Month: October 2019

Student and freelance photographers taking close-ups of the bands at Picnic in the Park in Oslo, Norway.

Learning the craft, speaking the language of video production

By Paul Glover
Henderson State University

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• “Did you use a tripod?”
• “Did you use a microphone?”
• “What format is the video in?”

Do these questions sound familiar?

One older definition of convergence refers to a “combination of technologies, products, staffs and geography among the previously distinct provinces of print, television and online media” (Singer, 2004). The idea of newsroom convergence forces many university programs to combine resources in order to develop student reporters into backpack journalists, Multimedia-Skilled Journalists (MSJ) or simply Multimedia Journalists (MMJ).

Whether print or broadcast, students and recent graduates entering their college internship or first real-world job are very often assigned the task of writer, videographer, audio engineer and video editor. Competency in all these skills is required and expected. This article will focus on essential skills for student journalists who are asked to produce videos for television, websites and social media and how students can best develop these skills. Continue reading “Same ol’ problems with student’s video?”

Come to DC: It’s More than the First Amendment

Oct. 31-Nov. 3, 2019 • Grand Hyatt • Washington, D.C. • #collegemedia19

By Carol Terracina Hartman

In partnership with Associated Collegiate Press, College Media Association returns to Washington, D.C. for its annual fall convention this year. Speaker highlights include a slate of keynote speakers: Capital Gazette Editor Rick Hutzell, accompanied by Gazette reporters Danielle Ohl and Alex Mann.

Attendees also will welcome Washington Post executive editor Marty Baron of “Spotlight” Fame, NPR’s Nina Totenberg, and CNN’s Abby Phillip.

Convention offerings this year – 275 of them! – include career workshops, tech tips, media management and skills-oriented sessions such as photojournalism and design. Whether digging into data is your gig or jazzing up entertainment reviews is your goal, find it in the conference schedule.

Continue reading “Preview: ACP and CMA annual Fall National College Media Convention”

Book Review: A NewsHound’s Guide To Student Journalism, by Katina Paron and Javier Guelfi

Reviewed by Carolyn Schurr Levin

Using a comic book to teach basic journalism principles may initially seem like an unusual, albeit original, idea, but, after  reading “A NewsHound’s Guide To Student Journalism,” the idea does not seem farfetched at all. In fact, you won’t be able to put it down. And, while enjoying the comics, perhaps even without knowing it, you will simultaneously be learning so many important journalism concepts and principles.

Written by Katina Paron, who has worked in different capacities as a student journalism educator, and illustrated by Javier Guelfi, a cartoonist, illustrator and graphic designer, the book is clever and engaging. Although the book is not brand new – it was released in October 2018 – it is worth taking a look at, if you haven’t already done so.

The book includes content routinely included in other basic reporting books, such as interviewing tips, understanding and avoiding conflicts of interest, and using data in news stories. What makes it unique, though, are the comic strip vignettes that introduce each chapter and topic. To begin the chapter on “Deep Throat: Digging into Investigative Journalism,” readers meet Joe Kubble, a high school freshman who “was born to be a reporter.” In each subsequent chapter’s comic, Kubble navigates the perils and pitfalls of journalism, from the importance of verification to crowdsourcing through social media. In doing so, he learns, and teaches us, basic lessons in how to write a lead, how to localize news, and how to stay out of trouble. Continue reading “Graphic approach for introducing journalism to students not farfetched at all”

Where technology and copyright collide

By Carolyn Schurr Levin

There is nothing simple about copyright. The law is complex, with so many nuances. In this first CMR legal column, we analyze a pending copyright dispute involving newly developed technology in an effort to assist students and advisers as similar issues arise.

Audible, the Amazon.com audiobook company that bills itself as “the world’s largest seller and producer of audiobooks and other spoken-word entertainment,” introduced a new feature in July 2019 that displays the text of a book while it is read. The feature, called Audible Captions, allows listeners “to follow along with a few lines of machine-generated text as they listen to the audio performance,” according to Audible’s website. “We developed this technology,” Audible’s website states, “because we believe our culture, particularly in under-resourced environments, is at risk of losing a significant portion of the next generation of book readers. We have heard from so many teachers and educators that they want to find new ways to improve literacy rates and inspire students to pick up a book and read.”

Book publishing companies, however, were less than pleased with the announcement about the launch of Audible Captions. On August 23, 2019, seven publishers—Chronicle Books, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers Macmillan Publishing Group, Penguin Random House, Scholastic, and Simon & Schuster—filed a federal copyright infringement lawsuit against Audible alleging that Audible Captions infringes the copyrights in their books. The publishers are seeking a court order to stop the launch of Audible Captions, as well as collecting an award of monetary damages for the alleged infringement Continue reading “Legal analysis: Audible captions leads to copyright infringement suit”