Sales Pitch

To whom it may concern,

            Burncoat High School class of 2015 would like to offer your business the opportunity to feature an ad in our yearbook this year.  To remember our time at Burncoat we wish to create the best possible yearbook to treasure forever.  In order to help lower the cost of the yearbook so many more students can purchase it we sell advertisements.  Every penny we get from business's helps us.  This opportunity would be good exposure for your business, I strongly would appreciate you considering purchasing an ad.  We greatly appreciate your time and consideration.
                                 
                                                                                                  Sincerely, Burncoat High School

What's a good source for news?

http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/09/us/hernandez-evidence/index.html

       CNN is a reliable source, for the latest news and breaking news its a good place to go to because they report the information not any personal opinions.  This article reports all information from the Aaron Hernandez case without giving the authors opinion.  CNN also uses reliable sources, having reliable sources makes articles seem more legit. I chose this article because this case has drawn much attention in the news, much attention can cause personal opinions to form.  Writing an article can be hard to keep these opinions out of.
        This news reporter, CNN, uses sources and detailed information to make it "good" news.  A good source for news is one that reports all known information. This article I chose does exactly this, it reports all known evidence against Aaron Hernandez and what's in and what's out in the case.  I believe that CNN does a very good job covering their news reports and showing evidence.

"Sources" in Journalism

Sony Hacker Article
The journalist who published this story did a great job explaining this story from two different perspectives. He talked about why people thought this wasn't an invasion of privacy because these are celebrities and nothing they do is private. And he also talked about how the celebrities felt exposed and why they felt that way. As a journalist it is critical to tell the story from more than one perspective in order to drive your story further.

Rolling Stone Article

As a journalist it is your job to be factual and include legit resources in your article. Not including important factual information and make your article seem misconstrued and incorrect. To be a good journalist you have to have various amount of resources to back up your article, other wise facts can be tossed around and your whole article becomes wrong. The writers in both situations should have been more truthful with their writing.

Shooting Fire Discussion Questions

1. I believe some people believe the First Amendment goes too far because it covers too much.  For example the freedom of speech excuse is used too often.  People are able to blame something they said even if wrong on the fact that the First Amendment allows them to the freedom of speech.

2. My reaction to the story of school principle Debbie Almontaser was I was very shocked.  The media who is supposed to provide us with factual information twisted Debbie's story.  Her words were twisted into a way that made her seem like the bad person when she had a lot more to say.

3. http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/04/23/on-freedom-of-speech-social-tolerance-and-opposition-to-gay-marriage/ 

This article shown here talks about freedom of speech and gay marriage, similar to the documentary when the young boy who apposed gay rights was protected by the freedom of speech amendment. 

Current Event:

http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/09/us/hernandez-evidence/index.html

            Former New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez's jury selection begins Friday, as attorneys begin to whittle down a pool of more than 1,100 potential jurors to the small group that will decide whether Hernandez is guilty of murdering semipro football player Odin Lloyd. That pool is about 10 times larger than usual, largely because of concerns over finding an impartial jury. Attorneys will select 18 jurors, including six alternates.  Hernandez, 25, has pleaded not guilty. His friends Ernest Wallace and Carlos Ortiz have also been charged with murder in Lloyd's death. They have pleaded not guilty and will be tried separately.
           This case has cased much attention and its interesting to see how it all plays out.  It sounds like Hernandez is guilty but the trial will be difficult especially with all the evidence being thrown out.  Hopefully the victim and the face of the victims family gets justice and Hernandez is put in jail.  It would be a shame if he gets away with the crime he has committed.

Current Event:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/10/world/europe/french-government-questions-intelligence-lapses.html?ref=world

           At least 13 people have been killed and France is traumatized, after the shooting of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.  The vulgar treatment of the Muslim religion has caused the shooting to occur.  The government now faces questions over intelligence lapses. But such reasoning did not answer the basic questions about why the French had not monitored the Kouachi brothers more aggressively, what the brothers were doing between 2011 and now, and why Charlie Hebdo was not better protected. And it raised the question of whether there had been a spectacular failure in American-French intelligence cooperation.
           Its so sad to hear about the shootings in France, so many people and families have been affected and are now grieving.  I don't understand why these terrorists continue to cause so many problems.  Their dislike against the newspaper company should not have caused such tragedy to happen.   

Current Event:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/09/us/politics/obama-proposes-free-community-college-education-for-some-students.html?ref=us&_r=0


          President Obama said Thursday that he would propose a government program to make community college tuition-free for millions of students.  This is a plan that will expand educational opportunities for many students that before college was not an option due to the cost of college.  The plan would be funded by the federal government and participating states, but White House officials declined to discuss how much it would cost or how it would be financed.  It is bound to be expensive and likely a tough sell to a Republican Congress not eager to spend money, especially on a proposal from the White House.  The proposal would cover half-time and full-time students who maintain a 2.5 grade point average, about a C-plus, and who “make steady progress toward completing a program,” White House officials said. It would apply to colleges that offered credit toward a four-year degree or occupational-training programs that award degrees in high-demand fields.
          I think this program would be very useful for many students to use.  I like how President Obama cares about the education program and takes steps to make changes to benefit the system.  If students are able to begin their college career for free to gives them time to save money to continue on in their college career.  I'm sure this will take a very long time to actually take affect however I'm glad some things are changing with the education.