golf ball sized hail

The video we watched this week talked a little about news websites featuring reader-submitted photos and videos, and it just so happens that StarTribune.com has a section for that on their website.

In the Your Photos + Video section Minnesotans can post images of local news, scenery, sports, history, and of course weather. Now anyone can be a photojournalist.












Reader-submitted photo of hail from killer storm this summer.

Breaking News: White girl writes blog post

It might be a little late for this, but I thought the Race and Ethnicity lesson we did the other day was pretty sweet. I'm definitely going to be paying closer attention to the articles I read.

Has anyone noticed this problem with other ways of describing people, besides race? What about when an article mentions that someone is elderly, or lower-class? I think that sometimes descriptors like these can help paint a picture for the reader, but they can also be biased or just completely unnecessary.

What is a journalist?

A journalist is anyone who reports the news. In the past few years "anyone" has become literal, as journalism has become an interactive medium. Readers can add their comments as a story unfolds and expands, bringing new levels to the idea of journalism.

Audience interaction forces a writer to listen to their opinions. It also allows the readers to become journalists themselves. Thanks to internet publishing, anyone can produce news, even if they're not a journalist in the traditional sense. Non-traditional journalists can offer their views on news that interests them faster and more personally than the New York Times.

Lee Wilkins, a teacher at the Missouri School of Journalism, was recently quoted in the Times as saying “I think our profession has not decided whether bloggers are journalists.” (read the story here)