The Courier Journal is doing a Good Job

Over the past few weeks, students of Mr. Millers class performed a study of several local Louisville news outlets to examine what percentage of the news outlets content was devoted to a variety of categories, including Business, Politics, Crime, and several others. The Courier Journal was included in this study, and the results of the study, found here, have shown that the Courier has done a good job in the past month of balancing the news they provide. Unlike other news outlets, they did not have a heavy emphasis on crime (less than 15% of their stories fell in the category), and instead reported more heavily on politics, the economy, and human interest stories. The Courier should be commended for its admirable adherence to the seven yardsticks and nine principles of journalism.

WDRB - An example of decent local news

WDRB, a FOX affiliate and local news station in the Louisville area, is probably the best example of a decent local news station that you are going to find in the Kentuckiana area. A recent survey done by the students of Mr. Millers class revealed that, of the four local news stations in the area, WDRB has devoted the least amount of time to airing stories about petty local crime. Instead of airing story after story that is related to crime, WDRB instead chooses to focus on what they, and most of us, believe to be more important, that is business and the economy. WDRB isn't perfect, they spend over 30% of their airtime on crime stories, but they are the best that we have got. 

WLKY is an Abject Failure at Reporting Real News

According to a recent study done by Manual J&C Students in Mr. Millers class, a link to which can be found here, the local news station, WLKY, an ABC affiliate, has a startling amount of their programming devoted to unimportant stories that relate to petty local crime. According to the survey, 52% of the stories that the station ran in a one month period had to do with crime. Just let that sink in. Of the 206 an six stories they ran that month, over half of them were about petty crimes in the Louisville area. WLKY has failed badly at reporting legitimate news, and violated the Newsworthy Yardstick of Journalism.

How Radio has Tried to Stay Relevant

With the invention of the television, it seemed that it was over for the radio. Its actors were leaving in droves for hows on TV. Their advertisers were abandoning them, after being offered an opportunity to reach more people with the advent of the Television. All hope was gone. But then Rock & Roll begins to emerge. The American youth loves it. Adults despise it. And there lay radios opportunity, which they pounced on.  Soon the radio was the staging area for the underground subculture that Rock had created. so, in a way,  Rock & Roll could likely be considered the savior of the radio.

Television - How it has affected us

Before the invention of the TV, what did people do with their time? Before people spent hour after mind numbing hour staring blankly at a screen, what did people do? They were..... Social *gasp*. People went community events, belong to local organizations, churches, and other social groups. Did the TV completely sever all ties that people had with those outside their own households? No, off course not. But TV did significantly decrease the amount of time people spent both outdoors and socializing.  Not only did TV affect how much we interact with others, it also has played a huge role in our culture. TV shows have helped make issues, like homosexuality, which had previously been stigmatized, more acceptable in our culture.

Response to Brigid Stakelum

"The problem here is that we can't just attack countries because they annoy us." - Brigit Stakelum in reference to the possibilities of military action in Syria.

Brigit, I wholeheartedly agree with you. We most definitely should not "just attack countries because they annoy us." That would be a gross misuse of American military force and would be contrary to the beliefs upon which this country was founded. However, now please correct me if I am mistaken, I didn't mention anywhere in my post that we should "just attack countries because they annoy us."

Before I go any further, let me point one thing out. The only thing someone like Bashar al-Assad understands is force. If President Obama draws a red line at chemical weapons use, which he did, and then stands by and does nothing as Assad gasses his own people, than other countries will perceive weakness. And that right there is the salient point. If you want to ignore the fact that Sarin Gas is a cruel, inhumane, and savage weapon, and that its very use is a crime against humanity, than please, remember this; if we allow our enemies to perceive us as weak, they will pounce.

So my point here is, if we don't apply at least some military force to Bashar al-Assads regime, then I believe that we are showing that our word means nothing, and the only outcome that that can produce is other countries seeing weakness. The only effective deterrent to stop the other little tyrants all over the world from challenging us is force. And if someone like Assad questions our force, than it must be applied, swiftly and judiciously, or we risk our reputation as a world power, as well as our own National Security.

The Internet

The internet. The great demassifier. When the internet came along it not only helped finish the demassification of newspapers, it also began to demassify TV as well. Why watch Breaking Bad at 10 o'clock Sunday night when you can watch it in your bed, on netlfix or hulu? Why buy a newspaper when you can get all of that information on the internet for free? The internet demassifies simply because we can no longer justify going about things the old way. As a result the internet has changed things irrevocably.