Sam Online

Who is Eason Jordan?

2008-04-25T13:56:00.008+01:00

Eason Jordan is a former Chief News Executive for CNN. Yet he resigned in 2005 after 23 years in a effort to silence the bubbling controversy over his remarks about the U.S soldiers killing journalists in Iraq.

In a closed conference Jordan said that he knew that U.S troops deliberately had been killing journalists during the war in Iraq. Yet a blogger in the audience posted what Jordan said, from this more and more bloggers got on to this story. This lead to big media attention, so then Jordan resigned saying he wanted to prevent CNN from being unfairly tarnished.

Natalie Theo's Fashion Blog

2008-04-21T19:04:00.008+01:00

Natalie Theo has been the Daily Mail's Fashion Editor for the past four years. Natalie started her blog when she found the newspaper didn't give her enough space to inform us all of all the fashion tips and stories she had to give. I like this blog as it written so well, it's witty, full of fashion as well as clips of Natalie's fabulous lifestyle.

I decided to comment on this blog, not only as i like it, but it is similar style to the blog we wanted to achieve in our last group blog assessment. The post i decided to comment on was a post about recycling plastic bags.

The Joy of Working at Starbucks

2008-04-18T14:28:00.004+01:00

The Joy of Working at Starbucks is a workplace blog. A form of personal journalism.

Is it Journalism?

No, although it is a good read and a bit funny at times, I don't think this is journalism. This is just a blog from someone moaning about their job, just letting off steam.

This could be turned around into Journalism though, such as high prices and the massive profits Starbucks make.

Rhys Jones News

2008-04-17T23:25:00.003+01:00

Today the parents of Rhys Jones, the young boy who was shot in Liverpool, were in court facing the teenager accused of his murder. On August 22nd last year, 11 year old Rhys was shot in the neck as he was walking home from football training. Rhys Mother broke down in tears in court, as the teenager was remained in custody.

The murder of Rhys Jones last summer had loads of media coverage, but now the case has gone to court it has been getting loads of coverage again. Using a Google search, Rhys Jones parents in court, there are hundreds and hundreds of results. The majority of stories were from English sites such as BBC and Sky News, and lots were from English newspaper websites. But after a few pages of searching there were another international news sites covering the story such as The New York Post, Trend News and Euronews24. Yet these news sites were not up to date. They mainly were from when the murder first took place. As it is such a UK based story, it has not been followed as much as in the UK. Here its front page news that Rhys parents face the boy accused of his murder but its not as interesting outside of the UK, until the verdicts, when international news will again report on the story.

When using Google News with the same search, the results weren't as good as a standard search. I think using the standard search and skimming through all the results worked better than using Google news.

Commercial Blogs

2008-02-22T14:03:00.006Z

The key players of the commercial world.

Denton - Jezebel

*What is the blog about?

The blog is a really tongue in cheek. It is gossipy news with a lot of it celebrity based. Celebrity, Sex, Fashion for Women. Without Airbrushing.

*Who is it aimed at and why would they read it?

I think the blog is aimed at young, professional women. Who want to know the gossip news.

*How often is it updated? When is it updated?

It is updated daily and very regular. In the last 24 hours their has been 45 posts! The blogs are posted during the day no later than 5pm. This could be to suit their audience. Professional women at work will view the blog during these times of the day.
It is also very update, for example Jennifer Lopez gave birth to twins early Friday morning and Jezebel posted this news by 9am Friday, just hours after the birth.

*What kind of things does it cover?

It covers gossip and celebrity news, sometimes in a negative light.
There is a whole section of celebrities that have been snapped, for example Dominic Monaghan at the airport.
It also has information on what is in the glossy women magazines such a Glamour and Marie Claire.
Its also covers some science stuff, for women such as pill information.

*What is the style/tone/attitude of the posts? Who writes them?

The blogs are written by a team of seven people. The tone can be negative but also can be informative.

*How does the blog use links? Multimedia? Audience participation?

In each post there are related links from some key words. The blog does use a lot of links, to either other websites or related information. The audience have a chance to comment on each of the blogs and the photos.

*What do you think of the design?

I like the design as its pretty easy to navigate and not too much. I like that each blog is categorised and you can either view all blogs or look at individual catalogues. The image at the top works, it features a womens face, half 'airbrushed' in colour, half in grey. It represents well Jezebel's idea of the gossip news without airbrushing, almost pokes fun at it.

*Do you think the blog makes money? If so how?

It may make money from advertsing, yet the blog doesn't have too much advertsing.

Brit Awards Complaints

2008-02-22T13:07:00.006Z

Ofcom have recieved complaints after Brit award presenters, Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, swore on stage. The awards were broadcast live on Wednesday night on ITV1 and now the show could be in some trouble.

But really, what did they expect?!?

Fur Comeback!

2008-02-21T17:46:00.006Z

Recently I have noticed that fur is coming back and in fact more designers are choosing to work with fur today than in the 80’s. So why has it now become acceptable again?

Five years ago celebrities would have been criticised for wearing fur but now it’s acceptable to wear animals once more. Are these ‘style icon’ celebrities encouraging young fashionista to follow this horrible trend?

Kate Moss is a famous fur wearer and after photos of her wearing the distinctive Fendi coat appeared everywhere, The Fendi shop in London sold out of its two famous ‘Kate Coats’ immediately.

I think people like Kate Moss do have a reasonability to set a good example. They know the influence they have, so why would they want to promote such a violent industry. Fur is vain and selfish and nowadays fake fur looks so good I just don’t see any need for it. I love animals and can’t imagine why people would want to promote the way they are violently killed, just for a jacket. I have a lovely black Labrador and seeing as cats and dogs can be skinned alive for their fur, I feel pretty strongly about it.

Paris Hilton is another famous fur wearing and the biggest hypocrite of all. Famously known for her love for a little cute dogs and animals yet wears there skins as coats.

But fashion changes fast and I’m sure soon it will be again become unacceptable, but let’s just hope it’s soon rather than later.

The Online Population

2008-02-01T15:26:00.000Z

Worldwide a massive 1.244 billion people are online and here in the UK 15 million households have internet access. This is a great increase from 10 years ago when only 2.2 million of the population used the internet.

Although the internet is often associated with young people only 29% of UK internet uses are under 25. More people are aged between 25 - 40.

The internet has now become a regular part of peoples lifes. Most people use the internet to find information about goods and services, checking e-mails and just general browsing. 30% of internet users want news information.

10 years ago the internet was hugely populated by a geeky males but this has changed. Now only a very small percentage more men use the internet than women.

BBC News Front Page

2007-11-19T16:00:00.000Z

BBC News Online is one of the most popular news websites in the UK, reaching over a quarter of the UK's internet users and with around 4 million global readers every month, Worldwide! So they must be doing something right.....The website contains UK and Worldwide news, as well as sport, entertainment, science and political news.

The front page consists of the main news story at the time, along with a picture, at the top of the page. Along side this you are provided with links to other top stories. Also on the front page are more top news stories, along with related images.

I think the layout of the BBC News page is very effective. It is clear and easy to understand. The navigation on the site is very simple, on the left hand side you have all the links you need to gain the news information you want, such as health, education and entertainment.

Many of the news reports also use multimedia and have audio and videos along side the stories from BBC television and radio stations. I think this works really well. Each separate news story is laid out the same, with the main introduction in bold, using short paragraphs. This is good as it makes the stories easier to read from a computer. By having audio and videos it also makes the site more appealing and will encourage you to use this site for news.

Review of I am Fashion

2007-11-15T16:03:00.000Z

I am Fashion claims to be a blog for young people, just to simply let you know what’s in fashion. A site for normal people by normal people, apparently, and the normal people writing these fashion blogs go by the names Barneys Girl and Harrods Girl. Although the girls claim the fashion blog features information from the UK and US, the wording just seems very American too me.

Reading these blogs for the first time I don’t see how I am Fashion really is what it claims to be. The latest blog (as of Mon. 5th Nov.) on Ankle boots tells us just how fashionable these boots are, then gives us examples of where to buy them; Prada, Gucci, Miu Miu. I don’t think any off these boots will have a price tags under £200, therefore I don’t see how this is really fashion for ‘normal’ people. Me and my (so I believed) normal friends are happy to spend money and follow fashion in High Street shops such as Topshop and H&M. But also in my home town, and I’m sure many people will relate, I’m not fortunate enough to have Prada and Gucci shops on my High Street.

Don’t get me wrong I do think I am Fashion is a good fashion site, I just think their definition of ‘normal people’ isn’t the same as mine. Normal to me is dreaming of a being able to spend a grand on the latest Chloe bag, but will happily settle for a similar design in River Island. Whereas I am Fashion is all about brand names and I don’t think to be fashionable you have to wear brand names. Fashion used to mean expensive but now with the rise of shops like Primark and online shop ASOS, us mere mortals can now follow fashion just as well as the rich kids. As we all know to pull of a bargain requires class and a lot more style.

My Birthday

2007-11-05T14:34:00.000Z

hello....this is a test post!

I thought i should let you know today is my birthday! Yes I share my big day with the celebration that Guy Fawks didn't blow up the Houses of Parliament, all the fireworks though make me feel pretty special.

I'm now 20 which means i'm getting old and no longer a teenager! Although I have managed to convince myself i'm not twenty but twenteen!

So what does turning 20 mean? I'm no longer a teenager so I have no excuses for my 'teenage' strops or getting stupidly drunk as i'm young and don't know my limits. Good Times.