journalism

history / I do not know what is happening. / iPhone / journalism / links / photo / running / video / Wednesday — Comments Off on So reporters, a hero and an embarrassing Congresswoman walk into a blog post
12
Mar 14

So reporters, a hero and an embarrassing Congresswoman walk into a blog post

I had a four-and-a-half mile run this morning. I felt it through the first part of the afternoon. And by felt it I mean “Would you mind getting that for me so I don’t have to get up? Or even raise my arms?”

My office has been hot all week — spring almost shows up and they finally figure out the heat in our part of the building. That, combined with a base temperature that stayed around the “Oh yeah, we ran a lot this morning” range, I’ve tried not to move so as to not break into a sweat. This is considered a problem in my world. I’m pretty fortunate, I know. I’m starting to get into the running.

I do not know what is happening.

Had guest speakers in class this afternoon. Jeff Thompson is the executive editor and Madoline Markham is the managing editor of Starnes Publishing, a five community newspaper chain in the Birmingham metropolitan area. They talked about what Starnes does and what their careers held before their current stops. Somehow we got into a metaphor about how journalism is like heroin production. (It was a supply/demand example and turned out to be useful.)

We talked about all of the bad stuff. How hard it is to land the job. The hours you sometimes work. The frustrations that you sometimes encounter. I want the students to have a worts-and-all perspective. Give ’em everything, I always say.

I asked “Short answer, is it worth it?”

guests

So you are listening to a guy who takes on the crusty, hard-bitten, cynical newsman role. You let him go on and on until you think he’s turned off the entire crowd, two classes worth of students, and then he gives a sheepish little grin.

“Yes. Winning is good. Every small victory is a big thing.”

I love talking to reporters.

Things to read … because I also love to read.

Innovating to create comprehension of big data and the Internet:

The amount of data collected on the Internet is overwhelming. Facebook alone collects 500 terabytes a day. As of 2013, there are 667 exabytes of data flowing over the Internet annually. And these numbers, as hard as they are to wrap our heads around, are only going to continue to increase — rapidly.

In the journalism sphere, massive data collection has produced data journalist roles. These writers and editors use data collected by third-party agencies to create some of the most viral images on the Web. Anytime The Atlantic publishes a map of the states with the highest poverty levels, they use big data. Anytime The New York Times publishes a quiz about where your accent comes from, they use big data.

These stories and photos get shared hundreds of thousands of times and are driving much needed traffic to publishers. This is about much more than an interesting listsicle. Data journalism is about taking big data concepts, visualizing them for the audience and showing readers who they are — or at least, who the data says they are.

This, as they say, changes a great deal about the active role of journalism. Read on to see how.

As the Web Turns 25, Its Creator Talks About Its Future:

In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee, a software engineer, sat in his small office at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research near Geneva and started work on a new system called the World Wide Web.

On Wednesday, that project, now simply called the web, will celebrate its 25th anniversary, and Mr. Berners-Lee is looking ahead at the next 25.

But this moment comes with a cloud. The creators of the web, including Mr. Berners-Lee, worry that companies and telecommunications outlets could destroy the open nature that made it flourish in their quest to make more money.

This is an important topic, so here’s another excerpt from the same story:

The idea behind net neutrality is simple: The web material we see on our laptops and smartphones, whether from Google or a nondescript blog, should flow freely through the Internet, regardless of its origin or creator. No one gets special treatment. But companies like Verizon hope some people will pay more to get preferential treatment and reach customers quicker.

“The web should be a neutral medium. The openness of the web is really, really important,” Mr. Berners-Lee said. “It’s important for the open markets, for the economy and for democracy.”

He worries that people online have no idea what could be at stake if large telecommunications companies took control of the web and the type of material we now have access to without any blockades or speed barriers.

Social, Search and Direct: Pathways to Digital News:

(U)sers coming to these news sites through a desktop or laptop computer, direct visitors spend, on average, 4 minutes and 36 seconds per visit. That is roughly three times as long as those who wind up on a news media website through a search engine (1 minute 42 seconds) or from Facebook (1 minute 41 seconds). Direct visitors also view roughly five times as many pages per month (24.8 on average) as those coming via Facebook referrals (4.2 pages) or through search engines (4.9 pages). And they visit a site three times as often (10.9) as Facebook and search visitors.

[…]

The data also suggest that converting social media or search eyeballs to dedicated readers is difficult to do.

I’m all for drones. We know this. But this little story seems a bit much: Drone Circles Building Explosion Taking Photos. Time and place and all that.

Local stories!

Former Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services official sentenced to probation in $339,314 agency theft: Punishment isn’t always overly harsh.

Alabama locksmith duo to star in TruTV series about cracking open abandoned, historical vaults:

Two Alabama men will travel the country opening lost and abandoned safes as part of a new TruTV series called “The Safecrackers”.

The show, which will center around locksmith Phil Crawford and his safe-cracking partner Blaze, will allow viewers to get a look at lost valuables from various eras as the duo tracks down and cracks a range of safes, including giant bank vaults, intricate antique safes, armored vehicles and more.

I hope this is, shall we say, less fake, than the warehouse storage shows.

Medal of Honor recipient Ola Lee Mize dies at 82. The story doesn’t offer an appropriate summary, so I’ll do it the old fashioned way. The son of a sharecropper, Mize would become a member of special forces, serve in Korea and VIetnam. It was in Korea, when he was about 22, that he took part in a fierce battle which would ultimately make him a recipient of the Medal of Honor. His face was supposedly so badly burned that, after the battle, his officers couldn’t even recognize him. He retired a colonel.

Here’s his citation:

M/Sgt. Mize, a member of Company K, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and outstanding courage above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. Company K was committed to the defense of “Outpost Harry”, a strategically valuable position, when the enemy launched a heavy attack. Learning that a comrade on a friendly listening post had been wounded he moved through the intense barrage, accompanied by a medical aid man, and rescued the wounded soldier. On returning to the main position he established an effective defense system and inflicted heavy casualties against attacks from determined enemy assault forces which had penetrated into trenches within the outpost area. During his fearless actions he was blown down by artillery and grenade blasts 3 times but each time he dauntlessly returned to his position, tenaciously fighting and successfully repelling hostile attacks. When enemy onslaughts ceased he took his few men and moved from bunker to bunker, firing through apertures and throwing grenades at the foe, neutralizing their positions. When an enemy soldier stepped out behind a comrade, prepared to fire, M/Sgt. Mize killed him, saving the life of his fellow soldier. After rejoining the platoon, moving from man to man, distributing ammunition, and shouting words of encouragement he observed a friendly machine gun position overrun. He immediately fought his way to the position, killing 10 of the enemy and dispersing the remainder. Fighting back to the command post, and finding several friendly wounded there, he took a position to protect them. Later, securing a radio, he directed friendly artillery fire upon the attacking enemy’s routes of approach. At dawn he helped regroup for a counterattack which successfully drove the enemy from the outpost. M/Sgt. Mize’s valorous conduct and unflinching courage reflect lasting glory upon himself and uphold the noble traditions of the military service.

He is believed to have killed as many as 65 members of the enemy in that one engagement. In his career, he earned five Purple Hearts:

“That terrible night in 1953 in Korea at Outpost Harry was one I would never want to repeat,” he wrote in a foreword to “Uncommon Valor,” a book about Medal of Honor recipients from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“Too many good young men . . . gave their lives to take or hold that miserable piece of high ground.”

In conclusion, the embarrassing gentlewoman from Texas:

Good question.

iPhone / journalism / links / photo / things to read / Tuesday / video — Comments Off on Signs of spring, finally
11
Mar 14

Signs of spring, finally

This little bush in our side yard always seems to have the first blooms. They showed up last week, finally. I thought it’d be nice to show them off, finally.

flowers

Two trees on campus, that I drive and walk past every day, have turned into lovely lavender explosions. Everything is about to surge forward. Spring, finally.

My swim was much better this evening, thanks for asking. I swam 2,000 yards. That’s 1.14 miles to you and me. I’m pretty sure I’ve consciously gotten into my car and deliberately driven it a shorter distance. It isn’t fast, or especially pretty, but there’s distance, and I don’t feel bad during it. Except for being constantly winded.

I’m told this is because I don’t know how to breathe. I’m beginning to believe that.

Things to read … because we want to believe everything we read.

With a new newsfeed, Facebook is getting ready to go Pay-for-Play includes some thoughtful tips and interesting links.

Alabama offering free photo IDs to vote

Perhaps you heard about the body found in Michigan. Today there’s a new angle on that story. Voting Records Raise Questions After Mummified Body Found:

The body found last Wednesday in Pontiac is that of Pia Farrenkopf — according to her sister, Paula Logan. Authorities investigating the case haven’t released her name, but they have said that the woman apparently died in 2008 at the age of 49.

According to a report in the Detroit Free Press, records show Farrenkopf as voting in the November 2010 gubernatorial election. Officials say, however, that it may represent an administrative error. Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard says the information must be checked out.

Whoops.

Also in Michigan, 82-year-old protects family, attacks home intruder with hammer to head:

Officers found the 33-year-old male suspect in the living room with blood dripping from his head.

The 82-year-old victim, George Bradford, who was inside the home, struck the suspect with the hammer in an effort to protect his family. George says his mother was in an upstairs unit and that he’s owned the duplex on Whitfield since 1968.

I don’t know about you, but I always enjoy when the aggressor is the one who gets hurt and the victim is the person with the hammer.

Weird headline of the week: Missing woman unwittingly joins search party looking for herself . And, remember, the week also includes that ridiculous story about the Oregon man who called 911 on his cat.

Ahh, educators. Fond du Lac students protest censorship mandate for school publication:

The piece features stories of three rape victims. Their names have been changed in the story.

On Monday Fond du Lac High School Principal Jon Wiltzius told journalism classes new school guidelines require that all stories meet his approval before publication and are subject to rejection.

“This is a reasonable expectation,” Wiltzius said. “My job is to oversee the global impact of everything that occurs within our school and I have to ensure I am representing everyone and there was some questionable content.”

Here’s a rule of thumb: If someone can fairly say you have a rape culture on your campus and you’re talking about how everyone is represented and you are questioning content, it is possibly possible that you are asking the wrong questions.

What will digital life look like in a decade? Some predictions, from the optimistic to mind control:

Tomorrow marks the 25th anniversary of Tim Berners-Lee’s initial proposal for what would become the World Wide Web. Think about how different media and technology were in 1989 from today. Now imagine how different things might look at a year that sounded like science fiction not that long ago: 2025.

And, now, Kevin Bacon:

You can’t just swipe away the hurt. Also, the Soviets had nukes for a lot longer than 20 years. Or maybe they ran out after nuking Bacon’s friends.

journalism / links / Monday / things to read / video — Comments Off on Not very viscous
10
Mar 14

Not very viscous

I don’t recall Daylight Saving Time having this much of an impact on me. Maybe I’m just not sleeping well. Maybe my diet is off. For one of these, or some other, reason, I have been battling a terrific laggard feeling today. I’m blaming Daylight Saving Time. That’s what I said getting out of the pool after a lousy swim this evening.

That’s also why I’m saying I’ve staggered through the entire day. The clear parts, the hazy parts. The warm parts and the mild parts. It has all felt like syrup.

So I swam 1,350 yards tonight. It was unremarkable except that I have discovered if I go slower each lap I actually go faster in the long run. And now I have to develop a routine that makes it all work — for when I am not in molasses.

Things to read … because other parts of the world are moving at normal speeds.

Joran Van der Sloot to be extradited in 2038 to face charges he defrauded Natalee Holloway’s mom: Beth Holloway — whose name is never actually mentioned in the story, oddly enough — will be in her mid-70s by then.

Found: A Corner of the Cosmos:

When I first saw this 1919 picture of nebulae in the Pleiades, I was surprised to see such an old photograph of distant stars. To think that an image like this was published just a year shy of the end of the first World War and over 40 years before the first man stepped foot in outer space seems almost beyond comprehension.

There are some incredible photos there.

David Carr: Journalism Is Still Serious, Just Different:

There are so many models out there. We’re at Bloomberg now, where a core terminal business is funding journalism, and it’s something that is of use to the users, giving them real-time information that’s going to be efficacious and useful. That’s one way to go. You have Huffington Post at the other end, where it’s not a narrow user base; it’s the broadest user base possible. You have BuzzFeed, which is taking viral content and then overlaying it with a skin of serious news. You have a lot of mainstream journalists like Ezra Klein, formerly of the Washington Post, Kara Swisher, and Walt Mossberg leaving Dow Jones and striking out on their own or in alliances with nonlegacy companies. There are all these bets all over the table and nobody knows what’s going to work and what’s not going to work.

Here’s the full video, which has some nice, thoughtful conversation throughout:

Two editorials that go together. The first, from Freedom of Information Law is a powerful tool to demand accountability from government:

“The legislature hereby finds that a free society is maintained when government is responsive and responsible to the public, and when the public is aware of governmental actions. … The legislature therefore declares that government is the public’s business and that the public, individually and collectively and represented by a free press, should have access to the records of government …”

We’re quoting from the preamble of New York state’s Freedom of Information Law. It requires governments to release records of their activities, with some exceptions, so that taxpayers know where their money is being spent and how their government is performing. FOIL is a powerful tool for demanding accountability.

Alas, saying “government is the public’s business,” and acting like it is, are two different things. Government agencies and officials routinely resist public disclosure.

The second, A newspaper and its place in a community:

The press-freedom portion of the First Amendment is a compact between the Founders and future generations. A strong democracy depends on journalism to keep government honest. This applies from the top all the way to the bottom — from details about the federal government’s expansive domestic-spying program all the way down to the goings and comings of a county’s criminal justice system.

“Democracies die behind closed doors,” wrote a federal judge in 2002. A journalist’s job is to pry those doors open. Someone should keep an eye on the courts, the city council and the streets department, to cite a few local examples.

Human nature tends to cut corners if no one is looking. And the kind of corners we’re talking about — public safety, criminal charges, proper bid processing involving taxpayer dollars — can come with a steep price, in terms of money and, occasionally, human life.

And, lastly, from the Department of The Children Are Our Future, comes another fine tale of the generous spirit of young people:

Trinity Classical was up over 20 points against Desert Chapel with time winding down in the California section championship. Trinity Classical brought in Beau Howell, a player on the team with autism who had never scored a point.

Take your eye off the ball. Watch number four. And then, at the very end, the winning championship team is giving Beau the ball.

Kids these days.

journalism / links / Samford / things to read / Thursday / video — Comments Off on Wherein I acknowledge Snooki’s existence
6
Mar 14

Wherein I acknowledge Snooki’s existence

I got caught in the rain a few times today, so there’s that.

I dried out sitting on a waiting room sofa, talking with a colleague about Texas and grandchildren and holidays. That was nice, since yesterday I’d sat in someone else’s office and talked about communication plans and how you’d restructure your entire workflow if you were given the opportunity. These are little insights into other worlds that I don’t normally see, in my office or with my students or in my car or wheezing through a workout. We talked about internships in one of those meetings yesterday and externships today. Sometimes the circles complete themselves.

Sometimes the umbrella leaves drip marks as you walk up two flights of stairs.

I don’t know what that means. I only know you can never shake enough drips out of the things, and then I feel responsible to patrol halls warning people of the wet floor I made.

Things to read … because nothing of great interest is coming to mind.

Here’s what happens when the readers choose the front page story:

What if front pages were selected by newspapers’ readers instead of their editors? At NewsWhip, we’re always interested in the news stories people are choosing to share – and how those stories differ from the normal news stories editors put on the front pages of big newspapers. So we ran a little experiment.

On Wednesday morning, we gathered the front pages of leading newspapers in several countries. Then we used Spike to check the most shared stories from each one.

A little work at our end, and we used those most shared stories to make new “people powered” front pages for each newspaper – giving the most shared story the most prominence, the second most shared the second most prominence, etc.

I was going through the most read and most commented on stories at al.com to do a mock up of the local outlets. But I decided against it when, even in March, most of the lead stories would be about Alabama football.

Getty Images blows the web’s mind by setting 35 million photos free (with conditions, of course):

This move requires uptake, but the right kind of uptake. Ideally, it would generate new value among the web scofflaws while not harming Getty’s business with pro publishers. I’m not sure these embeds hit that balance. The workflows are too ungainly for the people who currently have contracts with Getty, true, but they’re also not quite easy enough to be a good substitute for people who don’t mind stealing. My wager is that, as transformational as this announcement might seem to be, Getty’s embeds won’t be pockmarking the web.

But no matter how it turns out, give Getty a lot of credit for being willing to take a highly unorthodox stance. It’s an effort very much worth watching.

So more illustrations for blog posts everywhere, I guess.

Newsweek Relaunches in Print With Bitcoin Coup:

Newsweek returns to newsstands Friday with a small press run (70,000), but it’s hoping to make a big impact with its cover story, which claims to have actually tracked down the elusive Satoshi Nakamoto, the man credited with inventing Bitcoin.

As the story goes, Nakamoto doesn’t open up much except to say that he’s not involved in Bitcoin anymore, but senior staff writer Leah McGrath Goodman manages to wring out a nearly 3,400-word profile of the California man, who’s described as rumpled and unkept and living in a modest home, despite having a fortune estimated at $400 million.

But, then: Alleged Bitcoin inventor says Newsweek story is dead wrong, so that’s a big question mark on the restart of the old rag.

Second HIV-positive baby may be cured of AIDS:

Doctors announced that they may have possibly cured a second baby born with AIDS by administering antiretroviral treatment within hours after birth.

Doctors revealed on Wednesday that the baby was in remission from the virus at an AIDS conference in Boston. The girl was born in suburban Los Angeles last April, a month after researchers announced the first case of a possible cure, a baby from Mississippi. The Mississippi case was a medical first that led doctors worldwide to rethink how fast and hard to treat infants born with HIV, and the California doctors followed that example.

Breaking news: We have great barbecue in Alabama. Alabama has two barbecue chains on the list of America’s 10 best:

Two of the 10 best barbecue chains in America are right here in Alabama, according to the food website The Daily Meal.

Birmingham-based Jim ‘Nick’™s Bar-B-Q, which was founded by father and son Jim and Nick Pihakis in 1985, is No. 1 on The Daily Meal’s 10 best list.

That is a list of chains, mind you. And while I enjoy both of those chains, if you were talking singular barbecue experience there are about five other places you might choose first. In a related story: There is such a thing as eating too much delicious barbecue, but no one has found that amount yet.

What went wrong with Tutwiler and who’s being held accountable for Alabama’s prison problems?

That post is a bit self-serving, particularly given the gravity of the situation. Also, it seems that another, equally important question is: “Why is this taking so long to address?” This story is from a year ago:

There are other television examples from 2012. The systemic problem in the state’s prisons didn’t just creep up on anyone. And while there’s no finger-snap fix, it reads as if change is slow to come. But AMG is on the case now. Every little bit of attention helps in a progression story.

Rutgers Rages over Rice:

Rutgers University is not backing down in the face of a faculty eruption over the New Jersey state school’s invitation of Condoleezza Rice to deliver this year’s commencement address.

The Faculty Council at Rutgers’ New Brunswick campus is trying to oust Rice, a former secretary of state, national security advisor, and provost of Stanford University, as the university’s commencement speaker because she does not “embody moral authority and exemplary citizenship.”

Taking issue with Rice’s politics and career, professors passed a resolution Friday imploring the university’s Board of Governors “to rescind its misguided decision” to invite Rice and give her an honorary degree. Faculty councils on Rutgers’ Camden and Newark campuses are expected to do the same in the coming weeks.

If only the secretary was of a serious caliber of whom the Rutgers community deserves:

Apparently no one has uploaded a video of that 2011 Snooki speech. You do see a lot of “Rutgers angered by” links, though.

I bet they all went up and down the halls at dear ol’ Rutgers, warning of the drip that was coming.

friends / I do not know what is happening. / journalism / links / running / Samford / things to read / Tuesday — Comments Off on Happy Fat Tuesday
4
Mar 14

Happy Fat Tuesday

There was beans and rice and gumbo — sans the okra, so it wasn’t actually gumbo, but good nevertheless — and there were beads and king cake and some weird jello dessert on hand today.

People dressed up. Or at least put on masks.

I declined the king cake. I don’t like king cake. Came as a surprise to me, too. And I don’t think I’ve had jello as an adult. I’m saving up for a rainy day. I did have some fried okra on the side, however.

And then this evening I ran a 10K. I sprinted some. I can’t feel the lower half of my legs just now.

I built a training regimen that will surely be difficult to stick with in one way or another, but if I want to do triathlons this year I have to get in something approaching a reasonable condition. The good news is that I have the base stuff covered. The bad news is that, eventually, the Saturday “run nine miles” day will at some point become something closer to routine rather than a big deal.

I do not know what is happening.

Maybe I should wear a mask, so no one will see me in pain.

Things to read … the all-link edition! There is something for everyone, I’m sure. Enjoy!

American Adults: Internet as Essential as Cell Phones

Two-thirds of 18-34s use online radio

Why Apple chose Tumblr for its social media debut

Under Russian flag, Kalashnikov-armed checkpoints come to Ukraine

Gov. Robert Bentley joins other state leaders in calling for reversal of proposed National Guard cut

FCC scraps study of newsrooms

Which Alabama public officials bought Auburn football tickets in 2013?

Kristi’s advice for students pursuing a career in sports

1 in 10 Americans think HTML is an STD, study finds

Runners detour race to thank 95-year-old World War II veteran

And, finally, this newly released video from my friend Nathan Troost, whom I wrote about here last week. Terrific story, sharp storytelling. It is worth six minutes of your time.

HOPE+ Sisterhood from Lantern Vision on Vimeo.

Nathan says it is his calling. I’ve seen enough of his work to think he heard correctly. Check out more from Lantern Vision.

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