New Media Journalism Summary

One of the assignments for the course that is the origin of this blog was to follow four online news sites. The sites I chose are The NCPR news blog The In Box, the Huffington Post, The Onion, and the New York Times Online. Here is my analysis of these sites:

The In Box(formerly called All In), the news blog published on North Country Public Radio's website is an excellent companion to NCPR's regional coverage. NCPR is the only radio station with in-depth coverage of regional news, and The In Box gives a sort of behind-the-scenes journal written by the reporters and staff of NCPR.

The Huffington Post exemplifies new media journalism: brash, hip, user driven, and slanted. The slant in this case is to the left(or extreme left depending on your definition). The website's pages are colorful and sometimes chaotic, with links to blogs, videos, straight news articles, editorial articles, and ads. A notable and fun new media aspect is the ability to comment on the content (or comment on a comment) or if you don't have anything specific to add, you can click one of the reaction buttons to describe how an article made you feel. Of course you can also facebook like it or post it to your facebook or twitter.

I continue to be a huge fan of The Onion, which can be described as funny fake news. The jokes only work if you already follow the news and are familiar with the format of newspaper or TV news programs, so don't go to The Onion to learn what's going on, go there to laugh about it. The Website is set up well, similar to a 'real' news site with clickable headlines and ledes. Like the Huffington Post, NY Times and many others, all the pages have clickable tabs at the top which lead you to the different sections of coverage.

To get 'serious' news info The New York Times has long held the reputation as 'the paper of record' in the U.S. Much of the content in the print edition is availiable for free online, I suppose in an effort to stay relevant if not profitable. I find the print edition more organized and attractive than the website's homepage, but the coverage is still good. One advantage online news sites have is the search bar, which makes finding the articles you want much easier.

End of the Line

Yesterday I had a fun interview with a railroad enthusiast named Kenny Friedel for my regular Journalism class. I had noticed this guy's miniature railroad in his yard, like an amusement park ride. and after stopping by a couple times when he wasn't home I left a note on the door. After a few days (was about to give up) he called me back.

It was too rainy for him to run the train when I first arrived, but as we talked the weather cleared and he eventually took me for a fun ride. So I have some pics and the interview on tape, so I should be able to write-up a decent soft-news profile piece.

Tomorrow I'm leaving for a family event over the weekend. Both these courses are ending soon, so I'm rushing to get everything I need in and posted.

With Apologies to Fox News Fans

Victim In Fatal Car Accident Tragically Not Glenn Beck

Another Informative Video

Nick Finger left me a link to this in one of his comments (did I mention I love comments?) and it is funny and true, take notes!

Daniel Shorr R.I.P.

Just home from work at the 1844 House, love the feel of evening breeze after 8 sweaty hours in the kitchen. If you've never worked a commercial kitchen, you don't know the heat.

So today is the YouTube 'global filming day' they've been promoting. It's a cool idea, eventually a documentary film is going to be made as sort of a day in the world recorded on film and put on YouTube. I've never posted to YouTube but I have a digital camcorder that's been gathering dust for a few months so it was a good reason to break it out. So I filmed myself walking Reggie, talking to my dad, doing laundry, driving to work, and then just now driving home from work. Exciting stuff, right?

So I submitted the 'Case Study' assignment to Sweeney earlier. Those in the class know that it's an analysis of the journalistic qualities of a particular blog. The blog is from 2005, kind of strange choice for a new media class. (hey anybody know where that anonymous guy is now or any current info? If he's still blogging I'll avoid that blog.)

Anyways thinking back on what I wrote, I was pretty brutal, not really giving the blogosphere in general a fair shake in terms of journalism.

Two recent news events may have put me in a not so generous mood to fellow bloggers. The Shirley Sherrod story this week really pissed me off; A blogger with an agenda(conservative) started a faux furor over quotes of Sherrod taken out of context. That's not suprising, although it does speak to the danger of considering blogging journalism. So you know the story, Obama fired her, and then apparently the next day got the whole story, and apologised.

And the other thing that may have tainted my mood when I wrote the assignment(should I post it here?) was the death of Daniel Shorr, a great and true journalist who I grew up hearing regularly on NPR. He worked almost to the end (I heard him just the other week) at the age of 93, and his life story is inspiring and worth checking out if your interested:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128730967

The difference between Shorr and many of the news bloggers I've read is that (one of the things I keep hearing from those who knew and worked with him) Dan Shorr never made the story about himself.

Humility and objectivity are qualities hard to find in the blogosphere.

Perfect Parody!

This video teaches a textbook's worth of info about the 24 Hr TV News Cycle. Watch and learn, fellow students!

It's also hella funny!


Breaking News: Some Bullshit Happening Somewhere

Better than Beck

Semi-Literate Former Gold Prospector Given Own Cable News Show