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journalism

Who ratted out that dog?

The SEC championship game is in Atlanta tomorrow. Auburn will be there, facing Missouri. There are a lot of signs like this around town just now.

We’ll be there too. Auburn and Mizzou each received 16,000 tickets. Auburn makes theirs ridiculously difficult to acquire. Missouri was kind enough to simply sell them online, so a lot of Auburn folks bought their tickets from Missouri. Given the proximity, and the weather out their way, it should be something of a home game for the team in blue and orange.

It is hard to believe, and easy to get caught up in. Another conference championship is a possibility, just four years removed from the last one and one trip around the sun from last year’s unfortunate season and we’re going to watch a championship game tomorrow. Hard to believe.

Things to read … This has been making the rounds. A Stanford student wrote this about the Iron Bowl:

Stanford beat Notre Dame, but all we can talk about is the SEC and its raucous finale of Auburn-Alabama. And for once, I have no problem with that.

Even as a West Coast man, I cannot tear my eyes away from the Southland drama that exploded into being on Saturday night. It was the single most unlikely play in football unfolding at the absolute perfect moment. It remains wondrous and unknowable, some quantum shiver in nature slowly solidifying in our minds. As I write, the eyes of a thousand sportswriters still flicker desperately across the ghostly pages of history, searching for some apt comparison or even just something to describe what happened — even just words.

Now, more than ever, there are no words.

That guy is pretty good. Meanwhile, I turned my Iron Bowl post into a larger story with bigger pictures. Slightly new text, much more interesting format. You can read it again here.

Speaking of photos, When White House Photos Are ‘Visual Press Releases’.

Also speaking of photos, here is a photographer being tackled by security for trying to do his job and photograph a protest. Little by little, we’ll chill journalists.

This dog is a cat burglar:

That’ll be the day’s cutest video. This one, a time lapse from the space station, will be the most awesome:

And, now, the most truthful headline you’ll ever read. A pair of shoes for Christmas: ‘It’s a small thing, but it makes a huge difference’:

At an elementary school in Huntsville on Thursday, a boy about 8 years old went to his little brother’s pre-K classroom and approached the teacher. He said his little brother didn’t have shoes that fit, and asked if it would be OK if they went to the on-campus HEALS clinic. He’d heard the HEALS staff gave out shoes.

The 4-year-old brother was wearing a pair of worn-out shoes that were four sizes too big, and a too-big pair of athletic socks that were dirty and full of holes.

“The little brother was so upset and embarrassed by the whole situation that he started crying,” said Pam Clasgens, development director with HEALS, a local nonprofit organization that provides school-based medical and dental care for children.

If you’re looking for a charity, this one will make a lot of kids very happy.

Alabama / Auburn / football / journalism / links / things to read / Thursday / video — Comments Off
5
Dec 13

Links, and we find a corner of the Internet that can retire

I’ve been busy with work, so there are just the regular things to read feature. It happens.

The story starts like this:

Missouri is willing to offer Boeing as much as $1.7 billion in incentives over the next two decades in an effort to land production facilities for the 777X. The proposal is the latest in a series of offers from states trying to woo the jet assembly plant and the thousands of jobs it could bring.

Huntsville is one of several locations competing to be the new home for the Boeing production facility after union members in Washington state rejected their latest contract. Other locations reported to be in the running include Missouri, South Carolina, Texas and Utah, and Washington state has maintained efforts to keep the facility there.

The headline is States offer billions to land Boeing facility; Alabama faces Dec. 10 deadline to craft its deal. At least some of the Boeing program is coming here, which is, of course, good news.

Hate this already: ‘Star Wars’ launches official Instagram account with Darth Vader selfie. Darth Vader does not take selfies. He is not a preening, angry teenager. He’s the scariest guy in a galaxy. He’s supposed to be terrifying with the simplest of gesture, intimidating with the slightest whim of his mercurial personality, not a laughable guy in a suit with a good data plan.

Also, the picture makes no sense. Fans spent a lot of time in the comments trying to figure it out.

I can’t embed this video, apparently, but it is perhaps the craziest thing you’ll see today. Nigerian man rescued from sunken boat after three days trapped at bottom of Atlantic.

Like stop motion? Here’s how you move a 400-foot vessel, on land, in tight quarters. Pretty neat stuff out of Mobile.

Still more video, you might remember the best videotaped phone call from the Georgia game two weeks ago. everyone wants to hang out with Nana and Angela now.

Here’s a nice story out of Birmingham, James O. Walker Sr. — a 1957 Auburn graduate who’s father has the pharmacy building named in his honor — gave a couple of Iron Bowl tickets to a young fan. That young man stopped by to thank him for his generosity and ABC 33/40 was there:

I don’t have the opportunity to mention the Crimson White, the student-produced newspaper at the University of Alabama, here a lot, but it is a good publication. Here are their front and back pages today. Inside was this cartoon, which will take some explaining, I’m sure … And here it is:

Post by The Crimson White.

On Dec. 5, The Crimson White opinion page published a cartoon depicting two football players, one from the Alabama Crimson Tide and one of the Auburn Tigers. Above the depiction was type that read, “This is what happens in Obama’s America.” The cartoon was meant as satire, but unfortunately it has been perceived by many readers as having racist intentions. We sincerely regret this, and apologize to anyone who was offended by it.

The cartoon, in fact, was intended as a lighthearted look at some of the more absurd explanations given for Alabama’s collapse at the end of the Iron Bowl game against Auburn last Saturday. Many fans across the state took to social media and personal platforms to place blame for the team’s loss. To The Crimson White, and much of the student body, the blame was based on ridiculous and unfounded reasons.

They caught a lot of flack, which is unsurprising. And the reaction is probably a bit more knee jerk than necessary. Editor Mazie Bryant continues:

We are taking actions now to correct this mistake, and we are instituting a change in the way we address editorial cartoons. Cartoons, just like the rest of the content on our opinion page, is personal thought. However, cartoons have the ability to reach a wider audience by their pictorial nature, and therefore, we must be vigilant to place a more critical eye on the greater implications and perceptions a cartoon might carry. From this point on, we will be approving cartoons before they are published with a panel consisting of our editorial board. We will judge cartoons based on their power and meaning and decipher which areas need to be revised and expanded upon.

All of it has started good conversation (and probably a few overheated reactions).

It makes me think of the issue of quality. If a cartoon’s purpose isn’t readily apparent to a basic, standard audience then it has little quality of value or merit as commentary. If it fails there it doesn’t give the paper anything.

The secondary art that is to be learned, then, is learning to answer that challenge. If a newspaper cartoon illustrator has to, later, explain his or her meaning so that the audience can reach the desired conclusion and have the correct reaction the cartoon needs work before it is published. As one young reporter said to me today, “It lacks clarity where clarity is definitely needed.”

Elsewhere, The Week in Schadenfreude finds “This may be remembered as our Gettysburg.” The sports section of the Internet can retire now.

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4
Dec 13

I am not suspicious, just grading

The great sign:

A friend of mine’s father owns that place. I like to think that I’ve helped with a few of the football-related messages this season. Every week it is a great excitement to drive down that stretch of College, just to see what they have put up. They are always amusing messages.

Less amusing:

Is this standard, end-of-year fare? Or is it ACA driven? And is the font large enough, because, you know, vision center and all.

The last newspaper of the semester is in the books. They put it to bed early this morning and it was on shelves today and we critiqued it this evening. They are now halfway through their run. It always goes so fast, but they never believe it will.

Also, we had about 19 student projects nominated for awards in the Southeast Journalism Conference’s Best of the South competition. We managed to get those in with about 10 minutes to spare today. There is some great work in there, so we are excited to see how they’ll do next February when the awards are announced.

Otherwise, there are the things that always fill this time of year. The paperwork that approaches wrapping things up. The administrative work that goes along with it. Sign this, establish hours for that, consider what’s next. And, oh, don’t forget to grade everything. It is a great time of year. The only downside is that my hands are covered in newsprint and red ink. If I found myself in a conversation with a police officer he or she might be concerned.

We’re watching the Iron Bowl again tonight. I’m going to make a lot of references to this video:

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3
Dec 13

Just things to read

Maybe we should all take our football a little less seriously. And maybe people should reconsider that extra drink. And if you judge people based on how dejected they act after your team loses, let’s not be friends, mmkay?

Woman charged with murder in Hoover Iron Bowl party shooting

The title of the largest municipal bankruptcy in the history of the United States hasn’t been in Alabama since Detroit filed this summer. So, in a way, Jefferson County got off the hook of ignominy. Now the county is out of bankruptcy:

(T)he county’s bankruptcy exit is being appealed by ratepayers. Critics of the county’s plan have said the sewer rate increases will place to great of a burden on poor residents. Others have noted that the debt structure of the deal could lead to problems down the road.

But county officials have maintained that the plan represents the best option for the county.

I knew, when I first covered the super sewer scandal in 2001, this would never end. This will never end.

Now for something more fun, AdWeek has compiled what, they say, are the 20 most viral videos of the year. Enjoy.

How about a few stories about disruption?

Professor Jeff Jarvis writes, Past the page, asking you to watch a video about Ask Google. Then he writes:

(T)hink about the diminished role of the page and what that will do to media. We publishers found ourselves unbundled online, so we shifted from selling people entire publications to trying to get them to come to just a page — any page — and then another page on the web, lingering long enough to shove one more ad at their eyeballs.

But just as the web disintermediated physical media, voice disintermediates the page. But media still depend on the page as their atomic unit, carrying their content, brand, ownership, and revenue. Now, when you want to know the score of the Jets game — if you dare — you don’t need to go to ESPN and find the page, you just say, “OK, Google. What’s the Jets score?” And the nice lady will tell you the bad news.

Now let’s go farther — because that’s what I live to do. Let’s also disintermediate the device.

What Will Google Glass Do For Journalism Education? Good question:

While Google Glass has some clear applications in higher education already, Robert Hernandez, a professor of web journalism at the University of Southern California, sees the technology’s potential more than anything else. “From a digital perspective, from my perspective, it’s just another device…it doesn’t change your life,” he explained. Nonetheless he can see a number of ways it can influence journalism and how it’s taught.
According to Hernandez, Google Glass isn’t likely to revolutionize journalism or education so much as provide users with a few additional options for how to create and interact with content.

Doesn’t technology just feel like that a lot? I’ve had that perception for most of the last decade. “This is neat, useful, somewhat impressive. But it is just a step along the way.”

More than anything, I see the shiny new thing (“Look what my phone can do!”) as an indicator of potential.

Eventually it starts to really change people’s lives. Like, perhaps, this story: The Beginning Of The End Of Waiters and Waitresses?

A friend of mine is producing this video. Like mountain bike riding?

Sport Science discusses Chris Davis’ Iron Bowl return:

This could be the last word on the subject. Probably won’t be, but it could be:

The Onion: Nobody At University Of Alabama Caught Saturday’s Game

Maybe this year I’ll get to take this ride: Bo Jackson to take bike ride for tornado relief to Auburn for 2014 A-Day game

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2
Dec 13

Día de la última clase

It was the last day of class for me. And a hectic day, at that. We wrapped it up with broadcast writing. I showed the 4,353 slide of the semester and asked the class to write the 129 story of the semester. That’s good for them, the writing part. I have to grade them all, which will be the next two weeks of life, I’m sure.

Visited the library today. Had two nice phone calls and then some recruiting calls and did a little bit of the grading and so on. Managed to have both lunch and dinner, which is sometimes a special trick. I’ll probably be up until the wee hours.

Also, two of our Christmas trees are now decorated. One is the large, fresh cut traditional variety. We display two miniature trees, too. One of them is purely a joke, the Auburn tree:

It features lights and helmets and the Aubie. My grandmother, who has a way with arts and crafts, made the tree. I found the helmets years ago at a going out of business sale. A former co-worker gave me the Aubie, years ago, too.

The whole thing sits on top of the book case full of Glomeratas. It is also covered in Santas, so we have the Christmas spirit.

These are the Sunday editions of the newspapers from across the state, full of Auburn material. You can click any of the images to go to each paper’s respective site. The Birmingham News, Huntsville Times and Press-Register look the same on purpose. I assume the Montgomery Advertiser didn’t know what AMG was running when they did their own layout.

It seems Kick, Bama, Kick, is going to be the name that sticks, so the O-A News has a nice headline. The Tuscaloosa paper touches on a topic important to much of the state right now.