No Excuses For Mistakes

Writers and journalists constantly battle with mistakes and typos. Locating and correcting these mistakes can take time and to remain efficient writers depend heavily on sometimes inadequate or unreliable methods of locating and correcting mistakes. However, recent technological developments are allowing mistakes to be corrected with greater efficiency and accuracy. An article by Craig Silverman published today in the Columbia Journalism Review introduces and reviews three new applications that are being developed and used to ensure readers the highest quality of writing possible, free from mistakes and typos.

An innovative new application by gooseGrade, soon to be Editz.com, allows writers and readers to work together to fix errors found in online content. By an administrator applying the gooseGrade application to a website, a reader can identify errors in a three step process: first by highlighting the error, second by identifying the type (spelling, punctuation), and third by correcting the error in a text box. The administrator can then correct the error based on the request. Currently available for any website or blog, this technology offers a huge benefit for major news organizations, who are plagued by numerous errors and typos in their online content, and often cannot find the time or manpower to review and correct the content.

Another technology currently being developed brings a social networking aspect to the proofreading process. Called Bite-Size Edits, this website is made up of writers who've created an account and who collectively edit the content uploaded to the site. When a writer uploads the content, the website breaks it down into "bite-sized" pieces and sends it to other users, guaranteeing that each piece of text gets reviewed by two other users. While its creators understand that this does not replace a thorough, final proofreading of a document, they advocate that it offers a fast way to be proofread and could be an effective tool in the editing process.

These new applications certainly have the possibility to ease a portion of the burden from writers and journalists, and could allow news organizations to produce online content of a higher quality. I agree that journalists should become familiar with these new applications, however, we can never lose the importance of old-fashioned proofreading. If anything, these new technologies simply hold us to a higher standard of excellence within our writing, in which several steps of proofreading and revising will be required.

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False Thoughts of Demand Media

Journalists everywhere have begun debating whether Demand Media is truly bad for journalism. It turns out that Demand Media is actually better for journalism. An odd thought considering that it is hurting social media more than actual journalism. The question most might have right now though is what Demand Media is. Demand Media is founded by former My Space CEO's Richard Rosenblatt and Shawn Colo. The company started out buying abandon domains and websites. They then acquired Puck, which founded Blog Burst.

The reason people fear this as a threat to journalism was the fact that it was somewhat of a "fast food content." This was saw as a threat since people who actually took time and effort on their articles, would be pushed out of their bussiness. This has touch nerves in Jeff Jarvis and others who do not consider the fact that their blogging is dealing with marketing content, unlike that of which tends to disrupt journalism. So Demand Media seems to become the next step in the ever-changing field of journalism.

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Tough Job Market for New Journalists

While the future of journalism is evolving into such a broad branch, there is the actual difficulty of actually getting a job in the field of journalism. Most people are becoming freelance writers in this industry, and so a recent article was published informing those who have become freelance writers, what are some keys that they would be advised to do to successfully get their work published.

Flexibility is the key, when going into this field. You are not able to get the positions that are hoped for and that is why flexibility is important. Recently a 2009 graduate of University of British Columbia decide to actually go abroad to find work in the journalism field. She worked for the company Journalists for Human Rights, a Canadian non-profit company, for about a year. After that year she returned home and received a year contract as a reporter with CanWest News Services, which is a wire service for many Canadian newspapers.

It also means that you might not go to your field you want another student from UBC, began as a TV reporter but now is reporting on the radio. She hope to eventually return to television, but as of right now she feels that it will not be any time soon. The job market for journalist seems to be making it more difficult to get the job in the field you want. It is more of becoming a entrepreneurial business. People have to get themselves out there than depending on companies to do it for them.

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China to Censor: Text Messages?

Given China's history of censorship and the country's well-publicized recent battle with Google, one is rarely surprised by new reports of censorship in China. Providers of mobile phones in China recently announced plans to monitor the texts of citizens for "illegal or unhealthy content," immediately stopping a person's cellphone service if such content is detected.

The phone companies will pass any potential violations on to the police for review and prosecution. If a customer is relieved of the charges, his or her phone service will begin again.

This crusade is officially part of an effort to keep pornography from the country. Over 5,000 people were arrested in China last year on internet pornography charges.

Phone services haven't been explicit on what constitutes a punishable offense, but services will monitor a specific list of words provided by officials. Every communication using these phone services will be monitored, including conversations between a husband and wife.

China's going farther than expected for this one. With no idea about what words and phrases to avoid, people are sure to get their phones disconnected often. A majority of the 'criminals' investigated by the police will be innocent. Anyone who is actually talking about something illegal will use codes or slang. This is an absolutely useless endeavor and will cause much more harm than good... but isn't that always the way?

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Tonight Show Controversy

Conan O'Brien is close to signing a forty million dollar deal to leave the "Tonight Show" according to CNN.com. As part of the deal O'brien would be barred from bad mouthing his former bosses at NBC and would be allowed to take another television spot within one year.

According to CNN.com the controversey started when NBC tried to push back the time of Conans show from 11:35 to after midnight. Of course this would upset Conan who took over the show from Jay Leno. In my opinion Jay Leno is better than Conan. I know people who agree with me and people who disagree. What needs to be understood here is the "Tonight Show" is more tradition and an established institution than any other show on television. NBC should have chosen their host and stuck with them or stayed with Leno. Almost everyone over the age of fifteen knows of the "Tonight Show." In order to stick with tradition something has to be done to appease all parties.

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Freedom to Link

NewsNow has launched a campaign to support the freedom to link in light of a recent dispute with News Corporation. The news aggregating site based in the UK gathers its articles by creating links from their site to different online news sources. The reason that News Corporation has a problem with this is that NewsNow charges users for a special subscription on its site, providing tailored feeds built to your specifications or e-mail alerts for breaking news. Essentially, NewsNow is making a profit on articles that News Corporation has created.

But is linking like this stealing? The internet is widely viewed as public domain, and Struan Bartlett, founder of NewsNow, believes that "linking is a public amenity." What's public is meant to be seen and commented upon. Linking is just how we are able to get to it.

Jeff Jarvis argues that "By trying to cut off links, News Corp is also endangering journalism." He believes that linking is a benefit to journalists because it creates ways for readers to find their stories. It is also a way for writers to ethically source the material that has been used.

Whether or not News Corp has a right to deny someone the ability to link to their sites in public domain has yet to be determined. It seems that they are trying hard to prevent other sites from using their material, and trying to control what is not controllable.

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News Sources Show Bias as O’Brien Battles NBC

Msn recently ran an article detailing NBC's decision to remove Conan O'Brien from the late night time slot he has occupied for the last several months. O'Brien replaced comedian Jay Leno as the host of NBC's "Tonight Show," which has aired during an 11:35 p.m. time slot for 17 years. Leno was rescheduled to appear during prime time.

Since then, NBC decided to give Leno has time slot back, offering O'Brien the opportunity to do his show at an even later hour: 12:05 a.m. O'Brien refused and according to the article, will no longer be working for NBC.

Ironically, since news of this dissension reached the public, O'Brien's ratings have improved exponentially.

O'Brien and David Letterman have both used their shows to publicly take jabs at Leno and NBC. In contrast, NBC executives have spoken out praising Leno's character and villifying O'Brien's.

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‘Old’ Companies Embrace New Media

In John Welsh's "These Digital Times," Welsh presents five reasons why companies should be embracing new social medias. In addition to Facebook, which many companies are already using, Welsh suggests that business employees set up personal Twitter accounts. There are two reasons as to why Twitter is potentially helpful in the workplace. Employees can post 'tweets,' spreading the word about the various services their business offers. Since anyone on Twitter can access someone's 'tweets,' this is a great way for a company to become a household name. Another way using Twitter can benefit a business is when searching for employees. A company can view a potential employee's 'tweets' and use them to help determine how they could benefit the business. This process assists a company in finding the best possible employee.

Another reason Welsh promotes using social medias in large companies has to do with communication within the workplace. A social network like Facebook can help to increase the exchange of information between employees of a company. Better communication makes for a better business, because the employees will have a chance to cooperate more often and more effectively with one another.

A fourth reason Welsh believes business should adopt social medias into their workplace has to do with a company's ambitions. Social networking sites can help businesses achieve their short term or long term goals. With new social medias, company's can decide what avenue of networking will help them obtain the best results. A company's short term objective may be to create a stronger bond between the business and the clients. A networking site such as LinkedIn can promote that bond by allowing clients to give feedback on a company's services. In return, the business can communicate their ideas with clients before they are put into action.

The last reason Welsh suggests that companies should instigate a use of social networking sites in the workplace has to do with getting ahead of other businesses. There are many ways to communicate with people outside of the company that are available through social medias now, that were not available a few years ago. These new medias help businesses emerge from the traditional ways of advertising, that other businesses are still using, and embrace new ways of contacting potential clients.

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How To Help Haiti By Watching Football

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Haitian Earthquake Allows Media to Broaden Horizons

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

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

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

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

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The Cost of Online News

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


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


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


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

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Relationship Between Science, Journalism, and Blogging?

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

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

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

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New York Times to charge for online subscriptions

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

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

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

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Can Apple's Tablet Help Print Media?

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

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

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

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

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News Reader Responsibility

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

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

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Journalism: A Changing Field

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

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

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

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Finding a Business Model for Newspapers

Daily newspapers are facing decreased readership, especially among young audiences. According to a recent article by CNET writer Lance Whitney, a new Harris Poll shows that only 23% of those surveyed ages 18-34 read the newspaper daily. Even scarier, 17% claimed to not read newspapers at all. Where are readers obtaining their news? Online, where for the most part, content remains free. This fact scares journalists and media giants, who are scrambling to find a business model better suited for today's audiences.

One solution, posed by many, involves charging readers for online content. However, the same Harris Poll also revealed another shocking fact: 77% of all surveyed (all ages) answered that they would never pay for online content. Of those who answered they would be willing to pay, 19% said they would only be willing to pay between one and five dollars per month, and only 5% said they would be willing to pay more than ten.

What does this information mean for daily newspapers and their online content? According to a 2009 Time article entitled "How to Save Your Newspaper", newspapers traditionally received their income from three sources: news stand sales, subscriptions, and advertising. However, by applying this model to online content, a newspaper relies solely on advertising revenue, which can be a risky proposition.

The solution? An idea proposed to me in a conversation with an employee at the Ottumwa Courier seemed to solve a number of problems associated with paying for online content. His idea involved each reader creating an account with a newspaper's website and selecting only the sections of the paper which the reader wants. Under this system, each subscriber would pay for only the news that he/she deemed fit, and newspapers would thwart complaints over customers having to pay for an entire paper, much of which they may or may not read. I agree that this system would have many benefits. Not only would it would allow newspapers to save money by cutting out unwanted sections, it would lead to overall greater customer satisfaction.

While the future of newspapers may be in question, it is certain that the coming years will bring many creative and innovative changes to the industry.

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Which Comes First — Newspaper or Blog?

At Penn State, a group of students have beaten the school paper at informing the student body on their blog, Onward State. This blog, which was created just a mere 14 months before, is run by only 20 students compared to the school paper which is ran by 200 students. It does seem impressive that this group of students is able to report stories much faster than that of an average paper. They reported a story 4 days before the paper was able to. Chase Tralka has even admitted that the paper has stolen items from the blog to use for publication. This is easily setting an example for the possibility of the future of journalism.

People are wanting the news as soon as it happens and blogging seems to the way to make that possible. At NYU they also have a blog set up and this seems to be similar to Onward State. It is called NYU Local, and deals with issues involve the students. Another idea is that the closer the news, the more important it will be to those that it will affect.

The true question that this brings up is how this will affect the future of newspapers. Many have begun using online sources to access the articles that are online. This not only is convenient but helps reduce the amount of paper that needs to be produce. While almost all newspapers have gone to the web, there is still the transition from news articles to blog entries that could possibly replace the idea of journalism completely. The only negative thing that was said was the fact the blogger can post anything, which would mean that the traditional idea of named sources, unbiased opinions, and printing information that is inaccurate or false would not be necessary for the blogger to post. This would make the article riskier to believe, and ultimately make it harder to trust the media.

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Journalism’s Short-Term Rescue

Books and articles detailing the collapse of American journalism are many. Books coming up with original and concrete proposals for fixing it are few.

University of Illinois professor Robert McChesney and journalist John Nichols have just such a new book that details plans they believe could revitalize American journalism and free it from the censorship — yes, censorship — of free-market economics.

The Death and Life of American Journalism is just out from Nation Books and includes what many will deem a radical proposal for saving journalism: The federal, state and local governments should pay for quality journalism.

It’s the kind of proposal that makes the hair rise on the backs of many, including most journalists. But McChesney and Nichols insist that the same public interest that requires that governments fund educational systems and highways should also compel the use of tax dolalrs to support quality journalism — which is, after all, the life blood of democracy.

It’s a compelling argument that should and most likely will spur considerable debate in the years to come. Plenty of folks will find plenty with which to quibble in the book.

For their part, McChesney and Nichols argue that funding systems could be created that would assure the editorial independence that journalists need to do their work. And, they add, such a system would be much more robust than the current market system that “censors” unmarketable information.

But here’s some short-term proposals for pulling journalism out of its funk. In an age when it’s clear that market-based approaches to journalism are failing to provide the financial support necessary to main the kind of quality system that democracy needs, McChesney and Nichols suggest:

• Slashing postal costs to as little as 5 cents per copy for small-circulation journals at an estimated cost of $200 million annually.
• Creating a “News AmeriCorps” that would initially hire up to 2,500 new journalism graduates to staff weeklies and small dailies in struggling American communities. It would cost $90 million annually and be similar to the Federal Writers Project of the 1930s that employed such literary greats as Zora Neale Hurston, John Steinbeck and Saul Bellow.
• “Dramatic” expansion of high-school journalism and media programs that would give millions of young people a taste of what journalistic work is like. Most great journalists got their first experiences when they were in high school and had the chance to tell the stories of their schools (five of the students on my high school paper eventually went into professional journalism), but these programs have been slashed in recent years and teachers are often inexperienced in journalism or too timid to advise newspapers that seriously report school news.

These are simply short-term fixes that don’t address the longer-range challenges facing the industry. But they serve as an example of the specificity of McChesney’s and Nichols’ work here.

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TMZ Punk’d Over JFK Photo

Celebrity site TMZ, fresh off its coup with its holiday-season grilling of Tiger Woods, flamed out like Icarus when it published what it called The JFK Photo That Could Have Changed History. Kennedy giving secrets to Khrushchev? Proof that Joe Kennedy bought his son’s contested election? A previously unknown photo of mobsters pulling the trigger on the Grassy Knoll?

Not quite. The photo, published on Monday, was of John F. Kennedy allegedly cavorting with nude women on a boat in the Mediterranean in the mid 1950s. Publication of such a photo, TMZ argues, might have derailed JFK’s 1960 presidential bid and changed, well, pretty much everything that's happened over the past 50 years.

Which, as Brian Stelter reports in the New York Times, would have been a great story. If only it had been true.

The trouble is that it wasn’t. The Smoking Gun debunked the photo later in the day, demonstrating that the photo was doctored from a spread that ran in the pages of Playboy magazine in 1967.

TMZ published a mea culpa later in the day, admitting that it had been taken in. What’s interesting is that TMZ claims to have vetted the photo through forensics experts and through two unnamed Kennedy biographers, who said they believed that Kennedy was on holiday in the Mediterranean around the time the photo was allegedly snapped (and about the same time that future first lady Jackie Kennedy was miscarrying their first child — but that’s another story). So why did it take The Smoking Gun only a matter of hours to expose the photo as a fake?

The incident shows the dangers of using unnamed sources, dubious photos and (perhaps) wanting so badly for a story to be true that it opened itself to attack from other media. When a story’s too good to be true, many times it probably is.

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Positive Light for Tiger

By: Chris Mars

Believe it or not, all is not terrible for Tiger Woods. Despite his recent string of bad press, Woods was awarded with the AP Athlete of Decade. Woods received 56 of 142 votes, beating out Lance Armstrong, Roger Federer and Michael Phelps.

The voting focused on the last ten years where Tiger's performance outweighed events of the last three weeks. Interestingly enough almost all top four nominees have had some bad press in recent years which goes to show there is hope for Tiger. Lance Armstrong and Michael Phelps had their run-ins with the media and scandal, giving hope to Tiger that he be able to rebound from recent events.

This is a great starting point for Tiger's PR team to build upon. Setting the stage for a triumphant return to glory in the years ahead. Although a tough time, Tiger will not be the first to come back from scandal. Other iconic sport figures like Kobe Bryant have made it back on top in recent years. It may be a long road ahead but if anyone has the ability to turn it around, it's Tiger.

Photo Credit: Associated Press

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Magazines Sell With Colbert

By Zach Jevne

Stephen Colbert dons speed-skating tights and a tie on the upcoming Sports Illustrated cover. Why is Colbert on the cover? A couple of reasons. His show, The Colbert Report, and its fans are sponsoring the U.S. Olympic speed-skating and his face on the cover has proven to boost sales.

Colbert has appeared on Newsweek, Rolling Stone, GQ, Esquire, New York and Wired in the past few years. According to research, he boosted newsstand sales for four of those magazines, including a 38 percent increase for Wired.

In October, the primary sponsor of U.S. Speedskating declared bankruptcy. Facing a $300,000 funding shortfall, "Colbert Nation" picked up the team by taking contributions from fans. So far, more than $250,000 has been raised.

Many Americans believe that the Colbert Report is replacing "traditional" news outlets and is helping America stay informed on current events.

(Photo Credit: Newsweek)

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Tiger Saga Continues

By: Chris Mars

Tiger Woods has now been connected to a Canadian doctor who is under investigation for providing performance enhancing drugs. Anthony Galea was arrested in Toronto on Oct.15 and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation will look into the case.

For Tiger, this is another crack at his personal image since his car crash outside his Florida mansion. This makes one wonder how his personal image could have been preserved until now. I assumed Tiger would love to hit rewind and change the last few weeks but now it looks like he might go back a few years.

This incident now take Tiger's problems from personal to professional as he may have cheated. Was the epic win on a torn up knee really just Tiger cheating? Should his work ethic be questioned now since we're hearing this new connection?

Tiger needs to have another emergency meeting with his PR folks and figure out a new action plan. For Tiger, I hope this is the last swing in a string of blows to his image and career.

Photo Credit: Associated Press

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The difference between journalism and reporting (if there is any)

By Michelle Zimmerman

Journalism and reporting consideribly have the same criteria but what makes them different is the question being determined.

George Snell, an American media commentator claims that these two categories hold a significance difference from one another. According to Snell reporting lies along the lines of getting right to the point, stating facts, and moving on. Journalism on the other hand focuses more on the situation itself and multiple facts and descriptions that support a journalist's work.

Where do we find reporting? The Internet. Where do we find journalism? The printed press. This is yet another of the multiple difference between reporting and journalism. Any one in the media business knows that since the rise of reporting news via Internet has hurt the revenue of newspapers around the world.

It can be assumed that people search for the easiest and most sufficient ways of finding news. The generations are no longer seeking the full page story but rather the few paragraphs that give the most important details in a matter of seconds.

People will continue to gather their news whichever way is easier, therefore the newspapers have every reason to be worried.

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Gillette Drops Tiger Wood's

By Keri Waterhouse

Gillette is one of Tiger Wood's sponsors, they have decided not to feature him in their marketing while he takes time off to figure out his life.

They announced this Saturday. Gillette is one of Wood's major sponsors. This is going to be a huge upse to him and his publicity.

Other sponsors are discussing and thinking about what they are going to do with Wood's and his problem that is going on right now.

He has decided to take break from golfing for a while and focus on rebuilding his marriage.

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Shield Law passed

By: Mallory Tandy

The Shield Law has finally been passed. Even though it has been passed it still does not give journalists the authority to protect all the sources they want to. The full Senate still has to approve.

There is more work to be done, but atleast it is passed.

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Time Warner Sheds Weight

By: Chris Mars

Time Warner is finally saying goodbye to AOL after what was considered as one of the worst deals in corporate history. The 2001 deal allows Time Warner to become a more content-focused company and "reach new heights" according to Chief Executive Jeff Bewekes.

Even though the company has shed the extra weight of AOL they still have more cutting ahead. Bewekes says "These measures are often difficult, especially when they involve jobs and benefits, but they're sometimes necessary to keep the business strong."

Time Warner also looks to revamp their publishing division which consists of magazines like People, Time, Sports Illustrated and Entertainment weekly. This just goes to show that minor changes will not suffice and a complete makeover is needed to stay on top.

Photo Credit: Prisionplanet.com

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Tweaking Facebook

By Tessa Leone

After many user complaints, Facebook has changed it's privacy policy. People were complaining that their friend lists were public and could not be hidden from people that weren't on the friend list themselves.

Facebook listened to these complaints and evolved to accommodate its users needs.

"We have heard user concerns and we will soon enable people to hide their friend lists. Those who choose to hide their friend lists will not have their lists discoverable through search engines or viewable by other users," the company said in a prepared statement.

It's interesting to see how the public can make changes and 'tweak' the world around them if they speak out and band together. It makes me feel like the public has more control of the media than they realize.

Photo Credited to Facebook

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Facebook Introduces New Privacy Settings

By: Meghan Vosberg

Before you can start harvesting your crops on Farmville, Facebook first asks you and its other 350 million users to review their privacy settings.

Though this new move is gives users more power and control over their own settings, Facebook has another motive. To stay ahead of competitors Google and Twitter in the social networking competition Facebook is using this new move to fix problems that have been accuring with it's continuous growth.

Photocredit: creative commons

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SPJ Holds Personal Branding Event

By Zach Jevne

On Dec. 5, the Iowa chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) held an event at the Des Moines Social Club that focused on personal branding for journalists, marketers and public relation professionals.

The crowd of roughly 30 people, mostly students and people in career transistions, listened as four speakers talked about branding yourself in the industry. The speakers included Drew McLellan, Claire Celsi, Nathan Wright and David Bulla.

McLellan is the owner of McLellan Marketing Group and writes a blog called "The Marketing Minute." He recently updated his blog about his presentation and provided helpful tips to create a personal brand.

McLellan was very informative and helpful. He says that you must figure out your personal brand, but it must be organic, not fake. Your brand has to be something that's already inside of you. And you must figure out why it matters. Have people you can count on for honesty answer this question about you: "What three words describe me?"

Nathan Wright is the founder of Lava Row, which is a social media strategy and consulting firm in Des Moines. He stressed the importance of having a "robust" presence online. He reiterated some of McLellan's points, such as creating a LinkedIn profile and a Google profile. He said the advantages go to people who use those tools.

Claire Celsi is a public relations professional and operates the Public Relations Princess Web site. She made the point that it is impossible to distinguish between your personal and professional brand and should be discouraged in general. The professional and personal brand should be one in the same and authentic.

David Bulla was the final speaker and is a professor of journalism at Iowa State. He used Mitch Albom as an example of a journalist using multiple platforms to become incredibly successful. He mentioned that journalists need to have two skill sets today: 1) the analog skill - writing, photography, editing, etc. and 2) the digital skill - making use of the current media tools available and combining both.

The last hour of the event all four speakers took questions and discussed topics as a group panel. Some other highlights of the event: A personal brand is not what you do, but how and why you do it. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are just tools and you must continue to meet people and build relationships. Be fresh and opinionated and be yourself. In essence, have a take. When you have reached the point where half the people love you and half hate you, that's the sign of a strong personal brand.

Participation and understanding media are important on blogs and Twitter. In regards to your Twitter volume, make sure there is frequent, quality content. Transparency is key to marketing your brand. Dan Schawbel is a personal branding expert with information on his Web site.

Figuring out your message and who you are is the key to beginning to brand yourself. You also need to find a way to stand out. Social media is a great way to help, but it is just tools to help "plant the seeds" of your brand.

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Too Much Coverage

By Tessa Leone

Tiger Wood's recent misfortune has caused a waterfall effect in the media industry. Everywhere you go it seems as though you can't escape his all to public scandal. If there is a scandal at all.

The press are having a hay day with Tiger Wood's accident and love life. He is being put on trial and exploited for matters that many feel should be private. Wood's is famous for golfing, not for his driving skills and morality.

If you go to googlenews.com headline coverage of his accident is still circulating on the current news, even though it happened over a weed ago. There are three headlines to be exact.

It makes you wonder what actual newsworthy events are being bumped from the page to allow the space for these invasive and obsolete articles.

Photo Credit to USA Today

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Rudolph helps CBS out

By Brianna Carlson

Last Wednesday night, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" was shown on CBS. The movie was shown to the largest amount of viewers in prime time.

Amount 10.7 million people watched the Christmas movie.

CBS was at the top of the ratings while NBC fell behind with only 6.2 million viewers that night. Fox was right there with NBS at 6.3 million viewers.

Photo Credit: (flickr.com)

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Bing – Trying To Keep Up With News

By: Amy Johnson

Another search engine is up and running. Microsoft has started up the site Bing in hopes of adding to their big list of achievements. How will they keep up with Google?

Microsoft's top search technology executive said that they will not pay users to leave Google. These comments were released a week after news came out that Microsoft had been in talks over a News Corp-led initiative that would have paid publishers to break away from Google in hopes of boosting Bing.

Bing's senior vice-president stated that out doing Google was not the point, nor was keeping information off of Google a major benefit to them in the long run.

Since relaunching its search engine under the name of Bing in May, Microsoft said that in the United States its number of visitors had risen by 16 per cent. Microsoft claimed that those relatively modest gains had marked a successful first five months for Bing. Since Google launched, no one else has grown five months in a row.

It's evident that Bing is trying to compete with Google. The new search engine is comparing many of their moves and accomplishments to that of Google. The press conference with Bing's vice-president acted as a cover up for their eagerness to discuss the anti-Google plan with News Corp. This highlights Bing's sense of urgency to gain a stronger foothold in search.

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Iowa's Debt Will Climb

By Keri Waterhoues

Iowa's government debt has grown by almost $3 billion in the past few years and it is expected to take another hike in the current fiscal year, it is said to be partly because of Gov. Chet Culver's $830 million I-JOBS program.

According to an annual report that was just released last week by State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald. Iowa's total state and local government debt is $11.6 billion. Cities had the greatest amount of debt, with $4.3 billion, followed by schools, with $2.3 billion. State government authorities and agencies have a combined debt of $2.56 billion.

This amount of debt is going to affect everyone. This is a large amount of debt and it's sad that it's just going to get worse.

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Washington Times staff cuts

By: Mallory Tandy

On Wednesday, the Washington Times claimed they will cut a huge amount of their staff, possibly by 40 percent and they only have a 370-person staff.

They are hoping to make the paper different, and have more readers. They plan on focusing national political coverage that they will go in-depth when reporting. They will focus on the papers core strengths.

I fell bad that the paper is having to make such huge staff cuts, but hopefully it will help the paper in the future in their sales.

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This Just In: Radio to Improve in 2010

By: Meghan Vosberg

2009 is officially the worst year for radio. Predictions show the total industry revenues at $13.3 billion at the end of the year- a 19 percent decrease from 2008. But the radio industry will improve in 2010 or at least halfway into the year.

2010 will slightly improve. Revenues will climb from 1.5 percent to $13.5billion. This is due to the large growth in revenues from online and mobile distribution. In order to reach the predicted 20 percent increase in 2010, radio groups must use new online and mobile platforms to sell advertisers on more than one level of channel campaigns.

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Future of Online Newspaper Doesn't Look Promising

By Michelle Zimmerman

I blogged last month about newspaper companies straggling to find new ideas and ways to market themselves over the Internet, but a recent blog shows that there isn't much hope for those ideas.

Newspapers were expecting to make print motions towards the Internet in hope that there would be a turn around in the circulation of their news but people are still not willing to pay for the news they're offering.

Unless you are a highly respected newspaper there isn't much success on the Internet. Many people will find similar stories that are free of charge that will have a greater appeal then paying for the outlets newspapers will or could offer.

With the news of this it is still difficult to know what is to come of those passionate about the newspaper as well as though who support the newspaper. It seems that with the Internet trend people of new generations do not feel the need to pay for news that is provided freely over the Internet promptly rather than daily.

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Newsworthy Tweets

By Tessa Leone

CNN.com is a well respected, reliable source to receive the latest breaking news from. They have live video clips and striking photographs, sections for world news, health news, politics, and now they even have a section for 'Tweets of the Week'.

They showcase the top 10 twitter updates of the week that the CNN editors find most powerful or newsworthy from public figure heads, politicians, and just plain influential people.

There's quotes from ambassadors, senators, even Michael Moore...

"Did President Obama promise 2 have more troops in Afghanistan than the Soviets did durring their occupation? Well, he's topped them now. Sad".

Its good that the news industry is keeping current with the latest forms of media.

Photo Credited to Twitter

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Nielsen Ratings Soon to Include Online Views

By Laura Reid

With more viewers tuning into shows online, media companies are now asking that the Nielsen Company start monitoring who is watching on the Web. The Nielsen Company is responsible for national TV ratings.

Nielsen's measurements are very important to TV ratings because they are used to sell around $70 billion dollars in advertisements a year.

This is a very important move to Nielsen. If they are able to track the number of viewers online, those who watch on phones, and other methods that are not just television, this would greatly help the advertising industry. They are constanty trying to find where to place their advertising, and if they can easily track where viewers are going, they could follow them and perhaps help the industry out of its slump.

(photo credit: search-engine-land)

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Sports Illustrated Unveils Tablet

By Zach Jevne

Sports Illustrated unveiled a prototype of the magazine on a tablet computer. While tablet computers are not yet available, the magazine hopes this will be an important move for the industry.

SI demonstrated what the magazine would look like on a tablet and showed the features and capabilities. Live scores, video and more pictures are all features that the tablet version would offer.

There have been recent discussions about tablet computers and when they might be released by certain companies. Many believe that Apple will release its anticipated tablet sometime in 2010.

The Apple tablet would be like a large iPod Touch or iPhone, with interactive touch-screens. There have been two sizes discussed, a 9.7 inch screen and a 10.6 inch screen.

Sports Illustrated seems ready and willing to make the transition to these progressive devices that will certainly play a factor in the future the magazine and newspaper industry. GQ has already created a version of its magazine for the iPhone which sells for $2.99.

(Photo Credit: Sports Illustrated)

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