Final Feature Broadcast video for extra credit

Copy Edit the World

Professor McCune, I've included a couple more pictures for extra credit on the Copy Edit the World post. Thank you!

Focus story exercise

Lillian Garland does not appear to have any physical disability whatsoever. She is playing with her five-year-old daughter in their living room and looks like any other young mother. And yet in 1981, Garland lost her job on the basis of a very popular medical condition which is still legally described as a "disability". A condition that 55 million working American women might face at some point in their lives. Garland was pregnant. She became pregnant while she worked as a receptionist at the California Federal Savings and Loan Association in LA and when she was ready to go back to work, six weeks later, her employer told her the position had been filled and refused to offer her another job.
The bank's action violated the 1978 California Fair Employment and Housing Act, which states that employers must provide up to four months unpaid leave for any "female employee affected by pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions.' Garland sued California Federal under theCalifornia law and the U.S. Supreme Court voted 6-2 Tuesday to uphold it. But the ruling came five years after the birth of Garland's baby.

Fish out of water

Abhinaya Dance Company of San Jose, the Bay Area’s South Indian classical dance company, presented their 2009 Fall concerts “Nritya Sangati: Dance Progressions.” on Saturday at San Jose's Mexican Heritage Theater. The concert was held at 7 p.m. and featured the work of special guest composer Kartik Seshadri and choreography by Abhinaya Artistic Director and Founder Mythili Kumar, Rasika Kumar and Malavika Kumar.

The event was presented in the Bharatanatyam-style, which is one of the oldest of the classical dance forms in India, also known as the fifth Veda. The name depicts the combination of: BHA- Bhava (Expression), RA- Raga (Music) and TA- Tala (Rhythm), and is known for its grace, purity,and sculpturesque poses. "Nritya Sangati" is a dance which features vignettes of Indian immigrant women.

As a viewer of this amazing spectacle and an outsider to this rich culture, I was convinced that Indians use their body as a medium of communication; their dances conveying thoughts and emotions. Some of the dances depicted food-gathering and harvesting as well as other rituals and traditions. I could tell that it was the experience of their unique dances than united all the people who had gathered in the theater to share something which distinguished their culture from all other cultures. Indians believe that dance has been created by God and given to people as a gift, and therefore it is considered divine. And even though many Indian families are dispersed in different parts of the world, they proudly preserve their dance traditions as part of their national heritage.

The style of dancing also seemed closely connected with religion. The main theme was the victory of good over evil. The Fifth Veda is used in reference to the foundation of the Hindu religion and philosophy, and some of the dances were performed by beautiful women whose dance moves expressed rituals such as the waking of the Gods or chasing away bad spirits from the temple. Throughout the whole performance, male and female dancers seemed to follow intricate patterns and geometric poses with incredible speed.

The second part of the spectacle featured modern stories of immigrant Indian women who struggle with homesickness and the need to assimilate in new communities. The dancers literally told stories using their fingers to create meaningful gestures. Another impressive thing to observe were the costumes of colorful silks, and the jewels on the dancers. Overall, the concert was an amazing experience and I highly recommend their next event which will be on November 15th at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco.

 

IMHO # 2

Yesterday, my media law professor mentioned something which shocked me to the core. She said that following the 9/11 attacks, different compensations were paid to the victims, depending on their annual income. Thus, the high-paid Wall Street executives' families received millions while other families received much less. All 43 workers at the Windows on the World restaurant in the Trade Center were killed and their relatives did not receive any financial help because the victims were in the country illegally or their relatives were afraid to ask for help because they were illegal.

Ken Feinberg was the administrator of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. In that job, he had to put a price tag on the dead. He had to decide what people's pain and their relative's role in society were worth. According to a testimony of Feinberg, families of 2,880 victims received $5,996,261,002.08 in compensation; in addition, 2,680 physical injury victims were paid $1,053,154,534.56 by the 9/11 Fund. The average award for a death claim was $1,267,880.49; the average award for a physical injury claim was $392,968.11. Information on the exact compensation of families of Wall Street executives is very hard to find but most documents state that the number is substantially higher.

The businesses which were affected received an average of 23.3 billion for property damage, according to the 173-page analysis by the Rand Institute for Civil Justice which examined the compensation system. This is 61 % of the overall benefits !?!? Property damage thus has a higher price tag than the loss of human lives.

I understand that the way compensations were distributed depended on the economic hole created by the loss of a person’s life. But it turns out that even in death, Wall Street still stands higher than Main street and rich people's lives apparently seem to have more value than poor people's lives. And in my humble opinion, this is not ok. What happened to the American Creed that "All people are created equal"?

Word of the week # 10

1.    Coulis
2.    Read it in a Food Network's recipe.
3.  "Food Network invites you to try this Lemon Mousse with Blackberries and Raspberry Coulis recipe"
4.    A thick sauce made with pureed vegetable or fruit and often used as garnish.
5.    Topping off a delicate dish with a simple coulis can bring it to perfection. 

Targeting Audiences

The target audience for the Nivea product is women, age 18 to 35, who can have different jobs and education levels because this product is not expensive at all and thus, many women can afford to have it. Since the motto is "beautiful moments are born in the shower", they're most likely targeting single or unmarried women. The ad is using the false connection between the product and the feelings of physical attractiveness of women, and happiness. Using their douche gel won't make them prettier or happier but that's how they sell their product. The common theme, of course, is sex appeal. They're trying to target women who want to be independent, sexy, and fun. Even being promiscuous can be seen as a good thing because otherwise, what would a man have to do with the fact that beautiful moments are born in the shower?

The second advertisement targets men because its product is a new cologne. They're also targeting young males, and since the woman is sniffing a business shirt, then most likely the men they're targeting have median or above the median income. Again, there is sex appeal, men want to be attractive and this ad makes them feel that their concern for their looks is a sign of masculinity. His fragrance will "stay on her mind" even after he's gone, or at least that's the message. Looks like the authors of the ad played with the light in order to make it appear as if it's nighttime and the girl is also wearing a sexy and provocative lingerie.

Both ads are far from being information rich and they are not directed at an involved audience. Both feature peripheral qualities- the pictures. They don't feature celebrities as role models but they feature attractive women. In the first ad, most women want to be like the woman on the picture, and in the second ad, all men want to have an affair with a "hot chick". So the message is "Use our product and we'll help you get there" but all they're doing is playing on people's needs and insecurities in order to make profits...

Copy Edit The World # 2

This is a poster for Honda Hybrid and I thought that it would be better to move the apostrophe after "s" because if it's just "not your parent's hybrid", then it sounds to me as if you only have one parent. The next photo is from my MCOM 104 Mass Communications Research class and our teacher always has typos on all kinds of papers he gives us. So it should be "the effectiveness of an ad" and "can not" should be written with no space because "cannot" is the proper English spelling. The third picture is from a restaurant's menu. On the description of the Berry Bellini, it says : "a dash of Chambord liquer" and it should be LIQUOR. Then the Braveheart says "scotch with a dash of bitters and sweet" it should be "bitter and sweet". And the last one is the Orange Dreamsicle where "as the name suggest" should have an "s" because the same suggests that it makes dreams come true.

Japanese Internment Memorial

     Our recent field trip to the Japanese Internment Memorial made me realize, yet again, how important it is to open your eyes and notice things. I live a block away from Ruth Asawa's mural and I had never stopped to look at it because this government building reminded me of the long hours I waited in line there to get my social security number after coming to the US three years ago. And I am very glad that I get to write about this important representation of history now.  

     The first vignette that grabbed my attention was the depiction of six Japanese soldiers, bending over a fire, heating food in what appears to be one of their steel helmets. This is a very good way of showing the immense sacrifice of the Japanese Americans whose families were stationed in internment camps and they still fought for the US in World War II. The Japanese Internment began as a result of the hysteria following the outbreak of the war with the events at Pearl Harbor. The US government feared that Japanese Americans would commit acts of sabotage, and although no such act was ever committed by a Japanese American, some 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry living in the Western United States were removed from their homes and sent to internment camps. Of these, almost 80,000 were United States citizens and 40,000 were children. Most of the Japanese Americans who volunteered in the war came from Hawaii, but roughly a third came from the mainland camps. They suffered through battles and food shortage, their bread and meat rations were cut almost every month. 

      The second vignette is right behind the soldiers by the fire and it seems to be an endless graveyard. According to some sources, around 200 people died in the internment camps and more than 800 Japanese Americans died in combat. That part of the monument resembles a military graveyard with rows upon rows of perfectly aligned crosses which have no name, and thus the fallen soldiers become statistics to anyone but their families. Some of the casualties were from the Bay Area. Japantown had already formed in San Jose before the war began. Nearly 3,000 Japanese Americans were sent to Heart Mountain in Wyoming. According to the Mercury News, prior to going to the camps, most of the Japantown residents were held in the San Jose State gym.  

     The third part of the memorial that caught my attention was on the side of it with representations of a bamboo stalk, cherry or plum blossom and a pine branch with a cone. In Japan, bamboo forests symbolize sacred barriers against evil and that is why they surround many of their shrines. A cherry blossom is the symbol for spiritual beauty. Another possible interpretation of Asawa's work could be that she tried to represent the Japanese tradition "kadomatsu" where a pine branch symbolizes longevity, a bamboo stalk is used for prosperity and a plum blossom shows nobility. Ruth Asawa herself was interned with her family at a camp in New Mexico where she spent most of her time drawing and painting. 

     I can see how for most Americans, it is very hard to imagine that something like the Japanese Internment could happen again. However, history does repeat itself in one way or another. To me, having gone through ridiculous procedures with the US Immigration Services and having seen how they treat the "aliens" (as they refer to people from foreign countries), I think it would not be unlikely for something like this to happen again. Even after the war, many Japanese Americas still dealt with racism and discrimination. Another example would be what happened after the horrible attack on 9/11 when many Arab Americans were threatened and harassed by government officials. There seems to be a very thin line between people's highest ideals and their worst impulses at times of danger. 

Word of the week # 9

1. Sanctum

2. Read it in the article "Tough to crack: How to find Hawaii's true flavor inside a macadamia nut" from Islands magazine.

3. "In the factory's roasting room, the fluorescent inner sanctum, he leads me up a ship ladder to a catwalk next to a conveyor that emerges from the grand automated roasting contraption."

4. A place of inviolable privacy, holy place: a sacred place of pilgrimage; a private retreat or workroom

5. Judging by the way he referred to his car, one could tell that his vehicle was this man's sanctum.

In my humble opinion # 1

Okay, here is a fact: On average, about two-thirds of bachelor's degree recipients borrow money, and their median debt is about $20,000 by graduation. Here is another one: California’s t public university and community college systems educate about one in eight full-time college students in the U.S. And here comes number three: The University of California system is considering fee increases of more than 30 percent by next year.
In what world would it make sense to increase tuition by 9 percent when the economy has gone down? Average tuition at four-year public colleges in the U.S. climbed 6.5 percent, or $429, to $7,020 this fall, according to an annual report from the College Board. However,, during the period covered by the report, consumer prices declined 2.1 percent. So the latest tuition increase at public colleges was closer to 9 percent in real terms. So instead of following Maryland and Missouri states’ example of freezing tuition, the state of California is encouraging double-digit increases.
As a San Jose State undergraduate student, currently paying over seven thousand dollars PER SEMESTER, I’m outraged. How are students not supposed to feel that college education is out of reach when very soon, only rich kids would be able to afford school. Because students have a lot more to worry about, from rising textbook costs to the expensive software and supplies most classes require. Then most teachers complain that students have jobs and choose to go to work over going to school. I hate my job but if it’s what pays for school then I’m going to do what I have to do. Because when tuition goes up again next semester, what are my choices? Get another job or move out on the streets maybe? I’ve even heard several girls say they are seriously considering stripping in order to make money for school. So are state legislators trying to test our limits, checking to see how far people are willing to go in order to financially provide for their education? In my humble opinion, what is happening is absurd.
As a comparison, in the UK, the maximum tuition fee amount that can be charged to EU students is £3,145 a year. In Ireland, students only pay a € 900 registration fee and the rest of their education is free. In France, all universities are public; none charges tuition fees; undergraduate enrolment charges are a tiny €165.

Word of the week # 8

1. Admonish
2. Found it in my media law textbook
3. "We are admonished that refusal to provide a First Amendment reporter's privilege will undermine the freedom of the press to collect and disseminate news.
4. Verb. Means to advise or caution, warn strongly; put on guard; take to task
5. Many bloggers have been admonished for posting inappropriate content on their websites.

word of the week # 7

1. Recalcitrant
2. I read it in "Drinking Coffee Elsewhere".
3. "Suddenly I was hard-bitten and recalcitrant, the kind of kid who took pleasure in sticking pins into cats; the kind who chased down smart kids to spray them with mace".
4. Stubbornly resistant to authority or control; A person who is recalcitrant; marked by a stubborn unwillingness to obey figures of authority; hard to deal with or operate
5. During the riot, police had to spray the most recalcitrant demonstrators with water.

Drinking Coffee Elsewhere

Z.Z. Packer has a very fresh and unique style of writing. I read the chapters where Dina meets Heidi at Yale, and they become friends. Packer describes their relationship in a vivid and interesting way, using a lot of scene-setting. Packer is also very brave and unusual. For example, the part where they decide to take a shower in the dish room and spray each other with the squirt gun, comes unexpectedly. The author is also comfortable using words which may seem vulgar to some readers. Her characters are very different but they share similar life stories. Dina is black and came to Yale as an honor student from Baltimore, and Heidi is a white Canadian from Vancouver but they have both lost their mothers, and they're both going through an identity crisis and dealing with being outsiders. Dina has to see her psychiatrist Dr.Raeburn while Heidi gets on a podium to announce that she is a lesbian. "Drinking Coffee Elsewhere" is written in the first person which makes it very personal and it helps her exposition. What is uniques to Packer's style is the fact that her short stories have open ends, the reader is left to guess what might happen with the protagonists. She uses comparison and contrast to describe her protagonists, for example Dina compares Heidi to a beautiful dolphin, etc. Packer's description makes readers use all their senses to understand her story. For example, she uses the metaphor of drinking coffee elsewhere to explain her protagonist's need to escape from pretending and fitting in everybody's expectations. She writes: " I remembered the morning of my mother's funeral. I'd been given milk to settle my stomach; I'd pretended it was coffee. I imagined I was drinking coffee elsewhere. Some Arabic-speaking country where the thick coffee served in little cups was so strong it could keep you awake for days. Some Arabic country where I'd sit in a tented café and be more than happy to don a veil."

NPR Radio Interview Analysis

I listened to an interview on NPR's Fresh Air with Jason Segel, talking about the mysteries of guydom. The interviewer was very well-prepared with information about Segel's characters in his latest movie "I love you, man" as well as his previous one- "Forgetting Sarah Marshall". She had read a lot about his acting career and she had picked the right scenes which matched her questions, and she knew how to describe them in a way that would convey all details from the scene to the listeners as if they were watching the scene instead of just listening to it. She asked good follow-up questions which also showed good listening skills. She asked Segel if he agreed with his film's premise about how guys make friends with each other and that "buddy movies" allow men to open up. A couple of times Segel was describing a scene and it sounded a bit unclear and that's when the interviewer stepped in and explained what he was trying to say. She was also very comfortable talking about his naked scene in his latest movie. She asked him what he did to make his privates look good. And then she asked what his mother thought about that scene. She built up to questions using information she had read from her research on Segel and her follow-up questions targeted the most interesting things he had mentioned, for example how he became an actor and how he used his Drakula musical in one of his movies. The interviewer and her subject appeared to have a friendly relationship, she knew what questions to ask and how to follow up on the answers, and thus made the most of her 40-minute interview. Having picked the right scenes to play was a successful strategy because it gave direction to the interview. What I learned is that it's important for the interviewer to be in control in terms of how the interview would go, and preparation is key but asking the right follow-up questions is also very important. Therefore good listening skills are a must. She also wasn't afraid to ask some intimate questions and got some good answers out of them. So being brave is also a good strategy.

Personal insight from the meeting with state legislators

The news story from the informational rally was easy to write about. What is important to distinguish is the difference between an informational and persuasive meeting. Because even though his AB 656 bill is good for students, Torrico was trying to win the support of people. I noticed that not much time was given to students to ask questions. It was easy to conduct the interview with a teacher because all of the faculty members who came were interested in the topic, and they are also personally affected by the budget cuts. I had to put an extra effort into trying not to be subjective when I wrote my article, because I honestly think that this bill, as good as it may sound, has very little chance of passing because the oil companies have very strong lobbies in Congress and local governments and they are the once who influence legislation. This bill also comes a little too late and it's not going to change much when tuition has already gone up and many teachers have lost their jobs or gotten a pay cut. Another thing that was important to notice from the perspective of a reporter, was the fact that some of the teachers had an agenda. For example, a lady who teaches at SJSU, sat on our table and started talking right away, and shortly after gave us the support cards which she expected us to sign when we hadn't even gotten any information on the bill yet. So as a reporter, it is very important to be able to tell when people have an ulterior motive for talking to you. 

Alberto Torrico Story

Informational rally for the proposed California Higher Education Fund was held today at San Jose State. Students joined Alberto Torrico, Silicon Valley’s 20th Assembly District Majority Leader, to learn about his AB 656 campaign. The goal of the campaign is to get 100,000 people to support the bill in 100 days. If it passes, AB 656 would create the California Higher Education Fund with funds from a new 9.9% oil and natural severance tax. According to Torrico, this tax would raise over $ 1 billion in revenue for the state’s higher education. The AB 656 Campus Kick-off week started with CSU East Bay, San Jose State, and CSU Sacramento. Torrico will visit CSU San Diego and San Marcos on Oct. 13th and CSU Dominguez Hills and CSU Los Angeles on Oct. 14th.
California remains the only major oil producing state that does not impose an oil severance tax. Other states, such as Alaska and Texas, reportedly charge anywhere from 2 to 25 per cent. If passed, the AB 656 bill would create the California Higher Education Endowment Corporation which would allocate the tax revenue to the three college systems, based on the following formula: 60% to CSU, 30% to UC, and 10% to Community Colleges.
The proposed bill is a response to student fee increases, faculty furloughs and inadequate funding as a result of the economic crisis. According to a recent study by the Public Policy Institute of California, the state’s need for college educated workers is outpacing its ability to produce them, and that gap is expected to widen in the future. Torrico explained that with the decrease in college educated workers, the supply of workers with a high school diploma would exceed the economic demand which will result in lower wages and fewer job opportunities. “That’s why the goal of this campaign is to get enough people angered so they demand change from Sacramento”, he added.
Roberta Ahlquist, professor of secondary education at San José State University, said she attended a union meeting in LA where she found out that CSU San Bernardino has already closed its foreign language department and the music and arts programs in many schools are also threatened. In response to the budget cuts, Ahlquist said: “I think they are brutal and devastating, and an attack on the master plan.” The 1960 Master Plan for Higher Education established the UC and CSU system with the goal to admit and offer a place to every eligible California high school student. Under this plan, all UCs and CSUs are expected to plan adequate spaces for all eligible students. In reality, however, under the current economic conditions, there are fewer courses offered, fewer students are admitted, and many faculty members have already received a near 10% pay cut.
The AB 656 bill passed in the Assembly Higher Education Committee on July 7, 2009. It will go through a hearing with the Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee in January, 2010. The bill is strongly opposed by the Western State Petroleum Association, the California Independent Petroleum Association, Cal Chamber and Cal-Tax.

Word of the week # 6

1. Propinquity
2. I read it in a sociology article by Zhang and Van Hook, titled "Marital Dissolution Among Interracial Couples".
3. "Among the explanations for homogamy, geographical propinquity and personal preferences were found to be the two underpinning factors.
4. Noun. 1. proximity: the property of being close together ; 2. In social psychology, propinquity (from Latin propinquitas, nearness) is one of the main factors leading to interpersonal attraction. It refers to the physical or psychological proximity between people.
5. The office's propinquity to the Italian restaurant made everyone spend their lunch breaks there every business day.

Mystery Character Blog # 5

His name comes from a Hawaiian word which means "cool breeze over the mountains". The 45-year-old actor usually plays in action and adventure movies as well as romantic comedies. In one of his popular movies, he had to wear heels with his trench coat outfit in order to look taller even though he is over six feet tall. Many describe him as a "tough nut to crack" because he never reveals any details from his personal life to the press. What he does reveal is his great sense of humor, even though he is a very modest person. He has dark brown eyes and hair and a well-fit body due to rigorous training for most of his movies which involve multi-fighting scenes and heavy use of weapons. He confesses to training his body by immersing himself in a bathtub full of ice. Several of his recent roles, however, required him to look a bit hirsute with untrimmed beard and unbrushed long hair which he still keeps. He likes to use various accents because he has a multinational background. He dresses casually for almost any occasion, and likes to wear dark-colored clothes and sunglasses which make him less recognizable in public.

Word of the Week # 5

1. Salient
2. It was in the article "Fear of Black Strangers" by Tamara Heald-Moore".
3. "To the extent that race of strangers encountered in public is more salient in cities with higher crime rates and larger black populations, our results for Oklahoma City should provide a conservative examination of the questions we have posed."
4. Adjective. It means outstanding or prominent: having a quality that thrusts itself into attention; (of angles) pointing outward at an angle of less than 180 degrees
5. The building, with its salient features, is a popular tourist destination.

Copy Edit the World I

The picture with the parking hours has an AP Style mistake in the AM-PM which should be written as A.M. and P.M. The sign was on East Santa Clara Street and 3rd. The next mistake was found on the sign of a laundromat on San Carlos Street and it's just funny because it says "lose" instead of "close" so it's just missing a letter but this changes everything. The third one is absolutely hilarious and very obvious- MISTEAKS is not how you spell "mistakes", this one can be found on the sign of Emanuel Lutheran Church on 3rd and San Salvador, it's been there for a couple of months :)

Word of the week # 4

1. Milieu
2. I found it in an article for my sociology class, titled "Race Differentials in Obesity: The Impact of Place" by Jason Boardman.
3. "Health behaviors are not necessarily deep-rooted personality traits but rather reflect the social milieu in which one interacts.
4. Noun. Social and cultural surroundings or landscape of a particular area or domain; the environmental condition.
5. A disease is the body's reaction to its chemical milieu.

Blog # 4 A fly on a plane

I am a fly on a plane whose final destination is Philadelphia. There are no open seats so I land next to an elderly couple who doze off before the plane has taken off from the Denver airport. The woman's head is resting on her husband's shoulder and she is wrapped in a blue airline blanket. Another lady is making her last phone call before the flight attendant tells her to turn her cell phone off, and she complains that she wasn't allowed to get off the plane and buy food during her layover. I can smell the onions on someone's sandwich. Luckily, the flight attendants are getting coffee ready and soon it is all my nose can detect as I'm eagerly waiting for my daily dose of caffeine. Later on, I notice that there are four children on this flight-an infant and three toddlers-who'd cry occasionally until their parents would get up reluctantly and try to walk them on the narrow aisle so they would stop being fussy. Two men in business suits start a conversation with another middle-aged man who's interested to know the reason of their trip. They're sales executives going to Philadelphia to meet with successful business entrepreneurs. They introduce themselves to each other. David is a tall, slick businessman with a navy suit and a black suitcase in his lap, and Elmer is wearing a green shirt with a light brown jacket and pants. Bob, who initiated their conversation, asks about the origin of Elmer's name. It turns out that he is from Bahrain, an Arabic island country in the Persian Gulf. With a population of about 800,000 people, it is the most open Muslim country in the world, he claims. Then he goes on to explain how men from neighboring Saudi Arabia drive to Bahrain every weekend and go wild because they can drink alcohol, go clubbing and see women who are on the streets at night. To my surprise, he tells a story about when he was on the beach and a car pulled over, three women jumped out covered head to toe in the traditional Muslim burkas, took their clothes off and had their bikinis on, ready to enjoy life as free women, away from Saudi Arabia. The world is an interesting place, and people do interesting things. As I'm writing my "Memoirs of a Fly", lying on the beach in Ocean City, New Jersey, a young boy comes up to me and asks me what I'm writing. I tell him it's my homework and can't help but think...there are many flies in the summertime, and they are everywhere you go...

Comparing Media

The single national news story of today is the 61st Primetime Emmy Awards show which is now featured on every media not only in the US but worldwide.
The article that I found in the New York Times is titled “Surprises, Not Sweeps, at the Emmys” and it consists of two very long pages with accompanying pictures from the event. The title serves as a “tease” and the pictures make up for the fact that there is no live broadcast of the event. There is a substantial amount of quotes from Tina Fey to Matthew Weiner from “Mad Men”, Jon Cryer from “Two and a Half Men”, Cherry Jones from “24”, Bruce Gowers from “American Idol”, and many others. This serves to illustrate that nothing brings people in like their own good quotes. Quotes also help break the monotony of facts in the article.
The broadcast version of the story that I saw was on CNN. It was approximately three minutes long. Information was presented in a “condensed” form in comparison with the newspaper article. It had several good quotes but far not as many as the NY Times piece. The broadcast story does not need many sound bites because television is a visual medium and the audience is being informed not only by means of words but also by picture and sound. People witness events with their own eyes and thus make their own assumptions. Quotes in a newspaper article give it personality which is not needed in a broadcast piece where the viewers can see the subjects of the story.
The show was also mentioned briefly on the KQED Public Radio which is a national public radio station. The program is called “All Things Considered” and the host talked about the awards and their winners, using very descriptive words, shorter sentences and pauses. The story-telling style is conversational like it is on TV unlike newspapers which have a formal tone. One similarity between radio and television coverage is the use of sound to recreate the natural setting.

Precept word # 3

1. Precept 2. Found it in my media law textbook- "Cases in Communications Law" by John Zelezny. 3. "However, from the standpoint of modern communicators, these selected cases do illustrate some of the judicial precepts that are employed over and over again to resolve First Amendment conflicts. 4 Noun. A precept is a commandment, instruction, or order intended as an authoritative rule of action; it can also be used to describe a rule of personal conduct as well as a doctrine that is taught (the teaching of Christianity = Christian precepts). 5. The ten commandments from the Bible can be compared to the precepts in Buddhism and any other religion for that matter.

Extra Credit

Dan Ashley (anchor of ABC7 News at 6 & 11 p.m. and ABC7 News at 9 p.m. on Your TV20) met with SJSU journalism students on Wednesday. He started by saying that it was irresistable to speak to a room full of people who cannot change the channel. He also compared television to a sausage because, "Those who love it should not watch it being made".
He advised the young journalism students to never give up because the need for journalism would never go away. Ashley said the immediacy of broadcast journalism is what attracted him to his profession. He gave an example with a very recent copy of the Contra Costa Times which had a lead story "Bay Bridge Closed" on Tuesday when the bridge actually opened two hours later that same day. He also talked about the impact technology has on reporting. For instance, pictures from the Vietnam War took days to arrive while nowadays they can be sent instantly from the battlefield. Ashley also shared his personal experience about how much more informed people are today, saying that there are times when he hasn't even finished his sentence during the newscast, and the station is already receiving e-mails from upset viewers, correcting the information he had just given them on TV. That is why, according to Ashley, there is tremendous pressure on local broadcasters for continuous coverage of major events because they need to compete with the 24-hour CNN, FOX, and others.
He talked about his experience in North Carolina, working 20-22 hour work days, continuously covering major political events. Ashley said that the thrill and privilege of witnessing an event first-hand is what keeps him going. He also stressed on the importance of portraying things fairly and showing the crucial elements of a story to an audience that trusts you. Then he added that "We are held to a very high standard but none of us got ordained, we all just got hired.".
After he talked about his experience with international reporting, and his most recent trip to Poland with Bay Area Holocaust survivors, Dan ashley gave some advice to students. He told them that they should read as much as they can and have a working knowledge. He also talked about how important an internship is because it gives you real world experience and it may fire your passion. According to Ashley, it's tough to get in but relatively easy to move up in the journalism industry. He thinks the first 5-10 years of your career, your job is a lot cooler because it gives you a range of experiences you can't get in any other profession.
The last student question was about how everything we learn and do at school will most likely be irrelevant by the time we graduate school because of the rapid change in technology and the journalism industry. Ashley's answer to this was simply that "Quality never goes out of style".

Cougar Attack

Two people were attacked by a cougar in front of their cabin in Dos Rios, Mendocino County today. The California Department of Natural Resources (DNR) said the attack occurred at 4:30 a.m. when Kathleen Jones of San Francisco, was examining the wounds on her dog and the cougar darted our from under the porch. Her friend Troy smith was near and he reportedly tried to fend the animal off but it bit his thumb. That is when Kathleen's husband, Chuck Jones, hit the cougar with a baseball bat and it ran away.
Smith was treated and released from Frank Howard Memorial Hospital, as was Kathleen Jones who was bitten on the left forearm. Here is what Jones had to say about the incident: "Now, I'm just glad we're alive because it was a close call. That cat was big, it was strong, and it was aggressive. I thought I was a goner."

Vociferous word # 2

1. Vociferous 2. Read it in a New York Times article. 3. "The President's healthcare plan has many vociferous critics." 4. Adjective. It means blatant, noisy, clamorous, conspicuously and offensively loud. 5. Even the most vociferous advocates of gun ownership admit that guns should be locked in a safe place and kept away from children.

The Alchemist

A favorite piece of writing that I would recommend is the book "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho. It is written in a very simple and honest way but at the same time it is also very powerful and inspiring. The Alchemist traces the story of a young shepherd boy from Andalusia who travels the world in search of a treasure and encounters many magical things and people who teach him valuable life lessons. The author believes that every human being has a personal legend which should never be forgotten. The message of the book is that you can choose between being a victim of destiny or an adventurer who fights for something important. The book shows how important it is to fight for your dreams because it is the possibility of a dream that makes life interesting. The writing style as I said is very simple and yet deep and philosophic, it's a proof that less is more. Some of the quotes that I consider inspiring and enlightening:
"To realize one’s destiny is a person’s only obligation.”
“Courage is the quality most essential to understanding the Language of the World."
“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”
“When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision. “
“Every search begins with beginners luck and ends with the victor’s being severely tested

Ostentatious word

1. Ostentatious 2. Found it in an article in Marie Claire 3. "It is easy to stand out from the crowd without wearing ostentatious jewelry." 4. Adjective. It is used when something is intended to attract notice and impress others,used for lack of elegance as a consequence of being pompous and puffed up with vanity. 5. The area was rapidly rebuilt with ostentatious buildings which did nothing to improve the
reputation of the neighborhood.

Hello everyone! My name is Margarita and yes, it's like the drink but I don't like drinking it, I prefer the pizza Margarita. I am from Bulgaria but I've been living in the US for the past three and a half years. My favorite thing to do is travel. I am currently in a broadcast major and my dream job would be on the Travel Channel. I've been to Greece, Turkey, Germany, Holland, France and many places in the US but I have a whole list of other places that I have to visit such as the island of Yap in Micronesia where money is made of stone and life and people are a lot of fun. I love meeting people and getting to know different cultures and traditions, I love life in general.