The Guardian (U.K.) Unlimited is by no means your standard online newspaper, as aptly noted in Kristen Landreville's blog. Even so, I was surprised to learn they had started a topic-specific blog that was open to the public. That blog, coyly named KickAAS ("Kick All Agricultural Subsidies"), launched in response to readers' responses to a column in The Guardian back in July. It seems the readers had strong opinions about agricultural subsidies, which are often paid by wealthy governments to wealthy argricultural corporate entities.

When those subsidies became a central issue at the recent WTO meeting in Cancun, Mexico, the blog remained an active center for discussion: "it brought people of all political persuasions from around the world together to discuss policy and tactics" (Victor Keegan, writing in The Guardian).

The press facilitating open public discussion?! What a concept.
# posted by Mindy @ 9:51 AM ::

Shattered Glass is the true story of fallen journalist Stephen Glass. Glass was caught in May 1998 of fabricated many of his articles he had written for The New Republic.

It has been suggested Glass would not have been caught as early as he was had he not been sensational with his fabricated pieces.

In the fairly recent wake of the Jayson Blair scandal, will Shattered Glass cause Blair's name to resurface in the forefront of the news? Count on it.

Jayson Blair's fall from grace happened in April 2003 when it was discovered he had fictionalized some of his stories, even inventing sources. Blair was fired after one his last stories resembled one in another paper and editor Howell Raines relegated a team to scrutinize his articles.

Further, with unscrupulous journalists back in the news, this will serve as a deterrent from fabrication and plagiarism. Editors will begin to scrutinize their writers' work and journalists will steer away from unethical practices lest they be called out too.

It's difficult for journalists to conceal plagiarism and fabrication in their articles without getting caught, so this should ensure a higher likelihood of truthful articles in our newspapers for a spell, especially in the New York Times.

Shattered Glass will be released to theaters November 14 to some fierce competition. Whether you thought Christensen was awful as Anakin or not, this film is worth your time.

Update: The trailer is now online at Yahoo! Movies.
# posted by Alison @ 1:39 PM ::

Last week in class we talked about chunking & why it matters. This week we discussed:

• the nuts & bolts of writing for the Web
• how people read on the Web
• how to present content online

As a part of an in-class exercise, we pulled up recently posted articles on major news Web sites. Daniel Silverman, the blogger behind Media Tomorrow, could have predicted what we would find based on his recent post. Hardly any of the sites visited used any of the "better practices" concepts we discussed in class.

Certainly, the bigger media organizations are leading the way. But, there is a lot of catching up that the rest of industry must do. How can we expect full multimedia packages, increased "share this with a friend" features or lists of previous relevant articles if the majority of online media sites aren’t even fully utilizing the hyperlink?
# posted by kaye @ 8:28 PM ::

This semester the students of reporting & writing for online media are honing their commentary & editorial skills by analyzing news & events through their blogs. The blogs are now all posted on here on the blogroll. Surfing around these student-run blogs, it becomes clear that we have a well-rounded online publication. There is something for everyone here.

[ * denotes comment feature available ]

Science & environment:

• Michelle Aldridge's Earth To Michelle reviews environmental issues *
• Jessica Orr's Jessica's Science Page looks at developments in science & health

Politics:

• Lauren Dean's Dean's Scene follows the democratic primary
• Luis Delgado's The Democratic Race looks at the candidates who want to challenge President Bush in 2004
• Joe Manzo's Joe Politic provides political analysis

Sports:

• Andres Buenaventura's Andres's Sports Musings provides commentary on news in sports *
• Matt Moody's Passes & Picks analyses UF football
• Ryan Wilder's From the Wild Side looks at controversies in sports

Media analysis:

• Deborah Ball's Blind Justice looks at media coverage of the legal system *
• Joe Black's The Joe Review comments on student-run editorials on college campuses
• Kristen Landreville's World Watch analyzes international news coverage *
• Heather Leslie's News Addendum pinpoints stories that aren't being covered locally *
• Daniel Silverman's Media Tomorrow analyzes technology changes in the media *

Entertainment - high & low culture:

• Josh Benton's Outtype, Outwatch, Outblog - A Reality TV Weblog keeps readers up-to-date on reality TV news
• Alison Parker's frequently updated Cinema Aficionado gives readers the gouge on what to see & why *
• Amar Shah's Shahskpeare and Co. brings the latest news from literature to it's readers *

Take some time to surf around these great student-run weblogs & add to the discussion.

UPDATE: Amar's blog moved & the links now point to his new home. [ Sept 16, 2003 at 10:44 a.m. ]

UPDATE: Michelle Aldridge, Deborah Ball and Amar Shah added comment features to their blogs. This is noted above. [ Sept 17, 2003 at 4:24 p.m. ]
# posted by kaye @ 11:33 AM ::

Today is the 2nd anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Kristen Landreville, whose blog analyzes the top stories run in the online editions of major newspapers around the world, found that remembrance & reflection were the international stories of the day.

Yet, Heather Leslie, another media blogger whose purpose is to point out the stories that slip through the cracks each week, found slightly different coverage in the United States. At the end of her post today, she mentions some major newspapers hosting online packages commemorating the event. However, she announced with dismay that the Gainesville Sun reported a "muted observation" (her words, their article).

From lead story around the world to "restrained commemorations on today's second anniversary," the media continues to tell the story of Sept. 11.
# posted by kaye @ 10:21 PM ::

One way to think about chunking is in relation to what can easily be linked to (or linked to BY) outside Web sites. You can compare it to sampling in rap or hip-hop (or Moby music): I lift a riff from an old Barry White song and weave it into my new chart-topping song. My song is new and original but it also pays homage to someone else's work, and it refers you to that genre and that time period in pop music.

In other words, by including a 10-second sample in my song, I cause a resonation, a ripple effect.

"It's hard to listen to 'Walk This Way' objectively after all these years ... But play the title track, or 'It’s Tricky' -- they’re not just rapping over rock guitar. The guitar is assimilated into the beat. It rocks, but it's also 100% hip-hop."

-- From "Raising Hell - 1986" in Tribute to Jam Master J of Run DMC on The Elements

That article is somewhat awkward to link to, because it is so LONG. If it had been chunked, I could link you directly to the section "Raising Hell - 1986." My link may also raise some questions about language and the ethics of linking. I'll warn you that writers over on the Elements site curse and swear sometimes! So if you will be offended by that, please don't look.

Don't forget that sampling can be questionable, legally. Music sampling is a big legal quagmire, and the RIAA will go to court over it!
# posted by Mindy @ 12:52 PM ::

In class this week Professor Denise Bortree went over the concept of “chunking” news content into consumable nuggets for online presentation.

One student asked why online stories would be longer when people read less text on a monitor.

The conventional wisdom seems to profess that while people read less on the screen, they want access to more information. So techniques, like chunking, allow journalists to present information in concise, consumable pieces but still allow for the in-depth coverage that the Web has become known for. But are the online news organizations buying it?

A quick look around news Web sites shed light on who subscribes to the theory of chunking:

• Washington Post, New York Times, LA Times, Time & USA Today (this list could go on & on) tend to offer sidebar information on related articles, but still post long articles, presumably as you would see in the print version
• MSNBC news and Newsweek chunk content by separating the lead from the rest of the article, which is broken up into subheads

Even though chunking is not at all new, the concept has yet to be adopted by many news organizations.
# posted by kaye @ 3:09 AM ::

After thinking about the class discussion on the Kevin Sites’ issue, I have some additions to my beliefs. Although I still think that blogging is no different than other forms of interpersonal communication, there should be some limitations to a journalist-blogger who maintains a personal blog on his employer’s time and money (in Sites’ case, it was CNN). That is, there should be no monetary gain for the journalist-blogger, and no obscenity and traditionally “unethical” material on the blog. The journalist-blogger should state who his employer is because it is misleading not to.

Other than that, the journalist-blogger could potentially increase Web site hits for his employer, garner more attention for his employer, and help its reputation. Many online readers want more emotional, personal and first-hand accounts of major events, like the Iraq war. Blogging can accomplish this.

As for the Kevin Sites’ case and all journalists, employers do not own all their thoughts, feelings and reactions—even if they paid for his trip to Iraq or elsewhere. Freedom of expression should be protected everywhere the journalist reports, that includes journalists who maintain personal blogs.
# posted by Kristen @ 7:35 PM ::

Bloggers ask "can I blog this?" almost as frequently as they say "hello." But, how many ask their editors? During class yesterday, we found ourselves in the interesting debate about whether or not editors or news organizations have the right to shut down the weblogs of their journalists.

The question came up when discussing Kevin Sites and other journalists who were asked to stop posting to their weblogs by their employers. The popular reasoning seems to be that, at least in Sites’ case, CNN paid for Sites’ credentials & trip to Iraq. Therefore, any information, experience or report produced as a result of being in Iraq would be the “property” of CNN. Kevin Sites’ blog was stopped just as the war began. He resumed his "reporting" on CNN's server.

Like those debating the issue before us, we were equally divided as to whether or not the journalist had a right to blog in a situation like this:

:: Debbie said it blurs the lines of employment if you are paid to cover a story & use the info in other ways (personal gain)

:: Kristen felt that blogging the story was no different than the traditional ways of storytelling through interpersonal communication (where the reporter’s story travels like the grade school game of “gossip”)

One student even suggested that if you’re paid by a news organization then you should report for only that organization. If you want to run a blog, then you should start up a PayPal account & be the “people’s reporter.”

These are not easy questions to answer & chances are we won’t come to a consensus in 14 more weeks. But if more classes are like this one, we will get closer to understanding more of the ethical concerns that blogging brings to the field journalism.
# posted by kaye @ 11:44 PM ::