Cooperating With the Government

I didn't cheat! I found the case study after I turned in my final paper.

This has been a great class and I've enjoyed the lively discussion and thought provoking case studies like this one. This has also been my first experience with blogging and I think I'm hooked! Thank you all and Happy Holidays!

Nuance Updates Dragon Dictation App To Let You Keep Your Contacts Secret

Well known Dragon software maker has created an application for the iPhone that allows users to speak emails, texts and such that are transcribed for you. Great idea, right? They made one minor mistake -- users were not aware that the contacts were uploaded to the Dragon servers. Dragon says they were doing this to improve accuracy, but they never asked for users consent!

Police Looking for Serial Rapist

October 31, 2009 another rape occurred, this time in Prince William county VA. There have been a string of rapes in states up and down the east coast, and dna at all crime scenes point to the same man that has so far eluded the police.

The first rape was in June 1999 in Virginia. In 2006 and 2007 there were reported rapes in new Haven, Connecticut.

Descriptions of the attacker vary slightly, but he's described as a black male, between 5-foot-6 and 5-foot-10, with a medium to muscular build. In the New Haven attacks, some victims said he spoke with an accent that sounded as though he may have been from the West Indies.

Roy E. Disney, a Power at His Uncle Walt’s Studio, Dies at 79

Roy Disney, nephew of Walt Disney died after a year of battling stomach cancer. He is cited as the reason Michael Eisner departed Disney and the reason for the animation divisions success. He worked on "True-Life Adventures” features, “The Living Desert” and “The Vanishing Prairie” which went on to win Academy Awards.

Uninvited tourists attend White House breakfast, meet Obama

Dumb luck, or is the Secret Service not paying attention? On Veteran's Day the Darden's of Hogansville, GA came to the White House to attend a tour. To their surprise they were led into the East Room where breakfast was being served for veterans.

Harvey Darden approached a White House staffer and told him they thought they were in the wrong place, the White House staffer asked Harvey if he was a veteran and when Harvey told him he was the White House staffer told him to go with the flow!!

The Darden's stayed put and got to meet the President, First Lady and the Vice President! Turns out the tour was the next day, the Darden's had the wrong day. When the Secret Service was questioned they said the Darden's passed the security checks and did not "crash" the event. Instead White House staff said occasionally they take members of the public to attend such events.

Celebrate with the SPJ

As we are rounding out our final exam and our great Ethics & Journalism course, I thought it would be nice to end the semester with this article by the SPJ:
SPJ celebrates passage of shield law bill from committee

Woohoo!

Thank you classmates for a wonderful dialogue, thanks to our instructors and most importantly - thanks Jeanne for the blog!

Have a great break and an even better new year!

-Crystal

The Standards of a Columnist

This is a piece published by the New York Times ombudsman, Clark Hoyt. He touches on how the expectations held for a columnist is different than that of a journalist. The specific areas of expressing opinion, endorsing political ideas, taking stances, and utilizing more casual language are explored within.

Letters to the Public - the Columnist's Voice

I always wonder just how far a columnist can take expressing their views if said views are unorthodox or somewhat taboo. What if a columnist begins talking about some of the ideas of Brian Moore, the 2008 Socialist Party of America presidential candidate? Certainly within the bounds of free speech, but just how far can they bend?