Sunday, September 27, 2009
A Rare Glimpse of Free Speech
Broadcasting live from Ithaca College on Friday, progressive radio talk host Thom Hartmann referred to the show as "anything goes Friday." He meant it, too. Audience members and callers were free to ask weekly guest Senator Bernie Sanders anything they wanted - from legislating truth in media to health care to corporate spending in presidential campaigns. The hodgepodge of topics surprised me, largely because I realized there is no way a corporate station would allow such an open, uncensored forum. In a country that guarantees free speech in its Constitution, our media has been silenced from telling the truth too many times. In light of this, hearing an honest, unrestrained conversation on the Thom Hartmann show was a real treat.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Journalism Classes Get a Makeover
The Chronicle of Higher Education gave a nod to new media and independent journalism in its article on revamped journalism classes. Journalism schools throughout the country are renovating their programs to focus on new media and entrepreneurship, mandating "multimedia bootcamps" and classes about the business of journalism.
Despite dwindling jobs, journalism schools are seeing record enrollments. Why? Students are reinventing journalism with new technology and creating their own jobs.
"There's not a great future in working for mainstream media," Christopher Harper, an associate professor of journalism at Temple University, said. "The future is for smart, hard-working students to band together, create their own media, and make a business out of it—and that's what a lot of them are doing."
Indy media to the rescue!
Despite dwindling jobs, journalism schools are seeing record enrollments. Why? Students are reinventing journalism with new technology and creating their own jobs.
"There's not a great future in working for mainstream media," Christopher Harper, an associate professor of journalism at Temple University, said. "The future is for smart, hard-working students to band together, create their own media, and make a business out of it—and that's what a lot of them are doing."
Indy media to the rescue!
Monday, September 21, 2009
Newspapers Get White House Support
Good news, journalism students who cling dearly to print media. President Obama does too. In an interview with Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editors and The Blade, Obama called himself a "big newspaper junkie" and called newspapers' survival "critical to the health of our democracy."
"I am concerned that if the direction of the news is all blogosphere, all opinions, with no serious fact-checking, no serious attempts to put stories in context, that what you will end up getting is people shouting at each other across the void but not a lot of mutual understanding," the President said.
While I would argue that online newspapers are no less accurate than their print counterparts with fact-checking, I do agree that a tangible newspaper reads differently than a digital one.
Obama said he would gladly look at legislation that would allow print newspapers to become non-profits and receive tax breaks. Swensen and Schmidt would be proud.
"I am concerned that if the direction of the news is all blogosphere, all opinions, with no serious fact-checking, no serious attempts to put stories in context, that what you will end up getting is people shouting at each other across the void but not a lot of mutual understanding," the President said.
While I would argue that online newspapers are no less accurate than their print counterparts with fact-checking, I do agree that a tangible newspaper reads differently than a digital one.
Obama said he would gladly look at legislation that would allow print newspapers to become non-profits and receive tax breaks. Swensen and Schmidt would be proud.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Journalism with a Heart
Journalism 101: Be objective.
Journalism 102: Find a face for every story.
Journalism 103: Know the rules, break the rules.
The lessons I learned in my introductory journalism classes came flooding back to me two nights ago as I watched Trouble the Water, Carl Deal and Tia Lessin’s documentary about Hurricane Katrina. As independent filmmakers, they filled in the gaping holes of reporting by the mainstream media.
Motivated by objectivity, the media turned robotic, mechanically divulging facts about the disaster. They reported from a distance, showing aerial shots of water and houses, but showed little of what was happening to people on the ground.
Deal and Lessin gave us stories. They humanized the devastation by tagging along with three charismatic New Orleans natives. “We wanted to tell the story the media wasn’t telling,” Lessin explained in a Q&A after the screening. “They weren’t showing Kimberly and Scott and Brian.”
Much of Deal and Lessin’s success came from breaking traditional media rules and creating their own. Their documentary has a fluid feel to it, characterized by raw home video and bouncing cameras following moving people.
“We didn’t do any of the typical documentary stuff you usually see in documentaries,” Lessin said. “We didn’t have a story treatment. We didn’t do any of those ‘talking head’ interviews where you sit people down and place lower thirds on them.”
Most significantly, Deal and Lessin admitted to forming close friendships with their subjects, and saw this as a strength rather than weakness of their piece. When asked about keeping their own biases out of the documentary, Deal replied: “No such thing. None.” Lessin added: “If you’re not bringing your passions into your work, you need to find another line of work.”
Spoken like proud non-robots.
Journalism 102: Find a face for every story.
Journalism 103: Know the rules, break the rules.
The lessons I learned in my introductory journalism classes came flooding back to me two nights ago as I watched Trouble the Water, Carl Deal and Tia Lessin’s documentary about Hurricane Katrina. As independent filmmakers, they filled in the gaping holes of reporting by the mainstream media.
Motivated by objectivity, the media turned robotic, mechanically divulging facts about the disaster. They reported from a distance, showing aerial shots of water and houses, but showed little of what was happening to people on the ground.
Deal and Lessin gave us stories. They humanized the devastation by tagging along with three charismatic New Orleans natives. “We wanted to tell the story the media wasn’t telling,” Lessin explained in a Q&A after the screening. “They weren’t showing Kimberly and Scott and Brian.”
Much of Deal and Lessin’s success came from breaking traditional media rules and creating their own. Their documentary has a fluid feel to it, characterized by raw home video and bouncing cameras following moving people.
“We didn’t do any of the typical documentary stuff you usually see in documentaries,” Lessin said. “We didn’t have a story treatment. We didn’t do any of those ‘talking head’ interviews where you sit people down and place lower thirds on them.”
Most significantly, Deal and Lessin admitted to forming close friendships with their subjects, and saw this as a strength rather than weakness of their piece. When asked about keeping their own biases out of the documentary, Deal replied: “No such thing. None.” Lessin added: “If you’re not bringing your passions into your work, you need to find another line of work.”
Spoken like proud non-robots.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Newspapers: Architects of Decay?
Sunday mornings in high school were glorious. I'd sprawl on my belly on the living room carpet, elbows propped, legs in the air (poster child for clipart reading graphics) and peruse The Buffalo News for hours.
When I got to college, Sundays with The Buffalo News earned a top spot on my list of things I missed from home. While I had access to The New York Times and local Ithaca papers on campus, they failed to capture my interest. I spent a few weeks being woefully ignorant of current affairs, then grudgingly switched the homepage on my laptop to CNN. Thus began my dependence on internet news.
Three years later, my morning ritual consists of scanning CNN.com for 5-10 minutes while I eat breakfast. Admittedly, I'm drawn to quirky headlines like "Elmo Joins H1N1 Flu Fight" and "Woman Sees Face of Virgin Mary in Grilled Cheese" first, but I do (usually) have time to read a few conventional articles.
Still, I miss The Buffalo News. When I visit Buffalo on school breaks, I relish my reunion with my beloved paper. Even better, my aunt and uncle get it daily, so it's no longer just a weekend affair.
Mind you, this is coming from a proud member of the Net Generation. I can't imagine my life without Facebook and e-mail and Google. But some things are better un-digitized. The Buffalo News online just isn't the same as the paper version. And my eyes still haven't forgiven me for reading the Twilight series online this summer.
To say print newspapers are in trouble is to say cell phones were a good idea. While the Daily Show's visit to the New York Times was riotous, the financial plight of newspapers is macabre.
Unless these wheezing anachronisms have some fresh air (er, money) pumped into them. One idea? Turn newspapers into nonprofit organizations by endowing them. Freed from the burden of a bottom line, newspapers could instead concentrate on quality, objective content. Ideal journalism and newspapers live to see another day. Can't do better than that.
Yes, it would take some arm-pulling and a change in the way we currently view newspapers. But in the words of Harold Wilson, "He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery."
Unless we do something, that's where our newspapers are headed.
When I got to college, Sundays with The Buffalo News earned a top spot on my list of things I missed from home. While I had access to The New York Times and local Ithaca papers on campus, they failed to capture my interest. I spent a few weeks being woefully ignorant of current affairs, then grudgingly switched the homepage on my laptop to CNN. Thus began my dependence on internet news.
Three years later, my morning ritual consists of scanning CNN.com for 5-10 minutes while I eat breakfast. Admittedly, I'm drawn to quirky headlines like "Elmo Joins H1N1 Flu Fight" and "Woman Sees Face of Virgin Mary in Grilled Cheese" first, but I do (usually) have time to read a few conventional articles.
Still, I miss The Buffalo News. When I visit Buffalo on school breaks, I relish my reunion with my beloved paper. Even better, my aunt and uncle get it daily, so it's no longer just a weekend affair.
Mind you, this is coming from a proud member of the Net Generation. I can't imagine my life without Facebook and e-mail and Google. But some things are better un-digitized. The Buffalo News online just isn't the same as the paper version. And my eyes still haven't forgiven me for reading the Twilight series online this summer.
To say print newspapers are in trouble is to say cell phones were a good idea. While the Daily Show's visit to the New York Times was riotous, the financial plight of newspapers is macabre.
Unless these wheezing anachronisms have some fresh air (er, money) pumped into them. One idea? Turn newspapers into nonprofit organizations by endowing them. Freed from the burden of a bottom line, newspapers could instead concentrate on quality, objective content. Ideal journalism and newspapers live to see another day. Can't do better than that.
Yes, it would take some arm-pulling and a change in the way we currently view newspapers. But in the words of Harold Wilson, "He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery."
Unless we do something, that's where our newspapers are headed.
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