These are some of the things that have caught my attention lately. It’s a more eclectic mix than just the news business, but then so’s life:
- Jailing journalists | Haaretz – In the Falklands journalists were "jailed" in the living quarters of warships, and in the 2003 invasion of Iraq they were confined to the cabins of APCs, their field of vision narrowed to the width of a peephole.
In Gaza, journalists are being held in modest media facilities on the border of the coastal territory. Their positions have been filled, reporters and photographers alike, by troops of the IDF Spokesman's Office. The move is meant to present a sterile picture of war, to prevent Israeli media outlets from showing images of death, destruction and horror coming out of Gaza. But this is a shortsighted approach, one driven by the "ostrich policy" of planting our heads firmly in the sand.
In the age of the information superhighway, Israel and the world still see the same images and hear the same voices broadcast on most of the foreign TV stations. The IDF's manipulations of the media, which willingly cooperates, may be good for the army, but it's very bad for Israeli democracy.
- New Web-based news agency going live on Monday | AFP Mediawatch – [W]e needed to find a way to engage quality freelance foreign correspondents with an offer that was attractive to them sufficient to make them commit to us and that would also allow us to build the business. We offer a guaranteed cash payment (US$1,000) every month, we sign a longterm contract with our correspondents and we give them shares in the company.
- Gideon Levy: My hero of the Gaza war | Haaretz – My war hero is Ayman Mohyeldin, the young correspondent for Al Jazeera English and the only foreign correspondent broadcasting during these awful days in a Gaza Strip closed off to the media. Al Jazeera English is not what you might think. It offers balanced, professional reporting from correspondents both in Sderot and Gaza. And Mohyeldin is the cherry on top of this journalistic cream. I wouldn't have needed him or his broadcasts if not for the Israeli stations' blackout of the fighting. Since discovering this wunderkind from America (his mother is from the West Bank city of Tul Karm and his father from Egypt), I have stopped frantically changing TV stations.
- Write away, student journalists | Los Angeles Times – Not so long ago, a journalism foundation surveyed American high school students and found about half believed the government could legally censor the Internet. Three-quarters expressed ambivalence toward the 1st Amendment. More than a third said it went too far in guaranteeing our most basic rights.
What's afoot in the land of Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson? We'd like to be nurturing the next Edward R. Murrow, but it sounds like we've got a bunch of kids auditioning to be Robert Mugabe's information minister.
- How the city hurts your brain | Boston.com – [T]he density of city life doesn't just make it harder to focus: It also interferes with our self-control … the brain is also assaulted with temptations — caramel lattes, iPods, discounted cashmere sweaters, and high-heeled shoes. Resisting these temptations requires us to flex the prefrontal cortex, a nub of brain just behind the eyes. Unfortunately, this is the same brain area that's responsible for directed attention, which means that it's already been depleted from walking around the city. As a result, it's less able to exert self-control, which means we're more likely to splurge on the latte and those shoes we don't really need. While the human brain possesses incredible computational powers, it's surprisingly easy to short-circuit: all it takes is a hectic city street.
"I think cities reveal how fragile some of our 'higher' mental functions actually are," Kuo says. "We take these talents for granted, but they really need to be protected."
- Teaching Intelligence Analysts in the UK | Central Intelligence Agency – [W]e have devoted one session in each course to examining how the serious media now operate. Students have been fascinated to talk to the foreign editor of a leading journal and to a leading BBC correspondent to learn first hand about how the process of serious reporting is managed, open and private sources handled, and editorial discretion exercised, since in journalism, as in intelligence analysis, to edit is to choose. Writing accurately and clearly, to a tight deadline, is a skill that both professions have to exercise.
- Tools for News – Tools for news
- 10 Golden Rules for Video Journalists | Richochet – Washington Post video journalist Travis Fox shared his 10 guidelines for making video reports.
Golden Rule 10: Get “X-roll.” X-roll is when you get your interviewee’s money quotes in their natural environment.
Golden Rule 9: Shoot within 180 degrees around a subject. In other words, don’t walk around your subject when interviewing them.
Golden Rule 8: Sequence your video with a variety of detail, tight, medium, wide shots as well as cut away shots. 50 percent of shots will be tight, 25 percent medium and 25 percent wide
Golden Rule 7: Remember 80:20 ratio (80 percent should be b-roll and 20 percent should be interviews)
Golden Rule 6 Get close to the subject when interviewing them for audio purposes
Golden Rule 5: Stay quiet when shooting
Golden Rule 4: If you do not get the shot, you do not have it.
Golden Rule 3: Do not move the camera when shooting (unless you are an advanced videographer)
Golden Rule 2: Hold every shot for 10 seconds
Golden Rule 1: Wear headphones - Time to start a newspaper | Seth’s Blog – "What should not-so-busy real estate brokers do?
Why not start a local newspaper?" Or a marketing blog?