YouTube

Mr. Hurley was surrounded by curious media executives at Allen & Company’s annual Sun Valley mogulfest in July. They wondered: friend or foe? Is he earnestly working to make YouTube and its exuberant users conform to the existing standards of copyright law and contractual obligations? Or is he cynically flouting the law to enable YouTube to grow rapidly, calculating that he will be able to cut a more advantageous deal later, or perhaps sell the company to someone else who will be able to sort through the mess of liabilities?

For the whole story, see this New York Times story.

Is silence really golden?

Two San Fransisco reporters revealed that pro-baseball player Barry Bonds had used steroids. Writers at the New York Times somehow managed to exploit the identity of super secret agent Valerie Plame. These journalists had annonymous sources, though they felt their sources were strong enough for them to go ahead and publish the information.

Now, all these journalists are being summoned to court and threatened with jail time (or spent time in jail already) for not naming their sources, despite the fact that journalists are supposed to have certain protections (thank you, first amendment) that allow them the right to keep the privacy of thier sources PRIVATE.

What's your opinion? Should journalists have to give up the information of their sources, therefore losing their sources, just because a judge thinks we should know? Does anyone really care how those guys found out about Barry Bonds?

Or, what about when there are criminal cases involved, like the Valerie Plame fiasco, where good buddies of the President outted a top CIA operative to reporters after her hubby wrote an article saying there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? Had the sources not been given up, we never would have seen Scooter resign.

OR is it case by case? Should the rules change for every situation, or she they be so cut and dry.

Read this from firstamendmentcenter.org, and then let me know what you think!

Thanks!
LD

It's getting hot in here

There's some interesting information on how quickly the Earth is actually heating up and how we are contributing to the problem.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/26/science/26warming.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin

Bill Clinton: I got closer to killing bin Laden

Bill Clinton was recently interviewed on Fox News Sunday. I first heard about it today through Bill O'Reilly on the no spin zone on 96.9 FM Talk Everyone has been talking about it since because he didnt keep his calm and collective behavior during a part of the interview when asked a question by Chris Wallace. Clinton was suppose to be asked about the whole global warming thing and his agenda on it but instead he was asked about Al Queda and bin Laden and why he failed on not catching him during his presidency. If you missed out on the interview here's a link that sums up what went down.

Court system without laws...?

The New York Times published a story today on small town courthouses that have completely abused their powers. There are actually court rooms out there who do not follow any type of rules, regulations or laws! I thought this sort of thing only existed in movies. Reporters uncovered many courthouses that are located in garages, fire stations, within town halls and other uncommon and unstructured places. They have found that many of these so-called judges only have high school degrees and are making absurd rulings. Some have been sent to jail on accounts that are directly against their right to free speech. Others have been harassed right in the court room and others have been denied protection from abusive husbands! The question I have is how in the world did these judges get the authority to make these rulings? Who placed them on the "throne?" How have so many of these "court rooms" gone on like this for years without anyone noticing? I just find this absolutely horrible. Read the article for more detail and you'll get my drift. Also, they have some great pictures in the Times of some crazy court houses that you would have never suspected.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/26/nyregion/26courts.html?pagewanted=3&ei=5094&en=dad674de6dc5f775&hp&ex=1159243200&partner=homepage

Young children fighting in Iraq

Although it seems that in some far away land there's a war going on, this was is so real and is affecting children. Iraqi militia are using children to set up traps they are hoping American troops will walk into. I think it's disgusting to have children partake in a war, as if living in the environment isn't bad enough. These children were toddlers when the war began, so it's a part of life for them. This story caught my attention and maybe it will catch yours too. Link

When a fish becomes a canary

No longer can we feel safe with watch dogs...now the fish are to the rescue. I found it interesting to learn that big cities like San Fran, New York, and Washington have been using bluegills to detect safe water conditions. The article states that there has been an increase in threats to the United States water supply since September 11th. The fish are very sensitive to changing water conditions so they are being monitored for changes as an indictaion of water contamination alerts. While this may be one of the government's new clever ideas, I still think that there needs to be precautions taken before the little fishies hearts start pounding. Although, I'm sure there are proactive measures being taken, it seems as though where there's one clever idea, there's one rested brain...if you know what I mean.

I found this artcle to be of interest...maybe you'll like it too!

www.cnn.com/2006/US/09/18/terror.fish.ap/index.html

Forget The Spinach, Read This Instead...

Author and Journalist Oriana Fallaci died today. I thought this would be interesting for you guys to read on the heels of the last post about the Pope's comments deameaning Islam.

(For anyone who doesnt know Fallaci, shes a controversial author who was accused of racism against Muslims. As a journalist, she interviewed many world leaders and was known for her brash and aggressive interviewing style.)

"The Agitator" from the New Yorker

Brief Bio from Wikipedia


Hope you guys find it interesting...
-LD

The Pope's Comments: Global news

The Pope's recent comments about Islam, which seem to have been reported a bit out of context, have stimulated a growing controversy. Google News has a list of close to a thousand stories from around the world. What do you think? Has this been overblown? What is the role of the press in inter-religion relations?

Week 1. Let's introduce ourselves (again)

I know you've done intros already on WebCT, but it's worth doing it again here to get practice at making posts and commenting on other's posts. And here you'll find a group of journalism-focused students.