9.3% Tuition Hike... you've got to be kidding

University of Colorado's newly appointed president Bruce Benson is wanting to raise tuition for in-state students by 9.3%. This increase would be effective starting next year. This means about a $500 increase to all students tuition. Statistics from a 9News article say that, after this increase, our tuition would have increased by 25% since 2007. That's ridiculous. Tuition is already difficult enough for students to pay. If this trend continues, tuition will be outrageous in a couple more years.

Read CU president Bruce Benson seeks 9.3 percent tuition hike

Don't mess with Texas...

Photo: Courtesy of FOX News

Two weeks ago the Yearning for Zion Ranch was raided by Texas police. The ranch, found to be a polygamist colony, was home to over 400 children that were taken into police custody. Police received an anonymous phone call from a young girl in the camp who reported abuse. Currently the mothers of the children are trying to gain custody of their children from the police. However, police are still investigating whether abuse was prevalent at the compound.

So far, reports say that young girls were taught that sex is OK at any age and many started having children as soon as they were physically capable of doing so. From video that I've seen, and articles that I've read, this way of lifestyle seems so tremendously disparate from U.S. society. I would never think that there are secret compounds like this in the U.S., it simply would not have crossed my mind.

It is very interesting to watch the videos and read the stories to further understand this situation. It seems that if you grew up in a polygamist society, you would not want to give up those values and you would never think that that lifestyle is in any way wrong. It is difficult for our mainstream society to impose our laws and regulations on people that simply are living in their own society. It's an interesting learning experience to see how differently lives can be shaped, even in the same country. We will have to follow this developing story to see how the government decides to react.

CNN's coverage of this story has been very detailed.
I would recommend this article Witness: Teens at ranch said any age OK to marry

I would also recommend FOX's article Polygamist Sect Wives Give Birth as Early as Age 13, Investigator Testifies

Italian Government Shift

I have a couple of friends living in Italy for the semester. They have been telling me how different the U.S. government is from the Italian government. Italy just had elections for parliament, which came three years earlier than expected, mostly because the leftist government had collapsed. Now, Berlusconi and the right are back in power.

Also, for the first time they have an absolute majority in the Senate and the Chamber of deputies so, my friends say, things "might actually get done in Italy."

However, Rome's local government is having a election soon between Rutelli, from the Partito Democratico, and Alemano, from Alleanza Nazionale, which are a far left party and a far right party. This shift in recent Italian politics should be interesting to follow. For more information on this political makeover check out the International Herald Tribune.

Albright and O'Connor

This week two very distinguished women are visiting the CU- Boulder campus. Tonight, former U.S. Secretary of State and UN ambassador, Madeline Albright, will be speaking at the Coors Events Center. When Albright was appointed President Clinton's Secretary of State in 1997, she was the first woman to serve in the position. She also, at the time, was the highest-ranking woman ever in the U.S. government. Albright will be discussing the role of the U.S. on the international stage today.
Doors open at 6:30pm and Albright's speech will begin at 7:30pm.

Also, tomorrow April 17, former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor will be speaking on campus. O'Connor was the first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Justice O'Connor was well-known during her tenure because she was often the swing vote in many profound cases that went before the Supreme Court. Not only is she speaking on campus tomorrow but she is also being presented with the Stegner Award. This award, given by CU's Center of the American West, represents achievements that westerners have accomplished in their professional lives.
The event starts at 7pm in Macky Auditorium tomorrow.

Tickets for these events can be purchased at the UMC Connection for students. And tickets for the general public can be purchased at ticketswest.com

The Papal Visit to the U.S.

Pope Benedict XVI is visiting the United States this week and is stopping in New York and Washington D.C. I went to Italy for Spring Break this semester and was able to see the Pope twice. It was amazing how close I got to him, as you can see from my picture.



I am a new Catholic and am constantly learning more and more about the faith. I was watching The Daily Show with Jon Stewart today and he was covering the Papal visit to the U.S. I think the Papal visit can help revitalize the American Catholic Church, as is the intention of the trip.

I love The Daily Show, and I love this funny assessment that Jon Stewart made to portray President Bush's reaction to the Papal visit.

Dr. Phil Bails Out Teen... WHAT?

On Saturday, the Dr. Phil Show decided to bail a Florida teen out of jail who was charged with assault that was caught on videotape. The show bailed out the teen for over $30,000. The show wanted to guarantee an exclusive with the teen for an upcoming episode.

This tactic seems so unethical to me. To interfere in a situation in this way, is not just a strategy to have an exclusive, it's an unethical story setup. After taking heat for this decision, the show decided not to continue with the story because their choices did not coincide with the show's policy. I just don't really understand what would go through the producer's minds. Talk shows, like Dr. Phil's, are meant to analyze situations and give advice to guests; however, to invade in a personal matter and get involved in the judicial process blatantly crosses the line.

To read more details about this situation, you can find an article at FOX News

The Colbert Report

One of my favorite shows right now is Comedy Central's The Colbert Report. Every single show that I watch, I am never disappointed. NEVER disappointed. And that is a pretty difficult task for a show to accomplish.

I also feel that shows like this are gaining power in their ability for political persuasion. Most voters my age will appreciate the political criticism and satire of the show. It seems that the show could be very persuasive in political action. And I think that politicians have caught on to this as many spotlighted politicians are going on the show to gain popularity with Colbert's demographic, which is definitely my generation.



This week Colbert on his show has interviewed Jesse Ventura, Madeline Albright, Jeff Gore, an individual who is trying to retire the American penny, and Robin Wright, a knowledgeable woman on the wars that have occurred during the history of Iraq. For a very funny show, these are some pretty serious guests each week. However, Colbert's interviews are always very hilarious and his guests need to be prepared to be in a joking mood in order to gain the audience's favor.

It is an important strategic tactic for politicians to appear on the show because if they can be good sports and be comedic with Colbert, they can gain tremendous appeal with viewers. This appeal can absolutely, and I think it will, cross over into their political lives and their success.

Conference on World Affairs

This week is the 60th annual Conference on World Affairs held on the Boulder campus. The conference holds several panels each day with esteemed participants who discuss a large variety of global issues, from politics to celebrities and music. Roger Ebert is the one participant who holds the record for 37 consecutive years attending the conference.

I decided to check out some of the panels for myself and see what they were like. This morning I attended a panel entitled Republicans: It's my party and I'll cry if I want to. The discussion was moderated by former Colorado congressman and CU grad Bob Beauprez. The participants in the discussion were included the president of Strategic Advantage International, Daniel Odescalchi, an editor for the New York Post, Robert George, and Washington policymaker, Mike Franc. The discussion centered on the upcoming election. Odescalchi cited opinion polls that backed his prediction that Republican presidential candidate John McCain will win the presidency. The panelists also took questions from the audience. One audience member asked the panel to speculate who they think will be John McCain's running mate. Mike Franc projected that Condelezza Rice will be McCain's vice president if elected; but Odescalchi and George quickly disputed that idea.

Later in the day, I also attended a discussion called Iraq: We'll Pull Out in Time. Honest. The panel allowed for very intense discussion of the state of our troops from Septemeber 11th to today. Director of the Drug Policy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C, Sanho Tree, answered students' questions about the damage the war is causing on Iraqi families.

If you've missed the panels so far this week, don't worry. There are still dozens going on for Thursday and Friday, all during the day. To find the schedule of discussions and to find out what panelists are participating simply visit www. colorado.edu/cwa

The Recycling X-Games

If you were at the Boulder campus today you would have noticed a big event going on at the UMC. CU's Environmental Center ran an event called the Recycling X-Games. This event gave students a fun way to learn about the importance of being environmentally conscious. The event included a Recycle Pong tournament in the UMC Fountain. Big recycle bins were set up to mock beer pong and students competed by throwing bags of cans into the bins. The event also had a phonebook shotput, where students competed by throwing phone books as far as they could. The next event was the dumpster dive. Students had to see how much recycled goods they could save from a dumpster in the shortest amount of time. They also had setup a recycled art and fashions stand. Students were able to make fun things out of materials like CDs, floppy disks, and old computer cords, among other things.

Overall, the Recycling X-Games were a hit with students on campus today. From what I witnessed, students really enjoyed participating in these events and had a great time. The Environmental Center has many events going on throughout the semester. To look at their schedule of events simply visit their website at ecenter.colorado.edu

The Honolulu Advertiser

Because I am, let's just say, "mildly obsessed" with Hawaii and everything Hawaiian, I closely follow the largest state newspaper The Honolulu Advertiser. I've read the paper for years because I've greatly enjoyed reading it on the beach throughout the 17 times that I have been there. I visit their website nearly every day to keep up with what is going on in Hawaii. I always enjoyed the articles that I found on the website; however, I felt that the homepage was always very VERY overwhelming. It was mostly red font on a white background with story titles listed in a column next to one rotating set of pictures and headlines. However, the numerous listings of articles and format made the website a little more difficult to focus on comfortably.

Within the last couple of weeks, I was shocked to notice that the website, which hasn't been changed since I can remember, had altered its format completely. It has improved tremendously. The colors have changed to blue, yellow, and white which are definitely more calming and inviting. Also the font has changed from red to brown and the number of stories posted on the homepage has definitely been minimized compared to how it was.

This drastic website change made me realize how much website aesthetics can influence the desire to stay on that page. It is vital that any news organization, print or broadcast, continuously update their website. A website should never be static, and if more calming, easier-to-read formats can be discovered, they should be utilized. It definitely changes the way that people read the entire page and respond to it. So I commend my favorite newspaper on these much needed changes!

I'm Feeling A Little Paranormal

I am a reality show junkie... all of my friends know it too. I will watch any, and every, reality show created. I've enjoyed watching everything from The Biggest Loser to I Love New York. I have no idea why I am so intrigued by reality shows. But lately I have been disappointed with all the new shows coming out because I feel like producers are running out of ideas for shows.

So for right now the one reality show that I absolutely love is called Paranormal State and it is on the A&E network. The show follows around the Penn State University Paranormal Research Society. Not only am I a big fan of Ryan Buell, the director of the society, but I love the cases that they investigate.

It pretty much, at it's simplest level, is another "ghost-hunting" show. However, the story lines focus much more on real people that are dealing with difficulty in their lives and how to heal that hardship. It also helps that the paranormal research team experiences on camera very scary encounters that I honestly do not think are staged. I really recommend this show, even for entertainment purposes, and from there you can decide what you believe is real. But you should definitely check out an episode or two because it is a great show. Go to A&E to watch episodes.

Darfur and the Olympics

I read an article this morning from the New York Times website entitled Changing the Rules of the Games written by Ilan Greenberg. I think the article is very interesting and I definitely recommend that you read it, especially if you are interested in the recent controversial reactions towards the Summer 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

The article discusses an organization called Dream for Darfur. In meetings that they have, they have been contemplating the approaches of the Chinese government to advertise the Olympic games. But also about how the country's oppressive government may not be the best place to hold a world event, such as the Olympics. The article also brings up the point that the Olympics may be a time to set global issues to the side and just have a good time. All in all, it is a very well-written article about the current opposing views to the Summer 2008 Olympic games in Beijing.

Google told me the world is ending

So I Googled "March 2008" on CNN.com to see if there were any big news stories that I had missed for the month of March. One of Google's sponsored results that I got read "2008:God's Final Witness." Next to this, the byline read "Unprecedented destruction will come in 2008, leading to America's fall." So intrigued by this craziness, I clicked on the link which lead me to www.the-end.com. It is a website from a pastor of the Church of God who wrote a couple of books that supposedly prove that the prophesy shows that the world will end in 2008. He says that these books are directed towards the descendants of Abraham, which are those who are part of Islam, Christianity, or Judaism. I am a Christian and even the description of this book seems at least mildly offensive to me. The pastor himself is trying to prove that he has the ability of prophesy. Why are ridiculous websites like this one coming up in my Google results? Maybe that should be monitored, Google.

Biggie and Tupac... Ooops

This week The Los Angeles Times published an apology for inaccurate coverage of the 1994 shooting of Tupac Shakur. The Los Angeles Times used information in their coverage from a forged document which suggested that friends of P.Diddy, also known as Sean Combs, had set up the attack on Shakur. After making these pretty severe claims, the newspaper had to retract their article because the documents they were using were forged. To read more on this newspaper slip-up, you can read the New York Time's article on it entitled Newspaper Says Article on Rapper Was False

NIU Shooting Covered by the New York Times

I felt like there wasn't much media coverage about the NIU shootings that happened last month, on February 15, 2008. Maybe I think that because I wasn't paying enough attention to news that week, but I honestly felt like I didn't learn anything about the situation from the news.

So I went to The New York Times website to look at the type of coverage that they had of the crisis. I first read the article published online from the day of the shooting entitled Gunman Slays 6 at N. Illinois University and I thought the coverage was pretty good for having limited information.

This article overall emphasized the feelings of students involved and it illustrated almost a play by play narrative of what happened. This tactic almost seemed like a sensationalizing technique to help the reader feel sympathy, imagine the scene, and create intrigue.

My Reading Curse

With the crazy schedule of a student, it is very difficult to find any time for enjoyable reading. Throughout college, I have started numerous books, read about 100 pages, and never finish. I never can find time to finish. So maybe if I write about the book I'm trying to read right now it may encourage me to keep going for once, even amidst my most hectic semester. In January, on my most recent trip to Hawaii, I started reading Come Be My Light which features letters written by Mother Teresa. Although I have only made it to page 103, as following my reading curse, I really enjoy this book.

So far through the first hundred pages it has pretty much just been Mother Teresa writing to a priest to get permission to start a mission in Calcutta. She faced much opposition to her God-given dream of serving the poor in India, and even after a hundred pages, her dream has not even been started. So it has been a slow start to the book, but the life lessons that are strewn throughout the letter so far, are amazing to read.
From what I can tell so far from the book, I would absolutely recommend it if you are interested in spirituality. However, patience is a virtue that is taught through this book as it has a very slow story line, and so far, is not very action packed. But I love to read the actual letters of Mother Teresa; they are truly inspiring.

Office of International Education

Yesterday I attended a session held by the Office of International Education discussing the issues that international students are facing. The discussion was intended to help faculty and students understand the hardships international students face. The professors who attended the session were from the Economics, Psychology, and Mathematics departments. Even faculty from Disability Services were there as they happen to hire mostly international students and would like to understand visa and social security issues as well as the background checks that are needed for new hires.

The session explained to the faculty how difficult it is for international students to obtain a visa, and how post 9/11 security measures have complicated the students' progress.

It was an interesting and informative look into the struggle that international students must deal with to work and learn at our university. For related programs and sessions, check out the Office of International Education website at www.colorado.edu/OIE

Violence in pop culture can change the news

The desensitizing of American news viewers begins at an early age. The Television Violence Monitoring Project conducted by UCLA researchers was a study that recorded the amount of television violence for three consecutive years. This project found that 61 percent of television programs contain violence. These statistics are courtesy of www.safeyouth.org and you can simply follow the link to find out more about their research on television violence.

American media is very unique because it not only is disseminated all around the world as the most popular media force but it also contains the most graphic images. U.S. popular culture, including TV, movies, and video games, has become so violent that the media consumers have, as a result, become very desensitized.

The more violence we are exposed to in pop culture, the less and less we will react to or even notice real violence and tragedy in the news. With desensitization, only the truly horrific events in the news will have impact on U.S. pop culture consumers. Therefore, in order for news media to gain attention from a disaster or crisis, the news must be sensationalized to affect the audience. But many don't trust the validity of sensationalized news. Therefore, it becomes difficult for news organizations to both be fair, accurate, and not sensationalized while trying to actually attract a very desensitized audience.

Sports Photography

I am currently taking a class called Press Photography, taught by photojournalist Kevin Moloney. Each week we have a different photo assignment. The assignments are intended to give us a look at the variety of work that photojournalists produce. This week our assignment was to shoot interesting sports photography. I particularly loved this assignment because it made photojournalism its own sport! It's very difficult to follow the ball with your face plastered into a viewfinder.

We learned that every sport has what Moloney calls an "armpit" shot. Yes it basically means how it sounds. Many sports shots that make the newspaper are the armpit shots because they 1)have the ball in it and 2)are taken at the height of the action in the game.

Even if you get an artistic shot out of your sports work, it's likely that no paper would pick up your photo. A sports photo is not about being artistic. It is about explaining the passion and drama of the game in a more obvious manner.

However, the one photo that I chose to turn in as my final project photo for this sports assignment was a photo that truly portrays the passion that these women put into the game. This photo was shot at the last women's basketball game of the regular season when CU beat University of Missouri.

The Your Hub Experience

Last week I posted a piece entitled "The Buzz on Campus" to Your Hub. At first I found the Your Hub experience to be rather easy. I registered online quickly and without any problems. I wrote up my piece at home and planned on typing onto Your Hub the next morning before class because my computer at home is not reliable.

When I got to class to post on Your Hub, I could not enter the site. The site home page has each visitor first select what city and state you are from so as to direct you to the stories and blogs that have been posted for your city. On the morning that I need to post on Your Hub, I kept getting a syntax error when I selected my state. So I tried to simply log in to my account. I kept trying to log in and an error message kept appearing that I had an incorrect password or username. I kept trying, thinking that maybe I had forgotten my password. But my fellow classmates were also experiencing this problem right before class started. We had put posting off until this day because we had assumed that the Your Hub site was reliable and accessible; however, it was not.

I was able to log on to Your Hub by nighttime and successfully post. By this time in the day it seemed as if they had worked out the kinks in the website because it was running more smoothly.

Overall, I found Your Hub to be interesting to look at citizen journalism. However, if it was not for a class assignment I don't think that I would ever post to Your Hub. I feel like it's not an environment for individual creativity, like a blog may be. It is coldly formatted with little an individual can do besides write and post pictures.

The Buzz On Campus

The Max Karson article in the CU Campus Press entitled "If it's war the Asians want..." caused quite a stir on campus this week. As a student of CU's School of Journalism and Mass Communication, there have been tense class discussions among students about the article. My teachers have handled the issue by allowing students to share their opinions openly. I've noticed a great divide in student opinion. Some students believe that the article was completely offensive. Others find that it was a satirical piece and should not have been a big deal at all. Because of this split in opinion from students, the discussions about the article created a tense classroom atmosphere.

Some people are asking, "How did someone let this article be published in the first place?" Free speech issues are difficult to tackle, but it's very helpful that I am currently taking a media law class to begin to figure out the situation. Prior restraint, the prevention of publishing material based on its content, is unconstitutional in most situations. The cases when prior restraint is permissible involve obscenity, "fighting words," threat to national security, and an incitement to violence. These four exceptions to prior restraint were determined from the 1931 Supreme Court case of Near v. Minnesota. The Karson article would not be subject to prior restraint because the offensive claims that he wrote about Asians do not fit into one of the four categories determined by the Near case.

However, the Karson article may have been prevented from publication, without violating free speech law. The 1988 Supreme Court case of Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier encountered similar issues. Students had written articles in their high school newspaper about teen pregnancy in the school and how divorce had damaged some students' families. The high school administrators censored the paper and took out the articles. The students felt this had violated their right to free speech and press. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the school's ability to censor. The reasoning behind this decision comes from the fact that the newspaper is funded and sponsored by the school. Because of this, the newspaper is then affiliated with the school. Therefore, any viewpoints written in the newspaper could be seen as representative of the school administrators' opinions.

The Campus Press, like Hazelwood, is affiliated with CU because it is sponsored and funded by the university. That is why the university could have edited the article, or prevented it from publication, while still respecting free speech law. There was simply a decision by the editors to go ahead and publish the article although it has offended many on campus. The Campus Press and its faculty support are starting over this week by determining where restrictions should be made on student expression in the paper. It will be interesting to see where the Campus Press will go from here, deal with the controversy, and what new rules will be put in place for their student reporters. It is vital for student reporting to retain as much free speech as possible, but in the interest of the public, offensive language could be watched more closely without truly restricting student reporting.

This post can also be read at Yourhub.com

More On Oprah News... A Possible Oprah Jr.?

Tyra Banks is rapidly becoming Oprah Jr. with the steps that she is taking to distribute her brand through mass media. Like Oprah, Banks tries to attract her fans and reel in an audience by acting like a close girlfriend, according to a recent Entertainment Weekly article. With this approach, Banks has propelled her brand through many media outlets and has become a household name. Her popularity grew tremendously with her hit reality show America's Next Top Model and now with her daytime talk show Tyra.

Banks is said to appeal to a younger female audience than Oprah does. However, it seems like Bank's tactics to become a mogul may have a few roadblocks. Comedic shows that are founded on criticizing reality shows, like E's The Soup or VH1's Best Week Ever, often make Banks and her shows take the brunt of the criticism. Because of these comedic influences, I've personally noticed a distaste for Banks among my peers and I think that her overall persona could deteriorate because of her critics. She may not be able to make it to Oprah Jr. status quite yet but her brand will keep expanding with her newest TV and film production deal with Warner Brothers.

Honolulu Advertiser Bloggers on Strike

On my news feed on the side of this page, I put the Honolulu Advertiser into the widget so that I can constantly be updated as to what is happening at the paper. What came up on the feed this week was that the bloggers that work at the Honolulu Advertisers went on strike.

This is the first-time ever blog strike. Reasons for the strike are that there are new changes that were put in their contract that were obviously unfavorable. The Honolulu Advertiser has had bloggers for two years already and this is the first use of blogs to really take a stance at the paper. I think it's interesting that the ceasing of blogging has such an influential power for a news organization that it can cause desired change. We will see what happens with this situation and when blogging will continue. For more information on the story you can read an article about it at Editor & Publisher.

Advice to a Baby Journalist

I like to think of myself as a "baby" journalist, yes that's a weird term to like. But I was grateful to get a packet from my photo teacher, Kevin Moloney, filled with tons of advice for aspiring journalists such as myself. I thought I would share some of the advice from the packet because I think much of it is essential when starting off in journalism preschool:

1. The hard work must start now.
2. A degree alone means nothing.
3. Take your time as a student.
4. Shoot pictures (or do your journalistic work) every day.
5. Find any and every outlet for your work.
6. Know the news.
7. Start internships now.
8. Enter contests.
9. Read about photojournalism/journalism.
10. Know techniques new and old.

These are just ten elements from Moloney's packet that I thought were very important. These points are straight-forward and I think that following them will definitely help any journalism student get a head start on his or her career goals.

I'm so tired......

Dear esteemed journalists:
Please. Please. Never again mention Britney Spears in your broadcast. I am so tired of it. She is a celebrity, yes. Newsworthy? Absolutely not. Please, no more Britney news. I don't care if she is being chased by photographers. I don't care if she shaved her head. I just don't care. Journalists, please stop adding wood to the Britney bonfire. I'm tired. So tired of it. Who cares, really? I don't care, do you care?

The BBC can see that we are sickly obsessed. Read their article LA's obsession with Britney Spears

Bruce Benson Controversy

My report covering the Bruce Benson Controversy on the CU-Boulder Campus:

CU PRESIDENTIAL FINALIST, BRUCE BENSON, HAS CAUSED QUITE THE COMMOTION ON THE CU BOULDER CAMPUS. BENSON IS THE SOLE CANDIDATE FOR THE POSITION REPLACING HANK BROWN. CU STUDENTS ARE IN GREAT DISARRAY OVER THE FACT THAT BENSON ATTAINED HIS WEALTH FROM OIL AND GAS AND ALSO BECAUSE HE IS THE FORMER CHAIRMAN OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY FOR THE STATE OF COLORADO. STUDENTS ARE VERY CONCERNED WITH THIS POTENTIAL PRESIDENT’S EFFECT ON THE UNIVERSITY. SOME STUDENTS DON’T THINK IT’S FAIR TO BE LEFT WITH ONE FINALIST.

I don’t understand how they spend so much money and only find one candidate.
(Miles Daly, Geography major)

Only having one finalist is narrow and needs to be more balanced.
(Will Johnson, Civil Engineering)

STUDENTS ALSO WORRY IF HE WILL CHANGE CU’S PUSH FOR ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION.

It’s bad to bring an oil man to a school looking for uses of alternate energy.
(Will Johnson, Civil Engineering)

BENSON’S SUPPORT OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY DRAWS FROM HIS POLITICAL PAST. BENSON, A FORMER CHAIRMAN OF THE COLORADO REPUBLICAN PARTY, RAN UNSUCCESSFULLY AS THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR OF COLORADO IN 1994 AS HE LOST THE ELECTION TO ROY ROMER. STUDENTS ON CAMPUS CAN’T IGNORE HIS POLITICAL BACKGROUND AND ARE TAKING THAT INTO CONSIDERATION AS WELL.

I just don’t think he’s right for CU. CU is pretty liberal.
(Emily Sturges, English)

BECAUSE MANY STUDENTS HAVE CONCERNS ABOUT THE SOLE CANDIDATE, BENSON IS HOSTING ANOTHER OPEN FORUM ON TUESDAY NIGHT. HE IS ALSO HOSTING A MEETING WITH CU STAFF MEMBERS ON WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON TO ADDRESS ANY FURTHER CAMPUS DISCONTENT.

Rare Shark Found Near Molokai!

Okay this video is ridiculous! I found this from a link on the KHNL website, a local station in Hawaii. I am so intrigued by this video because the shark in the video is rarely massive. It is estimated at about 18 feet long. This shark was caught on tape at the bottom of the ocean off the coast of Molokai, Hawaii. I am impressed that the marine biologists' cameras got this footage and by their technology to be able to find this and capture it clearly on video. Enjoy this scary video! And just think, that this is below you when you are relaxing in the water.

Super Tuesday... it really was super

Super Tuesday was an exciting night as 22 states held their caucuses or primaries. For my Super Tuesday coverage I attended a public TV watching and analyzing event by CU-Boulder professor Dr. Elizabeth Skewes. She had a very interesting analysis of the political news coverage on the election so far. Some of her insightful points are included in the following:

1. The media killed John Edwards' campaign because he is not diverse.

I think that this point has great validity to it. The American public seems to be wanting a governmental change and it is exciting to have two diverse candidates in the Democratic party that actually both stand a legitimate chance of winning. Regardless of Edwards' campaign tactics and position on issues, he fits the mold of the wealthy, white male candidate. There's nothing new and exciting there. The media is definitely more intrigued by the fact that a woman or African-American could win the Democratic nomination.

2. In early campaigning, positive media references of Clinton occurred 27% of the time, while for Obama 46% of his media references were positive.

Dr. Skewes argued that the liberal media is rooting for Obama and could have tremendous sway in public opinion. Her reasons for the media's support of Obama were:
1. Obama makes great one-liners and soundbites
2. The media is afraid of being perceived as racist for bashing the Obama campaign.

I again think these are insightful reasons as to why Dr. Skewes believes the media is leaning towards, and may be influencing, an Obama victory. Obama is known for being a great public speaker, which translates into spectacular media production.

The last point in Dr. Skewes lecture about Super Tuesday that really struck me was the following:

3. A candidate can win the nomination, but must survive the election.

I think it will be a dramatic battle to the end. Not only to solidly determine the Democratic nomination, but also the final presidential election. No matter which candidates are the Republican and Democratic nominees, there will be a total tear down of each campaign by their opponent. The mud-slinging is often criticized as unprofessional but, truthfully, it's like a reality show to Americans. We want to watch the drama; I know I do.

Newspaper, Radio, Television, Oprah.....

These days is seems that Oprah has become her OWN medium of mass communication. On January 15th, Oprah announced that she will now have her OWN television network, appropriately titled "OWN." OWN will take over the current Discovery Health Channel and will feature shows about topics similar to those in Oprah's O magazine, which include inspirational stories, health and beauty topics, with a focus on self-improvement. It is reported that Oprah's talk show and reruns of it will not be aired on the channel.

This network should help Oprah extend her brand, although it is nearly impossible to imagine even more Oprah. Her brand really is comparable to a medium just like newspaper, radio, and television. Oprah's influence in popular culture infiltrates all media outlets: radio, magazines, books, movies, the internet, network television, and now cable television. I can't imagine what is next in store for the Oprah brand. Are we all going to start receiving daily text messages from Oprah herself? It doesn't seem to absurd. She's conquering cable television and after that she's absolutely going to spread her brand to another medium and, eventually, conquer our society.

For more information on Oprah's OWN visit: http://www.oprah.com/about/events/about_events_announcement.jhtml

To air or not to air....

The death of Heath Ledger on January 22nd surprised Hollywood and its followers. Ledger was never in the spotlight for ever being an irresponsible celebrity. Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, for example, now have transformed their fame for Hollywood to focus on their partying and indictments. Ledger's fame never took this dark turn and rumors never spread about him in our entertainment media. Because of all of this, his death was a shock to his fans. The cause of his death is still not determined because an autopsy has not been conclusive yet; however, most are assuming that a drug overdose is responsible.

Entertainment Tonight this week, in hopes of improving ratings, purchased a video of Ledger at a party. The video shows drugs on the table while Ledger rolls a piece of cigarette paper. At one point in the video, Ledger addresses the camera and says that for the past 20 years he has been an excessive drug user. Obviously this would be a very controversial video, as it would put the beloved, late actor is a very bad light. Entertainment Tonight showed previews of the video this week to advertise that they would play the video later in the week. This raises a huge ethical problem in journalism, although entertainment news seems to follow different standards. If you have incriminating information, do you release it, even when feeling the pressure not to? Is it necessary for the public to know the information you have at the expense of Ledger's memory and his family? Because he is deceased does that change the rules? And also, because the autopsy results are not yet conclusive, is it fair to release the video before those results are released?

All of these questions pose ethical dilemmas that journalists, even in entertainment news, have to think about. Because of these issues, Entertainment Tonight has chosen not to air the video although they advertised that they would. Somewhere along the road in their ethical process, they decided that out of respect for his family they would not air the video. That is a very respectable decision considering the amount of money they spent on the video must have the set the company back a little bit and it also shows respect for the deceased and his grieving family. I am impressed by the entertainment news for this decision, as they are sacrificing their ratings and money, and also because entertainment news falls under pressure to usually stir up as much controversy as possible.

To read more go to: CNN.com