Online Journalism Oct 2 Blogs Interactivy Sources

University of North TexasDepartment of Journalism

Oct. 2, 2008

Interactivity, Blogs, Sources

What We’ll Do Today1) Your Blogs – Campaign Websites2) Interactivity3) In-Class Writing 4) Political Coverage ‘08/NTNewsNet 5) HOMEWORK:

- Do a complete analysis of PegasusNews.com. What works? What doesn’t? How would you improve it? 300 – 400 Words. Be prepared to ask questions to Mike Orren who will be speaking to our class next class.

Developing Sources Lifeblood of your

career as a reporter

Get over your shyness, it’s time to open up

Learn to talk to everybody – yes, strangers!

Everybody is a potential source when you’re covering a breaking news story

Start with newspaper clippings

Pick up the phone or hit the streets

Importance of Interaction & Involvement Two key factors

1. Shift in flow of mass communications from one-way to multi-directional flow.

Impacting how news is defined, the way it’s presented and how journalists do their jobs

2. What people learn from the news- User-controlled, user-driven content enhance

learning- Readers making mental connections to stories- “Participating” in the news

Traditional v. Digital Storytelling

Traditional Focus on text Photos Periodic

updating One-

dimensional Long-form

narrative

Digital Media Immediacy ‘Non-linear’

presentations Richness in words,

pictures and sounds Shorter ‘segments’

The Five ‘I’s

Interactivity Involvement Immediacy Integration In-depth

Interaction & Involvement

Traditional One-way flow Inform, educate

and entertain Editor/Reporter/Producer driven The ‘old’ wire

services

Digital MediaMultidirectionalInform, educate,

entertain & ENGAGE

Editor, reporter, producer & reader/view

Online, TV news

Text

Static Graphic:

Photo

Text Box

Online

Discussion Lurker

Link

Interactive:

-Timeline

- fact box

- Slideshow

- map

Quiz

Interactive

Game

Interactive

Flash

Content

Online

Discussions

Reporter

Email

Interaction/Involvement Continuum

Low High

The greater the interaction and involvement, the higher the learning

‘Working’ Your Sources1) ‘Sponsorship’

a) Finding someone who you know who trusts you to introduce you to the source – a ‘referral’

2) Self-sponsorshipa) Let me show you my work: ‘proof’

3) ‘Matchmaking’a) Asking a source to identify other people to

talk to about the subject4) Primary & Secondary Sources

a) Corroborationb) Verificationc) Accuracy

‘Working’ Your Sources1) Follow the org chart

a) Start at the top and, if needed, talk to everyone you need to get the information you need to be fair and accurate

2) Anonymous/confidential sources:a) Avoid them at all costsb) The Downside: Janet Cooke, Jayson Blair,

Stephen Glassc) The Upside: “Deep Throat”d) The controversial: Judith Miller

‘Working’ Your Sources1) Never ‘promise’ anything to a source2) Commit ahead of time3) Variations of ‘Anonymous’ Sources

a) On the record: Everything the source says, it will be printed

b) Off the record: You and the source agree not to talk to you, but none of the information can be attributed to that person

c) ‘On background’/ Not for attribution: Use the information as background, but not for attribution

The Web: Friend & Foe Wikipedia is NOT a source Google, Yahoo!, MSN,

MySpace, FaceBook are NOT sources

Verify the legitimacy of the website and/or source or author of the website

Find the contact information

Where did the site get its content from

Go to the PRIMARY/ORIGINAL source of content

Determine if the site is affiliated with a special interest group, political affiliation, etc.

Often overlooked resources Libraries Reverse phone

directories: http://reversephonedirectory.com

Find expert: http://profnet.com

Investigative Reporters & Editors: http://www.ire.org/inthenews_archive/

Public Documents Political contributions

http://opensecrets.org Real estate records

Register of the Deeds office

http://dallascad.org http://denton

COUNTY CLERK’S OFFICE Voter registration records http://

elections.dentoncounty.com/VRsearch/down.asp

Salaries of county employees

Corporate records Public companies: plug in

stock symbol on the Business pages of most websites or go to the company website

Congressional voting records

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/h001016/

Court filings Federal, Civic and Criminal

Military records Register of the Deeds

office or via FOIA Motor vehicle registrations Building inspection records

and housing permits City budgets Police records School District records

The Freedom of Information ActEstablished by Congress in 1966Make public records availableRequest is made to get access to these

records: Weeks, months, years

* From When Words Collide: A journalist’s Guide to Grammar and Style & EB White’s ‘Elements of Style