Archives for the month of: July, 2008

Parting Shots, or Where to Vent About Journalism

July 24, 2008 //
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Some Ricochet readers have emailed me to express their appreciation for what’s become known as the “Landing on Your Feet List.”

You say you like the upbeat and forward-looking attitude of the post, and I thank you. But you also say you feel angry and blind-sided by widespread layoffs and want to know where you can let loose about the state of the industry at large.

Readers are welcome to post something in the moderated comments here with the usual caveats about language and personal threats. There are plenty of other places to vent as well, all well-read:

  • CJR, the Columbia Journalism Review, has called for your thoughts in 1,500 words or less. So far, the entries have been sober.
  • If you’re in the mood to rant without revealing your name, Kiyoshi Martinez’s AngryJournalist.com is the place for you. Anonymity guaranteed, according to the site.
  • Romenesko at Poynter Online has been cataloging the slow demise of the newspaper industry and is considered one of the go-to sites for the latest trade news and gossip. Plenty of comments have been logged there.
  • LA Times employees have been turning to TellZell for cathartic release. Other Tribune Co. blogs are linked in the “Everybody Has a Zell Sucks Blog” section.

Do you have a preferred site? Feel free to add it in comments.

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Categories General Journalism

Digging Through the History of the Iraq War

July 22, 2008 //
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With Iraq at the forefront of political news, lots of people are asking how and when the U.S. can get itself out. Inevitably some people are also asking, “How did we get here?”

The staff of the left-leaning magazine Mother Jones asked the same question several years ago and created an interactive timeline, “Lie by Lie,” in 2006. It is a tremendous feat of research, reporting and design. And instead of letting the project languish after launch, it’s been updated through Feb. 14, 2008.

Mother Jones Lie by Lie timeline

Timelines have always been useful for presenting a series of events in linear order. With the Web’s added benefit of linking and interaction, timelines can now be a rich storytelling format that include massive amounts of information: data, photos, video, maps and links to other websites.

“Lie by Lie” is an elegant execution, one that gives readers many ways of exploring a deep and difficult subject. Craig Stoltz at Web 2.Oh Really has an interesting analysis of the timeline including this caveat:

It proves you can advance a political agenda with digital journalism just as easily as you can in the analog world. Edit, select, tweak, ignore. . .and you can assemble your own version of history, just as certainly as the wingnuts at The Washington Times or the pinkos at the New York Times.

Other examples of timelines:

  • Timelinescience, which shows developments in scientific thought over 1,000 years
  • The evolution of the monarchy in England
  • Hillary Clinton’s run for the Democratic presidential nomination
  • HIV and AIDS milestones

If you want to explore further, Jan Battem of the Netherlands has compiled a timeline index.

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Categories Data + Graphics

One for Fun: Tell Me a Story Any Way You Can

July 18, 2008 //
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One of the brilliant things about the Web is that a story can be told many different ways. Earlier this year, British publisher Penguin Group asked six authors to each create an online homage to a notable work of literature. Each tale used a different aspect of Web storytelling as the medium. The result was We Tell Stories.


One tale is told through a map with an embedded Easter egg that leads to a seventh story inspired by “Alice in Wonderland.” (First clue andfull spoiler.)

Another work is designed as an infographic, courtesy of Nicolas Felton, whose annual report has won him fans around the world.

A third is an interactive write-your-own-adventure.

There are six stories on the site. Say what you want about the quality of the writing, but the methods offer a sampling of different ways to engage readers.

After “We Tell Stories” launched, Gamasutra interviewed the project leads, Six To Start, and a representative from Penguin who said the company was excited about creating “a really immersive and engaging storytelling experience.”

When writing for the Web, think about all the ways in which your story can be told. There’s text, of course, but there are pictures, still and moving. Stir in audio, databases and maps, and suddenly there are a rich variety of ways to be pulled into a tale.

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Categories General Journalism

What Comes After a Career at a Newspaper?*

July 17, 2008 //
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A lot of journalists are losing their jobs due to the extreme measures news organizations are taking to preserve their business. It’s painful to read about, and harder still when they’re people you know from an organization you really enjoyed working for.

Los Angeles Times building by mattlogelin/flickr

On Monday, the Los Angeles Times slashed 150 people from the editorial staff and 250 total in a second round of layoffs.

It’s been covered all over. There’s been a lot of anger, much heartache, and some glee.

But journalists by nature are resourceful people, so despite feeling very badly for my former colleagues, let’s look at where they’re headed next.

If you’d like to be included on the “Landing on Your Feet” list below — and you don’t have to be a former Times person to be included — post a comment or drop me a line with your name, where you were and what your plans are.

Update, Oct. 21: The American Journalism Review is conducting a survey to find out where journalists leaving the newspaper business are going. If you haven’t taken it yet, do so.

Update, Aug. 19: The Newspaper Escape Plan was unveiled on Facebook earlier this week. If you’ve been forced out of the business or are thinking of leaving, this discussion group might be for you.

Update, July 24: Thanks to all who’ve emailed privately about this post and asked for places to rant. You’ll find some recommendations here.

InkStainedRetch, who blogs at TellZell, posted the Times severance package on Scribd.

Tom Paegel, former LAT night city editor, is offering financial coaching to Times staffers who’ve recently lost their jobs. Contact him by email to make an appointment.

  • LAT environmental reporter Marla Cone will lead a foundation-funded environmental reporting organization TBA.
  • *Copy editor Karin Esterhammer is going to Vietnam to teach English, according to a post on LA Observed.
  • *Bill Lobdell will blog about Orange County, Calif., at Lobdell’s O.C.. His opening salvo, “42 Things I Know,” was picked up by LA Observed and Romenesko. HarperCollins will release his book, “Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America,” in February. Lobdell, a former LAT Orange County edition reporter, is doing freelance work and can be contacted by email.
  • Assistant sports editor Alex Kimball becomes senior editor covering the NFL at ESPN.com.
  • Graphic designer Amy Martin is offering to redesign laid off colleagues’ resumes while she decides her next move, she tells graphicdesignr.
  • Legal reporter and editor John Spano will be an associate at the law firm of Kiesel, Boucher & Larson in Beverly Hills, Calif., according to a post in LA Observed.
  • Henry Weinstein joins the law faculty at the University of California-Irvine. An earlier version of this post had erroneously named Larry Stewart. Stewart is looking for freelance work, according to a July 17 “AirTalk” interview on KPCC.

Photo: mattlogelin/Flickr

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Categories General Journalism

Looking for Ideas for Interactive Storytelling?

July 7, 2008 //
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Interactive Narratives logoDrew DeVigal’s Interactive Narratives has relaunched.

The site is a searchable database “designed to capture the best of online visual storytelling around the country and the world.”

Register, and you can submit your own work, as well as vote on and critique others’ multimedia projects.

“Our goal is to highlight rich-media content, engaging storytelling, and eye-popping design in an environment that fosters interaction, discussion, and learning,” writes DeVigal, who is multimedia editor at The New York Times.

As storytelling online evolves from the straight-ahead text+photos/photo gallery+video format, this new site should be an interesting resource to see what other people are doing. Best of all, you don’t have to be a journalist to participate.

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Categories Data + Graphics, General Journalism, Photojournalism, Tips & Tools

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