About Me

Geoffrey Brown. I am a fourth year student at the University of North Texas.  I will be graduating in the winter of 2009. Although I am a journalism major, I have no intentions of working in the field of journalism on a day to day basis.  I ama 2005 graduate of Brenham High School, in Brenham, Texas where I spent the majority of my adolescent years. I am the middle child of three siblings. My brother Garland is 24 years old, and my sister Jasmine is 15. My father George, a major influence in my life, is a vice prinicipal at Keller High School in Keller, Texas. My mother Janett, also influential, is a senior underwriter for Germania Insurance company. Although I chose the incorrect major, journalism has taught me the value and concept of effective communication. I am not certain as to what I want to do upon graduating, but currently I am leaning towards becoming an independent insurance adjuster.

US vs. Matthews

  In the 1990s case of Larry Matthews, the benefit of the doubt should not be given to the reporter. As a ‘veteran reporter’ Matthews should have been more aware of the risks he was taking in writing the story.

It would seem elementary to a journalists, even more so for a reporter who already covered the subject on previous occassion. If Matthews is indeed innocent as he claims, he still can not be given the benefit of the doubt for that could set precedent for journalists claiming innocence from unlawful actvity in the journalism. It is much safer for America to tolerate journalists to follow the same rules as other individuals than to allow journalists to commit crimes and hide behind their work.

The case of Larry Matthews especially shows the sensitivity and caution these situations should be treated with. Matthews simply did not leave himself any room to be considered innocent. Anyone would expect a journalist, of all professions, to have notes readily available. Mr. Matthews is guilty of being an irresponsible journalist. Whether Matthews is isn’t or not, his situation should be an example to other reporters and writers covering other controversial topics like child pornography. Reporters should always be prepared with notes and representation from editors and possible sources to back their claims.

The matter of whether the content retrieved in this case was child pornography or adult pornagraphy is irrelevant. Naturally, the perceptions from the public would be altered, with Matthews being seen mainly as a pervert of sorts. The stigma of a child pornography viewer is drastically different from that of an adult pornography viewer, who are not seen as threatening. In general, the argument is useless in that viewing adult pornography involves consenting adults whereas child pornography involves children acting against their will, or generally being underaged and uninformed.  Americans and the legal system that represents America are far more sensitive to any criminal activity that directly affects children. With that stated, Larry Matthews should have acted in a more responsible manner .

The lesson learned by Mr. Matthews as well as other journalists is to never assume, or leave reason for doubt, especially in terms of covering controversial subjects. The situation would be similar if Matthews were covering drug trafficking in poor neighborhoods. Were he to be found in possession of crack and were unable to supply valid evidence of its connection to his job, he would be arrested just the same. At the end of the day, being a journalists can never mean being able to commit crimes with no enforcement. Journalists are public servants, not super-citizens with above the law powers.

Story proposal blog

Proposal #1- Major Network Television Influence.

In the year of a major Presidential election, many Americans tune in nightly to major network broadcasts to get their daily information. Broadcasts such as Hard Ball, The Situation Room and AC 360 seem to provide viewers with balanced opinions while other broadcasts like Countdown and the Rachel Maddow show seem to make no such attempt. There are a variety of shows on Fox that also appear to have a blatent bias.  I would like to write a simple piece on how students, many voting for the first time primarily get their election information when watching TV. Do they watch fair political coverage in search of truth? Do they simply gravitate to programs that cater to their traditional polital opinions? What role exactly have popular shows played in the minds of young voters?

Proposal #2

Do students read major print publications? If so, who are they, and why do they? This piece would focus on whether or not students view print publications as more reliable sources of info than on-line news or broadcast news. In terms of the election, are newspapers viewed as a voice of reason, or are they a continuation of the political circus? Perhaps there is no difference. Do students who pick-up newspapers actually read a substantial amount or only the headline story?

Obama, McCain websites

    McCain, Obama web analysis   

In comparison, the Obama and McCain websites were very similar in nature. Both featured similar elements. Upon entering the sights, both Obama as well as McCain’s site contained a sort of road block before getting to the actual information one might actually be looking for. In the Obama site, the first page viewer saw was a page giving them the opportunity to give a donation to the campaign. The McCain site featured a video of Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin giving viewers an encouraging speech of sorts for John McCain. In terms of interactive features presented to attract young voters, both sites have multimedia tabs on the tool bar, giving viewers a link to several videos of the candidates speeches. Both sites also feature a tab that is meant to attract viewers of certain ethnicities. For example the Obama website

http://www.barackobama.com/index.php

has a tab titled “People” that allows viewers to select an ethnicity to view their Obama’s support for their particularethnicity. McCain’s website features an identical tab, titled “Coaltion” that has the same function. One aspect of Obama’s site that appeals to youth that McCain’s site does not have is a link to music under the multimedia tab. McCains site has no music tab. Obama’s site also features pictures of purchasible items that might appeal to excited youth voters. McCain’s website (http://www.johnmccain.com/ )initially features more videos of McCain events that could possibly attract young voters. The site also features a variety of “photos of the week” for viewers to look over. Where Obama’s site perhaps separates from McCain’s in terms of connecting with use is the presence of a listing of social networks for the sites viewers. These clickable links are are gateways to more information about Obama on several sites such as ‘Facebook’ and ‘Myspace’ to name two of the sixteen sites listed. Lastly both sites also feature a tab for blogs, an that relates primarily to young people.

Web Site Assignment Due 9/30/08

         I chose to compare the news casts of CNN to the networks website. Of course the days big news was Congress’ proposal and rejection of the Wall Street bail out plan. Although the website did create an obvious emphasis on the story by using a picture larger than the site normally uses, ultimately the page still didn’t cover the story in the same manner as the telecast.  During the actual news cast, the bail story was helped told by several analysts and experts while other stories were given the standard forty-five to a minute and a half times gap.  However, both outlets coverage began to shift to the bail out failures effect on the days stock numbers as the day went on.  By early evening, CNN.com’s lead story ( other than the initial caption featured) was Dow suffers worst point drop ever. The telecast also began to focus on this aspect of the story around the same time, bringing on several analysts and economic experts to give their opinion on the matter. From watching several other CNN newscasts, and viewing the networks website regularly, it could also be seen that both rather dramatically altered the format of both outlets to emphasize to story, as one might expect. Although the newcast usually does focus on the day’s largest issue, it also dedicates a significant amount of time to other smaller but impactful stories. However todays news cast was noticeably missing the volume of these stories. The website which also carries a healthy variety of stories, followed suit making it’s top five headlines stories about the bail out deal. Perhaps the most noticeable similarity the website and newscast featured was a lack of news covering this years Presidential campaign. From viewing both it seems that CNN made a conscious choice to keep the usual daily coverage of campaign banter to a minimum both on-line and on air.

Hurricane Ike devastates Haiti

Hurricane Ike devastates Haiti

The torrential hurricane Ike struck the island of Haiti late yesterday evening. Ike, the fourth storm to hit the island this month is believed to have killed at least 58 Hatians. A substantial number of those still missing are thought to be children reported missing by parents. Many affected by the storm have begun to return to mud-filled homes in an attempt to deter looters. Hatians are struggling as comercial prices soar and attaining food becomes more difficult.

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!