Poynter Online - The Thorny Question of Linking

Long, but it raises interesting points about linking in online publications.Poynter Online - The Thorny Question of Linking

OJR article: Open Season: News Sites Add Outside Links, Free Content

There are some ideas in this piece that we could use in In-the-Loop. The "missing links" idea for one would be a good way for us to build on metromix and sites like that.
OJR article: Open Season: News Sites Add Outside Links, Free Content

Popjournalism - On the Record with... Wendy Mesley

A pro from CBC (Canadian Broadcast Corp) talks about broadcast journalism. Popjournalism - On the Record with... Wendy Mesley: "What advice do you have for young journalists?
I get really disappointed when journalism students come and say 'I'd like your job where I could read the news and where I could be an anchor. Can you tell me how to do that please?' (Mesley says in a ditzy voice.) I feel like slapping them. If that's what you want to do then don't come to the CBC, don't come to me. Go off and be an anchor at some place that has nothing to do with journalism. Most of the anchors have been reporters for decades and that's why they know what they're talking about when they're in the chair. I would tell an aspiring journalist if you're really interested in journalism to forget about being in the studio for at least 10, if not 20 years and get out there and enjoy the world. The most important thing, I think, is curiosity so that you're open to things that happen around you, that you're not coming in with preconceived ideas, that you will see a story that others won't, that you will have a reaction to somebody telling you the story that will be somewhat like the audiences, like whoa! You know, so you won't get caught up in your own thing, like here I am this big reporter person I better start using five syllable words and being full of myself and spending more time on my make-up. I think when you're starting out it's about passion for the craft and being straight with your audience. Just keep asking.
"

On the Media - Can't Cover the Bulge

This is interesting. If you don't know "On the Media" it is a radio show on NPR that focuses on stories about reporting and media. This is the transcript, but you can go to their archive and listen to the show too, if you like.

The question they are addressing is the "gatekeeping" function of major media and how ideas that don't come from mainstream reporters, but bubble up in the blogosphere, might get ignored in mainstream coverage. The issue in particular, is that "bulge" in Bush's back that we talked about in class. What do you think? On the Media - Can't Cover the Bulge: "HRIS SUELLENTROP: I think it's definitely a story to write about. A line I had in a piece I wrote about this, I said, 'You know, just because the umbrella man didn't shoot John F. Kennedy doesn't mean there wasn't an umbrella man and that we don't want to know, you know, who he is.' I don't know if you need to write about everything people are talking about, but - I mean I think the press obviously missed the Swiftboat story for a long time -- something people were talking about -- and the press just sort of ignored it. And they missed the story in, in a lot of ways. I've never seen a, a wrinkle in somebody's clothes that came out as a rectangle. "

Oh my, this is different news...

Have you heard about Ohmynews and its citizen reporters? The idea of news from the people that is "vetted" by editors is one that will probably work its way into the mainstream. What do you think? OhmyNews International

Poynter Online - APME Survey: Newspaper Readers Use Blogs Cautiously

This is a great introduction to blogs as part of the news and reporting world. It has some basic definitions and details how readers use the blogs. The discussion of how blogs 'work' in the aggregate demonstrates and idea we'll be talking about--the wisdom of crowds. What do you think of this article? Can you find examples or counterexamples? You can post questions, too, if you have them.
Poynter Online - APME Survey: Newspaper Readers Use Blogs Cautiously: "'In the aggregate, bloggers are much more balanced because they instantly call one another on bias, slant, errors in logic, and inadequate information. It's a network effect that is better than the mainstream 'networks.''"

For Oct. 13th

Here are links we will either use in class or that you will use for homework. Remember, too, to post about blogs, sites, or design during the week, and to add comments to posts before next week.

• From Harper's Magazine. This site goes with the text we had and is useful in understanding how to work with hypertext links.
• Here are links to the EyeTrack III study and its findings about web viewing. Read about the study and then look at the study online. Make a list of guidelines that will apply to your work on our ITL site.Poynter Online - Eyetrack III:What News Websites Look Like Through Readers' Eyes
• Here is the link to the color in news design instructional module. Before class next week, look at each section of the site, and be sure to do the exercises included in the sections. When we work on our site's design, your understanding of these issues will be critical.

When you get out in the world of work, you probably won't be an artist or do layouts unless you are working for yourself, but you need to know the vocabulary of design so you can collaborate effectively.

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