Next time around

I think some of the things I need to work on are my copy editing skills and the depth of my stories. It seems that every time I have turned something in this semester, I am making these horrible mistakes with punctuation, grammar and so on. What I really need to do with that is read my copy over a few more times before I hand it in, so I can avoid the stupid mistake that I kick myself over later. On top of that, I need to go a little deeper with each story I do. The last story I turned in, about the Ice Palace movie, was a tease because I talked about all of these interesting aspects of the movie and who was involved, but I not to great lengths. In the end the story was very dull and something I was not proud enough to stand behind.

Some of the changes that I think I will face in the future have to be the speed and the quality of the news that needs to be produced. Here I am thinking the deadlines at Ka Leo are ridiculous, but they are a daily paper that publishes four times a week. It's going to be much harder with a news service that operates twenty-four-hours a day, not to mention way more stressful.

Chapter 5

The one focus that the book discussed that I can relate to from class, like Sarah, is the second one. Journalists now must be able to know video editing, news reporting for print and broadcast and many other things that falls under the journalism family.

I find it easier for me, as a consumer of information, to find all the answers through one trusted source. I can go to the new York Times website and see the newspaper from that day, web stories that are updated throughout the day and video. In terms of being a journalist, I find it exciting and frustrating at the same time. It is fun to learn all these different ways of conveying stories in different types of mediums. On the other hand it's frustrating having to know all the different rules and styles for each style of journalism. The styles of writing between broadcast and print are already different enough, and having to use both at different times can make separating the two hard. It's a minor problem but enough to make me have to back track through some writings to make sure I haven't mixed the two together. But all in all, I am enjoying learning about everything on the whole.

Editing or fixing?

There is a very fine line between editing a piece of writing and fixing it. One of them involves the writer and the other ignores him. However, both are needed in their own respect in the newsroom.

When an editor is fixing a story, they are ignoring the writer completely. The editor is simply editing the writing into what he or she wants to see rather than sitting down with the writer to hash out what's important in the story and what can be done better in the future. There is no communication between the editor and the reporter, which can harm the relationship and over all performance of the newsroom. However, sometimes fixing is sometimes necessary. If it's two minutes until deadline and the presses are about to start running, a quick fix by the editor is essential to make sure the article is clear and the appropriate length for the paper. But this is the only time this should be used, in my opinion.

Editing is a different story. This is where the reporter and editor sit down and work out the kinks in a story. It can help the reporter become better at his job at finding the story and writing it down cleanly while the editor helps maintain a strong relationship with his or her writers in the news room. To me this is the most important aspect of being a journalist. Being an eternal student and learning over and over again about multiple subjects then writing cleaner and tighter pieces over and over again.

Chapter 2

Working for a broadcast station would be a lot different than at a newspaper in terms of who would assign my stories and what I would be looking for in a good story.

A producer in a TV studio hands out the stories as opposed to the assignment editor of a newspaper. They tell you were to go and who will be working with you on the story. Both jobs are similar, but a producer might want to send a fast editor with a reporter if there is a short time frame between the story and the broadcast. A print editor might send an inexperienced photographer with an experienced journalist so the journalist can help the photog find those good pictures.

The stories and how each medium might approach is different too. The book gave an example on covering meetings and how a print journalist would cover the meeting with what was actually said and who said it while the TV reporter would want to get the over all feeling of the meeting and what was accomplished by the end. Both ways are important but different because of how each medium is set up.

Convergent journalism

I am going to be honest and say that I am not terribly excited about the idea of convergent journalism. The only reason is that the press might turn into a media-mega-giant that will control all aspects of the news like we saw in the video in class. This will decrease the amount of credible reporters in the field, and limit their numbers too. Why should news organizations pay 20 reporters to do the same story when they only need one.

However, I am in love with idea of all journalists knowing all aspects of the industry. Stories can take on new forms and meanings if the journalist can take understand the images going with their pieces and understand how it all fits together. This type of learning is a great opportunity for all of us so we can be marketable to all news organizations when it comes time to find a job.

Online Journalism Resources

Here are some good sites to check out:

Story forms for online journalism (very good)
http://www.cyberjournalist.net/news/000117.php

'Video journalists': Inevitable revolution or way to cut TV jobs?
http://www.ojr.org/ojr/wiki/video_journalists/

Good convergence-focused blog
http://www.ojr.org/ojr/blog/

Monthly multimedia mag focusing on convergence issues
http://www.viewmagazine.tv/

Online Journalism Awards (very good)
http://www.cyberjournalist.net/news/002803.php

Example of news station website featuring different forms of multimedia
http://www.wral.com/index.html

Providence RI paper featuring relatively simple multimedia on site
http://www.projo.com/multimedia/?ln

This is the JOUR 401 section one blog! Hurray!!!