No signature, no publication

By: Hannah Pickett

There are many times that I open up a newspaper, read an article, and don't necessarily agree with the writer's tone or take on the issue at hand. I take it with a grain of salt and go on with my day. But, if I felt compelled enough to write a letter to the editor about my disgust with the article, I most certainly would not want to sign my name. It would be humiliating and in my opinion, unnecessary.

The truth of the matter is that in many newspapers, especially small town papers, letters to the editor will not be printed unless there is a signature on the letter. I know that at the Winterset Madisonian, if there is no signature or someone willing to take the heat for the letter to the editor, it will not be looked at, let alone published.

How important and necessary is it to have a signature on a letter to the editor? Why does it matter who wrote the letter?

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Jounalism job security?

By: Hannah Pickett

The journalistic world has been hit hard with the current economic crisis. Layoffs are the most obvious result of the crisis.

This week, the Des Moines Register laid off a number of employees. This was not the first time this has happened this year. The typical slogan in layoffs is "last hired, first fired." That's not proving to be the case anymore, in fact, the opposite is proving to be true.

Wednesday, Brian Duffy, an award winning editorial cartoonist, was one of dozens to receive the latest cut. Duffy's cartoons were the highlight on the front page for decades.

The truth of the matter is this. Fresh college graduates are chomping at the bit to land their first journalism job and will bite at just about anything, regardless of the starting salary. Journalists that have served their time in the business have worked their way up the pay scale. This makes it economical to lay off the tenured journalist and replace him with a college graduate who will do the same job for much less.

With this scheme mixed with the unsteady economy, where is the job security in this field?

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Education vs. talent

By: Hannah Pickett

In today's technologically advanced world where we can publish our works and creations with the click of a mouse, I wonder, why spend money on getting a journalism degree?

For instance, I am 20 years old and am the leading sports writer and sports editor at an accredited weekly newspaper. I have worked here since I was 15 years old. At 15, I had no experience whatsoever in the field of journalism. Right now, I simply have the experience gained on the job and the knowledge of some college courses leading my writing and editing, but still no fancy college diploma on the wall.

Sure, going to college is a great idea. I obviously think so otherwise I wouldn't be at Simpson. But, in the journalist world, the majority of jobs are determined based on skill, not education level.

If I were to apply for a position as an anchor or television reporter, the fact that I have a degree from Simpson College is not going to be as important as my demo tape, likewise in print journalism. If I wanted a job at the Des Moines Register, it would be my work, not my education, that would make or break the deal.

My aunt was one of the most popular writers for the Des Moines Register for about 15 years and has since written a book. Her level of education stopped after high school. No one ever questioned her qualifications for the position when they read her column.

So, my question is this: Having a college education is a wonderful asset to most jobs, and sure it gives a bump in the pay scale, but is it really necessary to become an established journalist?

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Women gain recognition

By: Allison McNeal

A new Web site is being launched that aims toward the success of women.

TheNextWomen.com is an online magazine mainly aimed towards highly successful women and their contributions to society.

Linde Wolters, editor in chief, said that the company highlights "women who are [future] founders, chief executives and VCs of internet companies. We write about who these women are, what they do and where they are going."

The site also brings in news from around the world, company start-ups, and lifestyle features.

The difference with this online magazine is that it brings interatnional business news about the internet industy.

There are sites like TechCrunch and Mashable, but they have predominantly male audiences.

Wolters also said that they have a strong focus on the women that are shaping the industry and are making the news, rather than the companies they work for or the technology that drives their business.

TheNextWomen.com uses Twitter as a way of networking, to keep in touch, and to let other women follow articles.

This site is proposed to expand to magazines in the next coming months.

With the question of the economy, the Web site is trying to keep their costs to a minimum and think of alternative ways to get revenue through the site.

According to Wolters, the main message that she wants consumers to know is that "we're trying to provide quality content that will eventually convince people that we really are unique in what we do."

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Blogging comes to Simpson

By Liz Tjaden

Students who have never taken a communication class at Simpson probably aren’t familiar with blogging and the benefits that it provides.

As the Simpsonian reported today, Simpson women’s basketball team player, Emily Smith, was thrown into this unknown cyber world last month by the NCAA.

The NCAA randomly chose schools and players to blog about what it is like to be a collegiate athlete within their division.

It is hard to understand the massive effects that blogging can produce. I think this is a great public relation’s idea by the NCAA to promote college athletics as well as shinning a light on women’s teams.
The blog will give fans an inside look at the experiences of a collegiate team by the athletes themselves, as well as promoting positive role models for young girls.

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Viacom troubles reach breaking point

By: Allison McNeal

Companies such as AT&T Inc., Credit Suisse Group AG, DuPont Co., and Viacom announced job cuts today as the U.S. recession threatens to become the longest in the postwar era.

Viacom Inc., owner of MTV networks and Paramount Pictures, recently stated that it plans on cutting more than 850 jobs, which is about seven percent of the workforce, because of lack of viewership and falling ad sales.

Chief executive Philippe Dauman said that the staff reduction “will better position Viacom to navigate the economic slowdown.”

Last month, Viacom reported a 37 percent drop in third-quarter profit as ad sales declined for the U.S. cable channels.

This quarter MTV’s viewership has declined 22 percent, which is the most of any Viacom network. Compared to a year ago, shows like “The Hills” and “A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila” attracted bigger audiences, Spencer Wang, an analyst at Credit Suisse, said.

While these shows are still being viewed, individuals are not watching them to the extent that they have when they were first broadcast.

In addition to the job cuts, the company is also suspending senior-level management salary increases for 2009.

With job cuts that are now becoming imminent, organizations are growing weary.

According to Dauman and Chief Financial Officer Tom Dooley, Viacom needs “an organization and a cost structure that are in step with the evolving economic environment."

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CBS radio and Yahoo! join forces

By: Allison McNeal

Along with newspapers that are constantly reorganizing and combining forces with other companies, radio stations and Internet sites are merging as well.

CBS radio recently announced that it will be joining with Yahoo! music’s Launchcast radio, which combines Launchcast’s 150 stations with the more than 150 stations operated by CBS.

According to crainsnewyork.com, a new CBS radio player will become part of the Yahoo! music site and will be incorporated into news and sports sites as well, giving new exposure to stations like WFAN-AM.

Along with Yahoo! music, CBS will sell advertisements to other stations, which could expand their company even more.

“This announcement… reinforces our company’s position as the No. 1 Internet radio company in the world,” said David Goodman, president of digital media and integrated marketing at CBS.

CBS also is looking to combine with AOL radio this coming spring.

Even though these companies are increasing their ad-sales sharing, growth of online radio is continuing to lose advertising dollars to the Web.

According to this article, the current ad recession has intensified the pain for radio and pressured operators to find new revenue streams.

At the same time as the ad recessions, stations like WCBS-FM and WWFS-FM are prospering from Yahoo! and CBS radio’s local ad sales expertise. Internet radio operators have been building large audiences for their online stations, but have not managed to make money from the new medium.

Observers say that Internet and terrestrial radio have reached a point where they need each other. “Both sides are reaching across to see if they can tap into the strengths of the other party," said Paul Verna, senior analyst at eMarketer.

Even though advertising sales are in a slump, CBS and Yahoo! main objective is to be a exponential force in the radio industry.

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Cox Enterprises reorganizes media outlets

By: Allison McNeal

More and more companies are linking newspaper, Internet, and television functions to increase their industry power.

Cox Enterprises is joining these companies and placing its newspaper, radio, and television groups under one unit called Cox Media Group.

Effective Jan. 2009, this new group will have 17 daily and 26 nondaily newspaper publications, including The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

15 television stations and 86 radio stations and digital media services will also be implemented.

Even with the reorganization, Cox radio will remain a publicly traded company.

Though the company is adding three different mediums, the newspaper, radio, and television units will remain separate.

Placing them under one organization “creates efficiencies that allow us to strengthen Cox for the future,” Jimmy Hayes, president and chief operating officer of Cox Enterprises, said.

According to ajc.com, the move also allows the company to bring different techniques together.

“Our wide array of digital resources that ultimately will lead to enhanced online and mobile experiences for all our audiences,” Sandy Schwartz, the president of Cox Auto Trader, said.

With the joining of different medium outlets, will this company prosper?

Many companies are using this strategy of combining different forms of media to enhance their image and create a "powerhouse" company.

If Cox is wanting to gain this same power and recognition, the company will have to just wait and see how their consumers respond to their message.

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Do Not Disturb

by Peter Merchlewitz

I remember growing up in Winona, MN where I had to help my sister collect dues for her paper route. House after house, I was received with unwelcoming glares and rolled eyes, with some people who would even be on the phone, asking me to come back at a later time to collect the money.

But with the new trend of Internet news becoming so popular, and newspaper subscriptions becoming more scarce, it seems the city of Alexandria, VA might just cut the middleman all together.

Apparently, Alexandria legislation could pass a bill that would create a local "Do Not Deliver" list to help stop unwanted newspaper, Editor and Publisher reports.

Similar to the famous "Do Not Call" list with telemarketers, newspaper circulation managers are likely to be irked by the proposed "Do Not Deliver" list where residents can "make their desires official," and would institute fines for violators.

On the bright side, the bill will help reduce blown away newspaper litter created by most unwanted subscriptions.

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Gannett layoffs

By: Callie McBroom

Amy Gahran from PoynterOnline reports that Jim Hopkins, a former Gannett reporter and editor, is publishing a blog about the recent layoffs at Gannett.

Hopkins is asking Gannett employees for information about how many layoffs are taking place at specific Gannett papers across the country. He is keeping a running tally of the number of layoffs and the number of papers that are doing the layoffs.

There are some concerns about this process, however. It is not completely accurate as some of the comments that have been posted contradict the numbers that have already been reported.

Most of the employees' information is submitted anonymously so Gahran is concerned about the anonymity harming the credibilty of the numbers as well.

Still, Gahran calls this project "a powerful window on a difficult situation."

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It's Just My Type

by Peter Merchlewitz

The Baltimore Sun's Jay Hancock posted in his blog on November 25 that there is an HTML program called Typealyzer, which scans the text of a blog page, and analyzes the dominant words in the blog with a specific brain activity resulting in in learning styles, preferences and thought-processes of individual people.

Here's the analysis of my favorite blog, You Don"t Say:

The logical and analytical type. They are especially [sic] attuned to difficult creative and intellectual challenges and always look for something more complex to dig into. They are great at finding subtle connections between things and imagine far-reaching implications.

They enjoy working with complex things using a lot of concepts and imaginative models of reality. Since they are not very good at seeing and understanding the needs of other people, they might come across as arrogant, impatient and insensitive to people that need some time to understand what they are talking about.

And here's what it says about The News About The News:

ISTJ - The Duty Fulfillers

The responsible and hardworking type. They are especially attuned to the details of life and are careful about getting the facts right. Conservative by nature they are often reluctant to take any risks whatsoever.

The Duty Fulfillers are happy to be let alone and to be able to work int heir own pace. They know what they have to do and how to do it.

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Follow the links

By: Callie McBroom

Daniel Luzer from the Columbia Journalism Review is Linked Out. He recently decided to follow the hyperlinks in various stories for a whole day.

Luzer was interested to see if hyperlinks are an incidental addition to news, or actually changing the way people consume information. He began his experiment on Oct. 15, the day after the last presidential debate.

He felt that hyperlinking made it very hard to finish reading any articles. Also, the parts of different articles he did read were distracting and didn't really relate.

Luzer discovered that different media organizations have different strategies for hyperlinking. Many use corporate media hyperlinks, which link the reader to other pages within the site. He points out that these links avoided distracting the reader, which ended up boring the reader.

Even though Luzer felt that he knew what was going on, he stressed that he didn't really understand what was going on. He also felt overwhelmed with keeping up with the news.

In the end, Luzer found that many of the articles he read just weren't that good. He says, "If journalists don’t really know anything, they can’t link their way around the problem."

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Politico brings in new members

By: Allison McNeal

Content sharing networks are forming at rapid speeds and signing new members as they are starting up.

Politico has recently signed up more than 100 clients, including 67 newspapers.

Among those are all 27 advance publication daily papers, including The Times-Picayune of New Orleans, The Indianapolis Star, and The Des Moines Register.

The linking of these companies are creating a positive buzz, which could produce more companies to join in the near future.

"The more people who hear about it, the more they come to us," said Jim Vandehei, Politico's executive editor. "We have government news, analysis, and they get the content they like and share the revenue."

Politico's success is in part of The Associated Press's lack of consumers.

Newspapers that have associated themselves with the AP are now pulling their companies from this organization.

Even broadcast outlets are now creating other means of getting information to the public.

CNN, for example, meanwhile, created its own new wire service called CNN Wire, which can release national and international news, as well as local news.

According to EditorandPublisher.com, "newspapers and broadcast outlets utilize the content for their Web sites in exchange for placing advertisements provided by Politico, with revenue shared by both."

Beth Frerking, an assistant management editor for Politico, said different content packages are available that provide between five and 15 Politico items per week. The more content the client uses, the less their share of the ad revenue.

"We sell ads for the entire network and the revenue is based on how much you use, either 50%, 40% or 30%," she said. "Rather than charging you for it, it works like this."

With more newspapers joining Politico, this company will have the opportunity to expand and increase content sharing networks in the future.

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Retirement

By; Sarah Keller

Retirement, it is so far away for college students, why should we start thinking about it now, we have plenty of time to worry about it later… right? Wrong! It is always smart to start planning early for your golden years, and it is never too early. Think how rich you will be if you start saving now. With these helpful tips from an article from Walletpop.com it is easy to find ways to start saving now.

First start putting money aside for retirement. Cut back on take-out or going out to dinner. Join an IRA, be creative on how to save money for daily basis needs, have stocks and funds. Join target gate funds, seek professional advice, make a withdrawal plan, and make retirement plan documents. Also doing as little as staying healthy is a big thing so you do not have to worry about as many medical bills later in life.

This article was a great way to find out how to save money. These were things that I had never thought of before to save money for when I am retired. The article was full of great reporting ideas that can really help people out.

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Tis the season to give

By; Sarah Keller

I love helping others out. Giving to charities are a great way to help others out, but with the way the economy is these days it is hard to find the money to give to a charity, and even harder to figure out a charity that will put your money to good use.

According to an article from wallet pop it tells you how to safely give money to a good cause that will be using at least 75% of proceeds to support the actual program. The first tip it talks about is to research your charity at charitynavigator.org, which tells how efficiently individual charities “spread the wealth”.

The article talks about how you can deduct your donation from your federal income tax. A lot of charities are looking for things that you may have right at home such as old clothes and canned food so you do not have to fork out cash. You can even donate an old cell phone or other electronics that you are not using. The article also talks about how you can simply donate your time and energy, which is what I like to do.

The article goes on to talk about how there is a scam on the internet right now about people trying to get money from you by sending an e-mail out acting like they are a big name charity such as Salvation Army, beware of these e-mails.

This article gives many great tips on how to give for the holiday season, and helps you to know how to avoid scam artists. It is well worth the time to read. I think it was well reported, I love helping others out so this article was very important to me.

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CNN reaches a larger audience

By: Allison McNeal

As some newspapers are feeling the effects of lack of readership and layoffs, CNN is pitching a new alternative to newspapers.

Their new tactic is to release a CNN Wire, which can cover large national and international events, as well as local ones.

With its CNN Wire, the company is going up against the largest news-gathering operation in the world: The Associated Press.

One strategy that CNN is currently pitching is to convince editors that it can offer something outside of their broadcast spectrum.

"The reality is we don’t have a lot of relationships with newspapers,” said Jim Walton, president of CNN Worldwide. “We have relationships with TV stations around the world.”

This announcement has come at a time where many newspapers are unhappy with the cost of the AP. Some newspapers have even given notice that they intend to leave this organization.

Newspapers such as The Columbus Dispatch, for example, paid more than $800,000 a year. Others, including The Star Tribune of Minneapolis and the Tribune Company, one of the largest newspaper chains, have also given notice that they plan to drop out of the service.

In response, the AP announced that it would reduce prices, which could result in saving $30 million annually for its member newspapers.

According to the New York Times, "CNN amounts to another expansion of its operations at a time of severe cutbacks across the media industry, especially at newspapers, which are facing the wrenching circumstances of both a faltering economy and the continuing flight of advertising dollars out of print and onto the Internet."

A disadvantage to this new medium is that a number of newspaper editors say the component of the AP service that would be hardest to replace is still photography. CNN said it did not plan to offer photography but would offer streaming Web video for newspapers’ sites.

Even during financial cutbacks and the slump in the economy, CNN has shown that citizens want another medium to receive information. If newspapers are not willing to pay the expansive sum the AP requires, CNN can give people information they deserve.

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Who wants to be my new BFF?

By: Jessica Hartgers

Why is it necessary for a celebrity to be the star of a reality television show were the winner of the contest is suddenly their new best friend forever?

After watching the season finale of Paris Hilton's My New BFF on MTV tonight I had a lot of thoughts running through my head. First of all, why in the world did I allow myself to watch this crap? And second, why do so many people desire to be Paris Hilton's best friend forever?

The reason for all the hype is due to the media. Our society idealizes celebrities because of the way celebrities live and the way the media portrays them. Photographers and paparazzi snap every shot of celebrities that they can, putting an image with the name.

It is somewhat depressing to think that our society idealizes celebrities so much that they will put their own life on hold to hopefully win a contest to be that celebrities best friend. What happens if you really do win the contest? You can not live your own life, you must live the life of Paris.

Paris has a new BFF named Brittney. Brittney is the newest member to the red carpet. The paparazzi have a new target.

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Sacrifices

By: Jessica Hamell

If you want to keep your reporting job you might need to make a few sacrifices. The Palm Beach Post has decided to not have a holiday party and to not give all its employees raises this year. If you make less than $65,000 you get a 2 percent raise. If you make more than that you are just
out of luck.

All of the company executives now have frozen salaries. There are 150 employees who will not be getting raises this year. This is all taking place because the downward spiral our economy is in and because newspaper revenues are going down also.

I think that this is a good choice. People need to make sacrifices in order to keep some from losing their job. It will help the company in the long run.

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Going to far

By Kellie Green

Newspapers are published everywhere, in America, different countries, high schools, colleges, the lists goes on and on. Publishers of newspapers should always be aware of what they are printing no matter who their target audience are.

As I was going through a couple of blogs online I came across a blog about a column that was posted in the University of Washington's school newspaper. The column was entitle Gay Marriage? Let's stop and think about this.

The article is an opinion column but in my opinion the publisher should have read through the article and thought about what kind of message they were sending out to their readers. The article is very disrespecting not only to homosexual men and women but also to any one that supports the idea of legalizing gay marriage.

The article stated that if, "you legalized gay marriage, why not polygamy, incest, bestiality or any other form of union?" How can we compare gay marriage to any of these? I think that opinion columns are necessary and that people should be allowed state their opinions about many issues but this seems to go a little far.

Something that to me seems like poor journalism is that the publisher of the paper didn't seem to think about what they were publishing before they did. The article caused a major upset in the college and many students are protesting the article.

The article even included a offensive picture, the one I have included, in its article.

Opinion pieces cause controversies all the time but when is it that an article is just to much?

This article to me seems like it should not have been published. It feels overlooked by the publisher because they should have known what problems it would cause for those that would be reading it.

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MySpace cyber-bullying goes too far

By: Allison McNeal

The Internet has reached its first cyber-bulling case on MySpace's network.

Lori Drew, from Dardenne Prairie, Missouri, has been convicted of impersonating a teenage boy in an online hoax that led to a young girl's suicide.

According to officials, Drew, 49, posed as a teenage boy, named "Josh Evans," using a MySpace account to send romantic, then disturbing, messages to one of her daughter's classmates, 13-year-old Megan Meier.

Meier thought she was messaging with a new, good-looking boy in town and never realized it was all a joke.

Meier, who suffered from depression, killed herself in October 2006 soon after reading a message from Drew's account that said: "The world would be a better place without you."

The case was tried by Thomas P. O'Brien, the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, after Missouri officials determined that Drew had broken no state laws, but the verdict did send an "overwhelming message" to Internet users.

Former federal prosecutor Matthew L. Levine, disagreed about this proposed law and told The Associated Press that O'Brien's legal theory was "very aggressive."

"Unfortunately, there's not a law that covers every bad thing in the world. It's a bad idea to use laws that have very different purpose," he said.

Even though there are disagreements, online safety experts told The Los Angeles Times that the verdict is now pushing social networking sites to regulate their users' activities.

"I think the industry was hoping there would be a strong verdict blaming one user for abusing another because that way it's not their fault," safety expert Linda Criddle said. "These companies claim to have good standards and then do nothing to enforce them. They let people breach their terms and conditions and do nothing about it."

Even though this proposal is up in the air, one major question to ask is what should social network sites like MySpace do to end cyber-bullying?

With the increase in technology and the availability of the Internet, online citizens will have to be more cautious than ever about social networking sites.

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