Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Where do you get your news?


6/17/15 Chatterbox
Betty Kaiser

Digital changes to our daily news sources

“Well, what shall I talk about? I ain’t got anything funny to say.
All I know is what I read in the newspapers.”
Will Rogers

This famous statement by renowned American humorist Will Rogers was originally used during his appearances in Ziegfeld’s Midnight Frolic shows in 1915. One hundred years later, it still rings true for many of us today. We get meaningful news from newspapers.

The times however are changing. Our news today comes from many sources, including radio, television and the Internet’s social media. All of which are (presumably) more attractive to today’s on-the-go generation. It’s sad but true that hold-in-your-hand newspapers are a dying breed of communication.

It was shocking to me when The Oregonian ceased a daily publication in 2013 and went mostly digital. Today, one can pay for unlimited (7 days a week) access to the Oregonian Digital Newspaper with apps from a tablet, smart phone or computer.  Twice a week, a print edition is delivered and sold on the newsstand.

Recently, the Eugene Register Guard newspaper announced that the family-owned paper’s new publisher was not a family member. They were proudly heralding a new era of digital change to become “more than a newspaper.” With that thought in mind, one has to wonder how long before they quit printing.

This is not good news for us real newspaper junkies. I subscribe to both the RG and the CG Sentinel and used to buy the Sunday Oregonian. I wake up to radio news, read the daily Internet news and watch two different news channels at night. I like to know what’s going on in the rest of the world as well as Lane Co.

It’s because of the Internet’s Yahoo! that I discovered Katie ‘s FYI. Former news anchor and daytime TV star Katie Couric is now Yahoo’s Global News Anchor. I was never a big fan of hers so frankly, I ignored her Internet presence until last Dec. Then, I stumbled across her report on falling oil prices. In a segment that she calls, “Now I get it,” she explained (in words that I could understand) the oil crisis situation.

Suddenly, I was a fan. I signed up at http://katiecouric.com/katies-fyi/
to receive her daily reports. Turns out that I like her news choices as much as I did her commentaries. Now, every morning, a variety of important and interesting news gets delivered to my email inbox. They range from breaking hard news to whimsically articles that make me think.

In January, the first headline that grabbed my attention was: “Unlock your creativity this year: Get bored, early and often.” The author was a mother with a colicky baby. But it wasn’t a sweet mother-child relationship study. Instead, this working mom had to turn off her iPhone while walking her baby. She was bored. Eventually she discovered that this mindless activity of walking and thinking paid great dividends in productive thinking. Imagine that!

In March, thanks to Katie, I watched a fascinating video on a very timely subject: “Cancer’s Most Controversial Surgery.” Can you guess which one it is? Breast cancer. Today about 60 percent of women diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer choose lumpectomy surgery followed by radiation instead of a complete mastectomy. Once this was not a choice. Now it is.

In May I read a fascinating piece about an outspoken Iraqi parliamentarian taking a brave stand against ISIS. We don’t hear much about how ordinary people in Iraq feel about this scourge. Certainly not if the person is an unveiled woman, who believes in democracy! But there is such a woman and her name is Vian Dakhil. She cares about all the people in her country and is working politically to save the endangered Yazidi religious and ethnic minority. Her story gave me hope. It was published in “Fast Company.” 

Other headlines have included “Who decides where autistic adults live?” “Can one man end the global drug war?” “Will Cleveland’s police reform offer blueprint for other cities?” “Why cursive mattered.” And “The real reason you have a terrible memory.” There’s something for everyone. Check it out.

Thanks to Katie my horizons are stretched in different ways every day. I need that. Otherwise I might get lazy and settle for being spoon fed whatever pops up on my screen i.e. the latest UFO sighting or Kardashion fashion statement. Even worse, I could become depressed over the depravity of this world—murders, molestations, global warming, genocide, terrorism and more. No, I need a balanced look at the world and Katie’s FYI provides it.

Locally, “Around the Grove,” is a new weekly resource for events that are happening here in Cottage Grove. Its goal is to encourage community participation. This enews made its debut a few months ago and is an additional resource to the Chamber of Commerce, radio station KNND or the Sentinel.

ATG is a nice addition to the mix with a laid out calendar of events that I find easy to read and mark on my own calendar. Although it’s technically not a news sources, I always learn something. For instance: Do you know what the networking acronym TEAM means? “Together Everyone Achieves More.” A worthy community goal.

KNND calendar coordinator Cindy Weeldreyer is the editor of ATG. If you’re interested in getting on the weekly email list or would like to submit an item for the weekly calendar, send an email to cindy@knnd.com or drop it off at radio station KNND, 321 Main St.

Yep. Times have changed. I do wonder what Will Rogers would say about all these new-fangled options. But he was a simple guy. He’d probably still be funny and find a newspaper to read.

Betty Kaiser’s Chatterbox is about people, places, family, and other matters of the heart. 










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