Monique Mitchell

On the eve of the election, on Crenshaw and Manchester, Los Angelians gathered at a polling place to watch history in the making. Members of the Inglewood area sat, ate, and watched as Barack Obama took the united states by storm, state by state. The outside of the building bannered with Obama regalia let those passers by know, a change will come, in the form of an Illinois senator turned presidential candidate of the future.

The photos featured in the slideshow were taken at a poll center off of Crenshaw blvd. Early regsitration as well as voting is crucial in this election, as it will change history. It's time for a change!

 

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The second round of presidential debates proved be mildly more exciting than the first. Mc Cain brought his enthusiasm and candor to the floor, showing that he too can bring slightly more excitment to the realm of politics than displyed during the first debate. Obama remained composed and collected as Mc Cain's feisty jabs at his policies and past threaded throughout the entire sparring session. 

My pics were taken at Beauty Factory on Western and Florence ave.Anthony B and Lauren Kinermon are the stylists.Enjoy.

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After the 2 hour long debate on Septemeber 26th, I'm fairly certain that some walked away not knowing exactly who won. Putting my own political prejudice aside, I searched the web in hopes of becoming enlightened to the outcome. The sentiment most common happened to be in favor of Obama, mainly for his eloquence,intelligence and general candor.

 

 

 

In the name of being "truth mongers" and fishing out those attempts at journalism with maximum spin, Newstrust.net and Spinspotter.com have created sites dedicated to creating more transparency and providing the public with "good" journalism.Admittedly, Newstrust.net is considerably more user friendly, with easy access tabs at the top and side of the site for users to navigate thrigh stories of interest.The concept is plain and simple: "Your good guide to journalism." It is more reminiscent of a crafty, opinion driven search engine, serving the needs of those in search of well written and factual articles. Spinspotter however is a little more complicated. Providing more transparency in journalism is the clear concept; however, the site accomplishes this through a more user connected data base. Users can see the allegations of "spin happy" journalism made by other users, which is less straightforward than the Newstrust.net approach.

 

Both sites are very good at including the reader in the deinfition of good jounalism. Citizens can critique acts of journalism for their ammount of spin, inform others, rate articles and in turn partially control the site through it being user driven. Although these sites are monitored, they give the people a fair chance at  defining the merit of journalism and its importance, which subesquently raises the question; who decides how much spin is too much? Both sites suggest that a combination of professionals and public ultimately choose.

 

 

 

 

 

In the wake of the election, Sarah Palin's name is everywhere. After the scandal involving her baby, her baby having a baby or not, she has become a public figure of another caliber. She is the "poster-woman" for the politico/mom/candidate becoming famous and infamous for not only her political stance, but her family choices and circumstances. The Yahoo homepage said it all. A thumbnail size picture of Sarah Palin was next to the phrase " The buzz on Palin and Kanye this week." Media coverage has turned her into a household name; however, the "buzz" or the news surrounding her has escaped the realm of politics and seeped into celebrity.

The New York Times September 6th article by Clark Hoyt said it all with the title. The meat of the issue at hand encapsulated in the title " The Scrutiny of Sarah Palin" is what her coverage has become: scrutiny. After the discovery of her daughter's pregnancy, the shift of focus went from her positions of platform issues to her parenting skills.Political coverage, what so many politicians vie for in today's world,  is what has lead to Palin's shift in persona . Her introduction at the Republican National Convention as "just your average soccer mom" is a far cry from the truth of the situation.

Recently, US Weekly jumped on  the bandwagon as well. Newspapers and magazines alike have  all  taken their turn. The headline on the front page of the US Weekly issue read "Babies, Lies and Scandal," next to one of the most nurturing and motherly pictures of her to date. No matter the level of coverage, the media has turned her into a display of what a little attention can do to one's image. One day she was the Vice Presidential candidate, and the next day she is whatever we deem fit to call her along with her acceptance of the position.Either way, she is the perfect example of the power of the media in today's era.