Clark, if you can think of anything that needs to be done that this kid can do, let him know. If you would, send him a quick e-mail introducing yourself as well.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:
will bird <willbird10@gmail.com>Date: Mon, Dec 20, 2010 at 11:04 AM
Subject: Reddit : Leakspin
To:
barriticus@gmail.com
It's good to hear from you Barrett. Don't worry about the delayed response, I have been busy with graduation and packing/unpacking the last 5 years of my life. I think that it is great you are able to work with famous journalists like
Michael Hastings. That is really something to be proud of.
I watched the Project PM video and I think that it has some serious potential behind it to become a very useful way of sharing news and ideas. I would love to help with any projects you have going on and need a little extra help to complete. I will send you some writing samples I have written for some of my classes either later today or tomorrow. (I need to find my flash drives in the moving mess I now have)
The criticisms I have of the US media are basically with the Gatekeepers who decide what can and cannot be published.
Print media and the journalists who contribute to it are for the most part doing an alright job. One example of them not doing a good job is Time Magazine in their most recent Person of the Year scandal. Time gave Mark Zuckerburg the award instead of Julian Assange. Assange won the poll online by a landslide compared to Zuckerburg! Obviously if Time were legit they would have given the award to Assange but the Gatekeepers and the US government decided otherwise. I think Wikileaks is important so people can see the truth about events and not what the Gatekeepers say is important).
I read our local newspaper when I come home and I have a subscription to Fortune magazine but I read the majority of magazines online. I am 24 and I get 98% of all my news off the internet. It's just easier and if I think a particular story is full of shit I can research what they are reporting about on the fly. Websites like Reddit are useful because you can also read other peoples reaction to news stories and see their opinions and not just your own. I think in a democracy everyone should voice their opinion and be able to decide what the best outcome should be. The only way for that to happen though is if people are given real information to begin with.
Another problem I have is with the broadcast media. I absolutely cannot understand how people can sit down and watch celebrities like Bill O'Reilly and Nancey Grace for example every single night an expect to learn something. It's a circus with each of them yelling back and fourth as loud as possible, cutting to commercial breaks that push bullshit products, then coming back on the air and telling only their side of a story or only what they have been told they can say. They have bullshit stories they push, bullshit people giving interviews, and bullshit questions they ask.Broadcast media has become pathetic and I really am really ashamed that so many people use it to get their information.
I appreciate you taking the time to respond to my emails and I can't believe that a simple Reddit post has been able to do this for me. I will find my flash drives and email you some of my past papers soon i promise. I hope we can change the world!
Thanks Barrett,
William Birdsong