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journalism

A lovely, cold Monday

Had the opportunity to work from home today. Lots of emails. Lots of texts.

It was also cold. The high was 48. Naturally I chose this afternoon to work from home, because that meant I could get in an afternoon ride. And that meant riding at 48 degrees.

So I put on my stretchy clothes and a layer with sleeves. I put on my fingerless gloves and pedaled very hard, right from the outset. Maybe, I thought, this would warm me up. At the light closest to home, where I haven’t even started riding yet, I’m already cold. That’s a good sign. I don’t really know how to ride in that weather. The chill, the wind you create, the sweat staying with you … These are rare problems for us, fortunately, but I should figure it out.

What I did figure out, my hands were only cold when I stopped. My torso was only cold when I was moving. So I got in a quick 15 mile ride around the perimeter of town. Then I came home, wrapped myself in a towel and made a hot tea.

And then made quite a few phone calls, working on recruiting the next class of students into our department. I like talking to the students, some of them ask great questions. I also like talking to peoples’ answering machines, too. Sixty seconds, done!

Leaf update: Still going strong.

I took that picture last week of the last leaf on my indoor tree. I’ll keep you posted on how long it sticks around.

Things to read … Drones Offer Journalists a Wider View:

The best way to film the destruction wrought by Typhoon Haiyan in Tacloban, the Philippines, said Lewis Whyld, a British photographer, was from the air.

But Mr. Whyld did not want to beg for a ride on a military helicopter, taking the space of much-needed aid. So he launched a drone into the skies above the city. In addition to shots that showed the scale of the damage, broadcast by CNN recently, his drone discovered two bodies that were later recovered by the authorities, he said in an interview.

“The newspaper was for still images,” said Mr. Whyld, who builds his own drones, “but the Internet is for this.”

Yep.

4 examples of innovative online newsgathering:

You may be accustomed to using RSS feeds, Twitter, Google Alerts and other tools for newsgathering. Here are four reporting techniques you may not have thought of.

[…]

These four examples were flagged up in a presentation Journalism.co.uk gave to journalists at Swedish Public Radio.

Photographer Wins $1.2 Million Lawsuit Over Images Taken From Twitter:

With an endless amount of photos floating around on Twitter, it’s easy to find images of almost anything. But this large social-media bank of seemingly free-to-share photos can also lead to issues regarding ownership and copyright infringement.

A New York jury delivered a landmark decision on Friday when it sided with freelance photographer Daniel Morel after he sued Getty Images and Agence France-Presse for using photos that he posted on Twitter without his permission. Morel won $1.2 million for the unauthorized use of his images.

So be careful out there.

Birmingham Civil Rights Institute wants to digitize, preserve its Oral History Collection, and it wants your help:

If the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute is one of Birmingham’s greatest assets, the institute’s Oral History Collection is one of its greatest assets. It is comprised of 500 video interviews, many lasting an hour or more, with the foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement. The subjects of the interviews include many of the names you know, like hours with the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, and dozens and dozens of names you may not know, but who played a role in the struggle nonetheless.

[…]

BCRI hopes to preserve that material, and to that end they’ve launched a fundraiser on the crowdfunding site Indiegogo seeking financial support for the digitization and archiving of all the material in the library.

That’s a worthy project.

Here’s my favorite, which you’ve seen here and on Twitter and Facebook among other places: Help Molly Walk Again. She’s more than three-quarters of the way to her fundraising goal. Great story, a young Auburn woman who had a bad car crash and a traumatic brain injury. She rehabbed enough, learning to walk and talk and feed herself again, to return to school and finish her degree. A remarkable young woman. Now she’s trying to continue her rehab. Her fund raiser continues through the next several few days. If you have the means, please consider helping her out and passing along the link.

Friday / iPhone / journalism / links / movies / things to read / video — Comments Off
22
Nov 13

The last leaf

And, now, the last leaf on my indoor tree:

This tree sheds them all at once. This morning there were only two leaves left. I watched one of them fall away, like Leonardo DiCaprio in so many nautical films.

Last year this tree dropped leaves almost overnight. I thought I’d killed it somehow. But, you never know and it doesn’t take up that much space. So I watered the soil and stared at the branches and then, this spring, the leaves came back even larger than they were the year before. At this rate we’ll have to buy a new house just to support this tree within six years.

So I thought I better document the strongest of them all. I’ll keep you updated.

Caught a late showing of the new Hunger Games movie this evening:

The movie is pretty good. The Yankee says it was a consistent adaption from the book. I’m sure fans will love it. I have a problem getting past a nation willing to allow themselves to digress to a situation like that. I’m told that is never really explained, which is a great way to escape a difficult theme for the author, who can then launch into a social commentary on whatever she likes. And then I read about it:

Collins says the idea for the brutal nation of Panem came one evening when she was channel-surfing between a reality show competition and war coverage. “I was tired, and the lines began to blur in this very unsettling way.”

Uh huh.

By the way, ever heard of Koushun Takami’s Battle Royale?

Things to read …

World Bank raises Philippine typhoon aid package to almost $1 bln:

On Saturday, the national disaster agency said the death toll from Haiyan had risen to 5,235 from 5,209, with more than 1,600 still missing and over 4 million displaced people.

Apart from the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank also pledged a $523 million loan and grant package to the Philippines, as foreign governments and international aid agencies committed about $344 million in cash and relief goods.

The government initially estimated the reconstruction cost to reach as much as $5.8 billion, with more than 1 million houses totally or partly destroyed.

Southeastern Raptor Center to auction off eagle’s Iron Bowl equipment:

Auburn University’s Southeastern Raptor Center is offering Tiger fans a piece of Iron Bowl history. On Friday, the center opened a live auction for the handcrafted lures and jesses that will be worn during the eagle’s pre-game flight before Auburn and Alabama face off Nov. 30.

Mobile-only Internet users face a harsh new digital divide:

‟There’s a misconception that just because someone has Internet access, the digital divide,” the gap between those with Internet access and those without, “has been eliminated,” charges Ortega, who heads a chapter of the digital literacy group One Million New Internet Users.

The problem, Ortega argues, is that large swaths of the population, groups that are predominantly poor and non-white, are largely relying solely on smartphones for Internet access. It’s created a two-tiered system where the rich have access to expensive, high-speed broadband Internet at home and everyone else is relegated to slower connections on mobile devices that seriously limit users’ ability to contribute to the digital conversation.

Ortega views this emerging digital divide as one between “digital consumers” on one hand and “digital contributors” on the other.

This is, in this story, a socioeconomic issue. That’s an interesting, and perhaps overlooked, perspective.

One of those stories every reporter should keep close, because there’s always going to be another one you can write just like it, and it might be as good as this one, What Became of JFK’s Gravedigger?

In 1980, Pollard suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed. He retired and sat at home in his home on one of Washington’s more modest streets with a box of mementos that included a clipping of the famed gravedigger column. He had hanging on the wall by the television a commendation from the Army for his service to the president on that November day in 1963.

Pollard also had on display the text of Kennedy’s inaugural address and its call to “ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your county.” Pollard had gone straight from serving in the Army in World War II to spending more than three decades digging graves in Arlington with quiet care and unwavering dignity. He had demonstrated that person can give full measure to America’s greatness by imparting nobility to a humble task.

And he had already made sure that he and his wife would be buried in Section 31, just a short ways from the Kennedy memorial.

That line in the second paragraph there, that’s magic.

Hope you have a great weekend ahead of you!

Auburn / football / journalism / links / Samford / things to read / Thursday — Comments Off
21
Nov 13

I did not write about meetings

Coca-Cola is getting set to dump press releases. They’ve found something better. Brand journalism, of which I approve, as it can be a powerful tool when used correctly. As this Ragan piece demonstrates, there is a paradigm shift coming:

Perhaps you caught the story in Mashable, The Daily Mail, Adweek, or The Huffington Post.

Coca-Cola’s Singapore team designed a novel double can that
splits into two, so customers can share the fizzy beverage with a friend.

Fantastic PR. But one major reason it got so much play was “because we covered it,” says Ashley Brown, who leads digital communications and social media for The Coca-Cola Company.

The rest of the piece is worth reading, do check it out if you are interested in journalism, public relations or marketing.

Here’s something of an example at Auburn:

Nosa Eguae just graduated with his first degree and his pursuing a second while finishing up his playing days terrorizing quarterbacks. The guy is 22, telling you the children are our future. Here you see him away from the field, the roaring crowd and the mixed life of a student/celebrity, like he is pretty much everywhere in town.

Auburn’s athletic department is putting considerable resources toward telling stories like this, humanizing the young man behind the face mask:

I shot that of him at an equestrian meet last year.

Every team has at least a handful or more of hardworking, successful on-and-off-the field people like Eguae. We should see more of the great stories our institutions are producing in the young men and women that attend there. This is one of the great victories a university can demonstrate to the world, after all.

(Samford does a good job of this, too. They have an incredibly strong social media presence and interaction with all of the university’s various stakeholders. Freshmen are published on the university’s home page. The athletes are widely accessible. There’s even a reality show being shot on campus by the students in our department. There are plans in place to expand on those efforts, too.)

Here is the other side of the “branded” coin. One must find the right balance of telling stories to your multiple audiences and working alongside the traditional (and nontraditional) media. No one has arrived at a formula for this, but you have to develop a deft touch. Otherwise, you might hear about it, as you’ll see in the first of these two quick links:

Photojournalists want better access to the White House

Obama’s Image Machine: Monopolistic Propaganda Funded by You

Cyborg Journalists: How Google Glass Can Change Journalism

And, finally, this: When an artist allowed her 4-year-old daughter to finish her drawings, something awesome happened. Great art there.

And that’s enough for one night. I’m tuckered.

journalism / links / things to read / Twitter / video / Wednesday — Comments Off
20
Nov 13

A day of links

We all have those very normal days where we do things — perhaps not enough things, or perhaps a great many things — but none of it strikes a triumphant chord. I call this day Wednesday.

Oh, I had turkey for lunch. And Chic-fil-A for dinner! So there’s that. Strike all the above. There are amazing things to write about.

There was a man with his son at Chic-fil-A, where apparently the kid qualified for a free ice cream cone somehow. The boy wanted his father to have one too, but dad did not qualify. Their conversation sounded vaguely like the two had been apart a while. Maybe dad was out of town working. Maybe this is a visitation night.

Three tables away a woman in scrubs was dining with her two children. They finished eating and spent some time in the playground. It seemed a nice respite for mom.

There were some college students and an older couple. And there was me and my book.

So, yeah, my day in the office, then. Like I said, nothing really stands out. In a week it will all be a blur. Some links, then. You can find all of these on Twitter, and it’d be swell if you followed me there.

Things to read …

This won’t go over well. Perks Ease Way in Health Plans for Lawmakers:

Members of Congress like to boast that they will have the same health care enrollment experience as constituents struggling with the balky federal website, because the law they wrote forced lawmakers to get coverage from the new insurance exchanges.

That is true. As long as their constituents have access to “in-person support sessions” like the ones being conducted at the Capitol and congressional office buildings by the local exchange and four major insurers. Or can log on to a special Blue Cross and Blue Shield website for members of Congress and use a special toll-free telephone number — a “dedicated congressional health insurance plan assistance line.”

And then there is the fact that lawmakers have a larger menu of “gold plan” insurance choices than most of their constituents have back home.

While millions of Americans have been left to fend for themselves and go through the frustrating experience of trying to navigate the federal exchange, members of Congress and their aides have all sorts of assistance to help them sort through their options and enroll.

Meanwhile, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius took a visit to Miami for a photo opportunity. Things didn’t work as, I’m sure, she’d hoped. Here’s the video package:

Meanwhile, hear at home, if you liked your canceled BCBS plan, you can’t keep it, period. BCBS of Alabama decides against renewing canceled plans:

Blue Cross said the decision was not reached easily, but the company said continuing the non-compliant policies could create “significant legal and financial risks to our policyholders, the state and our company.”

Sentiment seems to be changing. More Americans than ever want government to stay out of healthcare business:

A new Gallup poll shows 56 percent of Americans think it’s not the government’s responsibility to provide healthcare coverage. Forty-two percent feel it is the government’s responsibility. Both numbers represent the highest – and the lowest – figures reported since Gallup began asking the question in 2000.

Sports! Here’s a funny story: Where did Cam Newton celebrate win over New England? Waffle House, of course:

Cam Newton turned in the biggest win of his short NFL career on Monday night, then headed to a familiar post-game spot for a certain Auburn coach, according to the Charlotte Observer.

Newton and his family headed to Waffle House, the preferred post-game spot for Auburn coach Gus Malzahn after big wins.

Two paragraphs later, we learn that Newton also visited the Collinswood Language Foundation and presented checks for $25,000 to three Charlotte-area schools. I suggested the lead was buried. Someone replied “Have you ever eaten at Waffle House? It’s awesome.”

That person is in the news industry.

Also in sports, I love smartphones. I love YouTube. This is from the South Carolina game last weekend. One person is explaining to another person how the Auburn game played out:

Finally, some quick journalism links. First, something I suggested years ago at al.com that is now taking place elsewhere: ‘New York Times’ introduces ‘The New York Times Minute,’ thrice-daily video news update.

The paper debuted a new video series this morning called “The New York Times Minute,” a thrice-daily, one-minute news segment highlighting three top stories of the moment. It will air every weekday on nytimes.com at 6 a.m., noon and 6 p.m. The segments can be updated continuously to accommodate fresh reporting on any of the given stories.

It is nice when you see others coming to the same conclusions that you have.

Q&A with Marguerite Sullivan: Why Citizen Journalism Makes Media Literacy Crucial

You need high standards of media literacy when literally anyone can be a citizen journalist. The public needs to be very discerning with what they read and believe.

Why Journalism Needs to ‘Do’ Ethics, Not Focus on Defining Journalists

Considering Ethics for Anyone Who Commits Acts of Journalism

This is a slideshow: These Astonishing Images Convinced Us That Google Glass Will Change Photography Forever. The pictures are by the immensely talented Trey Ratcliff, who makes two great points in that essay about stability and about spontaneous hands-free shots.

But your regular camera is still better. Which is why I should pull mine out of my backpack. Not that either would have gone over well at Chic-fil-A this evening.

iPhone / journalism / links / photo / Samford / things to read / Tuesday / Twitter — Comments Off
19
Nov 13

I walked into the end of this one, didn’t I?

Partly cloudy, cloudy, mostly cloudy, scattered clouds. All of that was in the weather analysis today. Also, a high of 59. The low tonight is predicted around 36. More of these were on the ground:

So autumn is over. Fall is here. I propose that we have two seasons. The autumn doesn’t last long, but our coldest season won’t typically show up until the end of December. We have to have something in between, right? So instead of just four seasons, I propose we have five.

This is funny because some would say we really only have three seasons. Or, maybe, even just two.

It is five. You read it here, on the Internet. It is true.

This is one of those things I’ve been hanging on to for several days. I may as well share it here. My colleague David Simpson takes it away:

Because I couldn’t get a projector to work at the National College Media Convention in New Orleans, I read aloud a passage in a “Free Your Writing Voice” session that I’ve sometimes just flashed on a screen. I had not prepared for a dramatic reading, so I was surprised at how powerful it sounded coming out of my mouth.

The audience seemed to like it, though it’s a long passage. So I encourage you to read it aloud.

[…]

I especially loved reading that long sentence. And the two-word emphatic ending.

Click on over to read the passage yourself. I suspect, if you like the art of writing, you’ll appreciate what you find there.

The funniest thing I did today:

Students just offered me a glowstick. Said "As a child of the Cold War I know not to touch glowing things." Radiation humor!

— kenny smith (@kennysmith) November 19, 2013

Yeah, it was one of those kind of days. My office is cold. The newsroom is colder. It might be warmer outside. The students are working on their paper and I’m grading things and working on projects and not touching glow sticks.

Things to read …

Tip pays off for Richmond student journalists:

The Collegian reporters started digging into the past of a law school student when they got a tip that he was a sex offender. Turns out he had served time in prison for aggravated sexual battery.

He had also been ordered to withdraw from the University of Virginia, according to the story Conklin and Arnett published earlier this month. At Richmond, he was the recipient of one of the law school’s most prestigious scholarships and a member of its Honor Council.

Interesting story — here is their reporting — that is continuing. The comments, as always, are insightful.

This is tough all the way around. She wrote the president, he used her tale as an anecdote. And then Washington’s health system found an error. Her rates increased. Then they found another error. Another hike. And now, Woman cited by President as Obamacare success story frustrated by sign up process:

The result was a higher quote, which Sanford said was for $390 per month for a “silver” plan with a higher deductible. Still too expensive.

A cheaper “bronze” plan, Sanford said, came in at $324 per month, but also with a high deductible – also not in her budget.

Then another letter from the state exchange with even worse news.

“Your household has been determined eligible for a Federal Tax Credit of $0.00 to help cover the cost of your monthly health insurance premium payments,” the latest letter said.

[…]

“This is it. I’m not getting insurance,” Sanford told CNN. “That’s where it stands right now unless they fix it.”

[…]

She is sorry Obama mentioned her during the October 21 speech.

“I feel awful about it. I support (the Affordable Care Act),” Sanford said.

But the messy rollout in the other Washington, the nation’s capital, was not far from her mind.

“What the hell? Why is it the same story as the federal government?” Sanford says in disgust with the Washington state exchange. “They didn’t have it ready.”

“They screwed up,” she added.

Comments on that story have been turned off, which is curious, but unsurprising.

The longest (and, in places, wrongest) infographic of your day. Commenters were helpfully pointing out errors here. That’s become its own industry at this point, hasn’t it, correcting the work of others in the comments below …

I await yours in 3 … 2 …