Are You Friends With the Prez? Should You Be?

THIS YEAR'S PRESIDENTIAL race is by far the most technologically advanced campaign ever. All of the candidates, including the two presumptive nominees, have made great use of the Internet.

John McCain has a video game on his official campaign site. Hillary Clinton posted videos almost daily and her campaign mass e-mailed supporters constantly in a push to raise funds.

Barack Obama's facebook site boasts more than one million friends. McCain has far fewer facebook friends but he is there (George Bush has even fewer).

Here is the question: Should journalists be facebook friends with the candidates? Does that reveal a lack of objectivity? Or is it just a smart move to get information as fast as possible?

The Lighter Side of Katie.

NEWSPAPER REPORTERS began blogging about their experiences years ago, providing readers with inside material that didn't necessarily fit into the story of the day. Some reporters blogged their notes and observations. Others created whole new stories.

Now, Katie Couric, host of the CBS Evening News, is posting behind the scenes videos to YouTube.

Watch the clips. They show a different side of Couric, who is generally deadly serious during the news programs.

The Volcano Erupts. Now Should it Disappear?

STUDENTS AT A California high school ran a photo of a student burning a flag on the cover of their final issue of the year.

Then the school principal threatened to shut down the newspaper - which is called the Volcano.

"The paper's done," said the principal. "There is not going to be a school newspaper next year."

A student editor convinced school district officials that the newspaper deserves a second chance.

What is the right decision? Read the reader's comments at the bottom of the linked pages before you make up your mind.

Is It a Breach of Journalistic Integrity or Smart Marketing Research?

PHILADELPHIA MEDIA HOLDINGS, owners of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and philly.com ran fake ads for a faux-airline last week.

The ads for Derrie-Air (say it again slowly) offered flight prices based upon the combined weight of you and your luggage.

"There are two purposes to it," a PMH spokesman told Editor & Publisher. "One is to try to put a smile on people's faces and have some fun. And to demonstrate the power of our brands, in print and online, to drive traffic awareness -- in this case for a brand that doesn’t exist and is fictitious."

Is this a violation of reader trust or just good fun?

The Media in Ten Years? No Print but Lots of Content.

MICROSOFT CEO Steve Ballmer says that in ten years, there will be no newspapers or magazines in print. All information will be delivered over the world wide web.

"Also in the world of 10 years from now, there are going to be far more producers of content than exist today," he told the Washington Post. "We've already started to see that certainly in the online world, but we've just scratched the surface."

Sounds like a good reason to sign up for The Entrepreneurial Journalist class for the fall semester (course number 3710, section 401, on Wednesday mornings from 8:40 to 11:30).

(photo from viralblog)

Say It Ain't So, Larry!

FROM THE FRONT page of the Sunday Inquirer:

The FBI has launched a criminal investigation of CBS3 anchor Larry Mendte - searching his home and confiscating his personal computer - to determine whether he illegally accessed the Yahoo e-mail account of former colleague Alycia Lane.

Larry didn't work the show on Friday. Alycia Lane was fired after she was arrested in New York, charged with assaulting a police officer. Most of the charges against Lane were eventually dropped.

MONDAY 6/2 UPDATE: CBS3 anchor Larry Mendte opened former colleague Alycia Lane's private e-mail account hundreds of times over many months, sources told The Inquirer yesterday, and the FBI is investigating whether he passed on gossip about Lane to the media.