Trying to remember MLK’s assassination

Amber Downing

downing_am@yahoo.com

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were killed within two months of each other in 1968.

When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated Roger Golden was living in Los Angeles, Robert Kildow was living in Dallas and Chere Shanks had just moved back to Houston. They each distinctly remember Kennedy’s assassination. But what they really have in common is they only vaguely remember MLK’s death.

This coming Friday marks the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. Newspapers will write articles about him and television stations will show mini-biographies. But it seems the actual making of history was lost on many white Americans in the 1960’s.

Shanks doesn’t recall where she was at the time of his death because,” Martin Luther King wasn’t to the whites what he was to the blacks,” she said. “You just didn’t feel the personal loss.”

It seems many older white Americans are perfectly willing to admit their bias.

“For some reason I don’t remember where I was [when MLK was shot], but I remember where I was when Kennedy was shot,” Kildow said. “So I guess there’s some prejudice there.”

When asked to speak with some Denton Senior Center members the receptionist, Bobbi Skaugen, said “We only have a couple of blacks here. They’re the ones that’ll really remember it.”

Why is it assumed that the white seniors won’t remember or have an opinion about MLK’s assassination? Why doesn’t his death resound as greatly in some hearts as others?

But Golden, Kildow and Shanks remember the changes King made.

“What I remember about him is that he was a non-violent, pacifist type of person,” Golden said.

“They used to not allow black people to eat at restaurants where I ate at,” Kildow said. “But there’s still progress to be made.”

 

Abolished Religious Books Return to Prisons

Amber Downing

downing_am@yahoo.com

The federal Bureau of Prisons will allow the return of certain banned religious texts to prison chapel libraries. The decision is the result of criticism from religious groups, members of Congress and civil libertarians. The books were originally removed after a 2004 Department of Justice report indicated that certain religious books which might cause violence could enter prison chapels.

The books were removed in June 2007 as part of the Chapel Library Project. At first the project was supposed to take out books that incite violence but the list grew very large. Instead the bureau decided to make lists of books that were acceptable. The list ended up including only about 150 items for 20 religions.

A spokesman at Aleph, an advocacy group for Jews in prison, says the return of the books is a “positive step”, but that there should be a list of banned books rather than a list of acceptable ones.

 

National Civil Rights Museum Restoration

Amber Downing

downing_am@yahoo.com

The National Civil Rights Museum will receive a makeover. The museum is at the site where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated nearly 40 years ago. He was standing on the second floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel.

With the help of Hampton Hotels’ Save-A-Landmark program and actor Samuel L. Jackson the museum will be redecorated. The plans include the restoration of four rooms by more than 100 volunteers. The exhibitions rooms will receive new wallpaper and paint. Displays and electrical components will be repaired. Exterior walkways, the building’s facade and the surrounding landscape will also be upgraded.

The Hampton Hotels’ Save-A-Landmark program plans on completing the project by the 40th anniversary of Dr. King’s death, April 4th, 2008.

“Landmark Legends” is Hampton’s 2008 campaign which is dedicated to the restoration of historical sites honoring Americans who have impacted American society. Other sites scheduled for refurbishment are Amelia Earhart’s Birthplace and Museum, the Barnum Museum and the Poe Museum. These sites were chosen from a nationwide survey conducted by Hampton Hotels. They were chosen because of the accomplishments of Americans who have created change, made a difference and overcome hardships.

The vice president of brand marketing for Hampton Hotels said, “There was no question that Dr. King should be the first legend honored by the program, and there was no better setting to honor his influence on the world than the National Civil Rights Museum.”

The Save-A-Landmark program is in its ninth year of preserving historical landmarks. The program participates in researching landmarks in need and promotes visiting them. They have invested more than $2.5 million into the program and the nation’s landmarks.

Nominations for landmarks in need have been vital to the program’s success. Submissions can be made at www.hamptonlandmarks.com .

 

Bush Endorses McCain

In the Reuters Blog, Tales from the Trail, blogger Steve Holland wrote a brief post called “Bush to McCain: Careful who you pick to lead Veep search“. Holland touches briefly on the fact that Bush has endorsed McCain, but focuses more on Bush’s joking recommendations to McCain. Apparently Dick Cheney was chosen to head up the search for Bush’s running mate and ended up being vice president.

An article that closely relates is “McCain wins Bush endorsement for president“. This article focuses more on why Bush has chosen to endorse McCain. It is also three pages long (with some scrolling).

The blog post is by far shorter and less serious. Because of its brevity (167 words), it has only one link within the posting and one link at the bottom which connects the reader to more campaign coverage. This post seems to be one that was done hastily and could have been covered more in depth.

The news article, on the other hand, is a bit long-winded. It also included a few more links and featured a slide show and a video.

Both a journalist and a reader might have a hard time knowing that the blog is a blog and not a news article. Although its topic is less serious and its length is brief, the blog post still has quotes, links and a picture. Some less serious topics get this kind of treatment from journalists. Normally a journalist would know the difference because of the topic, writing style and comments from readers at the bottom. This is also how readers should distinguish the two.

Generally speaking, a blog will be less formal and less detailed.  It might be a side conversation of a larger topic.  It may also feature breaking news in a less formatted style.   A news article will be written more formally  and contain more quotes or interactive features.

 

The Five I’s

Amber Downing

downing_am@yahoo.com

The “Five I’s” of digital storytelling are: interactivity, involvement, immediacy, integration and in-depth opportunities. Here’s an example: a fictional story about the death of a student returning to the University of North Texas from Thanksgiving Break. The student was killed in a car crash on I-35 and involved a tractor trailer. The traffic in this area has become not only a burden but also a danger.

Scenario A: The online journalist is facing a tight deadline with limited resources.

To cover the interactivity, a summary of the story along with links to on-topic past stories would be neccessary for covering this story quickly. A picture of the deceased could be added. A basic timeline can be made quickly at websites such as Time Line Maker.

An online discussion between community members could be set up quickly to cover community involvement. As the story progresses updates would need to be added keep the story immediate. During city council meetings or hearings, an online journalist could attend and post information as it was happening. After the original story is posted and the journalist gets more time and resources more flashy elements like a more detailed timeline could be added.

Scenario B: The online journalist has a more flexible time frame and a staff of artists, programmers and multimedia journalists.

One of the key issues in this story is the amount and kind of traffic going through this area. Web cameras and an up to the minute presentation of traffic problems would be great tools in evaluating the traffic problem.

Because there have been six fatalities so far this year, a timeline could be developed to show when accidents occurred. At each date, pictures of the location of the accident and pictures and stories about the victims could be added for interactivity. An online discussion of the conditions of the highway with links to the city street construction report, a link that shows the location of the highway and perhaps some stats on the highway, too. Any upcoming city council meeting dates could be posted or linked. Links to past articles about the road troubles should be included.

For involvement, a game or activity that would allow users to add lanes, change truck routes or come up with other solutions could be added. A forum could be started where concerned citizens could start an organization focusing on the conditions of the city’s roads.

An online journalist could attend meetings as discussion of changing the road increases. When meetings are held either by the city council or by other organizations, the journalist could attend and post on their blog or perhaps stream audio. This would be a form of immediacy.

For media integration, audio stories or video interviews of some of the families of people who’ve died on the highway recently could be added to the timeline. Stories, links and photos about cities that have had similar problems. Interviews with some of the key players in those cities could highlight solutions.

In order cover this story in-depth, additions could be added as the story progresses. Interviews with key players such as the mayor or city council members and links to their websites could be added.

 

U.S. Committed to Darfur

By: Amber Downing

downing_am@yahoo.com

According to a United States press release, the U.S. leads the world in contributions and aid to Darfur. In 2007 the U.S. gave more than $1 billion to people of the region. More than 2.5 million people live in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps. The U.S. largely sponsors these IDPs and provides more than 67 percent of the World Food Program’s food aid to Sudan.

By 2009, the U.S. wants the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) fully implemented. This means democratic elections and a troop free border.

The U.S. would like 26,000 peace keepers from the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) to be deployed in the area. President Bush has announced $100 million is available to assist in the training of these peace keepers.

 

Eye Track Study

The Poynter Institute’s Eye Track Study presented findings that people who read newspapers and online news sites probably already knew. Journalists and people who organize newspapers most likely read in a different way than their audiences do. The study revealed people read more online than in newspapers by about 15%. Readers paid more attention to timelines, fact boxes and lists. They also noticed large, color, “documentary news photos” and large, bold headlines.

Many newspapers already use large color pictures on their front pages. They might consider, although more expensive, adding color photos elsewhere in their papers. The pictures would attract more attention if instead of headshots of their columnists and other writers, they had small action oriented pictures of them. For instance, the profile of a columnist working at her/his desk or a reporter out in the field might be better than the “mug shots” used now.

Because a navigation bar is not possible in a newspaper, other organizational and guiding devices could be added. The back page could have an index of topics, company names, people and cities mentioned in that edition. Journalists could make use of more visual explanations of their stories. Text could be made larger and columns could be more unified. When column structure and layout vary from day to day, people find it disconcerting. Perhaps newspapers could take some advice from online news sites and make use of white space to make the words look less intimidating.

Newspapers see themselves as offering more in depth coverage of stories and events. Less and less people, however, seem to want that kind of information. Newspapers should focus on a simple, less cluttered layout. If newspapers want more readers to read more they might consider not only reorganizing their paper’s layout, but also simplifying and shortening the stories themselves. Because about 75% of print readers are methodical, (those who read thoroughly from top to bottom) a more concise layout of top to bottom formatting would help these readers maintain their reading pattern. For those who scan newspapers, more lists and visual aids should be added.

More info on Poynter Institute

 

RadioShack Assists in DTV Transition

The analog to digital transition (DTV) for television occurs next February. That’s not much time for everyone who owns a TV to switch. RadioShack is offering two kinds of DTV converter boxes and all the other accessories TV viewers might need. RadioShack will stop selling all analog televisions at the end of this month.

The DTV transition involves the cooperation of both private citizens and electronics corporations, said Peter Whitsett, executive vice president, general merchandising manager for RadioShack Corporation.

“We are uniquely positioned to offer customers the necessary products, accessories, information and personal consulting to help make the transition from analog to digital broadcasting as seamless as possible,” Whitsett said.

The National Telecommunications and Information Association (NTIA) will begin offering $40 coupons towards DTV converter boxes. A household may get up to two coupons. Apply for the coupons by visiting http://www.dtv2009.gov

 

Crowdsourcing

Lowell Brown’s article “Student joins race for mayor” is from The Denton Record Chronicle on February 13th, 2008.http://www.dentonrc.com/sharedcontent/dws/drc/localnews/stories/DRC_Mayor%27s_race_0213.b87154e7.html

He covers the UNT student’s campaign goals and past experiences. In order to crowdsource and get reactions from people, a discussion group could be added. A poll could be added to ask whether the readers would vote for a student or someone equally as politically inexperienced. A companion website could be created on which people could post stories they’ve heard or know about where young people have won public office. They could mention the cities where these events took place and talk about whether the new office holder succeeded or failed. A contest could be designed to see who in the community could make the best T-shirt, bumper sticker or campaign slogan for one of the four candidates running for mayor. The site might also have each of the four candidates pictures, background and political views. A poll would then be added as a sort of unofficial voting site.

 

Daily Herald website

The Daily Herald http://www.dailyherald.com/ calls itself “Suburban Chicago’s Information Source”. Its website contains information of national, area and local appeal . The audience can see results from Super Tuesday’s election by county or for all of Illinois.

One of the top articles, “Writers Guild leaders OK contract, recommend end to 3-month strike” is taken directly from Associated Press. The story directly below it, “Etching their visions in snow” is written by one of their correspondents and seems to be written in full newspaper style. The story does however, have links to a slide show and video of the contest. The right side of the site page has links to special reports. One is about housing foreclosures in the area. This also seems to be written in newspaper style. The aspects regarding this story which show particular attention to the website are the eleven additional links to recent stories on the same subject and a map of the foreclosures in the area.

On the top of the site, a banner signals breaking news. Right now, the banner says “More Snow Coming Monday”. This, no doubt, comes in handy when the paper has breaking news but not much information on the subject yet.

The website seems to cover the region broadly. Chicago sports teams and local events, such as boat shows, are covered. The Daily Herald’s website projects an all around local feel.

The Daily Herald’s web presence is probably not very strong considering the competition it faces with the major Chicago newspapers and their websites. 

www.chicagotribune.com

www.suntimes.com 

It is serving an audience of local families looking for local trends and school information. Local businesses are probably benefited because many of them advertise on the site itself.

This website is definitely not ’shovelware’. Its content is not taken directly from its newspaper. The Daily Herald is somewhere between the periodic update phase and the continuous update phase. There seems to be some staff assigned to the website because there are interactive elements, but much of the written content is taken from newspapers or AP wires. For a small newspaper they’re effort to make a website worth visiting is evident.