March 2009
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Month March 2009

Entries 5 Total

Finally, honest journalism

I’m sure that Jon Stewart’s interview with Jim Cramer has been written about elsewhere, but I wanted to share my own thoughts on the matter. If you haven’t seen the video, then you really need to so it’s embedded below:

First and foremost, all the credit in the world ought to go to Jim Cramer for actually having the courage to walk into the firestorm that he knew would be waiting on The Daily Show. Secondly, Jon Stewart is simply great. With the election of Obama I remember there being some concern about whether Stewart would be able to maintain his high rating and popularity. After all, if he can’t make fun of Bush then how much material does he really have? Well, perhaps the election of Obama has created a bit of a shift in the Daily Show’s content.

As Stewart says in the interview, he shouldn’t have to be the one responsible for asking these kinds of questions and publicizing these facts. Despite the fact that it’s depressing that it is a comedy show that is taking this hard stance on questions of journalism, it is refreshing to see someone actually sit someone down and truly question them. Furthermore, it appears that people will actually listen to this kind of interview too. The audience was entertained in the way that Stewart tore Cramer apart and also seemed to be actually interested in the information both men were talking about.

It’s time for reporters, media, and the general populous to stop making the excuse that people don’t want to listen to or read hard journalism. It’s clear that they do, it just has to be done in the right way. Perhaps if more media institutions actually created content like this then they wouldn’t have as many problems attracting an audience.

Posted on March 14, ’09

Explain your commitment to public service and service to country generally

Below is a draft of an essay I’m writing for an internship this summer with the White House Communications Department. Perhaps this is using the collaboration of the medium to selfish ends (in that case sorry), but I do want to hear what you think.

My commitment to public service and my community is one that reaches back to high school. Since the many hours that I spent running youth basketball leagues and volunteering at paintball tournaments that benefited the Special Olympics I have continued to be involved in the Whitman College and greater Walla Walla communities.

This year as part of an Education course I travel out to the local high school. Here I spend three hours a week helping and observing in a classroom that has more students than chairs. While the students work on group projects and research assignments for their History of the Pacific Northwest course I am available to help the teacher by answering any questions the students may have. This experience has given me a much greater understanding of the social and economic conditions that affect students in rural agricultural areas.

Also, my work with the Whitman College Pioneer has been of a largely volunteer basis. I became the paper’s first Web Manager this semester and am responsible for the entirety of the paper’s web operations. Over the past months I have worked closely with a web developer for Whitman College to create a theme and a site that will provide the foundation for the paper’s online future. As the paper’s only web staff member I have worked by myself to develop and implement aspects of new media to further develop the paper’s ability to remain relevant in a changing online world. I have also worked to train Copy Editors and other staff members on how to use WordPress, Twitter, and Tumblr so that they can take an active role in the site’s future. Through the assumption of this leadership role I have worked hard to develop a website that works for the Whitman community and one that will provide the structure that the Pioneer needs in order to continue its proud journalistic tradition.

I see the possibility of an internship in the White House as providing a tremendous setting in which to further develop my leadership skills. I enjoy coming together with others to collaborate on issues and form ideas to solve problems within a community (whether that is local or national).

Posted on March 12, ’09

Which of the President’s policies, initiatives or campaign achievements is most important to you?

Below is a draft of an essay I’m writing for an internship this summer with the White House Communications Department. Perhaps this is using the collaboration of the medium to selfish ends (in that case sorry), but I do want to hear what you think.

The President’s policy and views on reforming the nation’s education system is the most important to me. As a current college student and as someone who looks forward to become a high school or college teacher reform in this area is of the utmost priority.

Our current system of education is broken; too many kids and teachers alike are failed by underfunded requirements and constraints. The President’s stated goal to reform No Child Left Behind so that teachers do not spend the year preparing students to fill in bubbles on a standardized test is heartening to a liberal arts student who strongly believes in the value of a balanced and critical education.

In addition, their pledge to support the schools that need improvement instead of punishing them is refreshing after years of the removal of funding from the schools that need it most. By committing to provide the funds necessary to allow schools to raise the achievements of students and teachers this administration is creating an environment in which real progress in education can be made. The method of past years, that of restricting funding to the schools that need it in order to develop more efficient models of education, has been one that has clearly not worked as the number of dropouts and underperforming schools have shown.

Furthermore, President Obama’s goal of making science and math a national priority is one that must happen in order for the United States to succeed in the changing global economy. The pace and agility with which the current economy moves means that it is now even more important to push forward in the areas of technological development.

The final aspect of President’ Obama’s education policy that I find to be important to the foundation of a successful education system is the support that he and Vice President Biden seek to give to those learning English as a second language. As a student who volunteered in an English Language Development class in high school I have seen the difficulties that these students face when they are not given the opportunities that they deserve. An education system that does not provide adequate resources for these students is one that hampers their ability to succeed for the rest of their lives.

I believe that the next few years of educational reform as being crucial to this nation’s ability to educate its students in the coming decades. In order to educate citizens that will be able to effectively solve the problems of tomorrow we must fix the education system in such a way that it facilitates the types of critical thinking that is needed.

Posted on March 12, ’09

Which office would I like to work in and why?

Below is a draft of an essay I’m writing for an internship this summer with the White House Communications Department. Perhaps this is using the collaboration of the medium to selfish ends (in that case sorry), but I do want to hear what you think.

My preferred office to work in would be The White House Communications Department because I have a great interest in the development of technologies and the possibilities they bring to facilitate communication. This interest stems from much of the work that I have done while on the Whitman College campus as a lab consultant in the Multimedia Development Lab and as Web Manager for the Whitman College Pioneer, the weekly campus newspaper.

Since December I have been working as the Web Manager for the Whitman College Pioneer as we have launched a newly redesigned site. With the redesign of the site one of our principal aims was to create a place for the Whitman community to come together to discuss current issues. I have worked to redesign the comments, add forums, create a presence on Twitter, integrate link journalism via Publish2, and to involve the staff in writing on a consistent basis for our many beat blogs. Already this semester our website has provided a forum for students to discuss a controversial lecture given by Ayaan Hirsi Ali as well as the actions taken by the administration to mitigate the effects of the financial crisis.

Through my work in the Multimedia Development Lab I have made video and audio editing as well as graphic and web design accessible and understandable to students and faculty alike. By providing assistance in the use of programs like Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, and DVD Studio Pro I have helped students to create multimedia-rich projects for classes, conferences, and internships. I have also helped faculty to create videos and presentations for their classes so that they can more effectively engage their students.

I see the potential of working in the White House Communications Department as a possibility to pursue these aspects of multimedia and communication on a much larger and more influential level. My experience in working at these jobs has shown me the amazing avenues that technology can open up in terms of communication.

Posted on March 12, ’09

Advertising and skittishness

This was posted by a couple people today and is a short but to the point post concerning the web and distracting advertising. In a post titled “On advertising” Mandy Brown of a working library writes that:

There is no end to this, in that short of eviscerating the content all together (and removing any impetus the reader might have to visit in the first place), our attention to the advertisements is always waning. Sadly, our attention elsewhere also suffers and declines; instead of staying still to read, we skitter from place to place, like frightened prey assured the predators are near.

This is somewhat tangentially related to a point that I was attempting to make a while back concerning the decline of attention spans and print journalism. Unfortunately I think that Brown is right on here. Even some of my favourite companies have devolved into ever more distracting and disrupting advertising.

The iPod Touch ad that Apple has run on the homepage of ESPN as well as on Yahoo! Games is a prime example of this. The ad involves an animated iPod Touch moving and showing the accelerometer feature and how it can be used in games. Instead of staying confined to a box of ad space this one moves beyond that. It moves outside of the traditional ad frame and actually disrupts the content on the page (even major content like navigation menus). For an example, see below:

With ads like this becoming more the norm Brown is exactly right when she writes that, “instead of staying still to read, we skitter from place to place.”

Posted on March 10, ’09