Readers spoke compellingly of their experiences with newspapers and their observations about the behavior of journalists. Their comments evoked a sense of belief in the press as an important institution in our democracy, but they were unsparing, as well, in documenting their concerns about basic journalistic practices that they see as being unfair: Newspapers get…
The entire concept of cyborgs or automated labor of any kind is inseparable from the contexts of economic production, and R.U.R. emphasizes this context much more than the first cyborg text, Shelley’s Frankenstein. Some of the basic concepts of Marxist analysis involve recognizing the social and economic structure as consisting of a base and a…
Both books are full of obtrusive directions, comments, questions and pictures that would hinder even the attentive readers from becoming absorbed in the readings. Both also “are not reader-friendly. There is no narrative coherence that a student can follow and get excited about. It’s a little bit of this and a little bit of that,”…
A brain-dead woman who was kept alive for three months so she could deliver the child she was carrying was removed from life support Wednesday and died, a day after giving birth. —Matthew Barakat —Brain-Dead Woman Dies After Giving Birth (AP|MyWay) Because there isn’t any controversy that drove the coverage of the Torres story, it received…
For now, the Pentagon officially tolerates this free-form online journalism and in-house peanut gallery, even as the brass takes cautious steps to control it. A new policy instituted this spring requires all military bloggers inside Iraq to register with their units. It directs commanders to conduct quarterly reviews to make sure bloggers aren’t giving out…
Most interviews are not the kind of confrontations that we’ve come to associate with journalism due to the ambush-camera techniques of some TV broadcasts. The vast, vast majority are all about something simple: You want to learn more about a subject or person, or both, and the person you’re interviewing wants to help. Also remember…
An American journalist and author was found dead after being shot three times in the chest in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, a U.S. embassy official said on Wednesday. Steven Vincent’s death came four days after an opinion piece he wrote criticizing the rise of Shi’ite Islamist fundamentalism in Basra was published in The…
The group was frustrated that the disappearance of Latoyia Figueroa, 24, who is five months pregnant, did not get national press, though her case is similar to other widely covered disappearances like those of Natalee Holloway and Laci Peterson. The bloggers argue that Holloway and Peterson, who are both white and good-looking, are more attractive…
By integrating the newsrooms we plan to diminish and eventually eliminate the difference between newspaper journalists and Web journalists — to reorganize our structures and our minds to make Web journalism, in forms that are both familiar and yet-to-be-invented, as natural to us as writing and editing, and to do all of this without losing…
I’m not to enthused about this Current TV thing. It’s for the people…but you have to pay a cable subscription fee to media conglomerates to see it. It’s apart from the establishment….except that it gets its revenue from the same corporate advertisers as every other channel. It’s new and independent… except that it’s headed up…
Rosenblum’s idea is to bring “video journalists” to TV newsrooms and beyond, one-man bands that can report stories, shoot digital video, edit it on laptops and broadcast it. His client list already includes the BBC, New York Times TV and Oxygen, and he is currently helping to train VJs at local TV stations such as…
Nicknames and Grammar (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) While I was at home with my son, my wife took our three-year-old shopping. “We’ve got a lot of things to get,” she said, “so we’d better get a move on, Honeycakes.” In a strangely mature and clipped voice, Carolyn replied, “Peter isn’t here. So I am just one honeycake.”…
—Nanny Net News (4Nanny.com) And the Award for Painful Obsiousness in Medical Reporting goes to the September 2000 edition of the “Nanny Net News” newsletter, which offers “tips…for preventing shaken infant syndrome”. The list begins with this particularly stunning insightful: “Never, never, never shake a baby…” Who says you can’t find solid medical advice on the…
The woods were all a-twitter with rumors that the Seven Dwarves were planning a live reunion after their attempted solo careers had dismally sputtered into Z-list oblivion and it was all just a matter of meeting a ten-page list of outlandish demands (including 700-threadcount Egyptian cotton bedsheets, lots of white lilies and a separate trailer…
Don’t get all more-grammatical-than-thou. “Like” and “totally” can help establish ironic distance. Using the present tense to refer to something past or future can lend immediacy and emphasis. A caveat: Use sparingly if you’re over 30 and don’t want to be seen as one of those pathetic old types who chat up teenagers at the…
I might understand it if Wal-Mart said I ought to fire Mark because what he said wasn’t accurate. But that isn’t the case. Mark accurately reported that there are 10,000 children of Wal-Mart employees in a health-care program that is costing Georgia taxpayers nearly $10 million a year. Shouldn’t we talk about that? —Randy Hammer…
As a Jew, the swastika is an image that should repel me. But as a decades-long lover of Eastern religions, I understand the history and true intent of this ancient symbol. In the East, the swastika is actually supposed to bring good luck. How did this ancient symbol of cosmic benevolence become a modern logo…
Now, the notion that story doesn’t matter is worst with the industry old-timers. “Just repeat that 30 seconds of gameplay, and you’ve got it,” I’ve heard. Or worse: “We’ve never had to worry about of that story stuff before.” Maybe that’s okay for a small audience of addicted gamers, but the new charter for platforms…
Dear Sen. Clinton: I’m writing to commend you for calling for a $90-million study on the effects of video games on children, and in particular the courageous stand you have taken in recent weeks against the notorious “Grand Theft Auto” series. I’d like to draw your attention to another game whose nonstop violence and hostility…
First, students simply cannot absorb and retain information that is given in one-shot. The beauty of classes that meet three times a week is that students have a chance to replay the information in their heads and practice. With the guiding hand of the instructor, they can get even more direction and be assured that…