"Interviewing the Data," with Sabrina Rubin Erdely, Alfred Lubrano & Dylan Purcell.

SOME JOURNALISTS ARE uncomfortable with numbers. Data and statistics can be difficult to comprehend, and they can be interpreted in many ways. But they can also be used as support for stories, making trends and observations credible in the eyes and ears of the audience."Numbers are authoritative," Inquirer staff writer Alfred Lubrano said yesterday in class during our discussion of Data & Journalism. "But you have to find a balance. People like...

Using Data to Create Good Journalism.

ON TUESDAY, WE'LL have a few guests in class talking about using data, statistics and research to strengthen their journalistic work.Sabrina Rubin Erdely is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone and a writer-at-large for Philadelphia magazine. She has won numerous awards for her work, much of which is centered around investigative journalism. (Click on the links above to find some of her stories).Alfred Lubrano is a Brooklyn native and Columbia...

The President vs. The Reporter?

I DON'T WANT to lead you in either direction so I'll just ask the question: who is the jerk he...

Consumer Reporter Nydia Han: "If You Plan to go Into TV News, You're Going to Work Hard."

NYDIA HAN WANTED to be a magazine writer. But after interning at a San Francisco television station while she was in college, she became hooked on TV news."I loved the immediacy of it," she said during her visit to class yesterday. "I really saw the power of TV news, and the ways it can contribute to the world."Her path to becoming an anchor and consumer reporter for 6ABC's Action News, one of the most popular local newscasts in the country, was...

Move Closer to Your World, My Friend.

ON TUESDAY, NYDIA HAN, a reporter and anchor at 6ABC, will visit the class.Han has been at 6ABC (a.k.a. Action News) since 2002. She has covered a wide variety of stories in the region and around the country. She currently serves as a weekend anchor and consumer affairs/ investigative reporter. You can find some of her recent work here.She is a Southern California native who speaks Korean fluently. She graduated from the prestigious Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.We'll open the floor for your questions, so think about what...

Why Journalists Must Remain Independent.

A LA SALLE UNIVERSITY professor held a symposium that involved strippers. The student newspaper found out about the stripper event (which involved students paying $150 for an ethics seminar). But the university told the student journalists that they could not publish any information until a full investigation was performed by the university.Should the students have run the news story anyway? Can the university censor the newspaper?The faculty advisor...

Wake Me When the News Starts.

DURING THE PRESIDENT'S speech today about the national debt, Vice President Joe Biden closed his eyes and seemed to nod off.The so-called snoozing (no one confirmed if the VP was sleeping) has become big news.Is this actually a sto...

Should the Bloggers Get Some Cash?

THROUGHOUT THE HISTORY of the Huffington Post, bloggers have worked for free. In February, HuffPo was purchased by AOL for $315 million. The site's founder, Arianna Huffington (above), retains her position and she pockets the cash.This week, a former blogger filed a class action lawsuit against the Huffington Post and AOL.“In my view, the Huffington Post’s bloggers have essentially been turned into modern-day slaves on Arianna Huffington’s plantation,”...

University Newspapers Are Still Popular?

DO YOU READ the school newspaper?According to a Washington Post story, student newspapers are still popular - 85 percent of students surveyed read the print edition of their campus paper in the past month and 72 percent had read the paper online. The reasons why they read the papers: they are free, they are portable and they speak to the very specific community.Why do you read (or not read) the Temple Ne...

Who Wants To Be a News Anchor Anymore?

OVER THE LAST few weeks, several notable network news anchors have announced that they will be stepping down in the near future. Among the big names: Katie Couric, Glenn Beck and Meredith Viera.What's going on? The network anchor position used to be the ultimate destination for broadcast journalists. Is this a sign that network journalism is no longer relevant?“The prestige has diminished, the money has diminished and the audience has diminished,”...

Gotcha Journalism?

NBC NEWS WITH Brian Williams was nearly tricked by an Army press release stating that the new standard-issue headgear for soldiers would be a Stetson cowboy hat.NBC ran a story despite it being an April Fool's joke. Is it newswort...