The Power of Photos

Not sure of the power of photography in nonfiction storytelling?

The French newspaper Libération removed all images from its Nov. 14 issue to demonstrate the importance of visuals -- in a year that has been beset by layoffs of professional photographers from news organizations.

Empty boxes were left in the layout to emphasize where photos should have gone.

Brigitte Ollier, a journalist on Libération's Culture desk, was quoted as saying in the British Journal of Photography that it was "as if we had become a mute newspaper. [A newspaper] without sound..."

Editors of the newspaper explained: "It's not a wake, we're not burying the photographic art [...] Instead we give photography the homage it deserves."

An annual newsroom census from the American Society of Newspaper Editors revealed that photographers and other visual journalists have been hardest hit in the last dozen years of newspaper layoffs.

From 2000 to 2012, the newsroom staffs of photographers, artists and videographers were trimmed by 43 percent—from 6,171 to 3,493, ASNE and the Pew Research Center reported. In the same period, the number of full-time newspaper reporters and writers dropped by 32 percent—from 25,593 to 17,422, ASNE reported.

The Chicago Sun-Times in May laid off its entire photojournalism staff, the Chicago Tribune reported. Thomson Reuters let go its sports contract photographers in North America in August, the National Press Photographers Association noted. Cuts to photojournalists at Cox newspapers were announced in October.

Shrinking newsroom budgets and the explosion of citizen-generated visuals on social media have been blamed for many of the photojournalists' layoffs. (See memo from CNN's Senior Vice President Jack Womack about 2011 cuts.)

What do you think this trend portends for the business?

--Chris Harvey

This is a link touching on our lesson covering poor headlines. I looked for it for our assignment but decided to take the assignment a little more seriously since most of these are pretty outdated. They are pretty hilarious and a good lesson in what not to do when writing headlines nonetheless.

Everyone is stressed with the second, more abusive, half of the semester -- read over some of these if you get a chance and need a laugh. They are both educational and amusing.  --Rachel Walther

Horrifically Bad Headlines

Banning Journalists From Using Social Media?

According to a Huffington Post article, print journalists are banned from using social media at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. Any journalist at the Olympics who is caught using technology (such as a smartphone or camera) for social media purposes (like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook) will lose his or her accreditation as a journalist and be kicked out of the Olympics.

This raises the question of what the Olympics will be without live Tweets (including Twitter photos and Twitter videos) about the events? How will people who cannot watch the games live get their information in real-time?

When the 2012 Summer Olympic Games were happening in London, I personally had other obligations that prevented me from watching the events in real-time. However, I was able to see updates on the winners and losers with a quick check of my Twitter. This way, I could still see the results of the events as they happened without tuning in to a television. Russia's ban on social media prevents journalists from live Tweeting the results. Does this mean that we'll have to wait a long time to find out the results of the events? Probably not. I'm sure news organizations will be able to get results up quickly without using social media, but Tweeting out results is probably a lot simpler and easier.

How will journalists handle this, though? Will they obey the rule? Or will news organizations boycott covering the Olympic Games because they cannot use social media?

Also, isn't Russia's surveillance technology an invasion of privacy? I personally don't think Russia's Federal Security Service should be allowed to get away with monitoring email, phone and social media communication. If individual spectators are going to be allowed to use social media to Tweet, Facebook and Instagram the Olympics, why is it such a big deal for Russia to monitor and ban journalists? Individual spectators will most likely live-Tweet the events and results. So if the information is going to get out there in one way or another (either by spectators or by credited journalists), wouldn't Russia prefer the information to come from credible, reliable journalistic organizations?

Trip to USA Today Has Been Moved to Dec. 3

Mark your calendars: Our newsroom tour of USA Today in McLean, Va., has been moved to Dec. 3. We'll meet in the lobby of USA Today, 7950 Jones Branch Drive McLean, Va., 22108, at 1:30 p.m. and stay till 3 p.m. Please arrange for a carpool in the comment area below.

We'll meet with social media editors Mary Hartney Nahorniak and Merrill alum Desair Brown Shaw, plus others from the newsroom. This will likely include Web news editors, videographers and others, who will talk about their jobs, the skills needed to do their jobs, and their career paths to these jobs. You will be given assigned questions to answer about the visit; your typed responses will count as an in-class grade, and will be due at the start of our last class.

Please note in the comment area below if you have a car and would be willing to drive some classmates. We will NOT be meeting in Knight Hall, unless your carpool has pre-arranged for this!

DIRECTIONS FROM THE CAPITAL BELTWAY FROM GOOGLE MAPS (Feel free to use your own GPS in lieu of this!):

• Merge onto I-495 W/Capital Beltway/I-495 OUTERLOOP via the ramp on the left toward Northern Virginia/Silver Spring.
• Keep left to take I-495 W/Capital Beltway/I-495 OUTERLOOP toward Northern Virginia (Crossing into Virginia).
• Take exit 46A to merge onto VA-123 S/Chain Bridge Road toward Chain Bridge Road/Tysons Corner Vienna. Stay in the right lane. Immediately turn right onto Tysons Blvd. Go .3 miles.
• Turn right onto Westbranch Drive. Go .5 miles
• 9. Turn right onto Jones Branch Drive. USA Today Building is on the right. BUT turn into the big parking lot with the guard shack BEFORE your get to the building. You will be asked to identify yourself, (tell them you're with Chris Harvey's class and meeting Mary Nahorniak and Desair Brown Shaw for a tour); you will likely be directed to park in the garage. We'll meet in the lobby for the tour PROMPTLY at 1:30. Give yourself an hour to get there and park.

Thanks!

Is Twitter Really the Future of Breaking News?

Twitter seems to be made for breaking news. Its 140-character capacity models how reporters release information updates in short, punctuated bursts. The hash-tagging system is ideal to track and update breaking news for the mobile consumer. Historically, the platform has facilitated breaking news updates. 

However, a recent study by the Associated Press and CNBC suggests Twitter users are not flocking to the site to consume breaking news. Only 16 percent of users say they turn to Twitter frequently for breaking news, the study, released today, says.  About 44 percent of users do at least some of the time, a bleak forecast for current events aficionados praising the platform's potential to revolutionize the news consumption process.

The study is a reminder that news consumption on Twitter is constantly evolving. Media analysts must reconsider the question, "Is Twitter the future of breaking of news?" Recent data show the gap between the platform's potential and the reality is still wide. With over 500 million tweets published daily, almost 40 percent of users use the site as "a curated news feed of updates that reflect their passions." Users can customize what they want to see and breaking news may be lost in the mix.

This raises an inevitable question: How can journalists use Twitter to break news more effectively? Part of the answer lies in helping users see the platform as a breaking news source. Journalists can also utilize the latest trends and Twitter analytics to understand how users consume and engage with information on the site. It seems foolish to allow this platform to go untapped.

Graphic by: AP, CNBC

Links to Your Contact Pages and Resumes

Class, please add links to your new resume pages and Contact pages (on your Wordpress sites) in a comment to this post.

Per your syllabus, the published pages (and links) are due at the start of class tomorrow (Oct. 21). Please use the EDITED text from your resume, and use inline css style (if necessary) for font sizes and styles on headlines and text.

Gentle Reminder About Your Role on the Class Blog

Class, a gentle reminder that, along with commenting on blog threads that I start for class, each of you is required to start at least one discussion thread on a timely new-media topic. This post -- and your comments on your classmates' posts -- count toward your class participation grade. Feel free to read through past semesters' blog archives for examples....

Strong and not so strong headlines

Blog assignment due at the start of class Oct. 22: Please search through news websites you frequent for a strong and not-so-adept headline, based on our recent headline writing discussion. Explain why you think each is good or poor in a Comment under this post. Please be sure to give the full URL and headline for each. Include a sentence or two of constructive comments. Please be sure your criticism is tactful: Our class blog is online for the world to see (although only the class can comment to it.) Please don't write anything you'd be embarrassed by if strangers see -- or if the headline writers see!

Your bio, or "About Me" page for your website

Struggling with how to craft your bio for the personal website you'll be building on Wordpress later this semester?

Check out these journalists' bios -- some that lace the narrative with bits of humor -- for inspiration:

Matt Wuerker , an editorial cartoonist for Politico


Gene Weingarten, a humor columnist for The Washington Post (see bio at right of page)

Gwen Ifill of PBS 

David Simon, a UMD alum and former Diamondback editor and Baltimore Sun reporter; now an author and television writer

Connie Chung, a UMD alum and broadcast journalist

Peter Baker, a White House correspondent for The New York Times

And, just for the heck of it, here's a thumbnail bio on comedian, writer and musician Steve Martin. I like the "fast facts" below the paragraph summary...

Is Google Knowledge?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCwLQrJz4Bo

Watch, and respond in a comment below...

Welcome Fall 2013 Class!

Looking forward to a terrific semester with you, as we code, write and edit to become stronger multimedia journalists!

Apps/Tips Recommended by Your Peers

A few of you recommended today that your classmates try some apps and tools you've been using for journalism and fun. Here are links to your recommendations; please feel free to add comments about how you use these:

• RecorderPlus - an app for editing audio clips from your smart phone ($3)
• Magisto - possibly just for fun - the app automatically edits your video and mixes music with it
• UStream Broadcaster - for the iphone - stream and share live moments from your device
• Google Drive- replacing Google Docs; you can work on and share documents from your phone or computer
• Evernote - Save and share things you like, things you see and hear.

What Twitter-Instagram Relationship Means for News

The "Twitter-Instagram photo war," as Poynter has called it, is painting a new picture of how social networks are treating users--and how journalists should be using them. Instagram is no longer allowing Twitter to make its images viewable within tweets. Users can still post their pictures from Instagram in Twitter, but only a link to the image will show up.

In today's Poynter article on the topic, Jeff Sonderman writes, "No matter which company wins, users will lose."

What he means by that is the user experience is no longer the first priority for companies like Facebook (which owns Instagram) and Twitter. They are now moving to "capturing value," meaning they want to lock users into their own platforms and reduce integration.

As journalists, we use social media to accomplish our goals: to interact with readers and bring more people to our sites. But we also have to remember that Facebook and Twitter have their own goals as well--and they might not always coincide with ours.

Mathew Ingram, in another article on the topic, said media companies should think hard about their relationship with Twitter. "It is not just a conduit for your content to reach your users whenever and wherever you wish...it is a proprietary network built by a company with monetization and expansion on its mind, and your content is part of that equation."

But it might not always be. And it is also hard to tell which social media site is going to be at the forefront of readers' minds. It is important for us to follow these changes.

The Washington Post Plans to Implement a Paywall in 2013

One of the biggest difficulties that media organizations have faced as they transition into the new media world, has been in finding a way to make money off of websites and online content. In today’s ubiquitous internet environment, consumers no longer have to rely on a local daily newspaper to get their news and information. Anyone with an internet connection can visit the website of just about any news organization around the globe to learn about what’s happening around the world. This creates a new element of media competition, and news sites have struggled to figure out the best way to encourage visitors to their sites, while sustaining a profitable operation.

The Washington Post announced recently that it would begin rolling out a metered paywall in 2013. This paywall will likely be similar to those of many other news sites, where users are allowed to read a certain number of articles for free before being prompted to purchase a subscription.

The paywall was announced amid an environment of steep decline for the Post’s core business of print advertising. The Washington Post newspaper division reported an operating loss of $56.3 million for the first nine months of 2012. This represents a 14 percent decline in revenue from 2011.

As with many news organizations, the Post has struggled to restructure its business model to adapt to major changes in the news media industry. In recent years, most other major newspapers have elected to implement a paywall to offset losses in print advertising. Despite this, Post executives have been hesitant to implement a paywall, believing that to do so may threaten their national audience, and likewise their digital advertising revenue that comes from that national audience.

Don Graham, the Chairman of The Washington Post Co. is one of those executives that has been skeptical about the merits of news website paywalls. “We are obviously looking at paywalls of every type,” Graham said. “But the reason we haven’t adopted them yet is that we haven’t found one that actually adds profits immediately.”

As an internationally recognized and visited news website, WashingtonPost.com has developed a worldwide audience. While its online readership has increased exponentially, the Post’s print readership has declined dramatically, as has the print advertising revenues.

Post executives are facing a turning point for their organization where they need to make the difficult decision as to whether to follow suit with other news organizations in implementing a paywall or attempt to hold strong as one of the few major news sites that still provides readers all its content free of charge. The New York Times introduced a paywall 18 months ago and now has over 500,000 online subscribers.

The conundrum The Washington Post faces is in how to produce revenue in an environment where news sites are desperately trying to attract and maintain a wider audience, while their competition is giving it away for free.

Social media's importance in newsgathering

This story about Netflix CEO Reed Hastings being investigated by the SEC for posting information about his company on Facebook is a reminder of how widespread the use of social media is for many corporations to communicate with the public.

 

Hastings posted on his Facebook account on July 5 that Netflix customers were viewing more than 1 billion hours of video content a month. The company's stock rose by 13 percent on the day of the post. SEC issued a warning to Netflix that it was investigating the matter and may be taking legal action because the posting may violate a Fair Disclosure regulation by posting the update to Facebook

 

Hastings has said he considers the post to be public since many of his more than 200,000 followers are reporters and bloggers and the news was widely reported. Also, the same information was posted on the company's blog in June. The information was not, however, released in a press advisory or SEC filing. 

Additionally, Hastings says the company's stock had begin to rise even before he made the post and that the information he posted was not relevant to the stock price. He referred to the situation as a “fascinating social media story.”

 

I believe the issue at hand is whether information broadcast on social media networks should be considered as public as a press release or article on a company website. For journalists, it is a reminder that when looking for information on whatever beat you are covering, social media perhaps should be one of the first avenues you consider. Executive make big announcements via Facebook, Twitter and blogs now and it would be wise to friend or follow any stakeholder involved in your story.

Years ago it would have been impossible to hear from a CEO of a large corporation or elected official except through canned quotes in a press release issued by the company, but now, these people who use social media to engage the public and are taking advantage of the Internet as a place to interact and share information have become great sources for journalists. 

Archiving John Walsh's comments on Storify

A reminder that after tweeting general thoughts and quotes from ESPN's John Walsh on Tuesday, you're now being asked to create an archive page of them on Storify. You were each asked to tweet at least 10 times under the hashtag JohnWalsh. When you create your Storify page, you may use two of your tweets or all of them. Or you may use a mixture of your tweets and others' -- if you trust their veracity. I am requiring each of you to write at least a strong, big paragraph of text to open the page, and to walk up/explain some additional social media with your own text. Also remember that Jason will be posting some pics, with captions, to Flickr for you to pull into your Storify template. (Jason, please put a comment below this post to let us know how to access your pics.) and Jessica will be publishing audio -- some clips, and perhaps a longer feed -- to SoundCloud, for possible embedding on your page. (Jessica, please note in a comment below how students can find these on SoundCloud.) All of you should be using good judgment, as you would when writing a story, so that you don't slander anyone with your posts. And all of you should be archiving only what you believe to be absolutely accurate. Once you've completed and published your Storify page, please link to it below, so I can easily find it to grade it. This counts as an in-class story assignment. Thanks!

A "Twitter Helper"

On November 28, the New York Times' newly-minted public editor, Margaret Sullivan, announced that NYT Jerusalem Bureau Chief Judi Rudoren would be assigned "an editor on the foreign desk in New York to work closely with" on social media posts. Sullivan's decision came in response to criticism Rudoren received stemming from her Facebook statuses and Tweets over the last few weeks, compiled in a piece by The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg called “Twitterverse to New NYT Jerusalem Bureau Chief: Stop Tweeting!”

In addition to Goldberg's complaints, Sullivan writes: "More recently, during the Gaza conflict, she wrote one Facebook post in which she described Palestinians as “ho-hum” about the death of loved ones, wrote of their “limited lives” and, in another, said she shed her first tears in Gaza over a letter from an Israeli family. The comments came off as insensitive and the reaction was sharp, not only from media pundits, but also from dismayed readers."

Speaking of readers being dismayed, I was extremely dismayed to read Sullivan's piece. Since the re-start of fighting between Gaza and Israel earlier this month, I have turned to Rudoren on an almost daily basis for her deeply-reported, thoughtfully-written pieces, specifically about the impact that Israel's bombing campaign has had on life in Gaza. After reading a particularly captivating tale of a Palestinian family torn-apart by a bomb, I remember being so impressed that I took to Twitter to congratulate Rudoren and to tell her how much she has inspired me as a budding journalist (she replied "Thank you!") Her's is an extremely dangerous assignment -- several journalists reporting from Gaza have already been injured -- and I was amazed by how she was able to find stories from under the rubble and to shine some light on the human costs of warfare.

Understandably, Sullivan's decision was big news on social media platforms. It's rare for such a prominent journalist to be called-out in such a public way, and I'm sure in many ways it was quite embarrassing for Rudoren. My hope, however, is that this dust-up will not impact her reporting. The work she has done is simply too important to be hurt by hypersensitive readers and a green public editor intent on sending a message to other reporters.

Another question is: What does it mean to work closely with an editor on your social media posts? Will Rudoren still write her own Tweets and Facebook statuses? Considering that they are coming from her name, I sincerely hope so. This all sounds a bit too much like censorship -- of an extremely intelligent and thoughtful person -- for my taste. But maybe I'm just a Rudoren apologist.

NYPD Officer Helps Homeless Man

By now I'm sure we've all seen the incredible tourist cell phone photo of the NYPD officer giving a homeless man a pair of shoes.  This Storify story put together by journalist Bill Mitchell on Poynter does a terrific job of highlighting the power of social media and the speed news can travel at today.

The photo was posted on the New York Police Department's Facebook page just last Tuesday and on Thursday night, it had nearly 445,000 likes.  According to Mitchell's Storify post, by the next morning the photo had surpassed half a million likes, over 38,000 comments and 181,000 shares.  New York Times ran a story on it Thursday morning and the author of the story, J. David Goodman had posted the story on his Twitter account and was tweeting updates as the act of kindness was getting more and more news coverage and even New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg had tweeted the original story.

In addition, the story made the Yahoo home page, the front pages of several newspapers as shown by Mitchell in his Storify story, and both the tourist, Jennifer Foster, and the officer, Lawrence DePrimo were on the Today Show chatting with host Savannah Guthrie Friday morning.  The story was re-tweeted many times on Twitter.  The Storify story does a great job of visualizing the events, shows the breadth of the coverage and also gives viewers a chance to get more information on the story by clicking the various elements.

More and more readers using mobile apps to read news

According to an article from Poynter, Pew Research Center has found that 37% of cell phone users are using their phones to get news.  The study surveyed over 2200 men and women.  The rates were individually far higher for certain groups, including those with household salaries of over $75,000, college students and also the 18-29 age group.

After our recent class visit to USA Today in which we learned about the redesign of their website, the results of this study go to show how important app design and mobile website layout are for news organizations.  USA Today changed their website to match the interactive experience and lateral navigation, given the high usage they discovered on the tablet and phone apps.

With the popularity of smartphones and tablets still growing, it will be interesting to see if other news organizations also revamp their websites to match their apps.  USA Today seems to be quite unique when it comes to the lateral navigation element.  Popular news sites like The Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post and The Washington Post each have similar layouts with more traditional navigation, while their apps are less cluttered and allow for quicker navigation.  It would be interesting to see what their motivation is for a different web versus mobile experience and perhaps it is intentional.  Still, I would be surprised if other news organizations do not follow suit in coming years.

Newsroom Social Media Policies

After reviewing the Associated Press' social media guidelines and the guidelines of at least several other major news organizations (see links on class schedule to those of The Washington Post, L.A. Times, Reuters and NPR), please comment below on 1.) at least one policy point that you strongly disagree with and believe should be removed from the guidelines; 2.) a policy point that you think should be added to one of the newsroom guidelines. A few strong paragraphs defending your comment should suffice.

Twitter's Future as a Defender of Free Speech

Now that Twitter has become a massive global company, it is facing increasing pressure from governments that are not happy with its lack of restrictions on what users are allowed to post. A recent article from The Financial Times highlights the difficulties that Twitter is running into when dealing with issues of free speech.

In October, the social media company succumbed to pressure from the German government, after they demanded that Twitter remove all postings by a neo-nazi group. Despite being legal in the United States where Twitter is based, the postings were in violation of German law and Germany was able to pressure Twitter executives into removing them. This situation raises the question of how far Twitter is willing to go to protect the free speech of its users.

In January, Twitter announced that it would begin to censor tweets in countries that have, “different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression.” Despite the change in policy, the company hopes to maintain transparency in its censorship process, posting all legal requests to remove content to ChillingEffects.org.

Twitter maintains that it continues to stand by its founding philosophy that, “the tweets must flow.” The company continues to fight for free speech and has been resistant to remove content despite increased pressure from other nations. In May Pakistan attempted to force Twitter to remove postings that it deemed blasphemous, but Twitter held strong and refused to do so.

As Twitter’s global popularity and influence grows, it is forced to deal with an increasingly complex balance between preventing groups of users from being offended and protecting the free speech of all its users. Most users can continue to post anything they want on Twitter without concern for censorship, but as difficult new situations present themselves and force Twitter to choose between its customers and its principles, it becomes clear that Twitter’s future as a medium for free speech may have its limitations.

Reminder: Tomorrow We Travel to USA Today in Virginia

A brief reminder that our class will meet tomorrow (Nov. 27) from 10:40 a.m. to noon at USA Today's headquarters in Northern Virginia. The address is: 7950 Jones Branch Road McLean, Va. 221021 (really close to Tysons Mall II). We will be carpooling; I can take three students in my car; I'll be leaving Knight Hall at 9 a.m. (to make sure I'm not trapped in a traffic jam); anyone needing a ride with me should sign up on the comments thread below this post, and meet me in the lobby at 9 sharp. Others willing to drive friends in class should post that offer below, so students can ask to join you. I'd recommend leaving College Park no later than 9:15, to arrive there by 10:30 in traffic. We'll be meeting in the USA Today lobby at 10:30; alum Desair Brown Shaw, a reader advocate for the site, will be down to meet us at 10:40. Here are google map directions from the Capital Beltway: *Merge onto I-495 W toward Northern Virginia Entering Virginia (16.4 mi) * Take exit 46A to merge onto VA-123 S/Chain Bridge Rd toward Chain Bridge Road/Tysons Corner Vlenna (.4 mi) * Turn right (almost immediately) onto Tysons Blvd (.1 mi) * Turn right onto Galleria Dr (.2 mi) * Continue onto Westpark Drive (.2 mi) * Turn right onto Jones Branch Drive; ask guard at guard shack where to park in lot/garage. Parking is free. We'll be meeting in the lobby of the building at 10:30; the guard at the front desk will have a name tag for you. Please review USA Today's website today/tonight, so you can ask informed questions about the redesign this year; election coverage; and more. Best, Chris

Creating Banners: Less Is More

As a quick follow to our Photoshop/banner session this week, I want to reiterate that simple and clean and tight is the way to go. Shoot for no more than four words in your banner--a catchy phrase will do. You'll have an additional line in your headline with which to get more specific (with a subject/verb/object). Remember to unify the elements in your banner -- text and images. Don't put a huge gap of space between the two. And remember that less is more with drop shadows; too much in the way of shadowing looks unprofessional. Here are some banner examples from previous students in my news bureaus: Making In in America: (text, image, background color in gradient) http://www.newsline.umd.edu/politics/specialreports/immigration/default.htm Elections 2010: (the banner is essentially the site logo; the special report name; and a capital silhouette) http://www.newsline.umd.edu/politics/specialreports/election2010/default.htm The Pentagon Memorial: (The text was dropped directly onto the image, as a second layer) http://www.newsline.umd.edu/justice/specialreports/9_11Memorial/default.htm Snowmaggedden 2010: (Text/image/background color in gradient) http://www.newsline.umd.edu/etcetera/specialreports/2010blizzards/default.htm

Keep an Eye on Your Mental Health

Big egos, maybe. But psychopathy? What do you think?

Confusing ads and content

Speaking of page layout, check out this article on the Washington Times. There is a Google ad right above the text of the article that is in the same font type and size as the article itself. (See below.) It is very difficult to differentiate between the article and the ad. The ad changes, but when I clicked on the article, there was a partisan political ad right above the text, which made it look like the news source was advocating for that candidate. It is important for the page layout on websites to make very clear what is content and what is an ad.

"I really don't care what some random dude in Florida thinks."

The practice of an inverted pyramid began during the civil war when reporters, worried that their message would get cut mid-telegraph, started with the most important information first. Outside of the war itself, there was no need for the inverted pyramid, and yet it stuck. 150 years later we still continue it, wartime or not.

Man-on-the-street interviews have a similar upbringing. A recent article by NPR states that these interviews grew out of a “historical populist streak…the country and with it, in the profession. American newspapers were the first to appeal to the masses, with the introduction of the penny press in the 1830's” to become less elite and more local. 

This news approach has lost its flair with the audience, according to a study done by NPR on its listeners. 5,500 respondents say something to that effect, in addition to this being the “running theme in our polls for the last couple of years,” said audience analyst, Ben Robins.

Yet like the inverted pyramid, man-on-the-street interviews grew out of a specific media condition and still continued by the merit of tradition even after those conditions disappeared—but the idea that it mirrored the ideals of democracy is what kept it alive, connecting the masses to themselves.

The article takes two approaches to explain this shift in audience preferences.

The first is that random citizens aren’t informed as experts, taking away “valuable analysis and fact-checking.”

The second is that, on a more subconscious level, listeners and readers desire to have their opinions reinforced in light of the growing polarization in America. “Any social psychologist will tell you that all of us also operate on an intuitive level that is more powerful and often irrational,” writes Edward Schumacher-Matos, the author of the article. Furthermore, the increasing rate of news consumption prompted by the internet has “reduced our patience" for the burdensome comments of an amateur.

"I really don't care what some random dude in Florida thinks," one respondent said. They have a point.

For many, “Nothing is more frustrating for me than hearing/reading/seeing know-nothing voters such as the ones in this report expose their utter ignorance." Readers just want to “interview the candidates and party leaders, (and) fact-check to determine the accuracy of their statements.”

Neal Carruth, an NPR editor, and Schumacher-Matos have obvious qualms about the elimination of this time-honored journalistic approach. Schumacher-Matos says that in a post-Watergate era where cynicism and establishment skepticism was rampant from the failures of Vietnam, getting quotes from an everyday Joe was relieving. Carruth says that for Americans, no one knows the problem better than themselves—man-on-the-street interviews are a journalistic tool that promotes democracy.

Since this poll discovery they do not advocate the end of these interviews, but a better more pertinent use of including the “man on the street” in stories.

The interview method was created during the penny-press; getting the masses reconnected with the masses, but that's been done over and again since, especially with the internet. The desire for expertise is reflected in the many publications and blogs that are for niches and specializations.

A story standard created by a condition that hasn't existed for 80 years shouldn't be too shocking when it no longer is popular. 

Beware of False Tweets and Pics - Especially During Natural Disasters

The Washington Post's Paul Farhi writes of all the false photos and "news reports" that circulated this week during Hurricane Sandy -- including a tweet that said the New York Stock Exchange was under 3 feet of water.

Turns out the false NYSE tweet was sent by someone with a screen name of "Comfortablysmug," Farhi writes. Further sleuthing uncovered Comfortablysmug's identity. Farhi writes: "BuzzFeed.com first identified Comfortablysmug as Shashank Tripathi, a campaign manager for Republican congressional candidate Christopher Wight (N.Y.). Tuesday night, Wight’s campaign said Tripathi had resigned from the campaign as a result of his tweets."

The Atlantic's Alexis C. Madrigal also writes about sorting the real Sandy photos from the fakes.

What were some of your favorite (real) photos published on news sites of the storm's devastation?

A humorous bad headlines page

This tumbler page is dedicated to humorous bad headlines found on news sites. I guess the mistake of a confusing headline is really easy to make. This worries me. I hope I never make a mistake that makes me sound as dumb as "Ex- HPD officer sentenced to life in rape".

However, many of the posts on this tumblr end with ellipses, suggesting that the headline actually goes on. This is less disheartening. Maybe I won't make a silly headline mistake that makes me look stupid, and this tumblr user is making up a problem that doesn't exist.

I think this site is fun to go through and read. It's also a great reminder to be careful because these kinds of mistakes can make you look really bad. They can also be good for a cheap laugh though.

The above is an example of what can be found on badheadlines.tumblr.com from a Sept. 24 posting. This is probably one of the more funny ones. A disappointing number of them are only bad headlines because they have ellipses. I think that the tumblr site could have still been entertaining and be much more accurate if the creator of the page had used actual confusing and terrible headlines rather than relying on long headlines and ellipses.

It's still a fun page to look at.

Twitter Trends to Obama's Favor--Surprised?

Journalism.org, in a recent article, made claim via stats that social media users marked a much different tone than news in general; basically, the polls are more critical than the Twitter base of President Barack Obama.

"...More of the conversation leaned Obama's way (35%) than Romney's (22%). But those who favored Obama tweeted not so much to praise him as to criticize his opponent. Of the entire conversation, 9% praised the president and 26% was critical of Romney. Of those favoring Romney, 7% praised him and 15% criticized Obama."

This can't be too surprising to many people. Twitter is new social media--new social media is used by young people--young people are democratic--I twitter; therefor I Obama.

Yesterday I saw #ThingsThatOffendObama trending shortly, but on the whole, #Romnesia and other Mitt Romney trends, like #bigbird or #binders dominate the presidential duel on Twitter. The candidates therefore use social media differently--on my Twitter feed, Obama updates are far more common than Romney's. 

Not by much, Romney uses Facebook more than Obama (Is Facebook already "old?" I am friends with my Mema, Aunts, and Uncles on Facebook for over a year now...). At the pace this society moves, as we are so fond of saying, who's to say that can't be true, at least relatively?

Much of this outline the expectations in common-knowledge demographics, but what is often forgotten is that, although Romney trails in the internet, television is the main source of news for most people, where they have both candidates running a close race.

The social media demographics are another resurgence of the parallels of our political situation. Young people--new(twitter)--blue. Old people--tradition(television, even Facebook)--red. Politicians act accordingly, spending their time with said venue(s).

The media rave about how social media, YouTube, and cell-phones have changed the world, but in this case, it's just a new way to express the same cultural and political contours.

#KnowingChangeWhenYouSeeIt