Posts Tagged ‘journalism’
By the way, it’s ‘Barack’
Many academic journalism observers argue that the “objectivity” model of U.S. journalism is outdated or, worse, destructive. Disclose your point of view, they argue, so the reader or the viewer can assess whether you’re being fair. They’ve managed to persuade some actual journalists.
One of them, apparently, is Neal Barton of KETK-TV of Tyler, Texas. KETK is one of the few remaining broadcast stations that observe the tradition of delivering an on-air editorial.
Usually, such editorials are delivered by the station manager or the community director. Neal Barton is the news director at KETK — by title, at least, the head of all news gathering.
That is, the journalism side.
Reporting: Murdoch’s ‘foggy’ performance may have served him well (updated)
(Cross-posted from msnbc.com, where it originally appeared. To read it in context, with all information boxes and art, click here. This is a complete writethrough that significantly updates an earlier version and corrects the spelling of Milly Dowler’s first name.)
Rupert Murdoch, for decades one of the most powerful and feared media figures in the English-speaking world, appeared to many who watched his grilling Tuesday to be a confused old man. And from his standpoint, that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, professional crisis managers said.
During 40 years running News Corp., the dominant media company in Great Britain and owner of some of the most prominent media properties in the United States, the 80-year-old Murdoch has built a legend as a man able to decide elections, change the political agenda and severely punish anyone who gets in his way.
But appearing before a committee of the British Parliament on Tuesday, Murdoch claimed to have been out of the loop while reporters for his News of the World tabloid broke into the cell phone voicemail accounts of thousands of people to get scoops, and while his company paid off British police.
Human editors matter
Google News picks up a grisly story from Reuters and gets bitten by its computerized presentation:
Here’s the headline:
Body of missing Brooklyn boy found in freezer, trash
Here’s the caption Google News automatically generated, because Reuters includes a picture-of-the-day feature on its story pages:
A host of new surveys don’t paint a pretty picture for many small businesses. Uncertainty about the economy, slow retail sales and high commodity prices have small business owners in the dumps this summer.
There’s no one to blame for this, really. But it does illustrate, tastelessly and uncomfortably, that it will be a long time — perhaps not in my lifetime — before human editors are totally dispensable.
Agree or disagree? Will computers some day be able to completely replace us? Let me know in the comments.
Upgraded Android app is live
I’ve given Journalist at Large — Alex Johnson, the self-indulgent Android app I built, an upgrade. The main features are the ability to show more than 10 entries per page/tab, more feedback options and the nuking of the ad. If you like what you find here on this blog, you can find it in a handy Android version several ways:
• QR code. Snap a photo of the QR image at the right in your QR-app-enabled device.
(Eventually, you should be able to find it in the Market on your device itself, in the News and Magazines category. That takes a little time to propagate.)
UPDATE: It’s now available in the Market on devices. Just search for “Alex Johnson journalist.”
The Reader’s Guide to Journalists (Cont’d)
Rule No. 22: All female entertainment figures with short hair are perky.
The Reader’s Guide to Journalists (Cont’d)
Rule No. 21: We believe the word “alleged” has magical, lawyer-killing powers.
The Reader’s Guide to Journalists (Cont’d)
Rule No. 20: When we write that someone is “controversial,” we mean we believe he’s up to something but we can’t print it. (contributed by Lex Alexander)
The Reader’s Guide to Journalists (Cont’d)
Rule No. 19: If the slug or the budgetline includes the word “adorable,” it probably isn’t news.
Great Moments in Journalism: Camel eats reporter’s hair
Click for video
“You never know what might happen when you’re reporting on a farm.
“WWBT reporter Tara Morgan learned that lesson the hard way. While working on a story in Hanover County, VA, a camel started eating her hair. …”
Full story (WWBT-TV of Richmond, Va.)
(Updated): Exploring the Visible and Invisible Web
Monday night, I was part of the weekly journalism skills training series run by the Western Washington chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Cheryl Phillips, data enterprise editor at The Seattle Times and board chairman of Investigative Reporters and Editors, and I tag-teamed Web-based reporting.
As promised, here’s the link to my downloadable PowerPoint presentation.
Alex Johnson - Journalist at Large 