Thursday 27 October 2011

The Falling Man and Code of Conduct

The Falling Man documentary was a very upsetting one for me. 9/11, for me, like it is for many, one of my darkest memories, and when I watch footage of it I feel like its happening again.
The debate over weather or not this photo should have been used is a very compelling one. I feel as though both sides of the argument have valid points.
If you relate the argument to the RTDNA Code of Conduct there are two articles that jump out at me. Article 1 "Accuracy" and Article 3 "Authenticity". In order to tell the story accurately you must use the photos or video that will best show your points, and to be authentic, even if the images are disturbing, they must be used to portray the correct picture.
On the other hand there is one article in the code that would be solid argument towards not using the photo. That article is Article 8, Decency and Conduct. It says you must treat sources and other people with decency. You have to think that the man in this photo could possibly be a father, a brother, a son. For a family member to see this would be awful.
If I was the editor of the paper, I would have used this photo. 9/11 was awful, and despite the fact of all the heroic efforts the were well publicized, deservedly so, but I think it's our job in the media to show what really happened no matter how hard or disturbing it is. Not to mention how incredible and powerful the photo itself  really is.

Thursday 20 October 2011

The Dome

   After chatting in class about the clothing women wear to the dome, this brought me to one of my biggest pet peaves. I hate when I go to bars and I see the way young women dress these days.
   As a male, I guess I shouldn't be complaining about lovely women wearing trashy outfits that reveal their "assets", but I just know, If I was a creep on the street at 3 am, I know who I'd be targeting.
   If young women want respect, then they should dress in a way that will bring you respect. There is no problem with women looking nice, and there are plenty of ways of women can look great without exposing half of their body. 
   I think it's time that women took a second look in the mirror before leaving for the dome, and think what people will think about them, and the kind of people they will attract to them.

Monday 3 October 2011

Diversity Lacking.

CTV News
Monday October 3rd
6:00
1st Story- White women Kayla Hounsell.
2nd Story- White man Jonathon MaCinus.
3rd Story White man Ron Shaw (Peruvian man-Fernando Perrera, surfer, in story).
4th Story- White man Dan Viau.
5th story- White women Dina Bartolucci.
6th Story- About Aboriginals.
7th Story-  White man Rick Grant.
8th Story- White man male Paul Hollingsworth.
9th story- First sighting of any black people, and it is man being arrested in Amanda Knox Case.
Weather- White women Cindy Day.
Steve Murphy 1-on-1 interview with White female Nancy Rubin.
10th Story- Rick Grant white man.
The Lifeline- Black Doctor, Black cafeteria worker, Asian, Aboriginal and Black children shown.

I found this to be an eye opening exercise. There was a very good mix of men and women, but beyond that, their was not much diversity at all. It was dominated by middle aged white men. It was unbelievable to me that there was not ONE person of any other race other then white on CTV news team.
I never ever thought to do this before, but now that I have I will never watch news the same. When we watched that video in class it made me think about how black people were portrayed in the media, and I never noticed it before. This was an excellent example. The first sighting of a black man, he was being arrested.
It was nice to see in the "The Lifeline" they had a black doctor, as well as a very diverse group of children. There was also a good story about Aboriginals in there as well. Although they did have a little bit diversity, I think this is something worth noting, and keeping an eye on.  This was a very valuable exercise.

Wednesday 28 September 2011

Brown Eyes, Blue Eyes

   I was extremely entertained by the video we watched in class. In a very inventive way, Jane Elliot exposes children to the terrible realities of discrimination. It is incredible to see these the change in the children when they are being discriminated against, and the discriminators for that matter.
   The stat that stated the children scored higher when superior and scored much worse when the inferior was just mind blowing for me, and the fact when they were reunited they all scored much higher is a testament to how good of a tool this was, and still is.
   Later on, when this tactic was used on adults, watching it became extremely frustrating for me. I just wish the guy who didn't have a pencil could have told her to shut up, but the power of the exercise truly made him feel inferior and he couldn't react in the way you could tell he really wanted to. The one woman couldn't handle it any more and got into a verbal confrontation with her, but ultimately it got her nowhere.  
   I would have to say, coming from a white male, I think this is the most accurate way to simulate discrimination. Very glad I got a chance to see this, and would recommend it to anyone.

Wednesday 21 September 2011

Diversity In Sport.

When you take a look a sports, there are many great awards for achievments on the field. But none deserve bigger accolades then the people who broke the colour barrier in their respective sports.

1. Jackie Robinson, Baseball
On April 15, 1947 Jackie Robinson took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers as the first African American to ever take the field in a MLB baseball game. There had be a "negro" league were all the black players played, but previous to Robinson, since 1880, a black man never appeared in the MLB until then. A sad commentary on racism in America, that in 67 years of pro baseball, at a time when in was "America's Game" black people where not allowed to play.

Notable Black Baseball Players. Curtis Granderson, Robinson Cano

2. Willie O'Ree, Hockey
 The Fredricton, New Brunswick native was the first ever black man to take part in a NHL game for the Boston Bruins on January 18, 1958. Things were not easy for him when he first started, in one article, he talks about how people would yell slanderous things such as, go back to the south, or shouldn't you be picking cotton? He noted that the two Canadian cities the NHL played in at the time, Toronto and Montreal were much less vigilant towards O'Ree.


Notable Black Hockey Players-Jarome Iginla, Wayne Simmonds.

3. Charles Follis, Football

In a time long before the NFL was formed, 1902, to be specific, the first black man to take part in a professional football game was Charles Follis. Football was obviously less discriminatory then other sports, almost 50 years before African Americans were allowed in other leagues, they we're playing football. Interesting to note, that for the first 2 professional seasons of Follis' career he was not payed, an extension on slave labor. Now African Americans are extremely prevelant in football, there would Certainly be no NFL with them

Notable Black Football Players-Adrian Peterson, Chad Ochocinco
4.  Earl Lloyd, Basketball

It's hard to think that there was a time without african americans in basketball, but alas, there was one. On halloween 1950, Lloyd broke the colour barrier, in the NBA. He was technically the first, four days later Nat Clifton made his debut, obviously a huge year for black people and basketball. He won the NBA champisonship in 1955, and was inducted into the basketball hall of fame as a contributator.

Notable Black Basketball Players- Lebron James, Kobe Bryant.

All four of the major sports have huge African stars, but perhaps none of it would have been possible if it wasn't for their brave trailblazing seniors that broke the colour barrier in their resptive sports.




Monday 12 September 2011

Entertainment Blog Reviews.

When asked to review 5 blogs, being to sports fanatic I am, I immediately wanted to dive into the wide world of sports blogs, but then I decided to go outside my comfort zone. Why not right? So here we go, my top 5 entertainment blog reviews.

1. Popsugar.com

A very easy to navigate website, with bright colours and bright advertising. An interesting feature of this blog is the "featured stories" section at the top.  It also goes very in depth as well, with sections for top celebs, bikini, and it even goes as far as celeb babies. When It comes to the actual writing, it is very diverse in terms of celebs, and it doesn't make fun of celebs like a lot of blogs do, it more highlights red carpet sightings, public sightings, and what good celebs can do. Overall I think this is a good and respectable source for celeb news. I was pretty impressed.

2.TMZ.com

A very different style of celeb blog, not highlighting the good celebs do, but the bad. For instance, the lead story about Serena Williams "losing it" at the US Open Tennis tournament, and also another story about a rapper fighting a marijuana charge. Not as much my style of blog, very in your face, and sometimes annoying, but when it comes to breaking BAD news about celebs you be hard pressed to find a better one.

3. Laineygossip.com

The Canadian gossiper's page, for the last week is dominated with TIFF gossip, such as George Clooney has a date, or Juliette Lewis arrives in Toronto. The blogs are short, and the pictures are plentiful, which plays into our generations inability to read, and extreme ability to look at photos. Her writing is good, and her pictures are great ,she has a section for books, movies, and a link to her twitter page. A very complete celeb blog, and you have to like the fact she's a canuck.

4. Dlisted.com

This sight, is not your grandpas entertainment sight, in fact, I probably wouldn't show it to my mother. The first story is a picture of Justin Bieber beside a beluga whale, and they are now running a "caption contest" for the best descriptive caption of the photo. You will scroll down a bit, and see some incredibly inappropriate captions for stories that began to turn me off the sight. I would not recommend this sight to anyone. In terms of presentation, it's a pretty slick sight.

5.Perezhilton.com

This is easily my least favourite, and to be honest I was kind of offended by some of the material that was on this sight. Not for me I guess. There was stuff along the top that I didn't understand the words off, unlike my favourite popsugar.com, this sight was very hard to navigate. As a rookie to the celeb gossip sights, this one ranks last. This sight is more for attacking celbes unfairly, not my cup of tea.