My next blog topic must be on filler news and my ill feelings towards it.

As my second month as a News Producer I am learning very quickly how detrimental filler news is to our society. One is example of a story that came down the wires just the other days was about a woman releasing a book about cats who wear wigs.

I cannot pretend like stories such as this are not enticing as a kickers for a news show (a kicker being the last story, that is light and leaves a viewer feeling uplifted). However, as I watch other newscasts I am finding many of my producing peers out there are using stories like the “cat wigs” half way through there shows.

I must say… living in an area where there is not a lot of hard news most certainly cannot become an excuse for newsrooms to avoid seeking out more stories. It is to my understanding that investigative journalism can be come quite expensive… but if we steer away from it, we are cheaping the product we deliver. This, not to mention, becomes an even greater disservice to the public.

My tip, news stations need to stick to harder news stories. The top block of a show MUST always be hard news, and if viewers are upset about how depressing news has become… include a positive economy story or two!

And my tip for viewers… quit demanding the fluffy junk. It is degrading the journalism profession. You cannot contradict yourselves and say you want us to go out and investigate… but fail to actually actively listen or even tune in. Without good viewership the news will fail… and trust me, nothing could be worse then a society without media. Call us out on our biases… but at least we offer up something to contradict all the political propaganda filth you are being fed daily but celebs, the gov’t, etc.

Right now it is an obvious fad. People join for all kinds of reasons. Whether it is curiosity, to stalk or stay informed, it surely seems everyone is tweeting like crazy. But in all this madness, I see no future.

Why you ask? It will become to overrun in terms of serve space and be forced to become an advertising Mecca like a myspace and facebook to buy enough to continue on. While advertising is a positive thing for businesses, people simply just do not want it in their social networking world.

When I pull up my facebook and twitter, I have a certain expectation of privacy and control. The second ads take over that space, I will have little to no interest in what they offer. I am already swamped with mediated messages when I turn on the TV, radio, or browse other internet sites. If my social networking outlets make me feel overwhelmed by a world I am trying to escape, I will get fed up and move on.

If twitter wants to make become sustainable, I think it is going to have to look into deleting messages after a certain amount of time. This way, service space can stay down, ads are unnecessary and maintenance will be easier.

Hill next to Columbine High School

It is so crazy to think that ten years ago today I was sitting in my fifth grade class at Semper Elementary in Westminster, Colorado. Westminster was part of Jefferson County, one of the largest counties in the state and most recognizably, the same county where Columbine High School is located.

I will never forget being in a sexual education discussion. All three fifth grade classes were combined and we were sitting there listening to my teacher drone on about awkward topics while we giggled. Then, there was a knock at the door. Ms. Murtha, one of the teachers, went to check. She stepped outside and was gone for several minutes.

Next thing I knew, she ran through the door up to my teacher Mr. Salamon and said something in his ear. They both split in the classroom, one locking the door and the other closing the blinds. Ms. Murtha put a table up against the door and we all sat there in silence and shock.

None of us knew what was going on and the teachers would not tell us. They just carried on with business. All they said was that class would be going a little longer.

After a substantial amount of time, the phone rang in the classroom. Mr. Salamon answered it and just said “okay.”

There was a knock at the door. Most of our parents were standing outside. The teachers let us go to our parents.

My mom, brother and I all walked out to the car. Parents were crying all around us . I still had no idea what went on.

When we got in the car my mom asked us if we knew what happened. We answered “no.” She then turned on the radio. It was talking about a high school and how people were dead. My mom told us how there was a shooting at the school down the road.

It is crazy to think back to that day. It seems like just yesterday. As someone who went through Columbine, moved to Mississippi & lost my community in Katrina and then had to go through the Virginia Tech shootings, I cannot stress enough how scary the world can be.

My series of “unfortunate events” is not as quite as entertaining as Lemony Snicket’s version, but I must say my presence for some of the biggest events in world history has been a gift more than misfortune. I have learned so much about appreciating what I have and knowing not to take one moment for granted.

For all who are remembering Columbine today, celebrate the lives of those lots and live yours for them.

We are Columbine. 4/20/99.

Interesting take 10 years later: 8 Unanswered Questions

I am a Virginia Tech student (not that this wasn’t obvious based on my blog title). I was there, living on campus, on my way to class on April 16, 2007.

This year the Tech Administration has done a couple things that have really been a disservice to students. First of all, they waited all the way until February to tell us classes were canceled on the 16th. So, all fall semester and a ways into spring semester I had to dread April. Very insensitive.

If that was not enough, students were just told that Norris Hall would be opening April 10th! So, they pick the very month that the shootings happen to re-open the hall that it happened in?

What is so frustrating to me, is the fact I was one of the few students who stood up for Steager and the University over the course of the past two years. I felt that their extensive efforts of counseling, student panels, etc., were wonderful.

Bu the fact is, I am still here! My friends are still here. It’s like they forgot empathy this year. Well guess what, I walk by Norris every day, I still remember Reema and the tears I cried.

Fact is, the shootings are not over for me.

I feel like I can speak for many of my fellow students that the community deserves a lot more time before the University eases up on preserving the month of April as a time of sincere remembrance.

No opening day today and sure enough the “man” toyed with my Sox emotions up until just 5 hours before the game!

Just as I was about to suit up in my Ortiz shirt and sox… socks… they do this to me! FML.

Okay, I am being dramatic. I would want a beautiful opening day to, but come on. I clear my mind, schedule, and life for this event each year and sure enough the game against the Rays is set for 4:05 tomorrow… when I have stuff to do.

Let’s see if Sen. Ed Kennedy is still throwing the opening pitch… if I am screwed over on that too, I will be double upset.

What I really want to find out is if companies would be willing to create jobs or hire people specifically to assist them in evolving in this digital world.

What about consultants that do this kind of work? The truth of the matter is, major corporations sometimes need an outside force to see how this technology can be applied to their industry.

Take newspapers for example. If someone would have realized ten years ago when they were putting free material on the web that would have been the downfall of the paper, would that have not been beneficial to thousands and thousands of people.

I am very curious to see how I will be valued by the business world. I feel I can offer something so wonderful to a company. What I offer is being on the curve of the revolution and riding trends.

Have you ever been sitting in a room of the type of people who spit incorrect political facts for argument sake.

I’m not talking about people who are generally just ignorant of politics, moreover the people who may have some background so they throw around fancy jargon and verbage to impress the uninformed.

The other day I was in a situation where just that happened.

I was sitting with two friends-one in particular who is very passive aggressive- and watched commentary on the latest Obama press conference.

The passive aggressive friend immediately went on a huge tangent about foreign affairs and how Obama is trying to sabotage the war on terror. She then began to mention his withdrawal plan without any factual basis.

My other friend, who is much more ignorant of politics and issues but also very opinionated, jumped right into the conversation. She was getting very heated by the things the other girl was saying and fed fuel to the talk.

Little did either of them know, I personally watched the whole conference, watched commentary, and went so far as to blog on it for the TV station I work for.

The whole debate encompassed barely a single fact and to make matters worse, it sparked other conversation about the results of the election and the first 100 hundred days that were incorrect.

Personally, I have no problem with people talking about politics. I actually love discussing it. However, being a talking dictionary does not make you an effective commentator.

Before you act like an informed individual…actually do your research.

He said that the digital age is simultaneously creating and destroying our field. The innovation of social networking, multi-media journalism, and blogging has downsized the number of employees and empowered ireporters to thirst for internet fame.

Fortunately, he added that students of this era are in luck. If we train ourselves in new popular mediums we have a chance of being that one person who makes it in the web world. He cited the great Mark Zuckerberg of facebook and the founder of google; instant celebrities who are most certainly sitting on piles of money.

During his rant he ventured into discussing another site that he suspects is the next big component to this fight. It was Twitter.

I was immediately skeptical.

As a loyal facebook user, I could not see the importance of a site devoted to status updates. Personally I had not even heard of the site so I figured it could not have that much fame in the media world. Needless to say… I was wrong.

Sure enough, the next day Twitter was mentioned on the view and on E News. I even went to my internship at WSLS-TV 10 and our web guy asked me if I could keep up with the station’s Twitter account.

My curiosity of course got the best of me. So, I went to the site.

Right away I noticed the eye catching colors and easy of signing up. Since I was aware that Twitter was status updates, when I saw space to type my 140 characters I jumped right in by saying that “I hear Twitter is the new Facebook, which was the new Myspace, that came after myjournal… what’s next.”

Right away I went to find people and typed in my favorite news anchor’s name- Anderson Cooper- and he popped up. I clicked follow and went to my home page.

There it was. All the news teases I could ever want and personal little tidbits of commentary on big events.

Turns out Twitter is an amazing tool for the media. For instance, if I am out on a fugitive story with the station and I have internet on my phone. I can post the direct facts as they happen that will reach audiences much faster then waiting for us to return with footage, edit, and air the news at 11p.m.

Even for individuals who do not think their lives are that interesting, can comment on all kinds of events, gossip, etc. and have more potential then ever to get their word out. How on earth do you think someone like Perez Hilton got so much fame? He is famous for his commentary!

Let’s just say, as a media student I am surely going to try to take advantage Twitter. It is globalization on a whole new quicker scale.

Paying for Facebook just seems take away the whole point. The free flowing access, promotional opportunity, and interesting applications make it a great tool for people from all walks of life.

I am drawn to the fact its free. There are very few sites I can come to and put money at the door. Even many news outlets are charging for their content.

I understand hard times are falling on all types of business. But social networking is one of the few outlets where the digital revolution has helped revenue not ruined it.

There are so many ways to make money, and I think the savy facebook staff has had no problems tapping into those sources. With millions of users, businesses paying for their small ads has generated tons of revenue.

Facebook should not disservice itself and its users by making us pay. The more users=more consumers of ads=more money paid for advertisements.

Join the protest.

Today I left early to find a spot in the commuter lot and be on time to class. Nine times out of ten I take the bus because I know how nightmarish pulling into the lot for 2:30 class is. But today was different. I needed my car for an interview after class.

1:55–I circled the McBryde side of the lot near the back. No luck.

Honestly, it is that time before classes let out so you are lucky to find a person or two who got out early. My fault for being out of sync.

2:00–One or two people leave, others get their spots.

2:07– I am the nice person who saw someone following two walkers. Even though I was closer to their spot… the other car was noticeably following.

2:15– Class is out. Waiting for spots to open up.

2:20– No spots on McBryde side… move to middle between McBryde and Derring.

2:22 (class starts in 8 minutes)– I follow a guy and he points at his spot. I am positioned right by it but had to back up a little to let him out. White car rushes up and throws on turn signal for spot. I motion that it is mine.

White car pulls in.

______________________________________________________

I try very hard to be generous towards my fellow students. I understand we are all running late to class and we all do not want to walk that far in the rain. But if you see someone noticeably waiting for a spot, why would you take it!?

Sure, white car girl did not know that I had been circling the lot frantically for twenty-thirty minutes. And sure, she did not realize I had been nice to another driver earlier in my search. But regardless, there are rules-written or unwritten-of the road.

Maybe I would not be so frustrated if this hadn’t happened before. It sure would be helpful if the school could be investing in parking plans versus building a new basketball training center. If I remember correctly, I am paying to go to class. It is unfortunate when students almost miss class because of parking.