romarino:

For your final post of the semester, I’d like you to discuss whether you believe there should be a professional degree for a journalist, much like there is for an attorney or doctor.

Now, anyone can call himself or herself a journalist. There is no license needed and the only formal training…

I definitely believe that journalist  should have to obtain a  professional degree. I feel that any one in a particular field should have formal training and certification.

Journalists are a very important part of society because they transmit information that is not easily assessable to everyone. Journalists should be trained adequately on properly reporting news and also using ethics.

Any journalist who does not have this certification or degree should not be allowed to practice. Furthermore, any journalist who abuses does not report news ethically should have their certification voided.

romarino:

For your post this week, I’d like you to read the Alligator story I previously posted. The story deals with an episode on UF’s campus in which copies of the Alligator student newspaper were thrown away during a political campaign.

Whose side would you take in this incident — the Alligator’s or…

After reading the article, I would have to say that I did not learn much about the actual incident. I am aware that someone threw away a substantial amount of free Alligator newspapers but I am not sure why, except that there was an article he did not like within the newspaper.

With that being said, I would side with the Alligator. Although the newspapers are free, I do not believe that the gentlemen had the right to throw any of them away (especially that amount).

I believe that the Alligator should be able to take action against the perpetrator. Maybe not legal action but some form of punishment from the school’s council should be administered.

romarino:

For this week’s post, I’d like you to list your 3 favorite ads (they can be from television, newspaper or magazine) and your least favorite ad and why you chose each one.

What makes the three ads stand out most? Did they inspire you to purchase the product?

Similarly, why do you find the least favorite ad so annoying? What would you change about the least favorite ad to make it more bearable to watch/listen?

Target’s “Santa has elves and Target” commercial is my favorite ad. The ad shows Santa running towards something in a big rush. Once the camera spans out we realize that Santa is running to Target to get last minute Christmas gifts. The ad ends with “Santa has elves and Target”. 

Another television ad I enjoy is one from Heineken. The commercial starts by following a woman around that is showing her friends her new apartment/home. They arrive at the woman’s closet and once they see her beautiful shoes, clothing, etc they began to scream with joy until they hear even louder screams coming from another room. They find their husbands having the same reaction to a closet full of beer.

Last but not least is the Audi vampire party commercial ad. A guy vampire pulls up to what looks like a barn fire party and goes to get something from his passenger seat. Simultaneously the headlights on his brand new car are killing his vampire friends at the party. By the time he gets out the car there is nothing left but a smoking pair of pants and a burnt red high heel.

Neither of the ads influenced me to buy anything but they did allow me to remember the product name or distributor of the product. The three ads stood out because of the level of humor associated with them.

My least favorite ads are any of the J.G. Wentworth commercials. The slogan “Its my money, and I need it now”, makes me sick every time I hear it. The repetition of this slogan and the opera singing are horrible. I don’t believe there is anything that I could do to make this commercial bearable.

romarino:

This week’s reading in the Rodman text deals with public relations, so I’d like you you to respond to the following questions regarding BP’s public relations image since the Gulf oil spill almost two years ago:

1) Has BP done enough to repair its image? If so, what are some of the ways it has gotten the public to think of it in more favorable terms? Is public relations useful? How did it help or hurt BP? Would you vacation on the Gulf coast?

I believe that BP has done well over enough to repair its image. Months after I had forgotten about the spill, Bp still managed to have t.v. adds about South Florida and the beautiful beaches. Bp used many commercials with locals to shed a positive light on their business in terms of the oil spill. They also relied upon government officials and celebrities.

Public relations is very useful because it has a control over all the activities that maintains a beneficial relationship between an organization and its various publics. In this case it helped Bp tremendously. As I stated before I had some-what already forgotten about the oil spill and the fact that it was Bp’s fault, when there were several commercials still airing.

I have no problem vacationing on the Gulf coast. I know that it has been cleaned and looks as good as new.

romarino:

This week’s assigned reading (Chapter 11: Evolving Journalism) deals with the merging of print, TV, radio and the Internet and how those mediums cover breaking news events.

For your topic, discuss where you were on 9/11. Tell me about your day on that day. Tell me about how you reacted that day…

Thinking back to September 11th 2001, I believe that I was in my sixth grade English class. There was an intercom announcement advising the teachers to turn on their televisions for an important world event.

My class was dead silent while we watched the news in shock. I remember understanding what was happening but I didn’t believe it at first. I never thought that anyone would kill/hurt anyone intentionally like that.

The reality set in when I got home and saw how upset my mother was. My neighbor was celebrating her birthday as well, and I remember her saying that she didn’t even want to think about being another day older at that time.

Once I realized the severity of the situation I became afraid and paranoid. I thought that whoever hurt those people wanted to hurt everyone. Since that day I have been praying and staying positive because life is short and unpredictable.

romarino:

For this week’s post, I’d like you to tell me about how much time you spend on the Internet in a week.

What do you fund most useful about the Internet? Which search engine do you use the most? What are your favorite websites?

And do you believe the IPhone or IPad will someday replace laptops or…

I probably spend about 5-7 hours a week on the Internet. I take all of my courses online and therefore I am constantly checking for emails from teachers and assignments to be posted.

I typically use yahoo search engine, but in cases where I am not getting the results that I want I will use google instead. I love that the Internet is a sort of one-stop shop for me, I can communicate, research and shop etc. without leaving my home.

My favorite websites are craigslist.com and ocala-4-sale.com. I love these sites because its like going to a yard sale online.

In my opinion I do not think that the ipad will replace laptops because they are too compact.

romarino:

Hello everyone:

For your post this week, I’d like you to list your three favorite television shows (they can be from any era, current or in the past) and why you like each of the three shows.

Also, do you feel fewer people are watching television? If so, why?

I am not big on watching television, however, because of the recent trend in reality shows I have become an avid viewer of Chopped, Housewives of Atlanta, and Braxton Family Values.

Chopped is a drama free reality about four chefs competing for 10,000 dollars. I enjoy watching it because it is fast paced and spontaneous.

On the contrary, Housewives is completely full of superficial drama. The show really doesn’t have a moral or reasoning to watch other than watching idiots fight and flaunt their money.

Braxton family values is interesting to me because it lets me know that no matter how much money you have, you are destined to have trials and tribulations just like everyone else. Toni Braxton and her family struggle to make names for themselves while also staying true to one another.

I am not sure if fewer people are watching television. The economy has left many people without jobs and therefore left them with alot of time to watch television. However, with a lack of income, paying for cable has become difficult.

romarino:

Hello everyone:

For this week’s post, I’d like you to respond to this topic:

1) How often do you listen to the radio and which times of the day are you most likely to be listening? Which stations are your favorites and why? Do you believe fewer people listen to the radio? If so, why? How can radio stations increase their audience?

I typically only listen listen to the radio when I am in the car, which is everyday. I am most likely listening to the radio at 3:00 p.m. Michael Baisden comes on Mon-Fri from 3:00-7:00.

My car sterio is set with 102 jamz as #1, 94.5 as #2, and 93.7 as #3.

I do not believe that less people are listening to the radio. I think that those who always listened to the radio are loyal listeners.

Although, radio morning shows like The Steve Harvey morning show, that just disappeared off of the air without any explanation loss many viewers for certain stations.

Radio stations can increase their audience by being just as loyal to their listeners as their listeners are to them.

romarino:

For your post for this week (Feb. 13-19), I’d like you to respond to this topic:

The chapter has a short section (pgs. 192-193) on music downloading. I’d like you to offer solutions on ways to prevent illegal downloading of music. Do you know someone has ever downloaded music illegally? If so, how did they do it?

Offer a solution to this problem that would be fair to the music industry and those who like to download music.

I know dozens of people who have downloaded music illegally, including myself. I have used programs such as Limewire and Napster to download illegal music.

In my opinion the only way to stop people from downloading music illegally is to get rid of any sources available to do so. If there are ways of obtaining the music without paying for it than people will take advantage of the method.

A prime example is the sell of illegal drugs. Drug dealers are responsible for the distribution of illegal drugs and are held accountable for their actions. The same should be done to illegal distributors of media.

I do not feel that companies should be going after citizens when the real problem comes from the creators or distributors of the sites such as Limewire.

romarino:

MMC 1000 students:

For your post this week, I’d like you to list me your three favorite magazines, why they are your favorites and how often you read each. I’d also like you to offer a short critique on each magazine on how it could increase its readership.

Mr. Marino

To begin I am not a big magazine reader. Therefore the only magazines I read are the ones available in the grocery store at check-out. Nonetheless, I would have to say that Us, Better Homes and Gardens, and Cosmopolitan are the most interesting.

I enjoy Us weekly because it is full of gossip and little facts about Hollywood, with a bit of fashion as well. Better Homes and Gardens contain wonderful and simple recipes that I enjoy looking over. Lastly, Cosmo is full of fashion tips and advice that I like to browse through.

I believe that these magazines could increase their readership by sending magazine samples through the mail. I receive tons of magazines trying to obtain a subscription from me and I have never received one from either of these magazines.