Rockbridge Report Podcast 3/22/2010

Here's a look at Rockbridge Report news.

Rockbridge County pursues Google broadband grant

A Google competition may answer the funding question for Rockbridge County’s attempts at implementing a broadband network. County officials have planned to link the community with a fiber optic cable for two years. Here's the story.



Google Competition

Bring Google fiber to Rockbridge County

Sustainability

Washington and Lee University goes "green" with their sustainability campaign. Here's a slideshow about recent steps they've taken across campus.

Chinese Lunar New Year Highlights Actions of "Little Red House"

For many, the “Little Red House” is often forgotten on the front corner of Washington and Lee’s campus. But this past week, the Chinese Lunar New Year celebration brought the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures to the forefront. Thursday night Chinese majors performed Chinese songs and recited poetry for an evening program. The Department also sponsored a traditional Chinese dinner for students in the Marketplace. Dining staff members helped create an atmosphere typical of a Chinese restaurant. The EALL Department is small because of the course difficulty. Chinese majors devote a majority of their time to language drills and practices. However, they know that learning a level-five language will pay off in the long run.

Listen to the audio story.

GOP Massachusetts Win

If you are like me (i.e. a political junkie), then you've been closely following the Massachusetts Senate race for Edward Kennedy's seat. All last night, my phone lit up with CNN twitter updates showing the latest from the exit polls. As they predicted, Scott Brown won. Why was there so much anticipation surrounding this race? The answer lies in the subsequent news coverage tying Brown's victory with the fate of the health care bill.
Majority of news organizations from CNN to Fox News covered the race in a one dimensional fashion: What does this mean for Democrats' goals (specifically health care)? What does this say about President Obama? First, those two questions are important. CNN did a great job about exploring the ramifications of Brown's election: http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/01/20/analysis.massachusetts.election/index.html?hpt=T1
First they analyzed Brown's campaign against Coakley. There were pieces analyzing how Brown's win has/will change the political landscape. They covered the Democrats response to Coakley's loss. On their website, there are campaign videos, links to pieces about President Obama's current status, and photos galore from the entire campaign process. BBC News covered the race in a similar fashion, although they mainly focused on the Obama factor. They too analyzed the campain, talked about the political landscape, and posted a video of Brown's acceptance speech: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8470187.stm
News coverage of the race answered or dealt with some important questions. But national news organizations simply looked at the political factor on a broad scale. For instance, none of the national papers covered Brown's win from a local perspective. Specifically, no one focused on what his win meant to Massachusetts voters. What kind of policies was he going to address that directly affects Massachusetts? There were not even links to voter reponses in his own state, although I'm sure that's entirely possible given the nature of the internet. Additionally, only the Boston Globe really showcased Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick's response to the Republican win. No other news organization successful captured responses or thoughts from Brown's constituents. No news organization shied away from the health care issue and looked at other concerns such as imigration or the financial crisis. I'm not saying that NATIONAL papers really need to dive into specific LOCAL concerns (they are national for a reason), but they should've addressed these repsonses or provided links elsewhere to ensure full maximum coverage from all spectrums.