Town Issue: Falmouth High School Principle Leaves for Kittery

2008 Principle of the Year Allyn Hutton was recently announced by the Kittery School Committee as the new nomination for the position of Superintendent.
Hutton has been in the education field for 25 years and takes great pride in her work and is excited to take the kittery school district to "the next level."
Having worked for Falmouth High School since 2002 she has ascertained a very close relationship to the student body and was always seen showing school spirit at sporting events and school rallies.
Recently appointed Falmouth Superintendent Barbara Powers praised Hutton stating that Mrs. Hutton is "an outstanding principle." Powers also paid tribute to the "open door policy" Hutton had in place, which could be seen by the steady flow of students entering and exiting her office doors on any given day. "It's going to be a really tough job for us to fill her shoes, but I'm confident that Falmouth as a district will be able to attract outstanding candidates to the high school," Powers said.
Currently Allyn Hutton earns over $95,000 a year in a district that contains 2,100 students in Falmouth. The Kittery School District contains less than half of Falmouth with around 1000 students. Current Superintendent for Kittery Larry Littlefield will retire at the end of this school year in June.
Hutton was in the running for the job along with 20 other candidates, and had to undergo interviews and panels with Kittery Teachers asking questions related to the districts issues. One of them being how the candidates will address a budget of $3.6 million, while Traip Academy has a budget of $3.1 million.
There is no doubt Hutton will be missed as she is a valued and esteemed member of the community. Both Falmouth and Mrs. Hutton have gained a great deal from each other. For the town its educational department has been under great leadership and guidance for the past 8 years. For Allyn Hutton, she now has award winning experience in a revered town, she also plans on drawing from this experience to further enhance the progression of the kittery School District.

Profile: Garrewt Chapman

Garrett Chapman is a freshman at the University of Maine Orono and is currently working on getting his business degree. Garrett is an avid surfer, one of many in his family, and also participates in the rarer form of the sport: winter surfing. When asked about surfing in below freezing temperatures he had this to say,"It takes a lot of passion and dedication to surf when you can feel frost building up on your eyelids, but I love it and wont stop." Having learned to surf from his father Gary Chapman, a former professional who was sponsored by Oakley, at the young age of 8 has formed a close bond between father and son. As a Native American Garrett has a great sense of pride for his heritage and is taking the Native American studies course offered by the University. As a business major Garrett has plans to one day own a car customization garage in Hawaii, "My goal is to customize cars, installing audio components, and minor mechanical modifications as well. I would sit down with customers and discuss what they would like done to their car and together we will brainstorm to come up with something creative and unique." Since owning his first car at 16, Garrett's hobby of working on his Civic turned into a passion as his friends would pay him to install sound systems and work on their vehicles. Garrett also has a strong passion for animals, claiming he even thought about becoming a veterinarian. "When I was younger I had a golden retriever and was very close to him; however, he developed cancer and we had to put him down. It was a very rough experience for me, and I would love to be able to help animals."

Convergence and Consolidation in Journalism

For years the way we receive our news has been evolving. From newspapers, radios, tv's, and now the internet. This convergence allows any journalist to write and post any article they deem "newsworthy" online for any viewer to read. However with this convergence brings consolidation to a once thriving market. The average person is more likely to go online and read about the news now than they are to buy a newspaper. That being said the internet has found ways to make news more compelling, as journalists can post videos along with their articles. Consolidation is when you combine multiple things, in this case companies, and make them into a singular, more effective whole. This argument was more thank likely used when larger companies pressured smaller local companies to sell out and "consolidate."
By creating less companies it creates less journalists which means many local and smaller news stories go unnoticed. When that happened the internet was being used to the fullest with news becoming more accessible online, and much more convenient. While convergence does have its negatives that feed into consolidation, they also have positives that counter these very problems as well.
Among these negatives includes the loss of jobs. “In the USA today there are roughly 3,000 people working on the internet making news. Last year alone 16,000 newspaper employees lost their jobs." While the internet does its best to create employment, it is simply not enough. Another negative linked with this is credibility. Now more than ever readers must be weary of of the credibility of stories online, as it could be someone fabricating lies for an entertaining story. Another negative is if there are only a few networks left, after consolidating, then it creates less competition between them. As this revolution continues anyone with the a passion for news can now act up on it enter the world of professional journalism.




Media for All: Solving convergence and ownership consolidation problems by Damien Gayle

http://blogs.journalism.co.uk/editors/2009/11/03/media-for-all-solving-convergence-and-ownership-consolidation-problems/

Morals In Journalism

In September of 2009 the associated press released a photo of a marine dying on the battlefield, doing so against the wishes of the marines family. This has long been an issue of much debate and discussion around the nation. During the Gulf War in 1991 the Bush administration put a blanket ban on any media coverage of Honor Guard Ceremonies. This is an issue that many are very passionate about as it pertains to the fallen protectors of our nation and their honor. The argument of one side is: Pictures of fallen soldiers show the public that tragic truth about war and honor the soldiers. The counter argument to this is: The Associated press is not releasing these photos to honor the soldiers, they are releasing them to make money and cause controversy because that is what sells. At the very least permission from the soldiers family should first be required to release any photograph of a dying or dead soldier. The morality of the issue is this: Does the first amendment make it acceptable for the media to exploit U.S soldiers? Because the images may be newsworthy does it make it okay to print the image of dead loved one with a family and friends in the process of grieving? Soldiers and their families should have a right to privacy, and they will not be able to do so when they are in line at the grocery store and see their dead son on the cover of a magazine. Perhaps I am biased on this situation or maybe I have an incite, either way I have a brother serving his first tour in the Army in Iraq. In the event of an untimely demise I would think it would only be suiting for the Associated Press to obtain permission from the family to use an image of that content. The rights to a persons privacy are very important to the moral fiber of this country, we all exercise our right to it and when our rights to privacy are being altered we all lash out at the imposer. So again I ask, is it moral for journalist to make money off of ones honorable sacrifice?


References:
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20090226/index.htm

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2141549/associated_press_to_dead_soldiers_family.html?cat=9

My Goals in this Course

In this class I would like to learn about the journalism profession and how to write properly for the mass media. I am also interested in learning the proper procedures and ethical guidelines involved in the field of journalism. I am not yet sure if I want to be a journalist but I am interested in learning more and acquiring the writing skills to do so.