Citizen journalist’s work cited in Congress
October 31, 2007
Blogger Roger Shuler writes in to say that his work as a citizen journalist was cited in last week’s U.S. House Judiciary Committee hearing on selective prosecution.
The Don Siegelman case in Alabama and the Cyril Wecht case in Pennsylvania were the primary focal points of the hearing. But U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) introduced documents related to the Paul Minor case in Mississippi, which involves the convictions of an attorney and two judges on corruption charges. My research, and other evidence,
strongly suggests the Minor case was wrongly decided, possibly for political reasons.Documents introducted yesterday included a letter to the committee from Mr. Minor, who made numerous references to the “Mississippi Churning” series that has been a major part of my Legal Schnauzer blog in recent weeks.
It’s interesting to note that a citizen journalist/blogger has been referenced as part of a Congressional investigation into the U.S. Justice Department. I don’t know if that kind of citation has occurred before, particularly on such a weighty matter.
It is an example of the role alternative media can play on stories that the mainstream press either ignores or fails to cover thoroughly.
I live in Birmingham, AL, and my blog started primarily as an outlet for information about my own experiences with judicial corruption in Alabama state courts. But I quickly realized that problems in our justice system go well beyond my case and my state. I also found numerous connections between my experience and the more high-profile cases that are now part of a Congressional investigation. That’s what led to
my research on the Minor case.
Here is a link to a post about references to Legal Schnauzer in last week’s proceedings.
Hyperlocal Live Fire Maps: How to Do It?
October 31, 2007
An invitation to brainstorm hyperlocal and portable disaster content delivery.
Photoshopping the Red Sox
October 30, 2007
Rabid fan base + access to Photoshop = hours of entertainment. That’s what the Boston Globe figured, at least, with this gallery of photoshopped Red Sox images. The offerings range from inspired to downright weird, and they’ve got 135 up (and counting?). Check out the Napoleon Dynamite tribute.
New national student online newspaper to cover election
October 30, 2007
Keep an eye on scoop08.com, which will be launching soon as the first-ever daily national student newspaper. Part of a network of hundreds of young people across the nation - and counting - Scoop08 correspondents and commentators are dedicated to providing in-depth and innovative coverage of the 2008 presidential election
An Iraq op-ed like no other
October 30, 2007
In this New York times video Op-Ed by documentary filmmakers Molly Bingham and Steve Connors, Iraqis explain the roots of the insurgency.
What Jay Rosen Learned from Assignment Zero
October 30, 2007
A good summary in this post from Jay Rosen:
Division of labor is the key creative decision in acts of distributed reporting. Grok the motivations or it can’t be done. Watch for ballooning coordination costs as ramp up succeeds. Where the small pieces meet the larger narrative the alchemy of the project lives. Shared background knowledge raises group capacity. Extant communities already coordinate well.
Here’s video of Rosen discussing the lessons he learned.
Naples Daily News reporters no longer work for paper
October 29, 2007
“A year ago at the Naples Daily News… print reporters and photographers were all told that they no longer worked for the paper, says Phil Lewis, editor and vice president of naplesdailynews.com/Naples Daily News. They were all transferred to dot.com–which the company now sees as a kind of local wire service–and they file their stories first online. The newspaper staff is now 75 percent smaller, made up primarily of copy editors, designers and layout people. And the company’s approach to the news has changed dramatically as a result, Lewis told the Future of Journalism Jobs conference at the University of Maryland.”
Lewis said:
“In the past, hurricane planning was always about how we would get the newspaper printed. Where will we print if we had no power? Where will we move the copy desk? This year, it was about how to tell people what is happening in real time. Our readers will evacuate to Orlando, they’ll be in a hotel room online on their laptops and we have to get them information.”
Be a journalist for Halloween
October 29, 2007
This week’s horoscopes tell Virgos that they should be journalists for Halloween (or spies, muckrakers, whistleblowers).
Scary!
More great coverage of California wildfires
October 28, 2007
Two more great roundups of coverage, one from PBS’s Mark Glaser who has a great list of links, and one from Poynter’s Mallary Jean Tenore looking at the Union-Tribune’s great online coverage.
Journalism named one of ‘worst jobs for the 21st Century’
October 28, 2007
Forbes names being a journalist one of the worst jobs for the 21st Century and calls journalists an “endangered species.”
Despite the proliferation of media outlets, newspapers, where the bulk of U.S. reporters work, will cut costs and jobs as the Internet replaces print. While current events will always need to be covered (we hope), the number of reporting positions is expected to grow by just 5 percent in the coming decade, the Labor Department says. Most jobs will be in small (read: low-paying) markets.