DRAMA!

The official results of the Indiana Purdue Student Government Association (IPSGA) elections became official last week.  Therefore, the question as to who will be next year's executive officers is set in stone, right?  Not so much.  Although all of the Sanction Points filed by Students for Effective Government against Reflecting You were withdrawn, there are still some issues that haven't been settled as of yet. Issues that could result in the Vice President of Programming-elect  Wesley Haffenden being removed.

In the heat of the elections week, there was a complaint against Matthew Bohkart, calling him "anti-GLBT" by Wesley Haffenden.  Bohkart claims that these accusations are false and since his reputation is now been tarished he is calling fowl on Haffenden. Bohkart made a defimation of character complaint to the Dean of Students.

Bohkart gets his way, Haffenden might face both removal and suspencion.

Here's the deal.  The elections are over, Bohkart lost and he has no one to blame but himself. Everybody needs to grow up and let these petty disputes go. The people being hurt here aren't the candidates, but the student body-  the people whom they all claimed to want to help. 

Student Government Elections

It turns out that the "Students For Effective Governments" empty rhetoric paid off.  Three out of the four candidates were named as the "unofficial" winners... apparently it was announced today that these unofficial winner are now the official winners, according to the Student Election Board.

Here are the results:

Student Body President

*Terel Lynn - 616

Joe Menze - 552

Matthew Bokhart - 248

Student Body Vice President of Legislation

*Joe Magistri - 726

David Dressler – 384

DeAngelo LaVette - 288

Student Body Vice President of Finance

*Kody Tinnel – 872

Eric Smith - 545

Student Body Vice President of Student Programming

*Wes Haffenden – 620

Niki Mathews – 410

Marci Sullivan – 376

As it turns out your vote does matter!

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's a Really Slow Newsday!

Loch Ness At Pokagon? is the name of a news broadcast that INC Now posted on their website Friday.  They are begging the question of whether or not there might be some kind of cryptozoological creature living in Pokagon State Park because a UFO (unidentified floating object) that showed up on their camera at the Ramada Inn in Angola.  It seems that our friends at INC Now must be suffering from a slow news day if they are running programming on blurry black splotches that show up on cameras over lakes.  The only thing you'll find at Lake James is a cluster of drunk people on the sandbar, if you go monster hunting this summer. 

Is this news? Not in the slightest.  A bad joke at best.

BigHearts Bohkart?

This is my last post of student elections I promise. 

But I have to say something about one candidate's manipulation via the media.  Meet Pre-Med student Matthew Bokhart.  A few semesters ago he started this student org called The BigHearts Club which actually is a GOOD and amiable pursuit.  It holds a lot of fundraisers for charity. 

Here is where it gets ugly....

This semester Bohkart decided to run for student body president, which normally wouldn't be a bad thing.  But he has taken to some pretty shady marketing practices.  Has successfully turned his BigHearts club into a front group for "MATTHEW BOKHART for Student Body President".  The BigHearts Club is in the midst of a charity that is running alongside the Student Government Elections. Instead of keeping the usual BigHearts logo, he has fitted a picture of himself and his name to ALL THINGS BigHearts!  So now when student see the org's event fliers they see plugs for Bohkart.  That is manipulation and it is the UGLIEST thing I have seen all campaign season! 

NCMR 2011

Today in Boston the 2 day long National Conference for Media Reform 2011began.  According to it's website, the conference is designed for "activists, media makers, educators, journalists, artists and policymakers in sessions about journalism and public media; technology and innovation; policy and politics; arts and culture; social justice and movement building; plus how-to workshops and hands-on trainings."  There are over 300 presenters including professors, lawyers, journalists and others.

Couldn't make it?  Neither could I, fortunately the website has streaming videos of the events in progress.  

Check it out!

Watch live streaming video from freespeechtv at livestream.com

Joe Knows!

This flier just came out today and I caught it via Facebook.  I am in no way endorsing the use of pathological appeals (this one being humor) to win elections.  But I actually like this flier.  Sure it doesn't say anything about what policies he stands for and it might be a copyright infringement, but at least it doesn't make my eyes hurt.  This is good-humored, entertaining and eerily reminiscent of one of those "humorous"/"sexy" birthday cards you find at Walgreens or CVS.  It is also consistent with his "parties" over all design theme (always a plus in the PR/marketing world).

I'm going to go ahead and declare this campaign ad as "Good".... mostly because it isn't pixelated to hell or seizure inducing.

Reflecting You! Reflecting Who?

Courtesy of Facebook.com

Here we have another "political party" running for office.  "Reflecting You!" consists of the current Student Body President,  Terel Lynn; Vice-President of Legislation, David Dressler; and Vice President of Finance, Eric Smith, with new comer Marci Sullivan running for Vice President of Programming.

This campaign flier, made to resemble a voting ballot,  has a basic, but intense color scheme: red, light blue, navy blue and white.  These colors might have worked well together - as they do in say the American Flag- but not in this combination.  The shades of red and blues clash horribly and the text is hardly legible.

Courtesy of Ray Cunningham via Flickr.com

What's with the star burst pattern behind each of the candidates photos? These guys(and gal) are running for the IPFW student government NOT Communist China or the former USSR.  Sure this poster is propaganda but if I were running for public office in Fort Wayne, Indiana, I wouldn't take notes from Mao Zedong --->


The photos they chose aren't exactly the most flattering either.  Especially since they were pasted onto an alternating blue striped pattern.  Good thing I don't have epilepsy, looking at this flier for to long might cause a seizure.  So whose image is this "party" trying to reflect exactly?  I know I don't want to look like this when I look in the mirror.

If you haven't guessed it yet, this campaign flier is U-G-L-Y.  Seriously if I look at it any longer my eyes might start to bleed.

Students For Effective Government?

Its that time of year on the IPFW campus when announcement boards, window panes, and the Student Union get coated with advertisements for one thing: Indiana-Purdue Student Government Association (IPSGA) Student Body Executive Officers.

For roughly 8 weeks student get barraged with friend requests on Facebook by candidates.  They see the candidates' names, faces and talking point.  But when they go to the polls what do students really know about their would-be- officers?  What are their mission and goals?  For those students who have the time, energy and determination to learn more, there are the Student Election Board Meet and Greets and debate forums. But even then students only get to see and hear what the candidates want.

So instead of trying to understand who each of the candidates really are, I'm going to look at the one thing an average student sees - campaign ads.

For the next few weeks, I will be examining the good, bad, and ugly of this year's IPSGA campaign ads.  Starting with Students for Effective Government.

This is a screenshot of the Students For Effective Government facebook page. The first thing I notice when viewing this page is that I don't see any of the candidates' names. For the past few years, candidates have been banding together and forming short lived political parties in order to improve their chances of getting elected.  This strategy can be a Catch 22 because (as seen in this case) candidates end up spending their time and money promoting the party instead of themselves.

After clicking on the info button the party's platform is revealed.  According to the page, "Students for Effective Government is a coalition of IPFW students fighting to restore accountability, integrity, transparency, and fairness to IPFW Student Government."

This statement is full chock full of glittering generalities.  Their list of objectives equate to the things like "Hoosier Values" and "The American Way".  Further down they specify their goals as,

"Hold monthly fireside chats open to all students so we can receive direct input on the issues that matter most to you
● Focus on providing fewer, higher-quality student events on campus that appeal to a wider range of students
● Provide all of the organization's financial information online so each student knows exactly how and when their Student Activity Fee dollars are being spent
● Increase the fairness, consistency, and efficiency of the Student Senate funding process."

This list of goals is more accurate, but not quite precise. I would like to see a list of specific complaints against the current Student Senate and what they would do differently.  By producing such as list  it could show their dedication to increasing "fairness, consistency, and efficiency."

Don't get me started on their profile pic....

My final judgement of this artifact is "uninspiring". It would be redundant to called it an Ad and its not hard on the eyes (unlike some of the other candidates' advertizements.) But it definitively doesn't scream "Hope" or "Change" to either.  It just doesn't speak to me.

Not Another Michael Jackson Memorial, Please!

courtesy of kimint via Flickr.com


At 9:11am this morning I received a text alert from Indiana's News Center concerning the death of actress Elizabeth Taylor.  It read, "Legendary screen actress Elizabeth Taylor has died at age of 79.  Watch INC News at Noon and 5:00pm for more."  Here is a link to their story on her death.

I signed up for these text alerts because I wanted to know when and where actual emergencies are happening that will have an effect on my life. Not to read about paparazzi exploitation.      

This is the most useless text I have received in a long time. Celebrity news IS NOT breaking news!  I'm not saying her death isn't sad and shouldn't be reported. I'm saying it shouldn't be the top story, or previewed in an emergency text alert. 

INC Now don't make Taylor's death into the next Michael Jackson memorial.  Do us all favor and let her family grieve peace, away from the media spotlight. So she can be remembered in death as she was celebrated in life - as a timeless star.

This is both "Ugly" and a shameless "AD".

Glenn Beck and Kindness?

We all know that Northeastern Indiana loves Glenn Beck.  Last year Trine University even let him come to their campus and speak (a move that in this bloggers' opinion lost the institution as a whole credibility).  John Bershad of Mediaite, recently published a piece on Beck's recent call to action.

Instead of asking his flock to abandon churches that support social justice like he did a few years ago.  Beck wants his listeners to get in groups and commit acts of "kindness".  This sounds a little suspicious to me.  Is this just a subversive attempt at attracting advertisers back to his show?  Or a slick PR move to get the attention of viewers sick of his rants about the evils of socialism?   Maybe he genuinely wants people to display goodness.  Either way I don't trust it.  This is just another "Ad" in my book.

Welcome!

Welcome to The Good, the Ad & the Ugly  blog!  This blog is dedicated to the creation a conversation about the "glocal" media environment of Fort Wayne Indiana.  This includes all media that is created, distributed, and consumed by the Fort Wayne community.  For each post, I will include a link to a media controversy or product, as well as, a criticism of the artifact by rating it on a scale from "good" to "ugly".  I invite all readers to participate in the discussion by contributing respectful criticism.