After watching Al Jazeera English, I think it is somewhat similar to our news channels. They were talking about the current economic crisis we are currently in and how it can affect the world. They were talking about how the media helped Obama get elected President and how biased the media was for him.

1. How effective do you think the Internet will be for Al Jazeera as it attempts to reach a U.S. audience?

I think the Internet is a good attempt to reach the U.S. audience because the news networks are too scared to show it, so the Internet is a great way to get their station out.

2. Based on your own observations, do you think that Al Jazeera English should be allowed to broadcast in the U.S.?
Yes, I do believe Al Jazeera English should be broadcasted here in the U.S. We live in a free market, so I think it would be great if they brought in more and different diverse news programs because we can get a different feel at how other countries view us and get different points of view of the news.

3. What, if anything, do you notice about Al Jazeera's approach to telling the news? How is it different than the U.S.-based TV news outlets that you have experienced?
I think they do a much better job at being fair and balanced than the U.S. news channels. It is hard watching the 24-hour news channels here in the the U.S. because they are so biased. When I was watching it, they bashed Obama on some of his policies and they praised him as well for wanting to meet with other countries. Another show I saw was how the media basically put Obama in the White House and it is clear that the media is VERY biased, especially NBC/MSNBC.

4. While on the Al Jazeera site, be sure to check out the network's published Code of Ethics. Based on your own observations, do you think they are adhering to them?
Yes, I do think they are following their Code of Ethics. The shows that I watched were fair because they weren't pro-Obama or pro-McCain. They showed how biased the US media was for Obama. This channel is much better at fair reporting than Fox News and MSNBC.

Assignment #1: Genre Specific Blog

The blog I looked at for this assignment is Reason Magazine's Hit and Run. Reason Magazine is a libertarian political magazine which criticizes the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, and the Green Party. In addition, bloggers address social and economic issues that other politicians and mainstream media ignore, analyze and criticize political news. The blogs on Hit and Run are all written by Reason Magazine's staff. Hit and Run's layout is very easy to read and navigate. You can search the staff's history of blogs and articles from previous magazine issues. During the 2008 Libertarian Party's convention, the staff offered blogs with videos and interviews with the presidential candidates.

As a person who follows politics, I think Hit and Run is a great political blog. I am a Libertarian, so I agree with the writers on many issues, however, there are some that I disagree with as well. I really like how they bring up issues and topics that are being ignored by the politicians in Washington DC.