Classmate Response #7

http://morgansjohnsons.blogspot.com/2013/11/filling-up-space-1.html

My parents are subscribed to the Courier, and almost every day I'm surprised when all I see on the front page is a colossal photograph along with two or three stories. Like Morgan said, it may be due to the fact that the Courier's funding is almost nonexistent, but that doesn't excuse making one photo take up almost half the front page. Newspapers should have news, not photos.

Classmate Response #6

http://deshahorton.blogspot.com/2013/11/david-camm-trial.html

Like WHAS, WDRB has also been focusing way too much on the David Camm trial. There was almost always a story about it on the 6 o'clock evening news. I agree with Desha; it's completely irrelevant, especially thirteen years after the murder took place. Hopefully we'll see the news stations start to move away from those stories since the trial is over.

Classmate Response #5

http://royaltodd.blogspot.com/2013/11/wdrb.html

I agree with Royal's view on WDRB's coverage of international stories, but I also feel like they could do a lot more. At the most, WDRB spends about five or six seconds on a single international story, which is nowhere near enough time to get the big picture. However, hats off to them for at least making an attempt, unlike most of the other TV news stations.

Classmate Response #4

http://snazzysnazzgs.blogspot.com/2013/10/wdrb-local-news-j1-2.html

Like Camille, I was assigned WDRB, and I agree with what she said. Their stories are never longer than a minute or two, and they never go in-depth. Instead of reporting on around fifteen stories every show and having each one last a minute, maybe they could report on ten stories so they could include more details.

Classmate Response #3

http://kelseywunderlich.blogspot.com/2013/11/wdrb-story-bourbon-sold-to-raise-money.html

What Kelsey wrote didn't leave me angry, just...confused. I agree with her; that story was completely unnecessary, not only because of its lack of local relevance, but also because of the fact that there were two other stories written about the event. Sure, the story was interesting, but will it effect any of our lives? Of course not! The story was nothing more than useless filler, and I'm still confused as to why WDRB even bothered.

Classmate Response #2

http://blsj1.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-internet-dun-dun-dun.html

I completely agreed with Brigid's opinion on how the internet has affected all forms of media... and how digital crime has become a big issue. I really hope that other mediums find a way to make a comeback, because it would be a shame if books or newspapers ceased to exist in 10-20 years. I also think that digital crime should be punished more harshly. Like Mr. Miller said in class, if someone got a gun, robbed a bank, didn't shoot anyone, and only got $20,000, they'd be put in prison for decades. However, if someone hacked a bank account online and took millions of dollars, they'd only be put in prison for several years.

Class Discussion- The Internet

The discussion we had in class today about the internet and what it might be capable of in the future was eye-opening. I had no idea that we had technology capable of making clones or printing physical objects. It's weird to think about a world where we can get anything we need just by printing it out. I also hadn't known about the extent of the damage the internet has inflicted on the other mediums, especially books and TV.

Classmate Response #1

http://alfrey99.blogspot.com/2013/10/class-talks.html

I completely agree with Drew's thoughts on media popularity. I doubt that the people who created the internet in 1969 thought that over 2 billion people would use it on a daily basis forty years later. Something else that really impressed me was that we can download entire movies and TV shows from the internet nowadays, but back then the whole thing crashed after they typed two letters. If the internet's creators could see it today, I bet that they would be completely shocked.

Local News Relevance-Man Hit by Train

http://www.wdrb.com/story/23667001/kansas-man-is-hit-by-train-gets-up-and-walks-away

Honestly, it's surprising that this story came from a local "news" station and not from Fox News' website. It holds zero relevance to anyone except the man who was hit, and even then he only received minor cuts and bruises. What was really surprising though was the fact that this "story" takes place almost halfway across the country. Even if it were locally relevant, it wouldn't matter because we're nowhere near there! It wouldn't be shocking if the only reason they reported on this story was because WDRB didn't have any important stories to report on and they needed something to use as filler. This story is proof that modern news organizations focus too much on making the interesting important, and not the important interesting.

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2013/09/24/man-gives-his-porsche-cayenne-funeral-at-its-last-resting-place/?intcmp=features

        First of all, it's frankly humiliating that Fox News would report on something as silly and unimportant as a man giving his car a funeral. Second of all, this article goes against at least three of the 9 principles and 7 yardsticks of journalism; making the important interesting, newsworthiness, and local relevance. The fact that a man gave his car a funeral will never affect anyone, nor does it have any relevance to the public at large. This article is also a prime example of making the interesting important, instead of the other way around like it should be. This story was not only unworthy of being on a major news website, but also being reported on at all.
        There's nothing that can be done to improve this story. But instead of reporting about the "funeral," perhaps instead they could have reported on the accident that "killed" the car. At least then the story would have been somewhat relevant.

I learned a lot during the lecture about the printing press. I thought that Gutenberg had been the first to think of the idea, but it turns out that humans have had them for thousands of years, going all the way back to Mesopotamia. I also hadn't known about the huge impact it had on Europe at the time, or how different our world would be without the printing press.

I thought the lecture about music was very interesting. I hadn't even known about Edison's phonograph or Berliner's gramophone before the lesson, or how different modern music would be without them. I also hadn't really seen music as anything but entertainment, or that it was used to inform back in the Middle Ages.

I really enjoyed the lesson on newspapers several days ago, and thought it was very informative. Before the lecture, I was sure that newspapers would be gone within 20 years because of the internet. But now, after learning so much about their history and important qualities, I have hope that newspapers will still be around for many years to come.

http://nicopagni19.blogspot.com/ I agreed with Nico's critique of Fox News. Whenever I see Fox News on TV, I never really learn anything. It's either some pointless story about something unimportant, or just stating obvious facts I already knew. The next time there's a major event, I'll be doing the same as Nico; steering clear of Fox News.

http://snazzysnazzgs.blogspot.com/   I thought that Camille's critique of NBC's coverage of the Navy Yard shooting was very eye-opening. It seems so unprofessional of NBC to not even check their facts, especially with something as important as the number of deaths. I'm also impressed that she was able to catch NBC's mistake, as it was something I probably would have missed.

 I thought the lesson on magazines was very interesting .I had no idea how big of a role magazines played in establishing our national identity, or how far they'd come since the 19th century. For example, there are hardly any magazines nowadays that cater to a broad audience, unlike back then.