02.01 Daily and Weekly Newspapers

    At first, it seems like the difference between daily and weekly newspapers would be obvious: dailies are published everyday, weeklies are published once a week. However, there are a number of differences between these newspapers, including length and content.
    First, let's take a look at daily newspapers. These papers publish the news from the day before. Because newspapers are read all over and by so many people, there simply isn't time to report on news happening today and produce enough copies for everyone. Daily newspapers are usually shorter than weeklies because only so much happens in a day. These papers often cover a wide range of topics. Some examples include the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and the Miami Herald.
      Weekly newspapers, such as Orlando Weekly and the Chicago Reader, are a little different. Because so much more happens in 7 days as apposed to one, weeklies are much thicker. Weekly papers tend to offer more information. Because there are more events to cover, there are usually a lot more journalists writing articles for these papers.
     Weekly or daily, newspapers are a fundamental part of how we get our news today.

References

Journalism (2013) Journalism, Just Another Edublogs.org site retrieved July 25, 2013 from: http://amatos41.edublogs.org/2011/10/03/difference-between-daily-and-weekly-newspapers/

Inc, Wikimedia Foundation (April 15, 2013) Chicago Reader. Retrieved July 26, 2013, from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chicago_Reader

Porter, Jeremy (October 15, 2010) The Top 25 U.S. Newspapers by Website Traffic. Retrieved July 26, 2013, from: http://blog.journalistics.com/2010/top-25-newspapers-by-website-traffic/

Inc, Wikimedia Foundation (June 26 2013) List of Weekly Newspapers in the United States. Retrieved July 26, 2013, from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_weekly_newspapers_in_the_United_States

Inc, Wikimedia Foundation (January 29, 2013) Orlando Weekly. Retrieved July 26, 2013, from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orlando_Weekly

02.00 What is News?

     News. We hear this word all the time. Actually, we read, hear, watch, and spread news all the time. But we never really stop to think about what news really is.
    There are many different ways of obtaining news, especially in this day and age. We can listen to it on the radio, watch it on our TVs, read it in newspapers or magazines, or get it off the internet. You could say that news is something that you get from one of those venues. But, really, it goes deeper. After all, don't we get news from our friends and family? Don't we, in a way, help the circulation of news?
     Let's back up a little bit to the definition of a journalist. At its most basic, a journalist is someone who tells someone what is going on around them. So, news is what is going on around us. Something doesn't have to be on television or in the newspaper to be news. Local details, even happenings in our daily lives can be considered news. If we get news on wars from the radio, that's news. But if one of our friends tells us about something happening in her life, that's news too. Just like you don't have to be involved in a big news corporation to be a journalist, news doesn't have to be nationally broadcasted to be considered news.

References

School, Florida Virtual (2010) FLVS. Retrieved July 22, 2013, from: http://learn.flvs.net/educator/student/frame.cgi?jwelsh15*mhead12*mpos=1&spos=0&option=hidemenu&slt=(zYXlwRFSbI9Q*3493*http://learn.flvs.net/webdav/educator_journalism1_v11/index.htm 

01.02 Evolution of American Journalism

          Americans have a desire to be informed. We want to know what's happening, how and why it's happening and when it's happening. This is where the press comes in. By having newspapers, radio shows, TV shows and more, we know what's going on. 

          The Constitution protects journalism; it's not going anywhere. But imagine where we would be without it. What would happen if freedom of the press did not exist? The Founding Fathers made it clear that they thought it was important for the press to keep an eye on the government, giving it freedom to report whatever it wanted. But what if there were restrictions on what journalists could and could not report? Things would be happening in our country and around the world and we wouldn't know anything about it. Think about it. We have friends and relatives involved in wars all over the world. Where would we be if we didn't know what was happening to them? It is because of the press that we know which people are running for president every four years. And newspapers and news shows on television and the radio tell us the news on local levels: about the happenings, legal and otherwise, in our own town. 

          Journalism has been around a long time. The first newspaper, Publick Occurrences, was published in 1690, though that particular printing culminated in the publisher's arrest. However, by the early 1800s, newspapers and magazines were widely read. For over 200 years, we've been able to gain access to some sort of news publication. We've grown used to the idea of unlimited information right there at our fingertips. We would be living with blindfolds over our eyes without journalism being there to enlighten us.          
          When the first newspapers, such as Publick Occurrences, were being printed, people were afraid to say what they thought about the government. They were afraid that they, too would be arrested for speaking their minds. There are still many countries today that prevent their people from saying what’s on their minds. We are fortunate to live in a country where we have freedom of speech and are able to express ourselves. By making our opinions known, we as citizens are heard and acknowledged and have a say in how our country is run.          

References

School, Florida Virtual (2010) FLVS. Retrieved June 1, 2013,  from: http://learn.flvs.net/educator/student/frame.cgijwelsh15*mhead12*mpos=1&spos=0&option=hidemenu&slt=FV5byLODAxjqo*3493*http://learn.flvs.net/webdav/educator_journalism1_v11/index.htm