ABC News has dropped the network's practice of paying subjects of news stories for exclusive interviews, media critic Howard Kurtz recently reported.
It's also addressed in the current issue of Quill magazine, published by the Society of Professional Journalists. There, columnist Mike Farrell reminds readers of ABC News having paid more than $10,000 to buy pictures tied to disgraced Congressman Anthony Wiener's "smartphone stupidity" and $200,000 to exonerated murder defendant Casey Anthony for family photos and videos.
ABC also paid $10,000 to a woman who said she'd injected Botox into her 8-year-old daughter.
Farrell reports perspectives from insiders and experts, too.
"What happens to journalism when sources agree to interviews only when they are paid?" he asks. "Media ethicist John Michael Kittross has argued that 'treating news as a commodity eventually will destroy journalism as a public benefit'.”
ABC spokesman Jeffrey Schneider, meanwhile, told Kurtz that ABC News isn't too worried about stopping the pay-off practice.
"We can book just about anyone based on the strength of our journalism, the excellence of our anchors, correspondent and producers, and the size of our audience," Schneider said.
Elsewhere, SPJ president Hagit Limor said, “When you pay for a story, you’re making a contract with the person who supplies it, and that means you’re no longer acting independently."
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
New ethics for local journalism?
The new "Rules of the Road: Navigating the New Ethics of Local Journalism" from J-Lab is somehow reminiscent of the supposed exchange when non-violent anti-imperialist Mahatma Gandhi was asked what he thought of Western Civilization.
"It would be a good idea," he said.
However, J-Lab's Jan Schaffer and others apparently think hyperlocal, online news sites are developing faster than common sense, so something is needed.
"These 'Rules of the Road' are very much a work in progress," Schaffer writes, "shaped by a news landscape in which:
*The threshold for news is lower. Misdemeanors, not just felonies, constitute news,
*Stories unravel in real time. Editors post updates as they come in rather than wait for a fully baked story,
*'Google juice' makes micro news have a macro afterlife,
*Ethical decisions are as open to community feedback as the stories themselves, and
*Attachment to the community is valued more than dispassionate detachment."
Still, one wonders whether new sources for journalism would do well to abide by the tried-and-true code of ethics the Society of Professional Journalists has, broadly summarizing four main points:
*Seek truth and report it fully,
*Act independently
*Minimize harm, and
*Be accountable.
For details or a free copy of the 52-page booklet, go to http://www.j-lab.org/tools/learning/ethics and click on "Get the pdf."
Obama's EPA uses 'minders' to clamp down on openness
For all the President's talk about transparency and openness, his Environmental Protection Agency is planning to institute a policy that employees must get permission to talk to journalists, according to a short but detailed report from the Society for Environmental Journalists (SEJ).
SEJ and other press groups have opposed such restrictions, but the policy could go in to effect unless people object before the Sept. 6 deadline for public comment.
The "Scientific Integrity Policy" also mandates that bureaucraic "minders" from EPA's press office must sit in on all media interviews with scientists.
"We object to parts of the EPA draft policy that restrict news media access to EPA scientists," SEJ President Carolyn Whetzel said. "In some cases, the proposed policy is much more restrictive than the NASA or NOAA policies, or even the White House guidelines."
SEJ and other press groups have opposed such restrictions, but the policy could go in to effect unless people object before the Sept. 6 deadline for public comment.
The "Scientific Integrity Policy" also mandates that bureaucraic "minders" from EPA's press office must sit in on all media interviews with scientists.
"We object to parts of the EPA draft policy that restrict news media access to EPA scientists," SEJ President Carolyn Whetzel said. "In some cases, the proposed policy is much more restrictive than the NASA or NOAA policies, or even the White House guidelines."
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Debt-ceiling crisis coverage lousy
By resorting to a picture of the recent debt-ceiling fight as two political sides equally sharing the blame of refusing to be reasonable, the news media successfully gave an impression of being an impartial observer of reality. However, since that wasn't what happened, mainstream journalism mosstly failed to tell the story in a complete, fair and accurate way.
That's according to an insightful posting by The Nation magazine contributor Ari Melber, whose reporting includes blasting a typical take on the wrangling about approving an increase in what the federal government may borrow to pay bills it already incurred.
"Take this headline, running at the top of CNN [which Fox News calls "liberal"] a day after President Obama’s national address," Melber writes:
" 'They’re all talking, but no one is compromising, at least publicly. Democratic and GOP leaders appear unwilling to bend on proposals to raise the debt ceiling.'
"Journalist Josh Marshall confronted that bizarro narrative with evidence of what’s actually happening. 'By any reasonable measure, this [CNN headline] is simply false, even painfully so'," Marshall said.
"Whether you think it’s good or bad, we have just seen one party’s leadership embrace the platform of the opposing party," Melber adds, "only to watch that party apparently back off its own original position. That’s news!"
Marshall continues, "It is not partisan or spin to say that the Democrats have repeatedly offered compromises. The real driver of the debate is that the fact that Republican majority in the House can’t agree to win."
"Editors or management will not accept a political story about one side being completely wrong," Melber wrote, "Or irrational. Or irresponsible. Because that 'can’t be the whole story!'
"And if you believe that, then your only response to the endgame of the debt crisis is total denial," he concluded. "That may be human, but it ain’t journalism."
Murdoch's goon squad
Rolling Stone's Tim Dickinson has a good roundup of many of the allegations against media baron Rupert Murdoch in the August 18 issue of the magazine, and it may be somewhat surprising to learn of shenanigans beyond the ballyhooed phone-hacking flap in the United Kingdom.
The allegations range from weird payoffs and "settlements" to embarrassing coziness with politicians and what sure seems like paranoia and other issues by Fox News' Roger Ailes.
(Oddly, the periodical's web site retitled the feature to "Rupert Murdoch's American Scandals.")
The allegations range from weird payoffs and "settlements" to embarrassing coziness with politicians and what sure seems like paranoia and other issues by Fox News' Roger Ailes.
(Oddly, the periodical's web site retitled the feature to "Rupert Murdoch's American Scandals.")
Illustration from newscorpse.com
Friday, August 12, 2011
Draft of personal column: 'Mom'
Below is a draft of a column I'm sending out next week to the six newspapers and one news site that get my twice-weekly column, FYI.
By Bill Knight
Fireflies floated free from a field of corn moments after Mom died around dusk on a Sunday a month ago.
When someone close passes on or is in danger, swelling up in us all is fear, impotence or anger. So people reach out and reach in.
Prayer might connect the impulses to look outward and inward, although skeptics scoff, dismissing prayer as talking to yourself. Arguing, even.
But when my mother had become unexpectedly ill, I reached out, looking for a “life line” maybe, through emails, Facebook and conversations with friends. I also felt guilty somehow, remembering a line in my morning prayer: “Encourage my weak faith.”
By Bill Knight
Fireflies floated free from a field of corn moments after Mom died around dusk on a Sunday a month ago.
When someone close passes on or is in danger, swelling up in us all is fear, impotence or anger. So people reach out and reach in.
Prayer might connect the impulses to look outward and inward, although skeptics scoff, dismissing prayer as talking to yourself. Arguing, even.
But when my mother had become unexpectedly ill, I reached out, looking for a “life line” maybe, through emails, Facebook and conversations with friends. I also felt guilty somehow, remembering a line in my morning prayer: “Encourage my weak faith.”
As people grieve, there’s contact with others, plus flowers and cards, kind comments and heartfelt hugs from close friends and total strangers. Family flew in from the West; pals drove hours to be at the funeral. I heard from my book club, softball team, work, church. Also, some guy in Warren County mailed a memorial donation, and a woman in Fulton County sent a nice note. Neighbors and folks I hadn’t seen in decades – including girlfriends from the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s – expressed sympathy.
*
For journalists, writing obituaries for friends or family is a particularly profound blessing and burden. None fully captures a life.
Born in 1930, in Keokuk, Iowa, Mom spent much of her childhood in Kentucky before returning to Keokuk, where she attended high school. She married Dad in 1949. She leaves him behind, along with my brother and me, our wives and a grandson.
A petite woman – she described herself as “five-foot-nothin’ ” – she was a homemaker and occasional employee at a friend’s small business, active in her church and a volunteer with groups ranging from Scouts to her local hospital in Carthage. She took pleasure in family, gardening, dancing and playing bridge.
There’s more beyond such basics. Reaching in, random memories are ignited.
She enjoyed cooking and creepy novels, and loved animals, from trying to save downed birds and baby bunnies in the backyard, to many beloved cats and dogs.
Humble and stubborn, easy-going but organized, Mom was an amateur archivist of sorts, keeping scrapbooks and genealogical background librarians would envy. She had simple tastes – buttermilk, horehound hard candy, Elvis, Betty Boop – but also was unexpectedly adventurous, like driving 800 miles by herself to visit relatives, or flying in a barnstorming bi-plane that offered rides during a rural stop.
She’d told me how, as a teen-age mom, she’d been fearful and frustrated, which probably explained her being judgmental without condemning others.
“Oh, well,” she’d say. “Live and let live.”
She wasn’t political but paid attention. An Eisenhower Republican, she was drawn to Reagan’s personality, but was put off by the more patrician Bushes. She came to like Bill Clinton and was happy to vote for Barack Obama. She wasn’t exactly athletic but played golf in a determined style, shooting short but straight at the pin while around her long drives were in the woods, and becoming a good putter, tapping the ball and, as it approached the cup, exclaiming, “One time!” It often was.
Smaller memories endure. Mom taught me how to skip as we walked to the hospital, where my baby brother was getting out after being treated for croup; she typed one of the first papers I wrote, in 7th grade; she finished a model rocket for me after I’d given up, in tears, and went to bed when I was about 9.
However, we also argued frequently for 20 years, until the ’70s. Mom scolded me as always opposed to things – an “aginner!” she called me – but she wasn’t my harshest critic. In fact, she could be a heckuva cheerleader. She gave me warm support when I did OK; for decades every word I wrote was done feeling Mom and Dad peering over my shoulders.
Mom was deceptively, sometimes inadvertently, funny. After one road trip with dogs staying rowdy despite sedatives from the vet, she announced, “Next time, I’LL take the tranquilizers.”
Another time, no doubt frustrated with two teens’ appetites, she questioned cooking at all, quipping, “Why bother! You’ll just EAT IT!”
Another time, no doubt frustrated with two teens’ appetites, she questioned cooking at all, quipping, “Why bother! You’ll just EAT IT!”
She had a catch phrase – “Yeah, RIGHT!” – as in one conversation, in which I said, “Considering I was 7 when my appendix burst and you had to drain my gut, you’ve had to deal with my crap for 50 years.”
“Yeah, RIGHT!” she smiled.
*
It’d be an unhappy, hollow place if souls of such goodness and grit in some way didn’t live on.
But frankly, I felt somewhat abandoned until I stumbled on a line from Scripture, where God tells Isaiah, “As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you.”
But frankly, I felt somewhat abandoned until I stumbled on a line from Scripture, where God tells Isaiah, “As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you.”
Now and then, here and there, things still seem empty. Then I answer myself: “But the sky seems full.”
Saturday, July 30, 2011
TriStatesRadio has 'Shoptalk' weekly
In less than 10 minutes each Tuesday, TriStatesRadio (WIUM-FM 91.3 and WIUW-FM 89.5) airs “Shoptalk,” an informal, roundtable discussion of media issues hosted by the station's News Director, Rich Egger (pictured above, left) and featuring print journalist Bill Knight and broadcaster Mike Murray.
This summer, topics have included a possible change to Illinois' Open Records law criticized by advocates of open government; the role media played in the days after a devastating tornado tore through Joplin, Mo.; how the news media view education; an FCC report suggesting news outlets could make money from on-line ad tracking; the use of aggregation by web sites such as the Huffington Post; and the phone hacking scandal involving the Rupert Murdoch-owned media.
Also, TriStatesRadio’s Southeast Iowa correspondent Jason Parrott (above, right)hosted two July episodes featuring Keokuk reporters Megan Spees and Cindy Iutzi from the Daily Gates City newspaper, in which the trio discussed an FCC report noting a shortage of in-depth, local journalism and also how the media handled the Casey Anthony trial and the accusations of sexual assault against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who resigned as head of the International Monetary Fund.
The station archives podcasts of past shows at http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wium/news.newsmain?action=section&SECTION_ID=1366
Friday, June 10, 2011
Speaking out against Eavesdropping Act
Bob Roberts in the Illinois News Broadcasters Association newsletter TuneIN writes about the state legislature's Eavesdropping Act:
In newsrooms across Illinois, there's a daily mantra.
"Before we go any further, I'd like to make sure I have permission to record this conversation."
It's something I've said anytime I begin to tape the interview since I can remember. Most of the time I double-check by telling my interview subject, "Thank you again for agreeing to be recorded."
That's because Illinois law is clear: No conversation can legally be recorded unless all parties to it agree.
For those who are Illinois "lifers," it may come as a surprise that the law in other states is not uniform. In fact, a number of states don't require you, the journalist, to tell anyone you're recording.
The Illinois law is being challenged in the 7th U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago, and RTDNA, SPJ, NPPA, the American Society of News Editors, the Citizen Media Law Project, Reports Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP) and the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors have all filed friend-of-the-court briefs in the suit ACLU v. Anita Alvarez challenging the Illinois Eavesdropping Act, which RCFP Executive Director Lucy Dalglish calls "shockingly broad."
RCFP says that the brief, filed April 22, asserts that the "disposition of this case is critically important in setting a precedent that will either protect or endanger newsgatherers' constitutional rights."
Dalglish said Illinois is not the only state with a law she considers "overly broad," but said in some states similar statues have led to citizens being arrested while shooting video or still photographs of public events in public places.
"This is the most outrageous statue we've found," she said. "These unconstitutional arrests tend to have one thing in problem: they occur after someone in power, often a law enforcement official, decides he or she does not like the speech or conduct captured on the recording. The notion that you can be arrested for documenting that behavior should send chills down the spines of anyone who cares about the Constitution."
Unfortunately, INBA lacks the resources to join such a fight on a continuing basis. But I wish those who are pressing the case good luck.
In newsrooms across Illinois, there's a daily mantra.
"Before we go any further, I'd like to make sure I have permission to record this conversation."
It's something I've said anytime I begin to tape the interview since I can remember. Most of the time I double-check by telling my interview subject, "Thank you again for agreeing to be recorded."
That's because Illinois law is clear: No conversation can legally be recorded unless all parties to it agree.
For those who are Illinois "lifers," it may come as a surprise that the law in other states is not uniform. In fact, a number of states don't require you, the journalist, to tell anyone you're recording.
The Illinois law is being challenged in the 7th U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago, and RTDNA, SPJ, NPPA, the American Society of News Editors, the Citizen Media Law Project, Reports Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP) and the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors have all filed friend-of-the-court briefs in the suit ACLU v. Anita Alvarez challenging the Illinois Eavesdropping Act, which RCFP Executive Director Lucy Dalglish calls "shockingly broad."
RCFP says that the brief, filed April 22, asserts that the "disposition of this case is critically important in setting a precedent that will either protect or endanger newsgatherers' constitutional rights."
Dalglish said Illinois is not the only state with a law she considers "overly broad," but said in some states similar statues have led to citizens being arrested while shooting video or still photographs of public events in public places.
"This is the most outrageous statue we've found," she said. "These unconstitutional arrests tend to have one thing in problem: they occur after someone in power, often a law enforcement official, decides he or she does not like the speech or conduct captured on the recording. The notion that you can be arrested for documenting that behavior should send chills down the spines of anyone who cares about the Constitution."
Unfortunately, INBA lacks the resources to join such a fight on a continuing basis. But I wish those who are pressing the case good luck.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Quincy native pens book on lying
Veteran author and journalist James B. Stewart's new book, "Tangled Webs: How False Statements Are Undermining America," uses more familiar case studies to demonstrate the extent of dishonesty in high-profile circles.
Barry Bonds, Scooter Libby, Bernie Madoff and Martha Stewart are examined in extraordinary detail.
David Kamp in Business Week magazine describes the work as "tweezer journalism at its finest," storytelling that takes readers inside the moment these well-known liars "made the fateful choice to lie."
Stewart is uncharacteristically critical of President Bush's not firing Karl Rove or Richard Armitage in the episode wherein Scooter Libby illegally revealed CIA employee Valerie Plame's identity. Bush's failure to hold those two accountable was "rank hypocrisy," Stewart writes.
He won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism for his Wall Street Journal articles about the dramatic 1987 upheaval in the stock market and insider trading. A contributor to The New Yorker and an editor at Smart Money, Stewart's other books include "Den of Thieves," "DisneyWar" and "Blood Sport: The President and His Adversaries."
News media using many platforms
Jennifer Greer and Yan Yan in a recent edition of "Grassroots Editor" report that the Internet ranked as the third most popular news platform -- behind local and national television outlets. Local print newspapers ranked as the fifth most popular news sources, with 50% of respondents to a national survey saying they get news this way (Pew Internet, 2010). The trend of news consumption shifting online is not new. Readers have been logging on to news websites, including those produced by traditional news organizations, since the 1990s. But the Pew Internet & American Life Project survey also showed that news consumption has increased.
Further, citing a classic 1993 magazine column by newspaper consultant John Morton, the scholars added that "the fundamental strength of newspapers [is] the ability to 'provide intense local coverage of events and subjects of intense concern to local consumers'.”
Further, citing a classic 1993 magazine column by newspaper consultant John Morton, the scholars added that "the fundamental strength of newspapers [is] the ability to 'provide intense local coverage of events and subjects of intense concern to local consumers'.”
News finds mediated students
A new global study by the International Center for Media & the Public Agenda (ICMPA) at the University of Maryland shows that students no longer search for news.
The news finds them.
Students "inhale," almost unconsciously, news served up on the sidebar of their email account, on friends' Facebook walls, on Twitter and via chat.
"We are used to having information about everything on the planet and this information we have to have in an unbelievable time. Our generation doesn't need certified and acknowledged information. More important is quantity, not quality of news," said one student from Slovakia.
"Students now get their news in chunks of 140 characters or from Facebook posts," said Ph.D. student Jessica Roberts, a former reporter at the Cape Times in South Africa, and a member of ICMPA's research team.
"Students want and get their news as it is breaking, with few filters," she added.
Most students in the study didn't discriminate between news that the New York Times, the BBC or Al Jazeera might cover, and news that might only appear in a friend's Facebook status update.
"Students are interested in news," Roberts said. "It's just that students today are more inclusive about what they consider news than older adults are. 'News' to students means 'anything that just happened' - and students want to know it all immediately, whether it is a globally momentous story or only one of personal interest."
The news finds them.
Students "inhale," almost unconsciously, news served up on the sidebar of their email account, on friends' Facebook walls, on Twitter and via chat.
"We are used to having information about everything on the planet and this information we have to have in an unbelievable time. Our generation doesn't need certified and acknowledged information. More important is quantity, not quality of news," said one student from Slovakia.
"Students now get their news in chunks of 140 characters or from Facebook posts," said Ph.D. student Jessica Roberts, a former reporter at the Cape Times in South Africa, and a member of ICMPA's research team.
"Students want and get their news as it is breaking, with few filters," she added.
Most students in the study didn't discriminate between news that the New York Times, the BBC or Al Jazeera might cover, and news that might only appear in a friend's Facebook status update.
"Students are interested in news," Roberts said. "It's just that students today are more inclusive about what they consider news than older adults are. 'News' to students means 'anything that just happened' - and students want to know it all immediately, whether it is a globally momentous story or only one of personal interest."
State celebs add voices, faces to press campaign
The Illinois Press Association (IPA) lined up several prominent Illinoisans for its "Leader are newspaper readers" campaign.
Besides actor Dennis Franz (see previous post), participating are retired astronaut Scott Altman of Pekin, Secretary of Ttransportation Ray LaHood of Peoria, and Illinois basketball coach Bruce Weber of Champaign/Urbana, plus SIU presidenet Glenn Poshaard, Chicago Blackhawks president John McDonough and Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs Tammy Duckworth (pictured at left).
"There are two things that all of these Illinoisans have in common," said IPA executive director Dennis DeRossett. "They are all leaders, and they are all newspaper readers. That's not an accident. Leaders depend on the reliable, comprehensive and diverse information that newspapers provide."
Print ads are downloadable from IPA -- www.illinoispress.org
Monday, April 18, 2011
Who needs newspapers?
Paul Steinle and his wife Dr. Sara Brown set off on a journey to visit newspapers throughout the country to answer the question: Who needs newspapers? They have visited newspapers in nearly 40 states and have chronicled their findings on the website WhoNeedsNewspapers.org. Read their stories starting with Illinois' Northwest Herald in Crystal Lake -- http://whoneedsnewspapers.org/np_main.php?npId=ilnwh
Monday, April 4, 2011
News on the radio can thrive
Mark Twain said it about his own death: "The report is greatly exaggerated."
Those who say "radio is dead" are equally full of hype, according to a new article in The Communicator from the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA).
Plus, the examples of success are in Illinois, at Bloomington's WJBC-AM and -FM (pictured above), and at Champaign's WDWS-AM and WHMS/WUIL-FM.
There, the stations successfully attract sizable audiences with not only news, but solid and enterprising journalism and community-minded, public-service reporting.
Kevin Finch's feature, "Radio news on more than just a shoestring," is a well-written account of real-life radio work that contradicts the "conventional wisdom' that's a lot more conventional than wise.
Print pay walls increasing, responses to NYT vary
GateHouse Media's Peoria Journal Star and State Journal Register in Springfield have erected "paywalls" limiting free access to online contents, following several newspaper experiments -- most recently the New York Times.
A week ago, marketing experts from Washington University in St. Louis offered different reactions to the Times' attempt, with one forecasting a decline in audience and another pronouncing it a good business model.
Read the whole summary here --http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/22076.aspx
A week ago, marketing experts from Washington University in St. Louis offered different reactions to the Times' attempt, with one forecasting a decline in audience and another pronouncing it a good business model.
Read the whole summary here --http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/22076.aspx
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Columnist puts news, posts into context
Syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts (above), who writes for the Miami Herald, last week had a terrific column about the venomous attacks hurled at CBS News reporter Lara Logan following the journalist's beating and sexual assault at the hands of a mob in Cairo's Liberation Square this month.
Besides standing up to the anonymous comment posters whose mean remarks mocked and dismissed the incident, Pitts defended her -- and all victims of such violence.
"The woman is a reporter and she was doing what reporters do: going places, sometimes dicey, difficult or dangerous places, in order to originate the information that allows the rest of us to opine from the comfort of our chairs," Pitts wrote. "We are talking about a real attack on a real woman who must now grapple with real consequences.
"It's as if some feel Logan's tragedy exists only as a vehicle for them to score political points."
Reading the whole essay: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/22/2080093/i-am-with-you.html
Friday, February 18, 2011
Understanding the participatory news consumer
According to a new survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project and the Project for Excellence in Journalism, almost two-thirds of Americans get daily news from a combination of print and web, and almosts half used multiple media platforms daily.
The Internet is generally a more popular source of news than print and radio, making it the third most popular news platform overall, behind only national and local television news.
The survey, "Understanding the Participatory News Consumer: How Internet and Cell Phone Users Have Turned News into a Social Experience," was based on responses from more than 2,000 American adults. Its findings include:
•Nearly 60% of Americans get daily news from both Internet and print sources.
•46% obtained news from four to six media platforms per day, while only 7% get news from a single platform.
•33% of cell phone owners access news on their portable phones.
•28% of Internet users have a homepage personalized with news sources, and 37% have participated in news creation, commentary and dissemination.
While the Internet is an increasingly popular news source, the survey found that Americans have mixed feelings about it. While more than half say it is easier to keep up with news and information today than it was five years ago, 70% feel overwhelmed by the amount of news and information available. In addition, nearly 75% of respondents have concerns that many news sources are biased in their coverage.
The Internet is generally a more popular source of news than print and radio, making it the third most popular news platform overall, behind only national and local television news.
The survey, "Understanding the Participatory News Consumer: How Internet and Cell Phone Users Have Turned News into a Social Experience," was based on responses from more than 2,000 American adults. Its findings include:
•Nearly 60% of Americans get daily news from both Internet and print sources.
•46% obtained news from four to six media platforms per day, while only 7% get news from a single platform.
•33% of cell phone owners access news on their portable phones.
•28% of Internet users have a homepage personalized with news sources, and 37% have participated in news creation, commentary and dissemination.
While the Internet is an increasingly popular news source, the survey found that Americans have mixed feelings about it. While more than half say it is easier to keep up with news and information today than it was five years ago, 70% feel overwhelmed by the amount of news and information available. In addition, nearly 75% of respondents have concerns that many news sources are biased in their coverage.
Young journalists' conversation yields 'benchmarks'
The national J-Lab convened a weekend meeting of a group of youong journalists, who came up with examples of stories that were inspiring or otherewise effective.
In the discussion, those gathered came up with a list of 10 ways "content providers" can produce good work. They are:
We can produce good journalism if we:
1) Challenge knee-jerk master narratives
2) Reach for new kinds of accountability
3) Add historical context
4) Impart a sense of community, sense of place
5) Seek authenticity
6) Have impact
7) Make the invisible visible
8) Strive for attachment vs. detachment
9) Do less harm
10) Anticipate the future
In the discussion, those gathered came up with a list of 10 ways "content providers" can produce good work. They are:
We can produce good journalism if we:
1) Challenge knee-jerk master narratives
2) Reach for new kinds of accountability
3) Add historical context
4) Impart a sense of community, sense of place
5) Seek authenticity
6) Have impact
7) Make the invisible visible
8) Strive for attachment vs. detachment
9) Do less harm
10) Anticipate the future
Monday, February 7, 2011
Editorial cartoon right on time
Cartoonist John Cole of the Scranton Times-Tribune created this excellent graphic commentary on thugs' treatment of journalists trying to cover events in Egypt.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Health care reform OK but information insufficient: business scholar
Health care reform will be good for Americans, according to Dr. Joel Rudin, a professor in the Management and Entrepreneurship Department at Rowan University in Glassboro, N.J.
However, what has not been good is how government officials have explained the policy, and that is impacting what U.S. citizens think of it.
Further, the news media are complicit in the sense that the press has not done its own due-diligence in independently explaining what the actual law will really do.
“Under health care reform, most Americans will have health insurance that is similar to my (New Jersey state) health insurance, but that won’t happen until 2014," Rudin said. "By then, the people who came up with this idea may have been voted out of office. If that happens it will be their own fault for failing to explain to the American people how much better and cheaper their health insurance will be.”
Sharing the blame in Americans' lack of knowledge about health care reform is the press, which can accurately and clearly explain the law -- but hasn't.
However, what has not been good is how government officials have explained the policy, and that is impacting what U.S. citizens think of it.
Further, the news media are complicit in the sense that the press has not done its own due-diligence in independently explaining what the actual law will really do.
“Under health care reform, most Americans will have health insurance that is similar to my (New Jersey state) health insurance, but that won’t happen until 2014," Rudin said. "By then, the people who came up with this idea may have been voted out of office. If that happens it will be their own fault for failing to explain to the American people how much better and cheaper their health insurance will be.”
Sharing the blame in Americans' lack of knowledge about health care reform is the press, which can accurately and clearly explain the law -- but hasn't.
Struggling against Powers That Be
Duxbury (Mass.) Clipper editor-in-chief Justin Graeber wrote the following editorial for his weekly on Dec. 29, pertaining to an unusual-yet-not-unheard-of case of a small-newspaper journalist (Jessica L. Lloyd-Rogers, right) being squeezed out of doing the work:At the Clipper we belong to a couple of professional newspaper societies, such as the New England Newspaper and Press Association, the group that gives out the Better Newspaper Awards each year.
We also belong to the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors, and this group often sends out “hotline” questions via e-mail. It's always informative and interesting to see how other weekly editors around the country and around the world are tackling some of the same questions we are. For example, there was recently a free-wheeling and wide-ranging debate about charging for obits. (Just in case you were wondering, not going to happen at the Clipper while I'm alive.) But a couple months ago we got a very serious series of e-mails from an editor in Oregon. She was dealing with some serious pushback from officials as she tried to shine the light on a government that was used to doing their business in the dark.
The editor, Jessica L. Lloyd-Rogers of the Coast Lake News in Lakeside, Oregon, was an experienced freelancer who started the paper with her husband. It's got a very local focus on a town with a population under 1,500. Problem was, the city council didn't appreciate that tight focus.
Lest you think I'm exaggerating the level of the corruption in Lakeside or the threats Lloyd-Rogers and her husband faced, here are just some examples, outlined in the latest ISWNE newsletter.
• The chairman of the fire board is the live-in girlfriend of the fire chief.
• Two of the board members on the Water District Board are spouses of city council members.
• The city administrator doesn't meet even the minimum of the written job description, and gave herself a raise by pencilling it in after the 2008-09 budget was passed.
That's not even everything. They've also faced threats, including being libeled repeatedly by a blog backed by city officials unhappy with the paper. (Lloyd-Rogers said stories about a porn star with a similar name are being spread as if it's her.) They even got evicted from their office.
“I sometimes feel like an unarmed marshal sent into an Old West town run by bandits,” she wrote in the ISWNE newsletter.
The point here is that the over-the-top political incest described by Lloyd-Rogers isn't unique or even all that surprising. It's what happens in a community that is not aggressively covered by a local newspaper (there is apparently a daily that covers Lakeside, but they must be facing budget cuts or something.) This is what happens when no one's looking. People double dip. They cut favors for buddies or family members. They give themselves raises when they think no one's looking. That's why someone has to be looking. Think any other things Lloyd-Rogers described could happen in Duxbury? Not with the Clipper and other good local media on the case.
For Lloyd-Rogers' complaints in her own words, check out her story on page 1 of ISWNE's December newsletter -- http://www.iswne.org/newspdfs/dec10.pdf
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Ted Koppel on the Sorry State of TV News
Check out this revealing look at the current state of television news by veteran newscaster Ted Koppel: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/12/AR2010111202857.html.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
We, too, are bidden
A personal hero, newspaper columnist and labor activist Heywood Broun, was known for his progressive views and his passionate interests – from sports and books to poker and Christmas.
Seventy-two years ago this week, the liberal commentator wrote this piece for the old New York World-Telegram.
The angel of the Lord said to the shepherds, “And this shall be a sign unto you: You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”
They made haste to go to Bethlehem to see the thing which had come to pass. “For unto you,” the angel said, “is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”
But as they journeyed to Bethlehem they fell into a discussion as to just how they should find the place where the infant lay. The shepherds were not folk familiar with the town, even though it lay a short journey from the fields in which they tended their flocks. Besides, they knew that many from the country roundabout had gone to Bethlehem in compliance with the decree of Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. Indeed, one of the group grumbled, “In Bethlehem there be many mangers, and how are we to find the one?”
And the youngest shepherd said, “It will be made known to us.”
The night was bright with stars and the way more easy than they had expected. In spite of the late hour many walked in the narrow streets of Bethlehem, and from all the houses there came a clatter. The shepherds stood for a moment in some perplexity as to the appointed place. The noises of the town were confusing to men who had been standing silent under starlight.
And suddenly, the volume of voices increased, and down the street there came a caravan of camels. Upon the backs of the beasts sat great bearded men, and with them they brought sacks of precious stuffs and huge treasure chests from distant kingdoms. The air was filled with the pungent tang of spice and perfume.
The startled shepherds stood against the wall to let the cavalcade of the mighty pass by. And these wise men and kings seemed to have no doubt as to their destination. They swept past the inn and dismounted at the door of a stable. Servants took the burdens from the backs of the camels, and the kings and the wise men stooped and went in through the low door of the stable.
“It is there the child lies in the manger,” said one of the shepherds and made as if to follow, but his fellows were abashed and said among themselves, “It is not right that we should crowd in upon the heels of the mighty.”
The youngest shepherd spoke up, insisting, “We, too, are bidden. For us, as well, there was the voice of the angel of the Lord.”
And timidly, the men from the fields followed after and found places near the door. They watched as the men from distant countries came and silently placed their gifts at the foot of the manger where the child lay sleeping. And the shepherds stood aside and let the great of the Earth go out into the night to take up again their long journey.
Presently they were alone, but as they had no gifts to lay beside the gold and frankincense, they turned to go back to their flocks. But Mary, the mother, made a sign to the youngest shepherd to come closer. And he said, “We are shepherds, and we have come from the fields whence an angel summoned us. There is naught which we could add to the gifts of wise men and of kings.”
Mary replied, “Before the throne of God, who is a king and who is wise, you have brought with you a gift more precious than all the others. It lies within your heart.”
And suddenly it was made known to the shepherd the meaning of the words of Mary. He knelt at the foot of the manger and gave to the child his prayer of devotion and of joy.
Seventy-two years ago this week, the liberal commentator wrote this piece for the old New York World-Telegram.
The angel of the Lord said to the shepherds, “And this shall be a sign unto you: You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”
They made haste to go to Bethlehem to see the thing which had come to pass. “For unto you,” the angel said, “is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”
But as they journeyed to Bethlehem they fell into a discussion as to just how they should find the place where the infant lay. The shepherds were not folk familiar with the town, even though it lay a short journey from the fields in which they tended their flocks. Besides, they knew that many from the country roundabout had gone to Bethlehem in compliance with the decree of Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. Indeed, one of the group grumbled, “In Bethlehem there be many mangers, and how are we to find the one?”
And the youngest shepherd said, “It will be made known to us.”
The night was bright with stars and the way more easy than they had expected. In spite of the late hour many walked in the narrow streets of Bethlehem, and from all the houses there came a clatter. The shepherds stood for a moment in some perplexity as to the appointed place. The noises of the town were confusing to men who had been standing silent under starlight.
And suddenly, the volume of voices increased, and down the street there came a caravan of camels. Upon the backs of the beasts sat great bearded men, and with them they brought sacks of precious stuffs and huge treasure chests from distant kingdoms. The air was filled with the pungent tang of spice and perfume.
The startled shepherds stood against the wall to let the cavalcade of the mighty pass by. And these wise men and kings seemed to have no doubt as to their destination. They swept past the inn and dismounted at the door of a stable. Servants took the burdens from the backs of the camels, and the kings and the wise men stooped and went in through the low door of the stable.
“It is there the child lies in the manger,” said one of the shepherds and made as if to follow, but his fellows were abashed and said among themselves, “It is not right that we should crowd in upon the heels of the mighty.”
The youngest shepherd spoke up, insisting, “We, too, are bidden. For us, as well, there was the voice of the angel of the Lord.”
And timidly, the men from the fields followed after and found places near the door. They watched as the men from distant countries came and silently placed their gifts at the foot of the manger where the child lay sleeping. And the shepherds stood aside and let the great of the Earth go out into the night to take up again their long journey.
Presently they were alone, but as they had no gifts to lay beside the gold and frankincense, they turned to go back to their flocks. But Mary, the mother, made a sign to the youngest shepherd to come closer. And he said, “We are shepherds, and we have come from the fields whence an angel summoned us. There is naught which we could add to the gifts of wise men and of kings.”
Mary replied, “Before the throne of God, who is a king and who is wise, you have brought with you a gift more precious than all the others. It lies within your heart.”
And suddenly it was made known to the shepherd the meaning of the words of Mary. He knelt at the foot of the manger and gave to the child his prayer of devotion and of joy.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
News media manipulated on ACORN: study
If you think you know what happened to ACORN, the network of community organizations attacked by politicians and video bloggers over the last few years, check out Michael Schudson and Julia Sonnevend's article “In ACORN’s Shadow” in the new Columbia Journalism Review.
Schudson, a professor at Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism, and Sonnevend, a Ph.D. student, examined a political science journal article summarizing a study 647 stories about ACORN during 2007-08, and they found that ACORN’s alleged voter fraud “was absurdly hyped for partisan advantage; the national media were steamrolled into promoting ... a ‘disingenuous controversy’; and ACORN twisted in the wind.”
Analysts Peter Dreier and Christopher R. Martin found that the press was "taken in all too easily by a very effective group of 'opinion entrepreneurs largely indifferent to facts or fairness."
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Pulitzer Prize winner here Thursday
A longtime Chicago journalist who shared in the Tribune’s 2001 staff Pulitzer Prize for its reporting on the airline industry will visit a few classes and take part in a Brown Bag It Q&A with students featuring free pizza and soda on Thursday, Nov. 11.
Patrick Olsen, who also worked for the Los Angeles Times, is a good example of a journalist who works in multiple media. Now Editor-in-Chief at Cars.com, Olsen oversees an editorial staff of almost 20 journalists reviewing cars, writing blog posts, and shooting photos and videos.
Olsen spent 11 years at the Tribune, including six years as the Page One Editor, and more than three years launching and helping to run RedEye, the Tribune’s tabloid aimed at 20-something readers. The winner of numerous journalism awards (including for Investigative Reporting, Professional Performance, Headline Writing, and Design), Olsen will briefly visit two 11 a.m. classes taught by Mohammad Siddiqi and Pearlie Strother-Adams in Simpkins rooms 214 and 309, respectively. At 12:30 p.m., Olsen will be in Simpkins room 327 for a casual "Pizza with a Press Professional" hour or so of Q&A mixed with slices and pop.
WIU's PRSSA chapter is co-sponsoring the appearance along with the department of English & Journalism.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Google invests $5 million in journalism
Google is often criticized for contributing to stealing the audience, if not the contents, of journalism, but in a move this week, the internet giant is making a contribution to help the practice of journalism, if not the platform of print.
And it's making the move because of journalism's importance to democracy.
"Journalism is fundamental to a functioning democracy," Gogle said in its blogged announcement. "So as media organizations globally continue to broaden their presence online, we’re eager to play our part on the technology side.
"We’ve granted $2 million to the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which has a proven track record of supporting programs that drive innovation in journalism," they continued. "It will use $1 million to support U.S. grant-making in this crucial area. The other $1 million will augment the Knight News Challenge, which is accepting funding proposals from anyone, anywhere in the world, until December 1. Now in its fifth year, the News Challenge has supported projects like DocumentCloud, which aims to bring more investigative-reporting source material online so anyone can find and read it."
Details on the remaining $3 million to be invested internationally will be forthcoming early next year, Google said.
And it's making the move because of journalism's importance to democracy.
"Journalism is fundamental to a functioning democracy," Gogle said in its blogged announcement. "So as media organizations globally continue to broaden their presence online, we’re eager to play our part on the technology side.
"We’ve granted $2 million to the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which has a proven track record of supporting programs that drive innovation in journalism," they continued. "It will use $1 million to support U.S. grant-making in this crucial area. The other $1 million will augment the Knight News Challenge, which is accepting funding proposals from anyone, anywhere in the world, until December 1. Now in its fifth year, the News Challenge has supported projects like DocumentCloud, which aims to bring more investigative-reporting source material online so anyone can find and read it."
Details on the remaining $3 million to be invested internationally will be forthcoming early next year, Google said.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
'Truth LIES here'
The November Atlantic out this week has a compelling story on the use and abuse of the Internet to not just try to control the flow of information, but to make it up.
Contributing editor Michael Hirschorn quotes the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan's line that we may each be entitled to our own set of opinions, but we are not entitled to our own set of facts.
"The Breitbarts, Gingriches, and 'bury brigades' are engaged in an enterprise uniquely enabled by the collapse of the center and the ubiquitous means by which information can spread instantly," Hirschorn writes. "It’s easy to welcome a time in which technology unleashes an ongoing town hall on any and all issues of the day, in which the wisdom of crowds holds sway. But the dislodging of fact from the pedestal it had safely occupied for centuries makes the recent disturbances in politics and the media feel like symptoms of a larger epistemological, even civilizational, rot."
Ex-Courier editor takes Ohio Press helm
The one-time Western Courier editor who led the student newspaper in its early days after WIU kicked it off campus has been named executive director of the Ohio Newspaper Association.
Dennis Hetzel, most recently the manager of northern Kentucky operations for Enquirer Media, will start his new duties on January 1.
Hetzel, who penned an editorial for which the newspaper was sued for libel and won, formerly worked at newspapers in Galesburg, Madison, Wisc., and York, Pa.
Monday, October 25, 2010
'Inside-the-Beltway' press out of touch?
Arianna Huffington may be a progressive, but her recent column recalling conversations with ABC-TV's Diane Sawyer and magazine writer Joe Klein is revealing.
Both Washington-based journalists are coming to realize that there's a lot of news -- and a lot of Americans -- being ignored by the Capitol-oriented corporate press.
"One thing I realized on this trip was how much time I spend immersed in the media back home -- reading newspapers and blogs and books, watching TV -- and how little time I spend immersed in other people," Klein conceded.
Huffington praises NPR's "StoryCorps" feature, which showcases regular people and how they/we offer as many lessons as the "inside baseball" perspective of too many members of the Washington press corps.
Check out the full Huffington post here -- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/joe-klein-and-diane-sawye_b_752674.html?view=print
Both Washington-based journalists are coming to realize that there's a lot of news -- and a lot of Americans -- being ignored by the Capitol-oriented corporate press.
"One thing I realized on this trip was how much time I spend immersed in the media back home -- reading newspapers and blogs and books, watching TV -- and how little time I spend immersed in other people," Klein conceded.
Huffington praises NPR's "StoryCorps" feature, which showcases regular people and how they/we offer as many lessons as the "inside baseball" perspective of too many members of the Washington press corps.
Check out the full Huffington post here -- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/joe-klein-and-diane-sawye_b_752674.html?view=print
Thursday, October 7, 2010
AOL Thinking of Buying Newspapers
There's a fascinating story about how AOL is thinking about buying newspaper properties to enhance its Internet content at http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=137266.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Washington Post Scribe Moves to Daily Beast
The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz is moving to the online news site, the Daily Beast. There's a great piece about the move of traditional print folks, like Kurtz, to the Internet on the Poynter Foundation web site, http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=101&aid=192116.
Friday, September 24, 2010
'Sign of the Apocalypse'? Broadcaster Barbie
Mattel's "I can be..." series of Barbie dolls has a news anchor.Its promotional material describes her as, "A flair for journalism – and power pink!'
Appropriately, Mattel also has a caution: WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD."
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Excerpt shows courage of press -- and wackiness of Nixon
The Daily Beast has a gripping excerpt from Mark Feldstein's book Poisoning the Press, detailed the paranoia, arrogance and totalitarian mindset of the Nixon White House in the months before Watergate toppled that presidency.
Nixon and his Oval Office advisers actually proposed and considered assassinating investigative reporter Jack Anderson, a syndicated columnist.
"We examined all of the alternatives and very quickly came to the conclusion [that] the only way you're going to be able to stop him is to kill him,” said G. Gordon Liddy, ex-Republican campaign operative and future right-wing talk-radio host.
It was a close call, Feldstein shows.
Nixon and his Oval Office advisers actually proposed and considered assassinating investigative reporter Jack Anderson, a syndicated columnist.
"We examined all of the alternatives and very quickly came to the conclusion [that] the only way you're going to be able to stop him is to kill him,” said G. Gordon Liddy, ex-Republican campaign operative and future right-wing talk-radio host.
It was a close call, Feldstein shows.
Georgia hyperlocal editor praises Patch.com
A Patch.com regional editor from greater Atlanta shared his perspective on AOL's new venture, and describes the initiative as a hyperlocal network of news sites.
Check out this rough posting, which includes a short video of his appearance at the Center for Sustainable Journalism: http://pjnet.org/post/2362/
Check out this rough posting, which includes a short video of his appearance at the Center for Sustainable Journalism: http://pjnet.org/post/2362/
Apple 'making nice' with print for iPad
Whether through opportunities to feature content produced by others or chances to monetize material that newsrooms create, Apple is solidifying its ties to newspapers.
In the most recent Adviser Update from the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund, technology columnist Gary Clites writes an informative piece on the Applie iPad: "Welcome to the wonderful work of publishing by app." Check it out here -- https://www.newsfund.org/uploads/2010Summer.pdf.
Meanwhile, Apple itself is making sounds that insiders believe mean new subscription ideas for newspapers. However, details are still being finalized, apparently.
"Roger Fidler, head of digital publishing at the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute in Columbia, Mo., said Apple probably will take a 30% cut of all subscriptions sold through the company's online App Store, and as much as 40% of the advertising revenue from publications' apps," writes John Boudreau in the San Jose Mercury News.
"Publishers wanted to pay Apple a fee rather than a cut of subscription and advertising revenue and are not happy with Apple's terms, he said," Boudreau's article continues. "They had hoped to offer app editions as part of subscription bundles that include print versions of the paper. Instead, they must use Apple as an intermediary with subscribers."
In the most recent Adviser Update from the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund, technology columnist Gary Clites writes an informative piece on the Applie iPad: "Welcome to the wonderful work of publishing by app." Check it out here -- https://www.newsfund.org/uploads/2010Summer.pdf.
Meanwhile, Apple itself is making sounds that insiders believe mean new subscription ideas for newspapers. However, details are still being finalized, apparently.
"Roger Fidler, head of digital publishing at the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute in Columbia, Mo., said Apple probably will take a 30% cut of all subscriptions sold through the company's online App Store, and as much as 40% of the advertising revenue from publications' apps," writes John Boudreau in the San Jose Mercury News.
"Publishers wanted to pay Apple a fee rather than a cut of subscription and advertising revenue and are not happy with Apple's terms, he said," Boudreau's article continues. "They had hoped to offer app editions as part of subscription bundles that include print versions of the paper. Instead, they must use Apple as an intermediary with subscribers."
Las Vegas Newspaper Tries For More Civil Online Discourse
The Las Vegas Sun has implemented a new policy regarding online comments on its stories. It's an interesting read: http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/sep/21/story-commenting-policy/.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Journalism jobs outpacing overall economy
Mike Mandell at "Mandell on Innovation and Growth" shows that there's a communications boom resulting in expanding journalism jobs, and "we may be headed into a Golden Age of Journalism."
Using statistics from Current Population Survey from the Census Bureau and Labor Department, Mandel shows that employment levels for reporters and related journalism jobs have climbed back to where they were before the worst of the Great Recession hit in late 2008 (see chart, above).
Adding context, Mandell explains that journalists might be getting hired in nontraditional industries, are successfully self-employed, and are doing better than editors and news-production workers. However, some might be working fewer hours at less pay.
'Good journalism remains timeless'
Dawn Osakue on Editorsweblog.org writes, "Whenever technology advances, there are fears that new inventions will take over the old. The death of the newspaper has been discussed for some time, as the web becomes more popular, and now the death of the web has been announced as apps become more common. However, John Naughton [of the Guardian], has reminded [us] that 'good journalism will thrive, whatever the format'."
Indeed, Naughton argues that predicting Internet trends is futile: "The problem with endism is that it's intrinsically simplistic," he says. "Of course, new technologies threaten some older things ... but the demand for reference information hasn't disappeared.
"Print is just one way of publishing the fruits of journalists' labours," he adds. "The web is another; iPhone apps are a third. And there may be more to come as the internet continues to work its disruptive magic."
Indeed, Naughton argues that predicting Internet trends is futile: "The problem with endism is that it's intrinsically simplistic," he says. "Of course, new technologies threaten some older things ... but the demand for reference information hasn't disappeared.
"Print is just one way of publishing the fruits of journalists' labours," he adds. "The web is another; iPhone apps are a third. And there may be more to come as the internet continues to work its disruptive magic."
Sunday, September 12, 2010
AOL hires hundreds of journalists
AOL hired 900 people over the summer, and about half are journalists working for the company's local blogs network, Patch.com, according to CEO Tim Armstrong.
Check out Patch.com -- http://www.patch.com/
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Newspapers' audiences way up, if websites count
In the most recent ratings study, newspapers' websites generated "unprecedented traffic," according to Nielsen, analyzing data for the Newspaper Association of America. That seems to show that content matters significantly,\ -- apart from whichever platform that has it.
In the first quarter of this year, newspapers' sites drew more than one-third of all Internet users: 74.4 million unique visitors per month, the analysis shows.
Elsewhere, 56% of Internet users say they consider newspapers' print editioms to be "important" or "very important" sources of information, according to a report from the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism's Digital Future Project.
True, newspapers are behind television (68%) and the Internet (78%) in what Internet users value. However -- almost paradoxically -- a majority of Internet users also concede that they don't trust material online: 61% ssay less than half of the Internet's information is unreliable; 14% say that little or none of it can be trusted.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
WIU grad named Daily Herald's AME/Opinions
WIU journalim alum Jim Slusher this summer was named assistant managing editor/opinions for the Daily Herald in Arlington Heights.Slusher joined the Daily Herald in 1989 after two years as managing editor of the Californian in El Cajon, Calif. He also served as assistant metro editor for the Saginaw News in Saginaw, Mich., and as a reporter and wire editor for the Daily Gazette in Sterling, Ill.
"Jim deeply cares about the community and has a great appreciation of the opinion page's mission of public good," said Daily Herald senior vice president/editor John Lampinen. "He's an outstanding journalist and we're pleased that he will be the next steward of the newspaper's editorial page voice."
At the Daily Herald, owned by Paddock Publications, Slusher has served as news editor, associate editor and assistant managing editor with various responsibilities, including newsroom training and direction of the senior reporting staff.
Slusher, a 1974 WIU graduate who worked on the Western Courier, conducted workshops on newspaper design at a 1995 Journalim Day on campus.
Friday, September 3, 2010
'Why can't I sleep? I blame journalism'
The Huffington Post shared this short essay from Oakland University journalism student Kay Nguyen, who makes a topic that could've seemed a bit conceited or too "inside baseball" very accessible -- and fun.
It's safe to say that I'm yet another sleep-deprived college student.
My family's fairly routine schedule has always given me optimal sleeping conditions since I was born and still does.
That's right. I live at home and commute to school. That means that I'm sleeping less, but can't really blame it on anyone else.
I never really had to learn how to sleep in a dorm.
When I did have to share an apartment, though, I learned that a stubborn routine does not work to my advantage. I wake up no later than 8 a.m. every day no matter what the circumstances.
Why did my sleeping habits change when nothing else changed, though? Like everything else: I blame it on journalism.
I started staying up later and later soon after I received a laptop. It was given to me -- with careful instructions -- to use for scholarly purposes when I began college.
After never having any electronic entertainment -- that's right: no PlayStations or TVs -- in my room for my whole life, I all of a sudden had access to everything. By everything I mean YouTube and -- at the time -- MySpace.
I then began working for the campus newspaper. Guess when I began harboring the compulsive need to always stay connected and on top of current events?
In addition to staying up late studying, I now had to read every single legitimate news website in order to sound chic and worldly. Also, let's face it: I also read Perez Hilton and admittedly still click on blurbs about Heidi Montag.
After my brief phase of drinking Celebrity Juice, I became a section editor at the campus newspaper. Cue days of no sleep spent producing the newspaper while stressing out over what e-mails came -- and didn't come -- in.
Fast forward to the present day. I'm a caffeine junkie ridden with the nerves of being a student of journalism a.k.a. what others may call a dying industry.
I do unpaid internships, freak out about the prospect of not getting a job, work on my portfolio, worry about the job market, try to get my website up and running, worry about not having a web present to employers, try to get good grades in case I have to go to grad school and bug out a little more while scouring the internet for more unpaid internships that will hopefully land me a job in the future.
That may be why I have trouble sleeping even though I live in a house that is quiet from 9 p.m. to 8 a.m.
Did I mention I'm also the editor-in-chief now? I now refresh that inbox even more and (hopefully) have two more years of it left.
Social networking? I'm not even anywhere close to being a pro, but I am active in Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Even when I truly have nothing to do, I'll listen to Pandora to fall asleep.
I am the American teenager with distracting digital devices at my bedside. I've been leaving my house at 9 a.m. every weekday for two internships, but have been falling asleep later and later.
I don't think Dr. Michael J. Breus would think that 4-5 hours of sleep is enough. It will probably only get worse, though.
I got my first smartphone this week. I am now going to be even more oversaturated with information, as my hands have not let go of that Crackberry since it came out of its box.
Classes begin next week and newspaper production schedules will begin ruling my life again along with an internship.
Looks like I can keep listening to Rooney's "Sleep Song" and blogging about my sleeping habits while I'm laying in bed, though.
Follow Kay Nguyen on Twitter: www.twitter.com/kaynguyen
It's safe to say that I'm yet another sleep-deprived college student.
My family's fairly routine schedule has always given me optimal sleeping conditions since I was born and still does.
That's right. I live at home and commute to school. That means that I'm sleeping less, but can't really blame it on anyone else.
I never really had to learn how to sleep in a dorm.
When I did have to share an apartment, though, I learned that a stubborn routine does not work to my advantage. I wake up no later than 8 a.m. every day no matter what the circumstances.
Why did my sleeping habits change when nothing else changed, though? Like everything else: I blame it on journalism.
I started staying up later and later soon after I received a laptop. It was given to me -- with careful instructions -- to use for scholarly purposes when I began college.
After never having any electronic entertainment -- that's right: no PlayStations or TVs -- in my room for my whole life, I all of a sudden had access to everything. By everything I mean YouTube and -- at the time -- MySpace.
I then began working for the campus newspaper. Guess when I began harboring the compulsive need to always stay connected and on top of current events?
In addition to staying up late studying, I now had to read every single legitimate news website in order to sound chic and worldly. Also, let's face it: I also read Perez Hilton and admittedly still click on blurbs about Heidi Montag.
After my brief phase of drinking Celebrity Juice, I became a section editor at the campus newspaper. Cue days of no sleep spent producing the newspaper while stressing out over what e-mails came -- and didn't come -- in.
Fast forward to the present day. I'm a caffeine junkie ridden with the nerves of being a student of journalism a.k.a. what others may call a dying industry.
I do unpaid internships, freak out about the prospect of not getting a job, work on my portfolio, worry about the job market, try to get my website up and running, worry about not having a web present to employers, try to get good grades in case I have to go to grad school and bug out a little more while scouring the internet for more unpaid internships that will hopefully land me a job in the future.
That may be why I have trouble sleeping even though I live in a house that is quiet from 9 p.m. to 8 a.m.
Did I mention I'm also the editor-in-chief now? I now refresh that inbox even more and (hopefully) have two more years of it left.
Social networking? I'm not even anywhere close to being a pro, but I am active in Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Even when I truly have nothing to do, I'll listen to Pandora to fall asleep.
I am the American teenager with distracting digital devices at my bedside. I've been leaving my house at 9 a.m. every weekday for two internships, but have been falling asleep later and later.
I don't think Dr. Michael J. Breus would think that 4-5 hours of sleep is enough. It will probably only get worse, though.
I got my first smartphone this week. I am now going to be even more oversaturated with information, as my hands have not let go of that Crackberry since it came out of its box.
Classes begin next week and newspaper production schedules will begin ruling my life again along with an internship.
Looks like I can keep listening to Rooney's "Sleep Song" and blogging about my sleeping habits while I'm laying in bed, though.
Follow Kay Nguyen on Twitter: www.twitter.com/kaynguyen
100 best blogs for journalism students
The posting is more than a year old and "consider the source" suspicious (coming from "bachelorsdegreeonline.com"), but there are plenty of reliable, provocative and sensible web logs listed in the list from "Learn-gasm" (ahem).
Number 1? PoynterOnline: a no-brainer.
Solid suggestions? No. 12 is Columbia Jouraism Review and No. 14 is the Nieman Journalism Lab.
Novel ideas? Six blogs from other journalism students, dozens of "new media" sites (including Mark Briggs' Journalism 2.0, brilliant and fun innovator Rob Curley, and Mark Glaser's Mediashift), the indispensible Romenesko, and The Newspaper Guild.
Areas of interest? Investigative reporting and photojournalism each have multiple sites.
(No, The Bulldog Edition hasn't made it yet.)
Number 1? PoynterOnline: a no-brainer.
Solid suggestions? No. 12 is Columbia Jouraism Review and No. 14 is the Nieman Journalism Lab.
Novel ideas? Six blogs from other journalism students, dozens of "new media" sites (including Mark Briggs' Journalism 2.0, brilliant and fun innovator Rob Curley, and Mark Glaser's Mediashift), the indispensible Romenesko, and The Newspaper Guild.
Areas of interest? Investigative reporting and photojournalism each have multiple sites.
(No, The Bulldog Edition hasn't made it yet.)
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Journalism is about people, not technology
Following is an excerpt from Journalism Next, a 2010 paperback that students of Journalism should read to put in perspective the great opportunities ahead for the field. (To order go to http://www.cqpress.com/product/Briggs.html )By Mark Briggs
My first book, “Journalism 2.0: How to Survive and Thrive in the Digital Age,” was published in 2007 and written for working journalists with a simple message: “you can do this” and the “future is now.”
In the United States, that “future is now” message came true. Too true in some ways. Many working journalists in 2006, when I started writing the book, could still embace the illusion that it would be 5 or 10 years before real disruption come to their industry. That grace period evaporated quickly in the U.S. as more than 15,000 journalists lost their jobs in 2008.
The pace of disruption for mainstream media – daily newspapers, local TV stations and magazines – is in full force today. As a result, the evolution of the business model is (finally) receiving the focus it deserves, meaning we have already begun to glimpse what the next incarnation of sustainable journalism looks like.
Newspapers are dying. Why should I study journalism?
We are at the end of a golden period for publishers, where organizations grew large and consolidated, pushing profit margins up and supporting publicly traded companies. Mainstream news organizations, the commercial enterprises that have supported journalism in the U.S., haven’t always been like this. Prior to 1970, journalism was practiced by many more organizations of differing sizes.
But the people who run news companies today only experienced the best of times during the 1970s, 80s and 90s, so any historical basis for claims of a stable industry seem shortsighted when using a longer lens to view the history of newspapers.
More than 100 years ago, the newspaper industry was dealing with technological change on a comparable scale to today. In the 1890s, telephone service revolutionized reporting, while “one linotype operator could do the work of five men,” according to the Encyclopedia of American Journalism, dramatically increasing the speed of printing.
This led to an explosion of newspapers – and newspaper readers – that I see as emblematic of what we’re seeing today with online journalism startups.
Look at the landscape of the Progressive Era, according to the Encyclopedia of American Journalism:
- The number of English-language daily newspapers grew from 850 in 1880 to 1,967 in 1900 to 2,200 in 1910. An additional 400 of other types … were also published that year.
- Daily circulation totals grew from 3.1 million in 1880 to 15.1 million in 1900 to 22.1 million in 1910.
- Chicago and Boston each had eight newspapers in 1900. New York had nine.
- Newspapers began charging (one cent) per issue in 1833 and it wasn’t until the 1880s when advertising slowly began to replace sales and subscriptions as the chief source of newspaper revenue so that by 1914, 66 percent of newspapers revenue came from advertising.
- By 1911, some newspaper critics began to fear the influence of advertising on journalism, “One proposed solution, which had little success, was to create an ‘adless’ newspaper supported by subscribers. Another was to create a non-partisan, adless newspaper funded by city government.
- The number of English-language daily newspapers grew from 850 in 1880 to 1,967 in 1900 to 2,200 in 1910. An additional 400 of other types … were also published that year.
- Daily circulation totals grew from 3.1 million in 1880 to 15.1 million in 1900 to 22.1 million in 1910.
- Chicago and Boston each had eight newspapers in 1900. New York had nine.
- Newspapers began charging (one cent) per issue in 1833 and it wasn’t until the 1880s when advertising slowly began to replace sales and subscriptions as the chief source of newspaper revenue so that by 1914, 66 percent of newspapers revenue came from advertising.
- By 1911, some newspaper critics began to fear the influence of advertising on journalism, “One proposed solution, which had little success, was to create an ‘adless’ newspaper supported by subscribers. Another was to create a non-partisan, adless newspaper funded by city government.
If journalism and the business that supports journalism can evolve that quickly once, who can argue that it won’t happen again? The technology that allowed the number of newspapers to grow 123% in 20 years is similar to what we’ve seen this decade with the Internet and publishing platforms like Wordpress.
In January 2009, the Los Angeles Times announced it was making enough money from online advertising to cover its entire (albeit drastically reduced) editorial workforce. Five years from now we will look back on this development as the beginning of the new era, when news organizations made the switch from print to online ad dollars for financial support.
“Evolution is already happening – at thousands of small and large media sites on the web,” John Battelle wrote in his SearchBlog on Jan. 8, 2009. “In short, I am convinced that journalism will not die if and when major print based journalism outlets die.”
What are the new jobs in journalism?
File this under the “GM problem:” journalists might understand that big, monopolistic news organizations didn’t always produce the best journalism, but they provided the best jobs. Like General Motors, a big company is really good at employing lots of people with solid benefits, enabling families to pay for mortgages and new cars. But a big company can be downright dreadful at innovation, evolution, hustle and experimentation.
And these are the qualities that win the day, especially in times of serious disruption.
Looking forward, the state of news, media and journalism will probably look a lot more like it did at the turn of the 20th century, when far more news organizations were competing for audience. Each was tiny compared to the behemoths of the 1990s and 2000s, but there were many more of them. So instead of a daily newspaper with 50 journalists, a mid-size city in the future might have 10 digital news operations with about five journalists each.
“The probable elimination of a raft of second-tier newspapers during this economic downturn,” wrote Edward Roussel, digital editor for the Telegraph Media Group, in the Winter 2008 issue of the Nieman Reports, “will provide a fertile environment for a new generation of digital media businesses to flourish.”
Shoveling traditional journalism online – that which has always been found in newspapers or television broadcasts – has not worked for news companies. As Jack Shafer wrote at Slate.com, newspapers tried to invent the Web by copying and pasting their journalism, values and temperament online, with the same control they enjoyed in their local distribution monopolies.
“Despite being early arrivals, despite having spent millions on manpower and hardware, despite all the animations, links, videos, databases, and other software tricks found on their sites, every newspaper Web site is instantly identifiable as a newspaper Web site,” Shafer wrote. “By succeeding, they failed to invent the Web.”
This new reality will allow a new form of journalism to emerge with new job titles, new roles and new responsibilities. Jeff Jarvis, a thought leader in online media and author of What Would Google Do?, wrote about this future at his blog, Buzzmachine.com. By separating a single job description – journalist – from a single industry – newspapers – with a single business model – print advertising, the practice of journalism will diversify and emerge as many job descriptions with many business models.
“The key to survival is reinventing what we do,” Jarvis wrote.
Reasons to study journalism
So now it’s your turn. Your opportunity may come from a traditional news company, start-up news blog or a new enterprise you launch yourself. “Journalism will survive its institutions,” says entrepreneurial journalist David Cohn. But only if a new generation of journalists with an entrepreneurial spirit hit the ground running.
So here’s why it’s a good time to study journalism:
1. Journalism has a bright future
Experimental news operations are popping up all over the Web as this decade draws to a close. Some have become sustainable businesses in a very short time. Others are still searching for viability while finding new ways to cover issues and communities.
Experimental news operations are popping up all over the Web as this decade draws to a close. Some have become sustainable businesses in a very short time. Others are still searching for viability while finding new ways to cover issues and communities.
In short, the demand for journalism from its audience hasn’t diminished. But the models are starting to look very different.
A more narrow focus is required. Think of it as “bottom-up” journalism instead of “top-down.” Technology, political and hyperlocal news sites have been the first to find success by starting small and concentrating on a very specific topic. This, of course, goes against the more general audience publications that ruled the day when a printing and distribution monopolies ruled the day.
Now that anyone can be a publisher with a few clicks, trying to be everything to everyone is a recipe for failure.
For a glimpse into the future of journalism, check out these independent trailblazers – Politico, TechCrunch, Voice of San Diego, West Seattle Blog, MinnPost, Pegasus News, The Patch – and many others yet to be created.
“These sites have received little attention in the mainstream media, which has focused on its own demise,” wrote journalist-turned-entrepreneur Om Malik, who started his own successful news service called GigaOm. “That’s too bad, since they may be the best hope for the kind of journalism we used to count on from local newspapers.”
Unleashed from corporate-run organizations sweating out the quarterly profit margin, the journalists powering these new sites have infused them with a level of energy, commitment and passion that can only be found in a startup company. It’s easy to see how these sites will pave the way for the true digital transformation of mainstream news companies, by finding successful new methods to inform and connect a community online.
Or, in some cases, they will replace them.
2. The future is in your hands
Journalism needs you. It needs someone who can bring a fresh approach without the baggage that burdened earlier generations.
Journalism needs you. It needs someone who can bring a fresh approach without the baggage that burdened earlier generations.
As the institutions that perform journalism struggled economically through the past decade, it became increasingly apparent that the people in charge did not have what it takes to oversee a digital transformation that would secure a viable future. Harsh words, I know. But their inability to put the readers first and use new technology to do better journalism – instead of copying the existing model and pasting it online – created a world where every newspaper Web site is immediately identifiable. Most are disjointed repositories of what a news organization has always produced, with some new twists thrown in for good measure, instead of rich, vibrant information sources their communities want and need.
“Newspaper executives chose to sacrifice the interests of their readers and their advertisers by their stubborn refusal to embrace the Web for what it could be,” Dave Morgan wrote in a column titled “My Last Column on the Newspaper Industry.” “As compared to what they wanted it to be (a way to sell and deliver “locked-down” content products in “walled gardens”) which neatly fit in their “trees to trucks” vertical monopoly mentalities. That was their death knell.”
That’s where you come in. Whether you end up working for a newspaper, magazine, TV station or Internet start-up, you will have the opportunity – make that responsibility – to do things differently. My first job in journalism (part-time sports clerk) was mostly answering phones and doing grunt work. No one asked me about my ideas. Your first job is likely to be much different.
In fact, I predict that you won’t get a first job without your ideas, in addition to your skills and experience.
In fact, I predict that you won’t get a first job without your ideas, in addition to your skills and experience.
Emily Kostic, a journalism student at Rowan University, captured the opportunity in a blog post titled “Why I’m Not Giving Up: Reasons I’m Still a Journalism Major” in January 2009:
“We all know journalism is undergoing some monumental changes as it embraces the online world more and more. However, the future of journalism and where it’s going is largely going to be left up to us — college journalism students. Think of how major that responsibility is. Think of how inspiring that is. It’s up to us to help make journalism web savvy in way that our elders can’t even imagine.”
“We all know journalism is undergoing some monumental changes as it embraces the online world more and more. However, the future of journalism and where it’s going is largely going to be left up to us — college journalism students. Think of how major that responsibility is. Think of how inspiring that is. It’s up to us to help make journalism web savvy in way that our elders can’t even imagine.”
3. Journalism will be better than it was before
Transformation and evolution are messy, emotional processes. When they produce advancement for society and business, they are seen as healthy and worthwhile, but not necessarily to those on the front lines.
Transformation and evolution are messy, emotional processes. When they produce advancement for society and business, they are seen as healthy and worthwhile, but not necessarily to those on the front lines.
Because this transformation started 15 years ago for news companies and the Web, you benefit by having missed the early mess. Newspapers, finally, have learned that their vision for a digital future that can be controlled like their analog past is not viable.
But the game isn’t over, for mainstream news companies or independent journalism startups. It’s just getting started and, since you inherently “get” the Internet because you grew up with it, you have the opportunity to shape the future of journalism online like no generation before. Interactive, transparent, collaborative journalism works. Digital technologies, some that have yet to be invented, will aid you, but they can’t replace a thoughtful, skilled professional with an entrepreneurial spirit. You will be ready to try, and fail, and try again.
Thankfully, you will find a more experimental culture at news organizations today (and tomorrow). In “Serious Play: How the World’s Best Companies Simulate to Innovate,” author Michael Schrage illustrates how technology allows companies to rapidly and inexpensively test products, services, and business models before unleashing them. This is the new model for news, and one that you will lead.
Rather than confining yourself to the road traveled before you, the opportunity to chart your own course is not only available — it’s mandatory.
Summary
As Battelle, the journalist-turned online expert wrote, “I don’t think we’re all that far from the right answer. I can tell you this, however: It won’t look much like the old answer.”
So that’s the new deal: you probably won’t get to travel a well-marked, established career path like your parents did. But you will have a say in how the fourth estate evolves and how citizens are informed and engaged in the decades to come.
Sounds like a pretty good deal to me. So let’s get started.
About the author: Mark Briggs is CEO of Serra Media, a Seattle-based digital innovation company, and principal of Journalism 2.0, a strategic consultancy formed as a spinoff from his book of the same name. He served as assistant managing editor for interactive news at The News Tribune in Tacoma from 2004–2008 and new media director at The Daily Herald in Everett, Washington, from 2000–2004.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Magazines offer glimpses of people behind WIkiLeaks
Most people hadn't heard of WikiLeaks.org when the organization this summer released tens of thousands of military documents about the war in Afghanistan to three respected news operations: the New York Times, the Guardian in the United Kingdom, and Der Speigel in Germany.
But readers of the New Yorker magazine had, thanks to a superb piece of magazine journalism by Raffi Khatchadourian in the June 7 issue. "No Secrets: Julian Assange's mission for total transparency" is informative feature writing, with insight, detail and depth.
Check it out: www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/06/07/100607fa_fact_khatchadourian
More recently, Rolling Stone magazine published Nathaniel Rich's piece on WikiLeaks' technical wizard, Jacob Appelbum, in its current issue's "The most dangerous man in cyberspace."
That story is still on newsstands, but here's a link to a telling excerpt: http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/17389/192242
Friday, August 27, 2010
Singer here last Fall ailing, needs help
Anne Feeney, the troubadour, labor activist and citizen journalist who performed with David Rovics on campus last October and locally in a benefit for WTND radio last April, has been hospitalized with a lung tumor and is undergoing tests to find out what can be done.Regardless of doctors' advice, the recording artist faces months of lost income and is welcoming donations -- of no more than $50.
"I really don't want any larger donations," she says on her web site. "I have enough dear friends who are doing okay that those of you who are struggling shouldn't spend a second worrying about my finances."
Still, the selfless woman is in need, so if you appreciated her music and attitude last year, please consider letting her know -- and include a few bucks if you're able.
Mail to Anne Feeney, 2240 Milligan Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15218.
Her web site is http://www.annefeeney.com/ and her blog is http://fellow-travelers-advisory.blogspot.com/
Join the staff of Western Illinois Magazine
Get involved with Western Illinois Magazine!
First meeting of the year will be Wednesday, September 1 at 4 p.m. in the Western Courier office, 3rd Floor, Heating Plant Annex (Through the yellow door next to the basketball courts behind the Art Gallery)
For more information contact: R-moreno@wiu.edu
Friday, August 20, 2010
The Western Courier Wants You
The Western Courier has immediate openings for
• Proofreader
• Reporters
• Photographers
• Newspaper Distributors
Fill out an application today at the Western Courier
3rd Floor, Heating Plant Annex
(Through the yellow door next to
the basketball courts behind the Art Gallery)
• Proofreader
• Reporters
• Photographers
• Newspaper Distributors
Fill out an application today at the Western Courier
3rd Floor, Heating Plant Annex
(Through the yellow door next to
the basketball courts behind the Art Gallery)
Monday, August 9, 2010
Greetings WIU Journalism Majors and Minors
Welcome:
Two things as you start thinking about packing and moving to Macomb for the Fall:
First, all Journalism majors and minors are urged to attend a program meeting at 4:30 p.m. Monday afternoon, August 30 in the Courier newsroom in the brick building called the "Heating Plant Annex" northeast/across Sherman Drive from the University Gallery -- by the outdoor basketball/roller hockey court. Faculty will update you on changes, chat about student organizations, and get you going for 2010-2011. We'll also have a drawing for a DVD of the classic 1976 drama about reporters and Watergate, All The President's Men.
Next, there are still seats available in a few upper-division Journalism courses. Please go to STARS and consider enrolling, especially in Photojournalism/Jour. 335 (STARS # 50353) , Beat Reporting/ Jour. 334 (STARS # 50352 and Editing/ Jour. 328 (STARS # 50348) . Professor Lisa Kernek reminds you that there's no prerequisite for Photojournalism, which will meet 3-4:15 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays only. Jour. 334, which meets at 10 MWF, has a series of guest speakers including State Sen. John Sullivan, Supt. of Schools Alene Reuschel and Father Luke Spannagel from Newman Center. And Jour. 328 will now be taught by me on an Arranged schedule after the initial meeting at 12:30 on Tuesday, Aug. 24.
See you soon -- and at the program meeting August 30!
Bill Knight
Deputy director, Journalism
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
A Look at the McChrystal Story
NPR's "On The Media" recently offered an interesting analysis of the differences between beat reporters and freelance reporters working on news stories, particularly in regard to the controversial Rolling Stone story on General Stanley McChrystal. Check it out at http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2010/06/25/03.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Bill Knight named 2010 John Hallwas Liberal Arts Lecturer
Bill Knight, an award-winning journalist, professor and deputy director of the journalism program at Western Illinois University, has been named the 2010 John Hallwas Liberal Arts Lecturer in the College of Arts and Sciences.
He will present the Eighth Annual Hallwas Lecture at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 7 in the University Union Grand Ballroom at WIU-Macomb and at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 8 in Room 102AB at WIU-Quad Cities.
Knight's topic is, "I Read the News Today, Oh, Boy: Journalism, Empathy and the Liberal Arts."
In addition to teaching at Western Illinois since 1991, Knight remains an active columnist, radio commentator and author. He writes twice-weekly columns for newspapers in Pekin, Peoria, Monmouth, Galesburg, Kewanee and now Macomb. The author of the 2003 "Video Almanac" and "Fair Comment: Essays on the Air," Knight is a featured weekly commentator on Western's Tri States Public Radio.
A graduate of WIU (1971) and the University Illinois-Springfield (1982), Knight this month is being named one of a "Golden Dozen" recognized by the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors (ISWNE) at its annual conference for his opinion piece on moving Guantanamo Bay detainees to Illinois. His writing has also won awards from the Illinois Associated Press (Best Commentary), the Illinois Press Association (Business Reporting), the International Labor Communications Association (Best Column) and the Suburban Newspapers Association of America (Best Sports Writing).
His newest books are "Horse Shoe Bottoms" (2008), a 1930s novel by west-central Illinois journalist and activist Tom Tippett, for which Knight wrote the biographical introduction and edited; and "Rick Johnson Reader: Tin Cans, Squeems and Thud Pies" (2007), a collection of rock criticism, essays on popular culture and zany screeds by Johnson, the late Creem magazine writer who had attended WIU.
Knight, a native of Carthage (IL), also is the editor of Western’s College of Arts and Science magazine Focus, which is published twice yearly since Spring 2005.
He will present the Eighth Annual Hallwas Lecture at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 7 in the University Union Grand Ballroom at WIU-Macomb and at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 8 in Room 102AB at WIU-Quad Cities.
Knight's topic is, "I Read the News Today, Oh, Boy: Journalism, Empathy and the Liberal Arts."
In addition to teaching at Western Illinois since 1991, Knight remains an active columnist, radio commentator and author. He writes twice-weekly columns for newspapers in Pekin, Peoria, Monmouth, Galesburg, Kewanee and now Macomb. The author of the 2003 "Video Almanac" and "Fair Comment: Essays on the Air," Knight is a featured weekly commentator on Western's Tri States Public Radio.
A graduate of WIU (1971) and the University Illinois-Springfield (1982), Knight this month is being named one of a "Golden Dozen" recognized by the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors (ISWNE) at its annual conference for his opinion piece on moving Guantanamo Bay detainees to Illinois. His writing has also won awards from the Illinois Associated Press (Best Commentary), the Illinois Press Association (Business Reporting), the International Labor Communications Association (Best Column) and the Suburban Newspapers Association of America (Best Sports Writing).
His newest books are "Horse Shoe Bottoms" (2008), a 1930s novel by west-central Illinois journalist and activist Tom Tippett, for which Knight wrote the biographical introduction and edited; and "Rick Johnson Reader: Tin Cans, Squeems and Thud Pies" (2007), a collection of rock criticism, essays on popular culture and zany screeds by Johnson, the late Creem magazine writer who had attended WIU.
Knight, a native of Carthage (IL), also is the editor of Western’s College of Arts and Science magazine Focus, which is published twice yearly since Spring 2005.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
FAU Adviser Firing Sparks Firestorm
On May 18, Michael Koretsky, longtime adviser to the student newspaper at Florida Atlantic University (12 years) and an extremely popular speaker at student journalism conferences around the country was fired from his position. Since then, the ongoing dispute between the student newspaper's editors, Koretsky and the university has made fascinating reading. Check out Koretsky's blog at http://fautocratic.blogspot.com/ as well as the student newspaper's blog at http://owlmanagement.wordpress.com/.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
National Geographic Photo Editor to Speak at Knox College
Senior photo editor for National Geographic Traveler magazine and Galesburg native Dan Westergren, will present a talk, “The Last Degree,” at 7 p.m. Friday, April 30 in the Round Room, Ford Center for the Fine Arts, Knox College in Galesburg. The talk is free and open to the public.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Second issue of Western Illinois Magazine now available
Western Illinois University journalism students have produced the second issue of "Western Illinois" magazine, a new publication showcasing interesting people, places and things in western Illinois.
The free publication, available in Western Courier newspaper racks on the WIU Macomb campus and in various locations in Macomb, Galesburg and Springfield, includes a cover feature on the history and legends surrounding the abandoned Illinois State Asylum for the Incurable Insane in Bartonville, near Peoria.
Other features in the issue include a look at the 1970s “Forgottonia” tongue-in-cheek political movement, which encouraged people in western Illinois to secede from the rest of the state, as well as the bizarre story of the Macomb poltergeist, a real-life firestarter. The issue offers a profile of Western Illinois University quarterback Matt Barr, and spotlights the unique shopping opportunities found on Galesburg's historic Seminary Street.
Additionally, the issue includes articles on: Lisa Welch, Macomb’s "Rug Lady"; Colchester's Bill Combs, a retired WIU professor who collects antique tractors; a kid's eye view of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield; a profile of comic book writer and WIU alum Chris Ward of Springfield; and other topics.
"Western Illinois is probably one of the least exposed parts of the state, so we’ve found there are plenty of stories out there just waiting to be told," said Alyse Thompson, a WIU sophomore journalism major from West Chicago (IL), and editor in chief of the magazine.
The student-run magazine is produced once each semester. Advisers include veteran Illinois journalist and WIU journalism professor Bill Knight and Rich Moreno, director of student publications at WIU and a former magazine publisher.
To receive a free copy, send your name and address to R-Moreno@wiu.edu.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Bloggers help expose Israeli censorship
Bloggers and independent journalists somewhat apart from the pressures of the mainstream press were key in exposing a scandal wherein Israel's government placed a reporter's alleged source under secret house arrest for months, placed a gag order on on Israel's news media about the arrest, and even imposed a gag order on the existence of the first gag order, according to the Jewish Daily Forward.
The Forward summarized how the incident finally came to light when bloggers not only stood up to Israeli threats, but posted material despite pleas from the supposed source, Anat Kam, who feared for her future if her imprisonment became known.
The government reaction stemmed from leaked documents apparently showing that Israel's Defense Forces defied Israel's Supreme Court and targeted unarmed Palestinian militants for assassination.
After the first few stories about the story went online, other news media broke the story: the Associated Press, the Guardian, the Independent, Israel's JTA news service, the Times of London and the Washington Post.
Reporter Lisa Goldman recapped the scandal in the Forward.
The Forward summarized how the incident finally came to light when bloggers not only stood up to Israeli threats, but posted material despite pleas from the supposed source, Anat Kam, who feared for her future if her imprisonment became known.
The government reaction stemmed from leaked documents apparently showing that Israel's Defense Forces defied Israel's Supreme Court and targeted unarmed Palestinian militants for assassination.
After the first few stories about the story went online, other news media broke the story: the Associated Press, the Guardian, the Independent, Israel's JTA news service, the Times of London and the Washington Post.
Reporter Lisa Goldman recapped the scandal in the Forward.
Friday, April 16, 2010
NYT shares morning meetings with world
Journalism students, much less news consumers, will be interested in the New York Times' latest web feature: scenes from the newspaper's regular morning budget meeting.
That's where editors pitch stories, update colleagues on works-in-progess, and generally plan the next day's editions -- and ongoing web updates.
Reporter Clark Hoyt also did a nice behind-the-scenes overview of some of the unintended consequences of the new feature -- http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/opinion/11pubed.html
That's where editors pitch stories, update colleagues on works-in-progess, and generally plan the next day's editions -- and ongoing web updates.
Reporter Clark Hoyt also did a nice behind-the-scenes overview of some of the unintended consequences of the new feature -- http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/opinion/11pubed.html
Saturday, April 10, 2010
iPads offer hope to print: 2 blogs
Two insightful posts from Alan Mutter (Newsosaur) and Susan Moeller (Huffington Post) are optimistic about what Apple's new iPad can offer to journalists and to operations depending on print.
"Fortunately, print publishers have a distinct edge over their digitally indigenous competitors in the race for tablet supremacy, because they have a depth of content that will work to great advantage on tablets," writes Mutter, a long-time newspaperman who once was Chicago Sun-Times editor.
"The strength of print is that it enables deep and subtle exploration of a subject," he contnued. "The [iPad] tablet combines the strengths of print, web and mobile into a satisfying -– and, yes, transformational –- experience."
Mutter expressed disappointment with most newspaper and magazine applications, however.
"Publishers who want to take full advantage of the iPad will have to do better by creating content that is media-rich, interactive, viral, transactional and mobile," Mutter said. "In other words, this is no time to cut corners."
On Huffington Post Moeller compares classic, decent journalism to traditional, nutritious food and sees parallels between the "slow food" movement and "slow journalism -- valuing content over speed."
She writes that "the iPad's capabilities align neatly with this agenda."
"Fortunately, print publishers have a distinct edge over their digitally indigenous competitors in the race for tablet supremacy, because they have a depth of content that will work to great advantage on tablets," writes Mutter, a long-time newspaperman who once was Chicago Sun-Times editor.
"The strength of print is that it enables deep and subtle exploration of a subject," he contnued. "The [iPad] tablet combines the strengths of print, web and mobile into a satisfying -– and, yes, transformational –- experience."
Mutter expressed disappointment with most newspaper and magazine applications, however.
"Publishers who want to take full advantage of the iPad will have to do better by creating content that is media-rich, interactive, viral, transactional and mobile," Mutter said. "In other words, this is no time to cut corners."
On Huffington Post
She writes that "the iPad's capabilities align neatly with this agenda."
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Guild recruiting 'foot soldiers' to fight for journalism
The Newspaper Guild labor-union affiliate of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) is stepping up its efforts to guarantee that journalism survives despite changes in how it's presented.
The fight for journalism in many ways is the fight for a representative republic, obviously.
TNG-CWA is planning a May strategy session in Cleveland and is encouraging broad attendance from U.S. and Canadian Guild locals.
Free Press founders John Nichols and Robert McChesney, authors of the new book The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution that Will Begin the World Again, have been invited to be a part of the discussion, which will focus on ways the Guild, organized labor and other groups concerned about democracy all can help maintain the vital role of a free press.
“This should not be a discussion about journalism," said Nichols, who's a co-founder of the nonprofit Free Press advocacy group and a writer for The Nation magazine and an editor at the Madison (Wisc.) Capital Times. "It should not be a discussion about newspapers, or a discussion about media. This is a discussion about democracy.
“The founders were very, very blunt: Freedom of the press meant not just a free press but a ‘press’ — something real.”
The fight for journalism in many ways is the fight for a representative republic, obviously.
TNG-CWA is planning a May strategy session in Cleveland and is encouraging broad attendance from U.S. and Canadian Guild locals.
Free Press founders John Nichols and Robert McChesney, authors of the new book The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution that Will Begin the World Again, have been invited to be a part of the discussion, which will focus on ways the Guild, organized labor and other groups concerned about democracy all can help maintain the vital role of a free press.
“This should not be a discussion about journalism," said Nichols, who's a co-founder of the nonprofit Free Press advocacy group and a writer for The Nation magazine and an editor at the Madison (Wisc.) Capital Times. "It should not be a discussion about newspapers, or a discussion about media. This is a discussion about democracy.
“The founders were very, very blunt: Freedom of the press meant not just a free press but a ‘press’ — something real.”
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Discuss the Future of Journalism
The Journalism Program in the Department of English and Journalism and the University Libraries invite you to attend "Journalism Beyond Print" this Wednesday, March 24, in Malpass Library Room 180.
This discussion begins at 11:45 a.m. and brings together three professionals to describe and share examples of how their news organizations are delivering information and news "outside of their legacy platforms of newspapers or broadcasts" to the digital realm (to computers and smart phones or with podcasts or RSS feeds).
Mark Butzow, assistant professor of journalism, and other WIU journalism professors will augment the presentations by these guests: Jason Piscia, a web editor from Springfield's State Journal Register; Erin McCarthy, a reporter/photographer for Macomb's McDonough County Voice; and Rich Eggers, the news director for Tri-States Public Radio and WIUM-FM (NPR).
We see this is as a wide-ranging discussion of the directions that journalism is taking in the wake of digital media, and we invite your participation. For more information, contact Mark Butzow at ma-butzow@wiu.edu or 298-3171.
This discussion begins at 11:45 a.m. and brings together three professionals to describe and share examples of how their news organizations are delivering information and news "outside of their legacy platforms of newspapers or broadcasts" to the digital realm (to computers and smart phones or with podcasts or RSS feeds).
Mark Butzow, assistant professor of journalism, and other WIU journalism professors will augment the presentations by these guests: Jason Piscia, a web editor from Springfield's State Journal Register; Erin McCarthy, a reporter/photographer for Macomb's McDonough County Voice; and Rich Eggers, the news director for Tri-States Public Radio and WIUM-FM (NPR).
We see this is as a wide-ranging discussion of the directions that journalism is taking in the wake of digital media, and we invite your participation. For more information, contact Mark Butzow at ma-butzow@wiu.edu or 298-3171.
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