Covering the Coverage

I've been doing my best to read the NY Times and my blogs this week. I've noticed some very interesting things this week in particular, for instance, the coverage of the Honduras story. Now, the blogs I'm following are fairly conservative and the Times is fairly liberal. These different perspectives lead to different coverage and emphasis. The blogs have been emphasizing the fact that President Zelaya tried to rig a referendum to make himself president for life and the Honduran parliament had unanimously voted to remove him from office. The NY Times, on the other hand, has been emphasizing the Unites States' involvement with the help of other South American nations in restoring a wrongfully removed president. Both the Times and the blogs talk about other South American countries that support President Zelaya. The Times does not mention which countries these are while the blogs specifically mention Venezuela and Cuba which is a significant detail. Also, the blogs admit that they do not have reporters in these countries, but the NY Times does not appear to have reporters there either, but rather they seemed to be in Pakistan following Secretary Clinton. In addition to the fact that both news sources take a different stand on whether the US was right to intervene: the blogs say we shouldn't have intervened and the NY Times say we were right to do it. It is also intriguing how the writers choose different aspects of the same story to support their beliefs. Because there are so many aspects of a story that may not all be told by a single news source, I think people should try to read sources with different views to see the bigger picture.

Since the blogs I've been following are political by nature, I see a lot of political stories like the upstate NY congressional race between Owens, the Democrat, and Hoffman, the conservative Independent (liberal Republican, Scozzafava, has just quit the race and endorsed Hoffman). The NY Times has more social stories like how public schools are managing during the Recession. The reason for this difference is that these news sources have consciously chosen to focus on certain issues.

News is Like Making Pizza, Have It Your Way!

Jarvis shares similar views about stories and news with Sullivan. Both writers hold that the news is a constantly evolving process. Sullivan illustrates this especially well in his article, “Why I Blog.” He narrates how he interacts with his readers after he has published a post and he even rewrites his posts if he receives new and pertinent information about the topic. Eventually, he takes what he has gathered from his blog and converts it into a newspaper column. “Readers tell me of breaking stories, new perspectives, and counterarguments to prevailing assumptions….Each week, after a few hundred posts, I also write an actual newspaper column.” In other words, the story does not end with the first publication. Jarvis illustrates this idea using diagrams and even a timeline of the life of a news story. The process starts with an event or an idea and evolves from questions, interviews, and research to become the actual written piece which yields comments, corrections, or even a follow-up story.
Chris Hedges in his article “Bad Days for Newsrooms and Democracy” remarks nostalgically that newspapers once served as a window to the world for ordinary Americans. “Newspapers, when well run, are a public trust….They keep citizens engaged with their cultural, civic, and political life….Most of this is vanishing or has vanished.” Jarvis also writes about “The Way It Was,” accompanied by another diagram. Unlike Hedges, Jarvis does not seem to think that this change from the way it was is necessarily a bad thing. But it does mean that newsrooms will have to adjust somehow to ‘the way it is now,’ what he calls the ‘press sphere,’ a world that revolves around the reader instead of the writer.

News About the News

Jarvis begins his article with an interesting point: the media is obsessed with the media. I've noticed this too watching the News Hour or one of the network news. I can't say the same about cable since I don't get cable although I would image it would be in the same situation. This topic would be interesting if, say, I were a journalist, a writer, or someone who worked in the media industry. However, the vast majority of Americans do not work in the media industry. Perhaps it says something about the audience the media is trying to reach--people who are interested in watching news, about the news, for its own sake. I've noticed this trend Online and in magazines, too, although it is easier to avoid these kinds of articles Online or in a magazine than on TV. I think there are too many stories about the media on the media.

Going back to Jarvis' article, I liked how he supported his argument with diagrams and pictures. As a visual person, I find aids of that type helpful and engaging. Otherwise, I'm less likely to finish an article especially if it's especially long or complex.

Jarvis makes an excellent point that much of the news is reactionary. Once a story is public, you can usually find it on TV, on the Internet, in newspapers, and in periodicals. After a few days, you will start to see these various outlets react to each other, sometimes harshly, crudely, and outrageouly. For example, MSNBC might have a story about how Fox News covered the event and vice versa. This reactionary reporting may be happening due the number of news outlet available in our modern world. It may also be because many outlets have to fill 24 hours worth of time with stories. Jarvis has written a thoughtful, incisive article that confirms some of my own observations.

Analysis of the Blogs I'm Following

Hot Air and Powerline are similar in that they both cater to an audience that is fairly conservative or libertarian. Topics on the blogs range from politics to world events to culture and sports. Both blogs assume that the reader has a certain foreknowledge of basic politics and events.

Powerline is "powered" by lawyers, one from Washington DC and two from Minnesota. The lawyers from Minnesota feel that they are a conservative minority in a historically progressive state. The writers attempt to cover stories that they perceive are not being covered by the main stream media as well as they would like. For instance, Powerline has been covering the United Nations even when the stories have not been covered very much on main stream news sources. The writing is very analytical and thoughtful. Even the blog design is not very flashy.

Hot Air was founded by Michelle Malkin and is written by professional Internet writers/journalists like Ed Morrissey and AllahPundit (an anonymous writer). On this site, there are not only blogs posts but links to selected stories on other sites like the NY Times and the Washington Examiner. They also have links to other blogs. There is a lively mood in the design and the writing. Their aim is to provide a different source of commentary and add to the diversity of the blogging world. Lately, Hot Air has been covering the ACORN scandals when main stream news sources have not been covering the story as thoroughly.

Both blogs are similar in that they share a similar audience, but they present their blogs from different perspectives, moods, and purposes.

Experiences and Readings of the Times

I bought a print edition of the NY Times today. I like holding it so much better than squinting at a computer screen. When I'm reading it in print, I can actually see the pictures. The pictures are so small on the computer I can't tell what they are. Yesterday, I was trying to read on my laptop and my eyes and head hurt. Eventually, I had to stop reading.

For the most part, I've been reading the Music and Movies section of the Times. I love classical music and old (really old!) movies. On Tuesday, I read about a movie with Boris Karloff, Bela Legosi, and Peter Lorre! Too bad it's not supposed to be good! Today, I read an article about a Chinese marionette performance in Carnegie Hall. It sounds really cool! I'd like to see that! The group performed a number of complex stories while speaking and singing. It sounds like I would be able to follow and understand the stories even though I don't understand a word of Chinese! I'm attracted to arts and music stories not just because I'm interesting in the topic, but they are accompanied by attractive pictures and graphics.

I do read the main page of the Times but I find there is not a lot of information I find intriguing It seemed like there were more stories and less headlines or current events. For instance, I was hard-pressed to find the story of the Obama administration's attempt to boycott Fox News. Rather, there was a story about Mexican drug cartels which is an interesting topic, but does not exactly have the same kind of relevancy for me. It's more like reading a national news magazine like the Atlantic Monthly than like reading the news.

What's Going On?

It's interesting how much people hear about the news from immediate family and friends. I admit I'm guilty of this too; my Mom is an avid political news reader and she tells me the latest every time I talk to her. My friends are not very interested in the news. In fact, I'm the one informing them what's going on.

It's also interesting how many people get their news from comedy shows like Saturday Night Live. I usually think these shows cater to people who are already informed about the news. I guess this is not necessarily true. Interesting.

These are all forms of relatively passive news gathering. People are busy. Outside this class, I'm not following the news as much as I used to because I'm either doing school work or other activities. I may be getting my news passively right now, but when Christmas break comes around I'll be right back to checking the news daily.

Despite what Carr and Hedges believe, the Internet does not appear to be diminishing civic literacy. Rather, the Internet makes finding news and being informed much easier.

I think being informed and alert about politics and events is very important, even if you are not all that interested in politics. Our kind of government, democracy, assumes that citizens will be interested and informed enough to vote for people who will stand for the same principles as the voter. Also, being informed allows people to petition for new laws, protest bad ones, and hold the government accountable when necessary. I sometimes fear that the people in government will pass bad laws and legislation while I'm not paying attention and I would have done nothing to stop it. Thus, being aware of politics and events is significant even if you don't care about, say, party politics in Washington or a Senate race in another state. Besides, if you are aware of politics, then Saturday Night Live, YouTube videos, and other late night comedy sketches are much funnier and more enjoyable. You have access to a vast discourse community.

Blogs I'm Following for Unit 2

For this unit, I've decide to follow Powerline and Hot Air. By the way, I love the cartoon on Hot Air of the guy shouting at the camera! That's funny! Anyway, stay tuned for the next blog post!

Extra! Extra! Get Your News!

For the most part, I get my news and information from the Internet. When I'm not too busy, I like to read opinion sites like National Review and IBD. I also print out articles from Commentary and New Criterion sometimes which has articles ranging from political to academic topics. When I'm really busy, I don't usually read political sites since reading them does take an hour or so. I do check orienteering blogs regularly since orienteering articles are short and I can pick and choose how much I want to read. If I want to find out something about, for instance, UofL or the Louisville Orchestra schedule, I almost always use a search engine like Google or the website's search engine. I also check the TV news sites for the weather forecast regularly. In summation, I get most of my news and information from the Internet.

I used to read the New York Times and Wall Street Journal in print, but we don't get them anymore. We would get them from the my Dad's law firm for free one day later, but his current firm doesn't let him take them home. It was sort of like recycling! I generally skipped over to the Arts and Fashion pages, then went back and read a few stories that looked interesting. We still get National Review and Orienteering North America in print.

I've watched The News Hour with Jim Lehrer on PBS regularly in the past, but I've hardly watched it this semester since I have classes or homework at that time of day. I've noticed that the show has changed since the 2008 election. Instead of having world news and news of the day then discussions, interviews and stories, the show jumps straight into discussions, interviews, and stories and has very little world and national news. In other words, the show has become more opinionated and less informative. I have not liked this change. I don't watch another news programs because we don't have cable and the network news is somewhat dull and limited.

Final Draft! This is it!

At last, here is the final draft of my essay, Literacy in the Internet Age. I hope it's not too boring! I did expand some of the paragraphs to help the essay flow better. Enjoy! Viel Spass!

Mary Hamilton
Honors English 105-7
Eric Leake
10/3/09
Literacy in the Internet Age
Defining “literacy” has been a quest, pursued by civilization since humans could speak and comprehend. Although history offers many perspectives of literacy, this quest continues in articles by contemporary writers. Some of these writers include Andrew Sullivan, Nicholas Carr, Chris Hedges, Clive Thompson and George Orwell. Each of these writers has a different perspective of the word “literacy,” as discussed below. Literacy in the past has been communicated through books and the spoken word, but the Internet adds a new and controversial dimension to the discussion. Since the Internet is a new form of communication, does it add to older print and spoken media, or does it replace them? In other words, can people become literate using the Internet? There is also the question of the shallowness or depth of reading. At what depth should people read in order to be considered literate? Finally, literacy can undoubtedly be political or practical, but which one should be preferred? These questions of form, depth, and purpose try to explore the broader meaning of “literacy.” Writers both historical and contemporary have attempted to answer these questions. To determine the meaning of “literacy,” we must address each of these questions in turn and see how others have answered them. Once the meaning of “literacy” has been established, then we students can apply it to our lives and strive to become better informed and cultivated -- that is, more literate – people.
The medium for communicating has predominately been writing in the form of books and periodicals. The Internet has introduced a new form of writing that challenges the traditional form. Since the Internet allows thousands of people to find and read the same text simultaneously, it creates an atmosphere of dialogue and debate which changes writers in such a way that they write in a more argumentative, self-conscious style. Clive Thompson investigated this phenomenon in his article, “New Literacy.” Describing a study conducted by Stanford professor Andrea Lunsford, Thompson writes, “[S]tudents were remarkably adept at what rhetoricians called kairos—assessing their audience and adapting their tone and technique to best get their point across.” (Thompson par. 6). Whether students are writing in a chat forum or on Facebook, they are using an argumentative, adaptive tone. In light of the Internet, traditional writing focuses thoughts by forcing writers to organize and observe conventions of grammar and structure. In his article “Why I Blog,” Andrew Sullivan commends the merits of traditional writing while wholeheartedly adopting the blogging form.
“The blog for years points of this essay, for example, have appeared in shards and fragments on my. But being forced to order [my thoughts] in my head and think about them for a longer stretch has helped me understand them better, and perhaps express them more clearly.” (Sullivan par. 40).
Even in our current Internet age, students will still curl up to a book like Harry Potter or Twilight. There is nothing I like better than reading Sherlock Holmes, sci-fi, or classic mysteries on a gloomy day. While traditional writing is more content-oriented, the Internet is more adaptable. Having the old forms available does not mean, however, that the newer media cannot add to literacy, as both Thompson and Sullivan demonstrate. On the contrary, both new and old forms of writing achieve a similar purpose: to inform and persuade. Regardless of the medium, both books and the Internet communicate one person’s ideas to another.
Books tend to represent and encourage intellectual depth. On the other hand, when people think of the Internet, what comes to mind is Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and Google. Nicholas Carr believes that the Internet is bringing a slow, irrevocable change in human thinking. “The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle.” “My mind now expects to take in information the way the Internet distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles.” “Our ability to interpret text, to make the rich mental connections that form when we read deeply and without distraction, remains largely disengaged.” (Carr par. 2, 9, and 4 respectively). Carr fears that the Internet with its rapid pace will diminish our ability to comprehend and think deeply. Chris Hedges goes even further to say this shift in thinking damages human cognition and will bring an end to civilization as we know it now. “The change from a print-based to an image-based society has transformed our nation.” “The core values of our open society, the ability to think for oneself to draw independent conclusions…are dying.” (Hedges par. 10 and 12 respectively). Not all writers believe the Internet is destroying Western Civilization or even that the Internet is replacing books. Andrew Sullivan is convinced that Internet writing will make books more valuable than before. “There is, after all, something irreplaceable about reading a piece of writing at length on paper, in a chair or on a couch or in bed.” (Sullivan par. 42). In the study Clive Thompson relates, the students write at a higher level than first supposed. (Thompson par. 7). With magazines and periodicals going digital, readers can view and print out articles when and wherever they want. I have found that I read more when I use the Internet than when I simply read books and I often choose to read at a higher intellectual level than I might have otherwise without the Internet. Even though many people my age choose to use the Internet for social networking purposes, they have the option to read articles and news stories that are written at a sophisticated level. Even before the Internet, people weren’t always reading deep texts. They were reading graphic novels, pulp fiction, and weekly sensational adventure stories. Although Shakespeare and Tolstoy may not be as familiar today as in the past, people will still have a certain amount of depth in their lives.
Writing is a tool that allows people to communicate, but how should this tool be used? Indubitably, writing can be used as a political tool. On the Internet, one can read the news, read and write blogs, and join forums. Many literary and academic writers such as Hedges and Sullivan believe that writing is mainly a political force with some practical use. As a journalist, Sullivan believes that writing is about sharing, discussing, and forming opinions about news. (par. 7,17, 26, and 27). Hedges asserts that literacy is essential for political participation and societal involvement. (par. 1,3, and 4). But should writing be used solely for political purposes? This idea has been explored by fiction writers as well as academic and opinion writers. In Orwell’s 1984, writing is controlled by the State for political and propaganda purposes. The State’s Ministry of Truth’s primary job is to rewrite the past to support the future agenda. (Orwell p. 4 and ch. 4). This is a grim picture of writing wielded as a political weapon. On the other hand, there are purely functional uses of writing. For instance, texts on gardening, exercise, travel, hobbies, and fashion exist for people’s enjoyment and information. Fiction and scholarly works have apolitical functions in people’s lives. The question remains as to which of these two functions of writing should be considered more literate. Depending on the person’s role or job, whether he is a journalist or a dentist, both of these functions makes a person literate. A person can also read political and functional texts, not just one or the other. I read texts ranging from sports to world events to music reviews to politics in Washington. Writing can be used for both purposes, not solely political or functional purposes. The two purposes can be thought of as left-handed and right-handed uses of texts, and surely being able to use both “hands” is to be preferred to relying solely on one or the other.
The art of communicating has many facets, including reading, writing, and speaking. The combination of these facets at a high level of competence results in literacy. The form of writing, in books and periodicals or on the Internet, can affect literacy, but the presence of new, Internet-based forms of writing need not conflict with the old. In many ways, new forms can enhance the development of literacy when combined with old forms for instance, doing research, finding opposing positions, and reading a variety of length and depth. The depth of reading and writing is also a factor in literacy, and reading Internet-based texts may actually encourage interaction with all texts on a deeper level. Finally, the purpose of writing plays a major role in creating literacy. The presence of both political and practical modes of texts on the Internet insures that literacy will not be stunted.
What is literacy, then? All of these factors--form, depth, and function--are determined by society. Society sets goals and imposes expectations on its members. Students today are expected to be literate on the Internet and with books. Being literate depends on what the individual chooses to read. I can read academic theses online and read pulp fiction books from the 1920s or I can read celebrity gossip online and read a hardcopy of Dante’s Inferno with Gustav Doré’s illustrations. Society sets the basic standards and it is up to the individual to reach for those standards and decide exactly what it means to be literate beyond those basic standards. In our American society which emphasizes high economic and sociological mobility, we are free to set our own literacy goals as well as reaching for our society’s expectations. In this country with our nearly universal access to the Internet and to books, we can choose our form, our depth, and our function. Literacy is what your society and you decide it to be.

Works Cited:
Carr, Nicholas. “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” www.thealtantic.com. July/August 2008. Web. 12 Sept. 2009.
Hedges, Chris. “America the Illiterate.” www.truthdig.com. 10 Nov. 2008. Web. 15 Sept. 2009.
Orwell, George. 1984. 1949. New York: New American Library, a division of Penguin Group. 1977 Print.
Sullivan, Andrew. “Why I Blog.” www.theatlantic.com. Nov. 2008. Web. 31 Aug. 2009.
Thompson, Clive. “New Literacy.” www.wired.com. 8/24/09. Web. 17 Sept. 2009.

Desperate! Help!

I don't think the email worked. This is too weird! Try the first link again. I got the paper to come up there a minute ago. This is really disturbing. Anyway, I'll bring hardcopies of the paper so you can finally look at it. I'll see you Friday.