Comments on: Who are you calling a journalist? http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/2008/who-are-you-calling-a-journalist/ Notes from the classroom and observations about today's practice of journalism online Fri, 05 Dec 2008 10:25:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Reportagebloggen http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/2008/who-are-you-calling-a-journalist/#comment-10050 Reportagebloggen Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:46:10 +0000 http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/2008/who-are-you-calling-a-journalist/#comment-10050 [...] råkade nyligen ut för samma sak som Lars Danielsson. Här är ett inlägg om den händelsen. Här är ett annat inlägg om vådan i att avgöra vem som får kalla sig [...] [...] råkade nyligen ut för samma sak som Lars Danielsson. Här är ett inlägg om den händelsen. Här är ett annat inlägg om vådan i att avgöra vem som får kalla sig [...]

]]> By: dwight hines http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/2008/who-are-you-calling-a-journalist/#comment-10017 dwight hines Mon, 28 Apr 2008 20:14:00 +0000 http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/2008/who-are-you-calling-a-journalist/#comment-10017 Yes, for that very reason you need to tell people up front that you might write about what happens that night. You can't turn off being a writer. If there are attorneys present, and I cover court cases so they are often there, I tell them that if I don't like what they say, I'll make up something more interesting. Who are you kidding, going to an exciting political dinner and not hoping that there will be something innovative and specific and practical said!? For me, living in a town that has a police department building named after a klan member who was not only proud to be a member of the klan, but arrested Martin Luther King, we don't have shortages of good quotes that would shock outsiders. What we do have is a shortage of working journalists who know how to collect and interpret statistics. Damn, it would suffice if journalists just knew how to interpret statistics and know when they are nonsense or not. Dwight Hines St. Augustine Concerned about Citizen Media Law Project (Berkman) because they are only looking at legal threats to the media. Yes, for that very reason you need to tell people up front that you might write about what happens that night. You can’t turn off being a writer. If there are attorneys present, and I cover court cases so they are often there, I tell them that if I don’t like what they say, I’ll make up something more interesting.

Who are you kidding, going to an exciting political dinner and not hoping that there will be something innovative and specific and practical said!?

For me, living in a town that has a police department building named after a klan member who was not only proud to be a member of the klan, but arrested Martin Luther King, we don’t have shortages of good quotes that would shock outsiders.

What we do have is a shortage of working journalists who know how to collect and interpret statistics. Damn, it would suffice if journalists just knew how to interpret statistics and know when they are nonsense or not.

Dwight Hines
St. Augustine
Concerned about Citizen Media Law Project (Berkman) because they are only looking at legal threats to the media.

]]> By: Mindy http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/2008/who-are-you-calling-a-journalist/#comment-10009 Mindy Sun, 27 Apr 2008 20:53:22 +0000 http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/2008/who-are-you-calling-a-journalist/#comment-10009 Just as a thought exercise -- imagine you went to a political dinner. You did not intend to take notes or write anything about it. But during the dinner or the speeches, something quite newsworthy occurs. Say, maybe, a member of Congress says in his speech that he wishes we still had Jim Crow laws in the U.S. South, for example. Wouldn't you write about it? I would. Just as a thought exercise — imagine you went to a political dinner. You did not intend to take notes or write anything about it. But during the dinner or the speeches, something quite newsworthy occurs. Say, maybe, a member of Congress says in his speech that he wishes we still had Jim Crow laws in the U.S. South, for example. Wouldn’t you write about it? I would.

]]> By: dwight hines http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/2008/who-are-you-calling-a-journalist/#comment-10007 dwight hines Sun, 27 Apr 2008 19:23:53 +0000 http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/2008/who-are-you-calling-a-journalist/#comment-10007 It is tacky to not identify yourself up front as a writer if you are going to write about a conversation or event. It smacks of sneakiness and trickery not to let people know they might be quoted. Calling yourself a journalist and identifying where you publish might help -- it also gives people a way of reading what you write. Credibility, to me, has to include fairness to the people you are writing about, as well as getting facts straight. Unfortunately, some people feel that journalists have access to information that regular people do not have. Some journalists feed into that for their own reasons. The real issue for me is why, with the dramatic increase in writers, be they called journalists or hacks, who have thousands of places to publish, why have we not seen the expected benefits from "sunshine" that causes increased honesty in governments and businesses? I need to develop this some more, but I think traditional media have a great deal of reserve credibility from their coverage of sporting and cultural events at the local levels. Dwight Alternative Media St. Augustine, Florida It is tacky to not identify yourself up front as a writer if you are going to write about a conversation or event. It smacks of sneakiness and trickery not to let people know they might be quoted. Calling yourself a journalist and identifying where you publish might help — it also gives people a way of reading what you write. Credibility, to me, has to include fairness to the people you are writing about, as well as getting facts straight. Unfortunately, some people feel that journalists have access to information that regular people do not have. Some journalists feed into that for their own reasons.
The real issue for me is why, with the dramatic increase in writers, be they called journalists or hacks, who have thousands of places to publish, why have we not seen the expected benefits from “sunshine” that causes increased honesty in governments and businesses?
I need to develop this some more, but I think traditional media have a great deal of reserve credibility from their coverage of sporting and cultural events at the local levels.
Dwight
Alternative Media
St. Augustine, Florida

]]> By: Mindy http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/2008/who-are-you-calling-a-journalist/#comment-9633 Mindy Sat, 19 Apr 2008 00:09:09 +0000 http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/2008/who-are-you-calling-a-journalist/#comment-9633 @Jeff Jarvis: Oh, man, you're right. But you know, that just <em>sounds</em> so wrong ... @Jeff Jarvis: Oh, man, you’re right. But you know, that just sounds so wrong …

]]> By: Wenalway http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/2008/who-are-you-calling-a-journalist/#comment-9631 Wenalway Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:48:28 +0000 http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/2008/who-are-you-calling-a-journalist/#comment-9631 I'll get tired of it as soon as newspapers wise up and move in a different direction. And as that day is likely a long way off, the show must go on! I’ll get tired of it as soon as newspapers wise up and move in a different direction. And as that day is likely a long way off, the show must go on!

]]> By: Jeff Jarvis http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/2008/who-are-you-calling-a-journalist/#comment-9630 Jeff Jarvis Fri, 18 Apr 2008 22:40:09 +0000 http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/2008/who-are-you-calling-a-journalist/#comment-9630 Not to quibble, but shouldn't it be "whom"? Not to quibble, but shouldn’t it be “whom”?

]]> By: John Hacker http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/2008/who-are-you-calling-a-journalist/#comment-9621 John Hacker Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:28:41 +0000 http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/2008/who-are-you-calling-a-journalist/#comment-9621 What scares me is how we are headed that direction with all these privacy laws, and the public is so uneducated about the importance and the true meaning of the First Amendment, some lawmaker is someday going to get away with introducing a bill requiring the licensing of journalists. We should all be journalists, just as we should all be politicians and take part in the political process and we should all be lobbyists and make sure our elected leaders know what we think. What scares me is how we are headed that direction with all these privacy laws, and the public is so uneducated about the importance and the true meaning of the First Amendment, some lawmaker is someday going to get away with introducing a bill requiring the licensing of journalists. We should all be journalists, just as we should all be politicians and take part in the political process and we should all be lobbyists and make sure our elected leaders know what we think.

]]> By: Links for 2008-08-17 | Gaffney3.com http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/2008/who-are-you-calling-a-journalist/#comment-9619 Links for 2008-08-17 | Gaffney3.com Thu, 17 Apr 2008 21:02:40 +0000 http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/2008/who-are-you-calling-a-journalist/#comment-9619 [...] Margaret Ann Kriel was reportedly arrested in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe “on allegations of practicing journalism without accreditation” [source: AllAfrica.com] [...] [...] Margaret Ann Kriel was reportedly arrested in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe “on allegations of practicing journalism without accreditation” [source: AllAfrica.com] [...]

]]> By: Good online journalism-related reads for today | stevemullis[dot]net http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/2008/who-are-you-calling-a-journalist/#comment-9618 Good online journalism-related reads for today | stevemullis[dot]net Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:35:41 +0000 http://mindymcadams.com/tojou/2008/who-are-you-calling-a-journalist/#comment-9618 [...] Who you calling a journalist? (Mindy McAdams) - Mindy McAdams commenting on… [...] [...] Who you calling a journalist? (Mindy McAdams) - Mindy McAdams commenting on… [...]

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