Poolelin's Blog

Last Post; Summary

poolelin — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 04:41:31 +0000

Alright so it looks like this will be my last blog; number 15. The purpose of this blog for me will be to summarize my experience so far, after having survived my first semester as a freshman journalism student, especially my thoughts about this class. Fist of all, this class for me as reaffirmed the fact that I want to be a journalist. This is not to say that this class has not been challenging, because it has been very hard at times. Especially when it has come to my final paper. Getting interviews, and people to cooperate and talk to me was a task and a half to say the least.

One of the best thing about this class in my opinion was the fact that Professor Perkins got us right out into the field very quickly. The best way, and really the only way I think to teach journalism is to send students right out, because that is what journalism in the real world is. I have had some great experiences, through this class. The time in particular that comes to mind is when we had to write out field story, which i wrote mine on farming in Hadley. The story at first seemed boring and the first person we found to interview, was not helpful. However, as we continued we ended up finding a lot of interesting people to talk to that were very helpful. It taught me a lot about being a journalist, from asking questions and interviewing people, to writing the story.

I also thought this course showed a wide variety of different types of journalism. We learned about blogging, magazine writing, newspaper writing, and photojournalism to name a few. This class also gave us a great view into how the field of journalism is changing and becoming for internet based. I personally want to be a news anchor, and while this is still my dream, I can now see how TV news is slowly dying out, and that I possibly need to consider other aspects in the field, and lucky enough for me this class opened my eyes to other possible jobs.

All in all I really enjoyed this class, it taught me a lot and really opened my eyes to all parts of journalism. Do I wish at some points someone could have held my hand and helped me a little more especially during interviews, yes, but would I have learned nearly as much, no. I wish this class could have lasted all year because I think that not only is there a lot more to learn, but there is constantly news happening and the more practice getting and writing stories, the better. I really appreciate all that this class has taught me and i am very excited for the next step in my journalism career, whatever that may be.

A Great New Blog

poolelin — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 03:48:50 +0000

While surfing the internet for great new blogs… I found one!! The blog is called the Huffington Post (the internet newspaper. news blogs video community) I really liked the way the site was set up. At the top in bold is a title “BIG NEWS”, and listed next to it is a large variety of different news stories, ranging from Tiger Woods to Barack Obama. There are also many categories under the site title, there is politics and technology, but also different cities such as Chicago and L.A. I think that it is a great idea that a huge news site divides stories up by city, so a person can more easily look for stories in their area.

The site has links to all different websites, in particular news sites at the bottom. It can even link you to facebook. I think this is a great example of a site being up on the times. This site also has some of the best pictures I have ever seen. The pictures easily capture your attention. They are definitely not the pictures that you would expect to see in a normal paper. The pictures make you want to read the article. The site is very captivating, I love the color that is used. The stories are well written too. Between the variety of the stories, the amount of stories and the great way that the stories were written, it seems like a great site.

Do’s and Don’ts of Journalism

poolelin — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 22:28:37 +0000

Today in class we talked about the Do’s and Don’ts of journalism. While we only even began to touch the surface and I think that everything we listed in class is crucial to good journalism, listed are the 5 of each that I think are the most important.

DO’S:

-remain respectful to your sources

-take reasonable risks

-obey deadlines

-separate facts from opinions

-seek to improve the community

DON’TS

-come unprepared

-let personal opinions shade the facts

-plagerize

-misrepresent people and sources

-blur the line between advertising and news

Most importantly I think that good journalists must always remain professional and keep their integrity!

Improving UMASS

poolelin — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 19:58:03 +0000

Now that I have made it mostly through my first semester and have had time to settle in, I have noticed a couple things about UMASS that I think need changing.

#1. Health Services- This is what I am writing my final paper on, however I don’t think it could ever be said enough. Changes clearly need to be made about health services. When an extremely sick person spends 3 hours waiting to see a nurse, not even a doctor to tell them “yes you are sick”, there is something very wrong. When someone waits 3 hours just to get some Tylenol, something is wrong. When someone is hurt or sick after midnight and they have to figure out their own transportation to a hospital because health services doesn’t have enough funding to stay open, something is wrong.

#2. PVTA- I think that public transportation greatly needs improvement. Buses more often than not run behind schedule. Buses do not run frequently enough, especially for this size University. Buses running every half hour on weekends is definitely not frequent enough. I also think that there should be free public transportation to get to other places if students want. There is so much to do in the area, but I think that students dont take advantage of it because they have no way of getting there.

Europe vs. United States; Underage Drinking

poolelin — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 19:46:26 +0000

I have always thought that the drinking age should be lowered to 18. As a reason to back up my beliefs I usually turn to Europe as an example, saying that they have a younger drinking age and yet European drinking is more under control. This article however works to disprove my beliefs, that underage drinking in Europe is more under control than underage drinking in America. The article consists of a study administered by the U.S offices of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The purpose of the article is to try to rid America of the “myth” that European youth drink less and experience fewer alcohol related problems. The study polls 10th grade students. One of the graphs shows that the percentage of students drinking 5 or more drinks in a night is only 22% compared to some European countries like Denmark, Ireland and Holland who have percentages of almost 60%. Even after reading the whole study, my views did not change much. I think that the study was slightly inconclusive. The article did not specify between types of drinks. For example countries like Italy drink a lot more wine, as opposed to countries like the Check Republic that drink a lot more beer. Drinking beer and wine, while still being considered as underage drinking, is different in my opinion. Drinking is part of the European culture. Although this article showed me that maybe there is more underage drinking and heavy drinking in Europe than I thought, it did not help prove that underage drinking in Europe gets just as out of control as it does in America. And, I think the real problem is the dangerous effects of the alcohol. In my opinion this article doesn’t go far enough in depth with that as I would have liked.

4 American Teens Arrested

poolelin — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 19:23:51 +0000

The New York Times published a story on December 5th, of how 4 American teens were arrested in Japan. The teens are children of American personnel from an American military base. The article goes on the explain how the teenagers were arrested on counts of attempted murder after they allegedly toppled a women on a motorbike, causing her serious head injuries. Surveillance tapes show the teens stringing a rope across a street. When the women rode down the street she rode into the rope, which knocked her off her bike. It is said that American officials have been very cooperative.

Perhaps it is my misunderstanding of the article, but I don’t think that the teens deserve to be charged with attempted murder. It doesn’t seem like they would have enough time to see a women on a motorcycle coming and then have time to find a rope and string it across a street, and not have the women see. I don’t see why the teens would string a rope across a street to begin with, but I doubt that they had malicious intents, especially not ones of murder. I think that at most they should be charged with a small felony, unless they actually saw the women coming and then but the rope up.

Obama

poolelin — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:34:16 +0000

Is Obama really a liberal? One might question this especially after hearing his address to the nation last night. As of now President Obama is looking to send an additional 30,000 troops into Afghanistan. Typically one would expect a liberal to cut back on military spending and decrease the number of troops. However Obama has increased the number of troops and maintains the same exit strategy as Bush did, to send the troops home in 2011. In addition while Obama doesn’t fully oppose gay marriage, he has been quoted saying that he is a Christian and does think that a proper marriage should be between and man and a women. In addition he has increased the national budget from what it was under Bush, also something you would not expect from a liberal president. He has also increased abortion laws, as I pointed out in a previous post.

I personally believe in Obama as a president, but sometimes I find myself confused with his actions and beliefs. I think that he has proved to be more like Bush than anyone would have imagined. This I think, scares a lot of people including myself. It is hard to understand his motivations for his actions. I thought we wanted to get away from a heightened budget and the war.

Feature Story

poolelin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:04:52 +0000

Unable to Stay Afloat

She hates it here.

No matter how good something is, it can never be good enough to make her happy.

She sits sulking in the corner in class, in her room, even at parties when she is out with her friends. Watching her one night at a party i wondered who this girl was that wouldn’t talk to anyone. Assuming she was just shy I approached her, inquiring if she was having fun, not knowing she would pour out her life story.

“Cocaine is not enough anymore,” she says. “I need oxy, but i can’t seem to find it here anywhere.”

Where Hannah Srebnik is from, drugs flow freely. High hungry teenagers have made their drug connections and know exactly where, when, and how to get what they need. But not here. Here, she doesn’t know anyone.

So she has been forced to experiment with other things; deadly things.

She is constantly judged for her choices. And while they might seem senseless, idiotic and juvenille to the greater part of the world, they are a what makes her her, what makes her able to get up in the morning.

And, while it might seem obvious to everyone else the danger of her choices, she does not, can not understand. The risks remain hidden from her view.

Perhaps it is because her mother is addicted to alcohol.

Or maybe because her dad had an affair and is always away.

Or maybe because her brother, her best friend is in jail.

Whatever the reason, the drugs take her pain away, and she will do whatever it takes to be numb to it, so she can go on living her daily life.

Without being high she cant function, she cant be herself, she cant live.

And now that she doesn’t have her necessary drugs at her fingertips, she feels the pain of her life and its weighing her down. And she is struggling to stay afloat.

N.Y Times #2

poolelin — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 06:00:02 +0000

This article I read was about how President Obama is taking another look at the abortion restrictions in the House version of the major health care legislation. Obama says, “that we’re not looking to change what is the principle that has been in place for a very long time”. However he also says, “we need to make sure we’re not restricting women’s insurance choices.” The article goes on to say how many people in the House are uneasy with the bill and many think the whole thing should be re-written. As of now the bill is calling for more restrictions on abortion. The bill also calls for a new government owned insurance company. In addition an amendment to the bill said that they would block the use of federal money for “any health plan that includes coverage of abortion”.

I think that it is a little crazy that Obama wants to put more restrictions on abortion. It is my personal opinion that abortion should be a decision that every woman can make for herself. I understand that there are a lot of people who disagree with this, especially if they be conservative republicans. I never however, would have thought that a so called liberal democrat such as Obama would be trying to enforce stricter abortion laws, it is very surprising to me. Beyond me being surprised, I completely disagree with his decision. I think that he might get some critisism from other democrats who were not expecting harsher abortion laws.

Growing Up Online

poolelin — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:40:56 +0000

This video connects to every person growing up in the 21st century. I think that every person, especially teenagers can relate to living in a society that revolves around electronic media. Everything is based on technology. It is impossible to really realize how much technology effects our daily lives, and how much at a loss we would be with out it. This video does a good job showing different aspects of media and how people of our generation use the internet.

This video mainly makes me realize not necessarily how prominent technology and the internet are in my daily life, but more so how dangerous it can be. The internet can serve as an outlet for people to express themselves without being judged. It can also make people do/say things that they might not normally do/say in person. Many people dont think about what the internet really allows for, and who all can see it. It allows for everyone to be connected. The internet doesn’t discriminate between races or criminal record. Any/every person can gain access to the internet and see what you are doing at any time. While the internet can definitely be a helpful tool, it can also be very dangerous.

This video was a good source of journalism in my opinion. I enjoyed watching it and thought that it did a good job of capturing the viewer right from the beginning and holding there attention. At times the video put a sense of fear into the viewer to emphasize the danger element the internet can have, which I thought was a good tactic. I also thought that the video did a good job of showing different point of views. They showed children age 7 through adults and their opinion of the internet to give different perspectives. They also had “internet experts”, who gave their opinions on the internet. I liked how they contrasted the younger and older internet users as well. I thought that they packed a lot of information into the video. I also thought they did a good job of putting in some longer case studies, like Autumn and mixing that in with smaller stories to get a variety of news.

My biggest criticism was that at times it was hard for me to believe some of the information that I watched in the video. Some things that the kids said seemed very far fetched. The kid who claimed that he has never read a book, and thinks that no one else has read one either doesn’t seem right. Therefore my biggest critique of this video, is that it seems very stereotypical. They make a lot of generalizations, making it seem like everyone is as immature about the internet as all the kids shown in this video. For example the classroom section of the video, make it look like facebook and myspace are completely bad. While some people might not have good intentions while using it, not everyone uses it to fight with each other. In fact, sites like facebook and be great ways to keep in contact with people. I think that the video should have shown some more of the pluses of the internet, instead of concentrating mostly on how scary it can be.

The spin off of this video, “Digital Nation”, also makes you think. The specific part of Digital Nation, entitled Online Addictions focuses on some of the effects the internet has had in other parts of the world such as Korea. Internet Addiction, is now considered an actual disorder. It would be interesting for another spin off story to interview some people who claim to have, or that have been diagnosed with internet addiction, and find out a little more about it. There is a lot more I think that people should know about internet addiction as a disorder. If it truly is a disorder, it is a very new one that im sure not many people know much about. Is there any treatment for this disorder? How many people have it? Is it only in Korea? What does it take to be considered an internet addict? There are still so many unanswered questions that i think they should have covered. All in all I thought that this was a good source of journalism, that gave me a new slightly new outlook on the internet.