Journalism & Society

"America Has Always Been Fascinated By The Outlaw."

2012-02-17T11:00:00.009-05:00

COVERING ORGANIZED CRIME isn't always the most important story of the day, both George Anastasia and Dave Schratwieser admitted yesterday. But there's great drama, like a soap opera. Especially in the modern era of the Philadelphia mafia.

"This is the most dysfunctional time in mob history," Anastasia said. "The Philadelphia mob are like The Simpsons of the underworld."

Anastasia, who graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree in French Literature, has been covering the mafia for the Philadelphia Inquirer for more than 30 years. Schratwieser has specialized in law enforcement and organized crime coverage for most of his career as well, moving from print to television. He's been at Fox29 since 1994.

The two did a weekly segment on the underworld for several years.
It wasn't easy to get good information in the beginning, Anastasia said. He did what most reporters do - talked to cops and defense lawyers. One day, a guy called him and said that his stories were all wrong.

"He was a typical South Philly guy," Anastasia remembered. "He had to get the last word."

So Anastasia developed a relationship with this character, using his information to balance out the sanitized information from officials. This changed everything - all of the sudden, the stories had a life to them, and more people came forward to talk (albeit anonymously), from within law enforcement and the mob.

Both reporters stressed that they never revealed information to either the cops or underworld figures. In fact, on the day one of the Philly mob guys was picked up by cops, Schratwieser received a phone call from the gangster an hour before the arrest. He thought Schratwieser might know about an impending arrest.

Schratwieser said he knew nothing. But he was actually in a Fox29 vehicle around the corner from the guy's house, behind a row of law enforcement vehicles preparing to move in.

"It can be difficult when developing sources," Anastasia said. "These guys think we're friends."

Occasionally, he has meals with mobsters and they try to pick up the tab.

"A lot of these guys have John Gotti Syndrome," Anastasia joked. "They think, 'What's the point of being a gangster if nobody knows?'"

But he declines their offer and pays his own way.

Both reporters have established positive reputations within law enforcement and the underworld for being fair in their stories. Still, former Philadelphia mob boss John Stanfa put a contract out on Anastasia, which Anastasia learned about from the hitman hired to throw grenades through his window.

"They guy told me and said, 'Nothing personal,'" Anastasia remembered.

Here are a few other things that stood out from their visit:

• Schratwieser landed his first journalism job straight out of college because he had been an intern there until he graduated. He got his first job in television, as a producer, after running into a friend in the subway (he was taking broadcast classes while working as a print reporter). He did his first on-air story assignment because six reporters called out sick one day.
• As a general assignment reporter at Fox29, Schratwieser now turns two stories every day, and often re-packages another for the evening news.
• Anastasia used to be able to spend weeks developing stories without actually printing anything. Because of cutbacks, that luxury to develop sources and dig for information is pretty much gone.
• Much of the great information they get is through these sources, some of whom are angry lawyers, mob enemies, proud cops ... people with a particular agenda.
• If you burn a source - in law enforcement or in the underworld - they will never speak to you again.
• Both have new books out. Schratwieser's is The Hitman; Anastasia's is The Ultimate Book of Gangster Movies.

They offered this advice for getting a job in journalism:

• Do an internship.
• Go into the field with reporters and photographers. "You're not going to learn remotely what you want to learn by sitting behind a desk at the station," Schratwieser said.
• Don't rely upon the Internet when reporting. Hit the streets.

What stood out for you?

Student Journalists Explain How To Get Your Groove On.

2012-02-12T12:36:00.004-05:00

THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII student newspaper published a Valentine's Day edition, and offered sex tips. Unlike other newspapers (student or otherwise) that have regular sex columns, the Hawaii newspaper, Ka Leo, printed illustrations that visually portrayed the sex positions the writer describes.

Find the story online here. See it in print above on page 16.

Is this responsible journalism?

Paul Bomberger: "You Have The Ability To Be Whatever You Want To Be."

2012-02-10T09:07:00.006-05:00

DAYS AFTER GRADUATING FROM Temple, Paul Bomberger took a job at his hometown newspaper, the Intelligencer Journal, filling in for a staffer on maternity leave. He was supposed to be at the job for about 9 months. He stayed 15 years.

"You can't beat the newspaper platform for the thrill of a big story," Bomberger said in class yesterday.

At the Intelligencer Journal, he developed a specialty covering business, which eventually landed him in the position of assistant business editor at the Palm Beach Post. He then went to the Sun-Sentinel in Ft. Lauderdale to become the deputy business editor. In 2010, he returned to Pennsylvania to be the editor of Risk & Insurance magazine, a trade publication serving a very engaged, niche audience. He left that position last month and now he's freelancing and consulting.

"I've truly enjoyed doing this," he said, speaking about his career in journalism. "You can make a good living doing this. You'll work hard but you'll be able to pay your bills. And you get a sense that you helped make a difference in your community. You're doing a public service."

His interest in journalism was born here in Philadelphia, where he spent time with his newspaper-loving grandfather. He wrote for his high school newspaper but he also participated in speech and debate groups, learning to write and speak clearly and effectively.

He went to Juniata College for two years but decided he needed to be in a more focused journalism program. So, he came to Temple. He did an internship while he was a student here, and he worked in the Daily News circulation department. He also freelanced for various publications and wrote a few stories for the Temple News.

"When I finished here, I felt like I could compete for a job," he said. "When an editor hands you a story and you can turn it in - and it needs only minimal editing before publishing, you're good to go."

He had a few suggestions for students entering journalism:

• Take advantage of your professors - beyond the classroom.
• Take a wide variety of courses and get involved in a wide variety of stuff while in college.
• Find whatever inspires you, and pursue that.
• "At the end of the day, figure out what you do best," he said. "Where do you shine?"
• The key skills you need to develop are interviewing, researching, writing, figuring out who you need to speak with to get the story, and developing a good bullsh*t detector.

Here are a few other things he said that I found interesting:

• You find stories by reading everything. Then you call people. And you visit them in person. "If you're doing a story, you want to be eyeball to eyeball with somebody," Bomberger said.
• The key to being a good interviewer is being prepared before speaking to people. Read everything. Know the terminology of the subject your covering. Know the players.
• Get anecdotes that you can use to build excitement in your stories.
• Being a good writer means having the ability to get the essential facts to people in a clear, coherent fashion that is easy and enjoyable to read.
• You need to have authority in the story. You understand everything. If you don't, you need to continue digging for information and interview more people.
• Magazines offer a lot of space to tell long, analytical stories.
• Recongnize who your audience is when you write. Trade magazines, for instance, speak to a very knowledgable readership.

"You have the ability to be whatever you want to be," Bomberger said. "Take risks. Go after it. Be accurate, balanced and maintain your integrity. Follow your principles and do not compromise."

What stood out for you?

Can Perception Taint The Journalism?

2012-02-07T21:05:00.007-05:00

FORMER PHILADELPHIA MAYOR and Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell is among a group of investors who are considering the purchase of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and their website, philly.com.

Is there any danger in that?

Journalist Paul Davies wrote:

"Under that proposed ownership model, the Fourth Estate in Philly will essentially cease to exist as a serious journalistic enterprise. Instead, the newspapers will be viewed as a direct extension of the Democratic Party and Chamber of Commerce.

The intrinsic value of a newspaper rests in its creditability. Readers must trust what they are reading is honest, fair, accurate and the best effort at the truth. There are many first-rate journalists at both papers, and they will try to soldier on. But any real or perceived conflicts of interest stemming from the Rendell ownership group will undermine their credibility."

Do you agree? Will readership even notice who owns the operation?

Is Vagina Acceptable? And is "Vajajay" Sexist?

2012-02-01T14:46:00.004-05:00

Apparently, usage of the word vagina has become rather commonplace on broadcast television. Is that acceptable?

"One of the great things about broadcast television is nobody really knows what's appropriate anymore," a CBS producer told Philadelphia Daily News reporter Ellen Gray. "It's a floating target."

As we evolve as a society (or devolve, depending upon your point of view), should the accepted standards change?

Also consider this: references to male goodies have long been sitcom fodder, with the word penis fairly normal on television for decades. Is the deferential treatment of women's sexual organs actually sexist?

And is the now-common usage of the word vagina something of an empowerment movement for women?

(By the way: the word vagina appears 20 times in that Daily News story ...is that acceptable?)

How Much PhotoShop is Too Much?

2012-01-29T23:51:00.002-05:00

BARACK OBAMA AND MITT ROMNEY did not have an actual fight and chances are, they've never looked as bruised and battered as they did on this recent cover of New York magazine.

Is it wrong to represent them in this way?

Clearly, it is a photo manipulation. But are they taking too many liberties with the truth? Should a media outlet manufacture an image to represent the emotion of a story? Or should they rely upon reality, even though it may not appear as visually striking?

Would you publish the PhotoShopped image?

Open Marriages and Noisy Audiences?

2012-01-24T22:48:00.003-05:00

TO OPEN THE GOP presidential debate over the weekend, CNN's John King asked Newt Gingrich about the allegations by his former wife regarding Gingrich's request for an "open marriage."

Is that an appropriate question to ask? Is that good journalism?

The audience went wild with Gingrich's response. During the next GOP presidential debate, the studio audience was asked to remain silent during the event. The rationale was that the audience would act like a laugh track, telling the viewing audience when to laugh, cry, smile, boo, etc.

Should the audience be allowed to react? Or would that influence the home audience?

Baby Photos For Sale!

2012-01-22T16:11:00.004-05:00

JESSICA ALBA SAYS that celebrity couples who sire a child should sell the rights to the first images of the child to the highest bidder.

Rather than deal with paparrazi stalking her, Alba sold the rights to the first pictures of her baby to OK magazine for a reported $1.5 million.

Think about this from the journalism angle - is it acceptable for the media to buy the rights to the images? Is it ethical?

If it is acceptable to pay for these images, where should the media draw the line? Should the media start paying for access to celebrities? For interviews? For other information?

Does paying for information/ images/ access change your perception of the story?

Should a Newspaper Run a Photo of a Dead Man?

2012-01-21T13:09:00.003-05:00

A TEENAGER ON her way to school in Connecticut saw this man, dead on the street. So she snapped a photo, which the local newspaper obtained.

Is it acceptable for the newspaper to run a photo of a dead man on the sidewalk like this? It is a rare sight - most of the time, the police or other emergency crews cover bodies so the public does not see victim (and to preserve the privacy of the victim and his/ her family).

The editor of the paper argued that it was important to run the photograph:

While publishing this photo may make some people uncomfortable, it is an undeniably powerful representation of the spate of tragedy the city is enduring. Ultimately, what’s unacceptably uncomfortable is schoolchildren having to walk past homicide victims.

What do you think?

Principle of Journalism: It Must Provide a Forum for Public Criticism and Compromise.

2012-01-20T17:12:00.004-05:00

Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel wrote a book called The Elements of Journalism in which they outlined the principles of journalism. One of the principles they offered was "the news media are the common carriers of public discussion."

Not sure the above video is what they had in mind.

A reporter doing a live shot warned people to be careful as the icy conditions on a hill where people were sledding had become worse. Apparently, the police evacuated the hill, stopping people from sledding there. So one of the sledders shared her thoughts during the live shot.

Did the reporter over-step her role? Or is the sledder over-reacting?

Give It Up For Me!

2012-01-18T20:45:00.002-05:00

A reporter on the morning news in Toledo, Ohio actually pole-danced during a live broadcast.

Is this journalism?

Who Would Lie About an Obituary?

2011-12-14T12:05:00.006-05:00

IF SOMEONE CALLS in an obituary to a newspaper, hoping to get a notice about their loved one printed in the paper, what is the responsibility of the newspaper? Should the newspaper fact-check that information, or assume that no one would joke about such a story?

Turns out a guy in Brookeville, PA didn't want to get fired from his job after he took time off, supposedly mourning the death of his mother. To support his story, he contacted the local paper and asked for an obituary.

The newspaper could not confirm the details with the funeral home at deadline, so they ran the story.

The next day, relatives called to deny the story. Then, the supposedly deceased woman stopped by the office.

Did the journalists err in this situation?

(By the way, the dude who submitted the false obituary was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct. And the image above is of the 80s death metal band, Obituary.)

Spolier Alert: "There is No Santa," Anchor Reveals.

2011-12-02T19:01:00.001-05:00

Thoughts? Is there anything wrong with what the anchor said, during the original broadcast or during the apology?

Jennifer Midberry: "Work On Developing Your Style."

2011-11-30T13:49:00.004-05:00

Jennifer Midberry thought she might grow up and become an elementary school teacher. Or a social worker of some sort. Then she won a photo contest while being a student at Bucks County Community College. She met a few professional photojournalists who were encouraging and she meandered her way into being a professional shooter herself.

She's managed to build a career that allows her to see the world and tell stories about issues she cares about.

"People open their doors to journalists," Jennifer said. "Being a journalist lets you see things most people wouldn't ordinarily see."

Here are a few things she said that stood out for me:

• You need to take the initiative. When 9/11 happened, she went to New York City and documented the aftermath of the attack, despite not working for a news organization. Because she was there, she was able to sell the images she made. And that lead to her first full-time shooting job.
• "Being a journalist means you get to see everything as it happens," she said. "You get to be on the front lines of history."

• Following 9/11, she was upset about the portrayal of the Islamic community and Muslim-Americans by the media. This made her want to travel to the Middle East and learn more about this culture that was being maligned.

• She does not believe that objectivity can exist in the media. "You're always documenting from a certain perspective," she said. "We have a lot of control over the messages conveyed in photos."
• "The role of the press is to draw attention to social issues," Jennifer said. "We keep government accountable, and we offer different perspectives."

Jennifer offered this advice to those interested in photojournalism:

• Everyone studying photojournalism will develop similar technical skills. It's how you see, compose and visually tell stories that will make you stand out. "Get technically proficient and then forget about it," she said. "Work on developing your style."
• "You can do a lot with very simple equipment," she said.
• You will have assignments involving topics you don't care about (Jennifer doesn't care for sports). So she tried to shoot them in her own style.
• You need to have commitment and drive, and you need to take the initiative if you are going to succeed.
• As a female photojournalist, she tried to use her size and gender to her advantage.

Did the Police Have the Right to Evict the Press?

2011-11-30T12:33:00.006-05:00

Around 1:00 am this morning, police gave final warning to the Occupy Philly protesters to evacuate Dilworth Plaza, next to City Hall.

Before the police issued their final warning to the protesters, however, the police told journalists that they had to vacate the area and watch the events unfold from across the five lane street, probably 150 feet away from the entrance to the Occupy Philly encampment. From the press vantage point, it was almost impossible to see the actual protest site.

Did the police have the right to evict the press?

Were the police simply ensuring that journalists did not interfere with the police work?

Or were the police trying avoid a situation like that at the University of California, Davis, where video of a campus police officer pepper-spraying a group of protesters became a viral phenomena?

Oops. That's Not What We Meant.

2011-11-28T12:26:00.002-05:00

A BALTIMORE TELEVISION station reported on Black Friday events and accidentally put "Black Holiday Shoppers" in the lower-third (rather than labeling them as "Black Friday Shoppers").

Does the newscast have a responsibility to apologize to their audience?

In the age of the Internet, when information is old news in a matter of moments, do the media have to have every fact immediately correct? Or, as a society, have we just accepted that what we learn from the media may or may not be true?

Is that a problem?

How would you handle the Black Friday mistake - or better yet, this incredible story?

Did The Media Get Joe Paterno Fired?

2011-11-13T21:35:00.008-05:00

HOURS AFTER THE Penn Sate University board of trustees fired football coach Joe Paterno and the university president for their actions (and inaction) connected to the child sex scandal involving a former PSU football coach, students rioted in the streets. Among the ways they released their anger and frustration was by knocking over a television live truck.

The students, according to some reports, believe that the media got Joe Paterno fired.

“I think the point people are trying to make is the media is responsible for JoePa going down,” a PSU freshman told the New York Times.

While acknowledging that the rape of helpless children was awful, many people spoke to the media and wrote op/eds saying that the media put their focus on Joe Paterno rather than the actual suspect in these cases because focusing on the alleged perpetrator would not sell newspapers or draw eyes to newscasts or websites.

"You know what will sell, though?" a blogger/ journalist wrote. "The downfall of an American icon. A man who has spent 60 years building the reputation of a football program, a university, a whole town doing the 'legal minimum' but not his 'moral duty' being pummeled both in writing and by cameras and microphones everywhere he goes. I can guarantee you, if Penn State was coached by some no-name, the stories churned out would be about the victims and the men who perpetrated these crimes."

Did the media focus on the wrong person in this situation?

Or did the media act responsibly, reporting all angles?

Should You Cut The President Some Slack?

2011-11-07T23:42:00.003-05:00

THIS ISN'T NEW but it is a modern classic. In the wake of Kanye West hijacking Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at the MTV video music awards, President Obama called West a jackass.

The moment was videotaped as the president was being prepped for an interview. The president and the reporter were simply conversing as lights, cameras and mics were being set up.

The president asks for some slack after everyone laughs. Is it too late to ask that the statement be off the record at that point?

Is this news?

Michael Moore: "You're Just Punk Media."

2011-11-07T09:30:00.002-05:00

WAS THE REPORTER out of line in asking filmmaker Michael Moore about his reported net worth? Or was he being a good journalist?

Topless Journalist Reports on Naked Drunk Driver.

2011-11-03T23:56:00.006-04:00

A REPORTER IN Ohio covered the court case of a woman arrested for drunk driving and speeding. The accused drunk driver was nearly naked when arrested.

This report brings about a number of questions:

• Is the drunk driver story actually newsworthy?
• Were the photographer and videographer attacked?
• Did we need to see the reporter topless in the car?
• Is it acceptable for journalists to air the surveillance video?
• Is this "story" handled responsibly?

Bill Conlin: A Lifetime in Sports. And a Story For Every Day.

2011-10-26T13:11:00.006-04:00

JUST STUMBLED ACROSS this video tribute (above) to Philadelphia Daily News columnist Bill Conlin, a Temple grad who was honored with a Lew Klein Award last week.

Conlin is an icon in Philadelphia sports. There's no ethical question here. But listen to the dude. There's great stuff in these videos.

Marc Zumoff: "When You're an Intern, You're in The Farm System."

2011-10-20T20:09:00.004-04:00

MARC ZUMOFF WAS not the most popular kid in high school when he was growing up in Northeast Philadelphia. He was heavy and socially awkward.

"I wasn't really that dynamic," Zumoff said.

That lasted into his time while a student here at Temple.

Now, however, he gets paid to talk about basketball as the voice of the Philadelphia 76ers. He's one of around 30 professional basketball play-by-play announcers in the country. He gets front row seats, flies first class, stays in the best hotels and eats at high-end restaurants ... as his job.

His message to you?

"If you have similar aspirations," he said, "go for it."

What do you need to do to reach your dreams? Here's Zumoff's advice:

• Believe in yourself.
• Start reaching for your dreams now. "Have a personal mission statement," Zumoff said. "Everything you do should lead to that goal."
• Join associations and make friends. It doesn't matter how good you are if you can't get your foot in the door. You need to know people.
• Do an internship. "It's a great way to make contacts," he said.
• While interning, be a model citizen. Dress appropriately. Be polite. Take the initiative and do the work required of you with a smile, and do it before you're asked to do it.
• Your bosses are watching. Interns get promoted. "Two of my former interns are now my bosses," Zumoff said. "When you're an intern, you're in the farm system."

• Talk to people doing what you want to do. Ask them how they reached their position.
• Try writing letters. You want to stand out.
• Make the connections when making connections. Who do you know in common? And ask folks who they can connect you to.
• Build a network of positive people who can help you in your career.
• Kiss asses? "Yes," Zumoff said. "That's exactly what I'm saying."

Here are a few other things he mentioned:

• If he talks about the NBA lockout, he, the team or his company could be fined.
• Eric Snow did not fall asleep on air.
• Charles Barkley was everything a professional basketball superstar was not supposed to be - relatively small and sort of heavy. But he was awesome.
• Same for Allen Iverson. "He did what he did and he shouldn't have," Zumoff said, referring to Iverson's talents despite his relatively diminutive size. "He lived and played with reckless abandon."

• While attending Temple, Zumoff drove heavy equipment trucks at a scrap iron/ steel yard.
• He spent his first five years after college in radio news.

What stood out for you?

Can A Reporter Have An Opinion?

2011-10-17T21:30:00.003-04:00

CAN YOU ROOT for a cause and report on it at the same time?

That's the situation that Philadelphia Daily News reporter/ editor/ blogger Will Bunch finds himself. He has reported on the Occupy movement while at the same time, he serves as a fellow at a left leaning think tank. He's been tweeting his support for the Occupiers.

Is there anything wrong with that?

“I think my editors are really proud to have someone writing with a point of view," Bunch told FoxNews.com. "The Daily News is fairly unusual, we’re not that big on boundaries. The new editor, Larry Platt, encourages us to be more opinionated."

The newspaper has defended Bunch's actions. The paper's ombudsman, the conscience of the paper, wrote:

Bunch identifies himself as having "a progressive point of view." His writing for the Daily News, as well as his books and his work for Media Matters, confirms this. As a reader, I know where Bunch is coming from, just as I know where Sean Hannity is coming from. That's good enough for me.

The ombudsman is supposed to look at the paper's actions from an objective perspective. He answered my initial question in his column on Monday:

Can a reporter have opinions, strong ones, and still be credible on hard news? I believe that's possible, and know that Bunch knows the difference.

Do you agree?

Do you think the ombudsman would have taken Bunch's side if the politics were reversed?

Steve Esack: "Any Assignment I Do, I Do to The Best of My Ability."

2011-10-11T22:00:00.006-04:00

STEVE ESACK HOLDS a grudge.

The Northeast Philly native went to the Community College of Philadelphia before transferring to Temple (c/o '96). He took a reporting job at a weekly newspaper in the 'burbs before landing a gig at the Philadelphia Daily News.

As a desk clerk.

He answered phones and delivered mail.

But he wanted to be a writer. When he approached the executive editor of the newspaper, the editor told Steve, "You won't get anywhere because you went to CCP and Temple. You're not an Ivy Leaguer."

That just pissed him off.

He did a two-year stint at the Inquirer as a suburban correspondent and then went to the Allentown Morning Call, where he is now the education reporter.

In 2010, Steve won the Ernie Pyle Award for a 5-part feature series about a high school football team and their new coach.

Here are a few things that stood out for me from his visit to class:

• If you have any fears about approaching people and asking them questions, get over that now. If you want to be a journalist, you have to be able to socialize and make connections with people.
• "This business has always been about people," he said. "And it will always be about people."
• His father was a police office and his mother ran a corner grocery store.
• He tries to distance himself from stories but he's not a robot. "Sometimes it's impossible for me not to get angry, pissed, upset, sad, whatever," he said. "If you can feel and see the emotion in a story, put that in the story. You know your readers will feel it too."

• When he was a general assignment reporter, his editors would throw stories at him. And he always followed up on the leads. He's never turned down an assignment.
• He suggests that you pitch stories rather than wait for editors to hit you with assignments. You'd much rather do the stories you're interested in, rather than the random stuff your editors may come up with.

• Steve shoots images and video with his iPhone for the stories he writes.
• He says you should learn how to edit video.
• If you have multiple skills, you will be employable in journalism. And Steve said that you won't likely have to do the old bounce around from small media outlet to slightly larger, to slightly larger outlet, before reaching your dream outlet.

• Winning awards is great (The Ernie Pyle came with a bundle of cash) but awards are subjective. It's just the judgment of a group of folks. Being honored does not signify to him that he has reached a pinnacle of his career. But it did feel good to win.
• He still hustles on every story. "Any assignment I do," he said, "I do to the best of my ability."

He forgot to mention in class but the Allentown Morning Call offers a bunch of internships - paid and unpaid. Check them out here.

What stood out for you?

Can The Public Really Help The Newsmakers?

2011-10-10T19:13:00.003-04:00

A NEWSPAPER IN THE UK is now posting their story budget for the next day's paper, hoping that readers will see the story list and contribute to it.

Is this a good idea?

"What if readers were able to help newsdesks work out which stories were worth investing precious reporting resources in?" the national news editor of The Guardian wrote yesterday. "What if all those experts who delight in telling us what's wrong with our stories after they've been published could be enlisted into giving us more clues beforehand? What if the process of working out what to investigate actually becomes part of the news itself?"

Is this a bright move, inviting citizens to become active participants in journalism? Or is this a gimmick?

Is this a ploy to get citizens to do the actual legwork that journalists used to do?

The story list began running today. Check it out here.

Can You Say That On-Air or In Print?

2011-10-09T19:01:00.004-04:00

LAST WEEK, THE Washington Post discovered that, for many years, presidential candidate Rick Perry leased a hunting camp that he had a racially offensive nickname for. Here is the lead of the Post's story:

In the early years of his political career, Rick Perry began hosting fellow lawmakers, friends and supporters at his family’s secluded West Texas hunting camp, a place known by the name painted in block letters across a large, flat rock standing upright at its gated entrance.

“Niggerhead,” it read.

Other media outlets followed the story and repeated the name, including the New York Times.

Should the media use the term in print? On air?

Does running the term perpetuate the awful connotations, or do we reduce it's power by repeating it?

When Are the Protesters Newsworthy?

2011-10-03T00:12:00.004-04:00

Protesters have camped out in New York City since September 17, and more than 1,000 have been arrested so far.

During the first week of the "occupation" by a group organized under the banner "Occupy Wall Street," there was virtually no coverage by the mainstream press.

"The recent protests on Wall Street did not involve large numbers of people, prominent people, a great disruption or an especially clear objective," NPR's executive editor told their ombudsman, the person in charge of determining whether the network has performed properly.

Media coverage is beginning to pick up now that the protesters are becoming more active - 700 protesters were arrested on Saturday when they attempted to occupy the Brooklyn Bridge.

Still, little has been reported about protesters staging rallies in Chicago, Los Angeles and elsewhere.

Does it matter that the original crowds were much smaller than expected? Does it matter that the protesters lack a specific mission, or an accepted leader?

Should the media be reporting on the acts of civil disobedience?

Bob Ford: Newspaper Sports Reporters Should be Writing About "What Does It Mean?"

2011-09-27T22:41:00.005-04:00

"IF YOU THINK you know your path in life, you're wrong," said Philadelphia Inquirer sports columnist Bob Ford.

He said that he had six majors (art history, psychology, English and a few others) while studying at the University of Maryland. He landed on journalism after learning there were academic advisors, and one suggested that path.

He graduated and got a job at the Easton Star Democrat on Maryland's Eastern shore. His first story was a duck calling competition. He next went to the Delaware County Daily Times as a Phillies beat writer. He moved to the Philadelphia Inquirer as a Sixers beat writer, then segued into general assignment sports reporting (Olympics, World Cup soccer, Tour de France, etc). In 2003, he became a sports columnist, opining on just about everything, though mostly about the big four professional sports teams.

As a sports writer, he's traveled to 14 countries and visited nearly every large city in the United States.

These days, he blogs, appears on video and tweets.

Here are a few things he said that stood out for me:

• The thirst for information has never been higher than now. The Inquirer has never had more readers than now. Many people just read online, as opposed to in print.
• "If you can write," he said, "there will be a place for you somewhere."
• The Internet, because of the rush to push out content, breeds a lack of reflection and thought.
• Bloggers get stuff wrong sometimes and that is regrettable. "When you're driving 100 miles per hour, you're more likely to have an accident than when you're doing 25," he said.
• The reality is that ten seconds after a story breaks, no one remembers who had it first.
• In the age of the Internet, newspaper sports reporters and writers should be focusing on this: "What does it mean?"

• As a beat writer, he had to pull his punches/ choose his battles sometimes. Seasons are long and he'll spend much more time with the players than with his actual newspaper colleagues.
• When Charles Barkley said, "This is the kind of game that makes you want to go home and beat your wife," Bob and longtime Daily News beat writer Phil Jasner offered Sir Charles a mulligan. Charles declined and it became a huge story.
• Joe Morgan once threatened to kick Bob's ass.
• How do you resist only writing controversial stuff to draw audiences? Recognize that during your career, you'll write thousands of stories, not one.
• Every story you do is like a job interview.

• For future sports writers (and journalists in general), Bob said you should be getting experience now. Start a blog. Write for the school paper. Freelance. Get clips that prove you can actually do this.
• After graduating from college, he sent his clips to around 60 newspapers.
• You should develop as many multimedia skills as possible. Modern journalists need to multi-task.

What stood out for you?

Talking Sports With Bob Ford.

2011-09-18T19:31:00.002-04:00

ON TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, Philadelphia Inquirer sports columnist Bob Ford (above) will visit class. He'll talk about just about anything - from his start in journalism to his stint covering the Sixers, from landing the sweet gig of opining about the day's sporting events to whether the Phillies should bring Jimmy Rollins back next year.

But since many of you are interested in becoming sports journalists, let's think proactively. What's the next step for sports journalists?

Well, some people say that game coverage is an unnecessary item in the daily newspaper since most people (who care) watched the game or checked online or on the evening news to get the scores. What do you think?

One of the big issues facing sports journalists today is the increased competition from journalists working within the professional sports leagues. Rather than using the traditional media outlets to reveal information, all of the major sports teams and leagues (MLB, NFL, etc) now have their own reporting staffs.

Mark Cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks recently wrote:

In the year 2011, I’m not sure I have a need for beat writers from ESPN.com, Yahoo, or any website for that matter to ever be in our locker room before or after a game. I think we have finally reached a point where not only can we communicate any and all factual information from our players and team directly to our fans and customers as effectively as any big sports website, but I think we have also reached a point where our interests are no longer aligned. I think those websites have become the equivalent of paparazzi rather than reporters.

(Read his whole post here ... it's a pretty fascinating perspective).

On top of all that, now we have athletes tweeting and facebooking everything directly to their fans.

What's the role of the sports journalist in this age of information overload? How should sportswriters make themselves stand out?

Does Good Video Make It Newsworthy?

2011-09-13T23:13:00.003-04:00

THERE WAS A dramatic rescue of a motorcyclist trapped under a car as his bike went up in flames.

A local television station has raw video of the rescue (see here). The video has since run on newscasts around the world.

Is it a big story? Or is it simply dramatic video?

What newsworthiness criteria qualify this story as an international phenomena?

The Journalists Messed Up Journalism?

2011-09-11T16:11:00.003-04:00

A WRITER AT the Daily Californian, the student paper at the University of California, Berkeley, says that the problems currently facing journalism are the responsibility of journalists.

"It’s our fault," he writes. "Our job was to report the news, and we did that. But we got complacent, and we stopped evolving, and soon the concept of a news article became far removed from what you, as a person, valued."

He argues that journalists have focused on drawing eyes to their outlets by running stories about puppies and celebrities, often at the cost of the "the important part of journalism."

He writes:

Journalism isn’t a business, and a news article isn’t a product. Sure, advertising is a business, and it has been so intertwined with newspapers over the last century that it’s hard to think of journalism without advertising. But journalism isn’t advertising.

Journalism also isn’t about putting out a newspaper every day or every week or every second, if that were possible. That’s just a means to an end.

What is that end? Transparency and accountability: the free-flow of information required to keep democracy alive. Journalism is about informing people so individuals can make active, smart decisions about the world they live in and improve society as a whole.

The commenters either cheer on the writer, or say that he is idealistic and naive.

What do you think?

Is it enough these days to go out there and do important, relevant journalism? Or do we need to be aware of what will attract an audience?

Should The Media Have Access to Police Scanners?

2011-09-07T22:06:00.004-04:00

Police in Jacksonville, Florida have removed police scanners from local newsrooms.

The police department previously rented the scanners to the news outlets (radio, TV and newspapers) but now the police are refusing access. The story above is from July, when the threat of losing the scanners became known.

News outlets have relied upon scanners for years as a why of monitoring breaking activity in their regions. Some news outlets believe the police are trying to control the information that news outlets can obtain. The police say that they are collecting the equipment because of budgetary reasons.

Many of the news outlets are asking their readers and viewers to inform them when news breaks.

Should the news outlets have access to police and fire radio signals and reports? Should that information be public?

The News Is a Two-Way Communication. We're All In This Together.

2011-09-05T23:36:00.003-04:00

This video has been running on 6ABC since shortly after Hurricane Irene came through town.

Thoughts?

A Story About Beyonce As a National Distraction From Recent Troubles?

2011-08-31T15:15:00.006-04:00

AFTER BEYONCE SHOWED off her belly at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday, letting people know she's pregnant, people tweeted at a rate of 8,868 tweets per second, a record for the social media service.

The story above says that people needed Beyonce and her news in the wake of recent national issues - bad economy, earthquake, hurricanes, etc.

Is that true? Or were the news folks just looking for an excuse to talk about Beyonce, and try to draw those viewers in?

Is her pregnancy news?

BE AFRAID! THERE'S A HURRICANE COMING!

2011-08-28T15:07:00.002-04:00

WAS THE HURRICANE coverage responsible?

Did your local newscasts in the Philadelphia region do a fine job of keeping people aware of the storm and potential dangers?

Or did they primarily build fear with their 36 hours of non-stop storm coverage (most of the local stations ran live, local news from early Saturday through Sunday afternoon).

And what about the video above? Is that news?

Should Journalists Bother With The Donald?

2011-05-02T09:25:00.002-04:00

APPARENTLY, DONALD TRUMP was upset after getting skewered by Seth Meyers (and President Obama) at the White House correspondents dinner over the weekend.

“Seth Meyers has no talent,” Trump said Sunday, according to the New York Times. “He fell totally flat. In fact, I thought Seth’s delivery was so bad that he hurt himself.”

During Meyers' nearly 20 minute presentation, he mocked Trump repeatedly.

"Donald Trump has said he's running for president as a Republican," he said, "which is surprising because I thought he was running as a joke."

The president also mocked the reality TV star, casino mogul and potential presidential candidate. Obama referred to Trump firing Gary Busey from his reality show, opting not to send home Meatloaf instead.

"These are the types of decisions that would keep me up at night," Obama said. "Well handled, sir."

Trump, of course, has been the public face of the "birther" controversy, with some people alleging that Barack Obama was not born in the United States America. Obama revealed his long-form birth certificate last week and Trump took credit for the president's actions.

And rumors of Trump running for president have been swirling for weeks. The Donald has not said whether he will run or not.

Are the media being Charlie Sheen-ed, conned into giving coverage to Trump? Are they only supporting his TV show by constantly talking about him?

Should the media cut back their coverage of Trump until he actually says that he is or is not running for president? Or is this just too easy to have fun with?

"Interviewing the Data," with Sabrina Rubin Erdely, Alfred Lubrano & Dylan Purcell.

2011-04-26T16:53:00.006-04:00

SOME JOURNALISTS ARE uncomfortable with numbers. Data and statistics can be difficult to comprehend, and they can be interpreted in many ways. But they can also be used as support for stories, making trends and observations credible in the eyes and ears of the audience.

"Numbers are authoritative," Inquirer staff writer Alfred Lubrano said yesterday in class during our discussion of Data & Journalism. "But you have to find a balance. People like to read about other people."

"What I don't want," said Dylan Purcell, the Inquirer's computer assisted reporter, "is a story that reads like the stocks pages."

Sabrina Rubin Erdely, a Rolling Stone contributing editor, added, "The goal is to put a human face on a phenomena, and to anchor the story in numbers."

Sometimes the numbers and the initial premise of stories do not line up. Sometimes, there is just not enough statistical evidence to support angles or ideas. And those stories usually wind up getting scrapped.

Rubin Erdely spoke of a story she recently considered - about crime decreasing in urban areas where murals were painted. While the idea sounded great, she could not find any reliable studies that proved the thesis.

Lubrano emphasized that he tries to verify all data that he finds, whether through other data or by speaking with the people who generated the numbers.

"At the root, we want solid statistical evidence," he said, "not journalistic hyperbole."

Purcell referred to it as "interviewing the data." The idea is to avoid "dirty data" that has been manipulated for a specific purpose, and to understand how the information was gathered. He referred to the Inquirer's recent package on school violence. The school district reported a 30 percent decrease in school violence over two years. But Purcell expanded the data over a five year period and found that the decrease was short term, and possibly exaggerated by the methods of reporting.

The Inquirer team, with Purcell pouring through the numbers, spent about one year gathering data, interviews and other information for the seven-part series that ran during a full week.

"I start out knowing nothing," Purcell said. "Then I have to become an expert and present that data to the world."

Prior to the panel discussion, some people were involved in a training seminar with the Metropolitan Philadelphia Indicators Project (below). MPIP is a gigantic database that allows you to set your own variables, build maps and study reports broken down by your own specific guidelines.What stood out to you during the discussion?

Using Data to Create Good Journalism.

2011-04-25T01:15:00.007-04:00

ON TUESDAY, WE'LL have a few guests in class talking about using data, statistics and research to strengthen their journalistic work.

Sabrina Rubin Erdely is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone and a writer-at-large for Philadelphia magazine. She has won numerous awards for her work, much of which is centered around investigative journalism. (Click on the links above to find some of her stories).

Alfred Lubrano is a Brooklyn native and Columbia University graduate who has been a staff writer at the Philadelphia Inquirer since 1995. Lubrano, who wrote a book about blue-collar folks with middle-class goals, frequently covers social justice issues in the region.

Dylan Purcell, a Temple University graduate, is a computer assisted reporter at the Inquirer. He deciphers the numbers, finds stories and develops creative ways to tell stories. Most recently, he collaborated on a seven-part series on school violence in Philadelphia.

The speaker's panel is actually the second half of a two-part event. Earlier in the morning, journalists will be meeting with the folks who run the Metropolitan Philadelphia Indicators Project (MPIP), here at Temple.

MPIP is an enormous database of information concerning the region. There is also a mapping system attached to the site that allows users to isolate geographic areas and find numbers based upon their specific criteria.

As always, come prepared with questions. There will be numerous professional journalists sitting amongst you, so be awake and polite, wear nice clothes, bring resumes and stick around after the discussion to say hello to these good folks.

The President vs. The Reporter?

2011-04-20T22:39:00.002-04:00

I DON'T WANT to lead you in either direction so I'll just ask the question: who is the jerk here?

Consumer Reporter Nydia Han: "If You Plan to go Into TV News, You're Going to Work Hard."

2011-04-20T00:24:00.010-04:00

NYDIA HAN WANTED to be a magazine writer. But after interning at a San Francisco television station while she was in college, she became hooked on TV news.

"I loved the immediacy of it," she said during her visit to class yesterday. "I really saw the power of TV news, and the ways it can contribute to the world."

Her path to becoming an anchor and consumer reporter for 6ABC's Action News, one of the most popular local newscasts in the country, was not easy. The southern California-native had/ has hints of the Valley girl accent of her youth. One potential employer told her that she had too many wrinkles on her face - when she was in her low 20s. One of her college journalism professors actually suggested she stick to print.

But she persisted. Despite the boatloads of rejection.

She landed a job in Pocatello, Idaho. She was a one-man band there - shooting her own video, performing interviews, editing the packages and doing live shots by herself. It was tough work but working at a smaller market station taught her numerous skills and career lessons.

"At a small market station, you can make mistakes and not get fired," Han said.

She moved on to Oklahoma City where she became a tornado-chasing news and crime reporter. She also started doing consumer affairs stories there, and that led to her next gig as a consumer reporter in Houston. She came to Philadelphia in 2002.

She finds consumer stories to be tremendously rewarding.

"You can genuinely help people," she said.

Here are a few other things she said that stood out to me:

• She said, "Don’t get into journalism if you’re just looking for a glamorous, high-paying job.”
• It can take a long time to get to the point as a journalist when you earn a high salary. At her first job, she earned $14,000 annually. She bought her clothes at Walmart.
• Crime is not her favorite thing to cover but some reporters love it. There is an adrenaline rush when covering breaking stories. And the viewers care, she said.
• In news, you might work a story all day and then right before the newscast, something else will break. You'll have to jump to the breaking story. The previous work may never be seen. It happens.
• "At the end of the day, TV news is a business, too," Han said. "We want to do good community journalism but we have to win our time slot."

• Every day, she makes phone calls to potential sources, she performs research, logs tapes, writes stories and sets up interviews. Plus, she acts as a weekend anchor and weekday fill-in anchor.
• She gets ideas for stories from emails, phone calls and on facebook.
• Her goal is to find stories that will have the greatest impact.
• Most of her stories run about 90 seconds. Some run for around 2:30. And she often begs to get an additional 10 or 20 seconds.

• She suggests you do multiple internships. And do one at a smaller market where you'll get to try numerous tasks and really be of use (you might even get on air).
• "Start looking for internships as soon as you can," Han said.
• During your internships, befriend a few reporters. Learn from them and after the internship, keep in touch with them.
• Take the initiative. Do stuff. Offer to help. Get involved!

• The future is online, she said.
• "If you plan to go into TV news, you're going to work hard," she said.

(by the way ... here is a link to her facebook page).

Move Closer to Your World, My Friend.

2011-04-18T11:47:00.004-04:00

ON TUESDAY, NYDIA HAN, a reporter and anchor at 6ABC, will visit the class.

Han has been at 6ABC (a.k.a. Action News) since 2002. She has covered a wide variety of stories in the region and around the country. She currently serves as a weekend anchor and consumer affairs/ investigative reporter. You can find some of her recent work here.

She is a Southern California native who speaks Korean fluently. She graduated from the prestigious Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

We'll open the floor for your questions, so think about what kind of information you can draw from her. Wonder what her daily life at work is like? What is it like being a female journalist, or an Asian-American journalist? How does she decide what subjects to cover in her consumer affairs segments? What are the secrets behind newscasts that the audience doesn't know?

FYI: Action News has been the most watched newscast in the Greater Philadelphia region for decades. And there are numerous Temple grads at the station, including several reporters (David Henry, Cathy Gandolfo, Jeff Skversky, etc), producers and the station president, Bernie Prazenica.

Why Journalists Must Remain Independent.

2011-04-16T18:24:00.005-04:00

A LA SALLE UNIVERSITY professor held a symposium that involved strippers.

The student newspaper found out about the stripper event (which involved students paying $150 for an ethics seminar). But the university told the student journalists that they could not publish any information until a full investigation was performed by the university.

Should the students have run the news story anyway? Can the university censor the newspaper?

The faculty advisor told the Inquirer, "This is a private university. La Salle publishes the paper and is responsible for its contents. There was never resistance to the idea of doing the story, only to publishing it prematurely."

Unlike the Temple News, the La Salle student newspaper is not an independent operation. It is an organization owned and operated by the university.

City Paper ran the story. Since the story was then public, the La Salle students wanted to run the story. University officials were still reluctant.

The university finally gave in but set up parameters: the story could not run above the fold, which would place the story in the windows of honor boxes, creating a perceived importance.

The La Salle students protested by leaving the top half of the newspaper blank and running the paper as in the image above.

What would you have done?

(the image above comes from the Inquirer)

Wake Me When the News Starts.

2011-04-13T22:16:00.004-04:00

DURING THE PRESIDENT'S speech today about the national debt, Vice President Joe Biden closed his eyes and seemed to nod off.

The so-called snoozing (no one confirmed if the VP was sleeping) has become big news.

Is this actually a story?

Should the Bloggers Get Some Cash?

2011-04-13T21:44:00.003-04:00

THROUGHOUT THE HISTORY of the Huffington Post, bloggers have worked for free.

In February, HuffPo was purchased by AOL for $315 million. The site's founder, Arianna Huffington (above), retains her position and she pockets the cash.

This week, a former blogger filed a class action lawsuit against the Huffington Post and AOL.

“In my view, the Huffington Post’s bloggers have essentially been turned into modern-day slaves on Arianna Huffington’s plantation,” said Jonathan Tasini, the former blogger. “She wants to pocket the tens of millions of dollars she reaped from the hard work of those bloggers."

The HuffPo lawyers said:

"Our bloggers use our platform — as well as other unpaid group blogs across the web — to connect and help their work be seen by as many people as possible. It’s the same reason people go on TV shows: to promote their views and ideas."

Should the bloggers be compensated?

Or did they accept the agreed upon payment - an audience?

University Newspapers Are Still Popular?

2011-04-11T09:51:00.003-04:00

DO YOU READ the school newspaper?

According to a Washington Post story, student newspapers are still popular - 85 percent of students surveyed read the print edition of their campus paper in the past month and 72 percent had read the paper online.

The reasons why they read the papers: they are free, they are portable and they speak to the very specific community.

Why do you read (or not read) the Temple News?

Who Wants To Be a News Anchor Anymore?

2011-04-10T21:48:00.003-04:00

OVER THE LAST few weeks, several notable network news anchors have announced that they will be stepping down in the near future. Among the big names: Katie Couric, Glenn Beck and Meredith Viera.

What's going on? The network anchor position used to be the ultimate destination for broadcast journalists. Is this a sign that network journalism is no longer relevant?

“The prestige has diminished, the money has diminished and the audience has diminished,” Mark Feldstein, a professor of broadcast journalism at George Washington University, told the online entertainment site The Wrap.

Feldstein says that the big name journalists can actually succeed without the network support - the journalists are their own brands now.

Do we need network journalism anymore?

Do you aspire to work at the network level? Why?

Gotcha Journalism?

2011-04-04T08:31:00.003-04:00

NBC NEWS WITH Brian Williams was nearly tricked by an Army press release stating that the new standard-issue headgear for soldiers would be a Stetson cowboy hat.

NBC ran a story despite it being an April Fool's joke.

Is it newsworthy?

Would You Put Tiger on the Cover?

2011-03-30T23:05:00.003-04:00

TIGER WOODS WAS featured on the April cover of Golf Digest. Is there anything wrong with that?

In 2009, Woods was found to have had affairs with around a dozen women while married to his wife. The father of two young children took five months away from golf to seek treatment for his sexual addictions. Many of Woods' sponsors pulled their endorsement deals with him because of what he seemed to represent.

Should magazines avoid him on the cover because of his adulterous past?

"Tiger Woods is an extraordinary golfer, and the mastery of golf is what our magazine is all about," the editor of Golf Digest wrote after receiving angry letters from subscribers. "He is finally a man who has confessed his mistakes--publicly--and vowed to turn things around--in particular to be a conscientious father."

Does Woods deserve a second chance?

Is the magazine pulling a PR stunt - putting a controversial figure on the cover in hopes of getting attention and selling more mags?

Principle of Journalism: Keep Mickey Mouse Happy?

2011-03-28T01:29:00.004-04:00

THERE'S A NEW SHOW launching on ABC this week and it sort of takes place in Philadelphia.

While Body of Proof is filmed in Rhode Island, it is a Philadelphia tale. They show Philly skyline shots and scene-setters but the location filming is actually done in Providence.

6ABC did a full news story on the new program, even sending a reporter to Providence to interview the show's stars.

Is it a news story that Philadelphia is sort of the setting for a new show? Or is this just promotion for their parent company, Disney?

The Royals: "The Longest Running Soap Opera in Britain."

2011-03-25T09:51:00.008-04:00

ROS COWARD BECAME fascinated with Princess Diana not just because Diana was royalty, but because of what she represented.

Diana Spencer married Prince Charles and entered the media spotlight during an era fueled by a new brand of celebrity-obsessed journalism encouraged by Rupert Murdoch's The Sun.

"Murdoch changed British journalism," said Coward, a journalist, educator and author. "He created a less deferential attitude."

The down-market rag had paparazzi tailing Diana (not so much Charles) everywhere and salacious stories about her life filled the newspapers.

"It was a time of a new journalism and she was a new woman - young, fashionable, sensational," Coward said.

The stories about Diana seemed to follow soap opera plot lines with themes of familial relations, sexual relations, body image comfort, women in the workplace, etc. She lived under constant press scrutiny as Diana coverage garnered higher circulation. She was dubbed "The Princess of Sales."

Coward said that many female journalists, including herself, sympathized with Diana, recognizing themselves in the young princess. When Diana died in a car crash in 1997, Coward cried as she wrote her column.

The press turned against the Royal family after Diana's death, Coward said. The Royals appeared cold in the face of death. At the same time, all coverage of the Royals was good for sales. So coverage continued.

With the upcoming nuptials between Prince William and Kate Middleton, the British media (and some American media) are going crazy again.

The British press tend to focus on feature stories, Coward said, so the Royals are more than simply tabloid fodder. Speculation about the family, the wedding, their children, etc are all common topics in even the most respectable of British newspapers.

She said that the BBC sets the standards for all journalists, especially broadcasters, but even the BBC is rather obsessed with the wedding.

What did you think of Ros Coward and her analysis of the British media's coverage of the Royal family?

Thursday: British Journalist and Educator Ros Coward.

2011-03-23T11:03:00.007-04:00

BRITISH JOURNALIST AND EDUCATOR Ros Coward will visit the class on Thursday and discuss media coverage of the British Royal Family, a very timely subject given the pending wedding of Kate Middleton to Prince William, the future king of England.

Coward has worked in television, reported for newspapers, written for magazines and she has authored several non-fiction books, including Diana, The Authorized Portrait.

Her specialties include coverage of the royals, confessional journalism, environmental issues and the state of modern feminism.

She documented her efforts caring for her mother, who suffered from dementia. She wrote an academic article about the rising popularity of autobiographical journalism. And she serves on the board of directors for Greenpeace UK.

She is a faculty member at Roehampton University but she is currently a visiting faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania this semester.

She'll lecture about coverage of the royals and then we'll open the floor for questions. Think about what information you can draw from her:

• How is the British media different from the American media?
• Are the royals newsworthy?
• Is the constant presence of the journalist in news stories good, or is it a distraction from the actual news?
• Can a journalist also be an activist?

Click on the links throughout this post. Learn about her. Come ready to ask questions.

Are the Royals Newsworthy?

2011-03-20T22:27:00.002-04:00

ARE YOU EXCITED for the royal wedding between the UK's Prince William and Kate Middleton?

BBC America is planning 184 hours of related programming prior to the actual wedding. TLC has 89 hours of content ready to air. All of the US network news operations are planning to send their crews to to London and run special programming, in addition to the non-stop, live coverage of the nuptials.

An estimated two billion people are expected to watch some or all of the actual wedding and reception (the rumor is that the reception will have disco and 80s music).

CNN will have 50 journalists and staff on scene for the wedding day on April 29. CNN currently has 50 people covering the tsunami/ earthquake/ nuclear meltdown in Japan.

Is the royal wedding that big of a story?

(FYI: On Thursday, Ros Coward, a British journalist and educator will speak to the class about coverage of the Royals in the British press).

Should Journalists Root for the Home Team? Part II: The Sports Edition.

2011-03-16T09:38:00.004-04:00

ESPN COLLEGE FOOTBALL analyst Kirk Herbstreit, a native Ohioan who was a star quarterback at Ohio State University, moved out of the state recently because he felt loads of negativity from fans.

Apparently, they chastised him whenever he said anything verging on critical of Ohio State University football.

"Nobody loves Ohio State more than me," Herbstreit told the Columbus Dispatch. "But I've got a job to do, and I'm going to continue to be fair and objective. To continue to have to defend myself and my family in regards to my love and devotion to Ohio State is unfair."

Is it wrong for fans to expect their hometown heroes to root for the hometown teams, even if they are journalists?

Should objectivity exist in sports? It's not like football is the war on terror or the state budget. Shouldn't sideline reporters just own up to their team preferences?

(related story: Should ESPN sideline reporter Erin Andrews have accepted a high-paying endorsement deal from Reebok, provider of equipment for many of the teams she covers?)

Should Journalists Root for the Home Team?

2011-03-14T10:03:00.005-04:00

A FEW WEEKS AGO, Inquirer editorial page editor (and TU adjunct) Paul Davies wrote a column about the opening of the massive expansion of the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

"Would you invest $786 million in a business that lost millions every year, charged more than most of its competitors, and left many customers angry and unwilling to return?" Davies asked. "Well, you just did."

He wrote that the center is full of cronyism, inside politics and union mismanagement and it is hurting the city and state (since the money to build and expand the place came from public funds).

Today, the chairman of the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau has a letter to the editor in the Inquirer:

"Unfortunately, as a result of that column, a major convention customer whose business is worth $54 million in spending for the city is now questioning our ability as a convention destination," Nick DeBenedictis wrote.

He argued that the negativism of the Inquirer and Davies will cost the center (and therefore city and state) millions of dollars.

He concluded by writing, "We should all be rooting for the home team, and encouraging customers to choose Philadelphia."

Was Davies wrong to be critical of the Convention Center expansion? Should he have championed the larger facility?

Can a journalist be a watchdog for the public and a civic booster at the same time?

(the image above is from the Flower Show at the Convention Center)

The Big Story: Students Are Lazy Whiners.

2011-02-26T08:47:00.007-05:00

A BUCKS COUNTY high school teacher was suspended for comments she made about students on her personal blog, during her personal time. Is this a punishable offense?

Philadelphia Magazine reports this:

Her post titled “If You Don’t Have Anything Nice To Say…” is long gone, but according to archived versions, Munroe described how, for some kids, her “scornful feelings reach such a fever pitch.” She also daydreamed about what she wished she could write on her students’ report cards, including such eloquent bon mots as “shy isn’t cute in 11th grade; it’s annoying,” “dresses like a streetwalker,” “sneaky, complaining, jerkoff,” “lazy asshole,” and my personal favorite from the honors English teacher, “rude, beligerent [sic], argumentative fuck.”

The article continues by arguing that this isn't a First Amendment, freedom of speech situation:

For anyone trying to spin this as an attack on free speech, don’t get it twisted. Just as you have the right to tell your boss he’s a soulless bastard, he has every right to fire you on the spot. Some professions are held up to higher standards—police, doctors, and right up there at the top, educators. They are caretakers, and there is a trust factor that comes with the gig. When Munroe used her blog to trash her students, she broke that trust.

What do you think? Should she be fired?

Is this even a news story? Or is it simply a controversial subject that gets attention? Is this a distraction from the real story - that, perhaps, there are situations that need to be addressed in the education system?

The Big Story: Kitty Burglar Gets Away Again!

2011-02-20T12:00:00.005-05:00

WHAT NEWSWORTHINESS CRITERIA would this story qualify for? Is it even news?

Bob Edwards: "I Like to Learn Things."

2011-02-17T22:46:00.006-05:00

BOB EDWARDS ATTENDED college during the tumultuous 1960s, the politically-charged era when young people took to the streets and called for change.

"I wanted to be a part of the events but not a participant," Edwards said in class yesterday.

So after serving in the military, he embarked on a radio career that landed him in the radio hall of fame. After 30 years at NPR, he now does his daily interview show on Sirius XM satellite radio, which reaches more than 20 million subscribers.

His passion for radio actually began when he was only 3, as a child in Kentucky listening to radio stations from far off places like Cincinnati.

As a young professional journalist, he mimicked his radio heroes like Edward R. Murrow.

"In my early days at NPR," Edwards said, "I sound like I'm sitting on an object."

A colleague told him to loosen up, to just be himself.

While he honed his presentation style, he continued to believe in Murrow's methods - investigate stories, understand them, reach conclusions and present that educated analysis to the audience with accuracy and fairness, but not necessarily with balance.

"Balance means that a liar gets the same amount of air time as a truth-sayer," Edwards said.

Here are a few other things that stood out to me from his visit:

• "The MOST IMPORTANT thing in any form of journalism is writing," he said.
• He prefers the Associated Press' style of detachment in journalism, rather than the opinionated information that is becoming popular today. "What do you learn by consistently going to someone with the same point of view as yours?" Edwards asked. "There are no surprises. I don't learn anything."
• Edwards does not have an angle. He says he would not be accepted by the liberals or conservatives.
• On his program, he can cover anything he wants (as opposed to his NPR days when he focused on topics in the news).

• He's a big fan of the Daily Show, Stephen Colbert and The Onion.
• He says it's important to recognize that they are not news. At the end of the day, those outlets are going for ratings. "They are doing it for laughs, not news," Edwards pointed out.
• He said the difference between reporters and bloggers is that reporters make phone calls (to verify information) whereas bloggers make conclusions (not necessarily based upon facts).

• Edwards chooses his story subjects based upon his interests. "I like to learn things," he said. "I don't have to do the news. I do what needs to be enlightened upon, what needs to be illuminated."
• He does massive amounts of preparation for every interview.

• There will always a future for radio, as radio keeps reinventing itself.
• He said that you should make contacts, do internships and hang out at outlets you aspire to work for. "There's no substitute for meeting people," he said.

What stood out for you?

(Big thanks to Windsor Johnston, news director at WRTI, for setting up the visit and leading the discussion.)

Bob Edwards: Journalists "Are Supposed To Be Surrogates For The Public."

2011-02-15T21:16:00.004-05:00

BOB EDWARDS HOSTED shows on National Public Radio for more than 24 years, garnering more than 13 million listeners per week by the end of his tenure there.

In 2004, he was demoted from host to correspondent, under controversial circumstances (one website believes that Edwards was punished for his criticism of the government, and more specifically, the FCC's deregulation of media ownership ... more on that below).

Listeners were really upset. Within two months after Edwards was taken off the anchor desk, NPR received more than 35,000 complaints via letters, emails and phone calls.

A few months later, Edwards took his talents to satellite radio.

On Sirius XM Radio's “The Bob Edwards Show," Edwards performs long-form, in-depth interviews with authors, politicians, journalists, celebrities and other people relevant to the news of the day.

Shortly after creating his new show, Edwards was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame.

In addition to being a radio host, Edwards has written two books - Fridays with Red, and Edward R. Murrow and the Birth of Broadcast Journalism.

Here are a few of the statements Edwards made in a commencement speech he gave at the University of Kentucky in 2003, when he made remarks this website alleges may have ended Edwards' time at the government subsidized NPR:

• "No one can be blamed these days for not knowing what passes for a news program or who might be a legitimate journalist. The old rules have been tossed out the window. The definitions have no meaning anymore. There used to be lines no serious journalist ever crossed. Those lines are pretty blurry these days. Television hires political operatives and makes them anchors. CNN got one of its anchors from the cast of "NYPD Blue."

• "The owners of today's media, who are business tycoons, not journalists, would like us (journalists) to be good representatives of the corporate brands. But that is not our job. We are supposed to be surrogates for the public -- the eyes and ears of citizens who don't have the access we have. We are to hold public officials to account, and if that makes them angry at us -- well, that just goes with our job, and we have to take it. If pointed questions make public officials squirm -- well, that just goes with their job, and they're supposed to take it. That's the price that comes with the privilege of serving the people."

• "Public officials are measured by how well they perform in times of crisis. If they can't take the heat, they should be in another line of work. It should be the same way with journalists."

(Photo via PBase)

Should Google Get the Photojournalism Prize?

2011-02-11T17:03:00.005-05:00

PHOTOGRAPHER MICHAEL WOLF recently received an honorable mention award from the World Press Photo competition. His winning entry was titled, "A series of unfortunate events."

Each of the 12 images in the collection (including the image above) are photographs that Wolf shot while aiming his camera at his computer screen while browsing Google Street View images.

Does Wolf deserve recognition for this work? Or should Google claim credit and the photojournalism prize?

Many people, by the way, are finding striking images created by the Google cameras roaming the streets. Does that make them artists?

Should Private Lives Be Public Fodder?

2011-02-08T10:27:00.006-05:00

FORMER PENNSYLVANIA GOVERNOR Ed Rendell and his wife, US Appellate court judge Midge Rendell, have separated.

Is that news? Front page news, above the fold?

For years, rumors of infidelity have swirled around the former governor, who served two terms as mayor of Philadelphia. Should those rumors be brought to light as word of the Rendell split spreads?

Should the media report the rumors?

Are the private lives of public officials (or former public officials) newsworthy?

Is this a distraction from news that impacts the citizens of Pennsylvania, like the pending budget cuts that are about to be announced (because of the budget cuts, your tuition may skyrocket)?

Or is this information that people need and want?

Is the Lack of Diversity Vanity Fair's Fault?

2011-02-06T20:57:00.003-05:00

IN 2010, VANITY Fair magazine's Hollywood issue featured a bevy of white actresses on the cover (see below). And the magazine took hell from pundits across the country who complained that the magazine ignored a wealth of minority talent.

This year, the magazine ran a cover image featuring two African American actors among the 15 stars. People are still complaining (They are asking: "Are there no Hispanic or Asian actors or actresses worth featuring?").

Does a nationally distributed magazine have a responsibility to be diverse? Or should they profile whomever they feel is among the best rising talents?

Is it the magazine's fault if Hollywood is not promoting African-American or other minority actors?

Forget the Revolution. Is Anderson Cooper OK?

2011-02-02T21:51:00.004-05:00

CNN REPORTER ANDERSON Cooper was roughed up while walking on the streets of Cairo as citizens protested.

Is that news?

NOTE: The video that was originally attached here was removed from YouTube. You can see Cooper getting pummeled here, and talking about it here.

Can Journalists Accept Endorsement Money?

2011-01-31T12:26:00.003-05:00

ESPN SIDELINE REPORTER Erin Andrews recently signed a deal to be a spokesperson for Reebok. Is there anything wrong with that?

"Journalists can review products," media ethicist Kelly McBride of the Poynter Institute told The Oregonian. "But they can't take money from a company to endorse them. That totally ruins their credibility."

ESPN responded by saying that if Andrews reports on sneakers, she'll reveal her connection to the brand.

Does disclosure and transparency resolve the credibility issue? Or is a sports journalist tainted by taking money from sports equipment makers?

Does the endorsement money change Andrews' role from being an objective journalist to being a sponsored celebrity?

LIVE TEAM COVERAGE: Snow!

2011-01-28T12:08:00.010-05:00

IT SNOWED - A LOT - but does that make it news?

Most of the local newscasts have lead their broadcasts with weather stories for the past few days. Is the snow the biggest story in the region?

Or, is weather the greatest common denominator and thus likely to draw in the largest audience?

Do you actually want weather information (beyond forecasts) or do newscasts provide that information because weather is an emotional subject?

Do TV Journalists Have to be Attractive?

2011-01-27T08:02:00.004-05:00

A MINNESOTA NEWS anchor received complaints about an outfit she wore while on air one evening.

Does it matter what the news people look like? Shouldn't viewers be focused on what the journalists say?

AOL reported on a new study that says "male viewers snap to attention at the sight of a female anchor they find attractive, but are distracted by her looks and therefore less likely to remember what she had to say."

Does being attractive help or hurt you as a broadcast journalist?

What Makes a Newspaper Good?

2011-01-24T07:52:00.004-05:00

THE NEW YORK TIMES today reports that the Los Angeles Times is dropping in circulation faster than any other big city daily paper. And this comes as the LA Times is a leading candidate for a Pulitzer Prize, the highest honor in print journalism.

The LA Times also maintains 13 international bureaus and regional offices across the United States. They devote large chunks of the paper to long-form journalism.

By journalistic standards, the paper is doing well. So why aren't people in Los Angeles reading it?

What makes a newspaper - or any journalistic outlet - qualify as a success? Is it enough to do good work? What do you want from your journalistic outlets? What would make you read, listen or watch?

Do We Need Magazines Anymore?

2011-01-19T20:29:00.005-05:00

DO MAGAZINES STILL have a place in the world?

The number of magazine retailers has decreased by more than 11 percent since 2007, according to Advertising Age.

They also reported: "Single-copy sales have been experiencing a long swoon, falling 5.6% in the first half of 2010 from the first half a year earlier, 9.1% in the second half of 2009, 12.4% in the previous six months and 11.1% and 6.3% in the halves before that, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations."

Does that mean that people don't read print magazines anymore? Do you?

Some of the problems can be attributed to the lackluster economy. Technology can be blamed for some of the declines. And greater diversity of information outlets is probably a huge culprit.

How about this: is there any need for an all-local Philly music mag? Would you read it? Would you pay for it?

How Should Journalists Handle Tragedies?

2011-01-17T11:37:00.003-05:00

AS NEWS OF the shooting in Tuscon unfolded last week, journalists scrambled to get information to the public.

Early reports said that newly-elected Congresswoman Gabby Giffords was killed in the attack in which six people were murdered. Giffords, who was shot at close-range in the head, survived and continues to recover.

Many pundits and news outlets latched onto the idea that the shooting was politically motivated, specifically citing the political action committee (PAC) connected to Sarah Palin. The PAC's website showed targeted congressional districts and marked them with rifle crosshairs.

At this point, no one knows exactly why the shooter took such actions. The public, however, wants answers.

What should journalists do at this point? Should they try to piece together information and present what they have, even if it involves conjecture?

Or should the media stay quiet until there are facts to report? Is that even possible?

Can the iPad Save Journalism?

2011-01-17T11:24:00.005-05:00

COMING SOON TO an iPad near you: The Daily, a new journalism outlet designed for use only on iPads.

Will it work? Do people want to read news on mobile devices like this?

Do people care enough about news to actually pay for it?

Should Food Critics Remain Anonymous?

2011-01-02T23:58:00.005-05:00

A LOS ANGELES TIMES food critic walked into a new LA restaurant and was recognized by the restaurant's staff.

Then, the owner of the eatery snapped a photo of the critic (at right), kicked her out the restaurant and then posted her picture on the Internet for all to see.

"Our purpose for posting this is so that all restaurants can have a picture of her and make a decision as to whether or not they would like to serve her," the owner posted with the photo. "We find that some her reviews can be unnecessarily cruel and irrational, and that they have caused hard-working people in this industry to lose their jobs -- we don't feel that they should be blind-sided by someone with no understanding of what it takes to run or work in a restaurant."

Traditionally, critics have remained anonymous so that they are not provided special treatment at the restaurant. Is the anonymous critic the only way to get a fair look at the restaurant in question?

Or, is anonymity outdated in the age of the Internet, where anyone can post their own criticisms to places like Yelp or facebook?

Do You Show The Shootout on TV?

2010-12-15T16:44:00.005-05:00

A FLORIDA MAN entered a school board meeting, complained about taxes and then began shooting. Police shot the man before he could seriously harm anyone. As he lay on the ground, the shooter took his own life.

The whole episode was captured on video.

Should the video be shown? Is it newsworthy? Is it too graphic? Does it only traumatize the audience?

How Did the Photojournalist Get the Image?

2010-12-15T12:28:00.006-05:00

WHEN THE BRITISH government decided to triple the cost of college tuition, students in London went on the rampage. They burnt cars, smashed windows and then kicked Prince Charles limousine (and allegedly shot it with paintballs).

There was not a plan for the protests - they began in front of Parliament and then roamed throughout the city.

The photojournalist who created the above image, which ran on the covers of newspapers around the world, was fairly lucky. You can read about his adventure here. It details his good instincts and technical smarts in creating an image of the royals in their car, panicking while surrounded by screaming youths.

Annoying? Yes. Newsworthy? Not Sure.

2010-12-14T10:49:00.002-05:00

WARNING: WHAT YOU will see in the above video is shocking (if you are a 13-year old girl from Nebraska) and unbelievably annoying.

But the clip has been run on major news programs across the country and, sadly, around the world.

The video shows teen idol Miley Cyrus taking a hit of salvia from a bong. Salvia is not considered a drug in California, where this video was shot, but salvia is controversial - it is said to cause hallucinations. Some people have called for it to be considered a drug and banned.

Is this video newsworthy?

Do People Have the Right to See Government Documents? Or is Wikileaks Really High-Tech Terrorism?

2010-12-13T08:22:00.005-05:00

THE MAN BEHIND Wikileaks, a website that reveals previously undisclosed information, has been labeled as a whistleblower, high tech terrorist and a hero of information.

Wikileaks is slowly been releasing a 15-year cache of cables from US embassies around the world.

In response, the White House released this statement: “We condemn in the strongest terms the unauthorized disclosure of classified documents and sensitive national security information."

There are more than 250,000 emails and other correspondence, mostly with US officials complaining about dignitaries from other countries. Much of the released information is fairly tame, though feelings could be hurt. For instance, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is described in the cables as an "alpha-dog." Afghan President Hamid Karzai is reported to be "driven by paranoia." And German Chancellor Angela Merkel allegedly "avoids risk and is rarely creative."

Does the public have the right to see these documents?

Should Wikileaks founder Julian Assange (pictured above on the cover of Time magazine) be arrested for espionage (rather than the unrelated sexual assault charges he is currently being held on in London)?

Is Assange a hero or a terrorist?

Is Wikileaks journalism?

Can "Hyperlocal" Revive Interest in Journalism?

2010-12-05T16:07:00.002-05:00

THE JOURNAL REGISTER Company is set to launch a hyperlocal news portal for the greater Philadelphia region.

“This site will be powered by the audience and will benefit – through traffic and revenue – those who publish their content here,” said JRC VP for content, Jonathan Cooper, who will speak at a PhIJI event on Tuesday (12/7) at 6:30 in Tuttleman 303AB. “We realize the benefit of plural voices in the community. There are hundreds of sources for news about Philadelphia and we will link to those who do it the best.”

Last month, local PBS affiliate WHYY launched their own hyperlocal/ public affairs journalism site. And Patch has been building sites in the surrounding suburbs. A few other hyperlocal efforts have started within city limits.

All of these places think that readers want information about their own backyard - news and information that is personalized to their neighborhoods and communities.

Do you think hyperlocal will save journalism?

MacMillan: "We Can't Seem to Agree if We Need More War Coverage or Less."

2010-12-01T13:35:00.008-05:00

JIM MACMILLAN WENT to Iraq because he wanted to be a part of that story, to show the world what was happening there. He was influenced by the Vietnam-era images that changed the tide of public sentiment and he wanted to do something similar in Iraq.

He had spent two decades honing his craft as a photojournalist prior to going to the Middle East. He attended hostile environment training in preparation, learning about weapons and crisis situations.

"I thought I was ready," he said yesterday in class. "I had no idea what I was in for."

During his year covering the war as a photojournalist with the Associated Press, Jim survived three roadside attacks, two car bomb explosions, a kidnapping attempt and a bullet that struck his helmet. Plus he slept on cardboard (when he was lucky), spent days on end in a cramped Bradley Fighting Vehicle, he lost 40 pounds because of the intense heat and unusual food, and he became friendly with numerous members of the military who were killed in action.

"The cost of war is incalculable," he said.

What he witnessed has had a psychological impact on him, and he studies the impact of war journalism on the public. Everyone is impacted differently - for some, seeing violent images desensitizes them to such atrocities. For others, it pushes them to take action. And there are countless reactions in between.

"We can't seem to agree if we need more war coverage or less," he said.

Here are a few other things he said that stood out to me:

• Being embedded with the troops was "like seeing life through a straw, incomplete."
• But by the time he arrived in Iraq, it wasn't safe to travel alone as a Western journalist.
• He rode on 225 combat missions, ranging from 5 minutes to two weeks, though most lasted around 2 hours.
• There was constant stress - sniper fire and attacks while with troops, and from his apartment, he could hear shelling.
• Because he was with troops so often, he formed friendships with many soldiers. But he was still able to craft images that were objective, he said.
• When he became too comfortable with a unit, he traveled with a different unit.
• Other Associated Press photographers documented the insurgents.
• Jim and a team of AP photographers were awarded the Pulitzer Prize, the most prestigious award in print journalism, for their coverage. "You can't celebrate the award," he said. "I feel relieved but it doesn't get you anywhere."

• He started as an art school student. Then he got a police scanner and started freelancing spot news to newspapers in Boston.
• In recent years, he has developed video skills.
• He's also very engaged in social networking.

What stood out for you?

Should Journalists Pay for Information?

2010-11-22T07:26:00.004-05:00

BRETT FAVRE ALLEGEDLY used his cell phone to send images of his man parts to a former New York Jets sideline reporter. The website Deadspin paid $12,000 for the images and voicemails that Favre allegedly left the reporter.

Is there anything wrong with journalists paying for information?

"When you pay for a story, you're making a contract with the person who supplies it and that means you're no longer acting independently," Hagit Limor, the president of the Society of Professional Journalists, told the Washington Post. "People will say anything in pursuit of money. The public should assume you're reporting something because it's true, not because someone received money to say it."

Still, many news outlets find ways of compensating subjects of their stories, even if the compensation doesn't take the form of a direct payment.

If it is common practice, is it still wrong?

(Image via the New York Sun)

Can Animation Be Journalism?

2010-11-17T15:17:00.003-05:00

AN AIRLINE PASSENGER recently opted not to go through the full-body scanner at San Diego International Airport. Instead, he requested the full-body pat-down. But when the security officer explained what would happen, the passenger said, “If you touch my junk I will have you arrested.”

The passenger captured the entire event on his cell phone video camera, and the raw video has gone viral.

A Hong Kong-based news operation creates animated videos of news stories, like the airport incident. Watch the video above.

Is the animation an appropriate way to handle a news story? Could this be the future of journalism?

Should Journos Give People What They Want?

2010-11-15T22:43:00.007-05:00

IT WAS REVEALED that USA Today has 27 reporters covering the entertainment industry.

They only have five covering Congress.

Is there anything wrong with that? Are they simply recognizing the fact that people want entertainment information? Or should they be devoting more staff to "serious" news?

By the way, does Bristol Palin count as a celebrity?

Can Coaches Ban Social Networking?

2010-11-11T21:42:00.003-05:00

SEVERAL MEMBERS OF the Temple University basketball team, apparently, are on Twitter.

At Villanova University, however, the players are banned from Twitter and facebook during the season. Villanova coach Jay Wright says that bloggers read the tweets and build unwanted and distracting controversy.

Can college athletes be banned from using social media?

Jesse Pearson: "We Strive to be as Inclusive as Possible."

2010-11-10T01:11:00.007-05:00

A GOOD MAGAZINE represents the editor, Vice magazine editor Jesse Pearson said in class yesterday.

"The mag needs to be about my curiosity," said the Levittown native who has lead the magazine since 2003.

This year, Vice did a photo spread involving bears (burly gay dudes) dressed as vikings. Pearson assigned a gay pornographer to do a Q&A with Karl Lagerfeld. That same issue features a fashion spread with models in caskets, looking like they're dead.

"It's just something I always wanted to do," Pearson said. "Models lead these really unhealthy lifestyles."

Actually, he said he always wanted to dress up actual dead people and photograph them. He probably could have done that. He has no editorial oversight whatsoever, he said.

Here are a few other things he said that stood out for me:

• The monthly magazine is free, so it is advertiser funded. But the advertisers have no influence on the content of the mag (Dickies did pull their ads after a male unit was displayed in all it's glory in the mag).

• A revealed testicle in a photo in the bear shoot had to be discussed with the publisher. It ran in the mag.
• There is occasional "branded content" but that is not usually handled by the small editorial team. "It makes me uncomfortable," Pearson said.
• He doesn't consider other mags to be competition because Vice is free.
• Since the mag is distributed for free, he really doesn't know who is the audience. "Doing this mag is like shooting into a vacuum," he said.
• His 88-year old grandmother reads Vice on her iPad.

• Every issue of the magazine has a theme, like catastrophe, Iraq, fashion, Appalachia, sellouts, etc.
• There are only four staffers on the US edition. But they have loads of freelance contributors, and there are more than 25 offices/ editions (each with their own staff) around the world.
• The contributors tend to have a connection to Pearson, and most have a similar ideology.
• He respects Jackass. "I think it's brilliant, like Vaudeville," he said.
• If Vice was a television talk show, it would be like Dick Cavett.
• He has no sell lines on the cover of the mag because he doesn't have to worry about newsstand sales. "I don't know who would do sell lines if they didn't have to," he said.

• Vice is not a hipster mag, nor do they claim set the standards for what is deemed "cool." Pearson said, "We strive to be as inclusive as possible."
• He is planning to step down from Vice after the next issue. He wants to work on projects beyond the one-month-at-a-time pace, maybe books and freelance stuff.
• "I love this city more than New York," he said of Philadelphia.

What stood out for you?

Vice Magazine: More Than a Hipster Bible?

2010-11-07T20:11:00.007-05:00

ON TUESDAY, VICE magazine editor Jesse Pearson will visit class.

Vice magazine started in Montreal in 1994 as a government-funded project. It's now a for-profit, advertising-driven magazine circulated to more than one million people around the world and they have offices in 30 different countries.

The mag has stories from around the globe, about random subjects like fashion, immigration, music, skateboarding, hatred, Iraq and just about anything else. They publish an annual photography issue, and the work of world class photographers like Terry Richardson and Ryan McGinley are in nearly every issue.

Vice is very comfortable with male and female nudity, curse words, sexuality and stuff that isn't politically correct.

"Lenny Kravitz is the biggest fucking twat I've ever met in my life," Pearson said in 2003. "He is arrogant and dumb and boring. He even had a guy carrying the back of his extra-long cardigan like he was a fucking bridesmaid. Joe Strummer was surprisingly cool. Really personable and funny and didn't want anyone to leave. He had time for anybody that wanted to talk to him. He even wrote our DOs and DON'Ts one month."

The New York Times accused Vice of creating "a trailer-park sensibility, embraced with and without irony, that has taken hold among postcollegiate society."

In that same article, Robert Lanham, author of The Hipster Handbook, said, "Of all the magazines that are out there, I think that's the one that nails hipster culture on the head."

What an awful thing to say!

The editor of the UK edition says that Vice isn't just a hipster mag where young people can learn where to find the latest jeans. They are taking a different approach in appealing to the younger audience by doing "serious" work, like documenting drug abuse, prostitution and wars in the Middle East and Africa, among other subjects.

"There are people out there who want to learn," said Andy Capper, Vice's UK editor, "and who don't want to be talked down to."

Vice now has retail stores, an online broadcast outlet, a music label, a pub/ music venue in London and an ad agency attached to the global brand.

Check out Vice's website. What do you think?

Making Friends, With Marc Zumoff.

2010-11-04T17:16:00.009-04:00

EVERY DAY MARC ZUMOFF wakes up, the sun is shining and life is good.

"I'm happy to be me," he said in class today, despite the dreary rain outside.

Zumoff, a Temple grad, is the voice if the Sixers. He's one of only 30 pro basketball play-by-play announcers in the country. He flies in chartered planes, stays in fancy hotels, eats quality meals and then gets to watch some of the world's top athletes from the front row at mid-court. That's his job. He gets paid to talk about basketball.

It wasn't always this grand. When he was in college, he received so many rejection letters from potential employers that his parents suggested he become a pharmacist rather than a broadcaster. He started at a small radio station in Trenton, earning peanuts for wages. He slowly worked his way up the broadcast ladder, ultimately joining the Sixers in 1994.

He offered a few steps for reaching your dreams.

- Reach out to anyone you know who might serve as a connection to a person in charge. Make friends. You need those connections so that you stand out in comparison to all the other applicants for jobs and internships.
- When you write to the person in charge (in email or snail mail), Zumoff said to write three things:
1. Make the personal connection.
2. Ask to meet face-to-face.
3. Mention that you will follow up.

- When you sit down and meet with them, Zumoff said, don't bore them with your life history. Listen to them. Subtly remind them of your personal connections.
- Dress appropriately, as though you are interviewing for your dream job.
- In advance of the meeting, do research and arrive prepared with questions.
- Ask them for other people you should speak with (because this person is now a connection to other people for you).
- Slide them your resume, clips or demo reel before leaving.
- Stay in touch with everyone. Send thank you notes.

- When you get the internship, come early, stay late and do even the stupid stuff with a smile. Your bosses are watching you.
- In the end, it will take more than just connections to land the dream job. You need to work hard. Real hard. "No one hands you anything," he said. "You have to earn it. Pay your dues."
- Never burn bridges. It's a small, small world.
- Believe in yourself and your abilities.
- Surround yourself with positive people.

"Do whatever you have to do to get in the door," Zumoff said. "Get in the door and then move on toward that dream job."

What stood out for you?

Do You Want News With an Attitude?

2010-11-03T22:23:00.006-04:00

DURING TUESDAY'S ELECTION, Fox News drew larger audiences than any other cable news operation.

Fox News averaged 6.96 million viewers in prime time on Tuesday, according to ratings results from the Nielsen Company, the New York Times reported. CNN averaged 2.42 million viewers. MSNBC averaged 1.94 million viewers.

Does that mean that people with conservative leanings were more engaged in this election? Or is this a sign that viewers want information with a particular slant?

If news with an agenda is gaining larger audiences, should other networks and news programs try presenting the news with more analysis and maybe some opinion?

Should journalists abandon the idea of objectivity?

Is The Alleged One-Night Stand a Story?

2010-10-31T19:44:00.007-04:00

LAST WEEK, GAWKER.com ran an anonymous, first-person story from a Philadelphia man who had a one-night stand with Christine O'Donnell, the Republican candidate for Senate in Delaware.

"We'd probably knocked back five Heinekens when Christine leaned over and whispered in my ear that she wanted to go back to my place," the author writes.

There are lurid details in the story. They, for the record, did not have sex, according to the story.

The O'Donnell team responded by saying that "such attacks are truly shameful." Her opponent's team responded by saying, “It’s cowardly and despicable that they would publish this garbage.”

Is this newsworthy?

(the image is via Gawker.com)

Can Journalists Attend Political Rallies?

2010-10-27T12:27:00.003-04:00

SEVERAL NEWS ORGANIZATIONS have banned their journalists from "participating" in political events, including the upcoming event in Washington DC with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.

"NPR journalists may not participate in marches and rallies involving causes or issues that NPR covers," reads a memo sent to NPR staffers. "This restriction applies to the upcoming Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert rallies."

The news organizations argue that journalists could lose credibility if seen at those events.

Should journalists be able to attend political rallies? Are they allowed to have their own political opinions?

Should they be registered to vote within a specific party? Or should they remain undecided or independent?

Do You Fire the Analyst For Speaking His Mind?

2010-10-24T21:02:00.003-04:00

NPR NEWS ANALYST Juan Williams was fired last week after making an appearance on the O'Reilly Factor and saying, "When I get on a plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they're identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous."

Is that cause for termination? Wasn't he hired as an analyst, a person who is paid to offer his opinions?

Or, was his termination justified as it revealed him to be something of a bigot?

NPR released a statement that included this justification: "His remarks on The O'Reilly Factor this past Monday were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR."

Many conservatives are saying that NPR caved in to the far left. Many liberals have called Williams a bigot.

How would you have handled this situation?

Don't Agree With Your Guest? Can You Leave?

2010-10-19T21:53:00.004-04:00

FOX NEWS HOST Bill O'Reilly appeared on the morning talk show The View last week and a shouting match ensued.

O'Reilly said that 70 percent of Americans don't want a mosque near Ground Zero because Muslims attacked America on 9/11. Joy Behar, one of show's hosts, walked off the set, followed by co-host Whoopi Goldberg.

"That is such bullshit!" Goldberg said. "Extremists did that!"

After the two walked off, Barbara Walters, another co-host, said, "You have just seen what should not happen. We should be able to have discussions without washing our hands, and screaming, and walking offstage."

Was it wrong for the two hosts to walk off the set? Were they obligated to listen to the views of an invited guest? Or are they allowed to follow their convictions and leave when they feel offended?

What would you have done?

What's Love Got to Do With it?

2010-10-18T13:56:00.003-04:00

A CHICAGO BROADCAST sports reporter was recently fired and the reasons remain something of a mystery.

However, there were recent published reports saying that the reporter was dating Nick Boynton, a defenseman for the Chicago Blackhawks.

Is a romantic relationship grounds for dismissal? Is it wrong for reporters to date/ marry people they may have to cover professionally?

(Photo via Bleacher Report)

Are Free Newspapers Devaluing News?

2010-10-18T11:51:00.005-04:00

NOW THAT WE are all used to free information readily available online, there is a great debate happening about establishing paywalls on news websites. The rational is that news is expensive to produce and the audience should pay for the information.

The problem that began online is also seen in print, where free newspapers have become popular around the world. The Metro, which has a Philadelphia edition, boasts the 5th largest newspaper circulation and is the most read free daily newspaper in the country.

“Free newspapers are, in many cases, devaluing the currency," Phillip Crawley, publisher and CEO of Toronto's Globe and Mail, said last week. "It’s the equivalent of elevator music.”

The criticism of free newspapers is that they generally lack depth in their stories, they rely upon salacious content and they are too broad in their coverage (so as to appeal to the largest common denominator). Oh, and they're stealing readers from newspapers that still charge for print editions.

Are free newspapers the ultimate form of democracy or the murderers of serious journalism?

Annette John-Hall: "This is Just My Truth. I Welcome Conversation About it."

2010-10-12T22:55:00.008-04:00

JOURNALISM IS ON the job training, Inquirer metro columnist Annette John-Hall said in class today.

While on the job, Annette was verbally assaulted by a baseball player and hit on by a basketball player. She sampled a marijuana brownie. She's received thousands of emails and comments on her stories, not all of which have been pleasant. She's met celebrities (Denzel!) and befriended famous athletes. And she's traveled the world reporting and telling stories.

Here are a few things that stood out to me:

- She started covering sports while attending San Francisco State University.
- She then went to work for the Oakland Tribune, followed by the Rocky Mountain News and the San Jose Mercury News.
- She was one of the first black women reporters covering the NBA.
- As a sports reporter and columnist, she worked with athletes to make the locker room environment more friendly to women.
- "As a woman, the job is so much more difficult," she said, referring to being a sports journalist. "I had to be beyond reproach. It's a very fine line between being friendly enough to get info but not too friendly."
- In reference to the Mexican TV reporter Ines Sainz, Annette said, "When you go into a locker room, cover yourself up."
- Half of the athletes don't read the newspapers and those who do don't look at the bylines, she said.

- She left the sports department because she was tired of working nights and weekends (and holidays). She wanted more regular time with her family.
- Sports reporters are expected to be critical, whereas news reporters are supposed to be objective.
- As a metro columnist, her job is to reveal her point of view. "This is just my truth," she said. "I welcome conversation about it."
- Even though she lives in New Jersey, she tries to give voice to the thousands of people who get ignored everyday.
- She does not just sit at a desk and rant. She is a columnist, not a pundit.
- She is confident and argumentative and she goes into stories with an idea of what she will find. But if the story turns out to be different, she'll report what she learns.

- She suggests you learn multimedia skills. "The more moves you have," she said, "the more in demand you'll be."
- She said that a lot of your success will come from who you know. But it is really about what you're willing to do (i.e. go the extra mile).

What stood out for you?

Thinking of Studying in London? Do It.

2010-10-10T10:51:00.005-04:00

JOURNALISM IS AN excuse to do some really cool stuff. Sure, the industry is changing and some people are super negative about the future of the industry.

But if you have to work for a living, journalism is about as rewarding and as fun a career as you will find. For real.

The Temple London students this past summer spent six weeks documenting the music scene. We hung out with musicians, producers, magazine publishers, broadcast producers, venue operators and lots of other cool folks. Then we made the magazine above.

If you are considering journalism or studying abroad, do it (both of them).

Dude, Where's my Column? Or, Should the Journalist Sample the Chronic?

2010-10-08T13:15:00.004-04:00

PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER METRO columnist Annette John-Hall, who will visit J1111 on Tuesday, wrote an article today about the legalization of marijuana.

While visiting her native California recently, she witnessed the debate about proposition 19 (the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010) which is on the ballot for November. It would essentially regulate the use of recreational marijuana.

John-Hall attended the International Cannabis and Hemp Expo in San Francisco and she visited the a vendor who offered marijuana samples. Here is some of her story:

"More than a few vendors offered some of their choice herbs for me to try. I just said no. After all, I was working.

But then I happened upon the Edibles section, a tantalizing array of brownies, cookies, parfaits, and caramels. I'm a sucker for sweets. What the heck. I popped a piece of a brownie, as tiny as a gum drop, into my mouth.

I was suckered all right. It didn't take long before I realized that, wow, this isn't your mama's pot. It's much more potent."

Was it wrong for her to sample the goods? Or, is it fine to experiment with illegal substances in the name of journalism?

(the photo comes from John-Hall's facebook page).

Do You Show the Alleged Bad Guy Just Because Police Think He/ She is a Criminal?

2010-10-02T13:07:00.005-04:00

A VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY student was killed on Wednesday when his car was struck by a stolen vehicle doing more than 100 mph. The stolen vehicle fled the scene but was later found by police.

On Thursday, police arrested a 21-year old West Philadelphia man whose fingerprint was found on the stolen vehicle. Police paraded the handcuffed man in front of the media, and the alleged perpetrator's image was run all over television, online and in newspapers.

"He entered the courtroom as wide-eyed as a preschooler and dressed like one, in a blue Cookie Monster hoodie," read the lead of the Daily News' story on Friday morning. "But Kenneth Woods is more monstrous than any Muppet, Delaware County authorities said yesterday."

But by Friday afternoon, police had another suspect in custody and they revealed that their original suspect was innocent. That left the media scrambling to clear Kenneth Woods' name. Both the Inquirer and Daily News put the corrective story on their front pages on Saturday.

And that raises the question: should the media should images and reveal the names of people SUSPECTED to be guilty of committing crimes? Or should the media wait until there is a conviction before they publish information?

Perp walks have been in existence for a long time but in the age of the Internet and 24/7 news, are the media rushing to publish and/ or air the story before all the facts are known?

Or should the media continue this practice? After all, they didn't claim the guy was guilty. The police are the ones who made the mistake.

Thoughts?

Would You Turn the Potential Advertisers Away?

2010-09-30T16:38:00.005-04:00

THE WASHINGTON POST will no longer accept advertisements from massage parlors, arguing that many of the parlors are actually thinly-veiled houses of prostitution.

Many newspapers and magazines continue to run such advertising, arguing that the massage parlors have valid business licenses and are therefore, legitimate businesses in the eyes of the law.

Craigslist recently shuttered its "adult services" section, and many other newspapers - The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Boston Globe and the Los Angeles Times, among others - quit accepting massage parlor ads several years ago.

Should journalistic outlets reject advertising dollars from businesses they suspect to be illegal?

Should the Anchor Have Revealed That He was Also a Victim of a Pedophile?

2010-09-27T22:30:00.003-04:00

OVER THE WEEKEND, while performing an interview on live television, a CNN anchor announced that he had been the victim of a pedophile (it's in the above video around the 5:25 mark).

The anchor was discussing the case of an Atlanta bishop who allegedly sexually abused boys at his church.

After listening to a sound bite and then talking to supporters of the Bishop, the anchor said, "I have never admitted this on television. I am a victim of a pedophile when I was a kid. Someone who was much older than me."

The anchor didn't go into detail about his own experiences. But he later added, "Those are the things that they do. The language, 'This doesn't make you gay, if you do this.'"

Was it wrong for the anchor to interject his own experiences into a story? Does his admission make him biased? Can he be an objective journalist if he's an alleged victim himself?

Should the Media Set Standards for the Public?

2010-09-25T11:30:00.003-04:00

PBS PULLED THIS skit with Katy Perry and Elmo from Sesame Street after a viewers complained about Perry's attire and the lyrics to her other songs.

The video was posted online as a teaser to the start of the 41st season of the famed show. Some viewers complained, like this person:

"Good gracious, I've never been so outraged!! Sesame Street and Elmo meet Katy Perry?! Have you seen what this woman promotes in her music and videos? I am appalled that you would let her anywhere near beloved Elmo, especially dressed like that!"

Should PBS have pulled the skit from the show? Are they giving in to a conservative minority or are they being responsible to the children? Both?

Is it the role of media to establish public standards for speech, dress and behavior?

Do You Make the Jackass Famous? Part II.

2010-09-21T12:09:00.005-04:00

WHEN JACKASSES RUN onto the field at Phillies games, the Phillies broadcasters refuse to show the ensuing drama as it might glorify the actions of the idiot. And running onto the field is illegal (and stupid ... we're in a playoff run, jackass).

Apparently, the Atlanta station has no issues showing the interloper. That's their video above. That means the footage exists and media outlets, including Philadelphia broadcast news shows, can access the footage. Should they run it?

Should newspapers run images and/ or the name of the running fool? Is this actually a story? Or is the media just encouraging future dumbasses to go for it?

Do College Students Prefer Print?

2010-09-20T15:03:00.004-04:00

THE POYNTER INSTITUTE reports that students actually prefer the print edition of their school newspaper over the online version.

They cite a spring 2010 study by Student Monitor that found that 56 percent of students "don't even know if their campus newspaper is available online." Around 63 percent of students classify themselves as "frequent or light readers of the print edition of the campus newspaper."

One advisor says that their college newspaper remains popular because it is free, convenient and relevant to students' lives.

Do you read the Temple News in print? Online? Why (or why not)?

What's a Female Sports Journalist To Do?

2010-09-14T23:44:00.003-04:00

WHEN INES SAINZ, a reporter from Mexico's TV Azteca, walked into the Jets locker room on Sunday, she was greeted with catcalls and hoots from the players.

Locker rooms are awkward places for interviews in general - journalists need information as quickly as possible after games and practices, so the athletes often have cameras thrust in their faces immediately after they get out of the shower. Sometimes, the players are draped in towels. Sometimes they are buck naked.

On top of that, there is often a high-testosterone, macho mentality among world-class athletes who are celebrated multi-millionaires. And the locker room is their territory.

It can be an especially difficult environment for female sports reporters. If that female sports reporter is attractive, it can be worse - as was the case with Sainz, a former Miss Spain.

FYI: Women were actually banned from most men's professional locker rooms until 1977. Some bans remained in place until 1985. Male reporters are not banned from WNBA locker rooms (and never have been - the league was created after the gender issue in sports was a major problem).

The incident with Sainz has generated fierce reactions - from people saying that the high-testosterone behavior is the norm in a locker room and that Sainz brought on the issue herself, to people saying that her gender should not be an issue, ever.

What should we learn from this incident? What is the lesson for female sports reporters (or aspiring female sports reporters)?