Newspapers' archaic but interesting technology shown

The old days years before computers -- heck, years before offset printing -- are glimpsed in a 10-minute video that's worth screening --
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/greenslade/2008/03/hail_to_the_past_of_hot_metal.html

Press wasn't all bad in runup to war: E&P

There's a lot of commentary about how the mainstream news media failed the public and their own mission in the months leading to the invasion and occupation of Iraq. However, Editor & Publisher chief Greg Mitchell in a column promoting his new book points out the "contributions by everyone from relatively unknown reporters to ... comic Stephen Colbert and singer songwriter Neil Young."

Check out Some 'Unsung Heroes' of Iraq War Coverage (published March 18).

Environmental Journalism students visit wind farm

WIU grad student Catt Foy took this photo of the Crescent Ridge wind farm in rural Bureau County, where the Journalism 400 Topics class in Environmental Journalism recently visited.

The class blog is at http://qc-green.blogspot.com/

WIU alum advises Michigan State's daily

Omar Sofradzija, who attended WIU in the early '90s, has been named adviser to the State News student newspaper at Michigan State University in East Lansing.

He formerly worked at the Las Vegas Review Journal and the Peoria Journal Star.

State prominent in Student Press Law Center 'Sunshine Week' material

Illinois figures prominently in three compelling background stories generated from the Student Press Law Center in Washington, which stepped up postings to connect with Sunshine Week, marked by the Society of Professional Journalists and other news organizations.

There's the case brought by state newspapers about access to sporting events -- http://www.splc.org/newsflash.asp?id=1716

... plus the piece about reporters' right to materials generated by student governments -- http://www.splc.org/newsflash.asp?id=1714

... and, finally, the news story about the Naperville newspaper adviser apparently punished for advocating for high school journalists -- http://www.splc.org/newsflash.asp?id=1713

Turmoil at the Medill School of Audience and Consumer Information

Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism has been in the news lately for several reasons, including charges that the school's dean may have fabricated a story for an alumni publication. Check out the latest controversy—this time regarding a proposal to change the name of the school—on Eric Zorn's blog at the Chicago Tribune. Go to http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2008/03/medillname.html.

The Medill School of Information and Influence?

Newspaper Next 2.0: Way Outside the Box

By Rick Edmonds, The Biz Blog (Poynteronline)

The route to "newspaper" survival keeps getting trickier.

Not so long ago, the combination of a solid news report and a reasonably enterprising advertising business was considered sufficient to sustain a newspaper.

The bar rose with such added online innovations as hyperlocal coverage and niche efforts aimed at such targets as moms and pet owners, all accompanied by increasingly sophisticated advertising.

Now the American Press Institute's influential Newspaper Next project has concluded, in a sequel to its original report, that it will take a great deal more for newspapers to flourish in the digital era.

The report says newspaper companies will have to venture farther afield and become the indispensable guide to everything that anyone in their local community needs to know to live there. And provide all kinds of solutions for all kinds of needs for virtually every local business.

Published online last week to very light attention by media news reporters, Newspaper Next 2.0 [PDF] is neither concise nor light reading. But there is worthwhile stuff for those willing to hunt through its 110 pages:
Business-side readers will want to scavenge the 24 case studies of new products piloted since the first report came out in mid-2006, along with the seven examples of how newspaper companies organized and financed innovation. Some of the efforts are truly unorthodox -- a newspaper-run consignment store for quality goods in Ogden, Utah, (page 64), which provides an upgrade from classifieds to get rid of that couch. Or QC.com (page 37), an ingenious version of online coupons at The Dispatch of Moline, Ill., that works both to attract and retain subscribers and draw in small-business advertisers.

Journalists may be more interested in the first few conceptual pages. They will find in a chart on page 7 that news is still part of the core in this concept of the future, but it is quickly dispatched as "not big enough" to be economically sustaining. Stephen Gray, managing director of the project, writes that newspaper companies need to redefine themselves as the "local information and connection utility" in their communities. Perhaps, as he writes later, a suitably big and audacious goal would be to create a wiki'ed "Localpedia," comprehensive but built with volunteered user content.

As he told me last fall, Gray found boffo demand for the road show consulting he did during 2007, coaching companies on how to implement Newspaper Next. However, many of the experiments have stuck too closely to traditional core competencies, making money, for instance, by reverse publishing online material into print, still the comfort zone for the ad sales force.

The result: the pace of change is unprecedented but not quick enough; most projects are too small and too slow to develop revenue on the scale needed. So the report urges newspapers companies to "make the leap" beyond news or even news and information. Newspapers should be venturing into unfamiliar territory like online promotions, e-mail advertising and tailoring events information into a personal planning calendar -- as well as finding creative solutions for business beyond traditional advertising.

The new report also contains a useful bonus chapter from consultant Gordon Borrell on maximizing online revenue. It expands on some ideas I wrote about last fall after interviewing Borrell -- newspaper companies venturing into local search with separate commerce-only sites or aggressively going after the nascent local online video ad business. Borrell thinks there is big money to be made there.

Courier a winner at ICPA

Western's independent student-run newspaper earned the most first-place awards in four years at last weekend's Illinois College Press Association conference in Chicago.

Congratulations to the Western Courier.

"The list of ICPA awards includes: 1. First Place, headline writing (daily) 2. First Place, feature story (daily) 3. First Place, news photo (daily) 4. 3rd Place, General Excellence (daily) 5. 3rd Place, headline writing (daily) 6. Honorable Mention, sports page design (all papers) 7. Honorable Mention, entertainment supplement (all papers) 8. Honorable Mention, critical review other than film (all papers)," said Courier adviser Rich Moreno.

"Additionally, the Courier won Third Place among daily papers (despite not being daily) for General Excellence," he added.

Despite publishing three times a week, the Courier competes against daily newspapers such as the Daily Illini at UIUC.

For the Courier's own article on the honors, go to --
http://media.www.westerncourier.com/media/storage/paper650/news/2008/02/25/Opinion/Look-Ma.We.Got.Awards-3230616.shtml

Plenty of opportunities in new JobFile listings

The Chicago Headline Club/Society of Professional Journalists' JobFile, produced by Bob Roberts in cooperation with the Illinois News Broadcasters, has a new list of job opportunities.

Check it all at http://www.headlineclub.org/mc/page.do?sitePageId=14042

State Rep visits Environmental Journalism class

Illinois State Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia (D-Aurora) last Saturday visited WIU's Environmental Journalism class held over five weekends at Western's Quad Cities campus in Moline.

Chapa LaVia, shown at her computer at the upper right, is a member of the legislature's Environmental Caucus. She discussed areas that lawmakers have, can and should address, and urged citizens to get involved in environmental, conservation and other stewardship issues.

Photo by Bill Knight

Funding Restored to NJ College Paper

By CHRIS NEWMARKER – The Associated Press

MONTCLAIR, N.J. — Montclair State University's student government decided Wednesday to temporarily restore funding to the school's weekly student newspaper, after its decision to freeze the paper's funding a week ago was criticized as an attempt to stifle freedom of the press.

After more than five hours of deliberation, the Student Government Association legislature voted 12-0, with seven abstentions, to restore funding for printing and office supplies to The Montclarion for 30 days, during which time student government and newspaper leaders are expected to try to resolve their differences.

"What's most important is that Montclair State University will have a newspaper tomorrow," said Karl de Vries, the newspaper's editor-in-chief.

Editors found out when the spring semester began last week that the paper's funding had been frozen. The student government also contacted The Montclarion's publisher and told it not to print the paper's issue last Thursday; an online version was produced.

Editors said the budget freeze was punishment for the paper criticizing student government for regularly holding closed meetings, in possible violation of New Jersey's open meetings law.

Student government leaders say that they're not censoring the newspaper, but that the paper's editors overstepped their authority when they hired a lawyer to help them get access to the meetings.

The New Jersey Press Association, the Society of Professional Journalists, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Arlington, Va.-based Student Press Law Center criticized the budget freeze.

"You're not only hurting the newspaper staff, which is having their free speech cut off, but the campus, which is being denied a valuable source of information," said Frank LoMonte, executive director of the law center.

De Vries said the student government wanted the newspaper to turn over correspondence between the newspaper and a lawyer The Montclarion had previously retained to challenge the student government's practice of closing meetings. The government fired the lawyer in November.

Shayna Jacobs, The Montclarion's news editor, said that in the past, the association has required it to be the conduit to all correspondence to its attorney.

At the Wednesday meeting, association President Ron Chicken argued that the budget freeze wasn't about censorship.

Bryan Fucetola, an association legislator, argued that the newspaper broke student organization rules because it wasn't authorized to hire its own attorney and instead should have consulted the association's attorney.

Since the fired attorney had been paid for with association money, Fucetola said the student government had a right to see what editors had discussed with the attorneys.

"We just want to know what we paid for," Fucetola said.

But attorneys for the New Jersey Press Association and the American Civil Liberties Union argued that the editors had a right to expect lawyer-client confidentiality, and that the association could face serious legal troubles by shutting down a student newspaper.

Montclair State's student government controls the budget and in any given year provides a third to half of the money needed to publish the paper, available for free on the campus, about 14 miles west of New York City.

The university doesn't directly control the association, but after Wednesday's vote, Karen Pennington, the school's vice president of student development and campus life, said she was confident the administration would be able to successfully mediate.

_

On the Net -- The Montclarion:

http://www.themontclarion.org/

Americans’ esteem for journalism, professions falls

This column appeared in some west-central Illinois newspapers early this week.

By Bill Knight
People don’t become journalists to become rich or popular. It’s mostly a calling to let others know what’s going on – whether grade-school science fairs, local tax proposals, area sports or world-wide conservation.

Still, some college students are stunned when they see Gallup’s annual poll gauging people’s opinion of various professions’ ethics and honesty. The most recent one again shows journalists in the middle of a list of dozens of professions – from the appreciation of nurses (83% say they’re “high” or “very high” in honesty and ethical standards) to the disdain for lobbyists (just 5%). But the numbers can be shocking to a 21-year-old undergrad dreaming of covering crime, business or rock ‘n’ roll for print, broadcast, the web or some other future medium.

It explains the comment by a friend who used to work at the Boston Globe, when he heard that my college-age son might major in journalism: “God, no – couldn’t he just run a meth lab or something?”

Less genuine shame than a sort of newsroom gallows humor, such remarks can hide four key points concerning public opinion about journalists – and other professions.

First, most folks’ opinions about journalists – or “the media,” which could describe anyone from Ann Coulter and Michael Moore to area radio sportscasters and your hometown newspaper editor – are based on impressions they get from (you guessed it) the media. In novels and plays, movies and TV shows, even comic books and, yes, poetry, journalists are usually stereotyped to be virtuous, villainous or callous to serve the plot. (In decades of working as a journalist, for instance, I’ve never seen the cinematic device of a horde of unfeeling hacks shouting “How do you feel?” to some shocked witness, widow or other troubled innocent.)

Still, many people regard reporters as panderers of lies for profit, invaders of privacy, or water carriers for Authority – unless they happen to know a journalist. Then, their overall opinions may not change, but journalists people know from the neighborhood or church or bowling are treated like Congressional incumbents. Voters don’t much like Congress – except their own representative, which accounts for most politicians’ re-elections. People might even concede that the journalist they know practices the profession’s ethical code, which generally holds that journalists seek the truth and report it fully, act independently, be accountable and minimize harm. Still, that’s explained as the exception proving their opinion.

The second point is that most people associate journalists with disturbing content. A variation of the “blame the messenger” impulse, criticizing journalists for reporting on a lousy war, a slipping economy, a hometown loss or a pal’s DUI is like hating car salespeople because your vehicle needed a valve job after 150,000 miles. Bad news, sure, but some salesperson’s fault?

The other two points are a bit worrisome for the press but deeply troubling for society. Besides the tepid enthusiasm for journalists (23% “high” or “very high” esteem -- 12th out of 22 professions), there’s an eagerness to dislike journalists (26% say “low” or “very low” – the 9th worst). People seem more eager to dislike others.

Lastly, people’s opinions are uniformly trending negative, comparing the new poll to earlier ones. Every single profession previously measured, from the upper ranks (pharmacists: 71% “high” or “very high”) to the lower levels (advertising practitioners: 5%) has dropped. Clergy, physicians and Congressional representatives all fell 5% in a year.

People’s lost respect for the professions seems unhealthy – even if they’ve transferred that admiration to occupations such as the building trades, software engineers or other jobs.

As for aspiring journalists: You want to be popular? Consider nursing. You want to be rich? Think about being a lobbyist.

But neither one will let you tell your community stories about local heroes, shenanigans in Springfield, corporate corruption or the high school play.

For Gallup’s poll, go to http://www.gallup.com/poll/103123/Lobbyists-Debut-Bottom-Honesty-Ethics-List.aspx

"Shield law" on back burner in Senate

The Free Flow of Information Act (national shield law legislation) passed in the Senate Judiciary Committee in October 2007, and the National Association of Broadcasters is now urging Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to bring the bill to a vote in the full Senate.

In a January 28 letter to Reid, Rehr says of the bill, which would set standards for when federal courts can and cannot force journalists to reveal their sources, "This legislation will help ensure the flow of important information to all Americans by allowing journalists to protect the identity of their confidential sources."

Rehr continues, "Broadcast journalists take seriously their responsibility of serving every local community with timely news and information. This bipartisan legislation strikes a careful balance between ensuring citizens stay informed and honoring the public interest in having reporters testify about their sources in certain carefully defined situations."

Those situations would include disclosures that could prevent imminent terrorist action or significant harm to national security. Rehr notes that 33 states and the District of Columbia have shield laws in place already, and 16 other states have recognized reporters' privilege in court cases. "However," he says, "there is no uniform set of standards in federal courts to govern when testimony about sources may be sought from reporters."

The House approved a companion bill in October, and Rehr is requesting Reid's support in bringing the bill, with its current language in place, to a vote in the Senate.
-- from Radio Ink magazine.

Ordinary people doing extraordinary journalism -- from Iraq

While too many mainstream news organizations are cutting back on foreign correspondents and war reporters in Iraq understandably are limited in their access, a “citizen news” operation continues to cover Iraq on the ground and win a few journalism awards as it does: Alive in Baghdad.

Here’s a good, short segment on how hard it is for regular Iraqis to get gasoline in a country with substantial oil - http://aliveinbaghdad.org/2007/08/27/iraq-has-no-new-oil-law-and-no-gas/

This week, they had a decent feature on goldsmiths still operating. For it and its video archive, click here -- http://www.aliveinbaghdad.org/

Newsroom values eroding: survey

A survey being compiled by the University of Maryland for The Newspaper Guild labor union shows dramatic drops in key press values, according to journalists surveyed for a "Future of News Jobs" survey planned for publication in the next issue of the American Journalism Review.

The top three values when respondents started their newsroom jobs were accuracy, credibility and timeliness, the survey finds. Now, however, "making a profit" is the overwhelming value, at 96.3%, followed by a distant second, "attracting an audience," at 73.2%.

The Guild Reporter's short news story can be viewed here -- http://www.newsguild.org/gr/index.php?ID=4763

Obama? Osama? Whatever!

One of the best year-in-review features EVER is the Crunks list of media errors and corrections. For journalists, it's both sobering and hilarious.

This year, name confusion between Barack Obama and terrorist Osama bin Laden led the way. The compilers also note an unusual rise in errors at student newspapers. Let's hope that's not a trend.

So, grab your eggnog, sit back and follow this link. There are a lot of errors to "enjoy."

(If the link didn't work, paste this URL into a browser instead: http://www.regrettheerror.com/regret-articles/crunks-07-the-year-in-media-errors-and-corrections )

College paper at heart of PBS documentary

Area students interested in newspaper work should try to watch this week's edition of "Independent Lens" on PBS. The program will present "The Paper," a documentary that chronicles the challenges faced by student journalists at Penn State's college paper, the Daily Collegian.

WMEC-TV, Macomb's PBS station, is airing the hour-long program twice this week -- both times in the wee hours of the morning. It's on "tonight" at 3 a.m. and again "Saturday night" (Sunday from 4 to 5 a.m.).

Next week's "Independent Lens" looks at Ralph Nader's activism and career, in case you're interested.

Censorship on farm, under power lines

Two dispatches from the Society of Environmental Journalists' Watchdog Tipsheet show how censorship can take different forms -- and that Americans must remain vigilant to protect their rights, First Amendment or beyond.

"Publishing the origin of 4th-of-July hamburgers could land anyone — including newspaper publishers and consumer activists — in jail for up to 10 years if the animal feeding industry succeeds in getting a little-noticed amendment enacted into law," SEJ writes. "Citing the location of a large feedlot would likewise be a crime, even when the smell of the lot offended people a mile away and federal law requires disclosure of its address under the Clean Water Act."

That issue stems from lobbyists such as the Farm Bureau trying to influence the Farm Bill to prevent disclosure of facts related to agribusiness.

"The Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) and six other journalism groups urged Senators in a Nov. 7, 2007, letter to strike the secrecy language. Joining SEJ were the National Association of Black Journalists, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the National Press Foundation, and UNITY: Journalists of Color," SEJ reported. "Other journalism groups lobbied behind the scenes for removal of the language.

Elsewhere, a university art professor from Washington was detained by police after she took photographs of power lines, and is suing local officials with help from the American Civil Liberties Union.

"We don't think an art professor should get frisked, handcuffed and put in the back of a squad car for taking photographs on public property in plain sight," ACLU spokesman Doug Honig said. "As an artist and as a teacher, she doesn't want other people who are taking photos of landscapes and other things to be hassled and detained by law enforcement."

For the Associated Press news story on the latter, check out
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=19337

For the former story on secrecy on the farm, check out http://www.sej.org/foia/index7.htm

IHSA bans photogs from state tourney

Press photographers from daily newspapers in Bloomington, Peoria, Springfield and two Chicago suburbs were banned from covering Illinois' two-day, eight-game high school football championship games in Urbana last weekend by the Illinois High School Association.

IHSA officials said that the papers had violated the IHSA's policy on secondary sales of images from state tournament events, and therefore were not given access to the field.

IHSA executive director Marty Hickman said, "While the Illinois Press Association has indicated its willingness to compromise on this matter, its actions have spoken much louder than its words. We asked the IPA [Illinois Press Association] to have its members refrain from selling photos of our events while we continued to work to resolve this issue. We presented the IPA with a proposal nearly two weeks ago and they have yet to respond."

Some professional photojournalists say a boycott of IHSA sporting events might influence state associations who seek to control the conditions that newspapers agree to in order to receive credentials, including secondary use of newspapers' own images and print sales.

For a complete story from the National Press Photographers Association, go to
http://www.nppa.org/news_and_events/news/2007/11/illinois03.html

'Environmental Journalism' 5 weekends in Quads

Register now for a new course just added to the Spring schedule for WIU/Quad Cities: Environmental Journalism.

Offered as Journalism 400/Topics, the 3-credit-hour class is scheduled to meet on five weekends -- 5:30-8 p.m. Fridays and 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays – Feb. 1-2, 8-9, 15-16, plus March 7-8 and April 4-5.

Whether you want a 400-level elective, a course about a vital topic, or something to count toward a Journalism major or minor, Environmental Journalism could fit.

Team-taught by WIU professor Bill Knight, who writes for GateHouse Media newspapers, and Mark Ridolfi, editorial-page editor at the Quad City Times, Environmental Journalism will be a lecture/seminar format, with special guests, relevant videos, and field trips to a Superfund waste disposal site, a Mississippi River eagle count, and a wind farm.

It will require one inexpensive textbook, one journalistic or academic project, an objective midterm, an essay final exam, and will permit students to post online informal stories they write.

Star# 33968.