Net news: Obama calls for neutrality in internet services

One of the stories that will most influence your future as a media writer is developing as we write.  President Obama issued a call Monday for the Federal Communications Commission to adopt rules ensuring that internet service providers do not speed up or slow down access speeds on the web for commercial purposes.

This is complicated stuff, and I welcome you to learn as much as you can.  As we accept that digitization has huge effects on media practices — including business practices — we need to appreciate that the governance of the web has profound implications.

Let’s read up on this.  Here is a breaking news story from a website, ars technica, that covers trending media-technology issues, particularly bedrock issues about the internet.  And here is an essay from an involved U.S. player in this contest.

We need to be careful and attentive readers here, too.  Since the leaders and owners in the media industry often have financial interests in this outcome, we need to appreciate that stories may reflect certain positions that various corporations may stake out.  In other cases, individual reporters and editors may be trying their elegant best not to show any favoritism to certain arguments that might favor or harm their organizations.

At any rate, read carefully.  The media are direct players in this issue.

Consider this article from Bloomberg news, an international business wire and information service for stockbrokers, investors and currency traders.  This is a company that earns its profits from instant reportage around the globe, mostly via internet transmissions. Does Bloomberg have a stake in net neutrality?  I would think so, though I’m not schooled in the precise perspectives of its wealthy, politically oriented founder and chairman.

We surely expect Bloomberg’s correspondents to be well informed on the twists and implications of the ways that the FCC might apply rules on internet services, fee systems and transmission speeds. That makes it all the more interesting to read Bloomberg’s coverage.

Six points to remember in blog writing

Structure matters. Here are a few points we highlighted in class today to help you organize the flow of your story.

One:  Be blocked

When you write for a blog, your structure should follow a blocked model.  Instead of decreasing in importance as you work down the article, your story in a blog format should be organized around chunks of content. These blocks (or chunks) probably will be about equal in quality and length.

You can have more than one paragraph per chunk.  That’s what you see here.  You can even add a direct quotation.  For example, let’s introduce your professor, Glenn Scott, as he reminds you that a direct quote does not need to be lengthy, but it should be compelling.

“A few forceful words,” he said, “can hit with a ton of impact.”

Two:  Use graphics tools

To help define your blocks, use devices such as bullets, numbers, bold type or sub-heads (as this example shows).  This helps your readers by clarifying where a new point begins.  It aids their searching eyes. It also gives the blog item a more varied look.

Links are important, too.  Embed a few links to add context.  Most great bloggers do this.

Three:  Seek visuals

People enjoy photos, if they are worthy.  OK to embed photos or other graphics.  We’ll discuss copyright law later, but as a general rule you’re better off not ‘borrowing’ a photo from a commercial site or photographer and running it on the web.  Some people will send you a bill.  If you shoot the photo yourself, you are home free, well protected.  The copyright is yours.  (To post a photo, set your cursor where the photo should appear, then click on “add media” at top of tool bar.  Then follow along.  You can figure it out.  Add names in captions.

Four:  Consider the flow

Even in a blocked form, we want to ensure that our readers can follow along without feeling lost or confused.  The first three or four paragraphs of your lede should help.  You also can add a line, as I did above, that tells readers what comes next.  Always think about what the readers need to make sense of your stories.

Five:  Remember the basics

A blog is a different form, but the principles of media writing don’t change.  Spend as much time — or more — revising, tightening and editing your blog piece as you do any other news story.

Six:  Find  examples

The web is the all-time-great laboratory for learning.  You can find a thousand good examples of effective, clever, clear and accurate blog items that carry news. Find some and study them.  OK if you want to try a structure you find another blog using.  In fact, ask yourself:

Is there a better way to learn?

Al Jazeera builds a game to tell a story

News reporting does not need to be normal.

Take a look at this video promoting a reporting project by the news organization Al Jazeera.  It’s a new attempt to engage readers by shaping news stories into interactive games.

At issue is the story in the reserved waters off the West African nation of Sierra Leone where so-called pirate fishing ships with international fleets are harvesting — and possibly depleting — the region’s stores of fish. This harms local fishermen and removes food for local people.

Click here to go to the interactive page. Then click on Pirate Fishing. Give it time to load. Think you’ll enjoy the audio. And please note the writing. This package offers wonderful sensory content, but still the words are essential.  Note the brief, spare writing.

Rather than telling a complicated story in the normal, third-person way, editors are welcoming audience members into the story by giving them fictitious roles, such as investigative reporter, and then inviting them into the news via interactive choices.  The story is delivered as a series of discoveries, as something of a mystery to solve and as a global problem not easily addressed.

The real news is woven into the structure of the game, the role playing.  What do you think? How far did you advance into the game?  Did it keep you engaged or slow you down?

You may recall that we discussed Al Jazeera briefly last week when the National Association of Black Journalists awarded the news organization a prize for its reporting.  As a newer player, Al Jazeera is willing to try new approaches.

Come to class with your informed opinion: Will a ‘news game’ like this float or sink?

Millions snap up iPhone 6 on opening weekend

This article from USA Today is about the success of the new iPhone 6, which was released this weekend across the nation. It makes great use of direct quotations and paraphrasing from multiple different people—everyone always has something to say about new Apple products.

The writer, Nancy Blair, first quotes an average person, an iPhone 6 consumer. She directly quotes his opinion on the new phone he purchased, and then paraphrases what he must have told her—when he got in line to buy the product. I think this quote really draws the readers in and makes the topic relatable.

She then paraphrases Creative Strategies analyst Tim Bajarin’s projection of Apple sales this weekend. There is no direct quotation from Bajarin, but as a professional analyst, his predictions are trustworthy to the reader. She then paraphrases another analyst, Ross Rubin, from Reticle Research. After paraphrasing his projection, she launches into a direct quote from him, which details what she paraphrased from him.

After this paraphrased and quoted data from two analysts, she uses a partial quote from Barclay (banking and investment company) about the company’s prediction of first weekend sales. She used 2 partial phrases to supplement her general paraphrase of what the company said.

She ends the article with a direct quote from Apple CEO Tim Cook. Blair seems to arrange her quotes in order of importance, from least to greatest.

Monumental Ebola drug has successfully cured all early stage test subjects

This news story from USA Today on Aug. 29 discusses the breakthrough results of an experimented Ebola drug. ZMapp, the tested medication made by Mapp Biopharmaceuticals, was said to have cured 100 percent of the monkeys treated. Although they have yet to test on humans, this drug, even in its early stage of development, has monumental potential.

Ebola has infected over 3,000 people in the world, killing roughly half of those people. ZMapp, founded in San Diego, was tested on monkeys who received three doses in three days. According to the study, conducted by the Public Health Agency of Canada, three weeks after the monkeys were administered the drug they had no detectable Ebola virus.

Timely

This news article is timely because with the many recent cases of the Ebola virus spreading, a working drug is coming just in time to help. Also, this article was published right after the outbreaks started coming into the United States.

Impact

This story also has impact because the Ebola breakout has been the top news story lately. This new drug could be the answer to stopping the outbreak before it reaches the reader’s personal life.

Novelty

This story could also be seen as a novelty because there is currently no cure for Ebola.