Those with degrees should lead

I remember the Friday when Marc Kidby first attempted suicide in Baker. I was walking past the center’s fourth floor entrance probably minutes after police evacuated the building. I assumed a fire alarm was pulled and continued walking, oblivious to the situation occurring on the inside and the role I would have with it.

Two days later was The Post’s week-ahead meeting where the editors meet on Sunday to discuss the week’s stories. At the end the former editor-in-chief informed us that at the time of this suicide threat a Post photographer was in the building and shot photographs of Marc perched on the fifth floor. He wanted us to think about whether we should run these photos, and if yes which photos and how dominant. We were going to make a decision at the evening’s budget meeting.

My initial thought was no. It’s unnecessary, insensitive and indulgent. But then I saw the photos that delivered a message words could portray. I believed it was The Post’s obligation to our readers to give them this message.

Was I right? Was The Post right for covering Marc Kidby’s public cries for help? This was when I realized the power of the media.

So, where was I going with this? On June 14, the Scripps School of Journalism is going to give (a number to which I don’t know exactly) students a piece of paper entitling them to privileges of the fourth estate.

I believe on the back of each diploma there should be written a caveat. Imagine something written from Dumbledore to the students of Hogwarts—very wise and very telling. It should enlighten every student about the power they now hold, but this power, like everything in the world, can be great or awful.

We, as graduates of a journalism school, are going to be looked upon by our predecessors to shape the new media industry. Citizens are emerging, yes, but they will not be the leading the Internet news industry because they lack the education. They lack experiences like the one with Marc Kidby that teaches ethics, objectivity and judgment.

Journalists do not have licenses like doctors or lawyers, but those with journalism degrees should not overlook their trade.

Baby Ethan

Citizen journalism has infiltrated advertising:







I tried finding out if the family received any money for this commercial, or did they lose copyright privileges when they posted the video on YouTube? What's more, who found this and thought it would be a great idea for a commercial? Don't get me wrong it's brilliant, but I would like to know if it was someone younger pushing the envelope. Ultimately, pretty cool.

The Post shrinks in size

It was announced in one of the The Post's daily budget meetings that the paper size will be losing 10 column inches from each of its pages. This decision was made for The Post staff by The Athens Messenger who prints both papers. Although it's unclear why the Messenger is changing the size of the paper, the best educated guess is it's a result of the financial slump and decreased ad revenue.

I've been hearing a lot about the state of print media since my first year at Scripps. Newsrooms are downsizing, subscriptions are decreasing, ad sales have dropped, etc. Add this with the current state of the economy and it's no wonder little Athens is finally being affected. One woman in The Post's meeting was surprised this could be happening-- The Post? Shrink? "Why don't we just sell more ads?" she asked (and to her defense, I first wondered the same thing). But it's not that simple in a market that doesn't want to buy.

The Post isn't the first to shrink. The Washington Post, USA Today and L.A. Times reduced their size to save cost on paper. In 2007, the Wall St. Journal changed from 15" to 12" and plans to save about $18 million a year.

Personally it's a little strange to write about papers shrinking. One, because I'm writing about it on an Internet blog (killing them softly?) and two, because the earliest memories of news comes from my parents in the mornings with a paper. As an online major I believe in the Internet, but the pace by which it's changing the past frightens me. We need a new term for revolutionary.

Aesthetics vs. Design

This post may not directly relate to camera journalism, but in a course called advanced online journalism students are bound to have run into two types of Web sites: the good-looking, broken sites and the boring, navigable sites. Thus, ensues the tango between designers and programmers.

As the Web Editor for The Post, I've struggled to merge these boundaries the past two quarters. To make any cosmetic change, a simple headline color change for instance, means altering each section of the site or restructuring the entire template system by which it was built. A program will make the change, but then another will follow immediately after and the previous work may be voided.

Sites like blogger are nice for many reasons because it puts a sense of freedom of design and functionality into the user. The site says, "Pick this template and move whatever you want around-- you got a site!" It's a lot harder merging the two from the ground up and meet reader demand.

Through this post I didn't draw any conclusions, perhaps because I am still looking for some. How can a Web site have all the bells and whistles with half the time and frustration? (I won't accept money as an answer either.)