What's cool on the web this week
Norville Big Break: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zrqh1y62aKk
Journalistic Screw ups:
WJLA Tweet Gilberti shit: http://omurphy.net/images/WJLAShitTweet.jpg
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvspy/wjlas-super-tuesday-email-alerts-accidentally-declare-mitt-romney-winner-of-georgia-primary_b41291
TAL: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/460/retraction
http://omurphy.net/images/dixienormous.jpg
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/157246/wusa-removing-story-from-website-after-plagiarism-inquiries/
WUSA President and General Manager Allan Horlick says the station has removed a story from its website after learning that portions of it were taken from a Washington Post piece on the same subject.
The error happened, Horlick said by phone Friday, when an assignment editor saw the piece in the Post and cut and pasted the body of the information into an email that was then sent to Web producer Ashley Jennings, who thought it was a press release to be rewritten and published on WUSA9.com.
Discussion:
What are you discovering from your analysis?
Ads vs pay wall
Display-crowding vs. white space
Post reader, FB integration vs shared links?
When are pix needed vs headlines?
Social integration
Go to your site when breaking news to see response time, coverage, etc.
Mobile vs web page display
Users love photo galleries/lists TOP X #
load time
Review for mid-term
Dreamweaver exercises
Monday, March 26, 2012
Sunday, March 11, 2012
When non-journalists play the journalism game
Our class on media ethics reminded me of an ethical issue that I came across on the Poynter website. I think this issue is relevant to our discussion, and will love to hear what you guys think.
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/152923/mayor-uses-alias-to-write-freelance-stories-quoting-himself/
Utah’s West Valley City Mayor Mike Winder was unsatisfied that the local news coverage mainly focused on crimes. He wanted the media to report more positive news. He decided to write and publish articles in local newspapers. However, he disguised himself under an alias, and not even his editors knew his real identity. He got his articles published quite easily, without even meeting with any editor in person and communicating via email and phone.
When it came to the articles per se, he said that his articles were truly factual. Yet, he quoted himself as the mayor in his articles. In an article about the opening of a Buddhist Temple in a Salt Lake City suburb, he quoted himself saying, "We applaud any time a group builds a place to celebrate peace and to encourage people to live better lives." Arguably, this might have portrayed the mayor under a positive light.
The mayor decided to reveal that he was the person hiding behind his alias, before other political figures will use it against him. The CEO of the Dessert News, one of the newspapers where the mayor got published, offered the following explanation:
"While we appreciate that Mayor Winder would, of his own accord, quit writing under the assumed name and then detail the error to us, we remain highly concerned that someone would purposely misrepresent himself ... We deeply regret that Mayor Winder would do this."
So, here are my questions for you all: Should the newspapers have examined more seriously the identity of the writer before publishing his stories? If his articles are indeed factual, is the use of an alias acceptable? Are the mayor's actions excused by his desire to create a more balance coverage? Did the mayor cross the line into unethical journalism by quoting himself?
http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/152923/mayor-uses-alias-to-write-freelance-stories-quoting-himself/
Utah’s West Valley City Mayor Mike Winder was unsatisfied that the local news coverage mainly focused on crimes. He wanted the media to report more positive news. He decided to write and publish articles in local newspapers. However, he disguised himself under an alias, and not even his editors knew his real identity. He got his articles published quite easily, without even meeting with any editor in person and communicating via email and phone.
When it came to the articles per se, he said that his articles were truly factual. Yet, he quoted himself as the mayor in his articles. In an article about the opening of a Buddhist Temple in a Salt Lake City suburb, he quoted himself saying, "We applaud any time a group builds a place to celebrate peace and to encourage people to live better lives." Arguably, this might have portrayed the mayor under a positive light.
The mayor decided to reveal that he was the person hiding behind his alias, before other political figures will use it against him. The CEO of the Dessert News, one of the newspapers where the mayor got published, offered the following explanation:
"While we appreciate that Mayor Winder would, of his own accord, quit writing under the assumed name and then detail the error to us, we remain highly concerned that someone would purposely misrepresent himself ... We deeply regret that Mayor Winder would do this."
So, here are my questions for you all: Should the newspapers have examined more seriously the identity of the writer before publishing his stories? If his articles are indeed factual, is the use of an alias acceptable? Are the mayor's actions excused by his desire to create a more balance coverage? Did the mayor cross the line into unethical journalism by quoting himself?
AP Photo Project: Pakistani Army
http://www.whosay.com/ap/photos/143189
Two journalists embed with the Pakistani army created this presentation. Dealt with extreme conditions to take the user somewhere they've haven't been.
Two journalists embed with the Pakistani army created this presentation. Dealt with extreme conditions to take the user somewhere they've haven't been.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
long-form journalism
http://longform.org/
Is long-form journalism a lost art? how many people sit down and read articles that run more than 1000 words? I personally have trouble with it. Even if I start reading a great article, I will rarely finish it if the word count runs over 1500. I get bored. I want to move on to the next thing. Has instantaneous news, sound bytes and the 24 hour news cycle contributed to our news ADD?
I have tried to read the following article about Mitt Romney and his stance on abortion, but I can't get through it. I challenge someone to read the whole thing...
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/the_conversion/2012/02/mitt_romney_s_abortion_record_flip_flop_or_conversion_.single.html#pagebreak_anchor_2
Is long-form journalism a lost art? how many people sit down and read articles that run more than 1000 words? I personally have trouble with it. Even if I start reading a great article, I will rarely finish it if the word count runs over 1500. I get bored. I want to move on to the next thing. Has instantaneous news, sound bytes and the 24 hour news cycle contributed to our news ADD?
I have tried to read the following article about Mitt Romney and his stance on abortion, but I can't get through it. I challenge someone to read the whole thing...
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/the_conversion/2012/02/mitt_romney_s_abortion_record_flip_flop_or_conversion_.single.html#pagebreak_anchor_2
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)