You are currently browsing the monthly archive for February 2008.
My latest piece in the Neighborhood Times section of the St. Pete Times made the front page!
Ben Colmery, a student of international media development at Columbia University, writes in the Morningside Post, a blog by students of the School for International and Public Affairs:
In places where the hopes of democracy, rights, freedom, and change have long been crushed by dictators, tyrants, and murderers, you often have to crack the existing foundation before you can build a new one. Otherwise, anything you build is not likely to stand for very long. In my experience, media development is a great way to crack the foundation and plant some seeds.
Read the rest here.
I’ve been an off-and-on member of the Society of Professional Journalists for years. Just a membership and nothing more. But the recent and ongoing troubles in journalism have been a cause for great personal concern: declining numbers of newspapers, layoff of staff, eroding trust in the media. So I renewed my membership, even though as a freelancer I don’t think I receive as much benefit from SPJ as a staff reporter. (Thankfully, the organization recently began paying more attention to folks like me).
This time, however, I’ve gone beyond merely joining. I’ve made the first foray into being active. I volunteered to work on the membership committee, and was asked to contribute to a blog about growing members. My first “tithe” can be found here:
http://spj.org/blog/blogs/membership/archive/2008/02/24/18619.aspx
If you’re a journalist, or you’re merely thinking about becoming one, you should join SPJ. Not only will you stay abreast of the latest changes in the industry and law, you’ll be saying that you are serious about what you do. If you were an attorney, you’d join the bar association wouldn’t you? And don’t forget to get involved with the local chapter in your area. If there isn’t one, start one – just like the two young women are doing in my blog piece.
Al Jazeera’s Hamish MacDonald has been named Young Journalist of the Year at the Royal Television Society awards in London.
MacDonald, 26, beat colleague Haru Mutasa as well as Channel 4’s Nima Elbagir to clinch the award on Wednesday.
Judges commended the Kuala Lumpur-based journalist for his confidence and style, highlighting his work covering street protests in Malaysia.
They also looked at his coverage of the conflicts in Afghanistan and East Timor in awarding him the prize.
Al Jazeera English, on air since November 2006, was also nominated in the News Channel of the Year and International News categories.
The society’s awards seek to recognize “creative and excellent journalism” by news organizations whose broadcasts are received in the United Kingdom
– from English.aljazeera.net, Feb. 24, 2008
Question:No matter how many stories I write about tragedies in which people die, such as murders and car accidents, I can’t seem to move past my nervousness at interviewing a victim’s family. It takes me a while to work up my nerve and once I get the family member on the phone or arrive at the house, I can’t concentrate. What can I do to stop the uneasiness? I don’t want family members to think that I’m some insensitive journalist. I feel I am invading their space while they’re grieving. – Too Sensitive? For the reply, check out the Chips Quinn Scholars website.
With health care continuing to grow in importance to most Americans, a reporter needs to know the most effective way of covering this beat. The USC Annenberg School for Communication is offering an all-expenses-paid fellowship to attend a week-long training focused on community health and health policy. The training includes a $2,000 stipend. The seminar, from April 13-18 in Los Angeles, is open to print, broadcast and multimedia journalists in all markets and general circulation and ethnic media. If you’re a freelance writer like me, check to see if a local news organization you work with now might sponsor you. (There’s no charge to the company). Annenberg pays the cost of meals, travel and lodging. Deadline for application is March 3. The number of fellowships offered is limited. To find out more, go here.
The website “PopMatters” seeks essays (1,200 to 3,000 words, usually) about any aspect of popular culture, present or past. (If you are interested in pitching a review of some specific current work or performance, please contact the appropriate reviews editor.) We prefer careful analysis of the chosen subject matter with the intention of supporting an original thesis; we aren’t particularly interested in articles that merely want to promote their subject. An assessment of what ideological work a given pop culture phenomenon performs (i.e. what has allowed something to become popular, what’s at stake in its popularity besides money, how it is situated in a historical or geographical context, etc.) is especially welcome. Ideally essays will draw on sophisticated interpretive strategies derived from a theoretically informed point of view but will be presented for a general reader in lively, accessible language.
For details, click here.
