In Smith’s “Compassion, Privacy, and Ordinary Citizens,” I feel that this leaves none for Taryn. What I think should have happened, is since she is in jail already until her hearing, her information should have been kept private.

This article, just updated to BurlingtonFreePress.com this morning, already has 5 pages of “blog” comments from users. All of these commenters have her address and her full name, for these angry parents/citizens to be able to access.

The writer gives a little too much information to the public.

The article goes over her defensive comments that were made towards her in the election, including why they lost the election. I don’t think these arguments help her because it doesn’t illustrate why she is suitable to run in another election.

In Smith’s section on Deception, it talks about the media both actively and passively “fooling” the public. I find that a lot of the public media “fooled” the public by not making clear of everything that is going on. Before reading this article, I did not know that Palin had $150,000 for clothes which became a controversial issue. Was it hidden as an act to not negatively impact their ballot, or was I not reading the paper enough?

Overall, I think that if Palin plans on running in another Presidential Election she needs not only a wardrobe makeover, but a new marketing campaign for herself as well. Right now, like the economy, she is looking just as bad to the nation. She needs to reach out more to the people outside of religion and gun control.

The statistics are straight and to the point. But I would like to see more statistics on where the hate crimes are coming from, major cities/smaller towns or is it coming from the Mid-West or the South? This can be flipped into a human interest story for young families or couples looking to move somewhere. It would be good to know where your children and/or family can be the safest.

If flipped around, this could have gone Smith’s way and worked with more sources to a really good article. Until then, I’m not impressed.

The author of this article, Michelle Maskaly, brings back painful memories to the cop’s family, friends and former co-workers. Although the cop, Police Chief Gregory Adams, is still in their hearts, it’s a long waited case that should come to a close.

Smith has a chapter called “Compassion, Privacy, and Ordinary Citizens.” I think the reporter for this article disrespects the compassion for those involved. The case is old, and the accused murderer is still not found, but is it necessary to have testimonials of the painful memory brought from the back of their minds? Each person has since moved on and remembers Adams.

The reporter should have focused more on the FBI taking him off the longest running most wanted list instead of the memories of the families. Maybe testimonials from older articles would have been more appropriate.

I haven’t come across any recent news on whether the divorce rate in the US is still high. I have always been accustomed to a few friends with divorced parents living with either their mom or dad. But what I’m not familiar with is Attention-Defecit Hypertension Disorder (ADHD), my nephew, now 13, was diagnosed with it when he was about 7 or 8. His parents already divorced, his was taking pills to “help” him focus when he only acted like a zombie. He’s been off the pills since and happier.

The article I got from USAToday.com is a case study comparing the higher divorce rates of children with ADHD before the age of 8, as compared to children not diagnosed at all, or before the age of 8. After going over compiled figures and statistics, a doctor suggests parents attend counseling if their child is diagnosed. The stress from ADHD can trigger other common stresses in marriage.

What I first notice after reading the article is the lack of balance. It uses its statistics to generalize the United States while using only 282 families as a base, and those families have children who attended a particular ADHD summer treatment program. I believe that this article goes against the concepts discussed in Smith’s Truth and Objectivity chapter. There are many factors that should be incorporated into this study; for example, income, family size, location, etc.

There was another point in the article that threw me off. In the 7th paragraph, the writer using the ‘term’ actors referencing children who fake ADHD. It’s not clear until the last sentence of the paragaph that says : “The couples argue more and feel their partner is less supportive when they’re with the child who acts as if he has had ADHD.”

This is a really good idea of an article, but a more research would have proved it more affective.

Both the articles had the enthusiasm of a real Mac-fan, which was not just obvious in the web address. What’s different about these articles is the format. 9 to 5 Mac is written professionally with bullet points and focuses more on Steve Job’s new manufactoring process. Although written by a single person, Maclife.com addresses his opinions as a “we” representing the Maclife.com community as a whole.

What’s interesting about these online articles written conversationally or professionaly is how they link to another. Like I said before, I could not find an article about the MacBook ‘Brick’ that did not link to the text created by 9 to 5 Mac. Technology is taking over, and it’s easy for anyone to hop on a computer with internet access is write a blog/article, make it look professional. Make the correct tags or link to the right sources and your opinion may be linked back to as well. Like Manovich says in chapter 3, “Pulling elements from databases and libraries becomes the default; creating them from scratch becomes the exception” (pg. 130).

When I was reading the review from the Village Voice, I pictured myself seeing the movie. How the critic described the story, as well as, the scenery really brought me in and made me feel like I was experiencing what he saw. While reading the same information from the News Blaze, it felt more like an essay than a captivating review.

In Chapter 2 of The Language of New Media, Manovich writes “…cinematic ways of seeing the world, of structuring time, of narrating a story, of linking one experience to the next, have become the basic means by which computer users access and interact with all cultural data” (pg 78). the Village Voice illustrated the way of “seeing the world” and what the directer envisioned.

The author of the News Blaze, although for a different audience, seemed to have taken less thought and concentration in writing the movie review with it’s impersonal narration of the story. I wouldn’t be interested in seeing the movie if I had only read that. The Village Voice helps me illustrate the first few scenes and leaves me hanging for what’s to come next…

Both articles address the recent plane accident in which four people died and two people are in critical condition. The two in critical condition were DJ AM and former Blink 182 drummer, Travis Barker. The article from E! Online gives a one-sentence overview on the details of the accident, just stating that Travis Barker was involved in the plane crash. Then gives views from celebrities in Hollywood who just give their condolescences. While, MTV.com goes much more indepth to the details of the accident and what may have caused the crash, as well as the good flying record of the pilot and the plane itself.

A good example of why E! Online may have provided such little concrete information is in our Smith book. One page 332, in reference to news on television, it says:

Reporters are being put under increased pressure too. In many newsrooms, editors require reporters to produce a certain number of stories each week. …. To meet this new expectation, reporters may feel pressures to turn in stories before they have had time to gather all the information they need or to check additional sources to provide balance and ensure accuracy.

Just based on the sources, it shows that MTV.com did have more time and interest in getting this story out to the public. It’s also based on the fan base. E! Online may have a fan base that already follow the news and don’t need to know the background stories, just other celebrity opinion on it. While MTV.com generates a younger fan base that do not use other resources to get their information.

MTV.com handles the information more effectively to the public without assuming that it’s already well known, while E! Online focuses more on celebrity opinion and what they could “catch” on the Red Carpet.

The two articles I got about an 18 year old sex offender, convicted when he was 17, mostly cover the same information, but some more than the other. While WCAX covers the conditions he received in court, Fox44 details more about how his information won’t go on the National Sex Offender Registry, because he was convicted as a juvenile.

Both articles gave out the offenders name, but WCAX was the story that included pictures and video footage of him and his mother. I find it interesting that WCAX found it appropriate to post pictures and video of Dustin Moore, the convicted sex offender, but not go into details about his crimes.

I found that Fox44 was more ethical to respect the privacy of the offender and his family. They also interviewed a parent of the school that Moore was living across the street from, and justified why it was appropriate for Moore to move further away for the school.

On page 10 of Ethics in Journalism, Smith mentions one of the goals for American journalists is “journalists are obliged to gather infortion as best they can and to tell the truth as they find it. They must be undaunted in their pursuit of truth and unhampered by conflicting interests.” To me, that says that Fox44 should have given more information regardless of conflicting interests made my personal morals and the public. He was a juvenile, but this seems to be a serious enough crime in which he could “strike” again. So why not give us all the facts?