A fatwa against the Pakistani President after a Sarah Palin meeting. Why the video game Spore is agitating the religious right. Canada launches a telemarketer’s worst nightmare. These are the top stories making news right now.
Digital Journal — It was a week of dense but quirky political questions: Did the moderator of the VP debate have a conflict-of-interest because she is penning a book on Obama? Should the Pakistani President get a fatwa for hugging Sarah Palin? Did Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper plagiarize a speech?
Other stories touched on lighter issues, such as an evolution-based video game and the controversial paintings of nude Sarah Palin portraits.
In no particular order, here are some of the top stories right now:
• First Presidential Debate Poll Results: After the first presidential debate, who took the polling crown? According to this article, Barack Obama came out the winner, as a CBS survey found Obama won 39 per cent of the favour to John McCain’s 25 per cent.
• McCain Retracts Sarah Palin’s Comments on Pakistan: When Palin mistakenly used Obama’s plan to discuss Pakistan, John McCain had to fly into recovery mode. Find out what McCain had to say to ABC News in order to get the talking points on the proper side.
• VP Debate Time – Sarah Palin Must Bait Joe Biden: In a thought-provoking analysis of the VP debate, this Citizen Journalist tackled the challenges Palin faced in stepping up to the plate opposite Joe Biden. Looking back at the piece after the fact, do you think there were some spot-on predictions?
• VP Debate Spotlight Shifts to Moderator Gwen Ifill: Another revealing opinion piece shines an unflattering light on Gwen Ifill, who has been criticized for having a conflict of interest as a VP moderator because she is writing a book about Obama. A bonus is checking out McCain’s response to the controversy.
• Obama Supporter Paints Nude Portrait Of Palin To Hang In His Ale House: The headline says it all, but if you want to catch a saucy peek of these lude paintings, go to the piece and peruse the VP nominee in her birthday suit.
• Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper Accused of Plagiarism: The top video post of the week displays the lack of creativity exhibited by some of Canada’s finest. PM Harper apparently cribbed an anti-terrorist speech from Australia’s ex-PM John Howard. Is this story going to hurt Harper in the upcoming Oct. 14 election?
• U.S. Financial Bailout Deal Fails: In the department of Bad News Getting Worse, the bailout deal faltered, and a savvy Citizen Journalist was quick to report this momentous news. The comments are great to read, especially if you want to find out why politicians are “now being children blaming each other.”
• Pakistani President, Asif Ali Zardari, Earns Fatwa For Comments To Sarah Palin: Who knew a hug and a complement could get you a fatwa? It looks like Zardari will be cautious next time he tells a visiting politician she’s good-looking.
• Spore: The Release Of A Game That Caused Some Varied Controversy: If you like your video game spiced with controversy, look no further than Spore, which allows you to play God in a game of cellular evolution. As Gar Swaffar pointed out, more protests against Spore means more sales for the publisher.
• Canada Implements ‘Do Not Call’ Registry For Telemarketers: Have you ever felt like Seinfeld hating on a telemarketer? Canadians have the ability to avoid those cold-calls by adding their number to a do-not-call registry. It’s only a matter of time before telemarketing moves wholeheartedly to the online space, where spam filters are the only do-not-call equivalents.
Special mention to Bob Ewing for rewarding our eyes with some stunning photographs taken of Campbellton, New Brunswick. This piece of original photography showcased a lighthouse remodeled as a hostel and a statute of a giant fish. Yes, giant fish. Great job, Bob, and we always encourage more photographs from our talented Citizen Journalists.
Also, DigitalJournal.com was pleased to offer readers and Citizen Journalists two popular liveblogs of important debates: the VP debate and the Canadian federal leaders debate. Many comments flooded both liveblogs, and some insightful analysis complemented the coverage penned by the Citizen Journalists taking part in the debates.
TopFinds Awards
The talented winners of this week’s TopFinds Awards are those who brought in the most attention and widest readership. Digital Journal honours the following citizen journalists with Awards for their dedication to breaking news and passion for covering the top issues of the day: Barbara Sowell, Cynthia T., Brad Sylvester, Susan Duclos, Carolyn E. Price, and Nikki W..
And the Top Blog Post of the Week is awarded to Victoria Stanford for investigating how a Web search for Canadian Green Party leader Elizabeth May brought up a sponsored ad for the Liberals in the search results. She raised some excellent points, giving us pause when we next look through sponsored ads on a Google result page.
