INTERVIEW WITH JAMES MAC DEVITT

Tomorrow (5.7.13) I have an interview with Mr. James Mac Devitt for the Art Exhibition. If they have time, I would love to try and get an interview with the first and third place winners of the exhibition. 

First Place was Sonia Hernandez and Sylvester Duke Givens was third place. Those are the people the Talon Marks reporter Marco Zepeda interviewed. Hopefully with my multimedia background from this semester I will be able to get some creative output to this final project. 

Interviewing Mac Devitt should get some good publicity the Talon Marks Newspaper always welcomes. If I am not able to get a hold of the winners I hope that another artist would be willing to talk about their experiences at Cerritos College Art Department and how they have invested their creativity into their art. After all, Art should never be judged as good, bad, better, or more tasteful over another. 

We all interpret life in a different way so who is to judge those who did not win? I am more than happy to get a student who did not win, their work showcased in the newspaper. What someone finds ugly another finds inspiring and beautiful. 

WORLD NEWS UPDATES FROM DEMOCRACY NOW! CONCERNING MULTIMEDIA JOURNALISM

Amy Goodman interviewed Michael Pollan's new book called Cooked "There is a deliberate effort to undermine food culture to sell us processed food" (from Pollan's statement to Democracy Now! interview with Amy Goodman)

Michael Pollan talks about how fast food companies are taking away the cultural tradition of family cooking a meal and sharing time with each other at the dinner table and how we need to start getting back to our roots in order to prevent obesity, isolation from family, and gain back our cultural ties with one another. 





IN OTHER NEWS, the U.S has the lowest unemployment rate in four years. 165,000 jobs were added in April. Although this seems like good news economists feel this is only temporary due to our slow climb back to economic growth. But for now, lets celebrate! 

All of my world news has been cited from Democracy Now! the war and peace report. To watch a full news report on all the headlines from Democracy Now! please visit the website here! 

www.demoracynow.org 

TODAY I MEET WITH MY REPORTER & START OUR ART EDITORIAL. 

Today is an exciting day for me because today is the day I am going to meet up with the reporter from Talon Marks to get our report together on the Art Department graduates going to transfer or finish their degree in the field of artistry. 

More to come on a later date. Nothing else to report on now! 

CULINARY ARTS VIDEO & FINAL PROJECT

Its about that time. The end of the semester and our final project is here! I can't believe its almost done. Unfortunately our culinary arts video did not turn out the way my group and I were hoping for.

After we finished interviewing Chef Pierini and started importing our video onto iMovie we noticed that the student who previously used our camera did not erase footage they previously recorded. 

Almost 15 minutes of our 25 minute video was completely unusable and destroyed. This was the heart of our interview that was completely gone. So, we had to use what we could with what we got. With a frustrating few days ahead of us we got it done and to be honest, it was not too bad. There are some awkward pauses and some bad editing on our part and due in part to the poor quality of the video but in spite of our challenges we got it done and within the time frame that Mr. Cameron wanted it to be. 

                     CULINARY ARTS & CHEF MICHAEL PIERINI 

FINAL PROJECT: TALON MARKS REPORTER & MULTIMEDIA REPORTER 

Our final project for the semester will be working with a student from a different class. We will be working with the Talon Marks reporter from the newspaper class on a feature story for the end of the semester. It is a really nice bow tie finish for this class. Next semester I will be in the Talon Marks Newspaper so this will give me a taste of what I will be getting myself into. 

I am not sure who the reporter is that I will be working with but I will be working on a feature story of the Art Department at Cerritos College. I will be bringing a Multimedia perspective to his story in the paper. I am thinking of a slide show video for this project so that we can feature every artist in the department without having to cut anyone out. 

Perhaps we can interview an instructor and a student who will be graduating or transferring to an Art Institute or University pursuing an art degree. Feature their work and it can give me the creative outlook I have been craving all semester to do. 

More updates to come on this project. 

SLIDESHOW PROJECT 

I apologize for the delay but I never put my final slideshow project up to see. I have to say I am particularly proud of this turnout for this slide show. I hope you find Pedro's story as powerful and moving as I do. 

                                              MEET PEDRO THE LABOR DAY WORKER

                                      

FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON IS OFFICIALLY APART OF THE MULTIMEDIA UNIVERSE.

Its a simple matter. What we have all learned in class and in doing class projects and experiments is that we learned to update our potential readers and followers with a Twitter account. Did you know that Bill Clinton just got one? Until just recently he has not been apart of the multimedia web users and journalists unofficial club.

He talked with Comedy Centrals Stephen Colbert on April 6th at the Clinton Global Initiative that he did not have a Twitter account and only facebooked and text.


Colbert announced that he had set up a Twitter account for the nation’s 42nd president, saying that because more obvious handles were taken, he had chosen @PrezBillyJeff.
(Los Angeles Times by Seema Mehta click here for full article)

It is nice to know that we are not all on the same page with constant updates in the cyber world. Even former Presidents of the free nation do not keep up with the modern age. If you would like to follower Bill Clinton on twitter, it is now possible! Click @billclinton  to follow former President Bill Clinton on Twitter.

UPDATE ON INTERVIEW WITH CHEF PIERE & FILM STOCK FOOTAGE OF CULINARY SCHOOL AT CERRITOS COLLEGE

Yesterday Michael and I went to film stock footage of the culinary department at Cerritos College. Unfortunately Anthony was unable to make it due to an exam he had at the time.

What I learned about filming the culinary students was something as a bit of surprise for me. No one liked us being there. In fact, more than twice we were almost kicked out. This could be due in part to the recent health inspection rating the kitchen got a week or so ago. They are a B rated restaurant due to a possum getting into the kitchen. How did this happen? Good question. I would assume that the kitchen is quiet clean and from personal experience of visiting the kitchen and the department they are all quite clean. This could have been a simple mishap of a student leaving the door open at night or a window. That is all it takes for an animal looking for food and shelter needs.

Michael and I wanted to interview some students and ask them about their experience at the culinary department, how much they have learned, and what they expect to achieve with their culinary certificate. Myself and Michael did not personally feel it was a good idea. After some negative encounters with more than two students we agreed it was best to get our filming done and leave them alone. Although, after leaving I regretted this.

Being a journalist requires you to make people feel uncomfortable sometimes. Not everyone can feel cordial and comfortable when trying to get facts that may be hidden to the public. It is my job to get the truth and to get the story even if that means being put in an uncomfortable position. Next time, I will push the envelope.

Today (4.25.13) My group and I will be interviewing Chef Piere and asking him a few questions regarding his position at the culinary department, what he offers, and his background in the culinary world. The interview is at 12:00 and will last perhaps 30 minutes.

CHEF MICHAEL PEIRINI & UPCOMING EVENTS

Thursday my group have made an appointment with Chef Michael Peirini to interview him on film for our group project. We are going to ask him about his background in the culinary field, discuss his program at the school and the reputation he has built. We are very excited! 

Tonight I will be filming some footage from a city council convention that will be here at Cerritos College in the auditorium today (Tuesday 4/23) at 4:00pm. 

Updates to come. 

SLIDESHOW PROJECT FINNISHED AND VIDEO INTERVIEW BEGINS. NEW BEGINNINGS AND A FRESH START.

My group and I finished our slideshow project together. It was down to the wire with us trying to get it finished. What I learned from this project is timing is everything and so is translation. Our interviewee does not speak a word of English! Luckily, we had two translators with us to help us translate our interview from Spanish to English. The project turned out to be such a great success.

Our interviewee’s name is Pedro. He is a labor worker in the Labor Work Area on the 133 highway in Laguna Beach. He is an undocumented worker living in between San Francisco and Santa Ana. His story was more than just moving; it was eye opening experience for everyone in the group to understand how fortunate we all are to be American citizens.

One of the things that Pedro discussed with the group was something that I will never forget. He said that his hands bled and he cried from the pain of hard labor, that it is depressing and lonely. He said that people forget why they are out here and get into drugs and alcoholism. He said he always remembers that he did this for his family and is devoted to give them a life better than his.

Not everyone is fortunate enough to have the life you or I have. Whenever we think that we have a hard life there is always another person who has it harder. I am able to go to school full time, work, and eat everyday. I never go a night hungry nor worry about what I am going to do about money the next day. That is just enough for me.

What I did realize and take from the interview is that this is where I am meant to be, writing the untold story from the people that suffer the most. 

VIDEO RECORDING INTERVIEW WITH CHEF RAMERIEZ AT CERRITOS COLLEGE

I have a new group and a new project to do. I am excited for a lighter side to journalism. The new people in my group are Michael and Anthony 

They are both really nice guys and have some great ideas. I am excited to work with them and see what we can come up with. We decided on going to Cerritos College Culinary department and talk to some culinary students about their experiences learning and being a cook at Cerritos.

We also wanted to interview the main Chef that runs the school to get an inside scoop to how the program works and what cooks look to achieve going to school in the Culinary Program. We also wanted to get his background on the restaturants he has worked at and what brought him to Cerritos College.

More information about this topic will be coming soon. Tomorrow we are going to talk to the Chef to start filming.

MARK MAZZETTI: THE WAY OF THE KNIFE

Mark Mazzetti is a New York Times journalist that investigates government operations in the CIA during wartime. He just recently came out with a new book called THE WAY OF THE KNIFE which is about post 9/11 CIA spy operations and assassinations. The way the government conducts their wars. 

I just briefly wanted to discuss the topic of Mark Mazzetti. He is a great example of a multimedia Journalist because he does investigative journalism, he writes books, publications, won the Pulitzer award for his investigative journalism and expertise in CIA operations. You can follow him on Twitter, read his articles on the New York Times, read his blogs, and read his books. He is constantly updating the news that he covers and he is good at what he does. 

There is a big misconception of Journalists today that they are liberal and skew the news in order to get a big reaction out of the public when that is really not the case. These people care about bringing the news to the public that no one might know about. Its about connecting with people and taking risks in order to expose the truth that can sometimes be ugly. Journalists carry a tough burden of being the messenger, they must be unbiased in their work, they must report nothing but the truth, and they must do this in a quick, smart, and timely manner. News five minutes ago is old news. 

Mark Mazzetti talks about what the CIA is like pre and post 9/11. What president Ford signed in order to stop assassinations. The CIA issued drone attacks on allied countries they had close relations to in order to capture targeted suspects of Al Qaeda. 

The book has just been released, I have it coming to me in the mail and I would highly suggest it for any of my fellow classmates to read. I will update everyone when it arrives and the details the book makes in this extremely controversial topic of how the American Government conducts their business behind the scenes. 
Interview with Mark Mazzetti on The way of the knife

WORDS ARE POWERFUL BUT PHOTOS, VIDEOS, AND RECORDED INTERVIEWS IMPACT A READER EMOTIONALLY.

Everyday I try to keep up on the current news to understand what is going on in the world and better understand journalism and what its all about. Articles are great to read because sometimes reading something gives you a better understanding then just listening to someones words.

If a reader is listening to a video or a podcast he/she may misinterpret what the newscastor was saying and through word of mouth may have a complete misunderstanding of the news he/she just watched. Words can be powerful and less misunderstood by a reader. Although this is true, hearing someones story, looking at their photographs, and watching in motion of events that occur brings people closer together and a connection can be made between the reader, the journalist, and what message they are portraying.

A good example of this is the current project I am working on with my group called SOUNDLISDES SHOW this project, as I stated before is a recorded interview with a person who has an interesting job and who can tell their story and how they got to that particular career choice. Myself and my group went to Laguna Beach and interviewed two people so that we can chose which person we thought interviewed the best and who we decided to use in our presentation. My group felt the first interview we did was the most powerful and will have the biggest impact on its viewers as it did to us.

This emotion I hope viewers (my classmates) will get from this slideshow presentation will impact them as much as it did me and my group. This same emotion is what I felt watching just 25 seconds of the beginning of a video clip by the news segment DEMOCRACY NOW!
within those first few seconds of the introduction I saw horrific animal curelty done to pigs, cows, and chickens in farms across the nation. Something we as American consumers never have to think about, how the animals are treated right before they are taken to slaughter houses. For those 25 seconds I did want to become a vegetarian...just for those seconds!

The news segment today was just the example of the project we are working on in class. It is meant to shock you and perhaps open the viewers eyes to something they never knew exisited, or never gave much thought before. Our actions have consequences and its a journalists job to expose that to mass audiences and remind us all that we can make a difference in our own society and cultural way of life.



In case you were curious about the news segment I discussed, here is a shortcut to Democracy Now! as of today: April 9th 2013

Democracy now! Tuesday, April 9th 2013

RECORDED INTERVIEW PROJECT: TALKS WITH ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS AND SHELTER COUNCILOR

Today was the most rewarding day I have had in all my life. I always knew no matter what I wanted to do with my life I always wanted to help people. Yesterday, we were given an assignment to go out and interview someone with an interesting job. My team and I had a few ideas. 

I immediately thought of something that I have always wanted to do. Since I can remember I have always wanted to interview and talk with illegal immigrants and tell there story. Ask questions that maybe no one has asked in the past. 

Another idea of someone to interview came from a personal past. I work across the street from a shelter called "The friendship Shelter" and in a previous attempt to help a loved one get into the shelter I talked to the leading psychologist. She was kind, clam, and very kind. I would have loved the chance to get to talk to her more and to interview her about her daily life and her life. 

Our third idea was going to an elderly community and getting someones story. There are a lot of elderly people that have an amazing story to tell. Some people have lived somewhat normal lives and gone through normal struggle. But theres always one person, a veteran, a detective, a firefighter, an activist, living out their days and no one knowing what they have gone though. I would love to tell their story. 

So, today we got two out of our three interviews done. We talked with a man who wanted to be anonymous because he was an undocumented worker. His life story was tragic and heartbreaking. Something that will be edited and heard for people to know the struggle most of these people endure everyday. 

The second interview my group and I were able to interview a woman who was a counselor for a homeless shelter for homeless adults. We asked her what compelled her to help people and the stories and amount of people she has helped. Her job was hard but rewarding and she truly felt that she was making a big difference peoples lives but most of all, her life. 

There is a lot more to come after this. Expect updates. 

BASSEM YOUSSEF & MULTIMEDIA REPORTING FREEDOMS IN THE USA

It has been a while since I have blogged last. For that, I apologize. My interview with Professor Rigby was very suceessful and I am going to try and get my short interview presentation online as well as the full interview (which is very interesting) here as well.

I wanted to discuss this hot topic that is circulating around the world right now. Bassem Youssef's arrest by Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi for making satiric jokes about the presidents rule and authority of Egypt. This is a very big deal for Egypt and for the world to witness the critical situation that is happening in Egypt.

Bassem Youssef is a political satirist and conducts his show in a comedic backdrop that discusses the hot button issues going on in his country. He is often compaired to Jon Stwart and he is a highly favored comedian in Egypt. He stands for the political activists, bloggers, and reporters in Egypt being persecuted by the Egyptian government for speaking out about their surpression.

You can find the full report on every major news station and multimedia website but my main source for this information has come directly from the Los Angeles Times. To see the full report, click here. 

The comedian was arrested and interrigated Sunday for almost 10 hours about his latest show that pokes fun at the president. He is accused of insulting Islam as well, these accusations made against Youssef are misleading and the citizens of Egypt are outraged by the authorities arrest against him. What seemed like thousands of Youssef's supporters were outside the jailhouse shouting for his release.

Youssef's opinion on the interregation against him are "We are not the ones who insult religion," Youssef told a TV station Saturday. "All we do is expose the channels that have misused religion and harmed it more than anyone else. If there is anyone who has insulted religion, it is those who use Islam as a weapon for political reasons." (LATIMES REPORT)

WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH MULTIMEDIA REPORTING

I brought up this topic for several reasons. It is a hot topic issue right now and it is known throughout the world, there are more updates to come from this, and Bassem Youssef is a political activist. He in a way is a multimedia reporter because he reports on the news within his country, his delivery of the message may be different, but that is the beauty of the multimedia world. It is a means to dilver the news through different outlets.

This situation that has happened has made me realize my personal freedoms as an aspiring reporter. I sometimes have to remember how greatful I am for being a United States citizen. It means that I can write about anything I want and my rights are protected under the constiution. This is something we all know, its not news. But to someone like Bassem Youssef who is being persecuted for his words really makes one think about the things we can sometimes take for granted.

In developing countries like Egypt, freedom of speech is not a privilage they have. There are poeple that fight for that right when we as Americans don't even think about it.

To learn more about Egyptians human rights visit the Amnesty International: Egypt.

CERRITOS COLLEGE INTERVIEW WITH PROFESSOR JEFFERY RIGBY

Tomorrow I will be interviewing the cultural anthropology professor at Cerritos College about the upcoming trip to Japan in the spring of 2014. I am really excited to get this interview because I have been very interested in joining the group and since it is open to anyone it will be a great way to get people involved. 

Professor Rigby has been all around the world and every day he has a story he hasn't told his class about an adventure he has been on in a different country. He calls himself the "Gentle Giant" and makes his students feel safe in even sometimes dangerous situations they might be in. 

He has been to countries like...

The Trobriand Islands

South Africa

Brazil & the Amazon 

Papa New Guine 

Peru

Those are just a few of possibly dozens of country's he has been in. I will be asking him questions of when, where, why, and how students can afford to travel abroad in the safest, friendliest, and cheapest environment. Ask for more information about his upcoming trip to Japan, and possibly the scariest situation he has been in while traveling and studying as a Cultural Anthropologist. 

IN OTHER NEWS...VOICE RECORDING ANNOUNCED TODAY

Today we reviewed everyone's recordings and we heard some great reviews and some that perhaps needed a little more practice. Everyone did a great job overall and I felt a little better knowing I was not the only nervous nanny in the bunch. A felt like I had a bigger advantage over my peers because I chose to record everything in class. I was really embarrassed but because my recording was done with a nice recorder I had the clearest sounding voice. 

Although, my podcast was not the best. There were a lot of errors in it. For instance, I spoke too much in the beginning and introduced too much of what was going to be played rather than just letting it flow more. Professor Cameron liked that I gave a historical background of Stevie Ray Vaughn but perhaps it could have been broken up a little better with more music. Although I did have long intervals of music, it should have been edited better. 

With more practice and with my second chance to do an interview with Professor Rigby, I think I will rock it! I am very excited to see how my interview turns out with him. 

INTERVIEW WITH A CERRITOS COLLEGE PROFESSOR & STUDENT

It is our job as multimedia journalists to report news through all kinds of venus. That includes writing, blogging, breaking news updates, interactive presentations, film shorts, and interview those experts on the subject matter of our focus. Professor Cameron gave us an assignment to interview and record an expert on any subject that has to do with Cerritos College. 

I decided to interview Professor Hirohama on the exciting new AA film Degree that is now offered at Cerritos. Although, Mr. Hirohama will not be available for the interview.  I was disappointed to here that. So, I need to find a new expert to interview! 

I have only a couple people I can think of to interview. But no students. I need to do some research. One possibility I do have to interview would be the Professor Anthropologist I discussed in Monday's blog. Professor Rigby. I may interview him about his trip to Japan next year and how to get some students involved in the trip! Maybe some traveler's guides tips for students on a budget but wanting to travel abroad. 

More on this to come! 

CERRITOS COLLEGE UPDATES AND MISCELLANEOUS 

It has been a while since I have given any specific updates about Cerritos College and multimedia journalism updates. 
This is going to look like delicious scrambled eggs with toasted bread and a tall glass of orange juice. Are your ready? 


CERRITOS COLLEGE ANTHROPOLOGY DEPARTMENT

Did you know Cerritos College has an Anthropology club? Its true. We have a great professor leading all the meetings. His name is Professor Rigby. He is a renowned Cultural Anthropologist. He has traveled all over the world and comes from a family of Anthropology. This man knows his stuff. He gives great lectures and has a candy dish full of great stories and packs you with organized information giving detailed historic background of cultures, places, traditions, and explanations for society throughout the cultural world both Western and primitive. To put it bluntly, you will be missing out on a great semester if you don't take at least one of his classes. 

Great news! Professor Rigby will be taking a group of students to Japan next year. It is open to all who want to join with some exceptions (no minors or trouble makers). You don't have to be taking an anthropology class or be in the club, although an interest in the subject might enhance your experience. I doubt Rigby will be hitting the bars every night. 


CERRITOS COLLEGE FILM & PRODUCTION DEGREE APPROVED

I would personally like to applaud those of you who are going for a film major. Its not an easy field to break into and it requires drive and passion. 

A formal congratulations to Cerritos College film majors, now you get the chance to get your AA degree in Film. Just a simpler step forward to your dreams. 

It is true, the California Chancellors office approved the Cerritos College Film Degree. This is a major step for Cerritos College and for students all over Long Beach county. When local community colleges and even Cali State schools are getting major budget cuts and shutting down whole departments (like Long Beach City College shutting down their nursing program).

Cerritos College stays strong and treads though the tough times and even comes out on top with this new Film Degree offering. 
Its a beacon of hope that although times are hard it is not impossible to do what you love. 

WORLD NEWS UPDATE: CONCLAVE FOR THE NEW POPE TODAY

You might ask yourself what this has to do with multimedia reporting, cerritos college, or the city itself? 
Well, it has a lot to do with all of them. First off, California has the largest population of Catholics than any state in the entire U.S. What does that mean for Cerritos College students? 
The demographics of Cerritos College are likely to amount to a large portion of Catholics attending the college. The new leader of their faith is being decided and contemplated in the Vatican Conclave just as I am typing these words. 

The fate of the religion hangs like a calm before a great storm that can bring either peace or destruction. There has been a lot of huss and fuss about St. Malachy's medieval prophecy. The ending of Pope Benedict XVI was the first resignation of any pope in over 600 years. The last pope to resign was Pope Gregory XII. He resigned to bring in a new pope and end the western Schism. This resignation was done in order to bring peace to an uproar. So, we can say this resignation of Pope Benedict XVI is the very first in all of Christianity. 

Today, is a major mark in history for all of us. Lets hope the conclave brings a man worthy to be a leader. 

For more updates and information discussed in this blog visit these great blogs and multimedia sites that gave me the information to feed you today. 

LATimes: Cardinals enter Sistine Chapel

NewsVA on Pope resignation

National Catholic Register: St. Malachy 

HTML UPDATE AND FINAL REVISION
Our HTML projects are done and turned in. Today, we looked at all of our projects and found the pros and cons of each one. Mine, I don't think I did so great. I was a little in the dark with how to put everything together. Next time I will have a better understanding of how to work with the application DREAMWEAVER. I will put in my HTML project on "healthy places to eat at Cerritos College" and you can judge for yourself at my first shot in creating this sort of webpage. While trying to find more information on Pope Benedict XVI and his papacy I stumbled across a really great interactive HTML that was a perfect example to what Mr. Cameron was teaching us in class. 
Here is a link to that interactive. Enjoy.  Life of Pope Benedict XVI

MULTIMEDIA PODCAST & VIDEO RECORDING CHAPTER 8

Yesterday our classes assignment was to create our first podcast. We had to write a review on a current movie, song, or artist. We learned how to use garageband and edit our reviews. 

To me, this was a really exciting project. I think of the great journalists like Edward R. Murrow who brought the news to American homes back in the 1940s through the 1960s and how influential his voice was. Words are a powerful thing but spoken words give emotion and a greater influence. Of course, my little review was very simple but it was great practice. I noticed a few things about myself while working on this assignment. 

• I need to speak up
• I need to have a more inviting voice
• I need to believe in my words
• I need to have a more smooth discussion with the listener

All these things take good practice and confidence. Something I will work on over time and to be honest, I don't think I did too bad! I wrote and discussed a review of Stevie Ray Vaughn. One of the greatest blues artists of all time. I discovered his music recently after giving my uncle one of his tribute albums for Christmas. 
I heard some of the music and had to buy another copy for myself. I fell in love with the album and with Stevie Ray. His music is amazing. I couldn't think of a better person to review. I narrowed down the songs I heard from him and picked one I felt gave the best of his gift of electric slide guitar, something he trademarked in the Blue's industry. 

The song is called Slide Thing. Its about 3 minutes long and he doesn't sing, just plays guitar. It is so great and because it is a live performance it makes the song magical. You almost think for 3 minutes that you are actually there watching him play. Then, when you realize you aren't, you wish you were. 

Now if you're a little curious to hear the song, click the video and listen! I definitely think it is worth 3:04 minutes of your time. 

CHAPTER 8 DIGITAL AUDIO 

Chapter 8 discusses what we did on tuesday but of course, in more depth. Podcasts are the more current forms of digital audio recording but there are many forms. Some key phrases to look for in chapter 8 are...

• Uncompressed audio format
• Compressed audio format

Which are simply different forms of audio formatting that are used in operating systems. These terms are not necessarily important to note and remember but if you are a journalist, especially a multimedia one, the terms might be used quite frequently. Its always good to know what you are talking about when trying to edit audio. It tends to make things a bit easier...

There are different types of what the book calls "bit depth" which determines the quality of your audio files and it differentiates the differences by calling them different terms. Thornburg uses a great analogy to explain the quality he is discussing. He says its like 

"dipping a teaspoon and a ladle into a pot of soup at the same amount. The teaspoon will get only a little bit but a ladle, dipped at the same level will carry a larger amount." 

(Producing Online News and Digital Skills by Ryan M. Thornburg Pg. 213) 

There are different kinds of microphones that are discussed in chapter 8. I wont go into too much detail because although the terminology is broken down, I think we can all agree we know what a microphone does and its purposes. The more expensive, the better quality. And of course it also depends on what kind of sounds you want to pick up. So basically, microphones are a huge asset to the audio world, for obvious reasons. 

Its comforting to know my first time on a microphone using podcast I was not the only person to get nervous about speaking into a microphone. Most people get nervous for the first time and if you are interviewing someone its always good to try and ease them into feeling comfortable speaking clearly into it. 

Digital Audio recording is a great outlet for Multimedia reporting and it is something I can be interested in. I feel that it all takes practice and reading chapter 8 in our books did help me give a better idea of what exactly I'm doing and how to do it. Although most of this can be self taught, and probably should be. Technology is always changing and always updating itself, so even though this book is quite recent, I'm sure there are even better upgrades to it that were made months, maybe even weeks after its release. So, always update yourself with the newest information and technology to better give yourself the upper hand as a journalist. Getting the news out there is the most important thing and the overall point of the subject. Digital audio is just a great way to do it. 

Want the latest news on Digital Audio? Take a look at these great blog sites. 

                            DIGITAL AUDIO BLOG

                            LEARN DIGITAL AUDIO

                            DIGITAL AUDIO INSIDER

                            DIGITAL AUDIO FOR GEEKS

                            ANTELOPE AUDIO

Multimedia Reporting at its best

PRODUCING ONLINE NEWS AT ITS BEST ON LATIMES DOT COM FEB 28TH 2013

Hi friends and classmates I wanted to share a great short article I read on the Los Angeles Times website. Bradly Manning exposing military secrets on wikiLeaks.
It is breaking news just reported this morning at 9:39am by Richard A. Serrano and you can follow political news from the Los Angeles Times @PoliticsNowLAT

This short article was a quick read that is packed with information that the reader needs. When you look on any online news source under the "breaking news" section almost all of those articles are going to have tid bits of information because they just got it. So, it wont have everything you may want to know right away but it will give you the information you are looking for. More to come on this article if you follow the LA Times regularly.

While reading this article I noticed key notes to reconginze.

• Hashtags
• Links
• Sources
• Date & Time
• Twitter feed
• Email the reporter
• Short and to the point

All of these I learned in class and mostly in the book my class and I are required to read. It is a great book that is up to date and tells you what is currently going on in Multimedia Reporting.

A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE ARTICLE

Bradly Manning is a low-level intellegence analysis stationed in Bagdad when he leaked the information to WikiLeaks. In case some of you do not know what WikiLeaks is, it is a website detecated to giving people a safe way to bring classified information to their Journalists to expose the truth in government secrets. A webpage that should definitly be visited by young Journalists. A short cut to the webiste can be found by clicking HERE

UPDATE 3.4.13 
I apologize for the delay in posting this blog. Instead of deleted what I previously wrote I am going to add onto it. This is just a continuing example of Multimedia Journalism, this hot button issue is at the debate of the new year. Constant updates from Democracy Now! and the Los Angeles Times keep people informed about what is currently happening on a daily basis. 

Any news source around the country and perhaps the world will have information regarding Bradley Manning. To save the time an effort I suggest you use your local news source for information. If you would like to know more about Bradley Manning and his life up to today, he has a website dedicated to freeing him. Free Bradley Manning dot org 

According to the L.A Times Bradley Manning will be facing a 20 year sentence and a dishonorable discharge from the U.S Army. His defense team is trying to reduce the 10 additional charges being made against him for "aiding the enemy" and posing a potential threat to American lives. The U.S defense wants to give him a life sentence and will fight for Manning's imprisonment for life and a betrayer of the U.S Military. 

A great example of Multimedia Journalism: Have the readers interact with the news. They ask questions, post opinions, and perhaps shed light on things Journalists may not know yet. Want to find a way to get involved in the Bradley Manning debate??

• http://trending.latimes.com/
  
• Hashtag #bradleymanning
• Free Bradley Manning
• NPR News Blog