#j2150k

[scfwd5]

Survey Report The public followed news about the missing Malaysia Airlines plane more closely than any other story last week. While the story has attracted

While many (including other news outlets) have been teasing CNN for its recent 24-hour coverage of the search for a missing Malaysia Airlines jet, the public apparently believes that CNN is doing a-okay.

The Pew Research Center has found that only one in three people think that CNN's coverage is excessive, while 48% of Americas think that CNN gives the story the "right amount" of attention and 12% think it is given "too little."  44% of those surveyed said that the missing jet was the story that they follow "most closely."  CNN's ratings have also skyrocketed in the past several days. 

These findings raise a new question: can a story really be over-covered if it is what 66% of the public wants to see?  After all, a journalist is a public servant.  His or her duty is to inform the public about the issues that they want and need to hear.  This is clearly what the public wants, as evidenced by CNN's ratings and Pew's survey.  And, for the record, Pew also found that 56% of Americans see the "right amount" and 14% of Americans see "too much" about CNN's second most-covered story, the Russian annexation of Crimea.  Only 15% said that Russia's grab for Crimea was the story they followed most closely.  This would suggest that the missing jet is not only the story Americans follow most, but that there are no other stories that they believe need to be covered instead of the jet.

While CNN may be overdoing it a little bit, they have twenty-four hours a day to fill with news.  A few more of those could focus on the recent Healthcare rollout (37% of Americans want to see more about that, but only 8% say they follow this story "most closely"), as far as most of the public is concerned, they're right on par regarding the missing Malaysia flight.

Even if the model planes were a little ridiculous.

[emeliapatterson]

Stress, stress, and more stress.

I don't think I've understood stress fully until this year. Stress is this final project. Stress is scrapping a finished final project and starting over with a week to go. 

But, journalists are supposed to work well under pressure. Right? Yep. Okay.

And somehow, some way, the perfect story seemed to fall into our hands.

I fostered a husky from a local woman earlier this year. She breeds and shows dachshunds and also takes in abandoned dogs from around the area. Interestingly enough, she also started the pet dorm at Stephens College here in Columbia, one of the first and only college dorms in the United States that allow pets in a dormitory environment.

Our goal (within the next four days) is to talk to the woman about her experiences taking in abandoned animals, and also showing and raising dogs, and how she came to open the dorm at Stephens. 

We also want to talk to students that have pets in that dorm, and how it is to be one of the only colleges that allows such a phenomenon.

An article on that can be found here.

It's going to be a strong visual and audio piece. I'm excited.

Deep breaths.

We can do this.

Here we go.

[emeliapatterson]

Blogging is a Full Time Job

Blogging is stressful. Keeping up with my blog is a challenge. At least, for this one.

I have a personal one that I have a tendency to spend most of my time on, but hey, it's like my child.

These past couple weeks have been a little hectic, so forgive me for being a bit behind the times. The iPad Mini has been revealed, Hurricane Sandy has hit, and the serial bear-hugger has been captured. It's been quite the 14 days.

With that being said, the devastation from Sandy is still quite real. I have a close friend who lives out east and spends many weekends during the spring and summer in Atlantic City, and seeing a roller coaster in the ocean just makes it all the more real. Sometimes I'm relieved that I don't live on the east coast and can avoid such damage, but then I go back to thinking about the tornadoes we face in the midwest, such as with Joplin a few years ago. It's just crazy to think that with all the technology we have, we can't predict the damage better or have a more effective means of evacuation. It's sad, and it's awful.

The weather channel put together a giant slideshow of the hurricane and what it has left behind. The link can be found here.

Have a great weekend, and remember to give your loved ones an extra hug.

[emeliapatterson]

Just like chivalry, are media ethics "dead"?

The public has a right to the news. The public has a right to be informed. 

However, the public does not need to be repulsed or disgusted or terrified by images presented in the media. There's reasons that photos of dead children or fatal car accidents before cleaned up aren't released to the public. It's disrespectful to the families, and it's crossing the line between what's appropriate and what's not. Sure, journalists are supposed to report the truth and be independent, but we also have to treat our sources and subjects with respect and have a sense of compassion and sensitivity.

That's just one side of media ethics.

What about all of the "photoshopping" going on? How do we even know what pictures are real anymore? News photographers are combining pictures to tell a story that never even took place, and 15 year old girls are editing their Facebook pictures to make themselves look better on their profiles, all stemming from the photographs plastered on magazines of women with unattainable figures, features, and beauty.

I came across this blog during my search over the weekend, and it shows many examples of photo doctoring, dating back as early as the 1860s. Just goes to show that the media wants to please the public, trying the best they can to make people look more attractive, more powerful, or more dignified.

Regardless, it's wrong.

Can we all be real here, please?

[emeliapatterson]

One of the most stressful weeks so far in class...

Soundslides was awful. My experience was awful. Everything was absolutely awful. 

First, my subject locks his keys in his car in his hometown of Rolla, Mo. I'm planning on shooting pictures in Jefferson City, Mo, which is an hour and a half away and 45 minutes away from Columbia. He can't get to the gym in time for me to shoot him (pictures, of course), and can't meet up with me anytime later in the week. The only day he's available is MONDAY. And the project was due THURSDAY. He had to send me the majority of the pictures I used. I took about 150 while I was at the gym, but they barely fit anywhere with the audio. On top of that, Soundslides took forever, and Blackboard refused to let me upload my project.

Let's just say it was a really stressful week. And I'm freaking out about that grade.

In other news, there's a really cool website out there called multimedianewscenter.com, in which journalists are given the option to view all types of multimedia regarding specific stories. For example, one story may have audio, video, a broadcast, and an online news article. It's up to the reader to decide what piece of the story they want (or want to start with).

It's sad, but the amount of attention given to the written word nowadays is minimal. This completely sucks for me, because I absolutely love reading. And writing. But honestly, I can see the appeal in focusing more on pictures, video, and audio (or all combined). I just feel like writing should be more appreciated...and more people should actually take the time out to read.

Okay, I think I'm done ranting for now. Have a wonderful weekend.

[emeliapatterson]

A picture's worth a thousand words...but really.

This is one of the coolest websites I've ever come across. 

Basically, it's a collection of user-submitted photos that have the photo from one point in time in front of the location where it was taken at the present point in time. Does that make any sense? If not, just click on the link. It's pretty self-explanatory. Hahah. 

Beware though, you may lose quite a bit of time scrolling through the website.

I think it's awesome how powerful an image is. But the captions make the photograph even that much more powerful. Take, for instance, a picture of a little boy hugging a tree. Cute, until the caption, by the boy's mother, reads that the boy passed away in his sleep three days after the picture was taken. Heartbreaking.

IOr the picture of a grandfather and granddaughter in the past on top of the present. Touching, but even more so emotional when the author states that her grandfather now has Alzheimer's and going back to that spot with that picture "and now the path has led me back home so I can take care of him." 

I've definitely underestimated the power of an image to tell a story, caption or not. But I guess that's why I'm taking this class. To learn otherwise.