a good week for scu journalists

First this: I got two emails from Jack yesterday. The first was a link to this NYT story about the wiretap attempt at Sen. Mary Landrieu's office (D -La) in New Orleans. Jack took issue with the following quote, from the father of the kid who had been arrested for the alleged tampering:

“He is an outstanding young man doing investigative journalism,” Mr. O’Keefe said of his son. “He studies a different form of journalism, and he pushes the limits a bit. What they were up to, I have no idea.”

To which Jack responded:

The father's quote infuriates me. Apparently his "reporter" son has never heard of Food Lion v. ABC. Wiretapping a senator is no "investigative journalism" I'd ever practice.

And hooray for that. Jack also linked to the photo credit on a USA Today story on the same issue: Photo by Pat Semansky. (He also got a photo credit in the NYT piece.)

Which prompted Jack's second email:

Last night, Jeremy (Herb) and I were talking after dinner about TSC alums. And I got to thinking about three of us: Jeremy, roaming around the halls of the Capitol and chasing down Barney Frank about the financial crisis for the Boston Globe; Pat Semansky, racing to an impromptu press gathering with the ACORN pranksters for the AP; and me, frantically writing a page one story on deadline for USA Today. And it's only Wednesday!

Who says SCU doesn't teach you anything about journalism?

Finally, Jack's page one story. Apparently, he met his deadline. Here's the link. bk

Look! Here's Jeremy...

Check it: As we speak, Jeremy's piece on "Six Ways Obama Can Take Charge on Health Care" tops newsweek.com's home page.

And here's word from another former student, posing a good question via my inbox:

Not sure if this is worth a discussion in comm 40 or not, but these reader comments are really out of control on our Web site. (And others' sites.) Take, for example, our story on the New York Times reporter being freed in Afghanistan:

One of the "most-recommended" posts, determined by readers, was:
"100 reporters aren't worth the life of one brave soldier."

Sickening. Maybe 100 reporters covering the awful conditions at Walter Reed? Of course, there were the typical "I hate NYT" tripe. I'm sure none of them has read the paper, though. Is this a sign of our citizenry becoming more militaristic/fascist, less educated, or maybe both?

Or is it just another sign that the ease of the internet has given everyone -- especially the ranters -- a soapbox? When it comes to the internet, we have no choice but to take the good with the bad. It's just more work wading through.

I am reminded of a quote by writer Alberto Manguel, who once said, "A library that has everything becomes a library that has anything."

points of connection

A few updates from some j-kids turned up in my inbox recently:

MELISSA SEGURA, '01, a reporter for Sports Illustrated, was interviewed by NPR's Robert Seagal on "All Things Considered" about the story she broke on baseball player Esmailyn "Smiley" Gonzalez, the former top prospect for the Washington Nationals, who faked his age and his name. It's all part of a story Melissa has been investigating in the Dominican Republic on money-skimming by international baseball scouts.

Listen to the NPR interview here. Read Melissa's story here. Read more about her investigation on this WaPo blog.


Also got an email from KEVIN GEMMELL, '98, one of the first students I ever taught. He is a sports writer for the San Diego Union Tribune, and forwards this link to a recent cover story.
And because I am an egregious self-promoter, I can't help including this part of his email:

"... I'm coming up on 10 years since graduating from SCU. I still get the thrill of seeing my byline, especially on cover stories, and I just wanted to take a minute to say thanks. So much of writing was influenced by you -- even 10 years later. It's been too long since I've said thank you. So, thank you."

I also heard from LIZ WEEKER, '07, who recently returned from a journalism workshop at the Knight Digital Media Center at UC Berkeley. She writes:

"There was a lot of talk about the future of newspapers and individual
journalists. A lot of us are just looking to survive. It made me wonder
about the kinds of discussions you and your students must be having right
now, so I checked out your blog. Your most recent posting about the business
model of newspapers was a major theme throughout the workshop. I thought you
might be interested in checking out this person: Lauren Rich Fine. She used
to work for Merrill Lynch as an analyst for publishing, advertising and
online industries. I tried to post an article she wrote today on your blog,
but it didn't quite work and I didn't want to accidentally double post.
Here it is."

JEREMY HERB, '08, now at Columbia Journalism School, just forwarded this link to a new digital journalism project he's working on at the New York Times. It just launched today.


And finally, JACK GILLUM, '06, turned up in my classroom yesterday. He's now a database editor at USA Today, and did a great job of showing -- as well as telling -- my students why reporters love what they do. bk

spot.us: spot on?

The L.A.Times caught up yesterday with spot.us, which features a new business model to support investigative reporting. We first mentioned it here, back in December, in a post entitled "more looks forward" (click on "Jeremy").

From the LATimes piece:

"It's hard not to root for [founder David] Cohn, 26, who had the chutzpah to try something new, the tenacity to get it off the ground and the maturity to know that it might not work.

"God and Google know the old, monopolistic print advertising model will never make a full-scale comeback. So more power to any endeavor trying to push serious journalism into a new era.

"Yes, there is a "but." To wit: The site's platform outperforms its product. Spot.us stories simply need to be better. The four I checked out -- three written and one a radio report -- did not particularly engage, incite or entertain."

While the journalism itself may not yet be up to speed, the plan itself may be, if not a winner, at least a sign that creative minds are out there taking chances on new models to save journalism itself -- rather than propping up the old way of doing business. Beyond the initial seed money -- a $340,000 innovation grant from the Knight Foundation -- Cohn funds his individual stories via micro-donations from interested readers on his site. Check it out. bk

on the other hand:

Jeremy forwards this link to The Biz Blog on Poynter.org that provides counterpoint to Hirschorn's piece, especially wrt his math. bk

dispatch from jeremy

You may be wondering what it's like to be in j-school on an election night. Jeremy Herb, a former capstoner and currently a grad student at Columbia, forwards this quick note:

I did get to report on the presidential race for a "deadline team" on election day. I was at the Republican camp for most of the night which was, umm, interesting. But fun overall. And then I went to the Democratic event three blocks away, and it was just nuts. Such a fun day, 17 hours of working and I wouldn't have wanted anything less.

You can see everything Columbia did here: columbiajournalist.org. Three broadcasts (radio, video, new media) + the print team that I was on. We had to file stories at 5 p.m. 9 p.m. and midnight, which was also good experience and nerve wracking when I had no Internet.

kudos

We knew them when.

Jeremy Herb reports that Jack Gillum, former EIC of The Santa Clara and on his way to a new gig at USA Today, won this award for "excellence in news" for a data-driven investigative series on social promotion in schools.

And Jeremy, also a former EIC of The Santa Clara and now a j-student at Columbia, just found out that an investigative series on clergy child sex abuse in the Diocese of Oakland that he worked on for the Fremont Argus last year won this award for public service from the APME. Read the first part of the series here.

Congrats, guys! bk

Dispatch from Columbia University: Obama/McCain

Jeremy Herb (SCU '08) now a grad student at Columbia's J-School, sends the following dispatch re the Obama-McCain panel on public service at Columbia University in New York today:

"It's been a fun day, though the speeches were a bit of a letdown. After classes, I grabbed a camera and a notebook and went out without knowing what I'd find. I ended up writing about some other non-Columbia students who made it into the speeches, and then also protesters outside the school. I even took photos for a slideshow of the protesters, something I don't have too much experience with. The atmosphere was pretty crazy, both outside and in the student center, which has turned into a newsroom. I'm glad I got to be part of this project, which probably had about 20 people contributing either as reporters, photographers, multimedia people or editors. And there was a lot of good stuff on there from all over the city. This was completely student planned and run, and is a good sign of the entrepreneurial ability of my class. It would have been fun had I gotten into the event either as a student or press, but that's OK."

Here's Jeremy's complete blog.

Here's an excerpt:

It's been a zoo here today at Columbia: police surrounding the campus, entrances closed, having to show a school ID to get on campus.

After finishing classes, I went out and did some reporting, adding to the above blog. I put myself on the protest beat, as I was first to put up a slideshow when protesters gathered a little after 5 p.m. It was very peaceful, I even saw protesters talking with a nearby officer.

The steps outside Columbia were full of students, as a giant TV screen was outside. I watched inside the J-school student center, which has essentially turned into a newsroom, complete with a live feed of the room on the blog.

photo courtesy jeremy herb