Yesterday the final decision was made to close the School of Journalism and Mass Communication that is not only my part-time employer, but my alma mater. My father also taught photojournalism part time at this school and graduated from its predecessor College of Journalism at the University of Colorado. The old school will be replaced by a double degree in journalism and another discipline at the university, and details of how that will work remain vague.
Though I and many of my colleagues wish a purposeful change of how journalism is taught at CU would have unfolded differently from this, the decision begs an examination of what it means to have a journalism education. This may still be well served by CU’s plan, depending on how it unfolds. I am hopeful.
Category: Journalism
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What is a journalism school for?
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Of Paywalls, expectancy and stupidity
Some time ago, if you were lucky enough to have created an image that all wanted, you could easily sit on it and wait for your phone to ring. Not really anymore. The center of the business gravity has shifted. To those who create value around the content.
Link: Thoughts of a Bohemian » Blog Archive » Of Paywalls, expectancy and stupidity
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Media Decoder: Huffington Post Is Target of Suit
Huffington Post Is Target of Suit on Behalf of Bloggers
The Huffington Post is the target of a multi-million dollar lawsuit filed Tuesday on behalf of thousands of uncompensated bloggers.
via Media Decoder Blog: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/huffington-post-is-target-of-suit-on-behalf-of-bloggers/?partner=rss&emc=rss
“The Huffington bloggers have essentially been turned into modern-day slaves on Arianna Huffington’s plantation,” Mr. Tasini said in a conference call with reporters. He vowed to picket Ms. Huffington’s house and turn her into an outcast in the liberal circles where she made her blog so prominent.
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The Media Equation: At Gannett, Furloughs but Nice Paydays for Brass
At Gannett, Furloughs but Nice Paydays for Brass
There’s a dissonance between furloughs and layoffs for employees while chief executive compensation doubles.
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/11/business/media/11carr.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Mr. Dubow had agreed to lower his salary by 17 percent through 2011, but then again, last month he received a cash bonus of $1.75 million for 2010 and Ms. Martore received $1.25 million. For 2010, they were also awarded stock, options and deferred compensation that would bring their combined packages to $17.6 million if the company and its stock hits certain targets.
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Memo From Tripoli: Qaddafi’s Handling of Media Shows Regime’s Flaws
Qaddafi’s Handling of Media Shows Regime’s Flaws
For journalists cloistered in Tripoli at the invitation of the government, its management, or rather staging, of public relations provided a singular view.
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/11/world/africa/11tripoli.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
“This is not even human blood!” the escort erupted to group of journalists, making a gesture with his hands like squeezing a tube. “I told them, ‘Nobody is going to believe this!’ ” he explained, as Elizabeth Palmer, a correspondent for CBS News, later recalled. His name was withheld for his protection.
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What is legitimate "newsgathering" and what is "piracy"?
What is legitimate “newsgathering” and what is “piracy”?
Zunguzungu’s got an excellent, nuanced piece on the creation and attribution of value in newsgathering and reporting. Zz reminds us that the current arrangement is perfect arbitrary and conti…
via Boing Boing: http://www.boingboing.net/2011/04/06/what-is-legitimate-n.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+boingboing/iBag
There’s certainly a lot of do-as-I-say, not-as-I-do in the current round of future-of-news handwringing: this is the narrative that allows a “newspaper” whose news is ninety percent curated picks from the newswires, run verbatim without comment or context, to be full of democratic virtue; while websites that examine, criticize and contextualize those same stories are parasites who contribute nothing.
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NYTimes.com's Plan To Charge People Money For Consuming Goods, Services Called Bold Business Move
“To ask NYTimes.com’s 33 million unique monthly visitors to switch to a cash-for-manufactured-goods-based model from the standard everything-online-should-be-free-for-reasons-nobody-can-really-explain-based model is pretty fearless. It’s almost as if The New York Times is equating itself with a business trying to function in a capitalistic society.”
Link: NYTimes.com’s Plan To Charge People Money For Consuming Goods, Services Called Bold Business Move
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All the Aggregation That’s Fit to Aggregate – NYTimes.com
All the Aggregation That’s Fit to Aggregate
How much more of itself can the media consume?
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/magazine/mag-13lede-t.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
“Aggregation” can mean smart people sharing their reading lists, plugging one another into the bounty of the information universe. It kind of describes what I do as an editor. But too often it amounts to taking words written by other people, packaging them on your own Web site and harvesting revenue that might otherwise be directed to the originators of the material. In Somalia this would be called piracy. In the mediasphere, it is a respected business model.
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Reporting While Female – NYTimes.com
Reporting While Female
In many countries, women journalists must enforce a particular kind of crowd control.
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/20/weekinreview/20logan.html
women reporters face another set of challenges. We are often harassed in ways that male colleagues are not. This is a hazard of the job that most of us have experienced and few of us talk about.
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Media Companies Cash In, at Cost of Unpaid Contributors – NYTimes.com
At Media Companies, a Nation of Serfs
Facebook, Twitter and The Huffington Post have done well for themselves using unpaid contributors. It’s enough to make a professional writer nervous.
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/business/media/14carr.html
at the beginning of last week, The Huffington Post agreed to be sold for $315 million to AOL.
The funny thing about all these frothy millions and billions piling up? Most of the value was created by people working free.
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Assange: ‘We Have to Survive This Leak’ | Threat Level | Wired.com
Assange: ‘We Have to Survive This Leak’
Three weeks before WikiLeaks and several media outlets began publishing a massive trove of U.S. diplomatic cables, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange expressed fear that the content of the cables was too explosive for his organization to withstand. “We have
Assange stood firm. He wanted the Times to publish a retraction of its profile or publish a prominently placed opinion piece from him to counter the negative article. But the Times, contacted by phone during the meeting, refused. Editor-in-Chief Keller said only that Assange was free to write a letter to the editor about his complaints. Assange, however, also wanted assurances that the Times would never publish an unflattering piece about him again.
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Gerritsen Beach Blogger Criticized for Posting Photos – NYTimes.com
Not Quite a Reporter, but Raking Muck and Reaping Wrath
A community blogger posted photos of adolescents throwing things at people on Halloween.
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/24/nyregion/24gerritsen.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
His blog, GerritsenBeach.net, was at the center of the controversy. The day after Halloween, Mr. Cavanagh posted photos from the day before, of adolescents throwing rocks, potatoes and other things at cars, buses and people.
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Journalists Killed in 2010 – Committee to Protect Journalists
Explore CPJ’s database of attacks on the press
Link: http://cpj.org/killed/2010/
44 Journalists Killed in 2010/Motive Confirmed
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Congress Hears WikiLeaks Is ‘Fundamentally Different’ From Media | Threat Level | Wired.com
Congress Hears WikiLeaks Is ‘Fundamentally Different’ From Media
The Justice Department would have no problem distinguishing WikiLeaks from traditional media outlets, if it decides to charge WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with violating the Espionage Act, a former federal prosecutor told lawmakers Thursday. “By clear
via WIRED: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/12/wikileaks-and-espionage-act/
photo-eye was fortunate enough to catch Photolucida’s executive director Laura Moya at a lull between Critical Mass jurying cycles and ask a few questions about the competition, jurying process and how the Critical Mass books come to be.
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A Beating On My Beat – NYTimes.com
Opinion | A Beating on My Beat
The dangerous life of a political reporter in Russia.
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/opinion/12Kashin.html?_r=1
A month later, I am still in the hospital. One of my fingers has been amputated, one of my legs and both halves of my jaw have been broken, and I have several cranial wounds. According to my doctors, I won’t be able to go back to my job as a reporter and columnist at Kommersant, an independent newspaper, until spring.
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Crunks 2010: The Year in Media Errors and Corrections | Regret the Error
Regret the Error Archives – Poynter
Craig Silverman reports on trends and issues regarding media accuracy and the discipline of verification.Stories about errors, corrections, fact checking and verification
via Poynter: http://www.regrettheerror.com/2010/12/08/crunks-2010-the-year-in-media-errors-and-corrections/
This blog post originally stated that one in three black men who have sex with me is HIV positive. In fact, the statistic applies to black men who have sex with men.
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MediaBugs
MediaBugs is a service for reporting specific, correctable errors and problems in media coverage.
See something wrong with a news item in print, broadcast or online? You report the problem. We’ll provide a neutral, civil, moderated discussion space. We’ll try to alert the journalists or news organization involved about your report and bring them into a conversation.
As a result of this dialogue between journalists and the public, some errors may get corrected; others won’t. Either way, the discussion will leave a useful public record.
Link: MediaBugs
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Rescued Miners’ Secrecy Pact Erodes in Spotlight – NYTimes.com
Rescued Miners’ Secrecy Pact Erodes in Spotlight
The miners rescued in Chile have asked for as little as $40 and upward of $25,000 for an interview.
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/18/world/americas/18chile.html?_r=1
“I’ve had nightmares these days,” Mr. Reygadas said from the cramped tent, as reporters jostled for space. “But the worst nightmare is all of you.”
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Favre, Deadspin and the New Tawdry Journalism
When Salacious Is Irresistible
A blog paid for a lewd story about Brett Favre, and then mainstream outlets followed.
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/18/business/media/18carr.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
In the last week, I’ve gotten a very clear view of two things — the male physique purported to belong to Brett Favre and the inner workings of modern media. I wish I could un-see both.
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Twitter Reporting Blanketed Connecticut Murder Trial – NYTimes.com
A Grisly Murder Trial, in 140-Character Bits
With no cameras allowed in court, reporters tapped out instant updates as readers followed every word.
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/16/nyregion/16cheshire.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
No television cameras were there to record the scene, but people around the state and beyond in offices and family rooms still followed every word. The medium? Twitter. Half a dozen reporters for mainstream Connecticut newspapers and television stations clicked out reports of up to 140 characters on iPads, smart phones and laptops.