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Chatroulette: Where You Can Webcam With a Journalist

By Josh Sprague Mar 06, 2010 3:27pm

The Daily Show - ChatrouletteJohn Stewart satirizes recent Chatroulette coverage with the help of noteworthy broadcast journalists. For those unfamiliar, Chatroulette is a site that randomly pairs users for webcam chats. The story could have been made in test tube for its perfect combination of technology fear-mongering and pornography skirting. The Daily Show's critique applies to reporters' immaturity in discussing the site and in making a story out of nothing really new for the Internet. The video is after the jump.
 
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The Prospects for Students of Science Journalism

By Josh Sprague Mar 05, 2010 11:48am

Is science journalism sustainable or will emerging students of the craft have to invent their own jobs? This is the topic of a short discussion between Thomas Hayden (Educator at Stanford University) and John Horgan (Director at Stevens Center for Science Writings). Whether academia is proving to be "safe harbor" for journalists and how a professor approaches encouraging students to forge debt-ridden into a dubious field are other good bits amongst the thoughts shared here. The video is after the jump.
 
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Tweetgeist: ProPublica shares secret sauce; Radar's faulty Roberts rumor

By Scott Rosenberg Mar 05, 2010 11:11am

Today we will provide no links to information about the iPad's April 3 on-sale date and no links to stories about Twitter's ten-billion-tweet milestone. Instead:

"Recipe" for an investigation: ProPublica drops gumshoe kimono

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Investigative reporters have always been highly competitive. So ProPublica's decision to publish a highly detailed "How we did it" explanation of the approaches and techniques reporters Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber used in their long investigation of California's nursing oversight board is an extraordinary and forward-looking act -- and was greeted as such.

@mthomps This @ProPublica post on their reporting techniques is blowing my mind - http://bit.ly/bHYLVS. EVERY SERIOUS NEWS STORY SHOULD HAVE THIS.

@chanders It's amazing that a practice common for hundreds of years - transparency of method- should feel so impt. http://bit.ly/ayHDFk Yet it does.

ProPublica's editors explained their thinking:

We believe that healthy competition among proud journalists brings more news to light. But in this era of shrinking resources, there is clearly a role for new forms of collaboration....We hope that others will use the techniques created by Ornstein and Weber to hold local officials accountable. Reporters who look into the local boards that oversee nurses or other health professionals will make new discoveries, some of which will undoubtedly go beyond what we have found. That, in turn, will help others push the story ahead. We hope statehouse reporters, beat reporters, general assignment reporters, bloggers, citizen journalists and others will use this road map.

ProPublica's Amanda Michel tweeted a reminder that the entire "recipe" was published under Creative Commons license so the information could be easily republished.
 
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Megyn Kelly's Coverage of the Health Care Debate

By Josh Sprague Mar 04, 2010 4:38pm

Two sides exampleThe Daily Show featured a criticism-rich segment about Megyn Kelly's America Live show on Fox News. The subjects of criticism include the myth of "two sides," man-on-the-street perspectives, and inconsistency in perspective on polls. The segment leads with Sarah Palin telling Jay Leno about her journalism school background, but the meatiest bits start around the 2:30-minute mark. The video is after the jump:

 
 
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Tweetgeist: WaPo upgrades Rahm; HuffPo outsources site; bloggers pass as reporters

By Scott Rosenberg Mar 04, 2010 11:32am

Emanuel vs. Obama: Post's shadow play

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An inside-the-Beltway kabuki spilled into public view last week at the Washington Post. First there was a column by Dana Milbank blaming problems in President Obama's first year on the president's failure to do what his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, wanted.

Then the Post ran a lead story by Jason Horowitz, "Hotheaded Emanuel may be White House voice of reason," echoing Milbank's column.

Finally, David Broder's Thursday column declares the obvious:

It sounded, for all the world, like the kind of orchestrated leaks that often precede a forced resignation in Washington. Except that the chief of staff doesn't usually force the president out.... But, as one White House staffer said to me, "Rahm likes to win," and when the losses began to pile up, he probably vented his frustrations to some of his old pals in Congress. It's clear that some of them are talking to the press.

Jay Rosen commented on Horowitz's piece:

@jayrosen_nyu This appears to be about Rahm; but it's really about the worldview of the savvy. And one of the best texts I have found. http://jr.ly/xsad

To which Blake Hounshell responded:

@blakehounshell @jayrosen_nyu Your church of the savvy shtick is really just a plea to make journalists toe a more liberal line.
 
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