Sunday, February 15, 2009

Blog #7: News Worthy?



Click on the above link to read a bit of “earth shattering news.” Clearly this is not important news, and ranks low on a list of vital information. Despite my condemnation, you will note this was posted on a BBC World News website, a well respected news agency. When I came across this article, several thoughts entered my mind. On one level, I’m curious how this woman fed herself, or how she got dressed. Daily existence must have been a real challenge. On a more practical level, I thought about the pointlessness of the article. This was information I really did not need to know; moreover, it’s not really that interesting. I am a big believer in our 1st Amendment, and we need the freedom of the press. It’s what makes our democracy so awesome! However, should the press use discretion when reporting news? Maybe or maybe not.

Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were two reporters for the Washington Post and through dogged hard work and luck, uncovered information that led to the downfall of President Nixon. Here I’m speaking of the Watergate scandal. These two reporters went from reporting the news to making the news. Referring back to the silly article about the woman’s nails, what makes information news worthy? Ponder this question, and post your thoughts about what information our news agencies should report.

29 comments:

7b michelle said...

I agree that this article is completely pointless. I mean, most normal people don't care that a woman broke her nails in a car crash. There is so much stuff that is more important than this event. Everyone breaks nails, it is too common to be in the news. In answer to the question what should make the news, I think that a story should have some importance. I think it should also be interesting, and not bore the readers half to death. I don't think the government should allow the media to manipulate people's opinions. Just because the media likes or dislikes someone, they shouldn't make that decision for everyone else. We saw a good example of this in the recent election. Obama was always front page, big picture, big article, etc, etc. While Obama was highly publicized, McCain was not. He has much smaller, and sometimes demeaning articles about him in the news. I think that news should be more based on fact, rather than opinion.

7abryson said...

not only bbc showed this oon the news. this morning i was watching the news and the reporter talked about lee breaking her nails beyond recovery. I think they put it on the news because lee made a big deal about it. i think it was a bit interesting because they took her out of the guiness book of world records and that doesnt happen so often. I disagree with michelle about this boring someone half to death. it was actually kind of short and easy to read for me. though i do agree with michelle about obama always being front page. obama also was on more commercials than mccain. the thing is obama got more advertising money then mccain. I agree a story should be more interesting. but if it is short enough for someone to read it will be okay. yes it should be more on fact than opinion.

7aAnna said...

Well first of all, that is kind of gross , but I don't think that that story was news worthy at all. That kind of story is for someone like Guinness of World Records to cover which of course they did. But those people just wasted their time when they could have been doing something that was more important. The news is a way to get important information out to people like weather and other stuff that people need to know that cannot be put in the papers in time and in my opinion, that story was a misuse of the news. I think that if more reporters tried to do stuff like the two men who handled the Watergate scandal, the news would probably be a lot more interesting if there were as many stories in the news that are almost piontless. Something news worthy is likesomething that is going on with the government or something about a storm that is coming towards where we live. Something that is news worthy is something that people really need to know.

7b michelle said...

7a Bryson, i was not trying to imply that this story was boring, that was in answer to the question what I think should make the news.

7b maggie said...
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7b maggie said...

well ok i dont agree w/ michelle that it would "bore someone half to death." but it is kinda interesting. but the reason y i say this is b/c when i read this it was actually not that bad. well yeah it is not impotant but like mr. mercereau said " how did she eat?" that is what i thought about also when i read it.but its not like i would sit down and watch it on the news forever but i wouldnt exactly say i will not watch it.

and what is interesting is awhile back i went to McDonalds and got a kids meal. well when u get one of those thay have cool things to look at for kids. well me sitting there doing nothing, started looking at it and it had pictures about world records and i saw that same lady(she looked exactly the same then)on the front of it. and what is wierd is they had a looonngg paragraph about her. i just thought that was cool cause she was that famous for her nails.

charlie7A said...

I think it’s a weird pointless thing and its nasty to let your fingernails grow all that time. It
would be hard to get around like that because they would be in your way. They really shouldn’t tell people because its not something to look forward to seeing the ladies picture in the paper or on T.V.in the morning.News is to inform you not tell you how long someones fingernails are.

7b michelle said...

I keep telling you, if you read my paragraph, I am not trying to say this news article bores people to death! Please read the sentence before that sentence. It clearly says, "In answer to the question what should make the news..." That sentence is in answer to what is newsworthy in my opinion. I am not trying to imply that this article bores you to death. I actually thought it was a little funny.

7BCALEB said...

First of all-who even carezs about a bunch of three feet nails. Its kinda, gross. This is very pointless and Shoudln't need to be front page. I mean, come ON!!, a lady breaks off her nails is more important than say something going on with our government or the War in Iraq? Well something that is news worthy I would say would have to be some thing important. Of course, something I think is important may not be important to someone else. Mybe this lady breaking her fingernails was important to someone else? Well I guess, in a way this is part of our culture, we are the only country with a lady who hasn't cut her nails since, 1978 was it? Well any way I tried to answer this question to the best of my ability. It was sorta tough.

PS. MICHELLE: you do sorta imply that the story was boring. Yes you did say, "In answer to the question what should make the news," but it also implies to the story we are talking about at the moment. That is what this whole blog is ALL about---IS THIS STORY NEWS WORTHY?

Mr. Mercereau said...

CHILDREN!

This blog is meant to express your thoughts, not criticize each other.

Please do not get petty with your posts.

You can disagree with people in a respectful manner.

Remember, we are ALL Christians with differing viewpoints.

7b michelle said...

I apologize for any confusion my post may have caused. I should have put a space between my paragraphs so it would be clearer. In actuality, I do not think this article is boring. True, it is pointless and I don't think it should have made the news, but it was short and rather funny. Again, If my post caused any confusion, I am sorry for the trouble it has caused.

Abby said...

I don’t think this story needed to be brought to the attention of the world its not that important even though some what amusing. I agree with Michelle everyone breaks fingernails even though I absolutely hate when it happens to me :) and I ABSOLUTLEY agree with Caleb who cares about 3 feet fingernails other than its gross!
So now to answer the question: the information that should be publicized is things like the gas crisis, who got elected president, the thing with the peanut butter salmonella, things that keep our country safe and informed, and really a woman who broke her nails in a wreck is not news worthy.
~7b abby

Dustin said...

I do not think this is very important. 1st growing your fingernails out that long would have to be hard.2nd this is so pointless. 3rd if i were her i would just cut them because i would already have my name in world records books.last how can someone sleep at night knowing they might break a nail. did i mention this is pointless even though u get in record books.

POINTLESS!!!!!!!!!

7b Charity said...

I believe also that this is pointless but kind of funny! i mean it might not be the most interesting thing in the world but what makes this article worthy is the fact that the woman put herself in this position. i mean i bet it was pretty hard to not brake a nail and she probable had to have people feed and dress her. The accomplishment was she got in the World Record Book

7bmatt said...

I do not think that story was news worthy. I think the news media should only show the important stuff like the weather and important events that are happening in our area and around the world. Important events like the plane landing in the hudson river and the war in Iraq. Well we can't forget sports. That is important tooo!

AdelleGrace said...

I think that maybe somebody important requested either this exact thing or requested something funny in some way. I think that she had aton of servants or "helpers" to help or do for her the daily things of life such as:dressing, brushing teeth, brushing hair, eating, answering the door or telephone/cellphone, scratch an itch, blow your nose.... You get the point.

Unknown said...

i think this article was pointless, but in a way kind of interesting. i kind of feel bad for her in a way because her nails were her life, but then again maybe she can actually have a normal life now. i do not think it should have made the news though, to me there is more important things to here about then a lady breaking her nails.

7b regina said...

This article might not be worth the thousands of dollars spent for the minutes reporting on TV this event. They probably wanted to talk about something different because they got tired of the same stuff they talked about. Now this week I have watched QUITE a bit of news here being sick and all and I hear all these things that the state people say and you can pretty much predict what they are going to say and it gets boring after awhile. So mabye they wanted something just different, someone's thought to someone's personality. Growing nails that long must of been a pain, not only would all her old class mates might of ran away from her and never talked to her, still there is some things that people think are cool, boring, never to forget kind of news. It is another way of saying everyone likes different things. Some people might think the news is boring and that adults go back and forth with different news stations to get news and markets. I got pretty BORED watching the numbers go up or down, listening to the people talk and every, now if i saw that news on TV I would of been shocked and watch the news more often to see knew things that happen in the world. Little things can do a lot. Now don't let me let you think I like the whole nails thing when I have nails. When i talk to some people they focus on where my hands are so I won't touch them. It is curious how she grew them so long and didn't break, she must of had LOTS of vitamins. Its someone's personality, its a fact not fiction. I'd rather watch that right now then listen to the stocks behind me on TV. To people Nails might be something that just grows on you, but to some people it is important, for exaple, you here girls and women talk about when they got medicures or wanting long perfect smooth not that sharp not yellow but clearish nails. Most people get the fake nails because their nails can't grow and want tips how to grow them ect. ect. Some people pay BIG bucks to get their nails done, she proved to women that if you have patience, gentleness, and persiverence you can grow your nails for as long as you want and still do everything. Let me tell everyone just how much i know about the money, each time my mom has some to talk to and i meet them for the first time i shake hands and the say this, " WOW! How in the worls did you ever get your nails to be that long and are strong too, I bet you file them every night." EVERYONE says that, it is anoying after awhile and in elementry it got even more annoying! I remember when all then girls wanted to start to have long nails and thought it would be cool, and when they saw mine they said the same thing and started to tell all their friends and soon enough everyone wanted to see my nails, while the boys left me alone. I got use to it, I just wonder how many times people told her to cut her nails. ( I wonder how she did it???) well this is my opinion of this topic sorry if i went a little over board, its still the same topic of how interesting she seems to be with all these questions in my head about how she did things.

PLEASE DON'T CRITIZISE ME FOR THE FOLLOWING: I really think she diserved being on the news, she is VERY unique and interesting!

7BKipper said...

I in my opinion will get to the point I think this news report is completely retarted. Why would the news talk about a woman with long nails when we have lots more important things to focus on.she already won the record why did they take her out of the book. And more importantly why would you want to do this with your nails. And like mr. m said how does she dressed that would take forever, anyway back to the point. I agree with 7b michelle this is supposed to be based on fact not opinion. But im not going to get into the presidential election thats off the subject.

7a morgan said...

What is news? To see whats going on in the world around you. Sometimes entertaining, sometimes its political,sometimes its just basic facts. Entertaining, can be pointless but its can be fun to read.

I think that this story should be news. Hey, its not about presidencey or jail breaks, but it's things happening around us. Isn't it nice to know whats going on around us besides obamas dog or a the senate going to give up his place or ...

I see were Michelle is coming from when she says its pointless, but I think u think that is because it's about the car crash and that she broke her nails. I think that the point of the story was more about the fact how long her nails were or about her amazing goal, and how it got ruined. Pointless, also because it doesn't effect us. For instance knowing that we need to elect a new president. So we know we need to go vote. Or even the weather, so we know what to were or if a hurricane is coming. That is the main stuff we need in the news.

This story was interesting and entertaining and should be news not just because of the crash and her goal was ruined but the fact she did that for years and know one else did. Hey, maybe it is pointless but it is entertaining and we can learn about people around us. Besides news paper people need to use story like this it helps keeps the papers rolling. Not saying that its the only thing just its nice to see different stuff in the news paper.

7b regina said...
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7b regina said...

Morgan I agree! This was interesting and we do need new stuff once in awhile. Like I sort of said in my to long opinion some where.

Kipper, not to be critizizing or anything but we need new stuff once in awhile and not just talk about the same stuff almost every day.

7b sarah said...

im not really sure you can define what news worthy is if this is the kind of thing the news talks about. i mean, yeah its kinda weird/cool/i dont really know but its not the kind of thing thats going to get us out of this economical crisis. we should be hearing about what the army is doing over in iraq. not just the stuff they show on the news but the good stuff thats happening over there. those are the kind of things that should be told. back to the begining of my paragraph, news should be things that people need to hear about. yes, we need to hear about the presidint and his decisions and yes, the sports page is part of who america is but the news should be something the american people(and every one else in the world)should be able to rely on knowing whats going on from a veiw in the middle which our news chanels dont do a very good job of. we the people should be able to look at anything news-like and know that thats whats really going on. no one is going to need to know about a person who once held the record for longest fingernails(which is kinda gross/cool)because it is something insignificant that people arent going to remember very well next week. im just trying to say that the media needs to redefine what the definition of news-worthy is because there is alot of junk in the news that no one cares about.

7A Caleb said...

I don't think this article is interesting enough to be on the news and I really think this article is pointless. But that's my opinion - someone else may think it is interesting and news worthy. Let's face it, if this article was in the newspaper with the lady's picture above the article and right beside this article was an article about the War in Iraq with a picture of congress meeting, making a decision about the war - Which article would most people read first? I think the press should use discretion when reporting news - definitely sticking to the facts, but being careful to always report the truth.

7aAnna said...

I don't see why people are making such a big deal about this that they are putting it in the news! This isn't really anything new because there have been many other record holders for the same thing. For example Shridhar Chillal about 10 years ago held the record. He had been growing his nails since he was 14 and the hand that he grew them on is disfigured permenatly. This man had 22ft. of finger nails on ONE HAND. The lady that just broke her nails had 28ft. of finger nails on BOTH hands. I don't see why BBC made such a big deal about this person and put her on the news when they could be covering a more important story that people need to know.

7aAnna said...

I completely agree with 7b caleb about his last post.

7aAnna said...

I do agree with kipper but and regina about the part that we need new things in the news but they don't but the same things in every day. But reporters can put stuff in that is different and they do but I think that this article was a little unnecessary.

7b regina said...

7A anna, ALL the things on the news is either about something the president did, markets, how people do things that happened in that day. So wouldn't this classsify as something new and something that happened to some one in that day, its new,fresh, and different. It can be the first step in a big hit.

Unknown said...

I think it is a 100% pointless but it is news.Its weird that some how it makes news that a woman broke her nails, but on the other hand she had the longest nails and was in the book of world record.News is though any thing that happens around us, report of an event.