READ ME: A vote is not editable

A few weeks ago, I did a blog presentation in my Editing Print and Online Media class. During that presentation, I mentioned that I hadn't voted in the recent election. I remember seeing a few confused faces and shaking heads, so I just thought I would try to explain a bit about why I didn't vote.

Part of the reason I didn't vote is because a vote is one of the few things that cannot be edited after the fact. When the 27th of October came around, I didn't feel like I knew enough about the candidates who were running to make an informed decision that I wouldn't regret later on. So, rather than supporting a candidate I knew nothing about, I chose not to support anyone. I refused to blindly vote for the favorite because I didn't have enough information. Granted, it was on me to get that information, but I would much rather keep my vote to myself than make an uninformed decision that I couldn't change later on.

In a sense, I had edited my right to vote, and instead exercised my right to not vote.


On a different note, I had a little run-in with one of the candidates for the upcoming by-election on the 29th.

The fence of my house faces a fairly busy street, and we share it with about 7 other houses . On that fence, I have signs showing my support for Kevin Lamoreux as Winnipeg North's MP. My neighbours also have signs supporting Kevin. These signs are there because Kevin came to our neighbourhood twice to ask for our support, and to ask if he could put his signs on our fence.

Now, about a week and a half ago, I was in my basement enjoying a game of Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies, when I hear the doorbell ring. My sister answers the door to a filipino man. We'll call him Tito. Tito immediately launches into a protest against Kevin Lamoreux, saying he hasn't done anything worth mentioning for the filipino community during his time in office, and that he is "monopolizing" the fence with his signs. He then informs us that he put up signs on our fence for his wife, who is also running for Winnipeg North MP (surprise, surprise). Then, he hands us a flyer, and takes his leave without mentioning anything about who he is campaigning for and why we should vote for her.

At this point, I assessed the situation. Tito assumed that Kevin just put up signs without asking permission. He assumed that we would support who he was campaigning for based on the fact that we are filipino and we would support any filipino running for office. And he assumed that I wasn't smart enough to do something about this. Wrong!

I immediately went outside and took down the signs Tito had just put up. About 2 days later, I hear the doorbell, and I answer the door to Tito. He asked me why the signs he put up were taken down, and I told him that he didn't ask for permission to put the signs up, and that Kevin did. He then asked me where my family was originally from in the Philippines. I told him, and it turns out that we both came from neighbouring provinces. He then implied that because we're from the same area, I should show my support for his campaign. I told him that my support is reserved for those who take the time to come to my door and explain how they can help the community, not how others do not. I also explained that my personal support goes to candidates who respect my family's property and don't take advantage of cultural similarities.

He had nothing to say after that. In retrospect, he should have edited his attitude to reflect a positive view on his candidate's campaign, rather than a negative view on the opposition.

Mockumentaries and why I love them

So if you didn't already know, a mockumentary (also known as a mock documentary) is a genre of film and television where events are presented in a non-fiction or documentary format. Great examples of these TV shows are The Office (both the UK and US versions) and Parks and Recreation. While other TV shows are very well edited and presented (like Dexter, 24, Freaks and Geeks, etc.), shows like The Office are edited in a way that further exaggerates the joke. Often this is done by prolonging a scene to capture the reactions and emotions of the actors. In a lot of TV shows, emotion is communicated through background audio (Law and Order, for example). The Office does this without any audio at all, which is why I love this TV show so much.

And since we'll be talking about Wikipedia in today's Editing Online Print and Media class, here's a link to a short clip from The Office. In this clip, Michael Scott talks about how awesome Wikipedia is? Agree, disagree, or agree to disagree, its all good =)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFBDn5PiL00

Legal guidelines for Jounalists

I came across this video on Youtube while doing research for the Libel assignment in my Online Print and Media class. Enjoy!

Legal guidelines for Journalists (Part 1 of 2) (Sorry, I don't know how to embed videos -_-)

Does size matter?..

... When it comes to headlines? Of course it does.

Although I missed the last Editing Print and Online Media class on headline writing, I think the message is pretty clear. Be concise, but descriptive. Hook the reader, but don't give the story away. Of course, this is easier said than done, but the headline in the picture below falls short on all counts. How did this slip by the editors?

After reading that headline, the only details left out are the specifics. Things like the date this happened, the name of the pub, and the names of those involved. But most readers don't care for this information. If I had come across this in a local publication, it's likely that I would have read the headline, glanced at the pictures, and moved on to the next page. Some would argue that there's no point to printing the story that accompanies this headline because it tells too much of the story. Although, to be honest, I would want to skim the story for an explanation of the sumo suit and the Snickers suit.