Interest in the News on Campus

                On Tuesday March 13, 2012 I was sent out to ask three people there opinion s and interests of current news. The purpose of the questions was to see what people thought was the current event that was most interesting and why, along with the most under-reported topic and why it deserves more attention. The first person asked was Kevin Kerhwald, a professor in the English department at Frostburg State University. When asked the recent event that he’s been following he responded “I’ve mostly been following international news, especially what’s been happening in Syria. I’m interested in the politics of it as far as what the reaction is to a humanitarian action and national interest. I also see a similarity to Libya in the Syria situation.” On the other hand, when asked about an under-reported event he stated “The situation in Uganda, even if it may be an old event is still occurring and the acts of atrocity that the Lords Liberation is involved in needs more widespread coverage.” The next person asked these questions had a completely different response. Sarah Stafford of Lonaconing, a junior in the Biology program said “I’m most interested in that sergeant who just killed 16 civilians in Afghanistan. It just seems to be another thing in a long line of things the military has done like the burning of the Qurans, I guess I’m interested in that”. However, when asked about something under-reported the answer was, “I don’t know, I don’t really have anything that’s under-reported I kind of just follow whatever is the biggest because it’s what’s on in passing.”  The last person I questioned was Serena Thompson, 28 and a native of Frostburg. The most important story to her when asked was “The 2012 presidential race, more just what’s going on with the Republican candidates right now. There doesn’t seem to be any clear winner so I doubt they’ll be able to beat Obama. Which is good because they all seem to have some really scary ideas.” The subject needing most attention was described by her as “ I’m not really sure about that, I guess the whole Iran and Greece situation has kind of stopped being big news, I also hear something on NPR about Girl Scout Cookies have an ingredient called palm oil that’s leading to deforestation and killing orangutans.”