Egypt: Is it Too Dangerous for Journalists?
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Over the past couple of weeks the events taking place in Egypt and Tunisia have been consuming news headlines.
The latest in news-industry issues, as written by multimedia journalism and integrated marketing communication students at Simpson College.
Over the past couple of weeks the events taking place in Egypt and Tunisia have been consuming news headlines.
A Pennsylvania high school teacher was suspended from her job after placing angry, unprofessional blog posts about her students on the Internet.
At the beginning of enrollment in BNR class, a majority of Simpson College students had never contributed to a blog in their life.
Many students pondered about this whole blogging business at the beginning of this course. Why would we need blogs? What are we going to write about for our blogs? How are we going to know what we're blogging about is useful? How do people even use blogs?
Traditionally, blogs started out as being a sort of online diary for people across the world. However, as blogging became more popular, many businesses and journalists decided to contribute to the blogging world to gain publicly.
Blogging has helped the journalist world in all different aspects. Once writers have exposed their work online, they are easily able to catch reader's attention. In result, they can receive feedback and gain subscribers to read their daily postings.
As you continue to blog, you will notice an improvement in your writing skills. For those who have previously blogged, think back to the very first blog you wrote. Now snap back to the present. Your writing portfolio and skills have improved tremendously because of your frequent interaction with writing.
What if you aren't interested in blogging for journalist purposes and promoting business? There are still many different reasons you can post your blogs online.
One last pro of becoming a blogger is you can even make profit from blogging. A lot of people blogging have not found themselves becoming a blogger to make money, but find out later that will end up doing so.
An unknown author once said, "Blogging is the new poetry."
If you have never blogged before reading this article, please consider the benefits of blogging. Go ahead and give starting your own blog a shot.
Photo Credit: Tutor2U @ Creative Commons
Mitch Joel is the president of Twist Image. He is the author of the book and currently update blog, Six Pixels of Separation. In his blog he offers tips to be more media savvy, for even those who shy away from the media and online world.
1. Be more like a Journalist.
Even if you aren't or don't want to be a journalist you should act like one when publishing online. Make sure the facts you're presenting are truthful and reliable and make sure you stay connected with the online world after you post a blog, status update, or twitter.
2. Be a Human
While you want to maintain professionalism, you don't need to take all the humanity and feeling out of your posts and tweets. Let your human side show, just don't rant, rave or cry.
3. Spelling and Grammar
They're important in the essays and research papers you turn and they're important when you want to look professional on the web. Glaring spelling and grammar mistakes aren't going to get you any great jobs or get people to trust you. Why would the public want to follow and trust in someone who can't be bothered to spell check and edit their posts.
4. Be Skeptical and Check Your Sources
I bet every news source that announced Gabby Giffords' death is regretting not checking their facts before running with that story. Just because you hear something all over doesn't mean it's true. Be skeptical of rumors you hear and check them out with credible sources (as in more than one) before you run the stories.
5. Don't Blow Your Fuse
We all get angry and emotional sometimes, but when trying to act professional and be respected in your field it's best not to do it in front of the people you want to trust and respect you. Remain civil in online discussions and don't start ones you know will get you hot under the collar. Be passionate, but don't let it your passion turn into something out of control.
We are beginners in the journalism world. As students we are just learning about AP style, and it's importance to the journalism world. What is the Associated Press style? We have heard Professor Brian Steffen preach and rejoice the AP style handbook that he had his students purchase at the beginning of the semester, but do we really understand it's importance to us as future journalists?
AP style shows journalists what are the correct ways to write.. It shows the correct ways to write dates, punctuation, titles, addresses, and much more. Why is it so important for journalists to write in this certain way? It is necessary because it could set you apart from being a glamorous front page story, to the stories that never are looked at. AP style is the standard for print journalism, and if you choose to never learn the fundamentals it could cost you your dream job.
Learning AP style can be time consuming and confusing, but will be a great investment for your future career in journalism. It's not even something that you have to memorize. The AP style handbook was created for journalists who are working with a tight deadline, so was created in order to be easy to use.
To help with having to reference to the AP style handbook every time you write a story, memorizing a few important and reoccurring elements of the style would be helpful. Elements such as: titles (names, book, songs, and films), dates, quotations, numbers, and addresses. When you become really good with the handbook you can even go online and take the AP style quiz.
Therefore next time a professor tells you to use AP style, or takes off because you didn't use it properly, don't get upset. He or she is just preparing you so that one day when you get a job in journalism you are more then prepared for what is expected from your future boss.
Photo credit: George Kelly, Flickr
First impressions are important. Whether it be meeting someone new, going to class for the first time, or, more importantly, a job interview.
The first thing you are judged on is your apperance. What do you look like? What are you wearing?
For example, if you where to show up to your first class of the semester late and looking like you just rolled out of bed, the professor will not get a great impression to start the year off with. Or the first time you meet some dreamy hunk of a guy, you spill your drink on him. Not exactly on anybody's to-do list of first impressions, I bet.
The same guidelines apply for a job interview, if not more. You need to show up on time and by on time I mean before the interview is sheduled to start. It is recommended to show up around 10 minutes before it starts. Also don't show up too early. By showing up too early you can look desperate and as if you have all the time in the world to waste waiting.
The next thing an interviewer sees is what your general appearence looks like. Don't look like you just woke up and forgot to brush your hair. Take a shower, brush your teeth; personal hygiene is important. Along with this is how you smell. You don't want to smell like you have not showered, but you don't want to smell like you poured the entire bottle of perfume or colonge on you. For females, do not overdo your makeup, no raccoon eyes.
The next part dealing with appearance is what you are wearing. The general rule of thumb is to be dressed one step above the interviewer. Do not show up to an interview wearing sweats or jeans. Put on what can be referred to as your Sunday best. Slacks with a button up shirt with a tie or a suit for males. For females, dress pants with a dress shirt, skirt or maybe a dress in some cases.
The next part of your first impression is your introduction. Many employers start out with a handshake. The handshake is more important than it may seem. It needs to be firm but not aggressive.
The last part of your first impression is the verbal introduction. Don't assume they know who you are, introduce yourself. Also, know how to pronounce your interviewers name and the company. Know the position you are applying for and its requirements.
For more helpful interview tips check out the link.
Photo Credit: Via Creative Commons
Smart phones, being so successful, have been quickly picked up by many of the biggest phone companies.
Each company has modified and added features to its own version, trying to get an edge over other companies and boost sales.
The company LG for example, is gearing to release its new phone the Optimus 3D. This smart phone would be the first of its kind to offer images in three dimensional form.
Buyers would be able to take pictures and even shoot video in 3D form, which the company hopes will start a new technology crave. The Optimus 3D can also be hooked up to a 3D tv in order to display images and videos in this way.
Additionally, the phone would allow buyers to watch movies and play games in 3D. All of these available actions can be done without the use of glasses.
The release date and price of the Optimus 3D has not yet been released.
Whether this new idea of a 3D phone world will become the new hottest must- have depends on the wants of the consumer.
Companies must be innovative and continually think of new cutting edge ideas in order to beat the competition. This is why we are seeing such a fast paced and continuously changing technology market.
Some ideas have broke through and have been very successful on the market, while other ideas flop. To learn more about the Optimus 3D and its features, check out this link.
Photo Credit: Creative Commons
News writing, just like any other types of writing, takes practice in order to become good at. Brian Steffen, the communications departments chair at Simpson College, said in order to make your writing skills better you need to read more news writing and write more news stories. We all know how to get a hold of news stories, but if it's those stories in class that we are so worried about doing bad on, how do we practice writing to prepare ourselves for that writing?
These different news writing exercises will help enhance your news writing in more ways then one. They will allow you to practice stories of novelty, immediacy, proximity, prominence, conflict, emotional quality, and one with an impact on an audience. The exercises are as follows:
Car Crash: It's 10:30 p.m. You're on the graveyard shift again at the Centerville Gazette and hear some chatter on the police scanner about a car crash out on Highway 32, a road that runs through a rural area of town. It sounds like a big crash so you head to the scene.
Shooting: You're on the graveyard shift at the Centerville Gazette. You phone the cops to see if anything's going on. Lt. Jane Ortlieb of the Centerville Police Department tells you there was a shooting tonight at the Fandango Bar & Grill on Wilson Street in the Grungeville section of the city.
School board meeting: You’re covering a 7 p.m. meeting of the Centerville School Board. The meeting is being held in the auditorium of Centerville High School. The board begins with discussion of ongoing cleanup at McKinley Elementary School; school had experienced water damage during heavy rains and flooding two weeks ago in the city’s Parksburg section, near the Root River.
These are just a few exercises that you can practice. There are many places that offer stories just like these. These are just places to start, but you can practice your journalism skills in order to one day reach their potential.
Photo credit: Josh Hallett, Flickr
Most of us are have a passing familiarity with Kodachrome film, which only recently went out of production after 75 years of popularity. Paul Simon, in his song named for the color reversal film, sang that Kodachrome "makes you think all the world's/ a sunny day."
According to a recent article published by Topix.com there are ten main reasons why students shouldn't use Wikipedia as a reliable source for journalism or for academic papers.
Photo Credit: Alexis Brion via Creative commons
Dick Costolo, Twitter CEO, went to the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona Monday to address how he believes the Twitter brand works best: when it's invisible and everywhere.
An article recently appeared on ABC News' website about proposed budget federal budget cuts that could harm National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting System.
This drive is mostly spearheaded by Republicans, who have long considered these organizations to have a liberal bias, but the issue is only drawing a large amount of national attention as the government increasingly looks for ways to cut spending.
The whole liberal bias issue has been talked to death over the last couple of decades, so I'll steer clear of that. What really annoys me, however, is the idea that taking away programs that actually provide useful, renewable services for the population is in any way going to solve the monetary crisis in America.
These two organizations provide services to both young and old people, promoting discussion and education in issues. I have heard several Europeans I know comment that PBS is the best, least ridiculous of the US news networks that they can watch from an American perspective.
This is relevant to all journalists, whether working at privately owned or federally owned organizations, because the spreading of ideas, truth and discourse is journalism is supposed to do. If we cut funding to some of the few remaining places that strive to do that, how can we avoid making the same mistakes that led us to the current financial crisis in the future?
Photo Credit: merfam via Creative Commons
Have you ever known somebody with a passion for writing but had another dream for his or her career? Talk to them about freelance writing.
A freelance journalist is a writer that can be self-employed and not committed to a specific employer for a long term.
With a passion and desire to be an Admissions Counselor someday, this has been something I have been taking deep consideration in for my future. Not only can you engage in a career you love, you can also continue to write about topics of your choice.
In the world today, there are billions of different people that will respond to situations in similar and different ways. As writers, many feel a good reason to write a story is because they have something relevant to say about a certain topic.
When writing a story, a journalist can always find at least one person that will feel what they wrote was newsworthy. A freelance journalist could write about something that engaged their interest and allowed them to specialize in their passions.
Another positive thing about being a freelance journalist is your hours are flexible, because you'd only be writing part-time. After a day at your job, it'd still be easy to go home and work behind your computer.
A person that is a freelance writer has the advantage of having profit to fall back on if something in their job went bad. While writing on the side, you can still make profit. There are many magazine and newspaper editors that wish to share other people's knowledge to their readers.
Many people associate freelance writing with freestyle writing. With many of us being college students interested in journalism, we should even consider starting a freelance writing career now to build our writing portfolios for future jobs and internships.
Photo Credit: Cambridge Who's Who Authors @ Creative Commons
Mobile applications are gradually becoming popular each and every day as smart phones begin to take over the journalist world. Although, journalists may face an issue in regards to what applications are useful as well as accessible. Therefore, I will share with you the most highly suggested apps available.
© Blogger template On The Road by Ourblogtemplates.com 2009
Back to TOP