This is my script for the introduction of the video.

Hi, it’s Jenna Waldo from Comm 422.  Columbus City Council
is holding a public hearing Tuesday
evening to discuss a proposed change
in the city code that would prohibit
texting while driving. Other
cities in Ohio like Cleveland and Bexley have
passed similar laws.  In Columbus, texting
while driving would be a primary offense,
meaning that if a police officer sees you
doing it, that’s
all he needs to pull you over.  If pulled
over, it would be an automatic $150 fine. 
As I know a lot of people my age
do text and drive, I went out on Ohio State
‘s campus to see how some students felt
about the issue.  This is what I found.

Twitter and facebook can provide many new opportunities for journalists that were not available before the rise of social media networking sites, though.  In this article, the writer discusses the benefits of Twitter for journalists.   It can break news in short 140-character sentences quickly before a writer has time to actually write an entire story.  Some journalists even use it as a way to perform interviews.  Journalists can connect with people from across the country and gather that  information quickly. 

NBC News reporter Ann Curry said this: “Twitter can save lives, influence world events and give ordinary citizens a way to take control of the flow of information.”  This article discusses Twitter’s role in the recent Haiti earthquake and its aftermath.  Doctors Without Borders attempted to land a flight to assist victims and were at first denied, so they tweeted about it.  Curry saw the tweet, then in turn was able to get in touch with Pentagon officials so that the Doctors Without Borders were able to get permission to land their flight in Haiti.  In the same article, Curry says in this situation she detached herself from being a professional journalist and crossed a line into becoming involved in the situation. 

Although I do believe Twitter and facebook can be very useful resources for journalists, a journalist’s personal life and professional life need to be kept seperate.

The first story is from CNN.com.  Just by looking at the layout of the story, it has 2 photos at the top of the story followed by just the text of the story.  The second story is from msnbc.com.  It has a large photo of van der Sloot at the top and a video about Holloway’s disppearance.  Throughout the text of the story, there are 3 other videos about the case.  In my opinion, the story from MSNBC has a much more informative lead, in that it gives you more information about the background of the case, in case one was not completely aware of it.  The CNN story tells about the most recent confession and then explains with quotes from the Dutch TV program and from Aruba’s chief prosecutor why they believe the confession to be false.  The story then goes on to give readers a chronological timeline from 2005 when Holloway disappeared to present day.  The MSNBC story has a a different take.  It first explains the most recent confession then has a very brief history on the disappearance.  After that, its main focus switches to all of the lies that van der Sloot has told since 2005.  The CNN story has 2 sources, the chief prosecutor and the Dutch TV station’s director, while MSNBC has 1 source, the chief prosecutor. 

Overall, even though MSNBC contains more videos, I felt like I learned more about the situation from the CNN story.  The history of the disappearance was much more informative and interesting than the lies van der Sloot has told over the years.

I think this is really interesting in that the Dalai Lama is on the other side of the world from us, yet Americans follow him on facebook and even pray to him.  Without technology and social media, we would not even have that opportunity to connect with him in this way.  It also allows people with similar interests to share their feelings about the Dalai Lama together, no matter where they are located.

I imagine students have different takes on the laws, like some think they are completely absurd and will never abide by it, while some probably take their safety seriously.

I want to do the half video/half paper option.

The video portion will be man on the street interviews with students, hopefully getting different views from them.

The paper portion will consist of extended interviews with students that have differing views and with law enforcement, like campus police and city police.  Also, I’d like to research stats on how many accidents have actually been caused by texting, how strictly the laws are being enforced, how much a ticket would be, etc.

I have tried to contact campus police and Columbus police, but have not heard back, maybe because it was the weekend, I’m not sure.

I am using my friend’s video camera that records onto dvd’s and can be loaded onto the computer and so we plan to do the interviews within the next week so that I can find students that will grant me extended interviews.

Social Media:

While I was on facebook, I found a group that was called “Don’t Text and Drive” and it had over 2,000 fans.  They even had shirts and different apparel that you could by that said don’t text and drive.  There were hundreds of comments on the page, and even some where people told about their friends getting in accidents because of texting.  I think I will go through the comments in depth and message a few of the people that feel very strongly about the issue.  Facebook also had a group that was against the new laws.  There weren’t as many fans or as many comments, but I could still message the creator  of the group, since I would think they would feel strongly about it if they created the group.

This weekend, a blizzard has covered much of the Mid-Atlantic Region.  Officials are urging people to stay at home.  The storm is predicted to be the largest the nation’s capital has seen in modern history.  As of Saturday, Washington, DC had over 10 inches of snow while parts of Maryland and West Virginia reported over 20 inches.  The snow is predicted to continue throughout the weekend, with as much as 2 inches per hour.  Airports have cancelled thousands of flights and hundreds of thousands of people are without power throughout the region.  Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley says the state has already spent  $50 million of the $60 million that was allotted for snow emergencies.

While the snowstorm has affected the travels of many Central Ohio families, it didn’t stop casino developers from completing the purchase of Columbus’s future casino site on Friday.  Penn National Gaming Inc. finalized the purchase of the former Delphi auto parts plant near West Broad Street and Georgesville Road.  Voters will vote on the approval of this location on May 4 and meanwhile Penn National plans to begin site preparation and cleanup.

In international news, an Iraqi militant group has released a video of an abducted man who is believed to be a US military contractor.  The contractor, Issa (I-suh) Salomi (Sa-lo-me), was last seen in Baghdad on January 23.  The man who does not identify himself in the video says the Shia group demands the release of militants and prosecution of contractors  from US security firm, Blackwater.  Blackwater security guards opened fire in Baghdad in 2007 and killed 17 people, including women and children.  The man also says he would like to express to all members of his family, especially his wife,children and friends and to assure everyone that he is being treated kindly and is in good health.  He is seen in the video in a US military uniform in front of the group’s banner, the League of the Righteous.

According to officials from L.A. County District Court, Michael Jackson’s doctor, Dr. Conrad Murray, will turn himself in on Monday. He is appearing in court on his own free will after being charged with involuntary manslaughter to avoid being arrested.  The bail is predicted to be $25,000 which will be posted on the spot.

Danny Caterinicchia (cat-er-a-neek-ia) has worked as an independent promotor in the Dallas area since the 1960s and has produced over 3,000 concerts.

Caterinicchia says he is looking forward to using the resources that are going to be available to him through Live Nation to produce amazing shows with great artists in the very best venues in the area.

Bob Roux, President for the Houston/Dallas/New Orleans region for Live Nation says Caterinicchia has been the number one promotor in Dallas for decades and is thrilled to have him lead their new office.