In this season of "The Wire," there are a number of specific issues the show focuses on in concern to the newsroom and journalism across the board. There is a strong focus on the corporate ownership of newspapers well as recent trends in print journalism.

One aspect that stood out to me is the shows portrayal of newspapers in society and how the Internet relates to its success, or failure. In the show, one of the characters involved with The Baltimore Sun, envisioned a paper that did not have a focus on the Internet and did not want to see newspapers fade out and Internet sources fade in. The show explained that even the corporate owners of the Sun agreed with this vision for a long time and had a means to keep the paper the way it was, without the assistance from a Web site.

This however, could not last, which brings the show to illustrate what is changing about news and the newsroom. The paper was forced to make significant job cuts because the paper was receiving a significant less amount of readership. More people, especially younger readers were choosing not the read the print newspaper due to the Internet being available to them.

This focus on the show actually brings about a number of topics including job cuts, corporate ownership and the era of print journalism fading away. I think the show portrayed an accurate message of what is going on in the newsroom today.

This issue, in a way scares me because I fear that going into the journalism industry; it may be tough to keep a job. Print journalism is, I believe, dying out and only the journalists with great multimedia skills are left. Even so, this only makes me aware that, while in school, it is my duty to become as prepared as I possibly can be by learning so many new aspects of reporting that have become very popular in today's society.

"The Wire: Season 5" has done a great job at illustrating what is going on in the world of news and sort of helps open the eyes up to aspiring journalists, letting them know what they are getting in to. The characters in the episodes say that this trend was coming along and for the most part did not want to see it be present. THey, as well as the corporate owners saw a desire to have the paper maintain it's print aspects but society would not allow this to continue without there being significant changes.

There are so many important factors that are essential to proper journalism. Any reputable journalist must maintain several characteristics within their reporting at all times. It was difficult to choose only three important rules for journalistic writing because all of the rules I find very important. Below is a list of journalism rules that every journalist must not avoid.

Objectivity -
Journalists must maintain an objective standpoint whenever covering a news event or writing about a particular story. When a journalist looses their objective traits, the reader is then reading solely opinion instead of hard news.
Example: "Sen. Barack Obama will soon take office and will do a wonderful job as the nation's new president."
----This example clearly shows an objective viewpoint toward this topic and does not reflect journalistic qualities. The reader does not want to know how the reporter feels about the subject but instead wants the information as it stands. That is why objectivity is one of the most important traits to a journalists.

Accuracy-
I cannot stress enough the importance of accuracy for a journalist. A reporter that does not report accurate information looses all credibility for their stories. Being able to report accurate information is one of the most important elements to a story.
Example: "A robbery occurred on Friday at 5:30 p.m. at the Bank of America, causing the bank's entire savings to be stolen."
----If the Bank of America was not the bank that was robbed and if 5:30 p.m. was not the right time of the robbery, this statement will spawn all sorts of problems among society and those that may be involved with this situation. These are extremely important facts to write correctly. That is why accuracy is very important because being accurate is one of the first steps to producing a newsworthy story.

Plagiarism-
There are many rules and limits that hinder journalists each day. Plagiarism is one of these rules that journalists are forbidden to do. Plagiarism is taking other written works, someone else's information or another person's quotations and using it in a reporters own story. This is highly forbidden and could result in a loss of job.

This is one of the most important aspects to a journalist because it could result in very extreme penalties.

To learn more about journlism ethical issues read SPJ Code of Ethics

This week at Towson University, I plan on covering the newly adapted use of hybrid vehicles and expand the shuttle service for TU faculty employees and students. This is yet another initiative Towson has taken to "go green" and conserve the environment.  The school is already highly involved in the assisting of food waste and recyclables for student, they now are looking into their own carbon footprint. They have decided to drive and use hybrid faculty vehicles on campus. The extended shuttle service will also provide a more efficient means of commuter students arriving on campus. 

This should be an interesting event. I plan on interviewing a number of faculty members that are some of the decision makers and spokespersons for these projects such as Steve Showers, associate vice president of facilities management, Darcy Accardi, assistant vice president for civic engagement and others, as well as some students. 

I will research the programs that are dealing with these ideas to increase Towson's "go green" initiative and base a lot of my research on the primary interviews. 

I will most likely ask questions like:

-when did these ideas first come about?

-What is the overall goal in doing such things?

-How will this help Towson/Environment?

-What significant changes are there?

-How many cars are now hybrids on campus?

-What expansions have been made to the shuttle routes?

-What feedback has been received from students?

For a photo, I will shoot a number of car and shuttle pictures and maybe even some students walking to illustrate their use of alternative means from driving. 

For audio, I plan on getting clips of a shuttle bus speeding up or slowing down or even people loading or unloading from the bus. I may also use some of the audio interview I conduct. 

 To see Towson's Go Green initiatives click here

Many Web sites take on creative multimedia strategies to increase the viewership of their content and make a much more pleasent experience while visiting the site.  

In this time in society, the avergage audience is no longer content simply reading words on a screen but are looking for anything interactive that they can hear, watch and click on. This makes them feel as if they are a part of the story or involved in the Web site. 

Many great examples of these sites float across the World Wide Web as they recieve a tremendous amount of traffic. One that I found is dedicated to a specific plane crash that occured, commonly known as Flight 401. 

It is an amzing story of tragedy and survival and the Web site has decided to preservec the story and give an accurate depiction of the event to the viewer. 

Learn the story and interact with the site

Screenshot of Web site: www.miamiherald.com

The site offers a number of videos that tell the story from different perspectives, has a streaming song to play that was composed after the event took place, and even a simulation to watch with sounds to see and experience the crash first hand.

One thing that I would've certainly tried to add to the site as far as audio enhancements would be to have streaming clips of short interviews with different survivors. I would even maybe include the clips with short photo slideshows of each of them.

Other than that, this is an overall very well formed Web site.

By Towson University journalism student Daniel Gross

____________

On Friday night, instead of staying in or having a night out around town, about 56 students chose to race around Towson’s campus in an effort to win $500, $200 or $100 to a store of their choice. Sixteen teams gathered in Paws in the University Union to begin the Campus Activities Board's Friday Night Live event, "The Amazing Race: Towson."

Among these 16 teams, two freshman and two sophomore resident students decided to form a team earlier that day to compete for a chance to win a cash prize. Some of the teammates had little knowledge of "The Amazing Race," the television show, but felt that they had a fair chance of winning.

“We have a good team and everybody has their own individual skills,” sophomore English major Jasmine Pitts said. “We have a good shot at winning.”

While waiting in Paws, the team received their first clue and began to brainstorm ideas.

“The clue says, ‘go to the residence hall that rhymes with the word hen.’ Now at first we thought the Den but we realized that’s not a residence hall, it’s an eatery,” freshman and education major Jim Grandfield said. “Then we thought Prettyman because it’s technically a residence hall but it’s “m-a-n,' not 'm-e-n.' The only one that rhymes with 'hen' is the Glen, those are the Glen Towers, the Complex."

The determined group got off to a slow start at the Glen Towers, the race’s first stop. Teams had the task of arranging ten residence halls listed in order from earliest built to newest built. The team’s first attempt at this was not a great advancement, having only one residence hall correct.

 After completing their first stop, the team continued to go to each station around campus, jogging to some, walking to others. Residence Tower, 7800 York Road, the beach volleyball court at Burdick Hall, Towsontown Garage and Towson Center were all designated locations the clues told the students to locate.

“I didn’t realize that it would be this much physical activity. I haven’t worked out in a while,” Grandfield said.

At each location, CAB staff members were present to distribute the next clue for each team.University Residence Government members were also present as the event's cosponsors.

“It’s really exciting watching how frustrated everybody is and excited and running up and down the stairs,” URG president Alex Newman said who was stationed at the Towsontown Garage activity. “Then when they finally get [the answer] they bolt off in a direction when they haven’t even read the clue yet and don’t know where they’re going.”

While racing around campus, freshman electronic media and film major Latia Blake constantly gave words of encouragement to her fellow teammates. “Brian, this is your idea, you better put a pep in that step,” she said to her teammate, sophomore Brian Wright.

The group of four was able to complete each task, find each location and make it to the finish line in Paws, but not before about six or seven of the 16 teams had already finished.

“It was definitely hard. I wasn’t expecting this much running but you know, I met some new people, new friends, had fun,” Grandfield said. “It was a good way to spend a Friday night and I’m just going to sleep in tomorrow.”

Two groups ended up tying for first place, getting $400 for each team. A group of five Student Government Association members were one of those teams.

“Overall it was a lot of fun. It really showed the meaning of teamwork and I think we can take whatever we learned today about teamwork into the real world,” SGA senator Ryan Lodge said.

The other first place team was also pleased with their success.

“We saw that there was $500 up for grabs and we were just like, ‘oh that’s ours,’ and it was,”junior and theatre production major Jeremy Garnes said. “I thought it was rough because we had to run all the way around campus but you know, we worked cooperatively as a group.”

CAB and URG staff worked hand in hand with making preparations for the event. From the feedback that staff members were given, students enjoyed certain activities like the piggy-back ride challenge at 7800 York Road.

“I’m glad that everybody came back with smiling faces,” URG director of special projects Chelsea Harris said. “Everybody was heated about who was going to win what and that just shows how passionate they were about winning the race.”

According to Ryan Grasso, the CAB programming chair, many students mentioned that they would like to see this program again next semester. “Everybody was out of breath when they came to the finish,” he said.

     

Outside of Stephens Hall at Towson University, sunlight shines on a statue of the school's mascot, the Tiger during a fall day in November.

     

Blake Savadow 

Sophomore

Mass Communications 

Students study and walk to class outside of 

the Cook Library during a cool, fall day on 

Monday, Nov. 3. 

Ways to Improve:

There is always room for improvement. I have noticed a number of things I could to enhance the quality of my photos and photo taking ability. For one, I need to keep an eye out for an interesting shot, meaning the angle, lighting or subject matter of the photo. It is also important to use the rule of thirds so the viewer is more attracted to the photo. My main concern is understanding which settings I should have my camera set to when shooting under certain conditions. This takes repeated practice. I need to continue to take photos in different situations that call for a different combination of shutter speeds and aperture settings.

Photo illustration by Daniel Gross

This article was found from The Baltimore Sun's Web Site. (www.baltimoresun.com)

Man shot, wounded by city police during drug stop

By Justin Fenton

September 26, 2008

A man was shot by city police yesterday morning after he reached for an officer's handgun during a drug stop, police said. 

Sterling Clifford, a police spokesman, said three officers on dirt bikes were in the 700 block of Lennox St. in the Reservoir Hill area about 10:45 a.m. when they approached an apartment complex and stopped to interview a man who they believed was involved in drug activity. 

Police said the man began to fight with the officers, and the altercation moved into an apartment stairwell. Clifford said the man grabbed at an officer's gun, and the officer fired at the man. The man, hit in the shoulder, was taken to a hospital with a wound that was not considered life-threatening, Clifford said. 

This article shows a great example of the inverted pyramid style of news stories.  The reporter chooses to place the most important and relavent information at the top of the story in the first paragraphs.  This way, the reader will be more intreagued to read on and at the very least they will have read the things that are most important to know in the story.  

Click here for Justin Fenton's full story

Photos courtesy of www.towson.edu

For my news event coverage, I plan on attending the next SGA meeting at Towson University to listen to what issues are currently happening throughout the school. I think this will be a great, newsworthy event to cover, especially seeing the many different things that have happened on and off campus recently. I predict that the SGA and their student guests may have quite a few things to say in regards to a recent fight that had broken out in the union, the new school budget for the next fiscal year and the appointment of new freshman senators into the SGA. After attending the meeting, I will obviously have to hone my story topics down, to understand what is truly newsworthy and what specific aspect should be covered.

___________________________

What advance information is available about this speech or event?

The advanced information that I have is what I know are major topics in the student community right now. I am aware that the SGA covers new and appropriate topics at their meetings. There is also advanced information from any of the members on the executive board that I will speak to prior to the meeting so that they will be able to prepare me of what I might look for.

_________________________

Who will be your main sources?

My main sources will certainly be any of the members on the executive board of the SGA, most likely SGA president Kristen Guy or vice president James Torrence. The newly appointed, freshman senators will also be points of contact because they will have prevalence at the meeting. David Satterlle, director of new student programs, will also be a good source for this story, since he will be tackling the issue concerning the fight that broke out.

_______________________

What questions will you ask?

When the meeting is over, I might ask the exec. board what they thought of the meeting, ask them what they thought of certain student reactions and how they plan on helping in hte situation. For the freshman senators, I may ask them what they think of the SGA, why did they want to join and what they hope to accomplish this year.

_______________________

What additional details will you look for?

In addition, I will also look for certain reactions for others in the audience or in the SGA. I will look for other issues to develop or come out of the freshman senators being elected or other issues concerning the major fight on campus.