[AEJMC Newspaper Division list] name change

Tue Aug 10 13:34:02 CDT 2010

I just finished screening 10 breaking news entries for the Online News
Association contest, and the content was terrific. Here are some examples,
all with a wide array of media, all with interactive features and all making
great use of social media:

http://www.nytimes.com/indexes/2010/01/14/

http://www2.tbo.com/static/special_reports_news/tbocom-news-special-reports-
tampa-officers-killed/

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703382904575059921198076854.ht
ml

And here¹s a great example of the backpack journalist at work:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/tense-curfew-falls-on-bangkok-afte
r-violent-crackdown/article1573740/

All of these reports were done by or for newspapers, and there were others.
The Dallas Morning News had a great example of using blogs and social media
during the day of a record snowstorm. The Seattle Times put together a
Pulitzer-winning report on four police officers being shot, but you need a
password to view it. The depth of reporting, including supporting documents
such as rap sheets, is compelling.

The content in these reports is far more interesting, colorful and engaging
than anything you can do with ink and paper alone.

As suggested by today¹s group of e-mails, the question isn¹t whether we love
ink and paper, or whether we¹re being to pessimistic about the future of ink
and paper. The question is how we provide great journalism on this great
electronic platform ‹ and make it pay. This last is THE critical issue
because the ink-and-paper model is in decline and will continue to be so. I
know from personal experience and loss of income.

My students today are as well-informed as ever, but none of them read on ink
and paper. The get all their news from the Internet, and more often than not
on their cell phone. We have to think about delivering quality journalism to
this audience.

MO¹D

Michael O'Donnell
Associate Professor of Communication and Journalism
University of St. Thomas
Mail# 4302
2115 Summit Ave.
St. Paul, MN 55105
651-962-5281

"Brevity is the soul of wit." -- Shakespeare

> From: Bob Stepno <bob at stepno.com>
> Date: Tue, 10 Aug 2010 13:02:26 -0500
> To: Carrie Brown <carrielisabrown at gmail.com>
> Cc: "news-list at aejmc.net" <news-list at aejmc.net>
> Subject: Re: [AEJMC Newspaper Division list] name change
> 
> http://aejmc.net/news/?p=603
> 
> I did post an item on the division blog last week pointing  to Vin Crosbie's
> column about research,  and added links to the division's earlier interaction
> with INMA.
> 
> Incidentally INMA's magazine and research reports might be of interest to
> academic researchers, but INMA's members - only policy and pricing are
> prohibitive.
> 
> They even require registration to follow links from their blog to free content
> elsewhere on the net.
> I asked & was told academic memberships were discussed with AEJMC long ago but
> price was never settled or something like that.
> 
> (Sorry; I'm writing from my phone and can't quote the exact message. )
> 
> Anyone interested in newspaper -industry-relations liaison for division,
> write and I'll forward my earlier correspondence.
> 
> Meanwhile, any and all convention reports are welcome at the blog, since I
> wasn't able to leave Virginia.
> 
> I did post some blog items from here and I was also able to help the Colo
> students fix the story formatting for the convention news site. (Its stories
> all week had no line or paragraph breaks.)
> 
> I added a blog link to the students' most newspaper -related story on my
> compilation here:
> 
> http://aejmc.net/news/?p=628
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Bob
> 
> On Aug 10, 2010 1:12 PM, "Carrie Brown"
> <carrielisabrown at gmail.com<mailto:carrielisabrown at gmail.com>> wrote:
> 
> Just a quick two cents. I personally don't care passionately about the name -
> as I believe Phil Meyer said, it's not so much about what the individual
> division is named but about the overall organization of AEJMC. But the
> passionate defenses of newsprint on this listserv do, with all due respect,
> convince younger faculty members such as myself and folks in the industry of
> our increasing lack of relevance (e.g.
> http://www.digitaldeliverance.com/2010/07/31/aejmc/). Regardless of the high
> esteem we may place on newspapers, my research partner and I have collectively
> spent months actually visiting them and conducting well over 100 interviews in
> the past two years, and what they are desperately in need of from the academic
> community is forward-thinking research on how they can change, build a
> business model, and enhance the core values of journalism using the many tools
> the Web makes available to us.  I'd like to see the same level of passion and
> interest in THAT kind of discussion as I so frequently hear from this division
> about how sad or scary change is and how we must continue to venerate
> newsprint.
> 
> --
> ***********************************************
> Carrie Brown-Smith, Ph.D
> Assistant Professor
> University of Memphis
> Department of Journalism
> 314 Meeman
> cell:  202-251-5719
> Brown.Carrie at memphis.edu<mailto:Brown.Carrie at memphis.edu>
> carrielisabrown at gmail.com<mailto:carrielisabrown at gmail.com>
> changingnewsroom.wordpress.com<http://changingnewsroom.wordpress.com>
> @brizzyc
> ***********************************************
> 
> If, and only if, journalists themselves become active, aggressive and vocal
> participants in the debate and the decisions about the future of journalism
> and, with public support, can successfully navigate the transition into
> cyberspace with their stated values intact, will journalism or democracy
> survive the 21st Century...."  --Bill Kovach
> 
> DEMOCRACY DEPENDS ON JOURNALISM
> 
> 
> 
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> 

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