j2blogs.com

Due date: Friday, March 14

Note: There is no reading log this week as we will be reading  your entries from last week.

The quarter is nearly over. One of the main deciders of your grade will be your blog and your portfolio entries. So, you need to have your blog and portfolio ready for display by the end of the week.

In addition to the weekly blog entries and reading log responses, you need to have two other things:

1. Updates on your progress on your major project for the quarter.
2. Examples of the work you’ve completed in the class along with reflections on that work.

These two pieces will ensure your blog becomes a complete portfolio. Good luck with this. Make sure you remember how important it is to include samples of work that shows growth as well as the ones that are final products.

Due date: Friday, March 7.

Your blog is supposed to be your own. It needs to reflect your own questions, your own voice, and your own interests.

I’ve been giving you prompts for the past six weeks, and now it’s your time to direct your own blogging. I’ll even forgo giving a fallback option this week.

It only needs to connect to journalism or this class.

Good luck with this one. I’m eager to see what you can come up with.

Due Date: Friday, February 29

Now things are getting crazy. You’ll be blogging about your blog.

Take a look back at the things you’ve written and done for the past six weeks. What trends or major discoveries do you notice? What can you learn about yourself as a student/journalist from the things you’ve produced or the writing you’ve done? How have you grown or changed as a writer or journalist?

Make this entry your own.

Due date: Friday, February 15

So far in this class, we’ve looked at some great examples of New Media – journalism that goes beyond the printed page. That media has come in the forms of blogs, traditional news media outlets, and independent publications. We’ve looked at ways that print journalism may eventually be replaced by these new media sources. At the very least, they’re going o become a larger part of media than they currently are.

That transition is going to be perfect, right?

Not so fast.

What do you think? Are bloggers going to ruin journalism? Many people disagree. However, this change can’t be all good.

Here are some questions that come to my mind as I think about these issues. Feel free to engage them in your blog or respond in your own way.

1. How can new media be dangerous? What can be done to make it more safe?
2. How will readers need to change as the way we get our information changes?
3. What standards from traditional journalism should carry over to new media journalism?

Due Date: Friday, February 8

Blogger and high school librarian Carolyn Foote writes on her blog about a speech she attended given at the University of Texas by former newspaper editor Molly Ivins. She came away thinking, at least partly, about the future of journalism and how it relates to schools. She writes:

Her [Milly Ivins'] concern that night was the future of journalism; specifically, the future of newspapers.   I have thought of her insights often the last few months.

She was aware that because of the instant availability of news online, that newspapers were going to have to change, and she felt that because large conglomerates have been purchasing many urban newspapers, their main concern has been profits, and not the reporting.   Because newspaper profit margins had increased in the 90’s, owners now have the expectation that newspapers should make higher profits than they had made in the past.  So reporters have been laid off at many large newspapers, and there is more use of “headline” stories, etc.

What do you think? I’ll outline a few of the questions that come to my mind about this situation. Feel free to engage any of them or your own questions in your blog post for this week.

1. Do you think there is a future for print news? If so, what will that future look like? If not, why?
2. What advantages do print publications have over digital news sources?
3. How do you think the job of a reporter will change over time?

Due date: Friday, February 1

If you’re like me, it’s been a long time since you’ve gotten most of the news about your world from a print newspaper (besides The Hoofprint, of course) or traditional television news broadcast. Subscription numbers and revenue is starting to drop for traditional media outlets. Chances are, you’ve been getting your news from websites – even sites like Facebook and MySpace – your cell phone, YouTube, or other non-traditional media. More and more, Blogs are becoming news sources, and phrase Citizen Journalist and Participatory Journalism are becoming part of our common vocabularies.

This brings us to two important questions for the modern journalist:

1. How does journalism survive when digital devices have made centralized printing presses and TV stations all but obsolete?
2. What is journalism, anyway, in a time when citizens with a cell phone and laptop can tell stories, take photos and be journalists for a day anytime they want?

Tackle one or both of these questions in your blog. Remember to make these posts your own. Link to and quote from other sources, including your classmates’ blog. Proofread your blog after you post and feel free to make changes to it after you’ve proofread it or read more of your classmates’ work.

“The task is the same no matter where the skilled journalist plies his trade: be inquisitive, be honest and be loyal to the truth and your reader. Advocate for the community, and tell it like it is. Ask and learn. Share the knowledge.”
- Source

Although all journalists are supposed to be loyal to the truth. Truth is a difficult concept to define. For the past two days, we’ve discussed your interpretations of the meaning of Truth. We came up with a wide variety of possible definitions and characteristics for the concept of truth, but we were unable to come up with a broad definition that could satisfy everyone. Your first blog entry should tackle this difficult situation.

Take a look at the following questions and respond in any way you choose on your blog. Try to include the word “Truth” somewhere in your post’s title.

1. What is truth to you?
2. What should all journalists know about the truth?
3. What does it mean to be loyal to the truth?
4. In what ways can a high school journalist find a report the truth?

Your response should be thorough and personal, capturing your unique voice and perspective. Try to write at least 200 words. A true blog will contain links to outside sources or responses to the thoughts of the other blogs in the class.

Good luck.