Are Tabloids Considered Newsworthy?

Our discussion last night about the John Edwards tabloid article got me thinking about tabloids. Are tabloids newsworthy? I think the National Enquirer article about Edwards was newsworthy, if you consider that the National Enquirer is one of the most popular "magazines" being sold today. There must be an audience that reads the Enquirer religiously otherwise the Enquirer would go out of business.

I admit, I love to read Us Weekly. But my guess is that some people out there don't think that an article about Brad and Angelina's new baby is newsworthy.

Our Creative Editing book lists the criteria to determine if a story is newsworthy:
1. Timeliness (up-to-the-minute information)
2. Proximity (something that happens nearby physically or geographically)
3. Prominence (people who are well-known or hold positions of prominence)
4. Relevance (how many people are affected by this event or story?)
5. Unusualness (enough said)
6. Conflict (should involve more than two positions)
7. Human interest (stories that touch readers' lives..)

If we go by these criteria, we could say that tabloids are newsworthy. Especially the facets of prominence and unusualness. I mean, how many times in your life are you going to read a story about a man who gets prank called by aliens?

Questions for Ethical Decision-Making

How often do any of us stop to ask ourselves 10 questions before we make a decision? My guess is that none of us do this very often. However, according to Bob Steele on the site Poynteronline, successful journalists need to ask themselves 10 questions if they are facing a moral or ethical dilemma.

I agree with the author in that it is important to take time to weigh decisions. I think decisions are made quickly in this fast-paced world. Sometimes it's best to make quick decisions, especially if you are in an environment like journalism. However, I also think there is a place for questions like this, especially if what you are doing could affect your own career and the lives of others.

Good-bye, World

In an English online article, article author Jeffrey Blyth reports that American newspapers are drastically scaling back foreign news.

Evidently, newspapers in the United States cannot afford to keep journalists who report on world news. And this is even at a time when we need news from abroad more than ever.

It's as if we are saying that we don't care about what happens in the world anymore. That is a scary thought, because we need to be more aware of what's going on in the world more than at any other time in history. Take the attacks of September 11 as an example. Is it possible that we would have taken more precautions on airport checkpoints if we knew that there were inklings of rampant anti-American sentiment in the Middle East? Could we have prevented such attacks if we, the general public, had any idea of what was happening overseas?

In my opinion, Americans in general tend to be blase about world news. It's time we open our eyes to what's happening all over the globe, not just the United States.

Texting "vocabulary"

Enuf alrdy! I cant std how ppl spk via txt ths dys!

I thought=methought
washed=wshd
Google It=GI
f**king Google it=FGI
love=lov
dirty=drty
little=lil
parents=Ps
dating=datin

The best undergraduate journalism schools

Per this website:

"What to look for: Do the professors have professional journalism experience? Can students take classes in photojournalism, TV, audio and online media as well as reporting and writing? What opportunities do students have to practice their skills? Does the school operate a TV studio? Is there a daily student newspaper?

Ball State University
Programs in journalism graphics, magazine, news-editorial, photojournalism.

Indiana University - Bloomington
One journalism program, with advanced courses in newspaper, magazine, broadcast news, photojournalism, editing, and news analysis and opinion writing.

University of Florida
Programs in reporting, editing, magazine, online, photojournalism, broadcast news.

University of Maryland
Programs in broadcast, online, and print journalism.

University of Missouri
Programs in convergence journalism, magazine, newspaper, photojournalism, radio-television.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Programs in electronic communication, news-editorial, journalism, visual communication."

Personally I'm biased. I think the University of Missouri in Columbia is the best journalism school, but my cousin Anne went to J-school there.

Political News

In this glorious election season, we are hounded daily by political "ticker" blogs and so forth. But does anyone ever take time to read them? I noticed Slate has a great section on politics and I just wanted to share the link.

I found the Obamaisms very funny!

I read a few short snippets and I think the articles are very well written and interesting.

The Good Fight?

It seems the days of Walter Kronkite-like journalism are over. Never in history has journalism been under so much scrutiny due to lack of morals and ethics. Remember how Woodward and Bernstein gave so much of themselves to uncover Watergate? Now, compare Woodward and Bernstein with today's morally lacking "journalists" like Jayson Blair, who we remember plagiarized his way to career suicide.

Are the days of moral journalism over? I think it would be a shame if we couldn't trust what we read in the news anymore. I love to read the news, I think it is a basic American right to be able to trust what we read in the news. I can only hope that I stay optimistic in the years and decades to come....