journalism « Kenny Smith | A remarkable thing happens …

journalism

The critical use of the word ‘Just’

We discussed critiquing news stories in class today. How to do it, what to critique, what not to get overly zealous about. How to treat this as a constructive exercise and not as a personal reproach, and so on. The idea is that the more you watch things critically — because I make you critique them — the more you’ll see things that work and things that don’t work.

A critical eye is very important in the craft.

So we talked about television packages. I showed this story’s video package, which was still timely early in the week. It was a nice example of localizing the story when it came to the Midland standoff.

The reporter found a local police officer who has gone through the FBI negotiation training and interviewed him about what might have been taking place. It was a helpful story to a degree. There are some vagaries, which is both based on the nature of this officer not knowing every detail about what is happening hours outside of his jurisdiction and a need to speak generally for tactical reasons too. But it is nice localized story. It has some production issues and some very strange B-roll shots. It gave us something to look at.

And then I showed them this:

That is never going to get old, even as fewer and fewer students are familiar with the YouTube sensation.

And then we got started in our efforts to set up WordPress blogs. They are a sharp group of students, and I’m sure they’ll be running the Internet by the end of the semester.

I have done thy bidding, Internet, and given you many more people to add content!

Lovely, busy day otherwise. It was national signing day, and the Crimson’s sports editor was posting stuff continually to their Twitter account. That earned him follows from two of the television stations in town. Nice little reward for his work.

My open letter to new signees got repackaged.

On the way home I stopped at Buy Buy Baby to get something off a friend’s registry. This place is full of things you didn’t know you needed if you’re raising children. Glancing at the products it is amazing any of us made it out of toddler years without these things in our homes.

The store is bright and smells of baby powder. Just add water, I suppose.

That’s an improvement, though, really. The last time I was in this store it was still a Circuit City. As I noted on Twitter, it was dank and dim and smelled of desperation then. I remember trying to test a camera of some device and the guy there was not able to put a battery into the thing.

I looked around at the deep sockets of the eyes of the few people actually in the store, realized that everyone there was touching, but no one was buying. I knew it was over.

Within a year they were all gone.

If only that one floor guy had bothered to look for a battery, things might have gone differently.

But probably not.

Anyway, in a much more pleasant environment with a thoroughly enjoyable young lady helping, I managed to find the appropriate burp cloths. They were very, very decorative. I’m sure yours were just a flat white, once upon a time.

Three recent items on the other blog:

Localizing the big stories

Have you tried SoundCloud?

USPS to drop Saturday deliveries

I have a lot of things stored away to write over there. Get used to the links, I guess.

Saw this sign, the oracle of our time:

I know the owner. His son and daughter are friends. The sign has become a big fun quasi-event lately. It isn’t true until Krystal’s says it is, and all that.

When I took that picture it was halftime in the Alabama-Auburn basketball game. Alabama was leading Auburn 23-13. Halftime. In a basketball game, full of varsity, scholarship players. Presumably for both teams. (So you see why the word “Just” is important on that sign.)

In the second half Auburn went on a 36-14 run — that was all of the scoring. The final was 49-37, Auburn. Weird game. But Auburn held Alabama to its lowest point total in the 146 game series history, so there’s that.

journalism / links / things to read / Tuesday / video — Comments Off
5
Feb 13

The past and the present all come together on this page

Cloudy and in the mid-60s today. For February? You take it. We’re going to get a bit more of the chilly stuff, you can count on it, but we can also enjoy the trend toward nice spring days.

Rosa Parks is getting a stamp. She would turn 100 today.

You might not see that stamp on Saturdays:

Saturday mail delivery costs the U.S. Postal Service $2.7 billion a year, and it’s a burden the cash-strapped agency is trying to shed — to the dismay of greeting card makers everywhere. Cutting Saturday delivery is a key part of USPS’ five-year plan to save $20 billion by 2015, but it is bumping up against businesses such as Hallmark that benefit from six-day mail delivery.

That story also tells you Hallmark spent $240,000 for lobbying on postal issues. I wonder what Hoops and YoYo would say about that.

Journalism is the best job ever:

Yes, there are too few really good jobs and too many people fighting for them. Yes, salaries start out quite low. Yes, the hours can be long and irregular. Yes, the industry is in a period of extreme disruption, with lots of old jobs being destroyed, and the new ones typically offer less security and require different skills.

None of that changes the core fact here. For those who are cut out for it — and that’s definitely not everyone — journalism is a uniquely rewarding, wonderful career.

Most of his reasons are wonderful. But I wonder: Does he have a robot?

Where Visual Revenue believes it can add real value is in being able to recommend specific actions within an editorial framework outlined by the organization — that is, using an algorithm to tell a newsroom when it should tweet and also what it should be tweeting. Mortensen likens these computerized suggestions to the role of a deputy editor: Someone who knows the editorial values of the paper, and can determine the best publishing strategy as a result. Except, in this case, that someone is a robot.

“We set out with this idea of empowering the editor, but not to beat him to the extent where we can automate his job,” Mortensen said. “We actually sit down with the editor in chief and ask him, ‘Give me my instructions just like you tell your deputy editors what they can and cannot do.’ Then we simply adopt those, adhere to those as strictly as possible. And if I’m brutally honest with you, of all of the editors, you’ll see that we’re the only ones that only adhere to the guidelines because we’re an algorithm not a human.”

Another upshot: Non-humans aren’t tethered to print-era concepts that have bled into an online era of publishing. A robot doesn’t care about newsroom culture or tradition; it only cares about the data.

When the machines can accurately read the traffic flow patterns at intersections, that’s when you worry about them taking over. Until then, they are just helpful.

My friend Andre Natta at the Birmingham Terminal asked “What is Virtual Alabama?”

So glad he asked. In answering his own question he shared this case study, which really only seems to scratch the surface, when you think about it:

Finally, the Alabama Backroads Cycling Series. I want to do it. Think I might (try).

journalism / links / Monday / Samford / things to read — Comments Off
4
Feb 13

Examples of adaptability

Lovely, cool day today. Sunny and clear and a high of 52. Winter, such as it has been, is on notice. We’re preparing to move toward spring. Oh, sure, there will be one or two chilly revolts between here and there, but the corner is in view and we’ll soon round it, and look to find another beautiful spring waiting on us.

Everything will go according to plan: the blooms, the longer sunshine in the afternoon and then the warm days and cool evenings. About that same time will come the leaves, sprigs at first, and then dots and finally, suddenly, that one day when your eyes are overwhelmed by the verdancy.

The leaves!

And then, almost as quickly, your brain will get used to it.

There are the leaves.

The mind is amazingly adaptable like that.

Class today was marred today by a technical problem. I could not show the videos I wanted to show for news critiquing purposes. I will show them Wednesday. Problem solved! Adaptability!

Things to read: Budget outlook worries state legislators :

A decision by Alabama voters to transfer $437 million from savings to fix the General Fund over three years may not be enough to help state agencies that provide programs affecting every state resident.

According to the Associated Press, legislators are worried that the programs could end up with less money for operations in the coming fiscal year.

I, for one, am shocked by this shocking revelation, which finds us all shocked by shocking it is.

Here’s what the state’s elected officials said before they asked primary voters, not the general ballot, for permission to raid the trust fund to pay standard bills:

Gov. Robert Bentley and legislative leaders said Tuesday they are committed to paying back the money if Alabama voters agree to take more than $437 million from a state trust fund and use it to prevent huge cuts in spending on state programs for three years.

Bentley said the commitment should help garner more votes for the proposed constitutional amendment, which is the only thing on the statewide ballot Sept. 18.

So here we are today, probably a few days from the first state legislative vote that would pay that fund back, but:

State agencies that provide programs affecting every Alabama resident could end up with less money for operations in the coming fiscal year even though voters approved shifting $437 million from savings to shore up the beleaguered General Fund over three years.

[…]

(L)egislative leaders said the outlook is troubling despite the extra money provided by voters. State agencies have been asked to prepare operating plans based on budget cuts of 5 percent to 10 percent for the new fiscal year.

Coupons for everyone, then.

Mobile couponing is set to be the next big thing:

The rapidly expanding adoption of mobile couponing is poised to become a major challenge to one of the most profitable and important revenue streams remaining for newspapers: preprint advertising circulars.

[…]

(A)s consumers and marketers rapidly embrace the power of mobile phones to deliver the right deal at the right place and time to exactly the right customer. While only 6.0% of mobile phone owners used mobile coupons in 2012, the number rose to 16.3% in 2012 and is projected to leap to 24.3% by 2014, according to eMarketer, an independent research company.

Who wanted Oreos during the Super ~~Bowl~~ Blackout?:

When a power outage at the Superdome in New Orleans stopped the game between the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers for an epic 34 minutes, Oreo’s team took action and posted a simple ad that was retweeted, or shared, more than 14,500 times on Twitter. The message: “Power Out? No Problem” accompanied with a picture of a cookie with the line “You can still dunk in the dark.” How did 360i –the agency responsible for the ad– do it so quickly?

[…]

Oreo’s instant Twitter ad stood out on a night when 30-second ads on TV cost $3.8 million. It helped demonstrate the power of ingenuity over money, and social media over traditional forms. It is likely part of a coming wave of real-time advertising that reacts, like a political campaign war room, to real-time events.

This is going to be great. A clever turn of words, the almost just-right photograph filtering through your various media streams, and all of it precipitated by some external event.

And then it will be clunky. Somewhere it will get out of control. (Some agency is bound to overreach.) And, pretty quickly, we’ll imagine that its always been just like this.

I think this means that more and more of those agency assets become in-house products.

The little boy in Midland is safe, after a week in captivity, being rescued at about 3:12 p.m. today:

4:36 p.m. Law enforcement officials confirm Dykes is dead but declined to say whether they shot him or if he shot himself. Dykes was seen with a gun in his hand, Richardson said.

4:30 p.m. Steve Richardson, Special Agent in Charge of FBI’s Mobile office said that at 3:12 p.m, the FBI safely recovered the child. He said that within the the past 24 hours negotiations deteriorated, and fearing the child was in imminent danger, agents entered the bunker.

That brave little boy turns six this week. Tonight he’s playing with his family again. Follow excellent coverage here.

Why government needs watchdogs: Ruling to open DCS records a victory for children. That’s in Tennessee, where the state was trying to block a big records release when it comes to child deaths under the observation of the state Department of Children’s Services. Victory, indeed.

cycling / journalism / links / things to read / Thursday — Comments Off
31
Jan 13

I quote Keating

I found the perfect 20 mile route around town this evening. Leave the house, pedal around the loop and add on this road and that and come down the last hill and then up through the neighborhood and 20.00 on the Cateye, precisely. Remarkable.

And I was only almost hit by a car once. This never ceases to amaze me. On any country road around here people will move way over to the left as they go by. Get on one of the four lane roads and they’ll get as close to you as possible, even if every other lane is open to their use. Today this particular driver was obviously unprepared or unmoved by the three feet law — 36 lousy inches, that’s what you’re supposed to give. Had I been glancing down at my gears, and had my left shoulder or right foot been down at the time, I would have drifted just a bit and that car would have hit me. It was chillingly close, which is a delightful way to make you question if you’re full comfortable in the saddle again.

Anyway, lovely ride notwithstanding. A little faster than I’ve recently been, but still nothing worth mentioning. The heart rate is the thing, and all that.

Some things to read: Salesman: Bama players used spray:

Key said players bought products at a rate he cited as confidential.

“They want to win,” he said. “After the games they said they couldn’t believe how they weren’t tired and how much energy they had.”

I know they are sports writers, but even those guys should be able to identify when they are giving unscrupulous commercials to people. I don’t really care one way or another about this story as a sports story. It is frustrating how the reporters have really allowed themselves to be complicit in these miracle elixir pitchmen to glam themselves up. That’s a shame.

Oral history of the Super Bowl Shuffle, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Or taxes, if you prefer. Alabama tax system lands in ‘terrible 10’.

I like this one, Eight ways journalists can use SoundCloud:

1. To post news programming

2. To report from the field and post audio from interviews

3. Record, edit and upload a recording from an iPhone

There are a lot of great ideas and details there.

And, finally, a real thinker: How to redesign the beat for engagement, impact, and accountability:

Instead of going to the candidates and talking to them about their agendas, we flipped it. We made a public call: We’re coming to your neighborhood. Show us what needs fixing. We then sent a reporter into each district for one week. The reporters did ride-alongs with locals, quizzed residents, and found out what city-level issues mattered to them.

We wrote about those community needs. Then, we took that residents’ agenda back to the candidates and asked what they would do to address it.

The approach sparked a series of revelations that have reshaped how I look at the fundamental choices we make as journalists. It turns out our coverage for years had been focused on things that didn’t seem to matter all that much to even active San Diego residents.

There’s a difference between monologuing and conversing.

This is the sixth and cumulative point of a draft plan I’m writing on right now, it falls in step neatly with that, and may be helpful in preparing young journalists for the world they’ll one day enter:

Engage your audience. Ask for their questions. Get and share the answers from appropriate sources. Follow your most active readers and repost their most compelling material. Engagement becomes reporting, which draws more readers, who increase your engagement. Remember: the audience, in the aggregate, is always going to know more than you as an individual.

“‘Twas always thus, and always thus shall be.”

Check out the historic marker series earlier? Breeze through the full and growing site! There’s always Twitter! And Tumblr too!

journalism / links / maps / Samford / things to read / Tuesday — Comments Off
29
Jan 13

I had a bite of banana pudding today

Newspaper meetings, staff meetings, some other meeting. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, breathing.

I read a lot. I wrote some. I wrote a lecture. I created a work schedule and wrote emails. I tweaked a PowerPoint. I got rained on. It is remarkable how easy it is to slip back into the routine.

It is a nice routine.

The only thing unusual about it all was that the heat in my office worked. As far as I know that hasn’t been the case in the four years it has been my office. Of course it was 70 degrees outside today.

Everything else was just lovely. They were offering banana pudding in the cafeteria, after all.

I’m trying to settle on the Very Short List Of Desserts I’ll Allow Myself If They Are Available. Banana Pudding will be on this list.

Things to read: Entrepreneurial journalism? Credible voices? Two great topics for me.

The rise of the entrepreneurial journalist in a world seeking credible voices:

Breaking news without context and perspective is a commodity today. George gets that and has the experience and judgment to succeed on a platform like ours. We do our best to make sure that all of our contributors are right for the role. They’re all picked, vetted and on-boarded by FORBES editors who have worked here for years, often a decade or more. We prominently place a writer’s bio on each of their posts so readers can judge their credentials. Transparency sits at the core of everything we do. Not all our contributors work out. Some discover it’s not for them. Some never meet our standards and we part ways. We’re always learning how best to evaluate potential contributors, what the audience wants and what’s right for our brand. It’s part art and science.

We have a disruptive model for journalism. Last week, I wrote about the new wave of journalist on our full-time staff. Many work directly with our extensive curated contributor network. Our platform, tools and product features power a world of entrepreneurial journalism at a time when so many media companies are still shrinking. Our goal remains the same as it was the day we first embarked on our new journey: to build a sustainable model for journalism by respecting the values and standards of our heritage and embracing the dynamism of a digital era.

TV records uptick in dual-screen viewing:

Not only will there more second screens in consumers’ living rooms — but there could be more big second screens.

Deloitte, the consulting firm, estimates this year that 10% of homes in developed countries will have a “dual video screen” — that is two or more screens showing TV programs at the same time in the same room.

While near-term this dual video screening will continue to be dominated by combinations of TV sets and smaller screens — laptops/tablets — larger video second screens will take hold in future years.

This two screen business is all transitional, just so you know.

Great story about a great type of paper, may it publish forever, Pacific Palisades newspaper junkie buys his own paper:

Smolinisky, 33, is a newspaper junkie. He abides by Munger’s philosophy that high achievers in the financial world tend to be voracious readers.

“I love knowing everything going on everywhere in the world,” said Smolinisky, a real estate entrepreneur who keeps a peacock blue Bentley and a red Ferrari in his garage. Late last year, he satisfied a decade-long dream, paying seven figures for the Palisadian-Post. The weekly has chronicled life in Pacific Palisades since 1928 and has been losing money. Smolinisky aims to turn it around.

“Pacific Palisades is my favorite place on Earth, and the Palisadian-Post is my favorite newspaper,” he said. “I have a moral obligation to make sure this newspaper arrives every Thursday for as long as I live.”

As of now you can check out North Korea via Google Maps. I have a sneaking suspicion that that is really what the northern peninsula is actually angry about. Anyway, read about how it all came to pass, here.

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