The current tattered economy seems to be both a cause and outcome of the changing photo industry. At the beginning of Clifford’s article she gives an example of a freelance photojournalist who is considered a professional, but can’t get enough magazine assignments to cover the rent without supplemental work. A contrasting example is that of a middle-age wife and mother who is able to earn a little extra cash each month as an amateur photographer. After seeing this family woman’s photos on Flickr.com, the stock-photography company Getty Images gave her a contract.

Photo taken by Chris Bickford for The New York Times and included an online slide show about the Mardi Gras Indians and their suits.

I thought this was an interesting and simple slide show. Sometimes I find that some slide shows include too many photos and many photos that don’t have much to do with the subject. I think this slide show really focused on the Mardi Gras Indian suits and the people in them. 

Another photo that was included in The New York Times slide show by Chris Bickford.

There were also good action photos of the “Indians” dancing and singing. I think you get a feeling of the importance of these suits in the photos. I am not sure if this was intended or not, but the inclusion of the color red throughout all the photos also helped tie them all together. I think this was a great collection of photos that kept me interested all the way through.

These new teams will work with journalists that have stories that lend themselves to interactive, alternative story forms. This will give more reporters the opportunities to create multimedia work that they otherwise would not be able to create on their own. This is an interesting approach to get more multi-media journalism out there.

I think these teams will be very valuable to journalists that can utilize them. I see this as journalists helping other journalists. There are so many reporters out there that have the skills to create strong multi-media content, and this is way for them to teach and inspire the majority that doesn’t know how to tell stories in mediums other than writing.

Here are the benefits the main benefits of these teams:

• Publications that use Associate Press content will have more multi-media options among the work they choose from. This could help publications build their audiences since multi-media reporting is what consumers are demanding right now.
• AP reporters that don’t know how to create Flash presentations, effectively utilize public records, create videos, or do computer-assisted reporting will now have access to a team of people who can teach them or at least expose them to how these skills can be utilize for visual storytelling. 
• Having multiple reporters working on one story can mean better quality content because more eyes are looking at it. It could also mean that stories and information will get out to the public faster because as news events are developing members of these teams can already be doing research and developing ideas of how these stories can be told.
• Since there are four regional teams, journalists across the U.S. and even the world will benefit from the work these teams produce.

To me this all comes down to a battle of speed vs. quality and speed is winning by a lot. This is a sad reality of the business of journalism today. News organizations like all businesses must give consumers what they want in order for the business to profit and survive. What people want now is speed and convenience. Those two things are becoming more and more valued than the quality and accuracy of information that journalists provide to readers.  

I don’t think there is anything that journalists can do about this shift in what society demands. It is the same as me quickly writing this post to meet a midnight deadline that my professor set. There are so many interesting things that would be relevant for me to include in this post, but instead I have to keep it short in order to get it posted on time and have time to get my work done for my other four classes. The quality is being compromised, but no one notices when they are getting it when they want it. 

I think the only possibility is to somehow show society what they are losing in quality. A way of doing this could mean opening up discussions about this issue to the public and not have it be something that is mulled over among journalists and just written on journalism blogs.

Maybe that is a little mean, but I’m just speaking the truth. I was reading this blog post called “Social Media Presence Now Journalism Job Performance Metric, Commence Twitter Teabagger Movement” on The Village Voice website. The post talks about Sky News, a UK news organization, and their plans to install a Twitter application on all their staff members’ computers. It then goes into how social media is increasingly becoming a part of multimedia journalists’ careers.

I very much feel for and understand the journalists who don’t want to cross over to the dark side of social networking. I know I never did, but here I am blogging, with my Twitter account on the right, and I will probably share the link to this post on Facebook. To me it is sad, but it is the way it is…particularly if you want a job.

Often I feel like chucking my computer and all the other glowing gadgets that take the peace out of everyday life, but I know better. I know I have to play the game of progress and adapting just like everyone else. In all things, when change happens you have to adapt to survive. Resisting the social networking sites will only set me back in the job opportunities I have as a journalist.

Those of us who are not social networking fans will have to work our way up to being the big bosses before we can use our power to stop the craze. However, I am pretty sure if any of us are put in a position like Rupert Murdoch, who owns Sky News and The Wall Street Journal, we will realize that getting active in social networking is good for business. The consumer’s of news, everyone, are embracing social networking so…. if you can’t beat them…get a Twitter account.

Oh, and follow me @shahdair .

http://www.shahdairichardson.vacau.com/publish_to_web/

The “Roundtables” are videos of actors sitting in a circle talking with a couple Newsweek reporters. The reporters ask the actors questions about their experiences, which then lead to further conversations among the actors. This series goes back to 2007.

Coverage of award shows like the Oscars are pretty boring to me because I see coverage the focuses on the stories behind the movies and the award show itself. Stories that interest me always have more to do about people and human connections. So, I enjoy the Newsweek roundtable talks because they capture actors, who appear to be very different people, coming together and unraveling many the common experiences they share as performers. It captures the actors connecting with each other as actors rather than how we usually see them, which is connecting with one another as characters in a film. It is the same effect you sometimes get when you watch the special feature interviews or bloopers that come on movie DVDs now. I sometimes enjoy those features more than the movie itself.

These videos fall into Newsweek’s multimedia section on their website. I know that there has to be a variety of video coverage styles because repeating the same style over and over again can get boring. In past posts I have talked more about video journalism that has a very news and/or documentary style. These roundtable videos have a talk show style that I think works when used sparingly. I found the talk show style appropriate for showing the actors’ interactions and capturing their existence in an environment that is not really behind the camera. The actors are not talking to the camera (like in documentaries) or considering the camera’s placement (like in movies). This still stands behind my view that the sources should be the ones telling the stories, not the reporters. 

I think the laid-back aspect of the talk show style in these roundtable videos was just a good way of focusing on the actors without the distraction of a lot of editing. This helps make stories that don’t have a strong central issue fun for the audience. The audience gets to just enjoy it as if they were sitting right there with the subjects. As long as Americans continue to have long and hard work days, simple and simply entertaining will never get old.

Since that Sunday, a mass flow of rumors, reports and claimed source statements have bombarded the music and entertainment online world. Several different reports of Guru’s condition have appeared on Allhiphop.com.

Allhiphop.com made the following reports about the 43-year-old rapper Guru within the past four days*:

• March 1^st; 11:24 a.m. – “Rapper Guru to Undergo Surgery Today”

This report said that DJ Premier of Gang Starr confirmed that Guru suffered a massive heart attack in New York City over the weekend. It said that “according to” Premier, Guru was to undergo surgery on March 1^st. It said that Premier confirmed information on his “Hip-Hop Nation” radio show.

• March 1^st; 8:25 p.m. – “MC Solar Issues Statement on Guru”

The report said that MC Solar released an “official” statement saying that Guru was in a coma after suffering a massive heart attack over the past weekend.

• March 2^nd; 8:30 a.m. – “Update: Guru Surgery Successful; Full Recovery Expected”

The article said that “sources close to Guru” said he was “doing ‘fine’” and is expected to make a full recovery.

•  March 3; 10:53 a.m. – “Update: Guru Issues Statement On Heart Attack”

It said that Guru released a statement that he was “doing fine” and asked that his privacy to be respected. It was stated that accurate information on Guru’s condition can only come from Solar. The report said that Guru thanked fans for their love and Solar encouraged continued prayers.

Allhiphop.com’s information has not been officially confirmed by any reporter’s one-on-one conversation with Guru, nor with any doctors.

DJ Premier Blog Tweets

There seems to have been some updates on @DJ Premier Blog’s Twitter page since the Internet buzz surrounding Guru’s condition began. However, despite many misconceptions this is NOT a page updated by the actual DJ Premier.

@DJPremierBlog retweeted @ItsDJEclipse on March 1 that DJ Premier spoke with Guru’s family and “confirmed the rumors.” It did not say which of the many rumors he was confirming.

A tweet on March 2 said that Guru had gone through a successful surgery, but was still in “a med induced coma.”

While encouraging fans to keep praying (#Pray) for Guru (#Guru), @DJPremierBlog has also repeatedly tweeted for people to watch the YouTube video of Guru’s Nephew, Justin Nicholas-Elam Ruff.

Ruff’s video includes him speaking about his experiences during this ordeal and accusing DJ Solar of depriving his family of contact with his uncle and information of his medical state.

Guru’s Nephew

In the YouTube video, titled “Guru (Gangstarr) True Story Behind Hospital & Coma,” the son of Guru’s sister (referred to as Trish), Justin Nicholas-Elam Ruff, said that producer Solar, Guru’s business and music partner, has taken control over what goes on with Guru while he is in the hospital.

Ruff said that for some reason Guru’s family is not having a say in what goes on with him right now, nor are they being informed.

“After Guru fell ill for reasons I will not disclose, he was checked into a New York hospital Tuesday, February 2, 2010,” Ruff said. “Guru’s family was not notified of this until Friday, February 16, 2010. That means two weeks went by before my family was notified by Solar that Guru was in the hospital.”

He said that two of Guru’s siblings planned to go see the ill rapper but were told by Solar that Guru said he did not want to be seen in the condition he was in at the time.

In the video, Ruff said he has attempted to get info from Solar, but has garnered no success. He said the family had no way of knowing what is going on with his uncle and Guru’s condition may be too serious to take time to legally challenge Solar’s rights over the situation.

“I feel as though it is the family’s right to know his status,” Ruff said in his video. “I know that Solar has been his right-hand-man day in and day out for the last six years, but that does not give him the right to make decisions on whether or not his family gets to see Guru or learn about his status.”

Solar

Solar is Guru’s partner and a producer of 7 Grand Records.

On March 2 @Solar_7Grand tweeted the following:

“Solar Will Be Providing The Only Accurate Info On Guru And Will Be Doing Interviews Soon.”

#FUCKSOLAR Movement

Since the accusations made by Guru’s nephew in the YouTube video a Twitter hash tag started, with which fans and those who know Guru have made tweets wishing the best for Guru and his family while adding #FUCKSOLAR.

Some in the online hip-hop community have found this movement funny, but it is another part of the negativity circulating around this sad and complicated ordeal.

All details of this Guru situation remain rumors.

Other online coverage of Guru’s situation:

• MTV Newsroom
• Guardian.co.uk
• DJ Premier Blog by gimantalon

Click here for allmusic.com’s history of Gang Starr.

*The details from the Allhiphop.com articles are property of that blog and were reported by that blog. This is simply a report of what is being reported. Shahdai Richardson’s blog is not saying that any details reported by Allhiphop.com are true or false.

The Times actually has a ‘Multimedia Reports’ page on its website that includes reports all the way back to 2003. These special reports, as the Times calls them, include a series of stories accompanied by photos, video, graphics, and other alternative storytelling forms. I think this is one feature of the Times that really reflects its leadership in the growing mutimedia journalism world.  

Right now it seems like people are demanding more websites than newspapers and I think that newspapers’ responses to that are improving. Most newspapers now are adding video and audio to their websites and increasing the photographs that they provide with their stories. I think the next step is the work that the Times is doing with their multimedia reports. I think eventually all reports will include multiple storytelling forms including maps, audio, video, charts, and photo galleries.

First hearing about the report:

I first heard about the “Vanishing Wetlands” report a couple years ago when environmental journalist Craig Pittman spoke at UCF for the Journalism department’s J-Day. At the event Pittman talked about the extensive investigative research that he and Waite had to do in order to create their award-winning report.  He went into great detail of how some of the investigating was conducted in order to create a story with solid statistics and data.

Use of multimedia:

“Vanishing Wetlands” is a report that Pittman and Waite started working on in 2003 about the importance of the wetlands in the state of Florida and how they are disappearing despite government promises to eliminate the loss issue.

Main page of "Vanishing Wetlands" by Craig Pittman and Matthew Waite on sptimes.com

Originally, when Pittman explained that this story was an online series I thought he simply meant that it was several stories being posted on the St. Pete Times’ website and that’s it. However, when I went online after the presentation I was completely surprised to see all the multimedia elements that this one series was able to incorporate.

Such multimedia storytelling elements in the “Vanishing Wetlands” include:

• Written stories and postings of articles that have also been published in print
• Photographs
• Video
• Maps
• Graphics
• Audio
• Links
• Reader Comments area
• Images of actual documents and forms

I consider the mediums above to be the most popular and basic elements of multimedia journalism. It amazed me to see one story that was able to utilize all of these mediums. The only one that would be considered missing is the social networking aspect such as Facebook or Twitter coverage. However, I believe the reader comments area serves the same purpose that social networking sites do for publications, and that is it connects the readers with the journalists.

The good and the bad:

The mediums that were wonderfully executed in the series were the photos, the graphics, and the actual articles. I believe the photos did an excellent job of telling the wetlands’ stories as if they were human. The photos showed the variety of beauty found in the wetlands and how that beauty is being changed into something that one may sympathize. This personification is what allowed the photos to effectively tell a story without dwelling on human stories.

The graphics and article were executed with inclusion of great details. These two elements of the series displayed the data and research that the two reporters had done. Both showed that the reporters knew what they were talking about and had plenty of factual details to back the story up. Graphics and articles were the backbones of this series.

The weaker part of this series was the video. As I explained in two of my past posts, there are too many over used techniques in video journalism that can result in boring video reporting. I think the videos that went along with ”Vanishing Wetlands” were good, but there could have been more of a focus on the sources telling the stories than the voiceovers of the reporter.

Setting the example:

The one thing that I emphasize on this blog is that for the development of quality future multimedia journalism the most respected and high quality publications out there today have to set the example for upcoming journalists. Many student journalists learn what is possible by simply looking at the work that is created by the journalists and publications that they admire and read.

As I continue to learn multimedia skills I refer to work like “Vanishing Wetlands” to encourage myself and observe the possibilities of complete multimedia reporting. St. Petersburg Times is one of those publications that set the example and gives upcoming journalists a quality point of aim. If the standards continue to be pushed high then there is no telling where journalism can go when reporters aim beyond those standards.