Using and Evaluating a News 2.0 Tool

The tool I used most for the project was the blogs. Blogs are basically just a website where an individual or maybe several individuals write his/her/their oppinions on certain events that are relevant to them and to their audience. Blogs are usually mostly writing but they can also have pictures and videos and links and music other interesting features. Blogs are a more interactive way to put out news because they allow the audience to comment back on the content and the blogger can probably comment back to them. It's more interactive than a newspaper or the television machine because it's more like a conversation or debate over events rather than just a report of what happened. There are also blogs where the blogger makes it more of a blog about personal events that are happening in their own life.
I used the tool to report on the Girls Volleyball Provincials that our school hosted. The content I included was usually textual but I also used pictures sometimes to try and make the best representation of the tournament to my audience, other than actually being there because the man purpose of the blog was to inform parents and relatives who were unable to attend on the events.
This tool would have been quite a useful tool to use for the major project had we decided to run it that way. Instead we chose to do a talk show about drug and alcohol abuse. However I think a blog about drug and alcohol abuse would've worked just as well. Some possibilities for this idea are that we could have created our own blog and each wrote a couple of blog entries about the effects that drug and alcohol abuse might have had on our lives.
The pros of this tool are that it is a much more interactive way to get news out and for everyone to have their own oppinion on it. An example of this is the CBC website right now. If you create an account on their website you are able to comment on all of their stories and videos and have discussions with other users of the site. This feature is useful to the reporters because then they know what their audience thinks of their stories. I can't think of any cons to blogs at the moment.
By B.L.

Freedom or Speech in Journalism

New Study Shatters Stereotypes About Teens and Video Games

New Study Shatters Stereotypes About Teens and Video Games

New Study Shatters Stereotypes About Teens and Video Games.

In this news story it stereotypes kids and teens playing video games all the time. The stereotype is that all gaming is solitary, violent and anti-social activity. But in this article it proves the stereotype wrong. In this article it says that most teens usually play video games with family or friends over the internet or with them. Or they play the video games in front of the family or friends. In this article it also tells how some games are educational and can help kids think about real life situation. Such as how to finance money. It also tells how teens go online to get information about current events, learn how to try to persuade others how to vote in an election nand how to raise money for charity. Te person in charge of doing the survey encouraged parents and teachers check into how diverse and the variety of the video games that are being played.

I personally don't think that all teens play video games all the time. Like me for example, I only play video games in my spare time. Which is very little time at all. I try to fit it in with my school work, work and sports, so I have very little time for games. I personally don't think that all games are solitary, violent and/or anti-social. The games that I play make you think and help learn how to finance your money. The only games I play are sports or racing games so I don't see how that is violent. Also, when I play, I play with a sibling, friend or some one online. So I don't think the facts are very accurate.

I don't really agree with this survey that was done. There are some things though that I do agree with or somewhat agree with. Like that all American teens play computer, console or cell phone games. That is only somewhat true. Not all American teens play them but a lot do. I don't agree with the quote, "that all gaming is solitary, violent or anti-social" that is definitely not true. I also don't believe that all the statistics are right. I also agree that there are some games out there that help you to better understand how to do things in the real world or how to better your skills. In a lot of games it teaches you how to manage your money right which will greatly benefit you in the real world. I think that video games are definitely a good thing and not a bad thing. They teach you key skills that can be applied in the real world.

Done by Rhett Lacoursiere

Ethics and Freedom of the Press

What freedoms should journalists have? Why?

I think journalists should have a limited set of freedoms. They need some guidelines on what they can or cannot do. If they could report anything they wanted they would write a whole bunch of weird stories. They should have the freedoms of writing what ever they want to a limit, because people don't want a whole bunch of slanted stories that are wrong. If they did that they could put theirselves or the company in harm.

Shoud journalistic freedom be unlimited?

No they shouldn't have unlimited freedoms because they could write whatever they want even if it was true or false and it would still be published. If they had unlimited freedoms they could slant a whole bunch of things to make a company or corporation sound good or bad. So I don't believe journalists should have unlimited freedoms.

What responsibilities go with these freedoms?

Some responsibilities that come with these freedoms things like getting your story done and published on time. Because a newspaper has to go out on a certain day because the people subscribing to them want them when they are supposed to have them. Another responsibility is telling the truth and not slanting a persons words. If you slant their words you won't get the truth.

What are some examples of how journalistic freedom has been violated, either in Canada or abroad?

Violations of journalistic freedoms have been violated here in Canada and all over the world. There have been many stories where newspapers stereotype a race or religion in a news story. For example, in a story you don't have to say their native, black, jewish, catholic, italion, etc. unless it is relavant to the news story.

How free do you think that the press is free in Canada? In your community? In your school? Explain.

I don't the press is very free in Canada. You can't just put anything in a newspaper without it being approved by the government. I think they are somewhat free but only to an extent. If you are saying something to put down a person, race, culture or company you probably won't get it published. I think our press in Unity is pretty free. Almost any one can write a story and publish it in the paper. But if you are putting down our a culture or company then it probably won't get publish. So I think our press in Unity is pretty free but only to an extent. Our press at our school is not very free. Only teachers and the odd time a student can publish a story in the newspaper. So therefore it isn't very free.

Done by Rhett Lacoursiere

Thinking about Journalistic Ethics

Why should ethics be important to journalists?

Yes, ethics should be important to journalists. It is important because it helps them by telling them what they can say without not making themselves look bad. If they didn't have the code of othics they would just say things that put down companies and make himself look bad.

What rules of conduct should journalists observe when they report on a story?

Journalist have a set of strict guidelines that they have to follow. When they report something they have to make sure they aren't biased to on race or sex. They can't leave out important details. When reporting the also have to tell both sides of the story and don't leave out anything.

Should a journalist tell everything he or she knows?

They are supposed to tell everything he or she knows but somethings may make them or the company look bad. So some journalist take out things to make them or the company look good. It is morally wrong for them to do it but they still do it anyway.

How much should a journalist tell his/her subject about the story that he/she is going to report?

When a journalist is telling the subject about the thing he is going to report he should tell them everything that they are going to say. They shouldn't leave out any details. What they are telling the person should be exactly what they right. They can't slant the story.

Are there limits as to what should be reported?

When reporting something they should have the permission from the person to report it.
They should report about a person's personal life or finances without person or companies permission.

What kind of relationship, if any, should exist between a reporter and the subject of a news story?

It should be a reporter and subject relationship. They should have any personal ties to each other. They should not be related in any way, such as friends or family. This is so because you may be hiding something so you don't hurt the person or slant the story to make them sound good.

Done by Rhett Lacoursiere

Blog Assignment #5 - Using and Evaluating a News 2.0 Tool

Microsoft Expressions is a Great new tool that I learned how to use during our live coverage of the Saskatchewan 4A Provincial Tournament. Basically what it does is take different camera feeds, images and video and allow you to switch between them in a live stream. The stream broadcasts using Microsoft Silverlight, a type of script that allows you to do more then just plain HTML. The program requires a server to stream to however, but we found it to be very effective during our broadcasting.

During our tournament, we had a few cameras in each gym, both of which were hooked up to a computer running Microsoft Expressions. A simple click would allow us to click back and forth between the 2 cameras. Viewers were able to go online to our blog and watch 2 different streams, which meant 2 different games going on at one time. Having 2 streams was difficult as it put a lot of stress on our server but we managed to make it through.

This is a very useful tool, however I do not feel that it would be a good choice for a Final Journalism project because it’s hard to archive a live feed, not to mention we should be presenting something. While it has many purposes, the Final Project is not one of them.

L.D.

Daddy Lasko's Blog

Blog Assignment #1 - The Death of Newspapers

Yes they are slowly dying out.

The internet, people are finding it easier to use and access news.

No we should not, it is better environmentally if we stop making newspapers.

Advantages to the internet are you can get more answers rather than the paper for the news. Disadvantages can be that the internet allows a lot of lies for news.

In some ways yes I will, like after football games and reading an article about your team, but I am one who doesn’t enjoy reading often.

A lot of people will miss newspapers because people like to read there news rather then hear.

Blog Assignment #2 - Thinking about Journalistic Ethics

Journalists need to have boundaries as well, they need to know what to ask and what not to ask.

I think respect, don’t change the comments of the interviewed for your liking.

Yes and no, I think they should tell what is necessary to the subject not humiliate or anger anyone.

They should tell everything relating them, we all have rights to know those types of things.

Yes there is, every human being has personal business that is theirs only.

I think a professional business relationship should come between the reporter and interviewee.

Blog Assignment #3 - Ethics of Freedom of the Press

To be able to state their own opinion and to ask questions, and why because we have human rights that allow us to do so.

No it should not be unlimited, they should not be allowed to ask about personal business of any individual unless told otherwise.

Being respectful, even though you can say something doesn’t mean you should.

Graham James, a hockey coach for the Swift Current Broncos definitely violates journalistic freedoms by pushing and yelling at reporters for only asking a question to find answers for everyone else.

In Canada it would be very large because we are a country and need to know what is happening with it. Your community is in the same boat as is your country, you have the right to know what is going on. A school is a toss up, some business should stay between the school only, but things as rewards, sports, etc. you can release to the community and several other communities.

Blog Assignment #4- Freedom of Speech in Journalism

Summary:

More college athletic departments are developing or publicizing online social networking policies for student athletes. In 27 schools in six major conferences, including the University of Iowa USA TODAY has researched social networking polices for them. Not all schools have a social policy, but they allow the coaches to monitor their discretion. The policies represent a growing awareness social networking sites. As social networks are being opened to the public, privacy issues could be raised if private sites are being monitored by administrators without permission.

Paragraph 1:

I don’t feel that this relates to me much right now in my life, only because I am in high school and most kids live off facebook and all those other profile sites. It is very understandable if I were applying for a job and my fellow employees witnessed pictures of me intoxicated making a fool of myself. Bad pictures can send off a red flag and some companies and businesses want to look professional as can be, allowing inappropriate pictures to flow in their staff won’t work.

Paragraph 2:

I agree with this fully, posting inappropriate or humiliating pictures on a profile site is not okay. Your profile is allowed to be accessed easily and if your boss or coach were to run across a certain picture of you, that can be career ending just over a picture.

Freedom of Speech in Journalism

This article was all about universities in the United States monitoring their student-athletes Facebook and MySpace pages and possibly giving them consequences for the things that they post if the image they are portraying is not favourable to the student-athlete or to the school's image.
I haven't had any of my own experience with this subject simply because I have a fairly private profile and I would never add any of my high school teachers or university professors while they were my teacher/professor.
I disagree strongly with the university monitoring their students/athlete's Facebook/MySpace pages. Especially if the person being monitored hasn't really agreed to it or added their coach as a friend. If it's the image of the student or athlete in question, the university could advise student not to post some pictures because it could harm their image. However, if it is the image of the university or the coach in question, I don't think the university has any right to be giving the athletes consequences if what they're saying doesn't put their university or coach in a positive light, unless it was agreed upon before-hand. Facebook is private in some ways, and it's a way of expressing yourself and it's no different than if a student in the 50's was saying bad things about their school or their coach to their friends, it just wouldn't have been online. If the student has the right privacy settings, people that he doesn't have as friends won't be able to see any of his posts or pictures so it's not like anything he's saying is going out to the public or the press. Besides, in America people have freedom of speech and expression. That goes for Facebook and Myspace just as much as if they were writing a book or a song. I can't see why the universities are trying to change the rules now.

By B.L.