Journalism Award Winners

 One of the best journalistic sites that won this years award in the category of; specialty site journalism, independent, was Education Week.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/index.html

This is for various reasons.

Not only is the site organized in a very clean manner, but it is packed with loads of information on education, in the form of blogs, articles, videos, pictures, etc. Not only are there articles and stories based on solid facts, but there is also an opinion section, full of stories with simple commentary. Complete with featured comments and dialogue from the writers and viewers. Including multiple outlets allowing viewers to branch out onto other sites, with free E-Newsletters, the option to follow them on Twitter and Google+, and allowing viewers to join them on Facebook and LinkedIn.

http://bcove.me/ybier1vi





What really sold me on this site however, was that it has a tab just for multimedia! With videos, infographics, photo galleries, and audio galleries. All of the upmost quality, no grainy or blurry stills/videos here! This site is the essence of what it means to be plugged-in. They do a great job at bringing you the current stories in the education from an unbiased position, reporting on all sides of the stories. Doing whatever they can to bring the truth to their viewers. With new issues every week, they stay up to date with all things happening in the education, so that they can stay current and relevant. Not only is each article jam-packed with information, but it is very engaging! Which is the mark of all great journalism. I found myself lost in the articles spending much more time on the site then intended, merely because it was so well told and interesting. This site truly deserved the recognition that it has received.

Below is their mission and history:

Editorial Projects in Education has its origins in the Sputnik era, when anxiety over the United States’ ability to withstand a concerted challenge to its technological pre-eminence touched off a wave of initiatives to improve the nation’s schools and colleges. Although EPE today is recognized as the premier source of news, information, and analysis on American precollegiate education, it grew out of a bold experiment by 15 editors of leading university alumni magazines to speak with one voice to their readers as higher education sought to respond to the deep national concerns of that time.
The Soviet Union’s 1957 launch of the first manmade satellite to orbit the earth riveted attention on space and inspired the editors to call their collaborative research and writing project the “Moonshooter.” With a $12,000 grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, they produced a report the next year formally titled American Higher Education: 1958. Eventually, 150 colleges signed up for the 32-page report, which reached nearly 1 million college-educated Americans.
The success of that first venture led to the group’s incorporation as Editorial Projects in Education, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, and the production of further reports and publications oriented to higher education. The most notable of those endeavors was The Chronicle of Higher Education. Launched in November 1966, on the eve of an extraordinarily turbulent period for America’s university campuses, The Chronicle was soon recognized as an unparalleled observer of the higher education scene.
In 1978, EPE sold The Chronicle to its editors – a decision that set the stage for a fundamental shift in direction by EPE to K-12 education. Inspired by the example of The Chronicle, EPE determined that the precollegiate field likewise needed independent, first-rate journalistic coverage of national scope. With the support again of the Carnegie Corporation as well as other philanthropies, EPE founded Education Week in September 1981.
Just as the launch of The Chronicle had occurred on the cusp of an epochal period for higher education, the debut of the “chronicle of precollegiate education” came as the first stirrings of a remarkable age of ferment in K-12 schooling were being felt. And even as Education Week’s early issues were airing the still-new Reagan administration’s plans to curtail the federal role in education, the field’s upstart “newspaper of record” was pointing to new anxieties about the state of the nation’s schools that echoed those of EPE’s earliest days. Those concerns, emerging against a backdrop of global competition and economic dislocation, gained rhetorical force and policy momentum with the 1983 report A Nation at Risk. The ensuing waves of K-12 improvement measures known simply as “the reform movement” helped establish, in turn, Education Week’s role as the most trusted source of news and analysis on one of the biggest continuing stories in American society.
At the newspaper’s founding in 1981, EPE had 18 employees. That had grown to 68 as of 1995, and 94 in Spring 2007. With attrition and staffing cuts, the number in Spring 2010 was 72 (plus interns), and the current annual budget was about $13 million.
Seeking over the years to build strategically on Education Week’s reputation as the single “must read” news source for K-12 leaders and policy experts, Editorial Projects in Education has extended its reach through a host of print and online offerings that complement its flagship publication and position the organization for sustainable success in the 21st century.
The launch of edweek.org in 1996 ushered EPE into the Digital Age and created a platform for the evolution of Education Week into a hybrid print-online news organization that provides distinctive staff-written original reporting while also aggregating high-quality content from other sources and offering Web 2.0, multimedia, and other features. The current frequency of print publication – 37 issues a year, down from a high of 45 – reflects the migration of news to the Web, yet still allows a significant presence for the newspaper. The 2010 introduction of a new series of Education Week special reports, on topics such as the economic stimulus, and e-learning, testifies to the continued value of print, as does the popularity of the Quality Counts, Technology Counts, and Diplomas Count annual reports. At the same time, edweek.org has opened up new audiences well beyond Education Week’s core readership of administrators and enabled reporters to connect in real time with readers through blogs and online chats.
EPE’s commitment to an increasingly “24/7” understanding of the news is also reflected, meanwhile, in the August 2009 debut of the daily EdWeek Update e-newsletter, which has spurred the increased timeliness of Education Week’s reporting and enabled the paper to “push out” same-day coverage of major stories, from Race to the Top winners to the release of National Assessment of Educational Progress results.
The hybrid approach also characterizes EPE’s offerings for teachers, who have a lively forum for news, information, advice, and opinion on the Teacher channel of edweek.org, while also receiving a mix of articles and useful directory listings in the twice-yearly Teacher Professional Development Sourcebook. Likewise, EPE has reached out to a new audience of school district technology leaders through its Digital Directions channel on edweek.org and its thrice-yearly Digital Directions magazine.
EPE seeks to advance the quality of K-12 education in other ways as well, using a variety of tools both old and new. Its EPE Research Center amasses authoritative data for the high-profile Counts reports, does commissioned work for outside clients, and packages topically themed Education Week Spotlight reports. A new line of Education Week Leadership Forums connects school leaders with colleagues and leading experts, and EPE webinars bring fresh insights and advice to educators online. A centuries-old medium, books, has a place in the mix through the Education Week Press.
In the sixth decade since its founding, EPE remains true to its mission: raising the level of understanding and discourse on critical issues in American education.

Life of a Journopreneur

Entrepreneurial Journalists (or Journopreneurs) are popping up more and more every day. But what is it that makes good entrepreneurial journalism?  Often times the best way to learn about the best, is to see the best so, let's take a look.

http://www.ashoka.org/press/ashoka-global-competition-seeks-innovation-empathy-education

This is an entrepreneurial journalism site, because it started out as a small organization that had an idea and capitalized on it, through the power of donation. They seek out issues and problems that the people care about, such as teaching children the power of empathy, and host events to raise awareness. And people wish to donate to their cause.

Being able to turn your idea into a business is the most effective stamp of a good entrepreneurial journalist. Ashoka, was successful in doing this. They also do a fantastic job of publishing news that people care about, not what they want them to care about. Which is also a point that any good entrepreneurial journalist tries to do.

http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/provide-solar-cooking-supplies-to-ugandan-women/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%253A+GlobalGivingProjects+%2528Recently+Added+Projects+on+GlobalGiving.com%2529

(sorry about the long URL)

This is another site which proves that it is an effective entrepreneurial journalism site simply through capitalizing on an idea. Sometimes you have to be more innovative when thinking of ideas, what do people really need, how can I help. Providing solar cooking tools to Ugandan refugees, is such an idea. Find out what others need, and then raise awareness about it. That is how they get their donations.

But, what really makes this site a good example of Entrepreneurial journalism, is that they started out small. They created a blog and expanding upon it from there. Global Giving, really took the time to develop their story, with amazing photos, accurate statistics, and really captured the need that these refugees have. They also have a good way of "harnessing the Technology" as Mark Briggs would say. They allow you to pay online, they list their resources through URLs, and even allow you to extend your reach to Facebook, twitter, and various others.  Good entrepreneurial journalists know how to raise good awareness.

These are just two effective entrepreneurial journalist sites out of millions. Who knows, maybe now you can make one too. Got an idea? Capitalize on it!  Laziness is the downfall of any Journopreneur.

Final Project

I have two ideas for my final project in this class. One would be to expand upon the story I completed for my two minute movie, and the other would be to find another story to develop from around my community.

Idea, the first:

Story Topic: The brand new chapel at Providence Hospital

Story Idea: Why was this chapel built? What is it used for? What is some of the background on all of the amazing artwork inside the chapel itself? I touched upon why it was built in my short video, but I would like to go more in depth with that and some of these other issues. Although it is still a 2:30 video I would like to include more information to really get the word out about this INCREDIBLE place of reflection.

Multimedia I would need: A kodak video camera, tri-pod, iMovie/computer, (possibly a digital recorder), iPhoto

Idea, the second:

Story Topic: Summer jobs in Arlington area

Story Idea: Strawberry field picking next to the local pumpkin patch. Every year there is an opportunity for youths ranging from elementary school and up to pick strawberries at a local farm for $1.50  a basket. Many take opportunity of this, and I would like to get multiple interviews with some youths and possibly the owners/operators of the farm itself. It is a great fun way to make some extra Summer spending money and to be active and in the outdoors!

Multimedia I'll Need: Kodak video camera, tri-pod, iMovie/iPhoto, A portable mic.

The Power of a Storyboard

A storyboard is simply the plan or outline for a news story, film, or animation. once the concept for a story or script is thought of the next step is to create a storyboard. A visual means of telling your story frame by frame or panel by panel, comic book style.

an effective storyboard should include who is in the frame and their movement, the dialogue in the scene, the time that each frame is occuring, and what kind of shot you would like this to be in terms of your camera placement. Close up? Medium range? Long range? Zoom? Is the camera moving? Storyboards should be used in the planning stage, it needs to be used as a reference tool to come back to regardless if you stick to it completely or not. It is simply a way to organize all of the clutter in your brain while planning a story, to help you get all of your ideas out in the open.

Why use a storyboard? Because they make things so much easier in the future! it may mean taking a little bit more planning time, before you can actually get out there and start your story. But it is definitely worth it in the long run! organization is a quality of every good journalist, even if they don't appear to be organized, every journalist has some planning process before they begin a news story. storyboarding is just a simple way of doing this.

Come on Seattle!

I can't believe that something with such peaceful intentions became violent so quickly. I don't really know what to say, except that this pointless shizz needs to stop. This is ridiculous and just went too far. Kudos to you Dorli Rainey for speaking out!