Journalist takes toddler's murder too lightly

By: Kathryn Lisk

I have always found some journalists to be a bit numb and unyielding when it comes to finding and delivering news stories. They make a living from being constantly exposed to intense situations, so they may start to lose the intensity most of us experience in difficult situations.

But a reporter from Rocky Mountain News took insensitivity to a new level last Thursday, when he covered a toddler's funeral live on Twitter. 

 I understand using a cite like this to report national news regarding politics or celebrities, but it seems violating to use it regarding the death of a child. 

It may be more convenient for readers to get a snapshot of what happened via a website like Twitter, which has a word limit of 140 characters, but it is absurd to cover a funeral live through a blog site. Where is the respect for the family?

The mistake that Rocky Mountain News made shows a lack of respect from those who are grieving and makes the reporter look extremely insensitive to the situation.  

As we've heard, newspapers are having a difficult time making money now that people have the internet to get news, but I hope that this isn't the direction of the journalism industry.

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BreakingViews.com enters multiple partnerships

By: Allison McNeal


A boost in confidence for online financial news.

BreakingViews.com is planning on partnering with other newspapers, magazines, and other online Web sites to appeal to a new audience.

According to Christophe Favre, executive vice president of sales and marketing for BreakingViews, "the new agreements will cover titles in the US, Canada and Australia and a national newspaper in the UK." This agreement means ending the partnership with the Wall Street Journal Europe and adding other companies such as Le Monde, El Pais, The National, La Stampa, and Singapore’s Business Times (journalism.co.uk).

This Web site will also be starting a new online site called BreakingViews Briefing, which will be a free news site that reports what has happened the day before. The public can then access the information without subscribing to the actual online site.

Another initiative this company is bringing is online news to Blackberries and other mobile devices. The company believes by expanding their news stories to mobile devices that they could lead the world with online newspapers.

This story presents a huge question: What will happen to print newspapers? Will they die out completely or chug along and attempt to gain speed?

With so many print newspapers converting to online Web sites, the newspaper industry cannot seem to keep up. Web sites, like BreakingViews.com, give financial news at the touch of a button, where print newspapers do not always write about stocks and financial news that happen each week.

Cell phones are another technological factor that are causing the newspaper business to dwindle. Most everyone has some kind of a mobile device, which can allow people to receive news even faster than the Internet.

Even though technology seems to be speeding up faster than newspapers can print a news story, many people are not complaining. If consumers are not happy with the rise of technology, they will need to voice their opinions, otherwise online newspapers will become the dominant force in newswriting.

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Poor Hawkeye

By: Gabe Gilson

In the few short days before the big game, quarterback Jake Christiansen for the Iowa Hawkeyes is going to be somewhat newsworthy. The former starter for the Hawks recently lost the job to sophomore Rick Stanzi.

At least one person is taking it well. Christiansen said in a post-game interview how every fan had the right to do what they did.

Christiansen was booed big time last Saturday as the Hawks played Florida International. Even though the game was won 42-0 by the University of Iowa, Hawk fans still found it necessary to boo the college athlete. Christiansen said in a post-game interview how every fan had the right to do what they did.

Is this wrong?

Sean Keller of the Des Moines register sure had a problem with it. In his weekly column Monday, Keller said it was pretty horrible of the noblest of all noble fans to do such a thing to a college athlete.

Andy Fales of WHO-TV 13 had a differing opinion. Sunday on the weekly show Sports Soundoff, Fales gave his 2 cents worth saying how Iowa is giving Mr. Christiansen a free tuition to play football. Why does every fan not have a reason to do such a thing?

What Fales said I tend to agree with. However, as a noble Cyclone fan, I know that Ames would never boo their former starting quarterback no matter how horrible he was playing.

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Magazines hurt by Web

By: Alex Jones

Yet another form of print media is being threatened by the shift in consumers from print media to online resources. Magazines are now feeling the move quite dramatically. Magazines like the National Enquirer that focus on celebrity gossip are really struggling with maintaining their newsstand sales. 

Surfing the Web it is easy to see why this is the case. It is nearly impossible to access a Web site  and not stumble upon some form of celebrity gossip. Let's be honest, if you can find the same stories, for free and be able to access them from the convenience of your home computer you're not going to spend the time and money to retrieve a print copy at the local supermarket. 

This is just another example of print media's decline and the rise of online media. Although the magazines are trying desperately to save their print sales using whatever tactics they can like only giving consumers half the stories online; I think in the near future we will see that the Web will be the true victor. 

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Political Truth-o-Meter

By: Callie McBroom

I have just discovered a cool site that seems to do the impossible: look at both sides of politics with an unbiased eye. PolitiFact.com looks at both Republican and Democratic party comments. It even addresses rumor emails directed towards a certain politician.

The St. Petersburg Times of Florida and Congressional Quarterly of Washington, D.C. team up everyday to check out speeches, TV ads, interviews, and other campaign communications for not-so-honest claims. The goal is to help voters navigate the fine line between true and false.

Some of the features provided include the Attack File, the Truth-o-Meter, and the Flip-o-Meter. Each claim is labeled as True, Mostly True, Half True, Barely True or False. A special category entitled, "Pants on Fire" is reserved for the worse offenders.

As a voter who is concerned about making the right decision in November, I find the site to be useful. As a person tired of political attack ads and speeches that exaggerate claims, I find the site to be refreshing. I know that this will become a valuable source for me in the next two months.

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Questions for Sarah Palin

By: Brian Steffen

Charlie Gibson of ABC News gets the first shot at interviewing hockey-mom-cum-vice-presidential hopeful Sarah Palin, with the pieces to air on Thursday and Friday nights. At Slate, media critic Jack Shafer has his list of suggested questions. 

Tough questions, to be sure. Are they fair to ask, or do they show the dreaded lack of "respect and deference"?

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I'm a Crackberry!

By: Sarah Harl

While spending part of my summer in Washington DC, and all of my down time from my summer camp job running around Manhatten's Upper East side, meshing into the world of Gossip Girl, I realized that if you didn't have a Blackberry or and iphone, you esentially had nothing.

Media outlets are recognizing this too. Major media outlets are looking for creative ways to take news on the go.

Writing is now more concise and direct then ever before, the headlines meant to stand out amid all the other things one can do on a cell phone these days.

Just as the media adapted to radio, television, and the internet, and blogs, journalists will conquer this new form of news gathering perhaps one day making it an artform, or something we learn about in class.

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Journalists aressted outside Republican National Convention

By: Erin Floro

On September 5, 2008 at the Republican National Convention many reporters were arrested while trying to photograph the anti-war protestors. The St. Paul police told everyone to leave and no one did, even the reprters. This was in violation of the law, but they were just doing their job! The police didn't care who was who, everyone was getting sent to jail.

Nathan Weber, a photojurnalist was shooting pictures Monday and police threw him to the ground, beat him, and then arrested him. This is absurd, police could tell who was a journalist and who wasn't. Police used grenades, smoke, pepperspray, and tear gas on both reporters and protestors. A journalist stated "It's not hard to see who's media and who's not, even if you have two cameras, a tool belt, and a credential handing around your neck, it's pretty clear who's media and who's a protester." They confiscated many of the journalists equipment and personal belongings. I feel this was completely unnecessary

Reporters had dealt with covering the stories of the debates before, no one was as strict as in Minnesota, they had no tolerance for anyone there. Some of the major reporters there were photojournalists from the University of Kentucky and their student advsor, Associated Press journalist Matt Rourke, Twin Cities journalist, and many more. Sometimes journalists will do whatever it takes to get a story.

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Small town papers

By Sarah Keller

Last May term I had the opportunity to shadow at the Overland Park Sun. I am sure you have never heard of it, that is because it is a small local newspaper from my home town in Kansas.

From my shadowing experience I was able to get a hands on experience with the reporters and hear what they had to say behind the scenes. One of the things the reporters told me was that they were trying to utilize the internet more, since that is what people are reading off of now. Unfortunatly if you go on to the Overland Park Sun's website, there is not a whole lot to look at. It is really boring, the best thing I have to say about their website is that they have a few pictures, and publish some of their articles online. If they really want readers to appriciate their website they should make it look better, and get more interactive with it. I could not even find the authors of the articles name anywhere in site.

Another thing that I was able to pick up from the reporters was that they felt as though no one took them seriously. They told me that their biggest competetion was The Kansas City Star, and if you know anything about the Kansas City star, you would know that you would not want to be up against them. The reporters from the Sun told me that they had to write far more articles than the reporters from The Star because they had less staff. They believed that The Star had far more time to make their articles sound better than the Sun. Unfortunatly the fact of the matter is that the public does not care how much time you have to write something, they care how it sounds. The public does not want to take the time to read an article that is poorly written.

When I looked at an article from The Suns website, about one of the high schools in my districts dance team I was bored. I wanted to hear something that would draw me in, but I could not seem to get interested. Even though I was against this dance team at several dance competitions in high shchool I still could not seem to care. The lead was poorly written, and there was nothing interesting in the story, and then on the same page with out any title they started a new article, it was confusing and not well prepared.

So though I loved the people at The Sun I do believe that they need to get caught up with the times, became more computer Savvy, and spend more time writing well sounding articles.

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One man makes a team

By: Jessica Hamell

Reporters treat Tom Brady like a god. How will they react now that he is injured? The reporters first reacted by bashing the Pats They say that all hope is lost to return to the Super Bowl this year because their star QB is out of the season. Quarterbacks aren’t the only part to a team as long as the Patriots find an average replacement QB they should so just fine.

NFL.com says that Brady’s injury will shift the power in the AFC. Opponents expecting the New England Patriots to fall apart as a result of Tom Brady's season-ending knee injury would be wise to remember the last time the team had to turn to its backup quarterback.

The Denver Post says “Opponents expecting the New England Patriots to fall apart as a result of Tom Brady's season-ending knee injury would be wise to remember the last time the team had to turn to its backup quarterback.”

One person really doesn’t make a team. If the Patriots think that they can come out and still be successful without Brady and have confidence in the new QB then their season might end up just fine.

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And the State steps in...

By: Jessica Hartgers

Iowan foster mother, Desiree Bosch, reportedly loses custody of her own son recently. A judge ruled the 12 year old boy's home to be un-fit for him to be living in, yet she is still able to house foster children whom are not blood related. The judge's reasoning for taking the boy from the home was because the son was experiencing extreme stress and mental health issues.

From the beginning of the story it seems to look as if the journalists were taking the side of the mother. At the start of the article it mainly talks about the mother's point of view; foster mother who keeps her house open for any struggling friend or child. However, as the story goes on more and more details arise. You soon find out that the son was abused physically and sexually by his live in roommates, this abuse caused numerous problems for the child.

This story bothers me because the foster mother should be a mother first, and think of her own child's well-being before she chooses to open her house up to foster children that she makes money off of from the government.

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Find the arts

By Kellie Green

The Arts is something many of us, who are attending Simpson (a liberal arts school), know a lot about. The Arts is an area that many people focus on and enjoy. People daily go see plays, watch movies, go to a museum, write poetry, etc. Then why is it that The Arts section in newspapers seems to be hidden or completely not existing.

In going through The Des Moines Register in just a glance I can't even find the section focused on The Arts. At times there is a little section but nothing as big as the sports section or other popular selections. When reading The New York Times they at least have an Arts section but it is usually way in the back and hard to find.

The Arts section should not be hidden. It affects people everyday. Going through The Arts section today, on the New York Times website, I found out about the closing of Rent, a Broadway show that has been going on since 1996. When I went to find this out, on the web, I had to search for The Arts section because it was hidden off to the side.

The Arts may not be something that everyone is crazy about but it shouldn't be taken as something not important. The Arts should be compared to sections like sports. Both of these areas may not be for everyone but I am sure there are many people out there that spend their time focused on these areas.

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Respect and deference

By: Brian Steffen

After my rant in class yesterday about why Republicans seem to feel that they get the shaft from the press more than Democrats think they get (although they think they get it plenty), we find a John McCain aide explaining the same idea when he expounds the campaign's philosophy on how it will permit Sarah Palin to interact with the media.

"Why would we want to want to throw Sarah Palin into a cycle of piranhas called the news media that have nothing better to ask questions about than her personal life and her children?" campaign manager Rick Davis asked the Washington Post yesterday. "Until we feel like the news media is going to treat with some level of respect and deference, I think it would be foolhardy to put her out into that kind of environment." (Emphasis mine.)

The respect-and-deference card is a great one to play if your goal is to energize your base by stoking resentment against the press as one of those snotty "elitist" groups. It's a tried-and-true campaign strategy. And the sad thing is that it works.

What's the veep hopeful's take on oil independence? If you're a journalist, don't ask too probing of a question, because it shows your bias. 

How about Iraq? Don't be so unpatriotic as to question what the candidate has called a "task from God." 

How about her membership in a church that considers her efforts to expand Alaska pipeline to be an expression of God's will? You must really hate ordinary people to ask questions of such temerity.

Winston Churchill put it best a long while ago: "The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter." When journalists are told to sit down and be quiet and let the pros take over — and a large swath of the voting public agrees — then we're in trouble.

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Male reporters may be the issue

By: Sara Crouse

Historically, male reporters have been significantly more prominent in numbers than female reporters. This trend has continued into the 21st Century, but seems to be progressing slightly towards an even ratio. America can still feel the trend prominently though in political coverage. John McCain’s sudden refusal to appear on the Larry King Live show may be a direct effect of male reporters in action.

The media coverage of John McCain’s choice to for Vice President has been focused largely on issues of children and the woman’s role in society. Why are these two topics on the mind of reporters and journalists alike? There has been quite the controversy and many questions asked of Sarah Palin that would be nowhere in an interview with a male candidate. Perhaps male reporters are fascinated with Sarah Palin, and believe her family life is far more important than her voting record as Governor.

The increasing questioning and reporting of Palin proves no different than the coverage of Hillary Clinton during her campaign. The issues important in Clinton’s agenda were often pushed aside by the media. Voting records and ideology were not needed to discuss the first female front-runner in the race for the presidency. Reporters were concerned with Clinton’s female tendencies such as tearing up on stage or the ‘Sisterhood of the Traveling Pantsuits.’

Have reporters gone soft with male concerns of the emerging female presidential hopefuls? Has the public gone soft with the issues important in the ’08 Election? Have the large numbers of male reporters chosen to cover these stories on seemingly unaccepting views of women politicians for a reason. Perhaps female reporters should step out and focus on what has been a bad year for feminism.

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Media hurting media

By: Shauna Agan

With Sarah Palin’s first nationally televised interview since being named as John McCain’s vice presidential mate coming up, many people wonder what questions will be asked and how well Palin will respond. Word on the street is that ABC News is going to come down hard on Palin in the near-future interview.

Since Palin became a nationally known name a littler over a week ago, the media has done little to praise her, leaving many headlines to do quite the opposite. Many attacks and accusations have been made about her and her family, some true, but some false.

The media has attacked her daughter, Bristol Palin, for being 17, unmarried, and pregnant. The media has also accused Bristol Palin of being the real mother of Sarah Palin’s infant son with Down’s syndrome. Sarah Palin has also been accused by the media of being too inexperienced, and since she came into the national radar, the media has done nothing but try to dig up as much dirt as possible about activities she has taken part of that some may refer to as ‘shady’.

Leave no doubt though; Palin was prepared to fire right back. At the Republican National Convention during Palin’s speech last week, she sent out a message, “here’s a little newsflash for all those reporters and commentators: I’m not going to Washington to seek [your] good opinion”.

Palin isn’t the only one in the McCain campaign standing up to the media. Rick Davis, McCain’s campaign manager said, “Why would we want to throw Sarah Palin into a cycle of piranhas called the news media [?]”. He added that she wouldn’t do an interview until the media gave her some respect.

The question that must be asked now is: Does media come down too harshly? Do they push too hard trying to draw public interest, but in result create an affect of actually pushing away the target of the criticism, which ultimately hurts other media?

The media was not nice to Palin. It made her not even want to conduct an interview. If the media does not treat her fairly, there is no reason she should play along with its games.

Palin is not the only person in this situation. Virtually all public figures must sensor what they say because the media is too harsh. If public figures even word one thing wrong, it is definitely the headline in the next day’s paper. And, of course, the story about it includes the media’s spin on the situation.

I believe the media is only hurting them self by running multiple criticizing articles. There must be some way to deliver a story without constantly bashing the individual the story is about. If the situation continues, nobody will want to be interviewed because the media will say what they want anyways.

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Be safe out there

By: Quinn Albrecht

After my last blog, encouraging people to make news happen, I came across a story that refutes my statement. I found an article about the journalists in Minnesota that got caught up in an out of control protest, at the Republican National Convention.

The journalists were reporting on this protest, and everything was okay. The problems started when the permit the protesters had, expired. Even though it expired, they still wished to protest. In the end quite a few protesters dispersed away, but a few stuck in there and created problems.

Being good journalist, they stuck around, waiting for a good story. Little did they know they were going to become the news story of the evening.

The protesters where corralled onto a bridge, with the journalists. When the journalist tried to leave, they were not allowed. The journalists were given tickets for being a part of the protest.

In the end, I found that making a news story happen can sometimes be a good thing, but other times you could end up with a hefty fine to pay. So when looking for a news story, play it safe and attack China’s government, not your own.

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Trimming down student newspapers

By Austin Bates

Recently, The Daily Orange and The Daily Californian both announced that they would be cutting a day from their daily prints. Now, this would be pretty eye-opening if this were a national, commercial paper, but these two papers are student run from the University of California and Syracuse University, respectively. So, with falling revenues for all newspapers, big, small, and student run, one can't be too shocked about these "lay-offs".

Still, these are student run papers, and I'm sure the students running these papers were less than happy about this decision. Obviously, a paper printing operation has to have money to print, and if it's not there, then you can't print, but the fact that a school created paper would suffer from the problems that should affect only commercial operations is sad. Afterall, these are papers that are meant to be a sort of practice run for students seeking to enter into professional, commercial journalism, or possibly into a business related career. If the paper had to be cut all together, students would lose out on an invaluable experience that really couldn't be had effectively in any other way.

I would hope such a fate would never befall the Simpsonian, and if there was danger of such a thing, I would suggest the paper be buttressed with public voluntary funds, or other non-commercial means. I would hate to see what's supposed to be a mostly educational experience turn into a nitty-gritty, money grabbing operation just to stay afloat, and personally if it did come to that, I would almost prefer the paper to just be put out of its misery. Working with the Simpsonian, even for just one article so far, I can say the experience really has been unmatched by anything else so far, and is invaluable in learning how to write actual news stories for an actual newspaper. I believe it should be the school's responsibility to ensure such an experience remains intact and available for all future generations of students.

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Google-paper

By:Adrian Aitken

Have you ever missed a newspaper one day, attempt to look at the publisher's website and find either shortened versions of stories or different coverage? Or maybe you would like to look up a historical newspaper story from across the country? Well the solution has arrived!

Google has just informed the public of its new newspaper archive program. The system will work just like the original Google search engine, but specific to newspapers. Viewers will be able to see the actual newspaper as is on the Internet and although at the moment only a handful of publishers are signed on, the team at Google is working to expand their network from large dailies to small monthlies. At this time Google has commented that this service will not be entirely free and gave no details on the cost.This might be the change newspaper publishers need to move with today's technology.

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Technology ultimately helping new branches of journalism

By: Taylor Browning

  It is commonly known that the Internet is hurting the newspaper business by providing instant news continually throughout the day.  The Internet however, is also helping many entrepreneur journalist get a huge leap into their aspired careers as well as sparking many new journalism outlets. 

     

     An Entrepreneurial Journalism class taught by Jeff Jarvis at the City University of New York's new Journalism School covers the opportunities the Internet provides many aspiring Journalist, outside the world of blogging. Many online versions of magazines and newspapers use the Internet to spread their awareness and advertising,  gaining money through organizations and online subscriptions in hopes of making it into print media.

    So while the Internet makes everyone a journalist through blogging and such, those further seeking a career in journalism are getting a boost into the field. As one era started without technology is somewhat diminishing, a new wave of entrepreneurs are emerging in journalism as technology continues to grow.

     

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Good advice from a 2008 journalism grad

By: Brian Steffen

We've been spending a lot of time in the first few BNR sessions in talking about the skills today's journalism students need to have. It's a scary time, but — as many have pointed out — there are opportunities for those who are willing to innovate, take risks and stay on top of the business.

Now comes this advice from Nick Rosinia, a 2008 graduate of the University of Florida, who's in his first job at MLB.com, the Web site that covers major league baseball. (Pretty cool job for those interested in sports, don't you think?)

Rosinia, by his own admission, isn't a tech geek, but he does have the basics down, and he's using that to remain competitive in a highly competitive work environment. It's great advice from someone who was sitting in a chair like yours not too long ago.

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