Can You Tweet Star Power?

Actress Katherine Heigl is suing drugstore chain Duane Reade because they tweeted a photograph of her exiting a store, bags of stuff in her hands. They used her handle and said she can't resist shopping there.

Is the store allowed to send that image into the social media world? Is she fair game since she is in public? Can they make that statement as well?

Is the store taking advantage of her star power to market their goods? Is there anything wrong with that?

Is this an unauthorized use of her likeness or is it just a silly tweet of a paparazzi photo, with a silly caption?

Here's the next big question for you: if you retweet the post, can you be sued as well?

Am I Bothering You? Am I Bothering You? Am I Bothering You? Am I Bothering You?

A Philadelphia sports reporter went to Dulles International Airport to find former Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson, who was arriving to meet with the Redskins about a possible job. See the story that aired here.

The reporter repeatedly called the "interview" an exclusive, even though Jackson seems to be politely trying to tell the reporter to go away.

Instead, however, the reporter continues to ask questions.

Is this good journalism? 

First, did the journalist do a good job of trying to extract information from the player? Just because the player seems annoyed, should the journalist have stopped asking questions?

Second, did the journalist present the information in a proper manner? 

Barbara Laker and Wendy Ruderman: "We Were More Scared of The Police Than The Drug Dealers."

A drug dealer who became a police informant walked into the Philadelphia Daily News office and asked for Wendy Ruderman. After he started explaining to her his plight - that drug dealers wanted him dead, and cops might also - Wendy grabbed fellow reporter Barbara Laker.

They then listened to the dealer/informant explain the previous seven years of his life, which revealed a world of police corruption that took place largely in a destitute area of the city.

For more than a year, Wendy and Barbara followed up on the information, digging through public records and interviewing countless numbers of people - including drug dealers and prostitutes. They discovered that police had allegedly fabricated evidence, robbed neighborhood grocery stores and sexually assaulted women. Under the series label "Tainted Justice," they did numerous stories over 14 months, detailing the unsavory actions of the people expected to keep the public safe.

"The first phase of the series was not popular at all," Barbara said.

The police were in an uproar and the Fraternal Order of Police held a press conference denouncing the series. Off-duty cops appeared near the Daily News office making threats. A lawyer representing one specific officer threatened to sue both of the reporters individually, as well as the newspaper.

"That made me mad," Wendy said. "I have a little bit of a temper, like a chihuahua."

"We were more scared of the police than the drug dealers," Barbara continued.

The series of stories won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting. Wendy and Barbara took their experiences and turned them into a brand new book, "Busted: A Tale of Corruption and Betrayal In The City of Brotherly Love."

Here are a few things they said in class that stood out to me:

- When Barbara walked around Kensington interviewing people, the dealers assumed she was there to buy drugs. "I'm too geeky," Wendy said. "Nobody tried to sell me drugs."

- Barbara was slap-punched by a woman while she was reporting the story. Despite the melee, she was able to crawl on the ground and retrieve her notebook full of quotes and information.

- As a reporter, your reputation is all you have. You need a good reputation to earn people's trust. 

- Once they learned what Wendy and Barbara were doing, the drug dealers started looking after Wendy and Barbara.

- Shortly after they broke the story, the Inquirer tried to catch on to the story as well. They assigned five reporters to dig through information.

- In the book, they present themselves in a very revealing fashion. "We decided to put ourselves in there, including the foibles and failures," Barbara said. 

- There are anecdotes about their love lives, friends, co-workers and children.

- "I really am a train wreck of a parent," Wendy added with a laugh. During the gathering process for the story, she said her then-husband did most of the parenting.

- "I don't like to do stories about politics or famous people or rich people," Barbara said. Instead, she prefers stories where people with no voice have been wronged by people in power. Wendy agreed, saying, "We can use our words to affect change."

- Wendy's name first appeared in a newspaper after she was busted for underage drinking.

- "We don't know how to make money," Wendy said of the newspaper business. "People find stuff on Google, Twitter and Facebook ... but that news is being generated by journalists."

- "It's a great time for you guys," Barbara told the class, explaining that news organizations like young people whom they can hire at lower salaries, who will work very hard.

- Get an internship and start getting experience and making connections.

What stood out for you?

If You Disagree With Your Employer, Should You Quit So Publicly?

An American news anchor at RT (formerly known as Russia Today), announced that she was quitting her position as a protest against the Russian government, which subsidizes the network.

First of all, should she have quit? Was that the best decision if she did not agree with the agenda of her company?

Second, did she have to make her resignation during an actual broadcast? Was that grandstanding a little bit or was she just using her position to denounce the network and Russian government?

FYI: here is RT's response.

Can You Say That On Television? Should You?

After three teenagers were shot and killed in the Juniata section of the city in 2012, Mayor Michael Nutter was asked for a reaction. His comments are in the video above.

Is it acceptable to air his comments without bleeping?

Legally, it is fine for print. Ethically, would you print such a comment from a prominent figure? Or does his prominence make the quote all the more powerful?

Would you post the video on the online site of a news outlet?

What Should The Journalist Do After Realizing He Massively Messed Up?

Clearly, there is no journalism ethics question here. This entertainment reporter just plain messed up. Badly.

Still, we can learn from a situation like this.

What are the takeaways? How do we ensure that nothing like this ever happens again? How should the journalist have responded once Samuel L. Jackson began his takedown?

Should Journalists Predict the Future?

Thoughts?

What Do You Do When You Spot a Bear?

A reporter in Rhode Island worked on a story about a bear sighting in their viewing area. Rather than simply provide the information about the bear, the reporter learned what you should do if you happen across a bear.

Is the information she provides good and useful? Or is she making a mockery of the situation?

Can a Journalist Also Do Promotion?

A news anchor in Ohio posted a series of videos about what happens during commercial breaks in newscasts.

They are meant to be amusing, I believe, and at times they are.

Should a journalist be creating humorous videos about the news team? Is this good promotion for the station or is it stepping over the line from journalist to entertainer?

Should Journalists Report On Suicides?

Last week, a 19-year-old University of Pennsylvania freshman on the track team commit suicide in Center City. Her death has become news around the world, as the understanding is that her actions were caused by the stress of the academic setting.

The reality is that no one knows with any certainty why she jumped off a parking garage.

A Philly Mag writer questioned why this situation has become such a large story, when the media generally shun suicides as personal situations that are therefore not deemed relevant to the public at large.

Last fall, when a Temple student threatened to commit suicide and police evacuated a city block near campus, news outlets covered the story but never released the distressed student's name. Once the block was reopened to the residents, the story pretty much disappeared from the news.

Do the circumstances of the more recent situation deem it to be newsworthy? It's an Ivy League school and she was an attractive young woman. Her actions were in a very public place, and there have been other suicides at Penn over the past few years.

Should journalists change their longstanding policy of not covering suicides and report on them when needed? Or should we allow these families to deal with the situation in private?

Justin Bieber is a Vandal (Maybe). News at 11.

Justin Bieber was almost busted after allegedly throwing eggs at his neighbor's house in California.

Most of the local Los Angeles stations covered the story on their newscasts. One outlet even aired the police press conference about the event live as it was going on. It even made news in the United Kingdom (above).

Is this a news story? Should journalists cover such relatively minor events as a pop singer's alleged vandalism?

Or, is this such goofy, fun stuff that you have to run it on the news?

Do We Still Need A Black Press?

As teaching assistant Katie Beardsley discussed in class the other day, the rise of the Black Press was very much a reaction to the portrayal of African American people in the mainstream media during the early 1800s.

By the time of the Civil War, there were 40 newspapers dedicated to serving African American audiences. By 1900, she said, there were more than 600.

Today, there are around 200, including the Philadelphia Tribune, which is the oldest continuously operated black newspaper in the country. And there are numerous websites that seek to tell the stories of African American people, as well as inform that community.

In 2013 - 186 years after the founding of the first black newspaper, Freedom’s Journal - do we still need a Black Press?

Do the mainstream media still treat non-white folks differently? Is there ignorance that remains, such as the unfortunate Vogue cover with Lebron James that recalled a 1917 military recruiting poster?

Or was the symbolism of the above image an honest mistake?

In the Obama-era, is it anachronistic to have news outlets that break down audiences by race or ethnicity?

Kurtis Lee: "We Should All Call Ourselves Multi-platform Journalists."

Kurtis Lee was ready for bed just after midnight on July 20, 2012 when he received a call about a shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado.

Lee, a political reporter for the Denver Post, rushed to the scene and immediately started tweeting details.

"Twitter is how I get my news," said the 2009 TU journalism grad. "It's how I break news."

There were helicopters buzzing overhead and police and medical crews all around. Stunned people stood around with blood all over them, their shirts ripped open. Twelve people had been killed by a lone gunman and 71 others were shot.

"You're in the moment and the adrenaline kicks in," Kurtis said.

The next print edition of the newspaper wouldn't hit the streets for more than 30 hours. The Internet was the way to get information to people as quickly as possible. Kurtis recorded interviews and typed notes on his Blackberry, later dictating information to a rewrite person back at the office. Information was posted as quickly as it came in.

He was on scene from about 12:30 am until 8 pm - meaning he did not sleep for two full days.

"I saw so much grief and violence," he said, "that it was almost like I was in the theater that day."

Many of his colleagues sought counseling after witnessing the horror and some are still dealing with issues today.

For their coverage of the tragedy, the staff at the Denver Post won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting.

"It was bittersweet," Kurtis said, and then he recalled what a friend told him: "You don't celebrate the incident. You celebrate the journalism."

Here are a few other things that stood out to me from his visit to class yesterday:

• He's from Colorado and he came to Temple because of the journalism program and the diversity of the student body.
• After he graduated, he applied for numerous jobs and suffered six months of rejection.
• He networked at events, like the National Association of Black Journalists convention and the Online News Association conference.
• He finally landed an internship with PBS Newshour, which later became his first real journalism job - writing stories for the Newshour website.
• He was one of a handful of people - on a staff of more than 30 - who knew how to use Final Cut Pro. That made him valuable.
• "We should all call ourselves multi-platform journalists," Kurtis said. "You're not going to survive as a single-skilled journalist."
• When he began covering politics for the Denver Post, he also started a web video show. And he sold ads to sponsor the shows.
• He keeps a DSLR camera in the trunk of his car in case news happens.

• When the movie theater shooting occurred, it was all hands on deck. Even the Broncos beat reporter arrived on scene to interview victims.
• You try to be as sensitive as you can while doing the job of journalism. "You want to break news," he said. "If we're not getting it first, it's because we're trying to get as accurate information as possible."
• He and other Post staffers were sent to Newtown, Connecticut last December to assist a sister news organization that had to report on the mass shooting there.

• He's had a few job offers but he wants to cover politics, so he's holding out for a good fit.
• He continues to cover the statehouse, where he is the junior reporter working alongside a veteran journalist with a huge pool of sources.
• "I've only been doing this a few years," Kurtis said. "I still have a lot to learn."

What stood out for you?

Should The Sports Anchor Act Like Ron Burgundy?

A Boise sports anchor did his segment (and more) while acting as Ron Burgundy, the fictional character played by Will Ferrell.

The video has gone viral.

Is this the funniest thing ever, as some people have claimed? Should journalists simply present information and not act like Hollywood characters?

Do journalists take themselves too seriously (and that's why this was seen as refreshing)?

Does it matter that this was on Halloween?

Neal Santos: "I Really Want to Celebrate the City."

Neal Santos was a sophomore in college when he realized he wanted to become a photojournalist. He was traveling in the Philippines, shooting pictures and meeting people.

"I realized the camera could be an excuse to dive into so many different worlds," he said in class yesterday.

He returned to Temple and began interning - almost non-stop - until he graduated in 2008. He interned at the Philadelphia Daily News, the Metro, Inquirer, Good Housekeeping and OUT magazine.

During his first internship, Daily News photographer David Maialetti saw Neal hanging out in the office and said to him, "What the hell are you doing inside? You're not going to make any images in the office."

So Neal hit the streets and started shooting.

"I got to know the city very well by being an intern at the Daily News," he said. "It was daunting at first but I grew to love being able to drive around and talk to people."

The Jersey City native fell in love with Philly, so he stayed after completing his studies. About six months after graduating, he found a job working as a web editor and photographer for Philadelphia City Paper. He's now the staff photographer and he freelances for numerous other publications, mostly covering the city and region.

"I really want to celebrate the city," Neal said. "I like being able to show Philly in a positive and gritty way."

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

• When he shoots pictures, he approaches people and let's them know what he's doing. He asks permission and then shoots a lot, until the people reach a comfort level with him being there. "The key is not being a giant douchebag," Neal said.
• He photographs a wide variety of people, and he doesn't always like all of them. "I think of the end game," he said. "I need to tell this person's story. I need to be fair. I need to be professional."

• He doesn't write much but he does have to provide caption information - names, locations, time, etc. He does the work of a reporter but his primary task is the visual side.

• His classmates and former Temple News colleagues are now working journalists, many doing great stuff in Philly. "I can tell Holly (Otterbein), 'I remember when you were writing a sex column for the Temple News before you were covering politics for WHYY,'" he said with a laugh.

• Different internships provided different experiences. For instance, at the magazines, he learned studio lighting and office management skills. Even bad internships have value, he said, as you discover if you want to compromise on your goals.

• He spends a lot of time on Instagram searching for inspiration.

• As a freelancer, he is a business person, artist, photographer and journalist, all at once. He rarely turns down assignments ("I need to provide for all my animals," said Neal, who lives on a farm in West Philly).

• He has no grand aspirations. "I don't want to be the best," he said. "I just want to be a good photographer."

What stood out for you?

Should Journalists Celebrate the Violence?

A semi-retired sports journalist from the Washington Post wrote that he has one regret after 40 years of covering football: "not focusing more of my reporting and writing on the absolute brutality of the sport, particularly the painful post-football lives of so many players."

While the NFL players settled a lawsuit against the NFL regarding serious injury brought on by game action and many journalists covered that case, journalists still tend to celebrate the violent actions that are common in football, like the massive hit in the video above (which won an ESPY and was seemingly on permanent loop for a while).

Should journalists govern their enthusiasm with episodes like this? Or should we show the clip over and over again, as that is what fans love?

Do we have an obligation to entertain or should we be cautioning people that for every massive tackle, there is someone being tackled?

Should Journalists Reveal The Name of The Suicidal Student?

On Sunday, a student barricaded himself in his off-campus home. Police believed him to be suicidal.

Because weapons were involved - the student had a gun and fired several rounds, the area surrounding the home was cleared. Students and full-time residents had to leave their homes and were not allowed to return until after 2:00 a.m. Monday morning.

The student was taken to a hospital to be checked out. No charges were immediately filed.

Should journalists publish or air the student's name?

Do the people have a right to know? Shouldn't we know who among us has a weapon and has threatened to use it? Shouldn't we know who caused dozens of area people to be scared and discomforted?

Or should we err on the side of caution? The young man, apparently, is unstable. His was a personal situation and we could further traumatize him. And there is not a huge value in the public knowing after the fact.

What would you do?

Real Life vs. Fiction. Journalism vs. Marketing.

In a fragmented media world, where everyone has a gazillion options for where to get information/entertainment/whatever, journalists are desperate to draw in an audience.

A local news anchor tweeted the note above, referencing Breaking Bad, the popular cable program that sometimes airs during the same time slot as her newscast.

Is her correlation to the fictional show in bad taste or smart marketing?

Should Journalists Make The Alleged Bigots' Statements Public?

A pair of local school officials are in the news because they allegedly had text conversations that were racist and sexually charged.

When you watch the report above or if you read about the story in most outlets, you will not learn what the two allegedly said beyond the n-word. The transcriptions of the texts have been published in a few less-mainstream outlets.

Should news organizations present the full transcripts or should journalists apply moral standards and not allow such language or behavior go public?

I'm a Hero. News at 11.

A reporter in Phoenix was covering a story about flooding when he and the cameraman stumbled across a woman screaming for help.

So the reporter helped her. And the cameraman shot the rescue. Then they aired that on the news.

Did the reporter do something heroic and thus become newsworthy? Or is he simply casting himself as a hero by airing his good deed?

If you had rescued that person, would you have broadcast it?