Inc Issue 8

inc.

internships. news. commentary.

next meeting

Vol. 8 May 5, 2009.

a publication of the Ohio University Society of Professional Journalists.

video editing the Asimov way. Taylor Mirfendereski to teach iMovie workshop. story

Graylyn Roose

art

For students interested in sharpening their film production and editing skills, this week’s OU SPJ meeting will serve them well. SPJ member Taylor Mirfendereski will be hosting a hands-on iMovie workshop this Tuesday in Scripps during normal meeting hours. Mirfendereski will be leading a tutorial that will instruct interested students on the basic tasks and abilities of iMovie, a program that comes built-in to all Mac computers. Students will learn how to import photos, how to crop and edit footage, and the basic interface of the application. She will be teaching the basics of the older and more commonly used version of the program, which she describes as being easier. “Having basic editing skills will help people understand how movies are put together,” said Mirfendereski. “It’s really not that hard.” Mirfendereski said that she began to learn the basics of iMovie in junior high, when she used the system to make two small videos for a class. Later, she began to experiment with the program and learn more about its functions. “After that class in middle school, I taught myself the ins and outs of it. I used that for news packages of stories I was working on,” said Mirfendereski, who added that she hopes that other students will learn the value of self-teaching

inside inc. internships. pg 2. commentary. pg 3. special edition interview pg. 4

Ian Bowman-Henderson

within the program. “People can benefit from knowing the basics of iMovie, and then if they are interested, they can teach themselves later.” Mirfendereski, who is a first-year student with sophomore status, also said that she took a class at OU that helped sharpen her skills, taught by OU professor Roger Good. Although she is in the Honors Tutorial College, where sequences are referred to differently, she said that she is of the broadcast “concentration.” OU freshman Gina Edwards plans on attending the Tuesday workshop and said that she is interested in learning more about the program, though she had some experience with it in her high school communications class. “It will be kind of nice to have someone show me how to do it step by step,” said Edwards, who is currently a magazine journalism major. “It will definitely be useful because it will be nice to have those video editing skills. Edwards also notes that even print journalists must be proficient in different mediums. “I think even more so these days, you have to be multi-faceted and be able to do a lot of different things.” Mirfendereski said that a main goal of her program is to get students comfortable with iM-

tuesday. 5:00. scripps 001 iMovie Workshop presented by SPJ’s Taylor Mirfendereski

ovie, even if they are not broadcast-oriented. “If you want to be a print journalist, you better also know how to produce videos for the web,” said Mirfendereski, who points out that iMovie is the kind of program that can easily be well utilized to complement a blog. “There’s no separate medium anymore, they’re heading towards convergence. Everything is going online.” OU freshman Melisa Michael says that she is looking forward to the meeting because as an online journalism major, she is hoping to become more proficient with technology. “It just seems like a useful skill to have,” said Michael, who said that although she currently has a PC, she plans to purchase a Mac computer in the near future. “I might as well just be prepared for anything that comes my way.” Mirfendereski said that she will probably teach troubleshooting techniques in addition to the basics of the program, since like all computer applications, it can sometimes be faulty. “iMovie is a program that, because it’s free, can sometimes give you difficulties,” said Mirfendereski. Although at press date, she was not sure of the details, Mirfendereski said that she is trying to procure a downstairs lab room for the workshop, so that the students can not only watch the program as it’s projected, but be able to have their own computers so that the class is truly hands-on. Mirfendereski said that she hopes that the workshop yields good attendance because having iMovie skills will make student journalists more marketable in their future professional lives. “I personally believe that broadcast students and all journalism students should understand the basics of iMovie,” she said.

inc.

internships. news. commentary.

internships.. A-News opportunity. featured. The Athens News. reporting

Emma Morehart

The Athens News is now hiring Ohio University student journalists to fill the positions of editorial assistant/proofreader and campus editor for the 2009/2010 school year. Both of these positions are open only to students and are part-time jobs. The positions both pay over minimum wage and hours are flexible, said Terry Smith, editor-in-chief of the Athens News. Smith also mentioned that these positions rotate each year. The editorial assistant/proofreader is required to be in the newsroom around 10 hours per week, which are split equally between the editorial job and the proofreading job. The editorial assistant job entails prepping rough copy for the editor, entering calendar listings, typesetting, and other responsibilities, and must be in the newsroom twice a week. The proofreading aspect of this job requires the student to be in the newsroom twice a week to read over completed stories and proofread for AP style and grammatical mistakes. These two required days each week are Sunday and Wednesday afternoons, because the paper is printed on Mondays and Thursdays. “Having this job has taught me to look at things from the editorial side, like what should or shouldn’t be in your story,” said Emily Mullin, the current editorial assistant/proofreader at the Athens News. “It makes you become a better writer.” A student interested in this job should be adept at AP style, attribution, grammar and good writing, and should be efficient and focused.

PHOTO: logo of The Athens News

“This is a great first job for a college student,” said Mullin. “It’s professional experience in a small town, and we get paid, which is significant for college students.” Mullin, who began reporting for the Athens News in 2006, mentioned that working as a reporter was also good experience because she was rarely given story ideas, but instead produced her own. This helped her become a more independent journalist, and allowed her to write about what she was interested in. The campus editor position, however, calls for supervising and networking, as well as staying informed of what happens on the OU campus. Campus editor responsibilities include supervising twice-weekly meetings of the paper’s campus staff, forming a story list for each issue of the paper, and ensuring that campus writers and photographers are covering stories in the appropriate manner. This job also requires the student to spend around 10 hours in the newsroom each week, and is a paid position. To apply for either position, send a resume and short cover letter to Athens News Editor Terry Smith at [email protected].

old questions. new opportunities. who.

what.

when.

where.

how.

why.

Metromix

Part-time online intern

Summer 2009

Los Angeles, California

akenan@metro mix.com

LA, you either love it or you loath it

San Mateo Daily Journal

Editorial Intern, Photo Intern

Summer 2009

San Mateo, California

www.smdaily journal.com

SM Journal? Sounds sexy.

Urban Tulsa Weekly

Sales Intern

Summer 2009

Tulsa, Oklahoma

jobs@ urbantulsa.com

Film@11 Media

Online Intern

Summer 2009

Brooklyn, New York

Michele.mitchell @filmat11.tv

Oklahoma just made “Do You Realize?” its state song Where else are you gonna work@ ?

Summit Business Media

General Intern

Summer 2009

Erlanger, Kentucky

lharris@ sbmedia.com

It’s in Erlanger, what else do i have to say?

inc.

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commentary.. the new conservatism is totally radical dude. right-wing politicos on the ground and in the news are completely mad. commentary Kevin Zieber

Conspiracy theorists, militia leaders and rightwing survivalist groups have been a persistent part of the fabric of America since the American Revolution, though their numbers have always been in flux. Though it can’t be said to be true for all, many American militias have been primarily concerned with the erosion of the Second Amendment as well as the formation of a singular world government. Some, but not all, militias are also well armed and deemed potentially dangerous by the Department of Homeland Security. Despite the fact that armed militias have virtually always been a part of American society, they have remained, until this point, a fringe group with little to no credibility on the mainstream stage of American politics. With the election of Barack Obama, however, more dormant militia movements are reawakening and beginning to warn of the so-called “new world order,” which Obama’s election is thought by some to signal. A similar surge in militia activity took place during the 1990s under the Clinton administration, and it did, at times, erupt into violence. The similarities between then and now are striking, but one thing has changed. Paranoia and conspiracies once reserved for militia leaders and fringe groups are now finding a home in mainstream media. Fox News Channel in particular has indulged, strengthened and perpetuated dangerous inaccuracies since the election, leading, at least in some way, to tragic and violent outbursts throughout the nation in addition to false and misleading coverage. Beginning with the run up to and including its “coverage” of the tax day tea party protests, Fox

has become the mainstream voice for the unsupported claims of right-wing fringe groups. On tax day, Fox sent four of its most popular hosts to locations around the country to “cover” the protests that they seemed to materially supporting and possibly even leading. The coverage could not in any way be thought of as honest or actually representative of the day’s actual events. One reporter, Cody Willard, went so far as to call Democrats and Republicans “fascists,” on at least two occasions, without any provocation or legitimate reason. But more importantly, the tenor at Fox News Channel has been one that aims to rouse and amplify fears already ingrained in the most fringe right-wing groups. TV host Glenn Beck has been particularly zealous in making the case for President Obama’s “road to socialism and totalitarianism,” remarking on more than one occasion that “they’ll [the Obama administration] take away guns.” Beck has also said, baselessly, on national television, that Obama will “slowly but surely take away your gun or take away your ability to shoot a gun, or carry a gun.” Beck is not the only one perpetuating the militia movement’s claims on a national stage. He is joined by fellow primetime Fox anchor Sean Hannity in painting Obama as an untrustworthy socialist hell-bent on banning guns. Hannity has suggested both on his radio and television shows that the aforementioned “new world order” is already under way, further stoking the fears of right-wing conspiracy theorists. The problem with whipping these latent extremists up with falsehoods and unsubstantiated accusations seems to be so obvious that the pundits of right-wing talk are missing it completely.

just the facts. AP stylebooks. $15. t-shirts. $15.

When armed, paranoid and desperate people are being told day in and day out by mainstream media outlets that the Obama administration is coming to take their guns and rights, they tend not to act with temperance. Unfortunately, several shooting deaths have already taken place as a result of this fear mongering. On April 4, 2009, a well armed 22-yearold named Richard Poplawski gunned down and killed three Pittsburgh police officers because he was “fearful that his weapons would be taken away,” according to the Pittsburgh PostGazette. On April 26, 2009, another two police officers were killed, this time in Florida, after Joshua Cartwright fled the scene of a domestic dispute he had with his wife. Police caught up with him at a shooting range and attempted to subdue him using a Taser. He then stood up turned a concealed weapon on the officers. According to the police report, Cartwright’s wife said that he “believed that the US Government was conspiring against him. She said he had been severely disturbed that Barack Obama had been elected president.” It is the responsibility of media to provide audiences with accuracy, restraint and reason. The right-wings’ exaggerations and utter falsehoods come with a grave price. The media have a responsibility not to perpetuate conspiracies, to avoid hyperbole, to get the facts in line and to avoid alarmist and paranoid accusations. What the rightwing has been passing for political punditry is nothing more than militant and irrational fear under the thin guise of political opinion and must be dramatically scaled back in order to put to rest the groundless fears of the radical right.

Student Senate Vote. 5/14. New Room. Scripps 116.

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special report.. taxes aren’t Hawke’s cup of tea. direct from HQ. counterpoint from OU College Republicans. story

Ian Bowman-Henderson

Every week the Society of Professional Journalists brings in an industry professional to speak at our meetings. Last week that professional was our own Kevin Zieber. He presented some criticism of the way cable news, and FOX news in particular, covered the Tax Day protests, better known as “tea parties.” Instead of interviewing Kevin, who already had his say on the issue, Inc. decided to go with a counter point to both Kevin’s presentation and his column on page 3 of this edition. So without further ado, this week’s guest is the Communications Director of OU College Republicans, a group which actually attended a Tax Day tea party, Suzi Hawke. Hawke: I don’t think they were promoting Inc.: When did your group decide to go to the tea party, which one did you attend? Suzi Hawke: We decided to go a few weeks b4 it happened we went to the one in Columbus on April 15th… we took about 15 OU College Republicans up to Columbus for the event on the 15th Inc.: About how many people were there? Hawke: I heard a range from 2-3,000 and then I heard someone else say 7,000. There was a wide array of people from grown-ups to little kids. So there was about seven thousand, I don’t know the exact number. Inc.: Do you think the protesters presented a unified message, and if so what was it? Hawke: I think they did, I think it was a joint message of ‘we’re tired of reckless spending and all the pork in the stimulus package…’ and ‘we want better.’ We don’t want to deal with all the reckless spending in the stimulus package. Inc: What do you think the long term effects of the tea parties will be? Hawke: I think that if they continue to show our politicians that we need something to happen to make it better, a big message is for constituents to tell our politicians that we ‘want better,’ ‘we want different,’ I think if people continue to let their voices be heard then things will change. Inc.: What is your news outlet of choice? Hawke: I read the papers and I listen to Fox News a lot and I go on Drudge Report and Politico a lot, but mainly from newspapers and FOX news. Inc.: How do you feel FOX covered them? Hawke: I think nationwide they did a good job, both before it happened and post-tea party as well. Inc.: Some have criticized FOX for promoting the tea parties instead of covering them.

[the tea parties], they were just letting people know what was going on. My personal feeling was that they were just letting people know where they were if people wanted to attend and giving the information on what the Tea Party was standing for. Inc.: While reporting on a tea party in Boston, Fox news reporter Cody Willard said Americans need to “wake up and start fighting the fascism,” could you respond to that? Hawke: I would say that’s that just his personal beliefs, I think journalists – and everyone – should be able to voice their opinion… I don’t think it was because he was with FOX. Inc.: But doesn’t that sound like an endorsement to you? Hawke: I mean it could be taken that way. Obviously fox news is watched primarily by moderate to conservative viewers, I mean it could be an endorsement but people will take that as they may. Some people may feel that they like it and agree with it and others might be ticked off by it. FOX is always criticized for being more conservative than any other news outlet. Inc: How do you feel about FOX dispatching pundits like Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck to cover the tea parties? Hawke: I think its fine, I think the media needed to cover the events, I think if they wanted Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity there then they should be there… if they are going to talk about it anyway then they should go and talk about being there. It is kind of the same as how during the election period they would do their shows from different events that were being held for both candidates. At the conventions, all the networks were there and they brought their headliners.

National Shield Law: Help to protect the rights of journalists across America by contacting congress members.

‘09 National Convention and Centennial Celebration: registration now open at SPJ.org/convention.

new on the blog. Weekend Update: the latest from around the Athens campus (...and beyond!) that went down while everyone was enjoying the beginning of Fest season here at OU.

inc. identified: Managing Editor

Ian Bowman-Henderso

Copy Editor

Graylyn Roose

Copy Editor

Cameron Glover

Contributing Writer

Kevin Zieber

Contributing Writer

Emma Morehart

Contributing Writer Graylyn Roose