Cjohnsonspring09's Blog

My Homework Assignment 4/21/2009

cjohnsonspring09 — Thu, 07 May 2009 03:14:30 +0000

U.S. vs Matthew is the case where ex-priest Matthew Bagert plead guilty to illegally downloading four pornographic photos of underage boys. When he was first charged back in 2005. However, the case was dropped in 2006 after the claim that the two priests who originally found the photos, had entered into Bagert’s computer illegally. Two years later, the case was turned over, and Bagert now faces up to 10 years in jail and $250,000 fine. Now, amongst all of this riff-raff remains an ethical question: even though the two priests entered into Bagerts quarters and searched his computer illegally, is it still okay because of the fact that they found dangerous material? Was it okay for them to break the law in order to report something illegal? My response is, yes. ESPECIALLY in this situation when children were involved. It is reported that Bagert did no harm, sexually, to any child. However, he still condoned a dangerous act towards children by downloading the material. NO laws in the world should stop someone from protecting a child, even if it includes killing someone. Would this same question be asked, say, almost 9 years ago, if someone had “illegally” searched Mohammad Atta’s computer to find the plans for the attacks against America? No. In fact, that probably could have prevented that tragic day. Would the question been asked if another student at Virginia Tech had “illegally” searched the computer of Seung-Hui Cho, and possibly found the plans for the attacks on the college campus? No. Another question asked was, would this have mattered if the two priests found adult pornography on the computer? In that case, I think that they would have been brought to trial for illegally searching his computer. BUT (there is a big but), I believe that the damages would have still been against Bagert. Once the news got out that a priest was watching pornography, even with it being adult, members of the church more than likely would have left and protested that particular church.

My Homework Assignment 4/14/2009

cjohnsonspring09 — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 04:13:55 +0000

Story link from Denton Record Chronicle.

Map Link for story.

My Homework Assignment 4/7/2009

cjohnsonspring09 — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 05:50:08 +0000

In order to get jobs in today’s journalism business, one must economize and make themselves marketable. In other words, you CANNOT be lazy! Because of the constant change in the journalism industry, employers are looking for people that can do more than just be a good writer, or reporter. One must be able to shoot video, take pictures, read on camera, write a good story for the website, and blog. All at the same time while saving a baby from a burning building! So one must become a One-Man-Band, or a Journalistic Swiss Army Knife. But just being able to do all of that is not enough. One needs to actually put that into use, and not only that, but one should have done it for a while before getting the job. Even if you haven’t graduated school yet, you should have kept up a blog of some sort before going for the job. Everyone, these days, has a blog, has blogged, or is a permanent “comment” fixture on a blog. Whether they are a journalist or not. This gives the employer a look at what you can do and what you can bring to the business. But say one wants to enter the journalism industry but doesn’t want to be a writer or reporter, but instead a videographer. Well even photographers have to know how to write and report. Or know how to be a journalist without words. In that case, one should walk around with a camera permanently attached to their hands, and make segments or journalistic videos of their daily lives or the things that go on around them. Then post them on YouTube! So no matter what you do as a journalist, you need to have many skills and much experience before getting your dream job. So basically, the ever changing industry needs a League of Super Journalists: Delivering the news, several venues at a time!

My Homework Assignment 3/31/2009

cjohnsonspring09 — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 05:26:39 +0000

The National Geographic did a digital media story called Ivory Wars: Last Stand in Zakoama. The story takes place in Zakoama National Park in Chad, Africa. This park is an open refuge and home for many of Africa’s animals, in particular, elephants. The park is guarded during the day by armed horsemen. But in the night, the park is ravaged by ivory hunters. The beginning of the story literally “moves”. The stills that were taken showcase many animals, in amazing photography. Many of the shots were extremely unique, causing one to awe at how beautiful the creation’s of Mother Earth truly are. Photographers from National Geographic spend several months inside the park, documenting thousands of elephants that gather in the park, daily. But not all is well within the park. This park is one of the last places on earth where over 1,000 elephants can be seen at one time. And because of that, poachers are drawn to the area. It was believed that the ivory market was down, however, but only moved underground. Many of the stills shown were of many elephant carcasses, all without their tusks. One of the thoughts from one of the photographers was that every poacher that he has ever seen, are still all poor. So it makes you wonder why such ruthless people would continue to commit such atrocious acts when they are not benefitting from their work. The greatest part of the entire story was of course the photography. But the pictures were backed by the natural sound of the African jungles, which truly did make one believe that they were in the jungle. Another great thing was the use of the African music, instead of morose music. At the very beginning of the piece, pictures and text were set to the beat of the music. One of the other cool things that was included, was an interactive map, put on by Google Earth, for viewers to play around with and search through the Zakoama National Park. All in all, any non-animal-lover who may watch this piece, and STILL not care for animals, doesn’t have a heart. And without a heart, you are not human.

My Homework Assignment 3/10/2009

cjohnsonspring09 — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 05:49:15 +0000

Intended Consequences is a multimedia story on mediastorm.org. The story, by Jonathan Torgovnik, is about the survivors of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda of the Tutsi by the Hutu militia groups. The story was told through the eyes of the women whose families were killed, were raped by the militiamen and ultimately became pregnant as a result. There was both a dramatic question and emotional content. The question was to the rest of the world as to why they did not give help and aide when the genocide went on. Because the rest of the world sat by and watched while people were being killed for no reason other than being Tutsi, many families were annihilated. The emotional content wasn’t all the same. Some of the women spoke of how they truly loved their children that were conceived by their attackers while some did not. One woman was in fact thankful for her son because she had been so severely injured by the attacks, that she could not go get food for herself or her child. Some of the voices of the women were recorded and translated within the piece. But others were voice overs by other women who were also affected by the genocide. The voices were powerful and gave much depth to the piece, adding emotion. There wasn’t really any kind of soundtrack music, but instead something that was more subtle and eerie, adding an intensity to the story. The piece also had economy in its content. It was easy to find the patterns of the story in accordance with the images and video that was being shown. And lastly, the story had great pacing. However, in certain parts the pacing was either a little too slow or stretched out too long. But overall, this was a great story and very compelling.

U.S. Panel Approves Regulation of Tobacco

cjohnsonspring09 — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:21:23 +0000

The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act was passed by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The bill will allow the FDA to have higher authority over tobacco:

Will restrict tobacco marketing to young people
Add larger warning labels to cigarette packages
Require FDA to police ingredients and introduction of new products

All Democrats and six Republicans voted in favor of the bill. Altria Group Inc., The American Lung Association, and President Obama, who stopped smoking last year, fully support the bill.

But the majority of Republicans do not. They argue that the FDA will be spread too thin, and that their regulation will lead consumers to believe that tobacco is safe.

The U.S. spent over $80 billion in 2008 on tobacco products. This could explain why one in five people in the U.S. die from tobacco related illnesses.

My Homework Assignment #7 (3/05/2009)

cjohnsonspring09 — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 05:26:07 +0000

A guest speaker came to our class the other day. His name is BJ and works for the Denton Record Chronicle as an on-line photographer. The Denton Record Chronicle is a small town news paper that is still in the process of upgrading its digital newspaper. Much like big city newspapers, the DRC is trying to keep up with its audience by giving them more options on how they receive their news. One way of doing this is by offering an extensive array of their digital multimedia. Typically, news station websites have this, but because the newspaper industry is on the verge of dying, they are taking tips from its competition. Picture slides are now added to news articles. Sometimes the site will give readers a chance to post their own pictures to the site as a way of involving the community to help tell a story or show an event. They will also have video that may be tied to stories. At times, however, video and photos may not even be tied to articles, but will be placed on their own. These generally are photos and video that is is offered in such a way that journalistic words are not needed to either tell a story. In other words, the photos speak for themselves. Another thing they are doing is showing the entire roll of a photographers film, showing all of the pictures that were rejected and not used for final projects. Another thing that Denton RC has is a photo store. This is something new that is normally not on newspaper websites. Users will be able to buy ready to frame photos that were featured in the newspaper and the website. This is another source of revenue for the paper and website, but the number of photos sold is not known.

My Homework Assignment #6, part 3 (3/02/2009)

cjohnsonspring09 — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 06:57:27 +0000

Pour a Glass for Baby

Parents are saying they want out with the new and in with the old reliable. The recent scare with plastic baby bottles has caused parents to ditch the plastics and re-embrace the glass bottle. In the past, the glass bottle was shunned for being breakable. But with the concern over the chemicals that are used to make plastic bottles, manufactures have now remade the glass bottle.

BPA, or Bisphenol-A, is a toxic chemical used to make plastic baby products. A report from Environmental California in 2007 found the chemical in many baby bottles. But even though it has not been proven that the chemical is the cause, in the last 20 years, studies have found an increase in developmental disorders, infertility, Type II diabetes and some cancers. Despite the studies, however, the Food and Drug Administration has not ruled BPA as unsafe in baby bottles. But Toys-R-Us Inc. has, and is now working with manufacturers to phase-out all plastic bottles and feeding products that contain BPA.

Original Source: Dentonrc.com

I would crowdsource this story by asking people that may have children that were affected, and unaffected, possibly by the bottles.
I would ask those that work for the manufacturers and scientists to contribute.
I would ask concerned parents to contribute.

My Homework Assignment #6, part 2 (3/02/2009)

cjohnsonspring09 — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 06:10:55 +0000

And The Birds Fly Home!

Purple Martins have made their annual homecoming to North Texas a few weeks early this year. The deep purple birds migrate to Brazil for the winter months, come back to North Texas for the summer, and will return to South America in July. While the birds help the community by eating insects, and also serenade humans with their song, they are also known to be pesky with massive amounts of droppings. But Lewisville still praises the bird: the city claims to have the largest resting home for the birds. Over 50,000 birds come to roost at a shopping center near Main Street and Civic Circle every summer. This draws hundreds of North Texans to view the stealthy flyers. Three new roosts have been erected for the birds near the Fred Herring Recreation Center on Thursday. Each house has about a dozen nesting units. Lewisville is so happy about the birds, that $49,000 has been set aside to create a new logo that will feature the purple martin.

Original Source: Dentonrc.com

I would crowdsource this story by asking for video of the purple martins living in North Texas.
I would ask for information about the bird from bird experts and hobbyists (bird watchers).

My Homework Assignment #6, part 1 (3/02/2009)

cjohnsonspring09 — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 05:41:50 +0000

Bigger Tax Break for Seniors

Fair Taxes for Seniors in Denton is a grass-roots group seeking higher tax breaks for senior citizens. The affects of the national recession have pushed Elma Watkins and Kathleen Wazny, two founders of the group, to try to convince Denton’s City Council to give a higher homestead tax exemption for people older than 65. The homestead tax exemption allows for people to lower the taxable value of their homes. The current exemption for seniors in Denton stands at $25,000 while the general exemption is $5,000. The founders of the group plans to address the council on Tuesday, and hopes for a vote within 60 days to raise the exemption to $55.000. But Mayor Mark Burroughs says that to increase the exemption for one group of residents would be costly for the rest. If a policy is passed in favor of the plan, the city will either have to raise property tax by 2% or cut spending. Either way, somethings gotta give.

Original Source: Dentonrc.com

I could crowdsource this story by advertising.
I could ask people, mainly those that take care of their elderly parents and those that may be affected by this decision, to give me more insight and info on this story.
I could ask people that may work for the Denton government to give me more information on homestead exemptions and things that it could effect if it is increased.