i report vs. CNN

The top stories for today reveal the real contrast between i report and the official CNN website. On CNN, the highlight is the economic crisis and congress and on i-report, the top story was about the new format of facebook. The stories on i-report are more trivial and superficial. The top daily stories on CNN included information from the campaign trail, world affairs and the war while i-report talks about gas prices in Atlanta and dogs. The user-based i-report is obviously not an official news source. The stories seen in i-report were also more locally based and focused on special interests. This sight seems to show how the definition of news is being revolutionized. What is news and what is newsworthy? It looks like anything is up for grabs here.

Look at these highlights from the facebook article:
Facebook's makeover is sparking an outcry among many of its 100 million users
Facebook unveiled its face-lift in July but forced users to new site only two weeks ago
One online petition against the new Facebook has more than 1.5 million names
Others praise the new site as being better organized, easier to navigate

When did a user-based website become worthy news? Is this the future of news? Many people seem more interested in trivial matters like this than cold, hard news.

The Uncovered Truth

Instead of searching for a specific truth on the net I decided to share my personal experience with an uncovered truth. During my freshman year of college at another University, someone broke into a dorm room and set it on fire using a can of harispray. At first, college officials blamed the two boys who owned the room. There was no evidence of an initial break in and it was basically their word against the fore marshall's. If anyone is unfamiliar with setting fire to dorm's, this type of arson is considered a felony and has serious consequences including a hefty amount of jail time. The investigation went on for a few weeks before the whole incident showed up in a u-tube video turned in by an anonymous student. The culprits had videotaped themselves setting the dorm room on fire and uploaded it there. Their faces we hidden but the police were able to use clothing and other clues from the home movie to find the real offenders. How stupid was that? They were so confidant they were not going to get caught that they uploaded their video for thousands to see. I tried to find the video but it has since been removed. This leads me to point out that police have now been searching the internet more and more for criminal evidence. Is this ethical? Should police be able to use u-tube videos as evidence? I think so. The internet is free game for everyone. The largest problem of using evidence gathered on-line is finding its validity. As we have discussed time and time again in class, because of the universal nature of web 2.0, it makes it harder and harder to find truth and to find trustworthy sources.

untruth: Paul B. Doe reported spotting Elvis on the Deutscheplatz near the Arch of Fierflugen in Berlin on July 11, 1991. Doe was among a group of summer backpackers sampling Europe's splendors, cuisine and pests when they stopped at the platz to discuss their next destination. While several members of the group examined leaflets from restaurants in the immediate area, Doe and fellow backpacker, Ryan Got, saw Elvis talking to the driver of a horse-drawn carriage at the far side of the platz. honorelvis.com

Truth from USA TODAY
When Elvis Presley died Aug. 16, 1977, at his cherished Memphis home, a crowd gathered instantly at the whimsical gates of Graceland. Three decades later, dedicated pilgrims are still out there in the sultry Southern sun.

Communications Revolution