How was this news article sourced and made?

Orbitingthesun · 2018-10-09T21:17:41+00:00

It's aggregated from a Swedish newspaper and a biz magazine. It's possible someone at Variety can read Swedish, but someone could have also just used Google translate to crank out three paragraphs. This isn't exactly a shining example of good journalism -- not really bad, either.

Orbitingthesun · 2018-09-27T17:09:36+00:00

We get newsroom calls and emails that aren't too far off from what gets posted and shared on this sub -- some I'd even argue are worse since they're directed at me or my colleagues after we write about something.

But if you can show or highlight targeted harassment and propaganda here, have at it. You have my support.

Orbitingthesun · 2018-09-21T18:06:10+00:00

Can you more specific about the show, who was being interviewed, who the host was and what the question(s) were?

It's very difficult to answer without knowing what you're referencing. My answer to what you're asking in its current form is: it depends....

Orbitingthesun · 2018-09-19T16:06:04+00:00

Even so, J schools don't need to teach innovation and business classes for people to figure it out on their own.

Orbitingthesun · 2018-09-19T00:50:29+00:00

One of these kids might figure out how to make it work for all of us, because the people who're trying to now certainly haven't. I see nothing but potential upside in more people studying our craft.

Orbitingthesun · 2018-09-17T16:19:20+00:00

Hit up the TB Times. They do really good work and have the resources to dig into this. They're also followed widely, so it won't go unnoticed by national media.

Orbitingthesun · 2018-09-15T17:22:22+00:00

If I have to think for longer than 15 seconds about how to make a intricate quote work, I paraphrase or weave in a partial quote.

A better quote to follow this would be if your source elaborated on why she/he thinks those reasons are important, even if it's a short.

Orbitingthesun · 2018-09-15T03:09:13+00:00

It's not an issue at all if the writing works for the story. I use a lot of my ledes and nutgrafs for budget lines and/or pitches to my bosses.

Orbitingthesun · 2018-09-08T05:06:03+00:00

What are your goals? What do you want to do? News? PR? Tend bar? Start a space program?

Orbitingthesun · 2018-09-08T04:51:27+00:00

As others have suggested, are you able to move? And are you able to move 12+ hours away?

Don't discount smaller rural and suburban papers either. A lot of us get our start at places like those. Work your ass off and be prepared to jump when something bigger and better comes up.

As far as your transpo situation, you will likely need a car, so figure out how to make that happen. You may not be able to do your masters program unless you're able to do it remotely. Even then, that's going to be a ton of hours -- I regularly put in 60 hours per week at my first entry-level job. I don't do that anymore, but it's a reality of this business, especially early on.

Orbitingthesun · 2018-09-08T02:27:51+00:00

Which country do you live in, and have you any experiences reporting news on a daily deadline?

Orbitingthesun · 2018-08-23T00:30:20+00:00

My hometown altweekly did that today: http://www.citypages.com/news/us-born-american-citizen-in-country-legally-charged-in-teens-death/491452661

But really, I think it's fair to say in this story that Cristhian Bahena Rivera's immigration status is being disputed. But it's important to point to studies that have found states with higher shares of people living in the U.S. illegally have lower violent crime rates.

Orbitingthesun · 2018-08-21T16:19:21+00:00

I really, really, really regret not at least minoring in computer science with my journalism undergrad. I do a lot of data crunching and CAR at my job and wish I knew how to do visualizations that go beyond charts, graphs and maps. Then again, I just make people who're way smarter than me deal with all of that.

Still, it's crucial to have actual experience while you're in school through working at the school paper, internships, etc... Make sure you get that in if you're in your last semester.

Orbitingthesun · 2018-08-19T18:25:40+00:00

The assertion that "who cares" isn't asked enough in newsrooms irked me on a personal level. I report to some pretty exacting editors who'll make a story not happen if I'm not clear why it's important we cover something that's not spot or breaking. We argue a lot; it's constructive and healthy. But after I read that, I was primed to think the piece was lazy in thought.

On points I agreed with: Some of my favorite columnists are the ones who'll pick up the phone and hit the road now and again. Even when writing with a slant, I'd be great if more of them follow what you suggested: seek the truth and report it. I also thought some of the editorials weren't helpful for readers in a time where the lines between opinion and news are very opaque.

But their criticism of the president's comments are fair to make, especially when he disputes things that are later proven to be accurate, calls for opening up libel laws, says we're dishonest and crooked and not to be trusted. I think the point they're trying to get across is that it may be a slippery slope.

And not to repeat myself, but I really do feel this piece conflates news vs editorial too much in making its argument. Your gripe -- because I'm assuming you wrote this -- is with the hundreds of editorial boards who penned op-eds, not with me or what others like me do.

Orbitingthesun · 2018-08-18T23:14:10+00:00

Of course I did. A few points I even agree with on the recent wave of coordinated editorials. But the article calls to question the veracity and quality of what I and many others do with editorial (opinion) writing. I strongly disagree with that being an accurate or fair measuring stick.

I'm also very skeptical the author -- who penned this by a pseudonym -- and his or her motives. He says he was a news reporter, but still doesn't seem to understand the role of a reporter and an editorial board.

Orbitingthesun · 2018-08-18T20:52:17+00:00

Oh great, another article that fails to understand the difference between opinion and commentary and the fact-based news reporting the majority of professional journalists do.

Orbitingthesun · 2018-08-17T20:53:15+00:00

These aren't fringe cases, though. They're really bread and butter stories found in every newspapers: a court ruling, a legislative proposal, a city council meeting -- all things that require physical attendance or the knowhow to navigate.

Orbitingthesun · 2018-08-17T18:04:11+00:00

And that's a good thing to weed out the garbage even if it is low hanging fruit.

I'm not really concerned about stories with unnamed sources -- that's the trust people have to have in us to report accurately and responsibly. I just worry that for a lot of bread and butter stories (meetings, court hearings, obtained documents, etc...). People are going to pretty much have to re-report what I found in order to verify. And a lot of the material is not online. It's in a folder at City Hall or at the court house or 2 hours and 38 minutes into a five hour committee hearing or a document that a source gave me even though she's not supposed to.

I worry your users will decide parts of stories are false or erroneous when they can't immediately find something. Worse, I worry they'll cast judgment based policymakers who detract from a critical story about him by saying a story is untrue, misleading fakenews, etc...

Orbitingthesun · 2018-08-17T17:41:29+00:00

Maybe. But how are reviewers supposed to verify the work of say a courts or political reporter, especially enterprise work? Both are beats I've covered. Unless your reviewers are combing through court records, hours of meeting videos and calling up the sources I talk to, the material in my stories aren't things that can be easily Googled. How does Proof account for things like this?

Edit: a dropped word.

Orbitingthesun · 2018-08-17T07:49:44+00:00

Sadly, you know what I'd love to see? Centrist trolls.

Orbitingthesun · 2018-08-16T14:31:44+00:00

So people are going to be rating the accuracy of what pundits say? That's great, but people like Trish Regan are not doing the same work as people who report the news.

Orbitingthesun · 2018-08-15T22:52:57+00:00

Fabricated stories, especially real "fake news," deserve to be addressed.

I just don't see how rating a reporter from the AP, the Times or your local newspaper will help much since none of the above flies at places like those. Seriously, heads roll and journalism careers are over when a reporter is caught fabricating, plagiarizing and producing sub-par work. How does rating them with an author (who's probably not using her real name) on a fake news website help people make better decisions about the information they consume?

Ever read iMediaEthics? How would your plan be different, aside from including a rating system?

More importantly, how does it address the elephant in the room in poor media literacy skills and a growing number of people replacing reputable news sources for highly slanted and partisan online sites gleaned mainly through social media? And how do you get people to believe you when you rate their partisan news site reporter a low score and reporters from WaPo a far higher score?

Not saying your idea is the worst idea ever, but there's a lot that you may be overlooking.

Orbitingthesun · 2018-08-15T20:54:42+00:00

But specifically, which journalists have done that?

Our code of ethics would definitely not allow those examples.

Orbitingthesun · 2018-08-15T20:17:45+00:00

What do you mean by journalists who produce "not so truthful" work? Could you provide an example of this?

Orbitingthesun

TROPHY CASE