Earlier this week, in my News Reporting class, we read an article about a gang rape at the University of Virginia.  A horrific situation is described in a Rolling Stone article that went into great detail of both the crime and the aftermath.  Throughout the article, I was amazed by how poorly the schools administration was said to have handled the rape.  The article also described shocking responses by the victim’s friends to her rape.  A “protect UVA first” scenario was described.

I read the whole article and I must admit, I didn’t think twice about the validity of the article.  I understood the explanation for why the renamed rapists weren’t questioned for the piece.  It all seemed legit.

Unfortunately, today I received an email from my instructor saying that Rolling Stone’s managing editor has come out and said that they have discovered discrepancies in the victims account and that they regret their decision to not interview the accused.

This is unfortunate for many reasons but mostly because it changes the dialogue from being about sexual assaults, which do happen all the time at universities all over the country, to about a reporters mistakes in not fully reporting a story.  I doubt the reporter failed to interview the claimed assailants out of laziness.  I imagine it was because of several different factors including the victims confidentiality, as well as, fear of her attackers.  However, the story needed that angle to be complete.  It’s a disappointing situation all around.

A drought in California has water officials and politicians asking state residents to cut back on their water usage considerably.

However, according to an article by The Center of Investigative Reporting, several officials are not abiding by their own requests. The drought has only increases between 2012-2013, yet several California officials have increased their water usage in that span. Some officials are reported to have used three-times as much water per day as the average California citizen does.

This piece of investigative journalism shines a light on a massive hypocrisy that is occurring in one of the countries most notable states.

Check this article out by pressing the link above.

The two stories about oil in South Texas that we read for class complimented each other.  One was about the health issues revolving around the oil company in Eagle Ford and another was about the booms of oil in Texas, its downfall, and then its revival in South Texas.

http://eagleford.publicintegrity.org

The article “Big Oil, Bad Air,” hyperlinked above, is about a woman who lives in Karnes City, Texas, who is suffering from breathing issues caused by the drilling site at Eagle Ford.  The article talks about how she hates her home  since the oil company has moved in and how her life has changed for the worse.

http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/the-oil-boom-of-south-texas

The article, “Ya’ll Smell that? That’s the Smell of Money,” is by Bryan Mealer whose family hit gold with the oil boom in Texas making them incredibly rich. However, the boom ended and his father eventually filed for bankruptcy. Later in life, after a career in journalism, Mealer became part of the Eagle Ford oil company because of the natural draw that he felt towards the oil business.

The two stories are two completely different angles on the same topic. We talked in class about how the articles are better understood if they are both read. Reading both articles gives the reader two points of view on the oil drilling in South Texas that one wouldn’t see reading just one of the articles.

Today I saw my byline in print for the first time. Last night I knew that it would be in print after I edited it but it didn’t really sink in until I saw it with my own eyes holding the paper this morning.  Something I had written was printed in a paper that people all over Columbia read to get their news.

Getting my first article done was freeing in that I know my stories can only get better from here on. Although I know my article wasn’t perfect by any means it still was acceptable. I know that with time my writing skills will only improve.

I’m excited to work hard throughout this semester, and when it’s all said and done, look back and see how far I have come.

For the past few days I’ve been enjoying a vacation in Dallas, TX. I saw the Dallas Cowboys play on Thanksgiving, a JFK museum located where he was assassinated, and the famous stockyards where cowboys began their journey running Longhorns north to Missouri. Overall, the vacation was great. I was impressed with how clean and modern Dallas is. I noticed that the city was innovative in it’s approach to advertising but also continued to use classic and proven methods such as billboards.

Living in Columbia, Mo I don’t see many billboards unless I’m traveling on the highway. This was not the case in Dallas. Like most big cities, Dallas has billboards everywhere. They are placed on the sides of buildings and along the freeways. They advertise local, regional and national businesses. Seeing all these billboards made me realize that even with all the advancements of technology a correctly placed image still may be the most cost effective way to advertise.

Billboards date back to the mid 1800’s and have been around in smaller forms since the 1700’s through the advent of lithography, which made printing posters possible. Billboards were initially used for advertising circuses and movies in attempt to catch the eyes of more costumers. In 1908, the Model T automobile was invented instantly making highways and roads a great marketing outlet. As more people were able to own a vehicle, billboards moved away from being just in urban areas and were placed along major roads everywhere.

Today, standard billboards continue to be popular even with the boom of the internet and cell phones for advertising. However, billboard-size screens are used often as well. These screens act the same as billboards except they run through several different advertisements pausing on each for a few seconds at a time. This allows for one location to advertise for several businesses. The screens being digitally controlled makes updates and changes timely and simple.

In the future all billboards may turn digital and I can’t see a reason why they shouldn’t but I don’t see a time in the near future where billboard-type advertising loses it’s relevance. It is cheaper than television and can have huge viewer reach when properly applied.