Does The World Need Another Sex Columnist?

The story above is a college sex columnist's narrative about having sex all around the campus of the University of California, Berkeley. It raised a bit of a fuss (read the comments below the story) as sex columns often do. Talking about sex, it seems, is always rather controversial.

But let's make this about more than this particular story. Is there a need for sex columnists in general? Are we wasting our journalistic resources by over-covering this salacious subject (especially when Dan Savage has already answered every possible sex-related question)?

Do media outlets focus on sex because it will attract attention or because there is a legitimate service being provided to the audience?

Is Black Friday A News Event?

Across the country last week, print, online and broadcast journalists documented the Black Friday shopping phenomenon as though it was a presidential election.

Some outlets revealed where the best deals could be found and when. Other outlets harkened back to previous years when Black Friday shoppers became unruly and sometimes even violent.

Is Black Friday a news event? Are the journalists providing a service to their audiences or are they just promoting retailers, many of whom are their advertisers?

Denise James: "The Words Provide Context to What You See."

Denise James testified before city council when she was a teenager growing up in Detroit. The area newscasts covered the event and she wound up on air.

"They didn't get me," she remembered as she spoke to class on Tuesday.

She felt the newscast misrepresented her sentiment. And that sparked an idea in her mind.

"I could do that and I could be a more clear megaphone for people," she said. "I could assist people and get their voices out there more accurately."

She went to Michigan State University and then landed a job at WGPR, the first wholly African American-owned television station in the United States. It was a small station but a huge television market, so Denise reported alongside seasoned veterans, and she learned from them.

She spent a few years as a broadcast journalist at stations in North Carolina and then came to 6ABC, where she was a reporter for more than 23 years. She has since left the station and now she runs her own media company.

Here are a few things she said that stuck out to me:

• In broadcast journalism, a pen and notepad are almost as important as the camera, she said. "It's still about the writing," Denise said. "Content is king."
• Broadcast journalists write to sound and video. "It's my job to not get in the way of the marvelous images," she said. "I'm just a boat to deliver the messages. The words provide context to what you see."
• The reporter's job is to make the audience relate to the story, to help create that universal experience.
• It's important to be curious. You need to go beyond your personal interests.

• When you are writing, you need to pay critical attention to your presentation. Use active verbs. Vary the sentence length. And be aware of tense - most TV news is in the present or future tense.

• Journalists must remain ethical. Always. "The perception of impropriety can be worse than the impropriety itself," she said.

• Be careful what you put online. "If you don't brand yourself, someone else will," Denise warned.

• Talent is absolutely necessary but you also need something that will make you stand out when applying for jobs. Get involved with student groups, the school newspaper and TV station, and do internships.
• Start networking now, Denise implored. Even your classmates might help you get your foot in the door in the future. "Who you know might let you know if a door is opening," she said.

Stay Inside During Storms. Unless You Are a Journalist.

This ia a montage of reporters covering Hurricane Sandy from a CNN story.

I present it to you without comment. But I'm interested in your thoughts.

(FYI ... the video originally posted here was removed from YouTube. This one is quite similar.)

Anderson Cooper: In Order to Be a Success, You Need to Outwork Everyone Else.


After Anderson Cooper graduated from Yale University, he had difficulty finding a job in broadcast journalism. So he gathered some video equipment and shuttled off to war zones – Burma, Bosnia and Somalia, among other places, and packaged his own news.

Eventually, he began selling his stories. Then ABC News hired him.

Now, Cooper, who visited Temple University yesterday to receive the Lew Klein Excellence in the Media Award, reports for 60 Minutes, he hosts a daily talk show on CBS and he anchors a show on CNN. He works around 14 to 16 hours per day.

“I don’t do much else,” he said, though he added that the long days don’t bother him. “It doesn’t feel like work to me.”

His style of journalism has generated a mass following, largely because he reports on ideas and events in a factual manner and then adds his own critical eye. He’s received criticism for his brand of journalism, like the time he saved the life of a child who had been pelted by bricks after a devastating earthquake in Haiti.

“This kid is 10-years old and he has a severe head wound,” Cooper recalled, explaining how he scooped up the child and carried him to safety. “Some people attacked me for being too involved. But this was not altering the event. It was helping a kid.”

It’s important not to alter a situation, he said, or to even create a stir because the cameras are rolling. When people start acting for the camera, he shuts it down, as what he strives for is authenticity. Which is why he lets the news impact him on a personal level.

“I don’t think you should go home and brush it (the job) off,” he said. “Seeing everything and thinking about it makes your reporting all the more real.”

Even after 20 years in journalism, after witnessing devastation after devastation, he tries not to be hardened by what he sees and experiences.

“You can get lost in the horror and hate,” he admitted. “But then you miss the kindness and compassion.”


Here are a few other things he said that stood out to me:

• “It’s an extraordinary feeling to run to something that everyone else is running away from,” he said.

• “Accuracy in reporting is more important than ever before,” Cooper said.

• His mother told him to follow his bliss. So he did. He took a chance by travelling overseas to war zones to report.

• He got his first job by being there, and by being aggressive.

• In order to be a success, you need to outwork everyone else, Cooper said.

“That’s why I don’t take vacation now,” he said. “Because I know there are a lot of people waiting to take my job.”

 • He came out as being gay when he was in high school, and he said that he has long been open about his sexuality. He just always thought it was a personal issue, one that didn’t need to be discussed on the global stage of his television shows.

“When you’re reporting,” he said, “you don’t want to be the story.”

Plus, in many of the places he reported, being gay was not socially acceptable.

Having his personal life splashed around the world could have endangered his life.





Is It Good Journalism To Report What You Find on Facebook?

When two wedding parties clashed at a Society Hill hotel and the rumble was caught on video, the story went global. Demand for information was intense.

When the families involved refused to speak, the Philadelphia Daily News went to the social media networks to find information about the two wedding parties. The paper reported that one of the brides' page on Pinterest "shows that she'd been contemplating a wedding with elements of love and beauty, not of violence and death. Photos on the page include a love message from the groom to the bride on her wedding shoe, flowers glued to Styrofoam balls, and the palms of four hands displaying the word F-O-R-E-V-E-R, spelled out in Scrabble tiles and a wedding band for the letter O."

They also published information from people's facebook pages and twitter feeds.

Is this an invasion of privacy? Or, are the media allowed to publish/air information from people's social media sites?

Is this good journalism or lazy reporting?

Is A Person's Criminal Past Newsworthy When They Are The Apparent Victim?

By now you have probably seen the above footage of a woman being punched in the face by a Philadelphia police officer during the after party of the Puerto Rican Day parade.

The woman was charged with disorderly conduct though charges were later dropped. The police officer is on 30-day suspension and the police chief announced that the officer will be fired.

A few days after the incident, the Philly Post - the online component of Philadelphia magazine, reported that the woman punched in the face had a criminal record. She was busted for a DUI and related charges, including falsely identifying herself to police. She was sentenced to 82 days in jail for a theft conviction. And she was busted on a drug charge.

Is the woman's criminal history relevant to the story? Should it be published information?

Or did the Philly Post reporter overstep the boundaries of what a journalist is supposed to report?

Do You Believe What You See On The Interwebs?

Is satire acceptable?

In recent years, there have been many people attempting be humorous in the media ... and they are sometimes taken seriously by other media outlets who perpetuate their satire. But when the other media outlets republish the material, they print it as fact.

Take the image at right, for example (click on it to see it larger). It is a clip from an Iranian news site that doesn't understand, apparently, that The Onion is one big joke.

The Iranian news outlet ran a story about a poll The Onion made up that said, "The overwhelming majority of rural white Americans said they would rather vote for Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than U.S. president Barack Obama."

In this day and age, when information is accessible immediately almost anywhere, should satire be allowed? Or is it up to the audience to decipher what is the truth?

Should it be the responsibility of the consumer to fact-check the Internet?

Does sature ultimately undermine the credibility of everything you read online?

Flyers' PR Chief Zack Hill: "Accuracy is Top Priority."

A big part of Zack Hill's job as senior director of communications for the Flyers is putting out fires. Like the time reporters said that Eric Lindros bit an opposing player's ear (even though he didn't). Or the time a Flyers player was accused of using a racial slur ... except that he didn't. Or the time when Charles Barkley said, "This is a game that if you lose, you go home and beat your wife and kids." Except that Charles was joking.

"Check your sources," Zack said in class yesterday, noting that he's always reachable for verification. "Accuracy is top priority. If there is a bad lead, I'll track that down."

After graduating from West Virginia University, he was an elementary school teacher. He decided to pursue a masters degree in journalism but got sidetracked while serving as an intern for the Sixers. They asked him to stay, and he eventually elevated to become the Sixers' director of public relations. In 1993, he moved over to a similar position with the Flyers, where he has been ever since.

Among his duties: attending practices and games, and facilitating media requests along the way; lining up press credentials; prepping game notes; generally making sure the public keep the Flyers in their minds all year 'round. And he's always on the phone.

"I go through several phones per year," he said - while holding a cracked iPhone in his hand.

Here are a few other things he said that stood out for me:

• Interning is the key to success. And when you intern, volunteer for everything.
• When he was interning for the Sixers, he arrived at work on a really bad snow day when everyone except the GM bailed. And that scored him massive points.

• When he was hired by the Sixers, and later when he joined the Flyers, he had to develop trust from the players. Building relationships, he said, is key - in PR, journalism and just about any profession.

• He believes in "behavioral consistency," meaning you don't freak out all the time. "I haven't lost my temper since the mid-80s," he said.

• He said he never has problems with people being honest, even when it's Flyers players speaking to the media. "Sometimes they can be a little more tactful," he added. "But I like openness."

• Part of his job is anticipating the needs of the journalists, many of whom he also has very close relationships with.
• His team, which includes three other staffers, won the 2012 Dillman Award, which recognizes the top media relations departments from the two NHL conferences.

• Zack said that newspapers are dying (though he later said that he didn't think newspapers would ever go away). And while the team credentials some bloggers, he said, "I don't trust a whole lot that I read on the Internet."

• He can't talk about the NHL lockout. The Red Wings' senior VP recently made a comment about the lockout and the team was fined a reported $250,000.

• Oh, and his brother is named Bunker. No kidding.

What stood out for you?

Can You Call It "Pink Slime" If Everyone Else Does?

Last week, a defamation lawsuit was filed against ABC News, anchor Diane Sawyer and ABC correspondents Jim Avila and David Kerley because they did a series of stories about a meat process that develops what, apparently, someone has dubbed "pink slime."

The company that filed the lawsuit, Beef Products Inc, also sued the microbiologist who coined the term, and several other people. Beef Products says that the the end result is not "pink slime," but lean, finely textured beef.

Many other organizations did stories about the meat and the process, also using the term "pink slime." The term and idea instantly became Internet fodder.

Watch the package above. Did ABC News do anything wrong? Were they fair in their reporting, or does this story exploit what is sure to be a story that will draw an immediate and powerful reaction?

One critic of ABC News wrote, "Some journalists aren’t content with covering the news; they have to make it, too. That’s been ABC’s strategy as the network has led the charge against USDA-approved beef. That agenda has put at least 600 jobs in jeopardy as the targeted company suspended operations in three separate plants."

Would you feel comfortable doing this story the way ABC News did?

Are there any grounds to the lawsuit?

Eric Newton: "Are You an Engine of Change or The Caboose Being Dragged Along?"

The job of a great school of media and communications, Eric Newton said, is to deal with the shrinking professional journalism field and figure out what to do with the gigantic screaming echo chamber that is social media.

Journalism, he said, has been turned upside-down and inside-out because of the digital age. Where readers, viewers and listeners were once the audience, we are all now a part of a giant community, where news and information goes in multiple directions at once.

But Newton, the senior advisor to the president of the Knight Foundation, wanted to know whether you thought that journalism education was adapting quick enough?

Journalism education, he argued, is a turtle in an age when the communications field evolves lightning quick. He called journalism education a "symphony of slowness." Colleges have an emphasis on research, which he argued adds little to the industry. Rather, he would like to see journalism programs adapt a teaching hospital model where students study with and work alongside professionals who are helping to shape the future of journalism.

Temple, he said, was among the better journalism programs in the country. Then he added, "You're a fast turtle. But from where I sit, you're still a turtle."

Some of the technology and crazy ideas represented in futuristic movies like Minority Report, The Matrix and I,Robot are now commonplace, Newton said, and others are coming. These new ideas and devices will change the way we communicate.

"Are you an engine of change or the caboose being dragged along?" he asked.

Here are a few others things he said that stood out for me:

• "Figure it out" was the best advice he ever received.
• You don't need a journalism degree to become a journalist but it helps. Journalism school teaches you the skills and value of the craft.
• To be successful as a modern journalist, you need to be very good at a few things and good at a lot more. Being a single-skilled journalist will not be enough.
• Journalism without community engagement is not enough.
• Measuring engagement is difficult - is it based upon comments, shares, action resulting from stories, etc?
• Newspapers are not dying. Home-delivered, paid circulation, subscriber-based newspapers in the industrialized world are in trouble.
• Technology makes everything harder and easier at the same time.

What stood out for you?

Can a Football Team Ban Reporters From Tweeting?

Before new Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer held his first weekly press conference of this season, his PR staff announced to the attending media that they were not allowed to tweet during the event. And that no twitter rule extends to every Urban Meyer press conference.

A writer from the Akron Beacon-Journal wrote in response:

"Want to ban your players from using Twitter? Fine. Want to keep the coaches off it? That’s their prerogative. But attempt to tell a room of reporters from around the state when they’re allowed to report news and problems are sure to ensue."

It seems that none of the journalists used their Twitter accounts during that press conference.

Can the football coach or the university say when a reporter can or can't reveal information?

If you were a reporter at the press conference, would you have tweeted if there was relevant information to transmit?

By the way, Urban Meyer has been on the J1111 blog before, after he yelled at a reporter. Check out that story here.

(Image via Bleacher Report)

Is a Hurricane in The Gulf Region News in Philadelphia? Or Around The World?

News outlets around the world have been reporting on the potential impact of Hurricane Isaac in the Gulf region.

Some of the interest is because there was potential for the hurricane to disrupt the Republican Convention in Tampa (which it didn't). Now, the focus seems to be on whether the hurricane will damage the region devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Should the reporters be speculating on the potential damage? Does that protect people who could potentially be injured in some way? Or does this simply spread fear?

Check out the image on the right. An LA weather reporter superimposed Hurricane Isaac over California in order to show the magnitude of the hurricane.

Is that a responsible thing to do or does that give people the impression that California will be struck by the hurricane?

Finally, should the hurricane in the Gulf region be news in Philadelphia? Or California? Or anywhere away from the Gulf region?

Great Photo. Would You Run It?

During the Phillies game in St. Louis tonight, a bare-naked dude ran across the field. AP photographer Jeff Roberson captured this fabulous image.

Can you run this online, in print or over the airwaves (on TV)? Should you?

By the way, during broadcasts when streakers hit the field, the TV stations do not show the streaker on air. They don't want to give publicity to clowns interrupting the game.

(AP image via Deadspin)

Are Politicians' Dog Tales Newsworthy?

For some reason, the story about Mitt Romney taking a family vacation and strapping his dog in a pet carrier on the roof of the car has not gone away. And the vacation in question was in 1983.

Now, it was a 12-hour drive to Canada the Romneys embarked upon. But it was a long time ago.

The story has seen new life in the wake of the news that Barack Obama ate dog meat as a child growing up in Indonesia. He did that a few times ... in, like, 1970.

Are either of these stories relevant today, in 2012? Are they newsworthy?

(Photo by the White House, via the Washington Post)

Are Journalists Perpetuating the Bigotry?

JAPANESE BASEBALL SENSATION Yu Darvish is now playing with the Texas Rangers. He was roughed up a bit during the first inning of his MLB debut last week but he came back to earn the win against the Mariners.

The game was somewhat marred by a collection of racist events.

First, the Rangers commissioned a new hot dog in Darvish's honor - the Yu Dog. It comes with a fortune cookie.

Then, a TV analyst called a hit by Ichiro a "chinker."

Finally, there were these, er, fans in the above image.

What should the journalists do with these instances? Should they run a story and photos of the events? Or, by highlighting the ignorance of a few small-minded folks, are the journalists in fact perpetuating/ spurring on the racism?

Keep in mind that we are in a post-Jeremy Lin era, when an ESPN writer was fired after crafting a headline that read "Chink in the Armor" after Lin and the Knicks lost a game.

Check out this SNL spoof of the Jeremy Lin excitement, and the racism that followed in the mainstream media.

Photo by US PRESSWIRE via Larry Brown Sports.

This Post Was Brought to You By The Good People of JUMP, The Mag For Cool People.

THESE DAYS, PEOPLE in journalism are getting creative about generating revenue. Advertising is simply not raising the cash it used to.

Philly.com, the website connected to the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, is experimenting with sponsored tweets. A company can pay to say that a headline posted by philly.com was "brought to you by ..."

Is there anything wrong with that? Does this deceive the reader? Or is this the same as an advertisement running between segments of a newscast?

April Fools? Can Journalists Make Jokes?

A BLOGGER FOR FORBES.COM posted a story yesterday about Mitt Romney dropping out of the presidential race.

The story continued:
The move shocked observers, including Senator Santorum, as Governor Romney seemed poised for a decisive victory in Wisconsin.

The governor, however, said he concluded that he has “no chance” to win the general election in December and that a Santorum candidacy in 2012 would be in the “best interest of the party.”

He explained, “It will save time. As many observers have pointed out, my defeat in 2012 will be interpreted by the party faithful as evidence that our problem is that we’ve become too pragmatic and moderate. In 2016, we’ll ˜correct™ that and nominate some right-wing nut and get demolished in the general election.

It’ll be like Goldwater in 1964. I don’t want to wait until 2020 to get my party back. I’m all about efficiency. Let’s get our butts kicked now and move on.”

Of course, the whole thing was an April Fool's day joke. After the story was circulated via news aggregators, it was pulled from the Forbes site.

Should journalists play pranks like this? Is it lighthearted fun or irresponsible?

See the full, original post here. Photo by AP via ABC news.

Get Your Camera Away From Me, Dog.

A REPORTER AND PHOTOJOURNALIST were covering a murder story when a friend of someone involved in the story approached the news team. He wanted the crew to leave, and he didn't want to be videotaped.

"Get your camera away from me, dog," he said as he slapped the camera away.

Then he walked back to his car and brandished a pistol.

The news crew turned this into a story. The lead story for the 5:00 PM newscast.

Is this news?

Watch the video above. Is it good TV or good journalism, or both?

Porsha Grant: The Architect of the Newscast.

PORSHA GRANT WAS DOING an internship at a newscast in Georgia when she noticed a woman quietly sitting in the corner. Porsha learned that the woman was the newscast producer, the architect of the show. So she shadowed the woman and learned about the job. Pretty quickly, Porsha's dreams of being an on-air reporter were gone. She realized that she wanted to run a show.

"You're in charge," Porsha, who now produces for the 4 PM show on 6abc, said yesterday in class. "You're in control and you sit in the air condition while doing it."

She has a world of things to consider when shaping her newscast (which is the 4:30 to 5:00 pm portion of the show). She must decide what is the most important story, when to run the other stories, who should be covering what, and when do they need to go live. She must also set the rundown so that the show flows, and that there is no awkward juxtaposition of stories.

"We look for stories that are going to affect the most people," she said.

Weather is the greatest common denominator, she added. The 4:00 show is popular with women, so the newscast offers a lot of consumer affairs stories and lighter news. They are trying to appeal to a younger viewership, so the anchors (below) are younger and there are a lot of multimedia elements to the show. Twitter is referenced frequently.
Planning for the show begins at 9 am when they have their story budget meeting. On some days, however, she scraps everything they've planned because breaking news occurs.

She said that it's a massive responsibility being a journalist, especially at 6abc, which has been the top rated news station in Philadelphia for nearly four decades.

"I take it very seriously," Porsha said. "I want people to get something from my newscast."

She followed up with, "I'm not a brain surgeon. I'm not going to cut a vein and somebody's going to die."

The successful formula for the station includes developing the personalities of the reporters and anchors so that viewers feel a connection to them, and the station seemingly being everywhere. They'll cover everything from community project ribbon cuttings to the royal wedding.

"We're everywhere there's a story," she said.

Here are a few other things she said that stuck out to me:

• Broadcast journalists must be good writers. What does that mean? You need to be able to condense complicated stories into understandable copy that can be presented quickly - as little as 25 seconds. The tone needs to be conversational. You can be colloquial but you still need proper grammar.
• There is no rule or true path to landing your dream job. Some people bounce from smaller station to larger station, to larger station. Others work their way up from within one operation.
• Porsha left her hometown and family in Georgia because she loves what she does.
• "Breaking in can be difficult," she said. But if you do internships and be aggressive when you are there, you'll impress people. "Take the initiative. People will remember you for that."
• To be on television, you need an "accent-less, Midwestern" delivery.

• When reporter Alicia Vitarelli said on air that her dress came from Saks, the store sold out of the dress the next day.
• Reporters, anchors and newscasts that sensationalize information will see short term bumps in their ratings. but it won't last. "Viewers aren't dumb," Porsha said.

• Despite 6abc being an owned and operated station, part of the Disney family, there is no mandate to promote Disney products. They do, however, promote abc programming like Dancing With the Stars and Diane Sawyer exclusive interviews.

• The best part of her job? "I really do feel like I'm helping people," she said.

David Brown: "There is a Right, Wrong and a Whole Lot of Shades of Grey."

AN ENRAGED GUNMAN mistook David Brown as the person who stabbed his friend. The gunman found David, then just a teenager from West Philly, and pointed a gun at him. When he tried to shoot, the gun jammed. And David ran.

Then he wrote about the experience, and that got him interested in journalism.

He began writing for the school newspaper at Central High, and continued while attending Duquesne University. One day, while playing football, a medical-transport helicopter crashed on the field. He was an eyewitness to the events as they unfolded, so he wrote about them. The story ran in the school newspaper and was picked up by the Associated Press. While a sophomore in college, he had a story running in newspapers around the country.

"Journalism is an awesome responsibility," he said in class yesterday. "You have to get beyond the rhetoric. What are the facts?"

He is currently an executive with United Healthcare but he is also chairman of the board at WURD 900 AM, a conduit to the area's African-American community, and he writes columns for the Philadelphia Inquirer. He previously ran his own advertising firm. He has worked with young people for many years, introducing them to advertising and broadcasting.

At the radio station, David said that they try to present as many viewpoints as possible so that listeners can make informed choices.

"There is a right, wrong and a whole lot of shades of grey," he said.

Unlike other radio programs and stations, WURD strives find the proper balance rather than stir public reaction. Journalists, he said, are supposed to regulate the flow of public discussion - not telling people what to think but what to think about.

As a columnist, however, he tries to sway readers one way or the other.

"I never know how I'm affecting people until they act," he said. "Journalists can put fuel to a fire or dampen it.

He said that niche media, like WURD, is and will continue to be very important.

"Niche is being redefined everyday," he said. "It changes as we change the way we communicate."

The most important thing for niche media journalists is to retain authenticity.

"Without integrity," he offered," people won't rely upon it."

What stood out for you?

Should The Atheist Be Allowed To Voice Her Opinions?

A HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT in Tennessee had her story in the school newspaper killed by school administrators who thought her views on atheism were potentially disruptive.

The student, who is the editor of the paper, an honors student and an atheist, wrote, "Why does atheism have such a bad reputation? Why do we not have the same rights as Christians?"

The school, which is predominantly Christian, has prayers offered at the start of many sporting events, and during graduation services. The student argues that these actions are in violation of the First Amendment, which argues for freedom of religion.

Is the school allowed to deny publication of the student's story?

Should the student be allowed to voice her opinions?

Read her original story here.

(Image from the Knoxville News Sentinel)

"America Has Always Been Fascinated By The Outlaw."

COVERING ORGANIZED CRIME isn't always the most important story of the day, both George Anastasia and Dave Schratwieser admitted yesterday. But there's great drama, like a soap opera. Especially in the modern era of the Philadelphia mafia.

"This is the most dysfunctional time in mob history," Anastasia said. "The Philadelphia mob are like The Simpsons of the underworld."

Anastasia, who graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree in French Literature, has been covering the mafia for the Philadelphia Inquirer for more than 30 years. Schratwieser has specialized in law enforcement and organized crime coverage for most of his career as well, moving from print to television. He's been at Fox29 since 1994.

The two did a weekly segment on the underworld for several years.
It wasn't easy to get good information in the beginning, Anastasia said. He did what most reporters do - talked to cops and defense lawyers. One day, a guy called him and said that his stories were all wrong.

"He was a typical South Philly guy," Anastasia remembered. "He had to get the last word."

So Anastasia developed a relationship with this character, using his information to balance out the sanitized information from officials. This changed everything - all of the sudden, the stories had a life to them, and more people came forward to talk (albeit anonymously), from within law enforcement and the mob.

Both reporters stressed that they never revealed information to either the cops or underworld figures. In fact, on the day one of the Philly mob guys was picked up by cops, Schratwieser received a phone call from the gangster an hour before the arrest. He thought Schratwieser might know about an impending arrest.

Schratwieser said he knew nothing. But he was actually in a Fox29 vehicle around the corner from the guy's house, behind a row of law enforcement vehicles preparing to move in.

"It can be difficult when developing sources," Anastasia said. "These guys think we're friends."

Occasionally, he has meals with mobsters and they try to pick up the tab.

"A lot of these guys have John Gotti Syndrome," Anastasia joked. "They think, 'What's the point of being a gangster if nobody knows?'"

But he declines their offer and pays his own way.

Both reporters have established positive reputations within law enforcement and the underworld for being fair in their stories. Still, former Philadelphia mob boss John Stanfa put a contract out on Anastasia, which Anastasia learned about from the hitman hired to throw grenades through his window.

"They guy told me and said, 'Nothing personal,'" Anastasia remembered.

Here are a few other things that stood out from their visit:

• Schratwieser landed his first journalism job straight out of college because he had been an intern there until he graduated. He got his first job in television, as a producer, after running into a friend in the subway (he was taking broadcast classes while working as a print reporter). He did his first on-air story assignment because six reporters called out sick one day.
• As a general assignment reporter at Fox29, Schratwieser now turns two stories every day, and often re-packages another for the evening news.
• Anastasia used to be able to spend weeks developing stories without actually printing anything. Because of cutbacks, that luxury to develop sources and dig for information is pretty much gone.
• Much of the great information they get is through these sources, some of whom are angry lawyers, mob enemies, proud cops ... people with a particular agenda.
• If you burn a source - in law enforcement or in the underworld - they will never speak to you again.
• Both have new books out. Schratwieser's is The Hitman; Anastasia's is The Ultimate Book of Gangster Movies.

They offered this advice for getting a job in journalism:

• Do an internship.
• Go into the field with reporters and photographers. "You're not going to learn remotely what you want to learn by sitting behind a desk at the station," Schratwieser said.
• Don't rely upon the Internet when reporting. Hit the streets.

What stood out for you?

Student Journalists Explain How To Get Your Groove On.

THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII student newspaper published a Valentine's Day edition, and offered sex tips. Unlike other newspapers (student or otherwise) that have regular sex columns, the Hawaii newspaper, Ka Leo, printed illustrations that visually portrayed the sex positions the writer describes.

Find the story online here. See it in print above on page 16.

Is this responsible journalism?

Paul Bomberger: "You Have The Ability To Be Whatever You Want To Be."

DAYS AFTER GRADUATING FROM Temple, Paul Bomberger took a job at his hometown newspaper, the Intelligencer Journal, filling in for a staffer on maternity leave. He was supposed to be at the job for about 9 months. He stayed 15 years.

"You can't beat the newspaper platform for the thrill of a big story," Bomberger said in class yesterday.

At the Intelligencer Journal, he developed a specialty covering business, which eventually landed him in the position of assistant business editor at the Palm Beach Post. He then went to the Sun-Sentinel in Ft. Lauderdale to become the deputy business editor. In 2010, he returned to Pennsylvania to be the editor of Risk & Insurance magazine, a trade publication serving a very engaged, niche audience. He left that position last month and now he's freelancing and consulting.

"I've truly enjoyed doing this," he said, speaking about his career in journalism. "You can make a good living doing this. You'll work hard but you'll be able to pay your bills. And you get a sense that you helped make a difference in your community. You're doing a public service."

His interest in journalism was born here in Philadelphia, where he spent time with his newspaper-loving grandfather. He wrote for his high school newspaper but he also participated in speech and debate groups, learning to write and speak clearly and effectively.

He went to Juniata College for two years but decided he needed to be in a more focused journalism program. So, he came to Temple. He did an internship while he was a student here, and he worked in the Daily News circulation department. He also freelanced for various publications and wrote a few stories for the Temple News.

"When I finished here, I felt like I could compete for a job," he said. "When an editor hands you a story and you can turn it in - and it needs only minimal editing before publishing, you're good to go."

He had a few suggestions for students entering journalism:

• Take advantage of your professors - beyond the classroom.
• Take a wide variety of courses and get involved in a wide variety of stuff while in college.
• Find whatever inspires you, and pursue that.
• "At the end of the day, figure out what you do best," he said. "Where do you shine?"
• The key skills you need to develop are interviewing, researching, writing, figuring out who you need to speak with to get the story, and developing a good bullsh*t detector.

Here are a few other things he said that I found interesting:

• You find stories by reading everything. Then you call people. And you visit them in person. "If you're doing a story, you want to be eyeball to eyeball with somebody," Bomberger said.
• The key to being a good interviewer is being prepared before speaking to people. Read everything. Know the terminology of the subject your covering. Know the players.
• Get anecdotes that you can use to build excitement in your stories.
• Being a good writer means having the ability to get the essential facts to people in a clear, coherent fashion that is easy and enjoyable to read.
• You need to have authority in the story. You understand everything. If you don't, you need to continue digging for information and interview more people.
• Magazines offer a lot of space to tell long, analytical stories.
• Recongnize who your audience is when you write. Trade magazines, for instance, speak to a very knowledgable readership.

"You have the ability to be whatever you want to be," Bomberger said. "Take risks. Go after it. Be accurate, balanced and maintain your integrity. Follow your principles and do not compromise."

What stood out for you?

Can Perception Taint The Journalism?

FORMER PHILADELPHIA MAYOR and Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell is among a group of investors who are considering the purchase of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and their website, philly.com.

Is there any danger in that?

Journalist Paul Davies wrote:

"Under that proposed ownership model, the Fourth Estate in Philly will essentially cease to exist as a serious journalistic enterprise. Instead, the newspapers will be viewed as a direct extension of the Democratic Party and Chamber of Commerce.

The intrinsic value of a newspaper rests in its creditability. Readers must trust what they are reading is honest, fair, accurate and the best effort at the truth. There are many first-rate journalists at both papers, and they will try to soldier on. But any real or perceived conflicts of interest stemming from the Rendell ownership group will undermine their credibility."

Do you agree? Will readership even notice who owns the operation?

Is Vagina Acceptable? And is "Vajajay" Sexist?

Apparently, usage of the word vagina has become rather commonplace on broadcast television. Is that acceptable?

"One of the great things about broadcast television is nobody really knows what's appropriate anymore," a CBS producer told Philadelphia Daily News reporter Ellen Gray. "It's a floating target."

As we evolve as a society (or devolve, depending upon your point of view), should the accepted standards change?

Also consider this: references to male goodies have long been sitcom fodder, with the word penis fairly normal on television for decades. Is the deferential treatment of women's sexual organs actually sexist?

And is the now-common usage of the word vagina something of an empowerment movement for women?

(By the way: the word vagina appears 20 times in that Daily News story ...is that acceptable?)

How Much PhotoShop is Too Much?

BARACK OBAMA AND MITT ROMNEY did not have an actual fight and chances are, they've never looked as bruised and battered as they did on this recent cover of New York magazine.

Is it wrong to represent them in this way?

Clearly, it is a photo manipulation. But are they taking too many liberties with the truth? Should a media outlet manufacture an image to represent the emotion of a story? Or should they rely upon reality, even though it may not appear as visually striking?

Would you publish the PhotoShopped image?

Open Marriages and Noisy Audiences?

TO OPEN THE GOP presidential debate over the weekend, CNN's John King asked Newt Gingrich about the allegations by his former wife regarding Gingrich's request for an "open marriage."

Is that an appropriate question to ask? Is that good journalism?

The audience went wild with Gingrich's response. During the next GOP presidential debate, the studio audience was asked to remain silent during the event. The rationale was that the audience would act like a laugh track, telling the viewing audience when to laugh, cry, smile, boo, etc.

Should the audience be allowed to react? Or would that influence the home audience?

Baby Photos For Sale!

JESSICA ALBA SAYS that celebrity couples who sire a child should sell the rights to the first images of the child to the highest bidder.

Rather than deal with paparrazi stalking her, Alba sold the rights to the first pictures of her baby to OK magazine for a reported $1.5 million.

Think about this from the journalism angle - is it acceptable for the media to buy the rights to the images? Is it ethical?

If it is acceptable to pay for these images, where should the media draw the line? Should the media start paying for access to celebrities? For interviews? For other information?

Does paying for information/ images/ access change your perception of the story?

Should a Newspaper Run a Photo of a Dead Man?

A TEENAGER ON her way to school in Connecticut saw this man, dead on the street. So she snapped a photo, which the local newspaper obtained.

Is it acceptable for the newspaper to run a photo of a dead man on the sidewalk like this? It is a rare sight - most of the time, the police or other emergency crews cover bodies so the public does not see victim (and to preserve the privacy of the victim and his/ her family).

The editor of the paper argued that it was important to run the photograph:

While publishing this photo may make some people uncomfortable, it is an undeniably powerful representation of the spate of tragedy the city is enduring. Ultimately, what’s unacceptably uncomfortable is schoolchildren having to walk past homicide victims.

What do you think?

Principle of Journalism: It Must Provide a Forum for Public Criticism and Compromise.

Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel wrote a book called The Elements of Journalism in which they outlined the principles of journalism. One of the principles they offered was "the news media are the common carriers of public discussion."

Not sure the above video is what they had in mind.

A reporter doing a live shot warned people to be careful as the icy conditions on a hill where people were sledding had become worse. Apparently, the police evacuated the hill, stopping people from sledding there. So one of the sledders shared her thoughts during the live shot.

Did the reporter over-step her role? Or is the sledder over-reacting?

Give It Up For Me!


A reporter on the morning news in Toledo, Ohio actually pole-danced during a live broadcast.

Is this journalism?

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