robinjp / Robin J Phillips http://robinjp.posterous.com On journalism | Links | thoughts | insights | excitement. posterous.com Thu, 30 Jun 2011 07:58:00 -0700 Page One, inside one corner of one floor of The New York Times http://robinjp.posterous.com/page-one-inside-one-corner-of-one-floor-of-th http://robinjp.posterous.com/page-one-inside-one-corner-of-one-floor-of-th

Pageoneposter
I saw Page One, the movie, last night.  

It's no The Front Page, but here are the similarities:  Men swagger, women cry.  And things are changing.

I love news and newsrooms and still get misty eyed watching the morning paper roll off the presses late at night. So Page One was a nice fly-on-the-wall look inside the hallowed halls of The New York Times during the 14 months it was filmed. The building is magnificent, but the scramble to make sense of stories and get them in the paper is the same as any newsroom I've been in. 

And it was all about getting stories in the paper.  There was one moment when Andrew Ross Sorkin ordered a story not be put "on the web" yet because he had to confirm something. Other than theoretical discussions about paywalls and blogging, that was it. We saw nothing else about the amazing work we know is being done inside The New York times by digital journalists. 

Director Andrew Rossi says the movie examines the ongoing crisis in journalism from inside the newsroom.  Uhm, nah.  It doesn't do that.  At least not any better than a 20-minute scan of my Twitter feed might.  

It would have been smart for Rossi to take 5 or 10 minutes away from David Carr's time (oh and he would have plenty left) to show us how Aron Pilhofer and his team get the news out. Pilhofer is editor of Interactive News at The New York Times and what his team is doing is the future of journalism Rossi was trying to explore.

In one telling scene a group of men, drinking beers in a bar, asked Tim Arango about his new assignment in Iraq. How was he going to begin? What had the editors advised? No real advice, he told them, except to go and fit into the well-oiled machine that's been working for 7 years. It sounded a little like just do what we've done before. Yes, it's war, but you'll figure it out.  

I could go on. There are some touching scenes during layoffs and David Carr truly has some funny moments.  He is an odd pitchman for such a lofty organization, but he is sent out to tackle criticisms from some rather goofy opponents.  Then executive editor Bill Keller (straight out of central casting) takes the tough questions.  

If you love newsrooms, go see it.  But then go home and watch The Front Page.  

Page One, inside one corner of one floor of The New York Times
Robin J Phillips

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/85985/Picture_003.jpg http://posterous.com/users/eHtpfaaNLX Robin Phillips robinjp Robin Phillips Thu, 03 Mar 2011 08:32:00 -0800 Twitter just isn't good enough to be my only news feed http://robinjp.posterous.com/twitter-just-isnt-good-enough-to-be-my-only-n http://robinjp.posterous.com/twitter-just-isnt-good-enough-to-be-my-only-n
People (well, journalists) keep telling me that Twitter is their news feed.  

"I wake to Twitter and get everything I need," one said last week.  And several more really smart people echoed those remarks last night at #wjchatPHX, an in real life gathering during the online #wjchat Twitter chat about web journalism. 

Surely that can't be enough.  If you rely on links that other people shoot to you, aren't you still getting pretty old news? Do you follow people on Twitter for their ability to read news sites and create tiny urls?  

I do get a lot from Twitter, but I need more.  And that's why I love google reader.  There are a lot of readers out there.  I've been playing with Pulse, which is fun and cool to look at.  But I keep going back to my google reader .. on the phone and desktop, on the bus or in a car, with a fox, in a ....  .   

 

Whyilikegooglereader

I still get the thrill of a cub reporter as I "discover" something just posted .. news, analysis, a funny photo or cool graphic .. and am able to shoot that out and get it in the info stream or, sometimes, share it with just one person.  

I curate my reader as I curate Twitter.  I add and subtract feeds and analyze my use frequently. I engage with the people I follow there and hit the "add to reader" button with them in mind.

This is why Twitter just isn't enough to be my news feed: 
I read a lot more than I share.  And I suspect the people I follow on Twitter do too.  

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/85985/Picture_003.jpg http://posterous.com/users/eHtpfaaNLX Robin Phillips robinjp Robin Phillips Wed, 02 Mar 2011 08:34:24 -0800 Awesome post after my session on cutting through social media clutter http://robinjp.posterous.com/awesome-post-after-my-session-on-cutting-thro http://robinjp.posterous.com/awesome-post-after-my-session-on-cutting-thro
Newslab

Deborah Potter wrote a followup to a session I gave a few weeks ago.   Wow.  Great to see how well she picked up what I was hoping to share.  

Deborah writes for NewsLab, an online resource and training center for journalists in all media that has one simple goal: to help journalists do better work by building their skills and broadening their thinking.
Here are three recent posts:

Thanks, Deborah.   I love surprises.  And I really love hearing that people are as jazzed about all this stuff as I am.  

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/85985/Picture_003.jpg http://posterous.com/users/eHtpfaaNLX Robin Phillips robinjp Robin Phillips Wed, 12 Jan 2011 20:24:17 -0800 Nobody knows the troubles I've seen http://robinjp.posterous.com/nobody-knows-the-troubles-ive-seen http://robinjp.posterous.com/nobody-knows-the-troubles-ive-seen
Breakingnewsbroken

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/85985/Picture_003.jpg http://posterous.com/users/eHtpfaaNLX Robin Phillips robinjp Robin Phillips Fri, 03 Dec 2010 11:19:00 -0800 Behind the scenes at #wjchat http://robinjp.posterous.com/behind-the-scenes-at-wjchat http://robinjp.posterous.com/behind-the-scenes-at-wjchat
Wjchatlove
 I'm thinking about pitching a session at NewsFoo to talk about #wjchat .. perhaps a talk about what co-founder Robert Hernandez, aka @webjournalist, calls our lightning in a bottle.

An amazing number of past guest hosts will be at NewsFoo, which is being billed as an unconference "bringing technologists and journaists together to move forward." If any of you #wjchat alumni or regular chatters want to join me, let's create a session.   #wjchat has been very successful.  We're nearly a year old. We've covered (among many other topics) tools, crowdsourcing, legal issues, corrections, comments, business models ....  and the occasional free-range chat.  But there is so much more we could do ... given time, money, brainpower.  

#wjchat is a web journalist chat on Twitter.  We need on Wednesdays, 5 p.m. Pacific time.  In February, we celebrate our One Year Anniversary. 

#wjchat sprang from a disenchantment with another chat on Twitter called #journchat.  Many of us checked out #journchat expecting it would be a time to discuss journalism, but it is much more PR-focused than the name implies. 

One evening in February 2010, a group of four web journalists began talking (on Twitter) about wanting to share stories, tips, ideas, experiences and quickly came up with #wjchat.   A couple of early writeups:  The birth of #wjchat | DIY and passion give birth to #wjchat 

We have a team of seven people and each Wednesday's event is our weeky miracle.  We all work full time and we volunteer the time it takes to organize and run the weekly 90 minute chat. 

Here's our most recent archive:  #wjchat Dec. 1, 2010.  Guest host Burt Herman, CEO of Storify.com. 

I am the only one of the seven at NewsFoo this weekend and feel honored to represent them.  Yet, we are all very aware that we get the hosts, come up with questions, run the @wjchat Twitter feed, but #wjchat belongs to the web journalist community.  They tell us that all the time.

So come on by if we do a #wjchat session.  And if not, look out, everyone else at NewsFoo. I'm on the hunt for guest hosts for #wjchat Year No. 2!

 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/85985/Picture_003.jpg http://posterous.com/users/eHtpfaaNLX Robin Phillips robinjp Robin Phillips Sat, 30 Oct 2010 07:03:00 -0700 Open letter to Evil Man, aka Robert Hernandez http://robinjp.posterous.com/open-letter-to-evil-man-aka-robert-hernandez http://robinjp.posterous.com/open-letter-to-evil-man-aka-robert-hernandez

Roberth

 

This note is in response to Robert Hernandez'  aka @Webjournalist 

Robert wrote in part in response to a wild, crazy day at ONA10. Robert's part is described here by Cory Bergman

Robert:  

I began Friday at ONA having breakfast with Josh Williams, who did remarkable work at the Las Vegas Sun. He now teaches Web publishing at UC Berkley.

Josh talked about the lightning bug magic that happened during his time in Las Vegas.  He and a talented team did great work because they had a boss "who wrote a big check."  

You did great work in Seattle ...  (remind me to ask you what magic made that happen). And today you are awesome at articulating concepts that will help us navigate this crazy realignment of journalism we're in.  

Your enthusiasm about the tools is always fortified by your passion for journalism, storytelling, ethics. At the center of what you do is a reverence for the legacy we carry.  

You and Josh now teach students who will end up in the newsrooms you describe in your Jerry Maguire post ... (see above...)    where, as you say, "In fact, these amazing people are on your staff right now. But, because you don’t understand or approve it, you don’t see it."

Don't get stuck. Either of you.  Learn what you can there. Teach what you can there.   

But then get back in a newsroom.  Teach managers and executives how to recognize the value of web storytelling.  Teach them how to trust the people they hire.  

We want them to write big checks.  But we also need them to become web journalists too. (There will be no other kind.)  

We need them to feel as passionate as you do.   And we need them with us.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/85985/Picture_003.jpg http://posterous.com/users/eHtpfaaNLX Robin Phillips robinjp Robin Phillips Sat, 23 Oct 2010 18:28:00 -0700 Journalism and the need for 1,000 True Fans http://robinjp.posterous.com/journalism-and-the-need-for-1000-true-fans http://robinjp.posterous.com/journalism-and-the-need-for-1000-true-fans
I keep thinking about Kevin Kelly's ideas about the need for people who create to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living. 

Kelly explains: 

A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can't wait till you issue your next work. They are true fans.

Truefans-1
In journalism, we think of our audience or reader. More and more, I'm thinking in terms of our True Fans.  Kelly's idea is that for us to rise out of the flat line, we want to convert 1,000 Lesser Fans into 1,000 True Fans.  

Maybe in journalism there is a stronger category a category that recognizes the need for engagement. I'm going to start thinking about 1,000 True Collaborators.  

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/85985/Picture_003.jpg http://posterous.com/users/eHtpfaaNLX Robin Phillips robinjp Robin Phillips Sat, 16 Oct 2010 11:11:00 -0700 Did P. Diddy rip-off famed graphic design for a Sean Jean T-shirt? http://robinjp.posterous.com/did-p-diddy-rip-off-famed-graphic-design-for http://robinjp.posterous.com/did-p-diddy-rip-off-famed-graphic-design-for

Seduction_pentagram_pdiddy

 

Canadian graphic artist Marian Bantjes says P. Diddy's new T-shirt design is a “a straight rip-off” of a poster she designed of Yale’s architecture school.  
In an article for  Fast Company's Co.Design, Suzanne LaBarre writes:

Obviously, designers sample from each other all the time -- it’s inextricable from the creative process. But Bantjes reckons Sean John crossed the line. “[C]ustom lettering is not a font,” she says. 

 Puff Daddy's corporate offices would not return calls to talk about the design, LaBarre said. 

What interests me in this story is that the designer and architecture world called out P. Diddy three days ago and that's it.  Co.Design, Shuttervoice,  and the Yale Alumni magazine are on it.  But that's it.  No celeb sites. No gossip publications. Not even any fashion writers have done anything on the story.  

I can only imagine this story, which I admit would be great link-bait, has been overlooked only because no one is looking. This is a reminder to me that interesting stories are everywhere.   

Keep your eyes open.  RSS feeds are good.  But being curious as you roam around the web is better. 

I found this P. Diddy design rip-off story like this: 

==> Channel surfing, I caught a piece on the Sundance channel about SVA's BFA Advertising/Graphic Design Department. 
====> I Googled a couple of the designers who were praising their department founder/chair Richard Wilde to admire their work.
======> Designer/instructor Paula Scher is a partner at Pentagram. 
=========> Quick links on Pentagram led me to LaBarre's article on Co.Design. 
==============> So I checked out Twitter and decided to follow  @SuzanneLaBarre  because she breaks design news.

SO. JOURNALISTS: 

Roam the web with intent.  Be curious.  While away the time looking at bright shiny objects on the web.  But remember people write about their passions.  Stories are everywhere.  And they are there for you to pick up and develop. 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/85985/Picture_003.jpg http://posterous.com/users/eHtpfaaNLX Robin Phillips robinjp Robin Phillips Sat, 31 Jul 2010 09:42:52 -0700 Should reporters post full interview transcripts online? http://robinjp.posterous.com/should-reporters-post-full-interview-transcri http://robinjp.posterous.com/should-reporters-post-full-interview-transcri

Ezra Klein has proposed an idea that brings up issues of journalistic transparency, making the best use of what you've got, and the role of reporter as their own first editor.

Klein, Washington Post economic and domestic policy blogger, suggested that reporters put the full transcripts of interviews online, taking advantage of  the bottomless pit nature of the Internet. | Klein on  'Wasted interviews'

In a post early last month, Klein said he'd just read the New York Times piece Volcker Pushes for Reform, Regretting Past Silence, which was set around "a wide-ranging, on-the-record interview with Volcker himself" but which contained just a few isolated quotes from the former Federal Reserve chairman.

Jumble of letters"This is a baffling waste of good information," Klein wrote.

OK.  There is more room on the Web than in a newspaper.  And many people would want to read the sort of inside baseball that could be gleaned from an extensive interview, if there was an affordable service that could transcribe a long interview into text for the Web that was readable.

Or would Klein accept dumping an audio tape .. and we all know how rambling they can be .. from an extensive interview online?

Julian Assange, editor of whistle-blowing website Wikileaks, has crticized the media for not making use of the huge amount of space available online to make primary source material more readily available.

Is a data-dump or a full transcript of an interview really a sign of a more complete free press?

Joel Gunter, in British blog Journalism.co.UK, suggests that "news organisations considering such a move would have to weigh any potential increase in traffic – and any respect garnered by increased openness – with what is surely, for most, an unwelcome level of transparency."

Yes, it would be great to be able to have a super-long sidebar which includes the best of a full, wide-ranging interview. But is there really a need to move the reporter aside and offer readers raw quotes, raw data?

EarlyBird1, the first commenter on Klein's post, throws down the gauntlet .. perhaps tongue-in-cheek:

"Great idea!!! Why not lead by example? If you start doing it with success and other writers at the Post follow, it should spread to other organizations."

I'm curious about what other reporters think about the idea.

This was also posted on my day-job blog BusinessJournalism.org.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/85985/Picture_003.jpg http://posterous.com/users/eHtpfaaNLX Robin Phillips robinjp Robin Phillips Mon, 19 Jul 2010 13:13:00 -0700 Timing of Pulitzer-bound Top Secret America reflects brave new thinking in American journalism http://robinjp.posterous.com/timing-of-pulitzer-bound-top-secret-america-r http://robinjp.posterous.com/timing-of-pulitzer-bound-top-secret-america-r

The Columbia Journalism Review has a post title It's Morning in "Top Secret America" about the Washington Post's massively ambitious project which launched today .. MONDAY... in the paper and on WashingtonPost.com: Top Secret America.

Yeah, yeah. It is a massive project, a public records-based investigation of America's national security apparatus post-9/11. Co-authors Dana Priest and William M. Arkin spent more than two years on what was kept pretty secret even in the newsroom.  And the package of findings that are on the Web are amazing.  

But what no one has mentioned is that it is MONDAY.   Not Sunday, the day that newspapers traditionally launch Big Projects, Pulitzer-bound packages.   One reader asks why.  And Dana Priest's answer is significant for the future of journalism.  

Q. TIMING OF ARTICLE

Why was your article run on Monday and not Sunday? There are many more subscribers for the Sunday edition. Thanks.

A.
DANA PRIEST WRITES:

Because many more people go to the website on Monday rather than Sunday and this project was designed from the start to be very rich on the web. You should play around with the database to see what I mean.

– July 19, 2010 1:11 PM
 
That is an awesome change.  And very smart.
 
While I was at azcentral.com, we often talked about how our big Sunday A1 packages were lost on the Web on Sunday mornings.  No one was reading them then.  But the paper (and others, The Arizona Republic is certainly not alone in this) was slow to change the timing of newspaper/Web publication.  There is no reason except tradition that timing of the print stories and Web stories need to be tied to each other. 
 
Timing a package like this, massive in its size, depth, potential, for the Web audience is a great step forward.  

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/85985/Picture_003.jpg http://posterous.com/users/eHtpfaaNLX Robin Phillips robinjp Robin Phillips Thu, 17 Jun 2010 10:27:00 -0700 BP paying just $20? http://robinjp.posterous.com/bp-paying-just-20 http://robinjp.posterous.com/bp-paying-just-20

20billbptypo

Shorthand or shortchanged:

Klein's headline shorthand has BP putting up just a $20 bill to take care of all their troubles.  

Who says we don't need no stinkin' copy editors? 

 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/85985/Picture_003.jpg http://posterous.com/users/eHtpfaaNLX Robin Phillips robinjp Robin Phillips Sun, 06 Jun 2010 11:04:00 -0700 Rue McClanahan. John Wooden. Honolulu Advertiser. http://robinjp.posterous.com/rue-mcclanahan-john-wooden-honolulu-advertise http://robinjp.posterous.com/rue-mcclanahan-john-wooden-honolulu-advertise

Deaths do come in threes. 

  • Rue McClanahan.
  • John Wooden.
  • The Honolulu Advertiser. 

Advertiser writes final chapter in 154-year story.

Today Honolulu is a one-newspaper town for the first time in history.

As Dan Nakaso writes in the final edition: "The death of The Advertiser came at 12:01 a.m. today after a decades-long newspaper war with its neighbor just makai on South Street, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin."

It also dies after a months-long skirmish involving Canadian newspaper owner David Black, Gannett, Gannett Co. Inc., federal courts, loyal readers and about 400 people who will lose their jobs. And the backdrop to this all is a terrible economy and an industry in flux.

The new owner, Black, has hired 28 Advertiser journalists to produce a new broadsheet newspaper starting Monday. It will be called the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

Of course, there are many other places to get news in Hawaii, including the oddly named Honolulu Civil Beat, edited by John Temple who oversaw the fall of the Rocky Mountain News. Life will go on. News gathering will continue. Print, broadcast, online.

It's still sad to watch the closing of a newspaper. But we can learn a lot about journalism from the stories told, the memories shared.

HISTORY LESSON: So, journalists, J-school professors and students, news junkies. Here you go: 

MY DAYS AT THE PAPER: I also have a personal stake in this. My first newspaper job was as a reporter at The  Honolulu Advertiser. At the end of an internship at the paper during my senior year at the University of Hawaii, city editor Jerry Keir fought to have a 24-hour a week position created for me.  I was in heaven.

There was one big story after another: Challenger explodes, Mauna Loa erupted, Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos became an exile in Hawai'i. I got to spend a nice Sunday afternooon with Chuck Yeager because I was pulling a weekend shift. 

I am part of the Advertiser 'Ohana.

Aloha, 'Tiser. And Mahalo. 
 

1986honoluluadvertiser Advertiserpress Finalstaffshot Lightsstillon
See the full gallery on Posterous

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/85985/Picture_003.jpg http://posterous.com/users/eHtpfaaNLX Robin Phillips robinjp Robin Phillips Tue, 01 Jun 2010 19:35:00 -0700 Memorable newspaper mottos: It Screams! http://robinjp.posterous.com/memorable-newspaper-mottos-it-screams http://robinjp.posterous.com/memorable-newspaper-mottos-it-screams

Loyola University journalism professor Dr. Larry Lorenz gathers newspaper mottos. You can find his full list on the Loyola site.  Let me share several of my favorites.

A Fearless And Wide-Awake Democratic Newspaper
The (Alexandria, La.) Weekly Town Talk

Lehigh Valley's Greatest Newspaper | Now:  Use it for life.
The (Allentown, Pa.) Morning Call

If You Don't Want It Printed, Don't Let It Happen
The Aspen (Colo.) Daily News

Covers Dixie Like The Dew
The Atlanta Journal (1938)

The Only Newspaper in the World That Gives a Damn About Yerington
Mason Valley (Nev.) News

At the Crossroads of West Texas
Big Spring (Texas) Herald 

This final one could be 'The Voice of the Birthplace' of Robin J Phillips.

Mountaineagle
Check the top left corner for the motto of The Mountain Eagle: It still screams.

If you have more newspaper slogans/mottos you'd like to add to Lorenz's list, send him a note.  You can find him on Twitter: @LarryLorenz.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/85985/Picture_003.jpg http://posterous.com/users/eHtpfaaNLX Robin Phillips robinjp Robin Phillips Sun, 04 Apr 2010 11:39:00 -0700 The future of journalism is Buster Olney http://robinjp.posterous.com/the-future-of-journalism-is-buster-olney http://robinjp.posterous.com/the-future-of-journalism-is-buster-olney

Busterbio
I just flashed some cash to buy a two-year passport behind a paywall.  

It's Opening Day of the 2010 baseball season. 

"This is Opening Day. This is spring. This is hope in baseball." Those words were written by Buster Olney former New York Times sportswriter and now a senior writer at ESPN magazine. Olney wrote a great book,  "The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty," about the Paul O'Neill-Tino Martinez Yankees dynasty of 1996-01.

I do not even blush when I say that BUSTER OLNEY IS THE BEST WRITER IN AMERICA.  He is so smart. He makes wonderful connections and draws vivid pictures.  He happens to write about sports. 

I've missed Olney since he left the New York Times after six years to join ESPN in 2003.  I can follow him on  Twitter: Buster_ESPN I can catch him on SportsCenter.  But Olney's best work is the written word.

So, it's Opening Day.  Hope in baseball.  And I want to see how Buster Olney tells the story of MLB 2010.

So I ponied up $60 for a two-year membership to ESPN Insider which gives me access to Buster Olney Blog.

=>=> =>=> And therein lies a lesson about online journalism.  People will pay for something of great value that they can't get elsewhere.   To paywall or not to paywall is not the question.  But where we put the paywalls, what we sell, what we share freely may be revolutionary. 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/85985/Picture_003.jpg http://posterous.com/users/eHtpfaaNLX Robin Phillips robinjp Robin Phillips Sat, 06 Mar 2010 06:46:51 -0800 Birth and life of #wjchat http://robinjp.posterous.com/birth-and-life-of-wjchat http://robinjp.posterous.com/birth-and-life-of-wjchat OJR: The birth of #wjchat

DIY and passion give birth to a new journalists' weekly on Twitter

More good press for #wjchat. 

And there is a bid to have a live #wjchat at ONA.  Check out the session selector. 

DIY and passion give birth.  But community and a dedicated group of volunteers will be needed to sustain it. 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/85985/Picture_003.jpg http://posterous.com/users/eHtpfaaNLX Robin Phillips robinjp Robin Phillips Sat, 27 Feb 2010 19:42:41 -0800 A little snark and the birth of #wjchat http://robinjp.posterous.com/a-little-snark-and-the-birth-of-wjchat http://robinjp.posterous.com/a-little-snark-and-the-birth-of-wjchat

Robert Hernandez wrote a nice post about the birth of #wjchat, a Twitter-based chat for Web journalists.

We’re three weeks in .. I’ve found being involved with this group of young, energetic Web journalists fun, invigorating and a little bit exhausting.

Robert  tells our story well: DIY and passion give birth to #wjchat

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/85985/Picture_003.jpg http://posterous.com/users/eHtpfaaNLX Robin Phillips robinjp Robin Phillips Sun, 21 Feb 2010 09:48:00 -0800 Print reporters need training for audio/video work http://robinjp.posterous.com/print-reporters-need-training-for-audiovideo http://robinjp.posterous.com/print-reporters-need-training-for-audiovideo

The New York Times has a soundslide, photo, graphic deconstruction of Lindsey Vonn's aggressiveness on the downhill run.

The multimedia package is a valiant effort, but it really highlights the need to give print reporters special training before putting them in front of a camera or hooking them up to a mic. 

Take a listen:  Vonn's ragged, aggressive run.

Bill Pennington is a great sports reporter. I worked with him when he was still working in New Jersey and have read his stuff for years. He knows what he is talking about, but his monotonous reading in this piece about Lindsey Vonn really doesn't work.  It doesn't come across that he's a great storyteller.

Broadcast educators work on energy and stress the difference between "reading" a script and "tracking" a visual. 

I give the New York Times credit for trying. The graphics and photos are great.

But Pennington's flat tone takes away from the whole. There is a big difference between reading and storytelling.  Pennington needs more coaching, but he's not alone.

This is just another example of how Web journalists need to prepare the print beat writers in advance.

 

P.S.  For anyone coming to Phoenix for SABEW,  there is such a course: How to look natural on-air.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/85985/Picture_003.jpg http://posterous.com/users/eHtpfaaNLX Robin Phillips robinjp Robin Phillips Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:31:49 -0800 Plagiarism, cut-and-paste journalism and blaming the Web http://robinjp.posterous.com/plagiarism-cut-and-paste-journalism-and-blami http://robinjp.posterous.com/plagiarism-cut-and-paste-journalism-and-blami
It’s hard to say anything about the controversy surrounding The New York Times’ Dealbook reporter Zachery Kouwe today over accusations of plagiarism. Kouwe, who covered mergers an acquisitions for the Times, has been suspended pending an investigation.

Hard to say much because plagiarism leaves me a little speechelss. But do a search on Twitter today for:
.. and you’ll see what a hot topic it is.

Other issues that the Kouwe story is bringing up for people: aggregation, block-quotes, cutting-and-pasting stories. What is the Web doing to reporting, people are asking.

Here's the post I wrote for my Day Job at the Reynolds Center for BusinessJournalism.org: 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/85985/Picture_003.jpg http://posterous.com/users/eHtpfaaNLX Robin Phillips robinjp Robin Phillips Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:34:00 -0800 So close, yet so far away from Haiti disaster http://robinjp.posterous.com/so-close-yet-so-far-away-from-haiti-disaster http://robinjp.posterous.com/so-close-yet-so-far-away-from-haiti-disaster

I've been drawn to what's happening in Haiti all day. It is taking time to get aid onto the island. But it is pretty easy to check in on social media sites and find images and other reports from the devastated country.

NYTImes: Agony Sets In as Medics Focus on the Survivors

Erik Parker's terribly sad photos on Twitpic

Flickr pool photos: Haiti

Youtube eyewitness video of Haiti quake

And the $1.2 million donated via text message. Here's how.

These reports, whether from professional reporters or civilian victims in Haiti, have pulled me right into the scene. They do not allow me the distance that I usually feel watching a slick report from a network celebrity.

This is gritty. This is real.  It has kept me on a heightened alert all day.  I'm not sure I like that.  But, my God, I sure want to help.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/85985/Picture_003.jpg http://posterous.com/users/eHtpfaaNLX Robin Phillips robinjp Robin Phillips Sat, 09 Jan 2010 08:36:00 -0800 What can they be thinking at HBO REAL Sports? http://robinjp.posterous.com/what-can-they-be-thinking-at-hbo-real-sports http://robinjp.posterous.com/what-can-they-be-thinking-at-hbo-real-sports

HBO REAL Sports has been showing a roundtable lately.  Hosts show clips of stories from the year and talk about all the great sports figures they profiled in 2009. 

So why can't I then go to HBO REAL Sports online and then watch those stories? 

The site is just a billboard for Bryant Gumbel.  Even HBO on Demand REAL Sports page has nothing.

During season 14, HBO REAL Sports did some great work.  The roundtable reminded me of great shows I saw during the year and gave me a taste for some I missed.

I would really like to see one of those.  Season 14, episode 15 (overall episode 145) aired on April 14, 2009.  The third segment  was about Ann Wolfe, a former female boxing champ, current coach of an up and coming middle weight champion, and at risk youth activist.

=>=> Why do the roundtable and not put those stories where we can go find them?  Was the review aimed at award judges?  HBO bosses?  Just to tease the next season?   It certainly wasn't very helpful for VIEWERS.

I'd even pay.  REAL-ly.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/85985/Picture_003.jpg http://posterous.com/users/eHtpfaaNLX Robin Phillips robinjp Robin Phillips