Dec

Ethical Crossover

This morning, NPR reported on a new tactic for gathering evidence of insider trading: wiretaps.

I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between the FBI’s explanation for using the wiretaps and reasons reporters give for using anonymous sources.

“We use it when we have exhausted all other techniques and we believe it is the right thing to do to disrupt and dismantle an organization,” FBI agent Patrick Carroll said.

In their book The Elements of Journalism, Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel caution against using anonymous sources unless there is absolutely no other way that important information can be shared.

The similarity has got me thinking: what are the ethical guidelines that keep organizations grounded, regardless of the field? Could journalists learn something from other fields where the ethics of doing the job are tried and true? Could that help us from wading so often into ethically dubious territory?

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ethics

Dec

The Journalist’s Creed (version 2.0)

I believe in the profession of journalism,
but I also believe in the evolution of journalism.

I believe in starting every project with the question, “How can I start a meaningful conversation or plug into one that’s already going on?”
I believe that collaboration is the key to journalism’s continued relevance.

I believe in dealing exclusively in verifiable facts,
but I also believe it is cowardly to avoid drawing conclusions from them.

I believe that a YouTube video of a four-year old singing her ABC’s can be one small step toward univeral Pre-K for all of Missouri’s children.
I believe there should be three regular people quotes for every one from a public official.

I believe that true stories can change the world,
but only if they are told with one foot firmly planted outside the newsroom.

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ethics/jschool/Missourian/Mizzou/walter williams

Dec

Connecting to Potential Audiences

There are these new ads that show up on Hulu all the time now. They show pretty much every member of your typical, nuclear family plus friends and a dog using some kind of wireless device. “We live online now,” says the announcer, “Isn’t it time your wireless plan reflected that?”

I guess the next obvious question is “Isn’t it time our journalism reflected that?”

But for some reason, I’m not ready to jump on the all-digital bandwagon without looking back. When I come home after a day at the j-school, staring at screen after screen,I relish the time spent with my laptop closed and my iPad off. I switch on NPR, cook dinner, make a cup of tea, and read the New Yorker. There’s still a part of me that very much looks forward to my (relatively) “unplugged” free time.

That’s why my idea for connecting to potential audiences is getting offline and going to places where actual people gather. I loved Joy Mayer’s anecdote from class last week about how the Missourian set up a booth at an anti-violence rally last year and gave people the opportunity to share their stories and begin the healing process.

Last week, I published a story about a family literacy night at the local Title I preschool. Not only did I persuade the photo editors to let me take a D7000 and make my own pictures, but I had the chance to talk with the delightful Ariyana Barnes, who shared with me her favorite thing about preschool (building trains), her favorite book (Pete the Cat), and recited her ABC’s for me.

The next week, when the story ran in the print edition, I texted Ariyana’s aunt, Jackie, who is 19 years old and is Ariyana’s primary caregiver. She was so excited about the story that she asked if I could bring a copy to their apartment. Her internet had just been shut off, she said, and she was without a car.

I got on my bike and made the trip. When I got to Jackie’s apartment, Ariyana was ready with a big hug. I spread the newspaper out on the carpet and read the lead in my best storyteller voice, since it featured Ariyana telling about her favorite book. I pulled the video up on my phone and we all squealed with delight as Ariyana’s voice filled the room.

I guess my point is that journalism is about connecting people face-to-face, not just screen-to-screen. To grow audiences, I think we need to get out of the office more.

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7802

Nov

$30 million gift ensures future of Reynolds Journalism Institute

The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation has pledged to continue funding the Reynolds Journalism institute at the University of Missouri.

At a news conference held Thursday morning at RJI, University of Missouri Chancellor Brady Deaton said the foundation’s gift would create an endowment to permanently fund the institute.

“It means those basic programs of research, innovation and experimentation carried out by staff will be guaranteed for generations to come,” Dean Mills, dean of the Missouri School of Journalism, said in an interview.

Steven L. Anderson, president of the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, said he is impressed with the results of the nearly decade-long partnership between the foundation and the University, Donald W. Reynolds’ alma mater.

“The success of the faculty and staff at the institute over the last ten years has been instrumental in us making this endowment gift,” Anderson said.

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7802

Nov

Incorporating Feedback

It’s time to start thinking about the feedback I’ve received so far this semester.

I have five weeks left to show how all of the different skills and bits of knowledge I’ve accumulated over the past three months have made me a better reporter. What have my editors, my peers and my readers told me can help make my work better?

Make a stakeholder wheel

I love this idea, which comes from my editor at the Missourian, Liz Brixey. She challenges me to think not just about the people who are immediately affected by a policy or a situation, but go one level beyond them.

My partner and I went through this process of figuring out who we were going to talk to for our project. We tried to stick to our “mission,” as we defined it: Our mission is to show how a federal program that brings fresh produce to schools serving low-income students is affecting how students eat in and out of school. We asked ourselves, “Who might know something about that?”

When we thought about the questions we needed to answer, it helped us narrow the enormous list of stakeholders we came up with. Sure, it might be interesting to interview the farmer who grows the carrots that end up on kid’s plates, but would it really further our mission? Probably not. Instead, we thought beyond the policy stakeholders at the school district level. To really talk about how the program is working, we need to figure out what it’s ultimate goal is. To get to that, we might need to talk to someone at the state or federal level about why they are giving school districts the opportunity to apply for this money?

In expanding the stakeholder wheel, I hope we can create something that gives people a thorough, entertaining and informative look at what this program looks like in action.

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Oct

Final Project Personal Goals

We’re heading into t-minus six weeks until the end of the semester, and the end of my orientation as a multimedia reporter. I must confess that I have been less than intentional about the overarching purpose behind this an other exercises in the past few weeks. I wish it weren’t the case, but I can’t help but feel a sense of fatigue, a sense of just going through the motions when it comes to my work.

I’m confident, however, that articulating some personal goals related to this and other projects just might help re-ignite that fire in my belly, go-get-em kind of spirit. So here goes:

1. Prioritize and protect designated project time

Every Sunday, I want to sit down and figure out exactly where the hours I know are necessarily to make this project a success are going to come from. Then, I want to put those blocks of time in my calendar for the week and protect them. I tried this last week and was pretty successful up until Wednesday, when I said yes to a good opportunity at the paper that ended up shifting my focus away from this project. It’s been a constant struggle this semester to keep all of the different balls I’m juggling up in the air, and I feel like the project ball might have hit the ground this week. But I’m picking it back up and making sure it stays up there for the next six weeks.

2. Communicate with my project partner

I have a tendency to get a little….territorial when it comes to projects. I want it done right, so I take on the bulk of the work and freeze out anyone whose vision doesn’t jive one hundred percent with what I already have worked up in my mind. I’m cognizant of this tendency, and working to ameliorate it, but it’s another one of those daily struggles. Part of the reason why I appreciate the program here at the Missouri School of Journalism is that my editors and instructors really emphasize the importance of collaboration, and try their best to provide us with good models for making it work. I think my project partner and I are in a good spot- we’ve set up a dinner meeting every Monday evening and set some weekly goals around completing the project. I just need to make sure I’m being intentional about working collaboratively and taking over.

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7802/collaboration/Missouri School of Journalism/time management

Oct

TV Story Feedback

Shooting the Black and Gold color run for my TV package proved more challenging than I anticipated. I didn’t make it to the equipment lab soon enough to check out an HD video camera, so I had to shoot the entire thing on my iPhone. Besides using a professional-grade camera, here are a few things I’d do differently next time.

Talk to more people.

Maybe not having a professional camera made me feel shy or something, but I felt so much more awkward asking people to talk to me than I normally do. I didn’t have nearly enough interview footage of people talking to me about the race. As a result, my voice kind of dominates the whole piece, and the viewer doesn’t get a true sense of the participants’ experiences.

Get more medium and detail shots.

I was so focused on showing the size of the crowd that I didn’t shoot enough footage of individuals doing their thing. Next time, I’m going to keep the camera rolling so that when I spot a good medium or tight shot, all I have to do is focus in on it.

GET MORE B-ROLL.

Always. When I went to go edit, I had to “fill in” with some footage I didn’t really like because there wasn’t enough quality b-roll on my memory card.

I’m glad I shot the event with my iPhone rather than not at all, and I’m excited to start working on my final project so that I can get more practice with video.

12 years ago Short URL Comments

Oct

Elyria Then, Elyria Now

The sound of the trains combined with their visual presence in the first several shots help create a coherence throughout the video.

The main character, a 20-year-old waitress named Bridget, pours coffee and goes about her daily tasks at a diner in town. She appears bored and uninspired in the b-roll, which underscores her later comments about the lack of opportunity in Elyria.

Visual storytelling helps develop Bridget’s character later in the video, when we see her explaining her favorite class, macroeconomics, to a customer at the diner; an older man who says “we never had to learn anything about that.” On the voice-over, we hear Bridget’s mom explain how her daughter is going to “move on” from life in Elyria.

Although the visual storytelling is powerful, I found the transition from still photographs with voice over to video footage a little jarring. I think I would have preferred more B-roll footage as opposed to still photos.

12 years ago Short URL Comments

7802

Oct

Next Time

Now that I’ve gotten some feedback on my NPR-style story, I have a fairly good idea of what I can do better next time.

More ambient/natural sound

The thing about doing straight interviews is that there’s not a whole lot going on in the background. The fact that I didn’t think I had any good natural sound should have told me there was something missing from the story itself: people doing their thing.

That’s why my most recent round of projects have included a lot more action. It’s much harder to capture with a camera (we’re on to video now), but it makes for a much more interesting viewing (and reporting) experience.

Smooth transitions

A more technical point: I didn’t know how to adjust the volume between clips so that the piece didn’t sound jumpy. Thanks to some next-day tutoring from Reuben, I’ve figured that out in Audition. Hopefully next time I can sound more Nina Totenberg-like.

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Sep