Here's a link to my Belva Davis Storify

Vicky Nguyen: A Storify Portrait

How cool and interesting! UNICEF is helping to start and support a Children's News Service that will help children understand the basics of journalism while also providing the news information.

bdnews24.com, Unicef launching children journalism Thu, Sep 6th, 2012 7:30 pm BdST Dhaka, Sep 6 (bdnews24.com)—bdnews24.com and Unicef have joined forces to launch a Children's News Service to promote causes affecting 45 percent of Bangladesh's population. The two organisations agreed a partnership at the newspaper's Mohakhali office on Thursday for the service that will be launched later on. bdnews24.com will be making huge investments apart from editorial oversight in this venture with Unicef to introduce children journalism, Bangladesh's first Internet newspaper said in a media statement. Children from all echelons of society will be able to practice and learn journalism at the online newspaper's children website, http://kidz.bdnews24.com, it added. "This will give us a unique opportunity to take the children's stories from across Bangladesh to a huge number of audience," Toufique Imrose Khalidi, Editor-in-Chief of Bangladesh's first Internet newspaper, said in a statement on Wednesday. "Being part of our already-popular http://kidz.bdnews24.com, the Children's News Service will get some natural advantage," he believed. "We will train them, teach them the basics of journalism, create a manual for them to follow, hoping that many of them will become professional journalists in future." Khalidi said such training would be organised in at least 20 districts initially and that bdnews24.com correspondents would be sensitised to the children's issues through workshops so that they could work as effective coordinators in their respective districts. He added that bdnews24.com will continue the programme even after Unicef's partnership ends. Unicef is considering the initiative as an opportunity for children to contribute in making a child-friendly news industry and for strengthening their rights. "Around 45 percent of the population in Bangladesh are under 18. Unicef in partnership with bdnews24.com is keen to create a 'space' for children where they will be able to raise their concerns, share their aspirations for the future and contribute to decisions that affect their lives by suggesting solutions while playing an active role in mainstream media," said Unicef's Acting Representative for Bangladesh Michel Saint-Lot. "We are hopeful that through this unique initiative, we will be able to hear the unheard voices of this nation, enable children to make a contribution to the news agenda and accelerate the process of upholding child rights for children in Bangladesh," Saint-Lot added. The children will be responsible for the gathering of information, editing and publishing news under the supervision of bdnews24.com journalists. bdnews24.com/rn/bd/1721h

Here's a Nice-and-Easy Blogging Assignment

In the comment section, add a question or two you'd like next week's journalism panel to answer.

Tips on Becoming a News Entrepreneur

10 Tips

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A Media Studies/Journalism Student Reports from the Field

I can't remember when I updated you last, but in January I got hired as a Legislative Aide  for a law firm in Minneapolis.  I helped their Gov Relations team at the state capitol  throughout the legislative session - sitting in on committee hearings, writing client reports,  tracking bills.  It was great experience, as I'd never done legislative work before. When session ended in May, the firm asked me to stay on.  I've been doing a bit  more administrative work since then, but they give me political stuff when it comes up  (since session is over it's not as busy).  I think it's a good place for right now - it's full-time  with benefits, so even the office work is worth it. Plus, I'm meeting good people and  they've said they don't want to lose me - so maybe I can get back to the capitol  again next year. As for the skills I was taught at USF that have come in handy at work - everything!   But I would say specifically the journalism courses because a big part of the  legislative work I did required good writing skills; it was the main thing the firm  looked for and I had to submit writing samples.  So although I'm not reporting,  I did have to be able to follow complex issues at the Capitol and write about  them for clients in a way that made sense to people who didn't follow politics on a daily basis.  An interesting story on social media:  A Repub state senator here in MN used  Twitter to post what a Dem senator had said during a floor debate on budget  issues - the only problem was, the Repub completely misquoted her colleague  and it become a huge controversy because the Twitter post had the Dem saying  negative things about the disabled (which never actually happened).  It was  taken up by the Senate Ethics Committee and got lots of media attention.   Just another reminder about the potential pitfalls of social media, if used carelessly.

We Buy the Folger Building: Playing Around with Storify

Professors Doing Tech Well - and Just the Opposite

Springtime for bin Laden: Why we use humor to neutralize evil | Poynter.

Springtime for bin Laden: Why we use humor to neutralize evil | Poynter.

The Fight Song

The Fight Song

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Danny Sullivan's tips.

A very simple animation!

Linking to KDMC

Knight Digital Media Center


Some student work from University of Florida.

Bin Laden's Demise in the Headlines

Newspaper fronts still a billboard of communal expression.

Simple Simple Slideshow

How to Shoot a Basic Net-Quality News Video

Borrowed from the Knight Citizen News Network

Documentary-style video story

The best way to make a solid video story is to think about it the same way you think about writing a story. Indeed, it’s critical to think about how the video will “tell the story.” Once you envision what the story should “say,” it’s simply a matter of filling in the spots with the most appropriate footage. Here’s how.
Plan the shoot before you go out: Just like the elements of a good news story that are second nature to you (background, quotes from more than one source, documentation), there are basic elements of a shoot you will need to construct an interesting video story. You need a mix of shots:

• Wide-angle—These shots, also known as “establishing” shots, give viewers a sense of the environment, so shoot the outside of the building or back up and shoot the entire room.

• Medium—Somewhere in between wide and close-up, these shots are the ones you are probably most comfortable shooting.

• Close-ups—These shots zoom in on who’s talking or what they are talking about. Remember: Always zoom first, then record, instead of recording and zooming at the same time.

A good mix would be 25 percent wide-angle, 25 percent close-ups and 50 percent medium or mid-range shots.

Breaking news/highlights/clips style video

For these types of video, you rarely know what the “story” will be in advance. You simply know that news is happening or has happened and you want to capture some essence of it on video.
For a breaking news event like a highway crash or a school shooting, you probably won’t get to the scene in time to capture the actual action. However, the reaction from witnesses and investigators as well as footage of the scene are well worth capturing.
Press conferences (if they are tied to compelling news events or delivered by news figures) can make good video and are about the easiest to shoot. You have a fixed subject and the lighting will be good (especially if there are TV cameras around).
Highlights clips, especially in sports, can be among the most popular content on any news site. Shooting sports video can be challenging, however. The constant movement of the subjects requires large capacity in the digital video file and can be hard to follow once the video is downsized and compressed for Web display. As a result, short clips of the best action is the way to go, either edited together with voice-over descriptions or linked to a news story as raw clips with caption information next to the link.

Other important tips to remember:

• Be selective in shooting. There are two good reasons for this: You don’t want to waste tape and you don’t want to waste time editing.
• Avoid panning, zooming. Stop recording when switching between wide, medium and close shots. Avoid zooming and panning if possible. Simply shoot a shot, stop recording, then adjust for the next shot and hit record again.
• Hold your shots. Since you can make a shot shorter in the editing process—but not longer—make sure to hold each of your shots for at least 15 seconds. Even if it’s a wide environment shot that you’ll likely use for 5 seconds, shoot the full 15 seconds. You’ll be glad you did.
• Be silent when you shoot. The camera will pick up every sound you make—a sigh, a cough, a chuckle or anything you say. So keep your lips zipped when recording because you won’t be able to edit out the unwanted audio later.

The gridlines show you how to compose video using the “rule of thirds.”

• Frame your subject carefully. When framing your shot, it is best to avoid a static composition by keeping the main subject slightly off center. To do this consistently, follow the “rule of thirds,” which recommends dividing the frame, using imaginary lines, into thirds both horizontally and vertically. If you position your main subject (usually a face) near one of the intersections of these lines, you will achieve a pleasant, active composition.
• Seek the best short clips. Understand that the best video stories are comprised of many short clips edited together, and your job is to get the best short clips. The best way to fully comprehend the array of clips you need to capture is to actually perform the editing—or at a minimum sit with the person who edits the video. It’s the only way to see what types of clips you shot work best and what types of clips you missed.

If you shoot video footage and hand it off to a Web producer or multimedia editor to await the final product, your video story skills will never improve.

As simple as it gets

A company called Pure Digital has released a new line of video cameras that make shooting basic video as easy as recording a conversation on an old microcassette recorder. The device is small and basically “idiot-proof” since it only has buttons for play, record, stop, forward and back. It has to be hand-held and doesn’t zoom, so it’s only appropriate for basic videography, like shooting the subject of a story so the audience can see and hear the person talk and sense their personality.

Pure Digital video camera.

The Tri-City Herald in Washington state purchased one of the cameras in January 2007 and deployed it within a couple hours. A reporter shot a video interview and published it on the site the same day. Web site director Andy Perdue had this to say about the trial:

“Was this video compelling? Not particularly, but it wasn’t bad. It provided a voice and face to the story, and it offered a multimedia element. It was no worse than what most local TV news stations offer at 6 and 11 p.m. Perhaps of greatest significance, our newsroom embraced this technology in record time: 2.5 hours!”

The version of the Pure Digital camera that holds 30 minutes of video sells for $129 at national retailers like Target and Best Buy (as of January 2007). There is also a 60-minute version for $179. “We plan to purchase one or two of these per month throughout the year and deploy them in our bureaus as well as in the newsroom,” Perdue said.

Do a trial run

If you are interested in learning to shoot video, get comfortable before heading out on assignment. Shoot some footage at home of your family or friends and experiment with different types of shots. Practice capturing a mix of shots, using different types of microphones, using a tripod and lighting. Shooting basic video is not difficult but, like most new technology, takes some getting used to.

Assignment:

1. Watch your favorite local TV news station.
   
2. Try to mimic shots you find effective.
   
3. Compare news stations.
   
4. Look for the rule of thirds.
   
5. Be a critic; it will help you improve.
   

Maybe HuffPost isn't a Plantation After All

Food for thought. Nate Silver is a wise young man.

News reporting with a point of view: where to draw the line?

News reporting with a point of view: where to draw the line?

Backing away from ‘multimedia specialist’ self branding

Backing away from ‘multimedia specialist’ self branding

Advice from a working reporter: Be a reporter first, to which you add multimedia skills.

Reporting Class Practices Interviewing a Cooperative Passerby

Good job, class. You did ask Pat how much he made and by throwing out a high but still plausible figure -- I believe you suggested 100K -- he did answer the question. But since Patrick was doing this as an act of friendship, I cut his answer from the video.

If this had been a real interview, I certainly would have included his answer. Already we see a problem you will face as a student journalist. Your sources may think you are playing at being a journalist and that you won't use what they tell you. You need to make clear upfront that our assignments are not just class exercises and could find their way into print or online.

But even if you do that, since you are seen as a peer or even a friend, your sources may come to you after an interview and ask that some comment not be used. And when that happens, you will have an ethical problem, and we will have a nice class discussion.

By the way, it took me about 50 minutes to edit this little slice of life into rough shape. To get something more than blogworthy would have taken more interviewing time and more editing time -- and before I began I would have been better off consulting with someone who knows how to do this kind of thing right.

But even rough product is better than no product at all.