April 3, 2009 | The Clarion
Arts & Life
Page 7
Chiles performs impressive senior recital
by Thomas Lide
Staff Writer
Last Friday night, Dwight Chiles
performed his senior recital at the
Porter Center The recital began at
7:30 and lasted nearly an hour He
performed 2 classical opera music
pieces by Benjamin Britten, and
songs such as “What If I Never
by Dowland, “Geheimnes” and
by Schubert, “Danza
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Speed'
“Der Lindenbaum'
Dwight Chiles
Danza” by Durante, and “L’ultima Can
zone” by Tosti.
The other half of his performance was
musical theatre scenes from shows such
as West Side Story, Into the Woods, and
She Loves Me. Dwight was able to give
the audience a superb performance even
though he awoke with a sore throat the
morning of the show.
“It made me feel really good to hear all the
compliments regarding my improvement
from when I was a freshman to the day of
my recital. Dr Gresham and Mrs. Murray
have had a huge influence on me the past
four years and through out my preparation
for the recital,” Chiles said.
One-third of younger adults view satirical
programs as replacing traditional news
by Angela Swartz
The California Aggie
U-Wire Content
Call it generational, blame it on technol
ogy or the media, but in any case, satirical
news sources are making their mark, espe
cially on younger generations.
According to the media public opinion
polling company Rasmussen Reports, 30
percent of young American adults aged 18
to 29 think satirical news-oriented televi
sion programs like "The Colbert Report"
and "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart"
are taking the place of traditional news
outlets.
Though this is not a majority, this is still a
considerable number to consider it a trend
for some.
"This is not a good trend because we
need a strong independent journalism in
this country, which we are sorely missing
these days," said Greg Novak of Novak
Marketing, a market researching company,
in an e-mail interview.
Tom Foremski, a former Financial Times
journalist and blogger for Silicon Valley
Watcher who reports on business and cul
ture, disagrees. He beheves they are actu
ally mainstream sources because they are
viewed by millions of people each night.
"They offer a valuable service in that they
do present actual news, unlike The Onion
which makes up its news. Those shows
caimot replace mainstream news sources
because they rely on them for their material,
they do not employ joumahsts or report
ers," Foremski said in an e-mail. "They are
distributors of mainstream news sources
and augment them. They offer a valuable
news distribution system that keeps people
informed."
Thirty-nine percent of adults in the report
say programs of this nature are making
Americans more informed about news
events. Others think that these programs
lead to a less informed electorate.
"If these programs replaced regular news
broadcasting the understanding of impor
tant national and international policies
would be reduced to a punch line," said
Davis College Repubhcans vice chair of
Internal Affairs Tierney Burke in an e-mail
interview. "They do not cover the depth of
the issues facing America."
The survey also says that 21 percent of
adults characterize these type of programs
as at least somewhat influential in shaping
their political opinions, including 7 percent
who say they are very influential.
"I only watched these shows during cam
paign season and I found them humorous
but not appropriate sources for the news,"
Burke said. "People should watch them for
entertainment but get a grasp of the political
world through real news sources."
Don Gibson, president of University of
Califomia-Davis College Democrats has
a different view.
"The trend should force media outlets to
not just report both sides but to also have
analysis between their reporting," Gibson
said in an e-mail. "These new programs are
definitely taking the place of traditional me
dia. It is likely this way because shows like
"The Daily Show" are going after people
and pointing out hypocrisy that traditional
media does not."
Although Foremski thinks these programs
keep people informed, he is wary of com
mentary and analysis type sources taking
over the entire media.
"Software engineers have a saying: gar
bage in, garbage out. I believe society will
suffer because we need high quality news
gathering and reporting so that we can make
decisions about many very important is
sues," Foremeski said. "And the reason we
are losing this news reporting capability is
that the shift to digital distribution doesn't
provide a business model that can support
large numbers of journalists. One of our
most important issues is fixing the media
business model problem."
This news of satirical programs starting to
replace more traditional sources is another
blow to the newspaper industry.
A survey from Rasmussen earlier in
March also found that younger adults are
reading newspapers less, with only 15
percent of those under 40 reading a local
print daily.