media journal

Recently the economic crisis in Europe has been on my mind. I was curious how society existed in the countries most affected by the collapse of the European Union. The Guardian’s article, “European’s migrate south as continent drifts deeper into crisis,” by Helen Pidd sheds light on the trend of people in Europe moving south because of a worsening economic climate. The article truly functions best due to additional reporting that contained quotes and facts that assisted in supporting Pub’s narrative tone and the angle.

Pidd’s lede initially feels like a bold assertion about why people admired the idea of the European union. When Angela Merkel’s sentiment about the destitute state of Europe was brought in the lede was provided with a strong validated contrast to the Pidd’s assumptive narration. The article maintains most of its momentum from the variety of sources and people given a direct word about the migration of Europeans.

I appreciate that Pidd references the abundance of Europeans that the Guardian had spoken to about the issue at hand. In my opinion if a social study is to be reported in the form of hard news, it is essential that the groups being talked about be directly talked to. Containing individual voices for those who have chosen to migrate helps create direct personal connections to the subjects being written about.

Pidd’s study in the article is frequently supported by statics about the economy and immigration. These direct lists of information come from the foreign ministry of Portugal. Pidd also succeeds in grabbing my attention when she makes mention of the fact that Portuguese are now moving to their former colony’s such as, Brazil and Angola. This trend is placed in the article around facts that demonstrate how the economies of these South American nations are now doing better than their former parent country.

media journal

I particularly enjoy reading news pieces from journalist who craft their work with not only an authoritative grip, but appear that they’re interested in the subject being covered. Dennis Overbye’s New York Times article, “Two Earth-Size Planets Are Discovered,” is constructed in a way that displays a fondness Overbye has for this recent discovery and what it means to those who made it.

The lede opens by comparing the discovery of two planets similar to Earth and Venus to a seasonal gift from outer space to astronomers. This already shows the writer’s fun appreciation of the new discovery. Throughout the rest of the article Overbye quotes from astronomers who are extremely proud of the discovery made by the Kepler spacecraft. Overbye puts his own assertions in the piece when he mentions that the two new planets are unlivable and that scientists are not yet at the point where inhabitable planets have been found. Even though the writer makes statements that do not have direct quotes for support, other quotes are added from scientists who still consider this discovery to be important.

Overbye’s explanations about the nature and location of the two planets are filled with technical information that proves accurate and intelligent even without constant quotes from sense makers. I would usually be critical of journalists who go on without frequent checks of information being listed, but Overbye sticks to hard facts already proven by research. In addition to his intelligent narration of the circumstances surrounding the new discovery, Overbye will cite e-mail’s from scientists for the purpose of validation to facts he already referenced. This is useful because with these quotes Overbye continually supports his own knowledge on the subject matter of his piece.

Feature Journal

Gene Weingarten’s Pulitzer Prize winning feature article, “Fatal Distraction: Forgetting a Child in the Backseat of a Car Is a Horrifying Mistake”. Is it a Crime,” takes its readers into the world of a tragic circumstance that tends to be overlooked when viewed from a distant perspective. Weingarten narrates events that surround backgrounds of parents that left their children in cars without realizing they had done so before their kids have died if hypothermia. The story is structured in a way that allows room for readers to fully comprehend the tribulations of those who suffered the loss of their kids as a result of their own neglect. Weingarten presents facts and actual cases that fuel the notion that all who committed this mistake truly had made an honest error and suffer the most from their own guilt.

This article has a really strong flow from the beginning of the piece. It opens with a close look at Miles Harrison, a man on trial for leaving his young son in the car allowing the boy to cook to his death. Before revealing anything about his son, Harrison is introduced in the lede as a 300-pound man overcome with a sadness he feels he deserves and a suffering he refuses to resign from. He is shown to be on trial and carrying grief that is shared by witnesses who take the stand. Through an opener containing a gripping anecdote about a man torn apart by a plight that is shared by witnesses, Weingarten calls for sympathy from readers as they go further.

Weingarten drops core facts about Harrison being accused of manslaughter as he continues to narrate his dramatic trial. Harrison is shown to be constantly in an extreme state of emotional distress. Graphic details about Harrison’s young boy causes Lyn Balafour and Mary Parks two woman who have made the same mistake as Harrison to hold each other. Weingarten’s mention of both these woman as having gone through identical circumstances as Harrison allows the article to pursue a full overview of multiple cases and reasons for these fatal mistakes

Going further into the piece Weingarten makes several mentions of the vastness of the amount of people who have forgotten their children while suffering from extreme distractions. He also makes note of the varied backgrounds for these people. By communicating with a large amount of people who have committed this act Weingarten stresses that all of these people were put in a state of mind where their thought process was excusably flustered enough to make this mistake.

Weingarten’s main goal in his feature is to grip his readers with an opportunity to fully understand that those who have left their children in these fatal situations should not be viewed as monsters that are poor parents. The fact that Harrison, Balafour and several others in the piece were charged as felons, gives Weingarten room in the story to make use of exonerating sources and sad truths to make these accused people tortured victims of morose grief rather than criminals.

Final Daft permanent.

When Graham Craig wakes up in his apartment on 3^rd St. between Ave A and B, he opens up his Mac Book pro and chooses to exists as his Tumblr account http://lightsonic.tumblr.com/. As Light Sonic, Craig monitors a space filled with colorful gifs of Crash Bandicoot, deep house songs from Sound Cloud, and humorous bumper stickers that are shared with everyone who chooses to be a guest to his online domain.

“While Facebook is all about everyone else’s business, and automatically has you wasting time in a world miles away from your comfort zone, Tumblr condenses your experiences in a more individualized way, “ says Craig

Tumblr is a social networking forum that has been in an existence since 2007. Craig had been introduced to it in 2010, the same year the website was named a finalist in the Lead 411 “New York City Hot 125,” A list of rapidly growing internet companies. Its specialty is centered on micro blogging, a type of Internet communication where people post small fragments of information, such as video clips, small groups of words, and images as the main function for an individual blog.

“The little things that help get you through the day are all on your personal page and it’s hard to push yourself back into an extremely disinterested world,” Craig explains further about his digital playground.

Craig’s reality includes a job working for author James Frey, and a full time academic career at Eugene Lang College. Entering the comfort of Tumblr gives Craig some time to himself without even leaving a room.

“Tumblr’s appeal lies in its simplicity,” Doree Shafrir wrote in the the New York Observer on January 5^th, 2008.

Shafrir’s piece was covering the behind the scenes world of Tumblr founder, 24-year old David Karp. Karp has been a web entrepreneur and innovator since he was 17-years old. The idea that everyone who uses the internet has extremely particular tastes is one of the bricks of the foundation Karp laid down for Tumblr. When Tumblr first came out the most well known places on the web for users to have a personal profile were Myspace and Facebook.

“…There are no fields asking for where you went to college or even your name,” explained Shafrir.

This aspect of Tumblr allows users to reveal nothing about their true life experiences to their followers. Take for example, Winslow Laroche who is a 22-year-old former student, who spends most of his days reblogging interesting small pieces of information to his personal Tumblr page, http://jesuisperdu.tumblr.com/ Even though Laroche spends his days couch surfing, his enormous list of followers can count on the “Tumblr famous,” Jesuisperdu for perhaps a picture of the Rolling Stones hanging witb Bob Marley or a theme song to a forgotten 1990s television drama. Coincidentally the English translation of the title of Laroche’s popular blog is “I am lost.” Tumblr is a sort of compass for a lost generation.

“Tumblr has helped people who pretty much could be interested in the most obscure subjects such as washboard collections or a bunch of epic fails in movies,” says Laroche about the broad variety of users.

Some people who are not in favor of Tumblr have expressed displeasure in the self indulgent and lazy habits of a variety of the sites members. Their concerns are about the notion of having a window for self-expression that reduces human interactions to the regurgitation of irrelevant information with one click. This material is passed around from blog to blog and could be passed off as false originality.

“The idea of micro blogging is wonderful, but certain people on Tumblr fully function as filter for much richer material that took a lot more time and patience to achieve acclaim than a quick click to reblog,” said Noah Isenberg a professor of Screen Studies in the Media Studies department at Eugene College of Liberal Arts at the New School.

Isenberg has taken notice of blogs where users repost clips from films along with photos they didn’t take. The aspect of a reblog allows Tumblr users to place a carefully crafted piece of art, such as vast works of photography and films on an individual blog where the creators of the original works are not acknowledged. These images or movie clips often travel to many other accounts in a matter of seconds.

“I guess Warhol’s idea of 15 minute of fame can really breathe fully now that fifty people are able to grant a blogger enormous attention and the receiver of this Internet acclaim often ceases to maintain relevance within a short portion of a day,” Isenberg said.

The model of the website receives momentum from its ability to support large numbers of users in a rapid exchange of information. Included in this exchange is the redistribution of unauthorized content which represents a majority of the content hosted on Tumblr as well as many other social-websites such as YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, and Twitter. As a result many copyright lobbyist are now supporting legislation, such as The Stop Online Piracy Act otherwise known as SOPA. The intention of this bill is to prevent web users from accessing privately owned material and distributing it. SOPA targets domains on the web that are outside of US jurisdiction for copyright law enforcement. This would block Google and other search engines from linking users to websites that are liable for holding unauthorized material.

“When I went on the internet to check my Tumblr, I got freaked seeing the site censored and then realized that they were doing this to make it mandatory for users to help fight this SOPA shit. The idea of this potential bill seems hypocritical of our country to enforce laws that defy the traditional liberties our country was built upon,” says Craig. Tumblr made their site adhere to the laws suggested in the SOPA bill in order to get users to understand how powerful the impact would be. As a result of this method Craig signed an online petition against SOPA.

Tumblr is among the few websites that have outwardly fought directly against the SOPA legislation. Not only not only those with very individualized interests have utilized Tumblr . It has been a tool for the political campaigns of President Barrack Obama and news companies like NPR to assist in extending there outreach to web users.

“Despite the negative drawbacks to the viral spread of inconsequential material that looses its substance with each repost, Tumblr has proven to be a progressive leader in the unnecessary steps our government is taking in limiting freedom of expression, “Isenberg said.

feature

When Graham Craig wakes up in his apartment on 3^rd St. between Ave A and B, he opens up his Mac Book pro and becomes http://lightsonic.tumblr.com/. As Light Sonic, Craig owns a world filled with colorful gifs of Crash Bandicoot, deep house songs from Sound Cloud, and humorous bumper stickers that are shared with everyone who chooses to be a guest to his online domain.

“While Facebook is all about everyone else’s business, and automatically has you wasting time in a world miles away from your comfort zone, Tumblr condenses your experiences in a more individualized way, “ says Craig when referring to his less preferred social medium forum, Facebook.

Tumblr is a social networking center that has been in an existence since 2007. Craig had been introduced to it in 2010, the same year the website was named a finalist in the Lead 411 “New York City Hot 125,” list of rapidly growing internet companies. Its specialty is centered on micro blogging, a type of Internet communication where small fragments of information, such as video clips, small groups of words, and images are posted as the main function for an individual blog.

“The little things that help get you through the day are all on your personal page and it’s hard to push yourself back into an extremely disinterested world,” Craig explains further about his digital playground.

Tumblr set out to create a virtual environment, which simplifies your experiences. You only see small and therefore more manageable information that particular to a person’s interes. It’s more individualized.

“Tumblr’s appeal lies in its simplicity,” states Doree Shafrir in his profile piece from the New York Observer, “Would You Take a Tumblr With This Man?”

Shafrir’s piece was covering the behind the scenes world of Tumblr founder, 24 year old David Karp. Karp has been entrepreneur and innovator to the World Wide Web since he was 17 years old. The desire for idiosyncratic personal tastes to be what a web user looks for was the core idea in the genesis of the social media site. When the forum was created, the ability to maintain a level of control over the area of the Internet that represents an individual person was only present in profiles on MySpace and Facebook.

“…There are no fields asking for where you went to college or even your name,” explained Shafrir.

This aspect of Tumblr assists a variety of users today in revealing minimal details about their real life experiences to those who follow their blog. Take for example, Winslow Laroche who is a 22-year-old former student, who spends most of his days reblogging interesting small pieces of information to his personal Tumblr page, http://jesuisperdu.tumblr.com/ Even though Laroche spends his days couch surfing, his enormous list of followers can count on Jesuisperdu for perhaps a picture of the Rolling Stones hanging witb Bob Marley or a theme song to a forgotten 1990s television drama. Coincidentally the English translation of the title of Laroche’s popular blog is “I am lost.” Tumblr is a sort of compass for a lost generation.

“Tumblr has helped people who pretty much could be interested in the most obscure subjects such as washboard collections or a bunch of epic fails in movies,” says Laroche about the broad variety of users.

Critics of Tumblr have expressed displeasure in the narcissistic tendencies of a variety of the sites members. Their concerns are about the notion of having a window for self-expression that reduces human interactions to the regurgitation of irrelevant information. This material is passed around from blog to blog and could be passed off as false originality.

“The idea of micro blogging is wonderful, but certain people on Tumblr fully function as filter for much richer material that took a lot more time and patience to achieve acclaim than a quick click to reblog,” expresses Noah Isenberg a professor of Screen Studies in the Media Studies department at Eugene College of Liberal Arts at the New School.

Isenberg has taken notice of blogs where parts of movies posted by bloggers are revered online with more zeal and attention then they had received during the original release period of the works. The aspect of a reblog allows Tumblr users to place a carefully crafted piece of art, such as vast works of photography and films on an individual blog where the generators of these pieces are sometimes not acknowledged. These images or movie clip often travel to many other accounts in a matter of seconds.

“I guess Warhol’s idea of 15 minute of fame can really breathe fully now that fifty people are able to grant a blogger enormous attention and the receiver of this Internet acclaim often ceases to maintain relevance within a short portion of a day,” explains Isenberg.

The model of the website zeros in on their ability to support large numbers of users in a rapid exchange of information. Included in this exchange is the redistribution of unauthorized content which represents a majority of the content hosted on Tumblr as well as many other social-websites such as, YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, and Twitter. As a result many copyright lobbyist are now supporting legislation, such as The Stop Online Piracy Act otherwise known as SOPA. This threatens to enforce barriers on the Internet that have been compared to the censorship laws of China and Iran. The intentions of passing this bill are to have the sources of media that are privately owned blocked to all web users who do not have possession of the content and instill a barrier for those who try to pass it around the web.

“When I went on the internet to check my Tumblr, I got freaked seeing the site censored and then realized that they were doing this to make it mandatory for users to help fight this SOPA shit. The idea of this potential bill seems hypocritical of our country to enforce laws that defy the traditional liberties our country was built upon,” says Craig.

Tumblr is among the few websites that have outwardly fought directly against the SOPA legislation. Not only not only those with fetishized interests have utilized the broad nature of micro blogging on Tumblr. It has been a tool for the political campaigns of President Barrack Obama and news companies like NPR to assist in extending there outreach to web users.

“Despite the negative drawbacks to the viral spread of inconsequential material that looses its substance with each repost, Tumblr has proven to be a progressive leader in the unnecessary steps our government is taking in limiting freedom of expression, “adds Isenberg.