Since we can blog about anything, I decided to have a little bit of a rant here. Our second agriculture story is the toughest thing I have attempted all semester. Having to switch from the first topic that I had scheduled an interview for to another topic really threw me for a loop.
I was fine with switching stories, but my new focus has been giving me so much trouble. I had four people I needed to schedule interviews with. I manage to get times set up with three, and the fourth is out of town until Saturday. It looks like I’ll be writing the finishing touches Monday night before the story is due.
Everything seemed to be flowing along nicely until one of my interviewee's didn't show up. I have not been able to contact him via phone or e-mail, and now I'm starting to get a little stressed out. I am missing two interviews for my story, and cannot get in contact with either.
I guess this is one of the frustrating parts of being a news writer. You have to learn to work through last minute changes and deal with the fact that not everyone is going to keep their dates. No matter how much you plan and try to organize everything, you can never prevent things from going wrong; just try to minimize the effects.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
Kickin' it old school...or something like that.
I belong to a group known as Society for Creative Anachronism, an international medieval re-enactment group, and I thought it might be fun to write my blog on that. I searched through USA Today and found an interesting article about a teenage boy who belongs to the SCA.
The USA Today posted an article about Patrick Agin, a 17-year-old boy who wanted to submit a picture of himself in chain mail with a board sword over his shoulder for his school’s yearbook. The school refused to allow him to have the picture in the yearbook because he was posing with a weapon. The school said it went against their weapons policy. While those who support Agin said that him wanting to pose in chain mail is the same as wanting to pose in a boy scouts uniform, or with a skateboard. It expressed his personality. The article then went on to describe the SCA and the kinds of activities one can do through the organization.
The New York Times also ran the same article. However, they focused more heavily on the issue of Agin and the yearbook picture. They talked to the American Civil Liberties Union, who stepped up in support of Agin, as well as the schools lawyer.
What I found interesting about this, is both articles cover the exact same story, yet they took it in completely different directions. USA Today talked for a few paragraphs about their initial topic, than went onto more of a feature type story. The New York Times remained more of a hard news story, focusing on the issue at hand. It was neat to see how one story can be spun differently; I like being able to see the different angles.
The USA Today posted an article about Patrick Agin, a 17-year-old boy who wanted to submit a picture of himself in chain mail with a board sword over his shoulder for his school’s yearbook. The school refused to allow him to have the picture in the yearbook because he was posing with a weapon. The school said it went against their weapons policy. While those who support Agin said that him wanting to pose in chain mail is the same as wanting to pose in a boy scouts uniform, or with a skateboard. It expressed his personality. The article then went on to describe the SCA and the kinds of activities one can do through the organization.
The New York Times also ran the same article. However, they focused more heavily on the issue of Agin and the yearbook picture. They talked to the American Civil Liberties Union, who stepped up in support of Agin, as well as the schools lawyer.
What I found interesting about this, is both articles cover the exact same story, yet they took it in completely different directions. USA Today talked for a few paragraphs about their initial topic, than went onto more of a feature type story. The New York Times remained more of a hard news story, focusing on the issue at hand. It was neat to see how one story can be spun differently; I like being able to see the different angles.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Problems within the Horse Racing Industry
Growing up with horses, the horse racing industry has always been of interest to me. I’ve watched it go through ups and downs, and most recently, the news coming from this year’s Triple Crown.
The USA Today posted an article shortly after the death of Eight Bells framing the new scrutiny the horse racing industry is undergoing. It talks about how the breeders are breeding more for speed rather than durability, and that is one of the main causes for the horse’s breakdowns on the track. The animals have become sleek speed machines that are extremely fragile. The article goes on to talk about the steps the industry is thinking about taking to rectify the problems, though experts agree the solutions wont happen over night. Some of the suggestions include putting in synthetic racing tracks, designed to help cushion the horse’s legs to help reduce bone fracture. Others talk about working on breeding sturdiness back into the horses instead of streamlining them.
The New York Times also wrote an article speaking about some of the same issues. This article took a more cynical look at the horse racing industry, using PETA as few of their focal points. They did offer a few suggestions to help the industry, but from the articles tone it seemed like that they weren’t convinced that the industry would do anything about it.
Being a horse owner, I have to agree that the conditions these horses are racing under are extreme. They start racing at the early age of two, long before their bones are fully developed. Most horse training professionals don’t even recommend that you start a horse under saddle until two or three. When the horses start racing at two, they’ve been under saddle since they were yearlings, and this can cause serious development problems later on. I believe that if the horse racing industry takes to heart the changes the USA Today is proposing then they will be able to get away from the critics and lower the injury rates.
The USA Today posted an article shortly after the death of Eight Bells framing the new scrutiny the horse racing industry is undergoing. It talks about how the breeders are breeding more for speed rather than durability, and that is one of the main causes for the horse’s breakdowns on the track. The animals have become sleek speed machines that are extremely fragile. The article goes on to talk about the steps the industry is thinking about taking to rectify the problems, though experts agree the solutions wont happen over night. Some of the suggestions include putting in synthetic racing tracks, designed to help cushion the horse’s legs to help reduce bone fracture. Others talk about working on breeding sturdiness back into the horses instead of streamlining them.
The New York Times also wrote an article speaking about some of the same issues. This article took a more cynical look at the horse racing industry, using PETA as few of their focal points. They did offer a few suggestions to help the industry, but from the articles tone it seemed like that they weren’t convinced that the industry would do anything about it.
Being a horse owner, I have to agree that the conditions these horses are racing under are extreme. They start racing at the early age of two, long before their bones are fully developed. Most horse training professionals don’t even recommend that you start a horse under saddle until two or three. When the horses start racing at two, they’ve been under saddle since they were yearlings, and this can cause serious development problems later on. I believe that if the horse racing industry takes to heart the changes the USA Today is proposing then they will be able to get away from the critics and lower the injury rates.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Online Communication for teens.
Teens are communicating more and more through online means as opposed in person or over the phone.
USA Today published an article on teens involvement with blogs and online journals. It details the concerns parents have for the kind of personal information the teens are putting on the web. The main argument the article poses is how parents should deal with the information teens are posting. It seems that a lot of parents believe that they would be over stepping boundaries by reading their teens blogs. They equate it to reading a paper diary their teens might keep, something they wouldn't do.
The New York Times also published a similar article. However, the two articles have different views on how parents should deal with the information teens are putting on the web. This article seems to focus on telling the parents how to find out what teens are posting. The parents seem to feel like they have to monitor what teens are putting online in order to help keep them safe.
I started my online journal at LiveJournal as a young teen and I know I would have felt like my privacy was being taken away if my parents had read it. But knowing now what I do about online predators, and how some teens make it easy for people to find them, has me torn as to which article I agree the most with. On one hand, I feel like parents should respect their teens privacy and trust that they've taught them enough to know what kind of information is safe for the web. On the other, parents can never really know if their teens are following their rules if they don't check up on them.
Both articles, however, share the same concerns for safety. I feel like it is a very fine line between infringing on the privacy of teens and keeping them safe when it comes to monitoring their online involvement.
USA Today published an article on teens involvement with blogs and online journals. It details the concerns parents have for the kind of personal information the teens are putting on the web. The main argument the article poses is how parents should deal with the information teens are posting. It seems that a lot of parents believe that they would be over stepping boundaries by reading their teens blogs. They equate it to reading a paper diary their teens might keep, something they wouldn't do.
The New York Times also published a similar article. However, the two articles have different views on how parents should deal with the information teens are putting on the web. This article seems to focus on telling the parents how to find out what teens are posting. The parents seem to feel like they have to monitor what teens are putting online in order to help keep them safe.
I started my online journal at LiveJournal as a young teen and I know I would have felt like my privacy was being taken away if my parents had read it. But knowing now what I do about online predators, and how some teens make it easy for people to find them, has me torn as to which article I agree the most with. On one hand, I feel like parents should respect their teens privacy and trust that they've taught them enough to know what kind of information is safe for the web. On the other, parents can never really know if their teens are following their rules if they don't check up on them.
Both articles, however, share the same concerns for safety. I feel like it is a very fine line between infringing on the privacy of teens and keeping them safe when it comes to monitoring their online involvement.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
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