PressEthic

On the New York Times website a heartbreaking story about the sexual abuse of African children was posted today. The issue has an article and a video with beautiful pictures with a voiceover. The video is ten and a half minutes long and includes a series of pictures that coordinate with the voice of the narrator and what is going on in the story. A different person wrote the related article, did the voiceover and took the pictures with is interesting to me from the perspective of immersion journalism. This is not an objective story; the narrator repeats over and over the fact that "it is real violence and should be known by the world." I am fascinated by this photojournalistic storytelling and the video makes it so intriguing.

Normally, two gay woman having a child together would not register a blip on media's radar -- unless the woman happened to be in Hollywood, ala Melissa Etheridge. But in this case, the pregnant woman happens to be Mary Cheney, daughter of Vice-President Dick Cheney. With Cheney's allegiance to the family values platform of conservatism, leftwing and rightwing groups quickly seized on the announcement.

That the proliferation of blogging has transformed otherwise perhaps antiquated forms of news consumption is indisputable. Blogs often break news stories even before news organiztions gather enough evidence to report them, and a resulting influx of citizen journalists has greatly influenced the shifting media landscape we so often discuss. But when bloggers begin to question published articles, accusing the media of spinning stories in order to cater to a specific agenda, it is the journalists that become afflicted.

An article in The New York Times yesterday discussed a controversial AP article that detailed an incident in which six Sunnis were killed violently by a group of Shiites. According to the article, Bloggers questioned the report's validity, citing both Iraqi and American officials' insistence that the event was a rumor.

The relationship between a presidential administration, the public, and the reporters who serve as intermediaries is largely dependent on the leaks that come out of the White House. These leaks can be damaging to an administration's agenda, but the absence of leaks is also potentially dangerous.

College newspapers across the country have published an editorial in protest of USC's stymie of the re-election of the school paper's editor.

These days, with just about every cell phone equipped with a digital camera, anyone is eligible to become a photojournalist. Starting today, Reuters and Yahoo News are welcoming submissions of digital pictures from plebs like you and me.

It’s no news that newspaper staffs love blogs, and that many news sites host a variety of them. Topics range from your basic political commentary, to weird sports and pet obsessions. The advantage for the newspaper is, of course, a more engaged audience in an age of quickly changing media technology.

Kenneth Jautz, a CNN executive interviewed by The New York Times, discussed the decision to move "from news to views." The article, "With Brash Hosts, Headline News Finds More Viewers in Prime Time," delves into programmatic changes at CNN, shifting their prime-time news coverage to shows hosted by talking heads with clear political agendas.

Because you, too, could oneday write for a paper that requires you to accompany its advertising sales team on their rounds.

NYU's Jay Rosen sits down with former Washington Post political editor, John Harris, to discuss some of the goals and motivations behind his new web venture.

FAIR takes the CNN Headline News host to task for his threatening remarks towards Muslims, as well as his other hateful attacks

In the very heated and publicized Bell shooting in Queens CNN.com posted an update today to let America know that one of the wounded said, "My friend is dead. I'm shot up. We need justice." I was expecting the entire article to endlessly drone on and drone about the racial undertones and make condescending comments about the victims and their history but I was surprised when I saw the option to click on a video that presented a different view. The victim's fiance' isn't mad at police and CNN wants to tell you about it in a video. Interesting how this convergence thing is popping up. I can't say the article is bias in terms of promoting this racial element of the shooting.

An editorial appearing in Navy Times says the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy is no longer relevant, and in fact, harmful, given the need for volunteers in the armed forces.

A critical look at coverage of the Sean Bell shooting.

Soon-to be all-powerful Google is turning to school classrooms to test out its free software service, the Associated Press reported Sunday.