Do You Show The Shootout on TV?

A FLORIDA MAN entered a school board meeting, complained about taxes and then began shooting. Police shot the man before he could seriously harm anyone. As he lay on the ground, the shooter took his own life.The whole episode was captured on video.Should the video be shown? Is it newsworthy? Is it too graphic? Does it only traumatize the audien...

How Did the Photojournalist Get the Image?

WHEN THE BRITISH government decided to triple the cost of college tuition, students in London went on the rampage. They burnt cars, smashed windows and then kicked Prince Charles limousine (and allegedly shot it with paintballs).There was not a plan for the protests - they began in front of Parliament and then roamed throughout the city. The photojournalist who created the above image, which ran on the covers of newspapers around the world, was fairly...

Annoying? Yes. Newsworthy? Not Sure.

WARNING: WHAT YOU will see in the above video is shocking (if you are a 13-year old girl from Nebraska) and unbelievably annoying.But the clip has been run on major news programs across the country and, sadly, around the world. The video shows teen idol Miley Cyrus taking a hit of salvia from a bong. Salvia is not considered a drug in California, where this video was shot, but salvia is controversial - it is said to cause hallucinations. Some people have called for it to be considered a drug and banned.Is this video newswort...

Do People Have the Right to See Government Documents? Or is Wikileaks Really High-Tech Terrorism?

THE MAN BEHIND Wikileaks, a website that reveals previously undisclosed information, has been labeled as a whistleblower, high tech terrorist and a hero of information.Wikileaks is slowly been releasing a 15-year cache of cables from US embassies around the world. In response, the White House released this statement: “We condemn in the strongest terms the unauthorized disclosure of classified documents and sensitive national security information."There...

Can "Hyperlocal" Revive Interest in Journalism?

THE JOURNAL REGISTER Company is set to launch a hyperlocal news portal for the greater Philadelphia region. “This site will be powered by the audience and will benefit – through traffic and revenue – those who publish their content here,” said JRC VP for content, Jonathan Cooper, who will speak at a PhIJI event on Tuesday (12/7) at 6:30 in Tuttleman 303AB. “We realize the benefit of plural voices in the community. There are hundreds of sources for...

MacMillan: "We Can't Seem to Agree if We Need More War Coverage or Less."

JIM MACMILLAN WENT to Iraq because he wanted to be a part of that story, to show the world what was happening there. He was influenced by the Vietnam-era images that changed the tide of public sentiment and he wanted to do something similar in Iraq.He had spent two decades honing his craft as a photojournalist prior to going to the Middle East. He attended hostile environment training in preparation, learning about weapons and crisis situations."I...