A reporting joke

There's nothing better than people getting practical jokes played on them. I know that when I should be watching something of value (Meet the Press, Headline News, etc.), it's hard to change the channel from Punk'd.

But when a practical joke hits the media, as has been done many times before, it brings into question how far people dig for the truth. One of the first rules of journalism is to have at least two, if not more, credible sources for conforming all facts. Still, Crain's Chicago Business was hit by the April Fool's Day bug this weekend when Time Out Chicago, a high-class local magazine, hand delivered a press release stating the one and only Donald was taking control of the magazine. I'll skip re-explaining the results and let Crain's plead their case.

In the world of web updates and Internet competition, there's often a rush to be the first with the day's biggest news. The peril in this becomes credibility and the act of triple checking facts. Crain's wasn't able to confirm this information with Time Out Chicago (the fake contact number was part of the ruse), but still chose to run the update with the one source. It's often hard to believe, especially when it hits you, but information can be made up so easily that it's difficult to check every bit. Still, it seems as though there needs to be some gatekeeper for releasing information that seems even a little bit suspicious.

In this instance, Crain's Chicago Business apparently fell victim to what some would call a harmless joke. But it reveals a hitch in the journalistic process that needs to be remedied.

For their incompetence, I'm sure Donald Trump would have only two words for Crain's Chicago: You're Fired!

(I couldn't help myself).

The Worldwide Leader?!?!

This past weekend the NCAA Men's Ice Hockey Tournament held their regionals at four different sites. For the past few years, the tournament games have been broadcast on ESPNU, a college sports only network under the ESPN "umbrella". In addition to being broadcast on their network, ESPN has allowed other networks to pick up the game feed and broadcast the game in areas where there would be great interest. For example, a public television network in Michigan often picked up games involving Michigan or Michigan State.

While this tournament is not the nationwide phenomenon that the hoops tournament is, it is still seen as very important in some parts of the country and having the games syndicated allowed many people to watch the games without a satellite dish. This year though, ESPNU did not allow its feed to be picked up by local networks, with the exception of one game. This forced many fans, including myself, to get reservations at a restaurant to watch the game.

ESPNU probably did this in hopes that people who wanted to watch the game but didn't have the means would go out and buy a satellite dish. I realize that you don't get anywhere in the business would without being shrewd, but this went a little too far. They broke tradition, and I really don't think it helped their business all that much.

Two new members of the fourth estate

Two of the (arguably) most controversial people of our time have recently become tele-pundits in their respective, albeit, disparate arenas of our culture. Bob Knight, the legendary (some would say infamous) basketball coach at Indiana and more recently Texas Tech., has become an in-studio analyst for ESPN's coverage of the NCAA tournament. Meanwhile, Karl "the architect" Rove has joined the ranks of Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity over at Fox News.

While there is little question that these two are masters of their craft and have proved erudite in their own right, my question remains: Is there a fine line (designated period of time?) between being the news and joining the news.

Knight has been known to make disparaging remarks against the media and particularly against his current employer, while Rove was one of the leading chargers that the media was plagued with media bias.

Howard Kurtz, in a recent media commentary in the Washington Post, defends Rove, however, citing several examples that he has proved to be a knowledgeable, fair-minded pontificator. Knight also has proved to be slightly more stoic on ESPN, seemingly, fitting right in with the nattily dressed crew.

Should she stay or should she go?

We all know this presidential race between Obama and Clinton is neck and neck. It is unlikely that if they both stayed in the race, the Democratic party could beat McCain. I was watching the news the other day, and they were talking about the need and want for Clinton to pull out of the race. While I would be happy to get her out of the race, I thought it was interesting that people had chosen Clinton to leave, and not Obama. I see their understanding in the issue, but with such a tight race, who's to say which one would make a better president and stay in the race. I was looking online for some more information on this, and even found an article from the United Kingdom calling for Clinton to leave. I thought it was interesting that the United Kingdom were really the only ones, besides Fox News, who thought of this.

As far as I can tell, Clinton isn't pulling out of the race, and we'll most likely see a superdelegate primary this summer. It seems people care more about the race between Obama and Clinton than the overall race that would end in November.

Looking for a journalism job? Check this out

Some of you are heading into the job market for the first time as new graduates. Others aren't ready for a full-time job yet but really need an internship. How do you get started? There is plenty of advice online. Colleen Eddy, of the Poynter Institute, writes a column for Poynter's career center offering timely advice for journalism job-seekers. In this column, she talks about how to put together a resume. Joe Grimm, the Detroit Free Press recruiter, also writes a career column for Poynter. And he hosts a jobs page with helpful advice on everything from what to put in a portfolio to how to write a cover letter. Finally, as the industry changes you need to know what editors are looking for when they hire. Sundra Hominek, a senior editor at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, is looking for multimedia experiences but she also wants candidates with strong writing skills. Check out her advice.

Sports vs Priorities

Every March, the same barrage of NCAA basketball news covers the nation's newspapers and websites. Especially in college towns, like East Lansing, the news of the remaining teams gets bigger and bigger as the month goes on. Even the most mundane news blips become full-on stories in the magnifying glass that is the NCAA Tournament, like Memphis' Derrick Rose's fear of needles or the stress Arizona's coach, Lute Olson, went through in his divorce.

And while the stories are definitely interesting, it leaves one wondering how much actual "news" we may be missing out because of the massive amount of attention the media gives to the tournament. MSU's own State News had an entire front page dedicated to the Spartans' game against Memphis in their Friday issue. And while it may be partially because of slow news, it still brings to mind how many issues are being pushed to the back page in favor of basketball?

Rock the Vote

Recently, some prominent musicians have been lending their support to presidential candidates. In particular, they have been lending their support to either of the democratic candidates. A couple of questions are raised from seeing this. First, what affect will the backing of a candidate by a celebrity that represents a certain demographic have an influence on how that sect of society? Also, why would any person be swayed to vote for one candidate because a certain celebrity endorses them. While people may like to think that they are similar to their favorite musician in many ways, the fact of the matter is that when it comes to how the major issues of the election will affect them they aren't in the same boat, or tax bracket for that matter, as their favorite musician.

Another celebrity endorsement that I thought was interesting came from an athlete, Greg Oden of the Portland Trail Blazers. Unlike musicians, athletes have always be hesitant to actively back political candidates. Michael Jordan was once quoted as saying that "Republicans buy shoes too". So for any athlete to back a candidate, let alone an NBA rookie who has yet to play a game, is extremely rare. I think it's great that Oden has done this because he is expressing his opinion about who he is going to vote for, but if you read his blog post he is in no way trying to sway people to support Barack Obama.

And then there's Meghan.

Following up on Alison's post, I did some research on Meghan McCain. As many know, Meghan has been blogging her father's campaign trail on McCainBlogette.com, a blog that features a Sex and the City-esque image of a woman on a computer with red high heels. Meghan offers a behind the scenes look at the happenings in the McCain campaign, while also commenting on pop culture and featuring a "Song of the Day" on each entry. Meghan's blog is more like a trip journal than a tool for propaganda, and to me, that is something refreshing.
By comparing Chelsea Clinton to Meghan McCain, I think Meghan has the right approach. Meghan is using smart tactics to appeal to the younger generation that might be inclined to vote for Obama or Clinton. Young women can relate to her writing much more than that of a politician's, and young men probably visit just to look at pictures of the eye-appealing Meghan (come on, you have to admit it's probably true!).

Oh Chelsea

Chelsea Clinton is on a roll. She recently said, "well, again, I don’t take anything for granted, but hopefully with Pennsylvania’s help, she will be our next president, and yes, I do think she’ll be a better president," than her father Bill, that is. And when she was asked about her mother's strength in the Monica Lewinsky scandal, she snapped back with "... and I do not think that is any of your business." Hiding from the media sure doesn't give her any experience in answering tough questions. Chelsea needs to take a lesson or two in politics and publicity before her family gets any more bad press.

What went wrong at the LA Times?

The Los Angeles Times ran a front page apology this week for its report on the 1994 attack on rap superstar Tupac Shakur. It turns out the report was based on falsified documents. The story's credibility was first questioned by smokinggun.com, which noted that the purported FBI documents published by the Times appeared to be created on a typewriter - even though the FBI had not used typewriters for 30 years. Media Critic Howard Kurtz, of the Washington Post, explains how the story and apology unfolded. The Poynter Institute's Bob Steele outlines questions that reporters and editors should be asking about stories before publication to prevent similar errors and ethics issues from happening. And check out Jay Smooth's take on his hip hop video blog.

Helping out citizen journalists

A press release of the Web site for the Knight Citizen News Network gave information to citizen journalists on how to protect themselves.
"The Top Ten Rules to Limit Legal Risk" gives citizen journalists in-depth videos, helpful information, and even quizzes to prepare them for what they blog about, and much of the information is what the Knight Citizen News Network teaches to those pursuing journalism professionally.
I am one of those people who think citizens have a right to blog, and thought this was pretty interesting. I've never seen an organization give out information to help citizens who feel like voicing their opinions on a topic or story. Not only does the Web site help those wanting to blog, but it helps close the gap on the hated relationship of the media betraying the public.

Follow the links

Links are not only for blogs.

The key to a good online article is hyperlinks. Poynter Online writer Christopher "Chip" Scanlan says that after years of teaching online writing to various newsrooms around the country, links (the short term for hyperlinks) are the best bet for an enthused online reader. We have talked about righting deliberate headlines for the Web in our class, but not have talked about the content. Moving behind the letters on the screen, Web stories offer further dimensions of storytelling through devices like hyperlinks. The images a reader conjures up when reading a print story are visualized on the Web through hyperlinks--hence the trend toward more online publication.

Speaking of headlines..

Since much of our class today was focused on creating headlines that get the point of the story across, I thought I would share one with you that I found particularly confusing. It is from cnn.com, and the headline reads "Girl died as parents prayed". First of all, as we learned today, headlines should contain an active voice, so a better headline would be "Girl dies as parents pray". Secondly, when I read this headline, I immediately thought that the girl died right as her parents were reciting prayers by her deathbed. To me, this was not very newsworthy, and I was curious about it so I clicked on the link. It was actually a link for the video, but the blurb below the video cleared up my confusion. The girl, age 11, suffered from diabetes, and instead of getting medical help for her, her parents chose instead to turn to prayer, hoping that God would cure her of the disease. This resulted in her death, which probably could have been prevented had they chose the medicinal route.
Did you think the same as I when you read the headline? I can think of a few headlines that would better clarify the story and would still be appropriate for an Internet headline. How about "Parents choice of prayer over medicine causes daughter's death"? I think our class alone could think of a much better headline for this story.

Editor believes journalists should blog

John Robinson, editor of the Greensboro News-Record in North Carolina, was one of the first newspaper editors to embrace blogging. He says he did it to increase transparency in his newsroom. He thinks reporters should look at blogs as another method of storytelling. What do you think? Do blogs enhance journalism? Are you reading blogs? Why or why not?

Eight charges and 6,000 stories

So, Kym Worthy charged Kwame Kilpatrick Monday, and it was all over the news; from editorials to page one stories. I liked the lead of the story that ran in the Detroit News, but the New York Times won for my favorite last paragraph. They used Worthy's quote, "Even children understand that lying is wrong." It just summed up the whole case so perfectly. Both the Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press used that quote, but it was combined with her comments about Detroit's money being used wrongfully by the mayor. Standing alone, the quote has a lot more impact.
In the New York Times article, they also emphasized local reaction to the charges, talking to Detroit residents in a local sports bar. That was an angle typically used in follow-up stories, but it was good to see that aspect in the Times' breaking story.
Finally, the Free Press did a nice job of packaging everything together. All along, it has been on the front of the paper's Web site, very easy to find. Then, when the story broke, they also had an exclusive interview with Worthy. She said she would not accept his resignation in return for excusing Kilpatrick of a criminal trial. That bit of information — which was posted as a video and written out — was a great angle, and answered everyone's burning 'What now?!" question.

Reaching for a Story

I recently read a story by Jemele Hill on ESPN's Page 2 about LeBron James' image on the cover of Vogue magazine. Hill argued that the picture is somehow racist. The cover isn't racist at all and I feel like Jemele is trying to make something about race when it clearly isn't. I find it to be a bit of a double standard that she calls this picture racist, but in a previous story she compares New England Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick to Rap Producer, inmate, and alleged murderer Suge Knight, even annointing him "Suge Belichick". Is she then being racist to Belichick comparing him to a man like Suge Knight? A good portion of what Hill writes for ESPN and says on air for the same station makes me a little embarrassed to call her an alumni of Michigan State. Granted some of what she writes and says is intelligent well written material, but it only takes one bad decision or one hilariously misinterpreted photo to make a writer unreadable to me. Of course maybe I would have let this one slide had I not already had a diminishing opinion of Hill to begin with.

What about balance?

I recently watched an ABC news clip about how white Pennsylvanian men see Barack Obama. I can see the specific focus: apparently white men have been a critical voting block in most states. What bothered me about this piece, however, was that it was filmed entirely in a bowling alley in Allentown. Only a small percentage of the population bowls, and Allentown is one (small) city in the whole state.

I have no reason to believe that the clip was inaccurate, but it was very incomplete. In the name of fairness, shouldn't the crew have gone to Philadelphia, one of the most liberal areas, as well as to the conservative "T"?

Furthermore, they didn't mention any issues other than race and Rev. Wright. While those are important issues for many people, Allentown has had hard economic luck for some time. All of Pennsylvania is facing a year of no state college loans because of mass pilfering in the state higher education assistance association. To be fair, shouldn't the reporter have asked if people trusted either candidate on economics? After all, we aren't choosing a new M & M. Some people are going to look at more than just color.

Try telling someone your story

Here's a great suggestion for helping you focus your stories. Steve Buttry, of the American Press Institute, says you should pretend you are telling someone your story. He passes this on from Henry McNulty, former ombudsman at the Hartford Courant: "Suppose you are at a bus stop and someone leans out the bus window and shouts, 'What is that story you are working on?' The bus engine starts and begins to pull away from the curb. What are you going to shout?" Michael Schwartz, training manager for Cox Newspapers, suggests you ask yourself questions when you are finished reporting. Start with "What surprised you the most?"

McCain "Gaffes" It Up

It's pretty well-known that John McCain has had a love affair with the press ever since they started calling him the 'Maverick,' but lately it seems that they are actively covering for him when he messes up. Take what happened last week, which they're calling a 'Gaffe,' but may require more attention. McCain has repeatedly misspoke when referring to a supposed Iran/Al Qaeda connection, even though Al Qaeda is a Sunni group and Iran is a Shia country.

From WaPo:

He said several times that Iran, a predominately Shiite country, was supplying the mostly Sunni militant group, al-Qaeda. In fact, officials have said they believe Iran is helping Shiite extremists in Iraq.

Speaking to reporters in Amman, the Jordanian capital, McCain said he and two Senate colleagues traveling with him continue to be concerned about Iranian operatives “taking al-Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back.”

Now, besides the obvious ironies that arise from a candidate who has based his campaign on 'Foreign Policy' not getting it straight, the media completely dropped the ball going after him.
Bay Buchanan was on CNN's AC360 yesterday and actually said,

"you know, you can almost see anyone could make that mistake. He’s very, very knowledgeable, John, as you know, in foreign policy. He’s got a reputation. And so I don’t think he’s hurt on that."

And it's no surprise that on FOXNews Sunday Brit Hume dismissed the event saying,

"I think the overall impression of the trip was this is a man welcomed by, knowledgeable of and comfortable with foreign leaders across a big part of the globe...You know, the feeling was not that he’s a dope, didn’t know his way around, that he might have had a senior moment there, and I think that’s unfortunate for him. But I think probably the trip was a net plus."

Well, if he's so knowledgeable, why does he repeat the same mistakes over and over? And if such a comment were to escape from the lips of a democratic candidate, the news would have a field day with it. I mean, you can literally imagine the media lining up to apologize for even mentioning the story in the first place.

Oh, and on the same trip McCain also said the Jewish holiday Purim was "their version of Halloween there."

The straight talker might want to talk straighter.

Professional journalists? What do you think?

I'm not sure if this is a lesson in how not to be a reporter, how not to be an anchor, or how not to work well with others. In any case, you have to watch this video to believe it. Maybe there's an opening for a couple of broadcast journalists as a result?
So what do you think? Does this surprise you?

Celebrity Journalism

I admit it. I am a gossip column/blog reader. I am. I check for who is dating who, who is pregnant, who is shaving their head. No, I am not investing my emotions into it, it is merely a form of entertainment I guess. My question is, is it a career? IS reporting on celebrities journalism? I raise this question because of an internship posting I saw on the website www.ed2010.com, which I frequently visit. It is for a teen magazine, and they want applicants to explain their interest in celebrity news as a main criteria for consideration. I just had a hard time believing this was a job description. Being a journalism major nowadays can be hard enough when people lump you into the category of tabloid writers, but should we be encouraging the growth of it as a main form of journalism? I say, keep it to the blogs like Perez, where it can stay entertainment, but perhaps keep the gossip out of magazines for young teens.

How to get the most out of your interviews

A good story depends on good reporting. And the best reporters know how to get the people they interview to open up to them. Cox Newspapers Washington Bureau Chief Andy Alexander and Atlanta Journal Constitution features writer Reagan Walker say being courteous is a key part of the interviewing process. They also suggest reporters need to sharpen their listening skills. Colleen Kenney, an award-winning features reporter at the Lincoln Journal-Star, clearly has a knack for getting folks to talk to her. She says it boils down to being yourself - and that means being human - in the interview. Check out a sample of her work in this story about a priest with Parkinson's Disease.
What do you think? Have you had an interview that really clicked? What worked? Or have you learned from a bad experience? What doesn't work?

ESPN Coverage

Today I noticed something that really bothered me about ESPN's front page. Buried among the seasonal NBA, NCAA Men's Basketball, and Spring Training stories was a story about a University of Central Florida football player who passed away during conditioning drills at practice. Obviously it didn't bother me that they ran the story. The part that bothered me was its position in the headlines. It sat seventh in a list of 10 stories that were the "headlines" of the day. Directly below a pathetic Barry Bonds sympathy story and above the opening game of the NIT. Judging from the story, the only detail that remains to be filled in is the cause of death. So you're telling me that the MLB Players Association looking into why Barry Bonds hasn't been signed by anyone is more important than this? How about the other stories that were deemed more important by ESPN...1. A Pistons regular season win, 2. An owner blaming an ex-player for tanking, 3. The trade of an NFL loudmouth, 4. An NFL prospects pro day. Honestly? I think there is a lack of respect for the fallen player and this story is much more of a headline than any of the others. Being a huge sports fan, I expect to read about newsworthy items when I visit ESPN, and to me, this players death is much more newsworthy than stories that resemble those which they run every single day.

Is the web safer for less 'credible' stories?

A Los Angeles Times web article written Monday, March 17 by Chuck Phillips claims that associates of Sean 'Diddy' Combs were behind the 1994 robbery and shooting of rapper Tupac Shakur. The article says that 'FBI records obtained recently by The Times say that a confidential informant told authorities in 2002 that Rosemond and Sabatino [Combs's associates] "set up the rapper Tupac Shakur to get shot at Quad Studios.' The informant said Sabatino had told him that Shakur 'had to be dealt with.'"
However, in Combs claimed in a statement Monday that "this story is a lie" and Rosemond claims he has never even been questioned by the authorities in this case, calling the story "a libelous piece of garbage".
My concern with this article is its credibility. First of all, Meredith Artley, editor of LAtimes.com, says they chose to run this story on the web because, "The Web audience skews younger. We had all these great multimedia elements, and we said we really don't need to wait to fit this in the paper." She also said they might run a "smaller version" of the story in the actual paper.
Are they using the web as a scapegoat to run stories that may lack credibility? It seems to me that if they actually stood behind their story, a story that is making a profound claim, they would not have a problem running it on the front page of their paper.

Obama under the microscope again

As reported on Romenesko today, Zachary Roth of the Columbia Journalism Review raises an interesting point about the recent media treatment of statements made by religious associates of Barack Obama. In short: Obama's church says something nuts and the media is outraged. John McCain's church says something nuts and no one notices.

Roth argues that old white politicians are so typical in this country that scrutinizing their religion is seen as a moot point. That may be the case, but I can't help but see another difference between McCain and Obama: the doubt that the media continues to cast upon Obama's religious background.

Flimsy arguments painting Obama as possibly Muslim were all over the media over a year ago. They were quickly debunked and disappeared from the news, but they're far from dead. The silly chain emails calling Obama a radical Muslim continue to circulate, but the real problem is that the mainstream media fails to definitively inform people otherwise. The public isn't going to forget the notion of Obama as a quasi-Muslim until the news has rid itself completely of this sort of innuendo.

Last month, a photo of Obama wearing a 'turban' made headlines. The stories debated who had circulated the image, but the photo and the word turban were enough to make an impression on viewers and readers. Even though the image wasn't what it looked like, the media gave the paper-thin story plenty of attention, giving at least some credence to what it suggests.

It's not just gullible people talking about 'Barack Osama' who will impact the election. As others have pointed out, any doubt raised about a candidate, legit or not, will hurt their image. It didn't matter in 2004 that the Swift boat captains were lying about John Kerry, because it made plenty of voters unsure whether he was fit to lead the country. And it was the media that gave such nonsense an audience.

Advice for Journalism Students

Paul Bradshaw offers wonderful advice on how to be a journalism student in his online journalism blog. Sharon Terlep, who now covers General Motors for The Detroit News, was a Michigan State University student not all that long ago. She had numerous internships in college and was the editor of the State News. But Sharon says she doesn’t think she took advantage of all the resources at her disposal in J-school. She encourages students to use those resources before it's too late.

New Realm of Reporting?

In the wake of Eliot Spitzer's prostitution scandal, there has been much attention given to the woman he paid over $4000 for, Ashley Alexandra Dupre, or Kristen as he knew her. Obviously, since prostitution is illegal, her "company" website wasn't packed with personal information on her. And as is to be expected, she wasn't jumping at the chance to be interviewed and put all over television. So where did reporters go to get information on her? 

Myspace and Facebook.

Pictures, background information and her hobbies were all pulled off of those social networking sites by prominent news organizations like CNN, which not only used the sites, but have even written on how the sites have affected the gathering of information in this story.

It is an interesting new avenue for reporting for sure, but it also leaves one wondering, how reliable are these sources? People can pretend to be anything they want on the internet, and we all know that people occasionally fabricate stories while being interviewed in person, why couldn't they be embellishing on their myspace page as well? Will the veracity of self posted information be permitted solely by preceding the information with "According to ______ 's Myspace/Facebook?" While they are great reporting tools, the Eliot Spitzer scandal should cause journalists to take a look at how they view reporting from social networking sites.

The early journalist catches the job.

Since I changed my major from political science to journalism over two years ago, I thought it was too late. To become an established and published writer seemed to be a lofty goal after spending almost three years doing everything but. I had ambitions of being lawyer until I realized that writing and journalism was my calling. After that first advising meeting within journalism, once I realized how behind I was, I felt like running to the top of an adjacent parking structure and screaming my lungs out. So I propose the question, when is too late to get published and get into your career? Recruiter Joe Grimm from the Detroit Free Press suggests that its never too late. But if its all about where you end up and not when you start, what happens when you're at the helm of graduation looking for a job? What happens when you're a post-grad struggling to make ends meat, because you started later in gaining the necessary experience. I think this is why J-School's need to stress publishing and internships earlier on in the world of journalism. There will only be so much that is available when life's complications butt heads with learning as much as possible. I've heard people say, the only way to acheive your big dreams is to pack-up and move to the big city racking up charges on a credit card in order to live. I for one refuse to go in debt just to pursue my love for writing. No one can give journalists a play-by-play blueprint on how to become successful. But I think good advice falls along the lines of starting early. Starting early means ability to cover different types of reporting, growing in your writing and gaining varieties of experience. Waiting too late could mean struggling to catch up. Nothing is impossible but shedding advice to young'n journalists and writers will help them out in the long run.

A weird bit of news

The Associated Press reports that a Kansas woman sat on her boyfriend's toilet for two years. She sat there for so long (apparently of her own free will) that her body actually stuck to the seat and had to be removed because her body was stuck naturally. Authorities are investigating whether or not she was mistreated. I've seen a lot of weird stories, but this might top them all. A woman voluntarily sat on a toilet for two years? Hopefully the follow-up story (s) will provide information on what exactly would cause her to do that. Did she have nothing better to do? Now this is indeed a bizarre piece of news but does the public really need to know about it? It might be safe to assume a fair amount of people might be grossed out by this story, while others might be fascinated. It really begs the question, is it newsworthy? We're taught that something like "dog bites man" is not news but "man bites dog" is. Newspapers look for the oddities of the world instead of the same old story. But does every bizzare thing that happens need to be considered news. Now there is indeed a news element to this story, but does it deserve recognition? I suppose it depends on one's perception of what is news and what is not. A dog rescuing his owner from a burning house is news, but this...... who knows?

Multimedia storytelling methods

The web has really enhanced storytelling possibilities for journalists. Now we can determine what medium tells the story best - text, graphics, audio, video, photos or some combination. Juan Thomassie, of USA Today, suggests content must determine the best way to tell a story online. Regina McCombs, senior producer for multimedia at StarTribune.com in Minneapolis, says a key ingredient for a strong multimedia story is emotion.

Another political scandal

Yet another sex scandal broke in the news this week as New York Gov. Elliot Spitzer was found being involved in a prostitution ring. This comes after Kwame Kilpatrick's scandal with text messaging and having a secret affair and John McCain recently accused of possibly having an affair. All three of these men have high level public positions and all are under a giant amount of scrutiny now because of there actions. A note to all these men- You can not hide your past, you are going to get caught and your job will be in jeopardy. Now that you are aware of the consequences, be loyal. Loyalty is a charecteristic that people take into consideration when deciding to vote for you. In fact, loyalty is one of the biggest attributes looked at when voting for a governor or presidential candidate. How can people expect anyone to be a good leader if they do not possess any loyalty? I hope this puts an end to the sex scandals because it really is putting a giant damper on all of these mens lives and their pursuit to be local or national leaders in this country.

Spitzer support unseen

News broke out Monday afternoon about New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer being involved in a prostitution ring, and immediate calls were placed on Spitzer to resign. I think this is a huge story of course, but can see that New Yorkers take it pretty serious when their governor is involved in a prostitution ring. What happened with our own Detroit mayor then? I think it is interesting, reading articles on the Spitzer topic, like this one from The Associated Press, and seeing how people react to this, even his own political supporters. Many are calling for him to resign, although he is actually a good governor and as an attorney general, was nicknamed "The Crusader of the Year" and "Sheriff of Wall Street." He worked on stopping corruption in American business. I am not at all saying what he did was right, but with all the coverage, I cannot help but compare it to the Kilpatrick coverage on how although he spent taxpayer money to sneak around with a woman other than his wife, Detroit, most of it at least, continues to embrace him. I wonder what would happen if Kilpatrick had been in a prostitution ring, and did not spend taxpayer money. Would he be called to resign? I doubt it.

Reporters blogging: double-duty

With many newspapers worried about covering stories mainly on the Internet, many reporters have started blogs to go along with their stories or their beats. In JRN 300 this semester, we were able to meet Chad Livengood, an education reporter for the Jackson Citizen Patriot who also has his own blog, which is promoted at the end of his stories. Chad made us aware that he had a blog, updated it regularly, and used it to give more facts on a story and communicate with more readers who posted comments.

While I was at my job shadow with The Grand Rapids Press, I attended a meeting with a few section editors of the newsroom who actually brought up the idea of blogs. The Press has around 20 reporters blogging in addition to covering stories. They have voiced their concern about doing double-duty, and for editors with blogs, triple-duty. They questioned how often reporters should be updating the blogs, and whether or not they should be using them to talk with readers. Many are concerned that getting too involved with blogging will become more opinion than just getting the facts out to the public.

In an article from the Poynter Institute by Mallary Jean Tenore, the topic of reporters have a presence online is researched. While setting up a social networking site is a good way to blog, it becomes difficult to control it. JD Lasica, a social media strategist, said journalism has been practiced as a dark art for so long that the public regards journalists and their activities as suspicious. While this is true, editors like The Houston Chronicle's James Gibbons recently joined Facebook, but between his daily workload and blogging, he has not seen the utility or benefit of blogging yet.

While blogging is something in high regard for journalists, there is still the question on whether or not reporters have time to take on that extra task, and what they are allowed to blog. Although their online identity is different from work persona, they are still reporters who are to remain bias in stories; something that may become difficult with such high blogging expectations.

Reporting tools at your fingertips

Bookmark this page from Columbia Journalism Review. It's filled with great links for power reporting. As reporters or editors, you will need these resources at some point. Check it out.

Blogging basics: A new source of tips

Want to know more about blogging? Check out a new blog I created, called Blogging Basics. It was part of a workshop on writing for the web aimed at professionals. It has links to good advice on how to blog and why to blog.

Does this seem fair?

I was watching the coverage of a court decision on autism and vaccines this morning. It seemed a little biased to me. The family's side was nearly five minutes (if you don't count the background information); the doctor's was two. Of course there are time constraints in newscasts, but that seemed a little too unbalanced. Furthermore, he continuously asked the family what it meant to them, but didn't ask their lawyer to explain their evidence. The doctor, however, had to justify the medical community's hesitation to totally condemn vaccines. Maybe I'm overreacting, but it seemed to me that an uneducated viewer is going to come away from that with the impression that it's been proven that vaccines are bad. Is that really helping anyone?

Respect for blogging

"Begin as a tiny operation. Manage to gain a following. As the audience grows, ask readers for donations and accept advertising. As the advertising and donations grow, add reporters and features. Repeat as often as needed."

So goes the advice of Joshua Micah Mitchell, who runs the Web site Talking Points Memo and won a Polk award for his investigation of the firing of Justice Department prosecutors.

Mitchell said that his site uses the blogging format instead of "discrete articles," which lets it flow. The site started to turn a profit in 2003, when users became interested in weapons of mass destruction.

Talking Points Memo, though it uses opinion, also gathers information and presents it using journalistic principles. Mitchell's work may represent an acceptable compromise to advocates for user-generated new media and to those who favor traditional formats.