Vlad Jecan

At the 2006 Nieman conference themed “Newspaper’s Survival” at Harvard University, editors, print and online journalists have discussed the future of newspapers and traditional newsrooms. Almost all speakers have started their presentation with the following statement: newspapers are in big trouble. Indeed, it is known that that print has lost considerable terrain due to the rise of the Internet. However, this may be the most serious crisis newspapers find themselves in, but it is not the first. In the 60s “the television began eroding their audience”[1].

Nevertheless, newspapers have survived. Back then, original journalistic genres have emerged and offered the audience a complete new experience. For example, the introduction of the factual fiction current, better known as narrative journalism, gave newspaper readers a whole new experience. Thanks to the fine writings of innovators like Martha Gellhorn, Truman Capote and others, readers have successfully received the new in news reporting. In other words, and to put it short, print journalism has adapted to the new.

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Not in Iraq, nor in Afghanistan have most journalists lost their lives. At the top of the list are the Philippines where in late November 31 journalists have been deliberately targeted and murdered. Other countries with casualties in the name of the ‘right to know’ principle are Mexico (13), Somalia (9), Pakistan (7) and Russia (6).

It must be mentioned, however, that 24 of the 137 death cases were accidental. Nevertheless, the total number is shocking. You can read here a report by the International Federation of Journalists.

Update: You might also be interested in reading Jim Boumelha’s commentary on this matter – available here.

I was never a fan of Facebook, nor, I believe, that I will ever be. However, this doesn’t mean that I do not acknowledge the importance of this social media platform for journalists.

Most press officers of various government institutions use Facebook to communicate information related to their activities and so do companies, research groups and think thanks. Therefore, journalists can connect to these profiles and receive information in real-time. This goes beyond interpersonal interaction when the average user hooks up to another just to see his or her photos or whatever else. Checking Facebook has become an important part of a journalist’s daily activity – and this is also available for Twitter.

In Zimbabwe, however, it seems that the government has another opinion. In consequence, the government has banned the use of Facebook for all employees of the state controlled Zimbabwe Newspaper Group during work hours. Journalists may now check their profiles only after 5PM.

“Its unfair given that most of people no longer use e-mails to communicate. As journalists we  need  to  research and  its  through the face book and  other  sites that  we  get  back  ground information for  our  stories. This  is  the  reason  why  we  end  up writing  half baked stories because we would  have  nor researched,” said a journalist working for the Zimbabwean Herald.

Foster Dongozi, Secretary General of the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists said that “It’s silly to make such restrictions in this era of modern information technology.”

Indeed it is. Journalists now risk missing vital information.

At the Nieman Narrative Journalism Conference at Harvard University in 2002, Bob Giles moderated a discussion between eight writers on the best approach to creative non-fiction. Giles opened the discussion by asking a relatively simple and direct question: “What does it take to do fine narrative writing?”[1] Each practitioner answered differently, some have emphasized technique and theory while others have simply shared their experiences. However, I found a few answers that might be appropriate to describe and maybe help to define narrative journalism.

Chip Scanlan, an associate professor at the Columbia University School of Journalism who has won numerous awards for writing and who was an active reporter, feature writer and national correspondent for various print publications, answered the following:

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I will not discuss the aspects of a so-called “EU media”, instead I will only raise a question which will help us in the upcoming debate. The question is:

Is there a specific media for the European Union? How does it differentiate itself from the “other media”?

At the moment I am skeptic and frankly I do not want to see a European Union-style media completely or partially different from the others. This thought is somehow paradoxical because inside the EU we have a multitude of different views on media – Romanian media differs in style and approach to the media in Britain.

In any case, I will try to further investigate the subject as I believe it to be quite interesting. More posts will follow.

Last week the House overwhelmingly approved a measure to put a new round of sanctions on Iran.  If this measure passes the Senate, the United States could no longer do business with anyone who sold refined petroleum products to Iran or helped them develop their ability to refine their own petroleum.   The sad thing is that many of my colleagues voted for this measure because they felt it would deflect a military engagement with Iran.  I would put the question to them, how would Congress react if another government threatened our critical trading partners in this way?  Would we not view it as asking for war?

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Source: Wikipedia. Credit: Sgt. Michael Pryor. Date: 15 October 2007

East Los Angeles, Calif. native 2nd Lt. Lauren Cabral, a maintenance officer with the 3rd Infantry Division’s 3rd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, attached to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, helps an Iraqi woman get comfortable with the AIM automatic rifle during a weapons familiarization class, Oct. 10, that was part of the training for the first group of female Iraqi security volunteers in Baghdad’s Adhamiyah neighborhood.

Pupils at the Holden Lane High School in Sneyd Green, UK, wrote papers on various aspects of the web. Some of them focused on cyber bullying and others examined how websites blocked by the school, like Facebook, MySpace and others, can be useful.

Kieran Minshall, aged 14, from Milton, said: “I have written about how websites like Facebook are blocked and how we could use them to help with our work.

“I’ve never had any experience of cyber bullying or anything like that. I can understand why certain websites are blocked, but I think we could use them in a positive way.

Abu Obeida (C), a spokesman for Hamas's armed wing, walks flanked by armed men to give a press conference in Gaza City, 15 June 2007

Armed groups in the Gaza Strip have finalized an agreement to stop firing rockets into Israel. However, Hamas says that they would respond to Israeli raids.

“The agreement to halt the rockets doesn’t mean we are weak; it is to maintain the internal and external fronts and the higher interest of the Palestinian people,” said Abu Obaida, a spokesman for the Hamas armed wing.

The group warned, however, that they will reply with force in case of Israeli strikes.

“We will defend ourselves with all means possible and we will counter any new offensives,” Abu Obaida added.

The Wall Street Journal, the leading US financial publication owned by News Corp., now has over 30,000 subscribers to its Kindle e-reader edition.

Paidcontent.org writes:

At the current $15 a month, the WSJ Kindle subscriptions represent about $5.4 million annually. But it’s not that easy: the subscription price and the revenue split with Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) shifted earlier this year; the price increased 50 percent from $10 while Amazon’s share of the take dropped. (The issue with customer relationships, a pet peeve of Rupert Murdoch, didn’t change: Amazon still controls the finances and the names.)