Week of blogging reflection

Ypsilanti, Mich. — The week of blogging was actually a pretty fun experience. To my surprise, I really started to care about my piece of Web space and took some pride in it. It ended up pretty much as I had imagined it: a mostly political but somewhat sarcastic look at the Middle East. I would have done more stories, but I decided to stop at the three for the sake of my own sanity. I still have a few huge projects looming over my head that I need to start thinking about.

I got lucky in a few cases during this blog. The Anna Baltzer lecture really seemed like a God send. It was local, it was current. I don’t know what else I would have done to satisfy the breaking news and original source criteria. This also gave me an opportunity to publish something in the Eastern Echo. This is by no means the first thing I got published in the school paper, but it did end a very long  hiatus enforced on me by a hellish semester.

Despite the pride I feel toward my own blog, I think I’d change the subject matter if I could do it again. It would definitely be easier if I could drive somewhere in town to get sources, rather than rely on international news. I think I avoided restating the stories of the major papers by adding my own opinions, but I don’t know how long I could have kept it up. There are a good deal of stories from the Middle East that tie into national politics, but a lot are quite removed from us.

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Niche Blog ideas

Ypsilanti, Mich. — Possible ideas for the Middle East Observer:

Thinking about it now, I believe I’ll include Anna Baltzer’s Middle East speech as part of my week of blogging. Moving this event from final project status will allow me to use it as both my breaking news quiz and as a blog entry.

On top of that, I’ll blog about the election in Iraq. In this story I’ll focus on the violence that surrounded this event, as well as the character of the winning party. I think that regardless of one’s politics on our involvement in Iraq, everybody is somewhat anxious to see what kind of government we have left them with.

China has been talking about imposing sanctions on Iran, that’s something I can write about. Also perhaps check on Yemen and see how the crackdown on al Qaeda went over there. See if the government took the opportunity and U.S. aid to wipe out the Houthis.

Video post

Ypsilanti, Mich. — This was one of the more difficult processes of the semester.  My computer, being prone to glitches, was not an option for video editing. Therefore I had to rely on public technology to get this assignment done. My first attempt was at the EMU library. Despite a selection of Macs and PCs, this venue was unable to help me. None of the computers had iMovie or a comparable program. I then tried the WCC computer commons and the offices of the Eastern Echo, encountering similar technical difficulties at both.

When I used the computers in the digital journalism classroom, however, I was done within an hour. Really seemed to be a matter of having the proper equipment.  In class we talked a little bit about the digital divide and how it should be lessened. But this assignment served as a prime example of how difficult something can be when you don’t have the technology.

The actual filming was pretty fun, and very easy with the flip video camera I rented. My first idea was to film my writing process, which includes walking circles around my home and dancing to James Brown. The whole of that video would probably have added up to around five minutes, and really didn’t introduce my blog very well.  So I shot enough clips to create a proper introduction. I kept the segment of me dancing to James Brown though, which seemed like the only logical way my intro could end. I’m fairly happy with the way things turned out.

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Final project plan

Ypsilanit, Mich — Though I wish for an alternative, I’ll probably end up doing something on the Israel’s building plans for East Jerusalem. It really coincides perfectly with my blog.  Connections between Middle East politics and the U.S. often exist on some level, but in this instance the thread is direct. Our involvment has added angles to this story that most issues from that region lack. It has also revealed that the dynamic between the U.S. and Israel is more complex than what was thought.  By disregarding our wishes, Israel has displayed that it has some kind of hold on us though we are their sponsors.

This story would also allow me the greatest ease for sources. I am, in fact, enrolled in an Arab Israeli conflict class. My professor would probably agree to an interview, and the people on the street are more  likely to have an opinion on this issue than others from the region.

On the other hand… I think I’ve wrote about Israel a few times on my blog already. If possible, I’d like to avoid repeating myself. There are three colleges in this area – WCC, EMU, U of M — and speakers on the Middle East seem to be hitting each of them up pretty regularly. I could always cover that.

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“Reconstruction” reflections

Ypsilanti, Mich. — First of all, I appreciated this article more than most of the others that I had to read for this class. It was refreshing to see someone actually proposing solutions. Everyone else just seemed to either bitch about or praise the digital transition of journalism.
One of the recommendations I was enthusiastic about was the proposed conversion of news outlets into non-profits. It’s really only logical to group journalism in the same category as libraries, museums and universities. Newspapers have found no benefit with their alliance to big business and stock returns. Along with the other non-profits mentioned, news outlets serve a purpose that goes beyond the quest for revenue. They should be able to function without fear of losing advertisers and donations. If this switch were to go through, I think the public would witness an era of increased transparency and altruism from the media.
The fear of tax-funded news is that the government would be immune from criticism just as the corporate sponsors are now. I’m not sure how valid this is. After all, one can go to a tax-funded library and check out “1984″ or any number of anti-government book.

As I said in class, it seems that nations are going out of style. The real power structure of this world consists of banks, oil companies, weapons manufacturers etc. Through a labyrinthine  tangle of subsidiaries and partnerships these corporations extend their influence to seemingly harmless businesses. Therefore, a news outlet does not need to be sponsored directly by Shell oil, for instance, to have that company’s best interests in mind.

Since the real power deals are hashed out among corporations, then the advertising-funded system we already have is more dangerous.
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Final Blog Proposal

Ypsilanti, Mich. — I think I’m going with the Middle East blog.  When you zoom out on the issues you realize that the problems are not just regional. I’ll try to keep my eye on the big picture each time in order to relate the stories to local problems. The U.S. has intertwined itself enough with the Middle East to make this possible.
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Shut up, guys!

Ypsilanti, Mich — Today a prominent Israeli opposition party candidate, Tzipi Livni, praised the assassination of a Hamas commander in a Dubai hotel.  The killing has bounced around for awhile in the news cycle, but things remain purposely vague. The safe money is on Israel’s Mossad as the perpetrators of the crime, though they have not yet stepped forward to claim responsibility.  In fact it is a foregone conclusion that the intelligence agency had some part to play.

European countries are now in the process of summoning Israeli diplomats for questioning, and it doesn’t help that the accused is playing the coy act it so often falls back on. It refuses to claim responsibility but also refrains from denying it outright, choosing instead to make frequent reference to Mossad’s “policy of ambiguity.”

So, why are Livni’s comments newsworthy? Because they are making it harder and harder for us to turn a blind eye to the situation. A healthy relationship with Israel requires a continuous submersion of one’s head into the sand.  We have turned away from worse transgressions recently during the 22-day offensive on Gaza’s civilian population, and have done so many times throughout history.

I must agree, the man killed was a terrorist and turnaround is fair play. The only cause for annoyance here is all the subtle winks Israel is exchanging with the world about involvment. Why not stick to a neutral denial and give us a pretense to pretend nothing is happening.  We’re already trying to act like Israel is  abiding by the settlement freeze we asked for. American fingers are already wedged deep inside our ears, the least Israel can do is to stop raising its voice to compensate.

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This I believe audio

Ypsilanti, Mich. – My Web site is now updated with written and audio versions of my “This I Believe” essay. Really just one of my standard “The world is crumbling” rants. Not that I don’t believe the content of this essay. I’m absolutely certain our need to make things faster will eventually erode everything that’s worth a shit about mankind. Art and efficiency are mutually exclusive.

Here it is again for your convenience

Ben’s Audio File

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Blog pitch

Ypsilanti, Mich. — The first thing that comes into my mind is to create a blog that analyses current events in the Middle East. Before you mention them,  I realize the immediate problems with covering a region a few thousand miles away. My main sources of information would have to be international newspapers since I personally have no contacts with rebel leaders, oppressive regimes etc. Even so, I find it interesting enough to compare the different narratives between Western and Eastern news outlets.

To avoid recreations of my sources’ stories, I plan to focus on East/West coverage disparities and other subjective angles. Middle Eastern history is my minor, so I do have loose connections to some people in the know. On top of that, I can always interview the random Muslims around town on the off chance they have an opinion  on whatever issue. Considering our country’s military occupations in the area, interviews with the ROTC kids on campus might be relevant.

Though distant geographically, the Middle East is obviously one of the major subjects of our national discussion. I have two wars (involving us), Israel, oil connections and religious conflict to choose from.  Above all, it just interests me and I can speak semi-intelligently on it.

I guess my second choice would be a sort of local restaurant guide.  I’ve got a fairly good handle on which places are good for certain prices and moods. The only problem is that I’ve been rendered completely broke by a predatory tow truck company.

If worse comes to worse, I’ll just do an Ypsi news blog.

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Story aggregate

Ypsilanti, Mich. — I take the embedded story from the BBC’s online news site as a well-written piece of objective journalism. Though the writer minds his duty to stay out of the story, their is no shortage of details.

A Georgian luger apparently crashed into a pole, “sending his body into the air and over a concrete wall.

“His sled remained on the track, and the visor from his helmet appeared to continue down the ice.”

This is the type of description that is so often lacking from hard news.

The writer also raises questions of safety, but he does it through journalistic means. These concerns are raised through the voices of the other athletes, not by the editorializing of the author.

What’s more, I must conclude that this article was written with the altruistic motives of promoting truth. I’m sure that some effort was made to downplay the tragedy of this athlete’s death so close to the Winter Games .

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