I'm in Florida for a Poynter seminar on teaching convergence, so will post irregularly this week. But did have a chance to visit the much-vaunted TBO/WFLA/Trib Newscenter (independently of the Poynter stuff), and for now, it appears that "convergence" has hit some doubts. Several folks said there still are a lot of internal "silos," and there are some new internal instructions that "clarify" how stories can be withheld from other platforms. None of this is any surprise; we're going to continue to have this ying and yang as long as the output platforms are separate. So these newsrooms appear to be no more along the "convergence continuum" than "coopertition." Still, it's a start. But stay tuned. I think you'll hear more about the problems here. I hope Media General continues to be as open as it has been, even as the problems become more apparent. It's the only way we all can learn, and I applaud the company and its officials not only for what they have tried, but for being willing to share with a minimum of spin.
Common Sense Journalism
An extension of the Common Sense Journalism monthly column by Doug Fisher, former broadcaster, newspaper reporter and wire service editor. From new media to old, much of journalism is just plain common sense.
"In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Unknown (often improperly attributed to Thomas Jefferson)
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." - Upton Sinclair
"Common sense is not so common" - Voltaire
"Common sense is instinct; enough of it is genius" - George Bernard Shaw
Sunday, February 08, 2004
Who am I: A longtime print and broadcast reporter/editor/producer and then AP news editor who now professes journalism at the University of South Carolina. (But please note, nothing on this blog represents official university policy or sentiment. If it did, I'd be very concerned.)
My point: That journalism is a great occupation, that most journalism is common sense and that our problems arise when we sometimes don't use it.
What's covered: My interests center on editing and writing and on editors and the challenges they face in a changing environment. I'm convinced editors are not being trained enough to face these challenges, but that common sense rules the day. I'm heavily involved in Newsplex, the new-media newsroom at the University of South Carolina. But my interests are wide-ranging, so anything, from ethics to some aspects of Web design, is fair game.
Hope you find something here worthwhile.
Previous Posts
- Sometimes a comma helps: Saw this sentence today o...
- After a a good sleep and reflection, one other tho...
- If you'd asked me a week ago when we concocted thi...
- In the heat of battle, sometimes it's good to have...
- It's coming hot and heavy now. Networks and AP cal...
- It's pep talk time for the evening crews. We'll ha...
- Took a few hours off to go teach -- that other thi...
- One of the first voters we interview is "John Edwa...
- Primary day begins. Teams are out armed with phone...
- One of the students just came back with some great...
- The Convergence Newsletter
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- CSJ-the column
- Doug's Homepage
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- Am. Heritage Usage Guide
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- Online Etymology Dictionary
- Alan Cooper's homonym list
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- Vocabula Review - for your inner prescriptivist
- Language Log - for your inner descriptivist
- alt.english.usage and FAQs
- Biker Week Cross-Media Coverage
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Or you can use the Atom site feed
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- Ralph Hanson-Living in a Media World
- McAdams-"Teaching Online Journalism"
- Innovations in Newspapers
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- SPJ's J-Education Forum
- Randy Craig's Readership 101
- Paul Gillen's Newspaper Death Watch
- CCJ's list of journalism Web sites
- Massive Web 2.0 list
- Metroblogging
- Tom Bowers' "Thinking About College Teaching"
-
South Carolina and related blogs
- The Bierbauer Report
- Post & Courier's Lowcountry Blogs Roundup
- American Entropy
- Crack the Bell
- Brad Warthen
- S.C. Headlines
- S.C. Hotline - extensive blog list
- S.C. Statehouse Report
- Elise Hu - a former Upstate TV reporter now at NPR
- Newsguyy
- Gary Karr
- David Stanton
- The State's editors
- Columbia City Paper blog
- S.C. Citizen Journal
Some of these are very political. No endorsements are made or implied. These are just some of the more active S.C. blogs. Notifying me of any dead links is appreciated.
Some other fun sites:
Common Sense Journalism  Yes, I do seminars and consulting. Among those I have worked with are the SNPA Traveling Campus, S.C. Press Association, N.Y. Press Association, Georgia Press Association, Mississippi Press Association, Virginia Press Association, Landmark Community Newspapers, American Copy Editors Society, Society of Professional Journalists, Lancaster (S.C.) News, The (Rock Hill, S.C.) Herald, The (Sumter, S.C.) Item, the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration. Contact me for more information.
Copyright © 2004 et. seq. Douglas J. Fisher
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