El Tigre's blog

Due to an incident which Fox News has been dealing with for the past few days, Fox has changed their live coverage policy in order to implement a 5 second delay on all live broadcasting.

The decision comes after the police chase over the weekend,where a man who was being chased by the police and a news helicopter got out of his car and after much deliberation shot himself in the head.  Unfortunately, this atrocious event all happened live on the news.  The news anchor could be heard, “GET IT OFF GET IT OFF!!!”, but due to what the Executive Vice President of Fox News Micheal Clemente calls “severe human error” the tragedy unfolded before the eyes of thousands of viewers.

Did Fox take the necessary precautions to prevent such an action and can this new policy of a 5 second delay really help much?

This story is most definitely news.  Its not everyday that Fox News Corporation changes their policies to accommodate a mistake that they have made.  Clemente also continued his release saying, “Mistakes happen. When they happen at Fox News, the rest of the media piles on — that’s what happens when you are a market leader.”  Aside from gaining a bit of negative popularity, Fox is going to be trendsetting with this 5 second delay drill.  The NBC, CBS, ABC, and any other news company is going to follow suit, in fear that they might relay a tragedy on their own airtime.  This event changes television and how it is viewed and produce, qualifying it to most certainly be newsworthy to the public.

Amongst all the heated discussions about the NFL referee lockout, which finally ended today,  there were many arguments that the officials were very valuable to the league….but how much exactly are we talking about here?  Enter ESPN writer, Darren Rovell.  According to his article featured on ESPN.com,  on one outcome of one game (that game being the Seattle Seahawks vs. the Green Bay Packers)  that at least $150 million dollars changed hands as a result of a “bad call”.

As a fan of the game, I find that to be utterly ridiculous.  How does one game generate so much money?  To put that in perspective, the final play of that game which lasted less than 10 seconds cost people somewhere, somehow, at minimum $150 million dollars.  With big money on the line like that this story is definitely newsworthy.  When the NFL is not generally making, but generating money like that, how much is it really worth to the league to not give officials the pensions they want?  In my honest opinion, the league should have swallowed whatever demands the officials union was asking because without them, the game is pretty difficult to play and for the most part they do their job well.  The game between these two teams was really decided not in the last decision but the overall play of the teams competing.  It is alarming to me how much money is being thrown around over football.

MAD MONEY

It was also estimated by USA Today analyst that the overall implications of this game has an outstanding impact of $1 billion.  Are you kidding me?  Where is all of this money coming from? Aren’t we in an economic slump right now? Who has this much money to bet on a game?  These are just a few questions I am asking and I am urging you to ask about our society as it stands right now.

As strange as it might sound, even a bit of pocket lint can be an abrupt conversation starter between two unlikely people.  In the search for some poket lint, I immediately headed towards the campus art building, MacCollin Memorial Classroom Building, on a hunch that I would be able to find some.  The first person I found was a stoic, old man by the name of John Bowitz.  He was wearing a creme colored Charlie Harper type of shirt and some white pants, donning a silver beard with a matching pony tail.

Upon being asked foro some pocket lint, Bowitz stared through his thinly framed glasses at me in wonder.  I immediately eplained, that the lint was for an assignment in my journalism class.   Without hesitation he started rummaging around his pocket, slowly feeling for a spot of lint.

In order to fil the awkward void of silence, we talked about his position here at the school. “Well, I am the current chair of the Art Department here at Morningside,”  John explained to me as he rustled up the content from within his pocket.  An assortment of pocket change, a lone piece of candy, and not much else rested in in palm. “I might not have any at all!” he said almost astonished by the fact laid bare of any sort of lint.

“This isn’t the pair of pants I own witht he most pocket lint in them,  if you caught me on another day you’d probably have better luck.”  In a last ditch effort, he turned his left pocket inside out and scraped the tiniest bit of lint from the fabricad handed it to me in his small pinched fingers.

Upon being asked how long that lint had been there he paused for a while looking at the ceiling to recollect the past history of his white slacks.  He finally turned to me and admitted with a quaint grin on his face, “Honestly, it could be anywhere from 3 days to 3 months.”

I humbly accepted the lint and allowed Bowitz to return to collecting more lint for a future student in Journalism to retrieve.

Vodka company, Wodka Vodka, has been under fire for a holiday billboard that people believed to be anti-Semitic.  The company had used a billboard in New York advertising their product using the slogan, “Christmas Quality, Hanukkah Pricing.”

Many Jewish people are offended by the slogan and find the message to be misguided and a bit Anti-Semitic.  The Huffington Post also said that the slogan went along with other of their ads which attempted to be funny.  These slogans include, “Hamptons Quality, Newark Pricing” and, “Escort Quality, Hooker Pricing.”
Although the racy and pun intended billboards of the past had really no problem with the public’s eye, this holiday edition of racy billboard had the Jewish community in upheaval that within a week the Vodka company took it down and released a formal and twitter apology to the public stating “we did not intend to offend anybody and are removing the billboard immediately.”

Read the Huffington Post story here

This piece is news because in today’s society, where image and how you represent yourself means mostly everything, Wodka Vodka has made the public aware of the types of jokes and demographics of people who take things too serious or literally.  Their jab at Judaism is just a reminder that people are sometimes out there just to be offended and as a corporation trying to have fun and continue a streak of comedy for publicity, advertisers need to realize that what they put in the media defines the entire company which often makes the difference between selling the product or going bankrupt.
In my personal opinion,  I think people should just see things for what they are.  Wodka Vodka in no way is the Nazi party and was just trying to make a small joke, not set out against all Jewish people or doctrines.  Sometimes the world is too serious for itself.  People need to take a step back, laugh and say, “good one,”  instead of instantly feel like they are being persecuted for their faith or race or whatever.  With that being said, Wodka has to understand that people are really sensitive and a slogan like that will draw some negative feedback from people who don’t understand humor or comedic values.

Last night at 8:30 P.M., two armed robbers held up B.J.’s Drug store at 450 Stanley Street.  The robbery lasted about a minute as two men in ski masks, came in, took the money, and then returned to the running car they left in front of the store. One of the men held a gun to the owner as the other scooped up the entrails of the cash register.

The owner told police he thought it would be “unwise” to resist the robbers.  As it turns out, 25 years ago, the same drug store had been previously robbed in a similar incident, which left the father of the current owner dead.  When asked to recall the incident, the owner said “Dad resisted, they found him shot to death, his own gun in his hand, and a bullet in the store’s ceiling.  I’d rather part with my money than my life.”

Thankfully no one was hurt.  If you have any information pertaining to this robbery, we urge you to contact the local authorities at (###)- ###- ####.

Today, the City Department of Recreation and Parks announced  that it has purchased a series of “educational rides”, using money donated from a local and recently deceased business owner.

The $11,000 project will include a slew of rides, such as the Hanging Gate and a Super slide.  The rides will be geared towards a younger demographic of City Park goers, mainly toddlers and preschool aged children.

A sum was donated six weeks ago by Robert T. F. Ho, a local merchant who owned Quick Stop Laundry on 390 5th avenue in Sioux City.  His gift was anonymously donated until today, when the recreation department decided to reveal his beneficence in response to his untimely death two days ago.

His widow approved of the revelation of his identity.  When asked about the park Mrs. Ho reminisced fondly saying, “Robert always enjoyed watching the kids playing across the street. He felt sorry for the kids who had to wait for the equipment to be free especially the little ones.”

As I write, I feel i have a decent flow and a particular style I like to maintain as the ink strokes the paper.  Mostly I like to write about things that intrigue me and leave me asking questions about the subject matter and hopefully transfer that aspect to my readers.
With that said, I believe most of my problems in journalistic writing lie in being too wordy, using too many variations of sentence structure and going off on a tangent from time to time

Most everyone you ask will tell you where they were and what they were doing on September 11th, 2001, a fateful day which changed the history of this great nation forever.  As tragic as that event was, it is surprising to see how well everything has turned out.  The lives lost on that fateful day will never be forgotten and we will always cherish our beloved freedoms which Americans fight for on a daily basis for you and I.

In a story done by CNN finance, it explains some details about the new World Trade Center One, which on September 11, 2012 was the most viewed story on CNN.com by far.  embedded in the story is a video about one of the crane operators done by a Fortune Magazine journalist, which showed the job of the construction people putting up the new WTC 1 building.  Aside from that, in the article CNN journalist Aaron Smith explains how WTC 1 will be the tallest building in the western hemisphere, and that already since last year, one of the WTC buildings is Leased 100%, which according to Dan Fasulo, managing director for Real Capital Analytics is a “home run for real estate”.

I think this story is newsworthy not only because it is a story that directly impacts thousands upon thousands of people, but for those who sympathize with the tragedy, it ties up loose ends people might have been curious about before and also leaves people feeling a little bit better about the whole ordeal.  When disasters like 9/11 happen, people look for to be consoled, even 11 years after its occurrence.

1.   Local Firefighter Bob Harwood broke his leg while rescuing a cat from a tree on 11th Avenue.  On the descent down from the 50 foot tree, a dead limb broke from beneath him, sending Harwood and the calico (belonging twins Suzane and Samantha Decker), crashing  to the ground.  The firefighter broke his left leg but is doing “just fine” at St. Luke’s Hospital.  As for the cat, it is also doing fine thanks to its safe landing atop the wounded firefighter.

2.  A string of unrest from students has plagued East High School for the last week as several incidents have occurred resulting in school suspensions for 15 student, 10 of which are upperclassmen.  Principal Laura Hibelius commented there was general unrest, “not so much because of suspensions, but because of the summer vacation being so near.”  A food fight, 3 false fire alarm triggers, and an instance of 5 students getting caught smoking marijuana were all dealt with last week alone.  Hibelius says she sees no continuation of these “incidents” in the near future.

3.  Gasoline flooded sewer lines for two blocks around 48th Street and Correctionville Road.  “The Firemen followed catastrophe and hazmat procedures set up before hand, just for such an occurrence,” Fire Chief Charles Hochandel explained.   A Texaco gasoline truck overturned on the outskirts of town flooding streets and ditches for two hours until the gas was flushed away.   Cars were re routed through the streets during the occurrence and four families were evacuated because of the sewer lines.

No matter the occasion, Kearny High School’s field is the key place for faculty and students as well as a community who’s diversity continues the community’s and school’s search for its identity.

Every year Kearny High School (KHS) of New Jersey graduates 450+ students in a ceremony that takes close to two hours to complete.  This ceremony commemorates 4 years of academic excellence and achievement.

The football/track complex behind the high school is the best place to accommodate such and event not only based on the sheer number of people to be there, but also it fortifies and reminds the spectators and students of the hard work and great things which occur at KHS.

This field is an impresive display, sporting 6 lanes, red clay, 400 meter track around the edges of the turf.  Since the school is built uphill from the stadium, giant white concrete bleachers mightily stretch across the one side of the field connecting the school to the track.  These “Stadium steps” as locals call them, are snugly fit in between two field houses which provide shelter to the football, track and soccer teams which use them.  This all is surrounded by a black, vertical barred fence with red brick pillars every 15 feet apart.  At the bottom of the hill is a matching red brick retaining wall, on which the entire structure is built and supported.

The field itself is a giant green patch with white football markings and yellow soccer dimensions all carved out over the field.  In the middle of the soccer circle, there is a Cardinal, which is the mascot of the school.  “It was constructed by the very people who put in the turf at Giant’s Stadium,” KHS Athletic Director John Millar boasted for years after it was renovated.

The view from the top of the bleachers is vastly diverse to say the least.  If you sat at the top of the stadium or gazed upon the scenery from a classroom or the atrium of the high school, your jaw would drop from the breathtaking view it supplied.  Aside from the field and all its amenities, there are a few buildings surrounding the school which add a local flavor to the scene.  From right to left there is a small bodega on the corner where most students grab a lunch or something quick to eat on a daily basis.  Across from that, there is a tan, brick apartment building, where its tenants can be seen entering and exiting, going about their business. The tops of trees reaching over from Davis Avenue, tell everyone what time of the year it is with their foliage.

The backdrop of the entire picture described above, entails a beautiful New York City skyline which looms and demands to be noticed by everyone.  Normally above that are blue skies with planes passing by every 5 to 10 minutes.

From the day to day grind endured by the football, track, and soccer teams, to the International Festival which takes place every June,  the field is a good representation of the cultural diversity and hard work and dedication our community fosters.  There is  a sort of magic in the air, a fortifying essence which surrounds this place and makes the people of the town of Kearny proud of their place in the world.  When late June rolls around, and graduation is set to take place,  everyone hopes for sunshine so that their graduation ceremony will be able to be held on this grand place.

>>Fact Checking Paul Ryan’s Speech Read it Here<<

Watch the Political Speech from the 2012 Republican Convention

In this day and age of campaigning for office, constant one-upsmanship, negative ads, and overall image defacing appear to be the norm for most campaign trails.  This one however takes the cake.  Representative Paul Ryan’s delivery of a political speech has been under fire for being the most deceptive speech at a political event ever.  Political fact checkers have proven almost instantaneously after the speech’s conclusion that on  more than one occasion, Ryan had used examples of “fact twisting” in order to prove or at least make Obama’s administration seem like they were not getting the job done for America, so much so, that a Fox News associate ripped Ryan in her coverage of the speech by saying,

“to anyone paying the slightest bit of attention to facts, Ryan’s speech was an apparent attempt to set the world record for the greatest number of blatant lies and misrepresentations slipped into a single political speech. On this measure, while it was  Romney who ran the Olympics, Ryan earned the gold.”

When a Fox News Journalist rags on you for lying or using twisted facts, they might be on to something there.

This story is most definitely newsworthy, first off, because we are in the political campaign season and blunders like Paul Ryan’s speech are under special scrutiny with the election date inching ever closer. Secondly, Paul Ryan is a political figure.  He is or at least should be responsible for being honest with the people he is representing and hopes to lead as the Vice President of the U.S.  I would have tore open Ryan as a political journalist based on the facts that he is being deceptive to his audience.  We need good role models and representatives in elected offices, not someone who will muddy their opponents names based on falsehoods and embellished statistics.