Cutting edge Canadian media

Seems our neighbors to the north are pretty tech savvy. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation last month became the world's first broadcaster to partner with blog search giant Technorati. The CBC's Web site features a new section, which highlights the news stories generating the most buzz from among the 86 million blogs tracked by Technorati. And in May the CBC created an initiative with FaceBook called the Great Canadian Wish List (See my post from June 18).

I haven't seen much like it here in the state. Go figure, eh.

A sick stragety for covering up "Sicko"

Michael Moore's latest documentary "Sicko" takes on HMOs and the sorry state of health care in the United States. Another thing that makes me ill, in addition to the condition of our health care, is Google and its attempts to inoculate the health care industry against this movie -- for a fee of course.

According to Boingboing.net:

Google's "Health Advertising Team" is trying to sell the health industry on buying ads to be shown opposite searches for "Sicko." The idea is to counter Michael Moore's amazing, enraging, must-see indictment of the health industry's grip on American society by running ads over search results for Sicko.

Another approach would be to reform the practices that Moore criticises in the film -- for example, refusing to pay for an insured individual's surgery because she didn't mention a 15-year-old yeast infection on her application; denying MRIs to patients with brain tumors; and paying medical directors bonuses for denying claims.

But why make your customers healthier -- at shareholder expense -- when you can just give money to Google to FUD and astroturf the issue?

Bill O'Reilly bested by a 16-year-old

If you've watched even a minute of FOX News' The O'Reilly Factor, you're probably familiar with the format: Bill O'Reilly strikes a tone of righteous indignation over some imagined affront to so-called American values (read neoconservatism). He then proceeds to pillory some camera-shy wallflower for her part in this imagined affront. If O'Reilly's behavior rankled you in the least, you're sure to enjoy this YouTube video of Bully O'Reilly being put on the defensive by 16-year-old Jesse Lange. The only response the ever-so-articulate O'Reilly can muster is to call Lange a "pinhead." He really has a knack for raising discourse to a higher level. Kudos B.O.!

Thanks to David Weinberger for pointing this out.

Calling all filmmakers

The 48 Hour Film Project, a two-day competition to see which team of filmmakers can write, direct and produce the best movie, is coming to Portland this summer. The competition will be held the weekend of August 10 and the winning film from Portland will vie with films from around the world for the title "Best 48 Hour Film of 2007." Teams must register by Monday, July 16.

For more information, check out the 48 Hour Film Project Web site.

Documentary watch

PBS is airing a documentary tonight about some survivors of Sierra Leone's bloody civil war, who met and formed a band while living in a refugee camp. Sounds interesting.

From the Refugee All Stars Web site:

The plight of the refugee in today’s war-torn world is captured in the African proverb, “When two elephants are fighting, the grass will suffer.” So it was in Sierra Leone from 1991-2002, where the government and various rebel factions carried out a brutal civil war in which the terrorizing of civilians — by killing, mutilation, rape, and forced conscription — was common practice on all sides. The war sent hundreds of thousands of ordinary Sierra Leoneans fleeing to refugee camps in the neighboring West African nation of the Republic of Guinea. That’s where the remarkable documentary Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars begins.

Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars are a band of six Sierra Leonean musicians who came together to form a band while living in a refugee camp in Guinea. Many of their family and friends were murdered in the war, leaving each of them with physical and emotional scars that may never heal. Despite the unimaginable horrors of civil war, they were saved and brought hope and happiness to their fellow refugees through their music.

Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars chronicles the band over three years, from Guinean refugee camps back to war-ravaged Sierra Leone, where they realize the dream of recording their first studio album. And so begins a musical phenomenon that is making the world hear the voices of West Africa’s refugees – through the film Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars have been able to launch an international musical career, while drawing the accolades of Keith Richards, Paul McCartney, Ice Cube (one of the executive producers of the film), and Joe Perry.

Through their unflinching spirit, their powerful stories of survival and their joyful music Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars celebrate the best that is in all of us. As violent conflicts multiply around the globe and the worldwide refugee crisis deepens, Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars is a humanizing ode to all the innocent survivors of war whose brutal realities are often dismissed by surface mass media sound bytes.

The next Scorsese?

OK, a little presumptuous, I admit. But I'm excited, so please forgive me. This is, after all, my first attempt at filmmaking. It's a short film that my girlfriend, Katie, and I put together this week in our laptop filmmaking class. The class opened our eyes to the storytelling potential of film and video. Being writers, we have, until this point, conceived of and executed stories primarily through the written word. But having taken this class, we both feel confident that we can produce high-quality short- to medium-length films. We hope to further refine our skills and continue making videos in the future.

Have you heard what's up with Canada, eh?

Got warm feelings for the frigid frontier to the north? This is your opportunity to share them with the world, or at least other Canadian. CBC News, Facebook and the youth organization Student Vote are asking people to share their hopes for the country's future through THE GREAT CANADIAN WISH LIST. The GCWL, which launched May 28, allows Facebook users to post ideas for building a better Canada and is a central part of the ambitious ‘national conversation’ campaign leading up to the country’s 140th birthday on Canada Day July 1. CBC journalists are monitoring the postings and generating stories for radio and television based on the postings and interviews with the posters. This marks the first time that Facebook has partnered with a major broadcaster.

The initiative was developed by Mike Wise, a CBC News reporter in Toronto, and Taylor Gunn from Student Vote, a group that promotes civic engagement among Canadian youth.

CBC has its own ‘Wish’ list blog where readers can follow the discussions.

Angelina Jolie loves a journalist

OK, sorry to interrupt your daydreams, but it's only a movie. Jolie portrays the wife of Daniel Perl, the Wall Street Journal reporter who was murdered by terrorists in Pakistan, in the upcoming movie A Mighty Heart. One of the movie's central issues is freedom of the press, and to show her unalloyed support for a free press, Jolie's representatives are requiring all journalists to sign a contract before talking with her about the movie, according to FOX News.

Among the stipulations, reporters were asked to agree to "not ask Ms. Jolie any questions regarding her personal relationships. In the event Interviewer does ask Ms. Jolie any questions regarding her personal relationships, Ms. Jolie will have the right to immediately terminate the interview and leave."

The best of YouTube and Ifilm ...

... can best be found by using one of the new video search engines. Traditional search engines like Yahoo and Google are great for searching for text entries, but when it comes to searching for video online, these giants are still refining their skills. Video search engines like Blinkx and Truveo are attempting to serve this niche. For the investor types out there, Blinkx actually went public last month on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market. The stock shot up in value in the early hours of trading but has since dropped back closer to its initial offering price. Considering the popularity of YouTube, this might be worth following.

Tony Soprano whacks Lebron James

Big Tony really outdid himself this time, pulling off one of the biggest hits of his career. According to the police blotter, er, the Media Biz blog, Tony Soprano and crew buried Lebron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers in the ratings game, garnering nearly 4.5 million more viewers Sunday night than the NBA finals. Capiche?

Journalists, don't worry ...

... about that little thing called the Internet. It won't be around that long anyway. That's one of the revelations in Michael Rosenberg's funny new column about the nine secrets of journalism.

5. Internet, Schminternet. It will be gone in five years. People will always love reading a newspaper -- and so will you, our intrepid reporter, once you accept our buyout offer.

Thanks to Doug Fisher of Common Sense Journalism, one of my new favorite media bloggers, for pointing this out.

Going head over heels for the Phrase Finder

Whether you're a word nut like me or just want to resolve a friendly argument over the origin of a saying, The Phrase Finder will make your day. It's the bee's knees! That's my two cents worth.

Hilarious! HILARIOUS!!! ... The next YouTube?

Funny or Die!

It's not an ultimatum. No. It's the hilarious new online video site that some say could become the next YouTube. The site, which was started this spring by comedians Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, features a mix of user-generated content and videos made by the "pros."

Will Ferrell's "The Landlord" video, which I've posted below, is a must-see. Be forewarned, the site contains adult language. But it's used to good, no, scratch that, great effect.

According to Media Biz by Paul R. La Monica "The Landlord" was viewed nearly 13 million times in the first few days of its posting. The site includes several other riotous clips, including Jenna Elfman's "Mama Jams." According to La Monica, if traffic for the site keeps growing, Funny or Die could become the next big thing in Internet video sites.



Thanks to Nikki Corliss for pointing this out.

The fate of journalism

Dan Gillmor's recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle is a must-read for anyone concerned about the future of journalism and public discourse:

"Journalism's old guard is in a panic. With the latest bad news -- massive editorial staff reductions coming at the San Francisco Chronicle and believable rumors of similar cuts at an already shrunken San Jose Mercury News, among other things -- it's no wonder that people who care about the traditional journalism business are frightened.

But if the issue is the future of journalism -- as opposed to corporate business models -- there's at least as much reason for optimism as paranoia ..."

Click on the link to Gillmor's article to read more.

Also watch this video on the future of journalism and "participatory media":

Are We Rome? The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America

In the new book Are We Rome?: The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America, Cullen Murphy, former managing editor of Atlantic Monthly, draws some striking parallels between ancient Rome and modern day America and raises issues that beg our consideration.

Here are a few of them as presented by Gary Kamiya of Salon.com:

(Among the similarities between Rome and America) Murphy cites massive privatization and its attendant sins, corruption, the loss of faith in government and the degradation of civil society. To my mind, this is the most original and compelling part of his book. "Rome had trouble maintaining a distinction between public and private responsibilities -- and between public and private resources," Murphy writes. When this happens, "central government becomes impossible to steer. It took a long time to happen, but the fraying connection between imperial will and concrete action is a big part of What Went Wrong in ancient Rome." Similarly, "America has in recent years embarked on a privatization binge like no other in its history, putting into private hands all manner of activities once thought to be public tasks." Murphy says that "the privatization of power isn't a phenomenon of the margins, a footnote to history -- it's a central dynamic of American public life."

The result, he argues, is not only corruption, the what's-in-it-for-me mentality epitomized by the sleazy likes of Jack Abramoff, but loss of government's "management capacity." In part this is because private contractors don't answer to the same laws and regulations that government ones do; in part it's because government itself is simply vanishing. The loss of efficiency and command and control is bad, but still worse are the intangible ramifications of privatization: "the loss of civic engagement and loyalty across the board is a very real threat." Murphy declines to explicitly single out the Bush administration, and in a larger sense the small-government ideology of the Republican Party, as largely responsible for this trend. But that does not alter the fact that his book is a blistering implicit refutation of the GOP's anti-government ethos, and the still more degraded crony capitalism practiced by Bush.

...

(Murphy argues that) America needs to "stop treating government as a necessary evil, and instead rely on it proudly for the big things it can do well ... The Social Security check every month, the safe drugs and highways, the guaranteed student loans, the heath-care safety net in old age, the sandbags when the rivers flood -- their inherent benefits aside, these things promote a sense of common alliance and mutual obligation that dwarf narrow considerations of 'efficiency.'"

We should institute a program of national service for all young people, "which would revive the militia ethic of long ago. 'We're all in it together' is a spirit that Rome lost."

...

As the late Senator Paul Wellstone said, "We as a society need to be encouraging people to focus not just on individual wants but on serving the larger community."

(Watch Cullen Murphy's recent interview with Stephen Colbert.)

A little inspiration for those considering a finals-week all-nighter

Is a finals-week all-nighter the only means of salvaging your term? If so, here's a little inspiration for you: "A man in Cornwall, England, actually went 11 consecutive days without a wink of sleep." -- Read the rest of the story on Howstuffworks.com

Video blogs: The future of blogging?

Sitting in on a conference call with Philip Meyer (see previous post) the other day got me thinking about the future of journalism and online communication. Technology and the online environment are changing so rapidly that new archetypes are continuously emerging, Meyer said. He told the audience members to monitor these changes and be ready to join the companies that are leading the wave of innovation or to create your own company and start the next wave yourself. So with that in mind I ask you, Is this the next big thing in online communication? You be the judge.

Is a blogger a journalist?

If a reporter for one of the mainstream media discloses confidential material, such as information from a secret grand jury hearing, he is often afforded protection under his state's shield law (if his state has one). Shield laws protect reporters from having to reveal the sources of their information. And protecting sources is essential to a journalist's work. If a journalist cannot protect a source's wish for anonymity, that journalist loses credibility. He loses the trust of the source and ultimately the source will be reluctant to reveal confidential information in the future.

Build a reputation for doing right by your sources, Lance Williams, an investigative reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, said during the National Writers Workshop last weekend.

If journalists were to make a habit of turning over their anonymous tipsters whenever a investigative agency comes calling, it would undermine the industry as a whole and have a chilling effect on sources. Many of the stories that now make it into the papers would dry up.

Similarly if a journalist for a mainstream media outlet, such as the San Francisco Chronicle, finds himself being sued or being coerced by the government to reveal his sources, his deep-pocketed employer will often back him, paying what sometimes amounts to a small fortune in legal fees to protect the journalist. Such was the case with Williams, when a federal judge ordered him and his colleague Mark Fainaru-Wada to prison for as long as a year and a half. The jail time was seen as the only means of pressuring the reporters into revealing their sources of confidential grand jury testimony about star athletes' use of steroids. Williams said last weekend during the Writers Workshop that the Hearst Corporation, which owns the Chronicle, probably spent more than $2 million defending him and Fainaru-Wada. As a result, the two journalists never spent a day in prison.

But one of the fastest growing and most influential forms of communication out there receive no such protection: Blogging. So far the courts have been reluctant to grant bloggers protection under state shield laws and most bloggers don't have pockets that are deep enough to fund a protracted legal battle. Underscoring this point was the fact that a California judge last year ruled that three bloggers, who Apple Computer claims revealed trade secrets in their online publications, must reveal their anonymous sources.

Many feel this was the wrong decision. "There is no principled distinction between a New York Times reporter and a blogger for these purposes. Both operate as news sources for wide swaths of the general public," said Susan Crawford, a law professor at Cardozo law school of Yeshiva University (and a blogger).

Professor Philip Meyer (photo) of the University of North Carolina wrote last year that, "Traditional journalists should support them (bloggers). There is neither sound moral or legal justification for claiming that those who work for major news organizations have stronger First Amendment rights than the rest of us."

I happen to agree. These are heady times, times when so many precedents are being set and the future of these nascent online communication forms are being decided. The stakes are high and it's important that we get it right. In this case, the right thing is to afford bloggers more protection, not less.

On writing 2: Tips from the National Writers Workshop

It's Sunday, a short day at the Writers Workshop, but also one of the most helpful. The first speaker of the day was Naka Nathaniel, who specializes in new media for the New York Times. He was joined by Casey Parks, a J-school student from the University of Missouri Columbia, who accompanied Nicholas Kristof to Africa last fall. The talk was the most inspiring of the weekend. Not surprisingly their focus was on new media.

If you incorporate video and audio, your stories will practically sell themselves, Nathaniel told the crowd.

The talk really opened my eyes -- as well as the eyes of my cohorts -- to the phenomenal storytelling possibilities available to us. As we walked out of the session, Katie and I were both buzzing, talking about ways to tell our stories through video, audio and slideshows.

In addition to being inspirational, the talk was also practical. Nathaniel offered several suggestions for the fledgling new media journalist. In regards to software programs: Learn Audacity and Final Cut Pro. Soundslides is a good program for creating Web slideshows. Don't bother to learn Flash.

Nathaniel said that the media titans such as the New York Times and Washington Post are scrambling to find journalists with computer programming skills. If you have the opportunity, he suggested, take some computer science classes. If you needed any extra proof, Nathaniel mentioned the story of a University of North Carolina student who is about to receive a degree in journalism and computer science and is being pursued by the NYT, the Post and several other large media outlets.

Nathaniel also recommended journalists read University of Florida professor Mindy McAdams' blog to learn more about new media.

On writing: Tips from the National Writers Workshop

I’m up in Portland this weekend for the National Writers Workshop. It’s an important event, to be sure, filled with such notable journalists as Pulitzer Prize winners Jacqui Banaszynski and Diana Sugg, Mark Kramer, the founding director of the Nieman Program on Narrative Journalism, and Jack Hart, the venerable writing coach for the Oregonian. While the conference has been a little too newspaper-focused for my tastes, there’ve been several important lessons and reminders I’ve received – and that’s just in the first day.

Among the most advice was that of Jack Hart, who told the audience that a good narrative story requires more than just an interesting topic. A narrative story must have a theme. There must be a reason for writing about a topic, a big idea, a universal truth. “Say something important about how the world works.”

Hart gave the example of soccer moms. If you want to write about the topic, you’ll need a theme, which could be as simple as “Non-working mothers drive community.” Once you’ve got the universal truth or the theme, you can focus your writing and it won’t simply turn out to be a report about an interesting topic, which Hart said was just an invitation for a reporter to empty his notebook on the page.

Hart said he actually types the theme at the top of the page before writing and then keeps it there as a reminder until the first draft is complete.

Another helpful tip from Hart – if you’re looking for story ideas, you might try the book Famous First Facts. It’s apparently filled with exotic facts and stories.

From Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada, investigative reporters for the San Francisco Chronicle and authors of the book Game of Shadows, when working on investigative stories, be explicit with the sources about what specifically you’re looking for. When you do, someone is likely to provide the information.

Deborah Nelson, who won the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting in 1997, also offered up advice about investigative reporting. One of her best pieces of advice was to go to the subject of the investigation early on in the reporting and return often. They often prove to be one of the best sources of information for an investigative piece. If an individual or company is reticent, read them or e-mail them a draft of the story and tell them this is what the story is going to say unless I can get your side. They usually respond pretty quickly after that.

Finally, Nelson said that if you want to affect change with your stories, you’ll need to name names, name the policies that are at the heart of the matter and be specific. When you do this and write a compelling story some pretty amazing changes can occur.

Nelson also recommended the article “The Blood-Cancer Experiment” by Duff Wilson and David Heath, as an example of great investigative reporting and writing.

Well that’s all for tonight. But if tomorrow’s presenters are anywhere near as good as today’s I’ll have another installment of writing tips for you.

For more information on the National Writers Workshop or for tips on writing visit the Poynter Institute Web site.

This I believe ...

“Death Valley? Are you serious?” my girlfriend asked. “What could there possibly be in Death Valley that you’d want to see?”

“I don’t know, but I want to find out.”

This was how my cross-country road trip from California to Minnesota began. I couldn’t have envisioned, at the time, what lie ahead, but I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity to find out.

The sun was rising as we drove into Death Valley that April morning, and in the slanted rays of dawn, the land was as pale as a corpse. Save the muted yellows and browns that color the hills, the land appeared bled of color. Tawny mountains surrounded the tabletop-flat valley, crouching on the horizon like enormous camels of rock, with myriad arms and legs emerging from the crags.

The early morning chill stilled the valley. Nothing stirred. The land was sucked free of sound. The growl of an approaching car could be heard for miles.

More wondrous than the absence of life on this scab of cracked earth, was the existence of it. The varieties were manifold: On a nearby hillside bighorn sheep, so emaciated and drawn that their ribs were visible through the snarl of matted fur, clacked across a field of sharp-edged rock. Finger-length fish wriggled about a scalding trickle of water snaking across the desert. More curious still were the wildflowers blooming across the desert floor. These brilliant, yellow survivors appeared so delicate that they might wither at the touch. In spite of the sun-scorched desert days, frigid night, winds that could bow an oak and a climate so arid it feels like inhaling cotton, they flourished.

Death Valley turned out to be the highlight of our trip across the West. The land was so magnificently bizarre that it was as if it had been plucked from one of Lewis Carroll’s reveries. The inscrutable mysteries of valley life and the absolute tranquility of the land stirred my imagination and my girlfriend’s as well.

“I would never have guessed Death Valley was so beautiful,” she said.

Few people do, I imagine. That’s a shame.

But that’s why I believe in exploring.

Prejudices and false impressions too often cause us to miss all the wonderful things the world has to offer. But when you open your mind to the possibilities and explore, you can discover some pretty magnificent things.

To hear the author reading his essay go to:

Gabcast! This I believe #1




To learn more about NPR’s This I Believe project go to: This I believe

This fish tells one heck of a story

Don't let this be the one that got away. Stanley Fish, a distinguished academic, dean emeritus of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and author of 10 books, writes a blog for the New York Times about politics and current events.

The blog, as it should, goes beyond the realm of typical mainstream media fare and provides thoughtful commentary on topical issues. His incisive blogs deftly blend the probing, analytical mind of an academic with the scintillating prose of an accomplished writer. His commentary is smart and clever and often employs cutting wit. Despite his lofty credentials, his style and voice is accessible. As a result his blog, I believe, caters to a wide and diverse readership.

The columns help readers deconstruct the politics and spin that pervade media today and help people put a frame on the issues of the day.

Take for instance his column on the Don Imus firing:

"Early on in the Don Imus firing controversy I took an abstinence pledge, vowing never to write anything about it. I now go back on that pledge, not because I have anything to say, but because there isn’t anything to say, although almost everybody in the world has been saying a great deal. What I mean is that there are no serious issues that might be appropriately – as opposed to opportunistically – attached to this incident. The story should not be filed under 'free speech' or 'racist speech' or 'the culture of indecency' or 'double standards'; it should be filed under 'blunders with unexpected consequences' ...

"In Mr. Imus’s case, what followed his disparaging of the Rutgers women basketball players was unanticipated not because he had intended no insult, but because intending insults has always been his line of work, and he had no reason to believe that this five-second instance of his ordinary practice would bring everything crashing down. Many commentators have said that Imus should have distinguished between his usual targets – Hollywood celebrities, politicians, sports icons – and 10 innocent and vulnerable young women. But this criticism assumes that behind what Imus said over the years was some kind of social or moral or philosophical calculation. There was nothing at all behind his daily performances; he was just occupying a professional niche – Don Rickles with a network – and doing exactly what he was paid to do."

I don't typically read many blogs during the day, but this one is a staple. Try reading it yourself and you'll get hooked too.

http://fish.blogs.nytimes.com/

A shortage of drummers

Is it true black people have an extra muscle in their calves?

Is it true you can tell the nationality of an Asian by the slant of their eyes?

What’s the typical night like in an African American home?

The questions sound conjured from a less-enlightened era, an era of ignorance and prejudice when Jim Crow was the law of the land and Separate but Equal was the country’s official creed. Sadly these are the curiosities of today’s enlightened society, having been posted on a race-related Web site. They are questions and sentiments that Leonard Pitts deals with on a daily basis.

Pitts, a Miami Herald Columnist who won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for social commentary, delivered the University of Oregon’s annual Ruhl Lecture, speaking eloquently and effectively about America’s “great conundrum” – race. Racism and ignorance thrive even today, Pitts said. “You cannot know unless you’ve experienced it (racism) how frustrating it is,” he said.

Pitts, who regularly writes about race in his syndicated column, related today’s situation with the slavery-era drums of centuries past. “The drum was the thing that connected us to one another … the way we told the stories that reminded us of who we were …” he said. “In the United States, in 2007, the sound of those drums is brought to us by the media. That’s where our stories are told.”

As evidenced by the above questions, it appears the media is drumming quite softly. Pitts challenged the crowd, which included a large contingent of journalism school faculty and students, to take up the mantle of leadership on the issue.

“As journalists, we are privileged to be the gatekeepers,” Pitts said. “We determine who’s drums will be heard.”

As an institution, journalism must listen for and describe the drumbeat of the races if we hope to erase the intolerance and ignorance that pervades our society.

The moral courage to lead

Quick quiz:

Where is Darfur?

How many people have died in conflict to date?

Who is responsible for the killings?

Having trouble answering these? Sadly you’re not alone. The majority of Americans are largely ignorant of the daily horrors occurring in Darfur – massacres, mutilations, beheadings, burnings and gang rapes to name a few. It’s a tragedy in the fullest sense. One that, I think we all would agree, is deserving of front-page headlines. But when it comes to Africa, news isn’t really news. T.I.A. as they say in the recently released movie Blood Diamond. This is Africa. Death, disease, plague, famine – such horrific happenings are the perceived norm in Africa, not the exception. The world seems eager to ignore.

I don’t claim to be any different. Oh, I had done some cursory research on the issue and knew a few of the details about the crisis, but, like most, I was basically clueless. It was easier that way, I guess – more comfortable than investing my time in understanding the problem and trying to do something about it, certainly.

The news media, it seems, has abetted the world’s desire for ignorance: In 2004, CBS Evening News devoted three minutes to the crisis in Darfur. Three minutes for the entire year! The next year the network devoted two. According to New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, the total amount of coverage given last year to the genocide in Darfur was eclipsed by coverage of one incident – John Mark Karr’s confession to killing Jon Benet Ramsey, something that would later be proven untrue.

“You look at it and feel embarrassed as a journalist,” Kristof said Monday night to a capacity crowd of more than 700, who had filled an auditorium at the University of Oregon.

Kristof, who was the culminating speaker of a weekend-long conference on genocide, spoke for more than an hour about his travels through the country and his extensive reporting on the crisis, reporting which earned him a Pulitzer Prize in 2006. Kristof’s tales of young lives destroyed by the strife and accompanying photos of the victims were, in a word, haunting. In one of the stories Kristof told of a young woman who allowed herself to be captured by the Janjaweed militia so that her younger sister could escape. The woman later shared the story of her brutal rape and beating with Kristof as a way to fight back against the militia and bring attention to the crisis. “I hope we can learn to emulate that kind of moral courage,” Kristof said.

One photo in particular – a close-up of an elderly man, whose back had been set ablaze by the murderous militia – moved me in a profound way. It was the first time, for me, that the conflict was no longer an abstraction, but a human tragedy. No longer were the dead just statistics on a page or a collection of lurid anecdotes, they were sentient beings with lives and families and rich personal histories. Looking into the man’s eyes, I felt empathy for the man’s suffering and indignation at a world that could ignore such atrocity. Kristof’s columns have fomented these feeling across the country and helped raise awareness of this continuing tragedy, something which is badly needed. As Kristof said, the crisis won’t be solved by military intervention, but by turning the public spotlight on Darfur, with the ensuing political pressure engendering a peace agreement.

As I left the talk, I felt none of the sadness I had earlier expected. Instead I felt strangely inspired. Inspired by the passion and commitment, which so obviously inform Mr. Kristof’s every action. It helped reaffirm my faith in journalism, a faith that is consistently shaken by the tabloid nature of today’s news. As trite as it sounds, the speech confirmed for me that journalism does matter and that we as journalists can indeed make a difference. For most of us, it won’t be from covering genocide, wars or famine, but by reporting on the issues of importance in our own communities – poverty, health care, education, etc.

While it is paramount that we as media practitioners put the spotlight on the Darfur genocide, it is equally important that we raise more principled, passionate journalists like Kristof, journalists with the “moral courage” to champion issues the world would rather ignore.

It is because of people like Kristof that we can feel proud as journalists.


To read Nicholas Kristof's writing:
New York Times or
Pulitzer-Prize-winning commentary

Stories that live on

During the decade Adrian Nicole LeBlanc spent writing and researching her opus Random Family, she slept on cockroach-infested couches, spent time in some of New York’s most dangerous neighborhoods, filled hundreds of reporter’s notebooks with detail, and transcribed more than a thousand of hours of taped interviews. In the process, she lost her savings, her sanity and her relationships.

How did she persevere? It’s a question I’ve harbored since reading the book and one I was determined to ask during a recent workshop LeBlanc held at the University of Oregon.

During the three-day workshop, however, I got the answer without ever having to pose the question. LeBlanc is a dynamo. If life is measured on a scale of one to 10, she is at 25. Being around her is like plugging your body into an electrical outlet, you literally pulse with energy. That vitality comes, I believe, from something much stronger than hormones or coffee. It comes from passion.

If you’re in journalism for the money, you’re in the wrong business, LeBlanc told the workshoppers. The advance she earned for a decade’s worth of work on Random Family was a pittance. After subtracting taxes and her agent’s commission, it amounted to the equivalent of a year’s salary for an entry-level fast food worker. This work needs to be your passion. LeBlanc, who is the product of a labor activist father and a mother who worked at a drug treatment center, naturally gravitated toward stories of social injustice and inequity. “I was raised to think you should make use of yourself. So in my sense, something useful is to make things better,” she told me that weekend. It was that belief in her work, that passion for her project that wrote Random Family.

Even in this age of instant messages and 24-hour news, it’s the longer stories on which journalists labored intensely and invested of themselves emotionally that truly make a difference, that make things better.

“Take all the time you need to write the piece you care about because it will live on,” LeBlanc told an assembly of writers, students and faculty at the University of Oregon.

That is the true reward of a journalist’s work.


For more from Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, read the interview in this spring's Etude (etude.uoregon.edu).

Confessions of a chocoholic

My name is Michael and I am a chocoholic.

Hi Michael!

For breakfast I used to engorge myself on chocolate cereal drenched in chocolate milk and drizzled with chocolate syrup. I even experimented with chocolate chips. I knew I was in trouble when I added chocolate-chocolate chip ice cream to the mix. Oh, by the way, I also have a secret fancy for Will Ferrell movies and the enviable ability to grow facial hair in clumps.

What? Too much information? Well welcome to the blogosphere. OK, OK. Not all blogs adhere to the strict rules of decorum and taste set forth by the Jenny Jones Show. But this entry illustrates one of the big differences between blogs and mainstream media: the personal nature of the content.

While mainstream journalists primarily write in a detached, third-person voice, devoid of personal revelation and opinion, blogs are like an online diary, an intimate and sometimes too-personal accounting of the world as seen by the author. Bloggers often share freely of their personal stories and histories, perhaps in an effort to build a connection with readers. Journalists present cold fact and are trained to pen up their opinions and keep a professional distance from sources and readers.

Bloggers therefore are individuals in the eyes of the audience. Journalists, most of them anyway, are just anonymous cogs of a monolithic institution known collectively as the media. Does this personal relationship or lack thereof matter? Would mainstream media be better served if journalists were free to liberate their biases and opinions? One of the main benefits, as I see it, of this relationship is the candid and personal communication it engenders. The comments readers provide keep stories alive long after they’ve been published and help refine and shape the story in ways that are insightful and often unexpected.

My name is Michael and I'm a recovering newspaper journalist.

Hi Michael!

As a former member of the mainstream press, I craved feedback from the public, but rarely received it. Over my nearly seven-year career as a reporter, I am certain some of my stories hurt or upset sources, maybe even wronged them. I am equally certain some of my stories helped them in ways I couldn’t have imagined. But I’ll never know. It was as if my stories disappeared into the ether.

But in blogging I look forward to personally connecting with readers, stirring their passions, inspiring their curiosities, inciting indignation or eliciting their laughter.

My name is Michael and I'm a first-time blogger.

Hi Michael!

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(To learn some really insightful things about blogging check out:

What Journalists Can Learn from Bloggers

What Bloggers Can Learn from Journalists)

Backing into the blogosphere ... finally.

I love blogs ... about as much as I'd love a weekend spent watching a Best of Barney the Dinosaur marathon. Yes, those bloated and blusterous virtual forums of banality drive me to distress. I can't take another I'm-mad-as-hell-and-I'm-not-going-to-take-it-any-more rant from some hormone-addled freshman (Sorry Mark) or worse yet a look-at-my-obnoxiously-great-life post from some cloying-as-cotton-candy prepubescent.

I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!!!

No! I'm going to do what any right-minded individual with an opinion, a computer and some spare time would do -- start a blog.

OK, a bit exaggerated, I admit. But I haven't been a fan of blogs. Why should I care what's on Joe Anybody's mind? I really haven't seen the point. But after witnessing the prominent role blogs have played in politics recently -- building up and tearing down politicians, disseminating lies or conversely dispelling myths, I've realized the power these instant editorials wield. I want in.

I've thought for several months about starting a blog, but it took a graduate school assignment to spur me to action. So here I am, creating a forum, which I hope will be beneficial and insightful. I see this blog as a nexus for ideas, a place where the seminal issues facing of the nation are freed from the circumscribed lens of the American media and put into their global context. In short, I hope it becomes a source for global information and perspective ... outWrite.