Just like El Salvador, Mexico has its fair share of violence in the country. It has been rated time and again as one of the most dangerous countries in the world. Gangs and corrupt governments control the cities and most people live in poverty. The violence has since trickeled into the media and has begun to target journalists. "Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in 2011 described Mexico as "one of the hemisphere's most dangerous countries" for the media. Since 2000, scores of journalists have been murdered. "Drug cartels and corrupt officials are implicated in most of the crimes of violence against... Continue reading

El Salvador has the highest murder rate in the world. Violent street gangs known as Maras plague the country. A corrupt government holds control of a poor country, letting these gangs roam the streets. They are unable and most likely unwilling to control these dangerous people. They accept pay offs and regularly look the other way when situations arise. A lot of third world countries see violence and many corrupt governments try to silence the media from shining light on what is going on. For El Salvador this is not the case. The government has nothing very little to do... Continue reading

How is the Western media portraying Iran? In their opinion not very acurately. Western media and specifically the U.S. media dominates what most of the world sees. Everywhere in every country people watch Western shows, listen to Western artists and see our values being forced upon them. Iran feels that this is in orde to keep them down and promote Western values. Iran believes that they are being shown in a negative light all over the world. They are seen as violent oppresive war mongers. The media of other countries is focusing too much on their involvement with nuclear weapons... Continue reading

How is the Western media portraying Iran? In their opinion not very acurately. Western media and specifically the U.S. media dominates what most of the world sees. Everywhere in every country people watch Western shows, listen to Western artists and see our values being forced upon them. Iran feels that this is in orde to keep them down and promote Western values. Iran believes that they are being shown in a negative light all over the world. They are seen as violent oppresive war mongers. The media of other countries is focusing too much on their involvement with nuclear weapons... Continue reading

It should be no surprise to hear that Iran is a country that does not warm to the idea of free press. When we hear that journalists are being imprisoned at an alarmingly fast rate recently no one should be shocked. Iran has a messy past and has been ruled by religious extremists who feel it is their duty to oppress their people. Yet here they are in the news once again for targeting journalists and cracking down on the media. Many fear that this recent crack down will cause the upcoming election to be anything but fair. With the... Continue reading

How can a country that boasts 800 films a year being in production also be a country where so very few people even have access to things like computers? Is it possible to be both on the forefront of modern film making and also have one of the highest poverty rates? India is a country that straddles sides of this line. India is a country that desperately wants more. They want to make movies, use cell phones, have computers in their homes and consistently use electricity. However this is not true for many of its citizens. They are one of... Continue reading

One day while in Varanasi ,to escape the heat, we decided to go to the multiplex. I love movies and wanted to see a Bollywood film when in India. It was worth it. Indian's take their movie going experience very seriously. Indians treat the situation like Americans treat going to a concert. When you by a ticket you have an assigned seat. How much your willing to pay for the movie decides where you will sit. Like the caste system decides your station in life it can decide where you sit in the theater.Those with less money won't get the... Continue reading

As we all know North Korea has a nuclear weapon problem that they don’t know what to do about. Many Americans are afraid they may use it against us. The idea that an enemy has access to dangerous weapons of mass destruction is unfortunately a common fear here in the States. We have had our fair share of issues with weapons of mass destruction. Is Kim Jong-un preparing to use them against us? Well if he is he won’t have the backing from his friend China. North Korea and China have had good relations, they may be North Korea’s only... Continue reading

North Korea is a complex country to understand. They have been shrouded in secrecy. No one knows exactly what goes on behind the curtain that was cast over the place long ago. The dictatorship that still runs North Korea sees to this. They want no information in or any let out. This is no joke, In 2004 cell phones were banned and the internet ceases to be something that the general public has access to. The fear is that as the rest of the world moves forward ( or in some cases at least tries) North Korea can never truly... Continue reading

Germany has banned the distribution and right to display any Nazi paraphernalia. They had hoped to suppress the dark past which hangs heavy over their heads. Over the summer of 2012 they decided to re-release "Mein Kampf", Hitlers famous manifesto. The book hasn’t been printed since World War 2. In order to keep up with their free press society they decided it was time to release the book with one catch. They would be adding chapters to the book with a counter argument to everything Hitler wrote. The German government wanted to make sure no one would mistake the printing... Continue reading

Germany has seen its fair share of rough times. World War 2 and the Nazi regime of Hitler only led to the cold war and the splitting of Germany into two separate worlds. For a long time Berlin had two contrasting regimes ruling over its streets, the progressive Americans and the oppressive Russians. The idea of free media was lost on the Russians and the people within its walls were held back from watching the world change. For a long time Germany had no control over its media. During the Nazi regime propaganda ruled steady on the radio and in... Continue reading

When you think of a revolution what comes to your mind? I assume you picture guns and bombs. Mass amounts of people storming important political buildings. A hint of danger and discontent in the air. The beginning scenes of “Argo” are perhaps the perfect setting for the idea of rebellion. What if I told you that Libya’s revolution is happening (at least partially) through the internet? Well it’s true. The first hints of rebellion started on the internet through social media. People all through out Libya have been unhappy for some time. For over 40 years Gaddafi ruled the country... Continue reading

As an American it is hard to imagine that there are people who live without things like internet, cable or electricity. However all over the world there are people who have none of these things. What is it like growing up in a world scarcely touched by the digital age? Cambodia has a checkered past. A once vibrant country has never really come back from the brutal genocide of nearly half its population. During the 1970’s Pol Pot took control of Cambodia and turned it back to the stone age. Television stations were shut down, news papers destroyed. All in... Continue reading

In recent times we have come across another way to gain information, the internet. Even bigger and more vast then the television, news travels much faster this way. Now anything you want to know is directly at your fingers tips. We once again find ourselves involved in war in the middle east and dealing with the flow of information from the internet to everyone’s computer screens. Censorship is a major issue for tons of middle eastern countries. Because of the internet it is even harder to control information. Over the past decade we have been involved in Afghanistan and Iraq.... Continue reading

Over the decades the way we receive our news and information has changed. There was a time when all of the information we got was from a paper or the radio. Then televisions were in every home and things got really interesting. No event changed Journalism and the way we looked at the world more so then the Vietnam war, for it was the first war to be broadcast live to everyone. “ Reporters and photographers in the Vietnam War changed the style of reporting the war for future journalists. They went from reporting directly off of press releases and... Continue reading

Persuasion is not a concept new to the world. For as long as people have had products to sell they have used this idea to market themselves to people. One of the best ways to market yourself or your product is celebrity endorsements. Taking a well known figure and have them like your product often sells it better then you ever could. “The reason why social media works as a marketing tool is because of its appearance as a casual medium. A major concern is what happens once your friends and social contacts realize that they are being marketed to."Forbes.com... Continue reading

We have heard a lot about data mining. How anyone from politicians to stores can find information about you in order to market to you better. Now data mining is going one step further with something called “Persuasion Profiles”. These profiles will not only be able to tell you what you will buy and from who but more importantly exactly what kind of marketing will appeal to you. “…"persuasion profiles" differ from the personal recommendations we know and, sometimes love, from Amazon and iTunes, which are based on purchase patterns and behaviour on site, in that they are based on... Continue reading

If you wanted to stay in a hotel you used to have to call to book it or you would just simply pass it on the interstate and pull in. Now there is an intricate booking system on several popular sites such as Expedia or Travelocity that help you with this process. These sites are designed to make the process easier. However what they are really doing for you is so much more. A lot of times where you decided to stay was a bit of chance. You didn’t know much about a hotel. If it was a chain like... Continue reading

Not too long ago when you wanted to watch a movie you would drive yourself to Blockbuster or a similar venue and pick one out. If you wanted to get a copy of the latest New York Times best seller you would head to Borders. Now if you look these places don’t exist. Why? Where are our stores going? People don’t need to a video store to rent a movie . They have Amazon.com. Now if you want a DVD you can purchase one in a second. It will stream from your computer or even into your TV. Your selection... Continue reading

It is already quite popular to register online to vote. I myself have done it. It is much easier then having to head to the post office and worry about paper work. Now with just a few simple key strokes you can vote. It seems the next logical step would be making it possible to vote in the elections from your home. I’m sure that it would increase voting since people would not even have to leave their houses. Why cant we vote from our house? Well it depends who you ask. Those for it can not see a reason... Continue reading

It used to be that you learned about your presidential candidates by watching the news or waiting for the debates. Now they are on your Facebook page. President Obama or Mitt Romney are asking you to like their pages or are sharing one of their view points thru a funny picture. How does this effect voting? Do their agendas( Republican or Democrat) travel faster? And does that change the way people vote? The answer to all those questions are yes. But why and how? Those are the questions that need to be answered. In some ways the effect that the... Continue reading

Are video games effecting your childs mental health? When I was a kid there was not a moment that went by that I wasn't trying to be outside. From the second I woke up to the time when it got dark I was running around outdoors. Whether I was playing basketball or riding my bike down the dirt paths by my house I was far away from the TV. Whenever it rained or got dark I would head inside. I was not allowed to play my Nintendo for more then an hour a night. My mom felt that video games... Continue reading

How does the rapid increase of technology effect the way we spend time with our family? There was a time when family life revolved very little around television, video games and the computer. When sitting around the one TV in the house and watching family programming was the only option. Where you would have no choice but to discuss your day or what your watching with the people around you. However with new technology and so many more forums in which to enjoy them on things have shifted Most families now have one or more TV’s in the house. Now... Continue reading

Facebook has been treading the line when it comes to sharing too much information with everyone in the world. Now that timeline will go live for all users this extends that issue further. Not only will current and future employers know what your up to now but they will be able to see what you have been doing for years. Originally all of your information was gone once it left your Facebook page. It fell into a web abyss but with Timeline it is all accessible. It’s a live journal of your life…with pictures, which can be far more accusatory... Continue reading