Ricardo Lopez discusses video with online journalism class

Ricard Lopez, a Miami Herald visual journalist, gave a presentation to my online journalism class about video Thursday evening. He was joined by Candace Barbot, a photojournalist convert to video.

Ricardo last spoke at UM during Communication Week, leading one of the new media workshops and participating in the new media panel. Check out advice he and other panelists gave students here.

See examples of his work and be sure to check out Chicken Busters, which is everyone's favorite.

Political World: Hope vs. Reality in Campaign 08 (WeMedia)

From the WeMedia site:

Political World | Hype vs. Reality in Campaign 08
It’s supposed to be the YouTube-MySpace-power-to-the-people campaign. So why are online political junkies so frustrated with what they’ve seen so far?

Session Chair: Brian Reich, author, Media Rules!

• Ellen Miller, Sunlight Foundation
• Catherine Geanuracos, Live Earth
• Carolyn Washburn, Executive Editor, The Des Moines Register
• Michael Silberman, EchoDitto
• John Della Volpe, SocialSphere
• Amy Schatz, The Wall Street Journal
• Anthony Wojtkowiak, MTV Street Team

LIVEBLOG

12:04 a.m.

Schatz: You have a lot more out there in terms of media and it's harder for candidates to switch off. More people are asking questions and sometimes the candidates slip up and actually answer the question.

Washburn: The Register saw that people were using traditional means to learn about the campaigns, such as watching a debate on TV or going to an event to meet candidates face-to-face.

Wojtkowiak (12:11 a.m.): Mentioned Will.i.am video on YouTube and the influence of such social media.

Della Volpe (12:18 p.m.): "I think the real innovation is connecting the online with the offline."

Schatz (12:24 p.m.): I think we see a lot more innovation this time because of the number of candidates. Examples include Dodd, though it didn't translate to votes. Also Ron Paul, whose supporters are very Web savvy and have helped him raise millions of dollars.

She noted how campaigns are limited in their outlook because they only last the life of the campaign cycle.

Geanuracos: Thinks we'll more innovation going forward.

Reich (12:28 a.m.):

Wojtkowiak: It's important to keep the conversation going and keep the audience involved by letting them as questions.

Washburn: She's interesting to see what we've learned from this cycle. Also, how to create stories around smaller races--keep things local.

Geanuracos: Stop thinking about people as someone to talk to in the moment and then forget about them. Your campaign never stops.

Della Volpe: What are you going to do to continue the involvement?

Miller: More openness, transparency will build more trust and allay concerns of trust and special interest role. Public sees information as an antidote to corruption.

Schatz: Techniques to build communities will happen a lot more on the local level.

Silberman: Move from treating voters like fans to let them have value roles in campaigns, i.e. have jobs not just donors.

Reich: We should do that in policy as well.

Power to Change the World (WeMedia)

From WeMedia site:

9:50 am The Power To Change The World
With the traditional media losing its monopoly on information, opinion and storytelling, all sectors of society now have the power through media and communications to make themselves heard. How can we use this new power to make the world a better place?

Session Chair: Andrew Nachison, Co-Founder, iFOCOS

• J. Sebastian Traeger, CEO, Razoo
• Jim Brady, Executive Editor, Washingtonpost.Newsweek.Interactive
• Katrin Verclas, MobileActive
• Jean Marc Coicaud, Director, United Nations University
• The Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., CEO, Hip Hop Caucus
• Darya Shaikh, Executive Director, OneVoice

Check out Dave Cohn's liveblog on WeMedia's site.

LIVEBLOG

10:34 a.m.

Brady: Washington Post's role is not activism. Not everything they cover has two sides, such as Walter Reed story.

Shaikh: OneVoice has used technology, trying to go from from micro to macro.

YouTube has been a big part of spreading their message. "People aren't getting what they need from traditional media." Facebook and SMS messaging have also fueled the growth of the movement, which has grown from 250,000 to more than 600,000 in the past few years.

10:42 a.m.

Verclas: Recent studies show that 3.5 billion people have cell phones.

Mobile phones are important in many ways and SMS is a hugely powerful tool. People have their cell phones on them constantly, and that allows them to keep in touch all the time.

10:59 a.m.

Yearwood: Bloggers made the Hip Hop Caucus. "Media is really life and death. Media has the ability to move the masses. It has the power to make the guilty innocent and the innocent guilty."

When you are oppressed, you have to created a way to tell the story. The Internet now helps to tell that story, such with.

"The revolution may not be televised, but it will be uploaded."

"Media is one of the most critical moments to deal with people getting engaged." If media does not shed light on injustices, people will die.

Power to tell a story takes different forms: "Music has always been the drumbeat for freedom."

Bloggers and independent media get stories out that aren't told by the mainstream. Sometimes, such one of his experiences on Capitol Hill, alternative media force stories into the mainstream.

11:05 a.m.

"How should media be used to create a better world?" Nachison asked.

Verclas: Told story of the murder of Indian model Jessica Lall who was murdered. The state of the Indian justice system was called into question after the accused was let off, but media attention brought the case back to retrial and the accused was convicted.

Grassroots movements now are helping bring stories to the mainstream. "There's an equilibrium now that very interesting and very dynamic."

11:25 a.m.

There's been some back and forth about non-profits and the Washington Post, limited space and resources and how people aren't using news outlets such as the Post to spread their message.

Print Reincarnated session (WeMedia)

LIVEBLOG
(Also, check out my Twitter. There is a storm of conversation taking place--I'm trying to jump into it.)

A discussion with Richard Sarnoff and William C. Weiss.

There is no longer such a distinction between print and online publishers, Sarnoff said.

He also noted how the death of books is predicted nearly every decade, with each the rise of a new medium.

9:38 a.m.

The "Next Media" will offer more choices, not be a replacement, Weiss said.

No matter what is king (content, etc.), the consumer is God, Sarnoff said. He also cited how audience members are using Twitter right now and noted how there will eventually be a business model for such media.

9:40 a.m.

Weiss said that Next Media will not be something new, but a combination of current media. He then segued into a question about how social networking is affecting media.

In response, Sarnoff explained how sites such as MySpace have become a means for recommending products. But, he noted, it has to be done in subtle ways for it to not be seen as outright promotion.

9:45 a.m.

Weiss said the reincarnation doesn't have to be complication; it can come from gentle nudges.

Print is Dead session (WeMedia)

LIVEBLOG

Jeff Gomez, author of the book Print is Dead, and Roger Black, a design guru who I met briefly last night, are the featured speakers for this event. Dale Peskin is the moderator.

Gomez cited the outage yesterday as an example of why "print is dead."

Black came on stage carrying his Amazon Kindle and asked the audience how many other people have it -- about six hands went up.

The need for stories will continue, Gomez said, but people want to play a part in their stories, citing YouTube. He also cited Wikipedia as another example of the change.

9:20 a.m.

The speakers and audience members are discussing the younger generation's interest in news such as the war in Iraq.

9:25 a.m.

"People are going to be telling stories in the most powerful medium with the lowest cost," said one audience member, who also noted the worldwide literacy rate and it's effect.

Media at the Tipping Point (WeMedia)

LIVEBLOG

A sea of media professionals, many with laptops are sitting in the Storer Auditorium of the School of Business for the opening session of WeMedia.

The co-founders showed a humorous presentation about the power outage yesterday, with "Thriller" playing along with it.

8:46 a.m.

The co-founders discussed the power outage and several in the audience weighed in on the issue. Rick Hirsch, managing editor for multimedia at The Miami Herald, spoke about how Web traffic spiked. A few current and former telecom professionals discussed the mobile aspect of communication in emergency, i.e. cell phone use.

A woman from Consumer Reports flew in on JetBlue and watched the coverage on CNN.

Another audience member mentioned how he learned about other outages via Twitter.

8:58 a.m.

Dale Peskin, one of the iFocos co-founders (which sponsors WeMedia), noted that some people think the digital race is over, but he believes it's just beginning.

Discussing the conference, he said they won't be having discussions about whether bloggers are journalists, which drew applause.

Andrew Nachison, the other co-founder, said they had three predictions:

• All information is or will be digital. From that an infinite number of products can be created.
• The power of the individual. Individuals has taken on a different sense; not simply people, but individual entities.
• The notion of trust, it's shifting nature.
  

This were predicted and now are de facto components of the business and cultural landscape, Nachison said.

Peskin continued the topic by talking about:

• Access and connectivity, citing how one-third of the world is connected with cell phones
• Knowing and discovering
• Transacting, with examples from the personal level to advertising expanding online

9:03 a.m.

John Zogby, who could not attend, conducted a WeMedia poll that said:

• Two-thirds of Americans think journalism is out of touch.
• 70 percent think journalism is important to the quality of life in their communities. (This demonstrates there is a desire, Nachison said, and should provide hope for those in attendance.)
  
• 48 percent said the Internet is now their principal source of news and information.
• 86 percent said Web sites were important sources.

WeMedia returns to Miami this week

It may not be the most well-known conference, but WeMedia is certainly not an event to be missed for this student journalist.

Take a look at the schedule and a list of participants.

This will be my second WeMedia and, as with last year's, I am able get in for free with a guest code from the School of Communication, one of the sponsors.

Compared to the regional (SPJ) and national (SPJ and ACP/CMA) conferences I've attended, which are great in their own respects, WeMedia is much more cutting-edge.

Let's look at some highlights of WeMedia 2007:

• Professionals from multiple facets of media in the same, non-keynote events (gasp!)
  
• An entire session by Reuters on Second Life
  
• Livebloggers galore
  
• A session moderated by The New York Times' futurist-in-residence that featured Craig Newmark, who some journalists would like put in a pillory for creating Craig's List
  

And how many conferences use (effectively) video players, tags and widgets in their online presence? Have their own social networking site? WeMedia Community

Continuing with my recently established tradition, I plan to liveblog as many of the events I attend as possible.

Will you be there? Drop me line.

VIDEO: New media panelists offer advice for journalism students

New media panelists offer advice for journalism students (from Feb. 15)

The transformation of global media with Craig Dubow, Gannett CEO (Comm Week)

About to commence liveblogging...
The transformation of global media with Craig Dubow

7:31 p.m.
Dubow gave an overview of changes in media consumption in the past decade and discussed where Gannett stands.

8:57 p.m.
I apologize for the missing liveblog--both of my laptop batteries died. I took notes with (prepare yourself) a notepad and pen. I also had a digital recorder plugged into the sound board, so all is not lost.

I will summarize some key points and add multimedia soon.

10:20 p.m.
Here are Dubow's answers to a couple questions I asked him after the event. (It took longer to upload than it did to make...)

Wanted: Resident Butt-Kicker (Thoughts on journalism education)

Lately, I have been doing a lot of thinking about journalism schools and what journalism students are not learning.

One of the problems is that there’s too much talk. Educators have known about the Internet, multimedia storytelling and convergence for years.

No more excuses.

I realize that this post constitutes talk, but I would like to think of it more as a call to action. To make sure change happens at J-schools, I propose hiring a Resident Butt-Kicker.

I plan to expand on these in future posts, but here’s where we need to start:

1. Online first, print second: Print is not dead, but the idea of a purely "print" major should be thrown out the window. Who wants to pay money to be taught in preparation for the last century?

Start with the essential concepts of writing, reporting, editing, critical thinking, law and ethics, but don't limit it to merely one form of storytelling. Also, online journalism should not be some 400- or 500-level class that only some students take – it should be drilled into everyone's head early.

2. Think outside the classroom: How can you teach journalism without practical experience?

Ideas: Structure your class like a newsroom and provide an outlet for publication (e.g. class Web site); require students to work on campus media; require an internship – and help place them; etc.

3. Old dogs, learn new tricks: There's a disconnect among different classes, depending on the professor, as well as an even greater disconnect between professors who have been out of the newsroom for years and those who just came from the newsroom.

The journalism world is moving quickly and schools need to keep pace with their local news outlets so students may be viable job and internship candidates. Just like journalists in the professional world, professors need to be able to adapt and learn new concepts and skills.

Also, why are we being taught in a strict, limited mindset (i.e. print) that we will need to unlearn later? Don't teach me for today, or even tomorrow.

A journalism school should look ahead, being innovative and proactive in its approach, not reactive. Professors need to be a part of that.

4. Selecting J-students: There should be a multi-dimensional, more personalized interview process for students applying to an academic journalism program. Program directors should ask students about their specific interests in the field, evaluating if the candidate is open minded and willing to evolve.

5. Grades are failing: The grading process needs to change. It seems as if more students worry about getting good grades than actually learning. Grades aren’t worthless, but learning – and getting good experience – matters more.

Unintended, entrepreneurial failure (i.e. not because of laziness) should be embraced and utilized as a teaching tool – it is part of the learning process. Thus, students should be encouraged to go out and make mistakes while they are still in school.

6. Establish mentor programs: I hit on this general concept in my Top Ten List of Tips for Journalism Students (No. 7).

Upperclassmen should be paired with underclassmen in a formal, voluntary peer counseling system. Furthermore, every student should meet with a faculty adviser or mentor from time to time – and not just to discuss next semester's schedule.

SPJ recently started a mentor program for members, which is great. Nevertheless, it can't replace the local insight of a student or professor at your own J-school.

Weigh in: What do you think of these ideas? Students, what else do you want to see done at your school?

Note: The original time stamp on this post was incorrect. It has since been corrected.

Wasserman: Can journalism live without ads?

Yes, I am few days behind in reading my journalism feeds in Google Reader, but here's an interesting take from Ed Wasserman on the changing nature of journalism and advertising:

Can journalism live without ads? - Miami Herald

One interesting idea he mentions:

"Maybe the solution isn't to escape the market, but to empower it. Modern computing offers unparalleled capacities to track and calculate. Imagine a vast menu of news and commentary offered to you ad-free for pennies per item, the charges micro-billed, added up and presented like a utility bill at month's end. The money that journalism providers got would depend on their audience."

It's a reasonable idea and seems more palatable than other such concepts, but the general notion of charging for content online still raises questions in my mind.

Weigh in: What do you think about Wasserman's ideas and what the future could hold for journalism's financial support?

Liveblogging the Pulitzer panel (Comm Week)

Description from School of Communication site

Blog post announcing the event

LIVEBLOG

Anders Gyllenhaal, executive editor of The Miami Herald and the panel's moderator, began by giving an overview of the Pulitzer Prize. He noted that they will talk more about the craft than the actual stories.

Panelists (L-R):

• Joe Oglesby (editorial page editor from The Herald)
• Madeleine Blais (journalism professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and former Herald reporter)
• Michael Sallah (Herald investigations editor)
• Mirta Ojito (reporter for The New York Times, formerly of The Herald)
  
• Jim Morin (Herald editorial cartoonist)

(NOTE: Titles and links added after the event.)

7:26 p.m. and forward

Gyllenhaal: What do these prizes mean to the younger generation of journalists?

Sallah: “I think it’s the level of work that is required to win one of these prizes. It raises the importance of writing. It challenges you to do your very best as a writer or a reporter or an editorial cartoonist. Be the very best at your craft.”

“They help uphold the standards of our industry in way that other awards can’t do”

Oglesby: It gives journalists a reason to continue what they’re doing.

Blais: “A posh Bingo” is one way she’s heard it referred to

Morin: Gave a presentation of his cartoons and explained how his editor always mentioned the Pulitzers, but Morin never wanted to think much of it.

Ojito: Won for a series on race relations, which she said was geared for the award from the beginning--though no one explicitly said so.

"The most difficult thing was to find the people, find the characters."

----

Blais didn't understand the importance of collaboration a young reporter. She needed more eyes and ears to better understand and tell a story.

Ojito originally heard terrible things about journalism, but came to love it.

Oglesby told a story about him and Gene Miller traveling to Georgia for a story related to then-President Jimmy Carter. That experience showed him that he could do great things in the field.

"Each of you is unique. Each of you has something to offer. If you trust it and go with it, it will come out in time"

Sallah: "It's important that people can trust you and know you are seeking the truth."

His winning series at the Toledo Blade about Tiger Force in Vietnam taught him about the personal nature of reporting.

"Stories can turn on a dime and so much of it is luck. You need to convince them [sources] that you are there for the truth and you want to tell their story."

There are certain parts of reporting that never die, he said. Shoeleather reporting is one of those.

Ojito: She doesn't like going out to get general reactions to a story, but she does it.

7:53 p.m. and forward

Now, it's on to audience questions...

Are there jobs in newspapers?

Gyllenhaal: It's cyclical, but, "You have to work at it and develop the skills."

Morin: Even though jobs may be sparse, as is the case with cartoonists today, send letters to editors and be persistent.

The panelists then answered more general audience questions ranging from having story ideas stolen as a freelancer to how not get too close to sources.

8:17 p.m.

Oglesby: "I think it's very important to know yourself well and know your biases. ... You need to be able to back off and get back into you objective mode."

Ojito: "You're not a reporter when you're at work, you're a reporter all the time--it's how you live your life."

If you look at everything, you'll have more story ideas than you know what to do with, she said.

7:25 p.m. and forward

Blais: Advice from Edna Buchanan regarding when to stop persisting: She would call and say who she was, they would hang up, she would wait 60 seconds and call back. But what about a third time? "That would be harassment."

Sallah: It's even more difficult when people are grieving after losing a loved one.

"They sometimes want to open up. It's a little bit of therapy for them. ... You can really write a nice story and give his parents and friends some honor."

You really are a psychologist in your job.

8:28 p.m.

How do you tell a source he/she can't see your story?

Ojito: You should turn the question around, asking what they are concerned about. It's ok to read back their quotes.

8:30 p.m.

Sallah: It's OK to read back quotes, but you should only negotiate to a certain extent (i.e. if you're certain about something). You can't allow someone to backtrack from the heart of the story just because they don't want it to be published.

"Be very careful in getting it right."

8:36 p.m.

My question about not submitting awards or writing for awards because you should write for readers, not for other journalists--as Howard Owens and others have blogged about:

Oglesby: "This isn't about winning awards. It's about doing a good job and helping readers. If that is your goal, you can get satisfaction from the achievement every time. The award is not really important at all."

Last thought:

Sallah: "Just don't lose your heart for this. Don't compromise."

SPJ panel to be rescheduled

Due to panelists' commitments regarding coverage of Castro's announcement, the SPJ job and internship panel scheduled for 12:30 pm. has been postponed.

Please check back for a rescheduled date.

"News coverage of civil rights in Miami" panel (Comm Week)

I am taping this event and will be liveblogging. Here's some background information.

From the Comm Week Web site:

News Coverage of Civil Rights in Miami

Panelists representing print and broadcast media will review the media’s coverage of civil rights issues – from efforts to desegregate schools and public facilities to beach “wade-ins,” protests and riots that plagued the community on into the ‘80s. How aggressive was the local media in covering the civil rights movement? What was it like for the first black reporters at Miami’s newspapers and television stations?

Panelists are:

C.T. Taylor, first black TV news reporter in Miami

Bea Hines, former reporter, The Miami Herald

Juanita Green, former reporter, The Miami Herald

Andrea Robinson, reporter, The Miami Herald

Garth Reeves, publisher emeritus, Miami Times

Bradford Brown, former president, Miami-Dade NAACP

Moderator, Beverly Counts Williams, former TV news reporter

LIVEBLOG

2:58 P.M.

Garth Reeves' father founded the Miami Times, but he didn't want to go into the newspaper business.

"One day you'll find out how valuable this newspaper really is," his father told him.

After he took over the Times, the younger Reeves began to face tough issues regarding coverage, but the paper had to be restrained in what it published.

"You were practicing journalism with your hands tied behind your back," he said. "Now we have more kickass journalism. ... I'm happy now because you're as a free as bird."

3:00 P.M.

C.T. Taylor grew up observing what was going in the community, reading the Miami Times and seeing its impact.

"I always wanted to be in journalism. I always wanted to be a radio announcer."

He sat with his father and listened to games on the radio. Despite the obstacles, his father said you he could do anything he wanted to do.

"The doors to the media were shut and bolted" at white stations, he said. "But I kept my hope and desire."

So, he went to a black radio station and they hired him to be a cleaner. While he wasn't on the air, he kept at it and it paid off. One night, an announcer was drunk and didn't show up for work. Just like that, he was the radio.

Eventually he became known as C.T. "The undisputed soul of the new breed."

But he wasn't satisfied--he wanted to be a TV reporter.

His chance, though not in front of the camera, came when a TV station wanted to hire him as a cameraman.

"I managed to get my black hand in the shot. Then I got a black ear in a shot, then I got the back of my head into the shot."

Channel 4 saw this and wanted to put him on the air.

-------

"It does not matter what your gender or what your race is," he said. "The main thing is to be factual and truthful."

You're recording history, Taylor said, so you have to get it right.

3:11 P.M.

Bea Hines said that, while they may have hired Taylor to cover the riots, people accused her of starting the riots with her coverage while at The Miami Herald.

Her first day at The Herald was an interesting experience.

Hines went into the lunch room and everyone stopped eating. She went up to a Hispanic food worker who was impressed; he couldn't believe she worked there.

3:20 P.M.

She was assigned to cover the riots in the early 80s because she knew the community. As she walked around, she ran into a man in a pool hall whose business was suffering as a result of the riots.

"My name is Iceberg Slim and I got hookers on the street," he told her--and there was her first story--and it ran on the front page.

But her overall role was more difficult: "I had to change the way people saw us and the way people depicted Liberty City."

3:26 P.M.

"They did what they had to do," Brad Brown said of the journalists on the panel and their contemporaries. "They changed things."

The NAACP in South Florida used to dissect stories in The Herald and gave TV stations lists of black doctors to have a variety of experts.

"It's not just the truth, but the broader truth" that's important.

NOTE: I stopped liveblogging to take some photos towards the end and unfortunately missed some great comments by The Herald's Andrea Robinson. I will be sure to go back and add them to this post or include them in a video package.

New media reporting panel

New media reporting panel

Watch the live Web cast: Live Web cast

Panelists:
Suzanne Levinson -- Miami Herald, director of site operations
Phil Lewis -- Naples Daily News, editor & vice president of editorial
Ricardo Lopez -- Miami Herald, visual journalist
Brent McDonald -- New York Times, visual journalist
Will Payne -- Current TV, College Outreach

Phil Lewis has been at the Daily News for 30 years. The dynamic started to greatly change when they hired Rob Curley (now at Washington Post).

"We blew up our newsroom and we took a third our newsroom and said, 'You're the print side,'" Lewis said. "We took two-thirds and said you're our new media newsroom and everything you do goes to the Web first."

Suzanne Levinson became involved with The Herald's Web site in 1996.

"They felt so lucky to have an experienced journalist that knew HTML [to some extent]."

But their path has been different than the Daily News.

"We didn't have a Rob Curley; we needed a Rob Curley," she said, explaining that it was basically her and a few others on the online side advocating.

She said the tipping point for The Herald was when they realized ad revenue and circulation would continue to decline.

"Be willing to learn new things and be aware of the changing landscape," she said as advice to students.

The new mindset of The Herald: "We all have open minds. It's a change in the way they look at things, but they are all just journalists."

Ricardo Lopez began with photography but evolved as a visual journalist. He learned new tools and began working with video and Web.

Will Payne is a part the newest outlet represented on the panel, Current TV. He discussed how their dynamic is different from traditional media.

Brent McDonald, of the New York Times, has a background in documentary film and was part of the Times' multimedia pilot program in November 2005.

Discussing video journalism:
"It's still a frontier and we're still playing with how stories can be told. It's still a collaborative process."

New media workshop

New media reporting workshop

Ricardo Lopez, Miami Herald

Will Payne, Current TV

Brent McDonald, New York Times

We're going to break into groups now. I'll be back with an update later.

UPDATE, 12:11 P.M.: I was in Brent McDonald's group. He showed us his camera (a $6,000 Panasonic HD) and related gear. He also talked about techniques and what to look out in terms of lighting, sound and settings.

First two Comm Week events: Attending workshop, liveblogging

I will be attending the following sessions Friday morning as part of Comm Week 2008:

• New Media Reporting: VIDEO WORKSHOP (10 to 11:15 a.m.) I will blog at some point afterwards since I am participating in the workshop.
• PANEL: New Media Reporting – trends and challenges (11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.) I plan to liveblog this and post a short multimedia package on it by Tuesday.
  

Be sure to check back at 11:30 a.m. for the liveblog. I will also post a link to the live Web cast, if available.

Hurricane copy chief is Herald's newest online producer

Rafael Sangiovanni began writing and designing for The Miami Hurricane his freshman year. Raph, as he is known, wrote for EDGE, the arts and entertainment section, through spring 2007.

He moved up to chief copy editor in fall 2007, his current position at The Hurricane, and was recently hired part-time as an online producer for The Miami Herald's Web site.

Here are a couple posts Raph wrote on Wired Journalists:

• One 'Wired' Journalist: anticipating the new experience
  
• I got to post my first story today: reflecting on his first few days
  

Here is a video of Raph talking about his experience so far:

Photographer alumna discusses multimedia

A not-so-old newspaper friend stopped by campus recently.

Allison Bezold-Diaz, who graduated from the University of Miami in spring 2007, spoke to my online journalism class last Thursday. She gave great tutorials on capturing/editing audio, photography/digital SLR basics and editing photos in Photoshop.

I sat down with Allison, a former Miami Hurricane photo editor, to ask her about the importance of multimedia and what advice she would give student journalists.

Here's what she had to say:

Comm Week: New media workshop, panel

I posted Monday about two journalism events for Comm Week 2008 (read it here); more details have since been released on two other events, a new media workshop and panel.

I will be participating in the workshop and liveblogging the panel. I will post the streaming feed for the panel and then the video once it's posted. Stay tuned.

Details from the School of Communication Web site:

New Media Reporting: VIDEO WORKSHOP

February 15, 2008
10:00 am

Location: Communication International Building 2055

Panelists:
Ricardo Lopez, Miami Herald visual journalist

Brent McDonald, New York Times visual journalist

Will Payne, Current TV

The workshop is an introduction to video journalism. Lopez, McDonald and Payne will discuss the best gear for the job, basic elements new media reporters should look for while shooting, as well as editing techniques – what to include in a Web audio-visual news story and what to avoid.

PANEL: New Media Reporting – trends and challenges

February 15, 2008
11:30 am

Location: Communication International Building 2055

Moderator: Chris Delboni, UM / SoC

Panelists:
Suzanne Levinson -- Miami Herald, director of site operations

Phil Lewis -- Naples Daily News, editor & vice president of editorial

Ricardo Lopez -- Miami Herald, visual journalist

Brent McDonald -- New York Times, visual journalist

Will Payne -- Current TV, College Outreach

Side note: Check out this video I produced after Suzanne Levinson spoke to my online journalism class.

w00t, w00t: Visuals editor Will Wooten starts redesign blog

Let the Web design blogging begin!

Will Wooten, visuals editor at The Miami Hurricane, has started a blog about online journalism, specifically the redesign of The Hurricane's Web site.

Will is overseeing the aesthetic side of the project and will be posting updates and information about the redesign process. The blog will also act as a means for gathering feedback and discussing the new site.

And what is the name of this forum?

"Will's Blog."

Why such a simple name?

"The reason is, it is what it is. I don't want anything creative."

What about the design and color scheme?

"The serious bloggers are going to be using a reader anyway."

Unrelated, my favorite quote from Will came as he was updating his resume last semester. As he was finishing, he realized something:

"I forget to put that I was Time Magazine's person of the year in 2006 on my resume."

Miami Herald reporter discusses online research

Miami Herald metro reporter Evan Benn will begin speaking with a UM journalism class (CNJ 216 news reporting) in about a minute or so. I'm crashing the party with my laptop, digital recorder and point-and shoot.

He will be discussing online research and has a handout called "Finding people, getting stories."

This will be my first real liveblog - the test one I did with Cover It Live doesn't count.

Here are the points he will discuss:

1. Plug 'Em In

2. Find public records

3. Call around them

4. Play dumb

5. Be yourself

I'll be expanding these based on his talk as it occurs, so please be sure to check back for updates.

9: 42 A.M.: "Even when I first got into this business all we did is go out with a notebook and pen, but now it's so much different." Now, he has a Blackberry (for filing and photos), takes a digital recorder, etc.

He shot photos from courtroom with Blackberry, but they said they sucked, so he brought a point-and-shoot the next time.

Side note: I brought Evan to speak to our SPJ chapter last semester where he mentioned how he liveblogged the O.J. trial from Vegas.

"You really have to be fast and efficient and versatile, that's always the linchpin of journalism." (Hey! That's the name of this blog.)

Tip 1: "There's so much information available on the Internet," that should be where you start. Use Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, etc.

Tip 2: Public records: "There's a wealth of information you can find about people's lives."

9:58 A.M.:

Web resources:

• Miami-Dade County
  
• Miami-Dade clerk of courts
• Power Reporting
• Florida Department of Law Enforcement
• SunBiz
• Network Solutions - Who Is

Evan showed this entertaining video while discussing Bird Road Rudy (the Herald story is no longer online.

10:02 A.M.: We've moved on to blogging, yay!

"I think that's important in this day and age."

Evan gave an example of a recent post he wrote about an item from his hometown papers.

Tip 4: Play dumb.

"Don't be afraid to say, 'Can you slow down?' "

"When you're writing, pretend like your telling it to your friend."

For difficult stories, such as deaths and tragedies.

"Be a human first, a journalist second. Often journalists are seen as vultures."

"Be empathetic. It's O.K. to not be a robot. Make a human connection, find some common ground. If you can find that human connection, you'll find people are a lot more willing to talk to you and make you job easier."

Question from student: Are blogs replacing columns?

No, Evan says he thinks they add to the conversation.

Question from student: Do you do your own radio work?

He takes all his own audio, uploads it, listens and edits before taking it to radio studio. He writes a minute-long script, voices it and they put it all together.

VIDEO: Herald site operations director Levinson discusses online journalism

Suzanne Levinson, director of site operations at The Miami Herald, visited my online journalism class Thursday evening.

She discussed the Herald's Web site, online journalism and what students need to know to get into the field. The webmaster, visuals editor and I took the opportunity to get her thoughts on the The Miami Hurricane's redesign plans, showing her two drafts wireframes.

Pulitzer Prize-winning panel for Comm Week

Planning is in full swing for Communication Week 2008, which will take place Feb. 16-23. One of the events is a panel of Pulitzer Prize winners that almost boggles the mind.

The following people are planned to participate (from Bob Radziewicz, who has been on four Pulitzer-winning teams himself):

Madeleine Blais: won for feature writing at The Miami Herald in 1980;

Mirta Ojito: won as part of The New York Times' race in America series in 2000;

Michael Sallah: investigations editor at The Herald who won for investigative reporting at the Toledo Blade in 2004 and who directed Debbie Cenziper on last year’s local news winner on the "House of Lies" series;

Joe Oglesby: editorial page editor from The Herald who wrote most of the editorials about the detention of Haitian boat people that won in 1982;

Jim Morin: Herald cartoonist who won in 1996 for editorial cartoons.

The organizers are also trying to bring a photography winner and hope to have political and governmental reporter Michael Putney, from Miami's ABC affiliate WPLG, act as emcee. (see update below on emcee)

Job and internship panel
I have organized a panel on jobs and internships, which will take place Feb. 19 at 12:30 p.m. in Studio A.

The event will feature Rick Hirsch (managing editor for multimedia at The Miami Herald), Michelle Morgante (assistant Forida bureau chief at the AP) and Kathy Pellegrino (recruitment editor at the Sun-Sentinel).

Each participant, who does internship recruiting for his/her respective organization, will meet one-on-one with students after the discussion.

UPDATE, Feb. 8: The emcee for the Pulitzer panel will be Miami Herald executive editor Anders Gyllenhaal.

UPDATE, Feb. 12: AP photographer Al Diaz has been confirmed as the sixth panel member.

Dousing the Great (Fire)Wall, gradually

When I was in China last summer for a feature writing study abroad class, our University of Miami group discussed the Internet, freedom of speech and censorship with a number of the Chinese journalism students. What we learned and gleaned from their perspectives was quite interesting.

As you can tell from my occasional China posts, I am very interested in these topics, especially speech/press-related issues. (Shameless plug: Check out our class blog and my stories from the trip).

Here is an excerpt from a New York Times article, Great Firewall of China Faces Online Rebels:

"In recent months, China’s censors have tightened controls over the Internet, often blacking out sites that had no discernible political content. In the process, they have fostered a backlash, as many people who previously had little interest in politics have become active in resisting the controls."

During our stay, I found a few proxy sites to get around some of the censored sites. One of the strangest sites that was completely censored was Wikipedia.

I don't have a problem with the Chinese people or China in general. I found the country fascinating and the trip the most enlightening I've ever taken. My problem is with the lack of freedom: Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to peaceably assemble and to protest the government for redress of grievances.

Journalism and free speech are improving with time, mostly due to the power of the Internet. (mobile phones are also playing an important role). The government may continue clamping down in response, but people are gradually pushing back.

An open story meeting? Let's do it!

Yoni Greenbaum recently wrote about how TMZ.com conducts their story meetings: OPEN.

I don't think this is radical at all, I think this is logical. Why haven't we been doing this all along?

His Your newsroom could learn something from TMZ… No, really post explains,

"For those of you who watch the very popular television version of the “entertainment news, celebrity gossip and Hollywood rumors” website TMZ.com, you will know that their meetings are done in the open with seemingly broad participation. Editor and founder Harvey Levin stands at the front of the room and users a clear board to note stories that the show will be using. There is a free exchange as the individual staffers (or are they editors?) offer their story ideas."

Greenbaum says near the end,

"Build the budget from those in attendance, editors can speak for staffers not in attendance, staffers can offer their own ideas based on what they’re working on or what they know is going on. Encourage that free exchange. I think you’ll find that the meeting will boost morale, encourage collaboration and even increase productivity."

He also includes the following video about The New York Times' new integrated newsroom.



I completely agree with the idea. As I commented on Greenbaum's post, it hits at the "two heads are better than one" cliche. As news editor last year I encouraged reporters to contribute story ideas in our meetings and come by the office on deadline days (Sundays and Wednesdays). As editor in chief this year I still encourage staffers to visit.

I would not say our twice-weekly staff meetings have been closed in past (any staff member is allowed to sit in or be in the office and some designers who are around sometimes do), but we have never before sent out a mass e-mail inviting staffers. But now, I will invite all of The Miami Hurricane's staffers to the next meeting and see how it works.

Our small newsroom may not be able to hold everyone, but we'll see what happens.

Weigh in: Will you try this for your next story meeting?

Putting my resume on the map

I have to credit Megan Taylor for this idea, I first saw her mapped resume here.


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