Is It the Media or Is It Palin?

I came across an interesting article on the New York Times website and it was about Katie Couric's interview with Sara Palin. Couric's personal ratings had been low but were higher than most expected with the interview with Palin. The public wanted to see Palin and having Katie Couric interview her was a good move for CBS.
Sean McManus, who is the president of CBS News, commended Couric's interviewing skills but had to acknowledge Palin's presence in the higher ratings for the interview. America wanted to see this interview, we wanted to see what she had to say. There is more to come for Wednesday and Thursday night as well. Couric has interviews for each canidate for a special series during the primary season. Couric will ask Palin and Obama's running mate, Joseph R. Biden Jr., the same questions. I'm happy that Couric's ratings went up but it bums me out that they went up on Palin's coat tail, even if that coat tail is a negative one. CBS has had a number of complaints from the McCain campaign for Palin's interviews with Couric but no complaints had been made on CBS or Couric herself.
I feel like the media has already set a path for Palin. There have been many posts, blogs, newspaper articles, daytime television hosts, etc, that openly speak negatively about her so when she interviewed with Katie Couric, many minds were already made up. While I'm not the biggest fan of Palin I wanted to watch the interview with an open mind and actually listen to what she had to say without pegging her with things that I had already heard from the media around me. Unfortunately, I feel like few people did that but that's just my opinion. I'm sure the same thing will happen with Biden but for some reason I get the feeling that it won't be as overwhelming as Palin's aftermath. We'll see.

Whats the Big Secret?

Hurricane Ike ripped through Galveston County on Saturday leaving the town in dismay. When the hurricane was over the town's mayor, Lyda Ann Thomas said that reporters would not be able to talk to any city officials or employees and she did not say when she would be lifting that order. Mayor Thomas and the City Manager Steve LeBlanc would be the only people allowed to speak with news reporters. Why? What is the big deal? The mayor kept tight striction to the heavily damaged areas for whatever reason.

Some Daily News reporters tried to speak with city employees but were denied and could only speak with Mayor Thomas and the city manager. An article found in CNN quoted Mayor Thomas,“We do not intend to evacuate Galveston Island … It’s the last thing we want to do. Our job is to protect lives and property, [and] right now we feel that sheltering in place is the best action for our citizens to take.” What kind of advice is this? Why isn't the media allowed to speak with city employees? The only reason the public knows what is going on in situations such as the aftermath of a hurricane is by watching the coverage on the news or reading about it in the paper or some other form of news. Not allowing coverage of such a disaster is bizarre. This town should want to put their damages out in the public, perhaps they would get more help from the country.

New Orleans reporter Chris Kirkham, who has covered the damage of 4 hurricanes, has said that the hardest part of covering a hurricane is the road blocks and usually a press pass gets you through those but not in Galveston County. He felt as though the local police were trying to be a step ahead of the media which no one knows why. Now, because of the lack of information we have about the damage control in this county, there are rumors circulating such as there have been 20,000 bodies pulled from the damage, FEMA has taken over cellphone service, and there is a bio-defense facility on the island. Freelance writer Joseph Davis says that he believes there is no reason to think that any of these rumors are true. If Galveston County would just let us in we would not have to make up our own tales about what is going on "in there".

The Media Dust Must Settle at Some Point...

Barrack Obama released one of his most crucial attacks on John McCain in Virginia at Granbury High School but this was overlooked by the all of the day's blogs and tv commercials and newspaper articles and video press releases and many many others things that caught the publics's attention. The media coverage on the two canidates is phenomenonal. Every day there are blogs and magazine articles that keep us up to date with the campaign's everyday events. In this article, Matthew Dowd, who is the chief strategist for Bush's re-election campaign in 2004, said that, “At this point, the ability to create and drive a message narrative is all but impossible,” he said. “There’s just so much stuff. The average person has 90 channels. They all get the dot-coms. They all get a newspaper. There is so much flow of information that they just to begin to discount it all.”



We have become gluttons for information. Almost like babies reaching out for more with our hands we want more. The politicians are doing their best to keep up but what the public wants the public gets(so to speak of course). The ads put on by Obama and McCain are almost not worth it. I couldn't tell you what they are about or which one stands out to me but I can tell you that when Obama referred to either McCain or Palin in his reference to putting "lipstick on a pig" my ears perked up. The media knows what to cover and focus on and they also know HOW to cover it. The internet, blogs, online articles, news coverage, etc. If this is how politicians can get us to pay attention then by all means, do what you can to get our attention! Like this article says, maybe they should not put all of their focus on their campagin ads on tv but more on their debates because that is where they will have the public sitting on the edge of their chairs(hopefully).
“The only things that are going to change the equation of the election are the four debates,” Mr. Dowd said, referring to the three presidential debates and one vice presidential debate. “That’s it. “

To Binge or Not to Binge...

College students are forever drinking. According to statistics we spend about 5.5 billion dollars a year on alcohol. Not only that but Im sure that we all know that most accidents, deaths, sexual assaults, and various other crimes and harrassments are alcohol related. Most of the students that binge drink in college took part in the same activity in high school which only leaves us to wonder... are we going in a circle? Binge drinking is not a good idea, obviously, but to most students it's a past time, a way to hang out with friends. Im not condoning binge drinking at all, but I am however saying that by the time most students get to college they are excited about going to bars and clubs and being able to drink and they HAVE NO IDEA how to control themselves. Maybe some classes should be taught in high school or in college. Perhaps a seminar or two of real life accidents caused by drinking would wake us up but the article doesn't say that. Yes we all know that we can get into car accidents when drunk and get alcohol poisoning when consuming too many Long Island Teas but maybe a class would wake us up a little more.


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/09/health/09brod.html?ref=science

Students end up in the hospital all the time due to alcohol related accidents. And while most people have the mindset that fraternity and sororities are the main focus for drinking it's also the football fans, and the random parties that are thrown over campuses everywhere. It's not just the athletes but it is also the people in your class that look like they have never had a drink in their life. According to this article everyone is at risk and I agree. We should take responsibility and stop drinking BEFORE we start seeing double.

What do we really care more about?

The Republican Convention was definately interesting what with Sara Palin. The media converage on her is amazing. The papers and news coverage seem to not only focus on her but on her family life and that includes her 17 year old daughter who is pregnant. I feel like the media cares more about that then on what Palin actually has to say and that kind of sucks. I feel the only reason that her daughter's business is out there is because it makes for a good story and makes people feel a little better about themselves and perhaps their own families. While I am not personally a huge fan of McCain I really like Sara Palin. I feel as though she is relateable to the people and there are issues that I do agree with that Sara Palin and McCain spoke about but interms of the media coverage on Palin they not only focus on the issues she spoke about but also incredibly on her pregnant daughter and I that is because people are more likely to pick up a paper that says pregnant 17 year old daughter of running mate to John McCain than a paper that says something about the Republic Convention so the media has no choice but to put a little focus on the story that will sell.