Last Sunday, a local television station in Huntsville Alabama suffered a 12 minute blackout, which isn't unheard of in broadcasting. The CBS affiliate WHNT-TV was broadcasting "60 minutes", the episode was reporting about the Bush administration's and Karl Rove's involvement in the conviction of the states former Democratic governor.
Don Siegelman, the former governor and many other residents in Huntsville began asking questions of the possible partisan involvement. No, one has been singled-out yet, but the suspicion of "Republican Operatives " still lingers. The station is re-airing the episode of "60 minutes" later in the week in an attempt to ease tensions.
It's worrisome to think that there is even a possibility that political group would as go far as limiting access to information in such away as this one. When thinking about it, the blackout sounds like something that would happen with a state ran television in Iran not Alabama(maybe). Now, even though no one has been singled out as a suspect, questions are still being raised. Events like these show that we should still be vigilant about whats going one even if we live in the domain of freedom of speech.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
College Newspaper Break Story Sooner
After last weeks shootings at Northern Illinois University(NIU) that left five dead, CNN wasn't the first to report on the event. But instead it was the Northern Star, the NIU college news paper.
The Northern Star was hit-hard by the lose of Daniel Parmenter, a student who worked as a sale representative for the newspaper. Besides suffering great loses, they were the first to report on the facts about the gunman taking his own life, long before major news outlets.
The staff has also work on other tragedies like Virgina Tech shootings last year. Both of the events are horrible and demoralize students and faculty, and some how they were able to pull together deliver the story.
Delivery of the news was quicker then even the largest based media outlets, but it hits-home-harder.
The Northern Star was hit-hard by the lose of Daniel Parmenter, a student who worked as a sale representative for the newspaper. Besides suffering great loses, they were the first to report on the facts about the gunman taking his own life, long before major news outlets.
The staff has also work on other tragedies like Virgina Tech shootings last year. Both of the events are horrible and demoralize students and faculty, and some how they were able to pull together deliver the story.
Delivery of the news was quicker then even the largest based media outlets, but it hits-home-harder.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Contrasts between film and broadcast in the 50's
In the 1950's the United States was turning the heat up on so called communist sympathizers from Hollywood by blacklisting them. Its commonly best referred to it as "McCarthyism" and in my mind, I had mostly only heard about the events of the fifties as being the only time of censorship of communism.
This is article is amazing in the sense that talks about what happened not with Hollywood and the filmmakers, but also what happened with broadcasting. Even though its happened over almost six decades ago, this era of American culture shapes a lot of how we look at the 50's and the cold war today.
It really shows the differences in the roles that the media played back then and how much influence the government had in compare to today. I can say that if I had never heard about the broadcasting side of the story made me always think that the west coast just must of alway been more progressive. But armed with what I know now, it completes a more complete and clearer picture.
It shows how involved the government was in trying to sway the public opinion in one direction away from communism. You can also draw comparisons with the fear mongering done by the current white house admistrastion about terrorism and other mundane issues.
This is article is amazing in the sense that talks about what happened not with Hollywood and the filmmakers, but also what happened with broadcasting. Even though its happened over almost six decades ago, this era of American culture shapes a lot of how we look at the 50's and the cold war today.
It really shows the differences in the roles that the media played back then and how much influence the government had in compare to today. I can say that if I had never heard about the broadcasting side of the story made me always think that the west coast just must of alway been more progressive. But armed with what I know now, it completes a more complete and clearer picture.
It shows how involved the government was in trying to sway the public opinion in one direction away from communism. You can also draw comparisons with the fear mongering done by the current white house admistrastion about terrorism and other mundane issues.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Super Tuesday's Super Stupid Ads
Today 22 states are holding their primaries for both the Democratic and Republican parties, making it one of the most important nights until November 7 when the general elections are held.
News stations see tonight as chance to capitalize on viewer ratings by providing nonstop coverage of the result. One station in particular, MSNBC took full advantage of the mayhem by introducing "Vote-Zilla!" a big green monster, featured in the network's commercials to help capture views' attention.
MSNBC might want to have revised their idea of the "Vote-Zilla" advertising campaign, but its a little to late for that. No doubt though that tonight is going important to help bust ratings for news organizations, but aren't there better ways to approach views? The idea would have been more fitting for last Sunday, but not this Tuesday.
Who exactly are they trying to target with these ads? Fans of Clover field. The primary and caucus turn outs for young adult voters is at an all-time high, making 08' elections a great step forward into the future. The change has been brought by the campaigns ran by Barrack Obama and Ron Paul calling for younger American to become politically involved, not by a big green monsters.
News stations see tonight as chance to capitalize on viewer ratings by providing nonstop coverage of the result. One station in particular, MSNBC took full advantage of the mayhem by introducing "Vote-Zilla!" a big green monster, featured in the network's commercials to help capture views' attention.
MSNBC might want to have revised their idea of the "Vote-Zilla" advertising campaign, but its a little to late for that. No doubt though that tonight is going important to help bust ratings for news organizations, but aren't there better ways to approach views? The idea would have been more fitting for last Sunday, but not this Tuesday.
Who exactly are they trying to target with these ads? Fans of Clover field. The primary and caucus turn outs for young adult voters is at an all-time high, making 08' elections a great step forward into the future. The change has been brought by the campaigns ran by Barrack Obama and Ron Paul calling for younger American to become politically involved, not by a big green monsters.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)