Guided Assignment--Interview with a Blogger

For this assignment, I chose Gregory Holeman's blog, GregoryHoleman.net.  Holeman writes very often witty observations from Springfield, MO.  He is a writer, with longtime involvement in national and regional magazines.  I found his blog to be insightful and interesting, so I was excited to see what he had to say to our proposed questions.  

I wasn't sure if we were supposed to include everything or make this into a story, but I felt that since this is a blog, and a little more relaxed, I'd just let you see what exactly he responded:

My first question, "Do you consider yourself to be a journalist?" was  answered, "Yes, I am a journalist. I even have a diploma from a journalism school, if that means anything these days. I am also an independent writer and magazine editor, so most of what I do is reporting and analysis (or editing) paid for and published by mainstream media. The blog is a small part of what I do, a self-indulgent pastime that doubles as a minor publicity tool for my writing career. 

Would I be a journalist if the blog was the only thing? That's a really interesting question—one that may not matter much from a practical point of view. Even though they're not connected to a newspaper, TV station or whatnot, there are a few local blogs that do some very good stuff that you might have found in a traditional newspaper or culture magazine at one time. Randy Turner's reporting on campaign finance and Bureau of Mockery's satire of the right wing come to mind. Turner, of course, is an ex-newspaper editor, and the guy behind the Bureau sells car engines for a living."

2.  How would you compare the way you write with the way other journalists (in the news) write?  

Holeman replied, "There's not a lot of daylight between how I write on gregoryholman.net versus in a local magazine or newspaper feature. As a magazine person, I strive for storyline, depth, context, accuracy and flair in my writing. You can find these qualities in traditional newspaper features, too. On the other hand, speed, accuracy and concision is the name of the game for reverse-pyramid newspaper and broadcast writing, and I'm not a breaking-news person."

3.  Do you think you do original reporting?  What kind, if so?  

Holeman's response was: 

"Original reporting is a costly, time-consuming form of created intellectual property, so I'm unwilling to do it unless there's a bang for my buck. For this reason, the blog doesn't really contain Q & As, interviews, or much in the way of news/features.

It's a lot cheaper to do analysis using all the information available on the Internet. All it costs is time. I collect primary and secondary sources in order to synthesize a point about whatever I'm writing about (often something in the local news), and I always try to back up my arguments with facts from major reputable sources, e.g., the Census, major international news organizations.

The funny thing is, I've actually been meaning to blog more fun things like book reviews and especially recipes, as food always draws a lot of visitors to the site and racks up a few more cents from Google Ads."

I wish that our media would stop playing that good old fashioned "fear card."  

I have no doubt that our country does have a lot to fear.  Our economy is bad, no doubts in my mind.  And we should fear what will happen if we keep pushing away the ideas for electric cars or at least economy-friendly vehicles.  

But I would for once like to see every side of news.  Even some...God forbid...good news!  One of my favorite shows is CBS Sunday morning.  Although it makes me seem like a senile 85 year old, I actually enjoy positive stories.  I was thinking as I watched these stories the other day that this show really was an elegant and uplifting view of our country.  Like the story of an older woman who had always wanted to dance but was tied down by a dud of a husband... after he passed away, she began dancing and hasn't looked back.  Now, in her 90's, she dances at every opportunity she can find.  A simple story, but actually heartwarming and what I feel America needs to hear about every once in a while.  I know practically speaking we are going to hear about the bad.  But why not give us some of the good?

Ethics found even in pictures

According to the Society of Professional Journalists' Code of Ethics, journalists should, "show compassion for those who may be affected adversely by news coverage." When I read the article on News-leader.com "Families get help with high food costs" I couldn't help feeling that the people in this article were somehow subjected to unfairness.

The article demonstrates how much less the cost of food is when shopping at discount food stores, such as ones devoted to the underprivileged. This is all in good taste when demonstrating how much the economy is struggling, and what people are doing to make ends meet. However the picture from The Newsleader of the shoppers with their food seen below seems to exploit them, stereotyping them as the poor citizens who will stoop to shopping at the discount food store. Even if those people didn't mind having their picture out there for all to see, it seems to show little compassion for them.I also felt that the way the article was set up was not entirely unethical. "Seeing others show up...is a sign The Kitchen isn't just focused on the displaced or poverty-stricken during the economic downturn,"said Kitchen representative Lisa Hamaker in the article. While it wasn't altogether biased, it seemed to imply that the "displaced or poverty-stricken" were not the main concern of these kitchens anymore. Perhaps the article was being written for the middle to higher class, not the impoverished. But this doesn't seem like the most ethical thing to be promoting.

Liberty High School Journalism teacher Anne Bertoldie, of Liberty, Mo., agreed that this story could have been handled differently. "A good journalist should be aware that anyone could read their work. You should never justify someone else's dignity for the sake of a good story. Good stories will come into play if you're looking for the right news," said Bertoldie.

No news here

I just wanted to post this story because it seemed rather ridiculous. I was searching for unethical news, but instead found news that had absolutely no information. Below is the link.

Newsleader story

Where Are the "I Voted" Stickers?

Voters Were Not Guaranteed a Sticker to Prove They Voted Today

The perks of getting an "I Voted" sticker are many.  There was promised free doughnuts, coffee, ice cream, or chicken sandwiches for anyone who sported the sticker.  But for some, even when doing their national duty, that option wasn't available.

This can be seen as a hinderance, or a more positive sign that voters really decided to turn out this year, like the voter in the above YouTube video.  

The polls were open early this morning, and there was a rush to get to the booths.  More locations had been opened for the anticipated record breaking turnout for the 2008 election. There were reports of waits from four to six hours in some locations.  Like in the Clayton, North Carolina polls, as seen below, they were opened closed at various times but the trend of voting this year was definitely high.  

MSU freshman Cory King, 18, of Willard, Mo., was definitely disappointed with this lack of stickers.  He sarcastically said that "people might think [he was] a terrorist now."

Either there was not enough communication about how many stickers were needed, or there was just an amazing unforseen turnout of voters.  Whatever the case, I think it can be considered a good thing that we ran out of stickers.  And if you really voted, you probably could technically still get free food, because I'm pretty sure it's against the law to bribe people to vote.  

Guided Assignment 10/29/08

From the press release given to us the week of October 27th, we were given the task of finding the information that could be turned into a story, branching from that particular news.

I would take this story in the direction that the local car markets have been suffering, because I think that would be huge in relevance to our community. I would gear toward the customers thinking about trading or selling their larger vehicles, because it's a bad time to do so. The NADA appraisal guide is great for finding that accurate information needed, but that's not all to the story we're given in the release. There could be stories about hybrids surging over SUVs, or the demise of the large vehicle industry altogether.

This goes to show that there is always more to be found, and our job as reporters is to look deeper than the surface and get people info that really applies to them.

VP's

As election day comes frighteningly near, I have to say that I'm concerned that no matter who wins, there will be some sort of repercussion. I know this is terribly generalizing, but we do have to think to ourselves, "If the president dies, who do we want to take over?" So which is more likely to die while in office? To me, the jury's still out. I had heard talk (just talk, I can't find a source to prove this) of an enthused McCain supporter yelling out at a rally, "Shoot Obama!" I also heard from one of my college professors that McCain has a one and six chance of dying while in office from a heart attack...I have no idea how close to accurate these speculations are, and don't want to think about them being true. I just think our country needs to take that into account as well.

Chapter 12

Robert Redford. His well-known name brings to mind many mainstream movies. Words associated with the actor might also include director, producer, and writer.  Yet Redford doesn't typically bring to mind the word, "environmentalist," until recent years.  

At the upcoming news conference, Redford will be discussing environmental issues, which is an active part of his life. My goal is to research how he's involved with those issues before he gives his speech. This information will be needed if I'm going to report on this conference.

Robert Redford's participation begins with a long line of accomplishments, some of which include:

• lobbying for the Clean Water Clean Air act in the 1970's 
  
• holding international conferences for global warming in the 1980's
• campaigning for pro-environment Democratic politicians in the 1990's

According to the Environmental News and Commentary website, Redford is becoming irate about George W. Bush's plans for the environment.  

"The Bush administration has advocated the most destructive policies I've seen in the more than three decades I've been working on these matters," said Redford.  The movie star has done much word with solar energy in the 1970's, and pushing more efficient energy is one agenda that pushes a personal button with Redford.  He even made a short film on the solar power issue called "The Solar Film" which took him two years to develop.  

Although he is very concerned, he also blatantly stated that he is a hypocrite, because of his love for racing cars.  He thinks using SUVs are only justifiable when used in the country, not in urban areas.  

Redford's newer film, "Lions for Lambs" is also politically centered, but on a different area: the war in Iraq.  This just points out that he is obviously a very concerned citizen, and very

politically involved.  

"The fundamental question [is]: What are we going to develop for our survival and what are we going to preserve for our survival?" Redford said in an interview with PBS. 

Redford has designed a state of the art environmentally friendly "Green Building," which was one of the first pushes toward our country being conscious about "going green." 

Inflation

Considering wages can be amazing when you look at what our society live on in the past compared to what we consider the minimum standard of living now. Inflation has a huge impact on our daily lives, so to look at that we need to compare previous wages with current wages, keeping inflation in mind.

This exercise is particularly relevant to us now because of the teetering state that our economy is in. In 1938, the federal minimum wage was 25 cents. In 1968 it was $1.60. Currently it is up to $6.55 per hour, and will be $7.25 by July, 24, 2009.

Using the "Inflation Calculator" from the site Dollar Times, I found that the 25 cent minimum wage from 1938 has the same buying power as $3.72 in 2008.

The $1.60 wage in 1968 translates into a whopping $9.90 in 2008.

A story that could be written straight from these statistics could go a number of ways. The fact that 1938's standard of living was $3.72 could be something discussed in a story of how the Great Depression affected our culture, and how presently we're not that bad off.

Another story coming from the $9.90 converted wage from 1968, could be about inflation and how it affects our nation. There could be discussion of how the economy has suffered over the past few years, by looking at how 1968 translates into our market values.

Sources

Sources for my questions to the below questions to ask Claire McCaskill:

1. Documents that state her past dealings with illegal immigrants; immigrants from her family, from a background check or family lineage documents
2. Proposals on illegal immigration laws, and how she has sided with them.
3. Any history of prisoners in her family, from prison documents or police records.
4. Democratic vote records

1. Statements of her party's ideals and her public statement of issues.
2. Laws currently on immigration
3. Documents of how Washington currently spends money on illegal immigration issues
4. Other documented issues she is very adamant about, both supporting and against.
5. Proposed laws on illegal immigration and how Claire has voted.

Enterprise #3

I would honestly like to see the candidates step it up for once.

Just one year, I implore, of truly informational, honest campaign ads that could give the viewer a way to have a stance on that politician besides name-calling and demeaning ads.

I am not naive, I know that obviously these bashing, negative advertisements work or else we would not be seeing them.

But I dream of an election where there could be two leaders that actually agree to rise above those immature tactics and tell the public that "this is how we should be electing the head of our country." There has to be a way that we could act in civilized manners instead of each potential groundbreaker skewing information to make someone look worse than they do. I know that politics has always been laced with dishonesty or stretching of the truth, but couldn't this have been the year to leave the reputation-killing ads in the dust?

I'm not a hypocrite, I admit that I respond as much as the next person to those negative ads, I just wish that the race could somehow become more of an ethical practice.

Guided Assignment # 3 - Claire McCaskill

This is the next round of my guided assignments, where we are supposed to research a Missouri Senator. Senator Claire McCaskill was previously auditor for the state of MIssouri. Elected a Missouri Senator in 2006, she has very strict feelings toward many prevalent issues. McCaskill has voiced her stance on illegal immigration laws, and believes in cracking down on those who break the law. She believes that those immigrants here illegally and those who employ them for cheap labor should be exposed and convicted. This also entails that she is not for giving amnesty to those convicted. The Senator does not think this nation is in need of any new guest worker programs. She feels these will "undermine American workers." McCaskill feels that nothing will be done until these special interest groups are abolished, and our borders are secured. She is fighting Washington in this battle to secure funding for Missouri on this issue and secure the nation's borders.

Open ended questions to ask:

1. How does illegal immigration affect you on a personal level?

2. What else would you like to see done to stop illegal immigration?

3. Why not let prisoners have amnesty? Why no tolerance for this issue?

4. What were the conditions that made you only vote with your Democratic party 84.4% of the time?

5. How would you make jobs more appealing to those taken only by immigrant workers?


1. Does your party affiliation primarily affect how you feel about this issue?

2. Do you think more laws should be made on immigration?

3. Would you change how Washington spends their money on immigration boundaries?

4. Is this issue one of your most highly ranked priorities?

5. Do you see any changes in the future for illegal immigrant laws?

Sources:
http://www.ontheissues.org/International/Claire_McCaskill_Immigration.htm

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/m001170/

http://www.claireonline.com/issues/immigration.jsp

Quality of Leads Questioned

"In August, almost a week after Monte Ruby died, the Green County medical examiner ruled the death was due to 'very serious' injuries to the brain stem.
On Tuesday, the man who allegedly delivered those injuries with a single kick was charged with murder."

This lead is amateurish in nature. My meaning behind that is simply that it could be better. The first thing that is told to the reader is "when" the event happened, not the "who." I realize that this is a second day story, so I'm not positive how harshly I should criticize about what comes first, but I'm fairly sure that stories should for the most part start with "who" all the time. The "who" is presented next in line (Monte Ruby and the medical examiner), and we get the "where" somewhat by the description of the medical examiner (from Greene County). This is followed by the "what" (the death cause) and even "how" (injuries to the brain stem... with a single kick). I included the second paragraph in this lead because it seemed crucial to what the story was digging at. The next "when" is again presented before the who, followed by what happened. It seemed more like a teaser than all of the facts presented in a blunt manner. The details come later, but some were needed to know why this man was accused of murder and what happened in the previous story. The details that typically come later, "where" and "how" are given first in the lead, which seems off to me. Now, to the next lead I chose.

" A new city survey may pave the way for safer sidewalks by identifying problem areas in town.
At least 109 miles of sidewalks need to be repaired or improved to meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, according to a survey that is nearly completed."

This lead is also broken into two paragraphs. The first seems to be lacking some information that the next paragraph covers, but I'm not experienced enough in this matter to know if that is acceptable most of the time, or if all the info should always, ideally, be found in the first paragraph. First comes the "what" of the story, which is alright because there really isn't a "who" to talk about yet. The "where" is told in a vague way, because it tells us the survey is "in town." This may be clarified in more detail later, which I'm pretty sure is alright. Next is a bit of the "how" of the situation, telling what is going to be done. We do not get a "when," but this is an ongoing story without a real time - it is currently happening.

" A Drury University freshman was hospitalized for alcohol poisoning during an off-campus party apparently organized in response to tougher enforcement of underage drinking laws during Bid Day on campus Saturday."

This lead, as far as thoroughness, has everything right in the first paragraph. As far as inverted pyramid structure, I think this is the best one out of the three leads that I chose. It is declarative, and in one to the point sentence. As far as how the facts are presented, they're not in the exact right order, but I think that it works. The "who" is first, always a good start, followed by the "what". Next we get a little detail in the "why" and "how," but that's insignificant. "Where" is found first, actually, (Drury), but again later (on campus). Last is "when," on Saturday. I think this is a great example of the structure that is supposed to be modeled in the first paragraph of a story.

U.S. Census Reports

Do you know the local statistics? Can you quote to your friends, offhand, what percentage of the city of Springfield, MO makes less than $10,000 a year? One never knows when that information may come in handy. Educating yourself today on some local census reports can only help you.

The state of Missouri has, according to the latest U.S. Census, 5,595,211 citizens. Although there are many estimates of what the population might be now, our communities cannot be sure until the next poll - the 2010 Census. We can all be sure, however, that Springfield in the year of 2000 had 151,580 residents within the city limits.

These citizens can be broken down further demographically by race. The largest percentage of Springfield, a whopping 91.7 percent, was of the white race. Obviously not extremely diversified yet in 2000, 3.3 of our city was African-American, 1.4 percent Asian, 0.8 American Indian or Alaskan Native, and 0.1 percent being Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander. Not being entirely specific, the Census just classifies 0.9 percent as being "some other race".

Economic breakdowns were varied, and encompassed a broad range of salaries. The income scope was set from $0 to $200,000 or more a year. Those that were making less than $10,000 a year were 12.6 percent. 9.7 percent was making $10,000 to $15,000. Next came 19.8 percent, the highest percentage, making $15,000 to $25,000. 16.6 percent made $25,000 to $35,000, 17.7 earned $35,000 to $50,000, and 13 percent earned $50,000 to $75,000 a year. The scale begins to go down, as 5.2 percent made $75,000 to $100,000, and 0.9 percent made $150,000 to $200,000 per year. 1.4 percent of Springfield made $200,000 or more in the year 2000.

Journalism.org

I chose today to monitor the news flow through Journalism.org. It's a very thorough site, reporting many different angles. If comparing reports is what you are after, this is the site to be surfing. The front pages of many news sources are even broken down so that the eye can see what is being emphasized where. BBC news tended to be less biased, and also more detailed in its report of how the media covered McCain's speech. The Boston Globe seemed to be trying to redeem Palin, and give her an underdog position. This coverage showed her as victimized; I took that as being a bit more biased than other reports I had read. On of the most straightforward and factually sound reports (to my eyes) was from The Washington Post. This article had both sides, but revealed conservative biases. The opinion column I glanced at from the Chicago Tribune seemed to have a very fair approach, and I was inclined to listen to this take on "anti-media." Phil Rosenthal satirically counterattacked Palin's attack on the media. He was very biased, but that was what an opinion article was supposed to be. His report, however, was not the most thorough account, and left one wanting at least one quote from Palin's anti-media speech. The current state of media and how the channels stack up to one another can be found, if one chooses journalism.org as their site.

Enterprise Entry #2- Facts or Judgements?

While watching CNN today, I kept in mind my assumed future career and my classes. It was midway through that I had the realization that journalism today is, in my opinion, excessive and not about "just the facts." Audiences now must be fed their opinions through others. Not only do these reporters not allow for the audience to be free thinkers, but they do not show the audience what is fact and what is mere speculation. Journalism has always had the threat of being "yellow," or sensationalized. Now, however, it is becoming increasingly over-dramatized and over-analyzed. The hype is becoming more and more offensive to me as I watch discussions on at all hours of the day about the same story, just feeding audiences what they are supposed to think.

It synonymous with the presidential campaign. The issues are not present anymore in media. Media has gradually evolved into a game, as it does during this season, and this is why I (n the past) have chosen not to be emotionally involved in political campaigns. But maybe I have been misled. Maybe I should have been more active. I know this is an evasive and ignorant way of explaining why I hadn't been more involved, but perhaps I would have been more intrigued if I had heard more facts, more actual stances and events to sway me in my political choice. The numbers are obvious in pointing to what actually gets printed.

I know my opinions are jaded, and I can see the other side of the media telling me that they do give facts, you just have to look. I just hope that journalism does not drift toward giving only convictions and still presents unbiased facts as well. I realize there is always a place for opinion writing, and I enjoy reading it and producing it (as I am now) as much as anyone. I just hope to see some of both types of writing out there. I'm not completely confident on this subject, so I hope I learn more in our class about types of writing and where they are appropriate.

Enterprise #1 - Changing my view on journalism

The future of journalism is becoming gradually an independent affair, with more mixed media skills required and less of the traditional training than before.  As we discussed in JRN 270, our generation is gradually becoming the providers of content, and expecting to participate in that discourse.  I completely agree with the fact that we no longer know a time when the public was not really controlling the media.  Now more than ever anyone can create a blog, and I feel a sort of intimidation that comes along with that knowledge.  When I got into journalism I always had this ideal picture of working in an editorial staff, with the vision of that newspapers carbon paper and bold headlines right before me.  I know that the profession is changing, yet I never before have thought of amazing writers as being online with their blogs.  I know my viewpoint is about to change dramatically, and I'm ready to read some great blogs regularly.  

On that thought though, I heard (actually my sister heard and called to tell me) on NPR the other day that the University of MIssouri is creating a national scene because they were cutting budgets and decided they could not afford the school newspaper. Nationally acclaimed journalists began calling in to protest and explain their frustration. But isn't that just a changing point, not a death of journalism? Shouldn't we be happy about the change? I know we are told we should be, at least, and I am trying to be. On the newspaper's side, there is just something about holding a piece of news, a source of valuable information, in your own hands. Is it really the death of an era, though? Is it something to really be missed, or a chance to be more adequately equip ourselves with knowledge? As another blogger, "Journerdism" says, "The Internet is changing everything in our culture and to ignore the new tools it offers to leverage the vast and wonderfully deep, previously unavailable information to your competitive advantage would be foolish." (You can read his whole article here: http://www.journerdism.com/2008/09/01/new-journalism-tools-data-analytics-and-social-media-tracking/ )
I would have to agree with that observation. I think I'm finally ready for change.

Test

This is my test run, if you will.  I've never attempted to be part of the blogging world, and I'm a little nervous about what I put out here.  I am, however, determined to be a superb journalist, and I guess this is the direction I will need to follow if I want to succeed!