Journalism Geek Reunion

The weekend before Thanksgiving, I was giving thanks for the great group of people I found at PC. Rick and I went down to Providence for a 75th Anniversary Celebration for The Cowl, PC's student newspaper. I was lovingly referring to the weekend as my 'nerd reunion.'

I had been looking forward to the get-together for quite a while and it was great to see so many old friends. I was fortunate to work with such a fun group of people while I was on The Cowl and I was happy to see them in person-- since I've only "seen" many of them via Twitter or Facebook in the past few years.



The event itself was great; we had a cocktail hour and then a dinner and speaking program. We had two talented Cowl alumni speak -- including Mallary Tenore '07! -- and then we continued toasting our journalism glory days at McPhail's: PC's on-campus bar.



However, the highlight of the evening was when someone found a current Cowl editor and he let a few dozen of us into the office. We then became what Rick called "kids on Christmas morning" as we pulled out the old archives, laughing at old typos and remembering long nights in the office. Geek Fest, I know.

It was so much fun to get together with old friends and reminisce. I was also reminded of how much my time on The Cowl encouraged my writing and shaped my future. I'm so lucky to have found nerds like me when I was at school!

Photos: 75 years of word nerds; Kristin and I getting silly; With Mallary and Christine at McPhail's.

Telling the important stories

I love a good story. That love of stories made me a voracious reader and writer as a child and it drove me to pursue journalism as an adult.

A well-told story--whether it's true or imagined--should expand one's horizons and leave the reader or listener thinking. Unfortunately, I think many of these stories fall through the cracks in today's media because of limited TV time or page space or because of the overwhelming amount of information available online.

Some readers and viewers may search for the sensational or gossipy stories, but the job of journalists is to tell the stories that matter. Too often, these stories remain untold for many different reasons.

While I believe the news should not be sugar-coated or dumbed down, we still need to make an effort to get the positive and inspirational stories out there, too.

NBC Nightly News does a great job of this. It runs a reoccurring segment called "Making a Difference", in which the story of a person or organization striving for positive change is told. These types of interesting and unique stories capture my attention and inspire me to find these kinds of people in my neighborhood so I can get their messages out there.

"Making a Difference" always runs at the end of the newscast--probably to leave viewers thinking about what they just saw and with some hope...

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

McChrystal, Rolling Stone and Journalism

My latest piece for YPNation focuses on the repercussions of Gen. Stanley McChrystal and his comments in Rolling Stone. The article and McChrystal's resignation are now old news, but my commentary looks at how this debacle could affect the media. I predict that journalists are going to have a very difficult time getting access to top officials in the future because of what happened with McChrystal. Check it out here and let me know what you think.

Will Tiger be forgiven?

By now, you've undoubtedly seen Tiger Woods' Feb. 19 public statement and apology (unless you're purposely avoiding it).

And by now, the media, Tiger's sponsors, fans and former fans worldwide have all chimed in with their opinions on the apology -- debating whether it was sincere or not or whether he needed to apologize in the first place.

But I'm not going to analyze his statement or discuss whether I think he should have apologized or not-- I don't care to and I think it's old news at this point. What I have been thinking about the past few days is Tiger's treatment for his reported sex addiction and its implications. (Reported addiction because he admitted that he had affairs and has been in treatment and therapy, but he hasn't come right out and said he's an addict.)

I think whether or not members of the public will forgive Tiger largely hinges on if they believe that sex addiction is a true disease or not. Many media critics pointed out that Tiger's apology seemed like a step in the 12-step recovery process, which is a part of rehabilitation for sex addiction-- just like alcohol or drug addiction. But sex addiction doesn't seem to be accepted as a true disease like alcohol or drug addiction.

Is Tiger an addict? Was he in control of his actions or was his disease in control? I think if folks believe that his disease was in control, they will be more likely to forgive him and accept that he was sick at the time of his indiscretions. If Tiger had come out and said he was a drug addict, it would have been acknowledged that he had a problem and needed help. (He wouldn't have been granted a clean slate, but celebrity drug addiction certainly isn't a new phenomenon.) Sex addiction is trickier. There are plenty of people out there who believe sex addiction isn't a true disease and it's more of an excuse for his out-of-control behavior.

Months ago, Bill Simmons wisely pointed out that "America is always more forgiving when the words 'addiction' is introduced." Whether people believe that Tiger's addiction is true or just another PR ploy remains to be seen.

If Tiger is truly a sex addict, then rehab is the right place for him to start to put his life back together and get his addiction under control.

And if Tiger isn't an addict and is in rehab as part of a massive image makeover, then I hope he spends every day thinking about what a disastrous mess he made of his family and career.

My Two Cents on the National Enquirer/Edwards Debacle

I know that the National Enquirer's John Edwards scoop is now old news, but I still wanted to blog about it since I looked at the ordeal from an academic perspective last summer and I was surprised with what I found.

For my final paper in my journalism ethics class, I chose to research whether or not the National Enquirer followed journalism ethics while investigating the John Edwards/Rielle Hunter affair story and why the tabloid broke a story that was mostly ignored by the mainstream media. We had briefly discussed the issue in class and I decided to take a closer look at it. At the time that I was writing the paper (Aug. 2009), Edwards had admitted that he had an affair with Hunter, but he denied her baby was his and he was being investigated by a grand jury to determine if he misused campaign funds.

Now we all know that many claims the Enquirer has made about Edwards have proven to be true, as the paper has maintained all along that Hunter's baby was fathered by Edwards. It's safe to say that Edwards' political career is ruined and some of the mainstream media has now admitted that they dropped the ball with this story.

So how did the National Enquirer break such a scandalous story during a huge political election?

When I first began research for this story, I thought I would find some shady practices undertaken by the Enquirer, but I was surprised that the tab seemed to have broken the story through good old-fashioned making phone calls and pounding pavement investigative reporting.

I determined that the tabloid not only exercised news judgment, as it didn't name Hunter as Edwards' mistress in its first story even though it had identified her, but the paper also repeatedly reached out to the Edwards camp for comment.

The Enquirer does pay for tips, but the editors openly admit this and say the paper only pays after a tip is confirmed, which they compare to the police rewarding news tips. The Edwards story began with an anonymous tip through the paper's tip line and an editorial decision was made to have an investigative team put on the story.

The tabloid stuck with the story for months; tracking down leads, conducting stakeouts and staging a (certainly questionable) "spy photo" camera to capture Edwards meeting Hunter and her baby at a hotel.

And while the argument might have been made that a story about a political candidate having an affair is not news, I disagree in this situation. As I wrote in my paper: "The mainstream media failed to investigate a matter of public interest when it didn’t look into the Enquirer’s allegations since Hunter had worked on Edwards’ campaign. Because of the Enquirer’s reporting work, Edwards is now the center of a federal investigation on whether he misused campaign funds to pay off his former mistress—a claim that most media outlets would love to make."

The Enquirer should by no means become an industry ethics role model or the authority on all news, but the Edwards story was not a fluke (Tiger Woods' affair broken by the Enquirer) and old fashioned reporting values and tactics have a place at the paper.


Interesting story on the issue in The New Republic in 2008 here.

National Enquirer photo through Google Images

Black and White and Read All Over

Back in my PC days, I spent most of my time in a small, window-less basement office filled with old computers and crappy technology. There were plenty of late nights and the office often smelled like old pizza and breadsticks.

Despite these seemingly harsh work conditions, hundreds of Friars have logged countless hours on the bottom floor of the Slavin Student Center to ensure the college's only student-run newspaper arrives in newsstands on campus each week.

Next year, The Cowl will celebrate its 75th year. This milestone has caught the attention of a few alums who had the idea of marking the occasion. Well, a couple of emails later and now there's an informal committee of Cowl alums on board (including yours truly) to plan a celebration for The Cowl's 75th Anniversary.

My three years on The Cowl were filled with (actual) blood, sweat and tears, and it often stressed me out more than it should have, but many of my fondest PC memories involve Cowl people or Cowl parties.

The Cowl was also where I first thought that I might be able to make a career of writing. I had always done well in school when it came reading and writing and I was an English major at PC, but I didn't have much confidence in my non-academic writing. The Cowl changed all that (even though most of the stuff I wrote back then makes me cringe nowadays) and made me realize that I could write and write well.

I know I'm not the only one with sentimental feelings about The Cowl, as the enthusiastic responses to the 75th Anniversary party-planning emails have shown. I just hope we can plan a shindig that does The Cowl justice.

Hartford Marathon 10-10-09

Scenes from the 16th Annual Hartford Marathon. The race included the marathon, a half-marathon, a 5k and a kids' run.

Music via YouTube.

Tweeting M.O.A.

I joined Twitter today. Late to the game, I know, but I couldn't resist Twitter any longer.

I'm hoping my page will bring more readers to the blog (which is why my Twitter name is my blog name), and I wanted to see for myself what the site was all about.

I'm sure I'm going to love Twitter and tweet frequently, but I have had conflicted feelings about it over the past year. We frequently discussed Twitter in J-School and its influence on the industry. Many of the jobs postings I'm looking at now are interested in candidates that are well-versed in social media sites and virtually all publications are now using Twitter.

In our school discussions, many of us were uneasy with how Twitter has changed journalism. To quote a celebrity/actor/public figure using a tweet from his or her page seemed like the easy way out. No dogged pursuit for a quote or numerous phone calls to a PR person like the journalists in the "old days"-- reporters can now just search Twitter to get a thought or statement from the source. And I'm not quite sure how I feel about that. I think I would only use someone's tweet in a story if I confirmed that it was coming directly from him/her.

Twitter also allows anyone to act as a citizen journalist or an opinionated columnist. Does this threaten journalism? Does it threaten journalism any more than blogs, online forums and Facebook already does?

Despite my hesitations, I can't deny that Twitter is an amazing tool. It allows us to connect with others and gain unprecedented access to figures we otherwise couldn't approach. I just don't want it to take the place of traditional reporting--nor do I think that it should.

It will be interesting to see how Twitter grows and changes in the next year. As far as my own Twitter use...here goes nothing.

A City Says Goodbye

I made a brief slideshow of photos I took today as Ted's motorcade passed through City Hall. It was quite a scene and amazing to see how many people came out to say goodbye...

Home Stretchhh

I officially only have two more days left in my master's program. Granted, they will be a very busy two days but then I will have a master's in journalism and (hopefully) a long career as a journalist ahead of me!

In the midst of all the final project craziness, I have been remembering to keep a perspective on things and I haven't been as stressed out as I thought I would be. I've taking a bunch of photos for my photojournalism final and I'll be sure to post that slideshow on here once I'm done with it. In the meantime, some recent photos of wanderings around Boston are below-- I was out looking for inspiration and the subject of my final project!

Speaking of inspiration, we had an awesome guest speaker in photo-j tonight: Lou Jones. He has literally traveled around the world again and again on various photo assignments and his photos are beautiful. He was a very funny, engaging speaker and so talented. His Web portfolio is worth looking at.

It was inspiring to see his photos, but also to see someone who seems so satisfied in his career. It gives me hope that there is creative, fulfilling work out there...enough hope that I walked an extra couple blocks before hopping on the T tonight because I was in a good mood.

Cyberspacing out

I am one week away from getting my master's, have three final projects due and need to find a job. One would think that this would mean I'd be spending every spare moment on the computer diligently researching my projects and looking for jobs, but I prefer to use my time online to surf my favorite time-wasting Web sites.

Besides my old celebrity gossip standbys, there are a few more spots I've been frequenting lately. Over at the Globe, I enjoy the Love Letters blog and the Names blog-- relationship problems and celeb gossip with a New England connection, respectively. Both are written by Meredith Goldstein, so I'm pretty jealous of her and wish I had her job.

Randomly, I'm also checking people's Twitter feeds, too. Random since I don't have a Twitter account and I'm sort of anti-Twitter. But I do enjoy Lance Armstrong (Rick's influence) and Martha Stewart's pages.

Now go surf and waste some very valuable time.

Get ready to feel lazy

I created this slideshow for my class this week. It stars a 94-year-old shop owner in my neighborhood. She is a real hot ticket and works by herself every day. She has no intention of retiring either!

And you thought you worked hard!

Slideshow Fun

I made my first slideshow last week for Photojournalism. It was time-consuming, but fun. Enjoy my first real multimedia project!

Wannabe Shutterbug

I've been taking a photojournalism class for the past few weeks and it's definitely led me to think about storytelling in a new way. I took a photography class in high school and have dabbled in it since then.

But I'm now looking at photos in a new way and loving the challenge of telling a whole story or capturing a moment in just a few photos. I'm also going to start creating audio slideshows, so hopefully I'll have some cool things to share here soon.

In the meantime, check out the pros at these great blogs at The Globe and The NY Times.

Lopez on Jackson

During one of my journalism classes, my professor suggested we read LA Times columnist Steve Lopez's column on the MJ Memorial. We were discussing great columnists and my professor (who was an editor at the LAT) said Lopez's columns are well-written and a good read. The MJ column was a recent and entertaining observation.

I agree with what Lopez wrote on the memorial spectacle and wanted to share it here. I know I said last week's post would be the final word on Jackson, but good writing is always worth sharing.

Interesting Note: Lopez is the columnist whose experience finding a homeless musician on the street inspired him to write a book. That book became The Soloist film, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx.

Media + MJ = Bad News (pun intended)

If there's one thing I've learned in journalism school, it's that journalists aren't too well liked in many parts of the world. Plenty of articles and surveys reveal the public's distrust of journalists and the widely-held belief that journalists sensationalize and are biased.

My personal experience has also left me well aware of the feelings people hold about my chosen profession. During interviews, people have asked me if I was going to be a "sensational journalist" or told me about about how the media always lies and exaggerates. I took offense to the fact that people would make broad assumptions about an entire industry.

BUT the past two weeks have convinced me that the media pretty much deserves its bad reputation. The coverage of Michael Jackson's death has been absolutely ridiculous. The non-stop TV specials, magazine covers and online articles have just been too much.

I know the man was strange and his death is international news, but other newsworthy items have practically been grazed over since MJ died. And today's memorial/funeral/celebrity spectacle was on virtually every channel. I understand that many people wanted to see the memorial, but did we really need commentators for each blow by blow of the event? (Most channels had journalists speaking during each pause in the program.)

Don't get me started about the Today show, either. They've really gone over the top in my opinion. I'm sure every other morning show has been the same way, but I choose (or maybe chose) to watch Today. Today has had an MJ segment every day and last week Matt Lauer got a tour of Neverland, which has been empty for years. I had to laugh when Matt said something when looking in Michael's empty closet along the lines of-- "This is where he kept his clothes." Really??!!

The special this afternoon was just too much for me, so I had to rant about it. After this, I am moving on. I would like the media to move on, too! (But I know that won't happen.)

However, there is a silver lining to this. The media coverage has provided The Soup--one of my favorite shows--with plenty of fodder. Thanks for making light of it all, Joel.

I even like to write about dogs professionally...

My blog is becoming quite dog-centric, but a story I wrote on local animal clinics and the economy was just published in the Allston-Brighton Tab!

It got great placement on their Web site and I'm anxious to see it in print tomorrow. If you're in town, go buy a copy! (Just kidding-- it's a free paper.)

Photo: My 2 favorite dogs-- always!

Walk like an Egyptian

On May 2, a few of my J-school friends hopped a plane bound for the east--the Middle East, that is.

A group of undergrad and grad journalism students from Northeastern are studying for 5 weeks across the Middle East. Currently, the group is in Egypt and then they're moving onto Qatar and Syria.

Everyone is keeping blogs throughout the experience and they are also assigned story topics that they have to finish within just a few days. The published stories are here. Everyone seems to be turning out really great stuff and it's cool to be able to see what the group is up to.

And I must admit that I am jelly after seeing some of the amazing pictures on the blogs. My shutterbug friend Clarice has some really amazing shots. Check them out here on her blog.

A Cause Worth Your Spare Change

I'm aware of all the problems in the newspaper industry right now, especially here in Massachusetts, but I have to mention an alternative paper worth supporting.

Before moving to Boston, I wasn't even aware that a "street paper" movement existed, but lo and behold, it does and The Spare Change News is Boston's street paper. The Spare Change News is bi-weekly and sold on the streets in Boston by vendors who are homeless or were recently homeless.

The vendors buy the paper from the which produces the paper for $0.25 per copy and then sell the paper for $1, keeping the profits they make. Vendors must meet certain rules and requirements before they can sell papers -- like staying sober -- which I think adds a lot of legitimacy to the project.

Inside the paper, the News runs articles from street papers across the country and features work from writers who used to be homeless. It's an interesting perspective and also a great cause to support. Check it out if you come across a vendor.