Debt Threatens BU’s Daily Free Press

Boston University’s Daily Free Press is in trouble, trouble similar to what many newspapers are facing. But, as a college daily, it has an entirely different issue – turnover. Every few semesters the staff cycles through and institutional memory vanishes.

New NPPA Blog: The Visual Student

Okay, so Kevin Martin has beaten me to the punch – he’s created a blog on the National Press Photographers Association’s site for students, including a couple of posts asking about what makes a good intern.

So, UGA student chapter – how are you going to top that?

Whoa, Journalism Costs Money?

I guess I’m bitter to the point of trying to be ironic … but, regardless, here’s another assessment of where journalism is and how it’s, well, expensive to do, this time from Mother Jones magazine.

Because make no mistake: This is a zero-sum equation. Less journalism = less accountability. Corruption, nepotism, cronyism, and propaganda thrive when reporting dies. That’s not a price we’re prepared to pay.

Other Orange Moments

Every now and then, Mindy McAdams, Flash Goddess, writes something that makes me want to go enroll at the University of Florida so I can take her classes.

Of course, then I realize that my University of Georgia colleagues would execute me on Grady College’s front lawn and my alma mater, the really cool (okay, mostly frozen) Syracuse University wouldn’t look kindly on me changing my shade of orange …

Regardless, I’ve been thinking about online or digital portfolios the last few months, how to incorporate their construction into my classes. (And I’ve done it this semester with one class, though they haven’t realized it yet). But reading Mindy’s post about building a personal brand has me really rolling over those scattered ideas of the last few months, trying to link them into something useful. Something I can hand to my students, in some form, and help them make their digital mark on the world.

And it has me wondering what my digital portfolio looks like now, as I write in about eight different places, Twitter over here, photo blog over there … is it time for all of it to come under one roof? Do I blend the academic, automotive and visual sides of my life into one giant smoothie? Can I preach something I haven’t practiced?

CoPress on Innovation

A little video that tells us … well, a lot of what we already know. It does reinforce what we should be doing, though, which is handy.

I do wish it listed some ideas on things to try … it’s like you’re doctor telling you to exercise more. Um, okay … but where should I start?

A Case for Innovation from CoPress on Vimeo.

The Financial Woes of Annie Leibovitz

We all know the work – Whoopi Goldberg in a bathtub full of milk, Demi Moore naked, painted and pregnant … the big advertising campaigns, the magazine cover shots … and it turns out she may lose the rights to all of those images next month.

We photographers are notorious for being great visualizers and lousy business operators – but to run up $24 million in debt? Eee gads …

Bound to Happen, I Suppose

So, there’s this whole legal wrangling going on about Shepard Fairey’s Obama poster – the Associated Press claims the illustration is based on one of their photographs. Except now the photojournalist who actually took the photo is claiming it isn’t AP’s – it’s his. This should be fun …

Reuters Handbook Now Online

While many of our word colleagues are excited about the public release of the Reuters Handbook of Journalism, I wouldn’t expect many to start deviating from the more widely used Associated Press Stylebook.

For us, though, there is a very nice page on what you can and cannot do with photographs. I’m still processing a few bits of it, but it’s a pretty strong general guide and may be something used in future classes.

And This is Why Photo Editors are Important

The Washington Times … well … read for yourself. 

Good grief.

Kent State, 38 Years Later

John Filo, who shot the iconic photo from Kent State 39 years ago, talks about the photo and meeting Mary Vecchio years later.