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TopFinds: From Facebook Battling Porn to Hollywood Body Slamming Writers

Facebook suing a porn site. The FCC loosens media ownership rules. African charities let people slip through the cracks. Learn more about these stories and the many other topics making headlines in our weekly round-up of breaking news.

Technology & Internet

It was the statement heard around the world…of citizen journalism. David Hazinski, a former NBC correspondent, recently said online citizen journalism “really isn’t journalism at all.” Then again, who is holding mainstream media accountable? asked Susan Duclos. The evidence she compiled is worth a look.

Other tech and Net stories that made headlines included: Vista is the most disappointing tech product of 2007, cgull discovered; Facebook is suing a Canadian pornography site for allegedly hacking into the social network’s database, Nathalie C reported; the computing industry could be upended by a future of chips housing eight processors each, Wanderlaugh wrote; and a Canadian software company created a free tool to allow a single computer to support multiple users at the same time. As if there weren’t enough technophilia already.

Science & Health

Ludwig van Beethoven. - A portrait by Joseph Karl Stieler (1820). Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Ludwig van Beethoven. – A portrait by Joseph Karl Stieler (1820). Image courtesy of Wikipedia

If you had to study one musical note for years, would you go crazy? Maybe so, but you’d also be a specialist on par with Professor Barry Cooper, who wants to scientifically analyze Beethoven’s music with a fine-tooth comb, as Angelique van Engelen wrote. Copper has written 15,000 words of detailed commentary about Beethoven’s work while also focusing much of his attention on one note — the A sharp note in opus 106 Sonata in B flat major.

Other science and health stories worth a closer look included: a warning about tainted syringes sickening dozens in two states, as Pamela Jean told us; globally, cancer will kill 7.6 million people in 2007, Bob Ewing reported (and with 84 per cent of smokers living in developing countries, should blame be levelled at Big Tobacco?); Ringwraith informed us about an aggressive black hole that shoots jets of energy at neighbouring galaxies; and a UK university wants to cut down on students’ unwanted pregnancies by giving away free contraception in pubs and clubs, Planet Janet found. “Here, mate, enjoy your pint of Guinness and your free raspberry-flavoured rubber.”

World & Crime

Crowned with one of the oddest yet most entertaining intros we’ve seen in a World story, Wanderlaugh critiqued a feel-good story from Newsweek about the growth of various economies. Once again, his writing flourished and penchant for humour was on full display in an op-ed that tore Newsweek a new one.

Condoleezza Rice

U.S. Secretary of State
File photo

Several other stories gave interesting overviews to world affairs: Condoleezza Rice got snubbed by Kurdish leaders because the U.S. opened air space for strikes against Iran, TFactor wrote; the world food supply is shrinking as food prices soar to unprecedented levels, Bob Ewing informed us; 400 scientists are speaking out saying global warming is not man-made, reported Samantha A. Torrence;an award-winning journalist and activist, Mumia Abu Jamal, is sitting on death row for a crime he says he didn’t commit, reported Phree; Belgium will be treated to a new government after months of living in limbo, Bart B. Van Bockstaele wrote (then again, there’s no such thing as certainty in Belgium, as Bart said); and lensman67 wrote a piece attracting dozens of comments about the unethical treatment Israel gives to Palestinians. If you want to see some fiery words, check out the debate between Ben and lensman in the comments section.

TopFinds Awards

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We often hear about the humanitarian goals of charities like The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. But how often do you hear about the problems fraught in organizations like those? Thanks to momentsintime, we now do, and her investigative piece on how Gates’ charity is failing developing nations wins this week’s TopJournalism Award. momentsintime discovered that while a lion’s share of funding goes to fight AIDS in Africa, other health care initiatives are completely ignored. The writer paints a stark scenario: “Newborns are packed into cribs that are filled with sick infants when they are born. A single valve of oxygen is shared among all of them. Each tube costs $35. There is no money for more than one. The money is going to AIDS treatment.”

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The strike by the Writers Guild of America has paralyzed Hollywood but it’s only spurned Citizen Journalist to lay down their opinions on the contentious issue. And the prize of the bunch is the winner of this week’s Top OpEd Award — congrats to Wanderlaugh for his intriguing article on how property rights have been mismanaged, and why the writers may not be correct in their arguments. If you want to dive into an opinion piece focusing on a different slant than most yay-for-WGA pieces, check out what Wanderlaugh had to say.

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Media ownership legislation isn’t as boring as it sounds, and it has the potential to reshape our media diet in the future. Breaking news from the Federal Trade Commission deserves the attention of any American, or any news junkie — FCC Votes to Relax Media Ownership Restrictions, wrote Susan Duclos. The article wins the TopBusiness Award for highlighting an important vote that slipped by the attention of major media outlets. For good reason. Many of those outlets can increase their presence in any given city, despite the opposition from senators who don’t want any more media monopolies.

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Original reporting has always been a hallmark of citizen journalism, and one of the best original articles this week takes home the TopTech Award. Much respect to Angelique van Engelen for pursuing an interview with the co-inventor of a interesting application for Twitter. Reading the informative Q&A showcased a useful option for journalists on Digital Journal wishing to give their articles new life in a fresh format.

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When a reporter enters the unfamiliar territory of 13th-century Persian poetry, the writer deserves kudos for even trying. But when that article is filled with exhausitve details about a poet’s life, complete with ancient photos and cited poetry, then the piece is given the TopArts Award for outstanding achievement in the arts category. lensman67 tracked the life and times and rhymes of Rumi, the classic Persian poet who was in the news recently when the UN declared 2007 the “Year of Rumi.” Cynthia T. neatly summed up a reader’s overall sentiment of the article: “Lensman you have outdone yourself, my friend. This is so beautiful. What a tribute to a great poet.”

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A massive snowstorm recently slammed into parts of northeastern U.S. and southern Ontario. In order to capture the blanketing of blinding white Bart B. Van Bockstaele brought his trusty camera to the Toronto Islands to pen a travel piece for Digital Journal and inadvertently win the TopPhoto Award. Not only did Bart explain where he went during the aftermath of the blizzard, but he also illustrated the article with many photos and a useful GPS-traced map of his walk. Now that’s going beyond the norm, and we congratulate Bart on giving us multiple quick peeks into this mini sojourn.


The Annual Digital Journal Awards


DigitalJournal.com is currently working on a massive, year-end roundup of the top news stories and top contributors from around the world. DigitalJournal.com staff will publish this in the last week of December, 2007.

In addition to staff-chosen awards, we are opening up the Digital Journal Awards to include a number of people’s choice awards. We would really appreciate all Citizen Journalists, Citizens and casual readers to take a moment to fill out the following survey (it takes a few minutes) with whatever information you wish to provide.

Click Here to take survey

Thank you all for your input.

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