How To Help Haiti By Watching Football

The news world is constantly changing, especially when it comes to helping causes such as Haiti. After the era where you had to actually watch the news to get the news, I remember the day where I would be watching a show and a news story would scroll across the screen. Years later, not only would the breaking story show up, but then a number or a website would scroll across after that one could contact to send money to the relief effort. Well now, journalism has taken it one step farther. While watching the NFL, Minnesota Vikings vs Dallas Cowboys game today, a box at the bottom of the screen popped up. This box gave the opportunity for one to text the number 90999 to the U.S. Department of State, and by texting this number, $10 would be taken from your phone bill to help Red Cross Haiti relief efforts. On Friday, it had raised over $8 million, and the number continues to rise substantially.

Besides the advertisements on television for texting 90999 to help, blog spots have also made a huge difference in this project. About 3% of all blog posts (including this one) have something to do with the earthquake in

Haiti, with "tweets" from Twitter being the leader. The Red Cross on Twitter has gained more than 10,000 followers since the earthquake, which is clearly much more than the usual 50-100 a day.

Whether it is popping up during a football game or on your Twitter homepage, the advertisement to text 90999 to help the Red Cross seems to be everywhere. Journalism, along with technology, has taken the relief effort one step further, helping an astounding number of victims from the earthquake.

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Is Journalism Without Bias a Dying Breed in the Sporting World?

ESPN has been the master of sporting news and anything pertaining to sports since it debuted on September 7, 1979. Its magazine and web site are breeding grounds for a plethora or articles all pertaining to sports and the athletes and people who are involved in them. It employs many journalists who cover either their specific sport of interest, and even some journalists who are willing to write on a variety of sports. But what was once a field with little bias is changing. The stories and the way they are covered are now riddled with journalists who are lest interested in facts and more interested in giving their opinion.

One example of this is ESPN's Senior National Columnist Gene Wojciechowski's article about former Tennessee and now USC head coach Lane Kiffin. Wojciechowski was openly critical about Kiffin, and not just about his coaching statistics, but about his personality and character. Saying things like, " If there were a stock car race between all the frauds, egomaniacs and two-faced weasels I've ever covered, Lane Kiffin would have the pole position all to himself." and "Kiffin is and used car salesman with a whistle." Wojciechowski takes issue with Kiffin on a moral level and bashes him throughout the article because he feels Kiffin is morally flawed. He goes past the statistical analysis and published his feelings on the subject.

The same as Wojciechowski, University of Tennessee student Erin Exum wrote an article for ESPN.com titled "Students: Good riddance, Lane Kiffin." She also takes issue with Kiffin's character and attacks how he handled the situation from a biased point of view. In the article Exum calls Kiffin "about as faithful as Tiger Woods." She writes a side of the story that is clearly from her point of view and therefore biased.

Skimming through ESPN magazines and getting on the web site these days one cannot help but discover that a sports world for journalism without bias is becoming non-existent. It is happening in the biggest sporting news medium in the world. ESPN is the standard by which sports reporting and journalism is held to, and if ESPN is leaning towards bias then it is becoming a trend that may be killing old fashioned statistical analysis without bias.

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Haitian Earthquake Allows Media to Broaden Horizons

Rather than just posting facts or updates about the damage from the January 12 earthquake in Haiti, many news sites have begun covering the story from different angles.

Some websites choose to show picture to illustrate the damage the earthquake left. The NYTimes displays an aerial view of Haiti on their website, in which a person can use the 'swipe' tool to view the before and after image. Other websites like MSNBC include galleries of disturbing images from the aftermath of the earthquake. PicFog even allows 'tweeters' to upload images regarding Haiti via their Twitter accounts.

Apart from the graphic images that have been flooding the web the past few days, some sites include audio and video footage of the earthquake damage. Radio Station World allows people to listen for updates directly from Haiti, while CNN shows footage from street cameras as the earthquake actually hit.

Some of the more ambitious websites even set up tools to help with the recovery in Haiti. CNN's iReport features a "Looking for loved ones in Haiti," section. This allows anyone to upload images of missing loved ones, read stories on families who were reunited throughout the week, as well as view live reports and shout-outs from Haiti. GeoCommons allows viewers to study Haiti through maps. GeoCommons' map shows the possible fault line, the epicenter of the earthquake, and the locations of tremors after the initial shock. It also displays reports from Haiti on the destruction and recovery process. Twitter also played a major role in the coverage of the haitian earthquake by allowing users to 'tweet' reports from Haiti, or spread the word on new developments with thousands of other 'tweeters' throughout the world.

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The Cost of Online News

With the recent increase in online news reporting many news companies such as the Washington Post, New York Times, and other leading news companies are deciding when online reporting deserves a price tag and stretching the boundaries of journalism. Recently with the increase in online blogging and easy access of online news journalism companies have had to think outside the box to harness an entrepreneurial system for currently free media and news on the Internet.


According to an article by the New York Times chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. seems close to adding a subscription feature to the New York Times online media outlet that includes a monthly fee. Historically New York Times has been one of the leading news media sources that have been reliable and an ethical source for Americans since 1851. The original price of a Times news paper was a penny. Today's prices are slightly higher with a daily price of $2.00 for metro as well as national and $5.00 to $7.00 on Sundays. The decision to add a price tag to the online resource was debated for over a year. The online presence if the Times has been strong since 1996 allowing readers to access thousands of articles with only a few exceptions for articles that need registration information to access. However this registration information never included a credit card number or monthly fee only basic information to allow the New York Times to keep track of what kinds of people are reading their stories. The company looked to the Washington Post for ideas on how to gain back the value of the online news circuit. They have decided that there will be three types of pay strategies. Each with a a different level of access to articles with increasing amount of monthly fees attached.


The Washington Post also copyrighted their website in 1996 along with Times. Unlike Times however, the Post requires a $9.95 monthly subscription fee to access online articles. Other national renowned online news companies such as the Chicago Tribune and databases such as Google News have not yet made the change to a paid membership option yet either but with the continued trend of online news sources it will only be a matter of times before these sources will change the times.


However the Times will increase revenue drastically from its online sources Tom Friedman, an A-list columnist, says that he will lose many of his readers in India and China. Although this is a setback Time believes that this will be beneficial to their ever evolving industry and their company. With the continued trend of online sources applying these fee are going to force the Times to expand and explore other ways to entice their readers to continue to be loyal to their media.

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Relationship Between Science, Journalism, and Blogging?

It is very hard to believe that scientists would have anything to contribute to the world of journalism, but they do. Since 2006, starting with "The Science Blogging Anthology", science blogs have become very popular. This shift from the scientific journals to science blogs mirrors journalism's shift from print media like newspapers and magazines to the online blog. The science community has had great success with blogs and blogging. This success can be translated over to the journalism.

Many of the principles of the science blog relate to the "8 Must-Have Traits of Tomorrow's Journalist", starting with experimenting. Scientists experiment with ways of sharing information and helping other scientists in different fields and areas do the same. A journalist to should also learn to be familiar with all the different medias and be able to use them accordingly to the different stories they want to tell. Journalist should also become social journalists connecting with their audiences and reaching out to individuals. Science bloggers believe a key to success is diversity, which also means reaching out to the individual. Science blogs, also, rely heavily on networking, and journalist should also be community builders, if they want to see any success. Finally, both scientist and journalist should listen to the feedback of their readers.

The success the scientific community has seen following these principles should be incentive for future journalist to put them into their memory banks. Even though, scientists and journalists are trying to deliver different types of information to audiences, the these tips are universal for almost any blogger online.

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New York Times to charge for online subscriptions

Recently, the newspaper industry has been struggling to generate revenue, and it has been forced to come up with new ways to promote readership. Consumers have started getting news from websites offering the information for free, leaving less newspapers delivered. Newspaper companies are now publishing online editions of its traditional print counterparts. However, newspapers are still failing to turn profits. Many papers are discussing charging for online subscriptions, including the New York Times. Chairman Arthur Sulzberger Jr. is getting close to announcing plans for setting a subscription fee, according to New York Magazine. After a year of debate, the Times has settled on adopting a metered system similar to the one the Financial Times has put in place. This system will allow subscribers to view a certain number of articles for free before being prompted to subscribe for a fee. They have not announced the cost to subscribe.

The Times is concerned about losing readers , but they feel this is the only viable option to make money.

Several people will end up subscribing to the online edition of the paper. Obtaining the paper online is no different than receiving a hard copy, it just comes in a different format. People will subscribe to the online edition because of its accessibility and availability, given the increased use of smartphones and wireless internet connection. However, the question remains, will this help the Times make money?

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Can Apple's Tablet Help Print Media?

With all the hype about one of Apple's latest gadgets, the Tablet, many people involved with print media are wondering how it will affect them. A lot of rumors have been flying about this new product, and according to a story in Business Week all that Apple has said officially is that it plans to release a "tablet-based device in early 2010." It would also have an advanced touch screen and be close to the size of a MacBook.

In a recent article posted by Vadim Lavrusik, he discusses his opinion on the Tablet. His hopes are that it will make mobile news more user friendly, force news publishers to become more innovative in their site design, and create a potential for users to be willing to pay for this new content. He fears though that many news businesses will not be quick enough to adapt to this technology and that publishers will try to use it to boost their print sales. We also must not forget that many users are not willing to pay much (or at all) for a lot of this content, so profits from these new mobile sites will not be very large.

Print media's history of accepting changes in technology has not been a good one. With the advent of the internet many of these companies did not see the importance of posting news articles online, and lost many younger readers because of it. We simply do not have the time or patience any longer to sit and read a newspaper. Slowly the news media has caught up, and newspapers like USA Today and even The Des Moines Register have Twitter feeds. If print media throws everything it has into creating more user-friendly and interactive sites for the technology in products like the Tablet I have no doubt that they will succeed in getting more tech-savvy readers, and maybe even profit from it.

As part of a new generation of media consumers that rarely picks up a newspaper, I am excited for this new technology. We want to not only read the news, but to be able to have pictures, video, and audio to go along with it. We want to be able to ask questions and have them be answered by the reporter or blogger quickly. We want to leave our own opinions about an article and comment on the opinions of others. If print media accepts this early enough they will be able to reconnect with a seemingly lost generation of news readers.

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News Reader Responsibility

Have you ever wondered how the news media chooses stories. Or what happens as they create the order of stories for the evening. Well, here is a little tip. It is all about the money. They want stories which will give them the best ratings. It just so happens that those kinds of stories almost always are disaster pieces. For instance, in Haiti which has recently been the site of a massive major disaster has been receiving assistance from all over the world to aid in the relief effort. The media has a responsibility to report these to the rest of the world. However, there are cases where the media should take a second look at what they are reporting because it is something the world does not need to hear. For instance people had a desire and a want to listen to news about Tiger Woods. This is perfectly ok to report on but when the story is major news a month after it happened we should ask ourselves, there has to be something more important going on in the world than Tiger Woods cheating on his wife.

I guess what I want to get across with this message is we as active news listeners need to filter through the news stories and look for ones that have actual meaning in the world. By doing this I think the United States would gain more knowledge of the rest of the world and its problems.

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Journalism: A Changing Field

It is no secret that in today's world of journalism there are suddenly many major changes being made. What many people don't realize, though, is that these changes are actually not so sudden. These changes to journalism have been referred to as "The Big Thaw," meaning that we have been able to see these changes coming for a long time, like watching a glacier, but some have chosen not to make the necessary adjustments.

The journalism industry as we know it is changing rapidly. Some companies have been pro-active and started converting to news medias, while others have chose to stand back and watch "The Big Thaw," and are quickly getting left behind. Currently, journalists are starting to use new forms of media, such as Facebook and Twitter, as major news sources. These new tools help to speed up the process of getting news out to the public and will soon bring the world of journalism up to speed of "real-time reporting."

With everything in the world of journalism changing, from cell phones with wireless capabilities to other new technologies, journalists themselves will have to change the way they operate in the future in order to keep up with this chaotic industry.

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