Headline Wanted

I do my news analyses on the Jerusalem Post, and while looking for a new story to look at I came across this headline: Olmert 'wanted' posters for investigation?

Someone tell me, did he want some posters for an investigation? Even though the "wanted" is in quotes it still doesn't make sense in the sentence. He himself didn't want posters, the police are simply using them for an investigation.

A better course of action would probably have been to say "Police use Olmert wanted posters for investigation" or maybe not even have Olmert in it. Maybe even not use the wanted and just say "Olmert posters". The wanted just makes the whole thing sound weird.

Also why is there a question mark at the end? The story is saying they are trying to find out who made the posters, not who Olmert is!

A not-so-adept headline for the Web

I know this headline writer at the Bowie Blade-News, so when I had to find an example of a not-so-adept online headline, I knew where to look!

The headline reads: "There's lots to 'spell-abrate' at Tulip Grove"

Obviously, "spell-abrate" is a play on words, meaning "celebrate."

According to Foust ("Online Journalism," p. 135), "cute" headlines, ones that use wordplay, tend to fall flat online. While this headline is very cute, I agree that it falls flat online, especially when online headlines need to be more literal for search engine optimization.

This headline writer taught me a thing or two over the years about headline writing; now I can share with him about online headline writing!

Citizen journalism site gives voice to underreported countries

I was intrigued to discover All Voices, a relatively new "citizen media" newswire service (started in 2008) looking to expand into 30 countries that it believes aren't getting enough coverage from traditional media.

According to Mathew Ingram's article, "Citizen Journalism Startup Plans Global Expansion," the Web site has grown by over 400 percent in the past year and now has 337,000 contributors in 180 countries generating 4 million unique visits per month.

What a wonderful way to put citizen journalism to use. In the United States, we suffer from information overload on a multitude of topics ranging from Tiger Woods to Michael Jackson. How nice to put these information-gathering resources to use in a more positive way so people in other countries--such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Egypt and China--can be informed on topics that affect their lives.

As an unedited and unfiltered open-media reporting form, Allvoices has established a "Report Credibility Rating System" indicating the trustworthiness of the story, which readers find useful when sorting through uncensored media reports.

Upon analyzing the design of the Web site, I think the site should move its "Images of the Day" up to the top of the home page, since they are larger. I guess the 4 million people who look at the site each month aren't too put off by the design, however.

Headlines: The bad, the good, and the ugly

A headline's goal should be to capture the tone and meaning of the story.

This headline from Sunday's Washington Post does neither: Johnnie-Mid seminar breaks social impasse in Annapolis. Huh? Based on that headline alone, that story could have been about a million different things. My best guess that was I was about to learn about the middle parts of a guy named Johnnie who held a miraculous summit to overcome the austere social rules governing Annapolis.

As it turns out, the story was about none of those things — thankfully. I read on to discover a delightful tradition, where students from St. John's College and the Naval Academy — two polar opposite schools that sit blocks apart — gather for an annual summit to discuss a book. This year they read Anton Checkov's "Gooseberries."

As for a good headline, I like this one from The (Baltimore) Sun: "Late-inning collapse dooms Orioles in 5-2 loss" It's search engine friendly and tells you precisely what's happening in the story.

Finally, this headline, which I found on a journalism web site is truly ugly: "Governor swears in legislature."

Story ideas just got easier and blogging just got harder

So I've spent the past 10 minutes trying to figure out how to post a comment on Gabby's blog post, but Blogger simply isn't co-operating. I'm repeatedly getting a bit-something-other error, and in a not-so-rare moment of Internet ineptitude have no idea what to do about it.

But without further adieu, Gabby's post "Sourcing just got easier" reminded me of my favorite use of Facebook: story idea mining. I've never used my Facebook status for sourcing (though obviously I should start). However, I have often looked to my friends' statuses to inspire story ideas. Sometimes, I just look upon them hoping that they'll spark a semi-related thought that will lead me to something newsworthy. Sometimes, Facebook statuses can inspire stories directly.

I have a friend who wrote a story on the upside of social networking after he peered upon a friends' status about a lost iPod. Within hours, a friend replied to the status, letting the gril know where she left her prized possession. At first, this story surprised me. Then, I found out the girl has something like 2,000 Facebook friends. The story that resulted was great because it flew in the face of conventional wisdom. The conventional wisdom says if you have too many online friends, you can't truly be friends with all of them. Somehow, it should seem phony to have too many friends online. And yet, this story showed that having a lot of Facebook friends has a practical upside.

In any case, speaking of Facebook statuses, mine right now: "Can't function Blogger. Anyone have tips?"

Sourcing just got easier

During the past couple of weeks, I’ve noticed that an increasing number of my fellow journalism majors have been posting Facebook statuses about story assignments. One student asked to hear from political conservatives on campus, and another wanted to talk to students who are studying abroad.

Earlier today I decided to try out the tactic for myself. I needed sources for a trend story. So I posted a status asking if anyone had contacts with a connection to Teach for America. Surely out of the hundreds of friends, relatives, and acquaintances I have on Facebook, a few would help me out.

An hour and a half later, I had three sources. After two more hours, I had three more.

Not only had people sent me the names of potential sources, one friend even sent me the link to a charity event that will benefit Teach for America.

I realized that Facebook is a more powerful tool than I had previously realized. Users display networks, groups, fan pages, personal interests and upcoming events. Any of these elements might provide valuable information for stories. Tracking down preliminary sources is no harder than logging in and doing some investigating.

Have any of you used your status to recruit sources? Do you know of other Facebook-related reporting techniques?

Putting new knowledge to use!

When I first graduated from the University of Maryland with my journalism degree in 1979, I remember taking my layout and editing notes with me when I started my first job as the editor of The GAO Watchdog, which is now a Podcast series.

Unlike a lot of other college-level classes, I've always found that journalism professors shared practical information that we students can take directly into our profession, no matter how old we are.

This class is no different. Even though I've been in the business for a long time, and have worked in books, magazines and newspapers, I am already putting to use my newfound knowledge right away.

Here's the short list:

1. I have been challenged by doing a much better job about posting corrections and clarifications online. Like a lot of old-school editors, I fell into the trap of correcting the print edition but "just changing the content" on the Web site and calling it a day.

2. When verifying facts, I am much more aware of which sites I visit to gather credible information.

3. I had to go into the backend of our newspaper's Web site and change HTML coding. Can you believe this? I remember being asked to do this last fall and I was so indignant about it ("It's not my job," I remember saying to my publisher). I am slowly getting over being so intimidated by it all.

4. I have been tasked with improving the look of our Web site for The Sentinel, which currently has a staff of four. By analyzing the site for USA TODAY, I now see how far we have to go. Unfortunately, this is a challenge due to our small staff and limited resources, but now I see the wonderfully exciting possibilities.

5. I will be putting my newfound skills on multimedia presentations and slide shows to good use very soon!

I have to admit that I am being stretched every single day but learning new things is wonderfully exciting, even though it takes a little while for the newfound knowledge to sink in.

Slideshow on Chilean earthquake on USA Today's Web site

I liked the 75-photo slide show on the earthquake in Chile. The URL is:
http://mediagallery.usatoday.com/8.8-earthquake-strikes-Chile/G1470

I thought this slide show worked well because all the photos displayed emotion and gave the reader a sense of the devastation of an 8.8 earthquake.

The first shot was an overall shot showing the massive numbers of families in temporary housing. A shot of volunteers rebuilding homes gave the reader a sense of hope in spite of the suffering. Other shots that were dramatic were of a crying boy getting a vaccination, a volunteer feeding an elderly man and the remnants of a circus. These photos told a story of the suffering the people are experiencing now under a backdrop of happier times, and pointing toward recovery and hope of better times to come.

Tina Irgang: A great slide show

The Washington Post ran a story today (March 31) about a young woman from Michigan who wrote a letter to the president and actually got a letter back. The story itself is excellent, tracking the letter's progress and giving some insight into the protagonist's life.

Online, it goes with a slide show that complements it perfectly. While the print version limits itself mostly to past events in the woman's life as described in her letter, the slide show gives us a much better idea of her current day-to-day routine. We follow her as she takes care of her children, attends a community college class and goes door-to-door to sell cosmetics. A transitional photo shows a White House employee at work - the very person who vets letters and decides which ones actually make it to the president. The final pictures show the president reading a letter to himself, reading it to others and finally responding to it. Thus, the slide show retraces the journey described in the story (the woman's life, her letter, the mail analyst and finally the president and his pen) while giving us some additional detail that the story was unable to provide.

You can find the slide show here.

Strong Slide Shows

We used the tool Soundslides today to create a quick slide show.

Please look on professional news sites and, as a comment to this post, add a link to one you particularly liked. Be sure to say what's good about it!

The three P's of the news consumer

The three P's: That's how I remember the most significant findings in the latest Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project and Project for Excellence in Journalism report on Americans' relationship with news in this multi-platform media environment.

According to the report, news is becoming:

• Portable: 33 percent of cell phone owners now access news on their cell phones.
• Personalized: 28 percent of Internet users have customized their home page to include news from sources and on topics that particularly interest them.
• Participatory: 37 percent of Internet users have contributed to the creation of news, commented about it, or disseminated it via postings on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter.

Another interesting finding: Among those who get news online, 75 percent get news forwarded through e-mail or posts on social networking sites and 52 percent share links to news with others via those means.

Are we really going forward with a world without newspapers? It appears so. Where does that leave us? Are we really going to be able to make money in this profession or is journalism becoming an amateur thing that people mostly do in their spare time? I hope someone is working on a new business model pretty quickly.

Can you afford to live on a reporter's salary?

I am the managing editor of The Prince George's Sentinel, a small weekly community newspaper (2o,000 circulation and shrinking) in a suburb of Washington, D.C. When I say "small," I mean we have a newsroom staff of four: one reporter, one production manager, one employee who works three days per week in production and two days in sales, and me. No receptionist to answer the phones, no typists to compile community notices and the police blotter, no proofreaders, no copyeditors, no page designers. It's all me. I do it all, except for covering stories (although I have been known to write one here and there, plus a column).

So, you can imagine my predicament when my one reporter gave her notice a few weeks ago and announced she couldn't live on the $20,000 per year salary. This reporter was a 15-year veteran in journalism and was hired a year ago because she wanted to "stay in journalism." In fact, she said at the time she felt lucky to land a newspaper job. But now her marital situation has changed and she is forced to support herself. But she can't do it on what this paper pays reporters.

Doesn't sound like an attractive place to work, does it?

So, I put a job posting on Journalismjobs.com last Tuesday. I did this eight years ago when I was working for Philip Merrill at Capital Gazette Newspapers and got about four responses. This time, resumes started popping into my inbox within 10 minutes after the posting went live. By Thursday, I had 60 resumes. They came from as far away as California and Michigan. They were willing to relocate here. Honestly, for a $20,000 job?

On Friday, I pared the resumes down to 16 and e-mailed the job seekers and told them more about the job: we were small, we didn't get raises, the $20,000 per year salary is non-negotiable.

Guess what? Nearly all of them still wanted to come to work for $20,000. Why? Because they've been out of work for six months to a year and have been solely freelancing. To them, $20,000 is at least a steady paycheck. However, most of them told me they need to keep their freelance gigs.

Since we're working on our resumes, I'd like to highly suggest you have something more than reporting on your resumes. Make sure you have some type of specialty, or expertise, and make sure to keep up with technology. After you've graduated, make sure you keep current in your field and have a variety of interests. It could make a big difference one day.

Tutorials on Wordpress and Godaddy.com

Class, instructor Sean Mussenden has kindly created tutorials to help with setting up accounts on godaddy.com, and with using tools and widgets on wordpress.com.

Here are links to the tutorials:


GoDaddy Primer: http://seanmussenden.org/2009/08/30/setting-up-your-own-web-site/

Wordpress Tutorial: http://seanmussenden.org/2009/08/30/introduction-to-wordpress/

'Isn't it Amazing What a Little Woman Can Accomplish?'

My beloved friend and mentor, Vera Foster Rollo, 85, passed away this month. My wish is that everyone crosses paths with someone who has influenced their life in a very special way. For me it happened in 1988.
I first met Vera Rollo at a Prince George’s Writers meeting. From the beginning, I was intrigued by this smart but whimsical woman. We began talking and became fast friends. I was a stay-at-home mom at the time with a journalism degree that I hadn’t used in eight years and I wanted to keep up my writing skills. Vera offered me a chance to do some editing, proofreading and marketing for her publishing company, Maryland Historical Press.
I was always intrigued by this funny little lady who had such a “can do” spirit about her. The more I got to know her, I discovered she didn’t possess any greater journalistic skill than me, but what she did possess was a wonderfully optimistic look at life, and she was successful and happy doing what she loved.
So, for several years, after I dropped off my kids at school, I went to her house and worked on some book projects with her around her dining room table, sipping tea, and taking in the wonderful view of her lovely backyard in Lanham. Of course, we were always surrounded by dogs.
It was a little bit of heaven slipped into my week of chasing after children and other demands of motherhood. Together we worked on such titles as “Who is Uncle Sam?,” “The American Flag,” “Bill Clinton: Eyes on the Future,” “Presidents and Their Pets,” and “Burt Rutan: Eyes on the Future.” Project after project, Vera would say, “Isn’t it amazing what two little women can accomplish?”
I remember asking her how Maryland Historical Press got started and she told me the story about how her son Mike came home from school and said they didn’t have a textbook to learn about Maryland history, so she decided to write one. Then she couldn’t sell it because she didn’t have a degree. So, she got one. When she couldn’t find a publisher, Vera declared: “Like the Little Red Hen, I dug my heels in and said, then I’ll do it myself!” So Maryland Historical Press was born.
Vera showed me that, yes, I can do anything I put my mind to and can have fun along the way. She never seemed to dwell on negatives but always put a positive spin on life. When I would say, “Wow, the unemployment rate is 10 percent. She would say, “yes, but look at it this way: 90 percent of the people have a job.”
What Vera showed me was the way she led her life: Keep your outlook positive. No matter what, you can accomplish whatever you set out to do. She always cheered me on and made me feel like I could do anything.
So, it’s no surprise that, 20 years later, when I was presented with an opportunity to start up my own travel magazine, Trips & Getaways, I thought about Vera. When I called her to ask her advice, she again cheered me on. Yes, I could do it!
Like Maryland Historical Press, Trips & Getaways never made it into the Fortune 500, but I’ve been able to carve out a little piece of the market for me. And most of all, to take great joy in my profession. I often sit back and think about how much fun we had working together around her dining room table. After all, Vera taught me that you don’t have to make a million to be happy and successful in life.
I feel very blessed to have this lovely lady’s indomitable spirit touch my life. This past January, I decided to go back to school to get my graduate degree in journalism to keep myself current in the ever-changing world of the new media. Sometimes, I think, can I really do this? Then I remember attending Vera’s graduation party when she got her Ph.D. at age 60, and I think, yes I can.
Today, others seem to be inspired that this newspaper’s managing editor has the courage to start graduate school, and that I have a travel publishing company. Well, I tell them: “Isn’t it amazing what a little woman can accomplish?”

Google Buzz

A few days ago, I decided to finally try Buzz.

Like so many new and shiny things, it was really exciting at first. I could comment back and forth on random trends and topics with my closest friends, without worrying about a crowd of Facebook friends or Twitter followers looking in - people I'd met once, if ever.

But once the excitement wore off, I started to ask myself: what does Buzz really have to add to the already overcrowded social media scene? It feels an awful lot like Gmail Chat, except slower and more cumbersome. It doesn't have the journalistic merits of Twitter (ability to spread news to a large number of followers in a very short time) - at least not yet. And, unlike Facebook, there's little to keep you interested once you're done posting. And then there's the privacy concerns Google has only now started to address.

If I'm overlooking an important redeeming feature here, feel free to point it out to me. For now, I'll stick with Twitter.

After two back-to-back blizzards, I finally get it. After 12 years of working for weekly community newspapers, and my own travel magazine, I have to admit I am a print diehard. But, over the past year, I have witnessed the demise of 67 newspapers. Even two magazines that I've been affiliated with have ceased their print products. I am finally getting how this new age of media really is about delivering the message in a different way, not just shoveling content from the printed page to a Web site.

At the beginning of 2009, I was definitely intrigued by how many businesses were joining in the chatter of the social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. By the summer, I joined in the chatter -- not sure why, but knowing I had to be part of it.

Now I get it. Last week, due to the forecasted blizzard to begin Tuesday afternoon, I pushed to finish up my newspaper, The Prince George's Sentinel, before the snow started. I met our print deadline and put the content on the Web before the first flake fell late Tuesday afternoon. In the past, that would have been good enough. In the past, I would have called it a week and begun to think about the next week's issue.

However, this time, I found myself snowbound and logging into my computer remotely nearly five or six times per day. In the past, I would have spent a lot of time on the phone with our freelance reporters and photographers to send in photos and story ideas for the next issue.

This time, I actually realized what engaging your audience meant. I invited our online audience and social media followers and friends to send in photos and comments. I found our readers, at the ready, to send in their comments and photos. Boom! Stories, comments and photos were uploaded to the site within minutes. We were in this together! Our readers didn't have to wait to read about it and see our photos a week later.

Then, as I kept a watch on the TV news and the press releases from the governor's office about various things, I updated the Web site on a regular basis, including up-to-the minute photos. It was exciting.

Yes, I finally get it. Unfortunately, our office staff has shrunk so much that most of this work falls on me. But, that's OK. I'm ready, willing and able to do whatever it takes to stay alive in the profession I love.

Writer steps aside to let others tell their own remarkable stories

When I was in seventh grade, I went on a field trip to the Washington Post. As soon as I walked into the newsroom, I was hooked. This is what I wanted to do -- to be part of a giant news organization that cranked out news for the public. I wanted to give a voice to the people who needed to be heard.

Since I've been in the newspaper industry for 12 years, I have done just that. Even though I never worked for the Post, I have worked for two community newspapers to give a voice to many people who wanted to tell their story to their neighbors.

One notable series of articles I did was on a family going through a very dark journey as their very young son was diagnosed with leukemia. After I told their story in the local newspaper, the community rallied behind them and saw them through the next several years, through two remissions and -- finally -- a bone marrow transplant, which thankfully cured this remarkable young man. I felt very privileged to be part of this family's life and to be able to use my writing skills to give this family a voice and tell their inspiring story.

Since then, I have had the privilege of meeting so many interesting and diverse people to tell others about their challenges and victories. And I do mean it was a privilege. But now, as the new age of media ushered in under our noses, it looks like I will have to step aside and let the people tell their own stories.

Now, using the Internet, people of all ages and backgrounds can tell their own stories through blogs, Facebook, Twitter and other forms of social media. Their voices are being heard by thousands of people with the click of a mouse. Their Internet community can rally behind them -- even though there they may be many miles separating them.

For me, this new year began with the news that my good friend and mentor, Vera Foster Rollo, had stage 4 pancreatic cancer. At 85, she decided to face the end stage of her life with the same dignity in which she lived. A writer, editor, publisher and pilot, this truly remarkable woman's family was able to share her legacy and the valiant way she ended her time here on Earth with her family, friends, and people who have never even met her, across the miles, through a blog provided by the local hospice.

Even though I shall mourn the loss of being one of a privileged few to be able to tell others about ordinary people who do extraordinary things, I now feel privileged to be part of a wider network of people from around the world. I enjoy reading your stories and sharing them with my friends, and I am willing to move over to make room for you.

My only question is: How can I make a living now?

Welcome new class!

Looking forward to engaging with you electronically as well as in class. Please use this class blog to post thoughtful comments on new-media topics in the news. You're required to start at least one thread, as well as to comment on others' posts.

Going Mobile

It's weird when I read articles about news organizations reaching out to an audience that gets its daily news from Blackberries and other mobile devices, mainly because my cell phone doesn't even let me take photos, let alone access the Internet.

I've been covering NPR.org for my individual blog, and the other day I ran across this post on Inside NPR.org Blog. To summarize, NPR has launched a new Web site with content specifically designed for mobile phone users, and now NPR fans will have an easier time accessing stories and audio.

I found a similar story on Poynter Online that addresses the issue from an industry-wide perspective. In a blog post titled "How News Organizations Can Create a Mobile-First Strategy," Steve Puttry urges media groups to focus on metadata, "data about data," among other things. His emphasis on metadata intrigued me because I think this is the meat of a lot of online journalism. With traditional media, it was all about whittling down the story to fit into the newspaper. Now, with multimedia packages, data that doesn't make it into the text story can still be incorporated into slideshows, quizzes, interactive maps and more.

Classmates, do you get news updates on your phone? I'm curious if this is more of a trend for the older, professional population...

Screen shots and your final blog analysis

Class, a few of you said you had never done a screen shot, (also called a screen grab). It can be done in less than a minute, using the Print Scrn button on the top right side of your key board and Photoshop. Simply pull up the page you want to work with, hit Print Scrn, open up Photoshop, hit File/New/OK, then Edit/paste, to pull in your image. Edit the image in Photoshop as you would other images, saving it as a .gif, which would then be uploadable to a blog or Web site. About.com has a video tutorial on this, if you'd prefer to watch it done before trying it. Here's the link:

http://video.about.com/graphicssoft/WinXPScreenshot-mov.--8z.htm

A few reminders about your final blog analyses:

* Your edited first entries are still waiting for most of you in the big envelope stuck to my office door, room 4119.
* Many of you are still having trouble with AP style points. It's Internet, not internet; e-mail, not email; home page, not homepage; Web site, not website.
* Do remember to give examples to support broad statements that you make, and remember to provide links to stories you discuss.
* Please upload a screen shot of the pages you discuss in the design portion of your analysis.

Full details on your assignment are posted below. This is pulled from your class syllabus:

# Tuesday, Dec. 15, 3:30 p.m.: (20 percent of your grade): Finals due, (based on the university's finals' schedule): This is a 2,000- to 2,400-word research / analysis of a news Web site, selected from a list I will circulate in class. It will be written as multiple posts on a blog you'll create on godaddy.com for this purpose. Throughout the semester, you should be posting coherent, well-written thoughts on your blog page. Each posting should be roughly 200 to 500 words. You should have a minimum of six posts on six different days during the semester. Postings should address the following points, but need not be limited to these: How well the Web site uses navigation; how clean its design is; how well it uses photos and graphics, broadcast features (including audio and video and podcasts) and interactive elements (such as chats, blogs, polls, map mashups and info graphics, quizzes and searchable databases); and how well stories are written and presented and make use of the medium. You should tell me about any other features you loved or hated and why. In your final posting, you should tell me what changes editors and publishers might consider to better position themselves for the future. The analysis should be based on your observations of the site throughout the semester and on background research you've conducted on the site. Comments should be supported with facts, links and visual screen grabs to illustrate your points. Factual mistakes that have not been corrected by the deadline --including misspelled proper names and faulty URLs--will result in full letter-grade deductions. Information quoted from other sources should be fully attributed in your text. To turn in, please e-mail me your blog URL before the deadline, and turn in a printout of your blog under my 4th floor office door (Room 4119). Finals turned in after deadline will receive an automatic F.

Using graphics to illustrate stories

So I saved a screen grab from Salon.com on my computer, and I was thinking about it today and I just wanted to share it. The graphic goes with a story Salon published about how some pastors are praying for Obama's death.

The graphic's caption says "Albrecht Durer's Praying Hands and AP photo." I know that it's clear to readers that the picture isn't real. But when I looked at it, it just reminded of flag burning, which is a pretty hot-button free speech issue, which many people find disrespectful or offensive. Personally, I thought the graphic was a little disrespectful toward our president. I mean, he's the president. It's bad enough that other countries might be defaming him or burning pictures of him or something - it doesn't exactly set a good example for people to see that we're ok with depicting that as well. Is it ok for journalists to make controversial graphics of important figures like the president, because it's a form of free speech? Or are there certain things that should be off-limits to graphic manipulation?

Broadcast Journalism Online

I think that slide shows and multimedia aspects to news websites are probably the most important feature. Although many people are quite interested in comments and quick Twitter posts, nothing tells a story more than actual pictures and videos. After taking this class and analyzing various news websites, I think the most successful ones are the ones that have these features. It is sad to say, but a sufficient news text story just does not cut it anymore. People of my generation have developed short attention spans and it is easier for them to look at pictures or watch a quick video. This is why Twitter has become so successful; those 140 characters are just enough for people to read and absorb (sad right). However, what news sites have going for them that Twitter doesn’t it that they can incorporate multimedia aspects to them.

I am very fortunate that I am a broadcast student here because I have gained great skills in reporting and videography that can be carried with me through online use. Here is the question I pose though: Do you think that broadcast reporting is the same for online as it is on television? What are the major similarities and differences?

HAPPY HOLIDAYS, EVERYONE!!

http://www.10000words.net/

hehe ;)

Backpack Journalists v. Twitter

With Twitter and the Apple I-Phone, it is clear that you can literally have the news at the tip of your fingers. Additionally, you can know the news almost as soon as it is happening. Take the Tiger Woods story for example; Twitter had reported it within minutes. See the article here.

For tech-savvy, computer users, how important is watching the news or reading the newspaper the next day if you already know what happened? Not only does this concern me as a journalism major, but it also makes me wonder about backpack journalists. Backpack journalists combine editing, producing, filming, and reporting in one and are also referred to as a “One Man Band.” They are known as the journalists of the future and many professionals will agree that they are much more likely to hire someone who knows how to perform all these skills. Now that many news stations are hurting financially, backpack journalists are a way for them to save money and cut employees.

While I understand that backpack journalists save money and may even make it easier for newsrooms, doesn’t it take them much longer to get their stories out? With a world of new technology and Twitter, which release news stories almost immediately, how is ONE person going to keep up? Lets say the economy does pick up, are they honestly going to have one person compete with Twitter? How is one person going to be able to quickly report, film, edit, and produce?

I just think it may be smarter to keep hiring experts in one given field rather than hire a young backpack journalists to compete with the Internet. Although experts may still not get the news released as quickly as Twitter, they definitely can do the work in half of the amount of time. Clearly, if a news station has one great editor, one great photographer, and one great reporter work together, they can have the information released in half the time as one backpack journalist would. What do you think? How can backpack journalists strive to keep up with Twitter and I-Phone news application?

Rebranding The Washington Times

The latest blow to aspiring area journalists dropped earlier this week with news that The Washington Times will cut its staff by 40 percent and pursue a different business model.

The development that I found most interesting has little to do with the online side of things-the fact that it's likely the entire sports department will be cut after a 60-day evaluation period. But as with any paper failing, there is definitely a new media side to the story.

In this New York Times' report on the situation, it's clear that the paper has battled issues for a while, but the lede makes an important point. John Solomon, the paper's former executive editor, joined the staff last year, one of his charges was to push the paper "into the digital age."

He left earlier this month, seemingly without accomplishing many of his intended goals for the paper, which seems likely to pursue a free model similar to the Washington Examiner that focuses heavily on politics and other local news reporting.

It's all summed up pretty well in this quote from an anonymous staffer:

"It’s pretty clear they can’t support it on this scale, and they’re trying to figure out what kind of product they can put out that’s economically viable and competitive with what’s available to them."

To me, that means it will have to really focus on new media, specifically its website. I think it will be especially important with the elimination of the sports section because studies have shown that many men pick up the paper primarily for sports news. The Washington Times will be alienating those potential readers, so they will have to be able to target market effectively to get the readership and sponsorships to allow them to continue.

Further more, here's The Washington Times' own write-up on the news, which includes excerpts from the official statement from acting publisher and president Jonathan Slevin.

Slevin offered this bit of comfort: "A new Washington Times will continue to reach readers and more effectively earn new audiences via digital, broadcast, print and wireless media."

That all amounts to a lot of changes from this local paper that has competed in the district since 1982. It's probably more bad news for people about to hit the job market like us, but maybe these kind of complete rebranding projects can offer new niches for people with fresh ideas to compete in tough markets.

With that in mind, what steps must this newspaper take to stay viable? Which facets of its media empire should be deemed most important? Based on some of the ideas we've discussed in class, how can new media help a struggling entity like The Washington Times to stay relevant as it becomes less traditional?

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Today you'll be using Twitter.com to "tweet" our discussion.

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We're experimenting with this technology because it is increasingly being used journalistically--to find story ideas and sources, to tout published stories and to send in quick updates from the field on breaking news stories.

Advertising on mobile phones to help newspaper?

I read an article from The Hindu (http://www.thehindu.com/2009/12/01/stories/2009120155921100.htm) which said many newspapers are beginning to advertise their content more on mobile phones in order to draw in more readers. By featuring more content for mobile phones, newspaper companies are hoping to gain a leg up on competitors in this newer medium. Because the use of mobile phones to search the internet and finds news is steadily increasing, I was wondering if any of you thought this was a good way for media outlets to gain popularity or readers?

Good and Bad Headlines

We spent a lot of time in class a couple weeks ago and I found a good and bad headline to show:

GOOD: "Knox's Parents Probed for Alleged Defamation"

This headline appeared on ABCNews.com today and this is a solid for the online platform. It is straightforward and clear, it does not contain jargon, and you can read it one time and understand the meaning of the story. The other thing that is good about this headline is that it contains many search terms such as "Knox," "probed," and "defamation" which would probably do a good job to find the article.

BAD: "White House to 'Name-and-Shame' Lenders

This headline also came from ABCNews.com today on the front page of the website. This headline is not terrible but it has a possible double meaning. At first when I read it I thought it was an incomplete statement such as the White House talking to lenders and the lenders were the ones that were naming and shaming. After I read it a couple of times I read it correctly; the White House will be identifying bad lenders. I'm not sure if the quote is the best thing to put here; perhaps it should be more direct such as "White House to Name Bad Lenders." Additionally there are not as many good search terms because 'Name-and-Shame' could turn up unrelated results. 'White House" is also extremely common and could turn up unrelated results. While this headline is not terrible, it could use a little work.

Interesting Headline

I know that we had been talking about good and bad headlines. I found this headline on the homepage of aol.com

"Man Cleared in Wife's Death, Moose Suspected"

The headline is actually pretty good in that it describes the story and on top of that it certainly caught my attention. But it definitely is not something you see every day.