Friday, May 4, 2007

12: Blogging vs. Journalism

I blog. I do. I mean aside from here at the last minute I have one blog on my myspace page. It is a video of penguins dancing from the movie Happy Feet. I know. Trust me I know. But it's cute. Really cute. But is it news? Am I spreading the word about the movie happy feet and how great it is? Or am I merely expressing my opinion that cartoon penguins who sing and dance are irresistibly adorable. I'm not a huge believer that bloggers are journalists. Sure the iReport link on cnn.com enourages people to send in their own news, but even the VA tech camera phone video really doesnt make that guy a journalist. He could really be passed off as a stupid kid who wouldnt get out of the way when a few feet away people are clearly dying, and he might have been next. But it was interesting and the media grabbed it up, but clearly the young man who took this shot had a few moments of fame and that was it. Anyway, a blogger usually only expresses opinion. Journalists write about the latest news because they have to. If your editor explains to you that the news story needs to be covered, you write it. A blogger could certainly write a "news" story on the upcoming campaigns, but one could argue they are writing these stories not because they have to, but because they have an opinion about it. That is not a journalist.

13:Politics & the Internet

When you log onto MySpace nowadays, you have a few things thrown at you. First, NEW MUSIC! or, CHeck out THIS Video! But lately in the "Cool New People" section, there's been a slight change. Politicians, namely Presidential candidates, are posting myspace pages left and right. Figuring this is a new, young and hip way to connect with the American People (considering the amount of people on MySpace is greater than the amount of people who vote...who knew), candidiates such as Obama, Clinton (uuggghh), and Guiliani all noew have thier own space on myspace. But lets begin woth Edwards. On his teal colored page, which I'm almost pretty sure he doesnt read his own comments, he states his heroes are the American Working people, blogs on Karl Rove and VA Tech and he has his wife as his number one in his top 8 (although I'm pretty sure she and John dont leave comments to eachother). As corny as all that may sound, it actually is a working campaign online to gain more attention and ultimately more voters. Politicians are quickly realizing the best way to get the people's attention is to join a group on the internet such as MySpace and post blogs, talk to people and really make the voters feel like they "know" that person and vote for the one they are closest to. In an article in USATODAY it is noted that "Candidates are using popular websites Facebook, MySpace and YouTube for the first time to give their campaigns free publicity, reach young voters and bypass traditional media. Once they're online, though, they risk being mocked and losing control of their messages." Mocked for sure. The article also lists different ways the campaigners have made fools of themselves, to the fact that this is revoltionizing politiccs and the way people see the politicians and vote. Facebook and Youtube are also two ways to get the attention of people, but since facebook is only available to a limited number of people, youtube and myspace are the bigger places to host a video or website. And its not just the US that is taking part in the online phenomenon. In England the buzz is on as well. As for top candidates Clinton and Obama who each have 55211 and 34000 friends respectively, the support for each grown, even if some of their "friends" are skeptical about heir presence on myspace. As on efriend writes to Obama: "You have my vote for President, Senator Obama, regardless of this MySpace nonsense. Keep fighting the good fight!"