Melanie C.

futurejournalismproject: Journalist Security Guide The...

Wed, 02 May 2012 23:03:25 -0400

Journalist Security Guide

The Committee to Protect Journalists just released an extensive online guide for journalism security:

This guide details what journalists need to know in a new and changing world. It is aimed at local and international journalists of varied levels of experience. The guide outlines basic preparedness for new journalists taking on their first assignments around the world, offers refresher information for mid-career journalists returning to the field, and provides advice on complex issues such as digital security and threat assessment for journalists of all experience levels.

Topics covered include:

Basic Preparedness

Assessing and Responding to Risk

Information Security

Armed Conflic

Organized Crime and Corruption

Civial Matters and Disturbances

Natural Disasters

Health Epidemics and Mass Hazards

Sustained Risks

Stress Reactions

Check it. Share it. Great stuff.

Romney Media

Wed, 02 May 2012 12:32:08 -0400

Romney Media:

What do you think?

Have the Media let Romney slide by with easy questions?

Should the CBS This Morning anchor have acted differently?

Colleges for Writers

Wed, 02 May 2012 12:16:02 -0400

Colleges for Writers:

A list of where we should’ve went to college. Two years too late.

futurejournalismproject: Infographic: How Social Media is...

Wed, 02 May 2012 12:13:35 -0400

futurejournalismproject:

Infographic: How Social Media is Replacing Traditional Journalism for Breaking News

via Bill Moyers:

As of 2012, online news revenue has surpassed print news revenue, and more people are using social media tools like Facebook and Twitter for news than ever before. This infographic shows that nearly half of all Americans get their news from online sources at least three times a week. Learn more about how social media is supplanting traditional media in today’s smart chart.

H/T: Schools.com

The FJP: What's the Future of Journalism Education?

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 03:19:22 -0400

The FJP: What's the Future of Journalism Education?:

futurejournalismproject:

Related to our last post, I’m sharing this message from Poynter:

Roger Ailes, the Fox News chairman and CEO, in a speech at the University of North Carolina recently, told journalism students they should change their major. “If you’re going into journalism if you care, then you’re…

Ten Ways Poetry Can Improve Your Prose

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 03:14:29 -0400

lettersandlight:

A few years ago, while plodding through a revision of my novel (revisions require the writer’s equivalent of heavy-duty hiking boots), I got bored by my writing. It was too literal, too realistic, too earnest, and too flat.

Most writers are all too familiar with this feeling after a red-eyed reading of a draft. I needed a way to literally jar my narrative sensibility. I needed jazz, punk rock, Jackson Pollock, Merce Cunningham, something.

Around this time, I read a quote by Emily Dickinson that remains among my favorite writing advice: “Tell all the truth but tell it slant.”

I started reading poetry avidly and discovered that by focusing on the exquisite “slant” poetry offers, the “truth” I was trying to capture became more piquant, surprising, nuanced, playful, and meaningful to me.

So, in honor of National Poetry Month and Poem In Your Pocket Day, here are my 10 reasons prose writers should read—and hopefully write—poetry.

Read More

This Weeks Best Reads in Journalism: Newsweek

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 03:12:22 -0400

This Weeks Best Reads in Journalism: Newsweek:

Newsweeks suggestions for the best articles floating around this past week.

My fellow Journalism majors, we are in trouble...

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:40:53 -0400

My fellow Journalism majors, we are in trouble...:

WARNING: Journalism ranks number eight on the top 13 most useless majors according to The Daily Beast.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

Happy Birthday William

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:32:43 -0400

Sonnet 144

Two loves I have of comfort and despair,
Which like two spirits do suggest me still,
The better angel is a man right fair:
The worser spirit a woman coloured ill.
To win me soon to hell my female evil,
Tempteth my better angel from my side,
And would corrupt my saint to be a devil:
Wooing his purity with her foul pride.
And whether that my angel be turned fiend,
Suspect I may, yet not directly tell,
But being both from me both to each friend,
I guess one angel in another’s hell.
Yet this shall I ne’er know but live in doubt,
Till my bad angel fire my good one out.

________________________________________________________________

448 years later and you are still changing the world.

We can never let time erase such greatness.

Well she just made me want to learn code...

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 00:04:00 -0400

Well she just made me want to learn code...:

An enjoyable column that actually made me want to go out and learn HTML.
Way to go.

futurejournalismproject: Thou Shalt Not Commit Logical...

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 15:11:15 -0400

futurejournalismproject:

Thou Shalt Not Commit Logical Fallacies

The Internet: where arguments know no bounds.

As technology writer Mike Elgan writes:

Most people who argue and debate online… commit standard, well-understood logical fallacies.

The problem with this is that debates never go anywhere, and they take forever to get there.

By calling people on their logical fallacies, you can shorten arguments, and everyone can learn from debate.

So enter Thou shalt not commit logical fallacies, a site that teaches us about flaws in reasoning. In particular, the logical fallacy:

A logical fallacy is usually what has happened when someone is wrong about something. It’s a flaw in reasoning. They’re like tricks or illusions of thought, and they’re often very sneakily used by politicians and the media to fool people.

In an argument? Simply hit the site and mouse over an icon to see what logical fallacy you’re butting up against. They range from the Slippery Slope to the Texas Sharp Shooter.

Pro Tip: Works for offline arguments as well. Just download the free poster from the site.

Image: Screenshot of a Slippery Slope. Via Thou shalt not commit logical fallacies

The Lost Art of Editorial Writing.

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 12:19:27 -0400

The Lost Art of Editorial Writing.:

An informative opinion piece on what Editorials have lost in the evolution of media.

No Pulitzer Prize for Fiction This Year.

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 00:43:00 -0400

No Pulitzer Prize for Fiction This Year. :

Although I was ecstatic to hear that the Huffington Post finally received the recognition they deserve with their Pulitzer Prize, I was shocked to discover that no one will receive the prize in the Fiction category this year.

None of the authors pieces met the Boards expectation. *eye roll*

Tim Ryans' New Meditation Mission

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 00:34:00 -0400

Tim Ryans' New Meditation Mission:

I find it very uplifting to see a Christian politician seek the teachings of other religions not only to better themselves as people but to also become more rounded to serve U.S. citizens. What a breath of fresh air in such a chaotic time.

10 points to Ohio.

futurejournalismproject: WordPress Dominates Top 100 Blogs Via...

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 01:43:24 -0400

futurejournalismproject:

WordPress Dominates Top 100 Blogs

Via Pingdom:

We just completed a study and found that WordPress is in use by 48% of the top 100 blogs in the world. This is an increase from the 32% we recorded three years ago.

Other developments since then include that custom blog publishing platforms are more common now, TypePad has all but disappeared from the top 100, Tumblr has made an entrance, and some companies really don’t want to spill the beans about what solutions they use.

Nice to see Tumblr is in the top 100.

Authors books causing an uproar.

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 01:42:15 -0400

Authors books causing an uproar. :

This interview really opened my eyes to the importance of criticism. It describes why it is so important for you to write about what truly inspires you in your own style regardless of what others say.

futurejournalismproject: Top 10 Broadcast Media Websites (by US...

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 09:55:59 -0400

futurejournalismproject:

Top 10 Broadcast Media Websites (by US Market Share of Visits). March 2012.

Via.

futurejournalismproject: News Orgs: their Fans and Followers,...

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 14:11:45 -0400

futurejournalismproject:

News Orgs: their Fans and Followers, March 2012

The Onion, holding its own.

UPDATE: Just to clarify, this is US-based. H/T: Ben Piven.

The Four Noble Truths for Writers

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 13:55:00 -0400

An excerpt from The Mindful Writer by Dinty W. Moore featured in the Spring 2012 issue of Buddhadharma:

The Four Noble Truths for Writers

-The writing life is difficult, full of disappointment and dissatisfaction.

-Much of this dissatisfaction comes from the ego, from our insistence on controlling both the process of writing and how the world reacts to what we have written.

-There is a way to lessen the disappointment and the dissatisfaction and to live a more fruitful writing life.

-The way to accomplish this is to make both the practice of writing and the work itself less about ourselves. To thrive, we must be mindful of our motives and our attachment to desired outcomes.

——————————————————————————————————-

Although this is Buddhist in nature, I think it holds something that all writers can benefit from.

Calling all bloggers, step up to the plate.

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 13:20:02 -0400

Calling all bloggers, step up to the plate.