A media group in Europe sends out regular e-mail compilations of interesting stuff happening in the news business.
The three items below appeared on the same day. More and more reasons to pat yourselves on the back for your decision to take this course!
Planned US media job cuts up 88 per cent in 2006
The number of planned job cuts in the US media sector surged 88 per centlast year and that trend will likely continue as readers shift fromprint to online services, a study on Thursday showed. For all of last year, the media industry announced 17,809 job cuts, upsizably from the 9,453 cuts announced the prior year, according to thejob outplacement tracking firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. The trendis expected to continue this year, according to John Challenger, chiefexecutive officer at the Chicago-based firm, which tracks plannedlayoffs, not actual layoffs. Newspaper publishers, broadcasters and other media companies have beencutting jobs and reevaluating their business models as a growing numberof Americans turn to the internet for news and entertainment. Internetad spending is forecast to rise 13 per cent in 2007, while networktelevision advertising is seen almost flat from a year ago and newspaperadvertising is expected to drop nearly 3 per cent, according to mediatracking firm TNS. Not only are newspapers vying with other news organizations for audienceshare, they are competing with bloggers, industry experts and gossipsites, Challenger said. Source: http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID=2007-01-25T172846Z_01_N25396479_RTRUKOC_0_US-USA-ECONOMY-JOBS-MEDIA.xml - Reuters
---------------------------------------------------
Big names in US journalism launch Politico website
Several big names in US journalism are part of a new internet-focusednews organisation being launched Tuesday that will focus exclusively onpolitics as the 2008 elections approach. The new venture formed byAllbritton Communications has a newspaper, The Politico, and a website,Politico.com. Well-known journalists from The Washington Post newspaper and Timemagazine have joined the multiplatform news organisation. John Harris,formerly the Post's political editor, will be the editor in chief atPolitico, Jim VandeHei, who covered national politics at the paper, willbe the executive editor, and Mike Allen, White House correspondent forTime, will be the chief political correspondent. Also on board is RogerSimon, an award-winning political columnist and author. The new venture is being launched on the same day as the president'sState of the Union address. A spokeswoman for Politico said that thestaff of 50 will include about 25 reporters who will focus exclusivelyon the ins and outs of Washington politics. Reporters will also makeregular appearances on the capital's all-news radio station as well ason national television news programs. Staffers will shoot video toaccompany their stories on the venture's website. Source: http://www.metimes.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20070123-034835-3045r - AFP, Middle East Times
----------------------------------------
BBC talking to Google about providing video on YouTube
The British Broadcasting Corporation said Monday that it was indiscussions with the search engine company Google about putting some ofthe BBC's programming on the online video site YouTube. A BBCspokeswoman confirmed that the publicly funded broadcaster was speakingwith Google, which bought YouTube last year, about several differentoptions, but that a deal had not yet been signed. BBC World, the international commercial news channel produced by theBritish broadcaster, is already the most-watched foreign network in manyof the 200 countries in which it broadcasts. If BBC signs an agreementwith YouTube, it will follow in the footsteps of US networks like NBC,which created a branded YouTube channel last June, and CBS, which isshowing clips from programs like 'The Letterman Show.' Internet video advertising is pegged to earn more than USD 1bn (EUR772,000) in 2008, much of which is expected to come from televisionadvertising budgets. The situation is forcing television producers tochoose whether they want to cooperate with internet video websites orcompete with them. Under Google's ownership, YouTube has beenapproaching broadcasters and other owners of copyrighted material toarrange for the site to carry more authorised material. Source: http://www.iht.com:80/articles/2007/01/22/business/bbc.php - International Herald Tribune
Monday, January 29, 2007
What's hot
I got the note below on a listserv for college media advisers. It shows there's no limit to how ambitious you guys can be with The Critic.
--------------------
Just wanted to share the joy of what we're doing here at UW.
We now have daily videocasts online. We've done this on a shoe-string budget that pays the salaries of a student Web developer, two broadcast students and a print photographer that has learned how to use video.
Our only capital investment was buying a student version of Final Cut Pro; as we found the sound quality of iMovie to be limiting. (You can see that with our earlier videocasts.)
We borrow the sound/video equipment from another department.
Our most popular videocast was Home Invasion -- where we got to see what it is like inside the Phi Pools frat house. This is the first in a series. Several frats are lining up to be next.
Feel free to check out what we're doing at www.thedaily.washington.edu or www.theuwdaily.com.
Kristin
Kristin Millis
Director of Student Publications
The Daily of the University of Washington
millis@u.washington.edu
(206) 543-7666
--------------------
Just wanted to share the joy of what we're doing here at UW.
We now have daily videocasts online. We've done this on a shoe-string budget that pays the salaries of a student Web developer, two broadcast students and a print photographer that has learned how to use video.
Our only capital investment was buying a student version of Final Cut Pro; as we found the sound quality of iMovie to be limiting. (You can see that with our earlier videocasts.)
We borrow the sound/video equipment from another department.
Our most popular videocast was Home Invasion -- where we got to see what it is like inside the Phi Pools frat house. This is the first in a series. Several frats are lining up to be next.
Feel free to check out what we're doing at www.thedaily.washington.edu or www.theuwdaily.com.
Kristin
Kristin Millis
Director of Student Publications
The Daily of the University of Washington
millis@u.washington.edu
(206) 543-7666
Thursday, January 25, 2007
ENG 2710 Syllabus
English 2710: Special Topics: New Media
Spring 2007 Lyndon State College
T-Th 1:30 to 2:50 p.m.
LAC 409
Instructor: Dan Williams
Office: Vail 468 Office Hours: MW 1-3 p.m.; TThF 9-11 a.m.; or by appointment
Telephones: Office 626-4866; home 626-4608; cell: 404-272-6742
Course description: The class will explore the rapidly changing and expanding universe of news on the World Wide Web. Students will launch the first online version of the Lyndon State College student newspaper, The Critic.
Objectives: Students who successfully complete this course will:
- gain hands-on experience creating and maintaining a news Web site;
- increase their understanding of the World Wide Web as a news medium;
- explore the differences between journalism for “New Media” and “Old Media”;
- gain skills in “cross-platform” storytelling, with words, photos, video and sound.
Required text: “Telling The Story: The Convergence of Print, Broadcast and Online Media,” by The Missouri Group. 2007.
Supplemental text: Associated Press Stylebook
Materials: USB flash drive, rewritable CD or rewritable DVD to save work.
Class Requirements and Policies:
Assignments: During the first third of the semester, assignments will focus on comparing different media. Students will submit the assignments as postings to blogs they create. As we get closer to the launch of the online version of The Critic, assignments will focus on rewriting or “repurposing” print or television material for the Web. Once The Critic is online, most assignments will involve reworking Critic stories for the Web site and posting updates.
Quizzes: Periodically, I will give announced or unannounced quizzes about readings and discussion topics. The grades will become part of your participation grade.
Format: The class takes place in LAC 409, a Mac computer laboratory. We will spend a large amount of time on the computers. Please resist the temptation to IM friends – unless assigned.
Communication: Check your Lyndon State e-mail and the class Blackboard site on the LSC Portal at least once a day. Sorry, but I will not send e-mail to a Hotmail, gmail or other address. Feel free to call me at home or on my cell phone until 10 p.m. any day, including weekends.
Attendance: Your success in this class depends on active participation. Attend every class meeting. Under LSC rules, five absences are grounds for failing a twice-weekly course unless there are extreme, documented circumstances. Please inform me if you know you will be absent. You cannot make up any quizzes given on days you miss class.
Late work: Assignments will be due at the start of class unless otherwise noted. If you are unable to attend class on the day an assignment is due, make arrangements to submit it anyway. Late assignments will lose one letter grade for every day beyond the due date.
Academic honesty: We will discuss the difference between plagiarism and reworking someone else’s material for the Web. Plagiarism is a major offense at LSC. Deliberate acts of plagiarism will result in failure of the course. See the Academic Honesty section on page 16 of the LSC 2006-2007 catalog. Talk to me if you have any questions.
Disabilities: Students with disabilities who request accommodations should provide a certification letter. Students should contact Mary Etter, Learning Specialist, in the Academic Support Office (Vail 325) to arrange for the appropriate letter to be sent.
Grading weights:
Assignments, activities 50%
Final project 30%
Participation 20%
Grading scale:
A: 94-100 B-: 80-83 D+:67-69
A-: 90-93 C+: 77-79 D: 64-66
B+: 87-89 C: 74-76 D-: 60-63
B: 84-86 C-: 70-73 F: 59 and below
Disclaimer: This syllabus is subject to change with notice.
Weekly Schedule:
Week 1 – Jan. 16, 18
Tuesday:
Introductions
Syllabus
Highlights:
Critic goes online mid-semester
Make heavy use of blogs
Activity: Create blogs
Assignments for Thursday:
Create an Internet timeline and place on blog.
Read Chap. 1 in “Telling the Story”
Thursday:
Activity:
Introduce blogs to class and show off timelines
Practice posting to each other’s blogs (critique timelines)
Discussion of Chap. 1:
What is news?
What is journalism?
What is citizen journalism?
Where do you get your news?
Assignments for Tuesday:
Watch a network news program and compare to next day’s NYT
Watch a local news program and compare to next day’s Free Press
Blog about the differences you find and their significance
Read Chap. 2, Convergence and the Changing Media Industry
Week 2 – Jan. 23, 25
Tuesday:
Activity:
Show off comparison blogs.
Post critiques to each other’s blogs.
Discussion of Chap. 2
What is convergence?
What was the dot com boom?
How do newspapers work? TV? Online?
Examine TBO Online
Examine WCAX’s scripts
Assignment:
Compare a local television station to its Web site;
Blog about how well it works.
Thursday:
Activity:
Meet Chad Grant
HTML practice
Assignments for Tuesday:
Investigate and then blog about this: “How does anyone make money?”
Compare a newspaper to its Web site; blog about how well it works.
Read Chap. 4, Computer-Assisted Reporting
Week 3 – Jan. 30, Feb. 1
Tuesday:
Activities:
Show off blog comparisons
Explain how people/companies make money on Internet
Parse a simple Excel spreadsheet
Discuss final projects:
Conceive and design a community news site for Lyndon or hometown
Examine iBrattleboro and other sites
Discuss problems at Backfence
Discuss Chap. 4
Thursday:
Discuss:
High-tech hardware
Backpack journalism
Guest: TBA (Radio Shack?)
Assignments for Tuesday:
Find a blogger you disagree with and post to his/her blog
Drudge.com has a long list of bloggers
Read Chaps 6 and 11 on newspaper and television writing styles
Week 4 – Feb. 6, 8
Tuesday:
Activity:
Practice writing newspaper and broadcast leads
Assignment for Thursday:
Read Chap. 13, Online Writing
Thursday:
Discuss Chap. 13, Online Writing
Activity:
Practice online writing styles
Assignment for Tuesday:
On blogs, post URLs of examples of good and bad online writing.
Blog about what makes it good, bad
Read Chap. 7 section on Service Journalism, pp. 141-144
Week 5 – Feb. 13, 15
Tuesday:
Discuss blog posts about good and bad writing
Activity:
Re-purpose stories for the Web from:
Caledonian-Record
Times-Argus
Free Press
Littleton Courier
Assignment for Thursday:
Polish two re-purposed stories.
Thursday:
Activity:
Re-purpose News 7 stories for the Web
Re-purpose WCAX stories for the Web
See scripts under Local News
Assignment for Tuesday:
Polish two re-purposed stories.
Week 6 – Feb. 20, 22
Tuesday and Thursday:
Activity:
Practice re-purposing Critic stories for the Web
Homework for Thursday:
Polish re-purposed stories.
Thursday:
Status update for final projects
Week 7 – Winter Break
Winter Break, no class
Week 8 – March 6, 8
Tuesday and Thursday:
Activity:
Practice re-purposing Critic stories for the Web
Homework:
Polish re-purposed stories.
Discuss:
Web design
Week 9 – March 13, 15
Tuesday:
Launch online version of The Critic
Thursday:
Activity:
Update online Critic with fresh stories from server
Friday, March 16: last day to drop course without academic penalty.
Week 10 – March 20, 22
Tuesday and Thursday:
Activities:
Maintain and update online version of The Critic
Added-value elements:
Sidebars
Graphics
Thursday:
Status update for final projects
Week 11 – March 27, 29
Tuesday and Thursday:
Activities:
Maintain and update online version of The Critic
Added-value elements:
Update one story
Photo gallery
Week 12 – Spring Break
Week 13 – April 10, 12
Tuesday:
Activity:
Maintain and update online version of The Critic
Added-value elements:
Audio
Podcasting
Thursday:
Activity:
Maintain and update online version of The Critic
Added value elements:
Audio
Podcasting
Assignment for Tuesday:
Write story for Web that should also appear in next week’s Critic
Status update for final projects
Week 14 – April 17, 19
Tuesday and Thursday:
Focus:
Web-to-print copy flow
Activity:
Work on Web stories
Maintain and update online version of The Critic
Week 15 – April 24, 26
Tuesday and Thursday:
Activity:
Maintain and update online version of The Critic
Added-value elements:
Video
Vlogs
Week 16 – May 1, 3
Tuesday:
Submit final projects
Tuesday and Thursday:
Activity:
Maintain and update online version of The Critic
Discussion:
Wrap up semester
Week 17 – Final Exam
The final exam is 12:30-2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 8.
Spring 2007 Lyndon State College
T-Th 1:30 to 2:50 p.m.
LAC 409
Instructor: Dan Williams
Office: Vail 468 Office Hours: MW 1-3 p.m.; TThF 9-11 a.m.; or by appointment
Telephones: Office 626-4866; home 626-4608; cell: 404-272-6742
Course description: The class will explore the rapidly changing and expanding universe of news on the World Wide Web. Students will launch the first online version of the Lyndon State College student newspaper, The Critic.
Objectives: Students who successfully complete this course will:
- gain hands-on experience creating and maintaining a news Web site;
- increase their understanding of the World Wide Web as a news medium;
- explore the differences between journalism for “New Media” and “Old Media”;
- gain skills in “cross-platform” storytelling, with words, photos, video and sound.
Required text: “Telling The Story: The Convergence of Print, Broadcast and Online Media,” by The Missouri Group. 2007.
Supplemental text: Associated Press Stylebook
Materials: USB flash drive, rewritable CD or rewritable DVD to save work.
Class Requirements and Policies:
Assignments: During the first third of the semester, assignments will focus on comparing different media. Students will submit the assignments as postings to blogs they create. As we get closer to the launch of the online version of The Critic, assignments will focus on rewriting or “repurposing” print or television material for the Web. Once The Critic is online, most assignments will involve reworking Critic stories for the Web site and posting updates.
Quizzes: Periodically, I will give announced or unannounced quizzes about readings and discussion topics. The grades will become part of your participation grade.
Format: The class takes place in LAC 409, a Mac computer laboratory. We will spend a large amount of time on the computers. Please resist the temptation to IM friends – unless assigned.
Communication: Check your Lyndon State e-mail and the class Blackboard site on the LSC Portal at least once a day. Sorry, but I will not send e-mail to a Hotmail, gmail or other address. Feel free to call me at home or on my cell phone until 10 p.m. any day, including weekends.
Attendance: Your success in this class depends on active participation. Attend every class meeting. Under LSC rules, five absences are grounds for failing a twice-weekly course unless there are extreme, documented circumstances. Please inform me if you know you will be absent. You cannot make up any quizzes given on days you miss class.
Late work: Assignments will be due at the start of class unless otherwise noted. If you are unable to attend class on the day an assignment is due, make arrangements to submit it anyway. Late assignments will lose one letter grade for every day beyond the due date.
Academic honesty: We will discuss the difference between plagiarism and reworking someone else’s material for the Web. Plagiarism is a major offense at LSC. Deliberate acts of plagiarism will result in failure of the course. See the Academic Honesty section on page 16 of the LSC 2006-2007 catalog. Talk to me if you have any questions.
Disabilities: Students with disabilities who request accommodations should provide a certification letter. Students should contact Mary Etter, Learning Specialist, in the Academic Support Office (Vail 325) to arrange for the appropriate letter to be sent.
Grading weights:
Assignments, activities 50%
Final project 30%
Participation 20%
Grading scale:
A: 94-100 B-: 80-83 D+:67-69
A-: 90-93 C+: 77-79 D: 64-66
B+: 87-89 C: 74-76 D-: 60-63
B: 84-86 C-: 70-73 F: 59 and below
Disclaimer: This syllabus is subject to change with notice.
Weekly Schedule:
Week 1 – Jan. 16, 18
Tuesday:
Introductions
Syllabus
Highlights:
Critic goes online mid-semester
Make heavy use of blogs
Activity: Create blogs
Assignments for Thursday:
Create an Internet timeline and place on blog.
Read Chap. 1 in “Telling the Story”
Thursday:
Activity:
Introduce blogs to class and show off timelines
Practice posting to each other’s blogs (critique timelines)
Discussion of Chap. 1:
What is news?
What is journalism?
What is citizen journalism?
Where do you get your news?
Assignments for Tuesday:
Watch a network news program and compare to next day’s NYT
Watch a local news program and compare to next day’s Free Press
Blog about the differences you find and their significance
Read Chap. 2, Convergence and the Changing Media Industry
Week 2 – Jan. 23, 25
Tuesday:
Activity:
Show off comparison blogs.
Post critiques to each other’s blogs.
Discussion of Chap. 2
What is convergence?
What was the dot com boom?
How do newspapers work? TV? Online?
Examine TBO Online
Examine WCAX’s scripts
Assignment:
Compare a local television station to its Web site;
Blog about how well it works.
Thursday:
Activity:
Meet Chad Grant
HTML practice
Assignments for Tuesday:
Investigate and then blog about this: “How does anyone make money?”
Compare a newspaper to its Web site; blog about how well it works.
Read Chap. 4, Computer-Assisted Reporting
Week 3 – Jan. 30, Feb. 1
Tuesday:
Activities:
Show off blog comparisons
Explain how people/companies make money on Internet
Parse a simple Excel spreadsheet
Discuss final projects:
Conceive and design a community news site for Lyndon or hometown
Examine iBrattleboro and other sites
Discuss problems at Backfence
Discuss Chap. 4
Thursday:
Discuss:
High-tech hardware
Backpack journalism
Guest: TBA (Radio Shack?)
Assignments for Tuesday:
Find a blogger you disagree with and post to his/her blog
Drudge.com has a long list of bloggers
Read Chaps 6 and 11 on newspaper and television writing styles
Week 4 – Feb. 6, 8
Tuesday:
Activity:
Practice writing newspaper and broadcast leads
Assignment for Thursday:
Read Chap. 13, Online Writing
Thursday:
Discuss Chap. 13, Online Writing
Activity:
Practice online writing styles
Assignment for Tuesday:
On blogs, post URLs of examples of good and bad online writing.
Blog about what makes it good, bad
Read Chap. 7 section on Service Journalism, pp. 141-144
Week 5 – Feb. 13, 15
Tuesday:
Discuss blog posts about good and bad writing
Activity:
Re-purpose stories for the Web from:
Caledonian-Record
Times-Argus
Free Press
Littleton Courier
Assignment for Thursday:
Polish two re-purposed stories.
Thursday:
Activity:
Re-purpose News 7 stories for the Web
Re-purpose WCAX stories for the Web
See scripts under Local News
Assignment for Tuesday:
Polish two re-purposed stories.
Week 6 – Feb. 20, 22
Tuesday and Thursday:
Activity:
Practice re-purposing Critic stories for the Web
Homework for Thursday:
Polish re-purposed stories.
Thursday:
Status update for final projects
Week 7 – Winter Break
Winter Break, no class
Week 8 – March 6, 8
Tuesday and Thursday:
Activity:
Practice re-purposing Critic stories for the Web
Homework:
Polish re-purposed stories.
Discuss:
Web design
Week 9 – March 13, 15
Tuesday:
Launch online version of The Critic
Thursday:
Activity:
Update online Critic with fresh stories from server
Friday, March 16: last day to drop course without academic penalty.
Week 10 – March 20, 22
Tuesday and Thursday:
Activities:
Maintain and update online version of The Critic
Added-value elements:
Sidebars
Graphics
Thursday:
Status update for final projects
Week 11 – March 27, 29
Tuesday and Thursday:
Activities:
Maintain and update online version of The Critic
Added-value elements:
Update one story
Photo gallery
Week 12 – Spring Break
Week 13 – April 10, 12
Tuesday:
Activity:
Maintain and update online version of The Critic
Added-value elements:
Audio
Podcasting
Thursday:
Activity:
Maintain and update online version of The Critic
Added value elements:
Audio
Podcasting
Assignment for Tuesday:
Write story for Web that should also appear in next week’s Critic
Status update for final projects
Week 14 – April 17, 19
Tuesday and Thursday:
Focus:
Web-to-print copy flow
Activity:
Work on Web stories
Maintain and update online version of The Critic
Week 15 – April 24, 26
Tuesday and Thursday:
Activity:
Maintain and update online version of The Critic
Added-value elements:
Video
Vlogs
Week 16 – May 1, 3
Tuesday:
Submit final projects
Tuesday and Thursday:
Activity:
Maintain and update online version of The Critic
Discussion:
Wrap up semester
Week 17 – Final Exam
The final exam is 12:30-2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 8.
"Weblebrities"
Check out this blog and see how many people you can identify.
The blogger said he knew 19 of the 25.
I hardly know any!
The blogger said he knew 19 of the 25.
I hardly know any!
Thursday, January 18, 2007
2710ers!
A student at another college blogs interestingly about the journalism universe you will create.
Homework reminders for Tuesday:
Please read Chap. 2 in "Telling the Story."
Please watch a network nightly newscast (ABC, CBS, NBC) and compare it to the next day's New York Times. You can view the Times on the Web, but not the newscast. The Times is available at the library -- but it arrives a day late.
Also, watch a Burlington station's nightly news program and compare it to the next day's Burlington Free Press. WCAX is the CBS affiliate in Burlington; WVNY is the ABC affiliate, and WPTZ is the NBC station.
Post your comparisons to your blog.
FYI, here is a list of everyone's blogs:
Josh
Eric
Danielle
Ariana
Chelsey
Homework reminders for Tuesday:
Please read Chap. 2 in "Telling the Story."
Please watch a network nightly newscast (ABC, CBS, NBC) and compare it to the next day's New York Times. You can view the Times on the Web, but not the newscast. The Times is available at the library -- but it arrives a day late.
Also, watch a Burlington station's nightly news program and compare it to the next day's Burlington Free Press. WCAX is the CBS affiliate in Burlington; WVNY is the ABC affiliate, and WPTZ is the NBC station.
Post your comparisons to your blog.
FYI, here is a list of everyone's blogs:
Josh
Eric
Danielle
Ariana
Chelsey
Friday, January 12, 2007
Welcome, New Mediables
This note was designed to test whether we can create blogs from the computers in LAC 409.
Evidently, we can.
So... let's get started.
Evidently, we can.
So... let's get started.
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