Activist Cindy Sheehan in conversation with a Citizen Journalist. The controversy swirling around McCain’s “that one” remark. How livebloggins is changing journalism. These are the top stories making news right now.
Digital Journal — What’s a week of news without U.S. political partisan attacks, a banking debacle, Canadian election coverage, and a caged-match brawl surprise? Some interesting news also touched on BlackBerry’s next contender and the launch of a news website pleasantly called The Daily Beast.
If you wanted to learn more about the rise of liveblogging, Digital Journal TV has you covered. Also, find out which well-written blog post caught our attention this week.
In no particular order, here are some of the top stories right now:
• Cindy Sheehan Reveals Plan for New National Party, Reflects on Race Against Pelosi: A hard-working Citizen Journalist snagged an interview with activist Cindy Sheehan, who revealed newsworthy details about forming a political party, her race for Congress and more. A must-read.
•Take Barack Obama And A Faded British 80’s Pop Icon And Look What You Have: The viral trend of Rickrollin’ is under the microscope in this article. It also features a great YouTube video of Barack Obama unwittingly singing the lyrics to Ric Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up.”
•Why Christians and Jews cannot vote for McCain: God hates Sarah Palin: How can a wink impact a presidential campaign? A Citizen Journalist digs deep into the Bible to learn how a Palin eye-grin during the VP debate could be contrary to religious teachings. Agree or disagree? Have your say in the comments section.
• Tonight’s Debate Could Be McCain’s ‘Barbecue’: The presidential showdown between John McCain and Barack Obama could’ve allowed McCain to score a knockout punch against his rival. Look back at this piece to find out if the Republican camp succeeded in accomplishing their debate objectives.
• McCain calls Obama ‘That One’ in Debate: It was the remark that sparked controversy across the U.S. Do you think McCain erred when he jerked his thumb at Obama and called him “that one” during the debate? Or is it much ado about nothing?
• Sen. Claire McCaskill Hands Mitt Romney ‘Spit On’ Earpiece at MSNBC: In the Dept. of Rumoured Rudeness, Sen. Clair McCaskill reportedly spit on an earpiece after an interview, handing it over to Mitt Romney with a sweet smile. It sounds almost too ludicrous to be true, but in this vicious campaign nothing should be too surprising.
• The Wachovia Debacle And The Missing Saturday Night Live Skit: It looks like sketch comedy shows are not immune to criticism in light of the financial bailout deal. What happened to a Saturday Night Live skit featuring jokes guest-starring Nancy Pelosi and Barney Frank?
• BlackBerry Plans to Storm Smartphone Market: Research in Motion is going up against Apple’s iPhone with its first touchscreen BlackBerry, set to debut in fall 2009. Check out the article for specs, info from Canada’s Telus Mobility and declarations of desire from Citizen Journalists.
• Former New Yorker Editor Launches ‘Daily Beast’ News Website: Editor extraordinnaire Tina Brown likes to keep busy, which explains her recent Web 2.0 project The Daily Beast. If you like your news aggregated emblazoned with tabloid-style fonts, this is a site for your eyes.
•Up For a Kimbo Slice of Humble Pie, Anyone?: If you enjoy quick and brutal gloves-off fights (no, not talking about McCain-Obama), then you’ll have fun watching this stunning EliteXC battle between a bulky mixed martial arts fighter and an accomplished UFC veteran. Not giving anything away, but let’s just say the headline hints at the winner.
And in this week’s episode of Digital Journal TV, liveblogging takes centre stage as the top tool to cover events in real-time. As more Citizen Journalists wonder how to bring their expertise to critical events, liveblogging is emerging as a game-changer, and Digital Journal TV profiles liveblog leader CoveritLive to discover the technology’s impact.
For all you political junkies, DigitalJournal.com is once again hosting a liveblog of the presidential debate, going down Oct. 15 at 9pm ET. Check out this liveblog to have your say live on the final showdown between John McCain and Barack Obama.
TopFinds Awards
The winners of this week’s TopFinds Awards are writer who attracted the most attention and widest readership. Digital Journal honours the following citizen journalists with Awards for their dedication to journalistic principles and passion for covering the top issues of the day: Stephen Dohnberg, Michelle D., Bart B. Van Bockstaele, Can Tran, Chris V., Johnny Simpson, Susan Duclos, and Paul Wallis.
The Top Blog Post of the Week is awarded to Richard Sweet. Sweet picked up a number of fans on DigitalJournal.com after he participated as a commenter in our liveblog of the second U.S. presidential debate. His excellent overview of the AIG mess — and how executives treated themselves to a resort vacation — gave readers another reason to reconsider the wisdom of the bailout. Sweet wrote, “Lawmakers are angry, the media’s angry, and the taxpayers are stamping their heels.”
