Thursday, October 18, 2007

"News at 7"

Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois has come up with a new way to get the news to students. This will be done through a program called "News at 7." The news will be presented in a video format with two news anchors reading the articles. Students will be able to choose which types of news they want to have reported to them. Topics will range from things like hometown football team scores to the war in Iraq and latest celebrity gossip. The way it sounds, the student would receive a daily e-mail with their selected news in it. One of the goals of this program is to reach more students with the news. It is becoming harder to reach the younger generation. Whether they are too busy or just do not care about polotics, economics, and healthcare is still up in the air. This new program though would give them a chance to get involved.
The downside to this program though would be the fact that the users would have the option to choose what they want delievered to them. It is hoped that they will choose a variety of news to become a more educated citizen. This may not end up being the case however. Some people might use for just celebrity news and gossip. While this is certainly an option for the users, it would not meet the project's goal. Entertainment news does not necessarily help someone become a better citizen. Knowing that Britney Spears lost visitation rights to her children is not going to get a person very far in a discussion about the latest plans for healthcare reform. News at 7 sounds like a wonderful idea, but only when used for its intended purpose.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Actual NEWS feed on Facebook

Fewer young people are paying attention to the news and what is happening in the world around them. Why is this? I think it is fair to say that part of it is due to the young people spending their time differently. When teens are online they do not usually visit sites such as CNN.com or their local TV stations. They tend to head for sites like Facebook.com or Myspace.com. A recent article on Cyberjournalist.net discussed possibly placing some news stories on Facebook in an attempt to reach this younger audience and keep them informed.
“We should use online to try and get new audience to our websites. This is a no-brainer,” Kathy Schwartz Director of Marketing Operations at Pocono Mountains Media Group said.
Over the summer, Facebook added many new applications for users to put on their profiles such as daily Bible versus, aquariums, Top Friends, and videos. As far as I know there was never a news link added though. Schwartz has a good idea with adding this feature to Facebook. Newspaper readership is not very high in the younger generations. Since Facebook is where they are spending most of their time it seems that it would be very beneficial for a news organization to get involved on there too. I know I would add a daily news feed if it was an option. It is important for younger generations to stay informed, especially with an upcoming election.

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Turmoil in Myanmar

Blogs have become a very important part of our media. Every day, more people are starting up blogs, whether to make a point or state their opinion on an issue. Ko Htike, a man from London has a blog that he has been paying a lot of attention to recently. His blog is focused on bringing the latest news to the world from the daily violence in Myanmar. Htike lived in Myanmar until seven years ago when he moved to London to study. Every day he gets up at 3 a.m. to update himself on what has happened. He blogs daily to let others keep up to date as well. Right now he is averaging 20,000 visitors on his site everyday. Citizens of Myanmar send Htike photos and video footage of the daily violence that is ravaging their streets. The citizens take the photos out of their windows at their homes for fear of being caught. Being caught recording these events could lead to death. Htike realizes the danger these people face, but he appreciates it. He feels it is very important that the world knows what is happening. Blogging is a great way to show others how you are feeling or what your thought is on a particular issue, but only if it does not endanger others. Journalists have a responsibility to bring accurate news to citizens, but only if that news does not put others lives in danger.