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Another lovely Thursday

Thirty-five miles on the bike today. I stopped around mile to do a little bike maintenance, looked up and saw this sky. (As with all panoramas on the site, click to embiggen.)

And that’s winter in the deep south to me. The high was 59 today, but I waited until it got to 57 before taking a ride. Even then I wore a jacket. It was chilly in the breeze and the late afternoon shade. Riding in the sun, or huffing up a hill, the temperature was perfect.

But 35 miles was a great distance for the day. It took me to the other side of little wide spots in the road that I have, on occasion, thought were too far to drive to.

Elsewhere I dabbled in spreadsheets and emails all day. Did some reading. Lot of that coming up tomorrow and beyond, as well. It was a full and lovely day in almost every way, except for the things I did not get done. But what doesn’t get done today will be on the list tomorrow. That’s always the way of it. Tomorrow is often a good second chance.

In the small world department: At dinner tonight we ran into the young lady who last week lost a wheel off her SUV. (We found it in our yard.) She had gotten it back after a rotate and balance at the dealership, but someone neglected to properly mount the front-passenger wheel, which, as gravity insists, is important.

When we saw them last her father had called AAA and was hauling the SUV back to the dealership. She told us tonight that they’d paid for all the repairs. She got it out of the shop and then, immediately, the radiator went bad.

That makes three visits to the dealership in less than two weeks. She needs to catch a break.

Things to read: Textbook publishers? Apple is looking at you:

Digital textbooks available for iBooks 2 on iPad will come at a significant discount over regular paper-based books, with prices at $14.99 or less from major publishers like McGraw Hill and Pearson.

The implications will be widespread.

Who? Whom? Geoffrey Pullum will tell you, in just 786 words.

Is HDR photography acceptable in journalism? Interesting ethical question. Is it news only if it is in the human visible spectrum? (No.) Is it acceptable to publish a photograph treated in any number of techniques as NASA frequently does? (Yes.)

The old-school photojournalism professor — like the man I studied under, a talented old veteran who spent his formative years covering civil rights marches — would say that what is in the viewfinder is the news. His point was that cropping a picture is editorializing. (We all know that even the presence, if not the interaction, of a photojournalist can impact the news event, so in that strictest sense this becomes a thorny issue: any opened shutter is potentially changing the story.) I spoke with a younger photojournalism professor about this recently and he laughed at the notion. To him that is an ideal of a photographer who hasn’t had to get a job in years.

Ultimately, if you open a photo in Photoshop or video in After Effects or your software of choice you can improve the shot, or you can alter your story. After the Iranian faux-missile launch story a few years ago Guardian leapt into the debate. Others have similarly chimed in on both sides of the Photoshop/photojournalism “Does it lie?” issue.

It can, but this is increasingly difficult to get away with. (So don’t be tempted.) It doesn’t even take long to get caught. (To be fair, that one was on the hands of a stringer, and not a staff pro. And herein lies the key, it comes down to trust. It comes down to credibility. So hard to earn, so easy to lose.

Scrupulous photogs, scrupulous people of any industry, know that and guard it credibility with zeal.

And then you get into grey areas. The court won’t let cameras in, so a television station is re-creating “the more absurd aspects” of a corruption trial with muppets. (Video is at the link.) I’m sure it is useful and captivating and will probably be remembered by the newscast’s audience for a good long while, but I could see it also making people queasy, though it is just another way to reach audiences. I bet a lot of the people working on that project never imagined themselves as puppeteers.

Pew research says it is the economy:

The public’s interest in news about the economy far outreaches media coverage of it for the second week in a row this year, with 20 percent of people surveyed saying it was the story they were following most closely, while only 6 percent of news coverage was devoted to it. The week before, 19 percent of people said it was their top story, while 8 percent of coverage was devoted to it. This discrepancy continues a trend from last year, during which the economy was one of the most closely followed stories 32 out of 52 weeks, and was the top story of 2011 with 20 percent of coverage devoted to it. And yet in December alone, there was about twice as much interest in the economy as there was coverage of it.

Even during weeks when the economy was the top story, interest surpassed coverage.

Smart comments on that Poynter story, by the way.

All of these journalism topics land on my Samford blog, should be so inclined. Over there I don’t talk about riding my bike!

I also didn’t talk about the possum that brought the New York City subway to a halt:

The D train was evacuated after arriving at the West Fourth Street station in Manhattan, where a group of police officers, armed with heavy-duty gloves and a canvas bag, were on hand to nab their perp. The officers were turned back, however, after the animal bared its teeth and snarled, the police said.

This, apparently, was a job for the experts. The officers arranged for animal control agents to meet the train in a subway yard next to the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, according to Paul J. Browne, the chief police spokesman. Normal D train service was then resumed, after a 27-minute delay.

I could tell you about The Yankee’s experience with a possum just after we got married. She grew up 45 minutes from New York City and had a similar run-in.

I should probably get her permission before telling that tale though …

Auburn / football / journalism / links / video / Wednesday — Comments Off
18
Jan 12

Just the links

Don’t spend too much time trying to understand what is going on here, just let it soak all in. The first thing you’ll want to notice is how great Kirk Sampson is in dealing with the media. Good thing, that’s his job and all. The second thing is how ESPN, CBS et al fall all over themselves to … fall all over themselves.

That link is a selection of the emails Sampson fielded from media during the 2010 Auburn national championship and manufactured Cam Newton scandal. Deadspin asked for the emails, and the forensic analysis began the moment the university complied:

ESPN’s Joe Schad and Sampson have the following exchange in which the former pronounces himself “so jacked,” pimps his own Twitter feed, and generally expresses himself in such a way that it’s difficult to tell the reporter from the flack.

[…]

Our scare-quoting TV person is back, still determined to show Cam Newton taking his “softer side” for a spin around a local elementary school. He writes: “Possible pitch to Cam: When people see ‘high-profile’ folks giving back, it might encourage them to do the same….” (And thus did the flack get flacked.)

I shared a joke with a friend of mine, a prominent journalism professor, that he was close to mistaking sports reporting for journalism. Universities — intent on controlling their message and protecting their student-athletes — need to control their message, and generally do a great job of it. It is surprising they don’t go it alone more often. Consider: they have a devoted audience, multi-million dollar TV deals and the same dissemination tools as you or I. And yet there is always ESPN, playing kingmaker and empire destroyer almost within the same series of emails.

Deadspin may have captured the moment perfectly in two sentences. “This is how sports scandals unfold now. ESPN creates and amplifies the controversy from which ESPN alone can provide the safe haven.” The local guys were far more decent about the thing.

Read that link. It will all make sense.

I’m so glad this expression has become acceptable for use in headlines. The comments, as a joy, are the state’s pride and treasure.

We often talk about juxtaposition in a news design sense. This is now the best example ever. It was discovered by Napo, former classmate of mine, who went on to be a great designer and program developer.

This is better than it sounds:

It’s quite easy, really. You don’t even need any heavy equipment. In 1988 the Ostry family in Nebraska wanted to move their barn to higher ground.

Ostry’s son Mike showed his father some calculations. He had counted the individual boards and timbers in the barn and estimated that the barn weighed approximately 16,640 pounds. He also estimated that a steel grid needed to move the barn would add another 3,150 pounds, bringing the total weight to just under 10 tons.

The next step is to gather about 350 of your best friends and invite them to come lift your barn. The video shows the result.

They should show that video at team-building conferences.

Almost two dozen years ago 344 men and women moved that barn by hand. I wonder how the building and the family are doing these days.

books / links / weekend — Comments Off
14
Jan 12

Two book reviews

It occurred to me that I haven’t mentioned the books I’ve been reading lately. So let’s discuss books.

I’ve read a few.

The End.

Oh — You want to know a few details? (You probably don’t, but humor me. I need the content.)

I finally finished David McCullough’s Path Between the Seas. Seems like I’d been reading it for the longest time — mostly because I had been reading it for forever.

This book was a Christmas gift in 2010, but it finally made it off the shelf and into my hands late in the fall. I read it because it was McCullough, I like the man’s work, more than the subject matter. A book covering the 44-year dig of a giant ditch?

It was much more than that, of course. And in true McCullough fashion he did not disappoint. Folks that don’t like history should find something they find interesting from McCullough’s catalog and give it a try. He makes all of his stories, even this one about a canal, about the people.

On Amazon there are two two-star reviews. One says the book was boring and wordy. This reader was, undoubtedly, not an engineer. That’s OK, this is niche reading. The other two-star review starts like this: “Not enough research done.”

This is a 700-page book (Another reason it took a while to read.) ,so who knows how much he did not put into the final publication. The reviewer then goes on to share his “personal knowledge” of an explorer not mentioned in the book. And by personal knowledge he means he once saw a documentary on a man … The guy then concludes with a personal note to the author, encouraging McCullough to contact him via email for further verification.

It was a thoughtful offer to be sure.

I rushed through Kalee Thompson’s Deadliest Sea: The Untold Story Behind the Greatest Rescue in Coast Guard History in two nights. That’s impressive for me, some people skim a book, but I try to spend a well appreciating the work the authors have put in their craft. (It is a useful exercise. You learn a lot studying how others use the language.)

This was a book I ordered from Amazon over the holidays because I’d noticed it on a bookstore shelf one day and was intrigued by the subject matter. I cheated and moved it to the top of the must read pile just to give it a good go. Thompson’s book is a worthy read because the story is a gripping one. She’s a freelance reporter, so she writes in a breezy, informative style. And she tells a dramatic story without getting in the way of the events unfolding on the page.

If anything, there could perhaps be a little less backstory — it helps your investment to know the backgrounds of some of the people stuck on this fateful fishing boat, but maybe we learn too much in the flashbacks sometimes. What I would have liked is more detail of the sinking and rescue itself. That’s the purpose of the book, and it isn’t lacking, but a little more could be good if you can get more verified information. It may be that the story was thoroughly exhausted, however, so this is more a wish than point of contention.

There are two one-star reviews on Amazon, but they aren’t about the book but rather their order. So, if you like heroism, contemporary events and maybe an adventure of derring do this might be for you.

Who doesn’t like book reviews?

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

To clarify and other things

I’m not pessimistic about the media. The opposite is, in fact, true. Instead I see the changes continuing, mediums shifting as we alter the way we consume news. Vocus, mentioned here yesterday, is optimistic about the present media because they are a PR firm and they cater to media outlets. They have to be.

Look, brands change, businesses change. People that acknowledge that in the media industry are the ones that can survive and thrive. If you see disruption as an anomaly, a one-off to endure, you’re writing your own fate. This is confusing revolution and evolution, still and again. Transitioning to the Internet was revolutionary (and unnecessarily slow in many respects) for traditional media. It was evolutionary for customers.

For example, look at the newspaper data. Sadly there was a surge of newspaper job cuts in 2011. Advertising sales slid again, far from the golden age of 2005. Almost 4,000 newspaper jobs were eliminated in 2011, according to Paper Cuts, which reports almost 40,000 job cuts since mid-2007. Individually, economically, journalism/community information — no matter how you look at it there’s no good news in that.

Alan Mutter wrote about it recently in E&P:

Barring a miraculous turnaround in the economy, a sea change in the thinking of media buyers or a late-breaking proclivity for print in the sub-geezer population, publishers in ever more communities are likely to reduce the number of days they provide home delivery – or print a newspaper altogether.

Nowhere is the demise of daily delivery more dramatic than in Michigan, where more than two-thirds of the households will be unable get seven-day service after the end of January.

[…]

Anecdotally, we know there are many more cases across the country. We just don’t know how many. Although you would think that ABC, the industry-supported group that audits circulation, and the Newspaper Association of America, the industry’s principal trade group, would want to keep an accurate count of something as important as the dwindling number of daily newspapers, they profess not to know.

[…]

In five-plus years of ever more vigorous retrenchment to salvage some degree of profitability, publishers have trimmed staff, crimped newsholes and outsourced everything from call centers and accounting to production and delivery. With scant behind-the-scenes economies left, publishers now are being forced to make the most conspicuous cuts of all: Reducing the number of days they publish or deliver papers.

It is hard to be optimistic about that. Newspapers are important, yes. Once they were much more important — which is to say, they once played a more prominent role in our civic lives. If enough news outlets of any medium disappear we’ll soon recall how important a service they provide.

The way we get information is necessarily changing. Mutter, again, writes about the next step: big tech companies swooping in over local outlets. “Most local media companies have no idea what’s about to hit them – much less a plan to respond.”

There are reasons to be optimistic, singing the praises of old media because they didn’t disappear last year as fast as the year before that is not optimism. (You can see shades of that, among some newspaper historians at least, since radio first burst into our homes.)

But there are reasons for optimism. Here’s one: we are a part of a great sorting out period of media.

Other things of note: I believe that, a generation from now, we’re going to see a group of great leaders based on the experiences life has put them in. I submit Daniel Rodriguez.

And here’s your rebuttal to that belief. Birmingham was the feature city on The First 48, A&E’s program on real homicide investigations. They were detailing the apprehension and conviction of a guy tied to five murders. There are four members of his family. They’re all in prison on various murder charges.

There is a fair amount of cognitive dissonance here:

Froma Harrop took it in stride, replying “Sure, much of my careful reasoning ended up on the cutting-room floor, but it was fun.”

Meanwhile, on Stephen Colbert’s show he’s announced an exploratory committee to consider the possibility of running for the president of the United States of South Carolina:

And then:

We’re writing a paper about this. I’ve grown more and more convinced that the entire gag is a stunt conceived of making fun of our current election laws. He even nods to it at the end of the segment.

Alabama / errands / football / journalism / links / Wednesday — 1 Comment
11
Jan 12

You still have to lick envelopes?

I sent letters today. Actual correspondence. With stamps and everything!

Now I’m exhausted.

I also had to prepare new copies of my transcripts for the dean at Samford. Once upon a time you walked into an office or made a phone call and started the process. These days, of course, it is all online. Also, this costs money. I have three colleges to send away to, so it costs a few bucks.

Interestingly the price varies. It seems my grades at one school are more valuable than the other two.

So, to review, you pay tuition to have the privilege to go to classes. You earn your grades. You pay to graduate. Years later, you must pay again, to retrieve the grades you earned.

Terrific scam.

One of my schools charged $11. Another $12. Another $15. The third-party firms will ship an electronic version of your grades, a PDF, which will self-destruct after three views. Printed “allowed.” Copying? Not allowed.

Linky things: Somebody had to do it, may as well be John Archibald, writing the “if only everything else were as important here as football” column:

And never, ever, accept mistakes you could correct.

Alabamians — Alabama and Auburn fans alike — accept no less from their football teams. It’s amazing what they accept off the field.

Alabama was fourth-worst in the nation last year in robberies, and fifth-worst in murders, according to CQ Press.

It ranked in the bottom five in overall health last year, according to the United Health Foundation. It was 49th in obesity, infant mortality and premature deaths.

The state was 47th in teaching math and science, according to the American Institute of Physics.

It was in the bottom 10 in traffic fatalities per vehicle mile, in poverty rates and energy consumption per person, according to the census.

Alabama is not No. 1. Unless you count our highest-in-the-country rate of diabetes.

If life in Alabama were football, somebody would be fired.

Alabama’s last daughter of the confederacy has died. Someone in the comments of the last daughter story says that her father was 81 when she was born. Apparently they have pictures, too. One presumes of sometime after her birth. She is survived by, among others, her brother, who is the last surviving son of the confederacy.

That’s a lot to wrap your mind around, but then the last Civil War widow died just eight years ago.

State of the Media: This is from Vocus, a media software firm:

152 papers ceased operations in 2011. Of the papers that closed, not one major daily went under—the first year since 2009 that a top-tier paper didn’t shut down.

[…]

(T)here were a total of 195 magazine launches in 2011 with the unveiling of new consumer titles taking a modest hit.

[…]

(O)nline streaming of television shows and newscasts continued to increase.

[…]

(T)raditional radio continued to prove it’s a survivor, despite evidence that the majority of people prefer to get their news elsewhere. In all four quarters, reports showed growth in radio listenership.

Vocus’ full, optimistic, report will be out later this month.