SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT

 

There has been over a month-long silence on this little blog of mine, while it was assessed for my coursework [MA International Journalism at the University of Westminster, London]… while I battened down the hatches to survive another Christmas far away from the warmth of my homeland… while, in truth and in fact, there was nothing much to say.

Today we rushed through our first Online class, speeding through the rudiments of web design, so that we could wrap up in time to see the inauguration.

We were in News Room 2 which has a big projector screen and four other screens, and people from all over the department, students and staff alike, trickled in to catch a glimpse.

We could hear the echo from the room beside us — another screen was up next door. 

We were only a few of the millions that gathered to watch.

“You’ve got a good-looking president there,” I said to my American friend who was sitting beside me.

Her good-looking president represents love, change, and hope for the whole world — dang, he’s got a lot to live up to!

There’s been million of articles written about Obama’s inauguration, but I’ve decided to focus my blog not on the content of the journalism about it, but about the journalism itself:

 

Obama inauguration trumps THA elections 

• In Trinidad & Tobago, we have 3 daily newspapers — The Trinidad Guardian, The Trinidad Express, and the Trinidad & Tobago Newsday. 

 
Newsday’s front page was concerned with THA (Tobago House of Assembly) Elections, with a note to turn to a page inside to see the Obama inauguration story. 
 
Express’ front cover had it half-and-half with their two photos — half about THA and half about Obama. 
 
Guardian was the newspaper that went all out Obama, with just a sprinkle of THA at the bottom:

I found it really interesting because it was not just a humdrum news day in the little island. Elections — huge news appeal! 

But Guardian decided (and, I agree with them) that Obama was bigger news that elections in our own country.

This shows precisely how news values work, how the connection with the US is so pertinent to our little country.

…And on top of that, what a photo! What a caption! OBAMA IN CHARGE… of our little island? Or the world?…

 

Wikipedia information battle about Obama article 

• The other thing I found interesting was Wikipedia. 

There were loads of corrections made that day, and around 5:00p.m. there was a flurry of them, if you want to have a look: go here. 

Can you imagine, how many people around the world, were on Wikipedia that day, just waiting? 

People were so anxious to change his information that someone changed it back with the note: 
16:26, 20 January 2009 Inigmatus (Talk | contribs) (138,453 bytes) (not yet president. please wait until after 12 noon EST.)
  

Journalists poised to press the publish button

• Mere seconds after he was sworn in, up popped news articles online — in past tense, of course — about the swearing in ceremony, many of them “colour pieces”, describing the mood of the ceremony, how his head was bent down, and so on.

Wow. This is history in the making — at the speed of light.

These articles had to have been written ages before, with just those “colour” words thrown in right before it was published: imagine the millions of journalists around the world, just waiting for the second hand of the clock!

 

The bots prove it: something to talk about

Those were just a few newsworthy aspects of the inauguration from a slightly different angle…

Beyond the millions of spectators, beyond the thousands upon thousands of security personnel, beyond his little gaffe about “execution” during the swearing-in, beyond all of it… the numbers prove it, the little bots squirreling around in cyberspace prove what no mere words can fully encapsulate:

Obama is something to talk about. The world over, he is something to talk about.

Congratulations Mr. President 🙂