The recent scandal involving Rutgers University basketball coach, Mike Rice, has sparked conversation about ethics throughout division 1 collegiate athletics. He was caught berating players with homophobic slurs and physically abusing players during practice. Rice was fired in early April, news of his conduct was brought to the attention of former athletic director, Tim Pernetti in November 2012. Rice was not disciplined after Pernetti first saw the tape late last year. He was suspended for two games early in 2013 for his conduct during a game, an incident that was not related to any of his conduct during practice.
The entire situation regarding the Rutgers coach did not receive any public reaction until the news was released a couple weeks ago. The media played an important role in the way the public perceived Rice. Obvioulsy, anyone who saw his actions would believe that he was in the wrong. But perhaps Rice may not have been fired if the media were not there to expose him. After the news was first broken, Rice was only going to receive a lengthy suspension, but the relentless reporting that television, radio and print media put into the story pressured Pernetti and Rice to be fired. The influence the media has can be found in almost any scandal in sports. The New Orleans Saints bounty scandal and the Jerry Sandusky/Penn State ordeal are the two most recent cases of media influence.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Bill Clinton Vs. The Media
The reaction to Bill Clinton's comments about an article written by Vanity Fair's Todd Purdum have raised some pretty flaring reactions itself. Purdum wrote an article about Clinton's friends and advisors may be bringing negative attention to Hillary Clinton's campaign, Clinton reacted by calling Purdum "sleezy," "a scumbag" and "slimy." He claimed his reporting was dishonest and had no real factual base considering he cited no sources.
The reaction from readers on Huffington Post was pretty unanimous. With over 2,000 comments, most called Clinton a hypocrite. The former president obviously had his fair share of controversy while in the White House and honesty may not have been considered his forte, which is most likely the reason he received the reaction that he did.
This is another instance of huge political figures finding something wrong with anything that isn't written in their favor. While Clinton is regarded as one of our great presidents in recent US history, even he shows the biased that most other political figures do when reacting to media that isn't in their favor. His reaction to attack to the media the way he did was unfortunate, but it is yet another obstacle in media that we all must deal with.
The reaction from readers on Huffington Post was pretty unanimous. With over 2,000 comments, most called Clinton a hypocrite. The former president obviously had his fair share of controversy while in the White House and honesty may not have been considered his forte, which is most likely the reason he received the reaction that he did.
This is another instance of huge political figures finding something wrong with anything that isn't written in their favor. While Clinton is regarded as one of our great presidents in recent US history, even he shows the biased that most other political figures do when reacting to media that isn't in their favor. His reaction to attack to the media the way he did was unfortunate, but it is yet another obstacle in media that we all must deal with.
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
What Does It Take To Get Recognized?
After reading Will Bunch's article on the "future of journalism," I realized that mainly muckraking journalists have been rewarded for their work throughout the history of journalism. I guess it is the excitement of finding the bad in people is what really grabs people's attention. It's a shame that good, non-uckraking reporting is not recognized more often. Josh Marshall was honored with a Polk award in 2008, the first blogger to be honored with the award. It took his work that lost Senator Trent Lott a GOP Senate leadership position. Good reporting on wars, politics and sports should be rewarded no matter the outlet (or lack there of) the writer works for.
Though it is a shame that it takes "kicking up dirt" to get a little recognition as an independent journalist, it is a good tip for young journalists. Become skilled in the craft of interrogative journalism and don't worry about making friends in the industry, this kind of skill and drive will ultimately pay off for you in your career.
Though it is a shame that it takes "kicking up dirt" to get a little recognition as an independent journalist, it is a good tip for young journalists. Become skilled in the craft of interrogative journalism and don't worry about making friends in the industry, this kind of skill and drive will ultimately pay off for you in your career.
Transparency Is Everything
I never understood why transparency wasn't more of a staple in the media. I don't find any comfort in a mainstream journalist's word because it is most often not their own. The process of having an article published is so extensive that the words are so mangled by the time is ready to be published it is hardly the writer's work. Any mainstream media outlet with an agenda is hard to trust because it is always "big business" or a CEO's opinion that fuels the fire and controls the material released.
Transparency on the other hand allows for readers to carefully choose whose work they read and eventually they form an opinion after reading so much of a writer's work and they decided whether or not they are able to trust a writer. Sensationalism and unreliable writing are detectable after a while and if a reader chooses to continue reading such things, they may be better off believing what they are reading is factual (I meant that in the nicest way possible).
Transparency on the other hand allows for readers to carefully choose whose work they read and eventually they form an opinion after reading so much of a writer's work and they decided whether or not they are able to trust a writer. Sensationalism and unreliable writing are detectable after a while and if a reader chooses to continue reading such things, they may be better off believing what they are reading is factual (I meant that in the nicest way possible).
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Challenges in SEO
Search Engine Optimization is a problem that all websites have dealt with since businesses created websites or have made the move completely to becoming an online business. The challenges are all related to placement on the results page of search engines.
Black Hat SEO has been the most problematic part of search engines. Black Hat SEO refers to keyword stuffing in descriptions of pages or videos. It is most problematic when users post descriptions that have nothing to do with the video. For instance, posting a video about making soup could receive a higher place on the results page and even show up on results page it has no business being on if the person who posted the video included "Lebron James" or "Justin Bieber."
I believe the next big advancement in SEO will be the ability of the search engine to detect the difference between Black Hat SEO and the more business-appropriate, White Hat SEO. White Hat is essentially the opposite of Black Hat. No keyword stuffing, a more honest approach to posting.
Black Hat SEO has been the most problematic part of search engines. Black Hat SEO refers to keyword stuffing in descriptions of pages or videos. It is most problematic when users post descriptions that have nothing to do with the video. For instance, posting a video about making soup could receive a higher place on the results page and even show up on results page it has no business being on if the person who posted the video included "Lebron James" or "Justin Bieber."
I believe the next big advancement in SEO will be the ability of the search engine to detect the difference between Black Hat SEO and the more business-appropriate, White Hat SEO. White Hat is essentially the opposite of Black Hat. No keyword stuffing, a more honest approach to posting.
Friday, March 29, 2013
Radiohead is One Step Ahead
The band, Radiohead, has managed to "make it" without the help of any big record labels. Now that they have made it into the ladder part of their historic career, they can afford to create their own website where fans can download their own music.
This type of progressive thinking amy be the next great movement in the music industry. Revenue can stream from sponsorships on artist websites. The same transformation that youtube has made. Instead of the music industry continuing to take hits from illegal downloading, they can turn downloading into a sponsorship-based revenue stream.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Google and the U.N
Independent reporter, Matthew Lee, has been a modern day muckraker since 1987. His website, Inner City Press, has focused on digging up corruption within the United Nations for some time. Internet corruption has been a micro-focus for Lee. His style is annoying, his website has an amateur appearance, but the work he does is magnificent. So magnificent, that Google banned his material from their search engine. You will not be able to be led directly to Lee's website if you were to search his name or site through Google.
While the act of kicking Lee out of the world of Google is not acceptable, what it took for him to get to that point is what journalists should continue to do. There are still many other areas of our government and talking heads on Wall Street who deserve to be investigated by journalists. Muckraking may be annoying to the subjects being reported on, but it makes the public aware, which we desperately need in our country.
While the act of kicking Lee out of the world of Google is not acceptable, what it took for him to get to that point is what journalists should continue to do. There are still many other areas of our government and talking heads on Wall Street who deserve to be investigated by journalists. Muckraking may be annoying to the subjects being reported on, but it makes the public aware, which we desperately need in our country.
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