The FBI investigating financial failures. Why Somalia is the most corrupt country on Earth. Unearthing a 500-carat diamond. These are the top stories making news right now.
Digital Journal — Surprise, surprise: Politics and the faltering economy received the lion’s share of attention in the meida. Whether it was John McCain suspending his campaign or Barack Obama offering his two cents on the economic bailout, Citizen Journalists covered the important issues of the day.
And to lighten the mood, some popular topics in the news week include a groundbreaking diamond discovery, the controversy over eating baby carrots and the rise (and fall?) of Sandra Bernhard’s popularity index after her off-colour jokes about Sarah Palin.
In no particular order, here are some of the top stories right now:
• AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Lehman Investigated By FBI For Fraud: Don’t feel sorry for the financial institutions triggering the $700 billion bailout proposal. The FBI sure isn’t being merciful, as this timely article pointed out. redhawk commented that “it may be revealing to see the list of the Chefs of the cooked books.”
• McCain Campaign Manager Received $15,000 a Month From Freddie Mac: The presidential candidate must have been upset when news came out about his campaign manager being in the pocket of Freddie Mac. Could this explain why McCain slipped in the polls recently?
• Obama Gives His Two Cents On The Bailout Issue: Barack Obama didn’t want to be left out of the conversation over the sudden bailout plan, so he offered his opinion recently, discussing the recent meeting between senators: “It is amazing what you can get done when the cameras are not on and people are not looking to get credit or allocate blame.
• Commission Rules Obama-McCain Debate to go Ahead as Planned: Even though McCain wanted to suspend his campaign to focus on the economic crisis, the presidential debate still went ahead as planned. This article hit the front page just as the announcement was made, giving readers a good reason on how they should spend their Friday night. DigitalJournal.com covered the debate live here.
• Media Caught Fabricating White Racists?: Florida resident Sandra Cichon has been accused of saying she “can’t imagine having a black president” and the Citizen Journalist interviewed Cichon to find out if the attributed quote is true. Read the article to see if the media was caught in a misquoting mess.
• Rough Diamond Found In S.African Enclave Has Potential To Produce World’s Biggest Gem: Possibly the largest diamond ever found has been unearthed near South Africa, giving jewellers around the round something to salivate about for weeks to come. What would you do with a 500-carat gem?
• Sandra Bernhard Jokes ‘Palin Would Be Gang-Raped By Blacks in Manhattan’: Is there anything comedian won’t do to get attention? Actor Sandra Bernhard expressed her crude opinion on Sarah Palin recently, prompting some CJs to comment: “I don’t see how anyone can look at her twisted hate-filled face and think she is being humorous.” Ouch! Tell us what you really think, Cynthia.
• Behind the Rumour of Baby Carrots Being Washed in Chlorine: Yes, not even cute baby carrots are devoid of safety controversy. The article succinctly sums up what kind of carrots to avoid when you want to eat your produce chlorine-free. That is, unless you like veggies reminding you of swimming in public pools.
• Global Corruption Index: Somalia most corrupt, Denmark least corrupt: Looking for an altruistic place to live? Denmark’s your top spot, according to the Global Corruption Index. Avoid Somalia to steer clear of insufficient regulation of the private sector. Check out the feature to see where the U.S., Canada and Australia ranked.
• Canada’s Largest Pot Bust: The headline said it all — police seized 40,000 marijuana plants near Pembroke, Ontario. The haul was worth over $40 million in street value, giving potheads a reason to drown their sorrows in some hemp beer.
* Toronto’s The Score Channel Launches Their New HD Studio: A special congrats goes out to KJ for her exclusive coverage of a live press event in downtown Toronto. She was thorough in documenting the opening of a sports channel’s new high-def studio by interviewing streets, snapping photos and shooting video of the musical acts. Great job, KJ, and we look forward to seeing more of this on-the-ground reporting.
• In this week’s episode of Digital Journal TV, we went beyond the press release to learn more about Sony’s upcoming Blu-ray player. If you’ve ever wondered how a high-def player can pull content from the Web, you won’t want to miss this segment.
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: Susan Duclos, KJ, Can Tran, Barbara Sowell, Nikki W., Johnny Simpson, Bart B. Van Bockstaele, Chris V., and Bob Ewing.
And the Top Blog Post of the Week goes to Spencer Lee for his informative piece on his picks for the top PCs. Who knew a Commodore desktop would crack his top three? This blogger knows his hardware, so definitely check out the post if you’ve been hunting for advice on buying a solid PC.
