JOUR 3101

By Maia Irvin  On Tuesday, Romanian officials announced residents discovered a strange metal object similar to the one authorities in Utah found less than two weeks ago, according to news sources.  Residents in Piatra Neamt, Romania discovered a mysterious monolith that was similar to the monolith that strangely appeared in Utah on Nov. 18, NPR reported. The discovery of this second column was also just days after the monolith in Utah mysteriously disappeared, according to NPR.  Officers from Utah's Department of Public Safety discovered the first monolith in the Utah desert in Red Rock County, according to NPR. The metal monolith then disappeared less than 10 days after its discovery, NPR reported.  The metal column in Romania was nearly identical to the column in Utah, according to 7News . Both monoliths were nearly 10 to 12 feet tall, and they were both made out of a reflective metal material, according to NPR.  One resident in Romania knocked on the pillar and found that it wa

By Maia Irvin  I think that the Star Tribune generally does a good job of posting news content on their social media pages, especially Instagram. The story that the Tribune posted on Instagram about the sled dog marathon  had a good layout for news content on social media.  The post had most of the necessary and basic information as well as a colorful and lively anecdote in the post's caption. The post itself was a series of several pictures depicting the characters described in the anecdote. The full story on the Tribune's website is then linked at the bottom of the caption. I think that sharing news content like this is different than a traditional story because there are more pictures, and the pictures are what catch the eye and are highlighted in the post since Instagram is a platform meant for sharing pictures for the most part. The point of a post like this is to catch the eyes of readers who are quickly scrolling past and may not otherwise read the story.  I like the pos

By Maia Irvin  On Monday, Arizona and Wisconsin certified their election results and stated that President-elect Joe Biden won in these states, according to several news sources.  Arizona election officials formalized Biden as the winner in Arizona over President Donald Trump and stated that Biden won by about a 10,000 vote margin, according to AP news . Just hours after Arizona announced its election results, Wisconsin officials also declared Biden the official winner in Wisconsin, according to The New York Times . Biden won Wisconsin against Trump by more than 20,000 votes, the Times reported.  Wisconsin's certification came after the state conducted recounts in two counties that the Trump campaign requested and paid $3 million for, the Times reported. Biden actually gained 87 votes after these recounts, according to the Times.  Officials did not expect the 20,000 vote margin that Biden had over Trump in Wisconsin to change significantly after these recounts, the Times reported. 

By Maia Irvin  On Wednesday, President Donald Trump pardoned former national security officer Michael Flynn after he had pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI, according to news sources.  Flynn was Trump's first national security officer and in 2017, he lied to the FBI about conversations he had with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, according to NBC . Flynn asked Kislyak if Russia would wait on any retaliatory sanctions against the U.S. since Trump planned to reverse the sanctions that the Obama administration imposed on Russia, NBC reported.  Flynn initially pleaded guilty to lying about this conversation to the FBI, but he later withdrew his plea and substituted it with a  second plea of not guilty after accusing the government of trying to frame him, NPR reported.  Trump announced the pardon via Twitter , and critics said that Trump's action to grant Flynn a full pardon interfered with the justice system, according to NPR. This was not a surprise to most people thoug

By Maia Irvin  Time and again, western media projects a false and stereotypical image of Africa. This image is generally dominated by underdeveloped cities, governments incapable of helping their citizens and poverty among most of the population of the continent.  Western news organizations have historically reported this image of Africa, and they continue to do so today. Now, though, it can be more subliminal and less outright than in the past. This BBC article from September provides an example of this more subliminal stereotyping of Africa.  The article is about the incredulity and immense surprise that many people had when Africa, specifically South Africa, was reporting such low death rates from COVID-19. Many people expected there to be a severe outbreak in Africa because Africans live in crowded places rife with poverty. So when Africa seemed to be doing much better with COVID-19 numbers than much of the rest of the "developed" world, people started trying to look for

By Maia Irvin  On Tuesday, Scottish lawmakers unanimously voted to make period products freely available in public places, becoming the first country in the world to do so, according to news sources.  The Period Products bill makes menstrual products available for free in public buildings, according to CNN . These public buildings will include schools and universities across the country, CNN reported.  This law is intended to end period poverty, The New York Times reported. Period poverty is a term that represents the expense of period products that has left many of those who require them without access to them, according to the Times.  Several women's rights and equality groups praised the law as well as several Scottish lawmakers like Monica Lennon who is the lawmaker who introduced the bill last year, according to CNN.  "[This is] a signal to the world that free universal access to period products can be achieved," Lennon said after Tuesday's vote.  While this is