- Talk to the Editor: Lawrie Miflin, editor, Television and Video, The New York Times.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Next week's readings:
- Doonesbury's War, By Gene Weingarten, Oct. 22, 2006. Washington Post Magazine.
- Q&A with Gene Weingarten.
- Librarians are the New Napoleons, By Roger Warner, Oct. 16, 2006. CMS Wire.
- Lawsuit Award a Warning to Blogs, By Kara Rowland, Oct. 12, 2006, The Washington Times.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Next week's readings:
Editing your sites:
Register your blog with Sitemeter service, available at http://www.sitemeter.com/, so you can start measuring your traffic.
Ping your blog. I like the Pingoat service at http://www.pingoat.com/
Also, register with FeedBlitz, at http://www.feedblitz.com/ to allow for e-mail notification when you add new posts.
And, if you would like to get some business cards made, vistaprint.com will print 250 cards for just the price of shipping.
- 10 Journalism Tips For Bloggers, Podcasters & Other E-Writers
- Oprah Winfrey, Amanda Congdon and the New Golden Age of the Cross-Country Road Trip
- Battle brewing over Internet access for blind Web surfers
- Ask.com Takes Search Engine To Phones
- Business embraces Web 2.0
Editing your sites:
- Check templates. We are using white backgrounds with black type -- they are easy to read and don't distract from your content.
- Upload profiles and profile photographs
- Insert a list of links to websites related to your blog. These will be inserted on the right hand side of your template. Go to this Blogger page for directions on how to do this.
Register your blog with Sitemeter service, available at http://www.sitemeter.com/, so you can start measuring your traffic.
Ping your blog. I like the Pingoat service at http://www.pingoat.com/
Also, register with FeedBlitz, at http://www.feedblitz.com/ to allow for e-mail notification when you add new posts.
And, if you would like to get some business cards made, vistaprint.com will print 250 cards for just the price of shipping.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Next week's reading assignments:
Proceedings of the 2006 meeting of the Online News Association
YouTube Community Worried by Google Deal. By Jake Coyle, The Associated Press, Oct. 11, 2006
Yahoo Hurting While Google Healthier Than Ever. By Barry Schwartz, Search Engine Watch. Oct. 11, 2006
L.A. Times' defining moment. David Olive, The Toronto Star, Oct. 10, 2006
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Next week's readings:
-
Courts are asked to crack down on bloggers, websites Laura Parker, USA TODAY
Counting the Errors of Modern Journalism Brian Doherty, Cato Institute
-
The New Precision Journalism, Philip Meyer
-
Finding Data on the Internet, Robert Niles website
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Next week's readings:
Video stories put newspapers on a whole new page Sept. 24, 2006. Nick Madigan, The Baltimore Sun.
Going full circle to push boundaries at Guardian Unlimited Sept. 23, 2006.
Emily Bell, The Guardian (UK).To maximize online revenue, newspapers must synchronize department Sept. 26, 2006. Jodie Hopperton, The Editor's Weblog.
UK: Financial Times to introduce multimedia newsroom Sept. 25, 2006. The Editor's Weblog.
Syndicate this! Linking old media to new March 27, 2006. Stephen Bryant, Online Journalism Review.
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Next week's web readings:
Technology Law Roundup Sept. 20, 2006. Struan Robertson. Times Online.
Reuters Announces $100,000 Grant for NewAssignment.net Sept. 20, 2006.
What’s good on the Web? Sept. 19, 2006. Frank Barnako. MarketWatch
2006 Knight-Batten Award Winners Advance Discovery, Participation, Transparency
New $5M fund for experiments in community journalism Sept. 18, 2006
A Defining Moment For Tribune Sept. 20, 2006. Stan Simpson. The Hartford Courant.
Putting the "Izz" Back into Journalism Sept. 19, 2006. Gary Moskowitz, WireTap.
Budding reporters sell out journalism for a wedding photo discount, but don’t get it Sept. 19, 2006.Shane Johnson. Salt Lake City Weekly.
Technology Law Roundup Sept. 20, 2006. Struan Robertson. Times Online.
Reuters Announces $100,000 Grant for NewAssignment.net Sept. 20, 2006.
What’s good on the Web? Sept. 19, 2006. Frank Barnako. MarketWatch
2006 Knight-Batten Award Winners Advance Discovery, Participation, Transparency
New $5M fund for experiments in community journalism Sept. 18, 2006
A Defining Moment For Tribune Sept. 20, 2006. Stan Simpson. The Hartford Courant.
Putting the "Izz" Back into Journalism Sept. 19, 2006. Gary Moskowitz, WireTap.
Budding reporters sell out journalism for a wedding photo discount, but don’t get it Sept. 19, 2006.Shane Johnson. Salt Lake City Weekly.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Thursday, Sept. 14, 2006
Next week's readings:
News21 Produces Investigative Reports, But Can Universities Think Different? Aug. 30, 2006. Mark Glaser, Mediashift, PBS
Citizen Journalism Not About 'Amateurs' or 'Pros' Sept. 5, 2006. Interview with OhmyNews citizen reporter Ronda Hauben
Online-News: Have We Come Far Enough? July 26, 2006. Steve Outing, Editor & Publisher
Beyond the integrated newsroom Sept. 13, 2006. Oliver Luft, Online Journalism News
Telegraph reinvents the wheel Sept. 10, 2006, Peter Preston, Guardian Unlimited
Traditional values of journalism guide new media decisions Sept. 10, 2006. Melanie Sill, The News & Observer.
Next week's readings:
News21 Produces Investigative Reports, But Can Universities Think Different? Aug. 30, 2006. Mark Glaser, Mediashift, PBS
Citizen Journalism Not About 'Amateurs' or 'Pros' Sept. 5, 2006. Interview with OhmyNews citizen reporter Ronda Hauben
Online-News: Have We Come Far Enough? July 26, 2006. Steve Outing, Editor & Publisher
Beyond the integrated newsroom Sept. 13, 2006. Oliver Luft, Online Journalism News
Telegraph reinvents the wheel Sept. 10, 2006, Peter Preston, Guardian Unlimited
Traditional values of journalism guide new media decisions Sept. 10, 2006. Melanie Sill, The News & Observer.
Friday, August 18, 2006
Journalism 215
Journalism on the Web
Hofstra University
Media Studies and Public Relations
Introduction:
This course covers online journalism -- a relatively new and rapidly evolving part of a traditional craft. It's an exciting time to be a journalist and one filled with opportunities as traditional mainstream news media grapples with how to use the new tools and capabilities of the Internet and still fulfill its traditional role in a free society.
We meet 15 times for two hours – less than an average working week. We will work at a high level, classes will be interactive, and we will be proceeding on various tracks concurrently. You are expected to have done the reading, be aware of current events, and be prepared to ask questions and contribute to the discussion. For every hour in class, I expect you to spend two hours outside. So, class is two hours a week, you can be expected to work an additional four hours each week, at minimum.
This course is designed to provide students with the skills and knowledge needed to be able to critically evaluate and know how to effectively apply a broad and ever-changing array of digital tools to enhance the traditional methods of journalism.
This is not a tools course, but a journalism course. Students will work to master the traditional journalistic skills of clear writing, thorough reporting and editing, and will learn how to apply those core skills to a creative and ethical use of multimedia, producing news articles that are suitable for publication.
You are expected to have a grasp of grammar, style and punctuation and to turn in clean copy. That means after writing, print it out, edit it, and make corrections to your digital copy, turning on edit track.
This course will provide theoretical background, professional instruction and evaluated practice in those judgments and skills. Emphasis will be placed on:
Writing and reporting. Students will learn how to write and report professionally and effectively and how to collect and produce multimedia and critically evaluate it for publication online.
Teamwork and Deadlines: No matter what the medium, today's professional journalism requires the ability to work well with others – editors, artists, producers, photographers, videographers, audio engineers – and most importantly, with readers, who are empowered with the ability to fact-check your work and to respond well beyond the letters-to-the-editor page of the newspaper. Ask Dan Rather.
You will be working in teams and your success in this class will depend on your ability to integrate with each other, support each other, and meet deadlines.
In the real-time world of the Internet, scoops can be measured in milliseconds, putting a premium on the ability to accurately and quickly write and report, and then to turn around and do it all again. Deadlines count. If you don't make your deadline, you don't keep your job. It's just that simple. So, know that deadlines count in this class too.
New media
Students will first learn how to write and report for Web, and then for the emerging channels of blogs, vlogs, and mobile. Students will learn and practice the skills of writing headlines, captions, blurbs, voice-overs, and audio reports to create a click-compelling matrix of reporting that rises to the highest standards of ethical journalism and keeps the user engaged and interacting with the main articles that will be assigned throughout the class. Students will take photographs, collect audio and audio, and create graphics and animation.
The Business of Online Journalism
In this field, while respecting the traditional and inviolable ethical “wall” between editorial and business, students will still need to know about the financial fuel that powers their ability to conduct their journalism. We will look at the search for a successful business model for online journalism, within traditional and startup companies, and well in as solo efforts.
Each week, students will have required readings from the textbook, web research, and writing. The class meetings will include instructor lectures, guest lectures, deadline writing exercises, multimedia production and tests.
Assignments will be turned in electronically, via e-mail or posted in a website.
Students will earn points for attendance, and for contribution in class.
Required Texts:
Rich, Carole. Writing and Reporting News: A Coaching Method. Fifth Edition. Belmont, Calif., Wadsworth Publishing. 2006.
Norm Goldstein. The Associated Press Stylebook. New York, Associated Press. 2006.
Handouts, both electronic and hard copy.
Note: With the exception of the first class meeting, all assigned readings should be completed prior to each class meeting.
Note 2: There will be a number of unannounced quizzes on the reading, asking you to work with ideas from that day's assignment, or to put ideas from that reading into a context developed earlier in the term.
The overall course score will be assigned based on the following criteria:
Class Participation and attendance -- 20 percent
Assignments -- 20 percent
Quizzes, grammar, punctuation, style -- 15 percent
Project -- 45 percent
The Schedule:
Week 1. Introduction, background, history.
We will start off by learning about each other, and then examining the history of online journalism, moving into the present, and then looking toward the future of the craft.
Week 2. Zeroing in on a Topic
Quiz on readings. Discussion of readings. Assignments returned. Students will select a reporting topic that they will explore for the remainder of the semester, culminating in a multimedia website. In-class exercise: Students will locate a press release on their topic of interest and re-write it for a news article.
Week 3. Setting up your Sites
With reporting topic selected, students will be grouped into teams and will begin planning their reporting while targeting appropriate multimedia elements to be included on their website project. In-class assignment: Students will write a deadline meta-article, with links to supporting articles.
Week 4. Acquiring contextual data.
Students will learn how to locate data and information beyond what is available from a Google search. This class will concentrate on databases, hard-copy data and non-traditional sources of data.
Discussion of previous week's assignment.
Week 5. Introduction to Photography and Graphics
Students will learn how to produce a graphic from the data used for the previous week's writing assignment. Additionally, an in-class workshop on using Flash software.
Week 6. Digital Photojournalism
Students will become familiar with digital photography, learning how to take successful mug shots, action shots, and scenic post cards, and then how to write captions for them, and then to create photo packages.
Week 7. Mapping and Maps
Students will learn how to relate statistical data to geography, and learn how map mashups might be appropriate and useful to their reporting.
Week 8. Introduction to Podcasts, and Audio
Week 9. The Business of Online Journalism
Week 10. Introduction to Video
Week 11. Standups, Interviews, B-roll, Lighting
Week 12. Putting it all together, ethically
This class will concentrate on ethics in journalism with guest speakers, case histories, and a test.
Week 13. Production
Design a news blog that will include daily reports, long-form articles and multimedia for your beat. Begin reporting.
Week 14. Complete Reporting, Complete Production
Week 15. Presentation Final Project
Journalism on the Web
Hofstra University
Media Studies and Public Relations
Introduction:
This course covers online journalism -- a relatively new and rapidly evolving part of a traditional craft. It's an exciting time to be a journalist and one filled with opportunities as traditional mainstream news media grapples with how to use the new tools and capabilities of the Internet and still fulfill its traditional role in a free society.
We meet 15 times for two hours – less than an average working week. We will work at a high level, classes will be interactive, and we will be proceeding on various tracks concurrently. You are expected to have done the reading, be aware of current events, and be prepared to ask questions and contribute to the discussion. For every hour in class, I expect you to spend two hours outside. So, class is two hours a week, you can be expected to work an additional four hours each week, at minimum.
This course is designed to provide students with the skills and knowledge needed to be able to critically evaluate and know how to effectively apply a broad and ever-changing array of digital tools to enhance the traditional methods of journalism.
This is not a tools course, but a journalism course. Students will work to master the traditional journalistic skills of clear writing, thorough reporting and editing, and will learn how to apply those core skills to a creative and ethical use of multimedia, producing news articles that are suitable for publication.
You are expected to have a grasp of grammar, style and punctuation and to turn in clean copy. That means after writing, print it out, edit it, and make corrections to your digital copy, turning on edit track.
This course will provide theoretical background, professional instruction and evaluated practice in those judgments and skills. Emphasis will be placed on:
Writing and reporting. Students will learn how to write and report professionally and effectively and how to collect and produce multimedia and critically evaluate it for publication online.
Teamwork and Deadlines: No matter what the medium, today's professional journalism requires the ability to work well with others – editors, artists, producers, photographers, videographers, audio engineers – and most importantly, with readers, who are empowered with the ability to fact-check your work and to respond well beyond the letters-to-the-editor page of the newspaper. Ask Dan Rather.
You will be working in teams and your success in this class will depend on your ability to integrate with each other, support each other, and meet deadlines.
In the real-time world of the Internet, scoops can be measured in milliseconds, putting a premium on the ability to accurately and quickly write and report, and then to turn around and do it all again. Deadlines count. If you don't make your deadline, you don't keep your job. It's just that simple. So, know that deadlines count in this class too.
New media
Students will first learn how to write and report for Web, and then for the emerging channels of blogs, vlogs, and mobile. Students will learn and practice the skills of writing headlines, captions, blurbs, voice-overs, and audio reports to create a click-compelling matrix of reporting that rises to the highest standards of ethical journalism and keeps the user engaged and interacting with the main articles that will be assigned throughout the class. Students will take photographs, collect audio and audio, and create graphics and animation.
The Business of Online Journalism
In this field, while respecting the traditional and inviolable ethical “wall” between editorial and business, students will still need to know about the financial fuel that powers their ability to conduct their journalism. We will look at the search for a successful business model for online journalism, within traditional and startup companies, and well in as solo efforts.
Each week, students will have required readings from the textbook, web research, and writing. The class meetings will include instructor lectures, guest lectures, deadline writing exercises, multimedia production and tests.
Assignments will be turned in electronically, via e-mail or posted in a website.
Students will earn points for attendance, and for contribution in class.
Required Texts:
Rich, Carole. Writing and Reporting News: A Coaching Method. Fifth Edition. Belmont, Calif., Wadsworth Publishing. 2006.
Norm Goldstein. The Associated Press Stylebook. New York, Associated Press. 2006.
Handouts, both electronic and hard copy.
Note: With the exception of the first class meeting, all assigned readings should be completed prior to each class meeting.
Note 2: There will be a number of unannounced quizzes on the reading, asking you to work with ideas from that day's assignment, or to put ideas from that reading into a context developed earlier in the term.
The overall course score will be assigned based on the following criteria:
Class Participation and attendance -- 20 percent
Assignments -- 20 percent
Quizzes, grammar, punctuation, style -- 15 percent
Project -- 45 percent
The Schedule:
Week 1. Introduction, background, history.
We will start off by learning about each other, and then examining the history of online journalism, moving into the present, and then looking toward the future of the craft.
- Rich, Ch. 12, “Web Journalism”
- “Ten Toes in the Multimedia Waters” Rick Edmonds, PoynterOnline
- "Who killed the newspaper?" The Economist, Aug. 24, 2006
- "Amateur Hour: Journalism without journalists" New Yorker, Nicholas Lemann
- "A new Internet network brewing" Chicago Tribune
- "Craigslist Traffic Surges" MediaPost
- 2006 Online Journalism Awards -- Finalists
Writing assignment:
Select five online newspaper segments in either health or business and write a paragraph on each, critically evaluating the multimedia elements used in the reporting, with links. E-mail to instructor before next class meets.
Reading assignment:
Week 2. Zeroing in on a Topic
Quiz on readings. Discussion of readings. Assignments returned. Students will select a reporting topic that they will explore for the remainder of the semester, culminating in a multimedia website. In-class exercise: Students will locate a press release on their topic of interest and re-write it for a news article.
Reading Assignment: Rich, Ch. 17, “Beat Reporting”
Writing assignment: select five online broadcast news segments in either health or business and write a paragraph on each, critically evaluating the multimedia elements used in the reporting, with links. E-mail to instructor before class.
Week 3. Setting up your Sites
With reporting topic selected, students will be grouped into teams and will begin planning their reporting while targeting appropriate multimedia elements to be included on their website project. In-class assignment: Students will write a deadline meta-article, with links to supporting articles.
Reading Assignment: Rich, Ch. 1, “Changing Concepts of the News”
Writing assignment: Select five non mainstream-media health-related or business-related blogs. Evaluate for reliability of content, multimedia usage (if any), and interactivity. Distribute to colleagues.
Week 4. Acquiring contextual data.
Students will learn how to locate data and information beyond what is available from a Google search. This class will concentrate on databases, hard-copy data and non-traditional sources of data.
Discussion of previous week's assignment.
Reading Assignment: Rich, Ch. 19, “Statistical Stories,” pp 387-392.
Writing Assignment: Create an 250-word article using statistics relevant to your beat. E-mail to instructor
Week 5. Introduction to Photography and Graphics
Students will learn how to produce a graphic from the data used for the previous week's writing assignment. Additionally, an in-class workshop on using Flash software.
Reading Assignments: “Flash journalism: Professional practice today” Online Journalism Review, Mindy McAdams
Writing Assignments: TBD
Week 6. Digital Photojournalism
Students will become familiar with digital photography, learning how to take successful mug shots, action shots, and scenic post cards, and then how to write captions for them, and then to create photo packages.
Reading Assignment:
Look at the website of NY Times photographer Vincent Laforet
Look at the website of the North Carolina Press Photographers Association
Writing Assignment: Using digital camera, create a digital photo essay package, with captions. Post.
Week 7. Mapping and Maps
Students will learn how to relate statistical data to geography, and learn how map mashups might be appropriate and useful to their reporting.
Reading Assignment: Mapping a revolution with 'mashups' Elinor Mills, CNET News.com
Writing Assignment: Identify statistics from your beat that have a geographic aspect.
Week 8. Introduction to Podcasts, and Audio
Reading Assignment:
Resources for Web Workers
Writing Assignment: Write a 1-minute podcast on your assigned beat.
Week 9. The Business of Online Journalism
Reading Assignment: The Business of Online Journalism, Western Knight Center for Specialized Journalism.
Writing Assignment: Select 10 keywords from your beat, Google them and determine who has bought them. Then consider an advertising plan using those keywords to create revenue for your website.
Week 10. Introduction to Video
Reading Assignment: What works in online video
Writing Assignment: Create a 2-minute script for a vcast for your beat.
Week 11. Standups, Interviews, B-roll, Lighting
Reading Assignment: VJ Article
Writing Assignment: Produce a 2-minute vidcast for your beat.
Week 12. Putting it all together, ethically
This class will concentrate on ethics in journalism with guest speakers, case histories, and a test.
Reading Assignment:
The New York Times. Ethical Journalism: A Handbook of Values and Practices for the News and Editorial Departments, 2004
The Associated Press Statement of News Values and Principles
Writing Assignment: Create your personal journalism ethics guideline
Week 13. Production
Design a news blog that will include daily reports, long-form articles and multimedia for your beat. Begin reporting.
Writing Assignment: Start reporting. Create reporting memo.
Week 14. Complete Reporting, Complete Production
Week 15. Presentation Final Project
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
May 1, 2006
Presented at Hofstra University
Nassau News
Citizen Journalism
Dead-Tree Folks
Electronic Media
Video Logs, Videocasts
User Generated Content
Pioneering Multimedia
Big Papers on Digital Work
Presented at Hofstra University
Getting Started
Nassau News
Citizen Journalism
- iBlog, iPodcast: Citizen journalism using tech
- DIY Journalism: Boise Weekly
- Back Fence: Bethesda, Md.
- Chi-Town Daily News
- I Brattleboro.com
Dead-Tree Folks
- Jeff Jarvis on the future of newspaper presses: Philadelphia Inquirer
- Can a Small Town Support Two Newspapers?
- Ad Dollars Spent on Web to Surpass Magazines
- A Date with the Butcher By Vin Crosbie
Electronic Media
- On Local TV News, From SmartMoney
- On-demand TV hits fast-forward
- Fort Hayes State to become iTunes University
Video Logs, Videocasts
- Rocketboom Daily with Amanda Congdon
- Vlog Maps
- Picking the Right Webcam [Has nasty popup ads]
- More on Internet Video
User Generated Content
Pioneering Multimedia
Big Papers on Digital Work
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