There it was. A gigantic piece of ice in the suite bathroom sink. I didn’t notice it at first, but it was looking at right at me. Peeping over the sink – slowly melting away.
Brushing my teeth at three thirty in the morning was in itself a rare occurrence for me. I guess may be I should stay up more often?
The bigger question is, how did it get there? How did that big behemoth piece of ice get in the sink? No one knows. I guess this is my investigative reporting assignment for the week?
The Northeast and Mid-Atlantic are bracing for a major and possibly historic winter storm.
For those that are going to be in the area and would like to contribute any photographs or videos of the storm you can do so by leaving a comment.
By submitting any photographs or videos you agree with the following terms:
- The photographs and videos are created by you.
- You give me permission to use the material on the website.
- All work will be credited.
All videos and photographs will be screened to make sure they don’t contain anything vulgar or obscene. Also if you are sending in videos/photos with recognizable people you must get written permission from each person.
“Can We Tape?” For every interview, journalists need to ask this question.
Of course we can interview and tape individuals – it’s part of our job. But the real questions are how we obtain this information, if we get consent or not, and what we do with the information once we obtain it.
There are laws regarding this issue in every state. As a journalist it is important to know these laws both at the federal and state level. We are responsible for the material we produce.
According to The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP.org):
Generally, you may record, film, broadcast or amplify any conversation where all the parties to it consent. It is always legal to tape or film a face-to-face interview when your recorder or camera is in plain view. The consent of all parties is presumed in these instances.1
A question to consider is it ethical to record a conversation and then get consent or get consent and then record the conversation? Sometimes the story may come out better if we get the consent after we do the interview or get the story. Many people become camera shy or shy in general if they know they are being questioned for the news. This may alter change the quality of the interview. You may get a better story if you get consent after doing the “undercover” reporting. However, this raises a lot of ethical questions. What do you think? As journalists should we do this?
- http://www.rcfp.org/taping/consent.html [↩]
All good things come to an end. Or do they?
The internet just like media is evolving. It’s changing and transforming. However there is an online trend that is developing. We’re seeing more and more restricted content.
For many of us – we have seen a relatively free internet. Some services were charged, but for the most part access was free.
Another trend that we’re seeing with the internet is that it has nothing to do with computers. Internet is accessed through multiple devices like iPhones, cellphones, iPods and now the iPad. Each of these devices have their own unique applications, operating system and style.
As the web continues to move into the spotlight – should we pay for services on the web or should they be free? Keep in mind that people create websites, produce content, code and engineer those applications on your phone. A bigger question is what would this do the internet?
What are your thoughts?
I have heard mixed messages about Twitter from my friends. I hear the well it’s like just a bunch of Facebook statuses – except you’re limited to 140 characters. I invite you to look past the Twitter is just like Facebook statuses stage. Once you do look past this stage, then you can see what Twitter is all about.
Twitter is what you make of it and people have different uses for Twitter. Twitter could be simply one status update after another, if that’s what you make Twitter to be. That’s just half of Twitter, you see. Twitter is a conversation piece; a topic of conversation. Twitter holds many conversations that are going on across millions of people globally, nationally and locally. In the grand scheme of things, you are just a tiny speck in the large Twitter world.
Discovering and using Twitter as both a conversation piece and as a place to update your status, you’ll allow yourself to grow from a tiny speck to a large speck. A large speck which has hundreds and may be even thousands of followers – gravitating to your every word.
Twitter is scary and daunting at first. I didn’t really understand it and I too thought – hmm, this is just like Facebook statuses. Once I dug deeper, I found myself imersed in a world with conversation and life.
Don’t let Twitter scare you, because the longer you wait – the more opportunities could pass you by.
