And this from RTNDA

Try some ethics checklists from RTNDA.

Media and Trauma: SPJ Code

Here is a post by SPJ's president about Virginia Tech and media coverage.

2710 Assignment Inventory

Here's a list of the homework assignments since the last inventory:

March 13: online law case: synopsis on your blog.
March 20: reversion two Critic stories for the Web.
March 22: create a Soundslide.
April 17: rewrite two Critic stories in broadcast style.
April 24: rewrite one Critic story in broadcast style.

In-class assignments:

March 20: create a map using fmatlas.com.
March 27: reversion Critic stories.
April 10: reversion "evergreens" from Critic).
April 12: reversion Critic stories).
April 19: reversion Critic stories for first live online Critic.
April 26: reversion Critic stories for 2nd live online Critic).

Virginia Tech student media

Check these out:

http://www.collegemediainnovation.org/blog/2007/04/18/roanoke-video-on-cts-work/

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9642173

Blogging the NWW

First things first. Poynter.org had its own blogger at the Hartford gala, so I don't want to duplicate his efforts. He calls it 48 tips, 48 hours.
My favorite session was Geneva Overholser. She's a big cheese in journalism circles -- former newspaper editor, Washington Post ombudsman, Pulitzer judge. She had some interesting things to say about the future you'll inhabit.
She says of today's print journalists:

“We are acting like gatekeepers and not noticing that the fence is gone.”
“We tend to have a foolish aversion to what looks different.”

Her main point is this: stop being afraid of the change, roll up your sleeves, and embrace it. See it as liberating. You won’t go through your careers simply reporting and writing.

One audience member complained that “younger people” aren’t reading, to which she replied they ARE reading, they “just aren’t reading us.” So you have to find a way to reach them.

Example: YouTube videos of John Edwards combing his hair ("Breck Girl"), and Hillary Clinton badly singing national anthem. An audience member said that's all younger people want to see. They don't want to see "serious" journalism.

Overholser says you can still show that "fun" stuff, but surround it with other material: policy stances, etc. Policy wonks could be drawn to the Breck Girl, and YouTube kids could be drawn to the policy stances.

She says we (old journalists) often talk about the Good Old Days.
In her opinion, the “Good old days” weren’t all that great.
Newspaper/Media CEO’s have never been distinguished leaders.
Curiosity and risk-taking are absent.
There have been failures of coverage:
Post 9/11, run-up to Iraq War.
Ethical lapses.

She also says journalists are way too quiet. Journalists need to speak out on behalf of journalism. Nobody else is going to do it.

She repeated the phrase: "Separate tradition from principle." She means that many traditions are merely old habits that have nothing to do with the principles of journalism.

Another presenter was Dennis Horgan, who is a producer for "Countdown with Keith Oberman." One of his more interesting points was this:
Mainstream Media outlets aren't the only ones who can hire you.
A blog called TalkingPoints Memo is hiring people to conduct interviews. The point is: Why should you wait for the Mainstream Media to start serving you?

Also: Talking Points Memo was first to reveal the U.S. Attorney scandal. A writer in Phoenix talked about the U.S. Attorney there losing his job; somebody in Minneapolis chimed in, then somebody in San Francisco. TalkingPoints blogged about the story for weeks before it got traction. Tried to get Mainstream Media to report it. MSNBC picked up on it, and the rest is history.

One of Horgan's favorite blogs: Crooks and Liars. It uses video.

Boring Biz

http://www.examiner-enterprise.com/articles/2007/04/10/business/bus927.txt

http://www.examiner-enterprise.com/articles/2007/04/10/business/bus929.txt

http://www.examiner-enterprise.com/articles/2007/04/10/news/news723.txt

Tuesday notes

Lecture apr 10
Eng 2710

The link: http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/special_eds/20070319/

Administrative stuff:

Today I want to show an Australian documentary about Second Life. It doesn’t talk much about media, but it does talk to a critic. I’m one of the many who are just so ga-ga over Second Life that I don’t ask critical questions. This guy asks a few.

I want to reversion a few “evergreen” pieces today. The doc is about 45 minutes long, so if we can get the reversions out of the way early, we’ll have time.

One thing to consider:
Final projects:
If you plan to work on the Critic in the fall, why not make that your final project.
Design a Web site for the LSC community.

More Administration:
On Thursday, we will reversion as many Critic stories as we can find in the proper weekly file and hand them over to Chad for uploading.
Chelsea – please check with Chad about having you (and some of us) look over his shoulder when he uploads, so we can do it too.

Next week:
I want to create a “podcast” based on an issue of the paper. You TV folks might have fun with this. Next Tuesday’s homework assignment will be turning a story or two into a brief broadcast news story. We’ll put the thing together on Tuesday using Chelsey’s digital recorder.

We go “live” next week. I hope we can get a generic address like lyndonstate.edu/critic
We’ll see.

Second Life documentary

Best treatment of Second Life I've seen so far: http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/special_eds/20070319/default_standard_mac.htm
It's missing pretty much anything about media, though!

The Future of Journalism?

Check this out.