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Thursday May 5, 2011 year: 131 No. 64 the student voice of

The Ohio State University

www.thelantern.com

thelantern ‘Artificial immediacy’ reigns

sports

Analysts say media stretched ‘breaking news’ too far in bin Laden coverage MOlly GRay Managing editor for design gray.557@osu.edu

1B

filling The Vest’s shoes

Amid uncertainty about Jim Tressel’s future as coach, The Lantern looks at who could potentially replace him.

arts & life

Reports that President Barack Obama was going to make a major announcement first set sail at about 9:45 p.m. Sunday and from that moment on, the media was all hands on deck. “We have seen the media at its best and at its worst. In the immediate hours of breaking news there is nothing like television to get out a story with immediacy,” said Steve Safran, editor of Lost Remote, a website that covers social media and TV news. “Then, I was just watching ABC news (Tuesday) evening, and there is tons of crap.” Aside from the most recent development, that Obama told CBS’s “60 Minutes” that he had decided not to release photos of bin Laden’s dead body, Safran said most coverage in the days following Sunday’s announcement has been overblown. Regarding the decision not to give media or the public photos of the body, Safran said Wednesday that he agrees with the president. “I believe in full disclosure for journalism so that reporters can decide what to report,” Safran said. “But that wouldn’t happen in this case. No good would come of it and from what I hear they are pretty gruesome photos, the man got shot in the head.” Safran, who is also a media consultant, said the

Semester switch could bring ‘major’ changes to OSU

“That’s nonsense, that’s nonsense. It was breaking for maybe an hour on Sunday night. You could get away with calling it a developing story the next day, but that’s it. This is an event that ended. Bin Laden was shot; it was reported. The end.” Steve Safran editor of Lost Remote, on the fact that news sites still claimed to have “breaking news” on Osama bin Laden

media have perpetuated what he calls “artificial immediacy,” giving critical status to inconsequential news. “The breaking news banner has been up there for two days,” Safran told The Lantern on Tuesday. “That’s nonsense, that’s nonsense. It was breaking for maybe an hour on Sunday night. You could get away with calling it a developing story the next day, but that’s it. This is an event that ended. Bin Laden was shot; it was reported. The end.” Safran attributes the artificial immediacy to the nature of the 24-hour news channels. The stations are set up in a way that on the most boring day of news you have to fill 24 hours and on the busiest

day of the news you only have 24 to present everything. “It’s not like a newspaper which can expand or contract according to how much news there is. It’s not like a website where you can post or not post,” Safran said. He was critical of a segment he saw in which reporters were analyzing a photo that the White House released of Obama with various members of the national security committee watching a live broadcast of the raid from the situation room. Analysts said that because Obama was hunched over, he was showing that he wasn’t in a position of power and because Vice President Joe Biden was holding a Rosary, he was being too religious. Jane Hall, an associate professor in communications at American University in Washington, D.C., disagrees. “I don’t have a problem with ABC analyzing (the picture from the situation room) because I know as a viewer I was looking at it and wondering what he was thinking. I don’t believe in handwriting analysis, but I think there is tremendous interest in the story,” said Hall, a former weekly commentator for Fox News Watch who said she left the station because of its slanted views. Hall, who proclaimed that she is usually very

continued as Media on 3A

Hello birdie a rare bird, Kirtland’s Warbler, was spotted on Ohio state’s campus near the corner of Kenny Road and Kinnear Road on Wednesday. paul Hurtado, who will be beginning post-doctorate work at OsU in the fall, was the first person to identify the bird. Reports from birdwatchers confirmed the presence of the Warbler throughout the day. Bruce simpson, a naturalist at Blendon Woods Metro parks, said this is the first time he has heard of Kirtland’s Warbler in Columbus. simpson has been birdwatching in Ohio since 1974.

VICTORIa JOHnsTOn Lantern reporter johnston.517@osu.edu

5A

‘Thor’oughly mediocre

‘Thor,’ a film spanning the universe of Marvel comics, hits theaters Friday. See what The Lantern had to say.

campus

Bin Laden burial sparks debate

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campus

Social media spread word of death weather

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62/49 showers 62/55 showers 69/58 scattered t-storms 73/65 few showers www.weather.com

Ohio State’s semester switch could result in the elimination and combination of certain majors and minors. Although approval is still pending for proposed program streamlining, Anne Smith, an associate professor in the human nutrition department, said the Office of Academic Affairs, OAA, should approve the changes by Fall Quarter. A new major, health promotion, nutrition and exercise science, or HNES, will be a combination of three existing majors: human nutrition, exercise science, and nutrition and community health. Students will still be able to major solely in human nutrition and exercise science, but the nutrition and community health major will no longer be available. The exercise science minor will be eliminated. The existing major, nutrition in community health, is for students interested in becoming wellness directors, combining nutrition with fitness and wellness or a career in health education, Smith said. “Some even use this major to go onto other professional schools, such as physical therapy or nursing,” Smith said. “The students are required to take classes in nutrition and a specialization area of their choice, and most pick exercise science as their minor.”

continued as Programs on 3A

THOMas BRadley / Lantern reporter

OSU spent $60K on lobbying in 1st quarter laURen BROWn Lantern reporter brown.3978@osu.edu Ohio State focused its lobbying efforts on energy, innovation and the economy during talks with Congress to start the year. OSU spent $60,000 lobbying during the first quarter of 2011. Spending decreased from the $90,000 the university spent during the same time period in 2010, according to reports from the Office of the Clerk for the U.S. House of Representatives. “When there are more things at stake … you have to spend more time,” said Richard Stoddard, associate vice president for government affairs at OSU. “We end up dealing with whatever is on the congressional agenda. We didn’t spend as much time direct lobbying because there wasn’t as much on the agenda.” On April 12, The Lantern reported that OSU spent $220,000 on lobbying expenses in Washington, D.C., in 2010. OSU lobbyists addressed various issues throughout 2010, but focused on the federal budget, taxes and science and technology. In 2011, OSU continued supporting budget and copyright bills from 2010. The America Invents Act, formerly known as the Patent Reform Act of 2011, was one of the bills OSU focused on in the first quarter, according to the Office of the Clerk’s report. According to opencongress.org, this bill would attempt to make the first person to file a patent the owner of their product instead of the first person to invent the product. This bill passed in the Senate on March 7 and is waiting for the House of Representatives vote. Stoddard said this bill would also provide federal funding to support professors and students in their research endeavors at OSU. “That supports work in our laboratories on campus and class rooms on campus,” Stoddard said. “Graduate students and undergraduates are supported by that research fund.” OSU also focused on House Bill 1425: Creating Jobs Through Small Business Innovation Act of 2011. According to the first-quarter lobbying report for 2011, the university is interested in provisions concerning university research. OSU addressed provisions in HB 4899: Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2010 and Senate Bill 3206: Keep Our Educators Working Act of 2010, regarding

Lobbying expenses decrease from 2010 “When there are more things at stake…you have to spend more time. We end up dealing with whatever is on the congressional agenda. We didn’t spend as much time direct lobbying because there wasn’t as much on the agenda.” Richard Stoddard, associate vice president for government affairs The university spent $90,000 lobbying during the first fiscal quarter of 2010. OSU lobbying spending decreased to first fiscal quarter of 2011.

$60,000 during the

On April 12, The Lantern reported that OSU spent $220,000 on lobbying expenses in Washington, D.C., in 2010. Source: reporting

KARISSA LAM / Design editor

the federal budget relating to the Pell Grant shortage and education jobs, according to the second-quarter lobbying report for 2010. The Federal Pell Grant Program provides need-based grants to students working toward undergraduate and graduate degrees. However, politicians who are trying to decrease federal spending are targeting this program. Sevy Harris, a first-year in electrical and computer engineering, said the money spent lobbying for Pell Grants would have been better spent on scholarships. “It makes sense that (OSU) would spend all that money lobbying,” Harris said.

continued as Lobbying on 3A 1A


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