Consistency is the key

As the look of newspaper plays an important role in an audiences appeal, so should its sister Web site. Recently, I compared The New York Times Web site to its newspaper. Surprisingly, both are very similar and consistently had the same feel. I noted that the titles and articles were placed in similar locations - the overall look is very similar.

However, the Web site has some advertisement and while this is a departure from the newspaper, it is nonetheless elegantly laid out as to not be in your face or appear to be random. Some Web sites get a little carried away in its lay-out and it’s difficult to figure out which is a story or which is a sales pitch.

Clearly, the Times Web site is well organized and certainly considers its paper-based reader’s as part of its target audience – a smart consideration. If they intend to see migration of some its readers to the Web, they certainly are making them feel right at home.

New leader

Picking the correct person to lead a company anytime is certainly a key element to having a successful business. These are rough times for the L.A. Times, so picking a new leader has to be better than good to save this new organization.

In a recent article, “L.A. Times names Eddy Hartenstein to publisher's post,” by Martin Zimmerman, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer, he writes about the newly selected leader, Eddy Hartenstein.

I was a little bummed out that the article did not contain more intuitive facts about how Hartenstein would improve or stabilize the paper. The article certainly detailed Hartenstein’s successful past but these were all in areas that were not in print journalism - seems like an odd pick, perhaps not.

Web-gobbling

In an age where print is becoming electronic in some form or another, emerging technologies still seem to be progressing beyond the most progressive innovators. News is going digital, news is going to blogging, new is going to the Web, news is going to the mobile device – when does it end?

In a recent article, Is the Internet finally killing TV?, by Christian Science Monitor, they write about how Web technologies are outdoing TV technologies. They write, “But the growing number of new deals and new devices being announced suggests that a profound change in the way people watch video -- and what video they watch -- is under way. The line between "television" and video via the Internet already has blurred and may disappear in coming years.”

With the print loosing circulation maybe this is the next logical target. Is nothing safe around the Web? Could TV find itself in the same situation as print and become nostalgic? In this era of technology, can the future of anything not Web-based become gobbled up by the Web? While I think it will be a long time before that becomes a reality, it’s certainly difficult to imagine turning on the Web to view all of my favorite shows.

Protecting the guardians

Who is protecting the guardians as they teach us the ways of free speech? We must protect free speech for all people and even those who are protecting us. However, we are not necessarily assigned a mentor to help guide us during our test-drive of expressing ourselves.

For some educators, this is a serious aspect of their role as a professional educator. They might be asking themselves, how do I protect those that I’m teaching, more importantly myself? If they aid the student publically, they are in some cases jeopardizing their position; their position as educator, theirs schools ability to maintain a polished image, their family’s reputation, etc…

So, professors and teachers find themselves in an odd situation while protecting their students during this mentoring process. However, now it certainly becomes a delicate exercise in protecting both.

While free speech is guaranteed by the constitution, it does note necessarily protect those who are doing the protecting. So, when educational professionals guide us through this process, who is protecting them?

In a recent article, “Calif. bill would protect student journalism teachers,” by The Associated Press, First Amendment Center Online staff, they discuss how teachers are getting some needed protection. They write, “Yee's bill would make it illegal to dismiss, transfer or discipline teachers who are trying to protect the free-speech rights of their students.”

I’m interested to see how many teachers will now openly protect their students in these situations. With the boom in Web social networks, more people are finding themselves in a journalist role, as they fine-tune their communication skills. The ability to understand how to protect ourselves from unwarranted attacks is almost a skill all by itself. So, perhaps this protection for professors and educators is long over due.

Blogger safety-valve ‘squashed’

It is no secret that people are Web posting comments on just about anything these days – we like to air our frustrations on just about anything. The First Amendment guarantee’s us the right to blow-off steam concerning issues, commonly referred to as “the safety valve.”

In a recent article, Subpoena seeks to unmask anonymous bloggers, by The Associated Press, First Amendment Center Online staff, they write, “McALESTER, Okla. — Police detectives seeking the identities of bloggers who criticized McAlester officials on an online message board delivered a subpoena to the site's operator, who says he won't cooperate with investigators.”

I’m curious to see how this subpoena plays-out in the court system because it could have an impact on how people will post on the Web. Weather we use our real names or screen names; we are protected by the First Amendment and our true identities should be protected. As a society, we are guaranteed unrestricted debate in an open forum and we are also allowed the safety valve.

When these things are questioned or investigated, this could have a chilling affect and bloggers will be less likely to engage in open forums which ultimately hurt our ability to discover truth through open debate. There is no language in the First Amendment that states we can only debate openly if we use our real names.

People, who choose those ambiguous screen names, do so, to protect themselves from public scrutiny. Screen names in itself, represents the ability to avoid unnecessary repercussions from any organization, and to maintain some sense of privatization with that open debate.

News or not?

Do we, as Americans, expect too much of our presidential candidates by our thirst for gossip? I think it’s fair to say that we all falter during our lives, perhaps some worse than others. In a recent article, The Edwards Confession: Unfit for NewsHour Viewers?, by Michael Getler, he writes about the John Edward’s recent confession of an affair.

Getler writes, “When I [Getler] asked Linda Winslow, executive producer of the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, for the reasoning behind the decision not to report this, she said: "It was decided not to report the story in our news summary on the grounds that Edwards is not a candidate for public office, and not on any short list for Vice President or any other public office, so it struck us as a problem for him and his family, not the American public."

It seems clear that there was a lot of thought placed into weather or not to treat Edwards as an every day person and not as a former presidential candidate. Was this a mistake? If this news organization passes on this type of story for these reasons, then is the standard rule? So, could we expect NewsHour to maintain that same ethical application to other and similar stories? Perhaps only time will tell if that is the case. Still, are we holding these officials to a higher standard by subscribing to that kind of rhetoric? It sometimes seems that we expect too much of people in these positions.

Good organization

Good organization is not just limited to print, especially when it come to the Web. In a recent article, NBC’s Olympics site is no medal contender, by Robert Weintraub, he writes about how poorly the nbcolympics.com Web site is displaying the Olympics.

He writes, “Unfortunately, that very site, which should be the best stop for deciphering the labyrinthine schedule of events, is not very user-friendly. For my money, the New York Times’s Web site is a far better option. Its Olympic Tracker is everything NBC’s site should be, but isn’t—clean, easy to decipher, and free of the invisible, insidious hand of marketing.”

I was stunned to read that passage. I always thought a major media company would put serious effort into how they organized things on the Web. Surprising, Weintraub is praising the New York Times’s Web site for getting it correct.

In reflection, I think it should've been the other way around with NBC having a better site because, of course, they are a media company. Seems logical. But, it seems that the New York Times is getting the praise perhaps because they employ journalists and most likely included them in the Web page's design and organization. Way to go New York Times.