This was disturbing. It seems that thanks to blogging, journalism has been reduced to little McDonalds size chunks, and it’s killing the people involved- hey, much like McDonalds! I can’t really say much, there’s one Gawker Media site, Kotaku, that I read every day. I would have gotten an internship with them, too, if only I could have moved to Denver.

I’m no stranger to marathon sessions on the computer. If it isn’t things like World of Warcraft or Dawn of War keeping me on the computer for hours on end, it’s the lovely projects journalism students have to do at the end of every semester. I found a great antidote for these problems – go outside. When you know that your job consists of sitting in front of a computer for hours on end, you might want to invest in a treadmill and change your diet a little.

Phil Banker

phil.banker@gmail.com

The Federal Bureau of Prisons returned religious materials to prison chapel libraries after withering pressure from spiritual groups, civil libertarians and members of Congress.

The bureau removed the materials after a 2004 report said that certain religious books could incite violence in the prison population.

After the publication of the report, several Republican lawmakers, as well as liberal Christians and evangelical talk show hosts decried the government’s idea of acceptable religious books.

Even though the list of acceptable books will still be compiled, according to spokeswoman Judi Simon Garrett, the books will now remain on the shelves.

The bureau’s review of the religious texts will be complete by January 2008.

Links:

American Civil Liberties Union

Office for Intellectual Freedom

Federal Bureau of Prisons

“The “Five I’s” of digital storytelling are: interactivity, involvement, immediacy, integration and in-depth opportunities. A student who attends your university is killed on the interstate as he returns to school after the Thanksgiving holiday. A tractor trailer was involved in the crash just a few miles before the exit that leads to your school. The stretch of highway that runs through the area has become increasingly dangerous, with six fatalities so far this year, five of which involved trucks. Traffic doubled in twenty years. And while the road was designed to carry 15 percent truck traffic, 40 percent of the vehicles that travel the two-lane highway today are trucks.”

In scenario A, where you are working under a tight deadline with limited resources, some of the five I’s are difficult if not impossible to achieve. Getting “In-depth opportunities” and pursuing them involves time, which you won’t have in a breaking news situation.

With regards to immediacy and interactivity, pictures of the crash and photos of those involved can be easily found and thrown on a website. Also, if you were able to get a backpack journalist to the crash site, you can get photos and a Soundslides slide show up on the site very easily. A quick Google Maps location of the crash site can also be posted with the photos.  You could also integrate news footage from collaborating TV news stations in a pinch. To involve the readers, you could post a link to a site where they can leave condolences for the deceased. The emphasis in a breaking news situation always has to be accuracy and immediacy, innovation can come later.

Given time and resources, more possibilities open up. You could use Flash to create an interactive timeline of all the crashes on that particular stretch of highway. You could also get audio/video interviews with the mayor of the town, the city manager, the trucking company, and the family of the dead student. One has to be mindful of what interactive elements you add to the story, to maintain the correct level of respect for the dead while at the same time providing your readers with the best information possible.

Phil Banker

phil.banker@gmail.com

U.S. President George Bush is announcing an increase of $100 million in U.S. funding for equipment and training of African peacekeepers as part of the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur.

According to a press release on Tuesday, $12 million of this increase will go to training Rwandan troops in Darfur, as well as equipment costs. The White House says that the U.S. has already spent more than $17 million in Rwandan troop training.

The press release said “the United States is committed to ending the genocide in Darfur and continues to lead the world in responding to the crisis there.”

The recent increase in UNAMID funding is one of many efforts by the U.S. government to end the violence in Darfur, which has been raging since February 2003. The U.S has pushed for the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, signed in January 2005. More recently on Dec. 21, 2007, President Bush named Richard S. Williamson as special envoy to Sudan.

In addition to humanitarian aid, the U.S. has pursued harsh sanctions against Sudan in an effort to encourage a peaceful end to the violence. The U.S. has imposed economic sanctions on seven Sudanese people and more than 160 companies owned by the Sudanese government. Existing sanctions reinforced by the U.S. deny Sudanese banks use of the U.S. financial system or money.

Click here to read the full press release.

I chose the Victoria Advocate website for my assignment. The Victoria Advocate is a daily newspaper serving Victoria, Texas and the surrounding areas in Southeast Texas. I am familiar with this website, because I have been trying to get an internship with them for a while.

The Advocate site, while very intuitive and advanced, is still solely for content for the paper. The top of the site even has links where you can manage your subscription to the paper itself.

However, the Web site is as full of interactive content as any other major newspaper. The Advocate produces its own video, as opposed to using TV content. There are also polls, reader commentary, and user-submitted content. There is even a place to set up your own blog. There is even a tag cloud for the blogs.

The Victoria Advocate is solely a site for the paper, but the paper staff creates its own Web exclusive content.

This is a test of the Emergency Weblog system. If this had been an actual post, actual content would have followed this message.