Maybe we need less politics?

I was recently thinking about the current presidential election. We often consider political participation and knowledge to be important. The more connect the voters are to the candidates should mean the best candidate with the best idea will win. It's a combination of the Marketplace of Ideas and true democracy.

And in 2008, we've seen unprecedented interest in the election. Young people and old who never thought they'd care about politics suddenly are attending rallies, wearing t-shirts. et cetera. That is wonderful. Now, suddenly we have a democracy that functions...

Or does it? With everyone so intrigued by this election the media willingly did their civic duty (while making a lot of money). It provided more and more politics. Suddenly, CNN's morning show is now tagged as "the most politics in the morning." I am sorry, but I do not necessarily want politics in the morning. I will gladly take CMT music videos, thank you.

But those politically-oriented shows that used to be animal-oriented or best cookbook-oriented, or Brittany Spears-oriented aren't changing their tune. Yes, we're learning more about politics, but what we're learning isn't much more important than the aforementioned cute critters and teen sensations. Basically, legitimate news has become tabloidized. 

We must get past those silly stories that distract if we ever wish to enlighten to world. Hype about politics will wear down, and I fear many young people will look back and learn nothing about the world we live in.

Soft News is Still News

Below is my most recent package for Phoenix14News. We all thought this could be a cute little feature, but as I worked on it, I realized that it is more than just a soft story. It is important and affecting students and nearby residents. Either way I am now working on how I can put together the right kind of stories to do the most good. It is exciting.

Almost a Month In!

It almost seems too soon to be true, but I am already into my third week of school. Work is getting tougher, but it's always enjoyable. So far this semester, I've done two packages. It is funny doing a story a week at Elon seems like a lot, but compared to WEIU, I am conditioned to reporting.

Now I have to figure out some more management and personnel issues. There is the potential for infighting, which we want to avoid. But it could also turn into some good competition. That would be wonderful.

I also made a basic political promo for Phoenix14News AND did my first article for the Pendulum. It's a busy week

Multimedia

Thanks to Drake Springer and Nick Ochsner, Phoenix14News launched a new web design this week. It looks a lot nicer than the older version which was ok on Macs but looked miserable on PCs.
We are also in discussions with the other student media organizations about creating a joint-multimedia web site that can link to our individual sites. It will be REALLY nice if we can make it happen soon.

www.elon.edu/phoenix14news

Back to Phoenix14News

Elon's classes returned! I am back here in my senior year and experiencing the joy of senioritis. As much as I do enjoy getting to work, sometimes I just want to sit around and do nothing. This does not work out easily considering  my responsibilities.