Cover letter

Dear Potential Employer,
My name is Jasmine Stein, and I recently graduated from Purdue University with a degree in Mass Communication and Journalistic writing, and a minor in Business Management and marketing. My future career goals are exstensive, but I plan to lead a successful career in publishing, and devote a large portion of my life to writing, and constantly learning. below is a compilation of both published and unpublished clips ranging from music reviews, to 2008 presidential campaign coverage.

Over the past few years, I have spent time working across several different publishing platforms including writing, editing, digital, marketing, fashion, sales & PR. This summer I interned at Essence magazine at Time Inc., where I was able to hone in on my analytical skills in departmental sales, connect with my creativity in integrated marketing, and work on structure and planning in promotional marketing, experiencing all that corporate marketing in publishing has to offer. I was able to work exstensively on the Essence Music Festival. I also contributed to several marketing and sales campaigns in travel, beauty and lifestyle categories.

Before I left Purdue University, I was able to write as a full-time reporter for the daily Exponent, as well as serve as the Features department editor. I also held several other leadership roles in a vast range of organizations. A few months ago, i returned from a 6 month study abroad stint in Cairo, Egypt studying journalism and creative writing in the Middle East. I feel confident that I am ready to take on a full-time role in a challenging and demanding environment, where I can utilize my already acquired skills, and obsorb the expertise from the intelligent professionals around me.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,
Jasmine Marie stein

Resume

Jasmine Stein
jasminestein@gmail.com
515 W. 111th St.
New York, NY. 10025
Permanent Address
(248) 342-9875
Jasminesteinrez.blogspot.com

Education:
Purdue University, School of Liberal Arts, West Lafayette, IN
American University of Cairo, Study Abroad. Cairo, Egypt.
Major: Mass Communication, Journalism
Minor: Marketing, Business Management
3.7 GPA, 4.0 in Major
Expected graduation: May 2009

Experience:
TIME Inc. Summer Internship Program – Essence Magazine
May 2009- Present, Marketing Intern. Time Warner STARS Intern.
New York, NY
• Developmental Sales, Integrated Marketing, Promotions
- Essence Music Festival, MRI & PIB Research, Excel spreadsheets, Salesforce
- Integrated Marketing campaigns: L’Oreal, Medizine partnership,
- Pantene Sweepstakes, Disney Sweepstakes, Coty Sweepstakes
- Sales Presentation: Magic Campaign, Smart Beauty
- Updated 2010 Media Kit
The Exponent - Daily Newspaper
January 2007- May 2009, Features Editor. West Lafayette, IN.
• Staff reporter, assigned feature stories to staff, edited features stories,
- Beats: Purdue Music Association, music & movie Review
- College Politics, Performing Arts
TERRANCE SULLIVAN – Designer Clothing Line Summer 2008, Marketing & PR Intern, Detroit, MI.
•Head of E-mail Campaigns
•Campaign Member: Pop-up boutique, Complementary alterations,
Trunk show 2008, 2008 skinny jean. Composed press packets
HELEN Magazine - On Campus September 2007 – May 2009, Editorial Assistant. West Lafayette, IN.
•Editorial & Fashion Assistant
- Helped compile story ideas, wrote articles for the features section, fact checker, Researcher. Assisted on photo shoots.
CollegeOTR - New Media Website Summer 2007, Student editor, Intern. New York, NY.
• Editor- in -chief of the Purdue blog
• Managed and recruited bloggers for 7 Midwest schools for CollegeOTR.com

Extracurricular Activities/Awards:
• Purdue Writers Club Member
• The Purdue Underground Music Project – Co Founder
- PR Chair
•Fast Track T.V News- Reporter
•B.A.S.E- Black American Students for Education
- Secretary
-St. Francis Literary Conference Honorable Mention (2008)
• PRSSA – Public Relations Student Society of America
– Com Day 2008 Event Planning Chair
• College Democrats
-Obama for America Team
• Sudanese Refugee School
- Volunteer
• Women in Business

Personal:
• Extremely fluent in word, excel, research tools (e.g. LexisNexis), team player, poised under pressure
• I enjoy writing, fashion, discovering new music, traveling, photography, and taking chances.

She and Him Vol I.

Most people usually dread the yearly albums mass produced by the greedy movie stars turned singers. However, the little Santa’s helper, Zooey Deschanel from the film Elf recently released an album that is as sweet as she is. The little pixie is apart of the two member group She & Him with singer/songwriter M.Ward. She & Him released their self-titled, “She & Him: Vol. 1” in March and every song is a throwback to 50’s pop. Zooey sings about heartache like an innocent 15 year old girl whose heart could get broken a thousand times, and she would still come knocking for more.
The opening title, “Sentimental Heart” is a charming introduction to a new band and it hastily shuts up any critics afraid that She & Him is just more movie star to singer album fluff. “Sentimental heart” begins like a lullaby and as soon Zooey opens her mouth she sings the poignant lyrics with such clarity. “Cried all night till there was nothing left, what use am I as a heap on the floor? Oh what can you do with a sentimental heart”? “Sentimental Heart” begins with Zooey singing timidly as if she has been crying all night, over a single piano, and as the song evolves horns and background vocals add to the melancholy. Ironically, the song is adorable, and as depressing as each and every word is, it is also extremely catchy and will be an album favorite.
The next track “Why do you let me stay here” is playful and upbeat. The lyrics are irresistible and although it almost sounds like she is whining through it, it is the perfect song that harkens the feelings of begging for a lover’s attention. At one point Zooey blatantly moans “You make me feel like I am just a child”. The whole song sounds like a nursery rhyme bouncing around between fanciful and light melodies.
“Change is hard”, and “You got me” are the official country tracks on the album and they both have the “I done him wrong” twang in every syllable. The album is not without a few slow lounge ballads, fully equipped with whistling backgrounds and M.Ward singing background vocals for Zooey. The 1962 Miracles “You really got a hold on me” is the eighth track on the album, and every other song fits so well in that generation, you almost forget it’s a cover. M.Ward almost never sings on the album, but when he does his raspy vocals pair up against Zooey’s strong country flair making for a unique arrangement of indie, country-folk confusion. Especially, on “I should have known better” which begins with Zooey singing over classic country rifts, there is a clear lean to country although Zooey’s strong voice beats with a soul that is lacking in most country stars, M.Ward takes it to a completely different place. He brings a sexier sound to the music that Zooey may be incapable of bringing and leaves a hint of funk while he’s at it.
The 13 track album will bring every listener into a time warp; music just simply isn’t made like this anymore. She & Him takes the simple heartache lyrics from country and puts it’s over a piano blues and folk guitar. The mix taste like cotton-candy on a rainy day and makes it nearly impossible not to clap your hands and wish for the old days when every heartbreak was relished, every kiss stopped time, and love was simply enough.

Exploring Skin Whitening Cream Across the World Essay Sample

A Color Complex

Sharma is an avid user of Dermaline (a popular skin whitening cream) and she wanted to share her success story with others in order to inspire hope. “I used to look at fair skinned people, and used to dream to become like one, finally my dream has come true” (skin-whitening-product.com). Sharma and many other women in the Middle East are following a trend that has been one of the most popular products to buy in Asia for centuries. Skin whitening products such as B-White, Fair and Lovely, Dermaline and many others has been a constant subject of controversy for years, and yet the idea of skin whitening cream remains a fascinating subject. Many company’s will swear that the cream is 100% natural and that their products are used to restore the skin and remove blemishes, while others clearly promote an idealistic beauty standard for beauty’s sake alone. Many groups across the world have publicly condemned the cream for being “racism in a bottle”, and perpetuating the stereotype of white people being superior and more beautiful. Many people are less concerned with the social implications of skin whitening cream, and more concerned with the health risks. Skin whitening creams, pills, and gels has been known to contain chemicals that can produce serious damage to the skin and body. FDA proposed a ban in 2006 due to possible health problems related to a drug called hydroquinone.

Skin whitening cream has been banned in South Africa since 1992 due to possible health risks, but the product continues to be a prevalent part of society. With the year 2008 almost done, and with arguably the most powerful country in the world electing an African American man to be it’s leader as the first black president of the United States, and with a thunderous rejoice heard around the world, one would easily assume that the preference for white skin must be a fixture of the world’s past. Nevertheless, skin whitening cream products are not going anywhere fast. Men and Women in the Middle East avidly cover up when in the sun to avoid darker skin, and many Arab men, especially within a certain class would never consider marrying a woman with a dark complexion. Although it is nearly impossible to examine the root of racial preference both in the Middle East and in the United States, it is possible to explore when the preference turned into desperation to become light-skinned. Since Barack Obama’s 2008 win was received so well across the world, is racial preference today just an issue of beauty? Do people hope for light skin only to be considered beautiful, or do they think that lighter skin will not only get them a husband but a job too? Although skin whitening creams are more prominent outside the United States, they do exist and the preference for white skin is certainly easy to find. Nevertheless, driving down a busy intersection with a large billboard for B-white cream in the U.S, like in the Middle East, Africa and Asia would never occur. Is America more progressive with their racial equality, or is the blatant use of skin preference that is used outside the U.S simply a more honest tactic?

Skin whitening products come in many forms but most seem to contain the chemical Hydroquinone. Hydroquinone decreases the formation of melanin in the skin, and in some cases can bring about a lighter pigmentation. In 1996 The U.S food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed a ban for skin whitening cream that contained the chemical Hydroquinone because there had been substantial evidence that the drug caused cancer in rodents. According to FDA, in 1996 there were over 200 different types of skin whitening products containing Hydroquinone in the United States alone. Under the FDA ban, the products would only be given to patients through prescription. Most skin whitening products can still be bought in any pharmacy, no questions asked.

Most people think that skin whitening products are only an issue in outside the U.S, where the cream is a social norm. Allison Leblanc, an American study abroad student at AUC admitted not even knowing the product existed until she came to Egypt. “I think it’s silly, I don’t think people in the U.S use it, but I see advertisements here for it all the time”. Although the market is far more disguised in the U.S, it is a health concern for FDA who says the number of U.S users would shock, and that the product has gained much success on the internet. (Medicine Net.com). It only takes a simple click of the mouse and a quick search on Google to have the product boxed and shipped to your house in 4-6 business days. Google returned over 70,000 websites that sold some form of the product on-line. Magic-Potions.com only distributes there product, The Beauoxi White pill online internationally. MagicPotions.com sold soaps, lotions, gels and even an injectable Glutathione product all for skin whitening. The site has an area for video testimonials and a 24-hour customer service hotline. In short, Magic-Potions is clearly not running a “fly by night” sort of operation. Although, FDA and many Doctors find Hydroquinone to be extremely harmful, some professionals think that evidence of skin-lightening products causing harm is not substantial enough. A Boston Newspaper reported after speaking to Dr Lerner, a Boston University Dermatologists who said that he prescribes Hydroquinone to patients every day, and that in his opinion “the pigmentation problem is of more concern than the possible cancer one (TheBostonChannel.com)”.

Health is only one issue concerning the controversy that surrounds skin-lightening products. Many people are in debate over the issue proposing the question of whether selling skin-lightening products is moral. During my investigation I learned that most products advertise a product that can get rid of blemishes, or lighten birth marks and scars. Nevertheless, I find it rather interesting that nearly all of the products contain the word usage of skin-whitening. Those words do not advertise women of darker skin tone to restore their dark complexion from blemishes and scars, yet they are still encouraging people of dark complexion to buy the product.

On the website Magic-Potions.com they have a large advertisement of a black woman of very dark complexion with the phrases; do you want to be whiter? do you have Acne Problems? And start looking younger now, next to her. The two following sentences do not coincide with the first. Looking younger and removing acne has nothing to do with being whiter. The first sentence is printed in larger font, and clearly the only sentence that the company wants the reader to notice, since the latter don’t even make sense. Removing blemishes and leveling out the skin tone seem to be advertisement facades that are there to quiet down the moral oppositions of the product. However, the moral issue remains intriguing because fighters against the product claim hatred and racism, while the conglomerate big businesses that produce the product say they are only putting out a product that has a demand.

Moral fiber has never been something that could be easily found in large manufacture companies, so how can blame be put on the company that is simply in it to turn out a profit. The real question is who are the people that are buying the product? Heather Hunt an American transfer student at AUC from Texas reflects on things that her Egyptian boyfriend says concerning race. “He always makes comments about sitting in the sun too long, or how dark his skin is compared to mine and he isn’t even dark skinned”. Oprah did a show recently revealing that all across the world, the idea of beauty varies. In parts of Africa obese woman are considered to be the most beautiful, where in Thailand woman wear brass bands around there neck in order to elongate the neck because women with long necks are considered to be the most beautiful (oprah.com). Most people would not find anything morally wrong with this behavior and would consider it to fall under cultural practices. Therefore, shouldn’t skin bleaching fall into that category as well. “I know my boyfriend finds my fair skin beautiful and probably wouldn’t ever date someone with a dark complexion, but I just think it’s his cultural background, I don’t think he’s racist,” Hunt said.

Despite a willingness to accept a cultural preference for white skin, most people still feel uneasy about the idea of using products in order to achieve a lighter complexion. “I think using that stuff is taking it one step too far,” Hunt said. Although it appears that most of the world tends to find more beauty in a lighter complexion, it seems that Americans tend to hide any usage of it and find the products horrifying when confronted about it. Therefore, maybe the idea of openly using skin-whitening products is cultural. In Japan skin whitening cream is so common and not only acceptable but a beacon of pride. Every year there is even a “Fair and Lovely” Pageant hosted by “Fair and Lovely” the world’s most popular skin-whitening cream. In Egypt, the willingness to brag about their new skin-whitening cream is not as prevalent as in Japan but it doesn’t seem to be as shameful as in the states. “I personally have never used the stuff, but I know people who have. I think most people here could probably say the same thing” said Amina Darwish an AUC student..............

Questioning Ideology Essay sample

The word ideology is complicated. In al of the texts that I have examined, ideology is a recurring issue. Ideology can be used as a type of curse, used to impose a predetermined destiny. Ideology can be used as a way to break away from the provided path in a quest for freedom. Ideology can be used as a form of oppression, something those in power use to remain in power. It appears that ideology is just a representation of reality, an ever-changing phenomenon that humans use to make sense of their world. At the start of this course we learned that reality itself is created by representation. Language, words, stories, narratives, and literature are all things that we piece together in order to form a reality. Nevertheless, all of those things are directly influenced by ideologies. Since we base our lives around ideologies that have been influenced by other ideologies it appears that human beings have no real control over their lives.

Quite often I feel that human existence has become so contrived that our likes and dislikes are all force fed to us by the hierarchal structure of our society. The idea to break away from the given ideology and search for individuality is a paradox. Individuality has been written down, published and sold to the masses. Is there such a thing as individuality or truth? The sheer idea of taking a person’s criticism of an ideology and adopting it, is simply buying into another ideology already in place. Perhaps the only way to achieve individuality or truth then is to take a person’s criticism of an ideology, and use it as a way to create your own ideology. However, it seems impossible to achieve individuality or truth that is free of influence. With that said, is it still truth if it is influenced? In order to further examine the relationship between ideology and truth; Foucault’s discourse and power theory, re-presentation, and the post-colonial theory on colonization and culture must be examined as well.

A narrow definition of discourse can be given as the relationship between language and power. In the Foucault reader, we first examined the idea of a central structure used to command power over the non-dominant society. We first looked at this idea when we discussed the panopticon. The panopticon consists of a tower surrounded by buildings divided into levels and cells. The prisoner can see nothing but knows that a supervisor is watching and that he will be punished if he does not behave accordingly. The point of the panopticon is that after a while, a supervisor is not required, “if the prisoner is never sure when he is being observed, he becomes his own guardian (Foucault, 19).

It is the idea that you can take the center out of the system, but that the idea becomes so internalized that the original manipulation of the system becomes blurred. The blurring of discourse and adopting it as your own is how I viewed the author function, and the integration of discourse from an idea into language. The author function is a metaphor for the system of knowledge and power that is currently in place. In the author function, Foucault describes the author as being a perceived beacon of truth. The author’s name becomes synonymous with truth. In fact, the authors name becomes so powerful that it overshadows whatever it is that the author produces. “Even when an individual has been accepted as an author, we must still ask whether everything that he wrote, said, or left behind is part of his work” (Foucault, 103). It is extremely dangerous expelling so much power to a figure in which we are supposed to take all his/her ideals based on their name. Foucault said in The body of the condemned when referring to the relationship between power and knowledge, that “it is largely as a force of production that the body is invested with relations of power and domination” (Foucault, 173). Foucault meant that when we think people have knowledge, that we give them power over us.

The author function reminds me of the United States of America Presidential position. The President as I understand it in a democracy is supposed to be the leader and voice of the American people, not in any way is he all knowing. However, somehow the President has become so powerful that his voice is the only voice that matters. Too often the American people listen to what the president has to say, and take his ideas as the truth. A very good example of that is the war in Iraq. The American people were lied to in many instances but still managed to re-elect the man back into office who was responsible for the lying. How can something like that be explained? I learned in an interpersonal communication class that people have the tendency to maintain an attribution once it has been made, even in the face of contradictory evidence. The American people have attributed the position of President with trustworthy, honest and always having the public’s best interest in hand. The distinction between President and the man is lost. The relationship between language and power is one in the same when people allow themselves to buy into ideologies such as the author function.

In the story At the auction of the ruby slippers the ruby slippers hold a power that may or may not be what the masses expect it to be. However, the fact that people believe so immensely in the ruby slippers is the power. “We revere the ruby slippers because we believe they can make us invulnerable to witches; because of their powers of reverse metamorphosis, their affirmation of a lost state of normalcy in which we have almost ceased to believe and to which the slippers promise us we can return” (At the auction of the ruby slippers, 92). People from all walks of life come to the auction in hopes that the ruby slippers will return their state of chaos to normalcy. It is never revealed if the ruby slippers power is real or a fallacy, but the ideology is in place, and people believe in the shoes. The belief in a power that the ruby slippers may possess seems harmless, like believing in God with ought really knowing if he exist. Nevertheless, the ruby slipper story parallels the Wizard of OZ. In the end, the great Oz had no truth to relay upon Dorothy and her friends, his magic was a sham. However, in the end the morale that you are supposed to learn from the Wizard of OZ is in the journey that Dorothy took.

Dorothy ended by finding the truth on her own, as did the lion and the tin man. The Wizard of OZ story is important because when studying imperialism in the Roman Empire and truth through the “falsum” and aletheia, that there is no such thing as a quest for truth, but that the quest is the truth. If that is true, then it doesn’t matter if the ruby slippers hold the power that the villagers want it to, but that the path they take to obtain the ruby slippers, the quest to return to normalcy may be the truth. On the flip-side of that, I always watched the Wizard of OZ thinking that Dorothy and her friends sure did waste a lot of time, and get in to a lot of trouble because of the false hope that they instilled in the OZ. In many ways, the belief that OZ was their only hope of getting home, courage or a heart was their downfall. It took the dismantling of the center in place for them to realize that they could get home, find courage and a heart all along.

This idea is the same for At the auction of the ruby slippers because perhaps if all these people weren’t relying on the ruby slippers as their only hope to fix their problems, they could figure out what is wrong and fix their own problems. Still, examining the story further leads me to ponder if the normalcy that the villagers are aching to return to exist. Later in the story, they mention “home has become such a scattered, damaged, various concept in our present travails. There is much to yearn for, there are so few rainbows anymore, they promised to take us home”(At the auction of the ruby slippers,93). The italicized home emphasizes the fact that home may be a fabrication that people idealize as home, but the idea of it is far more powerful than any innate feeling it may truly possess, just like the ruby slippers. Zack Braff explains the idealized meaning of home perfectly in the movie Garden State. “You know that point in your life, when you realize that the house you grew up in isn’t really your home anymore? All of sudden even though you have someplace where you can put your stuff, that idea of home is gone. It’s like you get homesick for a place that doesn’t exist. Maybe that’s all family really is, a group of people that miss the same imaginary place” (Garden State, 2004). The imaginary place that Large misses in garden state is the same imaginary power that all of the people lined up at the auction are hoping to find in the ruby slippers............

Analytical Essay Of NYTimes Political Coverage

Does the New York Times Favor liberal Candidates?

Printed on the left hand corner of every New York Times newspaper reads it’s motto, “All the news that’s fit to print”. After analyzing a week’s worth of political coverage by the New York Times I found the Times motto to be rather intriguing. At first glance, the motto seems trite and insignificant. Nevertheless, I found the wording to be quite revealing. “All the news that’s fit to print”. Is it possible that the New York Times is telling it’s readers right on the front page that they have the right to pick and choose what is newsworthy? However, isn’t that the job or at least the power of any media outlet? Therefore, if every media outlet is picking and choosing what news deserves to be discussed and broadcasted to the world, is it possible for any publication to be truly unbiased? Throughout the week of October 8th, I carefully examined all of the McCain and Obama coverage printed by The New York Times in order to attempt to answer such questions by paying close attention to the story they are trying to tell, the language used and sheer amount of coverage for each candidate, and finally whether it matters at all.

On October 8, 2008 the headline read, “McCain Excites Crowds With Criticism of Obama”. Sometimes it can be hard to tell whether a reporter is criticizing a public figure, or simply stating the truth. One of the clear indicators of a bias in the press is through careful examination of language. However, examination of the context that surrounds the situation is also a very important determining factor. Since McCain announced Palin as his running mate, the campaign has taken a noticeable turn. Palin clearly resonates with a certain “type” of citizen and alienates the other. The New York Times seems to be painting a definite negative picture of John McCain’s rallies. “As the crowd booed angrily at each mention of Mr. Obama’s name, Mr. McCain threw himself more vigorously into his speech” (NYTimes.com. 10/08/2008).

Throughout the Times article Bumiller, the reporter emphasizes not only on McCain and Palin’s reactions, but the result of those actions. “Where it is the sharp criticism of Mr. Obama, rather than Mr. McCain’s once over comments on the economy that draw the biggest, loudest response from the conservative and almost all-white crowds that come to see Mr. McCain and Ms. Palin” (NYTimes.com. 10/08/2008). It is clear that the Times wants to paint a picture of a narrow group of people that makes up a small portion of our country. In the Times article, McCain is never portrayed as a man that can help to bring people together, in fact it appears that he is a man that stirs up crowds which creates alienation. Ironically, Barack Obama’s entire campaign is based on the exact opposite approach. An article written on October 14, by Adam Nossiter goes even further to cast particular characters as the main focus of the story that are directly linked with McCain and the “type” of campaign he seems to be running. In the third paragraph of the article, Nossiter introduces his audience to Ricky Thompson, a factory worker from Mobile Mississippi. “He’s other, It’s in the Bible. Come as one. Don’t create other breeds” (NYTimes.com. 10/12/2008), said Thompson when referring to Barack Obama. Excluding the tiny population of Mobil Mississippi, and southern towns alike it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume that the majority of American people would find this statement to be ludicrous, and down-right laughable. Adam Nossiter and the New York Times are very aware of this fact. Nossiters article makes McCain supporters sound like uneducated “poor white trash”. An opposing argument to the tactics of The New York Times would point out that of course the responses to Obama in a rural southern area would resemble such ridiculous and racist views. However, are the residents of Mobil Mississippi not McCain supporters? Are the residents of Mobil Mississippi not eligible to vote in the United States of America? Suppose that Nossiter went to a Hollywood movie premier and asked celebrities the same questions that were asked to the mobil citizens. I believe that it would be just as easy to predict the answers from that crowd as it was to predict of the Mobil citizens. Where exactly in America can you find a fair playing ground where no predictability can be accountable for? The answer is nowhere. However, a solution to that problem might be to question citizens from many different areas. The New York Times article never does that. Rossiter interviewed several people from a few different small southern towns and although as the article progresses, the blatant racism and ignorance does appear to lighten up, every patron still has some type of racist undertone and overall every answer is stupid. In the end, the article will not disappoint in widening millions of readers mouths across the globe, and closing there papers thinking if these are the type of people that follow John McCain, I don’t think I will put myself with the likes of them.

Word usage can be a powerful indicator of bias. Phrases set a certain tone to writing that although subtle, are definitely pertinent. Word usage of even, but, unlike, or an overall sarcastic tone can give the story a biased appearance. Phrases like “unlike his opponent, Senator John McCain” (NYTimes.com. 10/8/2008) indicate a superior feeling towards Senator Obama. This type of phrasing sends a subliminal message that Senator Obama has done something right “unlike his opponent John McCain” with ought blatantly saying Obama is good, McCain is bad. The words that New York Times journalists focus on give an overall feeling that seems to favor one candidate over the other. McCain is almost never mentioned with ought any criticism and it usually focuses on comparing him to Barack Obama. On the contrary, whenever Senator Obama is mentioned, any criticism is always coupled with a complement or some sort of explanation for the candidates mishaps. “`Interviews with a dozen people suggest that Mr. Obama, 47 has played down his contacts with Mr. Ayers. But the two men do not appear to have been close” (NYTimes.com.8/8/2008). The rebuttal to this argument is purely opinion, and I highly doubtthat the Times would have felt the need to clear up negative press that has been leaked about John McCain. Besides word usage and the tone of The Times that seems to indicate a clear bias in favor of Senator Obama, the sheer volume of article written about John McCain is telling in itself. During the week of October 8th, I examined ten news articles and two Opinion columns printed by the New York Times. Both Opinion Articles revolved around Senator Barack Obama, The article entitled “The Terrorist Barack Hussein Obama” that was printed October 11, 2008 not only blatantly criticizes McCain and Palin’s rallies that revolve around “raucous and insistent cries of Treason and Terrorist and Kill him! And off with his head,” but he also appeals to action, “They are alarms. Doing nothing is not an option,”(NYTimes.com. 10/11/2008). The other opinion article also published October 11, 2008 didn’t even mention John McCain. The entire article entitled “Do Polls Lie About Race?” focused on the tendency for American Polls to overestimate a candidates likely hood to win when race is involved implying that voters lie in order to not appear racist. In my opinion the article was a wake up call, and possibly a warning. Both articles are opinions and although it is clear in both cases who the reporters will be voting for November 4th, there is no problem with that since these are opinion articles. On the other hand, It is impossible not to become skeptical of the Times for choosing to print two extremely biased opinion articles that lean the same way, and focus on the same person.

In the end, does it matter that The New York Times appears to blatantly support one candidate over the other, and lean towards the liberal side. The Times was founded in 1851, and since then has won 98 Pulitzer Prizes (Wikipedia.com). For a newspaper that has earned such a reputable name, they might just have the right to print whatever they choose biased or not. In a column printed on July 25th, 2004 the then public editor, Daniel Okrent addressed the biased question with the headline “Is the New York Times a Liberal Newspaper?”. Okrent answered the question in the very first line of the article with a short and concise statement, “Of course it is” (NYTimes.com.7/25/2004). He later goes on to explain that The New York Times is a product of it’s environment. “But if your examination of the paper’s coverage of these subjects come from a perspective that is neither urban nor northeastern nor culturally seen-it-all, if you are among the groups the Times treats as strange objects to be examined on a lab slide, (devout Catholics, gun owners, orthodox Jews, Texans); if your value system wouldn’t wear well on a composite N.Y Times journalist, then a walk through this paper can make you feel like you’re traveling in a strange and forbidden world” (NYTimes.com.7/25/2004). In a cute and funny way Okrent was basically saying of course were a liberal paper, republicans are weird and live on a different planet, ie. devout Catholics and Texans. However, Okrent does make an important point when calling out the context in which the New York Times is created. New York is the city of every color, every race, gay, straight, and weird. Right wing conservativeness doesn’t exactly walk the streets in Manhattan, so why shouldn’t it’s paper reflect those people and their values. In a nut shell, the articles have a clear audience, and the Times write for its audience. The Mobil Mississippi residents interviewed by Adam Nossiter are a strange other to the people of New York City, and so consequently they are a strange other to the New York Times. It appears that during this 2008 election, the people that fall in the “strange other” category are also standing side by side with Mr. McCain. Therefore, it is impossible not to see favoritism towards Senator Obama in the New York Times. According to Daniel Okrent, “Taking the New York, out of the New York Times would be a really bad idea” (NYTimes.com. 7/25/2004).