Musicians Team up for Tibet

Sting, Matthews, Mayer Gamer for Tibet than Beijing

With the Olympics beginning in less than a month, many people are speaking out against the human atrocities that are taking place in China. The latest is a list of prominent musicians using their fame as a platform to speak out in support of Tibet. The article caught my attention because the author used a delayed lead to pique my interest in the subject and then go into what the real story was. Even though the article is quite short, the author puts forth quite a large amount of information regarding the controversy surrounding the Beijing Olympics.
Last month, Steven Spielberg stepped down as an artistic advisor and several other prominent Hollywood people have also taken a stand. As the article points out, musicians from around the world including Dave Matthews and John Mayer have recorded tracks for a benefit CD that will help the people of Tibet. China has ruled Tibet since 1950 and reportedly killed 250 Tibetans in March because of anti-government protests.
Because China is treating the Olympic Games as a platform for their way of life, I believe it is really important for people to take a stand against the policies of the Chinese government. The more pressure the government receives from people around the world, the more likely they are to grant sovereignty to Tibet and to end their trade with Sudan. As we’ve seen over the past few months, hundreds of famous people have spoken out in protest of the Olympics being in Beijing. However, athletes don’t seem to really want to take part in the stand against the Chinese government. A few athletes have, including Steve Nash and Ira Newble of the NBA, but for the most part athletes have remained tight-lipped. For America to truly take a stand, a prominent athlete needs to stand up and make their voice heard without fear of the repercussions of their actions.

Apple Doing Well

After strong quarter, Apple Signals Changes



With the release of the iPhone 3G, Apple has proven yet again that it is the most innovative company in the computer industry. This year, Apple had sold 41% more computers compared to the same time last year. Despite going nearly bankrupt 10 years ago, Apple is now the 3rd best selling computer in the US and continues to grow at an incredible rate. However, despite all of the company’s successes, Apple’s stock values have been falling recently which concerns potential investors. Because of their large profit margin, Apple has decided to drop the prices on several of their products including the new iPhone which is half the price of the previous model. The lower prices will likely reduce their profit margin which many investors are quite leery about. Another potential point of concern is the health of Apple CEO Steve Jobs who has had cancer in the past. Investors seem to want to make sure that he will be heading the company for a long time to come before they commit a large amount of money to the company.
The thing that stood out about this article was that it was free from insider jargon even though the story was about technology and investing. Instead, the author used terms that everyone could understand and that the normal person could use to help them. It should be quite interesting to see if Apple continues its climb to the top of the technology world or if it levels off in the near future.

Harrington Impressive at Open

Asterisks won’t be applied to Harrington

Even though Tiger Woods was not in the field at the British Open last week, Padraig Harrington proved that he deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as the elite golfers of the world. Despite having a nagging wrist injury that nearly forced him to withdraw from the field, Harrington put together four stellar rounds to win by four shots over Ian Poulter. His win at Royal Birkdale not only netted him $1.49 million but it also vaulted him to number three in the latest World Golf Rankings, behind only Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.
During the entire week, Harrington appeared cool and confident as though he expected to win the Open Championship all along. He also showed no signs of pain from his wrist and obviously didn’t play like it was hurting him. Perhaps his wrist being hurt brought down his expectations down which allowed him to relax during the week and focus on playing his game. For most people, when expectations are raised, it causes a spike in their stress level. In golf, stress is the worst thing that can happen to a player, especially when it comes down to touch shots around the green. As the article says, Harrington won the British Open because of the way he dominated the course, not because Tiger Woods was not in the field.

Milwaukie, OR the birth place of many box office hits

Welcome to Milwaukie, Ore.

Even after growing up in Salem and once having a girlfriend from Milwaukie, I had no idea that such a large company was based there. What surprised me even more was the fact that a Los Angeles Times contributor wrote about the fact that Dark Horse Comics is in a small city in Oregon. After signing a deal with Universal Studios, Dark Horse has been the imagination behind several blockbusters including 300, Sin City and now Hellboy 2. As the author points out, Dark Horse started with only $2,000 back in 1980 in Bend, Ore. Today, Dark Horse is estimated to be worth millions of dollars. Dark Horse is also incredible in the fact that it has created several muti-million dollar blockbusters with only 150 employees. When I think of movies, I often think of media conglomerates out to have a good bottom line instead of creating good movies that are made by fans for fans.
What’s great about Dark Horse’s story is the fact that the company was started out of a simple love of comics by one man. With the economy so bad recently, it seems as though people don’t have the nerve to take a chance on something that could go nowhere. People are much less willing to take chances and go with the sure thing in life. That is what makes Dark Horse’s story so refreshing and enlightening.

Soldiers find problems when returning home

Celebrated Soldier Fell Victim to Demons

This article points out the scary reality of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. When returning home from a warzone, where a person’s adrenaline is constantly at a raised level for several months, it is difficult for soldiers to readjust to reality. When exposed to something stressful, the normal psychological defenses are raised to an abnormal level and when it is constantly raised, it takes a while to return to normal. In 2007, PTSD was twice more likely to be diagnosed to servicemen than just the year before. The sad part is that the U.S. government doesn’t seem to be doing enough to help the soldiers with their recovery process. There were several things that caught my eye with this article. The first was the fact that it had to do with psychology which is a subject that I really enjoy. However, the main thing that caught my eye was how the author wrote the story. Even though it was an AP wire story, it had the feel of a feature article in the way the story jumped around. Nearly one-third of the story was devoted to an anecdote to set the scene for the rest of the article. The anecdote not only provided some context but it made the reader want to understand why the author was telling the story. This story is just one of many in the growing problem of mental illness among military veterans.

Oregon High School Star Commits to Arizona

Oregon HS Star Commits to UA



This article presents a growing problem for Ernie Kent and Oregon basketball. After recently signing an extension that will pay him $1.06 million per year until 2014, Kent still can’t seem to recruit inside Oregon. Just in the past two years alone, Kyle Singler has signed with Duke, Kevin Love with UCLA, Michael Harthun with Washington State, and now Mike Moser with Arizona. Although Kent has a great recruiting class coming in this season, four of the six players are from east of the Mississippi River. Several years ago, Kent’s image took a turn for the worse when he was caught having an affair. These days, for Kent to return his image to where it once was, he needs to tap into the local talent instead of letting it go out of state. With Oregon State being one of the worst programs in the nation, Kent should have Oregon high schools on lock down, especially having gone to two elite eights in the last six years. However, Mike Moser is just the latest in the line of Salim Stoudamires to leave the state for greener pastures.

Ron Artest needs a new team

Artest, Mavericks need each other

This article presents the interesting situation Kings forward Ron Artest now finds himself in. Despite being arguably being one of the best defenders in the NBA, teams are leery to sign him because of his reputation. Although teammates seem to love having him on the team, his antics at the Palace of Auburn Hills in 2004 continue to haunt him. Most people seem to believe that he is a thug that has no regard for his teammates and fans in the NBA. As the author suggests, Artest should go to the Mavericks to team up with Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard. However, after Howard admitted to using marijuana in the off-season, the Mavericks may need to clean up their image. With the way Mark Cuban runs his team, winning is likely much more important than potential image problems. The Mavericks have been embarrassed the last two years in the playoffs and Cuban will likely make the moves necessary to get the team back to the NBA Finals.

Pollution and the Beijing Olympics

Is Beijing Manipulating Air Pollution Statistics?

With the Olympic Games being held in a communist country for the first time since 1980, hopes are high that the games will help China turn the corner in international relations and provide better living conditions for its people. However, many people are skeptical of China’s intentions with the Olympics and believe that the games will be used as a propaganda campaign for the Chinese Government. As a result, several protests have popped up around the country regarding China’s human rights issues, including how they handle Tibet. Although people have suggested a boycott by American athletes in Beijing, most people seem to believe that a bigger statement could be made by the athletes in attendance.
Aside from the political issues China has, pollution is a major problem in China. The country is host to 13 of the 18 most polluted cities in the world. As the article points out, marathon runner Haile Gebrselassie has elected to not participate in the games, citing his concerns about the pollution problem. Hopefully athletes will take a stand in Beijing and use the games as a platform to voice their opinions on China’s political policies and environmental issues. With China being Sudan’s biggest trading partner, there will be a chance for athletes to shine a light on the atrocities occurring in Darfur and hopefully spark change in the region.

Cholesterol medication for children?

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1820655,00.html

In an era when obesity has reached epidemic levels, especially for children, doctors are taking drastic steps to ensure that heart disease doesn’t become more of a problem as children get older. Some doctors are recommending cholesterol medication to children as young as 8 years old in the hopes that lowering cholesterol levels will reduce the future risk of a heart attack.
Even though this article caught my eye, it was more for the content than how the author wrote the article. It was as though she tried to stuff as much information as possible into the lede sentence which I believe detracted from the article. However, she did use several quotes that were very well done with the context of the piece. The story created several debatable questions, the first of which being whether cholesterol medication is safe for children.
In my opinion, anything to get obese children to live healthier should be used. In this case, doctors believe that cholesterol medication could reduce bad cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease. Since obesity is another risk factor for heart disease, the two seem to go together. Even though this article was a standard news story, I believe the topic could involve much more questioning and be turned into a feature story.

Belotti loses credibility

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-spw-sondheimer22-2008jun22,0,3855167.column

According to Eric Sondheimer of the Los Angeles Times, Mike Bellotti has lost some of his credibility in the recruiting world. According to the article, Bellotti pulled a scholarship from an LA area high school football player after he had committed to the program. The author thinks that it is wrong for college football coaches to pull scholarships when kids are bound to their school choice when they sign a letter of intent. However, I believe the writer must have some sort of LA bias because this happens all the time in college football. The only difference in this story is that it is Mike Bellotti, who coached a team that beat USC last year.
In my opinion, if USC coach Pete Carroll would have done the same thing, the author would have swept the story under the rug and instead focused on the good things Pete Carroll has done for the USC program and kids around LA. The fact of the matter is that this happens all the time in college football for many reasons. I believe the reason why this reason writer wrote about this singular case is that Oregon and Mike Bellotti have begun to reach into southern California for athletes, which may rub some people the wrong way.
As journalists, we need to realize that we all have biases that tend to come out in our writing. As you’re reading this, you’re probably thinking that I am biased toward the article because I am a Duck. However, when something is quite common as is the case here and Rick Neuheisel, the king of NCAA allegations is in the town you write in, it seems as though there are bigger fish to fry for the author. I’m not saying Bellotti is right in the situation, I’m just saying that the author should present more context to his article.

Obama becoming road weary

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-weary9-2008jul09,0,619759.story

After one of the closest Democratic nomination races in history, author Peter Nicholas explains that Barack Obama may be getting a little road weary. Being inundated by McCain and Obama stories has become a part of life in the last few months but this article caught my eye because of the interesting approach the author used to write the story. For the lede paragraph, Nicholas used short sentences that showed different ways in which the campaign trail was weighing down Obama. As the story went on, he presented several in depth stories of how Obama spent his time around the 4th of July holiday, which he spent relaxing in Montana.
Nicholas states that since clinching the democratic nomination last month, Obama has been followed like never before by the media which seems to be wearing on him. However, I believe that the author can’t really make those assumptions at this point in time. The fact of the matter is that because the media is following him so much now, perhaps Obama has simply had more of his frustrating moments caught on tape where they wouldn’t have been caught on tape before the nomination.
This article also brings up some journalism ethics questions for me in the fact that this reporter seems to be following Obama’s every move. He knew not only where Obama was staying but what movie he was taking his kids to see and where he was taking his wife to dinner. It seems as though political coverage has gone to paparazzi levels where Barack Obama has as tough of a time with photographers in Montana as Britney Spears does in Hollywood. This brings up the question of when is great coverage too much coverage in the media industry. Is it against journalistic code to know each and every thing about a person’s life? When it comes down to it, it seems to be all about money with today’s media giants. If people continue to want more, the media will be inclined to give it to them.

Hollywood Exec to try his hand in front of the camera

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/07/arts/television/07roth.html?_r=1&ref=movies&oref=slogin

Author Brooke Barnes presents an interesting story about movie executive Tom Rothman wanting to make the leap from behind the camera to in front of the camera. In the article, Barnes points out the fact that executives have never been successful in making the switch to in front of the camera. This fact is the reason her lede works so well and why it drew my attention to the article. In the first sentence, the author talks about the eye-rolling that happened at 20th Century Fox when Rothman made it known that he wanted to be in front of the camera.
Barnes then went on to explain why each executive before Rothman had failed so miserably in his try in front of the camera. The thing with Rothman was that he did a great job with his job as a host for “Fox Legacy,” a movie history show that can be seen on Fox Movie Channel. Because of increased viewership, his bosses are now pedaling for an Emmy Nomination for the first-time host.
As we’ve seen in the past, some people just have knack for being in front of the camera. The late Tim Russert had an amazing presence in front of the camera that he seemed to have his entire life. Dan Rather of CBS had a way of delivering the news as if it was your grandfather telling you about the world. Some people simply have a knack for connecting with the viewer and acting as though they are sitting in the living room next to you when explaining a story. This article goes to show that given the right opportunity, some people have a way of flourishing in front of the camera, even though the person may not have previous experience. Barnes ends the story with a great quote from Rothman saying, “I try to have a sense of humor and remember the basic absurdity of all of this.”

Kulongoski’s Eco-Friendly Economy Booster

http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1215487536291830.xml&coll=7

With gas prices rising and the economy in a downturn, Governor Ted Kulongoski released a plan that involved a rise in eco-friendly jobs to help turn the economy around. With Oregon’s unemployment rate around 5.6%, the impression is that Oregon has dodged the economic downturn in terms of jobs lost. However, Kulongoski believes that green technology can bring high tech jobs to thousands of Oregonians and help stimulate the Oregon economy.
Harry Esteve, the author of this story for The Oregonian, used a part from The Graduate to get the reader’s attention and show how times have changed as far as technology goes. Since popular movies are not used in many hard news stories, the opening drew me into the story and made me want to keep reading. The author also did a great job of explaining why the Governor’s plan could be a success and how it could fail. He used excellent quotes from experts on both sides of the argument which gave readers a chance to decide on the issue with information from both sides of the perspective. He also ended the article with a great quote from Kulongoski that basically summed up his entire argument for green technology.
Personally, I believe that green technology could be a great way to increase jobs and help the environment. However, I believe Governor Kulongoski may be reaching a little too far in how much the program will stimulate the economy. The jobs involved would be high-wage, which is good for stimulating a weak economy, but that also means that there will be relatively few jobs to go around in the beginning.

Is health a part of the work requirement?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/worklife/07/01/force.u.2b.healthy/index.html

Can companies require people to observe healthy living practices? According to this article, the answer is yes and several companies are doing just that. With obesity becoming such a large problem and the cost of health insurance continuing to rise, companies are taking steps to both protect their employees and lower the cost of their insurance. According to the author, about one-third of employers who offer health insurance also have wellness programs that offer free health check-ups among other things to their employees.
This article really caught my eye because the author used a great anecdote from an employee at Intel which is based in nearby Hillsboro, Oregon. She set up the story using the anecdote as a success story for wellness programs at large corporations. She then presented both the pros and cons of the programs which added validity to her piece. She stated that although the programs seem like a great idea, many people believe it is an invasion of privacy for employers to dictate people’s lifestyle choices. Opponents believe that overweight people are being discriminated against in the workplace and wellness programs are a big part of the reason.
In my opinion, wellness programs are a great way to help people fight obesity. The problem has become so widespread in the country and taking steps to curb the problem is a great idea. Also, having more people healthy in the workplace will decrease the cost for health insurance both for the corporation and individuals who must pay for coverage because of the lower liability. Wellness programs seem like a win-win situation for the employer and employee.

Nick Symmonds heads list of Oregonians going to Beijing

http://www.nbcolympics.com/trackandfield/news/newsid=144223.html#peking+ducks

Although this story is one of the truly great stories to come out of the U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, I felt like the author could have done a better job in conveying the message. Nick Symmonds, Andrew Wheating and Christian Smith, all three of which train in Eugene, ended up qualifying for the Olympics in the 800 meters, sending Hayward Field into a frenzy. With running being so big in Eugene, the hometown crowd couldn’t have been more proud of the three runners. The lede of the story began with the names of the three runners which was not the biggest part of the story. If I was the author’s editor, I would have had them begin with either the fact that three runners made the Olympics in the city they train in or the fact that 30,000 people showed up to watch, even though Hayward Field is only supposed to hold 16,000 after the renovation.
Even though I believe the story could have been written better, it shouldn’t take away from how special that night was at Hayward Field. Before the race began, there was excitement in the air knowing that a University of Oregon student and two members of the Oregon Track Club Elite had a real chance at qualifying for the Olympics. At the festival outside Hayward Field, people jammed in front of two Jumbotrons to see the action. When the race was over, the cheers could have been heard as far away as Portland.

The Sad Story of the Seattle Supersonics

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ap-supersonics-seattletrial&prov=ap&type=lgns

Author Tim Booth did an excellent job of presenting both sides of the story in the fiasco that is the Seattle Supersonics. Booth had obviously been covering the story for quite some time because of the way he presented how owner Clay Bennett is viewed by fans in Seattle. This story shows how little the NBA did to try to stop the move to Oklahoma City. Even though the Supersonics have fallen on hard times recently, winning only 20 games this year, the franchise has had a storied history in the Northwest. The team won an NBA title in 1979 and had one of the NBA’s most popular franchises in the late 1990s with Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton taking them to the Finals in 1996.
The article also shows how little Clay Bennett wanted to do with the city of Seattle. After allegedly agreeing to keep the team in Seattle when he purchased the team, Bennett exclaimed “We made it” when news broke that the team could move to his home town. In my opinion, Commissioner David Stern could have easily kept the team in Seattle but sided with his extremely wealthy friend Bennett. If Stern wants the NBA to change its image after the Tim Donaghy scandal, siding with a billionaire instead of a loyal city is not the answer.
The author’s lede was interesting in the fact that it started with Clay Bennett. After all of the tumultuous debate on whether the Sonics should stay in Seattle, using the owner as the lede shows that Bennett has become the biggest part of the debacle. This was a very effective way to start the story because people are drawn to Bennett, even though it is for the wrong reasons. Hopefully, David Stern and Clay Bennett will get their heads screwed on straight and somehow make up for this mess.