When Things go Too Far

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/04/10/girl.fights/

These students in Florida brutally beat another student. It was eight students, most of them girls, most of them cheerleaders. These students videotaped the attack and posted it on You Tube. What is even worse these students did not show remorse. They looked unmerciful when they were being interviewed. All the were concerned with was getting back the cheer leading practice. Why is it that out of eight young people none of them thought it would be a bad idea to beat this young girl?

They probably though that there would be no consequences for their actions. That is what a lot of young people think today. They think that they can get away with anything because rules do not apply to them. They watch shows like Gossip Girls and Greek where the girls are mean, backstabbing, and get away with pretty much anything they want to. These girls probably thought television rules applied to them. Now they are going to be tried as adults and could face life in prison. These students did not think there would be consequences but now there are and they will have to pay deeply.

CNN and CBS

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/08/business/media/08cbs.html?ei=5065&en=a8fa4cf758327512&ex=1208232000&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print

I find this story extremely interesting, maybe it is because I did my book report on a book called “Reality Wars” which focused solely on the three big networks and their news programs. CBS has been in last place in the news division for awhile and nothing they seem to do boost their ratings. Moving Katie Couric to the nightly news helped them for about a week but that is not enough in this mega-competitive market. If CBS outsources their news to CNN I think it will have big implications. The media is overall owned by very few companies and there are not a lot of options. For one of the major “options” to outsource their news will just cut back on the variety of news available. You can not help but believe that CNN and CBS news programs will look very similar if CBS decides to outsource. This just cuts back on news options for viewers. I think variety in news programs is a good thing. Different networks will cover different stories in different ways. Taking out some of the competition will not be beneficial for anyone but the networks.

Final Four

March Madness is something that is looked forward to by American's all over the nation. People plan their weekends around the tournament, thousands of people travel to watch the games live. There is no denying that the tournament is a huge money maker for the schools, NCAA and the networks that have the contracts to broadcast the tournament. It has become a staple of March sports and brings in millions. What are the students getting out of this though? Some of them are getting a free college education. Are these students being exploited by the networks and schools? Most of these students will not make it to the pros. Is the fact that they are getting a free education enough. Should these students be making money like the schools and networks are?

http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=ef142f3b0b4f1654fd7f971f8f04ba55

The Campaign

Politics always amazes me. This election seems to be different than most. Maybe it is not that different, maybe it is just the first one I have really paid attention to. I found an interesting article on the Drudge Report. It was that Mitt Romney and John McCain are actually getting along. During the Republican primaries they were hated rivals. Romney was seen as an outsider by most and did not have the camaraderie that the other candidates had. This article even went as far to suggest that McCain might pick Romney as his running mate. An interesting thought to consider.

When you look at it even deeper and in a world of what ifs you could have a very interesting election. What if Barack and Hillary run on the same ticket and McCain chooses Romney you are presented with an interesting scenario. America claims to be accepting at all and open to all this election could prove that they American people really can be accepting. On one side of the ticket you would have someone that is a minority and someone that is a female. On the other side of the ticket you would have someone that is a Mormon and someone that would be older than any president ever elected.

For the first time there would actually be diversity in the race. The thought excites me. I know it is all hypothetical right now and full of buts and what ifs. If this was the scenario though I do not doubt that the news media would have a field day with it. It would be very interesting to see how they would cover it. I am sure whatever scenario presents itself this summer the media is not going to slow down on its coverage of the election.