Final

Throughout this quarter, I have read and watched the news more because of this class. It has encouraged me to actually take time to learn more about things going on in the world today and I am happy that it has done that. I have learned about how different news sources portray stories differently and it has been interesting to compare and contrast different sources and how that takes place. The type of writing that revolves around the news and what is going on in today’s world is vitally important to our world because it is how people find out about them. The way that people write can have a large impact on how readers view the story and therefore can have a major impact on the story itself. We have discussed the difference between informal and formal writing a lot when it comes to news stories, like the difference between blogs and actual news articles, and I think that distinguishing those differences is important when trying to understand the truths of a story and what is actually happening. Coming to college, sometimes you forget about the news and what is going on throughout the entire world, and this class has reminded me how important it is to keep up with these things. It is extremely important I think to be knowledgeable about what is going on in the world, and reading the news helps with that. I have really enjoyed reading and writing about the news and I hope that these habits of keeping up with the news stay with me.

Essay

“I feel like throwing up. That’s all. Lifelong Cleveland fan, still holding out hope that Lebron is better than this.” “anyone else nervous? lol” “this is the longest ten minutes in television history” “This is crazy. It’s like a president is being elected.” “I feel like a pre-teen girl watching American Idol” These are all comments from a live chatroom on July 8, 2010, the day that Lebron James starred in The Decision on ESPN. It was a one-hour television special for Lebron to finally announce his plans for free agency. While some of the country was not interested, nearly ten million people were tuned in, anxious to find out what Lebron’s plans were. There was speculation up to the last second until he revealed his plans, “In this fall, this is very tough, in this fall I'm going to take my talents to South Beach and join the Miami Heat.” The chatroom, still going on, provided instant feedback from some fans. “BOOOOOOOOOOO”  “unreal” “Sorry Cleveland” “Kick in the face” “he’s treating us like an ex girlfriend” Some were elated, many others completely crushed. This was evident not only from the immediate reactions in chatrooms, blogs and on social networks, but also through the stories published about the special.

            Immediately after Lebron’s decision was announced, the social networks were abuzz with people’s reactions. The story spread like rapid fire, as people tweeted and made Facebook statuses, letting people know what happened and how they felt about it. All different type of people were sharing their thoughts, everyone from the everyday NBA fan to celebrities. Friends of mine, from Cleveland, were posting angry statuses bashing Lebron and uploading pictures of them tearing down his posters. One of Lebron’s teammates on the Cavaliers even used Twitter to let people know his reaction to it. Mo Williams, on the night of the decision, tweeted “I can't believe this is really real. This is surreal. So many emotions on one man decision. I wonder what is our next move. 1:38 a.m.” The strong emotion in this tweet is evident, and it is to be expected because of how close to the situation he was. People a lot further removed from the situation seemed to be a lot less distressed and a lot more excited. Sean Kingston, a popular singer, tweeted “Courtside At Miami Heat Games #CANTWAIT !!!” Another popular singer, Justin Bieber tweeted “WOW LEBRON ...MIAMI??? how do we all feel about this...mixed emotions in this room... ok. got to get focused on this show...congrats to the miami heat...KOBE WILL BE WAITING” These tweets are clearly subjective and there is a broad range of emotions shown through them. Not only were opinions about The Decision posted on Twitter and Facebook, but there were also many bloggers reacting to it as well.

            It is interesting to read about stories on social networks and blogs because they do not have to be factual. The people that post on them can speculate all aspects of a story and voice their own unique opinions about the issue. This is what happened after the airing of The Decision. Blogs were leaking rumors about Lebron and why he chose to leave, and sometimes there was no real proof to back those rumors up. There was so much speculation and people were looking for rumors that they could justify with unrelated evidence. “One of the strangest events to happen in the NBA this summer, perhaps even more shocking than LeBron James' "decision" to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers and play for the Miami Heat with fellow superstars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, was the emergence of the Internet rumor that LeBron's Cavs teammate, Delonte West, had engaged in a physical love affair with LeBron's mother, Gloria James, during the Cavs' playoff run in the 2010 NBA post-season,” was written by one blogger. This part of the story could only really be discussed on blogs because of the lack of factual evidence. If it were written to be true in an actual news story, the author would probably be penalized for publishing false information, making blogs the perfect place to write about it. Another blogger chose to look at the bias of the story that he felt was apparent, “Even shortly after LeBron’s special, ESPN was quick to point out how James is taking less money to go to the Miami Heat, and the only way James could win his long coveted title was to leave the Cavaliers and go to Miami or the Chicago Bulls.” This blogger felt that ESPN was defending Lebron too much, which was strictly his opinion about the story. Stories can appear very differently on blogs because of how opinionated they are, but they can also appear differently through news stories depending on who wrote it and where they are written.

            One of the most obviously affected areas of Lebron’s decision was Cleveland. With a history of sports disappointments, it was just another woe to add to the list. Clevelanders were devastated, and it was evident through the articles published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Because home is gone. Because it's personal here too.” “Defecting players usually say sports are a business. But while James' decision certainly crushes businesses around The Q, for Cleveland, this was personal. How could it possibly be business when the Cavaliers could pay $30 million more over a long-term contract than any of his suitors?” Opposing the view of many sports writers, this author makes it clear that Cleveland felt the decision was personal and took personal offense to it. The articles from Cleveland are much more emotional than the national articles because the people of Cleveland took his decision to heart. “Doesn't anyone in the James camp have a clue of what people back home will think? Doesn't anyone care? Of if they mentioned to James, doesn't he get it?” Not only do the articles target the Cleveland audience by emphasizing the pain that they feel and the questions that they have, but they also mention the hope that the people in the city still feel. Cleveland is always put down, but people always have hope in it. “Once the decision was final, fans at the Harry Buffalo also demonstrated Cleveland's necessary short memory and strange, enduring hope -- chanting, "Here we go Brownies, here we go -- woof, woof," while the song "Cleveland Rocks" blared over the speaker.” Unlike the local news, the national news focused more on the facts of The Decision.

            The national headlines were not as dramatic emotionally as the ones from Cleveland. While some focused on the devastation that Cleveland suffered, most did not. “It is one thing to be given the bum's rush by just another professional mercenary off in pursuit of the big bucks and the baubles of championship jewelry. But it is something else entirely to be snubbed by family, which is what James always said he was, emphasizing his northeastern Ohio roots as a son of Akron.” Most of the national stories were more objective towards the story and they were not as sympathetic towards Cleveland. “It's a huge victory for the Heat, which got Wade and Bosh, a five-time All-Star with the Toronto Raptors, to agree to take less money on Wednesday so James could join them. Heat president Pat Riley was able to corral the top three stars in an unprecedented free-agent class.” They focused more on the gain that Miami got instead of the loss that Cleveland suffered. “NBA, get ready: A superstar trio has just been born.” Nothing close to this could be found in the Cleveland newspaper, because no one wanted to see it. The story seemed a lot different reading it from a local perspective versus a national perspective.

            Many people had a lot to say about The Decision, and many different types of outlets were used to express those feelings and analyses. While the blogs and social networks showed more of the raw emotion and first hand reactions, the articles from newspapers and websites had more of an articulate way of telling the story. The Cleveland news told the story in a way of showing how hurt the city was and portraying Lebron James as a villain, while the national news showed it more in a way of just a basketball player choosing where to play basketball. Being from Cleveland, I remember The Decision perfectly. I heard my friends and family rant, I saw people tear down posters. I read all of the articles in the local paper, felt the emotions that they were speaking of and I was offended when I saw some of the national headlines bashing Cleveland. This story had a big impact on my community and it was interesting to see how it was told from different perspectives.

Fourteen

In his article, Morris seems to be saying that without captions or background information, pictures do not have as much meaning. He also explains how pictures cannot be true or false without knowing anything about them. His argument is kind of confusing and I am not sure that I agree with it. While I think that captions help to understand pictures, I don’t think that pictures are meaningless without them. When people look at a picture, they are going to interpret it in their own way, whether there is information presented about it or not. I think pictures themselves are truthful, whether you know anything about them or not. Even if what you see in them is not necessarily factual or true, it is still a real image that happened at some time, besides of course the digitally created pictures or photo shopped fake images that we see today. I think that looking at a picture always evokes a reaction that is unique and personal to the person that is looking at it. Putting a caption under it or describing it through text does not always change that. Even though it helps people see where the picture came from and better understand its context, they still might interpret it differently than the next person. I think the stories and emotions that come from pictures are more important than whether the picture can be true or false. This article is kind of a weird article and I don’t find his arguments that meaningful or useful.

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/cricket-game-bangladesh/

National Geographic has a great collection of photos and on this blog in particular; they put up a photo of the day every day. When looking at the pictures, I have thoughts about them even before reading the description. They give a little description at the bottom, giving more background and explanation which helps to understand the picture better. Even without reading the description, I think they are true pictures and show true places, people, and emotions among other things.

Thirteen

Taking an approach is like working in the mindset of another writer. Harris sees a weak version of this as just taking the ideas of another writer and incorporating them into your writing, or applying their work to your own ideas. A better way to take an approach is to take someone’s work and to reshape it through the way you interpret it, and the changes you think could be made to it. An example of this that Harris uses is in the creative realm, where people take plots that have already been created and change the perspective or setting or other things about it to make it their own story. Taking an approach means using the style of a writer, the way they write, and not just their ideas and what they say. Harris points out three ways of taking an approach: acknowledging influences, turning an approach on itself, and reflexivity. Acknowledging influences is about giving credit to writers whose work you used to model your own after. It is about rewriting in someone else’s way of writing, and then citing them for using that style. Turning an approach on itself involves asking the writer what he or she asks of others, or taking a subject and method from the work. Reflexivity is reflecting on key decisions you made while writing. Throughout the New York Times, the examples of taking an approach are more in the editorials and personal pieces because those are more opinionated and leave more room for individual thoughts to come through. An example of taking approach can be seen often on YouTube. People often take songs and cover them to make them their own, putting their own unique style into the song. People often also make their own videos, based on original music videos or novels. They make their own adaptations and take a whole new approach to the things they are working with. Bloggers on YouTube also use this method a lot, stating why they think what they think. Examples of taking an approach can be seen many in different ways through many different kinds of writing.

Twelve

The countering that Harris refers to is not just about stating what is wrong with a certain text and saying what you think is the right thing. It is more about bringing your own new interpretations to different ideas and moving the ideas forward in different directions. The point is not to end a discussion, but to alter the direction and keep it going. I think the comparison that he made about forwarding and countering was helpful to understanding the two. “Forwarding aligns; countering individuates.” He lists specific ways to get that distance in order to individuate: arguing the other side, uncovering values, and dissenting. Arguing the other side is about showing the negatives of a positive a writer has pointed out, or showing the positives of a negative they have pointed out. Uncovering values involves analyzing and finding ideas that the piece of work does not explain. Dissenting is pointing out a point of agreement in order to note the limits of it. http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/02/08/16901421-the-2011-ransom-note-and-the-gops-sequester

This blog provides an example of countering because Maddow uses a tweet from another person and then evaluates the argument that the tweet is making. She does not just say that she disagrees with the tweet, but she analyzes the argument that it makes. She uses the arguing the other side method and states why she disagrees with what the other person thinks is negative and she also uses the method of uncovering values. The tweet is brief, but she looks further into what it is implying and meaning to say. She brings new conversations into the idea by putting her own opinions and inputs about the tweet into the blog. The new ideas that she brings in are keeping the conversation going.