Non-profit Journalism and Investigative

We spoke earlier about non-profit journalism and how to make a difference with investigative work. Here's a new piece by one of my young grads, who left a newspaper job for a post with the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan group that tracks the effects of money on politics. The piece took exhaustive reporting and data analysis to show how investments by members of Congress are tied to holdings in Sudan, even despite the politicians' concerns about genocide there. The piece received an immediate response, with members divesting within hours of the reporter's calls.
My old student reports: "I've been working on it for the last five months and it might be the piece that I'm most proud of at CRP--it took months of data-assisted reporting based on our work and the Sudan Divestment Task Force's work, it's about an issue that I'm passionate about and, maybe for the first time ever, I got to see a direct impact. It's a pretty cool feeling! :)"
Makes me proud by extension. A little inspiration for your New Year. Have a good one (and a safe celebration).

Pakistan in Turmoil

Received this note from a 202er this morning:

Obviously you'll have gotten this link too or have read about this by now, but for formality's sake: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/28/world/asia/28pakistan.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

What's the deal with Pakistan? With all the crap surrounding Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan it seems like Pakistan has kind of flown under the radar for our nation's media (and possibly rightly so considering what we have invested in the other countries). I don't know much about Pakistan and how it fits into Middle East equation, but I remember reading about it for the 202 quiz questions when Bhutto arrived and the martial law imposed by Musharraf. It sounds like Pakistan is very unstable and might have revolutionary leanings given the controversy and dynamic there coupled with the death of this popular opposition leader. I unfortunately and unbearably don't have cable at home at my parents', so do you know of any good books or articles to get me up to speed on Pakistan? This country just keeps sounding more and more interesting and I can't see it not playing a big role the Middle East vs. United States Armageddon that's brewing.

Hope your break is going well,
~Al

Here are some story links that might help with background. You're welcome to use comments to add your own.
TIME magazine had a pretty good piece before Thanksgiving when the touchy deal between Bhutto and Musharraf went to hell
Bhutto herself had an op-ed in the Washington Post in that same time, gives a bit of background and shows her political strengths
The Post's roundup of Pakistan stories is comprehensive. I especially liked the image galleries when the lawyers erupted in protest.
Of all the pieces I read in the last three months or so, Newsweek's cover stands out the most. The lead is downright chilling, given today's events.
Hope that helps!

Accuracy in Advertising

A local example of how inaccuracy can bite you. Those ads cost a pretty penny to make and to run, yet their effectiveness has been significantly diminished by the simplest of errors. Media coverage of the mistake has outstripped the attention the spots may have earned on their own.
Makes a 10-point deduction for fact errors in J202 look like chump change. You've asked me repeatedly if we had a "10 Commandments of Media Ethics," what would be the first one. I'm nothing if not consistent: in news and strat comm, above all things, get it right.

MySpace Suicide update

The New York Times has an interpretive take on the MySpace suicide case we discussed last month. And they chose to name the mother who contributed to the bullying.

Top Magazine Covers

TIME magazine is out with its Top 10 Magazine Covers of 2007 (along with 49 other lists in pop culture, news, etc.). Personally, I think they got #1 and #2 backwards. The Ahmadinejad cover on the New Yorker stopped me in my tracks when it arrived in my mailbox. I've been unable to recycle it since.
What's the best thing you read in 2007? Best design you saw? Best marketing?

AP Update

I spoke with some of you about changes coming to the Associated Press and the idea of centralized editing. Here's a follow-up story.

Interactive and Advertising

OK, I'm putting this post up at my own risk, knowing that by the time you follow the link, the digital ad will likely have changed ... but here it goes.
Apple did a digital media buy on the front page of the NYT online today. It features a sidebar ad that interacts with a banner across the top below the masthead.
We all know I'm a cardinal among the Mac faithful, but I'd like to know what you think of this ad creatively and strategically. Does it make sense visually? Would you ever play it to get the interaction to work? Does it motivate you to buy? Do you think you're part of their target? Does digital make sense here? Does a buy with the Times make sense?
And I'll pull my soapbox out one final time this semester. If you're in strat comm and not thinking about digital, you are missing the biggest boat in the ocean right now.

FCC and Cross-Ownership

Welcome back from your labors in the final project. Let's get chatting again.
Congress is highlighting an issue you should all know about by now, an FCC rule controlling ownership of newspapers and broadcast stations in the same markets. Check out a decent summary of the issues and opinions in the Washington Post.
So what say ye? Should the government restrict this kind of ownership? Can newspaper companies survive without it? Would it benefit broadcast? Does it matter at all in a digital age? Do you know (or care) who owns the local papers and TV stations? How does ownership affect content?

Twitter?

OK, Do you Twitter?
I'm intrigued by the service but not convinced. It's like having my IM status messages available to the world (but Twitter's bug that won't allow AIM update submissions right now is thoroughly ticking me off). Does this mean I have to sound more coherent?
I can see it being uber-handy if I were still a breaking news reporter, but I'm not.
How can this tool be useful to me or will it become yet one more Facebook-esque time-suck that gives me the illusion that my busy-ness is somehow worthwhile?

MySpace Suicide -- And Us

OK, 202ers. Go back and read the previous post on MySpace and the comments to it.
One of the commenters has posted personal numbers and harsh commentary on the Drews. The commenter is anonymous (s/he shows a first name but no profile ... s/he could be in our class but also could be a member of the public following our blog).
Does this change your thoughts about the case overall? What do I do as moderator ... take it down or let it live? We talked in lecture and discussion about journalism, blogs and the space in between. What is it we're doing here? We're commenting on journalism but are our comments journalism? And what responsibilities do we have?

MySpace Suicide

A paper is taking heat for this story about a teen's suicide after she was targeted in a scheme to set up a fake MySpace character. The character was used to gather information that was then used against her socially. She killed herself about a year ago.
The story is tragic, but the paper is being criticized not for running it, but for not naming the adults involved in the fake account.
Read the piece and tell me what you think. Then read the comments posted at the bottom and tell me if that alters your view. Then go to some blogs (here's one), which have outed the offending adults, and follow the comment threads. What do those add to the equation?
I have pretty strong feelings on this one ...

Prof and Plagiarism?

A storm brewing at Mizzou, one of the country's most prominent J-Schools. A retired professor, John Merrill, wrote a column for the newspaper, which is run by the school. He used two quotes from another story without attributing them.
The paper publicly reprimanded him by taking his column away.
It's brought an interesting set of responses from ethicists and bloggers.
So is this plagiarism or something else? If it's something else, what is it? And how should it be handled? What are the "thou shalt nots" of media ethics? What are the grayer areas?

Mom Song

have gotten a bunch of requests for the youtube video i mentioned yesterday during the viral marketing discussion.

here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxT5NwQUtVM

how many times have you heard these lines from your mom???

tnx,
kc

Fat and the Farm Bill

Here's a suggested post from a 202er. I would STRONGLY encourage you to familiarize yourselves with this issue. It's going to be getting a lot of media attention. Took a long time to start bubbling, but now it will boil.

Katy,
I'm not sure if anyone's still reading the blog now that the quizzes are over, but on the chance that they are, it might be good to mention the Farm Bill 2007 that's currently going through the senate. The legislation is extremely important, and, unfortunately, it hasn't gotten much attention (at least that I've seen) besides a few op-eds (and an upcoming documentary called King Corn). Ultimately, the Farm Bill is the reason corn syrup is in everything we eat, and part of the reason Africa loses two dollars to trade deficit for every dollar in aid it receives. Billions and billions of dollars of subsidies go to massive agri-business corporations (I think 75 percent of the subsidies go to 3 companies), and it affects everything: nutrition, local farming,
the environment (that shipping costs money) and global poverty. It doesn't seem like a very interesting topic, but it has a huge impact, and people should know about it (especially since this is a very agricultural state). Here are a couple of those op-eds:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/15/opinion/15kleckner.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/22/AR2007102201656.html

plus a NYT magazine feature a while back:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/magazine/22wwlnlede.t.html

Print Circulation

Here's a great note from a 202er to supplement Monday's lecture:

Hi Katy,
In case you haven’t read this yet, I saw this article this morning. Relates to what you lectured on yesterday on the Journal Sentinel losing customers regardless of their strong Web site.

<http://www.jsonline.com/watch/?watch=20&date=11/5/2007&id=31384>http://www.jsonline.com/watch/?watch=20&date=11/5/2007&id=31384

Thanks,

In the News

What are you reading about this week? Last quiz = last chance. Offer it up. I may go full throttle and ask six current events questions. What might those look like?

OJ & KC

OK, a 202-er writes to try to suck Katy Culver into the OJ Simpson story, to wit:
____________
I stumbled upon this story today:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,307757,00.html

Does this make this case more interesting now? Was he framed?....if the FBI new about it, isn't it suspicious that they let it happen? Will this get big? I know you hate O.J. in the news...but i'm having trouble deciding whether this is a big, important issue...because it seems highly suspicious, yet i've heard nothing else and it's not very 'breaking.' It seems this was highly preventable...not that i personally wouldn't love to see O.J. rot in prison.
_____________

Y'all know my feelings on overblown tales of woe involving Orenthal James Simpson. So is this news now? And if so, how so?

Non-profit Journalism

Here's a nice wrap-up on my earlier post on non-profit journalism from the Poynter Institute.

Here's how this shakes out. The age-old business model of newspapers is scaring the pants off everyone right now. Print circulation and ad revenue are down markedly. Newspapers all over the country are tightening budgets and laying off workers, trying to keep a Wall Street-friendly profit margin in the face of these revenue problems.
People like me suspect that two kinds of coverage are most threatened by this trend: international reporting and investigative reporting. They're both essential to the very meaning of journalism but also colossally expensive to do.
Enter "non-profit journalism." The idea now goes that philanthropists will fund investigative journalism to keep the press as watchdogs of government, business, other institutions.

Do you think this will work? Can entities like this effectively serve as watchdogs? Were newspapers even doing that in the first place? What are the conflicts of interest?

Kid Creates Apple Ad

Lots of buzz in the marketing world these days regarding consumer-generated content. The theory is something like open-source in the computer world: the more people you let in on the creative process, the more likely you are to get new ideas and great advertising.
The problem is that you also get lots of dreck. Katy and the Culver kids tried creating an ad for Dove and while my 4-year-old looks darned cute, it isn't exactly something that would move a lot of soap.
So this week, Apple went live with a revamped version of an idea generated by an English student. I'm a fan. What about you? Think this is the future of advertising, consumers creating messages?
Note that this is also an "old media" story. The kid stuck his original on YouTube in mid-September and by mid-October, he had 2,000 hits. The New York Times put it in Stuart Elliott's column (on an inside page, mind you) and in less than 12 hours, the spot went to 20,000 hits. It's now at about 340,000.
Pieces like this often need the support of the (gasp) the "mainstream media." Now, if entities like the NYT can just figure out a way to make money off that hit-generating...

A Skeptical Editor

I was sorry to read of the death of Vivian Aplin-Brownlee, who stands out as one of the few to challenge the authenticity of a story that marked one of the lowest points in American journalism.
In 1981, Washington Post reporter Janet Cooke won a Pulitzer Prize for a story called "Jimmy's World," reporting on an 8-year-old heroin addict in DC. The problem: he didn't exist. The piece was a complete fabrication.
I've often stumbled on the case because when I read the piece, I found it strained the bounds of reason. But then I suspected it was just the clarity of hindsight leading me to that conclusion. You can read it and judge for yourself.
Aplin-Brownlee doubted the story from the beginning and came to be well-regarded for being a lone voice of dissent.
What is a newspaper's responsibility to check the veracity of its reporters' work? How could a false story slip through? What did this do to the Post's credibility? What forces prompt reporters and editors to behave unethically? What effect may race have had in this saga?