Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich leaps into hot water. Amsterdam stomps on its “joint ventures.” And how Britney’s comeback skips the obvious jokes and gets down to business. These are the top stories making news right now.
Digital Journal — Back in grade school, we learned there are no dumb questions. The dumbest question is the unspoken one. On DigitalJournal.com, many outspoken questions led to thoughtful articles touching on a wide range of subjects: Is Barack Obama a natural-born citizen? What makes boxer Manny Pacquiao so popular? Has Caylee Marie Anthony’s body been found?
Special kudos goes to the excellent citizen journalism efforts of armstrong vaz, who is covering his homeland Goa with all the thorough zeal of a travel writer. He has recently given us snapshots of India’s smallest state by profiling a disabled newspaper boy, a portrait of a journalist hoping to save agricultural land and a peek inside Goan cuisine. These articles survey the state to deliver fresh editorial on an area the rest of the media often overlook.
Many other fascinating stories are making news right now, including:
• Pacquiao Wins Over Oscar de la Hoya: The most anticipated boxing match of the year finally climaxed with Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines triumphing over Oscar de la Hoya. Leo Reyes has been tireless in his coverage of the buzz leading up to his event, and he didn’t disappoint his fans by complementing coverage with additional quotes from de la Hoya, who admitted Pacquiao “prepared like a true champion.” Good save, Oscar.
• Is Barack Obama Natural Born?: A retired lawyer is trying to stir some trouble by requesting to learn more about Barack Obama’s place of birth. The article also added a dash of opinion as the reporter sought to determine what inspired the lawyer and why his motives are wrong-headed.
• Obama Seeks Chu To Be Next US Energy Secretary: As the Obama cabinet begins shaping up, the appointees seem to have come from all walks of life: the U.S. Energy Secretary will be Nobel Prize laureate Steven Chu, a physicist known for his research in laser cooling and trapping of atoms. Nothing like bringing a much-heralded nerd factor to the cabinet.
• Will the recent indictment of Governor Blagojevich consume President-elect Obama?: When authorities announced Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was under investgiation for trying to bribe away Obama’s Senate seat, the U.S. took notice. But as this article explained, will the scandal consume Obama too much? After all, “Obama enthusiastically supported the governor for his reelection bid” so this kind of news will only dampen the holidays for the Obama camp.
• Man Drives Bus Into Lake following GPS Instructions: Gadget lovers, watch out for those tricky GPS navigators. A Polish man drove into a lake after following instructions on his GPS, thereby granting him the Dumb Move of the Week Award and making geeks everywhere rethink on how reliant they should be with their tech.
• Signs of water and maybe even weather found on a distant planet: A giant gassy planet similar to Jupiter (no dirty jokes) has been discovered to contain water, carbon dioxide and methane. Other citizen journalists were excited by this find, with Varun B. Krishnan writing: “The first thing that comes to my mind after reading that is this that there might be other forms of life which don’t subsist on oxygen.”
• Half of all Amsterdam prostitution windows, coffeeshops to close: Stoner tourists, hang your head in sadness: an Amsterdmam city councillor is pushing to shutter the doors of the pot-friendly coffeeshops in the city, while also imploring the city to shut down prostitution areas in the downtown core. The politician said, “We would like it if there wouldn’t be a story of modern slavery hiding behind that smiling woman in the window.”
• Britney Comes Back With a Chart Topper: Call it well-timed hibernation. Britney took a break from music to deal with life drama but now she’s back with a new album, TV specials and music videos. Saikat Basu lists her chart-topping numbers and why Web surfers love her: Britney “beat out Barack Obama in the Internet sweepstakes of being the most searched person in 2008.” Hit me baby one more time, indeed.
We were treated to two episodes of Digital Journal TV this week. First, editors Chris Hogg and David Silverberg advised holiday shoppers on some unique tech gifts to consider buying this month (and beyond?). If you’ve always wanted to learn how a GPS device could protect your car from theft, and why a digi-cam memory card saves you time (and wires), then this is the episode for you.
On the same tech tip, interested to learn more about the BlackBerry Storm? Think it could topple Apple’s iPhone? Find out Digital Journal’s take on this highly-hyped smartphone and get the facts on what works and what flunks. All we’re saying is “buyer beware.” See below for more details:
TopFinds Awards
The honourees of this week’s TopFinds Awards attracted impressive attention and widest readership. Digital Journal thanks the following Citizen Journalists with Awards for their passion for covering the top issues of the day: Leo Reyes, Hargrove, Can Tran, Jason Corley, M Dee Dubroff, FC Kaw, Bart B. Van Bockstaele, Adriana Stuijit, Saikat Basu, and armstrong vaz.
The Top Blog Post of the Week is awarded to KJ Mullins for her very timely piece on buying Christmas gifts on a tight budget. With the economy in the tank, and the holidays looming closer, it’s good to get some advice on what to buy for children and teens. Especially memorable is this succinct line: “Kids already know times are tough. By not going overboard during the holidays you can teach the younger generation that gifting from the heart is what the season is about.”
