Irate pirates vow revenge against U.S. and French naval forces.

On Monday CNN reported that two pirates in Somalia are vowing revenge for the actions taken by U.S. and French forces in recuing hostages.
The pirates told a Somali journalist on Monday that they were angered by the actions of both the U.S. and the French in rescuing their respective citizens.
“We have decided to kill U.S. and French sailors if they happen to be among our future hostages,” said Abdullahi Ahmed, who is a member of a pirate group based in the coastal town Harardhere, in central Somalia.
The threats of violence come from the recent rescue in of the American Captain Richard Phillips and four French hostages taken by Somali pirates this past week. Both rescue operations ended with a total of five slain Somali pirates, three pirates captured by French forces and one in US custody.
President Obama has praised the word of the US forces to free Phillips from his captors, while saying that the U.S. will confront pirates and hold them “accountable for their crimes”, as reported on CNN.com.
US and French sailors won’t be the only groups targeted by the pirates. In an interview with Ali Nur, a pirate based in Gara’ad, a coastal village in Puntland, in northern Somalia, Nur stated that the effects will carry on to U.S. and French citizens.
“From now on, after the killings by the U.S. and France, we will add some harsher steps in our dealings with hostages, particularly with American and French hostages,” Nur told a journalist.
In a warning issued to the United States Nur called the actions of the Navy “aggression” and told the U.S. that they “will see what they get from their operation”.

Black and White in Memphis Media show a lack of direct questions and answers.

In the city of Memphis, TN, the issue of race and racism has been the center of controversy since the civil rights movements of the 60's.

This Tuesday evening the University of Memphis held a panel discussion on the issue of race in Memphis Media. While one key speaker and a large audience never made it to the campus's Rose Theater the biggest piece missing from the discussion was direct answers to the questions asked to them.

"It felt like everyone was walking on eggshells when they answered the questions," Amanda Hastings, 21, of Millington TN, said.

Hastings said that she had come expecting to hear an open and honest debate about the issue and instead most of the panelists seemed to waffel their answers.

The panel of speakers, which consisted of news-anchor Joe Birch and former anchor for WMC-TV Donna Davis, news directors Ken Jobe, Bruce Moore and Jim Turpin, Otis Sanford, the editor for opinion and editorials for The Commercial Appeal , the Director of the Tri-State defender Dr. Karanja Ajanaku, and the executive director of the local chapter of the NAACP, Ms. Johnnie Turner, was missing a very important guest Tuesday night.

Originally accepting the offer of The University to sit on the panel, Mayor W.W. Herenton decided to decline the offer last week and probably to the dismay of the panel, the journalism department, and his image on the campus.

The biggest disappointment of the night was the seeming lack of straight talk that occured within the discussion. Herenton's spot, however, was filled by Memphis City council member Wanda Halbert, who is known for having opinions and in her own words "being blunt".

Hastings said that while the discussion as a whole was lacking, there were two bright spots that did shine on the evening by actually giving direct answers to the questions at hand, one being Ms. Halbert and the other being Ms. Turner.

"They were the ones I liked the best in this discussion, not because I agree with them, but because they acctually gave straight forward answers to the questions they were asked," Hastings said. "The discussion was still bad though, I mean it would have been better had everyone just been as blunt as they were. I just don't think that Memphis will every be able to truely work on its race issues until the people start being truthful."

Twitter....is it worth it?

Since its launch in July 2006 the "social networking" website Twitter has become one of the biggest topics in journalism. While many people in the field of journalism are on and using Twitter one does have to stop and ask, what is so spectacular about it?



Lets break it down with what Twitter is and what it accomplishes. The site was founded by the American team of software architects and business men Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone (who also helped to create Blogger and the website Xanga) and Evan Williams. While Twitter is considered to be a "social networking and micro blog site" like the websites Myspace and Facebook, some journalists use the site as a tool to find news events while they are happening.

So what does Twitter accomplish?

Well for those who use Twitter, especially journalists, news events or stories can be accessed quicker and with more results than in the past. By reading "tweets" or what a Twitter user posts on the site, journalists can get a heads up on events or actions taking place as soon as they happen without going to sources like the police or officials first to find what stories are happening or have happened. Twitter can also help to ease the woes of journalist seeking stories by more than one "tweet" on the subject being posted.

Sounds pretty cool, right?

While the aspect of Twitter seems like a good idea with good intentions let us not forget that wise saying of "the road to Hell is paved with good intentions".

Twitter is new, Twitter is hot, Twitter is the in thing, but does this make Twitter reliable or efficient in the work of news gathering and with journalism as a whole? No. Just like the previous sites of Myspace and Facebook, Twitter is a self proclaimed "social networking site" which offers things like updates being sent to your mobile phone and email (just like Facebook and now Myspace) but in the end it is just what it says it is, a social networking site.

On the other hand Twitter is a great tool if you know how to work it. I don't mean how to post things or to "tweet" as they say, I mean to find the truly newsworthy information that exists in the mass of ideas, emotions, and just general human products that flood the site.

The one thing that journalist really need to learn is that Twitter is a tool, not the greatest tool, just a tool and that it should not be relied on heavily to fulfill the duties that journalist once performed without the aid of computers and the Internet.

Obama meets with Brown but what about other leaders.

US President Barack Obama met with Britain's prime Minister Gordan Brown today. As reported by BBC the two met with each to discuss the two nations' economic problems and other factors facing the nations. The meeting, as it was reported, went well and on Wensday Brown will speak to the US congress to warn about "protectionism" during this economic down turn.

The question on some people's minds, however, is not what will our relationship with the United Kingdom be, instead the question is why isn't Obama meeting with other leaders.

"I think it would be great for him to meet with nations like China or Russia," said Jamie Sullens, 25, of Memphis. "I think that it would be more benificial to talk to those who blame us for this down turn which affects them."

With the finger being heavly pointed towards us by nations like China and Russia for the world wide economic downturn, it may not be such a bad idea for Obama to meet with leaders from across the world. While the meeting with Brown is a great thing, some say that Obama should focus on those who are angry at us first and deal with our friends later. One person that people feel Obama should handle first is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, over hostilities in the Middle East.

For now, most are cutting Obama slack because of the problems facing the nation and believe that he may get to international business in time.

One crucial fact remains, the world is not as large as it used to be and all of the world super-powers are connected. Our economies are suffering and we all need help to get out of the slum we are in, perhaps we could if we all worked together.

Racist New York Post cartoon....what were they thinking?!

On Wensday, Feb. 14th, the New York Post ran a cartoon by Sean Delonsa showing two police officers conversing over the bullet ridden courpse of a monkey. The caption of one of the officers reads "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill."

After its release there was an uproar about the racial content of the cartoon. Many peopl have marked the drawing as racist towards President Obama.

In an editorial this past Friday, Feb. 20th, Rupert Murdock apologized for the paper running the cartoon as reported by the BBC.

"As the Chairman of the New York Post, I am ultimately responsible for what is printed in its pages. The buck stops with me," said Murdock. "Last week, we made a mistake. We ran a cartoon that offended many people. Today I want to personally apologize to any reader who felt offended, and even insulted."

While this might quell the angers of some of the people who have seen the cartoon, others might not let this mockery of the nation's first half black half white president go with out a fight.

Still some people do not find the harm in the cartoon and say that people are going to far by thinking that the chimp in the cartoon is President Obama.

For others, including myself, the cartoon seems odd in the fact that the artist was relating two seperat events, President Obama signing the stimulus bill and the shooting of a crazed chimp in Stamford Conneticut.

"It's dumb," said Lakesha Robins, a student at the University of Memphis. "How did the cartoonist think that this was funny, what was he drinking to make him think about trying to connect these two events. He must have been out of it."

This reporter agrees, what was Delonsa thinking when he drew this cartoon? Did he even think of the ramifications of his actions? Did he care?

When all is said and done Mr. Delonsa will have to deal with the outcome of his actions and perhaps spend time reflecting on his mistake, both from a racial stand point and from a logical stand point.

______________________________UPDATE________________________________

Upon a fifth look at this cartoon, I have come to the realization that this cartoon is not as bad as it has been made out to be.

There has been a problem with this cartoon because so many people have heard about it by word of mouth. With so much press about this cartoon, the line that uttered by one of the police men in this cartoon has been misconstrued and many people have viewed it with an already hostile mind set. Like I have stated in this blog, one of the police officers in the cartoon said "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill."

With this piece of information the subject of the cartoon actually changes, since President Obama did not actually write the stimulus bill he only signed it into action. The subject of the cartoon is now clearly the United States' Congress.

Even though the cartoon is not about President Obama, Mr. Delonsa's cartoon is still hard to understand. There is not a clear conection between the vicious chimp attack and our country's stimulus bill. Again, perhaps Mr. Delonsa should consider how easy it is to make the connection from one news story to another, or maybe he should make the connection more apparent.

A fight in Washington---the fate of America will be decided.

The Nation’s leaders are in for the fight of their lives as the Senate passes their own stimulus bill.
This week the Senate approved their $838 billion dollar stimulus plan with a vote of 61-37. The Senates bill differs from the stimulus package passed in January not only in the size of the package it wants to give, $19 billion more dollars than the House, but also in how the package will be used.
In the Senate bill, if passed, will be used towards stress tests for banks, creating a “bad bank” to help rid the country of “some of the toxic assets clogging up banks’ balance sheet and considerable resources aimed at reducing the rate of mortgage foreclosures” as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
On the other side of the coin is the House of Representatives and their bill. The House’s stimulus package focuses on giving money to state governments for education budgets and offering greater financial assistance to people who have lost medical insurance because of job loss.
The differences of the bills give some indication of how either part wants the money spent, and before the end of this week the two will meet to hammer out a finale plan that the president will sign into law.
Though as promising as an idea that may be, the Senate and House are reluctant to give up on much of anything in their bills. For the Senate the ideas of straightening out the bank crisis to fix the economy, meanwhile the House totes their bill as a way to create more jobs for Americans.
With both sides opposing the other’s bill so strongly, this reporter predicts a fight on Capitol Hill where the fate of the bills are not as much on the line as the fate of the country and the common man.
"I just don't know," said University of Memphis student John Calmers, age 20, of Millington. "Both packages have good things and bad things, but in the end I think it is going to be a big head ache for the government and worse for the average American."
With the Senate and the House meeting this week, Americans should expect a bill to be placed on the President's desk by the end of the week.

Stimulus package passed by House.

This past Wednesday the US House of Representatives passed a $819 billion stimulus package. The package, if enacted, will provide the governement with an extended coverage over the US economy by reshaping policy energy, education, health care, and social problems. The Senate is also preparing a measure that is near $900 billion. While both of these bills are being looked over in the Washington D.C. either one, if completly passed, will raise the US deficit to levels that have not been seen since World War II.

The main question is not "will either of these packages be passed" since President Obama has said that he wants a finale compromised version by Feb. 13th, the question for most people is "where are we getting all of this money from?"

While the House's stimulus package was being passed, leaders from China and Russia were blaming the downward turn of the world economy on US-led finacial system. With their investments in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who had been the biggest foriegn investors in bonds the morgage giants for years, many Chinese leaders have been suprised and upset over the economic crisises. The Wall Street journal reported that "there is no evidence Beijing is pulling back on buying U.S. Treasurys" but that the Chinese central bank did quietly stop lending out its Treasury holdings for fear that borrowers will go bankrupt.

I don't know how the rest of the country feels, but this reporter feels like the country is on a colision course with bad economic policies and a rising debt. The results will not be pretty!!!! More to come as this long story develops further.

An article written about me (by me) *this is an assignment so don't judge me, I'm not narcissistic*

Matthew Antwine
Article 1
Reporting 3120
Thursday, Jan. 22, 2008


MEMPHIS--- While most of the students entering college focus on jobs in high paying professions like law and science for one student at the University of Memphis, Journalism is the only way to go.

For Matthew Antwine, 19, of Munford, journalism is a career that seems to make the most sense right now.

“People love to be informed about what is happening around them, whether it is local, state wide, nationally or internationally,” Antwine said. “And right now this world has so many history making events that we need journalists who know who to right and report. We need them as journalists to not only report these events to the people with journalist integrity but to also record these events for future generations.”

Antwine, a sophomore at the university, has recently become one of the new staff writers for the university’s paper The Daily Helmsman. The Helmsman will not be the first time that Antwine has had articles published, as he had ended an internship at his local county paper this past November.

For Antwine, the chance to be a journalist is a chance to bring a change to what he says journalism has become in this day and age.

“During this past election, I saw Saturday Night Live act more objectively in their parodies than I did with the journalists asking the candidates questions. I would have asked both candidates questions about their plans or their campaigns without being partial to one side, that is called being objective,” Antwine said.

As for the future of Journalism, Antwine is more concerned about the tactics and objectivism of journalist more than the move to online journalism. He says that as long as the integrity and objectivism are in the journalist of tomorrow the format of the way people read it won’t matter.

“Journalism is heading towards more online publications, and while that is sad it is not necessarily frightening for me,” Antwine said. “It isn’t what a journalist writes on, be it paper or on the web, it is how they write it and how they report a story that truly matters.”

Though only a sophomore Antwine says he has already noticed that his fellow journalism students carry a great sense of objectivism and journalistic integrity with them.

With graduation just two years away Antwine says that though it will be a long and hard road, he wishes one day to report on international affairs.

“Matt is the kind of person that likes to see the small things happening but he loves to see the big picture,” said his close friend Megan Brown. “He likes to inform his friends when something happens either nationally or internationally that can affect all of us.”