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.