"New Media" Content

http://www.journalism.org/node/14356
Project for Excellence in Journalism monitors content of "new media."

Do as I say, not as I do, says SIU ...

The anti-plagiarism policy at Southern Illinois University may still be in draft mode, but the draft appears to borrow from policies at another institution, without attribution. Read all about it in USA Today.

You'd remember saying something like that, wouldn't you?

Last night Larry King asked Gov. Rod Blagojevich over and over about the content of the tapes that were played by the federal prosecutor after the governor's arrest in December. The transcript is on Lynn Sweet's blog at the Sun-Times. After what the rest of us believe to be remarks made by the governor about the "golden" Senate seat, King asked the governor five different ways, in succession, if that is what he said. The governor evaded the question five different ways. Finally, King moved on. Even King can't get some people to talk.

brought to you by Chinese news agency

I follow the news from Zambia a bit. The nation in southern Africa doesn't get a great deal of press. But the people there did just elect a president. Given the coverage of Zimbabwe, the neighbor to the south, and Congo, the neighbor to the north, you'd think, perhaps, that the peaceful transfer of power in Zambia might get a little of the world's attention. 

It did.

I read about the new president of Zambia as covered by Xinhua News Agency in China. That was the story linked by Google News. 

Reading student blogs

When students post live to blogs, what responsibility do I have to correct their mistakes? I require the blog posts, but I allow students to limit their reach to just the class if they desire. Some leave their blogs for all the world to see, complete with writing mishaps of the kind I am teaching them to avoid in class. The best editors don't correct people in front of the entire world. 

Breaking News On Line

Last spring as I taught Introduction to Journalism, I decided to put the New York Times on the big screen because Eliot Spitzer was expected to resign as governor. As we waited, we watch Spitzer's car wind through the streets of New York. I was reminded of O.J. Simpson's Bronco on the freeways of California. Spitzer did finally appear and make his announcement before the bell rang. Now the Online News Association has chosen that coverage for an award:

Breaking News, Large Sites: NYTimes.com, Eliot Spitzer's resignation "The winner 'hit it out of the park.' The winner could have held the story but chose
not to. They broke the story on the Web and used the Web to keep it going. They
used the tools. For almost an entire news cycle nobody else had anything. It was
a remarkable story remarkably handled." http://nytimes.com/indexes/2008/03/10/

Headlines for Print, Newspapers, Online, Web

The Web opens some doors for creativity in journalism. But it closes others. Take headlines, for example. On a printed page a headline has to be accurate, same as for the Web. But a print headline also has the context of pictures and related stories, so it can use word play to get a point across and entice the reader to stick around. But on the Web, a headline has to be specific to the Who, What, Where, or it may never be discovered by a search engine. It anticipates the synonyms people might use in searching. Spelling matters more than ever because computers look for exact matches and don't match the brain for fuzzy logic. I could say more, but other bloggers have beaten me to it.

My headline on this post doesn't even have a verb, but in print I'd write the following with a deck:

Web needs headlines you can find

In print, they're right under your nose