Leslie Hutchinson - Cheshire Patch

How does she determine what is newsworthy?

How does she rely on social media? The article she quoted says that watching the debates without social media is unthinkable, that you might as well not watch it. Do you agree?

How does she write differently with different technology or in different media?

 Some of the first few words from Leslie Hutchinson regarded how to tell if something is "newsworthy." She explained how if the writing is filled with adjectives before nouns, it is very likely that the piece is opinionated and may not be entirely true. She also explained that rather than going to people of great authority for inside scoops, find people who are in touch every day. Hutchinson used the example that rather than going to a Superintendent of a school district for updates on school systems and regulations, she would go to a more involved member such as the principal. 

I found it interesting that Leslie relies on social media such as Twitter and Facebook for stories.  She explained that social media clearly shows just how hot the topic is. For example, she told us that last night's presidential debate was the most tweeted event in US history, and even resulted in four new twitter accounts for "Big Bird", one of which already obtained nearly 5,000 followers. Although she made a very valid point of how the social media gives forth information on significant events, I still believe that watching the debates without social media is reasonable. Plenty of newsworthy information can be obtained from 90 minutes of two candidates debating on various issues.

Leslie Hutchinson informed us that only 20% of people will read something from a newspaper or cite that is over 600 words. Therefore, the best way to write articles is to keep them short and concise; the best amount is roughly 150 to 300 words. She also uses SEO - Search Engine Optimization - to make Cheshire Patch pop up with all searches which begin with "Cheshire."Also, she told us that the best time of day to post something you want viewed is on Saturdays at noon, which I thought was interesting. I have never thought about how the time of day can effect the popularity of the website.

I enjoyed the radio version of the story more than the print. It was much more descriptive and very easy to understand. Not only is hearing easier and requires less effort, but it has greater potential to emotionally touch others. Unlike the print version, the radio version contained music and other sound effects which made it more dramatic and entertaining. Also, although there was dialogue in both of the articles, the radio version was entirely dialogue, which in my opinion made it more interesting. The recording of Emily in the radio version made it increasingly more successful in conveying the story than the print article. 
Through hearing, stories can often be more effectively told and described (regarding articles and other shorter pieces). It is much easier to become distracted when reading something than hearing it, even if the words being shared were of the exact same content. Just like music, I find that messages retrieved through your ears will be processed better and most likely be remembered better than those which are written. This of course is very dependent on what exactly you are listening to or reading, and what type of person you are. I personally am very stubborn when it comes to reading, so listening to stories is much more appealing and easier for me. I better understand the story and often make more connections. 

I have mixed feelings about the students wearing black armbands to protest the Government's policy in Vietnam. Part of me feels like the suspensions were necessary, but another part of me thinks otherwise. I do not believe acts like these should be regulated because it would violate the constitutional rights of students' freedom of expression. After all, children have the same freedom of speech rights as adults under the First Amendment. Also, because there were so few armband wearers (about 5 out of the 18,000 students in the district), it did not cause any sort of uprising or disturbance on the school grounds. If it had resulted in violence or negative reaction of any kind, it would call for a definite regulation.

Free Speech & Lying Against the Law - 9/24

Some exceptions of free speech include treason, bullying, and threatening. Treason is against the law, but the other two are more common. Treason is obviously an exception of freedom of speech because it can put our entire country in danger, or initiate some sort of chaos. Bullying, unfortunately, happens all over the world and with minimal effort to prevent it. This leads to the victims of bullying to become outcasts, harm themselves or others, and even commit suicide. Any form of speech that can potentially result in the death of another should be considered an exception. Threatening also links in to this idea; verbally sending death threats or any other type of threat is very unconstitutional. It should also be considered an exception of free speech.

I somewhat agree with this law, but I feel like it would be impossible to fully enforce.  This is explained towards the end of the article:

“False,” of course, is often conditional and sometimes subjective. It’s a standard that would be hard to enforce, subject to the whims and political ideas of judges and juries. Who determines that something is false? On what basis? And what review mechanism could ensure that the decision was reached fairly in most instances, let alone every one? 

Of course having solely the truth broadcasted through the news would be ideal, but is it realistic? The answer to that is no, absolutely not. There is no way to control the various manipulations of the truth; lie detectors are often times inaccurate. Unless something is invented in the future, Canada's law will forever be unknowingly broken.

Blog #2

Electronic media and paper media have both similarities and differences. Depending on the type of media, they can be basically the same. For example, an online newspaper vs. a paper newspaper have the same articles, headlines, etc. However, in the paper media there is no exchange of information through social networking, with the exception of magazines. Often times, news is presented through Twitter and other social networks, where a lot of people will retrieve the information. A lot of newspapers and TV shows have Twitter accounts as well. The other main form of electronic media besides internet is of course, television. A majority of the people view the media through this source. There are different channels dedicated to different political views, unlike in newspapers, where it is mostly just recent events. However, on television, it is very unlikely that you can find out news about people from your school. But there are several instances where high school and even middle school students are mentioned in newspapers, both for academics and athletics. Another form of paper media that I briefly mentioned earlier was magazines. Magazines are a hot spot for media, propaganda, and often times, false information. They are used for all different categories: politics, celebrity life, sports, stocks, and even just current events. In my opinion, magazines are much more similar to electronic media than newspapers.

Blog Post numero 1

Technology greatly affects the sharing of information in every day life. Through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, and other internet based networks, the exchange of thoughts is quicker than ever before. Information is now shared through computers, cellphones, iPads, etc. more often than directly from person to person. Before the invention of these mass ways of communication, thoughts and ideas were exchanged in person or by a written letter, which is nowadays referred to as "snail mail". When the first telephone was invented, speaking was still involved. Now in present day, talking on the phone is not very common compared to texting and posting links or statuses. Also, with technology being the backbone of sharing information, there are sometimes instances where the information is not shared accurately. For example, a text can easily be sent to the wrong person.

It has become much easier to share information with technology. With just the click of a button on a device, hundreds of people are able to see one's thoughts. If someone's computer or cellphone is broken or lost, that person feels lost and excluded from the rest of society. They feel as though they are not "up to date" with the latest news, drama, pictures, events, etc; they are not getting an equal share of the information without functioning technology.