I think the most important thing that I am going to take from this class is being able to communicate to others in the proper manner during whatever the situation may be and do it clearly. During the countless hours I have spent on assignments in this class I have found that it does teach you a little something no matter what major you may be in. If you are in business no matter what level you are in a job from CEO to entry-level position, you will always need good writing skills. Being truthful, getting the facts, being accurate and giving credit to those who deserve it something that you can and should always use in the business world.

Continuing with the business world since that is the world I will join when I graduate from Baylor. I think staying in touch with the news and being able to consume it is something that you should always be of knowledge about. It is important because you never know when an unexpected event could effect the sales or the well-being of your company, so being able to understand and follow the news is actually pretty important in the world and I find that it is also something that I should and will take away from this class.

It really has been a semester where even though I may have known some of the things being taught, I truly learned so much.

My group topic is Johnny Manziel and his scandals as well as other scandals within college football.

http://america.aljazeera.com/watch/shows/america-tonight/america-tonight-blog/2013/10/17/branch-ncaa-stillpowerfullikeoz.html

From this link I found a few words about Johnny and how he is a main player in the debate after his autograph scandal to see if NCAA football players should be paid athletes.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/06/johnny-manziel-time-magazine-cover-race-tension

In this blog Johnny Manziel is said to be the most hated player in college football. He is said to not represent what a white quarterback does according to the writer of the post. He hangs out with people of different races and acts just like them as well as throw around his fame. This is not how a NCAA athlete is supposed to act.

Even though these websites do not give great insight of what all Johnny Manziel has done we continue to look into other sources about him and other scandals.

My partner and I are just researching the scandals in college football that are going on throughout the year. We are currently overlooking what is happening in the Jameis Winston case with the alleged assault. We have also been keeping tabs on Johnny Manziel and his off the field activities as well as his scandals at the beginning of the semester. He is also still in the race for the Heisman and we are continuing coverage and learning to see if anything will affect his standings.

Today, I read about Public relations in America and the ethics that go along with it.

The six core values of PRSA Member Statement of Professional Values are advocacy, honesty, expertise, independence,loyalty and fairness. All of these values stood out to me in this document because I am not familiar with Public Relations. These values are the basis of the rest of the document.

In public relations I think is important to uphold all of these values. In the PR industry it is important to be honest and open. Interacting with others in this industry requires all of these values.

The most important value loyalty. In PR you need to be loyal to those that you work both with and for. You need to build trust and relay the proper information.

After the PR representatives read the document you have to sign to approve.

My business would be the car business because I really enjoy cars and trucks. Most likely I would place my business in a foreign company like Germany, because German engineering for cars is superior.

My public relations for my company would consist of treating clients with respect and putting them first with events such as charity. This will help my company name get out there without paid advertising. Most of the relations will be due to word of mouth and the quality of the vehicles we would produce. With the quality of the vehicles we produce we would try to be in magazines about the quality and innovations we come up with as well as speaking on television.

My company would issue a press release about a supercharger that increases the air compressed by 15% more than any other supercharger. Which in turn will create higher horsepower. I would send it to the car enthusiast of the world.

The company would have an online presence with stores, blogs, and forums for car enthusiast like myself. We would be on all social media showing pictures and events that we have regarding our cars and parts.

The company would have charity race events as well as racing tournaments to with the winner getting one of our free products.

If Forbes and HotRod magazine had our parts and company financial status in its magazine it would better the company greatly. Most well know car parts and companies are in HotRod magazine as well as the top tier companies are in Forbes. In attempting to get our parts and financial wellness in a magazine I would approach the editors with confidence and facts letting them know it should be in their magazine and it will not disappoint.

I would directly talk to journalist before we had a big new innovation coming out so that the hype would build before the product came out so that more people are aware.

This week is the Dallas Morning News was the news source I read. I read it on October 25, 2013. The news outlet covers topics in the metroplex of Dallas and Fort Worth. Most of the major topics that are discussed are from the state of Texas. When my family lived in Dallas growing up my parents used to read the Dallas Morning News.

http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2013/10/federal-judge-weighs-the-fate-of-new-state-abortion-law.html/

This weeks top story was “Federal judge weighs the fate of new state abortion law”. The news coverage pertained to a federal judge who is weighing the options of what to do about closing the majority of the abortion clinics. When the law goes into effect next week most of the abortion clinics that are in the state of Texas will close down. The only two that will still be in full service are the two from Houston and Dallas. They are also trying to limit or ban the use of not only surgical abortions, but also the abortion pill that was deemed okay by the federal government over 20 years ago.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/columnists/rick-gosselin/20131027-gosselin-cowboys-played-better-defense-for-dez-than-against-lions.ece

The other article that was not as important was the  “Cowboys played better defense for Dez than against Lions”. The Dallas cowboys lost again today. One writer for the Dallas Morning News believed that if they would have planned defense the way they defended Dez Bryant after the game they would be going into Halloween with a winning streak. The cowboys didn’t get wide receiver Dez Bryant into the game until it was nearly half time. He ran the ball and Romo threw a high pass to be incomplete. The Lions was the team that the Cowboys were playing and they seemed to have lost the game with just over a minute to go when the Cowboys defense blew the game on defense.

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/headlines/20131026-txdot-hopes-to-persuade-football-fans-not-to-drive-drunk.ece?nclick_check=1

The last story I read was about the Texas Department of Transportation. They attended the SMU game this weekend. During the homecoming parade they set up a table to try to convince people to not drink and drive after the football game. TxDOT says they do not have a problem with people drinking at the games. They just want people to do it safely.

The audience for this outlet is anyone who is in the Dallas area looking for good local news. It also has the main national issues that people should be concerned about.

It appealed to me because I am from Dallas so I am used to actually reading this paper. I enjoy the pieces and news that they have in this newspaper.

The Washington Post is the media out choice of the week. Unlike last time I wrote on this topic I will not be talking about current news. This Post has a whole section on the Watergate Scandal that led to the resignation of President Nixon. It is October 16, 2013 and the Watergate page really doesn’t have any recent post on it. This media outlet is to enlighten people about the Watergate Scandal, but gives a view of what it would be like today. They incorporate Facebook by making a page that would describe the event as if it were in today’s times.

The outlet tells so many different stories about what really was going on during that time. It also gives background of all the individuals that played a part in breaking open the story. Many of these individuals have post-Watergate stories that have been shared on the page. One of the headline stories is “The long shadow of  ‘national nightmare’.” The story shows just somewhat of what happened after the Watergate break in.  It gives description of how the people of the United States felt like they could not trust their own government because of the actions of important political figures. In the stories they show how the law prevailed and that no one is above the law. When this happened it took writing and journalism to a whole different level. It showed that even though journalists get on people nerves they serve a purpose just like they did in this scandal.

There is a timeline that tells a story on the Watergate Facebook page. It gives a timeline of the majority if not all of the events that were going on during that time. All of these posts are to be seen as if they were happening right now or as if Facebook were back during that time. It gives a sense of what media would have been like if Facebook had been around during that time. If not for the journalist involved the story of Watergate may have never been a told story.

The story of Watergate Part one tells a story of the beginning of the investigation by two journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. It gives a easy to understand type of reading of what went on between the two journalist and at the same time what was happening with the law. Gives some incite of what President Nixon tried to do to cover up the burglary with the FBI and the further digging that lead to his resignation.

The audience for this outlet is definitely a older generation that went through this hard time in American history. It gives a lot of incite to something that happened many years before the years of the younger generations. Those who love history would also find this intriguing to find out exactly what happened during those tough times.

The media outlet appealed to me because I find things of conspiracy fascinating. It makes me want to delve deeper into the facts behind a corrupt government.

The story “Searching for Gary Smith by Sarah Perry from the Mayborn”, gives a brief summary of well-known Sports Illustrated writer Gary Smith life. While moving through the story you learn about his achievements and important individuals lives he has interviewed. In the end though it is as if Gary is losing his touch and was never able to really figure his inner self out. Instead he tried to fulfill that need by his interviews with other people.

The lead that the story gives off is setting a scene as it describes the environment of one of Gary’s interviews.

The authors use of the visual, hearing, and feel senses as she describes the beginning of the story as Gary is in the car with Muhammad Ali makes you feel as if you were with them in the car with them in Los Angeles. “A balmy day in L.A., lanes of traffic, horns blaring. The car dances over the lane markers. Clack, clack, clack. The car weaves in and out, next to this car, then another. That was a close one.”

As you move a little bit deeper into the story you will find the nut graph which is what most of the story is based off. His happens to be the interviews he had with the famous figures, himself and why he penetrates people’s minds during his interviews. As you read through the story you find that all these points are addressed individually and how exactly they have impacted Gary Smith’s life. As you keep going you can finally dive into Gary’s mind which answers the question of “What kind of man thinks like this?”

But beneath Gary’s modesty and aw-shucks manner lies what people call one of the most penetrating minds in narrative nonfiction today. He uses poetry to delve into a young track star’s head, family history to understand a baseball owner, a psychological game to help a tennis legend understand himself, and a father’s vision to predict that a certain young golfer would flame out. “What kind of mind thinks like this?” wonders co-worker Rick Reilly in the introduction to Gary’s latest book Going Deep.

Overwhelmed by Gary’s personal profile I think there is a bigger issue. I believe it pertains to the reason why Gary goes in such depth about other people. He cannot figure out himself completely, so in order to satisfy his need to find information he does it through his interviews with other people.

There were several sources from Gary’s life that were placed throughout the story including Gary himself. In total as I went back and tried to decipher which ones were important I believe Bonnie, Jamillah, Mike Veeck, Sally, and Duke were the only ones.

Someone who I believe didn’t have his own quote was Agassi. When talking about Agassi’s life I felt like it was pretty boring and was just to give more description on Gary’s skills. It spoke about Agassi’s life with his former wife but also how he partially related to Gary.

I believe that the ending ties back to the beginning in a sense that Gary is always the one that is trying to get inside peoples heads, so there is background information that is given about him throughout his life. It names all of these important figures that he has extracted information from, but then he cant extract information from himself nor is he able to figure out the purpose of Ali falling asleep.

From this story I found it to be very entertaining while gaining some knowledge I never had know about certain sports figures. I grew up watching tiger play and it is kind of interesting how Gary called it back then that the machine would take over tiger eventually.

I like all the background details about certain sports individuals lives it was intriguing to see what exactly they would tell this reporter because he was so nosey.

The only thing that I really didn’t enjoy about the piece is the length of it, but if you really let yourself dive into the information and the people it pertains to you really don’t think about length. The first time I read it I was interested but I could see parts where people would be bored. It tends to be kind of wordy.