Twitter Engagement

Journalists and news organizations primarily use Twitter to broadcast links, and they rarely ask for audience input or retweet others.

A study by the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism focused on tweets by top newspapers, broadcasters, websites, and individual journalists.

The key finding is that news organizations use Twitter in limited ways. The main use being linking to their own material.

Ninety-three percent of tweets by news organizations link to their own articles while just two percent asked for audience input, and just one percent where retweets.

Individual journalists had about the same percentage of links and retweets.

Fox News had the most audience interaction on Twitter with 21 percent of tweets seeking feedback and 44 percent retweets.

Fox also increased its followers the most rapidly, maybe because of their Twitter interaction approach.

The New York Times had the least amount of audience interaction on Twitter.

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Amazon's Kindle Fire Takes Over Android

As Christmas approaches everyone will be wanting the new Kindle Fire. Before even hitting the market, Amazon's Kindle Fire has captured the hearts of tech enthusiasts and the minds of software developers in a way that no Android tablet before it could.

Android Tablets have been pushed off the market by Kindle Fire in North America and now soon in Europe and Asia. Kindle Fire offers a feature for apps that tops off the Android. Kindle Fire apps need to be submitted to Amazon, not to Google, so if this trajectory continues, Google will lose control of its own mobile device.

As this new Kindle Fire sky rockets the market, people are always still concerned about the cost. When you purchase the Kindle Fire you will have no worries about the cost because Kindle Fire is only $199 and is the number one reason developers say it matters.

However, the Kindle Fire still has some concerns to its product. The Kindle Fire does not have GPS, high end perks, and is a little harder to operate than the Android Tablet. Overall though, the Kindle Fire will establish all the Android camps and take over the Google technology.

Kindle Fire will be at the top of most people's Christmas list. With the Christmas days approaching fastly, make that persons wish come true and go out and buy the best tablet in the world today.

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A Biased Bruise or a Truthful Trauma?

Bias and truth are in the eye of the beholder. Just ask Michele Bachmann.

According to an article by The Huffington Post, Bachmann's campaign team can prove CBS bias against the presidential hopeful. An email from a CBS employee was mistakenly sent to a member of her campaign team.

CBS pointed to Bachmann's low 4% in response to Bachmann's campaign team's accusations of bias. If a candidate is sitting at 4%, a debate moderator wouldn't need to ask the candidate many questions.

This follows the role of agenda setting. Americans haven't made Bachmann a priority, so the media has no reason to report on her.

What the campaign team calls 'bias' is 'truth'. They can't contest the 4% from CBS's cited poll, so the team calls any negative news 'biased'. What is their truth?

Photo by Gage Skidmore

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Student Victory in Court of Appeals

Last Wednesday the Iowa Court of Appeals ruled that school districts can not discipline newspaper advisers for allowing students to run material in student publications that the administration does not approve of. According to the First Amendment Center, the Allamakee School District reprimanded adviser Ben Lange after students at Waukon High School published material in the school paper's April Fool's Day edition that the principal found offensive. Find the case, Lange vs. Diercks and Allamakee School District, here.

The case is being hailed among students and journalism instructors as an acknowledgement of student rights, feared by some to have been taken away in 1988 after the Supreme Court ruled in Hazelwood School District vs. Kulhmeier that administrations had the right to censor student publications.

What does this case really grant students? Admittedly, some of the content that Waukon High School's newspaper the Tribe-une can be considered in poor taste- for instance, the students included a derogatory name for a rival high school and a parody cartoon of a biology teacher caught running a meth lab. But the students involved in the scandal are going to learn a lot about the journalism world.

First, edit your content- just because you have the right to say it, doesn't mean you always should. Making sure you can stand by what you write without holding regrets is a valuable skill in journalism. Basically, if you're going to get in trouble for it, make sure it's good. But also, students do have rights. Critically assessing every situation, both in the classroom and out, is a good way to monitor when your rights are being violated. Students should want to know when boundaries are stepped on and how they can fight back.

Students, stand by your words. And if someone is getting punished for that, then there's a problem.

Photo credit/NCinDC,creativecommons.org

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Social Media Information in Newspapers

The Monitor of McAllen, Texas, is now printing the Twitter usernames of its reporters by their articles so that readers can follow them on Twitter.

At the end of each story in the paper, it lists how to get a hold of the reporter by facebook, phone, and e-mail.

According to an article on Poynter.org, the goal of adding social media information to the articles is to get more readers to follow, friend or like the reporters on Facebook and Twitter.

Executive Editor Steve Fagan says he is "encouraging reporters to show a little more personality through the social networks than they do normally in print or even online reporting, to make our people a little more human."

Fagan wants his reporters to engage their followers and friends on Twitter and Facebook and by adding some more personality on these sites, they have a better chance of being liked and therefore being read in the newspaper.

Reporters are also allowed to show more opinion on the social media sites than in an article. By being more personable they are more likely to connect with their readers.

"I've been 40 years in the business," Fagan said. "We (newspaper journalists) have gone out of our way to be invisible people, keeping ourselves out of it. When you're doing social media, it's not really possible to keep yourself out of it."

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Google and Twitter to the Rescue!

After the allegations of Herman Cain's sexual harassment, people started to view Cain in a new light.

Theres one thing that can truly hurt a presidential candidate when he or she is in the process of running, and that thing is scandal.

It is then when people really start questioning, "Is this guy the guy we really want running our country?"


But good news is, Herman Cain has found a way to fight these allegations head on. By using social media and a popular search engine as his aid. Cain is using keyword Google and Twitter search ads, such as: "Cain Sharon Bialek", which leads to an option of Cain's website CainTruth, which was a paid attempt to bi pass the scandal. The campaign had also bought a promoted Tweet when anybody searched "Herman Cain" on Twitter.

I believe that Cain has made a pretty smart attempt on continuing his campaign and trying to get away from these allegations.

Works cited: www.poynter.org
www.creativecommons.org

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Who Is It?

Many people around the world today are victims of identity theft, but the mayor of West Valley City, UT was not a victim; he was instead a thief.

Poynter describes Mike Winder as not stealing a person's identity, but making a fake name up to boast about himself in the Deseret News.

Is making up a fake name the same as stealing some one's identity though?

I believe that it is the same because it provides the readers with opinions of a person that are assumed to be true. I also believe that the newspaper is at fault for not verifying the credibility of their sources.

All media needs to be sure to check their sources because they could lose credibility from their consumers.

Richard Burwash, the so-called writer, submitted four articles to the Deseret News boasting about Mike Winder, when in all reality Winder was being arrogant.

In doing this, Winder hurt his image as a person and also as mayor for the city.

Did the newspaper rush the article to be printed? Did the mayor pay someone off to keep this under the table? Is this a case of identity theft?

All these questions should be sought by a journalist to find the answer, because I believe this is wrong. What do you think?

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Who Is It

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Freelance Mayor

For a long time the citizens of West Valley City had been reading articles about their town in the Desert News written by a freelance journalist named Richard Burwash. Little did they know who exactly Richard Burwash was.

It turned out that the mayor of the city, Mike Winder, had been using the pen name to write positive stories about his town. Winder was tired of reading negative articles in the paper about his town so he decided to start writing freelance stories about what positive things were going on in his town.

In an article with the Associated Press Winder said that 56 percent of the coverage of West Valley was about crime.

Winder submitted all of his articles through Desert Connect which is a website for freelancers to give their stories to submit their stories to Desert News and other news networks.

Winder decided to tell the truth about his pen name because he is looking at running for the Mayor of Salt Lake City.

"I would rather disclose it on my own terms then a political enemy," said Winders

Sources:

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/52893782-90/winder-deseret-news-articles.html.csp

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The Penn State Debacle

In light of recent happenings I thought it only appropriate to write a post dedicated to the discussion of the issue facing Penn State. Almost everyone in the nation has heard about,  discussed, mulled over, and tweeted about this controversy.

First off,  the university is losing an iconic figure, Jo Paterno. Secondly, the school is having a hay day dealing with press and what further action they should take. Finally, the students are in a complete uproar.

Obviously this completely oversimplifies what exactly is going on the Penn State, but I want to focus on media coverage of this controversy.

An article found on Poynter briefly summarizes several peoples opinions on how the media is handling this story.

Some claim that ESPN, who first reported the story, took it too easy when breaking the news. Rather than  asking the tough questions right from the start ESPN, and treat the story with the gravity it deserved. It took a small news paper out of Harrisburg, PA to get to the nitty gritty. ESPN followed suit a few days later.

So what is the right way to handle this breakdown of a college football program? Does the public need to know the dirty details right up front or was ESPN in the right in keeping it light to begin?

In my opinion some of the incredibly inappropriate details are best left censored. It shows respect for the institution of Penn State and the people involved.

It seems as though ESPN misrepresented the story early on, treating it with less weight than it should have been. This is unacceptable.

Penn State is in a rough patch, and that may be an understatement. The media need to cover this situation as accurately and professionally as possible, without being inappropriate. If this is done then the nation will be able to accurately discuss, tweet, and complain about whatever they choose.

Photo Courtesy of Photo Bucket.

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Ways Around Stress

Imagine this: You have 5 hours to write story. It better be interesting, it better have intriguing sources, it better be 100% factual, and the grammar better be damn near perfect. Fail to do this, and you're fired!

The life of a journalist is a highly stressful one. A story could break at a moment's notice and a journalist better be ready to hop out of bed and get their butts down to the scene of the breaking news.

With all the hustle-and-bustle in this profession, how do journalists refrain from killing themselves, or their editors? The Society of Professional Journalists Generation J has come up with a solution that might help journalist world-wide vent their frustrations to people who understand. On November 13, 2011 this group is holding the first Google+ hangout allowing journalists to get together and discuss annoyances in their work places.

These sessions are not tracked or recorded so journalist can simply vent without worrying about pissing too many people off.

This "hangout" session not only allows journalists to get together and tell their stories, but will help them network, find sources, and hopefully help them remember the reasons why they entered into this high-stress profession.

Social media, such as this, are important tools for journalists, beyond helping them find stories. These media enable reporters to build a tight-knit community which they can share their passion for news with others who care just as much as they do.

photo from creativecommons.org

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ECU Student Editor Defends Streaking Photos

A student newspaper at the East Carolina University, The East Carolinian, ran uncensored photos of a student who streaked the ECU v. University of Southern Mississippi game.

Editor Caitlin Hale made the final decision to run the pictures, citing that they were not meant to be seen in a sexually suggestive manner.

According to Jim Romanski of Poynter.org ECU administration condemned the decision to run the photos and plans to use the event as a learning process.

My question here, is whether this is justified or not. Should those involved be reprimanded?

The pictures show front images of the streaking student and I believe this is where the biggest discretion is at.

Hale defended her decision by noting that the paper's audience had the right to the uncensored, factual photos.

Personally, the publishing of these photos comes off as a poor attempt to get attention. In fact, this is borderline disgraceful.

These photos serve as shock value and don't enhance the publication at all. Lets be honest, we can all picture a naked body in our head.

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Student Journalism Upheld

Notch one up for student journalism.

Today, the Iowa Court of Appeals sided with a high school journalism teacher saying that he was unfairly reprimanded for allowing alleged inappropriate articles in the school newspaper.

The court cited the Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier in their decision.

In April of 2008, the Waukon Senior High School Tribe-une distributed an April Fool's edition that consisted of various parody articles. In August of that same year, the principal of Waukon Senior High School issued a reprimand to Ben Lange, the faculty advisor for the newspaper, saying that the newspaper had "numerous inappropriate text, comments, and articles."

The newspaper obviously functioned as a parody, containing articles such as "Meth Lab Found in Biology Lab" and "Cheerleaders on 'Roids." Each page also had the disclaimer: "This issue is a parody created in celebration of All Fools' Day. It contains no factual information."

A few months later, Lange and the newspaper were under fire again after the principal issued another formal reprimand. He stated that the September 30, 2009 issue contained "numerous inappropriate and questionable text, comment, pictures, and articles... people within our school are offended by this edition."

Lange was suspended for two days without pay. In January 2010, Lange took the issue to court.

This case is a good thing for student journalism and journalism in general as First Amendment rights are held up and students' free speech rights are protected.

Go here to read the full court case: http://wcfcourier.com/court-document-lang-v-allamakee/html_b534f452-0afa-11e1-9a8a-001cc4c002e0.html

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Death to the Media

The newsroom of El Buen Tono was set vandalized by arson a few days ago by unidentified gunmen in New York, reports say there were at least a dozen armed men.

El Buen Tono was a new paper on the scene and is one of the victims in the trending crimes against media.

Equipment, offices, and the entire newsroom and was doused in gasoline and completely destroyed.  

 Along with material items in the building, over twenty employees were also inside the building, but luckily escaped in time.

The paper was not able to print the past few days but the director said they have every intention of keeping the paper printing.

A new trend against the media is a direct attack on the company is said to be done by organized crime.

El Buen Tono covers beats such as organized crime and related topics, and Veracruz is dealing with drug wars and violence and has been for many years.  So one can assume this hit was done to cover any information not meant to be spread.

Journalists have been killed in mexico and have even gone into hiding. Mexico is one of the most dangerous places for someone to report the news.

Crime against the media is nothing new. More than a dozen news organizations were attacked with malicious intent last year. Vanguardia, newspaper of Saltillo, was attacked by a hand grenade in May. In February, gunmen attacked the facilities of two media companies in the city of Torreón, destroyed equipment, and killed a TV engineer.

With all these crimes against the media, along with the decline in the economy and newsprint, is there really a future for media? Are there people willing to risk their lives for stories that a small percentage will actually read?

https://www.cpj.org/2011/11/mexican-newspaper-offices-set-on-fire-in-veracruz.php

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Too Much Bieber Fever

As teen sensation Justin Bieber has become girls favorite pop star, the media should think twice about who they put on TV and who they put on their cover page of magazines.

Justin Bieber was accused of being the dad of a girls 3 month old baby. Bieber claimed to have no idea who this girl was but eventually triggered his memory. According to Entertainment News this pop star is everyone’s idol and dreamed about future husband.

The media, including Entertainment News, projects Bieber as a positive role model and possibly being a dad at 17 years old isn't positive. Teens have enough struggles going through life and don't need anymore bad influence than Justin Bieber.

Bieber could have easily had a one night stance and considered it "never have meeting this woman". The media is trying to cover up for the pop star because they don't want his reputation to be ruined.

Entertainment News media needs to cover more postitive celebrities such as Sandra Bullock, Carrie Underwood, Steve Carrel, and Shawn Johnson. The world needs people to look up to and be a positive influence.

Teen pregnancy, drug usage, alcohol abuse, and date rape can all be blamed on the media and celebrities because of how they project themselves. The whole society, especially teens, look up to famous people and when we watch them be daddy's of random women we then think it's ok to repeat that or walk in their footsteps.

The media should think twice about what they write about and what information will be read by young adults. We need to have a positive society and prevent simple people like Justin Bieber from being in the media as much as possible.

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Administrative Censorship

Journalism censorship is being brought to a whole new level. The Seattle School Board is considering to grant a proposal that would allow principles in the district to read high school news papers before they are printed and would be able to censor what they find disruptive to the schools learning environment.

An article in the Seattle Times says that this is the first time the district has tried to put restrictions on what school newspapers can publish. The Board is using an idea that has been suggested by the Washington State School Directors' Association. This group has been recommending this policy since 2001, but many districts have decided not to use it.

The main point of this proposal is to ensure that schools will not get in trouble for derogatory remarks or libel.

The biggest concern is that principles will take too much control over censorship and students will loose the ability to cover certain stories.

The U.S. Supreme Court decided in 1988 through Hazlewood vs. Kuhlmeier that the constitution does not allow freedom of press to high school students.

Even though the Supreme Court has made this decision should school districts like Seattle be able to allow administrators to censor school newspapers?

Photo from: Creative Commons

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Beating Five Minutes

With the news focusing on the Occupy protesters all around the United States, but in one location, photographers should be careful on their time spent covering the news photography.

In Washington D.C., due to a "decades old law", it is an arrestable offense to be taking a photograph in a public place for more than five minutes.


With this new law, it is giving police more power to arrest photographers, during these Occupy events. But fear not photojournalist, the National Press Photographers Association are asking the State attorney to repeal or revise this law and other ordinances that limit photography.

Works sited: Poynter.org
Picture sited: creativecommons.org

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Journalist Honored After Badly Beaten

A Russian journalist, Mikhail Beketov, was nearly beaten to death in 2008 after investigating corruption in Khimki--a Moscow suburb; and is now, years later, being presented honors.

Beketov, currently recovering in an Israeli clinic, suffered severe brain damage--leaving him with an inability to speak in full sentences--the amputation of one of his legs, and the inability to use his hands after having his fingers bashed in. Even still, after receiving all of these injuries and coming out of a coma, Beketov was still required to appear in court to defend himself against slander charges.

Nevertheless, three years later, he is one of the recipients of an annual award for excellence in print journalism, bestowed by the Prime Minister of Russia--Vladimir Putin. And, while there is prize money granted with the award, it only totals to about 32,000 American dollars; which is no where near enough money to pay for Beketov's treatment, or the lasting physical/brain damage caused by his brutal beating.

Furthermore, according to the New York Times, the people who crippled Beketov--many of which are Russian government officials--are still roaming free.

Several of Beketov's friends and colleagues have spoken up about their beliefs that Beketov being awarded this prize is cynical. However, Dmitri Muratov, editor of the weekly newspaper Novaya Gazeta, who nominated Beketov, stressed that this prize is a state prize and that the money does not come from Putin personally.

Even still, there are still numerous doubts about the reasoning and the integrity behind Beketov's reception of the prize this year. The top human rights specialist from the United States State Department visited Beketov's colleagues near Khimki two weeks ago, promising to press the Russian government further on human rights.

When reading about situations such as these, I am that much happier that I am entering the field of journalism in America, where freedom of the press is truly a practice. However, it is also in reading stories such as this, that should serve as reminders to journalists, as well as the public, that as quickly as a freedom is granted, it can be taken away.

Beketov was simply investigating corruption, and now he has lost the function of a third of his brain. Current and aspiring journalists, as well as the American people, need to readily practice the First Amendment right of freedom of the press and question authority whenever necessary before it's too late.


Photo (Khimki Forest Construction): Courtesy of creativecommons.com

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Andy Rooney Dead at Age 92

The famous 60 Minutes commentator Andy Rooney died Friday night at the age of 92 in a hospital in New York City.

He died of complications from minor surgery which was undisclosed.

"It's a sad day at '60 Minutes' and for everybody here at CBS News," said Jeff Fager, executive producer of "60 Minutes"and the chairman of CBS News.

Rooney had announced on Oct. 2, 2011 on "60 Minutes" that he wouldn't be appearing regularly anymore on the show.

Ever since television has been around, Rooney had been involved in it. For 60 years he was with CBS. 30 of those years he was a writer and producer for the show.

Rooney said he was never comfortable with being the television personality that he became. and according to an article on CBS.com, "He preferred to be known as a writer and was the author of best-selling books and a national newspaper column, in addition to his '60 Minutes' essays."

Rooney was known for his essays in which he delivered at the end of every "60 Minutes" episode.
These essays would generate thousands of responses from viewers or the show.

The topics these essays were about were very controversial. One particular comment about homosexuality led to getting him suspended from his job on "60 Minutes". But his loyal fans demanded him to be back on air and ratings dropped 20% when he wasn't.

“I’ve done a lot of complaining here, but of all the things I’ve complained about, I can’t complain about my life.” Rooney once said. And he considered himself lucky to have lived such a life and if he were to live life over again, he said he would live it exactly the same.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkZ4yKHwrsc

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