This is Interesting

While I was on Spring Break back in March, I saw television coverage of a killing spree in south Alabama that killed 10 people. It was a big deal because these were small towns, not used to violence like this.  This is not the area of Alabama that I'm from, but still, it hits home. Interestingly enough, the police just released information from a note the killer left in a relative's mailbox before shooting himself. All of this would be interesting enough, but, the really interesting part is why the info is just be released. According to a CNN report, it came after local paper The Dothan Eagle, put in an open records request for the letter. Good to know reporters in my home state work hard to find the truth.

Older Interview

The semester is almost over! In going back over all my old stories and audio clips, my professor and I came up with a different number of audio stories that should have been on the blog. I knew I had done an audio piece for every story he required be accompanied, but I only had four stories on my blog(?)

Well, seems like I didn't do my counting correctly! My first audio story, featuring an interview with Hannah Hodges about women's safety on campus, was posted on the class blog back on March 20! Took me a while to realize my mistake until my box.net account (which allows me to upload files to share online) told me where I had previously shared the interview. 

So I don't get myself all confused again, here's the interview. I must say, its pretty neat when technology actually makes life easier.

In the Event of a Tornado

So this week, I did a simple story that required me to go talk to people of stature. What should you do if you are in class when a tornado warning comes out for Athens-Clarke County??

Well, if you are in the SLC (excuse me Zell fans...MLC) you might want to look for security guard Chris Wade, because he knows exactly what to do. 

AUDIO CLIP

Job: I haz one!

Today I got word that I'll be getting the internship with blurt magazine.  I'll be expanding their readership (hopefully) by helping them branch into social networking and all that kind of fun stuff.  I think it will be good experience in the new form of online journalism and how we can reach out. 

Also, today (due to class) I missed a great opportunity to hear eight Iraqi journalists speak. I would have really liked that. I've recently been doing some future-planning with the future Mr. Jackson (see what I did there?), and I may end up doing some form of journalism in the Middle East myself. We'll see what's to come, but who could turn down an opportunity to work in one of the richest places in the world? 

A short story

For this week's Public Affairs Reporting class, I'm writing about the number one crime on campus, theft, and how students can avoid it. The top suggestion? Simply enough, "if its important to you, keep it with you." This is a lesson Joe Sibony learned the hard way.

Incidentally, I'm enjoying covering the police. After growing up with one as a father and working with them for a couple of years as a trainer and secretary, I had mixed feelings on them. Personally, they are good or bad like anyone else, but my generation's distrust of the police and my natural cynicism towards government have not allowed me to ignore the good these people do. Chief Williamson of the UGA police, for example, is always good about getting back to me on the very day I leave a message with him, very willing to reach out to the community. 

Its good to break down your own prejudices. To point them out and make an effort to remove the stereotypes you've created.

AUDIO CLIP

I. F. Stone

This week I finished my paper on I.F. Stone, one of the fathers of dissident media. For one of my classes, we had to pick a deceased media mentor and argue what he or she would say about a problem facing the media today. I chose to investigate what I.F. Stone would say about partisanship in the media. 

Since he's such a journalistic rebel, I came to the conclusion that Stone would support partisanship, but only if based on personal views, not political parties and their ideas. It got more complicated, but the point is, I enjoyed the research. 

There's a really great site dedicated to Stone where you can read 20 years of his I.F. Stone Weekly .  Its really great for anyone who's interested in opinionated journalism backed by facts and records, not just anger and conjecture. 

Public Affairs

So far for my public affairs class I've written four stories. Its a really good look at the real world of reporting, complete with stress over if a source will call you back in enough time to write your piece and writing around quotes.

The first was a heavy statistical story on campus crime. It was hard to get the hang of, but good practice.

The second was about budget cuts forcing UGA police to cut jobs. I thought it was pretty interesting, and it helped set up a few more stories. 

The third is my favorite. Its about the police reaction to the push to legalize pot in Athens. It will be posted on the site for Stand Up!, UGA's progressive publication, in the next few days. Wait for a bigger post on Stand Up! and everything we do there.  See a short sound clip below.

The fourth, which has yet to be returned, followed up on the budget cuts, this time talking about safety and crime prevention courses being cancelled. See a sound clip about it below.

This week's sound recording

This week's sound recording is about the basic idea behind my next story.  This is the second time I have recorded on my phone, using bluetooth to send it to my computer where I can edit it.

UGA NORML

This semester for Dr. Martin's Public Affairs Reporting 5300 class, I have been covering UGA Police and related stories. 

For the third week's assignment, I worked on a piece detailing NORML at UGA, the group who supported Proposition 42 in front of the Athens-Clarke County board in December. The proposition would legalize small amounts of marijuana being held by those over 18. I talked to members of NORML and the chief of UGA Police because I was interested to know how local law enforcement felt about the crime. 

None of those I interviewed were too keen on being recorded (its often strange how similar the two camps are), so I have recorded myself reading a section of the story with some of (in my opinion) the best quotes.

I Love a Good Protest

While many activists insist that its damaging to a cause to "live in the 60s" (aka carry signs and organize marches), I still think there's a lot to be said for the hippie, old school way of going about things.

Recently, the Living Wage group here at the University of Georgia held a protest in which they marched across campus in a bid to draw attention to the low wages paid to non-faculty employees at the university. Ignoring the university's restrictions on free speech, they left the Tate Student Center (one of two free speech zones on campus) to march to President Adams' office. The Red and Black student newspaper, for once, has some pretty solid coverage, complete with video.

A Statement of Purpose

I plan to use this blog to 1) promote my own skills as a journalist and photojournalist, and 2) discuss important stories, trends, and changes within the journalism community as a whole. I hope to especially focus on progressive issues and writing.  As a member of the dissident press (check out my magazine's webpage at www.standupuga.org), I feel it is vastly important to give a voice to those not represented in main stream media and society. 

For an interesting time waster, check out the story of Ida B. Wells. She's and impressive historical figure for women, African Americans, and the progressive press as a whole. I can't believe it took three years of study in one of the nation's top journalism programs for me to hear about her groundbreaking work.