Hoss' Blog

Supposedly, the world is near it’s end. Or at least that’s what believers in the December 21, 2012 Mayan-mythed apocalypse say.

Why are we so obsessed in the end? This isn’t the first time it happened- it’s been said time and time amd time again. Recalled earlier this year when the craze went around, or on 06/06/2006 (6/6/6) passed? Nothing happened. The BBC article goes on to list other dates in which conspiracies were wrong, and when the world didn’t end.

So what makes this time around so much different, and so much more serious to those who believe in this year’s apocalypse?

There’s a lot of information about this year’s supposed apocalypse, including the fictional movie 2012, books on the topic, etc.

Is this news, or just a conspiracy? Is this the end? Probably not.

I think this BBC article does exactly what it planned to- to degrade the hype. Although this isn’t exactly news, and it’s more of an opinion piece, but I think it works. It was featured on the front page on the website today, but should it have been? I’m not sure- it’s a good enough article that raises people’s understanding- it’s NOT the first time this has happened. That fact alone should be enough to make even the biggest believers skeptical.

Read the article here.

After BP faced the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico two years ago, the company has to face a new situation this year- being banned from a contract with the United States government. The Environmental Protection Agency, or the EPA, stated that the action was taken over BP’s “lack of business integrity” after two years of trying to recover.

The suspension is said to be lifted soon, and does not hinder the current contracts with the United States government.

The BBC article from Wednesday has subtitle that move the article through different topics. For one, they cover the “resolve and lift ban” then go into the “reckless” aspect of the oil spill. The reckless section says, “When someone recklessly crashes a car, their licence and keys are taken away.” After the reckless aspect, it moves on to contracts again.

The article flows very well, and it makes sense. Most everyone know of the oil spill, since it’s been such a huge issue for years now. I think the article is very current, considering these bans were just put into place. This could potentially affect people, though I’m unsure how much. I think it’s a news piece, but doesn’t truly capture the readers attention like it could. It should go into the consequences that BP has faces and could face due to this ban, and how it could effect American citizens, gas prices, etc.

To read the article, find it on BBC.

Over fifteen people have been killed after rockets were fired from the Gaza towards Southern Israel. However, this is not the first rocket that was fired to Israel. Hundreds have been fired, and many people have been injured.

Thankfully, the area has sirens that sounded when the rockets were fired, so some people were able to move to safety. When the rocket is fired, it puts off a sound and can be seen in the sky, but one of the rockets slipped through, and landed in a top floor of an apartment building where two families lived.

The BBC article states, “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that his country is prepared to extend its operation against Hamas.”

I think it’s a great article- there’s a lot of details, especially describing the rockets and the way you’re able to see them in the sky and hear them. However, as a person who is just tuning in to what’s happenng in Israel, the article doesn’t give much in that area. It doesn’t explain when it started, who the Hama/Gaza is, and why this is happening. I’d really like it if they were able to link to past stories, give more background knowledge, or take a paragraph to explain what is going on.

I do think that since it’s BBC, most of the readers are caught up on this situation. If it was MSNBC, I think the writer would be more willing to provide background in each article. BBC has a demographic of people who watch the news more closely.

However, it is a current piece, and is very worthy of front-page news. Attacks like these are ones that start wars, and hopefully the conflict gets solve quickly.

To read the article, go to BBC.

On Tuesday night, the now two-term President Barack Obama swept every single swing state. The states were Ohio, Virginia, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, Nevada, Colorado, New Hampshire, according to the NPR article posted Wednesday.

Because Obama swept these states and gained the electoral college votes, he won the presidential race.

Many of these races reported later than the rest of the states, but once these states had their full reports in, you saw the blue run from the east coast to the west coast.

However, many people wondered how Obama won every single swing state.

The NPR article states that, “In most of the battleground states, blacks and Latinos supplied the margin of victory,” and that “African-Americans showed up in astonishing numbers, matching or exceeding the record turnout in 2008.” These statements were made by John Geer, a professor at Vanderbilt University.

The article also states that Florida, Nevada, and Colorado had a huge latino population voting, and that the turnout was probably because of Obama’s support of the DREAM act. The DREAM act allows children of illegal immigrants to gain US citizenship.

The election was obviously huge news the week, not only for the United States, but the whole world. U.S. politics is watched from most countries, and the U.S. is a huge played in international affairs and has a lot of power. Therefore, whoever is leading our country is not only scrutinized by Americans, but Germans ad Australians and Syrians…

This NPR article ie definitely news. It covers a topic that doesn’t just affect one group, but the entire world. It’s current, and it covers a hot topic. Not many people foresaw  Obama sweeping blue through every single one of the swing states. A few? Sure. But every single one? No, of course not! It was a huge surprise to many people.

Considering the general public saw the presidential race as neck-and-neck, Obama having one hundred more electoral college votes than Romney was also a huge surprise.

I really liked this NPR article. It was an easy article to read and portrayed the information in a way that was easy to read. The professor that they quoted several times gave great information, and I think that helped the story’s quality. The article focused more on minorities and their reactions and votes to the election more than anything- after all, their votes are a lot of the reason why Obama took the states.

To read the article, click here to go to NPR.

Gilbert Araujo, a Brazilian car washer, was thought to have been murdered. Or at least that’s what his family thought after Gilberto’s brother wrongly identified him. His brother said he hadn’t seen Gilberto in four months and the man that was murdered was also a carwasher and looked a lot like Gilberto.

Gilberto found out about his “death” only after an acquaintance he ran into informed him that his family was having a funeral, and he was in the coffin. He tried calling others who were at the wake, and after no success, he decided to show up in person.

I picked this article because of how humorous it is… It’s not funny that a man did end up dying, but the fact that he was wrongly identified by his own brother I found a bit ludicrous.

As always, I find this story to be a bit news worthy because of the rarity of it. How often do people get to show up at their own wake, their own funeral? Never. This was a BBC News story in the Latin American section, and thankfully wasn’t a headliner. This story link didn’t ven have a picture beside it. That’s good, don’t get me wrong- it’s a good story, but it doesn’t deserve to be a big story. This article doesn’t apply to anyone outside of the family that was involved, and the family of the man who was murdered. It’s about a Brazil man, so the article doesn’t fall into the proximity class of news values. It doesn’t have a big impact.

I find it to be a relatively funny story, perhaps a human interest or feel-good story for people to read when they don’t feel like dealing with all the other tragic news. The rarity and the human interest of it all makes it a bit of a news-worthy story, but not fully. That’s where BBC got it straight- they didn’t headline it, they didn’t advertise it much- it was a plain link to the story, no jazz added to it.

To read the full article, click here.

We all have the freedom of expression. We can say what we want,  write what we feel, and wear what we decide. However, in lgiht of the upcoming presidential election, one high school student in Pennslyvania was booted form the classroom. Why? Her teacher is an Obama supporter, and the student was wearing a Romney t-shirt. The teacher even compared it to “wearing a KKK shirt.” (I did noticed that the write of the article used “wearing a KKK shirt” as a quote to avoid attribution and conflict in the phrasing!)

The student wore her Romney-Ryan t-shirt to school one day, and upon arriving in math class, she was told to take off the shirt, that another one would be provided, and the the teacher asked her about her parents political opinions.

I was stunned when I read that the teacher laster apologized, but excused her statements as part of a “joke.” It’s not a joke to embarrass a 16-year-old who supports a presidential candidate.

I think I would publish, but I don’t know how news worthy it is. It is an odd, public official case, which may lead to it being news worthy. Some schools do not allow any political shirts or gear (when I lived in Florida during the 2008 election, political material was prohibited in case it caused fights) but this school must not have had such rules in place. the fact that a teacher called her out on her opinions was rude, and I don’t think it should matter what the parents’ or even the student’s political opinion is. The story has interest to the public because it could happen to their own children, it’s current in that it deals with the election next months, and it’s not a commonly reported topic. The teacher was transferred to a different class because of this incident.

To read the full article, find it on MSNBC.

Claire Russo always wanted to be a Marine, so she became one. But in 2004, she was sexually assaulted  while serving her country by a fellow Marine named Danny Dowson. Russo attended a party and was hanging a drink by Dowson. Russo felt like she was drugged, and the next thing she knew, she was on the bathroom floor. The marines shut down her case, so Russo took her case to the local police.

As it turns out, Dowson has a history of repetitively raping women who are incapacitated, and there’s proof. After a search warrant was obtained for Downson’s house, police found “hidden cameras and hundreds of hours of video of Dowson having sex with seemingly incapacitated women.” Another woman, an aviator, has a similar experience like Russo, and both of them felt the pressure to not file the assault.  Dowson was charged with the rape of Russo.

After reading this article, I’m not entirely sure if it’s news worthy. This happened many years ago, so it’s not current. It’s not a human interest piece, as it is rather depressing. It doesn’t effect anyone who has not been raped by Dowson. However, I did find it to be an interesting read. It is rare, however, for a soldier to report the acts of sexual assault and seek justice- both women when were raped by Russo also admitted to feeling the pressure to not file it as a report, or seek anything further. Perhaps the rarity and the act of injustice to the women is enough to make it news worthy and an interesting read.

Read the full article at NBCNews.

Jackson Ripley, only twelve years old from Colorado, recently wrote the Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, a letter, voicing his options on different policies. In his letter, he wrote that Romney should have stayed in Massachusetts, and America doesn’t need him as a leader. He also wrote on topics such as gay marriage, birth control, and Obamacare.

The article feature in the Good News section of the Huffington Post, does a good job of portraying Ripley correctly, and providing background information. One of the first things I looked for after reading the letter was his parent’s political ideas. His parents are strong Obama supporters, and his sister benefited from Obamacare. Ripley wrote, over the topic of Romney repealing the new healthcare system, “Because of Obama care my little sister was able to have the several surgeries she needed that helped save her life… Why do you think she doesn’t deserve health care?” Lindsey Ripley, Jackson’s mother, also commented on the benefits their family had due to Obamacare.

This background information provides a lot of understanding to why Ripley wrote this article.

However, does this qualify as news? I think because it is a rare fact- a twelve year old speaking out against Romney and sending the letter, it can be considered news. It is interesting, rare, and although the letter is biased, the article is not. The article writer does not show a political opinion and simply states the facts with accurate background information. If they writer had no included the parents’ political affiliation or the fact that his sister was denied healthcare before Obamacare was introduced, it would not have been such a credible source of information.

Read this article and the letter at the Huffington Post.

When you find out your ex-boyfriend from twelve years ago, who was just released from prison, has been living in your attic for over two weeks, how would you react?

A woman in South Carolina started seeing nails coming out of her ceiling, along with her and her children hearing things from the attic. FEeling that something just wasn’t right, the family travelled into the attic where they found her ex-boyfriend sleeping in the corner. They also found Sonic cups filed with feces and urine.

Even creepier yet, her ex had opened all of the vents so that he could look down on the family during the day.

Once being found out, he escaped by foot. Police are still searching for him.

Is this news? It definitely falls under the unusual or rare category. Things like this don’t happen often, and although it’s not a feel-good story (rather, sends some chills down your spine!) I think it can be considered news. It’s not the kind of article you’ run in a newspaper, but on online sites like the Huffington Post, I think it’s acceptable.

Read the article here at the Huffington Post.

This weekend, while doing IRIS, there was an article about Republicans being angry about Obama not visiting the Siouxland area during last year’s floods. This anger, a year late, took form in a protest a day or two before the President’s schedules arrival last Saturday.

However, MSNBC posted an article yesterday about Obama’s detour to Louisiana before continuing to Charlotte for the Democratic National Convention, which takes place today until Thursday. Louisiana is enduring flooding form Hurricane Isaac, while came ashore on the seventh year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

I imagine that these Republicans who protested Obama last week were not happy about Obama visiting Louisiana and not visiting Siouxland when they were in need of help and support.

During his speech in Louisiana,  Obama talked  about the support of the communities he’s witnessing in Louisiana and about the effort to recovery. The article also states that it wans’t just a Democratic event for Obama- he was joined by Bobby Jindal, the Republican governor of Louisiana.

“When disasters like this happen we set aside whatever petty disagreements we might have,” Obama said. “Nobody’s a Democrat or a Republican” (MSNBC).

After hearing these stories, I don’t think that the Siouxland story is considered news, because of how delayed the protests are. However, because Obama’s visit to Louisiana is current, will help his campaign to reelection, and because he is the President right now, it is news.

I think the article included an unbiased view of the President’s visit and provided enough information for the  reader to understand what went on. However, I would have included quotes from the President’s speech to make it more informational to the reader.

I could not find the article that I mentioned from the Sioux City Journal. However, this is the link to the main article that I focused on from MSNBC: http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/03/13643974-obama-detours-to-louisiana-to-discuss-hurricane-recovery?lite