Buddy, Can You Spare 500 Words?

Local writers wanted...a nice headline to see in your morning newspaper!

With all of the many items that have been recently occupying my time and mental capacity, there was one thing that instantly caught my attention but took me far too long to post about it here. I was reading the Dayton Daily News on my tablet a couple weeks ago and scrolled onto the "Ideas & Voices" page, the very same one that I recently commented about on this site. In the upper right-hand corner of the displayed page were three words that immediately attracted my eye--local writers wanted! Knowing how financially strapped the newspaper industry is for content these days, I saw this as a potential opportunity to perhaps make my mark--or at least cut my teeth--as an "opinionator".  I continued reading Connie Post's submission.

Are you interested in contributing to our Ideas & Voices page?

My Media Vacation (Part 2 of 3): Philadelphia

[NOTE: this is the second of a three-part series I started last October to document a vacation trip I made with my son back in August 2012 to the East Coast. I am hoping to have the final installment uploaded by the end of this month.]

Independence Hall is seen through the window of Liberty Bell Center at Philadelphia's Independence National Historic Park.

After our half-day extended stay in the New York City area, it was time to head down the Jersey Turnpike to our next destination, Philadelphia. Widely known as "The City of Brotherly Love", it is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the fifth largest in the entire country (trailing only New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and Houston). Also recognized as America's "Cradle of Liberty" because of its vital role during the Revolutionary War, it subsequently served as our nation's capital from 1790 until the White House and Capitol Building were completed in 1800.

Morning News Review - 'CBS This Morning'

[NOTE: this is the third--and sadly last--of an originally anticipated five-part series critiquing morning news offerings from US broadcast and cable news providers that I started back in June 2012.  Like the others, I will provide my take on the composition, the hosts, the 'aesthetics', and any overt/covert 'messaging' that might be present and meant to attract your attention at the breakfast table.]

SHOW:  CBS This Morning
NETWORK/LOCAL AFFILIATE (IF APPLICABLE): CBS/WHIO, Dayton, OH
DATE/TIMES:  7 January 2014/0700-0730
YEAR STARTED: 2012
LOCATION: CBS Broadcast Center, New York, NY
HOSTS: Charlie Rose (co-host), Norah O'Donnell (co-host), Gayle King (co-host)
CORRESPONDENTS: Dean Reynolds (Chicago, IL), Rebekka Schramm (affiliate/Atlanta, GA), Elaine Quijano (LaGuardia International Airport, NY), Megan Glaros (affiliate/Chicago, IL), John Blackstone (San Francisco, CA), Major Garrett (White House), Elizabeth Palmer (Amman, Jordan)
GUESTS: None

FLOW:  The show started promptly at 7AM with a quick three-toned graphic-assisted intro followed by strings/horns playing through the anchor's greetings and a zoom-in to the center of the studio.  Charlie Rose started off the top news items with mentioning the record Arctic blast going through the mid-sections (and approaching the eastern regions) of the country.  Norah O'Donnell brought up the BCS championship football game played the previous evening and also provided a "teaser" for a segment on the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas that would be aired later in the two-hour broadcast.

An "Old Dog" CAN Learn New Tricks!

[NOTE: this is another story that has taken way too long to post here--it was originally from February!] 

The Dayton Daily News dragged me into the "e-edition" world of newspaper reading.

First there were the introduction of symbols (cave paintings, petroglyphs, pictograms, and ideograms).  After writing and alphabets were developed, humans now had systems to document and record events.  Through smoke signals, drums, horns, runners, pigeons, lamps, telegraphy, radio and television, the dissemination of those events could now be more widely and, via those last three, almost instantaneously announced to a global audience.  The introduction of computers and internet-based communications exponentially enhanced this process to the point of almost reversing course and replicating the mediums it replaced.  Streaming audio and video have eliminated the temporal demands of radio and television programming.  Now, with devices and software interfaces to closely resemble the newspaper reading experience, another long-held tradition appears to be biting the dust.

Et Tu, Gray Lady?

This weekly section marked a small, but noticeable, change for The New York Times print edition last week

If you have read any of my other posts on this blog, you might be aware that I am someone who is not a fan of change for change sake, especially when it comes to printed newspapers.  Last spring, I called out my local paper, The Dayton Daily News, for making cosmetic changes to their publication that, in my opinion, were unwarranted and simply a ploy to placate their readership's current whims.  In a follow-up piece, I expressed my displeasure with the folks at The New York Times Magazine for toying around with different fonts for its masthead in, what I hoped would be, a one-time experiment.  I haven't seen any subsequent violations of that "sacrosanct" journalism symbol since, but you can imagine my surprise when I took yesterday's copy of The New York Times out of its protective plastic sleeve and saw the wholesale changes they made to the entire paper (minus the news section, the magazine and the Book Review).

Guest Papers: At the Supermarket

Normally attracting only a cursory glance at the check-out counter, this newscaster-featuring edition of the National Examiner piqued my curiosity

 In the United States, there are over 36,000 supermarkets (defined as having $2+ million in annual sales) and many more other retail and convenience outlets that share one common trait:  newspaper racks.  They could be of a modern metal variety or crafted out of wood.  They might hold several editions from all around the local area or just display the town's daily or weekly offering for purchase.  They can be free standing all by themselves or integrated into the structure of the cash register and optical scanner at  the check-out counter.  However your favorite location is configured/stocked, I will openly predict that there is at least one (or perhaps both) of the papers I am featuring in this post available to you to thumb through--and perhaps even purchase.

In Memorium: Neil Armstrong

If you are a reader of my blog, you will know that this is only the second time that I have used "In Memorium" in the title of a post.  Many others have deserved such recognition in the period between that November 2011 item on Andy Rooney and this piece on the passing of American astronaut Neil Armstrong and I apologize for not being as vigilant as I should concerning my submissions.

In that previous post, I said I would use that slug individuals "deserving thanks for their contributions to journalism and/or the media."  You might be scratching your head right now trying to see the connection between the Ohio astronaut and those two areas but, for me and scores of millions of people around the world, his July 1969 achievement was the first news story that we can actually remember happening in our lifetimes.

My Media Weekend

[NOTE: this article addresses what I experienced last weekend, not the current one. I really have to start focusing on my deadline "issues".]

From top clockwise, the closing ceremonies of the 2012 Summer Olympics, the unveiling of Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney's vice-presidential nominee, and a promotional graphic for the movie The Campaign

After a week of getting reacquainted with my job and completing the final project for my Intro to Online Journalism course, I had the chance to relax a bit and take in some television and movie watching and get back into my regular routine of sampling the many media sources I have access to.

Guest Papers: Vacation Edition (Part 4 and Final)

Here is the last grouping from my trip back to Ohio on Saturday, featuring papers from the District of Columbia, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio.  My only regret is that I could not find copies of The Onion or Politico in any vending machines around the District.  Represented are Washington, DC (The Washington Post, The Washington Times), McLean (USA Today), Frederick (The Frederick News-Post), Morgantown (The Dominion Post), Charleston (The Saturday Gazette-Mail), Washington (The Observer-Reporter), Pittsburgh (The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Tribune-Review), Wheeling (The Intelligencer) and Columbus (The Columbus Dispatch).

Guest Papers: Vacation Edition (Part 3)

Another batch from along my route, featuring papers from Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and the District of Columbia.  Represented are Philadelphia (The Philadelphia Daily News), Upper Derby Township (The Delaware County Daily Times), Wilmington (The News Journal), Baltimore (The Baltimore Sun) and a variety of community and issue-focused editions from Washington, DC (Street Sense, The Washington Examiner, The Epoch Times, The Washington City Paper, The Washington Blade, The Washington Informer, and The Washington Diplomat).

Guest Papers: Vacation Edition (Part 2)

More from along my route, featuring papers from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York.  Represented are Wilkes-Barre (The Citizens' Voice and The Times Leader/Sunday Dispatch), Scranton (The Times-Tribune), northern New Jersey (The Record), Newark (The Star-Ledger), New York City (The New York Daily News, The New York Post, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times) and Philadelphia (The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Weekly).

Guest Papers: Vacation Edition (Part 1)

 
As you've probably noticed, I haven't posted here in a little while.  Part of the reason is due to the compressed nature of my current college course and another is a lingering bout of bronchitis that I can't seem to shake.  One last cause for this absence has been the preparation for a summer vacation I've been planning since the spring.  My high school class is having a get-together this weekend and I have traveled by car back to Pennsylvania to attend.  It's been many years since I've seen many of these folks and I'm looking forward to meeting them and talking about the 'good old days'.

I Guess This Means No

My vote has been negated

If you read my earlier post concerning the recent change of typeface/font by the Dayton Daily News, you would know that I was not happy at all about it.  As a person who possesses a 'critical eye', such a change to a product that I've become very familiar with over the past dozen years or so was a shock to my system--so much so that I drafted my response to it here on the blog and sent Jana Collier an email with a link to my critique.  I didn't get a formal reply to my submission but I found this item related to the change tucked in the bottom corner of page A2 of last Tuesday's DDN. 

An Unnecessary 'Face Lift'

Is ANYTHING off limits, Ms. Collier?

Over the past few months, I've been getting emails and seeing updates from Jana Collier, editor of the Dayton Daily News, about improvements to the paper and updates about stories the news room is currently covering.  This is part of a self-promotion initiative started last November when the paper announced an increase in readership--the first such rise in the past decade.  The latest update I was notified about concerned changes to the DDN's "Life" section (expanded coverage and a weekly schedule for specific items--i.e. Life & Arts on Sundays, Life & Health on Tuesdays, Life & Food on Wednesdays).  All-in-all, none of these seemed to be very drastic and were merely attempts by the paper at organizing content and rebranding their local investigative and news coverage which, in the big scheme of things, did not detract from the aesthetics surrounding reading the Dayton region's "paper of record".  Unfortunately, that would all change this past Sunday.

I'm "Old School", Too

Sunday's "Hi and Lois" comic strip (courtesy of King Features Syndicate)

I love being educated when I least expect it and this Sunday's edition of the Hi and Lois comic strip did not disappoint me. In the 8-panel strip seen above, Hirum 'Hi' Flagston announces to his family members that he is heading out to the local market to buy a copy of the Sunday newspaper.  When he tells his wife Lois, she gives him an automatic "that's nice" response while typing away on her desktop computer.  When he walks down the hallway, he informs the twins of his plans and they give similar nonchalant replies while engrossed in their portable electronic devices (a laptop computer and some sort of tablet device).  As he heads out the door, he tells his older son Chip, who is lying on the couch with a laptop, what he's doing and gets a somewhat ageist--although authentic teenaged-- comment in return ("so old school").

Guest Paper: Dayton Weekly News

While not meeting the geographical conditions I originally established for this feature (and I've stretched those rather thin in an earlier entry here), I am highlighting a local periodical for this 'guest' paper spotlight.  Although a resident of this area for most of the past 12 years, I never heard of the Dayton Weekly News prior to the 'hoodie' rally I attended this past Sunday.  During my coverage of that event, I had the good fortune of talking with two photographers who regularly provide images to that paper.  The publication also got mentioned during the program by several speakers.  And when I went across the street looking for some water after the rally ended, the store I stopped by had copies sitting out on their newsstand.  I do believe in coincidences (and fate) so I plunked down my 'four bits' and walked out with the edition pictured above.

Guest Paper: Cincinnati Enquirer

I created this series last fall to document my random purchases and acquisitions of local and regional newspapers of interest but before I bought Saturday's edition of the Cincinnati Enquirer during my trip down to Blue Ash, none of those were what I would call 'keepers'--papers that I might store away for posterity due to its historical or personal significance

My Sentiments Exactly!

"Hi and Lois" courtesy of King Features Syndicate

It's not often that a comic strip attracts undue attention from me but yesterday's edition of Hi and Lois appeared to take a page directly out of my day-to-day life.  In the two panels above, we see a short but succinct representation of the current transition of the newspaper industry from a paper-based paradigm to one with an online domain.  'Thirsty' Thurston, on the left with his impartially branded laptop computer, represents the future of information distribution to consumers.  Hiram "Hi" Flagston, on the right with an equally impartial newspaper, is a fan of the more traditional medium.

Recent Journalism-related Articles

I haven't done this in a while but I am mentioning two articles that I read in today's edition of the New York Times due to their ties to my current field of study.

The first reviews the current struggles at the Washington Post, the Times' true competitor for the the title of "America's paper of record," as they contend with the financial issues surrounding all traditional news outlets in the wake of the Internet's intrusion upon previously successful business models. 

Unscheduled Trip Back Home

 Four days...1200+ miles...and 12 newspapers!

As I mentioned in my previous posting, a death in my extended family had me undertake a long-distance 'road trip' earlier this month.  It was an unexpected event so I had very little time to prepare for the 500-mile drive to arrive in time for the funeral.  To keep my previous blog promise, I finished my post on the Herman Cain campaign stop in the wee hours of the 1st and turned in for a couple of hours of sleep before heading out of town early that same morning.  On the way out, I stopped for gas and liquid refreshments and picked up a copy of the local paper to compare my online work to that produced by Dayton Daily News staff writers Lynn Hulsey and Justin McClelland.  Satisfied that I hit all the salient points of that visit, I cracked a smile at the register, paid for my goods, and strapped myself into the driver's seat for the long ground trek ahead.