Speaking of Ryan Seacrest.......

This week our own blog inspired celebrity hit relatively top story news. A stranger to Seacrest has been stalking him and insisting he has had business with him. He once pulled a knife on Seacrest's body guard and again attempted to talk to him with another knife. Seacrest has never seen this man before and has been severely frightened by him. Even though the story is not the most interesting or important, I would like to point out the different ways the news media portray this story. E! news of course displays the story with grave emphasis on the peril of Seacrest and what he is going through. But the interesting part is how the so-called "serious news" stations such as MSNBC reported the same story. There was little distinction between the entertainment news story and the regular news story. To me, this shows that the distinct line between "infotainment" and news is fading. What do you think? Do you think it is a problem in our world today? Maybe a slight foreshadow?

Does Adam Lambert's cover push the envelope?

Adam Lambert's new album cover has been receiving quite the scrutiny. Phrases like "an homage to Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince" and "Xanadu" have been thrown around by authors of articles analyzing Lambert's album cover. I personally think that this album cover is way over the top and in light of the recent photos he did for Details magazine, Lambert is not someone for teens to be idolizing or looking up to. There's no way that this short of sensationalism would have been on the nightly news report during Cronkite's era. Lambert's response to all of the uproar.... "For those that don't get it: Oh well.... glad to have gotten your attention." He also tweeted "Glam is back!" in a link to his cover. For more see stories below.

• ABC News


• MSNBC (this story is quite comical)


• CNN


• E! News

American Health Care

Of the many issues the 2008 Presedential campaign focused on, Health Care has proven to be the most difficult issue to address, reform, and resolve. From fears of a socialistic system, to fighting for a chance for all Americans to receive necessary health care, this issue has sparked controversy throughout the American populous. Consequently, the Health Care issue has been on the "front page" of nearly every news source. Here are a few video clips from traditional news sources as well as more "infotainment" news sources. They each highlight certain aspects of this issue. Which aspects are more appealing to you?

Saturday Night Live

C-SPAN

The Legend Continues...

Michael Jackson. A legend? An icon? A disgrace? Although he has passed away, there is still no shortage of news relating to Michael Jackson. With a new movie coming out, it is difficult to fathom what a "legacy" this man had. So much publicity and news coverage has been centered around his death and family. Now that much of it has passed away, new focuses are being made about Michael Jackson's movie "This Is It". Jackson's "This Is It" album has sold thousands and retailers and hoping the album will be a best seller throughout the holidays. What does everyone think? Does Michael deserve this? Check out what the media is saying... CNN, MTV News, and People.

Obama vs. The big scary Fox!

According to the White House, Fox news is very different from all of the other so-called "mainstream media." They are suggesting that Fox is subjective to the Republican party only and ignores any other party. The white house has on occasion even refused news coverage to only Fox news. Read CBS new's report on the matter and compare it to the above comical political cartoons presented by MSNBC.com and townhall.com. In your opinion, which one is a more entertaining and/or accurate way to portray this story.

Balloon Boy a Hoax!

You can rest at ease. The boy carrying balloon story that captured the attention of people across the country turned out to be a hoax. Take a look at these news clips and how each reports the story differently. Which do you prefer? Let us know!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Intro - Balloon Boy Is Safe
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

From Cronkite to Seacrest: The Changing Face of News

I decided to do something a little different with my post today. After searching the news sites that I usually look at to find stories I realized that there were few stories that were being covered on multiple sites. I really had no way of showing the differing ways news is reported because there wasn't one single story that was being largely covered on any of the same sites! So I've decided to post the top stories that multiple sites had on their home pages. These are the stories that you see when you first activate the site.

• CNN's top story read "Car Czar 'shocked' by Detroit management."
• Fox News' largest story was that the FDA might be misleading consumers with food labels.
• Yahoo! News had the story "Dems go after antitrust exemption for insurers."
• The New York Times' top story was "Food Experts Worry as Population Grows."
• CBS News (Walter Cronkite's old station) reported on multiple stories including "Pay cuts coming for bail ed out executives" and "Exclusive: Mexican Drug Cartels in Atlanta."
• RyanSeacrest.com reported on Rihanna's new album, the New Moon Premier, Lady Gaga's new single, and Timbaland's new song.
• Associated Press's top story was that AP artist had made up the story about Obama poster.

All of these sites reported their news as "breaking news" and yet none of the stories correlated with stories on other sites. How can this be? I personally think that it shows how our world has transformed into a tech-savvy global market when the biggest story is what will "sell" and get the most views. It also shows how news sites cater to their readers and post stories that they feel will attract the most traffic. My how things have changed since the Cronkite Era when the stories were the same across the top 3 broadcast networks. As for the stories of today, I'll let you be the judge of what is news and what is not. Comments welcome!

Observations of Obama

Since the beginning of Obama's campaign he has become a focal poiont of media by reason of his office, speaking abilities, and political promises. One of the most interesting and notable aspects of how the media has covered the election and months since has been the array of news sources that have taken interest and reported upon President Obama. This was most notably exemplified by the Tina Fey impersinations of Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live. Although such media sources as Saturday Night Live have been thought of as merely comical and non relevant entertainment programs, many are questioning the influence which such media sources have. Here are several videos of Obama's speeches, SNL's skits about Obama, and even CNN's response to SNL's skit. Apparently CNN is having to compete with SNL...

C-SPAN

Saturday Night Live

CNN

Will H1N1 Vaccine Shortage Lead to More Deaths?

Will the lack of Swine Flu vaccine lead to more deaths in children and adults? Sites such as MSNBC.com, FoxNews.com, and ABCnew.com have emphasized the great scare of the lack of H1N1 vaccine. The rise in death rates, especially in children, due to the swine flu epidemic is crucial in the world today. In addition to all of the other early season illnesses developing this season, the swine flu has contributed significantly to many of the increasing deaths. The scare across the nation continues as the vaccine for the H1N1 virus has been delayed. Doctors are troubled by the promise from federal health officials that there will be enough vaccine to go around. People are demanding they get their shot when there isn't even enough vaccine to make it to the end of October. Should we be scared of what this might do to the nation? MSNBC, FoxNews, and ABCnews have chosen different aspects of the lack of the vaccine to emphasize. Which one do you think pertains most to today's society and is most effectively portrayed as a reliable source of news?

Gay Rights Protest Coverage (or lack thereof)

Thousands of protestors met at the Nation's capital to demand equal rights for gays and lesbians. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart covers the issue and also raises questions about the lack of coverage it got from the different news agencies around the country. Is their a reason behind why some stations gave the protest little to no attention such as FOXnews? (unfortunately, the video of their coverage is unavailable on their website) I wonder why..... MSNBC was one of the few stations to give extensive coverage to the story while other stations like ABCNEWS let the people do the talking. To cover the rally, CNN used an "ireporter" to get the story and opinions of the demonstrators taking part. What do you think of the way this story was covered? Which kind of news do you prefer to watch? Let us know!

Dow Closes Above 10,000

It's been over a year since the Dow closed above 10,000. Consequently, cheers went up as the Dow closed at 10,015.86 today, thanks to the help of JPMorgan Chase and Co. and Intel Corp. I feel like The LA Times had the best story. Short, sweet, and too the point. None of the politics. Yahoo! News and ABC News both had the Associated Press story, which means no inside commentary. The New York Times would have been my second choice, their story was pretty short too. Fox News, on the other hand, was incredibly long and lost my interest very quickly. I also think that Obama might get some credit for this change in the stock market. Politics aside, let's hope that this is a sign that the economy is picking up from what has been called the worst recession since the Great Depression. Comments welcomed!

Obama Wins the Nobel Peace Prize

Many were shocked to find out that President Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize but others were pleased. The same basic story is presented in different ways with different viewpoints. Fox News and Townhall.com both give a conservative side of the story, stating that the Nobel Committee was just making a political statement. The Associated Press presents a fairly unbiased version of the story on Citizen-Times.com. CNN provides a complete story, but only highlights the positive comments given about Obama receiving the award. What about countries overseas? BBC seems to agree with CNN that Obama has done something to deserve the award. Which story do you agree with?

What's going on with Letterman?

With all of the stories in the news concerning David Letterman, which one can be trusted to give the most complete and truthful story? Yahoo! News and CNN seem to be taking the side of Robert Halderman. Fox News and CBS News (the company that both Dave and Robert work for) place Dave in the "good guy"position. While ABC News offers a fairly unbiased story and E! News frankly says, "Who cares?" So which story is the best? Which one gives the information needed to understand the story?

The Olympics!

2016 heralds the new Olympic games! Check out the upset--Chicago gets beat out by the winner Rio de Janeiro. What about the opinions? Yahoo, reported the news with Chicago depressed. CNN has more of a reporter view, maybe? How did this story get your attention?  Check out these sites and see which one is most appealing to you!

CNN
Yahoo
MSNBC


Not only that, but how does this news affect the news and approval of President Obama worldwide and locally? Maybe some news stories will come from this too.

Jon Gets In On It

 

TONIGHT: Jon Gosselin

Larry King, from Larry King Live, is going to host Jon Gosselin tonight on the Larry King Live show.  It will be interesting to see the way this interview goes.  Let's look at how Larry King adds to this story.