Stanton Journalism 1 Class Blog: January 2007

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS (AS OF 1/31/07)

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

BULLETIN: CIA Leak Case and Chapter 2

Students, we are currently studying the ethical and legal responsibilities of the press, so I though this little current event would be an excellent example for you.

Today, Judith Miller, a former New York Times reporter whom we dicussed in class in relationship to shield laws (see notes) was in court today. Follow this link to read about her and your testimony in today's proceedings: http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/30/cia.leak/index.html

Then, to read more information on the whole case follow this link: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2005/cia.leak/

This is a wonderful opportunity for you to witness the principles of journalism in action. Remember, today's current event is tomorrow's history and text book item!!!

Enjoy,

Mr. K

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS (AS OF 1/30/07)

Monday, January 29, 2007

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS (AS OF 1/29/07)

DAILY ASSIGNMENTS

I. Study Chapter 2 notes and outline. Read the outline, add supplemental notes, create study note cards.

NOTE: We may hold a review session before the test...but don't count on it. During our study of Chapter 2 we will refer to the concepts and vocabulary regularly. You must rely on your individual study, as well as any in-class discussion for your progression of the understanding of the chapter.

NOTE: Don't forget to review the Chapter 1 notes for the Term/Session Exam on 2/2/07.

II. Study chapter vocabulary. In addition, students should prepare to work on additional in-class vocabulary assignments by reviewing words nightly. For test/quiz dates see calendar in class or upcoming dates post. To prepare for the in-class study and tests/quizzes, students are encouraged to create 3x5 study cards. STANDARD [JV1]

III. Bring Materials/Supplies to class; this includes textbooks, paper, pens, notebooks, writing journals, etc. (NO EXCEPTIONS)

IV. You should conduct a nightly/daily review of the course orientation notes. You will be expected to have adequate mastery and knowledge of all course policies and procedures.

V. You should conduct a nightly/daily review of the course standards. You will be expected to have adequate mastery and knowledge of all course standards.

VI. READ/WATCH THE NEWS!!! Immerse yourself in the power of current events....remember, today's current event is tomorrow's history. (-Mr. K 1/26/07)

TONIGHT'S ASSIGNMENTS

I. Obtain one (1) recent news article. This article must be recent (i.e. no older than 5 days). It must be clipped...PLEASE DO THIS BEFORE CLASS; WHOLE PAGES WILL NOT RECEIVE CREDIT. DUE NEXT CLASS MEETING

II. Read and outline Chapter 2 (see textbook for page numbers). This should be typed according to the format that was instituted when we studied Chapter 1. DUE 1/30/07

III. Complete Assignment #4 (p. 53 in textbook). Please create a heading, use double-space typespace, 12 point Time New Roman, and add a -30- at the end. Your commentary must be no less than one page. DUE 1/30/07

IV. Organize your notebook per the Notebook Structure Chart. DUE 1/30/07

UPCOMING DATES (AS OF 1/29/07 THROUGH 2/2/07)

TESTS/QUIZZES

??? [A or B]: POP Quiz-Course Orientation Notes

NOTE: The key to performing well on this quiz is to study the notes and handouts given to you on the first day of the class.

Current Event Quizzes

2/2 [B]: CEQ #4

Chapter Tests/Quizzes

1/30 [A]: Quiz-Chapter 2 (Vocabulary)

NOTE: In order to perform well on this test it will be imperative that you study all dates and vocabulary terms associated with this chapter.

2/2 [B]: Term/Session Exam-Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 (Topics/Vocabulary)

NOTE: There will not be a Chapter 2 test; instead your knowledge of the chapter topics will be assessed on this exam. You can alos expect CEQ #4 to be included on the exam. PLEASE STUDY!

FILM VIEWING DATES

1/29 [B]: Active Viewing-"Shattered Glass" (Part 1)

1/30 [A]: Active Viewing-"Shattered Glass" (Part 2)

1/31 [B]: Active Viewing-"Shattered Glass" (Part 3)

NOTE: Dates are subject to change. Students must have parent permission slip signed in order to view films. A supplemental essay assignment will take the place of the viewing if slip is not returned on the first day of viewing.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT DATES

TBA [B]: Essay-Media Ethics and Penalties (In-Class Essay)

TBA [A]: Essay-Media Ethics and Penalties (Typing Day #1)

TBA [B]: Essay-Media Ethics and Penalties (Proofreading/Typing Day #2)

GENERAL INFORMATION DATES

2/6 [B], 2/7 [A]: FCAT SSS WRTING

2/26 [A], 2/27 [B]: FCAT SSS

NOTE: These dates will affect 9th and 10th graders.

SERVICE INTERRUPTION DATES

2/19: PRESIDENT'S DAY (NO SCHOOL)

3/16: TEACHER PLANNING DAY (NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS)

3/19-23: SPRING BREAK (NO SCHOOL)

NOTE: Although students are not in school on the above dates, the expection that all scheduled readings, homework assignments, and other work still exists. If work is assigned prior to the above dates, that work will be collected/checked upon the students return to class.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

BULLETIN: On This Day...January 28, 1986

At about 11:30 AM, Eastern Time, January 28, 1986, the Shuttle Challenger was launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida. Aboard the ship were its Commander, Francis R. "Dick" Scobee, its pilot, Michael J. Smith, and its crew, Christa McAuliffe (the first 'Teacher in Space'), Mission Specialists Ellison S. Onizuka, Judith A. Resnick and Ronald E. McNair, along with Payload Specialist Gregory B. Jarvis.

Seventy-three seconds into the mission, the Challenger exploded and fell into the sea. On April 29, 1986 the identified remains that had been located were turned over to their families for burial. However, there were number of unidentified remains. These remains were buried at Arlington National Cemetery on May 20, 1986, beneath the Memorial that appears below. Two of the crewmembers, Scobee and Smith, were buried in Arlington National Cemetery as well.

Friday, January 26, 2007

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS (AS OF 1/26/07)

DAILY ASSIGNMENTS

I. Study Chapter 2 notes and outline. Read the outline, add supplemental notes, create study note cards.

NOTE: We may hold a review session before the test...but don't count on it. During our study of Chapter 2 we will refer to the concepts and vocabulary regularly. You must rely on your individual study, as well as any in-class discussion for your progression of the understanding of the chapter.

NOTE: Don't forget to review the Chapter 1 notes for the Term/Session Exam on 2/2/07.

II. Study chapter vocabulary. In addition, students should prepare to work on additional in-class vocabulary assignments by reviewing words nightly. For test/quiz dates see calendar in class or upcoming dates post. To prepare for the in-class study and tests/quizzes, students are encouraged to create 3x5 study cards. STANDARD [JV1]

III. Bring Materials/Supplies to class; this includes textbooks, paper, pens, notebooks, writing journals, etc. (NO EXCEPTIONS) IV. You should conduct a nightly/daily review of the course orientation notes. You will be expected to have adequate mastery and knowledge of all course policies and procedures.

V. You should conduct a nightly/daily review of the course standards. You will be expected to have adequate mastery and knowledge of all course standards.

VI. READ/WATCH THE NEWS!!! Immerse yourself in the power of current events....remember, today's current event is tomorrow's history. (-Mr. K 1/26/07)

TONIGHT'S ASSIGNMENTS

I. Obtain one (1) recent news article. This article must be recent (i.e. no older than 5 days). It must be clipped...PLEASE DO THIS BEFORE CLASS; WHOLE PAGES WILL NOT RECEIVE CREDIT. DUE NEXT CLASS MEETING

II. Read and outline Chapter 2 (see textbook for page numbers). This should be typed according to the format that was instituted when we studied Chapter 1. DUE 1/30/07.

III. Read and Annotate the Stephen Glass articles. DUE 1/29/07 Please read the following:

Reading Assignment #1: Media Ethics and Stephen Glass
Journalism I/KNIGHT

Task: Using the five handouts distributed during class, students will first read then annotate the articles. Students should use highlighters to point out specific pieces of information such as names, dates, places, and any other information relevant to the topic. To help them clearly illustrate their understanding of the article, students will write a very detailed outline-style summary in which all of the information that the student highlighted, along with personal impressions, will be written down for future discussion. This must be completed before the first viewing date of Shattered Glass (1/29).

Objective: Based on both their knowledge of media ethics and the Stephen Glass case, students should be able to effectively discuss and write about the responsibilities and ethics of journalists.

Materials: Glass articles, paper, pen/pencil, and highlighter

Standards: JR1, JR2

II. Organize your notebook per the Notebook Structure Chart. DUE 1/30/07

Thursday, January 25, 2007

BULLETIN: The Merchants of Cool

Students, today we began our discussion of Chapter 2 and the various functions of the press. One of those functions is the Economic Function. If you recall I mentioned a phenomenon known as 'cool hunting.'

Go to http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/ and visit the PBS/Frontline website for the 2001 documentary report entitled The Merchants of Cool.

Here you can watch the entire program online, read interviews with real cool hunters, and get additional information on the mass marketing of teen culture. Visit the site and look around, but be prepared to discuss specifics related to the topic.

Enjoy.

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS (AS OF 1/25/07)

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

IN MEMORIAM: Ryszard Kapuscinski (1932-2007)

Photo by Irmi Long from the Eichborn AG
Ryszard Kapuscinski, March 4, 1932-January 23, 2007

Prominent Polish writer and journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski dies at 74

The Associated Press
Tuesday, January 23, 2007

WARSAW, Poland (AP) -- Ryszard Kapuscinski, a Polish writer and journalist who gained international acclaim for his books chronicling wars, coups and revolutions in Africa, the Middle East and other parts of the world, has died. He was 74.

Kapuscinski died Tuesday at Warsaw's Banacha hospital of a heart attack following an operation, Czeslaw Apiecionek, one of Kapuscinski's literary agents, told The Associated Press. He would give no other details. But a friend of Kapuscinski, Miroslaw Ikonowicz, was quoted by the news agency PAP as saying Kapuscinski died of a heart attack after undergoing an operation on a tumor on Friday.

Poland's parliament honored Kapuscinski with a moment of silence Wednesday morning, and Speaker Marek Jurek praised him as "a witness of human suffering and a witness of people's hopes."

"There is no one among Poland's writers to fill in the space left by him," said Marek Zakowski, president of the Czytelnik publishing house, which published several of Kapuscinski's books and is editing a new one, "Lappidarium 6."

Zakowski, who knew the writer for more than 30 years, described Kapuscinski as "a rare kind of great personality. He was always curious to learn more about the world, he was curious to meet people."

In Stockholm, Horace Engdahl, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, which awards the annual Nobel Prize in literature, said Kapuscinski's "fundamental theme is really simple people's ability to endure and find joy in situations where not even the most elementary conditions for a decent life appear to be in place."

"He was an invaluable witness of an era, who gave us Westerners eyes to see in the dusk beyond the wealthy world's illuminated patch," Engdahl said.

Kapuscinski was often mentioned as a likely contender for the Nobel Prize in literature by oddsmakers and followers of the prize — though the Swedish Academy itself is secretive about whom it considers.

Kapuscinski launched a career in the late 1950s and early 1960s that would see him become a master of reportage. In those years, he served as the sole Africa correspondent for the Polish Press Agency, or PAP, reporting on the upheaval across the continent as African nations shook off colonial rule and declared independence.

He went on to publish books such as "The Emperor," probably his most popular book, a chronicle of the decline of Haile Selassie's regime in Ethiopia. But the book, published in 1978, was more a reflection on dictatorships in general, and widely interpreted by Polish readers as a criticism of Poland's communist regime.

Kapuscinski once said the book was more about the "mechanism of dictatorial rule."
Three years later, he published "Shah of Shahs," a book about the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled Iran's Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

"Besides reporting current events, I studied books about Islam," Kapuscinski said, according to his official Web site.

"I wanted to describe the people, their mentality, their way of seeing the world. And experience taught me that from each spot in the world one sees the planet differently. A person who lives in Europe sees the world differently than a person who lives in Africa. Without trying to enter into these other ways of looking and perceiving and describing, we won't understand anything of this world."

Several of Kapuscinski's books were translated into English. He also wrote "Another Day of Life," about the Angolan civil war, "Imperium," about the waning days of the Soviet Union, "The Soccer War," and "The Shadow of the Sun."

Kapuscinski was born in March 4, 1932, in Pinsk, a city then in eastern Poland, and now in Belarus.

He is survived by his wife, Alicja, and a daughter who lives in Canada, Zakowski said.
There was no immediate information about funeral arrangements.
___
Associated Press writer Ryan Lucas in Warsaw contributed to this report.
(vg)

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS (AS OF 1/24/07)

DAILY ASSIGNMENTS

I. Study Chapter 2 notes and outline. Read the outline, add supplemental notes, create study note cards.

NOTE: We may hold a review session before the test...but don't count on it. During our study of Chapter 2 we will refer to the concepts and vocabulary regularly. You must rely on your individual study, as well as any in-class discussion for your progression of the understanding of the chapter.

NOTE: Don't forget to review the Chapter 1 notes for the Term/Session Exam on 2/2/07.

II. Study chapter vocabulary. In addition, students should prepare to work on additional in-class vocabulary assignments by reviewing words nightly. For test/quiz dates see calendar in class or upcoming dates post. To prepare for the in-class study and tests/quizzes, students are encouraged to create 3x5 study cards. STANDARD [JV1]

III. Bring Materials/Supplies to class; this includes textbooks, paper, pens, notebooks, writing journals, etc. (NO EXCEPTIONS)

IV. You should conduct a nightly/daily review of the course orientation notes. You will be expected to have adequate mastery and knowledge of all course policies and procedures.

V. You should conduct a nightly/daily review of the course standards. You will be expected to have adequate mastery and knowledge of all course standards.

TONIGHT'S ASSIGNMENTS

I. Define all Chapter 2 vocabulary terms. Please use the appropriate format. See previous vocabulary work for instruction. DUE 1/25/07

II. Visit resource sites for the president's State of the Union Address (see post). Please collect notes in your steno pad. Focus on the effectiveness of the speech, the overall message, and general observations. We will/may use this speech as the basis of tomorrow's topic entry response...so be prepared!

III. Start/continue obtaining all assigned materials. Please see the cource curriculum paper for a detailed list. ALL ITEMS SHOULD HAVE BEEN OBTAINED BY 1/16/07

IV. Obtain one (1) recent news article. This article must be recent (i.e. no older than 5 days). It must be clipped...PLEASE DO THIS BEFORE CLASS; WHOLE PAGES WILL NOT RECEIVE CREDIT. DUE NEXT CLASS MEETING

V. Organize your notebook per the Notebook Structure Chart. DUE 1/30/07

BULLETIN: Chapter 2 Vocabulary Terms

VOCABULARY TERMS-Chapter 2: Meeting Ethical and Legal Responsibilities (p. 26-52)

Task: Using your textbook and class discussion notes define the following terms.

Objective: Students should be able to identify at least 11 of the 13 terms and discuss their relevance to the responsibilities of the media.

Materials: Textbook, class discussion notes, pen/pencil

ethics
credibility
objectivity
slander
invasion of privacy
privileged statements
fair comment
Forum Theory
composite characters
right of reply
plagiarism
prior restraint
shield law

NOTE: ADDITIONAL TERMS MAY BE ADDED TO THE LIST…PLEASE BE PREPARED

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

BULLETIN: Resource Sites (State of the Union 2007)

For more information on the 2007 State of the Union address, as well as a comprehensive outline of the president's speech and a detailed transcript go to the following sites:

Transcript of speech: http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/23/sotu.bush.transcript/index.html

Outline of speech: http://www.whitehouse.gov/stateoftheunion/2007/index.html

BULLETIN: Chapter 1 Test Sneak Preview!!!!!

If you are planning to study for the Chapter 1 test, this might be of interest to you:

1. The test will consist of 60 questions (true/false, multiple choice, and fill in the blank).

2. The test will cover the histoy of media, the black press, and the Chapter 1 vocabulary terms.

3. Questions will come from class lecture notes, your textbook, and Soldiers without Swords.

4. Here is a sample question:

1. The history of the American media is linked to the history and development of the country. Early newspapers were used as community journals that connected colonists and helped unite them during the time of the American Revolution.
a. TRUE
b. FALSE

Please review your notes and most importantly, bring your typed Chapter 1 outlines to class. The outline is due tomorrow.

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS (AS OF 1/23/07)

DAILY ASSIGNMENTS

I. Study Chapter notes and outline. Read the outline, add supplemental notes, create study note cards.

NOTE: We may hold a review session before the test...but don't count on it. During our study of Chapter 1 we will refer to the concepts and vocabulary regularly. You must rely on your individual study, as well as any in-class discussion for your progression of the understanding of the chapter.

II. Study chapter vocabulary. In addition, students should prepare to work on additional in-class vocabulary assignments by reviewing words nightly. For test/quiz dates see calendar in class or upcoming dates post. To prepare for the in-class study and tests/quizzes, students are encouraged to create 3x5 study cards. STANDARD [JV1]

III. Bring Materials/Supplies to class; this includes textbooks, paper, pens, notebooks, writing journals, etc. (NO EXCEPTIONS)

IV. You should conduct a nightly/daily review of the course orientation notes. You will be expected to have adequate mastery and knowledge of all course policies and procedures. V. You should conduct a nightly/daily review of the course standards. You will be expected to have adequate mastery and knowledge of all course standards.

TONIGHT'S ASSIGNMENTS

I. STUDY YOUR CHAPTER I NOTES

II. View President's State of the Union Address tonight @ 9PM on all non-cable channels (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX) or on cable (CSPAN, CNN, FOX). Please collect notes in your steno pad. Focus on the effectiveness of the speech, the overall message, and general observations.

We will/may use this speech as the basis of tomorrow's topic entry response...so be prepared!

III. Start/continue obtaining all assigned materials. Please see the cource curriculum paper for a detailed list. ALL ITEMS SHOULD HAVE BEEN OBTAINED BY 1/16/07

IV. Obtain one (1) recent news article. This article must be recent (i.e. no older than 5 days). It must be clipped...PLEASE DO THIS BEFORE CLASS; WHOLE PAGES WILL NOT RECEIVE CREDIT. DUE NEXT CLASS MEETING

V. Organize your notebook per the Notebook Structure Chart. DUE 1/30/07

Monday, January 22, 2007

BULLETIN: Media Center on Jan. 23, 2007

Students,

Please report to the Media Center tomorrow morning. DO NOT REPORT TO ROOM 204. GO DIRECTLY TO THE MEDIA CENTER.

-Knight

CHAPTER NOTES: Chapter 1 (Segment 4)

19. Discuss the emergence and impact of television.

The earliest U.S. patent for an all-electronic television system was granted in 1927 to a young Philo T. Farnsworth, who transmitted a picture of a U.S. dollar sign using his so-called image dissector tube in the laboratories of the Philadelphia Storage Battery Company (Philco). Meanwhile, the three radio technology powerhouses—General Electric, Westinghouse, and RCA—were cooperating closely with each other. General Electric and Westinghouse owned substantial shares of RCA stock, and the companies shared a collection of radio patents valuable to the development of television. In 1930 they consolidated their television research efforts at an RCA facility in New Jersey under the direction of Russian immigrant scientist Vladimir Zworykin. Historians usually credit Farnsworth, Zworykin, or both with the invention of television.

RCA unveiled television to the American public in grand style at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, with live coverage of the fair's opening ceremonies. This included a speech by President Roosevelt—the first televised appearance of an American president. Daily telecasts were made from the RCA pavilion at the fair. Visitors were invited to experience television viewing and were given the opportunity to walk in front of television cameras and see themselves on monitors.

Technically, network broadcasting takes place when local stations of different regions simultaneously transmit the same signal. Four companies stood ready to initiate network television broadcasting in the United States immediately following the end of World War II in 1945. Two of the companies, NBC and CBS, had made vast fortunes from radio broadcasting and were well prepared to dominate the television industry. The remaining two, the American Broadcasting Company (now ABC, Inc.) and the DuMont Television Network, were competing without the advantage of such previous commercial success.

ABC had been created in 1945 when the government won a lawsuit forcing RCA to sell off one of its two national radio networks. RCA’s Blue Network had been sold to Edward J. Noble, owner of the Lifesavers Candy Company, who renamed it the American Broadcasting Company. ABC managed to survive the early years of television through a corporate merger and imaginative programming innovations, many of them instituted by Leonard Goldenson, who joined Sarnoff and Paley as the third great founding mogul of American television. But ABC remained a poor third place in the programming ratings (estimates of the percentage of television viewers tuned to a particular program) for decades; it would finally catch up to its rivals in the late 1970s. The DuMont Network, owned by American television manufacturer Allen B. DuMont, was the only television network launched by a company without prior broadcasting experience. It went out of business in 1955.

By the mid-1950s the so-called Big Three radio broadcasting networks (NBC, CBS, and ABC) had successfully secured American network television as their exclusive domain. It was not until the mid-1980s that a fourth company, News Corporation, Limited, owned by Australian-born executive Rupert Murdoch, broke this oligopoly with the establishment of the FOX television network. In the 1990s Paramount Pictures (today a division of Viacom, Inc.) established UPN, and Warner Bros. (now a division of Time Warner Inc.) established WB, bringing the number of American commercial television networks to six.

20. Examples of television broadcasting companies.

The following are television broadcasting companies:

NBC
CBS
ABC
FOX
UPN (Out of business)
WB (Out of business)
CNN
CW
DuMont (Out of business)

21. Discuss television in the 21st Century.

Television is powerful medium. It has often been the eyes and ears of some of the most tragic and joyous events in the global village, or the phenomenon that refers to the total inclusion of the world. From the 1969 landing on the moon, to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, television has been an important through its merging of sights and sounds.

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS (AS OF 1/22/07)

DAILY ASSIGNMENTS

I. Study Chapter notes and outline. Read the outline, add supplemental notes, create study note cards.

NOTE: We may hold a review session before the test...but don't count on it. During our study of Chapter 1 we will refer to the concepts and vocabulary regularly. You must rely on your individual study, as well as any in-class discussion for your progression of the understanding of the chapter.

II. Study chapter vocabulary. In addition, students should prepare to work on additional in-class vocabulary assignments by reviewing words nightly. For test/quiz dates see calendar in class or upcoming dates post. To prepare for the in-class study and tests/quizzes, students are encouraged to create 3x5 study cards. STANDARD [JV1]

III. Bring Materials/Supplies to class; this includes textbooks, paper, pens, notebooks, writing journals, etc. (NO EXCEPTIONS)

IV. You should conduct a nightly/daily review of the course orientation notes. You will be expected to have adequate mastery and knowledge of all course policies and procedures.

V. You should conduct a nightly/daily review of the course standards. You will be expected to have adequate mastery and knowledge of all course standards.

TONIGHT'S ASSIGNMENTS

I. STUDY YOUR CHAPTER I NOTES

II. Write the Soldiers without Swords essay assignment. Please consult the prompt/rubric for specific information related to the essay. DUE 1/23/07 (Typing Day)

NOTE: If you choose to type this assignment, please adhere to the type specs.

III. Start/continue obtaining all assigned materials. Please see the cource curriculum paper for a detailed list. ALL ITEMS SHOULD HAVE BEEN OBTAINED BY 1/16/07

IV. Obtain one (1) recent news article. This article must be recent (i.e. no older than 5 days). It must be clipped...PLEASE DO THIS BEFORE CLASS; WHOLE PAGES WILL NOT RECEIVE CREDIT. DUE NEXT CLASS MEETING

V. Organize your notebook per the Notebook Structure Chart DUE 1/30/07

VI. Get parent signature on progress report. DUE 1/23/07

UPCOMING DATES (AS OF 1/22/07 THROUGH 1/26/07)

TESTS/QUIZZES

??? [A or B]: POP Quiz-Course Orientation Notes

NOTE: The key to performing well on this quiz is to study the notes and handouts given to you on the first day of the class.

Current Event Quizzes

1/26 [A]: CEQ #3

Chapter Tests/Quizzes

1/24 [A]: Test-Chapter 1 (Topics/Vocabulary)

NOTE: In order to perform well on this test it will be imperative that you study all dates and vocabulary terms associated with this chapter.

1/30 [B]: Quiz-Chapter 2 Vocabulary

2/2 [B]: Term/Session Exam

NOTE: There will not be a Chapter 2 test; instead your knowledge of the chapter topics will be assessed on this exam.

FILM VIEWING DATES

1/26 [A]: Active Viewing-Media Ethics DVD

1/29 [A]: Active Viewing-"Shattered Glass" (Part 1)

1/30 [A]: Active Viewing-"Shattered Glass" (Part 2)

1/31 [A]: Active Viewing-"Shattered Glass" (Part 3)

NOTE: Dates are subject to change. Students must have parent permission slip signed in order to view films. A supplemental essay assignment will take the place of the viewing if slip is not returned on the first day of viewing.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT DATES

1/23 [B]: Essay-Contributions of the Black Press (Typing Day)

1/31 [B]: Essay-Media Ethics and Penalties (In-Class Essay)

2/1 [A]: Essay-Media Ethics and Penalties (Typing Day #1)

2/2 [B]: Essay-Media Ethics and Penalties (Proofreading/Typing Day #2)

GENERAL INFORMATION DATES

2/6 [B], 2/7 [A]: FCAT SSS WRTING

2/26 [A], 2/27 [B]: FCAT SSS

NOTE: Thes dates will affect 9th and 10th graders.

SERVICE INTERRUPTION DATES

2/19: PRESIDENT'S DAY (NO SCHOOL)

3/16: TEACHER PLANNING DAY (NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS)

3/19-23: SPRING BREAK (NO SCHOOL)

NOTE: Although students are not in school on the above dates, the expection that all scheduled readings, homework assignments, and other work still exists. If work is assigned prior to the above dates, that work will be collected/checked upon the students return to class.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

FRONT PAGES: The Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.)

Date of Publishing: Jan. 21, 2007

For a closer look at the paper go to http://www.newseum.org/media/dfp/pdf21/LA_TA.pdf

FRONT PAGES: New York Times (New York City, NY)

Date of Publishing: Jan. 21, 2007

For a closer look at the paper go to http://www.newseum.org/media/dfp/pdf21/NY_NYT.pdf

FRONT PAGES: Daily News (New York City, NY)

Date of Publishing: Jan. 21, 2007

For a closer look at the paper go to http://www.newseum.org/media/dfp/pdf21/NY_DN.pdf

Saturday, January 20, 2007

IN MEMORIAM: Art Buchwald (1925-2007)

Photo from Veteran's History Project (copyright 2005)
Art Buchwald, October 20, 1925-January 17, 2007

Art Buchwald, 1925-2007

By Patricia Sullivan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 19, 2007; A01

WASHINGTON -- Art Buchwald, 81, the newspaper humor columnist for more than a half-century whose newfound comic material about death revived his celebrity, died of kidney failure Jan. 17 at his son's home in Washington.

Buchwald, an owlish, cigar-chomping extrovert whose column won the Pulitzer Prize (http://www.pulitzer.org) for commentary in 1982, teased death for the past year, after kidney and vascular problems forced doctors to amputate one of his legs just below the knee. Refusing dialysis, in February he entered the Washington Home and Community Hospices, which he described as "a place where you go when you want to go."

Then, amazing himself, his doctors, friends and the scores of reporters who thronged to him for a last goodbye, Buchwald didn't die. His kidneys began to work again. By July, he left hospice for his summer home. "Instead of going straight upstairs, I am going to Martha's Vineyard," he wrote.

His column, syndicated to more than 550 newspapers at one point, chugged on through the summer and fall, mining the field of death and dying for laughs, with the unexpected result of making his work once again the topic of conversations in the capital's powerful salons. He also finished the last of his more than 30 books. "Too Soon to Say Goodbye" was published in November. Buchwald, back in Washington, did a series of appearances in support of the book that reminded his fans of his heyday as a humorist who zinged the high, mighty and humor-challenged bigwigs of Washington politics.

Buchwald kept his sense of humor until he slipped into unconsciousness just before he died, said his longtime friend, Washington Post Vice President-at-Large Benjamin C. Bradlee.

"I just don't want to die the same day Castro dies," Buchwald told his friends, Bradlee said.

Strategizing about how to land a big obituary became part of his repertoire of jokes, especially after news of the death of former Chilean strongman Augusto Pinochet interrupted one of his book parties in New York.

"It was Phyllis's party, and she couldn't care less about what happened in Chile," he wrote, referring to his former editor, Phyllis Grann. "After about half an hour, Pinochet's death was forgotten. It was as if it had never happened."

Buchwald reveled in organizing his last hurrah. He called gossip columnists and radio talk show hosts to declare, "I'm still alive!" He talked on national television about planning his funeral, covering his bets by inviting ministers of different denominations. His March 7 column began, "I am writing this article from a hospice. But being in the hospice didn't work out exactly the way I wanted it to. By all rights I should have finished my time here five or six weeks ago -- at least that's all Medicare would pay for."

He also dealt publicly with more serious aspects of wrapping up one's life. The existence of heaven and hell is possible, he decided, and if it provides comfort, people should believe in it.

"I have no idea where I'm going, but here's the real question: What am I doing here in the first place?" he wrote in one of his columns.

In December, he told admirers at Wesley United Methodist Church in the District that he did not want to be remembered as dying after a long illness. "I want to die at 95 playing tennis against Agassi -- because he couldn't handle my serve," he told the crowd.

Before death and dying presented itself as a topic, politics was a favorite jumping-off point. As a long-running observer of the nation's political scene, Buchwald said his favorite president was Richard M. Nixon, whose delusions made for rich satirical material. "I worship the very quicksand he walks on," Buchwald quipped.

Most of his books were collections of his columns, which were syndicated by the Los Angeles Times and appeared in The Post. Two, "Leaving Home" (1993) and "I'll Always Have Paris!" (1996), were memoirs. They told the story of his journey from a lonely, impoverished childhood lived largely in foster homes to the salons of the famous.

His entertaining, name-dropping memoirs -- published in a period when some said his column was losing its edge -- also won him new respect in the publishing world. Although he had been elected in 1991 to the American Academy of Arts and Letters, he said in a 1996 interview that "people don't take humorists seriously; they don't even call them writers."

"It was those two books that made me a writer," he said. "Now, I'm being reviewed seriously. That gives me great pleasure, because I want to be known as a writer, not a humorist. It's one step up, and that's the direction I want to be headed at this stage of my life."

Buchwald also wrote about his bouts with mental disorders with a frankness that won him fans across the country. He had been hospitalized for clinical depression in 1963 and for manic depression in 1987. Both episodes nearly drove him to suicide, he said; drugs and therapy were his salvation. He joked to friends that if he had a third bout of depression, "I will be inducted in the Bipolar Hall of Fame."

After his appearances on television to talk about the chokehold these illnesses once had on his life, people would stop to thank him on the street for spreading a message of hope, he said.

Buchwald was born in New York City on Oct. 20, 1925, to a struggling, Austrian-born drape installer and a mother who suffered from chronic depression. Shortly after his birth, his mother was institutionalized. She lived for 35 more years but never saw her son again.

He had rickets and lived his first year in a foundling home before being sent to a Seventh-Day Adventist home for sick children. He stayed there until he was 5, with one of his three sisters. Their father, unable to support his children during the Depression, then placed them with the Hebrew Orphan Asylum in Manhattan.

In "Leaving Home," Buchwald wrote that, at about 6 or 7, he realized he could deal with the loneliness and confusion by becoming the class clown. He said he recognized that he could draw laughs by making fun of the people in charge.

"It was a dangerous profession I had chosen," he recalled, "because no one likes a funny kid. In fact, adults are scared silly of them and tend to warn children who act out that they are going to wind up in prison or worse. It is only when you grow up that they pay you vast sums of money to make them laugh."

The budding humorist lived in a series of foster homes, and he and his three sisters saw their father only on Sundays. When he turned 17, Buchwald lied about his age and escaped into the Marine Corps. The Marines, he wrote, got "full credit for straightening me out." He served in the Pacific during World War II. He attended the University of Southern California for three years and then dropped out after learning that he could use the GI Bill to study in Paris.

Once there, Buchwald conned his way into a glamorous, albeit low-paying, job as nightlife and entertainment columnist for the European edition of the New York Herald Tribune. He knew nothing about haute cuisine, he later recalled, but got the job by claiming to have been a wine taster in the Marine Corps. He said he faked his role as food critic by making sure to ask if the mushrooms were fresh.

His columns about Paris nightlife and jet-setting celebrities were carried in New York by the Herald Tribune under the name "Europe's Lighter Side." Ernest Hemingway, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Gina Lollobrigida, Aristotle Onassis, Pablo Picasso, Elvis Presley, E.B. White and uncrowned heads of international society made their way into Buchwald's pieces, turning him into something of a celebrity expatriate himself.

The column for which he is best known managed to drop names from several centuries earlier. In 1953, with help from newsroom colleagues, Buchwald undertook to explain the meaning of the Thanksgiving day feast to the French with laughable translations of the American tradition. It was the only day, he noted, that American families "eat better than the French."

Many newspapers ran it annually for years afterward.

Another of his favorites was a 1964 column that asserted that President Lyndon B. Johnson could not ask J. Edgar Hoover to resign because the former FBI director didn't exist; he had been made up by the ultraconservative magazine Reader's Digest.

After the Eisenhower era ended and the Kennedy administration was in full swing, Buchwald decided to return to the United States.

"I knew if I didn't get out, I'd be there forever, and I didn't want to become an expatriate," he recalled. "I found myself duplicating myself, talking about the French and the Italians and the tourists. It was getting harder, not easier. And I knew that I could work off the headlines in America, but I couldn't in Europe."

He and his wife, Ann McGarry Buchwald, whom he had met in Paris, moved to Washington in 1963 with their three children, who were adopted from orphanages and child welfare agencies in Ireland, Spain and France.

After Paris, Washington turned out to be a city that had no soul, he later wrote, although it was a wonderful place to make a living off satire. He said it was relatively easy to compose his twice-weekly take on the news, often done as an imagined dialogue between the major players.

Buchwald also wrote a satirical play, "Sheep on the Runway," that was produced on Broadway in 1970. He also did some screenwriting, including work that resulted in a major lawsuit against Paramount Studios. In 1992, he and producer Alain Bernheim won a $900,000 judgment after contending that they were not paid for their writing for the Eddie Murphy film "Coming to America."

The case, which centered on Paramount's definition of a movie's "net profit," led to what is known as the "Buchwald clause" in Hollywood contracts, protecting studios from having to compensate a writer for an original idea.

Buchwald, who gave up his trademark cigars when he was 59, was much in demand as a toastmaster in Washington and on Martha's Vineyard, where he was master of ceremonies of an annual auction to benefit the island's social service agencies.

In 1998, he moved from Washington to New York. "After a certain amount of time, there's nothing new," he observed then. "I do think one of the purposes of my move was to keep going."

But after he had a major stroke in 2000, he returned to Washington.

His wife, from whom he was separated, died in 1994.

Survivors include three children, Joel Buchwald of Washington, Connie Marks of Culpeper, Va., and Jennifer Buchwald of Boston; two sisters; and five grandchildren.

His children, he said, were initially upset with his decision to turn down dialysis treatments last year, but he insisted that he preferred to control his last days, which lasted longer than even he expected.

"I don't know if this is true or not, but I think some people, not many, are starting to wonder why I'm still around," he wrote while in the hospice. "In fact, a few are sending me get-well cards. These are the hard ones to answer.

"So far things are going my way. I am known in the hospice as The Man Who Wouldn't Die. How long they allow me to stay here is another problem. I don't know where I'd go now, or if people would still want to see me if I weren't in a hospice. But in case you're wondering, I'm having a swell time -- the best time of my life."

Former staff writer Claudia Levy contributed to this report.

Copyright 2007 Washington Post

Friday, January 19, 2007

BULLETIN: Resource Sites

Date of Publishing: Jan. 19, 2007

For more information on the current state of the African-American press go to the following sites:

http://www.chicagodefender.com (The Chicago Defender)

http://www.nnpa.org (National Newspaper Publishers Association)

http://www.nabj.org (National Association of Black Journalists)

http://www.blackpressusa.com (BlackPressUSA)

ARTICLE: Splinters of Humanity

Splinters of Humanity

by Larry J. Knight, Jr.

Pictures can communicate a number of things. Some present the emotions that are acquainted with despair and heartache, whereas others present peace, solitude, and introspection.

There is an axiom that says quite simply that ‘the eyes are the windows to the soul’. While there is some truth to that venerable saying, one must truly reflect upon the words, for as we seek to glimpse into the very essence of humankind, that thing that inspires us, propels us to do great things, we must continue to ask the questions that when answered will bring us closer to a true understand of the things that makes us...human.

For a very long time now I have sought out the beautiful places and things that exist in this world. Tried to find those comfortable niches where I could truly gaze upon the beauty of humanity. And as I sought those things and places, I have always felt that capturing them with the camera is the closest possible way that I could preserve their beauty. Sure, words may achieve the same thing, but photographs have the ability to communicate within the clarity of the image itself.

When one takes a glance at a picture, that thing which replicates what exists in the physical world, he or she is often glancing at the very essence of the human soul. And whether the image is in black and white or color, there is always a pronounced conduit that leads the viewer directly into the image’s content.

For example, on my coffee table, lies a book of photographs from Afghanistan that have been amassed over the past 50 years. On its cover is a poignant, though unnerving, image of an older Afghani man sitting at a table having tea with a young girl whom one could only assume was his daughter, while an AK-47 assault rifle lies on the table between them. The image speaks volumes. Within the covers of this book are images of joy, war, strife, degradation, deprivation, and humanity. Each image is a source of emotion. The pictures of children running through cobble-stoned streets, women wrapped in the traditional head dressing, or Afghani soldiers in combat with Soviet troops provide some form of linkage to a sentiment. A sentiment that provides the viewer with the basis for the question…’what makes me human?’

To be a photographer, means that one possesses the intentions of documenting the world. And whether that photographer documents birthday parties, weddings, or war, he or she is recording the events that shape our world. A few years ago my father, whom I consider the first photographer in my life that I truly had the chance to meet, gave me a camera. Now to some, this may not seem out of the ordinary, but one must consider this small fact…he had owned this camera for at least 28 years. To think of it, this simple man-made device had captured some of the most special moments of our family’s history. It had been there to witness countless birthdays, family vacations, graduations, holidays, births, and even deaths. Through its lens and within its inner mechanisms, it had captured the essence of our family. Today, I cherish that camera. Keep it safe. For it, like the old griots of West Africa, is a story teller. However, instead of using words, it has used images.

To be a photographer, means that one cherishes the moments that make life beautiful. So in short, take pictures…document the world.

SNAPSHOT: Happy Birthday Mr. Poe!!! (1848)

photo by anonymous

This dauerrotype (early type of photography) of Edgar Allen Poe was taken less than a year before his death at the age of 40. Poe was born on January 19, 1809 and died in Baltimore on October 7, 1849.

BULLETIN: The Official Website for “Soldiers without Swords”

http://www.pbs.org/blackpress/

Go to the site for the following:

1. A full transcript of the entire documentary
2. Additional interview information
3. Links to other websites that will provide additional commentary
4. Supplemental materials that will provide additional commentary

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS (AS OF 1/19/07)

DAILY ASSIGNMENTS

I. Study Chapter notes and outline. Read the outline, add supplemental notes, create study note cards.

NOTE: We may hold a review session before the test...but don't count on it. During our study of Chapter 1 we will refer to the concepts and vocabulary regularly. You must rely on your individual study, as well as any in-class discussion for your progression of the understanding of the chapter.

II. Study chapter vocabulary. In addition, students should prepare to work on additional in-class vocabulary assignments by reviewing words nightly. For test/quiz dates see calendar in class or upcoming dates post. To prepare for the in-class study and tests/quizzes, students are encouraged to create 3x5 study cards. STANDARD [JV1]

III. Bring Materials/Supplies to class; this includes textbooks, paper, pens, notebooks, writing journals, etc. (NO EXCEPTIONS)

IV. You should conduct a nightly/daily review of the course orientation notes. You will be expected to have adequate mastery and knowledge of all course policies and procedures.

V. You should conduct a nightly/daily review of the course standards. You will be expected to have adequate mastery and knowledge of all course standards.

TONIGHT'S ASSIGNMENTS

I. Write the Soldiers without Swords essay assignment. Please consult the prompt/rubric for specific information related to the essay. DUE 1/23/07 (Typing Day)

NOTE: If you choose to type this assignment, please adhere to the type specs.

II. Start/continue obtaining all assigned materials. Please see the cource curriculum paper for a detailed list. ALL ITEMS SHOULD HAVE BEEN OBTAINED BY 1/16/07.

III. Obtain one (1) recent news article. This article must be recent (i.e. no older than 5 days). It must be clipped...PLEASE DO THIS BEFORE CLASS; WHOLE PAGES WILL NOT RECEIVE CREDIT. DUE NEXT CLASS MEETING.

IV. Organize your notebook per the Notebook Structure Chart

CHAPTER NOTES: Chapter 1 (Segment 3)

17. Discuss the emergence and impact of radio.

Scientists in many countries worked to devise a system that could overcome the limitations of the telegraph wire. In 1895 Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi transmitted a message in Morse code that was picked up 3 km (2 mi) away by a receiving device that had no wired connection to Marconi's transmitting device. With this transmission, Marconi demonstrated that an electronic signal could be cast broadly (broadcast) through space so that receivers at random points could capture it. The closed circuit of instant communication was at last opened by a so-called wireless telegraph. The invention was also called a radiotelegraph (later shortened to radio), because its signal moved outward in all directions, or radially, from the point of transmission. The age of broadcasting had begun.

Within a decade of Marconi’s invention, wireless telegraphy had developed into a basic tool of the world maritime industry. Many countries soon required by law that vessels engaged in international trade have a radio transmitter and a certified operator aboard at all times. In 1906 the United Fruit Company hired American inventor Dr. Lee De Forest to help build a series of radio broadcasting stations to increase efficiency in shipping perishable goods, especially bananas, from Central America to the United States. These linked stations, which shared information on weather and market conditions, constituted the first broadcasting network. In 1912 a law was passed that empowered the Dept. Of Commerce to assign wavelenghts to license applicants. In 1916 De Forest made the first newscast by broadcasting the returns of the Wilson-Hughes presidential election.

Early evidence of a systematic scheme for broadcasting to the general public can be found in a 1916 memorandum written by David Sarnoff, an employee of Marconi's U.S. branch, which would become the Radio Corporation of America (now part of General Electric Company; see RCA Corporation). Sarnoff proposed “a plan of development which would make radio a household ‘utility’ in the same sense as the piano or phonograph.” Sarnoff's memo was not given serious consideration by Marconi management, and President Wilson’s suspension of nonmilitary broadcasting in 1917 made it impossible for the company to immediately explore Sarnoff's ideas. After World War I ended in 1918, however, several manufacturing companies in the United States began to explore and implement ideas for the mass-marketing of home radio receivers designed for casual use.

In an effort to boost radio sales in peacetime, the Westinghouse Electric Corporation (now CBS Corporation) of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, established what many historians consider the first commercially owned radio station to offer a schedule of programming to the general public. Known by the call letters KDKA, the station received its license in October 1920 and began service from a studio inside a canvas tent built on the roof of a Westinghouse factory. Frank Conrad, a radio hobbyist and veteran engineer with experience in civilian and military radio research, ran the project. Responsible for the station's programming as well as its technical operation, he aired various forms of entertainment, including recorded music generated by a phonograph placed before a microphone. KDKA charged no user fees to listeners and carried no paid advertisements; instead, the station was financed by Westinghouse to encourage people to buy home radio receivers.

The Radio Act of 1927 broadened the Dept. of Commerce’s power and created the Federal Radio Commission, which today is known as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) which has jurisdiction over radio, as well as television and the internet.
Through the years radio has covered its share of successes and tragedies. From the Hindenburg disaster to the declaration of war by President Roosevelt, radio has been on the cutting edge of present the sounds of world events. In the 1980s, the tradional radio announcer was replaced with often crude commentators of social ills. These shock jocks gave radio a new edge, crude, loud, vulgar, and often a menace in rural and urban communities.

18. Examples of radio broadcasting companies.

The following are radio broadcasting companies:

The American Telephone & Telegraph Company, barred from manufacturing radios by the terms of its telephone antitrust exemptions, AT&T explored the possibilities of what the company called toll broadcasting (charging fees in return for airing commercial advertisements on its stations). The first known instance of an advertiser paying for a broadcast commercial took place in 1922, when AT&T accepted a fee from the Queensboro Corporation to air a 12-minute pitch for the sale of cooperative apartments on WEAF, the company’s New York City station. Fearing legal action by radio companies that might threaten its telephone franchises, however, AT&T sold its stations to RCA. In return for leaving the broadcasting business, AT&T was granted the exclusive right to provide the connections that would link local stations around the country to the NBC network.

The National Broadcasting Company was formed in 1926. The General Electric Company (GE) began broadcasting over station WGY, located at its corporate headquarters in Schenectady, New York. The chairman of RCA, Owen D. Young, gave Sarnoff permission to develop company sales of radios for home entertainment. Sarnoff soon opened stations in New York City and Washington, D.C., and in 1926 he began organizing the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), an RCA subsidiary created for the purpose of broadcasting programs via a nationwide network of stations. NBC had two networks; Red (which was known as NBC) and the Blue (which was later formed into ABC).

The Columbia Broadcasting System was formed in 1927. Originally launched by the Columbia Phonograph Record Company as a means of promoting its recording artists, it was saved from bankruptcy after less than a year of operation by the Paley family of Philadelphia.
The Mutual Broadcasting System was formed in 1934 when a group of nonnetwork (or independent) stations, led by WGN in Chicago, Illinois, and WOR in New York City, formed a cooperative programming and news venture to compete against the network programs of NBC and CBS stations. When part of NBC was sold in 1945 it was later renamed the American Broadcasting Company.

National Public Radio was formed in 1970 as the first coast-to-coast noncommerical radio company in over 40 years. NPR was formed in response to the passing of the Public Broadcasting Act by the Congress of the United States in 1967. The act authorized the creation of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which was to “encourage the growth and development of noncommercial radio” and to develop programming that “will be responsible to the interests of the people.” The CPB set out to foster professionalism in the many small, noncommercial stations. NPR was created to provide national news coverage and to act as the first nationwide connection between the noncommercial stations. Incorporated in 1970 with 90 public radio stations as charter members, NPR transmitted its first program on April 19, 1971. On May 3, 1971, the news program “All Things Considered” debuted, establishing NPR as a national news and information service. In 1977 NPR merged with the Association of Public Radio Stations. Two years later, NPR established the first nationwide satellite-delivered radio distribution network.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

SNAPSHOT: Muhammad Ali (1965)

Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston, St. Dominick's Arena, Lewiston, Maine, May 25, 1965

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS (AS OF 1/18/07)

DAILY ASSIGNMENTS

I. Study Chapter notes and outline. Read the outline, add supplemental notes, create study note cards.

NOTE: We may hold a review session before the test...but don't count on it. During our study of Chapter 1 we will refer to the concepts and vocabulary regularly. You must rely on your individual study, as well as any in-class discussion for your progression of the understanding of the chapter.

II. Study chapter vocabulary. In addition, students should prepare to work on additional in-class vocabulary assignments by reviewing words nightly. For test/quiz dates see calendar in class or upcoming dates post. To prepare for the in-class study and tests/quizzes, students are encouraged to create 3x5 study cards. STANDARD [JV1]

III. Bring Materials/Supplies to class; this includes textbooks, paper, pens, notebooks, writing journals, etc. (NO EXCEPTIONS)

IV. You should conduct a nightly/daily review of the course orientation notes. You will be expected to have adequate mastery and knowledge of all course policies and procedures. V. You should conduct a nightly/daily review of the course standards. You will be expected to have adequate mastery and knowledge of all course standards.

TONIGHT'S ASSIGNMENTS

I. Write (or type) a detailed thesis statement for the Soldiers without Swords essay assignment. Please consult the prompt/rubric for specific information related to the essay.
DUE 1/19/07

NOTE: If you choose to type this assignment, please adhere to the type specs.

II. Start/continue obtaining all assigned materials. Please see the cource curriculum paper for a detailed list. ALL ITEMS SHOULD HAVE BEEN OBTAINED BY 1/16/07.

III. Obtain one (1) recent news article. This article must be recent (i.e. no older than 5 days). It must be clipped...PLEASE DO THIS BEFORE CLASS; WHOLE PAGES WILL NOT RECEIVE CREDIT. DUE NEXT CLASS MEETING.

CHAPTER NOTES: Chapter 1 (Segment 2)

5. Introduce a notable early (post-Independence) newspaper.

There is one notable post-Independence paper:

Pennsylvania Evening Post, which began publishing in Philadelphia on May 30, 1783, is considered to be the first daily newspaper to be printed in the newly independent America. During its inception, many other papers sprung up all over the country. It was the first paper to be printed daily, thus enabling readers to receive more exposure to the news.

6. Present information on sedition.

The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 called into question the freedom of the press. The Sedition Act provided that a person could be fined or imprisoned for publishing false or malicious statements about the president or Congress. The Federalists, who supported the law, used it to imprison editors who opposed their policies. However, the Federalists did not invoke the same law against editors who attacked Democratic-Republican policies, such as those of Thomas Jefferson. Reaction against this repressive law helped Jefferson win the presidency in 1800 before it expired in 1801.

7. Present definition of a penny press.

The term penny press is derived from the selling of early American newspapers for one penny. The penny press owes much of its success to the invention of the cylinder press, which printed newspapers quickly and cheaply.

8. Introduce early penny press era newspapers.

There are several notable papers belonging to the penny press era:

New York Sun which was founded in 1833 by Benjamin Day, who filled his paper with reports of local crime and violence, human-interest stories, and entertainment pieces and sold it for one penny. This event marked the creation of the penny press, which dominated American journalism throughout the rest of the 19th century. The paper was revolutionary because its distribution depended on street sales rather than subscription. It was also very popular within the working class community who before then were somewhat disenfranchised. Day was also responsible for fusing business with the paper. His inclusion of news related stories and the use of advertising, as a means to accumulate revenue was unheard of before then.
New York Morning Herald published by James Gordon Bennett in 1835 was quite similar to the New York Sun although it sold for two cents.

New York Tribune founded in 1841 by publisher Horace Greeley was influential because of its unprecedented weekly circulation of more than 200,000 subscribers. Greeley presided over the new paper for nearly 31 years and during that time opposed slavery, employed Karl Marx as a columnist, and Jane Grey Swisshelm as the first woman to cover Congress in 1850.

New York Times, which is considered the most professional newspaper in the world, was founded in 1851 when Henry Jarvis Raymond and George Jones, two staffers at the New York Tribune, decided to start their own newspaper. Raymond and Jones wanted to produce a newspaper that reported the news objectively, without resorting to the sensationalism that characterized the journalism of that era. The new paper, the New York Daily Times, quickly became a success. The word Daily was dropped in 1857. In 1891 Jones died and the quality of the paper declined rapidly. The paper was hurt further by an economic depression in the early 1890s and headed toward bankruptcy. In 1896 Adolph Ochs, editor and publisher of a small newspaper in Chattanooga, Tennessee, took over as publisher of the Times. In 1900 he gained control of a majority of the company’s stock. Ochs developed the Times into one of the world’s foremost newspapers. Today the company is owned and run by Ochs’s descendants. Its reputation was based more on the thoroughness of its reporting than on its editorials or positions on issues.

9. Present information on the influence of new technology on early newspapers.

The invention of the telegraph by Samuel Morse in 1837 dramatically improved the speed and reliability of news reporting. Newspapers became the major customers of the telegraph companies. The high cost of telegraph transmissions led to the formation of telegraph wire services, which distributed stories to many different papers.
The telegraph was prominently used during the Civil War and is responsible for the birth of the inverted pyramid style of reporting.

10. Introduces several examples of wire services.

There are several examples of wires services used in both yesterday and today’s media:

Associated Press (AP), now one of the world’s leading wire services, was founded as a cooperative venture by New York newspapers in 1848. The telegraph enabled newspapers to fill their pages with news that happened the previous day in cities located hundreds, then thousands, of miles away. With the successful completion of a transatlantic cable in 1866, American newspapers could print news from Europe with similar speed.

Reuters

United Press International (UPI)

11. Present definition of yellow journalism.

The term yellow journalism refers to an unethical, irresponsible brand of journalism given to hoaxes, altered photographs, screaming headlines, ‘scoops,’ frauds, and endless promotions of the newspapers themselves. As newspapers competed with one another to increase circulation, publishers sought new methods to attract readers. Publishers Joseph Pulitzer of the New York World, and William Randolph Hearst of the New York Journal began using drawings and comic strips to enliven their newspapers. They also transformed their papers with coverage of scandalous events and sensational stories. These tactics proved successful immediately, and a number of other papers followed suit. Journalists and writers labeled papers that relied on sensational stories or comic strips to attract readers, yellow journalism, after the popular Hearst comic strip ‘The Yellow Kid.’

12. Present examples of yellow journalism.

The following are several examples of yellow journalism (past and present):

Elizabeth Cockrane (AKA Nellie Bly) was known for her exploits and stunts where she would engage in outlandish activities to obtain news stories.

William Randolph Hearst, publisher of the New York Journal was instrumental in sending the U.S. to war with Spain in the late 1890s. His now famous quote, “...you furnish the pictures and I’ll furnish the war.” is evidence of how Hearst often manipulated public opinion by inventing stories or be sensationalizing them for profit.

The National Inquirer, Star, and Weekly World News are several examples of tabloids that have continued to carry on the traits of yellow journalism. With stories following the exploits of characters such as Bat Boy, glaringly hyped headlines, and computer altered photos, these papers are the 21st century’s equivalent to the papers published by Hearst and Pulitzer.

13. Discuss papers in the early 1900s.

The development of the first Linotype machine in the mid-1880s sped up typesetting by making possible the automatic casting of entire lines of type. The regular use of photographs in newspapers, which began in 1897, also broadened readership. Improvements to the rotary press drove newspaper circulation in large cities into the hundreds of thousands. By 1900 daily newspapers in the United States numbered 2,326. Most large cities had several papers each, and many smaller cities had at least two newspapers.

14. Discuss the emergance of the magazine/periodical in America.

Periodicals had seen immense popularity in both Europe and America through much of the 17th and 18th centuries. However, improvements in illustration and printing techniques during the 19th century resulted in lower production costs and introduced a new era of mass circulation, especially in the United States. Federal laws were passed providing inexpensive mailing rates. Increasingly, also, magazine publishers relied on revenue from the advertising their publications carried. The number, variety, and readership of attractively designed periodicals grew enormously. Harper's New Monthly Magazine (1850; later Harper's Magazine) led the revolution, with serialized fiction by popular English authors and many woodcut illustrations. Rival illustrated monthlies soon followed—among them, Scribner's Monthly (begun in 1870), afterward issued as the Century (1881-1930), and Scribner's Magazine (1887-1939). Of the unillustrated periodicals, the leading examples—both still being published—were the literary magazine The Atlantic (formerly The Atlantic Monthly, 1857), edited by eminent writers and critics, including William Dean Howells; and the political magazine The Nation (1865).

15. Present definition of muckraking.

Muckraking is a term used to refer to the exposing of a scandal, or to seek out and publicize misconduct by prominent people. It originated in the early 1900s as the country moved into a period of social consciousness. The early muckrakers crusaded against social ills and injustice and championed the causes of the average citizen. Early periodicals were excellent forums for this new social ideology.

16. Present examples of muckraking/muckrakers of the early 20th century.

The following is a list of several examples of muckraking:

Upton Sinclair, author of the controversial novel The Jungle is which the horrors of the meat packing industry were exposed, was in part responsible for the proposal and eventual adoption of The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906.

Ida Tarbell, writer for McClure’s magazine was known for writing scathing attacks on the big business tycoons and some scholars have claimed that her articles may have played a role in the proposal and adoption of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

CHAPTER NOTES: Chapter 1 (Segment 1)

1. Present background information on the connection between American History and American journalism.

The development of the newspaper and other forms of media in America is relatively a new innovation. During the 1700s, colonists and early Native Americans were not fortunate to have a newspaper at their disposal. For communication they relied of letters and word of mouth.
The history of the American media is linked to the history and development of the country. Early newspapers were used as community journals that connected colonists and helped unite them during the time of the American Revolution.

2. Present background information on America’s first newspapers.

Early newspapers were quite different than that of today’s papers. Early newspapers contained several things: very little news, essays, letters, and virtually anything that an editor could find to include in the paper.

3. Introduce several early (pre-Independence) newspapers.

There were several pre-Independence papers that are noteworthy:

Publick Occurrences, which is considered the first newspaper, was published in Boston on September 25, 1690. The publisher was Benjamin Harris and the printer was Richard Pierce. It filled only 3 of 4 six by ten-inch pages of a folded sheet of paper. The journalist stated in his first (and only) issue that he would issue the newspaper "once a month, or, if any Glut of Occurrences happen, oftener." Benjamin Harris's news was real news and was the first and last offered to Americans for many years. Publick Occurrences was brought to an end after only one issue by an outraged administration claiming that it contained "reflections of a very high order." It was printed without authority. An aroused bureaucracy issued a broadside warning against future publications of any kind without "license [sic] first obtained from those appointed by the Government to grant the same."

Boston News-Letter, America's first continuously-published newspaper, the Boston News-Letter published its first issue on April 24, 1704. John Campbell, a bookseller and postmaster of Boston, was its first editor, printing the newspaper on what was then referred to as a half-sheet. It originally appeared on a single page, printed on both sides and issued weekly. The paper was printed ‘by authority’ which meant that it had government approval. In the early years of its publication the News-Letter was filled mostly with news from London journals detailing the intrigues of English politics, and a variety of events concerning the European wars. The rest of the newspaper was filled with items listing ship arrivals, deaths, sermons, political appointments, fires, accidents and the like. The paper also contained financial and foreign news from English newspapers and recorded local births, deaths, and social events. It rarely challenged colonial authority because the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony retained the right to censor any of its contents.

The New-England Courant, first printed in 1721 by James Franklin, introduced coverage of political debate in its first issue. The paper presented the controversy surrounding smallpox inoculations, which were used for the first time in Boston that year to fight an epidemic. Cotton Mather, a prominent Congregational minister and scholar, supported inoculation; Franklin did not.

Pennsylvania Gazette first published in 1729 by Benjamin Franklin who made the most of this opportunity by publishing humorous social commentary under the pen name Silence Dogwood along with reports on political events.

New York Weekly Journal, which is most notable because it was the first paper to help establish the ‘truth as a defense’ rule that protects journalists from persecution. John Peter Zenger was charged with sedition on November 17, 1734 because of printed comments voicing dissatisfaction with colonial governor William Cosby. Zenger’s case did not go to trial until August 4, 1735 when attorney Andrew Hamilton defended Zenger and won the case.

4. Discuss the influence of newspapers during the American Revolution.

In 1773 colonists gathered in the house of a newspaper editor, Benjamin Edes of the Boston Gazette, to organize the Boston Tea Party—a protest against Parliament’s decision to tax tea imported to the colonies. Among the other leading newspapers in the struggle against British policies were the Massachusetts Spy, published by Isaiah Thomas, and John Holt's New York Journal. Two women, Sarah and Mary Katherine Goddard, published the Providence Gazette, another anti-British voice during these years. American patriot Samuel Adams, who often edited the Boston Gazette, organized the Committees of Correspondence, groups of colonists who garnered public support for independence. In 1776 the front pages of colonial papers carried the Declaration of Independence, an official validation of the fight for independence that had embroiled colonists and British soldiers for more than a year.

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS (AS OF 1/17/07)

DAILY ASSIGNMENTS

I. Study Chapter notes and outline. Read the outline, add supplemental notes, create study note cards.

NOTE: We may hold a review session before the test...but don't count on it. During our study of Chapter 1 we will refer to the concepts and vocabulary regularly. You must rely on your individual study, as well as any in-class discussion for your progression of the understanding of the chapter.

II. Study chapter vocabulary. In addition, students should prepare to work on additional in-class vocabulary assignments by reviewing words nightly. For test/quiz dates see calendar in class or upcoming dates post. To prepare for the in-class study and tests/quizzes, students are encouraged to create 3x5 study cards. STANDARD [JV1]

III. Bring Materials/Supplies to class; this includes textbooks, paper, pens, notebooks, writing journals, etc. (NO EXCEPTIONS)

IV. You should conduct a nightly/daily review of the course orientation notes. You will be expected to have adequate mastery and knowledge of all course policies and procedures.

V. You should conduct a nightly/daily review of the course standards. You will be expected to have adequate mastery and knowledge of all course standards.

TONIGHT'S ASSIGNMENTS

I. Complete Assignment #8 (p. 24 in text). This assignment must be typed in the following format:

-12 point Times New Roman font
-Double spaced -Underlined heading
-Five paragraph format (Intro, Body, Conclusion)

The essay can be persuasive in nature.

Please read all directions and adhere to any additional instructions. If you use additional source information (NOT WIKIPEDIA), you MUST cite it within your commentary. No source citation=point penalty. Also, make sure work is comprehensive. One or two lines WILL NOT suffice (sorry). DUE 1/18/07

II. Start/continue obtaining all assigned materials. Please see the cource curriculum paper for a detailed list. ALL ITEMS SHOULD HAVE BEEN OBTAINED BY 1/16/07.

III. Obtain one (1) recent news article. This article must be recent (i.e. no older than 5 days). It must be clipped...PLEASE DO THIS BEFORE CLASS; WHOLE PAGES WILL NOT RECEIVE CREDIT. DUE NEXT CLASS MEETING.

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENTS (AS OF 1/16/07)

DAILY ASSIGNMENTS

I. Study Chapter notes and outline. Read the outline, add supplemental notes, create study note cards.

NOTE: We may hold a review session before the test...but don't count on it. During our study of Chapter 1 we will refer to the concepts and vocabulary regularly. You must rely on your individual study, as well as any in-class discussion for your progression of the understanding of the chapter.

II. Study chapter vocabulary.

In addition, students should prepare to work on additional in-class vocabulary assignments by reviewing words nightly. For test/quiz dates see calendar in class or upcoming dates post. To prepare for the in-class study and tests/quizzes, students are encouraged to create 3x5 study cards. STANDARD [JV1]

III. Bring Materials/Supplies to class; this includes textbooks, paper, pens, notebooks, writing journals, etc. (NO EXCEPTIONS)

IV. You should conduct a nightly/daily review of the course orientation notes. You will be expected to have adequate mastery and knowledge of all course policies and procedures.

V. You should conduct a nightly/daily review of the course standards. You will be expected to have adequate mastery and knowledge of all course standards.

TONIGHT'S ASSIGNMENTS

I. Complete Assignment #8 (p. 24 in text). This assignment must be typed in the following format:

-12 point Times New Roman font
-Double spaced
-Underlined heading
-Five paragraph format (Intro, Body, Conclusion)

The essay can be persuasive in nature.

Please read all directions and adhere to any additional instructions. If you use additional source information (NOT WIKIPEDIA), you MUST cite it within your commentary. No source citation=point penalty. Also, make sure work is comprehensive. One or two lines WILL NOT suffice (sorry). DUE 1/18/07

II. Start/continue obtaining all assigned materials. Please see the cource curriculum paper for a detailed list. ALL ITEMS SHOULD HAVE BEEN OBTAINED BY 1/16/07.

III. Obtain one (1) recent news article. This article must be recent (i.e. no older than 5 days). It must be clipped...PLEASE DO THIS BEFORE CLASS; WHOLE PAGES WILL NOT RECEIVE CREDIT. DUE NEXT CLASS MEETING.

CLASS FORUM: Topic Response #1

Please respond to the following questions in a short comment reponse:

Should video security cameras be used on school property (i.e. classrooms, hallways, restrooms, cafeteria, gym, etc.) in an effort to curb school violence?

Please make your comments brief (no more than 25-50 words). Any comments that are offensive and/or derogatory will be deleted.

Monday, January 15, 2007

SNAPSHOT: The Last Days of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Source: Time Magazine)

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivering his "I Have a Dream" speech in Washington D. C. in 1964.

To see the rest of the photos please use the following link: http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/2006/martin_luther_king/?xid=site-cnn-partner

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT: Antonia Robinson (Class of 2003)

Students, this is a link to the Gainesville Sun website. The author of this article is Antonia Robinson, a former english and journalism student of mine who graduated in 2003.

Antonia is presently interning at the Sun. She sent this to me yesterday. I submit it to you as proof that there is a future after the Devil's Advocate.

https://webmail.educationcentral.org/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070113/DAYBREAK/70112017%26SearchID=73268947729998

UPCOMING DATES (AS OF 1/15/07 TO 1/19/07)

TESTS/QUIZZES

??? [A or B]: POP Quiz-Course Orientation Notes

NOTE: The key to performing well on this quiz is to study the notes and handouts given to you on the first day of the class.

Current Event Quizzes

1/19 [B]: CEQ #2

1/26 [A]: CEQ #3

Chapter Tests/Quizzes

1/22 [A]: Test-Chapter 1 (Topics/Vocabulary)

NOTE: In order to perform well on this test it will be imperative that you study all dates and vocabulary terms associated with this chapter.

1/25 [B]: Quiz-Chapter 2 Vocabulary

2/2 [B]: Term/Session Exam

NOTE: There will not be a Chapter 2 test; instead your knowledge of the chapter topics will be assessed on this exam.

FILM VIEWING DATES

1/17 [B]: Active Viewing-"Soldiers without Swords" (Part 2)

1/18 [A]: Active Viewing-"Soldiers without Swords" (Part 3)

1/26 [A]: Active Viewing-"Shattered Glass" (Part 1)

1/29 [A]: Active Viewing-"Shattered Glass" (Part 2)

1/30 [A]: Active Viewing-"Shattered Glass" (Part 3...if necessary)

NOTE: Dates are subject to change. Students must have parent permission slip signed in order to view films. A supplemental essay assignment will take the place of the viewing if slip is not returned on the first day of viewing.

WRITING ASSIGNMENT DATES

1/18 [A]: Essay-Contributions of the Black Press (In-Class Essay)

1/19 [B]: Essay-Contributions of the Black Press (Typing Day)

1/31 [B]: Essay-Media Ethics and Penalties (In-Class Essay)

2/1 [A]: Essay-Media Ethics and Penalties (Typing Day #1)

2/2 [B]: Essay-Media Ethics and Penalties (Proofreading/Typing Day #2)

GENERAL INFORMATION DATES

2/6 [B], 2/7 [A]: FCAT SSS WRTING

2/26 [A], 2/27 [B]: FCAT SSS

NOTE: Thes dates will affect 9th and 10th graders.

SERVICE INTERRUPTION DATES

2/19: PRESIDENT'S DAY (NO SCHOOL)

3/16: TEACHER PLANNING DAY (NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS)

3/19-23: SPRING BREAK (NO SCHOOL)

NOTE: Although students are not in school on the above dates, the expection that all scheduled readings, homework assignments, and other work still exists. If work is assigned prior to the above dates, that work will be collected/checked upon the students return to class.

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