Writing for New Media

In addition to the readings on our schedule, here are links to three recent stories that pose interesting questions about legal and ethical issues affecting journalists. What is your take on these? This discussion will replace our class meeting of July 14. Leave your comments below and feel free to comment more than once during the week.

Judge Says Blogs Not Legitimate News Source; No Shield Protections

Restoring The Post's Credibility With Readers -- and Staff. Update: A Sponsorship Scandal at The Post was just published July 12.

Was Wikipedia correct to censor news of David Rohde's capture?

Labels: audio editing ethics, censorship, shield laws

The latest reminder that YOU are responsible for anything you post online, even on a professional news organization's site or someone else's blog:

A real estate agent in Houston who blogged about Anna Nicole Smith was jailed for contempt last week in a defamation case brought by the late Playboy model's mother.
Legal experts said bloggers are increasingly the targets of such litigation, which are testing the bounds of free speech.

Read the full story here.

Labels: blogs, legal issues, libel

The syllabus for our summer MCOM 407/507 is now live. Check it out. Please note that the schedule is a downloadable Word document with many clickable links in it. Because of the complexity of scheduling a hybrid version of the class, I found it hard to embed the schedule in an HTNL page without making things confusing for students.

Labels: syllabus

Hi,

Here is the schedule for the presentations beginning Sept. 17.

Sept. 17

Alyson Blimmel
In Cold Blood: A Legacy

Aja Jackson
Afro-Latin Americans

Oct. 1

Joycelyn Anthony
Cloning: How It Works

Oct. 8

Gboyinde Onijala
And a Song Shall Carry Them Home

Dani Holtzer
Churchill’s Speeches

Oct. 15

Erin Stasi
Super Volcano

Ryiesha Simms
Inside the Toughman

Oct. 22

Erica Plummer
Stoves for Guatemala

Melissa Deutsch
The Whale Hunt

Oct. 29

Jeff Koslovsky
Can You Spot the Threats?

Chris Cuno
Enron Blame Game

Nov. 5

Beth Schaffer
Spam Wars

Sarah Springfield
One Day of War

Nov. 12

Kaitlyn Hart
Budget Balancer

Marianne Riker
Ray of Hope

Nov. 19

Samantha Bolden
Smuggling Children

Shannon Minter
The shootings at Kirkwood City Hall

Dec. 3

Nicole Balzanna
Ground Zero Timeline

Jacob Verdis
Lebrew Jones and the Death of Micki Hall

Labels: assignments, critiques

The Baltimore Sun reported this week some unsurprising but nonetheless not-good news: Graduates are going to find it tough to get jobs in the weak economy.

The article opens by noting how the class of 2008 began school in good economic times but leaves school in a recession:

That's depressing timing for Nikki Goh, who transferred from a school in Malaysia to Towson University two years ago because she believed the job opportunities here would be far better. When she graduates in May with a degree in mass communication, Goh, 22, will be heading back to Kuala Lumpur to regroup - and then to Britain to try to find work.

So ... you can become depressed or you can take to heart the advice we've been hearing over and over lately: Do everything you can to make yourself the BEST candidate for the job. If nothing's out there after graduation, consider a post-grad summer internship to give you added experience and contacts.

Labels: internships, jobs

Students and faculty who were lucky enough to make our cutoff for the trip to Washington on March 28 came back with lots of excitement and great ideas. I plan to do a full post (or more) on some of the great things Rob Curley showed us and talked about. In the meantime, I'll let some of the students do the talking via their blogs.

Annie Sullivan: "Overflowing with personality, Curley showed an impressive interactive slideshow of projects he has been part of in the past. Listening to him for 3 hours was like watching an exciting, educational, and downright comedic television show."

Ryan Reed: "On the way back to campus we all discussed what we learned from the day. I believe everyone was inspired to learn and do more when it comes to online journalism. As a senior graduating in May, the trip proved to be invaluable and I plan on taking what I learned with me wherever I may end up."

Heidi Greenleaf: "I now realize the significance of online journalism and the role it will play in the future of newspapers. Not only do I have to know how to write, take photos, blog, edit audio and video, but I also have to put all of these ideas together to create a multimedia package for whatever I’m writing about."

Noelle Ciara: "Annie, Danielle, and I are very inspired to start our own blog-type of website for TU students. There is so much that we’re missing out on and we’ve got big plans to change it. ;-)"

Update (April 8)
Two more students have posted on the trip:

Danielle Dyer: "Rob Curley jumps into all aspects of his job. No assignment is too small or unimportant. He truly makes you want to make every little, minuscule thing lavish and extravagant."

Jon Parr: "My teachers have been incredible in showing me what skills I'll need in the real world. But nothing could have prepared me for Rob Curley... nothing. A week later, my head is still reeling over what he showed us, what he taught us. This wasn't a field trip to the Washington Post, it was a few hours into Curley's mind."

Labels: multimedia, Rob Curley, Washington Post

Rob Curley, our host at last week's Washington Post/WPNI tour, talked at length about the great things ahead for the Las Vegas Sun. On his Facebook page, he singles out a recent package, "Pace Is the New Peril," as one of those great things:

I have many friends who work at the Las Vegas Sun, and today's lead story on LasVegasSun.com about the recent construction deaths at the rising new resorts in that town is an amazing piece of what "newspaper" journalism should look like in 2008.

The text, the photos, the video, the interactive graphic and bios, and all of the auxiliary supporting documents make this an amazing piece of storytelling that works on so many levels. This is a textbook example of how traditional journalism and new-media journalism can work in tandem to serve a news organization's mission.

While the package is not likely to win any awards for its design, it is a great example of what today's journalist should aspire to. Bravo to the the Sun.

Labels: multimedia, Rob Curley, Washington Post