Wouldn’t it be cool to be able to read the news for just a penny?

That is what the Penny Press provided! The Penny Press made it possible for anyone, not just rich people, to read the news. That is why it was very popular with the American public. More and more people began buying newspapers, making news and journalism more important.

Because the Penny Press relied heavily on advertising, they were able to sell papers for less, while others who relied on subscriptions and daily sales sold them for a higher price.

The Penny Press was different than all the other newspapers, not only because of the price, but because they targeted a new audience. They also didn’t just reprint foreign news or speeches. Instead, they covered more local news, scandals, crimes, and human interest stories.

The changes made to newspapers during the Penny Press era has influenced the way newspapers work today. Newspapers still rely on advertising, which is why they have remained at a relatively low price. News has become something extremely important for everyone. It is something that we, as humans, yearn for.

by Robert Horan

( mature content advisory)

On August 26, 2015, a former WDBJ anchor shot and killed two co-workers as the they were live on air. Vester Flanigan, also known as Bryce Williams, shot reporter Allison Parker and her cameraman Adam Ward as they were conducting a live interview for their morning newscast.

While extremely tragic, and hard for any journalist to report on, it is still and important moment in the history of journalism. I can imagine that the staff at WDBJ had answer the question, ” how do we cover a story like this.” They had to to their own research into the crime but had to be careful revealing too much to the public. For example, Flanigan posted videos of the shooting for his point of view. Since those videos were evidence of the crime, WDBJ had to decide if they were going to share them live on TV or not.

With today’s technology, many Americans have access to a DVR of some sort. The difficulty with this was that any person could rewind the “tape” and make their own accusations about what happened. This lead to a look of confusion on social media about what actually happened.

Finally, this was a hard story to report on for any journalist because they are reporting a job they they currently do.  Journalists are like family. 

Personally , I was upset while watching the news unfold because I want to pursue a career in broadcast media. However, while I admire how the journalists covered the crime. The were calm and collected on air, and I think they reported on the tragic situation well.

Power 105.1 The Breakfast Club blends radio reporting with a style of humor and honesty. As an American syndicated radio show since 2010, The Breakfast Club provides New York and 20 other markets with their fix of Hip-Hop and R&B and pop culture news. The personalities of The Breakfast Club include DJ Envy, Angela Yee, and Charlamagne Tha God.

The Breakfast Club personalities: Angela Yee, DJ Envy, and Charlamagne Tha God. Credit: https://www.facebook.com/breakfastclubam/timeline

DJ Envy, a native of Queens, New York, got his rise as a DJ during the early 1990s under legendary DJ Clue? and Hot 97 with legendary radio personality Angie Martinez. Angela Yee, a native of East Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York, got her start with Shade 45, a Sirius Satellite Radio station. Charlamagne Tha God, a native of Moncks, South Carolina,  got his rise in the radio business working along side with radio and television personality Wendy Williams.

The Breakfast Club is also known as “The World’s Most Dangerous Morning Show” due to their infamous interview segment. They interview many of today’s biggest Hip-Hop and R&B celebrities as well as celebrities throughout pop culture including Kevin Hart, Russell Simmons, and Arnold Swcharzenegger. During their interviews, DJ Envy handles asking the celebrity questions pertaining to their industry, Angela Yee ask the questions pertaining to the celebrity’s love life and rumors surrounding their love lives, and Charlamagne Tha God is known for his unorthodox and sometimes inappropriate line of questioning. 

Along with their infamous interviews, The Breakfast Club has some other popular segments such as “Donkey of the Day,” “Tell em why you’re mad,” “DJ Envy’s People’s Choice Mix,” and “Ask Yee.” “Ask Yee” provides audience members to call in and ask Angela questions usually pertaining around their personal relationships. “Tell em why you’re mad” allows the audience to call in and vent about something that in their life that has them mad. “DJ Envy’s People’s Choice Mix” allows the audience to pick songs that they want to hear in a mix that will play during the four and half hour show. “Donkey of the Day” allows Charlamagne to poke fun at a celebrity or public figure that has made a misstep. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbTW9P-SNRQ

February 19, 2016 brought on a brisk morning, in which when you exhaled, you could see puffs of your own breath in the air. Little did we know when we woke up, that we would come about the news that beloved author, Harper Lee, or full name, Nelle Harper Lee, had passed away.

Photo courtesy of The Guardian

The news came to us either by social media, or the ever-existing word-of-mouth. Harper Lee, the author well-known for her pieces To Kill a Mockingbird and it’s prequel/sequel Go Set a Watchman, had passed, and the world responded with heartfelt words of condolences and reasons on why Lee’s works inspired them or touched them.

However, what Lee left was not just her two cherished novels, or many saddened fans, but it was her legacy of writing for the sake of upholding an author’s original craftsmanship that had been lost over the years.

To Kill a Mockingbird was published in 1960 and almost immediately went viral in the print world, going on to win a Pulitzer Prize. However, Lee went through a lot of criticism on her writing to get it to where it was. In a piece by Flavorwire on Harper Lee’s legacy, it’s said that Lee’s editors worked her tirelessly to create Mockingbird into the novel it turned out to be. Over and over, her work wasn’t good enough for the publishing world of New York. Her editors pressured her to mold her novel into something that would be Hollywood-worthy.

Lee expressed her frustration through Jean Louise Finch near the end of her last novel, Go Set a Watchman:

“New York is saying to me right now: you, Jean Louise Finch, are not reacting according to our doctrines regarding your kind, therefore you do not exist. The best minds in the country have told us who you are.”

With how much the New York publishers pressured her and continuously sent her back to revise her novel, Lee’s frustration with New York’s perspective is evident in her writing through “Scout”. 

Lee left the legacy of an American masterpiece. Her initial drafts were said to have been perfectly complex in it’s structure and perspective of Jean Louise Finch. Though in her finalized and published piece in the form of To Kill a Mockingbird, she had to sculpt her writing craft to what New York wanted, she continued to grasp on her craftsmanship as a writer who stood by her artistry in words.

Harper Lee left behind a legacy of cherishing your own craftsmanship in a world of print where editors are constantly asking you to change.

“I think the thing that I most deplore about American writing, and especially in the American theatre, is a lack of craftsmanship. It comes right down to this — the lack of absolute love for language, the lack of sitting down and working a good idea into a gem of an idea. It takes time and patience and effort to turn out a work of art, and few people seem willing to go all the way… I see a great deal of sloppiness and I deplore it. I suppose the reason I’m so down on it is because I see tendencies in myself to be sloppy, to be satisfied with something that’s not quite good enough.” – Harper Lee

Storytelling is a primary way that folklore is is passed from person to person. Whether it’s a family legend that a grandmother tells her grandkids or a myth shared at an event, such as a powwow, to share a culture stories are important to the folklife of all people.

Stories teach lessons, share information, and sets standards for people. Family share their traditions through stories and there are often stories that coworkers tell the “newbies” as a type of initiation to the workplace group. Storytelling allows people to connect.

http://www.d82.org/blog/speaking/2015-07-the-art-of-storytelling.html

The National Storytelling Network works promote the importance that storytelling has in education and in everyday life. There are festivals that focus on telling story and sharing folklore. Their vision is to see

“A world in which all people value the power of storytelling and its ability to connect, inspire, and instill respect within our hearts and communities.”

Storytelling is an important part of life, whether we realize it or not, because it is how we learn about the world that we live in.

In A History Of News by author Mitchell Stephens there is mention of a woman named Elizabeth Timothy in the chronology. In the year 1738 she became the first woman to publish a newspaper in America. That newspaper was the South Carolina Gazette. This came to be after her husband Louis Timothee passed away. After his passing not only did she become to be the first American female publisher but she was also the first female American franchise holder.

Elizabeth Timothy was born in Amsterdam on 30 June 1702 where she went to school and where she learned skills that would later be very useful to her in her career. She married Lewis Timothee when she was 22 years old. Her husband moved to Charleston, South Carolina where he revived the publishing of the South Carolina Gazette on a six-year franchise contract with Benjamin Franklin. Mrs. Timothy moved with her six children to Charleston but in 1738 her husband died due to “an unhappy accident.”

Lewis Timothy print Shop (Credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Timothy)

In theory Mr. Timothy’s eldest son Peter took over the business but because he was just a child he was incapable of technically carrying on his father’s business. So instead the 14 year-olds’ name was used on the newspapers but his mother Elizabeth was managing the business herself. When she edited the first issue after the death of her husband she made an announcement that from then on until the contract expired the paper would be published by herself under the name of her son.

(Credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Timothy)

Under her management the newspaper flourished because she published a wide range of news not just local news. She also had advertisements in the newspaper, which people looked forward to. In 1746 Peter took over the South Carolina Gazette and Mrs. Timothy opened up a bookstore in the same area. She passed away in April of 1757. Her legacy continues to live on because she was exceptionally brilliant considering the status of women in her time.

Benjamin Franklin in his Autobiography on the 87^th page mentions Lewis and praises Elizabeth Timothy:

“He was a man of learning, and honest but ignorant in matters of account; and, tho’ he sometimes made me remittances, I could get no account from him, nor any satisfactory state of our partnership while he lived. On his decease the business was continued by his widow, who, being born and bred in Holland, where, as I have been inform’d, the knowledge of accounts makes a female education, she not only sent me as clear a state as she could find of the transactions past, but continued to account with the greatest regularity and exactness every quarter afterwards, and managed the business with such success, that she not only brought up a reputably a family of children, but, at the expiration of the term, was able to purchase of me the printing-house, and establish her son in it.”

(Seventeen.com)

The Grammys unites musicians of all ages for one night to celebrate great and popular music.  Monday, Feb. 15, the 58th annual Grammys aired on CBS.  Taylor Swift opened the show with her newest single, “Out of the Woods.”  Swift was one of the lead winners that night taking home the Grammys for Best Music Video, Best Pop Vocal Album and Album of the Year for her 1989 album, to name a few.  One of the most talked about situations of the musical night was how Swift fired back at the rapper, Kanye West during her acceptance speech for album of the year.

West and Swift have been feuding since 2009.  Although,West recently took things too far on his new album, The Life of Pablo, when he called out Swift with the notation: “I made that b**** famous.”  Swift fired back in her acceptance speech Monday night saying:

---

“I want to thank the fans for the last ten years….and as the first woman to win Album of the Year at the Grammys twice, I want to say to all the young women out there…there will be people along the way who will try to undercut your success, or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame. But if you just focus on the work and you don’t let those people sidetrack you, someday when you get where you’re going, you’ll look around and you’ll know that it was you and the people who love you who put you there and that will be the greatest feeling in the world. Thank you for this moment.” – Taylor Swift

---

She addressed his rude lyrics without saying his name and encouraged her fans that success isn’t measured by the people who bring you down, it’s about the hard work that you put out.

(npr.org)

Watch her acceptance speech here.

Find a full list of this year’s Grammy winners here.

Humans have always been curious about what is going on around them. Before the news as we know it today, people used to spread tales of events and things in their close environment or far away for different reasons. The information people shared was used as time-filler, diversion and entertainment. It also provided a kind of security, because having no news about one’s environment would be a cause of anxiety.Historian Pierre Sardella said “without news, man would find himself incommensurately diminished.”

The way of getting the news has been evolving, yet the need to know what is happening is still there. Today though, we have the advantage not to get the news from one source and settle. We can get our information from a wide range of sources that mirror our interests. We also can look for news that match our interests such as sport or world news or domestic or politics or entertainment and so forth. Just like in old societies, many of the news we get today might not seem to us as impartial or fair . Nevertheless, we have the option to look at different news sources, compare content, and get an idea of what is going on relying on our own compilation.

In times of crises, the need for news is at its highest. The lack of details, confusion of the masses and uncertainty of the whole situation make people more eager to know more. When the news of the Paris attacks first broke last Nov. 13, it was not clear what was going on. There was a lot of confusion as the number of victims kept climbing and different sites were being attacked. Parallel to that, news channels decided to cover the developing events live to feed viewers, people who had loved ones in Paris at the time and the general public with information as it was coming. I remember flipping through all news channels to see if any had some new information I was not aware of at the time.

Photo credit Risa Rodil

In addition, people on different forms of social media or modern day “word of mouth” were sharing the news. Even people who are not news junkies are forced to see what is going on and what people talk about even when they do not wish that. Pictures on Facebook, Instagram, and twitter to list a few were all full of Eiffel tour pictures and French flag or its colors and many had the sentence “pray for Paris“.

The demand for news at this level is not just a demand,but the news is coming to you and demanding your attention. The scale of the crisis, the unusual occurrence of the attacks as well as the heavy of the media coverage make something important or less so.

To site an example, Syria has been living an unprecedented civil war with millions of civilians displaced, at least 470,000 killed , tens of thousands more wounded in addition to the complete destruction of many area. Yet the interest of media outlets in this human tragedy has diminished. It seems that the subjects need to always be fresh to get the attention of the press. Another example is the refugee crisis that has resulted mainly from the Syrian conflict. Thousands of people hoping to get asylum in Europe decide to go in overloaded boats, ignoring the risks they face and the imminent death many dodge while others including young children do not escape. The picture of the body of a Syrian baby boy brought the world to a stop and shook the humanity of man. The media covered the unfortunate plight of the little boy and his family extensively before the story died. Now, every week dozens of refugees drown at sea, but nobody is covering their stories the same way the little boy in a red shirt and blue shorts was.

http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/collection/s0016V1962

When one thinks of Amsterdam, what comes to mind? Van Gogh? The Anne Frank house? Coffee shops? It is true that those things are tied to Amsterdam but there is a lot packed into this tourist trap of a city. Amsterdam itself is situated in the Netherlands in the northern part of Holland. Filled with canals and various alleyways, its easy to find new places to eat,drink and sight see throughout the city.

Lets start with one of the biggest attractions that draw tourists in every year: The Van Gogh Museum.  Located directly across from the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, this museum boasts the biggest collection of Van Gogh works and can been reached via bike, walk, or street car. Here you can find many of the local artist’s most famous works such as “Sunflowers”  and “Almond Blossom.”

Besides the rich historical locations that can be found around many corners of Amsterdam, there are other attractions that lure tourists in. Coffee shops and the red light district are as much part of Amsterdam as Van Gogh and Dutch clogs. Today, there are currently almost 200 coffee shops strewn throughout the city that vary from theme to services. Some coffee shops don’t sell alcohol in their establishments while other do sell alcohol in conjunction with marijuana. This is due to a taboo tied to drinking and smoking which can lead to unwanted situations and consequences. From the popular celebrity hangout of Grey Area to the Irish pub feel of Stone’s Cafe, one will find a plethora of coffee shops that suit almost everyone’s taste.

Lastly, lets talk about how to maneuver around the city of Amsterdam. The most popular and convenient form of transportation in the city is a bicycle. The majority of the local population uses them and tourists can find many bike rental station at most street corners. If biking is too fast paced for your speed, walking also serves as the tried and true way of taking in the sites and sounds of Amsterdam due to its relatively small size. For the ranges outside the reaches of walking and bike riding, street cars are the next viable option. They regularly pass in front of the train station and can take visitors around the city in larger groups.

http://www.fluentin3months.com/amsterdam/

In recent months I have have been getting alerts on my Facebook feed that look like this:

“CNN is LIVE” talking about the Zika virus

” ABC7-WJLA is LIVE” talking about this weekend’s storm

” NBC is LIVE” taking about the Grammys

These alerts have been popping up more frequently as various news organizations, shows, and celebrities embrace the new trend that is live streaming.

This concept isn’t new, yet beginning in April, live streaming became popular with apps such as Periscope or Meerkat. Then businesses like Facebook joined, and now:

I can just live stream writing my blog.

It’s really pretty cool.

But what does this have to do with journalism? A lot. Now journalists are able to reach viewers across the world without setting up a live feed or satellite truck. Journalists can deliver fast breaking news, with just a phone and a data signal. The same can be said for every day Americans. A typical person can record an event in their town so the world can see. This could, however, lead to problems such as users streaming content that is violent or even illegal. Yet, live streaming is very cool and will be interesting to see where it goes from here.

When a well-known figure is as prolific as these two were and are, it isn’t hard to compare them both.

When you think about it this way, 16th century Martin Luther and 21st century Donald Trump do bear some kind of resemblance. Not only in the way they addressed the public in either writing or speaking, but when you look closely, they start to look alike too.

Courtesy of The Huffington Post

Courtesy of haciendapub.com

Martin Luther was a “theologian, professor, pastor, and church reformer“. Luther’s publication of Ninety-Five Theses began the Protestant Reformation. In this publication, he attacked how the Church basically sold indulgences with human works rather than paying more attention solely in God’s graciousness. Now, Luther was known for much more than the reformation of Church and his publications. Not only was he a monk and a publisher, but he was also well-known for his profuse statements that marked him as defiant to the Church.

There’s a famous statement by Luther in which he says, “reason is the devil’s whore.” And from this, it’s easy to think that he has a sort of disdain for reasoning and philosophy. However, from his famed publication, it appears that he believed that philosophy and reason had roles to play in our lives, and it was with this belief, that he hoped to reform the Church. In one word, we can call Luther the most outspoken man of the 16th century.

Cue in Donald Trump. Trump has raised up quite a storm in the U.S.A. with his current run for presidency. He hasn’t only gained attention from being a wealthy celebrity deciding to run for president, but from his words. Trump is quite the outspoken man, just like Luther was. Not many people can forget the words he said in his announcement to run for presidency when he stated that Mexico wasn’t sending their best people. This statement came along the lines of calling them rapists, which not too many Americans and immigrants were happy about.

Both Trump and Luther are famous for being plain-spoken and direct. Trump in a speaking and presentation way, and Luther for his publications. Both figures’ words spread like wildfire to cause response among audiences, communities, and respective countries. Luther was not afraid to publish what he believed, and he did not care if it was offensive or outlandish, as long as he believed what he was publishing would create a change for reformation. And this is parallel to what Trump is doing too. The man is not afraid to say what he believes, no matter how much criticizing it results in. So is Donald Trump the modern Martin Luther? Was Martin Luther the 16th century Donald Trump? Or are they just two men who followed their beliefs, purely in an attempt to reform?

“I would never have thought that such a storm would rise from Rome over one simple scrap of paper…” – Martin Luther

Grammy award winning writer/artist Kendrick Lamar gave a highly lauded performance yesterday evening on the Grammys.

And it was epochal.

(Getty Images/The Rolling Stone)

The reasons why this performance is going to be rightly viewed by critics as well as those who are well-versed in the arts as powerful and socially progressive are innumerable. Kendrick is known for his provocative poetry which expounds upon various subjects ranging from social oppression, to societal ills and the human condition.

The basis of his singularity is rooted in his efforts to help redefine/reconstruct what it means to be a modern day rap/hip hop artist in an industry plagued with materialism, ostentation and misogyny. He didn’t use his opportunity to perform at the Grammys to go on stage and flaunt his endless supply of exotic cars and zeros in his bank account, with half naked gyrating women and gold chains. He didn’t strive for a ridiculously over-the-top performance that would just get him the most cheap press and publicity (i.e. the Miley Cyrus’ of the industry). This artist instead, used his opportunity as a platform to speak out on racial issues plaguing the nation and produced a thought provoking, highly conceptual critical performance piece highlighting and giving reference to the decades of oppression that has been endured by African-Americans throughout history.

Kendrick opened his performance in a dark jail setting and shuffled to the microphone with other men in classic chain gang style — the chains and prison suit being a metaphor of the oppressed in society (in this case, specifically referencing African Americans–because, quite obviously, this is the marginalized group in society with which he identifies most strongly with due to his background). He then proceeded to use this time to deliver a thought provoking message in a stand-up, open mic poetry manner  and segued into his most recent single entitled “We Gon Be Alright” as a nod to his solidarity with the history of and current struggles facing his fellow African Americans.

This quite easily described as “controversial” approach, coupled with the emotional depth, vulnerability and level of profound introspection (i.e. – professing self-love for his African traits in a society that has long held Eurocentric ideals of beauty which minority individuals of color tend to struggle with) that his writing is critically hailed for — and often classified as poetry for the same reasons — makes it progressive and valuable.

Critics look for conceptual/theoretical foundations in the arts. When an individual conceives of a social critique piece with historical nods that is both controversial and progressive — that is art in the most prized and esteemed sense of the term.

Many believe Mr. Lamar has just solidified his place in history as one of the most influential and progressive hip hop artists of our generation.