09 Feb 2009, Posted by Julius Jones in News, media, 0 Comments
Following his speech Monday evening, journalist John Carroll spoke with me about his professional career, which spans more than forty years. The former Los Angeles Times editor discussed the future of print media and the Internet, ethics and conflicts of interest as well as advice for aspiring journalists. Carroll also reflected on a personal conflict concerning his coverage of the 1969 death of Mary Jo Kopechne in a car accident with Sen. Edward Kennedy.
Look out for full coverage of Monday’s speech in tomorrow’s paper.
(Click on the small play button to play; to pause, click it again.)
Click the play button to listen to interview
UPDATE by Alex Klein / Editor for New Media: Duke’s DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy at the Sanford Institute has posted the lecture in video format here.
JuicyCampus shut down today, but another Web site claims it has emerged to fill the void. All traffic directed to JuicyCampus.com is now forwarded to The Anonyous Confession Board, which is hosted at CollegeACB.com. The site was founded by students at Wesleyan University and is currently managed by Peter Frank, a freshman at the school. According to today’s press release, the ACB intends to avoid much of the offensive content that plagued JuicyCampus:
The site is devoted to promoting actual discussion, not provoking salacious posts or personal attacks. Its mission statement reads: “The College ACB or College Anonymous Confession Board seeks to give students a place to vent, rant and talk to college peers in an environment free from social constraints and about subjects that might otherwise be taboo.”
Such a philosophy sets the ACB apart from JuicyCampus, a website that fostered superficial interactions, often derogatory and needlessly crude. By contrast, the ACB consistently hosts a higher level of discourse—while still making room for the occasional gossip post.
One of the features of the site is a user-moderation button that allows readers to flag posts that they find inapproriate. JuicyCampus Founder and Chief Executive Officer Matt Ivester, Trinity ‘05, decried “mean-spirited posts and personal attacks” but openly encouraged users to engage in the “lighthearted gossip of college life.” The founders of ACB appear to be setting a different tone in their press release by encouraging “open exchange of information” about college rather than pure “gossip.” It remains to be seen if this political correctedness will produce material that is any different from the often salacious discussions found on JuicyCampus.
05 Feb 2009, Posted by Shuchi Parikh in Crime, News, 0 Comments
A high school student alleged sexual assault Monday morning, reporting inappropriate touching from someone they knew. The incident allegedly occurred while visiting the Sarah P. Duke Gardens, Duke University Police Department Maj. Gloria Graham confirmed. Neither the high school student nor the acquaintance are Duke-affiliated, Graham said. As of Thursday night, a full police report has not been released.
According to Inside Higher Ed, Duke Stores has agreed to purchase $250,000 in sweatshop free labor from Knights Apparel, a collegiate garment company. Although not yet public, reports have surfaced of an agreement between Knights Apparel and Grupo N, a large garment export group in the Dominican Republic, to provide workers with “exemplary labor conditions”. Under the proposed agreement, Knights Apparel will pay a higher price for its garments from the factory in the Dominican Republic as long as its workers receive a “living wage” and have the freedom to unionize. While the cost of these increased labor conditions will be passed on to the consumer, retailers only expect garments prices to increase by a couple of dollars.
The Workers Rights Consortium, which has been working on the deal for over a year, will ensure that the labor standards are met. According to an e-mail obtained by The Chronicle that was sent to university officials from the Workers Right Consortium:
“This will be the first apparel export facility in the developing world where workers will earn a verified living wage. This wage will be more than three times the prevailing wage for apparel workers in the Dominican Republic. It will, we anticipate, be part of a collective bargaining agreement negotiated with a representative union. This will also be the first time an apparel brand has agreed to re-structure a supply chain relationship in order to facilitate progress on labor rights. These are historic breakthroughs.”
The Workers Rights Consortium was unable to comment on the specifics of the deal because it has not yet been finalized.
Anthony Zinni - AP
Retired Marine Gen. Anthony Zinni, a former distinguished lecturer in residence at the Sanford Institute, has been part of a tossing game with the Obama administration, The Washington Times reported today. National Security Advisor James Jones had offered Zinni the role of ambassador to Iraq, which Zinni accepted two weeks ago and even received a congratulatory call from President Obama, according to Foreign Policy’s “The Cable.”
But Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called him into a meeting Monday asking for his views on Iraq, and the news following the meeting was surprising for Zinni:
“To make a long story short, I kept getting blown off all week,” Zinni said. “Meantime, I was rushing to put my personal things in order,” to get ready to go.
“Finally, nobody was telling me anything,” Zinni said. “I called Jones Monday several times. I finally got through late in evening. I asked Jones, ‘What’s going on?’ And Jones said, ‘We decided on Chris Hill.’”
“I said, ‘Really,’” Zinni recalled. “That was news to me.”
Politico.com had predicted last year that Zinni would be considered for national security advisor, but Jones was the pick for the post and ended up delivering the recent bad news to Zinni. A senior official speculated on issues of conflicting interests and the fact that another general, Karl Eikenberry, had already been named ambassador to Afghanistan. Chris Hill, on the other hand, does not have such military connections but rather experience as assistant secretary of state. The Washington Post said he was an “unexpected choice” for ambassador to Iraq.
