Donald O'Mahony's Comm 361 class blog

This chapter explains how to use video to tell a story. Video is often a more effective tool than words or pictures. A journalist in today’s world needs to have the knowledge and ability to shoot and edit video, and this chapter helps with the basics.

Video has recently become something that everyone can become involved in. The equipment has become more affordable and user friendly. According to the book, YouTube reported in 2009 that 20 hours of video gets uploaded every minute. Journalists need to learn how video can effectively be used to better tell a story.

The Flip Cam is an affordable option for anyone looking to shoot quality video. Image from groundreport.com

Video journalists, or backpack journalists, serve as both a reporter and a videographer on any certain assignment. They are becoming more common in the modern era because it is less expensive. A journalist that has experience with video has a great advantage over any competition.

A great use of video is during an interview. Video interviews are one of the most basic forms of journalism. The book gives a few tips for preparing for a video interview:

• Write a script and warm up.
• Be stable, breathe easy
• Don’t be afraid to talk with your hands
• Control your story with voice-overs

It is also important to learn how to properly edit your video. Make sure you shoot enough while you have the chance. You can always cut the footage short, but you can never add more. Most computers will have some sort of editing software standard. However, editing programs are becoming more affordable all the time. It might be a good idea to spend some money on a higher quality program.

As professor Klein always says, the news wants to be free. This chapter says that news now wants to be analyzed, shared and commented on. It is becoming more of a conversation. This is a good thing for journalism, but the chapter raises three questions.

• How do journalists participate in the conversation without sacrificing their objectivity or credibility?
• What about legal and ethical issues now that everyone can publish anything they want on a professional news site?

• What happens when you really want the audience to participate, but they don’t?

A conversation can be found on almost any modern news website. Look no further than the comments section. Journalists will have to deal with the offensive comments that are sure to show up,  but that is just part of the business now. Learn to sort through the mess and find the useful comments.

Image courtesy of Newton High School Blog

Kelly McBride is the ethics group leader for The Poynter Institute. She gave some suggestions for using social media:

• Use social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook because familiarity with the tools is important
• Be mindful that you represent more than just yourself. Even if you are an individual journalist, the stakes are higher than with other professions
• Presume your tweets, status updates or other content on these sites will go further in terms of reach than you intend for them to go
• Ask your boss to follow you on Twitter because it’s a good accountability measure

The chapter says the the link is the primary building block of the digital age because it connects one piece of information to another. The secondary building block is comments or contribution. People contribute more to online news than just comments, including photos, video, message board posts and blog posts. This is a good way to make the story better.

Bradley Horowitz came up with the 1-10-100 rule while  working as a senior director at Yahoo. The rule states:

• 1 percent of the user community, including the journalists on news sites, actually create content
• 10 percent of the user community will “synthesize” the content by posting a comment, e-mailing a link to a friend, authoring a blog post on a separate site and linking back to it, voting it up or down, etc.
• 100 percent of the user community will benefit from the actions of the first two groups

It would be smart to use these ideas as advice. Social networking is a good way to build a following and find sources. Just make sure to keep control of the conversation as much as possible. Set guidelines for participants, monitor offensive postings, know your legal responsibilities and correct errors. These steps will bring you better credibility.

In 1970, Phil Meyer wrote that “they are raising the ante on what it takes to be a journalist.” This statement has never been more true than it is today. This chapter talks about how a journalist can break through the barriers between themselves and their readers.

The chapter focuses on three different reporting methods that are becoming more popular in modern journalism. The first is crowdsourcing, which basically uses groups of people to assist with the work of one

 person.

The book gives an example of encyclopedias. The online version of Encyclopaedia Britannica can’t update pages as quickly as Wikipediabecause Wikipedia is updated by many volunteers instead of a select few employees.

The second method in the chapter is open-source reporting. The objective here is to become more collaborative with the reader. Instead of keeping stories secret until publishing, some outlets now release story ideas to the public and have people assist with the reporting. Instead of asking for specific help like in crowdsourcing, this method lets readers help in whatever way they can. This allows reporters to seem less biased because their readers are having an input on the story.

As is states in the introduction, journalism without photos is like writing without words. Digital technology has made it possible to publish pictures almost immediately after they are taken with just a few clicks. However, effectively publishing digital photos takes practice and patience. This chapter explains what a journalist will need to know.

Image courtesy of: howstuffworks.com

In this modern era, digital photography has become the preference of most because of its many benefits, including:

• Not having film limit the amount of pictures that can be taken
• The ability to immediately see whether or not you captured the image you wanted
• The ability to upload pictures to the internet
• Saving money by printing only the pictures you want
• Easy editing of photos, such as cropping, on your computer

By now, digital camera use is pretty simple to most college students. You point and click to shoot the image and look on the camera’s display to make sure its what you want. Then there are the zoom and flash features if you need a close up or more light.

After you have the images you need, it is time to edit them. Cropping and resizing photos can be important depending on what you need them for. However, it is possible to do more harm than good if you are not careful. According to the Code of Ethics of the National Press Photographers Association, you should never “manipulate images or add or alter sound in any way that can mislead viewers or misrepresent subjects.”

Following these steps while editing your photos is a good way to make sure you get the most out of the program you decide to use.

• Edit a copy of the photo — never the original
• crop the photo
• resize the picture
• modify the resolution
• tone and color correct the picture
• save a web version
• keep it simple

Once you have your collection of photos, you will need a place to organize them. There are many sites online that let you upload, organize and share your photos with friends and family. Using these simple photography techniques can greatly improve the quality of your journalism.

Mobile journalism is beginning to revolutionize the way reporters work. When Christiano Ronaldo crashed his Ferrari, the reporter on the scene used her cell phone to take pictures that were used for the story. Thinking on her feet and using what was available to her made it possible to get the story out as soon as she could. This chapter is full of examples of how journalism is going mobile.

Christiano Ronaldo crashed his car while still in Manchester. He has since moved on to Madrid.

The right tool for mobile journalism is whatever you feel most comfortable with. It could be a laptop, smartphone, digital camera, audio recorder or any other device you are familiar with. It is important to make sure you can capture content and connect to the internet. If you can’t do both of those, then you will not be able to get the story out.

Take advantage of technology. Instead of carrying around ten different pieces of equipment, try to find some devices with multiples tools included. Also, be sure to test out new devices during free time before relying on them on the job.

There are two types or mobile journalists: A gearhead and a light packer. A gearhead carries around a laptop, camera, tripod, video camera, audio recorder and any other equipment they might need. A light packer is equipped with a smartphone that can access the internet, easily type information and take pictures and video. Any modern journalist should seriously consider a smartphone if they are looking for an advantage.

Some questions to consider when deciding whether mobile journalism is neccesary are:

• Will the audience benefit if we can take them there?
• Will the journalism be better if it’s done on location?
• Can this event be effectively communicated in small chunks over time?
• Will sound reporting or video footage, turned around quickly, help people understand the story?

After you make your decision, you are ready to go. Mobile journalism can be effective while covering many events, including:

• Breaking news
• Sporting events
• Public speeches or announcements
• Grand openings
• Public gatherings or protests

Journalists cannot be affraid of technology. There are so many ways to take advantage of technology to help make a story better for the reader. Any young journalist can gain an advantage by becoming more familiar with the many devices out there.

Blogging is great, but microblogging is an effective tool if you just want to make a quick point or comment. It is usually limited to 140 characters or less, which makes it popular because it is both easy to publish and consume. This chapter gives you the tools you need to be an effective microblogger.

Some popular microblogging sites are Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Status updates, quick announcements and small thoughts have made microblogging incredibly popular without people even realizing they were doing it at all. News outlets now use microblogging as a way to release breaking news before there is an opportunity to release a full story.

Rob Quigley, online editor of the Austin American-Statesman, gave these tips on the power of Twitter for journalism:

• Every tweet you send should have personality. Quality over quantity
• Ask for story tips from your followers. Pass them to reporters.
• Keep control over the account. Don’t turn the automatic feed back on.

Learning the basics of twitter is a necessity for a young journalist in this era. It is useful for growing a following as well as creating sources and story ideas.

• Post — 140 words or less
• Reply — put the @ symbol in front of the username of the person you are commenting on, or just click the arrow on their tweet
• Direct Message — click the direct  messages link and select the person you wish to contact. This is a way of keeping the message private.

After you get the basics down, it is time to start tweeting. Post about what you are reading, thinking and doing. You can also tweet questions or answers to other peoples questions. Make sure to follow what others are tweeting and make comments. This will help to build your following.

Twitter can also be used from many mobile phones. This makes it possible to tweet where ever you are instead of waiting to get to a computer. Many reporters are using smartphones to release breaking news on twitter while at news conferences, local sporting events and other events not covered on tv

A blog is an important tool for a young journalist. Many working journalists have blogs on top of their traditional stories, so it can’t hurt to start early. This chapter gives advice for starting and maintaining a good blog.

The three characteristics of a blog are:

• A frequently updated website that displays entries in reverse chronological order.
• Each entry, or post, has a headline and a body. Many contain links, pictures or video.
• Contains a place for readers to leave comments, although some blogs leave this part out.

Blogs make it possible for anyone to publish stories or information and share their thoughts and ideas on different subjects. They have helped journalism to become more immediate and interactive. Stories can be easily published as soon as possible without having to go through an editor. However, this increases the importance of self editing.

Before you start a blog, you should read a few to get familiar with the style. It is also important to get aquainted with the terminology:

• Post — entry on a blog.
• Permalink — a link on each post that directs readers back to the post, helpful for people emailing links to your blog.
• Trackback — lets bloggers know when others are linking to their material.
• Blogroll — a list of sites the blogger frequently visits that is located on the sidebar of the blog. Helpful for readers.

Making a blog is easy if you have a plan. Decide on a name, a description and what to write about. Blogger.com and WordPress.com are the two sites the book reccomends, although there are other options. After you have a name, it is time to pick a theme. Blogger and WordPress have their advantages when it comes to themes, so decide which is better for you.

Once you have a blog, you need to get readers. It is important to write quality attention-grabbing headlines, publish quality posts regularly and becomes active in the blogging community. Nothing bad can happen from commenting on other blogs and it might just get you a few new readers. You should also make an effort to update your blog daily.

There are a few things that can be done to make your blog more appealing to readers. It is good to have a specific topic so that your blog becomes a dependable source within the chosen topic. Posts should be scanable and include links and pictures. An RSS Feed is also a useful tool to include on the sidebar of your blog.

This chapter gives advice on two levels. Personally, it explains how to sort through online information on a daily basis without being overwhelmed. Professionally, it explains how a journalist can use technology as an opportunity to get ahead.

The first tip the chapter gives is to organize your email with filters and folders. It gives a few rules that, if followed, can save time.

• Limit time that your email program is up on the screen. Check email in between tasks instead of getting distracted by each new email.
• Spend two minutes on each email. If you can respond within that time, great. If not, file it away for later.
• Only look at an email once. This saves time and energy.
• Finish all email sessions with an empty inbox. File read emails into different folders to help clear out the inbox.

The next tip is to find the right personal productivity tool. These are useful in saving time and energy while working on what needs to be done. The books says, “The key is to find as few solutions as possible that do as many of the things on your list as possible.”

Developing a strategy is a good way to finish your taks efficiently. The book gives the equation of “what you need to manage + the right tools to manage it = personal productivity.” This is just more incentive to find the right tools.

Another tip is to sort your contacts by using a tool in your email or a spreadsheet. The contacts will be “more sortable, more flexible and more useful,” according to the book.

Building spreadsheets is important as journalism moves into the digital world. They are a great way to store and sort the data of just about anything. When making a spreadsheet, use as much information as possible. The more fields your spreadsheet has, the easier it is to sort your data.

The book gives the example of building a spreadsheet for all the books you own. The fields used could be something like:

• Title
• Author
• Publisher
• Year Published
• Number of Pages
• Fiction/nonfiction
• Hardcover/paperback

With all these fields, your books could be easily sorted. Using this technique on contact lists, story ideas, sources or other sets of information will make a journalists life much easier.

Chapter one explains basic terms and concepts that are needed to work in the digital world, such as:

• bytes, or units of measure for digital information. Abbreviations , such as K, M and G, are used in place of the full size names. Never send an email with an attachment over 1 MB or you risk clogging servers. It is important to be aware of file sizes because it could effect how quickly people can download your content.
• RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. Instead of searching many websites or repeating your search multiple times daily, an RSS feed will do the work for you. It is the most efficient way to consume large amounts of information. Just set up a reader, find a feed you like and add it to your reader. There are seemingly endless categories for RSS feeds.

After some terms and concepts, the chapter moves on to web design basics. Although computer code can be intimidating, learning it is very useful for anyone looking to get ahead. As Guardian technology editor Charles Arthur wrote in his blog in January 2009, “If I had one piece of advice to a journalist starting out now, it would be: learn to code.”

Web pages are simply documents created in code that are stored on computers running as Web servers. When a browser find the right page, it makes a copy of the document and builds the web page on your computer by following the instructions in the code.

Journalism Next by Mark Briggs

The book explains the steps needed to create a simple HTML page. The code writer has complete control over the layout of the entire page.

The inclusion of photos or images is important to avoid boring the viewer. To call an image into a Web page, use code to tell the browser where it can find the image you wish to use. The browser will then visit the source of the image and make a copy to use with your Web page.

There is more than one type of code that can be used to build a Web page.

• HTML was created by computer scientists for computer scientists. It does a great job of transfering information, but is less capable of designing a nice looking page.
• CSS is better for making a page that is pleasing to the eye. For example, it can be used to make small changes to templtes on a WordPress blog theme. Helpful for this class already? I think so.
• XML is a complement to HTML. It is most commonly used in RSS feeds and uses tags to describe data. This type of code is most likely not needed unless you attempt to build your own RSS feed.

Mixing HTML and CSS is useful and will greatly improve the way your webpage looks. The book also gives links for tutorials in both HTML and CSS.

HTML Tutorials

• www.j-learning.org
• http://webdesign.about.com
• www.w3.org/MarkUp/Guide
• www.webmonkey.com/tutorial/tag/web_basics

CSS Tutorials

• www.w3schools.com/css
• http://webdesign.about.com
• www.csszengarden.com