A candidate's religion

As per our discussion in class today about Mitt Romney's forthcoming speech on his faith and the parallels between JFK's similar predicament In 1960, I pose a question: Is it in the interest of good journalism to raise questions about the basic character traits about a candidate? Should a story appear in a newspaper that questions whether or not a candidate is going to confuse his religion with public policy (even if that religion is largely misunderstood and there exists a national misconception of the tenets of that religion)?

By 1960, the country had been run by white protestant (some more fervent than others) males. Catholic doctrine states that all Catholics must believe that then pope is infallible and only those baptized in the Catholic Church are going directly to heaven. Kennedy then had some explaining to do...what if the pope tells you to do something on a public policy matter? Do you have to listen to him? Are all of your predecessors therefore going to hell? Kennedy successfully defused the issue by portraying himself as a staunch anti-communist and a patriot and said that his faith would not get in the way of public policy.

Romney is also called upon to answer similar questions on the tenets of his largly misunderstood religion. He says we are all united in that the constitution protects (and does not advocate) and single religion.

But what if the candidate is of not religious persuasion? It is hard to argue that this country wasn't founded with the firm belief in the higher power. ("In God We Trust" is on all the money and the forefathers clearly had a "reliance on the protection of divine providence")

So what if the guy is an atheist, or a Satanist? If he isn’t religious, is he against the basic tenets of this country and therefore a serious risk to our republic? Is a candidate’s religion as newsworthy as how many times he goes to the bathroom?

Job Shadow Shout Out

I was fortunate to job shadow Adam Graham of The Detroit News last week, and I would like to give him a plug.

Adam is the music writer for The News, and his blog 'In Tune' is pretty awesome. I have added it to my favorites, and if you are a music fan, I suggest you do the same.

Right now he has blogs on Christmas music, the new White Stripes video, and one of his favorite movies of the year, 'Southland Tales'.

They are brief entries with some interesting music news and opinions, so check it out.

http://info.detnews.com/redesign/blogs/musicblog/index.cfm

Mall Shooting

I checked to read The Drudge Report today, and there was a big picture of a young teen boy with glasses and "Why?" printed boldly underneath, so I had to see what was up. Remember when we talked about the mail-man shootings, this story is similar is some ways.

Robert A. Hawkins, 19, went into an Omaha Von Maur store on Wednesday afternoon, shooting it up with an AK-47 rifle he had stolen from his stepfather. He had several victims, including himself. Hawkins is dead along with two others, while the rest of the victims are still in the hospital or have been released.

Apparently, Hawkins had dropped out of school, and have been fired from McDonald's recently, and was in a bad mental state. He had written a few suicide notes, and committed this crime beause in was in a large pulic place, and he would be famous.

http://www.ketv.com/news/14782867/detail.html

What to aspire to

Andrea Elliot of The New York Times won a Pulitzer Prize this year for her feature writing. As the Pulizter Board says, "For a distinguished example of feature writing giving prime consideration to quality of writing, originality and concision, in print or in print and online." Elliot's awarding winning work is a three part series on Muslims in America. Her articles specifically explored a mosque in Brooklyn documents the lives of Muslim immigrants post 9/11, as well as Imams, which are leaders in Muslim communities. To read touching and truly great journalism check out 'Imam in America.'
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/national/series/muslimsinamerica/index.html

Form and Function

In this class we've talked a lot about how to write a story correctly and interestingly. We've talked much less about why we're writing the story to begin with. Obviously there are a lot of reasons for that. But it got me wondering about what others motivations were. Journalists can function as watchdogs, help build community, expose corruption, inform, entertain, put things into perspective, and so on and so forth. And of course there's always the more selfish reasons too. So, why do you do it?

gay and in the media

So I have a habit of compulsively checking this one celebrity gossip website that also has a lot of gossip about people in the media industry. The website is constantly insinuating that CNN reporter Anderson Cooper is gay. So I was wondering if it turned out that Cooper is gay and he decided to publicly come out, would it at all affect how he was perceived as a newscaster? It shouldn't, seeing as though it has absolutely nothing to do with his career, but when CNN newscaster Thomas Roberts came out at an annual convention for the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association last year, the newscast that he co hosted was cancelled a week later. CNN said it was cancelled due to budgetary reasons, which it very well might have been, but the timing does seem rather coincidental. I don't know of many high profile journalists who are openly gay, but I hope the time comes soon enough where journalists (and anyone for that matter) will not have to worry about whether or not coming out will affect their careers.

A plastic instrumented Rock Band

I never thought I'd see the day, but despite how much my jaw hit the floor ... it's here: A game that allows four people to play four different plastic instruments to real songs by indicated notes on the TV, through an Xbox 360 or Playstation 3. Guitar, bass, drums and vocals - get your friends ... it's time to rock.

Reporters, bloggers, columnists, reviewers and technology analyzers are hitting every end of the spectrum on this one. Some say it's the lamest thing ever - saying the $170 price is outrageous, seeing as one could buy and learn to play the real guitar for not much more. Others, on the other hand, are praising the game, saying it is the definition of "fun with family and friends."

More than 120 different media sources attended the release party last month in New York City, each covering the event in their own unique way.

But what do you guys think? Is this the most ridiculous thing you've ever seen? Or is it pure genius?

You be the judge.