Rule Number 3: Don't Be Stupid!

A YOUNG, RECENT college grad/ former journalist posted a guide to succeeding in journalism on the Innovation in College Media website. It is full of great advice.This is my favorite:With Google and Wikipedia you no longer have any excuse to be stupid. Ever. Have a question or curious about something? Type it into Google.Don’t know HTML, how to install blogging software or shoot and edit video? Too bad, you’re out of excuses because you have the Internet....

Young People Are Interested ... But Are They Informed?

NO DOUBT, this year's election cycle has garnered a lot of excitement from the younger generations.Younger voters have been voting in primaries at higher rates than in the past, across the country. Still, very few young people actually read the news, watch broadcast news or read online sites that have great depth. Rather, the New York Times reports, young people are using social networking tools like facebook, myspace and YouTube to send along individual...

Talking Sports With Ray Didinger

A LOT OF people dream big. Few achieve their goals.Ray Didinger, TU class of '68, is living the dream. And he'll tell you all about it in class on Thursday, March 27.As a child growing up in Southwest Philly and nearby Delaware County, Didinger idolized the Philly sports teams. As a kid, he went to an Eagles training camp, saw the sportswriters out on the field, and he decided that was what he wanted to do.After completing his journalism degree at...

To Dish Or Not To Dish

SO, THE GOVERNOR OF New York gets busted by the feds for soliciting hookers. How much more info does the public need?Then, David Patterson, the guy who replaces the disgraced Eliot Spitzer, announces that he has had multiple affairs while married. One of his paramours is on his gubernatorial staff.How much information should the media provide? The editor of the Albany Times Union wrote this:"If you're the editor of the newspaper here, you're torn:...

Would You Sell Your Soul For a Job?

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS is hiring 21 new employees for positions in New York, Los Angeles and London.Excited? There's a catch: the newbies are on the celebrity beat.In defending the well-respected wire service's foray into the world of celebrity gossip, one executive said, "The entertainment vertical is not about gossip, unnamed sources and innuendo or about “peephole” journalism with AP photographers becoming paparazzi. It’s about recognizing an opportunity...

Boston Mag Is Going Straight To Hell.

THE ADVERTISEMENT above for a health club appeared in last month's issue of Boston magazine (sister mag to Philadelphia magazine).Catholics in the heavily Catholic town freaked out. "It's offensive," a Boston archdiocese spokesperson said. "I hope they make the decision not to run it again and perhaps offer an apology to the religious community."Is there anything wrong with a magazine running this ...

The Big Story: Your Team Needs You.

THE INFORMATION that follows comes directly from TU president Ann Weaver Hart's e-mail to the Temple community:Men's Game: The men play Michigan State this Thursday, March 20, in Denver, CO at 12:30 pm EST. We will be hosting two sites on campus to view the game: The Great Court in Mitten Hall, and the Howard Gittis Student Center Room 200.Women's Game: Sunday evening in College Park, MD at 9:30 pm EST, the women will play Arizona State. We will...

Can We Talk About Race?

THE SERMONS OF Barack Obama's former pastor have become part of the presidential campaign this year. Some people believe the pastor's words are incendiary.And yesterday, in Philadelphia, Obama spoke to the nation about race relations in America:"The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we’ve never really worked through – a part...

Can You Hear Me Now?

JOURNALISM IS A tool intended to help communities. Media outlets are supposed to inform citizens about things that will help them lead better lives.The reality is that journalism is a business, and the mission of the craft has suffered because or it.Enter the Prometheus Radio Project, lo-fi radio pioneers who travel the world and build radio stations as community-builders.A few folks from Prometheus will talk to our class on Tuesday, March 18. And...

Who Controls the Internet?

AN ONLINE college gossip site is causing a stir at some universities. On Juicy Campus, you can post just about anything.The New York Times wrote about the site today, citing a Juicy Campus post that outed a Yale University student as a porn star. And the post had a link to videos (not the NY Times' post, you perv).Should this kind of information be regulated? Should anyone be able to post information online? How would you feel if your life was broadcast...

Off the Record, You're a Pain in the Butt.

BARACK OBAMA'S FORMER foreign policy aide, Samantha Power, called Hillary Clinton a "monster." And then she tried to take it back."We f***** up in Ohio," Power told a reporter from The Scotsman, a newspaper in Great Britain. "In Ohio, they are obsessed and Hillary is going to town on it, because she knows Ohio's the only place they can win. She is a monster, too – that is off the record – she is stooping to anything." What do you do at that point?...

Broadcast News Behind the Lens.

PLEASE SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS about today's guest, Pete Kane, an NBC10 photojournalist who was honored in 2007 with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists.Did he inform you about things you had not considered? Did you think about journalists working seven days per week, on holidays, over night and 33 hours straight when necessary?The anchors and reporters get the face-time and the glory. But it's people like...

Who Is Responsible for Online Comments?

AFTER THE REDSKINS' Sean Taylor was murdered in his South Florida home, rumors and speculation about his death floated everywhere, especially on the Internet.Some commenters on newspaper and blog sites assumed that Taylor was involved in something negative (drugs, violence, etc.) and that was why he was killed. Sometimes, the commenters became racist - Taylor is African American. They made assumptions about his life based upon the color of his skin.Some...

In The Heart Of Darkness?

NATIONAL PUBLIC Radio newscaster Jean Cochran reported that president George Bush was going to visit Africa, and Cochran referred to it as the "Dark Continent."Then she was stunned to learn that people were offended by the phrase."I will concede antiquated but I was unaware it was 'racist and irredeemable,' as one person put it in an email," Cochran told NPR's ombudsman. "I was floored. Am I insensitive? I don't know how that could be since I didn't...

Note to Self: Get Involved.

A NEW ONLINE youth culture mag, Urbaniti, is now posted. It is operated by Temple students, and they are looking for people to get involved.Get involved.And post your comments about the site he...

Does Anyone Want Serious Journalism?

NEWSPAPERS ARE losing circulation at a pretty rapid clip. Television ratings are down compared to past years, largely because there is just so much competition out there. And the mag business is as difficult as ever (most magazines don't last 5 years).But here is a story about a British-based, global magazine - The Economist - that is not only surviving, but thriving."The magazine expects to show 13% circulation growth in its upcoming filing, on...