Ethics

The topic of social media in the newsroom is certainly something that carries a lot of weight. The article discusses a big thing that gets lost in the translation of this all and that's the human element of limiting social media. I absolutely agree that it should never be used to track down the family of a lost skier, as the article mentions, but ones profession should not limit his or her's feelings and expressions. The double edge sword that is created by this scenario is a sharp one. On one side of the coin, if you post on your Twitter or Facebook your feelings of something like Obama's presidential performance, you risk losing that sense of objectivity that one must hold as a reporter. This is a problem because you're a human being. You should allowed to post your thoughts and opinions to the world, but being a professional journalist, you have a collar around your neck that could potentially prevent this.

One of the most frustrating parts of the article is how it talks about how one reporter has two different Facebook pages: one for personal use, one for professional use. That's where a line gets drawn. Yes, I understand that people have to make personal sacrafices in the profession, but people shouldn't have to bendover backwards to use a tool that is largely used for maintaining relationships and building new ones.

As I mentioned about how the article talks about how a reporter used Facebook to track down a lost skier, that should never be done. It's a very real and tragic situation, and while social media is definitely a valid part of our society, it is still new and someways, a very informal way of contacting someone. It's also slightly creepy. Just because these new sites exist does not mean they should always be used. I'm sure the last thing that a grief stricken family needs is a reporter tracking them down on Facebook, let alone, at all.

One of the best insights on how social media is changing journalism that I read was in the embedded article from The Guardian newspaper. A paper out of the United Kingdom:

"when you open up Twitter in the morning, but not journalism. Journalism needs discipline, analysis, explanation and context, he pointed out, and therefore for him it is still a profession."

That's probably one of the best explanations I've heard about the subject yet. Yes, each generation has it's own way of advancing it's methods of getting information from one to another, but it will never take away the true value of journalism. Twitter is a great tool for getting out the latest news to a wide audience of readers in a lightning fast period of time, but it will never be responsible for the downfall of journalism. How we use social media networks like Twitter, Facebook, etc... is more likely to be a reason we see a decline in journalism. How we use them ethically. He we use them humanely. Not simply by the fact that we use them as a way to spill breaking news. Journalism can survive without these new products. It has so for hundreds of years. This isn't to say that they are not a nice luxury, but only a luxury to be used appropriately.

The article gives the example of how Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times uses Facebook well, but a reporter I am friends with, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports seems to have found a potent balance.*

Most of the stuff he posts are typically related to his work. Breaking news and articles that he has written, as well as other things relating to his profession. But from reading his Facebook, he still maintains interaction with other people and doesn't seperate his personal life and his work life on his Facebook. Overall, he uses it as a tool for sharing his work with those who support him. I'm sure he isn't truly "friends" with everyone he is friends with on Facebook, but he uses Facebook as a way of creating a wider audience. A fine balance.

I think in the end, we need to learn how to utilize the power of this all, but in a effective, appropiate manner that does not overstep any humane boundaries. This applies to both examples: When finding out information for a story and for how reporters use it.

My final opinion: Use it, but don't abuse it. If the only way you can get a quote from your source is through tracking them down on Facebook, do it gracefully. Also, look at the severity of the situation at hand. If you happen to be a reporter, post with caution. It's the same logic as the high school senior who posts pictures of himself drinking or the paralegal who criticized the law firm they worked for in Facebook status form. Do not hold back, but also be aware that you are exposing these things to a lot more people than you're used to.

*Denotes that you might not be able to see the page on Facebook when clicking on the link.

Multi Media

An idea I had for my final story was to perhaps incorporate some of the work that my final subject has done in a video package. I feel that this could be a nice touch in really letting the reader know about the mind of Phillipp R. Garrett, Theatre lecturer at Ohio State University. He has done a lot of work that could be resourceful, but I will be doing the 1200 word article and not adding any multi-media aspect to it.

#1-As I talked about in my last blog entry, ESPN did a riveting story following the recent year that NFL Draft prospect, Myron Rolle has had. After an extensive and elaborate article, the article was also packaged with a lengthy video. While the article could have certainly stood alone, adding the video really puts the visuals of the article to life. That's why it was a good addition. The article did such a nice job conveying the visual beauty of something like the Oxford University campus, that actually seeing it in the video really adds that much to the final product.

#2-In another product of ESPN, this one was a lot simpler. In a simple news story, game recap of an NBA match between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Dallas Mavericks, ESPN included the highlight package similar to the one that would be shown on there program, "SportsCenter." You can read in the story that Dirk Nowitzki played a fantastic game, but it added a completely different element to visually see how well he played and see the moments of the game that were discussed in the article.

#3-The third example is an article written by The Lantern about Buckeyethon. Opposed to the last two examples, it's not really like a news reports. There are no graphics and no anchors in the background, stirctly the material. This video gives you a feel. Yeah, the article talks about the specifics of the event, but the video gives it a human element. Seeing the video of the small group of students dancing in a gym really does a nice job in adding emotion to the overall landscape of the article.

Article Comparison

I chose to compare two profile stories written about former Florida State safety and current NFL Draft prospect, Myron Rolle. Rolle has been a figure who has been getting a lot of media attention lately. He could become the first person to be one of the 32 selected Rhodes Scholars, as well as being one of the 32 picks of the first rounds of the 2010 NFL Draft.

I examined stories from Yahoo! and another from ESPN.

Obviously, I kept in mind that there was an eight month difference between the two stories, but they were both profiles on Rolle. I will give a lot of praise to the ESPN article for the amount of depth in there coverage of Rolle. They even followed him during his academic pursuits at Oxford University. The article was clearly able to find that common thread about Myron Rolle and run for it. That common thread being the enormous amounts of pressure he has received through all of his accomplishments, athletically and academically.

Granted, the Yahoo! article is signifigantly shorter than the ESPN one. The main reason why I would consider the ESPN article to be better was because it found that common thread. While I think the Yahoo! article was well-written, I found that it was really just giving me the facts about Myron Rolle and not really doing as good of a job as the ESPN article to tell a story. This is fine, but it does not make it better than the ESPN article.

Outline

The subject for my final feature profile is Phil Garrett. Mr. Garrett is currently an instructor with the department of theater at Ohio State and teaches two sections of the course, Theater 636.

The class he teaches is an educational course that teaches students interested in screenwriting, how to screen write.

While this does not seem like much, it should be noted that Mr. Garrett's resume includes work on some major Hollywood productions, including...

A.I.
Shrek
Shrek 2
Madagascar

My interview with him will probably begin pretty open ended, but I have one guiding theme I would like to pull on: Why is someone who has such Hollywood experience teaching students?

I feel that the answer of that question can make for a very good story and open up a lot of doors about his personality.

Who I plan to interview?
Danny A.-A former student of his, Danny has begun to see success in Hollywood and has even been optioned to help write a major Hollywood production.

Mordy E.-A student of his last quarter. Mordy has definitely picked up a lot more enthusiasm with the subject since taking his class.

A current student of his-This seems pretty self explanatory

A Higher-up in the department-I would like to get there insight in seeing what he brings to the table as a lecturer with this university and that department.

Another lecturer-Just to see what other instructors think about his work as a lecturer, and as a professional in the film business.

I also plan to sit in on one of his lectures to get a feel of what Mr. Garrett is like as a teacher and really get an idea of his personality.

Class Research:

Mr. Garrett does not appear to utilize any social networking tools such as Facebook or Twitter, but I was able to find a Linkedln.

On the page, he gives a fairly detailed resume of his career in the film business and other work he has done. Through this, I learned that he actually has taught another class at Ohio State about animated motion pictures, so that helps me out with my story.

I also was able to find that some of his work was online and on amazon.com

video

Broadcast

Hello, I’m Zach Asman of Channel 422 news; let’s head to the tops stories:
Vegas didn’t give them a chance, but the New Orleans Saints were able to beat the Indianapolis Colts to win Super Bowl 44. The Colts shot there way to a quick 10-0 lead but the Saints came rallying back to win the game, 31-17.

In a Super Bowl pre-game interview, President Obama announced that he will host a health care reform summit on February 25th. The Summit will feature leaders from both the democrat and republican parties and with recent losses of senate seats; it has forced Obama to revamp his reform strategy.

A tragic story out of Connecticut...

Five people are now dead after a power plant explosion. The plant was under construction in its “testing phase.” The explosion was due to a pipeline blast as the plant had been scheduled to open in the summer and was 96% complete before the accident.

In entertainment news, Billy Ray, writer of the films “State of Play” and “Fightplan” has been hired to write the script for a movie adaptation of the Fox hit series, 24. The shows star Kiefer Sutherland would be set to star, and also act as an executive producer.

Moving on to something of a more personal level…

National signing day for college football players around the nation was last week and produced its share of spectacle, heartbreak and unexpected results. As a college football junkie myself I followed recruiting incredibly close. One of the players I tracked heavily was 5-star offensive tackle, Seantrel Henderson. After a much-publicized recruiting battle, Henderson chose to play at the University of Southern California, beating out schools such as Ohio State and Miami. Shortly after his decision, fans from other schools grew immediately critical of Henderson and his choice by posting messages on internet forums degrading his intelligence, decision making, and upbringing. In the end, to those who did this, I ask you, step back and realize that getting upset over this is getting upset with an 18-year old kid. This is his decision and is none of your business and if you’re angry with his choice, your values are highly out of order as a human being.

Live Nation opens a new branch office in Dallas; Caterinicchia to lead the way

Live Nation announced today that they are opening a brand new office in Dallas.

The office will be run by industry veteran, Danny Cat-er-in-eek-e-uh and be in charge of the company run venues in the area such as Cowboys stadium and House of Blues.

Live Nation is coming off its mega merger deal with Ticketmaster which just received clearance from the Department of Justice.

Cat-er-in-eek-e-uh has been a promoter in the Dallas area since the 1960s. His resume includes the production of over 3,000 concerts and he has worked with artists such as Paul McCartney and ZZ Top.

Live Nation handles more than 22,000 concerts per year.