food and art

I think Joe's cheapeats4u.com is the project that has the most potential. Let's be honest everyone needs to eat, especially for college students. Right now at Ithaca College there are almost half of the students that live off campus that do not eat in the dining hall. Students are yearning for ways to eat that are sustainable and affordable. The name itself will get a lot of traffics from the targeted audiences. Right now there are not many resources out there that help students to make better dining decision. If Joe focus heavily on the content I think this website would really work very well.

I also like Jamie’s revolutionarty.com. First, the name itself is very cool. Her collection of art is not only aesthetically appealing but also with a cause. Another reason I think this plan would work is that it connects people from across many different disciplines. Her audiences could be people who are passionate about human rights and social injustice; they could also be people who simply care about arts and aesthetic appreciation. Jamie’s project connects these two genres together and is very educational once people start making the connections. 

Jon Stewart is fake news? What is CNN then?

The Jon Stewart show on April 17th identified the self-contradicting feature of CNN's coverage on the Boston Massacre. Here is the gist of it,

At 1:46, John King, the reporter for CNN claimed that a "dark skin male identified and captured".
At 2:44, King said no arrest has been made, anyone who said arrest in ahead of themselves.

But, wait a minute, isn't that you?

So, CNN spent the entire afternoon going back and forth, spent hours of programming fighting themselves and the suspect went from "definitely caught, headed to federal court" to "never existed". I don't want to believe it but Jon Stewart has the clip of real CNN footages. If we are talking about soap opera, we expect senseless repetition because that's the nature of it. But CNN? the Cable News Network? the coverage of Boston Marathon Massacre? One really doesn't expect the content of such quality. The self-branded fake news Jon Stewart has a much more acute sense of assessing information than the CNN reporter who rushed to a conclusion and then made a fool out of himself.

I was very disheartened and confused: what happen to U.S. media and why is CNN spent hours and hours of news coverage telling literally nothing? No wonder American people are disappointed in the mainstream media and Independent media is on the inevitable rise, because mainstream media are not doing their jobs properly. On the same day when I looked at Democracy Now's coverage, it is much more accurate and concise.

CNN is truly disappointing yet I still see hope: people like with great eyes like Jon Stewart and people who really care about delivering accurate news and inform the public like Amy Goodman. U.S. information/communication industry will retain its prime position because of the hard work of these people.

Yahoo! to cease email services in China

So very recently Yahoo! announced that it will shut down its mail service in China schedules to start on April 18th and be completed by Aug 19th. There are speculations that Yahoo!'s market value in China has been shrinking significantly because they have leaked user information to the Chinese government. Alibaba, an e-commerce company that runs Yahoo China decided to terminate Yahoo mail service but keep the news and search engine part of the web site.

It is believed that Yahoo China's shrinking popularity caused its unprofitability, in the capitalistic society of China, Alibaba decides to place profitability above users' interests. Yahoo China has urged its users to export their important emails to AliCloud, which is a less prominent mail service ran by Alibaba. This change will cause Yahoo mail users tremendous inconvenience: they will be forced to switch to a less pronounced mail service provider and they have to use a new email account. My mum has been using a Yahoo account for years and that is also the email address she printed on her business cards. Now she will have to make a whole new bunch of business cards. My mum is just one of the hundreds or thousands of users being affected, the exact number has yet to be confirmed.

Very well Yahoo!, first you leaked all the confidential informations to Chinese government and saying that "The company said it was legally obliged to divulge information about its users to the Chinese government but that it was unaware it would be used to convict dissidents. " I am just wondering what does Yahoo! mean here by "legally obliged", according to whose law and what else does Yahoo! think the Chinese government is going to use these information for? and now there is this, Yahoo! is generously dismantling its image in China and wasting away its capitals. I hope other companies that have a vast interest in China will not repeat the same mistake.

state media propaganda, the case of PBS and Xinwen Lianbo

It’s disheartening to see PBS news hour is continuing its lack of balance, diversity and public opinions because they are forced to slip into total commercialization. What really stood out to me was

“scanning the PBS schedule one finds weasels eating snakes, British people talking, Beltyway pundits barking, and a surfeit of how to shows”

instead of

“teach Americans how to dissect propaganda, evaluate policies, share their opinions with each other, and defend the public interest.”

That article was written in 2006, it’s hard to image what PBS has become of right now, but since I don’t live in America, there is no way for me to speak about the changes in PBS from a personal point of view. I can however talk about my own personal experience with the public broadcasting that’s taking place in China. It’s the same kind of propaganda that can be seen on a prime time 30-minutes news program that runs daily on CCTV, Xinwen Lianbo: nothing ever goes wrong in China, but there is always warfare and political turbulence in foreign countries, especially America. There is an interesting saying from Chinese netizen that "I wish I could live in Xinwen Lianbo". 

So what exactly is the difference between U.S media and Chinese media? Not that obvious to me. This tool of propaganda is powerful, people who are uninformed or who do not have a habit of digging through news will believe whatever that's been fed to them. 

We need that trust funds. 

Does my business plan work?

After reading the checklist of a journalism start-up by Adam Westbrook, I decided to put my business model into these questions and see if they work, and what I get based on my assessment doesn't seem to be working that well. Here we go and we'll see why.

1, Is it a new idea?

I wouldn't say it is completely new, drudge report is about doing the similar thing. Except my idea will bring in different articles by different major newspaper across the globe on one single issue. I would say it should qualifies as a new idea.

2, Does it have a defined target audience?

Yes. People who does not have too much faith in what the U.S. mainstream media and wants to hear different perspectives. But I think this might just be the problem, those people probably know where to find the news source they want and I wonder if they will need my help.

3, Does it provide niche (hyperlocal) content?

Probably not. Again my idea will not be limited to audiences in certain areas but rather an interest group. So I would say my idea does provide a specific content.

4, Does it satisfy a desire that is not being fulfilled by someone else?

Again if people want unique contents with different perspectives, their interests would be the main motivator for them to find those different perspectives. But if I do a good job with what news to select and how different newspaper report these news from different angles, I would have some followers who are tired of digging through different websites by themselves.

5, or does it do something better (faster, cheaper, more effectively) than someone else?

no competitor has been found yet. So... I would assume mine is going to be a trendsetter.

6, Does it actually have income potential, or it will rely on funding?

Asking for donations from my readers wouldn't be impossible, but the operational cost for this website wouldn't be too daunting, from my opinion. Starting this project could be a one person operation, because there are only number of certain news of the magnitude that's I want to find different articles on. The domain name for a website with low traffic wouldn't cost too much. (as Jacobson has mentioned) and that would probably be the only area that requires funding, assuming I still have a day time job. As traffic goes up and my readership has accumulated, I can start accepting advertisement offers.

7, Does it use the power of crowd-sourcing/community?

ermmmm... never thought about this. I guess I can have my readers gather different versions of the same stories and post them on my website, and also comment about how they feel after reading all these different versions of news story.

8, Would it be fulfilling for journalists to work for?

ermmmm... No...

9, Does it publish/exist on more than one platform?

I think it has to exist on the internet, because all these different reports will come from internet sources.

10, If it has content, is it sharable?

It is definitely sharable as I would allow my readers to form opinions of their own, and they can share these opinions as freely as they want.

11, Does it require a lot of money to run?

As I've mentioned earlier, it doesn't according to that model. But if copyright and hype-linking is an issue, then I probably need to abort this plan because I wouldn't be able to afford that kind of money.

12, Does it have boot-strapping potential? 

This is a bootstrapping business from top to bottom.

13, Does it scale?

It definitely has the potential of getting big if my sourcing quality is good and people have genuine interests in diversity in news.

14, Does it fulfill a public service?

Yes. My mission is to inspire people to get information from as many different outlets as possible therefore eliminate the possibility of getting biased version of stories.

15, Is it a legally sound idea? What about copyright?

This is what I'll have to figure out. If this hype-linking will constitute violations then I better adopt a different ideas before all those multimillion news company decide to sue my butt off.

16, Would it appeal to venture capitalists, angel investors?

I wouldn't say so because my idea does not protect or even maintain corporal interests, is breaking up the chain of monopoly. This wouldn't be very appealing.

17, and...Does it have a cool name?

worldaccordingtousandthem.com? not cool enough, but I am working on something better.

Does state-controlled source of information create stability?

I came across a very insightful post while researching for independent media in China. It asks a really good question: does controlled source of information create stability (as the government put it) or instability?

This post argues when people don't believe in the information that comes from the government, any rumors could have easily gone viral because people have more trust for these rumors than the mainstream media. Most of the times these rumors are not true and it becomes very difficult for the government to do damage control.

I have never really thought about the importance of independent media in this context, which is their roles in maintaining social order and stability. I doubt same thing is happening in the U.S, but when people's faith in mainstream media has really dropped to a certain point, society is definitely more susceptible to social unrest and turmoil.

Independent media does more than reporting the news.

censorship, it affects you and me...

Reading the articles assigned for today stirred up turmoil inside of me. Censorship in China was nothing new to me since I have gotten so used to it. But censorship in America? Seriously? What about democracy? What about freedom of speech? What about all those nice things that America so proudly labeled itself as?

My bubbles about the infallibility of this great nation have constantly been punctured. America also has censorship. Big corporate medias in America collaborate with the government and the elite to produce news that are of little or even no values, as the independent medias are suffering from governmental oppression and the lack of understanding in the public domain. This is neither a healthy nor a sustainable model. People should not be fed lies.

I cannot believe journalist Matthew Lee’s “Inner City Press” was once “unsearchable” on Google and both Google and UN blatantly denied their involvement in this shutdown, using lies to cover lies.

Just on a side note, I have to say his web site is really sketchy and I have difficulties appreciating the values of his blog.

Google and Yahoo! Collaboration with Chinese government is no news to me. I was really disappointed to see large companies like them compromised their ethics to the unreasonable demands of Chinese government. But then again I shouldn’t be surprised, ethics and the greater good is already pretty far down the priority list in the realm of business. I heard from somewhere that it is American company that helped Chinese government to shut down facebook in China. It would be interesting to figure out which company it is.

I usually think to myself: even though medias in America are very problematic, they still enjoy freedom of speech to a certain extent; maverick journalists or independent filmmakers are still relatively free to voice different opinions and have themselves heard. Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 was allowed in cinema and sold massively; Outfox by Robert Greenwald also had great reception in American public. Sometimes I wonder if Americans are being overtly skeptical and cynical about the current state. But after reading all these, I realized the skepticism and the criticism are all very important. Who is it to say that America will not one day become a heavily censored country like China? It is in every government’s interest to have less trouble and exercise more control over the political narrative, censorship, in this case, is a great way to exert such power. If Americans do not fight for their freedom of speech, if Americans think these censorships are only transient therefore should not be paid close attention to, America could be the next en route to becoming the next totalitarian state. Look at the power that U.S. government possesses, and how effectively it has demonstrated this power all over the world. American people cannot be too comfortable with this discounted freedom and fight for its full extent. 

Voice of Revolution, voices of Visionaries

         Reading the first three chapters of “Voices of Revolution” sort of brought me to a dark place. I can never understand the ridicule of calling a respectable newspaper editor “bald head, miserable forehead, and comical spectacles” and calling Black Americans “thick-lipped, pig-faced, woolly-headed, baboon-looking negroes” by the mainstream the New York Herald. This happened in America, the land of freedom, where people are supposed to be free and treated with equality. And people at the time thought these crazy journalists were on the wrong side of history. It busted my bubbles of my imaginarily ideal American society.

         

         But on the other hand, I am glad. I am glad that there were still people, visionaries like William Heighton, William Llyod Garrison, Elizabeth Stanton and Susan Anthony, who saw the injustice that was so prevailing and felt they needed to do something. Their lives probably wouldn’t be any different if they did not choose to go down this path, perhaps they would be better off. Stanton was having a rewarding marriage and was financially well off, why on earth would she published this fanatic newspapers and got herself into so much trouble.

         I think that is precisely what the society is lacking nowadays. Less and less people are being kept up at night for what they see in their daily lives. As the book so cleverly points out: “If asked to identify the three most impenetrable issues facing American people today, many observers of contemporary society would still automatically list race, gender and class.” These problems still persist, and people choose to be oblivious about it.

         Actually I noticed something really interesting. I was talking to my friend, and his girlfriend was also there. It suddenly strike me that how quiet she becomes when a bunch of guys are talking, and her almost non-existing presence made me realized male is still has the dominant role in our society and some of the issues we read in the book are not that far away from us. The degree of extremities may vary, but fundamentally they are the same fun therefore they need to be addressed.

         I don’t want to spend too much words talking about how great these journalists are because that is the undebatable truth and they all had their shortcomings with no exception. I think a little bit of self-reflection could be more conducive. After reading these chapters, I decided to challenge myself to be more attentive to small little things around me. No grave crime against humanity is being committed on Ithaca College campus, but there are still things that people need to pay attention to. And I want to capture these small petty things, as people may call them. Hopefully I can write about these things and that would serve a purpose.

         One thing I really have problem with media nowadays, and something I want to avoid is reporting without compassion. All of the dissident visionaries reported with compassion and they really care about social justice. There would be no any other explanation for the work they have done. In the Hester Vaughan case, Stanton even went so far as to appeal to the governor to pardon her death penalty. That is something I see that’s lacking in the media nowadays, we talk about objectivity and neutrality everyday, but sometimes we lose sight of the social justice and humanity aspect as the reason why media exist. As long as one is not deliberately writing a story with the agenda with manipulating people’s emotion and twisting the fact, it is okay to report with compassion. But I still don’t see that as something that will happen easily in mainstream media, but very possible in independent media.

         Considering how easy disseminations of information are, our generation really has no excuse not to write more. We don’t have to have a huge subscriptions base to keep our writing going (at least for now,) all we need to do is to write, and hopefully someone will read it and be informed.

         These readings, as the semester progresses, are constantly challenging my stereotype and traditional understanding of the media. These readings have also help me forming a clearer and clearer picture of what a true media person should do. Sometimes I think this course is what helps us shape our own journalism ethics.

          

Harvest of Empire, very very long...

Tonight was time well spent, a 90 minutes film/documentary, "Harvest of Empire" that systematically unravel all my doubts and questions about illegal immigration here in America. On the other hand, it brings more questions and doubts I have about this nation, the United States of America.

My initial reactions towards illegal immigrants are somewhat similar to the ignorant TV commentators: "They came with criminality; they came here to steal American jobs." Not to such an extreme, but along the same line. I thought to myself: my parents spent $200,000 in total to get me a 4-year American College education, and there is no guarantee that I would be able to stay in the country legally after I graduated, if I don't get a job I will be rushed out of the country like a dog, even though I will by then hold a college degree and is decently knowledgable. At the same time all these South Americans who illegally entered the country, without a lot of education, are getting jobs and feeding their kids. I felt discriminated, I really did.

I also used to think they contribute very little to the prosperity of the country, because they are not well educated and a lot of them engage in illegal criminal activities such as drug trafficking. However, I failed to recognize when they were not granted the equal access and opportunity, when they are faced with humongous amount of hostility and prejudice, of course they could not live up to the expectation.

But, as the sentence "people don't leave their homeland unless they really have to." kept being repeated throughout the film, I understood why they came. Take examples of Puerto Rico, I used to think Puerto Ricans are lucky enough to be born with U.S. citizenship and are free to live and work in the mainland. I overlooked the fact that their poverty still exist and initially they were granted citizenship because U.S. needed troops for the WWI. I tend oversimplify things and look at it from just one angle. People in Puerto Rico, came to United States because of the destitute economic situation in Puerto Rico as a result of U.S.'s industrial exploitation. People in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and Cuba came to the U.S. because their lives were threatened, they were being electrocuted and one woman from El Salvador even had a snake stuck in her rectum. The torture and pain that we cannot even began to imagine. Coming to the United States, to them is truly a matter of LIFE and DEATH. How many of the anti-immigrant activists actually acknowledge that? Or do they want to acknowledge that?

When U.S. are welcoming the loaded Chinese corrupted officials and successful individuals like Pierce Morgan or Ken Robinson with open arms, U.S. is also shutting the ice-cold gate to the immigrants fleeing for their lives. U.S. is giving out more greencards to businessmen who made significant investments than giving out political asylum. Are all these right especially when the U.S. government's hands aren't clean in all these atrocity, and almost every single one of the dictators had the help from the U.S.

At this point I have came to the end of my reflection from the film. However, this film brought me into thinking about something else, like the reason why I came to the United States. Even though China is not a free country, the severity is still incomparable to what's in the film.

Back home in China, I had no fear of losing my life as long as I keep my mouth shut and doesn't talk critical of the government in a public space. My parents aren't rich but they are taking vacations every year and don't have to work from 9 to 5, for the very least they have times and resource to provide the best educations and opportunities for their children. Coming to the U.S. for me it is a brand new experience for me and helps my personal advancement, but my starting point has already been set high, so that's it.

I don't understand, and I never will understand what these immigrants are going through, constantly living in fear and dehumanization even after they came to the U.S. However, there is something that I really appreciate about America, it is its people.

The people in the U.S. care about social justice, not just theirs but also others. There are always those Americans who don't categorize people by different race but by one human race. They see these problems and they address the problems and bring them to light to the public. To me, that is truly amazing. Seeing university professors supporting the cause of these people and having open discussions in a hundred people auditorium about issues that don't look good to the U.S. Government, this is AMAZING. This country is blessed with people full of talents and compassion to carry out their causes, their missions. That is something that China is lacking, we have grave issues, but we don't have the human resource and capacity to address them in such a powerful yet explicit way. We simply don't have those people, and I think I just found the cause of me being here in America and what I can do for my country, just like what Dr. Juan Gonzales and Prof. Jeff Cohen did for their country.

What an educational experience. That's what I like about America, not the prosperity and not the wealth, but this richly nurturing fields of inspiration and deliberation.