The Fourth Estate

A picture is worth a thousand words, especially if you risk your life to get the shot. Photojournalist Jim MacMillan has been kidnapped, shot at, and scrutinized for his work, yet he still manages to get the picture he needs for his stories. After 9/11, he spent the night in ground zero. In 2004, he spent a year in Iraq with soldiers. Just after Katrina, he went to the Astrodome, where thousands were left homeless. All to make the audience feel like they were there, through his photography.

(MacMillan’s shot the morning after 9/11)

MacMillan is an independent multimedia journalist, university educator and instructional new media consultant, based in Philadelphia. He runs a gun crisis project in Philadelphia, that raises awareness and seeks solutions to stop gun violence in the city. He was also named one of the five biggest photographers on the internet by Photo District News. He was honored with the Bayeux Prize for War Correspondents, and won the Pulitzer Prize with his team for their work in Iraq. His work speaks for itself, but hearing the passion in his voice when he talks about his work shows the dedication he puts into his job.

I was lucky enough to hear him speak at the University of Delaware, where he shared his knowledge with students interested in the field of journalism. He told the class to ignore people who say they missed the golden age of journalism. “You didn’t miss anything,” he said, “It’s just different now.” I could tell right away he was eager to talk about his work because he seemed to be talking a mile a minute. He said in his long career, he feels like he has done the most in the past six years.

MacMillan recognizes the impact of mobile devices on his work, saying that about two thirds the traffic on his website is through mobile devices. As oppose to most speakers, he encouraged the students to get out their phones and follow along through his mobile website.

MacMillan discovered photography in art school, but could never afford a darkroom for his work. So he would cover stories for the college paper and small daily’s so he could have access to one. The first time he saw his film develop he said “This is who I am.”  Before he knew it, one of his photographs was on the front page of the Times. He then broke into the Boston media market and got his big break after his coverage of rioting in a factory town near the city. He went on to work for AP and the Boston Globe the following years.

(Shot of the rioting in 1984)

Boston was the start of a long career for MacMillan. He landed a job at the Philadelphia Daily news in 1991. He covered general assignments and sports for a few years before going back to breaking news. He described breaking news as his strength, he covered everything from police shootouts to 9/11.

He traveled to Iraq for a year in 2004 to cover the war and stayed with the soldiers . He couldn’t put the experience into words, but he lost 16 friends. He was kidnapped, car bombed and shot in the helmet. He told one story about his time in Najaf. His platoon was on a rest period when the enemy opened fire.

In this picture, his back was to the wall for protection and he was trying to get a good picture. He went for a “hail mary” shot, where the photographer just sticks the camera in the air to try and blindly get the picture. The hail mary didn’t work so he crouched up, into the gunfire, to get the picture. He said the soldiers yelled at him saying, “YOUR ****ING NUTS!”  When asked if he ever gets scared he said, “I didn’t come all these miles and all these years to not go the last three feet.” That quote sums up MacMillan and his devotion to his work as he continues to impact photojournalism and his community.

Posted By, Greg Beran

Another legendary baseball career has come to an end, as Derek Jeter tipped his cap for the last time at Yankee Stadium in his 19-year journey as the teams star shortstop. However this is not the end of Jeter’s legacy, within a month of retirement Jeter has created a digital forum called The Players Tribune. The Tribune is a website where athletes can tell their own stories, in their own words, without dealing with reporters.

“There’s a gap between fans and athletes since athletes aren’t as open when they sit with reporters, who then select story headlines,” said Jaymee Messer, CMO of Jeter’s agency.

Jeter wants to bring the players voice directly to the fan and believes they deserve more than “No Comments” or “I Dont Knows.” He wants the site to be a clean channel from player to fan. No middlemen, such as reporters, to spin or misinterpret the players words.

The website is looking for professional athletes to show their human side. The editorial director of Jeter Publishing, Gary Hoeing, says he wants the players to be spontaneous and funny. The site is not looking for breaking stories, its purpose is to relate to the reader.

The first post in The Players Tribune is from Derek Jeter on October first, describing the point of the website and why it was created. Russell Wilson followed up with a post discussing domestic violence, which is relevant now more than ever in the NFL. Danica Patrick added a post about her romantic relationship with fellow driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

This website gives players an opportunity to speak on tough issues and connect with their fan base without the pressures of scoop thirsty reporters.  Jeter has two big time athletes, other then himself, on the website and if The Players Tribune catches on we may see many contributions from significant athletes, shining a new light on sports journalism.

Posted By, Kyle Coulter 

From a terrace on the side of a skyscraper in New York City, Michael Regan spoke to a class of journalism students at his Alma Mater on Thursday via Skype. The University of Delaware graduate is currently an editor-at-large at Bloomberg News where he focuses on equities markets as well as high-frequency trading and other market structure controversies.

Much like Dan Steinberg, who spoke with the same class two weeks prior, Regan brought a self-deprecating and humorous tone to the conversation. After being told that the students had been required to read a few of his stories as well as watch some of his appearances on CBS This Morning, Regan confessed that he was surprised everyone in the class was still awake! But between his jokes about the size of his head on the projector screen and his anecdotes about how he was told he had “a face for radio,” Regan explained how he went from a writer making $8.50 an hour at a paper with a circulation of 5,000, to being a financial correspondent for CBS.

Regan spoke briefly about his time at the Trentonian and Fox News; however, he admitted that they weren’t “bright spots on his resume.” What did stick out in his mind was his time as a contributing editor for the Associated Press.

“Seven of the best years of my life. It is the backbone of journalism in America,” he said. “The AP is one of the most respectable, trustworthy, and objective news sources there is.”

Regan worked for the AP from 2000-2007 and mentioned that he always enjoyed writing about the mob presence in New York City. Quite a dramatic shift from when he was writing at the Daily Phoenix and covering hard-hitting news stories like the new boiler at the local high school.

After the Associated Press, Regan joined Bloomberg News, which started in the early 1990′s as nothing more than a piece of financial software that was used to constantly inform investors about the changes in the stock market. Bloomberg News now sells its information terminals to investment companies at $20,000 a piece. Regan said that BN currently has 300,000 subscribers, and that their aspirations for the company are growing.

“Our goal is to become one of the most influential news organizations in the world. And I think we’re getting there,” Regan said.

Back when he was a student at the University of Delaware in the early 1990′s,  Regan admitted he did not understand anything about IPO’s, bond trading, or stock prices. As the city editor at The Review, Regan said his dream was to one day write for Rolling Stone. After his father convinced him to pursue a minor in economics, Regan realized that money was at the root of all kinds of journalism.

“Whether you want to cover the white house, professional sports, or business, the best stories revolve around money,” he said.

Regan believes in a hands on approach to editing, and contributes regularly to the stories on bloomberg.com. He said that he always wants to “keep one toe in the water of editing and writing.” Regan does try to write one column of 500-600 words every morning by 10am because “business news breaks early.” He then spends the rest of the day editing for the website, and making what he calls “talking head” appearances on bloomberg.com and CBS This Morning.

Before signing off, Regan left the group of young journalists with a piece of advice.

“Challenge yourself in your electives,” he said. “Don’t be afraid of it.”

Posted By, Hannah Blahut

Every job comes with it’s own personal set of trials and tribulations. Of course, the field of journalism is no different. In class, we have discussed many of these difficulties. It’s difficult to constantly adapt to the ever-changing landscape of journalism, which is constantly evolving and being altered by the strong impacts of social media and technology. Likewise, it’s difficult to remain unbiased, to garner the respect and trust of worthwhile sources, and to remain ethical and informative without becoming boring. We haven’t discussed as much the personal impact that being the occupation of journalism has on many successful journalists. Dave Cook discusses some of these challenges in his article “Why I Gave Up Games Journalism To Kick start A Comic.”   Cook admits that he felt like he struck the lottery when he first started getting paid to do what he loved most- review video games. However, as time went on, Cook seems to challenge the age-old saying, “love what you do and never work a day in your life.” He began to feel stressed out and uninterested in video games, which has previously been a huge outlet for stress and anxiety. Likewise, Sheila Weller’s new book, “The News Sorority,” delves into the personal struggles faced by some of the medias most successful female anchors. Being an on air news journalist means being professional and calm under some of the most trying of circumstances, like when Katie Couric received a call about her sisters life-threatening cancer diagnosis just minutes before appearing on the Today Show with Jay Leno. As viewers or consumers of news, we rarely think about the journalists behind the story. Both articles posted above give us an insider’s view of some of the lesser contemplated struggles that journalists face.

Posted By, Kyle Coulter

We have been taught since we were toddlers that eating our vegetables will make us healthier, and improve our lives; however, as adults, we sometimes tend to forget these lessons. The vegetables of journalism function much the same way. Ezra Klein of Vox.com is one of many journalists who feel that we are not getting enough out of the news, and that it is not enough to simply consume the content, but we need to understand it as well. He also feels that journalists have a responsibility to make the important news comprehensible and enjoyable for readers.

“It’s a terrible attitude,” says Klein. “If we can’t take things that are important and meaningful in people’s lives and make them interesting, that failure is 100 percent on us as writers. That is entirely our fault.”

Nikki Usher of the Columbia Journalism Review noticed a trend between the missions of these new start up companies such as vox, TheUpshot, Pando Daily, and FiveThirtyEight. They all are striving to get back to the ideal of knowledge based journalism. This idea that was come up with by Harvard Professor Tom Patterson, is explanatory content that offers in depth context and analysis of events and social issues. Patterson feels that this kind of journalism has been lost due to the decline of the newspapers, the increase in sensationalism, and the rise of the immediacy of the web.

By Michelle Caracci

OKCupid co-founder, Christian Rudder

In the recent years, social media has evolved from a place men and women can interact with other people to a place where they can also read, discuss and share news articles. However, social media websites may now have a new kind of beneficial utilization that relates to journalism.

OKCupid co-founder Christian Rudder has discovered that social media companies who are using internet data for their businesses are compiling demographic information, finding out more intimate details about peoples’ lives and transforming it into journalism.

In his narrative, Dataclysm: Who We Are (When We Think No One is Looking), Rudder explains that statistics found by researchers, such as the things people are liking on Facebook or the TV shows that are being tweeting can give writers information that can “help unveil a new understanding of the world.”

For instance, it is a common assumption that visually appealing men and women on OKCupid, a popular online dating website, will get the most attention. According to Columbia Journalism Review’s (CJR) article, this speculation is true and Rudder believes that this factual information, along with it being more difficult for black people to find love online, can be an informative story used in the journalism world.

This genre of social network analysis (SNA) journalism may be a huge breakthrough for journalists. Not only is this type of reporting used for sociology research, but it can also be used for hard hitting news reports.

The way to complete this is by quality reporting and producing enlightening stories, because that is that is what people are most interested in, said Peter Verweii, data journalist at Memeburn.com.

By Michael Dombkoski

A journalist’s job is to present the facts of a situation. Except when it’s not.

ESPN and Grantland columnist Bill Simmons spoke out on his weekly podcast, “The B.S. Report” about his feelings on how Roger Goodell has been handling the recent surge of domestic abuse cases in the NFL.

Simmons openly called Goodell a “liar” in his podcast and ESPN responded by suspending him for three weeks. In a statement, ESPN felt that they he did not reach their “journalistic standards.”

So herein lies the problem: in an age where the definition of journalism is more open than its ever been, how can a writer, one of the most prominent for the ESPN organization, not be allowed to speak his mind on a controversial topic on his own radio show?

Podcasts are supposed to be an arena where journalists can speak their opinion on a matter that they choose. Simmons, a well-respected and award-winning writer, was unafraid to say a statement that a lot of people were already thinking: when it came to the Ray Rice tapes, Roger Goodell had seen them months prior and had lied when asked by the media.

Simmons knew his punishment was coming and was unafraid to say it anyway–that’s what makes him such a great journalist. When a writer is willing to make personal sacrifices to make his words heard, that’s when you see the best journalism.

If this suspension does lead to Simmons leaving ESPN, it will be because he needs a forum where he can speak freely. ESPN had to punish Simmons to send a message that even its most respected employees need to have a limit. They could end up losing even more in the end.

Posted By, Hannah Blahut

The landscape of journalism is rapidly changing due to the constant rise of technologies and social media. It’s true that journalists now a days need to not only be well versed in Twitter, Facebook, Vine and more, but they also much be constantly updating and refreshing whatever it is that they’re putting out into the web. Dan Steinberg, the Washington Post blogger who visited our class this past week explained how it’s his job to be constantly plugged in.  However, before we know it, it might not matter how quickly a blogger reacts, or how often he or she is tweeting or updating statuses.   The Neiman Reports recently posted an article describing new software “capable, its creators say, of drafting dozens of news items in impeccable English within seconds.” For now, Stats Monkey is being used primarily to report on baseball, which makes sense, since it’s a sport that is based on statistics and numbers. Soon though, the creators hope to expand its coverage to global financial markets. The Guardian posted an article that described various other programs designed to effectively replace the need for human journalists. While it’s natural for the average person to fear this robot-esque future we seem to be facing, it also doesn’t seem wise to shy away from new smart technologies.  This new type of news reporting would be nearly instantaneous, which could be extremely beneficial in times of crisis or danger. At the same time, it loops us back to the question Professor Yagoda asked us on the first day of class: What in the world are we studying journalism for, anyways?

Posted by, Kyle Coulter

In an effort to make the social media experience more enjoyable for the users; Facebook has changed its algorithm to stop publishers from posting enticing and brash headlines that do not match the quality, or lack thereof, of the post itself. Facebook will be doing this by checking the amount of time the user spends away from Facebook while reading the article, and also by how many shares and likes the post receives. Facebook fears that these deceitful headlines will bog down news feeds and cause a mass exodus of exasperated users. http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2014/08/news-feed-fyi-click-baiting/

This form of social media trickery is known as “click-bait,” and it is used by  websites such as Upworthy, Buzzfeed, and all of the top notch journalists over at TMZ (tongue in cheek).  http://edition.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/business/2014/08/25/qmb-stelter-facebook-clickbait-crackdown.cnn.html

The Columbia Journalism Review took exception to this kind of false and sensationalist headline writing; however, they understand that in order for these kinds of websites to remain operational, they have to generate clicks, and enhance their SEO. http://www.cjr.org/the_kicker/headlines_clickbait.php?utm_content=buffer1c1f4&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer