Nice meeting coverage

Some nice work on the meeting assignment.

I commend these for you to check out because they are meeting stories, rather than stories about covering a meeting; they are limited to what the reporters thought was the most important items on the agenda,  rather than reports on the entire agenda; and there are some nice touches of colorful reporting, description and quotes:

 Anand (http://anandbalasar.blogspot.com)

Aimee (http://aimeeHx3.blogspot.com)

Bridget (www.bridgetjoy.blogspot.com)

Sam (http://samh-jrl2008.blogspot.com)

A scheduling change

I apologize for another abrupt change in scheduling but it's necessary to accommodate a speaker.

Originally I had told you we would meet Monday and then Tuesday night you will attend the Lucy Dalglish speech in lieu of class on Wednesday.

But Steve Gourds who is going to talk to you about digging up information on people and places using public records can only meet with us on Wednesday, April 30. So, I am rescheduling that class and I will give you the follow Monday May 5 off instead. 

You may well need this -- Your final papers are due to me May 7.

Let me go over the rundown of work owed between now and the end of the semester.

If you have turned in everything to date in on time, you will owe me:

1. The final story

2. A blog item about Lucy Dalglish, the Tuesday April 29 speaker.

3. A blog item on what finally you have discovered about the person who's name you were assigned toward the start of class.

4. A blog item explaining what Swift Boating is

5. Rewrites of any stories handed in on time that you want a chance at redoing.

As always, call, email or let me know if you have questions or problems.

Swift Boating

Jo-Ann Armao talked a lot about the Swift Boat campaign against John Kerry in the 2004 Presidential Election. This was an example, she said, of how journalists striving for a kind of fake balance did a poor job representing reality to readers. 

The quizzes on the notes you took today reveal that none of you know what the Swift Boat campaign was.

Yet, no one asked the speaker to explain.

So, now please look it up and write a one-paragraph explanation because I am asking.  Thank you.

How to take better pictures

Taken as a group, the photos you turned in for our last class had these common problems:

1. They were blurry, grainy or otherwise technically lacking. Digital cameras far surpass cell phones, although I did allow both. The library lets you check out digital cameras. Try one or experiment with the one you have.

2. They were shot from too far away. The closer you are to your subject matter the more dramatic and effective the shot is likely to be. If you can't get close, use a telephoto lens or try to figure out how you might get a different shot that emphasizes some other angle of the story. This is superior to sticking with your original idea anyway and getting a lousy photo.

3. They showed "things" or "places" but no people. We humans like photos with life forms in them, preferably fellow humans, preferably pictures close enough to see their eyes. The one exception in this class was Bridget's shot of one of the routers destroyed by vandals on campus and the subject of a front-page ASP story Tuesday.

Check out this illustrated FotoFinish guide on "How to Take Better Pictures." http://www.fotofinish.com/resources/centers/photo/takingpictures.htm

The good news is -- NO CLASS on WEDNESDAY

I would like you all to go to hear a leading national expert on First Amendment and press law issues.

Lucy Dalglish, the executive director of The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, will be speaking at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 29, in the Standish Board Room, which is on the Third Floor of he Science Library.

Please plan to attend and to write a 250-500 word news article on her address in your blogs by the end of the day Friday, May 2. If you choose to tell the story in an alternative form -- through pictures or audio -- that will be acceptable.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Journalism lessons in bite-sized chunks

Ted Pease calls himself a professor of interesting stuff. He runs a website at http://tesdword.blogspot.com or you can sign up to get a once-a-day posting about journalism/writing/civics. Send a note to ted.pease@gmail.com

I find these, well, interesting as he says, but they sometimes lead me to other issues and names I want to know more about. At any rate it's a way to learn more without a huge investment of time you don't have.

Today's offering, for example is Timidity:

"Without newspapers, without someone telling us what is happening, all kinds of mischief can occur. It can be pretty serious, such as corporate and government corruption. Of course, unless newspapers really dig for stories, we won't be able to root out shady goings-on. And today, many newspapers seem tame and timid, far from the old newspaperman's challenge to 'comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.'"  A quote from Bangor Maine Daily News columnist Steve Cartwright, 2008

The "old newspaperman" quoted in the quote is Joseph Pulitzer. Look up Pulitzer's platform. It's not really a piece of flooring but a statement about the role of journalists. Pretty inspiring stuff.

Where'd all the men go?

Speakers and several of you have commented about the overwhelming number of women in the class compared to men.

Essayist Nancy Gibbs in Time magazine 4/14 writes that 58 percent of undergraduates nationally are female right now. In a few years the ratio will probably tip to 60/40. Black men are outnumbered on campus by black females 2 to 1.

The essay was not as strong on reasons as it was on numbers.

As to journalism, New Media Women Entrepreneurs, a project of the McCormick Tribune
Foundation (all that by way of letting you as readers know the numbes look credible):

Women make up two-thirds of all J-School students -- but only one-third of the full-time journalism workforce.

Also:

only 15 percent of executive leaders and 12 percent of board members in top communications companies

just 40 percent of the TV news workforce and 25 percent of TV news directors

and only 14 percent of Sunday morning TV talk show guests.