This I believe about Digital Journalism
Prior to the digital news revolution, news was brought to consumers in one of two ways, You got the paper delivered in the early morning and read about what happened yesterday, or you watched TV news staple CNN for your national news, and your local news at night to see what happened during the day.
This I believe about Digital
l journalism, it is here to stay. The move to the digital brings many pros and cons to the newsroom, but make no mistake about this format it is this generations version of the news paper, and CNN.
The pros of Journalism’s Reconstruction are plentiful. For one Digital Journalism will continue to work in conjunction with the United States to help keep the government and other authorities honest. Digital Journalism has allowed for more and more news sources not bias toward a government party or watch group to surface. This means there will be less spin on stories that shine a light on either party.
Another benefit to Digital Journalism is the “read it, hear it, and see it” aspect the new journalism format. The example I can use for this is a story I personally experienced this past week, when A hockey player hit his own goalie with a stick, injured him, and he was carried off on a stretcher. Initially the story was presented in a text format, peaking my interest and causing me to say “ I want to see the video of that”. Next available for consumption was the Audio, from the Florida Panthers radio network, then finally someone at NHL.com was able to edit the video, and it was posted a little less than 20 minutes after the story has broke. Speed is another benefit of a digital format, facts, speculation, and personal accounts hit you hard and fast. There are many other benefits to Digital journalism, some I’m sure we have not yet scratched the surface/
Along with the good comes the bad. Citizen journalism is a great example of the bad. Citizen Journalism itself is not bad, it keeps professional journalism on top of it’s game. However It brings up several issues of credibility. For one, people often are unable to separate opinion and fact, or often in the case of citizen journalism opinion is presented as fact, and opposing facts are presented as opinion. Then a slew of readers read this mixed up message and present it as their own fact/opinion spew of information.
Going along with the fact and opinion matter is the issue of who is writing/recording the media. In this day and age pretty much anyone can get on a public forum and spout off how they feel and think, no matter how informed or misinformed they are.
The final downside (This I believe) is the comment section at the end of almost all of the news stories presented on websites. If the story calls for an opinion on something, like a story about a proposed bill, or something in the vein of public opinion, That’s great I say comment away. In the case of a presentation of facts, such as a crime, or something of the sort I say comments are un-needed and only hinder court cases because it brings cases to a public court.
This I believe about Digital Journalism, It is here to stay, and to help bring REAL Fair and Balanced coverage!
"You really can do first quality reporting in smaller news organizations with fewer reporters than you could have a decade ago. You can’t in any sustainable way do it without organizations that pay people to report. What impressed us is that there are so many interesting experiments going on that are trying to make such organizations work."-Schudson Talks back:CJR
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Monday, November 30, 2009
EMU Men’s Basketball: Eagles Win, No One Watches.
Last year Eastern Michigan men’s Basketball only won 8 games, A total they are already half way to reaching, in only their 6th game. With what appears to be a much lighter schedule, the Eagles have been picked to place as high as 3rd in the MAC West, and as of now sit atop the standings at 4-2.
Their early success is met with the usual skepticism of Eastern Michigan University students, who haven’t seen a winning season from either of their two college sports teams in quite some time. Their last successful seasons were in the mid-90s when the Football team was led by Charlie Batch, and Men’s basketball made an appearance in the NCAA tournament. Which shows when you attend a Basketball or football game at the school.
Their most recent home game was a clear indication of the teams recent struggles, playing in front of an official crowd of 434 against local college Davenport University. The convocation center, in the basketball configuration is capable of holding 8,824 fans, so you can imagine the sound of the 400 in attendance echoing off the empty seats of the Convocation center.
Davenport put fear into the Eagles in the first half, springing out to an 8 point lead about halfway through the first half, and going into half time with a 5 point lead over the Eagles squad.
The Second Half was a completely different story, the Eagles jumped on all of their opportunities in the second half, putting up 47 pts in the second half. Still down by 6 in the second half with about 3:30 to go, Eastern went on a 16 point run, and didn’t allow Davenport to score another point, and won by 10. Carlos Medlock scored a game high 32 points in the game, which is a very high point total for college basketball.
If Eastern can keep a winning record, and stay in the race for the MAC title, perhaps they can begin filling up the Convocation Center, and bring some much needed excitement to Eastern Michigan Eagles Sports.
Last year Eastern Michigan men’s Basketball only won 8 games, A total they are already half way to reaching, in only their 6th game. With what appears to be a much lighter schedule, the Eagles have been picked to place as high as 3rd in the MAC West, and as of now sit atop the standings at 4-2.
Their early success is met with the usual skepticism of Eastern Michigan University students, who haven’t seen a winning season from either of their two college sports teams in quite some time. Their last successful seasons were in the mid-90s when the Football team was led by Charlie Batch, and Men’s basketball made an appearance in the NCAA tournament. Which shows when you attend a Basketball or football game at the school.
Their most recent home game was a clear indication of the teams recent struggles, playing in front of an official crowd of 434 against local college Davenport University. The convocation center, in the basketball configuration is capable of holding 8,824 fans, so you can imagine the sound of the 400 in attendance echoing off the empty seats of the Convocation center.
Davenport put fear into the Eagles in the first half, springing out to an 8 point lead about halfway through the first half, and going into half time with a 5 point lead over the Eagles squad.
The Second Half was a completely different story, the Eagles jumped on all of their opportunities in the second half, putting up 47 pts in the second half. Still down by 6 in the second half with about 3:30 to go, Eastern went on a 16 point run, and didn’t allow Davenport to score another point, and won by 10. Carlos Medlock scored a game high 32 points in the game, which is a very high point total for college basketball.
If Eastern can keep a winning record, and stay in the race for the MAC title, perhaps they can begin filling up the Convocation Center, and bring some much needed excitement to Eastern Michigan Eagles Sports.
Prom-MISS
Angry students gathered with Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm (D) at a rally held on the campus of Eastern Michigan University. Monday November 23rd the Densely populated rally was attended by students eager to bring back the scholarships, which aided more than 96,000 students state wide.
The rally included several student speeches, giving their reason for being upset about the budget cut that ultimately eliminated up to $4000 dollars of student aid money per student. This cut has led many students to reconsider the school they are at, or if they should go to school at all.
Many like student Nathan Root have been forced to cut back on the amount of classes they will take per semester, and have had to double the amount of hours they work per week. This means students are falling behind academically to catch up financially, which could mean that graduation rates at 4 year universities could plummet.
Granholm gave a short speech, outlining the reasons that she herself has been fighting to bring back these funds, ever since she signed the budget cuts. Without her signature on the budget cuts, the state could have shut down, and could have unconvinced many.
The rally included several student speeches, giving their reason for being upset about the budget cut that ultimately eliminated up to $4000 dollars of student aid money per student. This cut has led many students to reconsider the school they are at, or if they should go to school at all.
Many like student Nathan Root have been forced to cut back on the amount of classes they will take per semester, and have had to double the amount of hours they work per week. This means students are falling behind academically to catch up financially, which could mean that graduation rates at 4 year universities could plummet.
Granholm gave a short speech, outlining the reasons that she herself has been fighting to bring back these funds, ever since she signed the budget cuts. Without her signature on the budget cuts, the state could have shut down, and could have unconvinced many.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
THe Reconstruction of Journalism
The Reconstruction of American journalism has been much discussed in this class, and I mostly agree that despite the changes, and the more easily accessable ways to get ideas out into public
Journalism will live on as a vital component to freedom, and a friend of democracy if the trend continues, and more and more news sites not favoring any government party, or agenda continues.
The issue of accountability has become a problem in todays citizen journalism, stories can go up and be posted without the people reading them ever knowing who posted the story, and what qualifies them to be writing it.
Journalism will live on as a vital component to freedom, and a friend of democracy if the trend continues, and more and more news sites not favoring any government party, or agenda continues.
The issue of accountability has become a problem in todays citizen journalism, stories can go up and be posted without the people reading them ever knowing who posted the story, and what qualifies them to be writing it.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
citizen journalism.
I don't like words like "buzzword",when describing citizen journalism. Buzzword makes the whole thing sounds like a fad, that will go away in a year or so. Aside from the semantics I feel this article is actually proof that citizen journalism is not just a fad. Companies are finding more ways to incorporate it with their websites, and also suggestions to how to keep the citizen journalism honest.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Take a stand!
The story I just read was very eye opening. I have always seen the media as more of a "you tell me what I want to know" sort of business. After reading "Taking a Stand" I get the feeling alot of what I always thought was ligitimate news is actually a well placed PR stunt. Many news agencies are simply broadcasting a pre-determined message, perhaps not presenting all the sides needed to make a fully informed case. Never have I thought about the power the media holds in this light. The News media could have shed more light on the racial issues of hurricane Katrina, and they didn't, for the most part the Media has been all about attacking the already wounded.
A press that is not informing the people for the public's sake, and instead informing the people for a corporate agenda is not a press I want to be apart of. Perhaps that is why the current infrastructure of the news media as we know it is changing.
Newspapers cover ordinary bland stories for most everyday of the week,Television news covers the same 6 stories for three days at a time, but after reading "Take A Stand" I have come to realize that our media is failing us. The everyday stories should be reduced, and filled with more stories like this one, A story about a homeless man that died at the bottom of an Elevator shaft. The story goes on to highlight the run down streets of Detroit, and how one man who owns many of these buildings should be held accountable. Journalism like that is what people need, journalism that gets things accomplished.
The truth is we will always need journalism, and in today's world of information, we will always need a credible source to lean on. Citizen journalism is not the answer to get the kind of journalism we need, but it is the best thing we have to fighting the one way street news that we get now.
A press that is not informing the people for the public's sake, and instead informing the people for a corporate agenda is not a press I want to be apart of. Perhaps that is why the current infrastructure of the news media as we know it is changing.
Newspapers cover ordinary bland stories for most everyday of the week,Television news covers the same 6 stories for three days at a time, but after reading "Take A Stand" I have come to realize that our media is failing us. The everyday stories should be reduced, and filled with more stories like this one, A story about a homeless man that died at the bottom of an Elevator shaft. The story goes on to highlight the run down streets of Detroit, and how one man who owns many of these buildings should be held accountable. Journalism like that is what people need, journalism that gets things accomplished.
The truth is we will always need journalism, and in today's world of information, we will always need a credible source to lean on. Citizen journalism is not the answer to get the kind of journalism we need, but it is the best thing we have to fighting the one way street news that we get now.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Some Stories shouldn't all be commented.
I recently Read what Trisha Hackman wrote in her blog about the transition to electronic media. In particular I thought about what she said about the "Interaction" with digital media, and I realized I agree with her in reguards to people keeping comments to themselves Recently somone in my city was murdered and it made the local news and it's website. Shortly after the story was posted a link was posted that showed a link to the alleged murder's facebook. Suddenly his facebook, which was there for his kids to see, was filled with all kinds of hate mail, telling him to "Go to hell" and all sorts of nasty things. In today's version of the media, we are allowing people to not only interact with the writer of the story, but we are allowing them to interact with those involved in the news. This could impact everything, including the trial and lives of the rest of the victims family.
Mike O'hara's "voice"
It took me a while to pick a "voice" that I really liked. My passion is sports, so i dove into my local sports page to search for a voice who I really enjoy, and really would like to imitate. I started with perhaps the most popular sports journalist "Mitch Albom", after up on a couple of his columns I found that I actually do not like the way he wrote sports. When reading his sports article I felt like I was reading one from someone with minimum depth of knowledge about our local teams. Perhaps the writer with the Voice I most related with is Mike O'hara with the Detroit News. He isn't too optimistic, and he isn't a pessimist either. This is impresssive, because after so many years of covering a team like the Detroit Lions, you might think he had nothing but bad to say about the team.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
How does the online news environment blur the distinction between news and information? Logan mentions Northwestern’s Rich Gordon, who says that for citizen-journalism to be effective, the enterprise needs a “citizen-editor.” What is the role of the citizen editor? Do you agree with Gordon here? Why or why not?
The online news environment makes the distiction between news and information a heck of a line to find. There is alot of information out on the web, but only a small fraction of that information is news. News is information that is relavent to a large group of people, and usually has some sort of time restraint on it. Information can be presnted in the news, but it is only news when it is timely and relevant.
The role of the the citizen editor should be to guide a citizen jounralist in the direction of what is important.Part of what blurs the line from newa and information is the person who is presenting it. most people will accept it as news when they read it from a credible sourse, like if broke a story on this blog, it would basically be information, until you could confirm it.
The online news environment makes the distiction between news and information a heck of a line to find. There is alot of information out on the web, but only a small fraction of that information is news. News is information that is relavent to a large group of people, and usually has some sort of time restraint on it. Information can be presnted in the news, but it is only news when it is timely and relevant.
The role of the the citizen editor should be to guide a citizen jounralist in the direction of what is important.Part of what blurs the line from newa and information is the person who is presenting it. most people will accept it as news when they read it from a credible sourse, like if broke a story on this blog, it would basically be information, until you could confirm it.
Newspapers lose to Digital Media
Newspapers rarely get to break a news story anymore, and most websites beat the cable news channels to the punch. Digital journalism allows for Reports to start out vague and general, and progress to a better put together story. Newspapers and TV cable are at a disadvantage because they generally can only put together stories when an ample amount of detail and information is available. Newspapers many times have to wait for the next day, or even two days later if it is late breaking, before being able to address a story! The physical newspaper looses a lot of ground to it’s online counterpart, Ad revenue has shifted to the internet, and subscription to the printed paper has gone way down. People are now able to go and see the news they want, when they want, without having to flip pages, fold the paper, or in most cases pay.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Thursday, October 1, 2009
As a Journalism major I have always wondered how the future of news would be affected. I read "No Free Lunch" The article was brief, but what i found most interesting is that the writer of the article took time to respond to the comments. Prior to digital journalism there was only one way to express your thouhgts about an article, and that was the good ole'm fashioned letter to the editor. Which involved writing the letter, putting it into an envelope, having to lick that nasty glue, buy a stamp, wait for the mailman to pick it up, then wait a few days and hope that your letter to the editor was addressed in the weekend, or next edition of the paper. Now you can simply write your thought, and only have to wait for maybe 25 minutes, and get a response. I know this doesn't, address the actual content of "No Free Lunch" but I think it may be an overlooked benefit of a new age of digital media.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Lions: Win now, develop later!
The Lions game against the Vikings was a tale of two halves, The first half was dominated by the Lions and their running game.....I'll give you time to read that last sentence again....The second was dominated by rookie Matthew Stafford looking like a rookie quarterback.
The decision to dub Stafford as the starting quarterback of the first franchise to loose all 16 games in a season was at first a population splitter. Half of Detroit's desperate fan base wanted to see Stafford sit for a few games, and watch Veteran Daunte Culpepper. The other half wanted to see the Lions 41.7 million dollar investment start right away.
Not sure which way to lean, i reserved judgement on the situation, but seeing the first two weeks of Stafford's career has made the choice for me.
For most teams, two games into the season would not be the time to switch things up, It would not be the time to panic. In Detroit however there is no time like the present, for a team who hasn't won a game in their last 19.
In no way are the Lions suppose to go anywhere this season, the logic behind starting Stafford makes sense but the logistics of it don't. The Lions put together a very solid performance against the Vikings in week 2, and were most likely a couple turnovers away from winning that game. The Defense again capped Adrian Peterson to 92 yards, and the offense actually out rushed Adrian Peterson. If any other team did that, they would have won the game for sure, the unfortunate reality is that the Lions had the wrong quarterback on the field if they want a victory this year.
In no way are the Lions suppose to go anywhere this season, the logic behind starting Stafford makes sense but the logistics of it don't.
Detroit needs a win now!, every loss this season prior to their first win, will just be another notch on their growing loss belt. That is why the Lions need to insert Daunte Culpepper into the line up, at least until they get a win or two.
Daunte Culpepper has been very professional since getting word that he would be in the back-up role. He lost the weight he had packed on in his retirement, and looked like a game manager in the pre-season. Perhaps that is because he knows the coaching staff will come a-calling. While you can't say for sure, you have to believe today Daunte would not have turned over the ball in the fashion that Stafford did.
By no means is this blog declaring Stafford a bust, and this is not a request to sit him for the remainder of the season, this is a request to put the Lions best players on the field in order to get the team a victory for this year. Stafford has a bright future, Culpepper has what it takes to win now.
Beyond just getting a win, the Lions have other worries that come with losing...The Lions cannot afford another top draft pick, even with the uncapped year coming up. Though it does appear a rookie cap is coming, it may be too little to late for the Lions.
Week 2's game was very close to not selling out, and not selling out is bad news for the Lions because fans will lose interest in the team, because of other sports going on, the Tigers are in a playoff race, and the Red Wings will be starting up soon.
The Lions need to win, and they need to win now!! Their best shot is with Culpepper!
The Ann Arbor News!
Recently I checked out Ann Arbor.com and I was pleasently suprised to find that it is in face a Great example of a hybrid news form. The main page at AnnArbor.com starts out somewhat plane, It looks very straight forward and to the point, Almost bland. The fun comes when you click on a story about a local Ann Arbor band, and the music video they had made. Starting at the top there was a picture of the group, like any normal newspaper may have. As I scrolled down the page I first came across an MP3 of the band's song "Cheerleader", then onward to Grizzly Bear's music video for "two weeks".
Part of the reason Newspaper has become outdated, is that when you write a feature on a band, such as the one on AnnArbor.com, everything you write in the paper cannot be interacted with. If you refer to a specific part of a video or song, everything is left up to the imagination, as to where on annarbor.com, you can post their video and MP3 right to the web site.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
