STUDENT ENDS BLOG

I have taken more journalism classes this semester than I ever have before, and certainly more than I ever will again. Immersing myself on all sides in writing techniques, styles and media has been a valuable experience for me, but I'm ready for a break.
If I had to pick a favorite medium and style, it would have to be what I'm doing right now. I enjoy writing in a very conversational style with a little room for flair and humor. Probably my least favorite medium would be the press release. I'm not sure why exactly. Maybe it's that I'm just not used to the format and that I have trouble remembering where all the little extra things go.
Now then, a few shameless promotions are in order. If you just can't get enough of my writing and don't want my blog to end, then don't worry. I have another blog, which I haven't written in for about three months, but hey, I was busy. I'll admit that I don't cover newsy stuff in my blog, except for when something really important happens and I feel like I genuinely have something to add to the discussion. You can visit my blog here.
Also, if you're curious as to how I got started on this whole journalism thing, you can click here to see the blog I kept for a week at a high school journalism workshop.
Well, it's finally time to wrap things up. I would like to say goodbye to the professors and instructors who I will not be seeing next semester, as well as to anyone else who may have stumbled across this journalism project. Fare well.

http://sethouston.blogspot.com/

http://www.usmsethhouston.blogspot.com/

PUBLIC RELATIONS VERSUS ADVERTISING

Everybody knows what advertising is. Not as many know what public relations is.
I'm sure you've seen examples of both. It's easy to think of an advertisement, but to get an idea of public relations, just think of what BP did after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Of course, public relations is more than making commercials on television that improve your company's public image. It also involves writing press releases, organizing community programs and events, and other things to improve your company's public image.
Here's another way to think about it. Advertising is the promotion of a product or service, while public relations is the promotion of a company or organization. That's a bit of an oversimplification, but it will do.
The writing styles for these two kinds of promotions have similarities and differences. They are both positive, they emphasize benefits and ignore drawbacks. However, they are also different in many ways. Advertising is very rapid-fire, aimed at large demographical audiences. It is designed to be seen multiple times and fit into the constraints of whatever medium through which it is being expressed.
In contrast, public relations is usually much more specific and elaborate. Press releases, for example, are usually a page or more in length and are designed to be easily translated into print or broadcast news pieces.
For an example of these two promotional styles, check out the links below.

http://youtu.be/owGykVbfgUE

This is a press release promoting an event: http://www.prlog.org/12037736-heels-and-hip-hop-invade-the-atlanta-microsoft-store.html

U.N. PROPOSES GOVERNMENT CONTROL OF INTERNET

The United Nations has recently introduced a bill that would give power to governments to regulate the internet. The United States and the European Union plan on opposing this movement, which they say has troubling implications for internet freedom.
The treaty is being proposed by the International Telecommunications Union, a U.N. agency. The secretary general of the ITU, Dr. Hamadoun Toure, says that the treaty's purpose is to make the internet available for the underprivileged.
"The brutal truth is that the internet remains largely [the] rich world's privilege," BBC News reported him as saying. "ITU wants to change that."
In spite of the ITU's reassurance, some countries remain skeptical of the treaty's intended purpose, saying that there is no need to include language that could give governments power to monitor and censor the internet.
"There have been active recommendations that there be an invasive approach of governments in managing the internet, in managing the content that goes via the internet, what people are looking at, what they're saying," said Terry Kramer, the US representative in the U.N. discussion of this treaty.
"These fundamentally violate everything that we believe in in terms of democracy and opportunities for individuals, and we're going to vigorously oppose any proposals of that nature."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20575844

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/12/04/warning-un-is-coming-for-your-internet/

CLARITY NEEDED IN WRITING

I'm back again to talk about clear writing and the challenges it faces. I'll admit that I'm somewhat of a Grammar Nazi. Even though I usually don't vocalize it, it bothers me whenever I see glaring errors in things like bulletins, books, or billboards (no alliteration intended). Even when grammar is fine, people seem to have trouble expressing ideas in a systematic, logical way.
I don't know if any one part of society bears the entire blame for the way things are, but I can certainly say that public schools seem to be failing miserably when it comes to basic reading and writing skills. I didn't attend public school, so I can't speak from experience, but it's hard for me to imagine how teachers justify letting some kids move on from one grade to the next. I have a Facebook account. I know that most people can't spell or write worth a darn.
So how do you fix this problem? I'm not sure you can fix a problem like this without changing the rather lax attitude that teachers must have to allow this kind of thing. If I were more sappy, I would say that teachers should inspire their students to love writing, but I know better than that. There are going to  be people who just don't care where a comma goes or if their ideas have a logical flow. Teachers need to find a way to teach good writing to these kinds of students.
In almost every area of life, perfection is unattainable. Not so with grammar. There are plenty of writings that don't contain a single error. While there may not be any correct style of writing, clear writing is always desirable.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelellsberg/2011/07/31/why-trying-to-learn-clear-writing-in-college-is-like-trying-to-learn-sobriety-in-a-bar/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/susannahbreslin/2012/06/12/why-you-shouldnt-be-a-writer/2/

PRINT VERSUS BROADCAST

There's a significant difference in the writing styles of broadcast and print news. Print is more formal. It usually has longer, more complex sentences and larger words. Broadcast is intentionally conversational, using more informal language, shorter words and sentences, and a laid back style.
Although most of the writing I have done has been for print, I have had quite a few experiences writing broadcast scripts. It really isn't much of a struggle for me to write broadcast, since I try to make even my  print writing as conversational as possible.
However, I do have a tendency to use long and complex sentences, so I'll have to say that print is a bit easier for me. The next time you watch news on television, stop and really listen to the sentence structure and phrasing of what's being said. I can't really say I ever thought about who wrote it, but someone must have.
For some good examples of print and broadcast, check out the links below.

Broadcasting with british accents: http://youtu.be/AH3a1gBHfSA

Print news: http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/06/the-not-so-dark-side-of-earth/

TWITTER CHALLENGES FACEBOOK IN COMMUNICATION SHOWDOWN

Hello there. I'm suspending the more formal third-person of AP style in order to write a more opinionated piece about effective communication formats.
Speaking strictly from a journalist's perspective, there is little doubt in my mind that Twitter is far more useful for gathering information than Facebook. There are many reasons why. First, hashtags have the potential to be tremendously useful to journalists because by looking for a particular hashtag, writers can find all kinds of sources and loads of information that they wouldn't have otherwise.
For instance, by typing the hashtag "#justicefortrayvon" into Twitter's search box, you might be able to find testimonies of people who live in the area or maybe from relatives. Granted, all the information would be inherently biased, but you could just as easily look up "#justiceforzimmerman" or some other source.
Of course, it's also important to look for sources who are disinterested to cut down on bias, and to find sources from more reliable places than a Twitter hashtag, but I think that Twitter is still a good starting point for gathering sources.
The main difference between Twitter and Facebook is that Facebook is inherently limited to whatever group of friends you currently have. What, there's an uprising in Egypt and you don't have any Egyptian friends? Tough beans. Get on Twitter and search for "#morsisucks" or, to get the other side, "#morsi4dictator".
I think I've made my point. Facebook has its merits for personal use, but falls short for any real journalistic potential. Check out the links below for more information.

http://mashable.com/2012/11/30/twitter-political-journalism/

http://youtu.be/Nl9xI-kAE8A

STUDIES SHOW HOME SCHOOLED STUDENTS AHEAD

Homeschooling is not only growing rapidly in America, it is establishing itself as the most effective education option available.
Although homeschooling was practiced in America even before the nation declared independence, it has never been a very popular practice. Parents must buy and teach curriculum without support from any government sources.
Despite the extraordinary effort it requires, there were 2.04 million home educated students in 2010, and the population continues to grow. This is most likely due to the high return rate, since 82 percent of adults who were home schooled said they plan on continuing the practice with their children.
Another reason for the growth could be the stunning success that home schooled students have had academically and professionally. They consistently score over 30 percentile points above students with a public education on standardized tests.
For more information, check out the articles below.

www.nheri.org/HomeschoolPopulationReport2010.pdf

http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/home-schooling/

http://www.hslda.org/docs/news/200908100.asp