If you haven’t read Walter Isaacson’s Time Magazine piece “How to Save Your Newspaper,” you need to do so. He proposes a logical step to getting newspapers back on the right track, although I must admit that, in light of his ideas, I am feeling a bit guilty about sending you to the link to the free story as opposed to encouraging you to buy the magazine…
Isaacson appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night to talk about the article. The interview is here.
This speaks for itself.
Have you ever wondered how your state fares when it comes to open information about the government?
The Knight Citizen News Network has a state-by-state guide in which it grades state web sites on online, open government information. (My state, New York, gets a thumbs up. Check out your state by clicking on it here.) The evaluation also includes links to that state’s government information.
The feature is part of the Knight Citizen News Network’s Citizen Journalist’s Guide to Open Government, which has lots of great information on how people can access government records.
Posted in Media Law
Tagged citizen journalism, FOIA, freedom of information, future of journalism
A police officer in Rochester, NY, was shot in the head while walking away from a group that police had questioned but not arrested. Three days later, a 14-year-old turns himself into police, according to police and judicial officials at a press conference. They did not name him during the press conference.
The child (and to me, a 14-year-old is a child, not a man) pleaded not guilty to first-degree assault and second-degree attempted murder. Although charged as a juvenile, his case is in adult court and his name was in The Democrat & Chronicle’s news story Feb. 4 and his photo was on the web site. His face and name were also all over R-News, WHEC-TV, WOKR-TV and WROC-TV.
The child had been in trouble with the law before this and had not reported to the people supervising him since April 2008, according to the D&C. The D&C’s editorial board is right to ask, “How is it that a 14-year-old can go for nearly a year without reporting for adult supervision as required?”
I’m not sure, however, that the D&C and other Rochester area news media are right to use this child’s name and image. He is innocent until proven guilty and he is 14. Just because journalists have the name and image does not mean they should use them.
The shooting has been an emotional story that has gripped the Rochester, NY, region. Prayers, donations and messages of support for the police officer and his family rightfully abound.
My concern is that, after the media coverage, this child, regardless of the verdict, will never be seen as anything but an attempted cop killer. Some of the people posting reactions to today’s D&C story are already calling for the death penalty and talking as if he has been convicted. This child has already been sentenced for life.
Posted in Ethics, Media Law, technology
Tagged free speech, journalism, journalism ideals, journalists in court
Ah, the power of social media. ‘Tis mahvelous.
I asked a question about college newspapers and twitter today on the College Media Advisers list serv. A short time later, Innovation in College Media pulled together a list of college media on Twitter. How fabulous! If you know of any, please visit the site and enter the info. It would be great to have one-stop repository for this information.
FYI, I also found a list of college newspapers that Twitter on college rag.
Thumbs up, Buffalo News.
I’ve been hard on the newspaper for not being twitter savvy, but I’ve got to praise its latest multimedia effort.
The News put up a 7-plus minute interview with Buffalo Sabres Goaltender Ryan Miller. That’s smart thinking. Miller and the Buffalo Sabres are hugely popular in Buffalo and Western New York. (Case in point: NHL games in most U.S. markets got a rating of less than 2.3 for the 2008-09 season through Jan. 11. In Buffalo, the rating was 8.87–Number 1 U.S. market. Click here for more detail.)
The interview not only allows Sabres fans to learn more about Miller’s life and interests off the ice; it will drive traffic to the Buffalo News site.
And that, as Buffalo hockey announcer Rick Jeanneret would say, is “where mama hides the cookies.”
