iPad App to Capitalize on Newspaper Subscription Deficit

Can you think of the last time you actually opened up a newspaper to gather your daily information?

I remember in Junior High School having to read the newspaper for a class, and found it pretty boring. Not enough color. Less than adequate visual and pictorial stimulation. Dry news to a 13-year-old.

It's no secret that young adults, and even some middle aged adults, also find the newspaper to be deficient and obsolete as a method for gathering news about the world.

So what are people doing about it?

The larger newspapers around the country are realizing that subsidizing their output into online-only distribution methods may in fact be the best way of sustaining themselves. Why? Because the vast majority of the general public finds news online and sees no need to buy a physical newspaper. Why? Because who wants to wait for days when you can access to top stories of the day in seconds?

But condensing to online-only outlets isn't the only option. At least not to Apple.

With the introduction of the iPad in the last year, Apple has found another way to bring the world wide web to your finger tips. Functioning just like a bigger version of its sister products, the iPod touch and iPhone, the iPad allows for mobile creativity and networking like never before.

So how does the iPad have anything to do with the news?

For corporate or tech-savy people who like to be informed (or those who genuinely enjoy the news), Apple and the iPad are strategizing ways to overcome the newspaper subscription deficit by bringing news apps right to you. There are already apps out there for msnbc.com, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and other new related sources for the iPhone and iPod touch. But what the iPad is rumored of intending to do, is let the newspapers themselves in on the deal.

Right now this is pure speculation, but the potential of putting this idea into the works could have a lot of positives.

Apple has already allowed for users to share their personal data/demographic information in functioning with certain apps, which can be very useful for publications looking to lure advertisers and customers. If newspapers and advertisers have a more select target market (i.e. iPad users) they may in fact be able to save face...and possibly gain some new customers in the process.

Problems with this idea would be that Apple could potentially take a hit from potential sales. According to Roger Fidler, digital publishing chief at the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute, Apple could lose out on 30% of the subscriptions sold through the App Store, and another 40% on advertising from publishers' apps.

"Newspapers are wary of Apple becoming a middle-man," Fidler said. Publications preferred to offer the app as part of a subscription to their papers’ print versions. “Instead, they must use Apple as an intermediary with subscribers."

There are obviously a lot more kinks to work out with this proposed idea:

-Who is going to benefit more from this 'partnership'?

-Will this only fuel the monopoly that is Apple?

-Can Apple find a way to satisfy its audience while doing a the civic duty of saving the newspaper subscription plunge?

If there is something that can be taken away here, it's that people and places are recognizing the decline in print media and want to take steps to aid and adapt to the technological changes that accompany it.

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Social Media as a 'Social' Tool Yesterday is a Marketing Tool Today

Social medias as a social network are transitioning to an intriguing marketing tool for marketers.

Many businesses are using social medias as a marketing tool now that it is figured out what does and doesn't work, and that it needs to be integrated into a marketing plan.

Social Media Marketing Industry Report: How Marketers are Using Social Media to Grow Their Businesses releases information after a study done on marketers specifically focusing on top 10 media questions marketers want answered.

1. What are the best tactics to use?

2. How do I measure the effectiveness of social media?

3. Where do I start?

4. How do I manage the social balance?

5. What are the best sites and tools out there?

6. How do I make the most of my available time?

7. How do I find and focus my efforts on my target audience?

8. How do I convert my social media marketing efforts into tangible results?

9. How do I cohesively tie different social media efforts together?

10. Does social media marketing work, and if so, how effective is it?

This study also revealed that many marketers are wanting to learn more about the social medias and take full advantage of the many free social media tools.

Of the marketers put under used for questioning, the majority of them used Twitter, blogs, LinkedIn and Facebook were at the top, but at the same time Twitter and LinkedIn were also the two social networks that marketers wanted to learn more about.

Social medias are being used more frequently than not especially for marketers. The what does and doesn't work with in social medias is now starting to be acknowledged in marketing.

So even with the use of social media platforms such as Twitter, blogs, LinkedIn and Facebook, there is still more that marketers are wanting to learn about these still newer forms of social medias to establish their foothold in the market.

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Magazines May Soon Be Available on iPad

In recent years, more and more print articles have become extinct and available only online. I don't know whether to be sorry, or excited.

Apple wants to make newspaper and magazine subscriptions available on iTunes and has been messing around with this idea for a while now. Even before the iPad was launched.

Some publishing companies released an iPad version of their work to go along with the iPad's release. Time Inc. was one of them.

Of course it seems like a bright idea, but after you think about it, the question is money. Print and online subscriptions go for $4-$5, and when you can get it for less through database subscriptions or iTunes. Publishing companies like to use their database subscriptions to gain customers and advertisers.

Apple takes a 30% revenue on everything it sells on iTunes, and hopes to do the same with periodicals.

The iPad has hopes of making magazines and newspapers more engaging to the audience rather than just the glossy finish on the print version. Publishers hope that Apple's iTunes will help increase sales since songs, video, and other downloads do very well.

iTunes still has a small amount of books, but the iPad will allow a much better experience which will increase the amount of e-books in the future.

It makes me wonder what will take place of the magazine racks at the check out. Maybe Amazon's Kindle and Barnes and Noble's Nook will follow. This is just another step towards less print articles.

Go Green?

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Become Friends With Your Computer

When making friends, it's important to learn about their particular qualities. If you really want to get close to a friend, you must figure out what's inside of them as well. Be friends with your computer.


Instead of taking everything you see on the screen for granted, learn to change and edit webpages to your liking.


Journalists will increasingly find the need for skills that computer science departments are teaching.


The article, "Hack Into Hackers," by Nicholas Carlson, points out that it's the new journalist's job to learn "enough computer science and software engineering to be able to design tools for information gathering, synthesis, analysis and circulation." Basically to do everything that is involved with being a journalist.


Because of the evolving news world, journalists aren't sticking to one area of reporting. Traditional news jobs are going to becoming less prevalent where internet blogs and microblogging sites are gaining on their audiences.


In the reading, "technology firms like Yahoo and Google" are mentioned as examples of how man, technology and journalism have teamed up to make a power trio.

HTML codes can be used to do just about anything on the internet from editing a YouTube video to making your very own webpage.


By learning how to code on the  computer, you can more easily brand yourself as a journalist and improve your search engine optomization.


Being a new journalist means a more demanding workload and a whole new set of skills required to even begin the job. It is necessary now and will become more necessary in the future to aquire these and various other computer skills to be successful.


Get comfortable in your seat and give your computer a name because in no time you'll be making great friends.

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Social Media in Journalism: What's the Future?

As social media continues to evolve into an everyday necessity for people across the globe, journalists are the ones who are having to learn and evolve the most with the changes. Journalists are having to learn how to use more than just a notepad and a pen but rather online tools like Facebook and Twitter are an essential part of a journalists proverbial "bag of tricks."

In the article "The Future of Social Media in Journalism" by Vadim Lavrusik, he explains what many professors and journalists feel is the future of social media and journalism. According to Lavrusik social media in journalism will eventually see the "death of social media." He goes on to say that "all media as we know it today will become social, and feature a social component to one extent or another."

The article lays out many great points about the future of journalism and social media which I could not agree more with.

I agree that collaborative reporting has and will become more integrated. Sources and journalists will both have their hands in the stories they report and give info to. Also journalists will be more involved with the community they cover. The article mentions that newsrooms will be built to "focus on utilizing the community and enabling its members its members to be enrolled as correspondents." I feel as if this is a great point. With they way social media is now, people are already acting as journalists when they report news via Twitter. It's just the way things are now and like it or not we are all journalists if we want to be.

I'm not saying that social media is killing true journalists. I feel the world still needs true journalists.

The article makes a good point of how journalists will become community managers. Instead of journalists telling the people what they need to know, journalists and the community engage in conversation about news and journalists manage these conversations while still gathering traditional news stories.

Other things the article ponders are how social media is essentially the new news editor in the world of journalism.

Alfred Hermida, a professor of integrated journalism at the University of British Colombia is quoted in the article as saying "Platforms like Twitter can turn our social network into our editor. Once this role was the preserve of a newspaper editor, who decided what the public should read that morning. Now people can turn to their social networks to find out, 'what do my friends or people I respect think I should read about this morning.'"

Throughout the article there are topics covered that one can say are already beginning to happen throughout the world of journalism. As journalists we need to strive to change and grow with the new concept of media becoming completely social. There really is no room to resist the change, its either roll with the punches or die trying to resist them. I would strongly suggest that others heed these thoughts and concepts in this article by Lavrusik in order to keep growing with the new concept of journalism today.

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Twitter: Where It's Been and Where It'll Go

A lot of things in life begin with an idea and are molded and changed until they have a true purpose. The social networking site, Twitter, is one of those things.

Last week, Christopher Isaac (more commonly known as Biz Stone), the co-founder of Twitter visited Ball State. He led a forum event discussing "Twitter's rocky beginning and his plans to make the site a more useful information source", as explained in this article.

Stone never finished college, as he dropped out to work with book cover designing. He became a Web entrepreneur when he founded Xanga, a social networking site. He met Evan Williams and they became business partners as they created Odeo, one of the first podcast companies.

Eventually this site developed into the social networking site which would become Twitter.

Stone and Williams realized the potential of their site in 2007, when they noticed attendees at a festival using Twitter to invite each other to different places around the convention. It appeared that the site was making the humans flock like animals, and that's how they decided on the name Twitter.

In 2009 they noticed Twitter was critical for media and world leaders to share information on the situation in Iran. Stone stated "Twitter can be a complementary source for news because it offers the first bit of information in 140 characters, leaving the media to develop the full story."

Today Twitter has over 165 million registered accounts.

With so much success already, Stone wants to continue shaping Twitter into a tool to help people find information that's relevant to them right now. He says there are plenty of applications that will help this process along.

Stone wrapped it up saying, "I don't know what they (the untapped used for Twitter) are yet. I think a lot of it's going to be our job in trying to unlock it, by creating more relevance, by helping discovery and helping serendipity.

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M.I.A. Dislikes Red Headed Reporters

In 2007 M.I.A. came out with her hit single Paper Planes only to loose her fans by creating a controversial music video. A New York Times reporter by the name of Lynn Hirschberg retaliated for redheads everywhere.

M.I.A.'s music Video "Born Free" was essentially a redhead genocide video with rock music playing in the background.

Lane wrote an article expressing her opinion about the video calling M.I.A. a ginger hater. M.I.A. retaliated by posting Lane's phone number to twitter. In an Interview Lane said she was not surprised that M.I.A. would do that.

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News stories becoming less newsworthy

Does it ever seem like all you see online are topics about who's going to rehab, who got divorced, who wore what to the latest fashion show, or stories about the "bare-foot bandit"? Why have newspapers (both online and in print) chosen to run more articles on seemingly unimportant topics as opposed to the real issues? Because those are the types of stories that sell.

Based on a recent article Washington Post writer Paul Farhi writing for the American Journalism Review, consumers are more interested in these types of topics than they are ones that thirty years ago would have been considered newsworthy.

Farhi states that if you check out any major news network, you will find a list of top-viewed and most recommended links and videos to watch (CBS, NBC, ABC to name a few). Go to one now and see what you find. Chances are the top hits are not all going to be on the war in Iraq or what the Tea Party is up to, but articles that have headlines that jump out. Novelty is becoming increasingly more important these days.

Does that mean that these topics are any less important than they were in the time of Walter Cronkite and Peter Jennings? Not necessarily, but the people behind the scenes of newspapers have realized that they just aren't going to bring in the money as they once did.

I believe a reason for the switch in headline "stories" is the changing audience. Younger consumers tend to be more aware of what is going on in the world without needing to be reminded of it 24-7. We have access to all these amazing online tools and resources to allow us to get short tidbits of stories without needing to sit down and read a newspaper to do so. For the older generation, however, they still rely on newspapers to get their information (and do they honestly care if Britney has cleaned up her act).

While is is unnerving to think that we care more about people's personal lives than we do real issues, hopefully newspapers and online sources alike can find a way to continue attracting consumers to their products, so that we do not lose anything and everything newsworthy.

We have magazines and tabloids for a reason, and newspapers should not feel that they need to compete with them.

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Journalism Ethics 101

While anyone can be a journalist nowadays, it doesn't mean that everyone has or understands the core principles of journalism.

The Next Ethics? Media Ethics Workshop, hosted by Kent State University on Sept. 16, gathered skilled journalists, college professors and prospect journalism students to discuss the current newswriting and reporting practices in today's media.

Among the distinguished speakers at the conference was Arianna Huffington,Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief of the Huffinton Post. In her speech, Ms. Huffington acknowledged that journalism practices were changing and, due to the introduction of new technology, forthcoming journalists needed to adapt to a new journalism environment.

Ms. Huffington encourages the new era of journalism through the use of blogs or social media. However, she believes that "today's journalists should re-visit and learn from the old-fashion journalism." In other words, journalists today should keep in mind the true essential ethics behind Journalism as presented by the Society of Professional Journalists:

- Journalists should demonstarte honesty, fairness, and audacity when gathering information and reporting news.

- Journalists should be respectful and cautious about different social groups and sources of information.

- There should be no strings attached between journalists and sources in order to avoid conflicts of interest.

- A journalist should be responsible for a proper delivery of news and generate a dialogue among audiences.

Although the medium by which news are delivered might change, the ethics of Journalism should remain intact and put into practice more often.

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Unsuspected Eyes

Undetected people may be watching you right now. They may be absolutely anywhere, spying on your every move.

The unusual irony about this is you allow it to happen. You put yourself out there to be detected nearly every single day.

What am I talking about, you ask? I am talking about social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare.

Social networking sites have become ever increasingly popular not only to the public but also to journalists.

Journalists typically use the websites in a professional manner like posting information about journalism or news that may be happening around them.

The public, on the other hand, tend to use the networking websites in a personal manner. They update their statuses multiple times a day, sometimes even including what their location is.

Burglars have been eying in on those statuses, using them to plan their next attack.

Now, you may be thinking, "This can't happen to me." The truth is, "Yes, it can." I'm sure this man never thought it could happen to him.

Burglars are also banding together to create a "burglary ring".

What can you do to protect yourself? Simple, don't post personal information on the Internet or add people you don't know.

If you must post personal information don't include your current location or whether you may be home or not.

To try and counter-act these attacks there is a website called pleaserobme.com. The site is used to inform the public on the dangers of social networking sites.

Now that you have been informed on the dangers of social networking sites, hopefully you will take caution and protect yourself.

Happy networking.

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Media Coverage shows Media Influence

A question in the minds of media professionals is, what is the role of the media in the spread of world events and as a venue of public influence?

The Quran burning event has been a major topic in the media and has sparked the question of what the media should cover when it comes to something that could have a worldwide effect. Many news organizations have refused to print pictures and extended articles about Terry Jones' extremist threats because of their perceived ability to have a harmful worldwide effect.

Bill Keller, executive editor of the New York Times, said in response to decisions to not extensively cover the story, "The freedom to publish includes the freedom not to publish."

The question of the role of media as public influence is hard to answer, especially when extensive coverage of a topic like the Quran burning would exasperate civil or religious extremists world wide and even endanger Americans overseas.

Paul Steiger, editor-in-chief of ProPublica, discussed the idea of media as public influence at the Poynter Kent State Media Ethics Workshop 2010. Steiger discussed how modern news outlets have a goal of promoting stories that have a "high process of going viral" rather than topics that are "thought provoking...or challenging."

The question that the newspapers had to answer was whether the Quran burning story was a harmfully viral story or an important and thought provoking story worthy of public recognition and ultimately a form of public influence. Some decided that this story would become harmfully viral and would endanger the public as it influenced it if the story was printed in whole.

In this case, the reader can judge if these media outlets made the right choice in refusing to print this story. It can be the reader's job to keep the media outlets in check with the values of journalism and also to allow or not allow these media outlets to influence the public.

It comes down to personal judgment and an ability, or inability, to be influenced.

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Photojournalism Makes a Comeback

In a time where journalists are expected to write, photograph, shoot, and edit their own stories, a question arises: what is the future of photojournalism?

We are all told as journalists that in today's economy, where jobs are scarce and job security is a thing of the past, having just one niche is a deal breaker. A journalist must not simply be a

triple threat, but a quadruple threat.

With photography cooperatives such as Luceo Images and Magnum Photos popping up, however, hope isn't completely lost for a career in photojournalism.

Blogger from The New York Times, James Estrin, said in his blog entitled, "If Photojournalism Is Dead, What's Luceo?", that although "there's no doubt that there are dire economic changes in the photography business and fewer assignments to cover news," an economically efficient photojournalism career is still possible.

Rather than working through agencies where the photographers are tossed around like playing cards, photography co-ops like Luceo give individual photographers a chance to further develop their abilities and to take the reins by allowing them equal roles in the organization.

However, although a picture is said to be worth a thousand words, the topic of whether it is also worth a thousand dollars is debatable.

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Journalism Makes A Shift In Schools Out East

In recent years, the scope of journalism has shifted from the traditional forms of news gathering to a more online and multimedia approach. It's no secret that the majority of the general news-conscious public gathers more than 80% of their information from an online source. Combined with audio, video, pictures, AND shorter articles, journalistic news has made a shift...and so have the people who participate in its production.

Journalism schools in New York and other cities on the East Coast have noticed this shift to a more multimedia approach and have implemented teaching new skills into their curriculum.

Adam Penenberg, an NYU faculty member said, "The challenge inherent to journalism programs today is like taking a bowling ball and trying to hit a fast-moving target."

Students are being faced with the difficult task of having multiple skills. Journalists used to be able to just write, edit, and occasionally do audio. Now they have to encompass all aspects of social media, online and print news, audio, video production and editing, and photography.

What schools out East hope to accomplish, is by equipping students with the necessary tools/skills to succeed in the rapidly changing world that is journalism and media, that they can learn, adapt, and effectively fit the role of the 'new' journalist.

New courses focusing on managing social media (specifically Twitter and Foursquare) and encouraging discussions by students on class websites are among some of the 'quick changes' journalism schools are making to adapt to this media shift.

--Sound familiar?

Not only are big, journalist-ritzy, East Coast schools making changes, but so are private, community, and state schools. EVERYONE has begun to recognize the need for attention to technology. Classes at Simpson College, for example, try to promote the same key elements in their course work. Twitter, blogging, discussions boards, encouraging internships and practicums in student-run media groups are all essential for those looking to pursue jobs in ANY realm of communications.

--So what does this mean for the Communications/Journalism student?

1. Get with it. --Establish yourself on various social networking sites, create a profile, share your work, gain a 'fan base' and market yourself. The more you do, the more likely people will see it.

2. Be confident. --No one likes a timid journalist. Don't be afraid to put yourself out there and try new things. Go after the news; don't let it come to you.

3. Utilize your talents. --Sure they're asking for you to master everything...but you also want to find your niche in communications. If you excel at shooting and editing video, focus on mastering that skill. It's not hard to incorporate other areas of multimedia once you get the basics...but you have to know what you are good at.

Journalism schools and Communications departments across the country are seeing the need to educate and adapt to the changing technological culture we're being thrust into. If we don't keep up with the fast-paced cyber channels being developed, journalism (in any traditional sense) will cease to exist.

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Online News Becomes a Conversation Between Journalists and Community

With the race to make it online, journalists are learning to use social media sites, and the users of these sights, to their advantage.

Future journalists will be more a part of the community than ever. Bloggers will be relied on for credible sources. Everyone will become a part of social media by reporting what they see.

It used to be the journalists telling the community what they should know. Now it's become an online conversation of news between the two.

Community members have become their own journalists. They are already reporting the news around them using social media. Journalists need to learn how to use this to their advantage. Social media platforms shouldn't be used just as a way to get readers back to your site.

Social sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube will become social media platforms for the news. These sites have become like editors by telling readers what's important. Readers are curious about what friends are saying and looking at.

Along with this, a new job will arise for those who can curate all the information flying around. Readers don't always have time to sift through everything. Important information can be pieced together from social media sites into a story. Storyful is currently working on using information from sites like Twitter and Youtube to do just this.

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'New' Twitter Takes on Facebook Elements

Twitter's launch of 'new' Twitter allows for expansion that will develop essential

components to compete with Facebook and third-party platforms.

Many features added into Twitter are components that most have seen in Facebook. Although these features aren't new to the social medias, Twitter obtains the features while still maintaining the Twitter 'feel.'

The new Twitter layout consists of the original left column where Tweets are posted along with new features that include maps of geo-locations tagged tweets, embedded photos, and video.

Now that these tools are provided, many journalists can use Twitter to its fullest potential. Before updates to Twitter, one way to get information out was through links. Now the newer version allows for video and pictures creating a community on the Twitter page as oppose to leaving the Twitter page to obtain information.

The new improved layout for Twitter was released September 14th, 2010 and will be reaching everyone soon.

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Are people going to pay to read newspapers online?

With the advancement of technology, newspaper companies are losing their business to people who can get their information online at the click of a button without having to wait for the paperboy.

Chas Hartman of the University of Kentucky is trying to find an exact number, and currently has a survey set up online that you can fill out. It asks whether or not you read news (which if you don't, it won't do much good to fill out the survey), where you read it, etc. You can find the survey by checking out Gina Chen's blog, where she provides a link.

I think the question on journalist's minds is how they are going to make money if they no longer are publishing articles in newspapers that people have to buy. Eric Alterman wrote an essay for The New Yorker back in 2008 entitled Out of Print: The Life and Death of Newspapers in which he talks about the history of newspapers, and how they are slowly disappearing. As we've heard stated, online journalists do not get paid much of anything to write and article.

Another issue with newspapers going to online is that with social mediums such as Blogger and Twitter, people are able to get short summaries of the news, and from many different sources. There are dozens of different news reporters now online, and each striving to have their blogs and articles followed. While these bloggers and Tweeters may not be news reporters, they are still capable of taking stories and making them their own.

In the end, there will be some people that are willing to pay for news access online, but I feel that more people are going to try to find ways around it. The sites that offer free stories are going to have more people visiting than the one that charge.

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YouTube, Like Google is Now Instant

Technology is constantly changing. Once you have what you think is the latest and greatest invention; someone bursts your bubble with something better. We want everything fast and free, so our friends at Google helped us out.

Many of us are aware of the new "instant search" that Google now provides. It makes searching even more quick and efficient.

What if YouTube does the same? Feross Aboukhadijeh, a Stanford junior and Facebook intern did just that. How did he do it? Three hours of coding.

If you're like me, you can't code at all and don't know the first thing about it. That is why I am amazed how Aboukhadijeh sat at his computer for three hours and all of a sudden became a famous contributor to the Internet.

YouTube offered Aboukhadijeh a job via Twitter but since he is an intern with Facebook had to decline the offer. So you won't find YouTube Instant on youtube.com.

Although it is still considered Youtube, it's actually called YouTube Instant. You have to go to Aboukhadijeh's site.

Google search for "YouTube Instant", or I'll make it even easier for you. Go to YouTube Instant and try it yourself.

Honestly, I think this is a great idea. The video starts literally starts searching after each key punch. On the downfall, it's only great if you know exactly what you're looking for. Otherwise it can get a bit annoying. Another is you can't click where ever on the stream to play whatever you desire. That option is simply not there. Also, fast internet is a must to get the full effect. My apologies to those who still use dial-up. I strongly suggest an upgrade.

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Print Dies, Journalism Lives On

Technology is rapidly advancing, and everyone must evolve with it. Just as radio stars became film stars when television was invented, journalists today must adapt from print to digital.

This article, titled "Journalism not dead, just evolving as a medium" explains that newspaper companies are making drastic changes to approach this situation.

Since 2000, print circulations have decreased by 26 percent. At the International Newsroom Summit last week, newspaper executives discussed ways to remain profitable as the decline in print continues.

Sulzberger, chairman of New York Times, stated, "We will stop printing The New York Times sometime in the future, date TBD." This article, about the conference discussed the economics of these shifts. It informs that starting in 2011, New York Times will still allow readers to access some information free, but will start charging those who use the site heavily.

As news moves from paper to the web, the number of publications charging for their online content will skyrocket. Users may be unwilling to pay for information that's free elsewhere, so companies must take caution to assure that they're accomodating their customers online.

With sites such as Flickr and Twitter and devices like the Kindle and iPad, it's possible for journalists to share news from anywhere, and for readers to access it anywhere and anytime. This instant interaction creates endless benefits for journalists.

As the article author puts it, "Though physical newspapers might soon be doomed to the fate of sheepskin scrolls, journalism itself survives as a highly marketable, in-demand
commodity." The transition from print to digital is inevitable. I believe it will be a long and complicated road, but journalism will continue strong if this evolution is handled strategically.

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Social Now Does More Than Socialize

We all know that Twitter and Facebook link people to the world of communication as to what is going on out there. They are more geared toward playing games and talking with people, but now are being used to support crises response efforts by FEMA, DHS, fire, and police departments. An example of this is in 2009 two girls were trapped in a storm sewer and used their phones to updated the status of their condition and their friends notified the authorities so they could receive help.

Facebook is inexpensive which makes it easier for groups to get involved with this program and everyone is already on Facebook now so why not add more people and ones that can provide help. It is also flexible which entitles there to be all different types of apps. besides just games and other social things. In emergencies Facebook can be used to notify families of what is going on. However, it could also result in identify left or robbery of people by hacking into their information. Along with this people are now turning to e-mail and forms of social media to report emergencies in stead of dialing 9-1-1 because they feel they will get through quick. That is not the case because most data centers can't accept date from the social medias.

It's crazy to think that we used to have to use verbal communication in cases of crises or emergency and now we can just use our phones and tweet what is going on or post a status if there is a problem. Our world has changed so much and will continue doing so.

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Less is More...But is it Really?

There are many things that differentiate news blogs from newspapers. The main difference is many news sites do not have enough money to hire a news room full of professional reporters due to the lack of advertising or investors, which leads to less experienced and fewer journalists working for the online site. Bloggers typically consist of newly graduated journalists and interns who will work for less money.

So how is a news site affected by this?

With fewer Journalists fewer stories are covered. News sites can still succeed with limited reporters with limitations on full-bodied news. To keep up with the times it is common to see newspapers that have an online version along with their printed version. By doing this they have the availability to post breaking news along with printing a weeks worth of full-bodied news. It is a well known fact that the printed newspaper makes less money today than it had in the previous years but it still makes more money than most news websites. 

Will the printed newspaper die out? I think eventually yes, but we must walk before we run and embrace ourselves for the era of printed and online papers until online news sites can find a way to become more profitable than the printed newspaper.

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Keeping News Coverage Safe

About two months ago when Pastor Terry Jones announced he planned to burn the Quran, the Muslim holy book, on September 11, 2010 the news sparked an international turmoil.

As the 'Burn a Quran Day' came closer in the calendar, tensions grew and caused alarm in the media.

While there was uncertainty about whether the Quran burning was going to occur or not, news agencies and television networks were already thinking about proper ways to report this event. Some news agencies, like the Associated Press, viewed this event as "provocative and offensive," therefore declined to distribute images, audio or detailed descriptions of burning Qurans.

Similarly, CNN reported that a host for a popular Pakistan TV channel "didn't dare to report the news because if he did, not a single American would be safe in Pakistan."

It seemed like the reporting of burning Qurans through mainstream media would not have helped in any way, but it would help further spread hate and discrimination against Muslims.

Pastor Terry Jones, leader of the Dove World Outreach Center in Florida, planned the commemorative event to mark the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. "Despite pressure from The White House, religious leaders, and others to call it off," Pastor Jones was determined to carry-on with his plans.

The Quran burning was eventually called off by Pastor Jones himself.

The fact that some news agencies and television networks agreed not to release any offensive, discriminative, or disgusting content is something to be proud about.

Nowadays, news agencies try to get better rankings and notoriety among others by releasing the most shocking news. In such a sensitive case as the Quran burning, keeping news coverage under certain limitations, I believe, says much about a conscientious news organization and its journalistic values.

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The Times and Social News

It appears that The New York Times is getting more involved with the growing phenomenon of social news. According to the article entitled "Betaworks and The Times Plan a Social News Service" by Jenna Wortham, The Times is partnering with Betaworks to create a new social news site called News.me.

In the ever expanding world of online social media and news it would seem fitting that a journalism institution such as The Times would be getting involved with social news. My feeling is that as much as The Times may or may not want to, they have to get on board with online social news. Sites like Twitter have forever changed the landscape of journalism by creating this instant source for breaking news that, in some ways, has helped kill off print newspapers: see Seattle Post-Intellingencer and Rocky Mountain News.

This collaboration between Betaworks, who are the creators of TweetDeck and Bit.ly, and The New York Times has been in the works for the past six months according to the article by Wortham. Not many details have been released about the site to this point which keeps the mystery intact.

When you direct yourself to the News.me site there is nothing more than a placeholder as a web page. However judging by the name of the site, one can only imagine the possibilities it may provide to the media consumer.

Initially it is said that News.me will debut as an IPad application and a web version may be introduced at a later date.

You may ask what does this do for newspapers and social media moving forward? It seems to this blogger that News.me is only another exciting tool that is coming available to journalists and the public in general. It remains to be seen what effect this venture and others of its kind will ultimately have on the newspaper industry. However with newspapers getting into the fold, it would seem that they are doing their best to change and evolve with today's ever changing society.

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The Abandoned RSS Feed

As media evolves, journalists must also retrieve information in new, innovative ways. Sites such as Twitter and Facebook are becoming more widely used in the journalism world. Unfortunately, for RSS feeds this means major competition and Twitter is winning.

IAC was forced to shut down its RSS feed, Bloglines, on Friday, September 10th, after owning the information service for only five years.

According to the article "The Death of the RSS Reader" by Joseph Tartakoff, "Bloglines’ shut down was likely inevitable whether IAC had taken better care of it or not, as people have shifted away from RSS readers over the last two years."

Of course it is well known to where the shift has been made. Journalists are moving to Twitter and Facebook because of their accuracy and immediacy for updates in news.

Journalists are able to track down the information they need as well as distribute it as they see fit. This is, in essence, what it means to be a journalist. With real-time news feeds, it is easier for people in every part of the world to share their news.

The reason for dying RSS feeds is not that they are innaccurate or out-of-date, but rather that they provide only news tracking options and lack the highly important news sharing capabilities.

"Recent moves with Google Reader seem to indicate that it too believes that it needs to be more than a straight RSS reader to be successful," Tartakoff said. "Users can now “follow” people who publicly share items via Google Reader and also flag items that they “like.”

By adding these features, Google Reader has made itself more interactive for the consumer and provided means for sharing the news that one would typically find on the site.

In essence, the RSS feed has not been left behind because customers are unsatisfied with the news it brings, it is merely a lack of attention to journalists' increasing needs.

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The Middle Ages

Recently, President Barack Obama announced that the combat mission in Iraq would be coming to an end. Instead of the 170,000 troops that were stationed in Iraq in 2007, there will be 50,000 troops to remain until 2011. The remaining troops will train and assist the Iraqi military.

U.S. Troops will no longer be allowed to perform combat missions unless asked and accompanied by Iraqi forces. This has been all over the news. Obama is making a great step towards doing what is right for the United States.

There have been enough casualties and injuries of United States soldiers over in Iraq. This recent news story may be found online. Since journalism has become more popular on the Internet, the need for printed newspapers has decreased drastically. News articles online are readily available and easily accessible, which is why they are so popular among the public. Plus, reading an article using the Internet doesn't require a purchase to read, such as a newspaper.

Unlike a newspaper, if an online article has a mistake it may be fixed with a few simple clicks. Instead, a newspaper has to be reprinted which takes time, and if people already bought the newspaper before the correcting, nothing may be changed.

I prefer to get my news via Internet especially news about touchy topics such as Obama relaying messages about Iraq. I want my information to be concise and accurate. Printed newspapers seem like The Middle Ages today.

How do you feel about where you get your news from? Also, what are your thoughts on Obama's message to the United States on withdrawing troops?

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Do Journalists Need Oversight?

The formation of a new ethics seal has some journalists objecting to the idea of oversight. The TAO of Journalism seal states that journalists bearing it's seal are to be "transparent about who [they] are, Accountable for [their] mistakes, and Open to other points of view." Deborah Potter wrote in her blog Do Journalists need a new ethics pledge? that transparency, accountability and openness "are among the core values of journalism."

But just how should journalists be made to adhere to these "core values"?
The TAO of Journalism seal is a "promise to your readers" intended to allow "legacy journalist[s]...citizen journalist[s]... independent blogger[s], or anyone else practicing journalism in the broadest sense of the word" to gain credibility and trust from readers. The idea is that while there is no overseeing council in charge of making sure journalists who bear the TAO of Journalism seal adhere to the guidelines of the seal, the public is to be in charge of making sure these journalists do not violate those guidelines.

The aspect that many journalists are struggling with is, why do we oversight? As the editor of the Puerto Rico Sun Communications, Clarisel Gonzolez commented on Potter's article, "They can keep their seal, I don't need a seal to confirm my principles." This new seal, along with other seals like it, cause readers to distrust reporters--in most cases without cause. While meant to give more credibility and trust to journalists, it causes readers to have an ever more cautious and critical eye on a journalist's work.

For some journalists, however, perhaps this ethic seal would do wonders in keeping them in line with Potter's "core values." In the case of Mike Wise of the Washington Post, perhaps bearing the TAO of Journalism seal would have discouraged him from "Tweeting" false news. Wise claimed he was trying to make a point about the declining standards of the media, but "He made that point in the worst way imaginable: by making up a phony 'scoop' and posting it on Twitter."

How do we as journalists, then, figure out when we need, if ever, to prove our credibility? Is it only necessary if doubt falls upon our readers? Or is it our obligation as media personnel to give our readers every opportunity to closely examine our product with the ability to publicly criticize, punish and demand the truth if they find our product to be untrustworthy and unreliable?

It is interesting, but also discouraging to think that journalists might need to be held accountable in order to prove that they are meeting standards and properly incorporating the core values of journalism into their work. What does this say about the current state of our craft?

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"God or no God?" That is the question.

One of the biggest news this week was Stephen Hawking's release of his new book "The Grand Design", in which he argues that God did not have anything to do with the creation of the universe. In fact, Hawking states that "the 'Bing Bang' was the result of the laws of physics and did not need God to spark the creation of the universe". In other words, the universe created itself out of nothing, an idea known as spontaneous creation. Thus, the debate begins.

As expected, in a world where the majority of people belong to a certain religion, thoughts and comments against physics being the only explanation to the creation of the universe have been quickly spread throughout the web. Tweets on Twitter and video comments on YouTube are two examples of the ways people opt to share their thoughts. While a few comments clearly show support for Hawking's ideas, many others show strong disapproval against him. CNN reported that on Friday September 3rd, the same day Hawking revealed his book, religious leaders immediately responded to Hawking's explanation of existence.

What would it be of this kind of news without the Internet? It's amazing how Twitter and YouTube have led the world engage in a very important and huge debate by expressing different points of view.

Honestly, I have no clear idea about why or how we came to exist and I don't think I will be able to fully comprehend why everything exists. However, I find it really hard to believe that a huge thing, like the universe, can be created out of nothing. I believe there is an infinite source of intelligence behind the creation of the universe and I call him God. I might be wrong or I might be right, the truth is nobody knows the exact explanation behind the creation of the universe.

This is certainly a topic where opinion is important. What is your opinion on the controversy caused by Hawking's statements?

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200 Transformational Moments

In a recent article at Poynter Online, Bill Mitchell writes about "200 Moments that Transformed Journalism," as compiled by David Shedden, Poynter Library director.

Shedden selected 200 moments that occurred in the years 2000 through 2009, using the New Media Timeline; a resource he created and has maintained to track the evolution of news since the invention of the Internet in 1969.

As Mitchell said in his article, "there's often no way to tell, in the moment, whether any given development signals a passing fancy, a seed of destruction or a glimpse of tomorrow. But there's nothing like a little hindsight to provide some context."

"Not all of Shedden's 200 moments are as consequential as his first entry for the year 2000 -- the acquisition of the Time Warner media empire by that once feisty startup known as America Online."

It's an interesting list and I have to agree with Mitchell. Some selections, "seemed to have little to do with the news at the time," but you be the judge. Take a look and see what you think. At the very least, it will provide some interesting conversation around the office water cooler!

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Halt Opinion-Hurling Journalism

Today's Poynter Online, features an article about a speech given recently by Pulitzer Prize winner Ellen Goodman. It took place at Harvard's Nieman Foundation for Journalism, in celebration of the winners and finalists for the J. Anthony Lukas book prizes.

In her speech, Goodman commended the writers for
their "work against the very strong tide of the times, against food fight journalism. We live in an era of opinion hurling, where there are villains and heroes. Everything is required to be far more simplistic than the problems we face."

I say, "Bravo!" to Ms. Goodman. In this age of "Faux" News and others, I find her perspective very refreshing.

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Journalism..what do we want?

During the last 8 weeks I have paid more attention the journalism. One thing that I have notice is that yes everyone can be a journalist, but we no longer have to wait for "certified" journalist to supply us with information any more. I don't have to watch a game or news cast to see who won anymore. Facebook and Twitter can give me up-to-date information faster then a journalist can load it onto a website. I can find out traffic delays, hotel selections, sports scores all on my blackberry.
Today we don't have to wait for People Magazine to come out, celebreties Twitter they thoughts and events with us daily. To me this is a subject of wanting the cake and the ability to eat it also. We want to save the journalism industry BUT we want everything at out finger tips also. We are going to have to all get on the same page or it might be too late for the journalism industry as we knew it growing up (for those of us over 40).

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