http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/24/journalism-is-not-content-production/

An interesting article from TechCrunch about how the field of journalism is changing due to the influence of startups and an evolution of what it means to produce content that readers want. Do you agree with the writer? IS journalism a separate thing from content, with more of a focus on delivering factual information? Or is that age of journalism dead, and simply evolving into a new form?

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26379722

I was shocked when I read this article. Up until this point I have been amazed by the fact that nobody seems to be talking about the seriousness of what is going on in Kiev and the rest of Ukraine. Now that Russia is sending armed forces in, I feel like people are going to have to start paying more attention. Why do you think the public's discussion of this has been so minimal, compared to something like the Arab Spring? Is the media to blame, or have they been providing accurate coverage? What do you think of the story in general?

There was also a commercial about this that was released in time for the Super Bowl (even though it wasn't shown during the actual game, for obvious reasons). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR-tbOxlhvE

I personally think that because it really is offensive to trivialize an entire race and culture of people for the sake of a sports' team mascot, it should be of the utmost priority to figure out a way to change it. When it gets to the point that a group who has already taken enough of a beating from another oppressive group is forced to watch their culture be taken advantage of (even if it is done 'in praise' of them), it needs to stop. As pointed out in the "Letting the Indian Go" article from last year, this is clearly a resolvable issue, with Tam as a prime example. Sure, we lost a 'traditional' mascot - but the school's image and attitude towards the understanding of Native American culture is better because of it.

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/10/28/should-you-bribe-your-kids

What do you guys think of this article? Which side are you more inclined to agree with? As far as our magazine/website goes, how do you think this style of debate formatting could be utilized? We've had discussions of how to do a side-by-side debate about a certain topic, this could be a good solution!

I think this is kind of weird... I mean, my little cousin loves playing games on the iPad, but her parents try to limit her screen time so that she gets involved with other kinds of games, too, since she's only about 2. I think it's a little unhealthy for some of these types of parents to become completely dependent on the phone or tablet to entertain their kids - it creates bad habits and could be potentially harmful as the kids get older. While technology is a great new way to keep children entertained in an innovative way, it has to be used responsibly. That's why I'm a little skeptical of these apps - there's so many of them, what if we get to the point where babies don't even look at little picture books or play games with their parents because they are simply given a screen to look at instead?

Realistically, does anyone actually use "YOLO" as a legitimate excuse? It's not like you're going to walk into the hospital and they're going to ask you what happened and you answer "YOLO!!!". I mean, of course, this girl tweeted it, but I tend to take most tweets with a grain of salt because oftentimes they're meant in kind of a joking way - I doubt that she had YOLO on her mind when she was about to die. Most people know that YOLO is a dumb excuse, so I really don't think anyone would be on the supporting side of this argument. As far as a Hawk Talk goes, I think you could get some pretty funny responses, though.

I think this is really cool. It's awesome how the Bark is using video to connect better to their audience, and doing it like a "visual profile" kind of thing. The great thing about this is that you can overlay footage of the person you are profiling, kind of like in a news story, and using a combination of multimedia to teach the audience about them. Once we get more into video, I think this would be really cool to try - it's important that we don't lose the value of print articles, though! Maybe we could do an accompanying mini-article for every video we do like this?

http://aweinstein.kinja.com/fuck-you-im-gen-y-and-i-dont-feel-special-or-entitl-1333588443

This was an article that was published on the Huffington Post in response to the one that we read in class about Gen Y and their inflated ego, and why that leads to unhappiness. Full disclosure, it's a very angry piece with more than a few curses in it.

What do you guys think of this article? Is it a fair response from a person from Gen Y? Or is he simply perpetuating the point made in the original article?

It's hard to judge how "excessive" these new policies are, because the article doesn't explain what the reasons were for the change. Even so, if the events of last year's dance were similar to Tam's, then the stricter changes are understandable, but not necessarily justified in all areas. Preventing underage drinking is understandable, because the school has standards of safety to uphold - however, going so far as to tell girls to button up their shirts and the like is not OK. I agree with what Georgie said about focusing on the protection of students and making sure everyone is comfortable rather than focusing on petty things like dress codes.

This kind of behavior is definitely not appropriate for something as esteemed as the national army. Normally, a woman (or man) should not be judged for how they choose to dress or what they show on Facebook or other social media sites, but this is an exception. There needs to be an element of humbleness when you are in the army, whether you joined of your own free will or not. Like Max said, I think that because they are young, the punishment should not be as severe as it may be for someone older and more mature, but that doesn't mean there should be no punishment at all.

I absolutely think that having a style section - even if it was just a page - could be a very interesting prospect. Fashion is definitely something that a lot of Tam students take an interest in, and I think this could be a great way to get some new readers interested in the magazine. I think that Tam's fashion is something that really adds to the uniqueness of our student body, and it should be illustrated in our school newspaper. It would also be a great way for people to experiment with new methods of photojournalism, and explore interesting layouts, etc.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/woman-symbol-turkey-protests-article-1.1362428

How do you think social media and networking will aid the female protesters in Turkey? We have already seen examples of websites like Facebook making a difference in protests - is "the woman in red" photograph the beginning of a new photojournalism revolution for Turkey?

This news is not surprising at all - ever since Snapchat started, people have been waiting for a scandal to pop up in which someone's nude pictures get posted online. Even though teens are deterred for a while, mostly out of fear of this happening to them, I feel like there will always be a new way to send naked pictures or messages to each other. First it was texting, then Facebook, now Snapchat. I think it takes a lot more than just another scandal to stop teens from doing it completely - there will always be new ways that are supposed to be "safer," like Snapchat.

To be honest, I actually think that Jesse Eisenberg was in the right. She was a pretty bad reporter, and like he said, she was relying on props and gimmicks (like the card trick) to try and make the interview substantial. Jesse Eisenberg is known to have a dry sense of humor, and this girl was pretty easy to make fun of - she displayed bad journalism skills and wasn't at all prepared for the interview, and he just let her know it. I think people are missing the big picture by claiming that Eisenberg is "mean" and "a bully." Ultimately, he was simply calling her out on her bad reporting skills, and if she were a mature adult, she would just shrug it off. Had she been prepared with good questions and acted more professional during the interview, Eisenberg probably wouldn't have made those comments in the first place.

I thought this article was great - it did a perfect job out outlining basically every problem with the ridiculous dress codes in the U.S. today. You can just take a look at MVMS's dress code and see how women are far more subjected to sexualization than men. And it goes both ways - men are instantly assumed to be constantly sexually active, and cannot be trusted to not get "distracted" by a girl's body. While I agree that a school should prohibit obviously offensive clothing, like a t-shirt with the word "slut" on it, or a racist slur, etc., but permitting a girl from wearing spaghetti straps or shorts? Really? What kind of person looks at a girl's shoulder and gets instantly turned on by that? At the end of the day, I do believe that dress codes only serve to create a foundation for sexist beliefs later in life, and that they need to be fixed - especially in a neighborhood like Mill Valley, where I would expect equal rights for all.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/28/health/france-coronavirus-death

Do you think that this virus is really as dangerous as it is being made to be, or is it just a perfect example of the media blowing something out of proportion for the sake of writing an interesting story? Is it ok for the media and news to make things seem like a bigger deal than they actually are, as long as the facts are being reported?

Some of the points made in this article seem pretty valid, and I'm happy that they pointed out the fact that "sexism against men" not always an attack on feminism, and could actually soften the male point of view towards the fight against sexism. However, the overarching mood for much of this article except for towards the end was very irritating to me - in an age when sexism against women and misogyny is still very common, even in first world countries, I do not think it is appropriate to start complaining about how men have been subjected to genocide and abuse in the past, when this genocide in particular equally affected men and women and no one was subjected more than the other. It's true, this article did not take the worst kind of standpoint on "men's rights," claiming that men are being abused by feminists and that misandry is a problem in today's society (which I believe is completely inaccurate). However, the fact that the basis of that argument (men are subjected to sexism) is being defended here only provides more ammo for those who DO believe that sexism against women doesn't count as much as sexism against men. I think that for now, feminism and misogyny is the main focus, and the "men's rights activists" don't need any more evidence that they can warp to try and prove their ridiculous point.

I loved the casual yet weirdly poignant mood of all of these photos. Photo essays are a very interesting way to represent journalism, but I'm curious as to whether we would do this online or in the magazine. I doubt we would have enough pages to put the whole thing in print, but it seems that fewer people look online, so we wouldn't want the effort to go to waste. Going with what people have been saying about doing this kind of thing in Marin, perhaps with a local chain restaurant, I think it would be funny if we picked a stereotypical healthy-organic-etc. Mill Valley store/restaurant, like Whole Foods. It's kind of the opposite of McDonald's, but I think it could wield equally interesting results.