August, 2017

News Comment 2

This week Hurricane Harvey is dominating the headlines. As devastating as the storm is that is understandable. Among all of the reporting on the effects of the storm we got one story that probably wouldn’t mean much on a normal day but in this circumstance it was very important. Melania Trump’s shoes. When boarding Air Force One to head to Texas to be briefed on devastation caused by the storm, the First Lady wore some very uncomfortable looking black stiletto heels. Manolo Blahniks to be exact. As Venessa Friedman of the New York Times reports when Mrs. Trump disembarked the plane in Texas she had changed into a less showy outfit wearing white sneakers. It’s reported that her communications director told her of the backlash her shoes had caused and suggested she change. This story is a prime example of how the role of a President and a First Lady has changed in this world where news stories can be accessed immediately. Also it shows, as Friedman says, that every detail is important and will be analyzed in this media savvy society. Twitter BLEW UP with the news of Melania Trump’s shoes on both sides of the issue. The left was, understandably, critical of the choice while the right went off on “fake news” even caring about the shoes in the first place. Personally I think the First Lady was incredibly stupid to wear such crazy heels to the sight of a natural disaster. As Friedman points out, the Trumps are in a position that is subject to extreme scrutiny on every little detail; therefore you should think of anything the public could make an issue. I can see the side of the issue that says “this isn’t newsworthy” and agree to an extent however I believe this is perfectly suited for the Fashion & Style section of the New York Times. They targeted the story to those who care about fashion, while still being aware that due to the subject of the piece anyone else could read this. The writer didn’t use too much fashion specific language so anyone could understand it. There is a hint of a bias against the First Family (which doesn’t bother me at all) but would make this considered a more opinion piece than a straight news story. That is not at all uncommon on a style based section of news because their main job is to critique clothing and tell people what their clothing says about them.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/29/fashion/melania-trump-hurricane-harvey-heels-texas.html

Who is Dylan Ferguson?

Morningside is full of faces you have seen but may know nothing about. Among those faces may be Dylan Ferguson. Dylan is a sophomore mass communications major with a music minor from Anita, IA who loves that small town feel. “I love that I can walk to my classes and see many familiar faces on the way.” When deciding to come to Morningside he knew he wanted to take his passion for discovering new music and sharing that with others. This drove him to come in to college intending to major in music education. As Dylan began working toward that goal though, he realized that his passion may lose steam. “I knew that some teachers, after a while, get burnt out and the students suffer…. I didn’t want to do that to students since it happened to me.” This made him decide to take his passion for music to the mass communications department where he could share his findings over the radio station where he intends to start his own show soon. Aside from working in his department, Dylan is also involved in the choir, the Morningside Activities Council, and Sinfonia. He says that one of his favorite parts of Morningside is that he has these opportunities that he may not have found at a bigger school. Outside of school Dylan collects records and some thing you may not know about him is that he has a twin sister named Morgan.

News Comment 1

A story I have been following for some time is that of the missing talent agent from Manhattan, Mark Schlegel. He went missing on August 13th and had not been seen since. The news story I will be commenting on is one from Variety that reports that his body has been found. I think this is a very interesting story because no one has any idea what happened. All they know was he left his house reportedly without his keys, phone, or wallet and then he disappeared. This is newsworthy because this was an agent of some note in at least the Broadway community. That is how I first heard about the story was though the Broadway news sources I follow regularly and I found this story after seeing multiple tweets about his passing. The story is more aimed to those who are very invested in the world of entertainment past more than just celebrities. You really have to know about the business to have ever heard of this man. There is really no bias in this story. It is just reporting the facts. What I find interesting is that this story kind of flew under the radar with most news sources. I have mostly found it in New York and New Jersey specific newspapers. This seems like the kind of story that would have been picked up by a more national news outlet if only because it is so confusing but I assume the President is keeping the national news outlets more than busy. Overall this is still a developing story so there are obviously some key facts that people will want to know that are missing but those will come with time.

 

http://variety.com/2017/biz/news/mark-schlegel-dead-talent-agent-1202538676/