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This weblog was developed and is supported by the Bernard L. Schwartz Communication Institute, Baruch College, CUNY
Aug
24
Coming of age
Posted by Vera Haller on Aug 24, 2008 under: blogs, community journalism, journalism education, newspapers, online news, politics | 5 Comments
The convention season now upon us will not just result in the official naming of the presidential candidates for the Democratic and Republican parties. If you read all the hype in the media, the conventions also will mark a milestone for political bloggers — legitimatizing them beyond any lingering doubts.
The articles stating this apparent truth are countless. Just today, readers on nytimes.com can read, “The Year of the Political Blogger Has Arrived.” Look back a few days and find this column on The Times of London’s Web site that states the Democratic National Convention (starting tomorrow in Denver) has been hit with “Obamedia frenzy.” The column by Richard Siklos contends that blogs such as Politico and The Huffington Post are as hot a commodity as the candidate himself.
In fact, bloggers are taking center stage at the DNC gathering — even warranting the construction of a two-story tent (sponsored by Google among others; see photo from Flickr) where credentialed bloggers will have free WiFi and other amenities. For a list of the accredited bloggers, see this page on the DNC Web site. It will be a good place to start if you want to sample some of the blogging that’s coming off of the convention floor.
If you’re wondering where the political heavyweights go for their political news, check out this link: www.google.com/powerreaders. Here, Google says it has collected the sites read by the two candidates, John McCain and Obama, as well as the sites followed by political journalists.
Save the date. On Oct. 28, the Baruch College Journalism Department will sponsor a panel discussion on the impact political blogging has had on this presidential election. More details to come.
Aug
13
All a-’Twitter’-ing
Posted by Vera Haller on Aug 13, 2008 under: blogs, multimedia, online news, social networking | 4 Comments
I’ve finally done it — just now — exactly 30 minutes ago — I signed up for Twitter, the social networking phenom that everyone seems to be using. Fortune magazine senior writer Adam Lashinky described it in a recent article like this:
“Twitter, in case you’re over 25 and don’t live in a trendy coastal metropolis, is a ‘micro-blogging’ site. It’s a free service that lets you send the briefest of messages to everyone in your network. It marries the mass appeal of blogging with the rat-a-tat-tat of text messaging. “
Like a lot of people, I was hesitant to add another mode of communication to the roster. Communication overload is the norm these days, what with cell phones, multiple e-mail accounts, instant messaging and social network pages to keep updated. What use is a service that allows you to send and receive micro-messages of 140 characters or less?
Despite what may seem like an obvious answer to this question (Don’t need it!), Twitter’s appeal is snowballing. It is an application that can’t be ignored by anyone who seeks to keep up with technology.
Its uses by the news world are numerous. For example, Slate is twittering from the Olympics, offering sometimes biting commentary in very small bites. The service is used to alert readers to new postings as a way to build Web traffic. Here’s the Twitter page for The New York Times’ City Room blog. Journalists also have used Twitter to finesse story ideas, seek out sources and get information out fast on breaking news stories. Poynter.com recently posted a story about how newsrooms are using Twitter.
I am a little intimidated by the prospect of finding my place in this online community. I feel it’s important to bring something to the table — and to be clear about what I want to get from this service. Is it updates on news … or the latest thoughts on new technology and the media … or a mine for story ideas? I’ll keep you a-twittered.
Aug
7
Olympics coverage in the digital age
Posted by Vera Haller on Aug 7, 2008 under: foreign news, sports, television, video | 2 Comments
With the 2008 Summer Olympics set to start tomorrow in China, it’s worth a look at how this big event is being covered on the Web. NBC, which will televise the games, has gone all out with a monster site. It has updated news, video, photos, bios of athletes and individual pages for most sports.
The network also is offering viewers the chance to sign up for live video feeds and has an online Olympics game that people can play every day while the games are going on. The site includes a lot of corporate. For example, Target sponsors a section with “inspirational stories” from the Olympics while Nissan sponsors a “drive to the finish” section that includes video and stories about dramatic finishes in track and field events.
Some may find all this corporate sponsorship a bit much, but I find it heartening to see so much advertising on the site.
Check out NYTimes.com’s Olympic event tracker. It’s not the prettiest feature, but it is very functional, allowing viewers to track events in their favorite sports.