Watching the Watchdog

I think the first time I ever read a copy of The Onion was during a family trip to Chicago when I was about 14 years old. I immediately loved it for what it was. The concept of a fake newspaper, written in the exact same format as a real newspaper-with headlines, photos, captions and all-seemed genius to me. These people clearly read newspapers, and some perhaps have even written for newspapers, which makes them really good-I have to admit-at making fun of newspapers.
The fake news organization has also transitioned quite well into the web-era with a fantastic website. The video content is particularly hilarious, like this one about the Franz Kafka Airport in Prague (definitely check this out if you've ever had to read The Trial.
It's likely that the A.V. club and The Onion were the first to publish fake-news (according to Wikipedia, The Onion was founded in 1988). Since then it seems that the business has only grown. While being really hilarious, I think sometimes fake-news serves a higher purpose as well. At times I think it keeps real journalists in check, by making them realize when they get to carried away. Steven Colbert has his own show that, many would argue, parodies far leaning right wing figures like Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh. Jon Stewart of The Daily Show recently reamed Mad Money host Jim Cramer for irresponsible reporting on he and his network's part (check out video here). The Onion itself, by parodying the standard form of newspaper journalism, allows journailists to see where certain pitfalls exist and become aware of them.
Overall I think at its best moments, fake news watches "the watchdog".

Piracy Q and A

While doing research for my paper I came across this article on bbc.com and think it's an excellent example of when ASF's work well. The story is laid out with a quick brief about the Somali Pirate issue at the top followed by a series of Q and A grafs. For an issue like this one, I think a Q and A is the perfect way to inform the reader.
When I personally heard about the surge in piracy off the Horn of Africa I was quite confused. Prior to this, I associated the word "piracy" with two things: illegal music downloads and men with peg legs. Somali pirates are obviously neither of these things. They are sophisticated, fast-moving hi-jackers capable of taking over sea-faring vessels exponentially larger than the boats they travel on. They use small boats with high-powered outboard motors and heavy weaponry, namely AK-47's, to get the job done.
But I wouldn't have known this if not for a simple Q and A article like the one I linked to above. Q and A articles are excellent for reporting on issues like this that are foreign to the average person. Questions like "Why can't they be stopped?" and "How do they hi-jack ships?" are very simple but I'm sure a surprising number of people don't know the answere. A straight news article wouldn't be able to answere these questions so directly, and so in this case an ASF works quite well.

Bono in NY Times

As some of you have probably heard, U2 front man Bono has slipped his influential voice into our news media, as an occasional columnist for the New York Times. His first column appeared in the times on Jan. 9th, and is filled with as much flowery language and fragmented structure as you'd expect from the lead singer of a world-class emotionally-charged rock group.

An excerpt reads: "Interesting mood. The new Irish money has been gambled and lost; the Celtic Tiger’s tail is between its legs as builders and bankers laugh uneasy and hard at the last year, and swallow uneasy and hard at the new. There’s a voice on the speakers that wakes everyone out of the moment: it’s Frank Sinatra singing “My Way.” His ode to defiance is four decades old this year and everyone sings along for a lifetime of reasons. I am struck by the one quality his voice lacks: Sentimentality."

What I don't like about this: One of the most prestigious papers in the world has become a platform for Bono to spout out stream-of-consciousness wish-wash for apparently no other reason than the fact that the man has won 22 grammys (yes, 22).

What I kind of like about this: It's a pretty great idea on the Times's part. People are without a doubt going to read a column by Bono, or at least they'll get a few sentences in before they are lost in a convolution of over-the-top language. Either way, they're going to look at it. It's smart and a means of perhaps reaching out to more readers.

Immokalee, FL

Stray chickens wandered up and down the hot streets as a CIW (Coalition of Immokalee Workers) employee named Romeo toured us through Immokalee's neighborhoods on Monday afternoon. A typical laborer neighborhood is not much of a "neighborhood" at all. As many trailer homes as possible, most of which are quite rundown, are fit onto the lots. Laborers are stuffed 12 to a home, and yet somehow still are charged up to $400 a week for rent. Right now the lots are empty-all the workers are at the fields. The owners of the lots, or "slumlords" as they were referred to by some, are able to gouge rent prices, seemingly unacountable to no one. The laborers are pinched by their work bosses and by their landlords. It seems everyone wants to get a piece of the lucrative business that is exploiting these men and their families. "This is not America," said Romeo.
What surprised me a great deal about the people of Immokalee was their friendliness toward us. Here are six college students, raised in upper-middle-class midwestern families, who know nothing of poverty and oppression. Our lives have been filled with so much more opportunity and prosperity than theirs, and yet they never seemed to resent us for it in the least. They knew what we were there for-they knew we wanted to learn how to help.
Most of the men we met still had their pride. Yes, some of them had spent their entire lives working the fields with nothing to show for it, but they were still able to smile and joke with us. Many refused to let us do their chores for them at the homeless shelter, wishing to maintain a sense of dignity.
It was encouraging to see that there was indeed help available for these men. The homeless shelter (pictured above) in particular didn't seem to turn away anyone, and was a place for burnt out laborers to get back on their feet. The CIW as well has done a great deal for the people of Immokalee. They organized a succesful boycot of Taco Bell in 2005, which led to future purchasing of fair priced tomatoes by the fast-food chain. Similar boycotts were organized in the following years for Burger Kind and McDonald's, and were also succesful. Each was a major victory for human rights.