Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Off the record
I've been working on this story for awhile about the website RateMyProfessors.com and the online show called Professors Strike Back which gives the professors a chance for a rebuttal. Its been taking so long because I'm finding it hard to find faculty who will go on the record of the story. I really want to do this story, but I don't want to resort to making it more about the students, but if no faculty will go on record, what do I do?
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Quotes
When working on my quotes for our survey article, I realized a friend of mine would have been a good person to talk to about my question (number 7 - "Do you feel safe walking across campus at night?") Her brother was jumped three weeks into school as a freshman at a larger university (not OSU large, but another public institution in the state). He was pretty badly beat up (nose broken - needed surgery, etc) and he was walking with a group of guys!
He didn't go back to that school for the rest of the semester, but he eventually wound up atOWU because of this incident. I wanted to talk to the girl and use her as a source even though she would be biased (extremely, as anyone would believe) because I was hoping to mention this incident and I was hoping she would compare the two schools (OWU and the other school). I knew her brother would have been a good person to talk to, but the girl didn't even want to talk about it without talking to her brother first (and I got the impression she didn't want me talking to her brother about it - she's a protective big sister). How would I have been able to use her bias quotes without touching on WHY she felt that way?
I know her brother would have been a good person to talk to but since she didn't even want to talk about it, I didn't try to contact her brother at all.
The girl is a good friend and I respect her privacy, but wouldn't that have made a good source? Someone who had been in that situation and someone who was so closely connected to campus violence?
He didn't go back to that school for the rest of the semester, but he eventually wound up atOWU because of this incident. I wanted to talk to the girl and use her as a source even though she would be biased (extremely, as anyone would believe) because I was hoping to mention this incident and I was hoping she would compare the two schools (OWU and the other school). I knew her brother would have been a good person to talk to, but the girl didn't even want to talk about it without talking to her brother first (and I got the impression she didn't want me talking to her brother about it - she's a protective big sister). How would I have been able to use her bias quotes without touching on WHY she felt that way?
I know her brother would have been a good person to talk to but since she didn't even want to talk about it, I didn't try to contact her brother at all.
The girl is a good friend and I respect her privacy, but wouldn't that have made a good source? Someone who had been in that situation and someone who was so closely connected to campus violence?
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Last week's discussion
I was thinking about our discussion last week in class about the photograph of the soldier at his funeral.
I agree with the photographer and the courts in that it was not an invasion of privacy, etc.
If a family is going to hold a very large public funeral for their son and invite the press to it, there is no way they would believe that no photos of that sort would come out of it. If you want no photos to appear, then don't invite the press.
Or, don't have an open casket. The funeral was attended by (I believe) 1,200 people. I refuse to believe that all of those people honestly truly knew the soldier, and yet they were allowed to get up close and personal with the body as it lay in the casket. Why can't a photographer take a photo of the man and have it published? Now, if the man had been severely disfigured, and the family had still decided to have an open casket (though I don't know who would), I think there might have been more of a decency issue at hand.
I don't know. Things like this bother me. People who invite the press to something and then get mad when the journalists and photographers do their jobs bother me and anger me.
I agree with the photographer and the courts in that it was not an invasion of privacy, etc.
If a family is going to hold a very large public funeral for their son and invite the press to it, there is no way they would believe that no photos of that sort would come out of it. If you want no photos to appear, then don't invite the press.
Or, don't have an open casket. The funeral was attended by (I believe) 1,200 people. I refuse to believe that all of those people honestly truly knew the soldier, and yet they were allowed to get up close and personal with the body as it lay in the casket. Why can't a photographer take a photo of the man and have it published? Now, if the man had been severely disfigured, and the family had still decided to have an open casket (though I don't know who would), I think there might have been more of a decency issue at hand.
I don't know. Things like this bother me. People who invite the press to something and then get mad when the journalists and photographers do their jobs bother me and anger me.
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