Online Journalism

BJ Koubaroulis, a sports journalist for the DC and Northern Virginia, came to Kleins 361 class to emphasize the importance of videos. The new video era has ushered in a whole new wave of journalists, those who can write, take picture and most importantly edit video. Koubaroulis talked about how videos have taken his stories to a whole new level. Here’s an overview of Koubaroulis’ main points:

• Video has been a life changing experience. Individuals can now harness the power of videos, you don’t need a camera crew; one guy with a video camera can make a difference. This tool allowed Koubaroulis to become a better writer, an example is his video accompanying his story on a high school football star.
• Video illustrates that you could tell two stories within one story. Video allows more space for your story.
• Audio is 70% of video. *Tip: Use a wireless microphone that only picks up local sound, which only picks up sound within five feet, and eliminates background noise.
• If you take anything away from this class: Invest in yourself. Do a lot of different things: web, radio, TV, online, print. “I would do anything that people would let me do, and it’s all come back to help me very nicely.”
• Media companies want to hire people that can do the jobs of five people. Learn HTML, learn social media, learn how to use the web. You are an accumulation of all these jobs. Do all of it, and you’ll be able to do the one thing you want to do.

• A cool website that Koubaroulis admires: The Mason Tour
• Four things you need to succeed: camera, computer, microphone, and to be ready to work hard.

*An accumulation of Koubaroulis’ work here, and his blog.

This post was about infographics.

Currently, I am creating one for my Pop Culture Journalism class with a partner from an AVT class. This post was interesting because it showed what a good infographic looks like.

I actually thought the infographic that was posted was a little too busy. But it was visually appealing.

Infographic

Here’s a rough draft of my charticle with the AVT student, Ngan:

Runway/Zoo infographic

Brad Kalbeld has seen it all.

From carrying a heavy typewriter around and a Telex machine, he now is able to hold a small tape recorder and — even better — can whip out his iPhone 4 to do the job for him.

Kalbfeld began by showing the filtering that occurs from an event all the way to the reader:

Event, reporter, copy editor, section editor, managing editor, reader.

But with the way that technology has constantly been improving, the role of the editors has been nearly erased. Rather than waiting for and hoping that the editors will publish what you’ve written, reporters can take a video of anything interesting that they see and post it to their computers and the internet for the readers to view.

Professional journalists are scared of citizen journalists.

We are now living in a one-click world and citizen journalists are now able to snap pictures, take videos, take audio of anything going on even quicker than a typical journalist could at times. This ability could steal viewers from the professional journalist and attract them to that citizen journalist’s publication.

You must have news that interacts with the audience nowadays.

Traditional journalists would find a story, report the news and that was it. Now, they must worry about getting the viewers involved and interacting with them to keep them engaged. This transition can be difficult for some.

In today’s class, we heard from Brad Kalbfeld, who among other things, is the editor of the “Associated Press Broadcast News Handbook.” Kalbfeld brought us on a journey across the decades, showcasing his early reporting equipment (namely, a typewriter) and leading into how the advent of the iPhone has become a universal journalism tool.

Through the use of flowcharts that display the differences between the modern era of news versus the way it was in the past, Kalbfeld argued that nowadays, the audience has more power than ever in dictating what news they read and watch. There used to be a limited amount of choices–three channels, two newspapers in most markets–but now the audience is overwhelmed with options.

Of course, there are pros and cons to that. There is less of a duty to be balanced because there are niche (and mainstream) publications that appeal to every sort of political/religious/ethnic population. Amateur journalists also don’t have the same skills or background that should, in theory, lead to quality and ethical reporting.

Kalbfeld suggests readers look at the “About Us” page to learn about the attitudes and biases of particular journalists. News is now a brand, and some viewers consume it based on factors that other than what would best serve them (the attractive anchor, the political attitude, even the style or format of the page). News is at its best when it interacts with the audience, rather than being a one-way street as it used to be: ignoring the audience is a good way to see it flock to somewhere else.

I thought Kalbfeld was an especially interesting guest because he’s been around in journalism for so long and has first-hand experience in vastly different circumstances of news filtering. It was a really excellent presentation.

Brad Kalbfeld, former AP broadcast editor and foreign correspondent, started his presentation showing us a little bit of the things he used to report.

He showed us his first laptop, his old typewriter, and his tape recorder. They all look really heavy and outdated. Today, we don’t use single-purpose devices. We need multipurpose devices, like an iPhone.

Citizen journalists: they have their eyes on you.

http://mobilisms.com/mobile-impact-how-the-iphone-4-will-revolutionize-citizen-journalism.html

Then he talked about all the filter news would go through before reaching the public. Now everyone that has a iPhone makes an editorial decision — to report the event or not– and they can be the first and only filter.

We cannot ignore what the reader/viewer want. They are empowered by the information that is available. Reader/viewer is in charge.

The newsrooms were composed by people of the same background, and it didn’t consider the needs of the diverse audience. It reflected their point of view.

Now we can use our remote control. We can change the channel and click the mouse whenever we want. There are several channels. We can pick and choose.

One-click world.

Citizen report: they can be everywhere, and cover things one journalist wouldn’t be able to do so. But are they good enough? You don’t know who they are.

Tips from Kalbfeld:

• A secret? Traditional journalists are scared of citizen journalists.
• Work on your brand name. Build your credibility. People are lazy, there will go back to the same brand.
• What can’t you live without? INTERNET (Yes, I can’t live without internet!)
• Investigative journalism: you will get attention, because citizen journalists won’t do it.

Brad Kalbfeld, former AP broadcast editor and foreign correspondent, started his presentation showing us a little bit of the things he used to report.

He showed us his first laptop, his old typewriter, and his tape recorder. They all look really heavy and outdated. Today, we don’t use single-purpose devices. We need multipurpose devices, like an iPhone.

Citizen journalists: they have their eyes on you.

http://mobilisms.com/mobile-impact-how-the-iphone-4-will-revolutionize-citizen-journalism.html

Then he talked about all the filter news would go through before reaching the public. Now everyone that has a iPhone makes an editorial decision — to report the event or not– and they can be the first and only filter.

We cannot ignore what the reader/viewer want. They are empowered by the information that is available. Reader/viewer is in charge.

The newsrooms were composed by people of the same background, and it didn’t consider the needs of the diverse audience. It reflected their point of view.

Now we can use our remote control. We can change the channel and click the mouse whenever we want. There are several channels. We can pick and choose.

One-click world.

Citizen report: they can be everywhere, and cover things one journalist wouldn’t be able to do so. But are they good enough? You don’t know who they are.

Tips from Kalbfeld:

• A secret? Traditional journalists are scared of citizen journalists.
• Work on your brand name. Build your credibility. People are lazy, there will go back to the same brand.
• What can’t you live without? INTERNET (Yes, I can’t live without internet!)
• Investigative journalism: you will get attention, because citizen journalists won’t do it.