Preview of "Trashy Tabloid Analysis"

This is going to be broken up into parts.

Sure, people talk badly about the gossip magazines and say how unreliable the magazines are, but some of them have never read the magazine. Someone has to read it to be able to analyze if it is truly good or bad - so "Trashy Tabloid Analysis" will be the theme of the next few Future of Journalism & Zennie62 Media blog posts. (First posted on NikkyRaney.com & then Zennie62.com).

This may become a series in some way.
There will be a short (3 minute max) video to go along with the post where examples of good/bad journalism will be pointed out within the magazine - so that there are examples of either so that there is an example to base the opinion off of. Someone who thinks the magazines are awesome might like it without ever reading it either - just say, "Oh, I love reading that magazine." So, it's not good to judge something or form an opinion unless you fully understand it and have analyzed it (like when I did my 20+ page research paper on Fox News' Conservative Bias where I spent over a month watching Fox News and analyzing the web page and then comparing Fox to other news sources. So, I can truly say that I have a reason behind why I judge Fox - not just saying it or believing it based on hearsay or influence of those around me).

The only question is whether or not to include which magazine - because could there be a consequence in a legal aspect if I take photos of the magazine? I'm probably over thinking it.

This can be done without being bias.
This is going to be a journalistic analysis (with a bit of blog mixed in) of "trashy tabloids." Sure a lot of people call them "trashy tabloids" because of hearing what the publications report about, but most of those have never even touched the magazine. Like the way someone says they dislike something without ever actually understanding it.

An objective analysis of a magazine considered "trashy tabloid." The ones that are usually all about celebrities & scandals. (OK!, Life & Style, STAR, etc.)

So, that will start up tomorrow. The video aspect will show certain spots that have been circled with pen, etc & be able to show that I really do have a physical copy of the magazine and have done all the research first hand based on that magazine alone in regards to journalistic standards and principles (as well as which version of AP Stylebook is used; if there even is one used.)

Then the blog post accompanying will explain WHY that the publication did was GOOD or BAD. It's like a movie review, but a magazine review - without personal bias. Like pointing out a trend that the magazine may have like ALLOWING ALL INTERVIEWEES TO BE CONFIDENTIAL AND REFERRED TO AS "SOURCE" or "AN INSIDER." And then writing in a paragraph to explain WHY it's not okay for a magazine's only interviews in an article to be with an "anonymous source." These trashy tabloids need to stop only using anonymous sources within their publications - and that's something I will go into more detail about.

Hopefully if anyone that works on the staff at one of these magazines or is in affiliation with one of these magazines sees my posts the person won't take it as negative criticism or whatnot, but could possibly take my posts into consideration: I would love to interview the Editor-in-Chief at any one of the "trashy tabloids" just to find out what the manual & guidebook entails and what the Managing Editor deals with and why/how they consider themselves to be credible sources worth obtaining knowledge & news from when the sources that they are using to obtain this knowledge and news may not be credible.. and if the only source you can get for a story is an anonymous source -- then go out and try to get another interview or interview someone that WILL go on the record. "anonymous" sources are okay under certain circumstances in VERY SPECIFIC situations where there is a good need for confidentiality, but an article should NEVER only include the anonymous source. There needs to be some sort of PROOF not just a bunch of evidence (it's an analogy).

So, that will start tomorrow.
Now, it's time to go read a "trashy tabloid" while holding a pen so that I can pretend that it's the end of the print cycle and I am giving the publication a quick look-through to see if there's anything that should be fixed before it goes to print -- or if there's something very notable that should be complimented upon.

How sad, I am officially on winter break (no more school for a month), and I am basically doing all this research and work. Wow, I love journalism ; I'm a workaholic.


“To sit in judgment of those things which you perceive to be wrong or imperfect is to be one more person who is part of judgment, evil or imperfection.” -- Wayne Dyer


IASBRN

-- Nikky Raney 12/20/2010 1:11 AM (EST)
ORIGINALLY POSTED ON THE FUTURE OF JOURNALISM

Michael Vick, DeSean Jacskon Punt Return - Eagles Stun Giants 38-31

In what some are calling the second Miracle At The Meadowlands, Philadelphia Eagles Quarterback Michael Vick engineered a dramatic come-from-behind win over the New York Giants 38 to 31.

The Eagles shocked the NY Giants and The World by scoring 21 points in six minutes, and 28 points in seven minutes, going from down 10 to 31, to win the game.

The shocking turn of events started with Vick's 65-yard pass to Brent Celek, and ended with Cal Football Star and now Eagles Wide Receiver DeSean Jacskon's amazing 65-yard punt return, which Jackson prolonged to run out the clock.

NY Giants Not Ready For Onside Kick

With about seven minutes remaining, the Eagles tried an onside kick after scoring to make it 31-17. The Giants didn't have their "hands team" ready; the Eagles recovered the kick. Later Giants Head Coach Tom Coughlin said (on NFL Network) that he didn't think "they were going to try an onside kick with seven minutes left."

Seriously, Coach Coughlin said that.

Eagles On Top Of The World

The win makes the Eagles if not the front runner, then perhaps number two behind the New England Patriots as Super Bowl favorites. For the New York Giants, Coughlin said they had to "run the table" and win their next two games. It's going to take a great coaching job on his part to overcome this shocking win.

Virgin Megatore SF Car Crash Update

On Wednesday, a car crashed into the former but still "marked" Virgin Megastore at the corner of Market and Stockton near San Francisco's Union Square. If you missed it, here's my video (I was the first to break the story as I was on the scene) which was made just about 10 minutes after the crash happened:



According to KGO, the driver of the car that wound up in what used to be the entrance lobby of the record and video store said she was trying to avoid a big rig truck as she was heading down Stockton. Then, she lost control of her car and went right into the front door on the building.

As you can see, she hit it perfectly.

What's confusing to this blogger is the driver had to be going down Stockton Street, which would have had her driving next to the building and well past the front door. Why? Because Stockton crosses Market Street and the Virgin Megastore's front door - where she crashed - is on Market.

The only way she could have hit that door was to have made a u-turn coming down Stockton, turned the wrong way along Market, and then hit the door. That also means the "big rig" would have had to have moved up, not down, Stockton. If that's the case, it was going the wrong way.

Or, the woman was going the wrong way up Stockton herself, and turned to avoid the truck going down Stockton, along with what certainly was a flood of car traffic.

The things that make you go "hmmm."

Unemployed Americans - Especially 99ers Got Scrooged!

There is so much confusion over this “so called” 13 month UI extension President signed into law yesterday, I thought I would help sort things out for the American Jobless masses - 1 thing is for certain: Unemployed Americans - Especially the 99ers Got Scrooged!

First get this straight: you will NOT be getting a 13 month extension of additional UI benefits and there is a better than 50% chance that you will not be getting anything at all, ZERO - ZIP - not 1 dime. Let me explain.

With well over 18 million unemployed in this country, the DOL will admit to 15.8 million (a figure which has remained magically unchanged since the beginning of 2010 - even as they - the DOL - continues to report new jobless claims each week of 2010 between 423,000 and 576,000. Since you cannot put in a new jobless claim unless you have recently lost your job - then I say just do the math. Obviously the DOL thinks Americans are very stupid!)

But let’s use their 15.8 million for argument sake and their 7 million estimate of jobless Americans currently collecting UI benefits. That would mean 8.8 million unemployed are NOT collecting any UI at present for a variety of reasons. Of that 8.8 million amount it is estimated over 5.8 million are UI exhaustees with many more to join their ranks in the first 3 months of 2011 - despite this “so called 13 month UI extension the Obama administration seems so proud of negotiating.

Now here are some cold hard facts about the BIG tax break / UI Extension trade off:

$25 Extra UI compensation (or FAC) is OUT! Federal Additional Compensation is a temporary, federally funded program that adds a supplemental $25 payment to each week of unemployment compensation benefits. To be eligible, an individual must have established a new Unemployment Insurance claim with an effective date on or before 5/23/10. The statutory end date of the FAC program is December 7, 2010, therefore, FAC cannot be added to any payment for week ending December 18, 2010 or later. FAC WAS NOT RENEWED in HR4853! [Source: Federal Additional Compensation UPDATED DECEMBER 17, 2010]

So billionaires and millionaires get everything they wanted and more (The death Tax expanded in their favor) and the poorest unemployed get HOSED out of an additional $25.00 bucks a week. Un-frigging believable!

Extended Benefits or EB (the 20 weeks that are NOT given as a TIER) has a UI% rate trigger (unless you are lucky enough to live in 1 of 13 states who have their own EB program -check with your state’s UI office).

The EB trigger for federally funded states is as follows: The High EB program ends if the total unemployment insurance rate averages less than 8.0% in any three-month period.

So according to Nov. 2010 figures that leaves out:
Oklahoma, Minnesota, Montana, Maine, Maryland, Arkansas, Alaska, Wisconsin, Utah, Iowa, Wyoming, Kansas, Virginia, Vermont, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota.

The way the Government is playing fast and phony with the UI % rates - it is highly likely that your state, if not listed above - soon will be!

Now let’s get to the Tiers 3 & 4:

Your state’s total unemployment insurance rate must average 6.0% for a three-month period before you will qualify for 13 weeks of Tier 3 EUC.

Using Nov. 2010 figures again, the following states are out of luck for a Tier 3: Vermont, New Hampshire, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota.

And these states may soon join the NON - Tier 3 eligible states above: Oklahoma, Iowa, Wyoming, Kansas, Virginia and Hawaii.

As far as Tier 4 goes, your state’s total unemployment insurance rate must average 8.5% for a three-month period before the 6 weeks of Tier 4 will “trigger-on.”

Currently that leaves out: Oklahoma, Minnesota, Montana, Maine, Maryland, Arkansas, Alaska, Wisconsin, Utah, Iowa, Wyoming, Kansas, Virginia, Vermont, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Texas, New York, Colorado, New Mexico and Delaware.

And leaves the following states between 0.1 and 1% of being in jeopardy of getting “down graded” to NON - Tier 4 qualified very soon: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Alabama, Arizona, West Virginia, Washington, Missouri, Idaho and Tennessee.

Remember no matter what you read about UI exhaustees being counted in your State wide or National UI rates - THAT IS NOT TRUE! If you do not believe me then do the math yourself. But I’ll let you comb through the monthly DOL reports to get that info, after all WHY should I do all the work?

Hello Washington - poverty is not some disease you are going to catch just by helping someone in desperate need. After all, it is YOU, your policies and FAILURES which put America in this untenable situation.

For Congress and the President to falsely tout this as a 13 month extension for the long term unemployed is a flat out lie that distorts the truth in an unconscionable manner, as MOST of the people on at least their 1st Tier of EUC by about September this year WILL NOT GET anywhere near 13 months AND this bill actually EXTENDED NOTHING but dates for the more recently unemployed Americans to file for what will amount to far less that the max 99 weeks - as they continue to mislead the Jobless with false UI % rates in all states!!!

For those of you who feel I am not happy with our president of late, how very perceptive of you! Was always a strong supporter of Obama and I am as patriotic as any American. I am just heart broken and disgusted that my president would turn his back on millions of jobless Americans hurting the worst and borrow money from foreign nations to make sure the wealthiest in this country can keep their gardeners and pool boys without liquidating a few stocks.

And if that angers you - the fact that I speak out when Obama does something I clearly believe is WRONG - then I refer you to the following quote by one of our GREATEST presidents EVER:

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."- Teddy Roosevelt

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National Candlelight Vigil for 99ers, December 20th

A National Candlelight Vigil for 99ers will be held at City Halls across America at between 6-7PM, December 20, 2010.

Please join local 99ers and supporters for this first national 99er event:

ONE FLAME LIGHTS THE WAY...

99ers and their supporters will join together at your local City Hall to remember the forgotten, respect the suffering and rejuvenate our souls by coming together as Americans. Bring your candle and stand with your neighbors and other 99ers. Many are suffering today, not just 99ers. Many need to see a light at the end of this dark tunnel. Many need to feel hope. Connect with 99ers and supporters in your area and show There IS Hope, There Is Light. One Flame Lights the Way. Please RSVP today.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dFdqZGpUaVdUMmlHM1lScFNyWW5MMmc6MQ

There is also a Facebook Event page for this event:

LET THE FLAME LIGHT THE WAY facebook event

Please RSVP and get out there to let America know what is happening to millions of 99ers and their families. Let the 99er Nation know they have your support and this fight to survive is not over by a long shot! www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=154561994589952

AND PLEASE do NOT forget to invite your local MEDIA!!!!

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TRON Movie Review At The Grand Lake Theater in Oakland, CA.

The first review of TRON from this space was more about its similarities with 2001 A Space Odyssey, and called Tron Legacy: 2010: A Digital Odyssey, and why it was disturbing to this blogger.  

But this is to explain that TRON is a good movie, not a great one, but good, and that you should see it at The Grand Lake Theater in Oakland, CA.

The Grand Lake Theater, at Grand Avenue and Lake Park Ave near Oakland's Lake Merritt, has existed since 1926 and features an enormous main viewing room that represents the best of the old theaters.

The friends I saw it with thought TRON was outstanding and, as the video shows, would definitely see it again. However, the 3D element was disappointing. Again, converting a 2D movie to 3D is something that should be done with care and consideration. It had to add something to the film experience.

The TRON 3D effects don't add much to the film. I was constantly moving my 3D glasses up and off and back over my eyes again to tell the difference; it was negligible.

TRON could have done just as well without the 3D element. Unfortunately, because of the box office success of Avatar and new televisions and broadcasting systems, we're going to see more, not less of movies with poor 3D effects, like TRON.

UNEMPLOYMENT NEWS: A 99er Christmas Reality Check - NO Hyperbole

With all the misconceptions today on the unemployment news, this is a 99er reality check. No frills, no whining and most of all no hyperbole - I leave that to Washington.

Today The Obama “Bend Over” became law, making it an official eternal and undeniable truth that our President and the majority of Congress care more about Rich Americans - even the Dead ones - than they do about hurting, living but soon to be dead impoverished Americans. Basically the Unemployed got scrooged!!!!

More about this terrible tax extension bill in tomorrow's blog articles, but today I wanted to convey this travesty from one 99ers' perspective - My own!

You see, I happen to be one of the very luckiest of the long term unemployed. I have a great family who has helped me survive this wilderness. Unfortunately their coffers have greatly dwindled because my need has been so great -- especially this year when my UI ended in March. I have made it a full time job for the past 2 years plus looking to land a job (good or otherwise) and at the same time dedicate an additional 55 hours per week to advocating for the 99ers.

I cannot afford a nice Christmas dinner or even a tree for this the 3rd Christmas in a row - but I am most fortunate to still be here at all - after brain surgery, being run over by a drunk truck driver and a host of other maladies in the recent years. God must certainly have a plan for me and I am content to abide in an attitude of profound gratitude.

You see I refuse to allow 536 jerks in Washington DC to dictate my happiness. God keeps me going even when things look their darkest. The method (My sister, benefactor, UI benefits) are all just the conduit through which the good Lord provides me sustenance, sort of like Manna from Heaven in the good book.

Still I do long for the days when I could buy just the right little something nice for all the people in my life. I often fantasize about winning the lotto and just how many people I could bless with that money. I remember when my Holiday decorations were the talk of the block in my neighborhood and I could give a $10 bill in a small bible to every homeless person I met with a sign on the streets that said "Please Help!"

99er Reality Check 2010

This is the extent of my christmas decorations this year and last year as well:



It may not be elaborate but with this and a manger scene, I manage to remind myself daily the joy and true meaning of this season.

My family all live very far away but we are close despite the miles that separate us geographically. They understand that family, kindness to all, a good heart and a great sense of humor are the keys to a life of victory - no matter your humble (even dire) circumstances.

The joy of this season will NOT be spoiled by the fact My government is populated by heartless cretins and complete, mindless idiots like Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) who went on Fox News this week with host Greta Van Susteren and falsely claimed Jobless Benefits Last ‘Well Over 100 Weeks’ - with the passage of the tax bill extension for the rich.

My rebuttal to Hatch and morons like him is put to rhyme in the video below.

Yes I am blessed, as earlier this month it looked as though I was losing what little I had left, when out of the blue a benefactor came forward to actually pay me a modest stipend over the next 6 months to keep fighting for the 99ers. GOD bless you!!!

Now, FINALLY for the first time in nearly a year -- not every waking moment of my life is filled with the terror of wondering how I am going to survive yet another month of futile job search. (and I will not be bleeding my relatives dry anymore either -UGH the guilt!) That guilt is now turned into relief and fortitude to continue to fight for those not as fortunate as I am now.

One of those I am desperately trying to find help for is a 99er named Debbie S. who was recently featured on CNN Money Reports, who will be homeless again before Christmas. Any donations that are made to my website Jobless Unite will go directly to help this NYC woman.

Yes I am just 1 poor 99er myself, but I am willing to help in any way I can. It is in being a blessing to our neighbors in need that we make our world a better place. A concept much too complicated for Congress and even our President too understand and fully grasp -- it would seem.

So here is the 99ers Christmas video. It really says it all and in rhyme!! Enjoy!



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