Juicy Campus

So I know this is technically not a news site, but I had to post on this because I couldn’t believe it existed.

Juicy Campus is an anonymous beta forum where people can post heinous gossip about people on campuses around the country. I first heard about it from a friend at Dook, and then I realized you can search for other campuses from Pepperdine to yes, UNC.

While the site doesn’t seem that active at UNC, yet, I have already noticed some hateful posts. Many of the posts, however, seem to be made by students at other schools since they insult Tyler Hansborough. One post mistakenly identifies sororities at Duke as sororities at UNC.

It seems to be an anonymous forum for Perez Hilton-wannabes, and it makes me nervous.

Obviously, anonymous posts lack credibility, but that doesn’t mean the word isn’t out there. In fact, once a post is up, users can not delete it. The only option is to either reply or apply a “thumbs down” sign. Oh and the site suggests taking it “with a grain of salt.”

I know I wouldn’t want my name on there at all. And if your name shows up, you have no way of knowing who posted the comment.

How could this affect life on campus? Does campus life really need to be any more catty?

The Daily Pulp

For today’s news site post, I thought I would share with you all a hometown journo favorite of mine.

While working at The Miami Herald a couple summers ago, I realized that The Daily Pulp was on the list of things to do upon arrival at the office.

The Daily Pulp is written by Bob Norman, an investigative reporter for independent weekly the New Times in my home county Broward and author of Florida Pulp Nonfiction: True Crime in the Sunshine State.

Norman writes a salty blog about news and media in South Florida. His credibility is high in South Florida newsrooms from The Miami Herald to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel to The Palm Beach Post, although he has often shown favor to the Herald over the Sun-Sentinel. (I grew up with The Miami Herald so I often agree with his bias).

He criticizes much of the mainstream media for grabbing stories from the New Times, which has Miami and Broward-Palm Beach issues.

But a nod from Norman often brings clout and praise in the newsroom. In fact, the one time my name was mentioned in his blog was worth spending another summer at home.

If you ever want to know more about the dirt in South Florida (of which there is PLENTY) check out this blog. It’s honesty causes me to continue to read the blog even though I know spend most of the year in North Carolina.

Away from Ipanema

On the hills of Rio de Janeiro above the famous Ipanema Beach sprawl shanty towns known as favelas where the city’s poor live in dangerous and dirty conditions.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva visited Cantagalo this week, touting promises of change for the long-neglected areas, according to BBC NEWS.

The economy in Brazil has grown in recent years with its continued self-sufficiency in oil and its exports of iron ore to China. The added income has led President Lula to start a $1.7 billion program in the favelas of Rio. A third of the population in Rio and Sao Paulo live in the cities’ slum areas.

The money will go to improve sanitation, roads and housing, according to BBC NEWS. Lula has also taken an agressive stance on the drug gangs familiar in the favelas.

Samba music greeted Lula in Cantagalo, the first such visit by Lula during his presidency. Lula was born in the poor northeastern region and spend much of his childhood in Sao Paulo.

Huffington Post

The Huffington Post has a visually appealing homepage, as flashy as it might be. It features video prominently, with coverage of Karl Rove on Fox News. I also like the scrolling headlines at the top, which to me provides some sort of serendipity in a medium where that is hard to find.

 Most of the site links to the reporting of other Web sites. I like the idea of a quick read option. It gives users the chance to decide whether they want to follow through to next site or go back to The Huffington Post without reading the entire article.

The site also takes advantage of the trend of using tags, giving users related tags when they click on a blog post. I particularly like the blogs in the Living section.

The Top News section is interesting because instead of just listing the most read stories in general, it lists the top news in each subject from media, to politics, to business.

Some of the photos The Huffington Post used were annoying. It seemed like the site was trying to find an image–any image–for each of its stories. This resulted in a picture of Anne Hathaway for a story that had nothing to do with her and video game company logos that appeared to be advertisements.

Overall, I like what the site has done, but it would have more credibility with better reporting and better photos.

Populations against Populists

The South American leaders described as “political soulmates” by BBC NEWS both have faced protests this week against their respective proposals to make constitutional changes.

Bolivian opposition members went on strike Wednesday, closing down banks, schools and public transport, according to BBC NEWS. The protests took place in six of nine provinces, but they had the strongest support in Santa Cruz, an oil-rich area toward the east.

President Evo Morales has pushed constitutional changes that he says will help the indigenous majority in the country. The changes would further nationalize natural resources, a process some say will scare off foreign investors.

In Venezuela, thousands of students led a protest in Caracas rejecting plans by President Hugo Chavez to change much of the constitution, according to BBC NEWS. The country will hold a referendum on the changes Dec. 2.

The changes include a presidency without term limits, presidential control over the central bank and a removal of controls over the president during a state of emergency.

Chavez says the changes will work against government corruption and the oligarchy. Opposition leaders argue the proposed changes will penalize any Chavez opposition in the future.

The two socialist, leaders have made many similar plans to expand government and distribute wealth in the countries. Both have had high popular support and opposition.

USAToday.com

While I don’t like reading USA Today as a print publication. The Web site does a good job addressing things that consumers want. It offers a lot of service–more importantly, personalized service.

The Marketplace bar offers the practical areas that Internet users are interested in, including jobs, cars and shopping. I thought it was creative that the marketplace also offers connections to online degrees as online schools have grown in popularity. These sorts of links are sure to generate page views and make USAToday.com a portal for Internet users. It would be good if the marketplace bar included real estate.

The site has also embraced the idea of creating an online community. Users can personalize the forecast, become a member of the USAToday.com community and see different comments made by other users right at the top of the page.

I like the news blog, although I think the link should be more prominent. The blog is perfect for people with a few minutes to get the news highlights. Though it is not as personalized as a news feed can be, it gives a good overview for people who don’t have RSS feeds.

I like that the site only lists three of its blogs high on the homepage. Many times newspaper sites get it wrong by listing too many blogs in small type, making the user experience overwhelming and creating a paradox of choice. If a user is interested in seeing more blogs, there is a link to the full list. And even that list splits the blogs into workable categories such as tech and money.

Choque

Spanish and Latin American media have honed in on the argument between Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and the Spanish leadership.

Spanish newspaper El Pais has called the disagreement “El Choque Del Rey y Chavez,” literally the crash between the King and Chavez.

The coverage follows outbursts made by Chavez at the Ibero-American Summitin Santiago, Chile this weekend that caused Spanish King Juan Carlos to leave the meeting.

The Venezuelan president called former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar a “fascist,” a sensitive term in the country that still remembers the 36-year military rule of General Francisco Franco.

The Spanish Minister of the Interior, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, has said that if Chavez wants a good relationship with Spain, he most show respect to King Juan Carlos, the current president Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and former leaders, such as Aznar.

The Spanish monarch at the summit asked Chavez why he would not “shut up” as Zapatero spoke.

According to BBC NEWS, Chavez now has responded by telling the king to shut up and by questioning his involvement in a coup that overthrew the Venezuelan president for two days in 2002.

Most of Chavez’s Latin American supporters, including Bolivian President Evo Morales, did not back up his comments at the summit.

However, Cuban leader Fidel Castro defended Chavez in a commentary published Sunday, according to The International Herald Tribune.

Castro, who has placed his brother Raul in control of the country during his illness, also criticized a speech made by the president of El Salvador defending a fair trade agreement.

“Capitalism is a system governed by blind, destructive and tyrannical laws that have been imposed on the human species,” Castro wrote.

Wonkette.com

Wonkette: The D.C. Gossip makes me wonder about the future of online journalism.

The blog, which offers one part politics, one part gossip and three parts profanity, has a similar format to its parent blog Gawker.com, which covers Manhattan media gossip.

On one hand, The Wonkette seems like a way to get people talking about politics, a plus in any democracy. On the other hand, I’m not sure how to take the information on the site seriously when it creates crass terms for Washington figures and institutions.

Much of the site plugs other D.C. blogs, such as DCist and Below the Beltway, as well as the blogs belonging to Gawker media, such as Jezebel.com, a blog devoted to celebrity, sex and fashion.

Wonkette is also unabashedly biased, slamming Dick Cheney and sundry Republicans. However, it doesn’t miss out on making fun of Democrats like Clinton and Gore.

And don’t miss the labeling of Ron Paul supporters as “Paultards.”

To be honest, I don’t know what to think about Wonkette.

As a politics junkie, who finds a guilty pleasure in gossip, the blog seems just right for Generation Y (or is it the MTV generation?).

But what are the consequences for democracy and discourse?

I’ve seen elements of The Wonkette in the Triangle’s most recent political blog, The Soup, which claims to cover North Carolina politics as well as gossip and hearsay. The blog, written by anonymous contributors, has been rumored to have connections to a particular campaign.

While blogs like these can be informative and entertaining, how can they be trusted?

Disaster for the poor

The flooding that has left two-thirds of Mexico’s Tabasco state swathed in water has drawn comparisons to another so-called “biblical” disaster of recent years, Hurricane Katrina.

Some applaud a rapid response from the Mexican government, which sent thousands of soldiers and federal police two days before the worst flooding hit, according to TIME magazine.

Helena Ranchal, regional head of the European Commission’s emergency relief fund, said the human cost of the disaster would have reached higher had the government not responded as it did.

Three people in Villahermosa, the capital of Tabasco, have been confirmed dead, as opposed to the close to 2,000 left dead by Hurricane Katrina.

However, some source remain skeptical of the government response. And once again, some point to a lack of flood prevention before the storms hit.

About 20,000 people remained on their rooftops Monday with 1 million residents displaced, according to the Los Angeles Times.

A supervisor of a shelter that received 900 residents said that government sent only enough food for 300 people.

Proceso, a Mexican magazine, accused the government of Tabasco of “criminal negligence,” saying that it did not provide infrastructure to prevent such flooding and allowed developers to construct buildings in delicate areas.

Authorities sent more medical workers and police officers into the region Tuesday in an effort to address health concerns and prevent looting, according to The New York Times.

Conservative President Felipe Calderon has faced criticism for not paying enough attention to the poor residents of the south, especially from his defeated opponent in last year’s election, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a Tabasco native.

WRAL.com

The 5 on Your Side section of the WRAL.com site had its positive and negative aspects. While the opportunity to submit consumer complaints and the Restaurant Ratings by Request promoted interactivity of users, the format of the Web site seemed lazy.

It is obvious that WRAL has not achieved any autonomy on its Web site or promoted creativity in the presentation of its content. Most of the video is directly from the original broadcast.

While the information regarding restaurant ratings was enlightening, the format made me cringe. If I weren’t forcing myself to look at content on the side, I would have quickly exited the video. There was no text story to accompany the video, only the original package.

It would make it a lot easier for Internet users to quickly get this information through a text block listing the ratings of the restaurants, rather than forcing them to sit through sound effects and graphics on a video.

The content about the consumer recall on frozen pizzas was equally disappointing, with the video again taken directly from the broadcast. In fact, the video provided no additional value to the story because it was just a graphic listing the recalled brands and the possible contamination. This information was already in the story.