What the horseradish?

“We know there is a vast morass of information out there that our audiences want us to try to make sense of. The danger consists in trying to leap above it, not by getting more dramatic or salient or verifiable facts, but by analyzing, speculating, predicting, interpreting – by drawing definitive conclusions while the bodies are still warm.”
Paul Knox, The Globe and Mail 

 Well now…this doesn’t make much sense does it. Morass?? Really?? That’s a word…I’m looking that up in the dictionary when I’m done with this. Who say’s “morass”? “The danger consists in trying to leap above it” …Danger of leaping above what? Anyways…Let’s see what I can pull out of my ass to make sense of this jibberish.

 What the quote above is stressing is accuracy and thorough research in journalism. Not only is it important to give the audience the facts of the story, but it is essential to expand on what happened to let others truly comprehend the given story.  The author is stating that good journalism involves no personal opinion, and must verify the legitimacy of his sources.  He argues that the journalist must refrain from drawing conclusions too quickly, as the consequences of such could be fatal to one’s career.

Well… E for Effort.

reflection

Accessing information today is not quite the grueling process it was roughly twenty years ago. If you wanted to retrieve some info about a certain subject, you were forced to make a trip to the library, make phone calls, interviews, etc. In modern society however, the Internet is virtually accessible to almost anyone, allowing individuals to acquire any bit of information they want at the click of a mouse.

Search engines on the Internet today are more popular than any book or encyclopedia’s found in libraries. Venturing to the library for a day of research has turned into sitting in your computer chair and ‘book-marking’ the most useful sites. Though we rely on Google and Yahoo to answer all our questions, the legitimacy of these sources is always up for argument.

Despite how easy search engines have made researching, there is much more to finding legitimate information than just clicking the first link offered. No matter how authentic a webpage make look, one can never base the credibility of the information they are taking on the look of a web page. Finding credible sources takes more time and effort than we like to typically think.

Because of the fact virtually anyone can go on the Internet and post something, it should come to show how easy it is to put anything up online. With the new craze of “blogging”, it allows for almost any member in society access to post anything they want online. Wikipedia has been most criticized for the credibility of their information posted. Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia that allows anyone with access to a computer to post information on any given topic. Because of this, teachers and students alike have heavily scrutinized Wikipedia.

When searching for information via Internet, it is crucial to put extra time into finding credibile sources. On-line libraries and archives are now available to students within colleges and universities, and even some high schools. As a journalist, having credible sources is of the utmost importance. Using the information obtained today, I now know how to be much more aware of what I’m researching, and to scratch the surface and dig deeper into the story. Though things have become much easier on our generation in terms of researching, it does not mean we should take it for granted.

This link is from BBC. Goes more into detail:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3151595.stm

jimi hendrix tribute

What’s Going On In The Sports World This Week…

Aside from the Toronto Maple Leafs actually hanging on to a third period win last night, there’s been a much bigger buzz in the sports world. We’re talking about the super villan of the NFL, Mr. Adam “Pacman” Jones. A woman is seeking an arrest warrant against the suspended Tennessee Titan’s cornerback for punching her in the face outside an Atlanta strip club. It hasn’t even been a year since Jones was last arressted for being involved in a murder outside – ironically enough – an Atlanta strip club. The woman he struck has identified herself as Wanda Jackson. Jackson, an attorney, says in her filing that she was in the club’s office when an angry Jones accused managers of stealing his money and bracelet. After guards attempted to restrain Jones, Jackson claims he sucker punched her in the left eye. Pacman seems to be digging himself a much deeper hole than he needs.

In other NFL news the AFC and NFC conference championship games are upcoming this weekend with Brett Favre leading the headlines. After being criticized by much of the general sports media about returning for another season at the tender age of 38, Favre has silenced the criticis by having arguably one his most magical seasons yet.

In more local news, the Toronto Blue Jays made somewhat of a “blockbuster” deal acquiring Scott Rolen for Troy Glaus. A former Wolrd Series champ and 5-time All-Star, Rolen will bring some much needed leadership to a developing line-up. According to Jay’s General Manager, J.P. Riccardi, “There’s a lot of things Scott can do that are going to help our club. Defensively, he’s one of the best. He’s a good hitter, he hits right-handers really well. I think the power will come back, I think playing in this ballpark helps a little bit.” Look for early progress from Rolen, who seems to be excited to be playing north of the border for the first time in his career.

There’s a little rumor floating around the NHL that says Leafs newly aquired forward, Jason Blake is on the trading block. Blake, who has 29 points in 43 games has not been the offensive threat that Leafs management hoped for. Offering Blake could interest a lot of teams in the playoff race who are seeking a strong second liner. Hopefully John Ferguson (if he still has his job) can make some smart moves to even give the Leafs a remote shot at a playoff birth.

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