As with most, this is my opinion on things. I could be horrendously wrong. Just pat me on the head and pay me no mind.
MP3 players, Podcasting and Journalism
With the advent of iPods and other such devices, it's obvious people are spending a lot more time walking and driving around with personalized audio content. I've ended up wandering around to the wrong part of campus a few times because I was intently listening to a song on my MP3 player.
People have had the opportunity to listen to audio while mobile for a while now, but it was limited in its length and, in some cases, quality. Tapes were great but couldn't store a lot of information. CDs were good, but even today Discman's and the like don't have the best "anti-skip" technology. MP3 players really broke the barrier with their sizeable hard drives and digital content.
TV shows like Battlestar Galactica (remember, I'm a Sci Fi freak, so this is the example you're getting) have taken the public's enjoyment and reliance on MP3s to expand its interaction with the show. Ron Moore has made Podcasts available for separate episodes that function similar to a DVD's Director Commentary. Instead of just watching the show, a viewer can hear humorous stories about the filming of a particular scene or discover what the director particularly hoped to emphasize about a character. It brings the public closer to an in-depth experience about the show.
What works for TV shows could very easily work for journalism. I, for one, sometimes dread the drive (and walk) to class because I'm trapped with either news stories I do not want to hear any more about (Michael Jackson trial) or CDs that I really don't want to begin hating because I've over-played them.
Enter opportunity. News sites like CNN could make extensive and in-depth coverage of events into an MP3, which is relatively easy to download depending on a person's connection speed. If I wanted to learn about the history of the Terri Schiavo case from beginning to end, CNN could make a compilation of audio clips and reports in MP3 format. The progression of a news event could be analyzed by those who reported on it. In essence it could become an audio version of CNN Presents, which generally takes the longer view on the stories it covers.
I'll admit I'm shaky on how this would work, but it might be possible to have a program set up to sync a MP3 player with a news site at specific times, downloading the latest news reports before a person leaves for/from work. Instant recent newscast available for the drive.
As far as MP3 players that record audio, there you have a simple way of selecting and uploading soundbytes from an interview to the web to go with a reporter's written story. Instead of just reading the text quote, it could be a link to it as well. There are some things people say that are just too unbelievable when it's only words on a page. Hearing them actually say it can be gold.
Mobile Video Players and Journalism
Really, this is just an extension of what I've already said, but with video. Along with the idea that you could download a video of a particular news segment, there's the thought of delivering extra content for people to watch. Too often people struggle with the context of a statement made in an interview (The Connie Chung/Gingrich parents example comes to mind). Digitizing and making available for download the entire video of an interview could allow people to make up their own minds about an interview. Journalists are in the habit of cutting and splicing to provide the "most important" information to the public. I would say a growing number of people want ALL the information, not just some. Yes, it might be about their particular hobby subject, but it's a way to supplement an existing newscast.
I might come back to this with more ideas, but for right now I'll stop here.
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Sunday, June 05, 2005
Deep Throat Revealed - My Reaction
It's most likely a generation gap issue, but I'm not at all plugged in to the high emotional content of this story. Those who've referred to Felt as a sneak or a traitor come off as laughable to me, while the cynics over the Felt family motives are simply annoying. It seems as though everyone's taken their positions to the extreme end far too fast in an effort to get out a sound-byte.
What so many of the people trying to tear down Felt conveniently forget to mention, from my perspective, is that the Nixon administration really was doing something wrong. I'm sure there were power games going on beyond the fact that Felt was confirming information for Woodward and Bernstein. It's politics. Felt was not a hero and he was not a traitor to the Nixon administration either. It's not something you can white-hat/black-hat. He was a whistle-blower in a way, yes, but Woodward has made the point that much of the time Felt was confirming info that the journalists had gotten elsewhere, not masterminding it.
I think the fact that his identity was concealed for so long helped create this problem, however. Several articles have dwelled on the fact that the mystery made it possible for Deep Throat's cult status to grow, possibly beyond any reasonable estimation of his actual importance in the scheme of the story. The mystery-man became the story instead of the facts, so now that there's a clear target a lot of people are taking a shot. Or twenty.
I feel the Post is more than justified in having kept Deep Throat's identity concealed. If the only way a paper could write a story is to list everyone they talked to, nobody would risk talking to the paper for fear of the consequences. Papers have not only a duty to the public at large, they have a duty to protect those who bring them the information that will serve the public at large. One of the biggest things we've learned here is that there must be trust between a reporter and a source as well as a reporter and the reading public.
What so many of the people trying to tear down Felt conveniently forget to mention, from my perspective, is that the Nixon administration really was doing something wrong. I'm sure there were power games going on beyond the fact that Felt was confirming information for Woodward and Bernstein. It's politics. Felt was not a hero and he was not a traitor to the Nixon administration either. It's not something you can white-hat/black-hat. He was a whistle-blower in a way, yes, but Woodward has made the point that much of the time Felt was confirming info that the journalists had gotten elsewhere, not masterminding it.
I think the fact that his identity was concealed for so long helped create this problem, however. Several articles have dwelled on the fact that the mystery made it possible for Deep Throat's cult status to grow, possibly beyond any reasonable estimation of his actual importance in the scheme of the story. The mystery-man became the story instead of the facts, so now that there's a clear target a lot of people are taking a shot. Or twenty.
I feel the Post is more than justified in having kept Deep Throat's identity concealed. If the only way a paper could write a story is to list everyone they talked to, nobody would risk talking to the paper for fear of the consequences. Papers have not only a duty to the public at large, they have a duty to protect those who bring them the information that will serve the public at large. One of the biggest things we've learned here is that there must be trust between a reporter and a source as well as a reporter and the reading public.
Deep Throat Revealed - Continued
Something I found interesting is MSNBC's Bloggerman Keith Olbermann's point that, while many news sources, personalities, and critics are treating this as a final chapter in the story, it might not be. Olbermann said, "Deep Throat could not have acted alone." Chances for further investigation could lead to a whole new round of mystery figures.
Punditguy.com's blog brings up the fact that Felt had been passed over for promotion to the FBI's top slot, saying "[...]in the end, it was an act of revenge, pure and simple. Felt had a vendetta against the president, and he got back at him by spoon feeding information to Woodward, knowing it would fatally damage Nixon."
Punditguy.com's blog brings up the fact that Felt had been passed over for promotion to the FBI's top slot, saying "[...]in the end, it was an act of revenge, pure and simple. Felt had a vendetta against the president, and he got back at him by spoon feeding information to Woodward, knowing it would fatally damage Nixon."
Deep Throat Revealed - Part One
With the identity of Deep Throat revealed, everyone in the political world seems to have developed an opinion on his actions. There are those that hail him as a hero, a whistle-blower of sorts on the Nixon administration, while others find his actions to be criminal.
Pat Buchanan called him a snake on MSNBC's Hardball. (Transcript)
Buchanan said, "Yes, I think he's sneaky. And I think he's dishonorable in what he did."
On the same program Tom Brokaw discussed the journalistic aspects of the case, saying that Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein had reinvented investigative journalism when other journalists were "fat, dumb and happy in the press room."
The Washington Post blogs have been active with discussion of the motivation behind the family coming out with the information now. Boston Globe columnist Eileen McNamara called the family's motives "self-serving." Mark Felt's daughter Joan did admit to discussing how they could use money from revealing his identity to help the family.
Pat Buchanan called him a snake on MSNBC's Hardball. (Transcript)
Buchanan said, "Yes, I think he's sneaky. And I think he's dishonorable in what he did."
On the same program Tom Brokaw discussed the journalistic aspects of the case, saying that Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein had reinvented investigative journalism when other journalists were "fat, dumb and happy in the press room."
The Washington Post blogs have been active with discussion of the motivation behind the family coming out with the information now. Boston Globe columnist Eileen McNamara called the family's motives "self-serving." Mark Felt's daughter Joan did admit to discussing how they could use money from revealing his identity to help the family.
Friday, June 03, 2005
SMU Daily Data "Improvement" Idea
I have a rather biased opinion on what should go on the Daily Data site since I was in class last semester working on some of it. I guess biased is the wrong word. It's more that I'm suffering from restricted vision. I know there's already a lot of stuff on the site.
I was walking down the halls of the building today and noticed the displays of assignments from students in the Photojournalism classes. Some of the pictures are very impressive, and I think it would be cool to see some of that work up on a Web site. It could serve as both a Web exposure for SMU, showing what students in classes are doing, as well as being a help to the students who created those pictures. Sort of a photo resume source.
I don't even think it would have to be limited to Journalism students here at U. Lee. There have to be art courses that would be interested in having some product exposure for their exceptional students.
I was walking down the halls of the building today and noticed the displays of assignments from students in the Photojournalism classes. Some of the pictures are very impressive, and I think it would be cool to see some of that work up on a Web site. It could serve as both a Web exposure for SMU, showing what students in classes are doing, as well as being a help to the students who created those pictures. Sort of a photo resume source.
I don't even think it would have to be limited to Journalism students here at U. Lee. There have to be art courses that would be interested in having some product exposure for their exceptional students.
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