Microsoft wants Netizens to get Bing'd. The search continues for Flight AF447. Who is Oprah's favourite young singer? These are the top stories gaining attention around the world.
If readers wanted a fascinating survey on issues such as sudden plane crashes, Cajun culture, European museums, Microsoft's new search engine and recession reactions, look no further than the journalism on DigitalJournal.com.
Carol Forsloff was busy as usual with her on-the-ground reports: she enlightened us to the
Cajun art dotting Louisiana this summer, even snapping illustrative photos of paintings and musicians she profiled. She also described the controversy swirling around the
selection of school superintendent in Natchitoches, Louisiana. It is an exclusive story that should inspire other writers to write about their communities. After all, the beauty of this enterprising type of the journalism comes from the joy of uncovering stories the mainstream media miss.
Always quick to cover political and arts stories,
Michael Cosgrove wrote about the
Resistance and Deportation Museum in Lyon, which "commemorates the French Resistance to Nazi occupation and the deportation of Jews to the death camps." He did a wonderful job in bringing this museum into the foreground for readers, while also literally giving it life with photos. By the end of the year, we should all be so well acquainted with Lyon we could be tour guides!
Stephanie Dearing recently heard the news about Canada officially being mired in a recession. But she didn't just want to report the headline; she
took to the streets to interview everyday Canadians about their reaction to the news, filing an intriguing story on what Canadians hope to get from their struggling economy. Check it out to find out the emotional temperature of anxious Canadians.
Brenton Currie Microsoft's new 'decision engine'
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Finally, we were treated to a comprehensive review of Microsoft's recently unveiled search engine,
Bing. Our tech expert
Brenton Currie told us what was hot and not so hot about Bing, even including his assessment of whether it could topple Google or Yahoo. We continue to appreciate your work on tech and Web issues, Brenton, and we'll look for your coverage of the upcoming Apple developer conference.
Also, we want to remind Digital Journalists to check out a
blog post by Chris Hogg about a London university researcher doing her MA on digital media. She's created a survey on citizen journalism and is asking citizen reporters for some help. Part of this research paper will also be published in the Canadian Journal of Communication next winter and on DigitalJournal.com. When you have a few minutes, please fill out the survey and offer your insight.
Many other stories are popular on DigitalJournal.com, including:
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Search for wreckage of French Airbus continues: In one of the most explosive stories of the week, an Air France plane disappeared off the Atlantic Ocean coast. The search continues to find the plane's debris, Michael Cosgrove wrote, and its passengers are all feared dead. We also got comprehensive coverage of the final
four minutes of Flight AF447 and speculation of what caused the
crash.
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Newspaper Ad Calls for Obama Assassination: Some called it stupidity, some called it a simple mistake -- a small-town newspaper in Pennsylvania ran a classified ad that not-so-subtly called for the murder of President Obama. The following day, the newspaper said it "apologizes for the oversight." Hmm, oversight? Talk about understatement.
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New Osama bin Laden Tape Released Before Obama's Egypt Trip: President Obama's recent talk in Cairo attracted international attention, but Osama bin Laden tried to steal his thunder by releasing another vitriol-laced tape. Digital Journalist Carol Forsloff says: "It's interesting to note that he released a tape when Bush made a trip to the Middle East last year and now releases one the day before Obama is scheduled to make a speech in Cairo, Egypt."
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Beheaded convict put on public display in Saudi Arabia: Still in the Middle East, DigitalJournal.com readers learned about the frightening details surrounding a beheaded criminal in Saudi Arabia. A man's crucified dead body was put on display to deter future crime, Saudi officials claimed, but groups such as Amnesty International have condemned the act as "brutal punishment."
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Operation Rescue's Randall Terry reacts to Dr. Tiller's murder: The murder of Dr. George Tiller, a doctor known to perform abortions, has sparked reactions across the U.S. Bart B. Van Bockstaele points us to a videotaped response from a pro-life figure, Randall Terry. Check out the article and video to find out what is so intriguing about his statement.
Photo by aceofclub5 David Carradine, known for his role in kung fu films, recently died
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David Carradine Dead at 73: In entertainment news, Hollywood was shocked to hear about the sudden death of Kung Fu star David Carradine. A mystery surrounds the odd details of his death, so it has yet to be determined whether his death resulted from suicide or an accident.
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Charice Pempengco: Oprah Winfrey's Favorite Young Singer: We never heard of Charice until Oprah (and Leo Reyes) alerted us to this stunningly talented musician. Give the article a read to find out why Charice is charming fans across the world, and why Oprah can't get enough of this young star.
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Unpublished Photos of Marilyn Monroe Surface: For fans of old-school starlets, this article is bookmark-worthy. M Dee Dubroff told us about these Life Magazine pics taken before Monroe become a voluptuous celebrity. As the journalist eloquently put it, these photos of an "untroubled time reveal a fresh and lovely Marilyn little known to the world."
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Is it over for 'Jon and Kate Plus 8?': For some reason, people are talking about this reality TV show (we blame octo-mom). Now we learned that allegations of an affair could be spell the end for Jon & Kate Plus 8. This 1,200-worder gave us a good overview of the series and what is frustrating the main participants. Looks like
Peep culture just got a little slimier.
TopFinds Awards
The honourees of this week's
TopFinds Awards attracted impressive attention and widest readership. Digital Journal thanks the following Digital Journalists with Awards for their passion for covering the top issues of the day:
Subhabrata Das,
M Dee Dubroff,
Stephanie Dearing,
Brenton Currie,
John Louie S. Ramos,
Michael Cosgrove,
Leo Reyes,
Nikki Weingartner,
Bart B Van Bockstaele,
Carol Forsloff, and
KJ Mullins.
The Top Blog Post of the Week goes to
Debra Myers for continuously tickling our funny bone. One of our favourite
posts satirically looked at other male performance-enhancing drugs that could slip into the market, such as Flatulagra (turning farts into air freshener) and Liagra (helping men lie more successfully about sexual affairs).
