Thankstaking (Column)

As the last Thursday of the month of November approaches, an atmosphere of excitement can be felt in the air. Families are making plans to wake up early and gather together. Coupons are being clipped. Money is being saved up. Food is being chopped and stuffed and baked in advance.  Companies are getting increased requests for a day off. All in preparation for…Black Friday.

O, wait. You thought I was talking about Thanksgiving? Heck no! Who really cares about that day anymore? No, people get excited about Thanksgiving because it is one day closer to Black Friday! I’m just sayin.

Black Friday, now has become the ultimate day of consumption, following the former ultimate day of consumption– Thanksgiving. Essentially Thanksgiving and Black Friday go hand-in-hand. One prepares you for the other. All the food that is eaten on Thanksgiving puts you into a food coma, allowing for extra time to rest up so that you can get up at midnight to get in line for Black Friday. Thanksgiving brings all of your relatives together, allowing your family to make a Black Friday game plan: who will do the running and grabbing, who will push people out of the way of the runner, who is the cart-pusher, and who will save a spot in the checkout line. Thanksgiving is a day to tally up as much thanks you can give, so that you won’t feel so bad about the amount of greed you give on Black Friday.

But hey its all a balancing act. You giveth, and then you taketh away. The circle of life. I understand that. What I don’t get is why the day is called Black Friday. That sounds more like an awesome 80′s hair band. Why don’t we just call it “Thankstaking” and get to the point. I’m just sayin.

-Danielle Greene

How Wired Are You?

1. Could you create a Web page?–No

2. Have you written a blog?–No

3. Are you an avid consumer of digital content?–Yes

4. Do you comment, chat and tweet?–Yes

5. Are you familiar with different online platforms?–Yes

6. Can you shoot a video, edit it and post it online?–Sort of/ maybe

7. Can you record audio, edit it and post online?–No

8. Could you create an interactive graphic?–Sort of/ maybe

9. Is the web now your primary news source?–Sort of/ maybe

10. Could you cover an event at 9 a.m. where you shoot photos and video for your narrated slideshow, then post a 6-inch story…by noon?–Sort of/ maybe

Score: 9–time to reboot and install lots of new brainware.

Learn By Heart- A celebration of Gordon Greb

“Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Gordon. Happy birthday to you.” With a humble “thank you” and a confident smile,  Gordon Greb celebrated his 90th birthday by going back to his roots, speaking to students in the broadcast and journalism departments of San Jose State University.  His speech began with a lively story about what he considers his greatest accomplishment. Not being a world-renowned journalist and broadcast pioneer–being a good father and grandfather.

As  he stood in front of the room, Greb took a deep breath and said, “My last words as a professor here at this unversity was… ‘Take care of the children and we’ll be alright.’”  

The younger generation and the concept of “we” were two things  that Greb strongly emphasized during his talk, and shows evident throughout his life. He himself started off his journalism career at the age of 12, using a memeograph to produce a magazine called “The Cat’s Meow”. In 1934, he could be heard on KTAB (now KSFO) radio voicing the main character in the afternoon adventur serial “Rusty, the Boy Aviator.”

“Quite frankly, in the early years of radio…up until World War II, radio was great entertainment,” says Greb. “But lousy when it came to news.”

So in 1942 at the age of 21 he founded the Bay Area’s first all-local news program on KROW called “Observing the News.” Greb wanted Bay Area citizens to be informed about what was going on around them. That is how he feels we stay connected and come together.

After serving  in World War II for three years and traveling all over Europe, Greb’s eyes were opened to how different the rest of the world is compared to the U.S.  He wanted others to experience this as well.

Upon become a professor at San Jose State in 1957, he founded the Radio-Television News Center, the first university-level degree program in boradcast journalism in the state of California. He frequently took groups of students to Europe to compare foreign and American ways of writing and broadcasting.

“I think this is great. Because it involves getting up and going out to see the real world,” he says. 

Gesturing with his hands and moving around the front of the room, Greb tells stories of his days as a professor. How his journalism students were thrown in jail for reporting on the Vietnam protests. And how one of his top students Valerie Coleman Morris went on to be a three-time Emmy award winning broadcaster. Morris, who was also present for this speech, mirrored the same admiration for her old professor.

When asked what advice he has for aspiring journalism students, Greb took a moment to reflect.

“Learn by heart,” he said. “Which means love what you are doing. In everything you do.”

He also stressed the power of studying the constitution and finding out its meaning. Greb says that when we as citizens, especially the younger generation, know our rights and know the principles that our country was founded on, then we can band together and rebuild our nation.

With his last encouraging words, Greb ended his talk the way he began it. With a gracious “thank you” and a confident smile.

Another profile on Greb: http://www.broadcastlegends.com/greb.html

 

FOG Index

Excerpt from “On-Campus job Faire 2011″

The first day of classes, and already a buzz surrounds the Student Union. Is it students hungry for food? No. It’s students hungry for money. And what better way to earn money than to get a job.

 On Wednesday, SJSU’s On-Campus Job Faire 2011 set up shop in the Art Quad outside the SU to provide students with the resources and opportunities needed to get jobs. The fair was held from 10 a.m to 1 p.m. and included booths from various SJSU departments such as the Event Center, Spartan Shops, Career Center, Aquatic Center, and Student Union. According to Lisa Thomas, the director of HR for Spartan Shops, all departments on campus were invited to participate.

-average 13 words per sentence

-11 hard words

13 + 11 =24 x 0.4 =9.6 FOG index

With a FOG index of 9.6, this means that the average reader would need almost 10 years of schooling to understand my writing. Most of my sentences are longer because I do a lot of listing. Also, all of my “hard words” are in the second paragraph. They are mostly words like “participate”, “departments”, or “opportunities”. I don’t believe that a person would need 10 years of school to understand my writing because I spaced the usage of these words out and didn’t clump them into the same sentences.

Got What It Takes To Be A Reporter?

TALENT

1. Yes- 2 pts

2. Yes- 3 pts

3. No- 2 pts

4. Yes- 1 pt

5. Yes- 3 pts

6. No

7. No

TEMPERAMENT

8. Yes- 3 pts

9. No- 2 pts

10. No- 1 pt

11. No-  3 pt

12. Yes- 3 pts

13. No

14. Yes

=24

Top News #1

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_18884334

The article, “Police investigating report of another sexual assault near SJSU,” from the San Jose Mercury News reports of the two sexualt assaults that occurred within the last week near SJSU campus.  I chose this as a top news story because it has been publicized so much in the news and through the Alert SJSU messages. Also, any threat of danger to me or others on campus is an issue that needs to be of top priority.

This report includes almost all of the the media values that make an article interesting to readers. It has impact, especially to students, faculty, downtown San Jose residents, and SJSU student’s parents. Knowledge of these assaults impacts the lives of students and faculty who are disturbed and frightened by these occurences. This story has immediacy because both of the assaults happened within a week of today, which means the odds of it happening again are high. It has proximity to those living in San Jose, especially near or on-campus. It does not have proximity to those living outside of San Jose, unless they are parents whose child goes to SJSU. This story has prominence because SJSU is a well-known university. The conflict is that SJSU female students are being groped by random strangers, and police have yet to catch either of the suspects. This story also plays with the emotions of the reader because sexual assaults make the reader worried, frightened and angry. The reader wants to be informed about what happened to the victims, if they are ok, and if the attackers have been served justice.

News Attitude Survey pg. 16

1) Get the facts straight

2) Through a combination of text and images

3) Should do as little as possible to restirct what the news media publish

4) Track developments online by monitoring news Web sites; turn on the TV, see what’s happening, then turn it off and get on with my life.

5) Katie Couric; Bob Woodward; Bill O’Reilly

6) Liberals

7) The national TV news

8) Depressing, sensationalized, negative, entertaining

9) Occasionally

10) Occasionally

11) several times a week

12) rewarding; frustrating; frightening; important

CONFIDENTIAL SOURCES

-it would depend on the circumstances of the case

WHICH OF THESE STATEMENTS DO YOU MOST AGREE WITH?

- a) I prefer new with attitude

-a) I couldn’t go a day without reading any news

-b) Journalists don’t do enough to challenge public figures

-a) I can usually relate to most news stories

- b) When I red, I usually browse a few paragraphs

- b) generally, I prefer celebrity news