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journalism

journalism / links / Thursday / Twitter / video — Comments Off
5
Jan 12

Free political, visual advice

I noted on Twitter that it should be no surprise that a soap called “Dancing Waters” from Bath & Body Works doesn’t remove chain grease. Someone observed that is “kind of like saying the aromatherapy candles don’t get rid of the exhaust smell from your Harley.”

Great line, but only because he’s never heard of the exceptionally strong soy scented candles.

The Internet can’t describe the smell, which is a failure of the human olfactory cortex — linked to the hippocampus, but not to the thalamus.

The U.S. broadcast media says “SOPA? What’s that?”

Controversial legislation that the co-founder of Google has warned “would put us on a par with the most oppressive nations in the world” has received virtually no coverage from major American television news outlets during their evening newscasts and opinion programming. The parent companies of most of these networks, as well as two of the networks themselves, are listed as official “supporters” of this legislation on the U.S. House of Representatives’ website.

As the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) makes its way through Congress, most major television news outlets — MSNBC, Fox News, ABC, CBS, and NBC — have ignored the bill during their evening broadcasts. One network, CNN, devoted a single evening segment to it.

I get it. They have corporate bosses who have bosses who have properties that think this will protect them. Also, broadcasters aren’t carrying a torch for online entities — since they are so often being torched by online entities. (Though Poynter is finally telling journalists they should be concerned about all this. How any advocate of the First Amendment could read this legislation and not be troubled is beyond me.) We’re moving a significant way down the slippery slope.

God bless America, we need the help.

Speaking of politics, Dale Peterson is back. Remember this guy?

His wife is now running for office. Or, as he says, is “after the republican nomination …”

It isn’t the rifle, or even the pace of the thing, but the air quotes. They’re just reaching out of your monitor, trying to drag you to your polling place … it is an unsettling gesture. If you must do air quotes on video, do them parallel to your ears.

journalism / Twitter / video / Wednesday — Comments Off
21
Dec 11

News at 10

I feel disconnected here, because my computer time is drastically cut short compared to work and home. That’s fine, and as it should be, but this makes news junkies twitchy.

There might be news! Someone could write a compelling essay and link to it on Twitter! What if I miss a really great joke? Or what if there’s a brand new meme!?

Life is hard, I know.

I read the local paper this afternoon. The Times Daily‘s lead story today has to do with a lack of funding for the local landfill:

With a depleted Solid Waste Fund temporarily carrying the load for garbage disposal, the City Council must find another source of money to meet state and federal requirements for the eventual closing and monitoring of its landfill.

Dan Barger, city treasurer/chief accountant, told the council Tuesday that more than $2 million is needed to satisfy requirements for landfill closure. He said it probably will have to come from the General Fund.

The Environmental Protection Agency requires owners and operators of municipal solid waste landfills to show proof they have adequate funds earmarked for closure costs and monitoring the landfill for 30 years after closure, Barger said.

Because the Solid Waste Fund has operated with losses of more than 5 percent the past two years, he said that fund no longer satisfies the financial tests necessary to guarantee closure operations.

The print version had to do with only two weeks worth of space remaining in the current landfill cell. The council has been split for some times, it seems, along a 3-3 vote, on whether to add to the existing space or ship off trash to a third-party site. The mayor, the story said, had had enough and last night started naming names.

My grandparents have taken to watching the city council meetings on television. They don’t even live within the city limits. That’s how entertaining these meetings can be. And you’ve been shirking your civic duty.

Also watched the local 5 p.m. news. The lead story on the B-block was the traditional Better Business Bureau story warning you of e-card scams. Someone had to write a tease for that piece. But it was a relatively slow news day. There was a fatal car accident and two men were caught in a check stealing scheme.

Shame they didn’t have this footage of a dog terrorizing the local stuffed citizenry:

Finished the Christmas shopping today with a whimper. The last thing I picked up was a gift card.

journalism / Samford / Thursday — Comments Off
8
Dec 11

The last class of the semester

I ended my last class of the fall not dissimilar from the way I began it. I think most of my classes will start and end with words to this effect from now on:

Challenge every word. Walk out of here today with that in your mind. Challenge every word. The bulk of our mistakes can be corrected by vigorous copy editing. This isn’t the sexiest thing in the world, I know, but it is so, so important to the work you do.

It is hard to edit your own work, but it is vital that you do so. Walk away from your story. Read it again after you’ve worked on something else, or eaten dinner or done something fun. Have someone you trust read it. Trade copy editing favors with a classmate. Challenge every word.

The simple truth is that there’s not a person in this room or alive that can’t benefit from a good dose of proofreading. It is tough, often it is particularly for young writers, to admit it, but we all must. Every writer is made better by good editing. Put aside your ego. Realize that the first words you wrote likely aren’t your best words. The AP style mistakes, the grammar, typos, misspelling, you think these are small things, but those small things add up so quickly. Ours is a craft that we display in public, so you must challenge every word.

‘Is that the best word? Is the subject-verb agreement correct? Is this in an active voice? Am I showing rather than telling? Can I tell this in a better way?’ These questions and more are what you should be asking yourself.

Don’t stop writing, even over the break. Writer’s write. If you stop practicing this craft your skills can atrophy. And remember, it shouldn’t be in there, and you aren’t done with the piece, until you challenge every word.

It is my goal to give that speech enough to make eyes roll. But, one day, someone will be sitting at their desk thinking ‘challenge every word …’ and that will make the eye rolls worth it.

family / history / iPhone / journalism / links / photo / site / Wednesday — Comments Off
7
Dec 11

Reload early, reload often

More grading. All day, it seems.

This is downtown Homewood, late in the evening. Had dinner on the southside with a college buddy. This was part of the drive afterward:

Normally this road isn’t so empty, but Homewood rolls up the sidewalks by 9 p.m., even during the Christmas season.

A wide version of this is now one of the rotating footers at the bottom of this page. There are now 17 of those. The bottom of the page has to catch up, though. There are 38 images in the header. Reload often!

More grading tomorrow, and the last class of the semester.

Pearl Harbor links. One of my uncles, if I am remembering this story correctly, was at Pearl Harbor soon after the attacks. This is him, a few years ago:

Here’s a story from yesterday about some young local boys who rotated through there in 1943 on their way to the Pacific front.

Every now and then I tell a story about something like this, because it astounds me that a lot of these people were my students age. Like these kids, who happened to be in Hawai’i to play football when the Japanese flew in. That’s a great read. And it is hard to imagine those could be my students.

Historic Page Ones.

adventures / journalism / Samford / Tuesday / video — Comments Off
6
Dec 11

Leaving … what prints?

The Yankee came to campus today. I’d planned to give an extra credit quiz in my writing and editing class and she asked if she could do it. I’ve been telling my students how strict a teacher she was and today introduced them to Dr. Smith.

She picked out a bunch of spelling words from their list. The first three were easy, “See, I’m not so bad” and then she started giving them much more challenging words.

At the end of it all they decided they liked her quizzes more than mine.

That’s only because they know who’s grading them.

Speaking of the JMC department, check out the new promotional video:

I didn’t have anything to do with making that — the office of communication created that — so I can safely brag about it. Looks slick.

We visited Surin West for Thai tonight, which we haven’t been able to do in quite some time. It was a cold night and a big helping of chicken noodle bowl would have been wonderful, but that is only a lunch item. They will not make it in the evening for some reason. I’m guessing it has something to do with how they have to age the sprouts.

So I found a new dish: the pad woon sen. Sometimes you just have to grin, cringe and go with what the helpful waiter suggests. He did not disappoint tonight.

Tonight, the students are working on their last paper of the semester. I am grading. Always, always grading. Started this morning grading press releases. I’ll end the day grading broadcast scripts.

At least the stacks of papers are growing more manageable.

Just for fun, ABC 33/40’s Brenda Ladun, who is all kinds of awesome, struggled through this little story the other night:

Live television is tough, no buts about it.