Ethics Blog Post

Just like in everyday life, journalism has values and ethics, journalists should adhere to. Do you shoot someone in distress after a tragedy? Do you show an uncovered body? That’s why it is important for journalists to get the facts right. There are no laws that say you cannot for instance, name a person that’s not an adult in a crime story. However, should you do it? That’s where ethics comes into play.

As it relates to online, a lot of this is virtually the same. Just because it is online doesn’t mean someone cannot get sued. The thing with online is the freedom of information available can cause a reporter to panic and just try to find something that works for their story. Then what happens if what this person posted was wrong? Or they made it up? Well the reporter may be held responsible for what was printed. You have to still be accurate because if you make up stuff, people will not read your website. That’s why editors are important because they are the gatekeepers to make sure the site remains credible.

Or in the case of United States vs. Matthews case, privacy can be the biggest issue on the internet. It is such an open forum of information, that anything posted can be used by someone. Matthews was supposedly doing a story on child pornography and some of his pictures were sent to an FBI agent. Matthews was charged for trafficking of child pornography and received 18 months in prison. If he had taken notes would this have happened? Probably not because he would have been able to provide proof this was part of a story. If this was regular ponography then nothing happens at all. Journalists need to be careful of not invading someone’s privacy on the internet, by just taking any picture they see.

Copyright is a lot more manageable off-line because it is explicitly stated how you cannot use someone else’s work. Online things get leaked all the time. Just because something is out there on the net, should it be used? Because no one wants a lawsuit on their table the next day because everyone involved didn’t check to see if this information is ok to use. With all the P2P networks that make it easy for people to download music for free, or websites that allow people to use a link to see a new release film online. It sometimes creeps in people’s minds that it is ok to use someone else’s stuff on the internet, just give them a link. That is not always the case and that’s why online should still be treated as regular forms of media, because not asking can cause more trouble than it was worth.

Neighbors.Go Blog Post

The blog is well done for the limits that a blog can do. Immediately when you go to the blog you see that it is a community driven. It leads you to other stories that are affecting the citizens of whatever community you decide to look at. On the left it also lists the recent comments, the categories, and most recent posts too. The front page has the most recent important story and as you scroll down you see the top stories from other communities as well.

I think the website is actually pretty good for being a small newspaper that is hyper local. This seems like it’s a very local version of “The Quick” that the Dallas Morning News does for their paper. For one thing I really like that they didn’t flood the page with ads, there are two ads that are well placed on the page and not in the way. They have links to following them on twitter or becoming friends with them on facebook. There is a main story on the page with links below it to other stories and then one link that lets you see more stories.

The most important stuff that people will come to the site to do, like posting news, photos, videos, and other things is right at the top and the colored blocks draw your attention to it as soon as you open the site. They also have visible picture links of all their blogs. It also encourages people to talk to the editors. Having a simple step-by-step search engine at the very top makes it easy to navigate through the site. You just type in where it says and you are there. I don’t think they really need to change anything. Even though its simple, for the people that will be accessing the site I think it needs to be that way. Maybe as they continue to grow you can add different things to the site. For now though, it works and works well.

10/08/09

Slew of Young Deaths Catch President Obama’s Attention

by: Sean Garmer

Each year in Chicago the amount of children killed or wounded rises. a record 37 children were killed last year and at least 500 children were wounded by gunshots. 40 children under 18 have been murdered this year.

This has caught the attention of President Barack Obama who sent two U.S. Cabinet secretaries to Chicago today. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. and Education Secretary Arne Duncan were sent there after a cellphone video captured an after school fight near Christian Fenger Academy School that killed one student.

A study released Wednesday by the Justice Department says nearly half the children and adolescents reported being assaulted at least once.

Poll I made

Crowd Sourcing

With all the worry from traditional news organizations about amateur journalists it is understandable why they are scared to use the audience as a source sometimes. However, the audience is still important because they provide information to news stations and newspapers just by viewing the news and reading.

All of this has given the industry a means to lower cost, create more stories, and find ways to let people do their own reporting. The downturn in the economy has given way to a greater amount of unemployment and that means smaller staffs. So it becomes increasingly difficult to be able to report on everything. So sometimes outside information is needed to do a story.  Whether its videos posted on youtube, twitter posts of people living there, or photos posted on flickr.

The community of viewers and readers can also provide more information by commenting on writer’s posts online or telling their own stories to provide more stories.

Probably the best example of community and crowd sourcing is wikipedia. As time has gone on it has developed from something where people would post things and they may not be true. Nowadays though, there are more experts posting pages that give up-to-date factual information on things. Perhaps as it continues to evolve it can be a verifiable source of information.

Not every story has to use some kind of crowd sourcing but news organizations must learn to use and accept the concept. Sometimes it is the only way you can tell a story because a reporter or photographer cannot get there. It may be the only way to gauge a situation and its occurrences. New sources can come up from this because these crowd sourcing things shown on the news may alert “experts” in said field to call-in or email information.

There are good ways and bad ways to use crowd sourcing. As the realm continues to grow along with the technology, who knows what the community will be able to contribute to traditional media.

Our World Post

Now that I’ve watched the Our World show, I guess I can comment. Whether this counts for class or not, oh well.

Before I get to that I’ll talk about the website first. Its pretty evident they went for a simple setup and for what Mr. Jones had at hand, this is a good starting point. It would probably help to have links from these stories to places on the web where they can research a bit more about them. Later when this whole concept is more developed, the website should have its own exclusive stories to make people come back to it. It is essential that the website has a forum community and possibly even a place where people can post their own editorials, and have someone pick out the best ones. That is a great way to allow young people to have their voice heard. Ask them what they would like to see featured in “Our World.” I wouldn’t do I-Report style things because everyone’s quality is different and that can make the site look bad. Find ways to allow the people coming to the site the ability to express what they want from this, because ultimately if you are telling them to “Own the News” if its all based off what a group of people decide is news, you are not any different than the other news organizations.

I would agree with some that you may want to change the subtext, but then again, if the teens don’t watch the news maybe they can gain a respect for the news by watching this. It can be a stepping stone for getting them to watch the news. Personally, if I didn’t have to, I wouldn’t watch the news because it depresses me. However, I found all the stories in this interesting. Probably because it didn’t have a car accident, murder, over-bearing talk about the economy or healthcare overhaul.  It was just features that young people would probably want to watch. Personally, I’d like to see more of this stuff on the news.

Sourcing is still important regardless of whether or not you want this to be a “traditional news” program.  Mainly because you don’t want to give off the appearance that you are biased towards one side or another. The tattoo story, though it may be common sense and a traditional form of job discrimination, you still need to state what kind of jobs denied them.  Other than that, I didn’t have an issue with the stories. I have a feeling the show will only get better, but I wouldn’t change it. This pilot shows time was spent with this and there was thought put into it. Teenagers and young adults don’t respond well to the news, but with this you can inform them in a “cooler” way. The music, the big focus on feature stories, giving people what they want, may not be “the way” in news. However, I feel it adds to the program, so I suggest you keep them.

In Class 9-17

A Tax helping the fight against obesity?  Well according to a study it may be so. Dr. David Ludwig of Children’s Hospital Boston and Dr. Walter Willet of the Harvard School of Public Health reviewed research conducted in the New England Journal of Medicine that says sugary drinks can lead to diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and weight gain.  The tax would cut consumption by making the products more expensive. The money could be used to fund health programs. The analysis states a 1 cent tax of sugar-sweetened products would yield $14.9 billion in one year. Similar to legislation created for seat belts and smoking, it will not solve the issue entirely but could help slow it down.

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick reduced his restitution payments by 50 percent because his income dropped $10,000. His attorney cited Wayne County Circuit Judge David Groner’s order in March, forcing Kilpatrick to pay 30 percent of his gross monthly salary as restitution. The order allows his payments to rise or fall with his income. In a September 4th letter to Groner, Schwartz said Kilpatrick was given a $10,000 monthly advance in his first six months. A Wayne County Prosecutor feels he has violated his probation and is seeking a court hearing on it.

Kilpatrick’s former aide Christine Beatty has made no restitution payments since her release from jail in March, a state prison spokesman says she owes $100,000. Her attorney says she has yet to find a job.

Blog Assignment #3- How blogs have changed

I actually used to blog about my personal life all the time when Xanga was still a major social networking and myspace was just starting up. However, as time went on I got tired of writing these long diatribes about myself and things that interested me. Luckily I began writing for a website in April of 2006. So I really just stopped blogging after that, mainly because now I had editorial columns to post my views on my favorite subjects. However, I have to give credit to the blog, because my blog postings got me on www.411mania.com where I’ve written for three years now.

It is quite incredible how blogs have changed the journalism landscape though. Now almost anyone can be a journalist by just signing up for a blog, getting some advertising, fact checking things, and getting enough people to read it. The world at large having blogs can be a big help sometimes, such as the issues in Iran earlier this summer. Twitter, facebook, and blogs were the only way people could get out information to the world. In other cases it can be a hindrance because the blogosphere is still littered with editorial blogs or just rash opinions. Making this a big issue for people trying to find out what’s “real” news and what is just fluff.

Blogs have now made things a lot easier for newspapers and magazines to be able to post things immediately. Newspapers can post developing stories and update them as the day goes on, this allows for the newspapers to then take all of the information and put in the paper the next day. Television news anchors are now posting their thoughts on stories in their own blogs. I think its a good idea because viewers get to know the television personalities a bit more. The only issue is that having them posting blogs can compromise believability when they anchor on a story. If they post their opinion on it, it makes viewers wonder if they are going to be objective.

Blogs have also made it possible for people to practice writing and develop an interest in things. Those writers can post full videos, full interviews, pictures, and other things that help the writing and give them more attention. The readers can then instantly comment on your posting, giving you feedback on what was good and bad about it. Before you had to go through a process of logging in and viewing comments, now they just post.

Blogs provide the ability to do many things and has gone from just a place to write about feelings to full out articles. As time goes on it will change even more, but for right now I don’t think there is too much wrong with it.

Blog Assignment #1

The powerpoint wouldn’t load for me past page 11, so I didn’t know exactly what was wanted as far as the categories go. So I’m just going to describe what I see on the page.

The San Antonio Express website is probably one of the best I’ve seen on the local side of things. The homepage has everything you need right on it.  The first part of the page does have a blank white space (obviously reserved for an ad) but that’s about it as far as space left unused.  It has tabs at the top of the page, under it gives you some lighter stuff too, of the feature variety. It has a good size picture of the lead story with headlines on the right, similar to CNN.com, then on the far right side it has links to other categories that are not in the tabs, so unless you want to watch videos or pictures, the whole site is there for you very quickly. Within one scroll it takes you to a thing for slideshows, blogs, pics, videos, and tip stories. On the far right side it has a place for twitter, real estate and jobs which are two things people are looking for these days with the economy the way it is.  It does take too long to scroll down to where the local, sports, and other category headlines are at. However, since they give you an opportunity to click on the sports page itself at the top, it isn’t a big deal. Its nice that they still give you the opportunity to scroll down and see other headlines instead of forcing you to click category just to see their headlines. Even if one scrolls to the bottom it has a box with everything a person needs. That is a very good idea, because there are many times where you may accidentally scroll too many times or hit the mouse. This way you could even scroll all the way to the bottom if you wanted and just search the categories for what you wanted. Everything is easily visible and that is something very good to have in a website.

If you a view a picture or video, it has a summary of the video with other videos on the right side and no white space. It also has a navigation bar at the bottom just like the main page so that you don’t have to click back, you can just click on the next area you want to go to. Clicking My SA takes you to the homepage and the weather is always there at the top too. I don’t really have much negative to say about it because the designer did a good job of keeping everything within one scroll, while also allowing people to scroll through other headlines if they so desire.