Blog Post Consolidation

   Boring alert: The next 20 posts (a semester's worth) are really boring if you don't care about journalism. I had to write them as part of my required homework for my master's class, The Social Role of Mass Media.
   I had a separate blog for the course, but decided to consolidate it with this blog for a few reasons.  First, the social role blog only had two followers, so very few people knew it existed. I don't want that material to disappear into a big black Blogosphere hole, which brings me to the second reason I consolidated. I'm the first to admit the material is dry as a bone and not very entertaining. However, it's vital information that I don't want to forget. In fact, I think it's so important I hope to share it with more than just two people.
   It feels good to jump-start this blog again, which includes my New York media trip last summer. This blog has been in hiatus for a long time, and now it's back.

Lessons learned

   This is my final blog for this course. I shall miss studying all things social media, but that's the beauty of education...it continues at our own will.

Here a few highlights I learned from this course:

1. The act of doing journalism is a social responsibility that contributes to the democracy of its citizens. A free press enables citizens to stay informed about their local communities, government and school systems, as well as what's happening around the world.
2. Journalists are no longer the sole provider of news. Because of technology, like blogs, Twitter and mobile devices, traditional consumers of news now have the capacity to supply it.
3. Because it's so easy to disseminate news in this electronic age, it's more important now more than ever to teach the traditional principles and standards of journalism. This point is what separates the journalists from the citizen communicators.
4. Journalists can have feelings, too. We can advocate for a cause as long as it's for the good of its citizens. This includes synthesizing complex information, as well as teaching readers about certain topics that otherwise would be hard to understand. This strays a little from the “be objective” role we traditionally hold.
5. Journalism educators have a very important mission of teaching media literacy to every student we can get to listen, including those students who have no intention of entering the journalism field. Citizen journalists now outnumber the legacy journalists, so it's no longer just enough to focus on those who want to be journalists when they grow up.

• One more thing, the Elements of Journalism rocks!

    Everything I learned this semester is sinking in. One major change I'm thinking about implementing next semester is creating a Twitter account for the Intro to Photojournalism class. They're already blogging, but I wonder if that's enough. I'm also considering developing a media literary summer course for the community college.

    Thanks for being a great teacher, John! Your law and ethics classes have helped make me the teacher I am today!

My Blogosphere

    I want to share last week's assignment before I sign off from this course. We had to develop a futures wheel on blogging. A futures wheel is just a fancy term for charting how we see the future of a given topic. We were encouraged to “let our imagination roll.”

I created a solar system based on the Blogoshere. Yeah, it's way out there, but we must not forget to have fun while we learn. Let your own imagination go wild as you read my own silly planet chart. One fellow student suggested that paparazzi be astroids. Now that's funny!

   My futures wheel is similar to a vibrant, active solar system. I will refer to this universe as my Blogosphere. There are eight planets that rotate around the sun. Each planet represents an outer ring into the universe.

    Hop on the Blogosphere social shuttle to visit or live on any of these planets, including the sun!

The sun = Planet Educator. Let's start with an energy source: The sun. The sun is 109 times as big as the earth. Without the sun, there would be no life on earth. Earth would be dark, cold and barren, and the other planets would be in perpetual blackness.

In my Blogosphere, the sun represents journalism education. The sun is home to The Sun Academy, where journalism teachers and advisers harness the sun's energy to teach students everything they need to know about journalism.

Journalism educators here have their work cut out for them, though. Not only is it their mission to teach traditional journalism values, like ethics, transparency, balance and verification, but they also must keep up with the most recent technology. Newspapers no longer exist, so journalists disseminate all of their news throughout the entire solar system using social media.

Mercury = Planet Student Bloggers. Mercury is the first planet in the solar system. It's one of the smallest planets, but it's the first! This is a popular communal planet where graduates from The Sun Academy go to live. They stay in shared housing while they hone their writing and ethical skills. They live here until they are ready to move to Venus, where good paying jobs with great benefits are plentiful.

Venus = Planet Legacy Bloggers. All working journalists who live on this planet maintain professional and personal blogs. There's a standard, industry-wide code of ethics derived from the Elements of Journalism (101^st revised edition), which eliminates much of the current confusion when using social media tools. This planet is nicknamed The Fourth Estate. Because all journalists here have jobs, they also own their own hover crafts and homes!

Earth = Planet First Amendment. Remember when Earth was the only planet in the solar system that sustained life? Now, thanks to artificial air and water sources, the other eight planets are thriving with life. But earth is a special place because of its historical value. Not only is this planet known for the creation of humans, it's also where the First Amendment was created.

Yes, this 18^th Century document still exists today! So, because of First Amendment, all legacy and citizen bloggers throughout the entire universe exercise their right to free speech, and censorship is banned.

Mars = Planet Truth. This is home of Poytner Institute and headquarters for the Solar System World JEA. Conveniently located between the planets First Amendment and Citizens, Planet Truth is a popular seminar destination for blogger educators and students.

Jupiter = Planet Citizens. This is the largest planet in the universe, and it's where most citizens live now. Citizens subscribe to their favorite news bloggers from throughout the solar system. Because of the mind-boggling high volume of bloggers available, there is universe-wide accreditation system. This helps to alert citizens when a blog originates from the Planet Uranus.

Saturn = Planet Interesting and Relevant. The inhabitants on this planet are known for their artsy blogging. These crazy newsmakers go above and beyond the 5Ws and the H. Saturnites think outside hemisphere by using short story forms and advanced multimedia. Need inspiration? This is a favorite vacation destination for news bloggers who are tired of the same old way of telling a story. The inhabitants on this planet don't mind sharing their skills and enthusiasm with others. In fact, bloggers from other planets are encouraged to enroll in one of the many famous creative blogging schools here.

Uranus = Planet Misinformation. This makes sense, doesn't it? You know what happens when you assume... This is where bloggers are exiled when they are are caught blogging misinformation, rumor, innuendo and lies. It's way out there in the universe, where it belongs.

Neptune = Planet New Media. This is planet where social scientists are working on the new media that hasn't been even been invented yet. This planet is light years away, but as fast as technology is changing, it won't take long to arrive. We just need to go around Uranus to get there.

Journalism and democracy

    I love this quote by George Lewis.
   “When there’s a disconnect between the truth and the official version of what happened, I think it’s our obligation as journalists to jump all over that," Lewis said during a recent speech. 
   "Journalists have become intimidated, self-censored, too reluctant to dispute the official version of events in recent years.  What happens when journalists pull their punches, pander to their audiences, sell out to commercial interests? What happens when we fail in our mission to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comforted?  I’ll tell you what happens: society loses – big time.” 
   This comment solidifies one of the reasons journalists help protect democracy.
   Would Kenneth Lay, Richard Nixon or former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich gotten away with it their corruption if it wasn't for the diligence and resourcefulness of journalists?
   Would more Hurricane Katrina victims still be suffering if the media hadn't been on the scene to document the death and destruction?
   Would there be more dead dogs if it weren't for theToledo Blade, who spearheaded a media campaign to oust the Lucas County Dog Pound warden, Tom Skelton. He was known for putting down all pit bulls that entered his cages, no matter the temperament. The Blade has taken more than a few hits for being relentless in this cause, but has their coverage protected the afflicted - defenseless dogs?
   What do these examples that have to do with democracy? Well, everything. It begins with the First Amendment. Freedom of the press allows journalists to report on their communities, which includes our own government and other powerful organizations that control our lives.
   Press freedoms are granted to anyone who feels obliged to tell the truth for the sake of democracy, and it traditionally began with scholastic journalists. But that's changing because of citizen journalists and social media.
   No matter what the age or credential, there should be no disconnect between the truth and the official version of what happened. Below are five core concepts of journalism as stated in the Elements of Journalism:
1. Never add anything that was not there.
2. Never deceive the audience.
3. Be as transparent as possible about your methods and motives.
4. Rely on your own original reporting.
5. Exercise humility.
   As long as student, legacy and citizen journalists follow these principles, society wins - big time.

Social Media is our future

   I have seen the future of journalism, and it is both terrifying and exciting.

    The days of having to wait for the 11 'clock news broadcast or the delivery of top headlines at your doorstep are over.

    With a single click, you can read instant, up-to-date stories on wars in Iraq, natural disasters in Haiti, political revolutions in Egypt, fashion statements in New York and the local price of gas. Actually, the mouse click might soon be a thing of the past, too, as they are replaced by iPads and mobile devices.

    The exciting part isn't that anyone with a wifi connection has access to these stories. That's almost become an expectation. These stories are coming out of countries that were once places of total secrecy and isolation, where residents are still ruled by dictatorship and media are banned from reporting the truth about the government.

    What's incredible is that these stories are not generated by the traditional, mainstream press. Because of social media, average citizens are blogging and tweeting their plight into living rooms thousands of miles away.

    This is our new reality as journalism educators.

    We have to see all of our youth, and older citizens, too, as potential storytellers. That's the terrifying part. Our network of communicators has expanded beyond my comprehension, which is probably why we have to rely on our students to spread the word, as well. Right, John?

Journalism student = learner and teacher

   The past two blog posts are about my memories as a working journalist. I was comfortable learning the craft as I went along because there weren't too many changes after college graduation.  Journalism was simple back then, wasn't it?
   I wonder if educators 30 years ago had the same fear as I do now of not being able to keep up with technology.

Aggregate...responsibly

   I learned a new word recently: aggregate. Although this is a new word for me, it's not a new social media concept. It's been evolving for years.

   According to the Merriam-Webster definition, aggregate is the collection of units or particles into a body, mass or amount. What that means in the journalism world is that sites like AOL News and Yahoo! News collect mass amounts of stories from other media sources, like the New York Times and the Washington Post, and repost them.

   Are these aggregation sites content thieves or bargain story outlets? Sure, the stories link back to the original source, but did they pay the journalists who wrote the stories or the photographers who took the photos?

   "For the first time in our history, the news increasingly is produced by companies outside journalism, and this new economic organization is important. We are facing the possibility that independent news will be replaced by self-interested commercialism posing as news," wrote Elements of Journalism authors Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel.

   To be fair, aggregation has its advantages. It's convenient for busy readers who want a broad range of news, and some sites have even hired people to manage hyper-local news, including local bloggers (citizen communicators) dedicated to covering their own community. 

   The problem with this latter point is that too many bloggers, masquerading as journalists, are willing to work for free for the chance to expression themselves and get published. I fear these bloggers are being taken advantage of by greedy aggregators hungary for space filler and original content.

   For this reason, media literacy should be a mandatory class for all college freshmen or sophomores. It's just too easy to misinform the public, which has been relying on ethical journalism (reliable, accurate, fair transparent) for hundreds of years. 

   This is where journalism educators can make a difference. We can't stop aggregation, but we can help make it more ethical by teaching journalism values to everyone, not just journalism majors. 

Delivery methods change, but truth does not

One of my homework assignments for last week: Your student reporters want to start using blogs to go with their stories. In a 300-word position statement, explain why this is or is not a good idea. Use arguments from this your required reading. (25 points)

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    Before computers, I used pound out stories on old fashioned typewriters. Each time I made a mistake, I'd rip out the paper, crumple it up and start over. It wasn't a good machine for a perfectionist. It took me hours to write a single story. This was in the early and mid-1980s, when I was an Army journalist.

    By the late 1980s, while a PJ major at Kent State, desktop computers replaced the typewriter. They were bulky, slow and prone to crash, but writing stories on computers was much faster and easier than peck, peck, pecking away on loud typewriter keys. You could actually edit copy without throwing away packs of paper, and save files to floppy disks. I practically lived at the Daily Kent Stater (the student newspaper) because I used the computers for my other homework.

    Then the portable Smith Corona and Brother word processors were invented. This allowed me to write in the comfort of my own home. And now? I have a MacBook Pro and an iPad.

    I've witnessed much change in technology during my 30 years in the journalism business, most of it improving the workflow for print journalists, editors, page designers and photojournalists.

    Yet, I don't think these changes in delivery methods are as monumental as the current social media tools available today, like Twitter, Facebook,WordPress and Blogger, which allow average citizens to publish their opinions in seconds.
   Like stated in Elements of Journalism, "Machines do not change human nature." (Page 184)

    So yes, I strongly encourage journalism students to blog and tweet their stories and photos, guided by editors and instructors who teach that "you cannot supplant the search for fact and content that traditional journalism of verification provides."  (Elements, Page 184)
   Learning to blog responsibly will separate students from countless citizen bloggers who have no formal education in journalism ethics and law. 

    The following are a few valuable lessons I believe students get out of learning social media tools: 

• It allows them to write more often and concisely;

• It forces students to verify on tighter deadlines;

• They learn blogging/social media ethics; 

• They learn a little about web design;  

• Blogging adds another dimension (multimedia) to their storytelling;

• It prepares them for journalism jobs in the 21^st Century.  

   I was taught how to blog in one of my grad classes: Teaching Multimedia.  I am paying it forward. (see owenspj.blogspot.com.)

   That's the power of education.