iPad Journalism

The recent unveiling of the iPad by Apple has generated a lot of buzz - especially among journalists. Journalists are trying to find a way to make the iPad benefit the industry. Magazine editors like the iPad because it caters to their needs of designing. Several people agree that the iPad can change journalism because of its "immersive potential, its platform for rich multimedia, its ability to deliver information based on where it is in the world."

According to graphic designer Joe Zeff, newspaper editors should approach the iPad because of its graphic elements and how people will interact with it.

Poynter Online Managing Editor Steve Myers says that people don't want to read long stories even if the graphics are "stunning."

I would agree with Myers. It sounds like the iPad offers another platform of media. Most people who would be interested in getting apps probably have subscriptions to newspapers. Therefore, newspaper companies would just be giving readers another way to access information.

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Your Morning News...Fresh or Stale?

Today our news comes from a vast number of directions and alarmingly fast. Journalists and newspapers are constantly challenged with selling what is elsewhere available for free. How we receive our information and news is widely available to everyone and journalists, once again, are struggling to sell the news--at least to people under the age of fifty-five. Editors and news directors feel the angst of the growing and continued population of the Internet. They now see the huge threat the Web represents to the way they distribute their product.

The days of getting your news and information from the newspaper are long gone. More often than not, by the time a story has been printed on the front page of your paper, it has been blasted online for many hours. It is often old news at that point. Many papers and journalists, while slow to this conclusion, have learned that they not only need to report the news but to offer other layers. These layers are often opinions, analysis, points of view, and interpretation. Is it finally time to sell something more than just the news?

In the days when the latest news was available to anyone who chatted in the street or at church or the supermarket provided mostly opinion--the something extra above just the news. The growth of cities and the development of weekly papers encouraged the development of the sale of news and mass production. This has lasted more than a hundred years.

If journalism is to move past just selling widely available, cheap, staler-than your morning coffee news--they must choose to impart of a ear piercing word--wisdom. Mainstream journalists are making a big mistake if they continue to believe that their ability to collect and organize information will continue to make them indispensable.

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Welcome to the New Sports Illustrated

The up and coming iPad has been all the rage lately. This revolutionary piece of technology that will be released April 3rd is expected to change media. The popular sports magazine, Sports Illustrated, is taking it one step further though.

On December 2nd, The Wonder Factory collaborated with Time, Inc. and sent a demo to YouTube of what Sports Illustrated is expected to be like on the iPad. Terry McDonnell, editor of the magazine, narrates the video.

The video starts out with a normal cover of the magazine on the iPad, but soon enough football player Tim Tebow comes to life and the cover is now a clip of his previous game.

The inside cover is not only a table of contents for the rest of the magazine, but also a score board of games being played and new breaking news stories.

One of the most interesting aspects of Sports Illustrated on the iPad is that you can rearrange the contents to whatever order you like.

Another feature of the magazine is that instead of having one picture on a page, by touching the picture, you get access to hundreds more related pictures. By circling the picture with your finger, you can send that picture to a friend.

Even the advertising is more dynamic. It is no longer just an ad, but now an actual video commercial.

You can even check up on and rearrange your fantasy league.

Probably the most talked about feature, is the fact that the Sports Illustrated: Swimsuit Edition is no longer just pictures, but videos.

And as if all of this wasn't enough, Sports Illustrated is working on games that can be played while watching games.

Sports Illustrated is just one of the many magazines to be working with the iPad, but they seems to be leading the way.

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Further Thoughts on Twitter

In a recent Beginning Newswriting and Reporting class discussion, our professor urged the class to remain faithful Twitter users, as familiarity with the program will be a necessary skill for those of us entering a journalism/communication field. Then, searching for a blog topic I came across an article on MediaShift, written by media consultant Ian Capstick. This article, entitled "PR Pros Use Twitter to Reinvigorate Brands, Engage in Conversation," offered excellent advice on using Twitter and social media that greatly added to my understanding of the class discussion.

For starters, Twitter offers a new platform for businesses to communicate with their audiences. The article focused mainly on the ways in which the hospitality industry uses the tool specifically, Fairmount Hotels and Resorts. The company, which operates hotels and resorts across the globe started using Twitter to communicate deals and savings to interested audiences, with each individual property maintaining its own account. Since using Twitter, the company has seen higher occupancy rates after posting "online only discounts."

"I really found the genuine ability to connect with people valuable," said Brian Simpson, Fairmount's director of social hospitality.

It has been shown that Twitter has provided an excellent platform for reaching audiences for some companies, but has failed to do so for others. According to Maggie Fox, CEO of the Social Media Group, who has acted as Ford's social media consultant, tweeting consistently remains the most important and crucial aspect of using Twitter as a profitable business tool. Under this model, the number of tweets a company offers a day does not play as large a role, as long as tweets are coming consistently. We have discussed this in class and it seems only common sense that professionals would offer this advice.

However, for some companies, even consistent tweeting has not worked. In this case, Twitter simply may not be a viable communication platform. Another PR professional mentioned in the article, Steve Rubel, advises that the most important aspect for companies interested in utilizing Twitter or social media is analyzing the audience to understand what platform will deliver the message best. "Too many people start with the tools first. Thats like buying paint before you have a floor plan," said Rubel.

I strongly agree with Rubel on this point, as I have seen numerous student organizations on campus set up Twitter accounts, despite the fact that a majority of Simpson students do not utilize the platform. While I certainly am not criticizing student groups for using Twitter, in fact, I encourage it, I question whether or not it truly works as a communication tool with students at this point in time. Despite this, I hope to see students continually develop their use of Twitter and encourage anyone interested in further information to read this article and research further.

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Checkbook Journalism

ABC News was accused and admitted to paying Casey Anthony, who is on trial for the murder of her daughter, $200,000 for exclusive rights to photos and home video for television broadcast while covering the trial. The Society of Professional Journalists calls this "checkbook journalism", and it is becoming popular among major broadcast networks.

According to the SPJ, "checkbook journalism" is unethical. Paying a source for any reason gives the public rights to doubt the credibility of the news outlet. Not to mention the fact, if sources believe money is involved, they could embellish and exaggerate the story in order to get paid a larger amount. It is also not fair to other news organizations to pay for exclusive interviews.

ABC News is not the only major news network to be accused of "checkbook journalism." Other culprits that have been called out by the SPJ include: CBS, CNN and NBC.

Why do these organizations do this? Surly, none of the major broadcast networks would take money from sources because it would create a conflict of interest, which is one of the Seven Deadly Sins of Journalism. So isn't paying a source doing the same thing, but in reverse?

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Work of the Sob Sisters

Long narratives about disfiguring aiments, and fatal illnesses particularly involving young children pull at the heart strings. The lessons of redemption and spiritual stamina strongly tug at the emotional connection of the reader.

Today, like long ago, stories are manipulating emotions more than they are providing information. A study of trends in Pulitzer Prize-winning feature stories found that a significant amount of the winning stories were about illness or a death by murder.

Appetites for emotinal stories are growing. During a time of anxiety and recession, readers often find these tales comforting. Unlike its macho past, newspapers and journalism today is built on the emotional connection. In a competitive media market you have to deliver something "different". The need to find positive meaning in suffering and the redemption to over come is so strong that journalists tend to go overboard.

Matthew T. Felling, media director at the Center for Media and Public Affairs, attributes the trend to a "weep creep" from television to print. The "sob stories" have become a standard and have conditioned news consumers to look for them in every news product.

Does this emotional connection attract the otherwise less interested reader? Newspapers and other media outlets alike are taking the "shock jock" approach in order to maintain profit margins and business models.

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Advertising on the Front Page?

Page designers, editors and even reporters are grudgingly gaining acceptance of page-one advertisements. For years unfashionable, advertisements are slowly making their way to the front page.

In the past, they snaked across the bottom of the page as a column strip or they have graced the page in right-corner boxes. Increasing in size, changing in color and shape, they are slowly creeping to a front page near you.

Many journalists believe this tragic, distasteful event violates the true meaning of news and journalism. Their is a fine line and a sacred wall between news and business. Many feel they scramble to flow and order of the page. In an ear of decreasing newsholes, journalists feel they eat up space otherwise devoted to stories.

The San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and many other Gannett papers have published front page advertisements for years. Page-one ads net premium prices and drive revenue. Somes papers such as the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and the Boston Globe have dabbled in ads on section fronts but have kept page one off-limits. Some of the larger papers which debut front page ads feel that this is just an evolution of multimedia news.

As more and more papers dive into this taboo trend, the designers are working to minimize how distracting they may appear. Opinions about page-one advertising continue to surface at a constant pace. Some believe that if the ads are guided by taste, they are acceptable. While others feel this is a sign of painful ecomonic times for newspapers.

As long as newspapers continue to deliver the latest relevant news, and put better stories on the top of the front page, who cares what you put in an ad at the bottom of the page?

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A Journalists Worst Nightmare

Writers block.

It's happened to almost everyone at some point in their lives, and Jeremy Porter and I seem to be having the same problem right now. Luckily he has a few suggestions for what to do if you have no idea what to write, or have so many ideas that you have no idea where to start.

Here are a few of the strategies he suggests:

• If you don't have any idea what to write about, ask your friends or readers for suggestions. They're your main audience after all and will more than likely be glad to help.

• Keep a list of ideas at the ready. This can be especially helpful when you need to meet a deadline.

• It may be helpful to have a few ideas in draft form. If you don't feel motivated to finish it now, you might be able to use it later.

Try a few of these out next time you're struggling for subject matter.

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China Fires Back at Google

Recently Google and China are at a stand off over censorship and human rights activistism.

Goggle first announced that it would consider pulling out of China as of January, saying that it would no longer censor search results of the Chinese government after a set of cyber attacks targeting human rights activists.

"... we stopped censoring our search services--Google Search, Google News, and Google Images-- on Google.cn. Users visiting Google.cn are now being redirected to Google.com.hk, where we are offering uncensored search in simplified Chinese, specifically designed for users in mainland China and delivered via our servers in Hong Kong..."

However, in response to the recent tactic of redirecting Chinese users to its uncensored Hong Kong site the Chinese government began disabling certain searches or blocking the results, according to the New York Times.

Along with the change there has been some backlash for Google. China Mobile is expected to cancel a deal that was supposed to make Google its default mobile search provider.

People believe that Googles anti-censorship movement against China hasn't had much success, at least from the Chinese Internet users perspective.

In response Google said it hopes that the Chinese Government will respect its decision and announced it will be "carefully monitoring access issues," leaving people around the world wondering: what is Google going to do next?

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A Different Kind of Battle

40 years ago, 46 women filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against Newsweek Magazine. At that time, 25% of the staff journalists were female. This year, 39% of the staff is female. And yet, the author of 46 headlines published by the magazine last year were by men. An article published in Newsweek last Friday addressed this issue and the battle that women still face in regards to our place in the work force and the control we have over our careers.

The women who wrote the 1970 article brought up several very valid points that even in my career I have been witness too. Women in positions of power have had to fight hard against the glass ceiling, albeit a thinner one that was there 40 years ago. This leaves them perceived as unkind, overly ambitious, and other sometimes not-so-nice stereotypes. Does this come from an unrealistic expectation that's placed on young girls during their youth? You can have it all: the house, the husband, the 2.5 kids, the SUV, and the career, if your willing to work hard for it.

But in reality, you can't have it all. And, in my personal life, I've experienced the opposite of the battle described in Newsweek. After the birth of my second child, I chose to downgrade my position at work to be able to be home more. This led me to experience opposite judgments than those who are trying to climb the ladder of success. I've been perceived as lazy, just a home-maker, unambitious; one co-worker even went as far as to tell me that in making that choice, I'm fighting against all that the women of the past had fought for. Didn't I appreciate the fact that I can be out of the house and have a career, instead of being just a mom?

Of course I appreciate that. I'm all for people advancing themselves; if you have a dream, go for it. But, the different battle I've faced is that my dream is to be a mom, and that's it. I don't have a desire for a title other than mommy. Does that make me unappreciative of the battle that has been fought by my female predecessors for the right to work? Of course not. But, in reality, shouldn't equal rights mean that I can choose to work or choose to be home?

It's a very good read and rather eye opening, but it leaves me wishing that when discussing sexism in society, that people wouldn't forget the other side of the battle: there are those of us who want nothing more than to be homemakers, and that should be acceptable as well as those who want to be CEO's.

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Secret Service Dither Over Bitter Twitter

Tweeting - it sounds so harmless; but a Tweet is not just a Tweet when you are threatening to kill the President of the United States.

According to Adam Ostrow , that's what two Twitter users found out after publishing tweets reading “ASSASSINATION! America, we survived the Assassinations and Lincoln & Kennedy. We’ll surely get over a bullet to Barrack Obama’s head” and “You Should be Assassinated!! @Barack Obama.” Apparently, the two were frustrated over the passage of the Health Care Reform Bill.

The Secret Service takes threats such as these seriously and after being told there would be a federal investigation, both Twitter users tried to back track from their remarks. According to ABC News , the two were frustrated over the passage of Health Care @THHEE_JAY was taken offline and @Solly_Forrel posted "Let us all renounce the harsh rhetoric.....Several including myself have used inappropriate language. Let's remain civil!"

This is an example of how social media does carry weight. We've all been cautioned about Facebook; how employers are monitoring and what you view as your innocent party pictures could hamper your efforts to snag that new job or promotion. Moms used to issue the warning "remember to wear clean underwear in case you're in an accident"; nowadays the warning is "remember, once you put something out on cyberspace it can come back to haunt you." The person showing up at your door, could be a Federal Agent.

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Protect Dawn and Meredith

Recently a trainer, Dawn Brancheau at SeaWorld was killed when the killer whale she was working with suddenly grabbed her by the hair and pulled her into the water. Cameras at SeaWorld captured two different angles, but neither camera captured the entire event.

SeaWorld joined forces with the Brancheau family this week to try and keep photos and the videos of Dawn’s death out of the public eye. They are concern that members of the media will be able to gain access to the videos if they become part of an investigative file with law enforcement.

Lisa Bloom a legal analyst for CNN stated on CNN.com “In fact, Florida's broad laws regarding access to public documents creates a great likelihood of such a possibility. As a general rule, matters of a police file are public record, and the media has access to contents of a police file. Most mainstream media are not going to broadcast someone being killed or someone's remains, but it's a matter of having that access to decide how to use it," Bloom said.

Another story that relates to this is the '>Meredith Emerson story. A reporter for Hustler magazine requested pictures of the crime scene for a story that they were doing on Meredith. The pictures showed Emerson’s nude and decapitated body. A judge blocked the request for these pictures, Hustler magazine is searching for options available if they choose to push this further.

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CBS Turns Down Tiger

CBS was recently one of the three media outlets chosen to conduct a five minute interview with Tiger Woods.

To viewers, this may seem like an honor. To CBS? Not so much.

CBS has chosen to turn down the interview.

The reason CBS refused has nothing to do with the fact that the maximum time allotted for the interview is a mere five minutes. Or even that by the time the interview airs, viewers would already have had a chance to see his other interviews on every local news and sports report.

Though Woods is declaring several topics of conversation too personal for the interview, even that is not the reason CBS won't commit.

CBS simply did not see any value in an interview with Woods.

CBS is responsible for broadcasting the Masters -- the tournament Woods has chosen to make his season debut. Should he make it to the final rounds of the Masters, Woods would be getting more than enough coverage to keep viewers satisfied.

A five minute interview before the Masters over topics decided solely by Woods himself, would not be beneficial to its viewers, according to Sean McManus, president of CBS Sports.

CBS is set in their decision not to interview Woods. They may, however, be singing a different tune, should Tiger Woods win his fifth Green Jacket next month at the Masters.

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Profile Of A Journalist

For anyone considering a career in journalism, there's a great article in today's New York Times that is a must-read. It's the story of Eric Hippeau, a fifth generation journalist and current CEO of The Huffington Post.

Inspired to become a journalist by the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Hippeau talks about his early life in France, Switzerland, London and Brazil. His father ran the photo business for United Press International.

He began his career as photojournalist and sports editor, then became an editor in chief of a local English language newspaper in Brazil at the age of 20, where he learned all the details of putting a paper to bed each day.

Hippeau talks about paying his dues in the news business and marvels at how the industry has changed. Today, news is available around the clock. Just a few years ago, people depended on daily newspapers and the evening news for information. Current technology allows people to actually engage with the news by writing comments, blogging, sharing information on social websites.

Hippeau sums up his journalism career like this: "My career taught me that you have to go through life with your eyes wide open and be curious. If you do this, you'll find incredible opportunities. Just jump on them and follow your instincts."

Wise words for all of us, don't you think?

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Local Newspapers are Dying

Newsflash: The newspaper industry is dying. I know this isn't exactly a new development, but the fact is that to most people, newspapers are already dead.

In his latest post for the Online Journalism Review, Robert Hernandez said that white males are the ones that don't realize that newspapers are dead. This is because newspapers tell stories that relate to this demographic. Hernandez said for African American, Native American, Asian, Latinos, gays, females and those under 25 feel that newspapers are already dead. These groups believe this because they are continuously left out of their local newspaper.

Hernandez said that if local newspapers don't reflect the diversity of their community then why would they bother to read it, or even buy it?

As a journalist, it is very important to cater to your audience. If you choose not to, readers will lack confidence in your reporting. They like to read stories in which they can relate to, and if your writing doesn't reflect your audience, they will lose interest in the paper. In addition, more readers are turning to the Internet to find stories that relate to them or they have become journalists themselves.

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This is a test

Hi, I'm Stacy Johnson, the newest reporter from Simpson College for The News About the News. I'm really looking forward to becoming a blogger this term for our course.

To start with, my favorite news source is msn.com.

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Reuters' Social Media Policy and Twitter

Reuters advises journalists not to break stories on Twitter in their new social media policy that was released Wednesday. Reuters wants news to be broken on the wire first.

This is only one of the stipulations of Reuters' social media policy. It is also suggested that journalists seek approval from managers to use Twitter for professional purposes and having a peer double-check tweets before posting . Reuters also encourages journalists to have two separate Twitter accounts, one for private use and one for professional.

Reuters claims that this a way to keep a journalists personal biased out of the news, but is it really? Maybe it is more the fact that if more news is tweeted first and then published officially later, less people will go to Reuters' Web site to read the whole story. In this day and age, losing readers to Twitter is something that no news organizations cannot afford to do.

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Whose Rights are Being Protected?

You could be living next door to a rapist, and never even know. A man from New Jersey allegedly raped his five daughters, but the Associated Press is not revealing his name. Why is his identity being protected? He is not the victim.

The New York Daily News and the New Jersey Star-Ledger did not protect this perpetrator, however. They chose to reveal the accused rapist's identity. The Associated Press wants to protect the identity of the children. By not revealing his name, they are protecting a man facing criminal sexual contact, sexual assault, and child endangerment charges.

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Protesting Turkey's YouTube Ban

In May of 2008, judges in Turkey banned its citizens from accessing YouTube, under the justification that the Web site failed to obtain authorization to operate within the country. Now, two years later, according to a March 9 article by Clothilde Le Coz featured on MediaShift, newspapers in Turkey are organizing to protest what they view as a suppression of freedoms of speech.

The protest, which began in February, stemmed from two Turkish newspapers, Milliyet Cadde and Haberturk. Although there has been previous protests aimed at repealing the ban, they have been unable to attract widespread attention. The newspapers hope to overcome this precedent by publishing daily the number of days that has passed since the controversial ban.

In addition to the judge's justification that YouTube failed to obtain authorization, Turkish prosecutors and law enforcement officials have the right to "ban access to any website that incites suicide, pedophilia or drug use or that defames Kemal Ataturk (the first president of Turkey)," according to Le Coz. According to Reporters Without Borders, Turkey has wrongly applied this law to ban thousands of Web sites, including ten in 2008.

The ban has numerous political and social implications for Turkey, who currently awaits approval to join the European Union. It remains unclear whether or not the government's censorship of the internet will affect its acceptance to the union, however, many criticize Turkey's position as the 2010 "European Capitol of Culture," arguing that a "cultural" country should promote the democratic use of, rather than censor the Web.

I agree that Turkey's policies regarding YouTube and similar Web sites are not indicative of a country that values culture or freedom of speech. However, what interests me more on this subject, is how strongly journalists are fighting for access to YouTube. Clearly, what was originally seen as a means of entertainment, has become an essential tool for journalists. In my opinion, this is clearly a statement of just how much of a force YouTube, social media, and the democratic use of the Web has become in today's world.

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New MSN Home Page to Feature Local News

MSN unveiled a new home page earlier today with a new feature adding local news about weather, traffic, and even local restaurants.

The MSN team says they are expecting their number of users to increase with the new feature. “In just a few months, MSN Local Edition has grown to 5 million unique users while still in preview mode, with more than 40% of those users coming back every day."

In a post by Cory Bergman, Cyrus Krohn, head of MSN's local efforts, says that most of the research done by the team showed consumers are demanding more local news.

It seems many other companies are getting the same results from this research, and lots of them are investing a lot of time and money to provide this service for users. I find it interesting that in a world where we can find news all over the world via the Internet, we still have a high demand for local news too.

Journalism students across the nation should take note of this trend. We need to remember that the little things happening around us locally can be news too.

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