"To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible;
to be credible we must be truthful." - Edward R Murrow
Showing posts with label twitter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label twitter. Show all posts

Lindsay Lohan is not dead: Rumor started from Wikipedia post By: Nikky Raney

Lindsay Lohan has been the victim of the most recent celebrity death rumor. While there have been two recent deaths within these past few days: Lindsay Lohan is not one of them.


There have been so many blog posts, tweets, videos and e-mails sent "confirming" that Lindsay Lohan is dead and urging all bloggers to post about it. The numerous e-mails from readers asking to post about Lindsay Lohan's death was astounding, because why would readers advocate covering a story that had no evidence.

(Screenshot of Wikipedia post taken from Earsucker.com)

So why cover it if it isn't true? There are enough blogs that have actually "exclusively" reported that Lindsay Lohan is in fact dead, that maybe a couple posts stating that this is a rumor will slip in there. Rechecking from minute to minute it seems like some blogs are DELETING the "exclusive" posts about her UNTRUE death. There are over twelve questions on Yahoo answers asking if Lindsay Lohan is really dead.

Now, without any interviews directly with Lindsay Lohan there is no direct proof that these are false rumors. How do these rumors begin? Well, sources are citing WIKIPEDIA for the finding out Lindsay Lohan's death.


(Screenshot from July 14 at 10:00 am. Google search: "Lindsay Lohan dead.")

Wikipedia also claimed the Rush Limbaugh was dead a while back. Wikipedia should not be used as a source to find complete accurate information. Wikipedia is not considered a credible or reliable source, and to be honest I see more magazines using Twitter as a credible source. There are quotes in Newsweek taken from tweets, and tweets are proving to be more reliable than Wikipedia.

What's even worse? People are using tweets from a FAKE Kim Kardashian Twitter account to justify this - the account doesn't even spell "Kardashian" correctly. Fact-checking and researching before clicking that "PUBLISH POST" button is important.

Never will Wikipedia be cited within a blog post from me - except in circumstances like this where Wikipedia is being exposed for its unreliability. So many readers use Wikipedia as a source for information, and so many believe that Wikipedia is truly reliable. Although there may be studies that claim Wikipedia is just as accurate as other web encyclopedias - the celebrity death rumors and inaccuracies that Wikipedia posts are more frequently discussed and misinforming.

Looks like The Future of Journalism is going to be expecting a post about CREDIBLE SOURCES and how to do research and find credible sources. This is crucial to journalism AND blogging, because bloggers become "citizen journalists," and people actually use blogs (and even Wikipedia or Twitter) as their [only] way to obtain news on a daily basis.

Maybe this post took over an hour to write, but that's due to the fact checking, looking for other sources to confirm, and making sure to get everything straight. It doesn't matter if this isn't the FIRST post confirming Wikipedia was wrong - it matters that this post is accurate and provides the reader with the information needed from reliable sources.


Nikky Raney
E-mail with suggests, comments, and feedback.
Watch Journalism 101 on Youtube.com/NikkyRaney
Keep up with tweets at Twitter.com/NikkyRaney
Keep up with Zennie62 blog posts at Zennie62.com

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Tila Tequila: Not Worth It Anymore. -- Nikky Raney

Tila Tequila is a lost cause. No matter how objective or supportive a blog entry is written - when Tila Tequila is called out for a lie she attacks in the only way she knows how. It's like middle school all over again - she gets others to hate and attack those she feels threatened by. She uses name-calling and cyber-bullying to make herself look "cool." The Tila Army sticks up for Tila like a middle school best friend. The Tila Army enjoys being apart of a celebrity fanbase with a celebrity who constantly keeps in touch; knowing that getting on Tila's bad side is not something that is favorable.


For a 28-year-old woman to blog hateful remarks to a 20-year-old who never posted a direct insult or accusation is a sign of something much more than cyber-bullying. I wrote objectively about Tila multiple times, because I thought if Tila ever read one of my posts she would be taken aback and really think about what was going on. To prove her lies was something that I wanted to do, and it was something that I did. Throughout this entire venture I have never published a blog entry with anything hateful toward Tila, because I don't hate Miss Tila. I actually feel bad for her, and because of that I am no longer blogging about her. I can honestly say that I had the best intentions with every blog post.


It didn't matter if I wasn't posting on a hate-site. Tila felt threatened that someone other than a "hater" was blogging about her and writing things that forced her to look at her lies.


Tweets are archived by the library of Congress. Facebook statuses, blog posts, tweets, etc. can be used in a court of law & someone can be sued do to what he or she publishes/posts on any of the social networking platforms. Everyone is held accountable for what is posted. Does anyone remember the woman who tweeted about her apartment being moldy & then was SUED.


So, here's the e-mail where I request an interview with Miss Tila. I originally sent it through Youtube, but then I e-mail it to support@misstilaomg.com:




So, here is the e-mail that I received:



If that's too small for you to read here is the text. I can assure you it is unaltered

(Have fun reading it out loud):


From: SUPPORT <support@misstilaomg.com>
Date: Sun, Jun 27, 2010 at 6:24 AM
Subject: Re: Interview Request
To: Nikky Raney <
nikkyraney@nikkyraney.com>


Hello,

We here at the OMG staff does not condone hatred nor spam. We try to deliver fun news stories for our readers and as bloggers, we add our own signature style to thinks to separate us from the rest of the gossip blog world. The only reason why your comments got banned is because our site works with another company that automatically deletes comments that has too many profanities in them, and we also block anyone that posts links because we consider that spam or advertise bots.

Now if you go on Miss Tila's site, the staff, including herself, just blogs about celebrities and make it fun for the readers. No different that any other celebrity gossip blogger who does way worse in regards to talking shit about celebrities. However, if you truly are a nice girl like you claim, why do you join the rest of the hate comments and it is contradicting for you to say that. Imagine being in Miss Tila's spot just for one day. When she's not blogging about celebrity news, all of her other blogs are either informative or positive. Plus, the fact that you amongst those "rotspot" and "resistance" people constantly claims that she "LIES" about everything. You claim to be a journalist, which you are far from it because real journalists would actually do REAL research about such topics if they were interested and sometimes real journalists can take as long as a few months, to contact people, CREDIBLE people to find out what's true and what's not. If you go on these Tila Hate sites, you can see how much they waste their days and nights trying to bring her down, even dedicated a hate site all about her alone is pretty sad.

So unless people have actual evidence from Miss Tila's doctor's and hospital bills for her past miscarriage and her artificial insemination, and tweets and copying and pasting are not valid. If you bring those materials in the court of law, it would be laughable, as Miss Tila has gone through a lot, and it is nobody's business to "PROVE" to anyone that she never lied about any of the stuff that the haters claim she lies about. I know this because I am a longtime friend of hers and I blog for her. I a telling you this because I am sick of how harshly the haters bash on her, just for their own entertainment. As a matter of fact, I am the one who took her to the doctor when she was artificially inseminated. I also picked her up from the hospital when she fell and hit her head and caused her to mis-carry her baby. Miss Tila has been through a lot and does not need more people like you to mock her. The haters don't know her. They weren't there with her like I was when I had to hold her from her crying so badly when she lost the baby. I even cried and I am sick of people talking bad about her. They don't know her and neither do you. So for you to say you're not a "HATER" well you definitely are one when you make hate blogs about miss tila. And you haters act as though you guys are so perfect? As though anything miss tila does actually ruins peoples lives? No. If I were here I would have done more, and much worse things then tweeting you when she finally stood up for herself! I give miss Tila props for keeping her head high no matter how much of these same haters coming to HER blog everyday just to talk shit about her. It's redundant and how dare you have the audacity to try to contact her after what you did. You are far worse off then Miss Tila. I would say it's best to do what you claim as not being a hater and stop making hate blogs about her or "calling her out on her lies" sorry to break it to you, but Miss Tila never lied so you and the hate sites you talk to are just two-faced mean people. Please don't contact us again trying to get in touch with miss Tila when you actually can see your own actions of trying to harm a woman who never did anything to you to begin with. Peace...........



Anyway, this e-mail is ridiculous. I never blogged her miscarriages or her artificial inseminations, but the e-mail goes into details about both aforementioned topics. So, Tila obviously has never read any of my blog posts.


Staff? Honestly. I strongly believe that Tila Tequila wrote that e-mail. If she didn't, why wouldn't the e-mail close with some professional signature of some sort. The multiple periods are not very professional - then again that entire e-mail looks like it was written by a 12-year-old.


The e-mail speaks for itself, and I think that I could have just posted that e-mail as my final blog post.




As for my friendship with the "hater" blogs. I post things objectively for those who do not visit the "hater" sites. I no longer visit MissTilaOMG.com. Now, the "hater" blogs are run by PEOPLE who are actually very nice. My friendship with them has nothing to do with my opinion of Miss Tila. And come tomorrow when I am rid of all Tequila residue my friends at those blogs will still be keeping track of all the lies & deceit.


Now, as for positivity. The #TILAARMY has always been about positivity. Then why is it okay for someone who never attacked Tila to be called a fatty? I am called "PIGGY RAINEY" (she spelled my name wrong), and I am put in a sentence with "PIGGY PEREZ." Is this a joke? Perez actually said mean things to Tila, I never said ANYTHING mean in ANY of my blog posts. And anything that may SEEM mean is backed up with facts & links to posts. My last blog entry about her was strictly her TWEETS. Which she CAN be held accountable for in a court of law.



Defamation is something that Tila & her army need to learn. You cannot maliciously attack someone and try to ruin reputations without consequences. I do not plan to sue Miss TIla, but there is proof that Tila defamed me maliciously to try to ruin my reputation & in some ways she DID damage my reputation, but she more than anything promoted me.






Tila blogged about being on TMZ's blogroll. She even tweeted to me saying that I wasn't on TMZ's blogroll -- Zennie62.com is on TMZ's blogroll. Tila Tequila's blog is not on TMZ's blogroll. I don't know why it matters who is on TMZ's blogroll, because there are many other blogrolls out there. After the things TMZ has written about Miss Tila I am surprised she would WANT to be on its blogroll.





The Tila Army consists mostly of teenagers. TIla's #1 fan, Mittiee, is 16-years-old. I was 16 four years ago, and I remember that I was also a fan of Tila Tequila at that age. I was watching A Shot at Love, and I thought she was great. However, a lot has happened since then. I am concerned that these fans are going down the wrong path. Alina K Ring was once a Tila supporter, and she is also a teenager. Tila is undoubtedly known for her "sex" factor. She posts half naked photos, NAKED photos, has naked videos online (I'd rather not post the links, but they are out there. Not sex tapes, but other videos), and has performed at strip clubs. Hell, Tila also did strip teases on USTREAM for her fans & got naked. I saw the USTREAM videos, and I saw her fall backwards in the chair while wearing her lingerie. My mother walked by while I watched USTREAM and Tila was naked on webcam talking to her fans. My mom was outraged. When I told my mother that the 28-year-old woman on my screen claimed to be an Angel of God & claimed to be quite a religious young woman my mother was in disbelief. I then played one of Tila's songs, and my mom made me turn it off because of the profanity.


I am worried about the teenagers in the Tila Army. These boys and girls see Tila as a role model. Tila admittedly jokes about suicide, openly discusses her sexuality, posts nude photos, dresses inappropriately, and uses lots of profanity. If Tila Tequila walked into church & performed one of her songs she would probably be escorted out. Teenagers are impressionable, and it is people like Tila that make me wish parents watched their kids' internet activity. Yeah, it might be cool that a celebrity you like actually acknowledges your presence, but it is not okay to talk about an Ambien addiction or post half naked youtube videos regularly. Most of the Tila Army is not even old enough to look through Playboy or go to a strip club, but they can see Playboy photos online and watch Tila at the strip club on Youtube. What kind of Mogul is she?


Is it okay for a 28-year-old to be doing that? I truly hope the "TILA ARMY" reads this with an un-bias mindset.


And, if the adoption claims are true - no one is going to let Tila have children in her care. I know a lot about adoption, because a few of my cousins from the Philippines had to be adopted by other family members so that they could come to America. Adoptions take a long time, and there are many background checks to make sure that the child will be in a safe environment. Tila Tequila's lifestyle is not a safe or stable environment, and I don't think anyone can argue me on that point.






I thought Tila never lied though?




Read every single blog post that I have written about Tila Tequila:


Tila Tequila: Army of One

Tila Tequila Heads to Rehab

Tila Tequila: Time to face reality

Tila Tequila caught by "Tila's Rot Spot"

Tila Tequila tries to kill herself & posts VIDEO

Tila Tequila: One of Tiger's Mistresses

Tila Tequila is allergic to alcohol - just a reminder.

Tila Tequila fans Attack Nikky Raney

Tila Tequila is Obsessed with Perez Hilton

Tila's Army will put Hilter's Army to shame with the help of God

Tila Tequila Attacks Nikky Raney

Tila Tequila: 3 Adoptions in 1 year



You'd think with all the blog posts I have done about her she would have accepted my interview request.


If I ever attacked her maliciously, called her names, or treated her unkindly then please let me know.

When you read those blog posts & realize I was never mean to Miss Tila then I hope that the "Tila Army" and maybe even Miss Tila can give me a sincere apology for the rude comments & unjustified attacks. If after reading my blog posts about Tila you think I deserve being called "Piggy Raney," and deserve all the hateful comments from Tila -- then I will be surprised. I think that I deserve an apology, but it takes a lot for some people to swallow their pride. I apologize for anything I said that may have been perceived as hateful, but I can assure you my intentions were always to remain objective & to do my duty as a journalist and blogger to report & research to set things straight.


The Blog Post Miss Tila wrote about being on TMZ's blogroll & one of the posts where she talks about me. I must be a celebrity if I am on Tila's Celebrity Gossip Blog. She calls me Piggy Raney..again:


obviously no one can read that, so click for a larger photo.




To keep up with Tila Tequila you keep visiting my friends:

Tila's Rot Spot

Tila Truth

Spiked Tequila


The difference between these people are they don't hate her for superficial reasons. They hate her for all the terrible things she has been caught doing & her lack of holding herself accountable or admitting to lies.


EXCLUSIVE: Tila's Army is going to WAR.


(Thanks to my "spies" for the links, screenshots, etc. All photos are courtesy of Google Images & my secret spies.)



Now, on that note. Since Miss Tila has already associated me with Piggy Perez, maybe it's time for me to see what makes he and I so alike. I already wrote an editorial on why we're different.


P.S. Did anyone CATCH that Tila's Staff E-mail says that she got a miscarriage due to hitting her head. She was tweeting right after she hit her head & basically was tweeting before she called the ambulance. Seriously? Have fun with this one.





Disclaimer: I, Nikky Raney, have absolutely nothing personally against Tila Tequila. Although she has personally attacked me through her blog posts and her tweets - I am a journalist and blogger who takes that with a grain of salt & does not return that anger or resentment. This is a job and a service that I do to inform others of the scandal/lies/etc. from public figures. Again, I have nothing against Tila Tequila. I am not a hater. I have attempted to get in touch with her to get her perspective and her opinion. AGAIN, I have nothing against her personally. I do this objectively in a professional manner, it's not personal it's about the story itself. I hope that I have made myself clear. My blog posts will prove for that I have never LIED about Miss Tila or called her ANY rude names. I have never used anything other than evidence from her own tweets, blogposts, and interviews to state my case. The attacks Tila has made against me and calling me "Piggy Raney" was unjust, and although she did that I still have nothing against her. She may try to attack and bring me down, but at the end of the day this is my job. And I am mature enough that to retaliate against someone whose way of responding is by name-calling would be futile.

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Twitter is better for Journalism than Facebook

Nikky Raney's Top Five Reasons Twitter is better for The Future of Journalism than Facebook.

(In no particular order).


5. Privacy: This is going to sound quite ironic, but in regards to journalism Facebook's privacy is a problem. Facebook has gotten slack for its lack of privacy, but when it comes to journalism Facebook is far too private. Facebook status updates can only be seen by friends/networks. Even when status updates are chosen to be shown to "everyone," it will not be shown to "everyone." Twitter's lack of privacy is what causes it to be a better tool than Facebook in regards to the Future of Journalism. Twitter allows private accounts, but any news outlet/journalist is not going to make a private Twitter account. It doesn't matter who is following or who is a follower, the post is likely to be seen by more people via Twitter than Facebook. Even the public accounts on Facebook are not comparable to Twitter in popularity.


4. Update Frequency: Friends get very annoyed when other friends constantly update Facebook statuses. 10 tweets in 20 minutes is more acceptable than 10 status updates in 20 minutes. That's a problem, because journalists & news outlets need to be constantly updating. There is a lot that needs to be said. Breaking news happens, and interacting through tweets is allowed to be frequent. I am not saying that 20 status updates in 5 minutes is appropriate, but it would be a lot more acceptable on Twitter rather than Facebook.


3. Retweets: This one is simple. On Facebook you can't retweet. Retweeting is very important, because it passes around information and allows others to share news. Retweeting is a way to get information out to a larger audience. Reposting someone else's Facebook Status would just seem strange.


2. 140-words: 140 words is the length of most texts messages (some phones allow 160). 140 characters is the maximum length of a Twitter status. Facebook allows for 240 characters. The limit allows for easy for easy reading. It forces users to only post the most important things. Other than Sarah Palin, most users are able to find a way to say everything within the 140 characters without needing to use too many abbreviations, wordsmushing, or numbers 4 words. Especially when it comes to news/journalism those users are very good with word count. Journalists are learned that a word count is very important. Someone says an article is 153 words. It is going to be exactly 153 words. Twitter makes the maximum 140, and that makes tweets easy to read, quick to read, and more enjoyable.


1. Sharing: Sharing news on Twitter is so much easier than sharing news on Facebook. Shareaholic is the best thing in the world. Everyone should have that on dashboard, internet browser, etc. That thing is life. Without Shareaholic sharing sites/links/etc via social networking would be a pain.


For more about how Twitter is a great tool for journalism go to TwitterJournalism.com

I do love Facebook; Facebook has resources for journalists that Twitter does not. But I think that when it comes to the top 5 mentioned above - Twitter has Facebook beat.

Sorry that I went so long without posting.
I was enjoying spending a few days without going on the computer.
It's good to know I can still survive without Internet if I had to. :)

"Everyone has inside of him a piece of good news. The good news is that you don't know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is!
--Anne Frank "


I know that I said I would no longer blog about Tila Tequila, but I read from Tila's Rot Spot that Tila's suicide attempt was a joke. I saw screen shots of her blog entry where she admits that it was all a big funny joke. That really isn't funny to me. It's a serious topic, and my jaw dropped when I found out. That is the lowest thing that someone could ever do, and I don't even want to blog about her, because anyone who jokes about suicide is obviously looking for attention. She admits that it's a joke. Oh look what I did, I blogged about her without blogging about her.Others did the blogging for me TilaTruth & Spiked Tequila covered it as well.

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Happy Memorial Day & more


Happy Memorial Day.


The reason that we did not have a "word of the week" last week is due to all the big deal topics going on, and I couldn't focus on just one. The Facebook privacy issue is still going on, then we have BP, Lost, American Idol, etc.

There was just so much to choose from.

Yesterday, I lost my cool a bit and did a nice blog entry for Tila Tequila.
That's the closest to a rant (okay, it was a rant, but a rant with supported links to justify my argument).

Read it, and you'll see why.
Tila Tequila called herself a journalist.
I went off on Perez Hilton when he called himself a columnist,
but for Tila Tequila to call herself a journalist was the last straw for me.

My personal life has gotten stressful.
My 20th birthday is on June 7 :)
Today was "Quit Facebook Day," and I obviously did not jump on that bandwagon.
It wasn't much of a bandwagon.

I have been getting more and more into twitter
I'm kind of obsessed, because I can update all the time.

I got a lot of great feedback on my post about objectivity. So thank you so much.
This website is being redesigned by my good friend John Draper.
It is going to look fabulous. I made some graphics and he's doing the coding.

Anyway, I'll hopefully do some more future of journalism blogging within the next couple days. :)

A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself. -Joseph Campbell


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Comments Matter.

Pretty cool: Yesterday I sent an e-mail to a blogger for the San Francisco Chronicle commenting on the flaws in the copy-editing & fact-checking of his blog entries Not only did he RESPOND to me in a positive/thankful way, he then sent me a FOLLOW request on Twitter. I feel pretty respectful & respected right now. I thought that my comment would be perceived as naive criticism from one of the many commentators.


This proves that no matter who you are, or how insignificant you may think your comment is. Even if there are 1,000,000 comments - your stills may be read & may have an influence on the writer. I know I see rude comments all the time on articles, blogs, etc. all the time. I do a lot of commenting as well (as an observer, not as a critic), and it is good to know that I'm not just wasting my time typing out what I think.

I am not going to post the comment or post who the person is, because I don't want to put any unwanted spotlight on him. I accept his follower request and I am also following him in return. It just made me feel good to know that I wasn't just looked at as "19-year-old journalism student who is trying to criticize a San Francisco Chronicle Blogger," and by the way he is also a business man and deals with advertising & hosts a show that is watched by many online.


Let this be a lesson to us.
Next time you comment on a blog, article, etc. think of what you would do if the person sent you a response. I had been unable to leave a comment so I had e-mailed the man, but it is the same concept. I did not leave a vicious or overly rude comment (it was a mature comment with a critical tone), but that doesn't mean that it could not have been taken in that manner. I feel respected and I feel respectful.


P.S. If you are one of the people on Twitter who follow & read my posts then you may know who I am referring to if you are going through my Twitter followers/posts. If you want to go do your own research and figure it out for yourself then so be it, but I don't think that those details are pivotal to this blog entry. I am talking about my personal experience in comparison to commenting as a whole.

Cheers :)


"Be careful. Journalism is more addictive than crack cocaine. Your life can get out of balance." -- Dan Rather



Putting the TWIT in TWITTER

Don't let your 140 character limit on Twitter updates compromise your intelligence.



Okay, I think that there needs to be some new rules that dictate to public figures that just because you have a twitter/facebook does not mean that you should "dumb down" your speech. I am appalled that it has become socially acceptable (or appears to have become) for politicians to write that way online. I have an example from Sarah Palin's official twitter.


"Earth saw clmate chnge4 ions;will cont 2 c chnges.R duty2responsbly devlop resorces4humankind/not pollute&destroy;but cant alter naturl change" **

http://twitter.com/SarahPalinUSA/status/6823906156


That is her exact tweet. I have not altered, changed, or edited anything from the original tweet.


Since when is it acceptable to write this way? For those of you who will argue against me and say that it's "easier" or "Twitter's 140-character limit makes it difficult," that should not matter. Either shorten your tweet to 140 characters OR make multiple tweets. She could have made two separate tweets and got the message across.


Who is the target audience here? I had my 60-year-old father read this tweet. He struggled to read it out loud, and he was very frustrated while trying to understand what she was trying to say. If the target audience for her twitter are other adults, then she may have a problem. I asked some of my friends (college-aged) to read the tweet, and most of them also struggled.


I think that writing in such a way does not promote literacy or clarity. I don't think that as a politician, on her public (not personal/private), Twitter, she should be writing in a way that misrepresents her intelligence.


I think that it seems rushed and careless. I don't even make my Twitter that way, and my Twitter is a personal "request only" account.


I have done research and noticed that I am not the only one to give criticism to Sarah Palin. Other criticism includes

"TWITTER ACCOUNT OF A 9 YEAR OLD"


I am not intentionally attacking or "dissing" Sarah Palin for the way she uses her Twitter. I am simply using her as an example of what I have seen on Twitter that I believe is not acceptable. I do not think I am alone in my opinion. I jokingly said to my aunt in an e-mail, "She puts the TWIT in TWITTER," and that is what inspired this blog entry.


Thanks for reading, cheers.


One last note regarding Twitter: My twitter is http://www.twitter.com/nikkyraney , I follow those who follow me, and I believe it is good to be following more people than are following you (unless you are a big time celebrity without the time for all that), because I think via Twitter LISTENING is more important than being heard. Twitter helps me gain information from others and I use it to mostly post articles & news related information. I like to follow a variety of people, and I think the more people you follow, the more information you can obtain. Twitter is extremely simplistic, but used in the proper way it can be a great tool for promotion and for news.




**does she mean EONS?





"Here's a little newsflash for those reporters and commentators: I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion. I'm going to Washington to serve this great country." - Sarah Palin

Reviews: It's easy to criticize.

Due to personal reasons I have been unable to update and post onto this blog as frequently as I had previously. I am jumping on the Twitter bandwagon, so click here to follow.


I have never written a review for publication. I was working on my first movie review, but circumstances came up that has put that article on hold for the time being.

I frequently have heard journalism instructors say, "Stop doing reviews! Everyone is just doing reviews."

Reviews seem "easy" to do. You don't have to interview anyone, you don't need to do as much research, you get to put your own opinion, you don't need to do as much fact-checking, and it is based off something you did, read, saw, ate, etc. And bias is not a problem.

Now, I mentioned previously that I have never written a movie review. I am into the investigative things and hard news/features. I love going out there and getting interviews, doing research, fact-checking, (I love copy-editing also), and spending nights without sleep working to meet the deadline.

I decided to write a review, because it was something that I haven't done. In this, I spoke with Katy England, and realized the truth about reviews of any sort. It may be "easy" to write a review, but it is more challenging to write a GOOD review. I know that there are few reviews I have read that really stuck out in my mind as great journalism; I sometimes feel as though someone had nothing else to write about, saw a movie that weekend, and last minute wrote something quick to meet the deadline.

The reason that instructors, editors, etc. are sick of consistent movie reviews is that not every reporter will take the time to write a review and treat it the same way as any other article. There is research to be done in order to help the reader better understand. There are specific techniques to express your opinion without being blunt. The New York Times generally has very good movie reviews, and some of the ones on IMDB.com serve their purposes.

Consistently doing reviews the "easy" way does not advance a journalist. Journalists need to be able to write all forms of copy. From editorials to hard news, features, columns, reviews, etc. Of all the forms reviews may be the easiest to get done, but for it to be done well it will take a longer time. It may not take as long as a feature or as hard news, but when it comes to actually writing the copy it shouldn't be a quick write up.

Most journalism students I have been around have done numerous columns, and I have always avoided columns because I felt they were "too easy." I didn't see how difficult it was. I would rather do an article involving hours or research, numerous interviews, etc. than go to see a movie, restaurant, concert, and write how much I liked it. To me, that seemed like something someone would do on a personal blog, or on a Facebook note.

So, I have a new respect for reviews, and I am excited for when I finish writing my first review. At that point I will be able to say I have written the main types of copy.

So, writing about the movie you saw last night may be a way to save yourself from missing a deadline, but the quality of the article will reflect on how much effort was actually put into it.

That's all for now.
Cheers [:


Next entry will focus on a similar topic: Blogs.

"Today’s journalism is obsessed with the kinds of things that tend to preoccupy thirteen-year-old boys: sports, sex, crime, and narcissism." -- STEVEN STARK, Atlantic Monthly, Sep. 1994

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