Gotta Read That Paper Stuff

We're asked every class morning, so what's in the news?

Most of us would agree that turning the T.V. on to channels like CNN, MSNBC, or perhaps local network news that morning is sufficient enough to find the big headlines. I'm guilty for looking on the Newseum's Freedom Forum Web site for a quick glance of the day's big headlines. Roy Peter Clark, a senior scholar from the Poynter Institute, comments on how many of us are slacking the reading of the traditional newspaper, including Clark himself. As Clark puts it you need to read the newspaper "--emphasis on paper, not pixels."

Clark's article says that with the whirlwind of multimedia, most people are not reading the news. They're just absorbing it without catching its real meaning. Perhaps news venues like T.V. and Internet only give us one version of the story, rather than a unique way each of us can perceive it. Simply reading is sufficient; bells and whistles need not apply.


Which do you like better? I welcome your thoughts.

Oops! UNC student journalist, 140,000 - John Edwards, 0

The John Edwards campaign tried to squash a video produced by a University of North Carolina journalism student, according to a story in the
News and Observer. The video, produced for the campus TV station and posted on youtube, asked if the location of Edwards Chapel Hill headquarters in an exclusive neighborhood squared with his poverty campaign. The brouhaha backfired - at least if Edwards did not want it to get publicity, according to a UNC blog. By Sunday night, the video had more than 140,000 page views. I'm guessing the student reporter never expected the reach her video has gotten - another lesson in the power of multimedia reporting and the web.
What do you think? Of the reported move by the Edwards camp? Of the student video?

Ready to learn new tricks?

A report from a college media conference says Washington Post digital wunderkind Rob Curley told a room full of college journalism students that too many students are resistant to learning online skills. His advice: If you want a job in journalism - get over the resistance, fast! And in Florida, Mindy McAdams tells students at an SPJ meeting that recruiters want to hire students with online skills. McAdams also tells students how easily they can learn multimedia skills - to broaden their storytelling arsenals - on their own. Finally, editors at a conference in Maryland talk about what they're looking for when they hire. Guess what! It's multimedia skills or at least openness to learning new things.
So where do you stack up? Are you trying to learn online skills? Do you see it as a way to reach more people with your stories? Or are you resistant? And why?

The old switcheroo

Ethics. Love 'em or hate 'em, they're here...And since they're here, they will be broken.

The editorial adviser at The State News passed this e-mail along to staffers: The publisher of the Argus-Press in Owosso caught one of his staff members plagiarizing from a high school student!

When the student was asked where she got her information for a story on changes to her hometown's city, she said her notes came from the Laingsburg City Council meeting. When the Argus-Press reporter was asked to show his notes from his story, he resigned.

It turns out 90-95 percent of the Argus-Press reporter's story came from this high schooler's article.

Usually it's the other way around, of course.

This surely comes as a wakeup call to all of us (those, I mean) who thought it safe to take from puny high school newspapers.

Should the Argus-Press hire Lindsey Fausett, the girl from the Laingsburg Informer (the high school paper), or pay her back handsomely?

Perhaps the reporter from the Argus-Press can still get a job as a blogger.

Celebrity gossip--I love it, but is it news?

Recently, it seems that celebrities are more famous for their personal lives than their movies or albums because of the celebrity blog phenomenom.

Blogs such as Perez Hilton (http://perezhilton.com/) and TMZ (http://www.tmz.com/) have changed popular culture in drastic ways, but are they really considered journalism?

These blogs have incriminating videos, photos and information that are making and breaking celebrities’ careers right now, but is it fair to give them the title of and “independent celebrity news site,” or “a tabloid journal”? The description that such sites as TMZ label themselves as.

I will not lie, I am a huge fan of the celebrity gossip sites, but I feel that it is much more a guilty pleasure than vital information that I need. I guess that there are many news outlets and many different news topics that I can’t discriminate, but I think that these sites may are being taken a little too seriously.

It is nice to read some news besides war and violence, but when I go to cnn.com I don’t want to read about Britney losing custody of her children. So, as much as I love these gossip sites, I like them as a separate indulgence, not a news source. I think that recently the line has been blurred on what is news, but what do you think?

Alternative Story Forms

Here I go again tooting the horn of news design. Sorry Sue, I thought this Freep page looked good :)

In the past ten years or so, news page designers have been using alternative story forms (or ASFs or "STD's" Detroit Free Press designer Steve Dorsey referring to story telling devices) used to portray stories outside traditional text and box photo. In this Poynter Online article, a journalist examines a study The Poynter Institute administered to 600 readers. Using six identical stories, each with the same facts and three print/three online, designers experimented with ATFs using factboxes, different fonts, graphics and photo alteration. Although the same information was presented in all six stories, the ones portrayed with ASFs were read more. Even more information was retained by the readers because a visual stimulus helped them remember facts better.

Check out newspagedesigner.org for some more ASF-designed pages.

How to succeed in journalism

Two bloggers weigh in with advice for journalists who want to be successful as the industry undergoes a major transition. The first, U.K. journalist and educator Paul Bradshaw, aims his counsel specifically at journalism students. Take note - some of you will recognize pitfalls you've already encountered like waiting too long for a source to return an e-mail. And Howard Owens, digital director for a newspaper company, suggests journalists need to use their curiosity to teach themselves about the latest tools of our craft. He also suggests you check out journalist Mark Briggs' new online book on surviving in the new digital age.
So how do you stack up against the advice? Do you have what it takes to succeed?

Reading newsprint: Necessary or nostalgia?

Roy Peter Clark, of the Poynter Institute, last week exhorted journalists - and J-school students - to read print newspapers. As the industry struggles to find a business model that will support it, Clark suggested it's a journalist's duty to read print. As you know, newspaper print circulation has been declining steadily. So has advertising revenue. Although much of the industry is now looking to online delivery as a potential savior, online only brings in between 5 and 7 percent of newspaper revenue at the moment. That is the problem, as Clark passionately noted. But his plea for reading out of a sense of duty sparked a torrent of feedback. Some compared his suggestion to asking amateur photographers to stick with film instead of going digital. One blogger suggested we'd all still be in the dark if candle-makers had reacted the same way when Edison discovered the lightbulb.
So what do you think? Is Roy Peter Clark right? Or are too many editors reluctant to move forward as the bloggers suggest. As journalists of the future, what do you think? Do you have an obligation to read print? Do you read newspapers the old-fashioned way now?

-30- or the end of credibility

Before computers replaced typewriters, journalists signalled the end of their story with the symbol "-30 -," which Webster's defines as a sign of completion. An American Journalism Review story points out that many younger journalists have never heard of the tradition. In fact, at the New York Times in July, a copy editor unfamiliar with the symbol created an embarrassing error when an editor thought the reporter's use of 30 was supposed to be a date in the story. Unfortunately, the editor turned that date into Feb. 30! And we wonder why people don't believe what they read in the news media. If you think accuracy isn't important, check out the list of errors editor Craig Silverman compiles on his. Regret the Error site each day. The morale of the story: Double-check and triple-check your facts. You don't want to end up on Silverman's list. And even more importantly, you want people to trust what you write.

Warner BROS indeed.

So the big buzz in the entertainment industry is apparently misogyny is in, and gender equality is out.

Jeff Robinov, president of production for Warner Bros. Pictures (and apparent sexist tool of the underworld) stated that they are no longer doing movies with women in the lead.

Way to go, champ.

This decree is apparently the result of poor box office investments like “The Brave One,” starring Jodie Foster and “The Invasion” with Nicole Kidman.

When I think about it, Warner Bros. should totally stop giving women leading roles. In fact, they should produce movies with no female parts at all.

The careers Foster and Kidman have created obviously are void just because one movie doesn’t gross a certain amount in theaters.

And the movies were probably bad for the sole reason that these women were in them. Writing, directing and production has nothing to do with it. C'mon people, give Warner Bros. a break!

We should just make movies with animals. People love those.

The New Newseum

The Newseum has undergone a considerable technological upgrade. If you are not familiar with the establishment in Washington, D.C., it is what it suggests--a museum of news. The facility has added a 75-foot First Amendment engraving, a 4-D theater, news media exhibits and galleries. One exhibit puts you in the scenario of a reporter and you have to complete an assignment for your "editor" by the proposed "deadline." The revamped Newseum is intended to be more interactive and aim towards a younger audience.
I remember going to the old Newseum in 2001 for an eighth grade field trip. Newspapers from around the world had sent their front pages that day, and seeing the diversity and complexity of world news was--in one word--fascinating.
The new Newseum was previewed by 200 newspaper editors from around the country last Wednesday. The facility will open to the public sometime in early 2008.

Taser Incident Shows 1st Amendment Oppression

(This was written one week after the tazer incident at the University of Florida)

It's no wonder politicians get away with what they do in this country when the people who ask tough questions get tazered.
For those of you living under a rock that lacks youtube access, last week at the University of Florida, a student who pestered John Kerry with questions had his microphone shut off and was dragged, literally kicking and screaming, toward the exit by police. After briefly breaking away from his captor the student, Andrew Meyer, was pushed to the floor and rendered completely immobile by numerous officers. Despite numerous officers holding him and and his pleading "Don't taze me, bro!" the student was 'tazered,' eliciting frantic shouts of pain from the 21-year-old.
The student asked John Kerry three questions: the first was why he conceded the 2004 election as quickly as he did, the second was why he isn't calling for an impeachment of President Bush, and the third was if he was in the same "secret society" in college as Bush.
All very useful questions despite Meyer's rambling and discontented attitude. Unfortunately this is not an isolated incident, because college students aren't the only ones with honest statements and questions who are, one way or another, cut off, tasered, or hauled out of the room.
Back in January 2003, when the Iraq War was pitched to Congress, then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said the war would cost "under $50 billion." However, Lawrence Lindsey, the White House economics advisor, estimated the cost at over $100 billion. Lindsey was then fired and his estimate considered "very, very high." The current cost of Iraq is somewhere between $400 billion and $2.2 trillion, depending on who you ask (http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=1322). The alarming removal might have been more widely known to Americans if the Secret Service had to carry Lindsey out of the White House flailing his arms and yelling like the Florida student.
The now-infamous Joe Wilson got much worse treatment that same year after publishing an article in the New York Times entitled "What I Didn't Find in Africa," in which he concluded "that some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat."
Eight days later Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, was outed as an undercover CIA agent by conservative columnist Robert Novak. Her safety was threatened to make an example of Joe Wilson; to warn others who spoke out against Bush Administration policy.
Just last August Alberto Gonzalez resigned amid hearings with a Senate Judiciary Committee over the firing of eight U.S. attorneys who were all apparently doing their jobs investigating criminal activity. Replacing so many of these influential figures midway through the administration is unprecedented, with only three attorneys forced out similarly since 1981. (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/26/opinion/26mon4.html?_r=1&oref=slogin) Gonzalez had no problem with stunning hard-working individuals en masse.
Rumor has it that Meyer is a spectacle-hungry campus prankster, but his charged queries to Kerry are not a reason to cut his mic; they're a reason to turn up the volume. The officials' belief that unforgiving challenges were inappropriate is evidence of a state where politicians are not rightly held to utmost scrutiny. An informed student, ambassador, or attorney has a right, if not a responsibility, to demand -not timidly ask- politicians to explain themselves.
This violent, unnecessary detainment is not only reprehensible when it is against a boisterous student; it is incalculably worse when it is a trend in maiming and silencing political dissension in America. Political discussion should be electrified, but not the discussers.

Videos of the incident:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5307657127017581467&q=Florida+Taser+incident&total=91&start=10&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=8
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6325830637005579877&q=Florida+Taser+incident&total=88&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

Taser This

The student who ran the "Taser this: Fuck Bush" headline is keeping his job.
Colorado State University protected his First Amendment rights as a journalist but scolded him for violating the school's ethics (use of profanity and poor judgment).
David McSwane, editor in chief of The Collegian, CSU's self-funded newspaper, was "hard to read" after the decision was made in his favor Thursday.
First Amendment rights protect us as journalists against censorship. Running such extreme profanity in an over sized headline, however, was simply irresponsible. The newspaper lost $50,000 in advertising revenue and a lot of respect, if you ask me.
As for McSwane, he gained valuable experience in publicity and First Amendment defense. He also may have learned a big lesson, and joked that now that's it over, he can start going to class again.

The fallout after a student's story

A student at Western Oregon University discovered a security breach on the school's computer system and wrote a story about it for the student newspaper. Although he did not publish any private information about students, he did download the file. It contained private student information including social security numbers. That led to disciplinary action against the student journalist. The student newspaper advisor's contract was not renewed because she failed to tell the student about the university's computer policies. And university police searched the student newspaper's computers without informing the adviser or students who worked at the newspapers. Student press advocates worry about the chilling effect such a search and the disciplinary action may have on student journalists. The university also ordered the student reporter to write a commentary on university policies. Other student journalists worry about the consequences of that? Can a university order up student journalists to write stories? Should they be able to?

What do you think? Was the student journalist out of line? Did the advisor err? Was the university wrong to search the newspaper office?

Clearly, you must read this

In class, we've been discussing writing with clear, simple sentences. A writers' group at the Cleveland Plain Dealer has been talking about readability in much the same way. This memo from the Plain Dealer urges writers to put their stories in plain English. It cites " The Writer's Coach," a book written by Jack Hart, an editor at the Oregonian. It notes that you can test your readability with the Flesch-Kincaid test on most Word programs. Some of the folks who commented on the Plain Dealer memo worried that this might be "dumbing down" newspapers. Yet most writing coaches and editors will tell you it simply makes sense to write clearly. After all, the whole point in writing is getting people to read your work. Steve Buttry, now with the American Press Institute, offers these tips for writing clearly. And check out this advice from Joe Hight, the editor of the Oklahoman, as well.
So what's your take? Is it simply a matter of clarity in your work? Or do we run the risk of dumbing down newspapers?

Everybody must get stoned

I wish I would have posted this earlier, it's good timing for the officer coming in tomorrow...

Officer makes killer (or so he thought) batch of ganja brownies

I brought this up the other day with the cops and courts reporter from the Detroit News.

Normally I would gripe about an officer not getting prosecuted for breaking the very laws he enforces. The poor guy whose pot he stole probably has to piss in a cup every week. But I don't think there's any shame in getting busted with marijuana, and this cop undoubtedly resigned from his post in shame.

He has suffered enough, though hopefully he'll share that recipe.

Hairy Situation

First off, please excuse the pun in the title. It was bad. But I couldn't help it.

So, Old Redford Academy in southwest Detroit wants to suspend a student because the length of his hair doesn't comply with the school's dress code.

The thing is, his mother is Jewish and doesn't cut his hair due to religious beliefs. The Michigan ACLU filed a lawsuit and is saying the school is infringing the boy's right to religious expression. And good for them.

People should be able to express their religion, as long as not as it's not infringing on someone else. So let's think about this, kids:

Not only is he not hurting or affecting anyone because his hair is "too long," but he wears it in a ponytail, so it's not like it's flying around in people's mouths or food or anything.

If his hair was attacking students and making bomb threats, then I could see the issue.

This country's constitution is based on the basic rights granted to people (i.e; the right to express one's religion). Like, oh I don't know, the First Amendment? So why can't he have his hair neatly pulled back if it's part of his faith?

Am I crazy to think a person should be able to exercise their faith in a — what we refer to as — free country?

Please tell me I'm not.

Tongue Tying

If one of your sources tells you they are pursuing, contemplating, or even having dreams about taking legal action, do not tell the recipient. Ever.

I learned this the hard way; I was covering a conflict between the City of DeWitt and developers attempting to build a subdivision in the area.

Outside City Hall during a council meeting the developers said they were waiting to hear from their lawyers on the best course of action. Their primary 'adversary' as they saw, was City Administrator Brian Vick.
In my interview with Vick following the meeting, I asked him the city's planned recourse if "hypothetically, DTP were to file an injunction."

Vick leaned back in his chair, threw his hands behind his head, and smiled at me; the interview was over.

If your need for a particular source is exhausted on an issue, then it doesn't hurt to bring in questions that can only help. But if you want more information out of someone, don't tell them they've got a lawsuit against them. Once the legal realm is on the table, people don't want to say anything that could get them in trouble, especially something that may be published.

It's not your responsibility to tell someone a lawyer is working against them; they'll find out on their own. Get the information you need before you lock their jaw.