Prop 8- The Musical

Celebrities came together to produce this funny yet sharp comment on the passing of California's Proposition 8. Jack Black plays Jesus...this alone makes the video worth watching.

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/c0cf508ff8
/prop-8-the-musical-starring-jack-black-john-c-reilly-
and-many-more-from-fod-team-jack-black-craig-robinson-
john-c-reilly-and-rashida-jones

Obama's use of technology

Interesting NYtimes.com article that came from Prof. John Kim...It talks about the Obama campaign using social networks as a resource of power to garner support and strengthen Obama's connection to the public...It obviously worked.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/business/media/10carr.html

Politically Persuasive Web Ads

The other day I wandered on to a website called theromantic.com to read love letters written by celebrities and important people throughout history (If you've seen the "Sex and the City" movie, you'll know where my interest in old love letters came from). While I'm used to websites like Facebook using advertising on the sides and top of their pages-you know, "McCain or Obama? Register to Vote!" or "Celebrity diet tricks," etc. etc., I was surprised to see a pretty politically charged ad on this website; it said "Find out more about Prop 8 and what really happens if we don't pass this measure." You click on the ad banner, and it takes you to the "Yes on Prop 8" campaign page.
This raised several questions for me...
The ads on theromantic.com are generated by Google. Does that mean that ad was just randomly selected for this site, and could easily be found on some recipe website, or dog lovers website, or Halloween costume website? Or are the website's managers inferring something about their political beliefs and values through the choosing of this ad?
If it was just a random selection, I for one would be offended by something being depicted on my website that I don't believe in. People are free to say what they think about topics like politics and religion through any type of media, including web ads; however, it gets dicey if the content of the ad somehow relates to the content of the website, and therefore could be misconstrued by site visitors.
In this case, through this "Yes on Prop 8" ad, theromantic.com, a site that has everything from love song lyrics to creative date ideas to love poems, is giving off the message that they celebrate love and want you to, too, but only in the "traditional" sense, between a man and a woman.
I'm not saying this site absolutely needs to include content specifically involving gay and lesbian couples (It would be awesome if they did), just that this small ad is saying a mouthful, whether it's intended to or not.
I really have no idea if the people at theromantic.com are die-hard supporters of Prop 8 or not, but it's just interesting how a simple ad can make you wonder what a particular type of media is saying to its audience.
Any thoughts?

News Values- Appropriate?

Given that Hurricane Ike has caused so much destruction in several different aspects of life in Texas, you would think they wouldn't have to come up with a story like this...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26725188/

Is impartiality still a necessity?

In my media institutions class yesterday, we discussed the Corporation of Public Broadcasting and stations like PBS. The values of such stations are meant to be in the public interest; one of the most difficult values to define is that of balance and impartiality. Though in class we were talking specifically about PBS, the question of necessity of impartiality in print and broadcast journalism came up as well. Is it impossible, in today's very politically divided country, to be "fair and balanced" in presenting the news? I think to some degree, objectivity in the news doesn't exist. No matter how a news story is presented, audiences of different backgrounds and ideologies are going to interpret it differently. Even news that seems cut and dry to one person might have implications for another person.
This is a topic that could be talked about forever, with no clear answer, because the media is constantly changing.