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