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.