Final Project: Re-Vinyl-ization

Blake Maddux
Final Project
Final (8/6/2009)

Compact disc manufacturers have waged a fierce battle against digital downloads since the new millennium began.

Now they are fighting a smaller but unexpected battle on another front.

Sales of vinyl records increased by 89 percent last year according to Nielson SoundScan, which tracks music sales in the United States and Canada. SoundScan estimates that vinyl sales will have increased threefold between 2006 and the end of 2009.

These figures do not include used LPs that are sold at secondhand music stores. If the business reported by several such stores in Cambridge is any indication, vinyl is making a much larger ripple in the music industry than the SoundScan numbers can capture.

Thanks to vinyl sales, these record stores are not only staying in business, they are thriving. This at a time when CD sales are dropping (by 20 percent in 2008), major chains such as Tower and HMV—both of which had locations in Harvard Square—have closed their doors, and digital music can be streamed online or downloaded easily, albeit illegally, for free.

Angela Sawyer, owner of Weirdo Records, attributes the spike in vinyl sales to a “revolving nostalgia factor.” Twisted Village owner Wayne Rogers says that it is due in part to the fact that “some people never stopped buying” vinyl.

Whatever the reasons, vinyl has always appealed to those who enjoy the larger liner notes and artwork that accompany an LP, and above all the sound, complete with its occasional crackles and scratches.

Twisted Village is located next to Charlie’s Kitchen, a popular Harvard Square landmark. However, it is down a somewhat hidden set of stairs and behind a windowless door with only a handwritten sign on it. Like the elusive LP version of an obscure record, one must really be looking for Twisted Village in order to find it.

Rogers says that based on the consistently strong sales of vinyl that he has experienced since opening in 1996, he might have never known that demand for LPs had ever waxed or waned.

“Record labels were lagging behind,” he says, meaning that LPs were not printed for many years even though there was ample demand for them. He describes many of the used LPs that he sells the occasional copy of as “stuff I could have sold by the boatload if they had been issued a decade ago” on vinyl.

The higher LP sales that he is experiencing come mostly from new releases and re-issued classics. Hip and highly popular artists such as Radiohead, whose album “In Rainbows” was the biggest-selling LP of 2008, have been issuing their latest recordings in both CD and LP format for several years. This has proved to be a smart move because, as Rogers has seen it, everyone older than 30 buys CDs, while everyone younger than that buys LPs.

Mark Redmond, 30, has at least 200 records at his home in Cambridge. About a dozen of them are framed and hanging on the wall in his finished basement.

He thinks that LPs appeal more to younger people because “Older people grew up with vinyl, so there is less of an adventure in it” to them.

At Weirdo Records in Central Square, Angela Sawyer has also benefited from the increased popularity of vinyl.

“I’ve never seen a store that expanded as fast as this one,” she says, “but it’s still the tiniest one in the damn world.” As small as it is, this location—which opened in February—is an upgrade from her living room, which is where she used to sell music.

Sawyer says that the avant-garde and experimental music in which she specializes appeals to only a small group.

Scanning the shelves, one sees LPs by The Monks, the “anti-Beatles” band formed in Germany by American G.I.s in 1964, The Free Design, whose song title “Kites Are Fun” sums up the group’s aesthetic perfectly, and the 1969 album “Trout Mask Replica” by Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band, about which Sawyer says “records will never get weirder than.”

“Vinyl has a permanence,” she says. “You have to pay attention a little more. You have to go home and give it some time.”

Back in Harvard Square, John Damroth, the bespectacled, goateed founder of Planet Records, sits at a counter wiping down used records with a white rag.

Planet Records’ Cambridge location opened in 1997. It initially sold only CDs, but since records have always meant so much to Danforth, he decided to “go against the business grain” and sell vinyl.

“It felt like I was a bad businessman,” Danforth says, referring to how LPs were unprofitable for him in the late 1990s and early 2000s. However, vinyl started picking up around 2006, and “this year has really been outstanding.”

Damforth estimates that records account for 20 to 25 percent of total sales. On some days, they are half of the total. That is rare, Danforth admits, but “the fact that it happens at all is pretty amazing.”

Damforth agrees with Rogers that younger buyers are making the difference. He hears some of them say that they wish that they had a turntable, and then buy LPs anyway. This is because, he says, of the aforementioned larger pictures and liner notes that appear on the vinyl sleeves.
Damforth compares them to comic books and says that they have a “stop and smell the roses” quality.

Redmond agrees, saying, “You feel like you really own [a recording] when you own it on vinyl….It’s more of an actual object, a piece of art, something tangible.”

Mike Murray, 31, a musician and teacher who lives in Somerville, is particularly fond of the liner notes. “I’ve read every letter in the booklet for every CD and record that I own,” he says. “The record makes that experience fun….The CD is uncomfortably small.”

However, Rogers and Damroth both believe that the reports of the CD’s demise are greatly exaggerated.

“Vinyl might not get much further,” Damforth says. “I’ve been wrong about these things, but I still think that it is a niche market.”

“People who really care about music are more likely to buy LPs,” Murray says, describing this niche. “They think about it in a more intense way. They want to get more out of interacting with it.”

Next to the checkout counter at Planet Records are lemon yellow fliers that list the names and locations of other vinyl sellers in Boston and Cambridge. Damforth explains that he does not worry about the competition from other stores, and is happy to help people locate something that they could easily get on CD but would rather have on LP.

Twisted Village and Weirdo Records are both on the flier, as is Stereo Jack’s, which opened in 1984 and is just outside of Harvard Square. Adorning the front windows are a bust of Elvis Presley in a classic pose and an ever-changing assortment of obscure LPs that one would probably otherwise have no idea existed.

Part-time employee Worth Wagers has observed trends similar to other Cambridge record stores. He writes by e-mail that vinyl sales at Stereo Jack’s have increased significantly in the past three years. This is due in particular to the store’s use of eBay, “where they sell the rarest records that come through the door.” (At Twisted Village, Rogers also mentioned his use of the Internet. When he brandished a mint-condition copy of Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks,” a favorite of critics and collectors, he said, “that one goes on the auction block.”)

Wagers believes that the appeal of LPs “is a combination of the sound quality” and, echoing Damforth, “still wanting a physical artifact of the sound.”

“Warmer” is the word that is almost universally used to contrast the sound quality of vinyl with that of a CD.

To Redmond, warmer means more intimate and “less clinical.” Playing an LP “makes you feel like you’re in the room” with the artist.

Murray concurs, saying, “You can hear the fingers on the fret board. It sounds like someone is in the room playing an instrument.”

He also thinks that “Vinyl might become the go-to format for those who want something other than CDs,” which he says are becoming obsolete. Because of MP3s, CDs are now neither the only nor the most convenient way to get a digital recording.

To the ever-increasing number of vinyl buyers, getting computerized, state-of-the-art sound is not the point. It is to get the sound that only vinyl can offer.

Although LPs are not expected to ever outsell CDs, and certainly not MP3s, Murray speaks for many record lovers when he says, “No one’s ever going to be nostalgic about CDs.”

Redmond further reflects the sentiment this small but expanding group of music lovers when he says, “For the event of putting on a record, you can’t beat vinyl.”

Final Project: The Redemption of Magnum

Project Paper
Stephen Mugo
Final
As if in a choir, one-by-one led by the female ape, the monkeys break into laughter. Debbie Magnum laughs back, mimicking the apes, her face radiating with a broad smile. Momentarily, the gap between man and ape is bridged by these transcendent signals. In a playful expression of contentment, the monkeys hop from tree to tree, their cracking laughter getting louder but discordant, eventually receding into the back peripheries of their cage. Magnum moves to the gorilla cage, calling out each of the four gorillas by name, as one would greet a human friend. It is only 7:30 a.m. Magnum has been feeding the animals for the last one-and-a-half hours.
For the last 11 years, Magnum, 33, has been working at the primate department of the Oklahoma City Zoological Park . Standing at 5 feet 8 inches, averagely built, and with flowing brown hair, this mother of two walks in hurried strides, perhaps revealing what she calls her clustered schedule. She works ten-hour days at the zoo, six days each week. “The level of enthusiasm with which she goes about her zoo job is unmatched” says Amy McFarland Dean, Magnum’s department manager.
Several times every year, Magnum travels to the Democratic Republic of Congo where she works to save the wildlife in the Congo Forest . A native of Norman -- a campus suburb within the Oklahoma City metropolis -- Magnum wants to save the apes of Congo from possible human-triggered extinction. She has received international recognition, including a Conservator of the Year Award, 2004 from The Wildlife Club International, for her work in Africa . She says that her work in the Congo Forest is her first passion in life. “The endless conflicts have led to a drastic reduction in the ape population in the Congo Forest ,” Magnum says. “These animals have become victims, too.”
Due to recurrent civil wars in Congo which have resulted into widespread poverty, large swaths of the Congo Forest have been cleared to avail farmland for the landless poor. The rebels fighting the government use the forests as their hiding places. The trees have been cut and burned to make cooking charcoal. The wildlife has been illegally poached for meat. Magnum says that the Congo Forest is the largest habitation of apes in the world. She says that while the world has focused on the human crisis in Congo , the wildlife problem has received little attention. “The humanitarian crisis has received some world attention, but the animals have almost been forgotten,” Magnum says.
Magnum says that her sympathy for the threatened wildlife in Congo is drawn from the fact that she suffered neglect for a long period in her life. She has joined a non-governmental organization called Ape-Refuge which sensitizes the warring parties in Congo to the wildlife problem, and rescues trapped and injured apes. Magnum volunteers her expertise gained at the Oklahoma City Zoo to rehabilitate these rescued apes. Magnum says that her goal in life is to give a second chance to the suffering animals. She says that her passion to rehabilitate comes from the story of her life, which she says is a story of redemption.
Magnum’s parents, Eli and Irene Magnum, divorced a few months following her birth, primarily because her birth resulted in disagreements and in financial problems. “A few years ago, my mother confessed that my conception was a mistake,” Magnum says with teary eyes. “At one point, my dad suggested to my mum that she aborts me. My mother rebuffed the idea.”
Magnum would never see her dad again. Eli Magnum eventually ended up in jail for the offense, according to Irene Magnum, of aiding in a robbery. Although he was sentenced only to 18 months in jail, a riot broke out in which the inmates held up for two days the Illinois jail facility where Eli Magnum was held. In the ensuing melee, a fellow inmate killed Eli Magnum, mistaking him for a sex-offender. He was only 41. “Eli was a handsome man, sometimes a wonderful husband. But he was tragic,” says Irene Magnum, now 49.
The imprisonment and consequent death of Magnum’s father affected her greatly. “I saw life as completely out of my control. I made no great efforts to shape my life as I expected to die early, too,” says Magnum. Magnum’s mother was unable to keep up with her daughter’s needs resulting in her delay in commencing school. She never caught up. Discouraged by successive poor grades, and compounded by endless quarrels at home with her mother, Magnum quit school at the tenth-grade. “By then, I had failed in three relationships, one of which was violent,” says Magnum. “Over this period, I went to jail several times for drinking, buying drugs and for petty theft.”
Irene Magnum never remarried, and never had any other children. Nevertheless, she led a life marked by misfortune. According to Magnum, Irene Magnum suffered bouts of depression for which she spent periods of time in psychiatric facilities. Irene Magnum’s relationship with her daughter remained for the most part antagonistic. Magnum relied more and more on her friends, who she says led her into deeper problems with drugs, the law and into increasing disinterest in life.
Shortly after she quit school, Magnum says that it appeared as if the curse of her father would sooner or later catch up with her. Magnum says she had given up her fate to circumstance. “Magnum was frail in health for neglect and substance abuse,” says Ashley Croswell, Magnum’s long-time friend. “Aimlessly wandering through life, she seemed at the twilight.”
However, not too late, fate intervened to redeem Magnum. It was in July 1998 when within a few days of each other, two events occurred that changed the trajectory of Magnum’s life. One day as she walked with four of her friends in downtown Norman , Oklahoma , Magnum says that a stranger walked up to the group, stopped her, and told her that she looked like the leader of the group. The stranger told her that she looked outstanding. Magnum says that the group was without a formal leader, and without the necessity for one. She says that the stranger did not stop long enough to explain his words but that the incident focused a lot of attention on her from her friends.
Magnum says she had received little attention in her life. She recalled that she often went unnoticed at school. “I never was the most noticeable in a group. I knew many people in downtown Norman but never got to know who this stranger was. Never saw him again. But his words couldn’t get off my mind,” says Magnum.
Magnum’s friends noticed the incident, teasing her afterwards saying that she was the “strange leader” of the group. Ashley Croswell, Magnum’s long-time friend, found the incident odd enough that she nicknamed Magnum “boss.”
“I had not experienced strangers say words like those. Usually, they flatter, saying you are cute and such, but never any serious descriptions,” says Croswell.
Within a few days following the incident with the stranger, all of her friends called Magnum by her new nickname “boss.” This, she says, kept the stranger’s words alive in her mind. Later in the same month, Magnum’s mother was admitted to a psychiatric institution for treatment. Magnum visited her mother in the hospital and got into a chance conversation with one of the psychiatrists caring for Irene Magnum. A little into the conversation, the psychiatrist told Debbie Magnum that she was a Type-A personality, meaning she could perform complex tasks and solve sophisticated problems. However, the psychiatrist told Magnum that Type-A personalities have short attention spans making it difficult for them to follow through on tasks.
Magnum says that the conversation with the psychiatrist was a breakthrough moment when she began to comprehend the intricacies of her life. She remembered the stranger’s words on the street in downtown Norman . She imagined that both from her appearance, and from her words, the complexities in her life were manifest. Evident, too, were her unique abilities, she imagined, which led a stranger and a psychiatric professional to perceive her then untapped potential.
“These two incidents brought a breakthrough into my life,” says Magnum. “Instantly, I could explain almost everything that had occurred in my life.”
Soon after, Magnum found that she could easily overcome the thoughts that often led her into despair. She felt an increasing urge to apply her newly discovered potential into worthwhile causes. “The feeling of understanding myself produced confidence within me,” says Magnum. “The energy to restart my life was released.”
Magnum loved animals although she says she had never owned a pet in her life. Had she made it into college, she says she would have studied to become an animal biologist. Magnum says that she chose to pursue to excellence the next best choice. “I persistently applied for a position at the zoo until I was hired. I applied myself and my abilities found expression in my work,” Magnum says. “Now, I am trying to resolve a complex international wildlife problem in Africa .”

Final Project: Cambridge Street Booms Despite Economy

Inside a strip mall frozen-yogurt store with orange walls, green plastic tables and a flat screen TV, a mother of three works six days-per-week to make sure that her first business venture is a success. The hot summer weather brings customers inside of the air-conditioned store to get a taste of unsweetened-frozen-yogurt with fresh fruit.

Lori Peljovich, co-owner and mastermind behind the frozen-yogurt store, says that she first tasted the tart frozen treat in New York and she just couldn't get enough. With the help of her brother, local real-estate developer Barry Samuels, she acquired funding, found the location, and set up a test kitchen to try out recipes. Peljovich named her store “boYO,” using trendy yogurt-slang for “Boston Frozen Yogurt.” boYO opened this past May in Charles River Plaza off Cambridge Street next to the affluent neighborhood of Beacon Hill in Boston, Mass.

Peljovich says that the decision to start her business now was personal, “I hadn't worked in over 10 years and I wanted to go back to work and run my own business. I didn't want to go work for somebody else and go sit in an office somewhere.”

Despite the economy, Peljovich says that business is good. During the day, business men and women from Massachusetts General Hospital and Government Center stop by for frozen yogurt, and in the evenings and weekends the store is supported by the student and family populations of Beacon Hill. boYO is not the only business venture to recently open its doors on Cambridge Street. At a time when the pressures of the recession

are crushing small businesses throughout Massachusetts and employment is lower than it has been in 20 years, business on the western side of The Hill is as vibrant as ever. Up and down Cambridge Street, small businesses are opening and expanding, providing jobs to the unemployed and bringing hope to otherwise dismal economic conditions.

Suzanne Besser, Executive Director of the Beacon Hill Civic Association, says that store-front vacancies in Beacon Hill are generally short lived. “It seems that as soon as they go out, it seems like someone’s coming in,” she says during a phone interview earlier this week. “In many of the cases, one has left and another who is currently on the street has moved into larger spaces.”

The Hill Tavern, a restaurant located one block west of boYO on the other side of Cambridge Street, is one of those businesses. They announced last month that they are in negotiations to take over Phoenicia, the Middle Eastern restaurant adjacent to them. The owners of Phoenicia are looking to retire, and The Hill Tavern manager Mico Flynn says that this could provide a great opportunity to accommodate the growing demands of the restaurant. He says that business is good and they would be more than able to support the expansion.

“We’re almost right where we were last year.” Flynn says that the combined population of workers at MGH and residents of Beacon Hill is almost 40,000 people, and that has insulated his business from some of the affects of the recession. “Having Mass General here helps a lot. They haven’t really been affected by the economy at all. Healthcare’s pretty steady.”

Flynn says Phoenicia's asking price for the lease and licenses to their property, is too high “for what they are offering.” He describes the current facilities at Phoenicia as “old and tired,” and says that they will have to put in almost $400,000 to modernize the kitchen, tear down the walls between the two spaces and update the furnishings. Flynn says that if they can settle on a price that satisfies both parties, the expansion would double their property and help them meet more of the neighborhood's needs.

“People don't have a place to entertain because the apartments are so small.” Many of his customers use the bar area of The Hill Tavern as their living rooms, and he would like to be able to support all of their social needs. He

says that they often turn down requests for parties because they are unable to give away the space without turning away their regular customers. “We would combine their back dining room with our dining room and people could use it for birthday parties and meetings.”

The expansion is big news in Beacon Hill. Besser says that the Beacon Hill Civic Association looks at it as an example of the healthiness of the neighborhood. The BHCA is a membership-based organization which provides what Besser calls, “quality of life” resources to the businesses. Many area businesses come to the BHCA for assistance with zoning and licensing laws. Of the 351 businesses in and around Beacon Hill approximately 130 of them are dues-paying members of the organization. Most businesses prefer the BHCA over the City of Boston Chamber of Commerce because of the neighborhood-specific benefits they receive.

“I don't know if they would consider us helping them,” Besser says. Most of the time they work with businesses to keep them up on “maintaining their trash, or the hours they are open, or what we call Good Neighborhood Agreements. We work with them on a lot of those issues.”

The attention to detail in the neighborhood, driven by the BHCA, makes Cambridge Street an attractive destination for new businesses. John True, the assistant manager of The Federal, a pizza and sandwich shop which opened two months ago, says he has been impressed with the cleanliness of their customers and the neighborhood. “It seems that there are a lot of good people that just live around here that really care about this area,” he says. “There is a lot less trash on the streets of Beacon Hill than any other neighborhood in Boston.”

The Federal, which is owned by local entrepreneurial management company Boston Nightlife Ventures, was purchased this past winter from the struggling pizza and sandwich shop, Venice Cafe. The group saw an opportunity to modernize the pizza, sandwich and salad concept by making everything from scratch and using fresh ingredients. They also renovated the building and updated the look and feel of the location with fresh paint, new brickwork and an open kitchen.

True admits that having a business on Cambridge Street has its downsides. Despite the affluent population and consistent sales that The Federal sees between the hours of 10 a.m. to 2 a.m., they also have to contend with the troubles of being downtown. He says, “There are lots and lots of homeless people around here.”

The proximity to M.G.H. keeps The Federal's business thriving during the day but True is concerned about the number of vagrants which the hospital also attracts. On a couple of occasions, the tip jar has disappeared, and

loiters have made themselves too comfortable in the sandwich shop. “We had a guy in here last week who decided he was going to fall asleep on these two chairs.” True says while motioning to his chair. “We had to call the police because he was just laying there, and it was disturbing to the customers. Apparently this is what he does this all the time when he doesn't want to go to the homeless shelter.”

True says that dealing with these issues as well as the post-bar crowd at night, can add to the stress-level of his employees, but financially, it is worth the headache. He says that the only affects of the economy they feel is the cost of food. Rising transportation costs have increased the price of beef and other meats. “We try to have fair prices for what we serve because the [high] quality of the food. I think higher priced items people steer away from, like $20 pizzas.”

True says, “I feel like we are in a good area. I mean a lot of people are going out to lunch. There are a lot of college kids in the area, so I mean, these are people that are going to eat out in the city regardless.”

Peljovich of boYO is also positive that her business will continue to grow. She says, “It's a tough economy and it’s a recession but you know in a recession people want something that will make them happy. They want a treat or something that's gonna help brighten their day. And that's what we're trying to bring... and I think so far we've been successful in doing that.”

Hurry up and wait!

This link illustrates the years (yes, years) it can take to obtain filings requested from the Freedom of Information Act -- the piece is on the Taliban POWs who were likely buried in a mass grave and attempts by the Bush administration to forestall investigations.

I filed a FOIA 6 weeks ago for the final project piece and while I was notified days later it was received, regrettably, I have yet to receive any filings. I have since learned the waiting period can last anywhere from a few weeks to a couple years. Just want to give all my colleagues out there the fyi. Deadlines are deadlines and, alas, while we all want to be the best reporters we can be, the story can't wait forever...

Wow Bill Clinton. I've been following the devastating story of the two reporters who were imprisoned in North Korea after entering into the country illegally. Now with Clinton's efforts they have been pardoned.

Marines ban Twitter, Facebook, other sites

Frequently in class we have chatted about the benefits (and costs) of online networking site and the world wide web... I thought this article was interesting enough to share...

The Death of Journalism (Gawker Edition)

Journalism at a major newspaper is different from what's usually required in the wild and riffy world of the Internet. And that wild world is killing real reporting -- the kind of work practiced not just by newspapers but by nonprofits, some blogs and other news outlets.
. . .

The popular saying in the industry now is that it's important to "save journalism" -- not necessarily newspapers. I agree, but newspapers are still the most common organizations that pay a large staff of reporters, providing them with a living wage, health care and a retirement plan.
. . .

I still want a fluid blogosphere, but one where aggregators -- newspapers included -- are more transparent about whom they're heavily excerpting. They should mention the original source immediately. And if bloggers want to excerpt at length, a fee would be the nice, ethical gesture.

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A Great Photo

In the ever ongoing discussions surrounding healthcare lately, I thought his image was fantastic. I think this older gentleman standing in front of some signage, hands on his hips, is a great representation of everyone's frustration with healthcare woes.

The article is dryly written, but the image did make me take a second look.

Oh this is great!

Especially since all of us are in the midst of our final project and probably could use a little inspiration. Try multi-media inspiration brought to us in blog format by Maria Kalman.

Check it out: http://kalman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/30/can-do/?em

Pants Suit

The NPR program "Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me" got a lot of mileage out of this story as far back as at least two years ago. Perhaps they will get some more!

Ex-Judge's Lawsuit Thrown Out
Pants Plaintiff Wanted Job Back

By Del Quentin WilberWashington Post Staff WriterWednesday, July 29, 2009

A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit brought by Roy L. Pearson Jr., the former D.C. administrative law judge whose $54 million lawsuit against a dry-cleaning business generated international headlines.


Pearson filed the suit in May 2008, alleging that the D.C. government broke the law in refusing to reappoint him to a 10-year term as an administrative law judge.


The decision not to reappoint Pearson followed media reports describing Pearson's lawsuit against Custom Cleaners, which he claimed had misplaced a pair of his pants.


The District's Commission on Selection and Tenure of Administrative Law Judges cited Pearson's temperament and prudence on the bench in not giving him the job. Administrative law judges hear cases involving city agencies and commissions.


In his lawsuit filed in the District's federal court, Pearson alleged that the commission was retaliating against him for exposing internal problems to the D.C. Council and for filing his lawsuit against Custom Cleaners. Both actions, Pearson said, were protected by the First Amendment.


He also claimed that the commission did not give him a fair chance to fight its decision.


In a 37-page opinion issued Thursday, U.S. District Judge Ellen S. Huvelle rejected all
of Pearson's arguments. She characterized Pearson's lawsuit against Custom Cleaners as a "personal vendetta."


Pearson, who represented himself in federal court, also lost his lawsuit against the owners of Custom Cleaners, which closed under the weight of legal bills. He could not be located for comment Tuesday.

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Multimedia from Boston.com: Suffering from 'roid rage'

I have seen this style out of the New York Times but not too much from Boston.com- it is interesting to see Dan Shughnessy commenting on the issue of David Ortiz's drug abuse above his article on the same topic... it is kind of redundant and I think it shows a little bit of growing pains for Boston.com's multimedia, but it's great to see them expanding their use of it!

Exclusive Interview

Leave it to my favorite columnist to address a question that I have been asking lately: Why is every interview with a highly public and oft-interviewed person an exclusive interview?

When someone says, "An exclusive interview with THIS PERSON, tonight at 8 pm, only on THIS CHANNEL," does that simply mean that that is the only inteview the person will be granting at that specific time?

That is the only way that an interview with Barack Obama could be considered exclusive, it would seem.

Now, if someone were to say, "An exclusive interview with J.D. Salinger," then I would believe that it was genuinely exclusive.

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Piece on Randall Terry in The Washington Post

I am a bit behind in posting this piece, which I have read at least twice since it was published. One's opinion of Randall Terry is inextricably linked to one's view of abortion. However, pro-choicers might at least admire his tenacity, and according to this article, pro-lifers worry that they give their movement a bad name.


The lede and the quotes are great, but it was particularly enlightening to learn about the man behind the dolls smeared with fake blood. He is a convert to Catholicism who has four children, among whom are two adopted children and a foster child. His adopted son came out in 2004, leading to estrangement but eventual reconciliation. An adopted daughter and foster daughter each became pregnant out of wedlock, and the later converted to Islam.

And he has recorded two CDs, one gospel, the other country & western.

Very, very interesting.

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Great Photos

I love these two photos, and I think they're important for different reasons.
I feel like we're always seeing negative statistics and articles related to African Americans and education, which always bothers me. I like the first photo of the little boy because it belies racial stereotypes and generalizations, actually showing the opposite of what we typically see in the media.



I like the second photo because - aside from being an awesome photo from an aesthetic standpoint - it blends the past with the present. It shows the way in which technology has changed over the decades.

food for thought

In this unique photo of the sky being dark and black half way over the Mexican territory and bright and clear over the American lands  speaks volumes of the content of this article. This photo undoubtedly complements the subject; as to how everything seems more beautiful beyond the Mexican border for the thousands of illegal immigrants traveling to States every year. 

Take a close look at it!

Family Learned over Internet that son was killed

When does media go too far?

Thinking back on our discussions about ethics and the importance of media, this article really got to me and made me want to share it with you guys.

Here too, pictures play an important albeit absent role. The article itself speaks about images and the raw information and emotions they affect.

Standoff

The picture, appropriately on an Oklahoman newspaper, shows the OU player in an imposing stance against the perennial nemesis Texas' player.

Horse chases down cellphone-using driver

An officer rode Marshmallow the horse to nab a reckless driver--someone on a cellphone.

(Rumor has it that Marshmallow was privileged to read the Dept. of Transportation cellphone studies completed in 2003.)

For my "local paper", I've been following the New Haven Independent (I moved from there a couple of years ago but still follow the news.)

This week a black New Haven police officer debuted a book to help minorities interact with the police. Given the Gates arrest, it's good timing for the book.

Here's a sentence from a recent blog post on the book:

"What you need to know is if the police come up short on communication skills, it will not result in the officer going to jail. You will be the one to pay the price! So pay close attention!”

What Price Journalism?

This is an interesting article in Time Magazine about the different ways the media might have us pay for the news, given the free availability of it due to changing technology and ever-increasing citizen journalists.

Repentance and Surrender: A Pictorial Illustration

A complete news item done in pictures.

Beverly students get crash course in safety - Beverly, MA - Beverly Citizen

Beverly students get crash course in safety - Beverly, MA - Beverly Citizen



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Crash Course Photo Impact!

This photo really made me want to read the article but more importantly, it likely got some attention from the teenage population because it depicts a "prom gone bad" scene. The photo promted me to read a story that I may not have otherwise read.

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"Reporting for Narrative: Ten Tips" from Mark Kramer

This blog is not a confessional. But... having a heck of a time with this feature. Wrote myself into a corner with an ill-conceived topic and then very little access. Oh no!!! So, I've cracked open a copy of "Telling True Stories" a collection of super-short essays from non-fiction writers published by the Nieman Foundation.

I am posting this hoping it will help anyone else who is struggling. The directly quoted list below only has his main points, check out the book for more explanation/tips.

Mark Kramer's 10 Tips

1. Before selecting a topic, think carefully about what will intrigue readers.
2. After selecting a good topic, secure good access. (I botched this one big time!)
3. Find the unfolding action that will provide the narrative line.
4. Find hints of character in he action.
5. Find the right scene details through careful sensory reporting.
6. Pinpoint your subjects' emotional experience, not your own.
7.Rigorously research your story's context: Save most of your research for late in the reporting process. At that point you only have to find the right information for your story. If you research too early, you have to find out everything (wow, can I learn from this!)
8. Late in the drafting process, crystallize the point of your story.
9. Very late in the writing process, refine the difference between your views and your subject's views.
10. Cherish the structural ideas and metaphors that come to you while you are reporting.

Gates Says He is Outraged

Also in sticking with the Prof. Gates theme, I thought this picture was particularly relevant. It was in the Washington Post today. The picture is great because the issue of race is involved in this event and the picture justaposes a black police officer standing in front of Gates with three other white cops. Does this picture make you immediately think of race inequality then say if it had been a picture of just Gates and the black officer, or just Gates, etc?

I also really like the title of the article "Gates Says He is outraged by arrest at Cambridge Home" No...really?? Look at his face!!!

Quote on Blade Runner

How much did the movie Blade Runner get right? Don't know ? Well, the folks at BBC did some investigative reporting to answer that question. Here's a link to the article entitled,
"How much of Blade Runner has come true?" I'm especially intrigued/enthralled/frightened by this quote. "The movie raises this wonderful question: how do humanoid creatures feel about having been created by us and how do they deal with their human-made limitations?"

Are we ready to discuss this yet? I'm not sure, but Dr. Anne Foerst, an AI researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Lutheran minister, who uses Blade Runner as a teaching aid... thinks we are.

Mixed Signals

This was on the front page of today's Ssan Diego Union Tribune. What interests me about this article and its relation to the picture is that I think they are sending mixed signals. The article is describing $15 billion in program cuts, but the room seems to be smiles all around???

Iranian citizens use of electronics as a political tool

It seems the outside world can only understand what is happening during the aftermath of the Iranian presidential election through electronic devices. As seen in the tweets of thousands of people protesting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reelection and through the gory iconic photographs and videos on mobile devices of Neda's death, the new symbol of rebellion in Iran. The photograph along this article is of a protester taking a picture of herself on a cell phone camera to arrange a protest. The article is interesting, but the photo speaks louder to me in understanding the transmission of communication in this muted country.
Here's the link to the BBC article entitled Arrests in new Iranian protests.

New research finds newspapers are popular, trusted source for news

No pictures, but a reassuring story.



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Evolution of Journalism

"The web has turned us all into content creators, publishers, and influencers. Social media has created a new ecosystem for the distribution and consumption of information. But, there's a problem: that ecosystem is built on a foundation of free content. As ad revenue all but disappears, traditional news and online media organizations are feeling the pain of giving something away for free."- Mediabistro

Last night, I volunteered for a mediabistro event with a panel discussion on the evolution of journalism. Here's a little bit about what was discussed:

Newspapers and magazines are in a lot of trouble. Since the net is free, everyone who is in the new world of journalism will need to learn how to compete with free.

Should content be free?

NY Times is thinking of charging a monthly fee of $5 for use of their website, which will set the standards for other news based websites.

How do websites survive if they are free?

Through advertisements. Advertising is a robust business. Media could learn from the porn industry because at least they know what they are selling.

Or through having fundraisers and paid networking events like NPR.

Twitter is free and an excellent way to advertise. It doesn't have a business model itself, but can be a very useful tool for small businesses.

What can freelancers do on twitter?

Tweets extend whose in your networking view.
Being genuine is important when tweeting.

"Do what you do best and link to the rest"

Be open, link to a story and give a little bit of own perspective.

Tweeting is a powerful way to find sources.

Huffington Post is a great example of a blog that combines aggregated information and original content.

Future Predictions from Panel about Journalism:
Newspapers will be reliant on their digital platforms.
Print will still remain.
News organizations will be far more specialized.
Many sources will be curated through several channels.

Careless Words: BBC's use of "terrorist"

I ran across this while reading about the Mumbia gunman trial,

This link spells out the BBC's editorial guidelines on the us of the word "terrorist":

Guidance - Terrorism, Use of Language When Reporting

"Our credibility is undermined by the careless use of words which carry emotional or value judgements. The word "terrorist" itself can be a barrier rather than an aid to understanding. We should try to avoid the term without attribution".

source: BBC, Our Approach

Bike Crackdown Snares African Peacemaker

This reminded of today's Henry Louis Gates arrest story.

In November, New Haven police shoved around Dapo Oyewole, a Yale University World Fellow, after he rode his bike on the sidewalk.

The picture here indicates the "happy ending" of that incident. The story is interesting because police continued to treat Oyewole badly even though Oyewole was apologizing for his infraction. The switch in police attitude happened only when he mentioned "Yale."

Lede:
Three police officers ran after Dapo Oyewole as he cycled down the sidewalk. Before he knew what was happening, he was shoved, shouted at, threatened with arrest, ordered to sign a $75 ticket and then served with a summons — until the cops discovered he was an African scholar visiting Yale.

full article: Bike Crackdown Snares African Peacemaker

"Ugly ATM" photo

This is a photo from a New Haven story titled "Ugly ATM Gets 60 Days."

Lede:
Ali Yaglidere, owner of an ATM accused of blocking a sidewalk, heard the complaints of a displeased alderman: We don’t want this “hunk of metal” on “our Madison Avenue.”

Nutgraf:
Yaglidere, along with Attorney David Avigdor (at right in photo), came to ask the committee at its meeting last Thursday night for permission for the ATM to remain. They argued that the machine is a source of vital income for Yaglidere during tough economic times and that the ATM is less of an obstruction than many other sidewalk obstacles nearby.

Harvard Scholar's Arrest Stirs Race Debate

This is the booking shot released by the Cambridge Police Dept, from the arrest on July 16, 2009. It's interesting to think of the different outlook one takes on an article that includes a black and white mug shot, versus one that includes a color close up picture of the person. I think in these pictures you can see the pensive look in his face and his annoyance, if that is not understating the emotions of the incident. NPR did a good write up on the incident, covering the racial debate surrounding Gate's arrest.

Harvard Professor Arrested

In discussing the effects of photos strategically placed in articles, what does this close-up portrait of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. do for the article? It is the only one, appearing at the top, with the caption:

"Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. was arrested last week on a charge of disorderly conduct."

It is a hard news lede article, and goes into as much detail as they can about the incident that took place at the home in Cambridge. Other information, like Gates Jr.'s credentials, appears only at the end, delaying information about his prominent position.

How is your opinion of this man affected by the article's structure, the presentation of the available information, and the photo? Pretty interesting, don't you think?

The Illustrated Man

Body art from the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Solar Field?

What image does this bring to mind? What might a solar field look like? Why publish this photo in a depressed Ohio community with unemployment tipping into 10%?

Dogs in the Library

So far, I am finding many articles that would have benefited from a photograph but do not have one. Anyway, this picture sure makes the library seem like an exciting place for at least a few youngsters in the summertime.

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Local Paper Picture

Hmmm, how is the picture gallery important to the article? See for yourself!



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Picture

This is not a local story from a local paper, but like I said in a previous post, I am a Watergate junkie. Maybe this lovely file photo in a Washington Post article will take the sinister edge off of the word for those who have never seen the hotel (and maybe attract a few buyers).



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Major Cities' Plummeting Crime Rates Mystifying

I thought this was a great trend story in The Washington Post this morning. Good news, less people are dying across the USA, the reason: no one knows! They speculate the economy & technology have something to do with it, although Dallas & Baltimore have increased crime rates. I thought that they did a good job speaking to their community about how the police officers are working more effectively together now, and though this could be blown up to a larger national story, they do a nice job keeping it local.

The lede was good, it made me want to keep reading:

Police Chief Roberto L. Hylton said that since he took over the department in September, there has been a more defined mission about how to attack crime.

picture posting #2

This is a lovely, eery shot of wildflowers surrounding gravestones in Galveston, Tx. Galveston was trashed by a hurricane last year and is now getting "back to business as usual." Galveston is considered to be a historical town in Texas and a tourism magnate.



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picture posting

I love to see anything Texas Hillcountry. Funny to me how Texans are always trying to bring anything that is famous elsewhere in the world and implement it somewhere in that big state.

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My test of a good photo is one that either complements or contradicts the emotions you feel while reading an article or a photo that enhances or changes an image the article or title has created.  

Two examples of this were on the BBC on -line site.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8157745.stm

UK set to take back Brazil waste

The contents of the containers were clearly of UK origin The UK is working with Brazilian authorities to return more than 1,400 tonnes of toxic waste to Britain, the Environment Agency has said.

When I opened this photo and saw the face masks and rubber gloves I could almost smell the rotten garbage.  I had sensory overload and a bitter taste in the back of my mouth.  How dare those English transport toxic waste to the third world!

The second photo I liked was http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8152346.stm

German children blighted by poverty

In the German capital, Berlin, 36% of children are considered poor By Steve Rosenberg  BBC News, Berlin When I saw this headline, German children blighted by poverty, I was expecting to see a bunch of children sitting on a rubbish dump - not some well fed kids sitting watching TV surrounded by antiques.  I loved the irony.

Iraq veteran lets the games, and healing, begin

This is a really touching feature article from today's Los Angeles Times. It uses the "blocking" meathod to tell the story and it follows a similar pattern to "Fight! Fight! Fight!" except for using a real "kicker" at the end of each segment, it uses a thought provoking quote... one that really paints a picture for the reader.

The reporting for this article is really well done, and I loved the lead, it was extra ominous:

Reporting from Spokane, Wash. -- Cpl. Anthony Alegre's unit knew the Humvees they drove through the streets of Ramadi, Iraq, were woefully under-armored.

They stuffed sandbags in the doors, but when roadside bombs turned the sand into shrapnel, they began wedging pieces of metal and wood around their seats. No use. The car bomb that hit Alegre's patrol on May 29, 2004, killed three of his fellow Marines and left four pieces of metal in his brain.

See Sarah Palin Run

I couldn't help but laugh when I saw these photos that accompany a transcribed interview with Sarah Palin that is linked in Parker-Pope's article. The article and interview are interesting, but the photos definitely make the story, or at the last the read, worthwhile.

The NYtimes article:

See Sarah Palin Run, by Tara Parker-Pope

The jump:

I'm a Runner: Sarah Palin, by Dan Simmons for Runner's World

Nudism okay for kids?

I think that the first two pics in this article pretty much sum it up without words. It doesn't hurt that the kid is cute and I laughed out loud..

Of course, it's a much more serious article than that and the pictures are more light-hearted; it would probably be a very different reaction if the photographer had captured some 13-year-old frolicking around (yikes)...


-Tina

Feature Story

An ingeneous feature story that uses diagrams for illustration purposes.

Ever think all that all your junk could be art?

I found this online NYTimes feature article interesting. It's accessible and relatable. Any one of us could be this artist showcasing "stuff"- Everyone has a story. Ordinary items become art in Song Dong's presentation at the MoMA.

The Collected Ingredient of a Beijing Life

The Museum of Modern Art’s multistory atrium seems designed to hold monuments. But at the moment it’s filled with the distinctly ungrand contents of one person’s everyday life.

Great News Story

I think this article is a well crafted news story- it gives a lot of information upfront without over doing it and it has a strong lede and great exlpanatory nut graf:

Workers who quit smoking, lose weight, and eat right could have their health insurance premiums cut by as much as half, possibly saving them thousands of dollars per year, under a measure inserted with little notice this week into the Senate healthcare overhaul bill.

The move represents a potential breakthrough on one of the most controversial elements of healthcare overhaul: how to get Americans to improve their well-being without turning government into a medical version of Big Brother.

Under the plan, individuals would have a strong financial incentive for jumping on a treadmill or signing up for smoking cessation classes, moves that would not only prolong their lives but also reduce the financial burdens of behavior-related disease on the healthcare system.

http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2009/07/15/healthcare_bill_offers_workers_incentive_for_healthy_lifestyle/

Blog tries printed version, fails

Did anyone see this story in the NYTimes -- saw it in the print edition yesterday? Trying to find the link, but cannot. About a blog that attempted a print edition, only to fail

journalist dismissed for lack of web traffic

This piece is an object lesson of my prior entry -- a lack of mouse-clicks for a once heavily-trafficked columnist leads to his dismissal.

"News outlets lead blogs by 2.5 hours"

Article with more computer-generated data points to add to our conversation about digital v. print journalism and the length of the news cycle.

Of special note in this piece, is the use of journo jargon: such as 'meme' -- defined as "frequently repeated short phrases" such as last Fall's "lipstick on a pig".

Media researchers use algorithms to track the use of memes and mouse-clicks for certain stories. One compelling implication of this -- that volume of consumer mouse-clicks/data-searches could drive coverage instead of editorial oversight.

"A Flash of Memory" Great Quote

Here's the piece I chose. Sure it's a opinion piece, but it's a damn good one filled with simple language explaining an awful event. The author is a fashion designer who survived Hiroshima. Inspired by Obama's campaign to seek security and peace in a world without nuclear weapons, Issey Miyake decided to tell her story. The best quote in this piece is the description of how tramatic it was for her as a seven-year-old to experience firsthand the aftermath of a atomic bomb. "When I close my eyes, I still see things no one should ever experience: a bright red light, the black cloud soon after, people running in every direction trying desperately to escape — I remember it all." This line resonates deep with me. It shows that Miyake as a senior citizen is still dealing with the stress of surviving such an awful event and how it will most likely always haunt her.

"On Web and iPhone, a Tool to Aid Careful Shopping"- Good Example of a Nut Graf

In this article, "On Web and iPhone, a Tool to Aid Careful Shopping" the opening paragraph tells us why the story should matter by griping our attention through a question. How do we really know the products we use aren't toxic? The article continues to intrigue the reader by focusing on how this Iphone app. came out of the inventor's concern with his daughter's health. The story then follows by answering the 5 W's. It's an interesting read, I must have sent it to ten family members.

"the mechanics of firefly sex"

(For some reason the link box above is not accepting the URL that I am pasting into it.
HERE it is.)


I think that this is a perfect example of the kind of story that people (including me) miss out on by not having a whole print paper in front of them to flip through page by page, as Angelia was saying in class last Thursday.

Note how the author did not clean up the repeated use of "like" by the 36-year-old woman who is quoted.

(The lede has caused the 1997 song "Beetlebum" by the English band Blur to be stuck in my head all day!)

In a Flash, Summer Love Is All Over Washington
Amorous Fireflies Get Boost From Wet Weather

By David A. Fahrenthold
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 11, 2009


This is that strange, sweet part of summer when life stops for a beetle's behind.

On a June night in Bethesda, a woman blast-e-mailed her neighborhood: "Go outside RIGHT NOW. Look into the dark." At a park in Arlington, a man clicked one flash from a penlight and waited for an insect to signal back.

This is firefly season in Washington, the best and brightest in several years. Scientists say a wet spring has made a lightning-bug-friendly region even more so, and hordes of the insects are now spending the last days of their lives floating over lawns and blinking in treetops.

In the daytime, most fireflies -- there are about 2,000 species of them worldwide, 200 in the United States -- look like a second cousin to the junebug. But at night, chemical reactions produce a glowstick light from their abdomens, each tiny bug worth about 1/40th of a candle.

This spectacle holds even more magic if you know what they're saying....


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The Legacy of Colorism

I was not familiar with the word colorism until I saw this article, although I was aware of the concept to which I would learn that the word refers.



DeNeen L. Brown, the author of this piece, took the death of Michael Jackson as an opportunity to address the very serious issue that she calls "the crazy aunt in the attic of racism" through and examination of history, sociology, literature, and popular culture.

Here is the opening, and I high recommend reading the rest of the piece at the URL:

Through the Past, Darkly: The Legacy of Colorism Reflects Wounds of Racism That Are More Than Skin-Deep

By DeNeen L. Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 12, 2009

Colorism is the crazy aunt in the attic of racism.

It's best not to mention her in polite company. Or if you find it necessary to talk about her at all, do it in whispers among relatives and people who already know about her.

On June 25, when Michael Jackson died, there she was again: colorism, that sub-category of racism and prejudice based on skin color, staring us right in the face.

By the time Jackson died, he was perhaps whiter than any white man that you know. Those who looked at the constant stream of replayed televised interviews, at the pale skin, the thin lips painted red, the straight hair, saw in his face the psychological wound that has scarred so many in the black community.

You line up his album covers, from "Got to Be There" when he was 13 and brown with a big-tooth grin, to "Off the Wall," when he still had a beautiful nose and a big Afro, to "Thriller," when his skin was still beautiful brown, but his nose was smaller, to "Bad," when his nose was even thinner and his skin was white. You trace your finger over the transformation, looking for a clue as to why the lips changed, the nose became more upturned, the brown skin faded until it was bleached beyond recognition.

"He is an over-the-top manifestation of that undercurrent in the black community," says Alice M. Thomas, associate professor of law at Howard University. "If you are light, you are all right. If you are brown, you can stick around. If you are black, get back."

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