Andrew Willis: worker, leader, friend

Andrew Willis is a 19-year-old student at Eastern Michigan University. He is currently a freshman who is majoring in marketing.

Not only is Andrew taking 15 credits this semester, but he is also balancing this schedule with spending time with his family, other activities outside of school, and his job.

“I have a lot of things going on in my life right now. Sometimes it can be overwhelming, like now when we are nearing finals, but I’m having fun and that is all that matters,” Andrew said.

Andrew does seem to be having fun. As of right now he is playing soccer and hockey. For his soccer team he currently is second in goals with four in just three games. You can check his stats at the Nighthawk website. His hockey team is practicing as they prepare for their season to start in the summer.

Mike Roos, the hockey team’s starting goaltender said, “Andrew is a great team leader. He pushes each and every one of us to try harder and be better.”

Another sport that will start in the summer is basketball. Andrew will be playing on a league for the first time and he said he looks forward to the challenge.

“I love sports. They help keep me in shape, and they are a great stress relief from school,” he said.

Despite being a full-time student, Andrew lives at home with his family that includes his mom, dad, and three sisters, Rachel, 17, Rebecca, 16, and Sarah, 14. Andrew has said he is very protective of his sisters even though they don’t appreciate sometimes. Andrew is closest to his father though. They both enjoy watching hockey on Sunday afternoons. He has also been there for Andrew whenever he has needed help.

“I don’t think I could be where I am without my family, especially my dad. We have a lot of fun together, and we enjoy spending time together,” he said.

The closeness of his family can be seen anytime you talk to Andrew because he talks about his family in such a high regard. Also, Sarah asked Andrew to be her confirmation sponsor. It is just a showing of how much they all look up to him as a brother.

“I chose Andrew as my confirmation sponsor because he is a good-hearted person who makes good decisions,” said Sarah Willis.

On top of all this he has going on; Andrew has a job that takes up his time. Right now he is getting his lifeguarding license so he can become more of an asset to his place of work.

“My boss told me I could help out the company more by becoming a lifeguard so I’m willing to do that. The extra dollar an hour helped with my decision,” he said.

Andrew has a bunch of other things he enjoys as well. His favorite movies are always comedies, but one in particular is “The Hangover.” Some of his favorite activities include spending time with his friends, and going out to eat after any of the games he is playing in.

“I have a lot of time left to decide what I want to do. Right now I am happy with my life, and I am just enjoying myself,” he said.

Gas going up once more

One piece of news that I have always been interested ever since getting a car is the gas prices. The rate at which they fluctuate depending on the season or time of year always annoys me. I found a recent article on gas prices that had caught my attention because gas prices are not usually rising again until the end of April. The link is here: http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/04/11/gas-prices-increase-nearly-4-cents/?hpt=T2.

I thought this would be important to anyone who has a car therefore I figured it would be some good news. Also, it says in "The Reconstruction of American Journalism" that, "news reporting also provides vital information for participation in society and in daily life." I feel this is vital information for everyday life.

Like I said, this article caught my attention because I never like to see gas prices go up, especially when I have to drive 45 minutes to Eastern four days a week. The rise is not the usual one that comes every first week of summer, but instead it is due to a rise in crude oil prices. This is a big deal because it means the prices would still go up the first week of summer. I also picked this article because it reminded of last weeks reading where Jay Rosen stated that there may be a case of demand without supply. This article did not have that problem. It told me why there was a rise in the prices right away, and I knew how it would affect me. I believe that while this was a small story, it shows some changes in reporting that I think should be in more reporting including the "why should I care?" factor.

The Giant Pool of Money

I think that this could potentially be the start of something new in the news world. I mean this comment by Nina Robbins explains why it should be: "Thank you very much for the program that aired today on 'The Giant Pool of Money'. It was, by far, the clearest explanation of the U.S. housing crisis -- the subsequent international financial crisis --that I have ever heard. It enabled me to finally integrate into a comprehensible whole all the previously incomprehensible pieces of information I had heard over the past months." I mean there are people that want to listen to news and find out what is going on with the mortgage crisis or the health care bill, but people are not out there explaining it, at least in terms normal people can understand. I try to listen to the news and find out what is going on, but sometime the way things are explained just goes right over my head. I think having people that will take the news and put it in layman's terms will definitely be helpful in the future. I hope to see more airings like this going on in the near future.

Demand without supply?

Jay Rosen stats that there may be a case of demand without supply. This caught my attention mainly because I did not know what he meant by this. After reading his post on the matter I can't help but agree with him. So much of the news is what happened, but not enough of it is the why it happened. I love that he brought up the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac situation. When I first heard about this, I only knew that there was a federal takeover of Fannie Mae (Federal National Mortgage Association) and Freddie Mac (Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation). That was the headline of the story on the news. They proceeded to follow that up with time lines on when they thought things would get done to help rebuild these companies. I am sitting there watching this, and the main thing I am wondering is why was there a federal takeover? I still really have no idea what the whole situation was about so after reading Rosen's comments about it I decided to find some information to better understand this. I went to Wikipedia and found the same problem I had when I first heard it, the first four paragraphs or so described what happened, but not why this happened. It was not until much later that I read the information I wanted to know. I think this is a continuing problem with news. There is a reason that everyone wants to know, but no one ever is able to or unwilling to tell. I think an effective change to news would including the why right after the headline. Suck them into the story with a headline, but tell them the reason right away, that way the viewers, or listeners, or readers will know the reason behind the action.

Rynearson Stadium

Rynearson Stadium

Slideshow presentation

I chose Rynearson stadium as my overlooked place for a couple of reasons. The first one is I believe it is one of the nicest college stadiums I have seen. I have been to games at the Big House (Michigan), Michigan State, Central Michigan, and a couple others and I think Eastern has the nicest stadium out of all of them. The other reason I chose this place was because, although it is not technically on campus, I am sure there are a lot of people that have not seen or been inside this stadium, mainly because Eastern doesn’t have the greatest football team. From this assignment I learned how to use pictures to tell a story. This is the first time I took a group of pictures to make a story. Usually I start with the story. I also learned how to put a PowerPoint presentation on my blogger account.

Our future in writing

"The Reconstruction of American Journalism" said it perfectly, "What is bound to be a chaotic reconstruction of American journalism is full of both perils and opportunities for news reporting, especially in local communities." I think the peril for me (and for anyone who is going into this profession) is finding a job. Whenever I tell people that I am going into journalism they immediately respond by saying you are going into a dying profession. I do not think the profession of journalism is dying, but instead it is the process of journalism that is dying. I talked with Greg O'Dell, the executive director of the EMU Department of Public Safety, and he said that when he worked in Ann Arbor he would get daily calls from news reporters for information on stories, but now the stories are posted instantly and have problems with accuracy. That right there supports my argument that accuracy has taken a back seat to speed. I think another peril with finding a job is that people can now post anything they want online. The real trouble is trying to get your work noticed. What makes it better than someone else?

The other point made was that the Internet has provided more opportunities for people. This is true. Anyone can make their own blog and post their own opinions about anything. A couple of opportunities can arise from this. If your blog gets big enough maybe you will noticed by a big name and you can get a job. If you just like to stay in the freelancing business then you can charge people to read your blog. I know a couple people that have chosen that route instead. Either way, money can be made from blogs.

I believe that journalism is being reconstructed, but this does have to be a bad thing. If you truly want a career in journalism, I believe that one way or another, this can be achieved.

Reconstruction of American journalism

Leonard Downie Jr. and Michael Schudson ask a lot of questions throughout their report "The Reconstruction of American Journalism" and one question that particularly grabbed my attention was "Will this contraction continue until newspapers and their news reporting no longer exist?" This question caught my attention because I too have wondered about the future of newspapers. Growing up I always wanted to be a sports columnist for a newspaper, and that is why I am in journalism, but ever since I have heard talk that journalism is dying I worried that I would be unable to fulfill my dream. Now I read and this question pops up. The first line I read made me breathe a sigh of relief, but after continuing on this report says that small town newspapers are not at risk. As for the larger ones they need to find a way to expand by moving their stories to an online paper as well. I feel that to be a sports columnist for a bigger paper it will now have to be online. With less and less people reading papers the business has had to reconstruct new ways to keep them afloat. It seems I will have to do the same.

Google project

I thought I would write about the Google project. I thought it was a lot of fun. I have been learning so much in this class, and I feel that it is giving me an edge for when I try to apply for jobs. As for this project, it wasn't hard to pick a template that I wanted to use. Most of my assignments have been centered around my soccer team so I felt this would be a good one too. I had a lot of fun working with the tabs, and trying to figure out the pertinent information to put on the site. I also think this is a good way to get readers to my blog because all of the soccer posts came from there. I didn't have any major problems with the blog itself. There was one thing I need to do. I had some of my friends look at it, but apparently you cannot view the schedule unless you have a Google account so I will have to find a way to change that. Other than that I was just experimenting with the options I was provided with.

Here is the link to the site: https://sites.google.com/site/nighthawkssoccer/

Just a recap of last week

Since there is no real reading assignment this week I feel that I would just use this blog post to answer questions that I got in my comments box. First off, I agree that readers will combine to form their networks. It seems that is a great way to move into this style of writing. As for the generational gap it does have an impact, whether people are too stubborn or they just won't learn a new system, this gap can be worked around to help each business. For instance my grandparents, if I designed a newspaper for them it would have the local news on the front page. I feel that would be the most important to them. I also know that my grandparent love the Lions and watch a ton of golf, so a sports section is a must. I feel that other than that just a few articles about the world and of course the weather is all that is really needed. I think all of these sections
would make for a paper that would appeal to our older generation.

As for Berners Lee, he talks about how there is a switch from printed news to Internet or media news. This is possible because of the new technology that is being introduced into the world. Most recently I have seen this in the Haiti disaster. They have had text messages that donate to the Haiti recovery and it is just charged to your bill. There are also people on Facebook that will donate a certain amount of money for every person that joins the group. Obviously there is still the sites that are just centered around relief and accept donations from their Web site. I feel that in the coming years we will see some other ways to help in times of need.

Internet: Testimony of Sir Timothy Berners-Lee

The Internet has become such a vital part to the life of every person that uses it. Is there anyone who can remember the last time they went a whole day without using it? It is such a gateway to so many different things. I mean, people use it to write, find out news (whether it be sports or actual), talk, or even just find out random things. In his testimony, Berners-Lee called the Internet "a far more speech-enhancing medium than print, the village green, or the mails." And it is just that. I mean look at the earthquake that occurred in Haiti, sure everyone knows about it because of the news (even in the paper), but if it wasn't for the Internet you couldn't find out what they are doing right now to recover. It is truly a fascinating thing. And with the Internet always changing, this will cause the delivery of news to change as well. If you don't believe me just look at the past few years. The way people use to get there news is through either papers or television. Now people are using the Internet to find news that isn't localized to their specific area. If you want to see what is going on in Chicago just go online and figure it out. It seems that with the Internet becoming such a new and speedy way to obtain news, accuracy has taken a back-seat to speed. I feel that with time a balance will be struck that can allow news to be both accurate and fast. With the ever-evolving world there will be new problems to overcome, and better ways to do things. The same will be true for the news, but if the reporters do their job and report what they are supposed to then there is no reason to believe that the process of journalism will ever become obsolete.

The future of newspapers

With American journalism changing to a much faster pace of reporting news, will the newspapers become extinct? Like Leonard Downie Jr. and Michael Schudson I feel that they won't. The report said, "Newspapers and television news are not going to vanish in the foreseeable future, despite frequent predictions of their imminent extinction. But they will play diminished roles..." I feel this is exactly what will happen. I don't feel that there will ever be the vast need for newspapers like there once was, but I still feel that newspapers are needed. For example, there are some people that do not have the Internet. My grandfather is one of those people. Every day he gets all of his information from newspapers. My other grandpa has the Internet at his house, but he still likes to the read the Sunday paper every morning before starting his day. I think that this could be a common thing for older people, but what about the youth in the world? They have grown up with the Internet. When they are older are they going to want to read the paper or get it the same way they have always done it? I feel they will use the Internet, but I feel the paper will still be useful. I still read the paper from time to time. It can give me more localized information, and it also has stories in there that aren't news worthy, but they are interesting. I feel that the newspapers will be for more local events and other random uses, but they will still be needed.

Citizen Journalism

Citizen journalism is members of the public playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information. This type of journalism is becoming so much more popular because it is so easy to get started. You can look anywhere on the Internet to find a site where you can start your own blog. With all this ability to get started, that is the reason citizen journalism is becoming so popular. In the section of introducing citizen journalism there is a sentence that supports this thinking, "Low barriers to entry provided by the Internet and computer networking technologies, as well as new genres, such as blogs, offer a new media landscape for twenty-first century journalists." Not only are these ways to be a citizen journalist, but also there are Web sites that allow this. An example is Wikipedia. Wikipedia is one of the best things ever. Anyone in the world, can write anything they want about any subject. This can be a good thing or a bad thing. If people take it seriously then you can get some of the best information, but people can also just put in anything they want, and it doesn't have to be factual. I feel that if it taken seriously, then citizen journalism is a great thing that can help many people.

Ecology

When I read this article on ecology, I couldn't help but feel that an ecological model reminds me of a hybrid paper. With these hybrids you can receive news (either online or in the delivered paper), and put your opinion in the comment boxes on the Web site. It seems that the ecological model only exists if people can interact with one another on a certain topic at hand. The article states that, "When viewed as an ecology, news is not a product to be consumed but a conscious act to engage and produce shared information that has value in a community: this is how cultures and societies create their histories. Thus news is not an economic transaction but a social and cultural practice involving knowledge generation, information creation, and public distribution." I agree with this statement. I think that sharing information is the best way to help gain more knowledge. The ecology model wants you to do this, to engage with others and share information. It is a way to gain knowledge from another perspective, and, in turn, help you to grow in knowledge. It helps you to think in way you may not have before.

Citizen journalism

After reading the article written by Steve Outing, I feel that citizen journalism isn't too bad of an idea, and reading these 11 layers of Journalism really helped to change the way I think about citizen journalism. I never really had a problem with citizen journalism. I feel that as long as the information is truthful then there is nothing wrong with it. The one problem with this is citizen journalists don't have to be truthful. In this regard to this you need to be careful with what is actually truthful. Also, with the fact that you can comment on almost any article now many people can put their own opinion in about news. This is a great way for knowledge to be shared between authors and readers. The fact that knowledge can be shared this way definitely takes away editorial control. With no control though people could post anything they want. There needs to be a balance between the two. I feel that a good balance can be found in the hybrid models. An example of a hybrid newspaper is annarbor.com. This newspaper is predominantly online, but it also produces a printed publishing. This hybrid model has the editorial control so that facts are published, and it has the citizen expression because people can comment on it. Also, if annarbor.com doesn't like the comments they can remove them. Tony Dearing, the chief content officer for annarbor.com, came in to talk to our journalism class, and he said how the position of editor is not used as much anymore. Most journalists now know how to edit their own writing so they don't need editors, but they are still there to make sure the sources are accurate.

Taking a stand

There is so much information that can be found on the Internet now. The trouble with that is how can you find something that is truthful, or even relevant? It is like I have seen in the Bing commercials, what has search overload done to us?
http://www.youtube.com/bing?FORM=MFEHPG&PUBL=YOUTUBE&CREA=userid1743yt0ce15e23d8bc89f0b517eafebc103d64

To make digital stories more relevant it can start with the truth. I have seen so many articles, and news stories that stretch the truth to get more viewers coming to the site. I feel that this style of trying to get viewers can backfire. Sure a more interesting story will gather more viewers, but what happens when it gets out that the truth was stretched or even lied about? I feel that viewers will not support a business that does this. I feel that a true story may not be as exciting as one that can be stretched or made up, but it certainly can attract more viewers because you are getting the truth. I also feel that writing about things people want to hear can get more viewers. Writing about politics or sports can be a big boost because of how much people get into them. Bottom line, to make digital stories relevant they have to be truthful, and about what people want to read.

Digital journalism: new and improved

Digital journalism has changed so much over the past few years. There is so much more interaction between a writer and the public now. So many papers have online sites as well as the printed paper. The news can be put on the Web sites so much faster. With print news you cannot get the same stories as fast. The other benefit to online stories is the insight that people can give. People can comment on the news stories, and interact with the writers. The writers can tell the people that comment why they feel the way they do. This interaction can help keep the writers sharp, and also can give them different points of view. This can help them in their later stories.

While the interaction between the writer and consumer is new, the practice of recovering the news is still the same. As a writer you want to make sure that the information is correct. As it states in the lecture notes, "The central purpose of journalism is to provide citizens with accurate and reliable information they need to function in a free society." Even though speed is now a factor in publishing news stories, they still need to be accurate.

Random Thinking

One piece of news that has gotten a lot of publicity lately has been the earthquake that occurred in Haiti. I feel that this story show how the coverage of news has changed, and how the expansion of technology has allowed people to help. This earthquake has gathered a lot of. It was the headline of the Sunday paper I received the week it happened. It was also on all of the news shows. This incident could be seen everywhere, news, television, and the Internet. Not only has the huge publicity of this been amazing, but I have also seen many things that even a couple of years ago I would not have seen. I have seen many commercials that are designed to offer help. These commercials allow you to text a word to give a certain donation to the people of Haiti. This charge will be sent to your phone bill. I have also seen Facebook groups that allow you to either donate to the cause, or if you join someone will donate to Haiti. I just find all of these new ways to help out fascinating. The televised news, and Internet is a great way to watch a bunch of different people come together for a common cause. I do not remember seeing this much help go out, even a few years ago. With technology changing at such a rapid pace, I’m sure there will be new ways to help support a cause in no time.

Democracy and Journalism

In Ecology and Democracy: Citizen Journalism in the Digital Age, I read that James Carey said democracy and journalism are intertwined, historically variable, and greatly dependent upon the affordances of current communicative technologies. I could easily see how the last two relate to democracy and journalism, but I could not see how they were intertwined. It wasn't til later that I figured out how they are intertwined, and I do agree. The changing of the outside world in terms of technology, or popular ideas changes the ways of both democracy and journalism.

These changes can be seen just by looking around. Technology has changed, and it is still changing. Every new TV or computer that comes out has to be better and more advanced than the next. The changes can also be seen in the current environment system versus the legacy system. The legacy system moved news in basically one way, from the producers to the consumers. This system is being replaced by the current environment system that allows producers to produce news and also consume it. This interactive style can be seen online, where at most news sites you can comment on a story, and provide your own input on the matter. The new environment allows a person to not only read the news, but also hear it, see it, and talk about it. Because of the advancements in technology, news can be delivered to mass audiences. A story that takes place in Ann Arbor can be read by someone in Phoenix.

There are a few keys to the digital environment. These keys are they have to be decentralized (distribute the power), unfiltered (not censored), many-to-many (people can input information to and receive information from the Internet, they will also be able to connect and communicate with other people), and egalitarian (equal). There has been quite a change in the media environment over the last few years.

The influence of the Internet

The Internet has become such a big part of people's everyday life. In fact, I can't think of the last time I went a full day without going on the Internet, even just to look up some useless piece of information. The Internet, because of this, has become so influential. The influence of the Internet is shown in "Here comes Everybody." In this story a 16-year-old girl gets arrested because of the Internet. Reading this story, I was outraged by the actions of Evan. First of all, I don't know what his deal was, it seemed like he had nothing better to do then harass this girl over a phone. Secondly, I don't know what the big deal was if she had the phone because according to the story, Ivanna, the one who lost her phone, had "shelled out" more than $300 to buy a new one. Why did Evan need that phone back so badly? Third, the police listed the phone as "lost property" so it should have been left at that. Evan eventually gained so much attention that the NYPD decided to switch the case to "stolen property" and that is how the Internet has influence over people. Evan ruined the reputation of this girl over a phone, and I feel that isn't right. Although, I don't agree with Sasha's actions while she had the phone, including offering to sell it back, and making threats, I don't feel she deserved this.

Journalism vs. The Media

As I was reading "Here Comes The New News," I came across something that I agreed with 100 percent, "if the organizations and institutions that currently produce a majority of the news product consumed are structurally flawed, the practice of journalism is not." I agree with this statement because journalism is the objective reporting of facts. How can something be flawed if it is factual? The answer is it can't. As for the media, there are many different ways in which it is flawed. First off, just by how fast the media reports a story there is sure to be some errors. The facts and pressing questions have taken a back seat to the speed in which a story is published. Also, the media isn't always objective. Even the main news stations such as CBS or NBC are accused of being liberal. If that is true, there is no way they can be objective, and; therefore, will twist stories in their favor. Also, the media is always on the hunt for a new fresh story, especially one that involves celebrities or sports stars. The paparazzi will take pictures of celebrities, and the media is out there posting stuff like, "Is this actor dating this actress?" I have also seen this in the sports world. Just yesterday, Kurt Warner said he would announce his future in a press conference Friday, and today I have seen reports that are already saying he is expected to retire. He hasn't announced that yet, there is no way the media could know. While journalists have strict rules they follow, the media is free to, not break, but bend the rules, and this leads to the talks of journalism dying. I do not feel it is dying, I just feel there are less people that want to work to report the facts. The true journalists need to find a way to get their voices heard.

My voice

It took me a while to find my voice, but I think I finally found out who I would like to model my posts after. Now the person I chose has been a lifetime hero of mine, and even though he is not a writer, I will tell you how he fits the "voice" I want to have.

The person I chose is Brett Favre. Now this might not make a lot of sense right now, but I will do my best to explain how my voice will be modeled after Brett Farve. First off, I want to be a sports writer, so why not model my writing off a great sports player. Secondly, Brett is arguably the best quarterback who has ever played the game of football, and that is what I want people to think when they read my blog. I remember when Brett Farve said, "I never stepped out onto the field or walked off a field where I didn't feel like I did everything I could possibly do to be the best." Now that is a great way to model my writing, I want everything I write to my best. A third reason is while Brett has the most career touchdowns, he also has the most career interceptions out of any quarterback in history, and that will help my writing. I know that not all of my articles will be top-notch, but if I don't keep trying to make my points then I won't become the best. Another reason is if you have ever watched Brett play football you see him having a lot of fun, whether it is throwing snowballs after a touchdown pass, or sprinting down-field after a 60-yard touchdown pass. I want people to see that in my writing, I want them to read my work and say that guy loves to write, because I do. The last reason I can think of is Brett is never afraid to stir up controversy, and I think you need that to be a good writer. If you don't offend someone, or get conflicting opinions then you aren't writing about very much.

Also, I feel I should mention that I was devastated to see Brett in a Vikings jersey. I have been a life-long Packers fan, so to see Brett in the purple and gold was pretty bad.