Assignment 6

Part I:
1. Stephen Glass-He was a journalist who fabricated the majority of his published stories for The New Republic. We watched Shattered Glass which was about his story.
2. Jayson Blair-He was a journalist who was forced to resign from The New York Times because he fabricated elements of his stories. He made up comments, scenes, and details. He also used details from a photograph to make it seem like he had actually been there.
3. Jack Kelley- He made up some major news stories, at least eight. He stole at least 24 quotes from other publications and lied during speeches given for USA Today. In 2000, he took a picture of a woman in Cuba and made up a story about her dying while fleeing Cuba via boat. The events never happened to that woman. He resigned in January after admitting that he had conspired with a translator to mislead some editors.
4. Janet Cooke- Wrote Jimmy’s World, a fabricated story about an eight year old heroin addict. The city government insisted on finding the boy because they wanted to help him. Cooke refused to give up her sources but the city government went searching for him anyway. She won a Pulitzer Prize for the story, and the next day the editor of Washington Post discovered her lies. Cooke finally admitted her mistakes.

Part II:
Rebecca Laman is the name of the girl who was accused of plagiarizing hr work in the Mustang Daily. Because of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, Cal Poly was not allowed to release her real name for The Tribune and New Times. She stole information and used it in her articles for the Cal Poly men’s barbershop quartet, the movie “Fantastic Four,” and the “dos and don’ts” article for men. The mustang Daily did not release Laman as the writer. These three stories were corrected for the public just after the incident, so people assumed it was the writer, Laman who had plagiarized.

Part III:
When I was first hearing about Hack Heaven from the movie, I was wondering how it would be at all possible for website hackers to unite at a convention without security or struggles. “The national Assembly of Hackers” seems rather outlandish to me. I was also finding it very ridiculous that Ian’s Parents would just willingly go along with the whole ordeal. Also, it seems unrealistic that Jukt Micronics would be willing to hire anyone under eighteen to fix their website. Even if they were to hire Ian they would not just show up at his house one day, like the article implies. These elements of the story are what seemed to make the story so, “good” and “amazing” in the first place, I suppose. After reading Jimmy’s World, I assumed that someone would have found the boy and tried to help him, if he were real. The man, Ron also would have been found. The whole story seemed somewhat ridiculous, especially the fact that they would just let a reporter come in and observe everything that was occurring.
If I were an editor, I would want to, first of all, make sure that all of the people named in the article actually existed. I’m not sure how an actual editor does his/her job but I would ask the writer to back up and provide proof for all of their sources. I would also personally investigate “outlandish” sounding parts of the article. If something seems like it could never really happen, I would inquire deeper into the story. If plagiarism turned into a really large problem, I would most likely hire an investigatory team to find proof for all of the stories being published. It would be a very hard job, though.
If a journalist is caught intently plagiarizing, they should never write a news story again. They should be fired immediately and forced to retire from the profession. The whole idea of journalism is to provide news of what is going on in the world to readers. The writer can, then, never be trusted to write truthfully again. If the plagiarism is a small error made unintentionally, e.g. the minibar in the hotel rooms, the writer should be strictly taught how to avoid such mishaps, but not fired. I believe firing should be based off of whether or not the mistake was made intentionally by the writer. People make mistakes all the time; however, choosing to use false information is not merely making a mistake and should be punished as a crime.

Part IV:
Brian Walski was fired because he took two real photos and combined them into one fake photo. He intentionally manipulated the photo to make it look like the solder was gesturing to the man with the baby. A photo is supposed to “speak a thousand words,” and give truth to a story. I, honestly, look at a photo to be truer than a quote because photos are not handwritten, but taken from a camera. Altering a photo is just as bad as getting a false quote. Again, the whole point is to report truth to the readers.
Editor, Michael Kelly continued to edit and write for other magazines and papers. His career ended at The New Republic in 1997. He wrote weekly columns for National journal and The Washington Post. In 1998, he became the editor of National Journal. He was the first American reporter to be killed in the Iraq conflict on April 3, 2003; he was reporting for The Atlantic.

Assignment 5

A Journalist’s Interrogation, Imprisonment in Sudan-April 10, 2008
Likes:
• She did her research-she explained what she knew before she went into the question she wanted to ask
• “Describe the guys who kidnapped you…”
• She asked the interviewee to put himself in the kidnappers shoes-just the same as she is doing to the interviewing
• She used very casual language, she just talked very casually, in general. She said, “So, um, did the militia guys who kidnapped you, um, steal you’re Toyota?”
• She paid attention! She was totally absorbed in what he was saying, it didn’t seem like she was using pre-planned questions, although she probably was.
Dislikes:
• I wish Gross would have gotten more into what it was like to be there; I wanted to know what imprisonment was like. I wanted a visual picture of what happened.

Julie Andrews, Making Good after a Miserable Youth
• She presented her own biases and assumptions and asked the interviewee whether or not this was a common assumption and to clarify her biases.
• She asked Julie Andrews, “To describe…” her childhood
• She seemed as if she had read Julie Andrew’s book “Home” before interviewing her; if she hadn’t read the entire thing she, at least, skimmed it
• Terry Gross brought up paragraphs and chapters from the book and asked Julie Andrews to re-tell the story; This means that she can use live quotes from Julie Andrews.
• She said what she knew about Julie Andrews and then asked her what that was like
• She asked very in-depth questions, I couldn’t have even thought to ask those kinds of questions
Dislikes:
• Terry Gross mentioned what she knew about Julie Andrew’s childhood, and the information she said was incorrect. Julie Andrews had to correct Gross and it made her look less reliable.; Andrews seemed even a little offended. Perhaps her research was not thorough enough.

‘The Ten-Year Nap’: Stay-at-Home Mama Drama-March 24, 2008
• Her first questions were, “Can you give me an excerpt…” and, “Can you describe for me…”
• Her questions immediately bounced off of what the interviewee was saying in their answer to her questions
• You could tell that she read the book herself before she interviewed
• The interviewee spoke a lot; Terry Gross talked only five times during the interview.
• She asked about specific excerpts from the book, “The Ten-Year Nap”
Dislikes:
• Terry Gross did not seem as interested with the subject as she was with past interviews; she didn’t give verbal responses like she had in past interviews.

Assignment 4

Cotchett Education Bldg.-bldg 2
Live Quote: “I don’t know much about him, the building is really nice though, and quite new.” –Mary Sutherland (Admin. Asst.)
Building named for Joseph Cotchett, Cal Poly 1960 (Engr). Graduated from Hastings Law School. Named one of nation's 100 most influential attorneys. Donated to Education funds.
Joseph W. Cotchett (ENGR '60) and his wife, Victoria, look at life as a series of journeys - education, discovery, giving back - that enrich the soul and lead to a higher destiny for themselves and others.

It is the journey to "give back" that has brought Joe Cotchett full circle to his alma mater, Cal Poly. The couple recently donated $2 million and bequeathed an additional $5 million to support science and mathematics teacher education initiatives at Cal Poly through the University Center for Teacher Education and the College of Science and Mathematics.

To honor them, the university has renamed its landmark "clock tower" building the "Cotchett Education Building."

The Cotchetts have a long, distinguished history of community and civic involvement. The Hillsborough residents have spearheaded new community initiatives, contributing time and countless resources to numerous organizations throughout the state. The list of awards they have received for their "giving back" is extraordinary.

"When I first enrolled at Cal Poly, it was the start of an incredible journey, leading to a destination that allowed me to help others," Joe Cotchett says. "Victoria and I want to give back so that others may experience this journey, to become part of the special academic arena of Cal Poly. Our goal is to help others less fortunate in the inner cities of our state to realize their potential as productive citizens."

Joe Cotchett believes one way to ensure success is to support teaching, research, program development, student learning and outreach in teacher education at Cal Poly.

A portion of the gift to Cal Poly will fund the Cotchett Summer Institute for science and math teachers. The program aims to give K-12 teachers from urban schools the skills to enhance their teaching of science and math. The gift will also permit renovation of a University Center for Teacher Education science and mathematics teaching laboratory in the Cotchett Education Building, create a new professorship, and establish student scholarships and fellowships.

Being an advocate comes naturally to Cotchett, who is considered one of the best trial lawyers in the nation. In what he calls his "journey" of nearly 40 years in the legal arena, he has built a reputation as a relentless defender of the less fortunate and a crusader for ethics in the legal profession. For the past dozen years he has been named one of the 100 most influential attorneys in the country by the National Law Journal.

His cases are consistently high profile, resulting in articles in such newspapers as The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Times. USA Today described him as a "legend in legal circles."

He is probably best known for winning a $3.5 billion jury verdict in the early 1990s for 23,000 plaintiffs, most of them elderly, who were bilked out of their savings in the Charles Keating-Lincoln Savings & Loan financial fiasco. In more than 100 trials in the past three decades, Cotchett has won at least $7 billion in court awards and settlements for his clients, most of them considered underdogs.

He is still at it today, leading the charge with a series of lawsuits across the country to make corporations and their executives accountable - to make them accept responsibility for what he calls "the meltdown in corporate ethics" at such firms as Enron, Worldcom, Qwest, Homestore and others. An author of several books on the law, he also lectures at schools across the country.

Victoria Cotchett studied painting at the St. Martin's School of Art in London for two years before earning her Bach-elor of Arts degree in art history at Cal State Hayward. Also an author, she has written The Aesthete's Guide to London Museums and Art in Japan.

She has penned articles for several art magazines, including Artweek Magazine and Le Metier, and her byline as an art critic has appeared in several Northern California newspapers, including the Palo Alto Weekly and San Mateo Times.

She was appointed by President Clinton to the Advisory Committee on the Arts of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. She also is a founding director of the Weigand Museum of Art at the College of Notre Dame in Belmont, California.

Her civic and community work includes having served on the boards of the San Mateo County Hospital Foundation, Women's Protective Services, Families in Transition and the Peninsula Humane Society. She also has been actively involved in assisting Bosnian refugee children, bringing a Bosnian refugee family to the United States, and sponsoring extensive medical care and education for refugee children.


Robert E Kennedy Library-bldg 35
Live quote: “He wrote a book, did you know that? Yeah, he was a great man. He loved his wife a lot, look at this article…” –Ken Kenyon (University Archives Specialist)
In 1980, the library moved to its current building, named in honor of president emeritus Robert E. Kennedy (1966-1979). Construction of the building began in 1977 and was completed in August 1980 at a cost of $11 million.
The library building is named in honor of president emeritus (1967-1979) Robert E. Kennedy. Born in Portland, Oregon, Kennedy lived most of his life in Southern California. Dr. Kennedy currently resides in San Luis Obispo.


Frank E Pilling-bldg 14
Live Quote: “I’m pretty sure he paid a lot of money to Cal Poly after he was a student. Money is fame.” –James Seymour (Engineering student).
Building named for Mechanical Engineering Alumnus Frank E. “Bud” Pilling. In 1994, Cal Poly named its Computer Science Building the “Frank E. Pilling Building” in recognition of his generosity and support.

The building is 50,000 sq ft. total. It was dedicated to Frank E. Pilling on 4/12/94 because of his financial support.

Robert E Mott Physical Education-bldg 42
Live Quote: “I do not know much about [Robert Mott], wasn’t he an athletic director here at Cal Poly or something?” –Jerry Demers (Dept. Head)

Building named for Robert A. Mott, Cal Poly Athletic Director -- 1946-1978

The building is 71,000 sq. ft. total.

Construction: Poly Canyon Village
Fulfilling the vision of student housing expansion within the Campus Master Plan, the site for Poly Canyon Village consists of roughly 30 acres of gently to moderately sloping land north of Brizzolara Creek at the southwestern edge of Caballo Peak.

The land has been historically characterized by the activity of the University's College of Agriculture and is generally separated from campus core development by temporary support facilities, topography and other physical features.

Poly Canyon Village is comprised of three neighborhoods, driven by topographic, geographic and social considerations. Each of the neighborhoods features passive outdoor gathering spaces framed by buildings and landscaping. All student residence buildings contain common lobbies with services and intimate study areas intended to provide an array of learning and social opportunities.



Miscellaneous facts:

* 148,000 square feet of sidewalk
* Over 30,000 cubic yards of concrete
* Over 1,200 (low flow) toilets
* 5,900 linear feet of countertop in the units (over a mile)
* Almost 2,000 sinks
* 5,600 doors
* 3,500 windows
* Over 450 new trees planted

Parking Structure #1 has the following (approximate) quantities:

* 11,270 cubic yards of concrete
* 1,635,890 pounds of reinforcing steel
* 302,590 linear feet of post-tensioned cable

Parking Structure #2 has the following (approximate) quantities:

* 10,850 cubic yards of concrete
* 1,787,760 pounds of reinforcing steel
* 251,375 linear feet of post-tensioned cable

Architect: Niles Bolton of Atlanta, Georgia
Approximately 2,000 parking spaces in two structures will be included in the project.

Poly Canyon Village spans approximately 30 acres and is located at the extreme northeast corner of Cal Poly at the base of picturesque Poly Canyon. Within nine 4 and 5 story buildings, 618 furnished apartment units nestle around a large piazza, bustling with student activities, dining, and food vendors. Eighty percent of the apartments are four private bedroom units. Three distinct neighborhoods, 1, 2 and 3 are visible, each with a unique architectural character. A recreation center, swimming pool, study rooms, knowledge center, and conference room are included in the complex.

We anticipate buildings A, B, C, H and I (see Site Map) to be completed and ready for occupancy in Fall 2008, housing approximately 1,500 2nd year/continuing Cal Poly students. Throughout the Poly Canyon Village Apartment complex, there are 4 floorplans, housing 4 to 6 students in private and shared bedrooms.

Apartment sizes range from 936 to 1175 sq. feet with private bedrooms: 103-112 sq. ft, and shared bedrooms: 165 sq. ft.

When completed, there will be 42 totally accessible ADA compliant apartments located throughout the complex (17 are expected to be available for Fall 2008).


Construction Management Building:

The future Construction Management building will provide facilities explicitly designed to support hands-on construction education. The new building will sit on the site of the former Air Conditioning Building, which was found to be structurally unsound. The building is 46,000 square feet and is the first phase of several planned projects. This will house many unique labs designed around specific segments of the industry including the Simpson Strong-Tie Materials Demonstration Lab. This project will support an innovative approach to preparing future professionals and construction managers.

It was approved for in 2006.

Assignment 3

3B) A few high-profile figures in high-tech are proposing a blogger code of conduct to clean up the quality of online discourse. Last week, Tim O’Reilly, a conference promoter and book publisher who is credited with coining the term Web 2.0, began working with Jimmy Wales, creator of the communal online encyclopedia Wikipedia, to create a set of guidelines to shape online discussion and debate. Mr. O’Reilly and Mr. Wales talk about creating several sets of guidelines for conduct and seals of approval represented by logos. The code of conduct already has some early supporters, including David Weinberger, a well-known blogger (hyperorg.com/blogger) and a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School. A subtext of both sets of rules is that bloggers are responsible for everything that appears on their own pages, including comments left by visitors. They say that bloggers should also have the right to delete such comments if they find them profane or abusive. That may sound obvious, but many Internet veterans believe that blogs are part of a larger public sphere, and that deleting a visitor’s comment amounts to an assault on their right to free speech. It is too early to gauge support for the proposal, but some online commentators are resisting. Mr. O’Reilly said the guidelines were not about censorship. “That is one of the mistakes a lot of people make — believing that uncensored speech is the most free, when in fact, managed civil dialogue is actually the freer speech,” he said. “Free speech is enhanced by civility.”

3A)
Here's my sports write-up:
A fresh blood stained collar quickly emerges from the lineup of filled-out white jerseys. The Panthers are down-34 to 14. It is the fourth quarter with less than two minutes to play. Witchell, the Panthers quarterback, continues outwitting the Cowboys for the touchdown. It’s third down at a minute fifty-two and the huddle agrees on a Texas-stunt with a twist. At a minute forty, the Cowboys are still up, 34:28. Witchell runs toward to catch the ball- the Cowboys knock the ball out of Witchells hands as he continues to fight. The intensity increases as Periman is tackled by the Cowboys, and his shoulder dislocates with the forceful fall. Coach Garry Gaines calls a timeout with only one play left to go. On the sideline, the medical team quickly adjusts Periman’s arm back into position with a crunch and pop sound. Coach Gaines speaks as a mentor when asking his player, Periman whether or not he can continue to play for the last play of the game. With the touchdown so close in sight, Periman assures the coach that his injury will not affect his playing. Coach Gaines gives Periman a pep-talk for the play, “Just push, don’t think about your shoulder,” says Gaines. Periman walks back onto the field; the stadium moves as if in slow-motion. There is a stilled hush over the field and the observers move forward to the edge of their silver metal stadium seats. The play runs down to the one and the team calls a final time-out with two seconds. They must get this last play to get the game. On the final play, Periman pushes as his skin blushes the color of a sunset to the end-zone. The clump of Cowboys huddles an forces themselves against the huddle of Panthers, both straddling the line. Periman hits the ground one yard short. The game is finished.

Assignment 3

From The New Yorker
Up and then Down-the lives of Elevators- April 21, 2008 by Nick Paumgarten.
The longest smoke break of Nicholas White’s life began at around eleven o’clock on a Friday night in October, 1999. White, a thirty-four-year-old production manager at Business Week, working late on a special supplement, had just watched the Braves beat the Mets on a television in the office pantry. Now he wanted a cigarette. He told a colleague he’d be right back and, leaving behind his jacket, headed downstairs.
The magazine’s offices were on the forty-third floor of the McGraw-Hill Building, an unadorned tower added to Rockefeller Center in 1972. When White finished his cigarette, he returned to the lobby and, waved along by a janitor buffing the terrazzo floors, got into Car No. 30 and pressed the button marked 43. The car accelerated. It was an express elevator, with no stops below the thirty-ninth floor, and the building was deserted. But after a moment White felt a jolt. The lights went out and immediately flashed on again. And then the elevator stopped.


The article continues to describe White's experience being trapped in an elevator while the elevator went into free fall. I found the lede to be interesting because it is very personable; many people can relate to going on a smoke break and watching the Braves game. The author also gives sufficient background and information-who, where, when, etc. Also, the first line draws readers in. "The longest smoke break of his life;" this causes the reader to immediately ask questions: Why? What happened?

Iconoclasm is theme of this year's 4-20 event – APRIL 1, 2008

ARCATA – Organizers of this year’s 4-20 marijuana festival have a message for the non-toking world: join us and be different. The annual day of cannabis consumption traditionally draws thousands to Arcata’s Redwood Park for the ritual hitting of bongs, bonking of bongos, petty thefts and open-air urination and defecation.
This lede is eye catching simply because of the theme. Since this headline comes from Humboldt County, the discussion topic is not completely shocking or surprising. However, I found it humorous that the journalist chose to lead the article with the discussion of many illegal activities. I was lead to continue reading because I was curious about the marijuana festival and what impact it had on the community.


Abandoned kittens find way to loving care -- April 5, 2008

The minute Brian Gerrard of Visalia got home from work last Tuesday, his wife Tina asked him to listen to some disturbing crying sounds coming from the neighbor's backyard.

He listened. "I kept hearing little cries," Gerrard said.

Tina insisted that her husband investigate further, so he hopped the fence -- the neighbor had been gone for a few days and had not been back -- and soon traced the sound to some boxes against the fence.

This lede is similar to the first one I found because it begins with the description of very common human activities. Every reader can relate to coming home after work; readers can relate. I can also imagine what it would be like to hear, "disturbing crying sounds coming from the neighbor's backyard."-It's kinda suspenseful, just kinda. The story continues to tell the story about some abandoned kittens- the topic is not very interesting but I liked how the writer tried to make the beginning sound interesting.

Assignment #2A

1. Lede
2. Background
3. Lead quote
4. Impact or attribution to the organizers
5. Lead quote
6. Elaboration
7. Background, indicating counter opinions
8. Kicker

Assignment One

Part One:
Human Transfer of Deadly Bird Flu:
The podcast of the news story was difficult to listen to. The man speaking had a British accent, and that was all I could think about for the first two spoken sentences. I would imagine that the quality of voice being used for a podcast is directly related to the audience understanding of information being presented. I also got visually distracted by other things while listening; I ended up staring at the 24" by 36" poster of Zac Efron on my roommates wall. There is also no visual stimulation to draw the audience in; this causes the audience's eyes to wander and focus on other things. Some benefits of using a podcast for means of transferring news information is that there are no visual distractions being presented to the audience; people can better focus on the information rather than the camera angles, ugly outfits, or bad nose jobs shown on the screen. The lack of visuals is also a benefit to the news company because money is not having to be spent going toward cameramen, wardrobe specialists, or bad nose jobs.
The video I found took a few minutes to load, and once the video did start playing it jumped and paused about every five seconds. Online videos contain more content than online podcasts or articles; some people might have trouble viewing such videos because of computer/internet problems. Another con to using an online video for news broadcast is that they don't remain on the internet as long as articles or other resources; at least, I found this to be true in my own personal experiences. There are not very many videos about bird flu left on YouTube anymore because they have been replaced with "new" news and other more interesting videos. A benefit of an online video is that they are interesting to watch. I enjoyed watching the shots of dead birds and infected hospitalized patients. The video made me feel like I was there experiencing the effects of the virus. Also, the visual shots made me trust what was being told to me; anyone can exaggerate the truth with words but a visual image can't really lie.
One of the cons of reading an article online is that many people simply do not care to read. Also, many people do not have the best reading comprehension skills, therefore the information may not be absorbed as well as the information in a visually stimulating video or photograph. Also, an article is not as enticing as a video; I, personally, would rather watch something than read it. However, the online article about bird flu contained more information than either the video or the podcast. The top of the article contained bullet points for the four top experts in the medical bird flu area; there were also mini biographies of each expert and a link to find more information on them. I would imagine that an article posted online would contain much more information than an article printed within a newspaper or magazine because of the limited space permitted in print. There were also many links for more information regarding the bird flu on the bottom of the page; this helps readers find the information they are looking for without blindly searching on the internet. Another benefit of an online article is that I, as the reader, could see the words being presented; I could see that they were talking about the influenza H5N1 virus. If I didn't know what influenza was, I could look it up and refer back to the article for spelling and such. When news is only being said out loud, the audience tends to forget the information. Also, audible information is being said so quickly that there is not time for listeners to write things down on paper for future referencing. If information is being written, I can read at my own pace and absorb the information that I choose to.

Part Two:
"Riding in Convoy to Southern Lebanon" was interesting because there were film clips of the area and real scenes of what was occurring while they were there. Even the greatest writer can describe the area with words, but written description will never compare to an actual video clip of the area. Another cool part was the map they provided with the path charted out to visually represent what part of the county they were in at the time. The map was labeled and I could look up areas close to the region and discover more on my own if I chose to. One of the weaknesses about this story was the fact that there was not very much news being reported; I did not know why they were there or what they were studying in the area. I wish they would have given some background to make the video clips significant. Also, the story was not very enticing to the masses; I would be lead to that story on my own because I can't really relate to the story. I honestly didn't even know what was significant about Lebanon before I watched the stories. "Your Guide to the Tut" was very fun to experience because of all the visual stimulation and the interactiveness of it. I liked being able to see the floorplan of the Chicago museum and "discover" it on my own. I was in control of which area to look at, I liked being in control and it made me pay attention. The exhibit was very organized and easy to navigate. The simulation at the beginning was cool because it showed different angles of the museum and what it would be like to actually walk in. I also really liked the pictures and time lines they presented with the information. However, I know that the experience had to be far less exciting than the actual exhibit in the museum in Chicago. I wish the online experience had sound bytes with it or more written information. I didn't really know why the information was significant to my life or the world in general. An application to the real world today would have connected the story in with the audience. "Iraqi Kurdistan:The other Iraq" was the most interesting of all for me. I am always curious what life in Iraq is really like. The video focused on the Kurds, which I have also wanted to know about for a long time. The video transitioned from slides with word explanations to pictures or videos of the description. I liked reading about it and then seeing it. This appealed to people who learn through text and through visual stimulation. However, this video took twenty minutes for me to watch because it took so long to load. I wouldn't have sat through watching it unless I were assigned to for this class.