Speak up, Speak out

As more and more marginalized people want their stories to be heard, there has been a huge increase in the different types of media people can read or listen to. There's media for people of different races, genders, sexual orientation and interests. For me personally, my main goal as a journalist is to tell the stories that aren't out there. I would want to discuss that secret that governments or corporations are hiding from the general public, but also to tell others the horrors that people of a specific race or class encounter just because of how they are born.

If I was to begin my own publication, I think I'd want to write one covering the lives of people in Southeast Asia. Even though all the countries there are quite small, there are still quite a few people who have immigrated to Canada. Not many people know of the country I was born in, Brunei, but people know even less about the cultural difference between Chinese people and people in Singapore or the difference between Malaysian people and people from the Philippines. I think it'd just be interesting to have a blog covering the different foods, fashion, music and overall culture differences between these southeast Asian countries to Asia itself. I'd include a list of landmarks in these countries (including maps to show how to get there) and profiles of important people (along with pictures). I'd also like to have a myths and realities section to see what people originally thought and how true or false that is. As well, it'd be great to have an area for blogs from people in that country to tell about their everyday lives and readers can get a direct perspective of what life is like there. Not only that, I'd want to take a look at the different political issues happening in these countries. For example, Singapore's strict government regime, the Philippine worker trade or the Brunei's sultan and his oil deposits. I think that many people in the western culture know very little about this area and I'd like to change that. The publication I would want to start would be a voice for people who don't normally get covered in the mainstream media.

If I was given the chance to build a new section in an existing site, I would like to include a forum onto one of the major newspaper sites. As I realize that there is a comment box on most news sites now, I still feel that some people aren't given the chance to freely express themselves. It only lets people comment on the topics that are already there, but if there post has to do with something not relevant to the topic, then I think a forum would be a place for a broader discussion. This helps journalists as well because they can see the blogs and look into topics that people are openly complaining or saying things about, another source for story ideas that people are saying affects them. This venture may be a bit difficult to moderate, but I think that if the publication is dedicated enough to be writing about topics that are affecting people in the community than I don't see why it shoudln't be done. People are always saying how the media doesn't represent them and to some extent that is true, but this idea allows people to freely express themselves and keep them from being marginalized.

Google and Writing an Article with It

As companies faced off one another with their new and fancy search engines in cyberspace, users being given options from http://www.altavista.com/, http://www.yahoo.com/, http://www.askjeeves.com/, and others, one dominant winner would soon emerge. A search engine that started out as a small project between two Stanford Ph. D. students was what every now knows and uses today, Google.

It all began when the two developers thought that a search engine which looked for the relationships between web pages would show much more relevant web pages. They tested their theory out and Google was born. From there it expanded enormously and last year Google's stocks hit its high of $700 US per stock.

Whenever a user types any word into Google, a wide amount of searches appear within seconds. The only problem with it now is that sometimes if the search isn't conducted thoroughly enough any user can be bombarded with pages and pages of links that they're forced to scan through. A user using Google needs to have a more detailed focus of what they're looking for and any other possible terms that could relate.

For my research article I plan to do a profile about the process a first-time diabetics goes through. For starters, I'd want to know what diabetes and what it does to a person's body so I could start off my search with "Diabetes". I'd maybe go into the Google News section and see what articles have already been written about diabetes.

After gathering all the general information on the disease then it comes to the more focused scope. I'd want to look for diabetes centres in Toronto and see if there are any locations I could go to to talk to a doctor who may still be researching diabetes and anymore detailed information about what recent breakthroughs there might have been. As well, I'd hope to ask him to let me know about what most beginning diabetics go through or if he could connect me with one. For this, I'd then type "Diabetes centres" and see what I get.

There's only so much information I could get from Google, but all of it would only help me start off on what diabetes is and where I can find more information about it. Even while using Google, I'd need to check back between multiple sources to ensure it's accuracy, as you can never know how reliable or accurate it is. Google is an amazing place to get the general information, but when it comes down to getting all your information online, a journalist might want to think twice about whose putting it out there and how right it is.

Move over Toronto Star, Torontonians want to have their say

Ever since 9/11, there has been a new source for the journalism community: citizen blogs. Everyday people have begun to comment or blog about events such as what happened during 9/11 or how Burma's oppressive regime attempted to crush its people's peaceful protests has brought to light information that prior journalists didn't have open access too. Although, along with this new surge of information comes a great deal of issues.

As citizen journalism has increased in the past few years, many outlets of the media have acknowledged this influx. News associations such as BlufftonToday have linked themselves to bloggers who are likely to comment on their stories of the day, as well as including comment boxes under their own stories for anyone to comment. One major point where citizen journalists lose out to professionals is the acknowledgement and the importance of being accurate, truthful and as objective as possible. As we mentioned in lecture, citizen journalists don't have the weight on their shoulders as professionals do. They don't face the possible consequences of libel against them or the issues in taking a bias stance on a topic. This is something people who do this job as a living encounter and face on a regular basis.

As I do understand that bloggers can bring some hidden information that journalists would otherwise have no access to, I still think there needs to be some sort of training involved to make the piece an article versus an editorial. As journalists are aware that they themselves can't help but have bias, they also have access to editors who will extract these sentiments out of an article to ensure reliable and professional news. Whenever I read about the news, I always start out reading the basic facts at the Toronto Star or BBC website. After gathering that then I'll look into blogs and what other people have to say about it. I find blogs a tool to gather extra details that might have been missed, but the way professional media associations tell the story gives me a credible groundwork.

That's not to say that I disagree with what's happening in the media world where comment boxes and more and more blogs are being typed everyday. It's actually much better that organizations are allowing people to have more of a say in something that is supposed to represent what is happening in their everyday lives. Citizen blogging is always free to mention stories that don't make it into the mainstream press for whatever reason. It's a good place for people to get personalized information about a topic from someone who could have experienced it or maybe have a better understanding of the topic, even better than the reporter themselves. All in all, when it does come down to it, as much as blogging has increased in the past few years my main source of current events first go to journalists and then bloggers, not the other way round.