were both recovered on the bridge and a body was found early yesterday in the Hudson river which is thought to be Clementi's.

This situations are so disturbing and upsetting. Many celebrities have reached out and made video posts, wrote on their blogs, and called into radio and news stations urging people to talk to their friends, siblings, family, and professionals if they have feelings of not being accepted or are having feelings of suicide. I think it is really important that public figures are speaking out about something so terrible and bringing attention to accepting others. These stories really got to me and upset me, people so young are taking their own lives when situations like this can be avoided. People all over the world are being bullied constantly and authority figures do not take notice. This is a huge topic that needs to be payed attention too. Hopefully in the future, the near future, people will learn from this and speak out and up if they are being bullied, and hopefully people will be listening!

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3159538/Taped-sex-teen-jumps-to-death.html?OTC-RSS&ATTR=News

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/ybenjamin/detail?entry_id=73326

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1649101/20100930/story.jhtml

UPdate: It has now been confirmed that a 5 boy has commit suicide due to bullying. 3 in one week and 5 in 3 weeks is in no way okay. we need to put a stop to this!!!!

http://perezhilton.com/2010-09-30-suicide_crisis_in_america

Journal 3 The State of Investigative Reporting

Declan Schweitzer

Intro To Journalism

Heather Chaplin

9.31.10

Journal 3 Investigative Journalism

After reading the chapter in our book that talks about investigative journalism and its different forms I found myself feeling very curious about these forms in the news today. I was particularly curious to see if the author’s worry that “too much of the new investigative reporting is tabloid treatment of everyday circumstances.” (151) Was a legitimate one. What I found was an interesting array of different types of investigative stories that although they did not represent an embodiment the notion of the “watchdog” to the fullest extent, were for the most part relevant and important bites of investigative news.

Most of the stories that fell into the general category of investigative were also part of the subcategory noted by our book as “Reporting on Investigation”. While I understand the significance of this role I was more curious to learn about what today’s original investigative and interpretive investigation reporting looks like. Thus I only read one or two stories about currently happening or recently concluded investigations. What I did find interesting about the reports on investigations was that many of them including THIS report were concerned with overseas issues and politics. I found this to be strange because I figured it would be more difficult to get information about investigations overseas but it also occurred to me that perhaps it is even more difficult to conduct original investigative reports overseas so instead news follows the available line of facts from investigations already underway. The fact that many reports were about scandals overseas made me think that perhaps the worries of Kovachs and Rosenstiel are legitimate.

I was again dismayed that top dog publications are indeed abandoning their post watchdogs that will help us “free and self-governing” when I read THIS article in the Guardian. While the paper claims to have legal reasons for cancelling the investigation, I couldn’t help but think that the paper has another motive for keeping this out of the public eye; Especially because it is the type of investigative story that Kovach and Rosensteil suggest are the most important type of investigative reporting. Another discouraging example was THIS investigative article about confiscated fraudulent art pieces that while it was an interesting report lacked a sense of urgency that investigative reporting seems to have when it’s topics are of importance.

As a sort of saving grace, I stumbled upon THIS story yesterday which although it is debatably a piece of original investigative reporting it has the idea of the watchdog in mind unmistakably. This type of expose is one that allows citizens to glean facts and make judgments while being engaged by the material they are reading. I was also reassured by one of the blogs we regularly keep with will called “Politifact.com” which is the most efficient way of playing the watchdog role I have seen yet. Its method allows you to get all the info you want about a variety of topics and people and does little story telling. It is a concise and to the point look at political statements you might question when reading an article or hearing them on the news.

Ultimately I think that the fear of true investigation journalism becoming a relic of the past is a legitimate one. Partly because news conglomerates have secret agenda’s that keep certain stories from running or ideas from circulating. However, there is a valiant effort being made by non-profit and independent organizations like politifact.com and propublica.com. Also I think that if people become more skeptical of big news groups and they lose readership, they will have to recommit themselves to the truth the full truth, by revitalizing the world of serious original investigative reporting and the resurrect themselves as the watchdogs of power.

Reading Response

As I strolled around cyber space this week, searching for interesting news stories that grabbed my attention and shook my inner self, I stumbled upon an update on Christine O’Donnell and the open senatorial seat in Delaware. Typically an open seat wouldn’t grab an overt amount of attention, yet there are a number of contributing factors that make this particular instance so damn interesting. The first is that this is the first legitimate time a member of the “Tea Party” was elected in a primary to run in a major election. The second major point is that the person running goes by the name Christine O’Donnell, a relative unknown in the current political sphere, yet her in experience and past words or causing a stir on the political front. It is not often that a candidate speaks about masturbation or her experiences of dabbling with witchcraft. Typically references like this are off setting to the public, but on top of that Christine O’Donnell speaks about her religious views as a major part of her life, there was an entire CNN article dedicated to how faith and her religious beliefs allowed her to pursue politics and be so successful this far in her political career.
I think its pretty interesting to start to uncover different types of information that makes a candidate to unique, what truly grabs my attention is the manifestation of the Tea Party its self. I didn’t think it was legal for Sarah Palin to team up with such peoples as Rush Limbaugh and create some type of conservative but not super party that wants change this country. Well alright that’s not exactly what’s happening ( a stretch of the truth to say the least) but American politics are certainly at a cross road and because of that this type of (bad word) is happening. As I connected the seems of the three main articles I focused on wish raised from slighting hating on the party in the Huffington post views too speaking about how it developed because of Obama not doing a good job—CNN. Never the less these three stories focus on the time period in which we find ourselves in. it is interesting to see how this Delaware election will end up effecting the politics of our nation—one this if for sure though, if O’Donnell is election. It is not a good sign for our country.

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/29/christine-odonnell-talks-faith-and-politics/?iref=allsearch

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wes-isley/christine-odonnell-witche_b_732568.html

http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/09/29/bunch.tea.party/index.html?iref=NS1

Response 3: Drake at Radio City Music Hall, Still Haunted by Aaliyah

I read some interesting news this week on New York Times website. Apparently, a new rapper on the scene known as Drake, had a concert recently at New York City's very own, Radio City Music Hall. It was an interesting article to read about, because I always find the subject of music journalism to be very attention drawing. (After all, one of my many aspirations is to become a music journalist.) I thought the article was rather interesting, because the topic was all about Drake's concert attributed to Aaliyah. But I particularly noticed the style in which Jon Caramanica wrote the article, because it's something I've been looking at a lot lately with different writers.

Today in class we talked about giving a person in a story a personality, without misleading the audience and without inserting your own bias. We addressed it, and we came up with an answer, but to be perfectly honest, I think it's something that changes from article to article. It depends on the writer, and the subject-content. It's really easy to insert bias without even realizing, and I think in this specific article, it was really easy to see that Caramanica, (and every other music journalist for the matter) faces a huge challenge when writing specifically about a musician, or anything music related.

There's a challenge because often times with music, we find ourselves being automatically biased. It's hard to write about music without being biased. It's all about asking the right questions and finding the right answers, to show what you are trying to say, without actually openly saying it.

Throughout the article, I pinpointed a few areas that were particularly biased on Caramanica's part, but they didn't do anything necessarily bad for the article. They came before facts, and I found that to be interesting, because the facts sort of backed up the bias. I can't say that I would follow Caramanica's model for music journalism though, because I would try to be less biased. But really, it is difficult.

I've been writing for a music blog recently called campusounds.com, (nothing published yet, but very soon...!) and I've personally encountered these challenges. It's really hard to write about someone you already know, especially when their music is good, because you just want everyone to know that their music is that good, but at the same time, you don't want to just say, "Oh they're my favorite." It's an interesting dynamic we have going with music writing, because we're always trying to relay what we mean without actually saying it. But I guess that applies to all journalism, doesn't it?

Back to the NY Times article though, Caramanica approached all of the points about the concert really well, but told it like a story, and less like news. I think this happened because it's definitely a feature story, nothing you'd find on the front page of the Times. It's interesting to learn and decipher the difference between a feature and a hard-news story, something I'd never really paid attention to. I prefer reading feature stories, because I sometimes find myself getting impatient with hard-news stories. I'd rather just hear about it through the television news or streaming video, but that's just me. It's funny how much work goes into putting together a hard news story, and how quickly people will skim through it to get all the facts. It's quite a thought.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/30/arts/music/30drake.html?_r=1&ref=music

Response 2 satire blogs

After Robert Mackey came to speak to our class about blogging as a form of journalism and his blog 'The Lede' with The New York Times, I was curious to compare some of the blogs I look at occasionally and compare them to Mr. Mackey's sense of a blogs purpose.
Mackey believes that a blog is more of a conversation with your readers, and doesn't always have to follow the rules and structure of printed articles, he said the experience of reading a blog is more akin to seeing a journalist notebook, and because of accesibility, information can be shared before it is completely refined or proven.
Mackey spoke of the advantage of having a 24 cycle of news available on the internet, and I was really interested in his example of the shooting at Fort Hood, and how is first blog entry which was posted the day of the shootings on November 5, 2009 around 4pm, just states the known facts, and though he updates throughout the night as the press and media outlets learn more, he does not edit his previous statements because at the time they were written his words were the known truth, and in a sense that makes him a curator of the events, and looking back now you can follow the confusion of the day, which I feel gives it an even more honest sense than a neat, organized article that would appear in a paper the next day.


Now Mackey's blog is more serious and news based, and comparing it to many of the blogs geared at my generation, you can see they fall into a more syterical variety. A blog called 'Hipster Runoff' is a blog meant to mock the fashion, music and general attitude of the hipster culture. The blog, which in this article describes the art of simply being alive, pokes fun at how seriously the hipster society takes itself. Even though this blog is a joke, it still represents the news and happenings of a specific subculture, and in some ways is still as legitimate as Mr. Mackey's 'The Lede,' because even through satire a reader can learn and become informed.

Reading Journal - 17 September

   The New York Times published an article yesterday Thursday, 16 September entitled “Chief of Unit With Recalls to Exit J.&J.”. While the article remains generally neutral, it seems to make the claim that Colleen Goggins (the person after whom the article is named) is leaving Johnson & Johnson due to these recent failures. This would be a perfectly intuitive assumption, seeing as Goggins has been continually slammed in the media in the last year being labeled as a “micromanager” and blamed for poor management which resulted in the series of recalls. However, when taken into account that the corporate structure of J&J is high decentralized and that only until recently McNeil (the company that produces the recalled drugs) was separate from the Consumer Unit (which Colleen commands), I highly doubt that her management directly caused the defective drugs to be produced. Nevertheless, it certainly makes a more interesting story. I remember reading a highly opinionated feature article in August in Fortune Magazine called “Why J&J’s Headache Won’t Go Away”. In this article, the writer makes a much more obvious slant against Colleen, labeling the recalls as “humiliating” and “damning” – judgments which The New York Times articles doesn’t include – and practically placing all culpability on her . Regardless, The Times’s article certainly is not in Colleen’s favor either and seems to imply that she is retiring due to these issues, when in fact she had originally had plans to retire last year. In addition, while I think it is informative and definitely something which reader’s of The New York Times’s Business section would want to read, I think it is highly invasive that it lists not only Goggin’s severance but also her recent financial activity with company stock.

            In other news, the Pope’s visit to the UK appears to be shrouded in controversy. With thousands of unsold tickets and a possible “terrorist plot” (“Pope’s visit: Six held by counter-terror police hours before historic address, The Guardian), there doesn’t really seem to be as much coverage about the Pope’s actual message. The article in The Guardian which covers the “alleged terrorist plot” is very careful not to trust the British authorities’ judgment in their arrest, labeling the plot as “alleged” and focusing on the arrest itself instead of any action which the six men themselves committed. This begins to make more sense, however, as the article doesn’t mention any laws which the men have actually broken but instead says that they were arrested “on basis of ‘overheard conversation’”. The purpose of the article therefore seems perhaps more oriented toward exposing the unfounded basis of the arrest than any real threat that the Pope was in.

            Regarding an unrelated article in The Guardian entitled “Michelle Obama and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy deny ‘hell’ remark”, I’m having trouble understanding why this is actually considered news. In short, a new biography about the First Lady of France, entitled Carla & The Ambitious quotes Michelle Obama as telling Carla that her life in the White House is “hell”. Since both parties deny that Mrs. Obama ever made that statement, it leads one to wonder who exactly wrote the biography – which the writer of the article never tells us. Since all parties involved, including the French embassy in D.C., have denied the existence of this statement, what really is the news here? Is it that unnamed writers have lied in a biography about Mrs. Bruni-Sarkozy and have tried to pass it off as truth? Or is it that Michelle doesn’t really find life as the spouse of the President that difficult? The headline certainly made me curious (which is why I clicked on it), however I don’t really see how my knowledge of the world has been expanded from reading this article or, furthermore, why I need to know about every ridiculously fabricated claim Mrs. President has to deny.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/17/business/17tylenol.html?scp=1&sq=goggins&st=cse

http://money.cnn.com/2010/08/18/news/companies/jnj_drug_recalls.fortune/index.htm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/richard-adams-blog/2010/sep/16/hell-michelle-obama-carla-bruni-sarkozy

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11347073

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/17/pope-visit-terror-police-arrests-street-cleaners

Mackey

This week, I enjoyed exploring Robert Mackey’s blog “The Lede,” after hearing him speak in class. I find his writing style to be catchy and personable, while also being informative and professional. One of my favorite articles this week was “Netflix Fans at Media Event Were Actors.” This was a piece about Netflix hiring paid actors to act like super excited consumers during the launch of Netflix in Canada. Steve Swasey, a corporate communications executive, put out a statement that actors were not in fact asked to speak with the media, but only to act in a corporate video for Netflix. This proved to be a lie because Mackey displayed a sheet of specific instructions given to the Netflix actors telling them exactly how to act. This article caught my attention because I am a media major, and I wonder if this could impact Netflix as a company? It is not so much the fact that the actors were paid to appear as normal customers who just happened to be elated, but rather that a Netflix rep blatantly lied about the situation. Mackey’s article presented this interesting situation in a style and format that was very relatable, including an image of the actors’ directions. His piece was also not too drawn out, considering the importance of the article. This blog post proves to me that Mackey can get the point across in a poignant yet playful manner.

Until next time!

Mackey's blog post: http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/23/netflix-fans-at-media-event-were-actors/

Netflix's apology: http://blog.netflix.com/2010/09/we-blew-it.html

What is Local Food

In the past decade the eye of the health food world however has become exceedingly skeptical of almost anything we eat. Still is has long been know (at least since the mid 1930’s when Popeye began devouring spinach to keep his strength up in comics) that produce has the vital elements we need for good nutrition. When the health food craze first began, it immediately took to the notion that organic produce was healthier because it has uncontaminated by artificial pesticides and chemicals. Now however there is a new push within the food community that contends that locally grown food is the way to go.

The first question relevant to the issue is what exactly constitutes a local food. There have been definitions provided by various sources, which might help pin down what is meant by local but still the issue is clearly up for debate. For example, the U.S. Congress stated in the 2008 Farm Act that a food could be considered locally produced if it meets one or both of the following conditions:

· (I) The locality or region in which the final product is marketed, so that the total distance that the product is transported is less than 400 miles from the origin of the product; or

· (II) The State in which the product is produced.

This seems like an authoritative definition for what is local; still it might not actually capture what is meant by a local food. It has also been defined here as “food that is grown in a local area, supporting a local economy." By this definition, there is no way that a food grown at the bottom of Texas and shipped to the northern most point would be considered local, and maybe it shouldn’t be. Another article on the matter by Sarah DeWeerdt found here suggests that local food is food grown within a 100-mile range of its consumers.

She cites Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon who claim in their book “The 100-Mile Diet” “that “a 100-mile radius is large enough to reach beyond a big city and small enough to feel truly local.”

Truthfully there is no consensus about what it means to be local. However, it can be said that the movement towards local food is one that is concerned with a few things: food quality, transportation distance, local economies and sustainability. With these things in mind it might be said that local food is food that travels the least and best promotes local economy while remaining environmentally and sustainably conscious. This is still only a functional definition, as it can’t be used to determine the “locality” of a given food. But on the other hand it might be moving towards thinking about local food on a case-by-case basis which would mean that calculating the locality of a food would be much more than finding out how far away from it’s consumers it is being grown.

Of course it would then become a debate about what factors should be considered other than proximity. Obviously proximity would be near the top of the list showing that the definitions given by Congress and "The 100-Mile Diet" are good places to start.

For more on local food, check out this video with Ken Meter.

Stephen Colbert on Migrant Workers

As we have been studying the ways in which one must, to write an effective hard news story back up your news lede with sufficient evidence I took extra time this week to concentrate on one story that seemed after several readings to remain for the most part neutral about the nature of the situation whilst remaining true to what it was like to be there. The story was about Stephen Colbert who testified before the House immigration subcommittee about the migrant workers. What struck me the most was that the author (Ashley Parker) was willing to make statements that seemed to make assumptions about how certain people at the conference where feeling and what they were thinking. From my understanding this was a very dangerous line to walk for Parker however I think that she did it quite well. The reason I think that her report was so effective at communicating to me a sense of trust was that she incorporated quotes after all of her statements from the conference which certainly validated her claims. Furthermore, I was impressed by the way that the story didn’t feel bogged down with too many quotes partially because she chose to use a lot of fragments. I know that usually one is advised against this, but I was happy to find a situation in which it seemed to be an entirely appropriate method of validation. I can see that it might have effected the integrity of the article had I felt that the quotes were being taken out of context. But her use of them made it flow nicely and it seemed to be a genuine report.

Now some examples. Firstly, she made the claim that ‘a Michigan Democrat, seemingly miffed, suggested that Mr. Colbert “excuse yourself” from speaking’. This quote on first glance was for me a stretch because of the description of the democrat as “miffed”. But with the qualification of ‘seemingly’ and the quote that followed I felt sufficiently confident that he was indeed annoyed at the situation. Another situation in which I was reassured by a quotation was when Parker made the following claim: ‘On the whole, the mood of the hearing alternated between the serious and the absurd.’ This was followed by two quotes, which Colbert gave to the committee after being questioned. The first was ‘(the) “obvious answer is for all of us to stop eating fruits and vegetables — and if you look at the recent obesity statistics you’ll see that many Americans have already started.”’ And the second was later in the report: ‘“I like talking about people who don’t have any power, and it seems like one of the least powerful people in the United States are migrant workers who come and do our work but don’t have any rights themselves,” he said. “Migrant workers suffer and have no rights.”’ These quotes each embody one aspect of her claim about the nature of the conference thus legitimizing her claim.

While I do believe that this was a good article overall I was still concerned by some of the statements which had no really or insufficient backing such as ‘Five minutes later, much to the disappointment of the crowd, Mr. Colbert was done.’ Unfortunately there was no mention of what the crowd actually did or said to make her think that it was indeed the case that they were disappointed to see him go. For all I know they might have been eager to get him out of there for fear he would sully the legitimacy of their cause.

Reading Journal No. 2

In response to The New York Times’ “FDA to Severely Restrict Avandia, Citing Heart Risk” and The Guardian’s “Diabetes drug Avandia suspended over health fears”
With this week’s reading journal I decided to continue to focus on the news lede, but also take in consideration the use of quotes which we talked a bit about in Wednesday’s class. In today’s paper, the breaking news about Avandia was the first or one of the first headlining stories for the New York Times and The Guardian.

Gardiner Harris, journalist for the New York Times had a decent news lede: “WASHINGTON—In a highly unusual coordinated announcement, drug regulators in Europe and the US said Thursday that Avandia, the controversial diabetes medicine, would no longer be widely available.” The 5 W’s can be identified, but the use of adjectives like “highly unusual” and “controversial” really throws me off. It makes me think, “was the announcement really that unusual?” But compared to Dennis Campbell and Julia Kollewe, journalists for The Guardian, started the news story with a much weaker news lede (if you can even consider it to be one): “Around 90,000 British diabetes patients were warned against continuing to use one of the most popular treatments for their condition after regulators ruled it could lead to heart attacks or stroke.” With only informing us with maybe 3 of the W’s, Harris did a far better job in luring the readers to continue reading the news story.

Now on to the quotes, both news stories included primary quotes. The Times quoted Dr. Margaret Hamburg, an F.D.A. commissioner, Dr. Jane Woodcock, director of the F.D.A.’s drug center, Dr. Steven Nissen, a Cleveland Clinic cardiologist who studied the about Avandia’s heart attack risks, and Dr. Clifford Rosen, a member of the advisory panel that met in July. Just by reading their titles you can’t help but believe what they are quoted saying.

With the Guardian though, there was only two primary sources, Professor Kent Woods, the agency’s chief executive and Simon O’Neill of the charity Diabetes UK. Based on the length of the story, approximately 600 words, two primary sources seem enough. Plus, the quotes that were used were strong enough to support the story.

I also noticed that the majority of the quotes were “stand-alone” or their own paragraph, but if not some quotes were used at the end of a paragraph.

On a final note, The New York Times’ article seems to take inconsideration for ALL diabetes patients while The Guardian focuses on British diabetes patients. It makes me think, do certain newspapers focus on one group of people?

Reading Journal 9/24/10 - The Art of Live Blogging

Reading Journal 9/24/10 - The Art of Live Blogging

ON Friday September 20, 2010, Comedian Stephen Colbert testified before a House subcommittee on immigration. Colbert recently worked with United Farm Workers, participating in their “Take Our Jobs” program—“which challenges U.S. citizens to replace immigrants employed by farms.”

The Huffington Post blogger Jason Linkins, live blogged the event posting updates nearly every five to ten minutes. A few things I recalled from Robert Mackey’s talk to the class about live blogging led me to notice what was effective about Linkins particular use of live blogging in comparison to Mackey’s.

First of all, the posting frequency was something I found particular interesting since Mackey had advised to stay away from blogging incessantly. Linkins, on the other hand rarely went longer than ten minutes without a new update. In Linkins case, Colbert’s testimony was the main draw for his readers (C-SPAN 3 is not usually TiVo’d among college students), which can be contributed to explaining the number of postings in a relatively short span of time. The session roughly started around 9:40 AM and the blogging ends after coverage of Colbert at 11:40 AM. All together, Linkins posts 20 updates during this time period. He succeeds providing context before Colbert’s testimony, Colbert’s actual testimony, as well as his responses to the questions that followed.

Although twenty is a lot for a two-hour period, I felt many of his posts were merely trying to keep up with Colbert’s quit witticisms (which again, was the central draw to his blog). However, there were also posts, that when compared to Mackey’s blogs and his remarks in class, were irrelevant to the rest of the blog. One of them being a posting of the YouTube video “Raining in Port Arthur” by The Gourds, “an alternative country band formed in Austen, Texas,” included on the sole basis that congressman Ted Poe represents Port Arthur, Texas. Other unneeded information included remarks sucks as “John Conyers left his Mike on, so I hear him mumbling?”

Overall, this is The Huffington Post, and Linkins is allowed to be more conversational and even down right opinionated—“King takes up the same dumb procedural beef that Lungren did…”—than what we would expect from a more respected online news periodical such as The New York Times and Mackey’s featured blog. However, Linkins takes advantage of the casual attitude allotted to him by the inclusion of visuals completely irrelevant to the central story, and unneeded commentary takes away from the main event, which is still Colbert’s testimony.

Reading Journal [09-24-10]

While there were many noteworthy stories in the news this week, the one that especially caught my eye was an article on a subject that means a lot to me, personally. The MSNBC article "'Undercovers' puts minority leads in the TV Spotlight" delves into the progressive casting of Boris Kodjoe and Gugu Mbatha-Raw, two black performers, as the leads in the new primetime TV drama "Undercovers" by "Lost" creator J.J. Abrams, amidst a sea of predominantly white TV stars. Representation of minority actors in the media is a huge deal to me and it's a topic that I honestly believe is not usually covered in major publications and is thusly not regarded as a gigantic problem by the general populace. I'm really glad this article covers this and informs the reader exactly why the casting of two lead black performs on a major network is such a big event.

Overall, I think the article is well-written and includes information that may be potentially eye-opening to a reader who knows little about underrepresentation in Hollywood. Of course, the article is about promoting 'Undercovers' and giving it good press, but I definitely think it was also written from the angle of showing just how difficult it is for an actor of color to land a big break. I especially thought the quotes from Kodjoe had a lot of meat to them and pretty much told it like it is. Often times, I find the issue is sugarcoated because I actually do know many people who don't believe this issue exists or that I'm "playing the race card," but I think Kodjoe's words really reveal the close-minded nature of the entertainment industry and counter the argument that we live in a post-racial society:

"Everybody says you did a great job. Then you get the call they ‘went another way,’ which means they went with a white actor. (The color of your skin) is something you have no control over. After a while, it wears you out.”

I think it was also very wise of the writer to include Mbatha-Raw's quote which highlighted the differences between the entertainment industry in the UK and the US. It added another dimension to the story and helped the reader see just how behind the times the American TV industry is in comparison:

"Coming from the U.K., I have a different cultural legacy and was pretty naive to the whole thing. I just thought of it as another audition. This was the first television role I'd ever gone out for in the States. It didn't cross my mind that I was doing anything out of the ordinary."

After this week's journalism article exercise, I'm starting to get a firmer grasp of the power quotes can have on a piece and I think this article is an excellent example. Each quote the author includes is there for a reason.

Now this is just me, but if I were to add onto this article though, I would probably include a statistic data chart that compiled all the ethnicities of every lead actor/actress in a major network TV show and separated each ethnicity into columns. If the writer included a chart like this, I'm sure the highest column would be Caucasian by a landslide and I think that would definitely drive home the point on why the 'Undercovers' casting is so important and how rare an occasion this really is. It would also add a sense of legitimacy to the claim that minorities are, in fact, underrepresented in Hollywood. In this article, I might have also mentioned a few more shows in the Fall line-up of major networks which feature a minority performer in a lead role—for example, half-Vietnamese actress Maggie Q as the lead in the CW drama "Nikita"—to show that this is perhaps the beginning of an upwards trend of more leading minorities on TV. Still, as it stands, I do believe this is a very well-written and informative article and I really took a lot from reading it.

Reading Journal: Friday, 24 Setember

On Wednesday, 22 September, Reuters published an article called “J&J to Congress: Motrin buyback was legal, FDA knew”, which quotes J&J’s lawyers as claiming that the FDA had given them the permission to go ahead with the “phantom recalls” – like I wrote about in my article. I tried to look up an article in The New York Times about it, since it was one of the newspapers which had covered the majority of the recalls, but the most recent article I could find was about Colleen Goggin’s retirement. This makes me wonder whether or not a publication has the obligation to update their information even if it isn’t deemed news worthy. For example, if J&J is accused of an illegal recall, it’s seen as controversial and therefore quickly makes the news. However, if J&J is to be proven innocent after the hearing on 30 September, I wonder how quickly this information would make the news or if in some cases it would even make the news at all, since it’s a less interesting read when someone is proven innocent than when someone is proven guilty of a crime. This makes me wonder if a newspaper’s commitment to updating their stories applies only if the story becomes more news worthy. If however, the controversy and conflict which everyone had originally anticipated results in nothing more than the innocent and mundane, does a newspaper have to print a story about it anyway for the purpose of continuity and to update facts?

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE68L52720100922

Recently, on the BBC World News website, there have been several articles regarding the upcoming Commonwealth Games which are to be held in Delhi; however the majority of the news coverage has been about the deplorable conditions of the footballers’ lodgings at the games. I find the articles incredibly embarrassing for India, showing living standards as far below those of the Western World and even quoting the Australian Olympic Committee as saying “The games shouldn’t have been awarded to Delhi in hindsight.” In addition, several teams have suspended their arrivals, in addition to some players who have simply refused to attend the games. These articles really display the transparency of photojournalism, since while Indian officials claim that the conditions aren’t that bad, the following link makes the unlivable lodgings visible to the world:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/commonwealth_games/delhi_2010/9025907.stm\

Robert Mackey’s latest post “Obama Calls Ahmadinejad’s 9/11 Comments ‘Inexcusable’”on The Lede shows a similar transparency. Covering President Obama’s response to the Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s claim that the attacks of 9/11 were perpetrated by the US government, Mackey says very little, quotes a lot, and even posts the video of the important part of Obama’s comment. This is prime example of how the transparency, especially video media of the internet really has made the traditional journalist obsolete, since Obama essentially speaks for himself through the video and gives Mackey very little to report. In this particular post, Mackey’s role as a blogger seems to be to point out the key message of Obama’s response, however I feel as though he could have just posted the video with a headline and left it at that.

On a side note, Mackey’s neutral headline contrasts with the link on The Guardian’s homepage which states “Obama attacks Ahmadinejad claims” – a use of language which I think is perhaps a little too strong after watching the video myself. However, after clicking on the link, the headline states “Ahmadinejad’s 9/11 comments offensive and hateful, says Obama”. Knowing that news websites keep a record of how many views a particular article gets, I wonder if, like bloggers, journalists compete on how many views their articles received and are therefore allowed to make the links to their articles more sensationalized to attract viewers to click on them.

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/24/obama-calls-ahmadinejads-911-comments-inexcusable/?hp

In BBC regional news, an article called “‘Sick prank’ leaves cat dyed pick in Swindon” makes headlines, although the cat is described as “in good health”. This leads me to wonder, who really cares and why is this news worthy? The only answer I can think of is that a recent, popular case of a woman in Coventry being charged over placing a cat in a bin made BBC headlines and perhaps this article was posted in the wake of that feline frenzy. Does what gets posted in the news therefore follow trends? Does the press attempt to cater to its readers by printing stories similar to those they know have already been popular? Or do Britons just have an inordinate concern for the welfare of their cats? You decide…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-11407516

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-11375080

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-10831397

Reading Journal Two

This week I have thought extensively about what contributes to a consistent, thematic, professional and most importantly, entertaining blog. Blogging, as it is new medium of the journalism world is very malleable in its form, and can be approached through fresh new angles. One of the things that struck me about Robert Mackey’s lecture on blogging, was A. how immediate the medium was, and B. how passionate he was about making his blog consistently news-worthy. Through my weekly readings and observations of the following blogs, I have found that there are many ways to interpret what makes a blog thematic and consistent.

In one of my previous responses, I mentioned that the blog Futility Closet is slightly reminiscent of the facts on Snapple caps. These informative yet fun blogs are enjoyable because they are a subsection of blogging that is unique to the medium of blogging itself. Such journalism would be hard to come by in a newspaper or even a magazine, because the length can be quite short, and the information is not fully correlative to the other posts. This week, Futility Closet updated with a variety of entries, one that particularly struck me was a series of poems under the title of “Better Homes.” These poems were chosen because they all interpret the idea of a home with great acuity, while still maintaining lightness. While it was not a favorite post of mine, it exemplified how the blog is not solely dedicated to updating with facts, definitions and quotes, providing this moderately researched post, which had great curatorial effort. Such an organization was indicative of the blogs overall consistency.

Another comparable blog I paid close attention to this week, was Boing Boing. Although Boing Boing falls under a similar sub-genre to that of Futility Closet, there are still inherent differences. The posts are more “news-worthy” meaning that they update with timely events, and even have interpretations of ledes before getting into the content of the post. The posts, like most blogs, have a variety of mediums within them, the majority being images and videos. The posts vary in length, some ranging from three sentences others are as long as four hundred words. What is interesting about this blog, is that the updates are very frequent, some being a mere ten minutes a part, further typifying how the immediacy in blogging is applicable to any type of blog, not just ones that are attributed to “hard news.” Additionally, Boing Boing uses the secondary source artfully, and respectfully, such evidence can be seen on their post on “Urban Foraging.” The majority of the post is from an article in National Geographic, but the bloggers take it upon themselves to link other posts concerning the same topic. In this case, there are three additional posts on Urban Foraging, which as we know is not the most widely researched topic. To compare, another post on Boing Boing titled “Nude Feud: Fundamentalist Nudists Terrorize Naked Swingers in France” is not only provocative and humorous, but quotes two different sections from the secondary source, from the UK Independent. Since the bloggers pull what they feel to be the important aspects of the article (which in this case provides two perspectives in the same article) they are truly conveying this idea of blogging being the artful organization of all of the news on the web. Thus, blogs such as Boing Boing are a very valuable way of absorbing information on specific topics. Through further researching these blogs, I can now understand that blogging ,like anything is not solely dependant on the topic, but on its continuity, organization, accessibility, and entertainment value.

Reading Assignment 2

This week after Robert Mackey's visit I was playing close attention to differences between blogs and newspapers. I was reading a blog post from the Lede which I found really interesting, entitled "Disobeying Israel's Law of Entry, for Fun". This article seemed very relate able, even though I have never visited Israel or Palestine, I got a sense of what it was like to be there. Also, the pictures that ran with the story gave the reader a sense of how the Israeli and Palestinian women felt. The first photo depicting two women standing on the beach at night made me think how awful it must be to have to sneak around, in fear of being imprisoned for up to 2 years, just for trying to have a relaxing day at the beach. I have such admiration for the women in charge of taking groups across forbidden borders. Blog format really allows the reader to visualize a story, where as newspapers give the news quickly, precisely, and with important details. I was trying to read more on The Israeli/Palestinian conflict, after finding this story on The Lede, and the first thing I found was a five sentence article about a Gaza man being sentenced to death for spying. The article gives everything you need to know about the situation in as little as a paragraph, and has a very strong lede that covers all of the basic who, what, were, etc. questions.

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/disobeying-israels-law-of-entry-for-fun/#more-79339

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/24/world/middleeast/24briefs-Gaza.html?ref=middleeast

Reading Journal #2

The New York Times and various other sources have covered a story about a Pakistani scientist who was just sentenced to 86 years in jail for the conviction of trying to kill American soldiers and FBI agents in Afghanistan. I find this story very interesting because of all the protests and controversy surrounding it. On Friday protesters in Pakistan filled the streets in hopes that their government would step in. Campaigning for her release Islamist parties have been campaigning for her release pushing on the United States government. It is going to be very interesting to see where this case goes and how it unfolds and continues to develop, between the protesters and the trials it will make for a top story for a while.

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/24/protests-in-pakistan-at-long-jail-term-for-scientist-in-u-s/?hp

People are often influenced by what they see on TV or in movies, through video games, and music but this story is particularly disturbing. Andrew Conley, a teen in Indiana, killed his 10-year old brother because he "had to satisfy the urge to kill". Conley related strangling his brother and dumping the body in a near by park as a person being hungry and eating a hamburger, giving in to a craving. While Conley was in custody and being questioned in the county jail, his parents were mourning the loss of their 5Th grader. Friends and family came from all over to pay their respects in a service with an open casket. The whole town is shaken up and confused as to why this outgoing, artistic, and intelligent boy would have to urge to do such a thing but friends that know him said he "idolized" Dexter, the popular character of a TV show. Making sense of this crime is unimaginable, i find it to be so disturbing but it also really frightening that a fictional show could have such an immense impact on someone. This story is still continuing to develop and the trial for Conley has not been set.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-5672949-504083.html

Reading Journal Two

Robert Machey said in class that he thinks video journalism is typically the most effective. It is powerful because you can really grasp what happened as more of a first hand experience than only audio or reading a recap. I agree with this; I am a reader, but when it comes to the news, I understand and retain the information provided much better via video. I started to check out some newspaper’s answer to this digital change, and found that video is in fact not always the most effective.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11396479 This is travel news (perhaps not exactly the same, but I appreciate the travel section) on Iraq, it advocates Iraq as place to holiday, despite the country’s corrupt reputation. This is an example of a news piece best made through video. The quotes are relatively bad, yet I see potential for a lede and catchy hook for this article as a story. Video is most important when the article is attempting to change the viewer’s present impression. Without the video, I feel like I would be reading of this tranquil place, but picturing in my head a war-zone, and the news would not hold.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11397555 However, this is an example of a video that I found unnecessary. This article, Obama’s address at a recent UN assembly, has both video and text. And I found that both the video and the text to be weak; the video is slow and I think that if the important quotes from Obama’s speech were highlighted in text, without the distractions of the camera, they would be more effective. The text should have been made strong enough to stand alone, as it almost is anyways. Also the camera does some movement that is up for interpretation, which to me would have been much more interesting had these observations been written (as opposed to seen through the video).

http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/ If you scroll about half way down this page, there is video entitled ‘the beauty of data visualization.’ This video is fascinating and clearly articulates how effective and powerful visual data can be; it also enforces how pertinent this type of information viewing is in our society today. I agree with the man who is giving the presentation, of course he is much better versed in the field than me, however- I believe that visual data can be entirely misleading and often it unfairly quantifies information. For example: he created a chart of the fear scares in recent history, with the swine flu showing to be the highest peak on this chart, which provoked a chuckle from the audience. The swine flu did not impact our daily lives in the west quite as dramatically as it did to those in east, and I do not think that displaying people’s most intimate fears in such a way is positive learning tactic.

Overall I found that leading newspaper's did not do as good of a job with video as online news databases. Blogs tend to insert the video directly into the text and include hyperlink pointing out related videos, as we have discussed in class as the advantage of blogging. An exception to this is politico.com, which has and entire multimedia section http://www.politico.com/multimedia/ which I found to be significantly worse than their written articles.

Reading Journal-September 24th

As I read through the major headlines, I often search for trends—things that I can connect individual ideas and news stories with. Yesterday I stumbled upon the news of the apparent suicide of Denver Broncos wide receiver Kenny McKinley, his death not only shocked his team mates and the players of the NFL but it shocked sports analysis and the casual reader as well. As a college student and sports fan I often idolize professional athletes, as a kid I often wished I could be just like them when I was older. How can these athletes whom so many people idolize and dream of being suffer from depression and other such personality disorders that can affect their well-being and state of mind? A Sports Illustrated article goes further in too explaining what types of pressures professional athletes and how that can affect such a disorder from arising. It went on to say that Kenny had broken his leg and couldn’t participate in football related activities—something that directly altered his life. As I look at the lives of professional athletes it is hard to separate there fame and fortune and their life as a pseudo-celebrity from them having to deal with the similar life stresses that all of us must encounter. About a week ago a similar story was reported on CNN. Com, Owen Thomas the captain of the UPenn Football had committed suicide because of undiagnosed depression. An autopsy later reported that he suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a brain disease that typically affects retired football players and boxers, those whom have had a number of concussions and brain injuries. The disease is often linked with depression and suicide. It may be coincidence that these two stories have surfaced around the same time but it does bring up the question of what exactly is pushing these high caliber athletes to the edge? In most cases these people are on the road to a type of fame and fortune us mere mortals can only dream about but this could be part of the problem. Perhaps the social skills and education they receive is different because of their exceptional athletic abilities—not allowing them to excel in certain things. Regardless I think it would be interesting to see the statistics of the number of professional athletes that suffer from depression, when the pressure of performance meets personal problems its interesting to see how this elite level of athletes handle it—they are viewed as such physicals strong individuals that there emotions aren’t even considered, what’s happening in recent times will with out a doubt change the way view and understand these professional athletes.

Journal Entry - Friday September 24th

I read an article this week on the New York Times website about the steadiness of Mexican New Yorkers in the workplace. Aside from my initial thoughts about the topic, going into the piece, I had to say right off the bat that Kirk Semple, the writer of the article, did a pretty good job with the lede. Not only is it a straight to the point paragraph, summarizing the key news of the article, but it really painted an image in my mind…and I had to respect that. Because I am always a creative writer at heart first, I value a creative news article lede. Now this isn’t as creative as can be, mind you, but it did enough for me.

The topic of the article, Mexicans success with finding work in New York specifically, was very interesting to me. It’s something that I’ve wondered a lot about, because I know it’s been a steady issue for ages. According to the article, immigrants are more likely to get work than American-born citizens, which was kind of surprising to hear at first, but after I thought about it, made a lot of sense.

According to the article, “Employers love [Mexican workers] because they want to work as many hours as they can,” said Robert C. Smith. Along with that, Mexican workers are willing to work for any sort of pay, and are very compliant. There’s little obligation employers have to them too, because if the workers complain, they risk getting deported. In employers’ eyes, it’s a win-win scenario.

I have to admit that if I were an employer though, I would take into account the fairness of my workplace, and certainly wouldn’t make, “The Mexicans do the hardest work,” as one of the workers stated. Normally, I like to look at the style of which the article is written, but I noticed this time around that it’s interesting to gage how the reporter got all of this information, and how he managed to include the most important facts. I appreciated the amount of research that probably went into getting the facts straight too, because all of his sources were direct people either being affected or affecting someone else.

My final point that I would like to address though is how the piece flowed very well. The important facts were laid up front, at the top and that’s where all of the hard news was found. As the article progressed, I found that it got more personal, including interviews with the workers themselves, and gaining the audience’s emotional support for these workers. There’s definitely something to be said about the topic of this article, because it’s a reality we’re all facing especially within the context of this recession, and yet I can’t help but feel really mixed emotions after I finished reading. I want to say that I feel awful for these workers who come into our country just trying to escape inept work conditions back in their country, but at the same time, I have to admit that I feel for the unemployed of this country who can’t get jobs because they aren’t being given priority. It’s a strange dynamic…and I don’t know if there’s anything necessarily being done to change it.

Find the article here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/23/nyregion/23mexicans.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&hp

For additional information and background:
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/newyorkandregion/series/now_arriving/index.html

2010 New York Musical Theatre Festival Begins

New York, New York- The New York Musical Theatre Festival begins this week in Manhattan, where for three weeks thirty new, original musicals will make their debut for New York audiences and theater professionals alike, and hope to find financial backing and interested producers as well as steer the musical theater market from the glittering, grand scale exposition that it once was, to a smaller, more intimate and relatable experience.
The festival, which began on a smaller scale in 1983, and was reincarnated as NYMF in the early 2000s, was at first a springboard for emerging and unknown composers, directors and actors, and is now a full fledged part of the theater community, with many of the shows being offered funding by producers for off-Broadway trial runs, and even some being catapulted into the lights of Broadway.
Many commercial hits of the last few years have made their premiere at New York Musical Theatre Festival, including major Off-Broadway hits like Altar Boyz, Yank! The Great American Trailer Park Musical and shows that have gone to thrive on Broadway like [Title of Show], and Next to Normal. Even the 2009 recipient of the NYMF ‘Best of the Fest’ award, a musical called Fat Camp, had a profitable run off-Broadway and is anticipating a spring 2011 premiere on Broadway proper.
Keith Varney, the creator, composer and star of the NYMF show I Got Fired- a semi-autobiographical sort-of-true Revenge Musical, premiering October 1st, attributes much of NYMF’s current popularity to the scaled back, simpler design of the shows and how that is a direct reaction to the latest economic recession, where audiences are looking to see, as well as pay for, less extravagance and more truth.
A seat in a Broadway theater averages $120, but that price is closer to $300 on a weekend, whereas a NYMF ticket costs $20. Many New Yorkers have learned to take advantage of this in the past years, finding that the shows are of the same quality. Emily Oakley, a 22 year old Brooklynite and intern at I Got Fired, said that she wanted to get involved in the festival after attending some shows last year. Emily sits on the ground with illustrated directions in her hands and pieces of an unassembled IKEA desk spread around her on the stage of the Borrow Theater on 36th Street, she says.,” I saw some really great, really raw shows, and every so often you got the feeling that you were witnessing not just a scene but the beginning of something, of a career or a show or a new way of doing things.” And Emily needed to get involved, which is why she is now gladly putting the puzzle of a desk together for the set of I Got Fired.
Varney says of recent success stories, like NYMF’s 2005 alumni Next to Normal, which tells the story, in a pop rock manner, of a disconnected family whose mother figure struggles with Bipolar disorder. Varney says, “This is the best kind of show because it has gained incredible success while still maintaining the general plot and design they had five years ago. Their set is bare and simple, the band is small and visible to the audience,’ Most importantly, Varney says, the plot is character driven, ‘there are no crazy polytechnics or costumes or effects, all the incredible moments are purely emotional, and what keeps people coming back is the reality of it, not the fantasy that people expected while attending the theater in the 1980s and 90s.” And the rawness seems to work, during the 2009 season Next to Normal was nominated for eleven Tony awards, and was the winner of three, celebrating it’s original score, orchestration and leading actress along with winning the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Having the audience relate to a show’s material, and being able to express, though musically and somewhat deprecatingly, what many people experience is exactly what Varney is hoping to do with I Got Fired. The basic plot of his story is being unceremoniously getting fired from a job he hated, and after the initial thrill the fear of what to do with his life begins to take over. In 2010, when layoffs are still rampant and one-time professionals with graduate degrees are finding themselves working up from the bottom yet again, it is a story that is sure to hit home with many audience members.
The goal of this year’s New York Musical Theatre Festival is to the same as always, to inspire and hopefully deliver an expensive, if not fun or even moving, night at the theatre.
Kiernan Norman

Cabbie attacker has troubled past

New York City- SVA student, Michael Enright was charged with attempted murder and convicting a hate crime, after violently slashing a Muslim cab driver, and is awaiting arraignment scheduled for September 22, 2010.

As the New York Times reported, Enright hailed a cab near 24^th street and Second Avenue, heading towards midtown. He proceeded to ask the cab driver if he was Muslim, and when the driver said yes, Enright responded with “Assalamu alaikum”, which is a common Arabic greeting, and continued with, “Consider this a checkpoint,” before pulling a knife on the driver and slashing him on his neck, face, and arms.

Michael Enright is currently a film major at the School of Visual Arts, and had recently taken a trip to Afghanistan to film for a documentary about the lives of soldiers in wartime. According to Richard Quintero, a fellow SVA student who lived in the same suite as Enright in the school dorms their freshman year, he had heard that once he had returned from Afghanistan, he would talk about his experiences non stop, and how he had witnessed a lot of people he had become friends with die.

Everyone who knew him considered Michael Enright a very personable, friendly guy. Quintero remembers him, as being “…pretty much the SVA frat boy, so I mean everyone liked him, he was nice to everybody.” Richard describes Enright as an exceptionally good student, who made friends with everyone. He was also considered a very talented and dedicated filmmaker, who was rumored to have HBO interested in one of his films. Quintero remarks that, “[Enright] had a lot going for him, now it’s just completely out the window.”

Aside from being a loveable, dedicated student, Enright had some serious underlying issues, one being a serious problem with alcoholism. Richard Quintero describes a regular weeknight as “I’d be coming in every night, I’d probably find him on the floor; just like pissed his pants and he’d just be laid out, like passed out”. As The Huffington Post reported, Enright was drunk when the attack happened, and was found with an empty bottle of scotch in his pocket as well as two notebooks detailing his experiences in Afghanistan.

The last thing Quintero mentioned was that when he talked to Enright’s most recent roommate, Mike Sassano, he remarked that, “the cab driver must have said something to make him snap like that. The dialogue written in the New York Post, he doesn’t think it could be true”. Mike Sassano could not be reached personally for comment.

Michael Enright resides in Brewster, N.Y. with his parents, but is currently awaiting arraignment in New York City.

Parsons Students Get New Advisor

New York, NY—Parsons The New School For Design Photo students will face an easier time scheduling appointments with their advisors upon the recent hiring of the newest Photo advisor for the Art, Media, and Technology department, replacing former senior advisor Rudy Shepherd. The advisor has not yet been revealed and will be formally announced sometime next week.
Shepherd, who roughly advised a hundred students before his departure, left the position in late July after two years with Parsons for a teaching position at Penn State. Since his departure advisors from other departments have taken over advising his students.
“Naturally, your workload increases after an advisor advising a hundred student leaves,” said Jennifer Huh, Assistant Director of Advising for AMT. “It’s difficult for a student to make the transition into a temporary advising situation.” Huh, and other advisors from AMT and School of Constructed Environments have split up advising Shepherd’s former students describing it as a “challenging time”. Huh has said she is trying to maintaining a good attitude, and trying to work more with program directors to help create solidarity.
Students, however, have faced confusion scheduling appointments. “Yeah it’s difficult, Rudy was my advisor,” said Caitlin a BAFA dual-degree student with Eugene Lang and Parsons. “I sent an email to another advisor, but after tying to coordinate times he just didn’t get back to me, I’ve been using my handbook to make my schedule.” When asked if she has seen a Parson’s advisor this fall semester she replied, “Lang, yes. Parsons, no.”
Joe Hosking, Director of Advising, has noted the search for a new advisor has been competitive, receiving hundreds of applications for the position. Minimum requirements for the job include experience in higher education, and a masters in a related field. “Versatility is important,” to be able to contribute to other parts of the school. Advising positions usually require six weeks on average to be filled, going through a rigorous process of selection first handled by Human Resources before being eligible for two more interviews conducted by different committees comprised of the heads of the Advising departments. Academic advising positions usually require six weeks on average to be filled. Shepherd’s position has been roughly open for two months.
Hosking, who was on the first hiring committee, is very happy and satisfied with the hire, and is projected to begin training in early October. The job posting has been since taken down, only showing a posting for the Fashion department currently seeking to fill two open advising positions.

New Spike Lee Film Set to Premiere at Crucial Point In New York Nightlife

Lula Brown

21 September 2010

New York, NY-- At a turning point in the downtown New York nightlife scene, Julius Onah and Mayuran Tiruchelvam are in the midst of post-production editing for their new Spike Lee produced film, “The Girl Is In Trouble,” set to premiere during the Sundance Film festival beginning January 20^th in Park City, Utah. The film will explore the transformation of Lower East Side nightlife from Indie Rock heaven to electronic madness. Daniel Casanova, established New York DJ and a big source of inspiration for the film, explained that the film is about “murder, revenge, extortion and love set amongst the glamour and grime of the Lower East Side nightlife scene.” Julius wrote the story during the tail end of “Girls & Boys,” a two-year running party that he promoted along with Casanova, also known as rekLES on the scene, and drew much of his inspiration from this party in particular.

The main character in the film is trying to make it as a DJ in New York, but every gig he pursues is given to a DJ already well established on the scene. Julius had Casanova in mind when casting the “well-established DJ,” and Daniel agreed to play himself. Although Casanova’s roll is quite minor, his real life experience in the downtown scene makes him an important person to have on set. When speaking with Casanova, he discussed the transformation of DJ’s in New York, explaining that when he first started DJing downtown, it was an “Indie Rock driven scene, and literally everyone was a DJ. If you had an iPod, you were a DJ. It was all about song selection and had nothing to do with mixing the music.” Casanova went on to explain that along with the rebirth of dance music/electro, the blending of tracks became a necessity in order to really call oneself a DJ. Since modern electro appeals so greatly to the mainstream, Daniel and other New York DJ’s such as Alex English were able to bring a larger crowd and form a greater following. This allowed Daniel and Julius to expand “Girls & Boys” from a Lower East Side basement to Webster Hall, one of New York City’s most respected venues, all in a matter of six months.

Outside of the heavyweight actors in the film whoes names cannot be released yet, many of the actual attendees of “Girls & Boys” play as extras in the film. Veteran Lower East Side party girl Noelle Celebra described her experience on set, admitting that “the vibe on set was dead at first, but once filming starting it was just like hanging out with friends, and everyone was having a good time. It was rad having everyone out and together.” Celebra was also surprised that it was so easy to stimulate a night out on film during the middle of the day. However, she was ecstatic with the outcome and hopes that the film will solidify the acceptance of the electronic wave that has taken over the Lower East Side, since she prefers this style herself.

Spike Lee’s involvement as executive producer of the film came about because Julius interned at Lee’s production company, 40 Acres and a Mule. When Spike received the script he believed in the concept, and agreed to produce it if Julius would meet with him once a week for two months to tailor and tweak the script. Having Spike Lee’s support was crucial for the film since he had the power to secure established movie stars for the lead roles. In addition, having his name on the film attracted various product placement deals, as well as a sponsorship with Apple.

The downtown New York nightlife scene seems to be loving the electro route that DJ’s and producers have taken, and if this general opinion holds strong electro is sure to expand even farther than it already has. This new film will sweep the Sundance Festival by storm, exposing the true ferocity of Lower East Side nightlife, and solidifying the unanimous prediction that electro music will continue to propel this notorious scene.