This final chapter of We the Media mainly focuses on how journalism is changing and how important the multimedia world is becoming. This change is important to see because it affects both the journalists and the viewers. According to Gillmor, “My goal in this book has been to persuade you that the collision of journalism and technology is having major consequences for three constituencies: journalists, newsmakers, and the audience. The evidence seems persuasive that something big is happening.” (237). It is important to understand and acknowledge this change or else we may find ourselves unable to put out the type of media that people desire. Another important point that Gillmor brings up is the fact that we seem to be bound and stuck by our past. It is always hard to get people out of their everyday routines but once you do, they will realize that the world is changing. This can be applied to the media because many of the people in the business want to keep focusing on print and the importance of this. Print is a very important part of journalism but it is healthy and good to recognize that some other forms are increasing in popularity. If we ignore the fact that blogs and video are important, then we will be missing out and really not using the Internet to its full potential. Gillmor also acknowledges that the Internet is the most important medium since the printing press. This is a very big statement to make and one that we should really take the time to think about. The digital era is vastly changing the ways that we are able to put out information to our audiences and should in turn change the ways that we think about journalism. The We the Media text has helped me realized when journalism started and where journalism is with the online world of today.

U.S. Economic Crisis’ Impact on Middle East from Sir Toppenhat on Vimeo.

This is a video essay of a few students at the University of Denver and their thoughts about the government and if we can trust them or not.

Who Can We Believe Final from Eddie Fischermann on Vimeo.


This team explored how the worldwide financial crisis is affecting the outlook for seniors graduating from college this spring.

Daliah, Sara, Ally & Arianna’s Final Video!! from Arianna Ranahosseini on Vimeo.


A final team produced the story below.

Since August, 17 strikes have occurred in Pakistan near the Afghan border, targeting members of Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups while also purportedly resulting in civilian deaths. Although the US has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for the attacks, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said in a statement that “it was underscored to the [American] ambassador that the government of Pakistan strongly condemns the missile attacks which resulted in the loss of precious lives and property,” according to the BBC.

To what degree the next presidential administration will respect this admonishment from the Pakistani government remains to be seen. President elect Barack Obama has promised to hunt down Osama bin Laden and members of Al Qaeda, even if that requires military incursions into Pakistan. Former candidate and Senator John McCain, never publicly affirmed this course of action during his campaign, categorizing his opponent’s willingness to do so as cavalier. On other subjects, however, McCain took a harder line, saying as recently as this year that military action against Iran might be better than “living with an Iranian bomb,” according to a recent New York Times article.

“The stakes have never been higher for us individually, nationally or globally. We live in a time of unprecedented danger and opportunity,” says Greg Moser, executive director of the Homeland Security Program at the University of Denver (DU).

Obama will inherit the substantial challenge of reconciling the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and determining how to utilize America’s power to confront international threats and crises. As President Bush’s approval ratings have shown, national and international success requires support from individuals both at home and abroad.

War crimes protesters at the White House call for Bush

Nick Phelps, an international business student at DU, supports operations like the recent missile attacks in Pakistan.

“If you have to kill ten people, to save an entire city, it is worth it. I don’t believe in mass wars; I believe in special forces and clandestine services that will take care of certain situations when they need to be handled,” says Phelps.

Should the United States pursue military action against terrorist cells in the border regions of Pakistan despite the Pakistani government’s condemnation of such actions, the United Nations will likely become involved. Many Americans want the United States to obtain international support before intervening in foreign countries.

“Intervention is acceptable when it’s compatible with the provisions of the UN Charter and/or the Genocide Convention— i.e. when another country has used force against us and we are entitled to use self-defense under Chapter VII of the Charter, or when it’s necessary to prevent genocide or widespread massacres while the UN Security Council refused to act,” says Bob Gotlen, director of the International Human Rights Advocacy Center at DU.

Some Americans, like Katie Ross, a business and marketing major at DU, would like the US to give more precedence to human rights issues rather than focusing on security.

“The war in Iraq did not need to happen yet they terribly needed us with the genocide in Rwanda and we ignored it. When people call to us for help we should probably learn to listen” says Ross.

Determining how to confront such issues will continue to be difficult. This past election season has demonstrated that the likelihood of the American people, let alone the international community, reaching a consensus on these issues is remote. In today’s world, however, nations can afford to be independent but not insular.

“I think that the US needs to continue to be involved internationally,” says Matt Krebs, a graduate business student. “I have come to believe that diversity is America’s greatest gift, and we need to prize those differences in our society. That said, it is incredibly important that we defend the beliefs of the majority of Americans.”

Hope for change and hope for a stronger America sent voters to the polls, ultimately revealing Obama to be the victor. Only the future, however, will ultimately reveal the form that his leadership will take. In spite of the disappointment felt by some, Americans can still hope that the fervor and controversy of this election has made enough of an impression on Washington and the constituency that there is reason to hope for a better future. Looking ahead, Moser says, he can see that possibility: “If we recommit ourselves and the nation to optimism, justice, accountability, tolerance, freedom, development of all human potential, and the preservation of our environment, I think we will have the possibility of meeting the many challenges we face in the coming century.”

http://www.drudgereport.com
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info
http://newstandardnews.net
http://www.unknownnews.net
http://www.axisoflogic.com
http://haaretz.com
http://gnn.tv

A news aggregator:
http://topix.net

Al Jazeera English:
http://english.aljazeera.net

The Internet has made it very hard to monitor what is posted, especially cheating in forms of plagiarism.  Trademark laws, property rights, and forbidden linking have had huge problems with online postings. The terms and conditions are somewhat technical, so I would suggest reading them over in chapter 10 for a greater understanding of what can get an online user in trouble with the law.

But it all seems to me like nothing online is well-monitored at all.  I’ve seen plenty of things online that could constitute for libel and you don’t hear about much going on as far as law suits go, but as far as Gilmor’s advise, I think it’s just to use common sense and not post anything harmful or damaging to anyone’s reputation, especially lawyers, doctors, government officials and companies.  A lawsuit would be enough for a journalist to go bankrupt and close their site down and shut them up!

Another thing the chapter touches on is the “spin” factor that most journalists do. Spinning a story is when someone portrays an angle on a certain story to be a way they want it to be. This can lead to very poor reporting. It is something very commonly done. We actually talked about it in the last class when we were talking to the Iranian students about the differences between CNN and FoxNews. How both lean one way or the other and do not ever fully tell what should really be said.

In chapter 7, Gillmor discusses, amongst other things, Wikipedia. The online encyclopedia and other “wikis” have pages of information that are created and updated by users. The users have unlimited access to edit any page. Gillmor discusses the problems of credibility in this site. Of course, we are all aware that if any person can edit a page, it is suspect as to who that person is and to what are their credentials. This was certainly the case during the beginning part of the decade. From a student’s perspective conducting research, at first, in high school, teachers tried to forbid using Wikipedia as any type of source. Then that perspective turned to being all right to use Wikipedia as an initial source, but it was never acceptable to quote it. This made a lot of sense and as Wikipedia grew to include extensive bibliographies. For more popular sites at first and now it seems many pages have comprehensive sources portions. This turned out to be useful for research because an examination of these sources are often much more traditionally credible and can be used in academic research. Only very recently have Wikipedia entries started to be accepted in some academia. Lynn even approves wiki sources. The fear is that there will be “vandals” who will intentionally corrupt the information in addition to non-credible authors. These problems have mostly been overcome. First, there are many people contributing and editing, which continually refines pages to provide the most accurate information. Those people are also citing their sources. Gillmor also says that vandals’ writing is quickly changed, which deters them from making the effort. I do not personally know if this is true. Gillmor also says that the articles are generally neutral in tone, something very absent from blogs for example. This seems to result from having the opportunity to neutralize each other until the only thing they can agree on is more or less the facts. This is then often accompanied by rounded opinions from every side. Over time, this is what has shaped into being regarded as a credible source. I still think Wikipedia is a good starting point for research, but should not be the end all, nor should any other source. In many ways, a balanced view of the facts of a topics accompanied by several opinions if it is controversial is much more beneficial than searching for opinions, which tend to have an agenda. In chapter 10, considerations of violating defamation law are discussed, for example. Wikipedia currently allows its uses’ access by the administrators and is testing a way to give this power over to the uses. Removal from the site, however, is very rare, which further shows that almost all people are contributing in good faith.