The Newspaper Disease
Posted by Tim Gruber | Filed under journalism
Roger Black on The Newspaper Disease:
As with the federal government, it won’t help to keep doing more of the things that aren’t working. It won’t work to keep cheapening the product. To use Gordon Bethune’s line about a similar problem in the airline business: “You can take so much cheese off the pizza that nobody will eat it.”
Read the rest of the article here.
Tags: journalism, newspapers, quotes, state of newspapers
Writers Vs. Editors: A Battle for the Ages
Posted by Tim Gruber | Filed under journalism
I enjoyed this article.
Maybe writers and photographers aren’t so different after all?
Writers are sensitive souls–generally intelligent and hardworking but easily bruised. Treat them right, though, and you will be rewarded.
Tags: editing, journalism
The Death of the Newspaper. (gulp)
Posted by Tim Gruber | Filed under journalism
Before coming to grad school I thought newspapers were the only home for me and the only place I’d want to be.
I’m not so sure about that anymore. More and more I’m starting to think of life outside of newspapers, which feels weird sad to say.
I have a lot of thoughts on this, but I need to get some photos off to the big brown box from a shoot today.
Fading to Black and Praying for Papers are two blogs that look at the state of (sad)affairs in newspapers today.
From The New Yorker article Out of Print:
Only nineteen per cent of Americans between the ages of eighteen and thirty-four claim even to look at a daily newspaper. The average age of the American newspaper reader is fifty-five and rising.
Traditional media just need to realize that the online world isn’t the enemy. In fact, it’s the thing that will save them, if they fully embrace it.
Thanks Marcus Yam and APAD
At the Kentucky Derby last weekend.
Tags: journalism, newspapers, state of newspapers
Just say no to grad school?
Posted by Tim Gruber | Filed under school
Mindy McAdams had a post this morning that as a grad student I thought is worth sharing. She writes about a topic I’ve been living for the past two years of my life; grad school.
She makes some valid points and others that I don’t agree with.
Mindy writes
Journalism is not rocket science. You don’t need a master’s degree to know how to do it, and you won’t do it well until you haul yourself out of school and into a working newsroom. Journalism is learned on the job, and if you’re not prepared to go out and do it after four years in undergrad, maybe you should just give up on it — and go to law school instead.
No one in a newsroom will respect your master’s degree, and what’s more, there is no reward at all for having it. So why do you want it?
I posted a reply on her site, but thought it’d be good to share here since I know a bunch of you are either in grad school, on the fence about it or soon to be attending grad school.
Here’s my reply:
Interesting post Mindy with some valid points.
From my own personal experience as a grad student in the Visual Communications program at Ohio University I can confidently say grad school for me was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
Environments like the ones at OU don’t exist in newspapers and if your undergrad wasn’t in journalism or in a program that had a weak journalism or photojournalism program finding a place like OU can be a tremendous asset to your growth.
This is the most intense and fertile environment I’ve ever known and nothing my internships have come close to matching.
Sure working in the real world is great, but don’t dismiss what surrounding yourself with passionate and driven people can do for your growth.
For example last year in my video class two of my classmates included Bob Sacha and Chad Stevens both of whom are now working at MediaStorm as producers. Talk about setting the bar high.
I don’t know many environments like this that fosters creativity, critical thinking and promotes strong quality storytelling. Just how many newsrooms can say they do that on a regular basis?
I have to disagree with not doing journalism well until you leave school. How many newspapers do you see doing work on par with what my classmates did with Soul of Athens? Or doing what my classmates and I did for our capstone class?
If you’re interested a few links to the projects we did for the class -
Jenn’s multimedia piece on Mental Illness in America’s Prisons - http://indepth.jennackerman.com/trapped/feature.html
My piece on Snowbirds in Quartzsite, AZ
http://www.timgruber.com/moment
Kainaz’s print piece on the public housing crisis in New Orleans - http://kainazamaria.wordpress.com/2008/04/01/right-of-return/
So basically what I’m trying to say with all the shameless plugging of my friends and peers is that graduate school is more than just a piece of paper and I wouldn’t expect anyone to respect the fact that I have a masters degree, but with time I hope I’d earn their respect with the skills and knowledge I bring to the table.
The skills and knowledge that took birth and grew in grad school.
Tags: journalism, ou, photojournalism, school
MultimediaShooter is no longer being published?
Posted by Tim Gruber | Filed under multimedia
Awoke to find that MultimediaShooter was down this morning and I’m hoping it’s only a bad dream.
My stomach dropped when I read this:
I’m walking away this time with my head held high. It’s been fun. I’m closing the blog doors for good this time. There’s not enough Jack Daniels or Red Bull to get me back this time. Sorry for on again off again nature of the blog lately. Thanks for the support through the hacks. This is a great time for me to step away from the blogosphere.
Good Night and Good Luck, see you in the real world.
Richard thanks again for everything. As I’ve said before you’ve been an incredible asset to the storytelling community and hopefully your voice isn’t lost for good.
Richard’s Multimedia Journal is sitting on my wish list and can be bought here.
Tags: inspiration, journalism, multimedia, photojournalism, web
The happy and angry journalist
Posted by Tim Gruber | Filed under journalism
For those days when your layered moment gets cropped into a headshot there’s the angry journalist.
And for those days when you land a double truck in National Geographic(it’s good to dream.) there’s the happy journalist.
Tags: blog, journalism
What do you want?
Posted by Tim Gruber | Filed under journalism
This is making its way around in the blogosphere.
I don’t want to work for an industry that is content with the status quo.
I don’t want to work for an industry that is afraid of innovation.
I don’t want to work for an industry that blames its readers when things go bad.
I don’t want to work for an industry that is scared of risk — and success.
I don’t want to work for an industry that is scared of change.
I don’t want to work for an industry that is afraid to have a conversation with its users.
I don’t want to work for an industry that is content to die.
I want to work for an industry that believes in its audience.
I want to work for an industry that can admit it was wrong.
I want to work for an industry that has the audacity to innovate.
I want to work for an industry that always wants to improve, even when it’s on top.
I want to work for an industry that always strives to be the best.
I want to work for an industry that believes there is no such thing as good enough.
I want to work for an industry that puts innovation first.
If this is the last stand for the American Newspaper, I don’t want to go out without a fight. I want to shatter paradigms, destroy cherished icons and push the envelop of innovation. And if all those efforts fail, I want try again.
I don’t want to admit defeat without at least trying. If I lose, I want it to be because I had nothing left to give. I don’t want to lose because I decided it was too hard to win.
I want the audacity of ambition — and innovation.
What do you want?
That last question is something I’ve been battling this quarter. From the start of my capstone class I’ve been thinking about story ideas I wanted to pursue. In the class we have to produce a 24 page prototype magazine or an online publication. I decided on the latter with little stress. Settling on my story idea on the other hand became a graying hair experience.
It’s amazing when given the criteria of only staying within the confines of the US how hard it becomes to decide on a story. Everything you ever wanted to work as a photojournalist is now open to your exploration. No more excuses. No more maybe next week or I don’t have time. This may be your last and only time you’ll have this kind of freedom to pursue something for you and only you. The choice of which story to choose wasn’t an easy one. At one point in the process I resorted to drawing it out of a hat cause I couldn’t decide.
In the end I decided on the small community of Quartzsite, AZ. It’s been called Woodstock for an older population. For the next 10 days a RV will be home as I explore a world I’ve always wanted to know. What’s more exciting than selling everything you own to call the open road your home?
The class required that I wear many hats including that of a publisher, managing editor, assignment editor and in a few hours a photojournalist. I wrote a mission statement in my role as an editor. I defined and wrote the assignments as an assignment editor. The assignment editor has you shooting portraits when the day before, with planning, you could have been shooting moments? I’m the only one to blame now.
In a matter of hours weeks of preparation and research will come to light with 10 days of visual exploration. I’ve never been so well versed in a subject before arriving to an assignment. I’m usually of the camp where I approach each assignment as a baby and immerse myself in the experience and let my subjects educate me. Not this time.
Now I’m here and an open desert awaits.
Tags: inspiration, journalism, photojournalism, school
Lawmaker insists photojournalist deserved to be kicked
Posted by Tim Gruber | Filed under photojournalism
Bruce delivered a swift kick with his right foot to Rocky photographer Javier Manzano’s left knee as he said: “Do not do that again” during the ceremonial morning prayer on the House floor Monday morning.
A few comments from readers:
If the photographer was truly trying to get shots “of the moment” why did he put his camera down after he was “assaulted”? Seems to me, a photo of Bruce’s expression right after the “kick” would have been quite valuable. The photographers actions were transparently contrived to elicit a reaction from Bruce, nothing more … he got what he deserved. Where are the photos that were taken being published?
If you start restricting photographers in a public arena, such as our legislature, you set a nasty precedent. This is the news, and with news comes photos. Accept that fact. If we want our news, we will continue to get photos with it.
Tags: journalism, photojournalism
When will newspapers get it?
Posted by Tim Gruber | Filed under newspapers
As I do most mornings I spent a portion of my time checking my RSS feeds. Besides the print edition of the NYTimes and NPR it’s how I get most of my news.
So the question is when will newspapers finally understand you can’t take your content from the printed page and just plaster it to your website? The web is a community that thrives on linking and commentary and not cut and paste journalism.
Reading my RSS feed for the Louisville Courier-Journal this headline caught my eye:
Flurry over a photo prompts explanation
Apparently there was an outcry from readers over an image that ran on the sports page after Louisville beat the University of Kentucky in men’s basketball the day before. I couldn’t tell what the photo is about since I can’t seem to find it anywhere on their site. A search of the archives turns up nothing as it wants me to pay for the article with no guarantee the story will include the photo I’m looking for. Browsing through their 4 photo galleries (scroll down to 01/05/08) from the game turns up nothing. This image was good enough to run as their lead on the sports front, but doesn’t find a home in an online gallery of over 100 pics? I see one image that looks like it might be the one, but it comes from the second half and not the first as the article states.
There will be no apology. However, I think an explanation is in order because it encompasses what’s involved in selecting photos to illustrate stories — and what can happen if context is lost on, or not apparent to, the news consumer, which is what I think happened in this instance.
Apparently they also forget about context for their online audience since we have no way of seeing the image that sparked the public editor to write this column and address their readers.
One of their readers get it:
Here’s what makes me mad: writing a long essay about a photo, but not showing it online or providing a link to it. I have no way to make my own judgment, because the C-J isn’t showing me the picture in question. I’m out of town and did not see the original publication…..To my original point… why should readers have to dig up this stuff? See, there’s this thing called the Internet, and it has a feature called “links” by which you can actually show us what you’re writing about. Cool, huh?
Rant off.
Not all is bad in the online world. Check out the new look of the Las Vegas Sun. Refreshing.
Tags: journalism, newspapers, photojournalism, web
How happy are you?
Posted by Tim Gruber | Filed under Uncategorized
According to this Time survey if you’re a photographer you’re not so happy. In the Entertainment, Sports, and Media portion of the survey photographers barely inch out Amusement park attendants. Maybe they couldn’t ride the rides for free? Luckily though most of us probably reading this aren’t photographers, but photojournalists. Journalists faired a few degrees better, but those surveyed still seemed to be an unhappy bunch.
Despite how we like to complain at times we’re blessed to do what we do. I’m reminded of this everytime someone allows me into their lives. Can I be there when you wake up in the morning? How about taking a bath? We want to be there for everything and sometimes its easy to forget that what we do is truly a privilege and honor. Our subjects owe us nothing. We owe them everything.
Tags: journalism, photography, photojournalism, studies
