Moncrief with horns but it was for TCU

The mayor of Fort Worth declared Go Purple day, the friday before the TCU vs Utah game, garnering some unexpected support from a photographer from the star telegram. The coincidental photograph, giving the mayor horns as he raises a TCU shirt actually got TCU and Fort Worth on national television, because of a remark made by Jay Leno. Good job Mayor Moncrief. We appreciate the free PR.

TCU is playing versus Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl on January 4th. Boise state hired a PR firm earlier in the year to garner support for their football team. TCU has not done that, but has received serious support from the Fort Worth community. This is only helping TCU and their road to a BCS bowl.

more journalistic violence

A Macedonian journalist was beaten while walking to his car recently in Macedonia. The police say they want to solve this issue quickly, but it sad that people, whose desire it is to educate the public and spread the news, can not be safe. They should be respected. In Macedonia especially, journalists can only help the public. A country can not grow if they wish to suppress the media or keep secrets from their people. It prohibits growth, because the people don’t trust the government, and they don’t trust each other. They fear their lives, instead of enjoy them.

Macedonia’s Journalist Association has seriously condemned the violence toward the journalist. How would you feel if you couldn’t report the news truthfully without being assaulted in your country? What about teachers? in developing countries, journalists are almost in a teaching position, because they educate the public. How would it be if teachers were assaulted for doing their job.

Threats against Journalist

A Serbian journalist has claimed she’s been threatened for revealing her information about die-hard soccer fans in Serbia. It was originally reported to the Associated Press, and the threats seem to be related to a recent documentary she has completed.

This is an example of a journalist doing her job, and revealing dangerous people in order to help the public and make people aware of illegal activities. The police is trying to keep her safe, but who’s to say something won’t happen, since it seems they can not control these extremists.

This woman has done what all journalists originally set out to do, and end up losing track of; She has gone out and gotten an important story, done her research and exposed who deserved it.

This is not to discourage journalists, this is to encourage actually. Whoever becomes exposed in a story fears the journalist because they are right and they have found good information. This means the journalist did their job. But at what point should this government realize that it doesn’t help the growth of their country to allow extremists to control and manipulate the law?

Something worth Mentioning.

NewsTsar could be the next big thing concerning the public and the news. According to WFAA’s website, Zev Shalev will be leaving “The Early Show” in order to create his own company, which will be an interactive news Web site.

What do we think of this? is this a good idea? Should the public be more involved in news or less? Will they trust this web site more, because there are more people like them reporting on the news or will they trust it less because it won’t be from professional journalists? we’ll have to wait and see. I think this will either be a great success or a huge fail.

A different approach to blogs

Mostly, blogs are opinions, maybe about politics, sometimes about fashion, often personal opinions about various topics, but this blogger claims to have been working with the FBI to isolate “neo-Nazis and white supremacist groups.”

Hal Turner is going to trial for threatening federal judges, according to the New York Times. In this bizarre case, Turner claims to have been paid by the FBI to blog in an anti-terrorist act.

Blogging has always been an issue, are they real reporters or are they just people with thoughts, how is the writing, is this legitimate? Many questions have been asked and it continues to be a debate.

Did the FBI really pay him? if they did, shouldn’t he have some sort of protection from prosecution? Is it right for him to be prosecuted, when his intent was to assist the government? When will it be proved?

Some people actually take on-line posts into consideration and cause physical harm to others who are being discriminated against on-line. This is a classic example and even if he was helping the FBI, is it alright for a public figure to promote harm? Should the Internet be used for things like this? When should there be a limit to what can be published? Would it be ethical to limit the Internet?

It never ends…

Another government shut-down has occurred in Hungary. Two major radio stations, one of them US-owned, were closed down. It has been reported that their frequencies were also given away to other stations. These new stations supposedly have close government ties.

The United States isn’t perfect and sometimes, the media get involved where they have no business getting involved, but they are called the Fourth Estate for a reason. They have the ability to speak freely about the government and inform the public about political happenings and decisions made by the president.

There are now rumors of corruptions swirling around Hungary because of these actions. Shutting down the press only makes what you are doing even worse. Shutting down the press is like personally calling the police while committing armed robbery. It raises questions.

It is really disturbing to see this happening to often this year, it also occurred in Honduras earlier this year. Clearly the government is either losing control or the people are upset with the administration and they are trying to cover it up. How can governments be allowed to do this? But at the same time, maybe the United States is the odd one out, since it appears not many countries are on the same page?

Woods drama

Yahoo! posted an article concerning Tiger Woods and his family recently, highlighting the fact that his family has been able to stay out of the spotlight until now. The article focuses on Mrs. Woods’ ability to fly under the publicity radar.

Although most of the time, the Woods family is very discrete, recent actions have triggered a sincere interest in the family from the media. One incident is going to ruin the wall of privacy the Woods family has managed to erect. Is this right? Does the media have the right to go barging into their life because of one incident?

The article mentions rumors of an affair. This affair was reported by the National Enquirer. This is sensationalism at its best. Form your own opinions about this. I don’t think it is right for writers to automatically assume after one issue, and the only public issue for this family, that Tiger is having an affair. This is the kind of reporting that shouldn’t be tolerated. Yes, if the police report is released and Tiger Woods’ wife is responsible for harming the golf star, then by no means should a reporter hold back, but linking a rumor with a car accident and going off the bend is by no means necessary.

How do serious writers feel about sensationalism? How does this story relate to Jon and Kate’s much publicized dilemma? Should speculations be published?