Stuff by Huff

Some people are willing to pay for news (kind of a shocker, I know) »

For one of my journalism classes we’re required to blog about journalism business models, and discuss new ideas of how to improve the news industry. Above is a link to my latest post about the idea that paywalls may actually work.

As you can imagine, though, not very many people were thrilled with my idea. Haha. Check it out and let me know what you think though!

People like him are always championing ‘balance’ over objectivity,” he continued. “They have to bring everything back to a discussion about how ‘both sides’ are guilty, instead of doing his job as a referee. If every single journalist just simply labeled birtherism what it obviously is — racism — the cancer wouldn’t have infected half the party. Maybe 25% or so, but most would be like, ‘Okay, this isn’t socially respectable.’

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Bill Maher: Tom Brokaw helps birtherism - POLITICO.com

I’ve heard this idea come up quite a few times in my journalism classes. When does valuing ‘balance’ and ‘objectivity’ become an obstruction to the real truth? Or should neutral objectivity always be number one, even in situations such as this?

Great food for thought (if you’re a journalism geek such as I). Let me know what you think!

Why can’t we just admit that journalists are human? — Tech News and Analysis »

“Yahoo fired its former Washington bureau chief on Wednesday for a joking comment he made during a video broadcast from the Republican convention. Isn’t it about time we admitted that journalists have emotions and opinions, rather than expecting them to be impartial robots?”

This is technically considered “old news” as it was published Aug. 31. However, since I’m just now getting around to reading this piece, I’m interested in knowing what you all think about it.

Would it be more beneficial to the public to know what a journalist’s personal opinions/beliefs are? Would it help them fact check the story better, or be able to see through liberal and conservative bias? Or is this dangerous as it may prevent readers from reading a certain journalist’s work due to the nature of their beliefs? Would it hurt the integrity of their work?

That’s a lot of questions to think through, but it certainly is interesting to consider.

Lessons: never be afraid to ask

So after countless times of covering news stories and regretting my mistakes of being too afraid to ask big wigs or famous people for quotes and photos, I finally put on my big girl reporter pants on and went for it!

I got a photo with David Ash and Jaxon Shipley after covering a big volunteer event that Delta Epsilon Psi put on.

Even though some elf-looking kid completely bombed my photo, I’m proud that of the small accomplishments I’m making as a journalist. If I’m going to make it big, I know that I’m going to have be fearless.

5 things I learned covering the Ron Paul event:

1. Never be afraid to ask for media access. The worst they can say is “no.” And if you’re smart (unlike me) you’ll e-mail/call and ask for it ahead of time.

2. Always be aware of what other reporters are doing.

3. It’s just like the movies. Reporters flock around the subject yelling out questions in their face. You have to be pushy.

4. Don’t be a rookie (like me) and forget to charge your iPhone before the event. I barely made it though the speech.

5. When live tweeting, wait for key quotes. As much as Ron Paul would like to think so, not everything he says is important.

Despite my mistakes, I somehow got a pretty good story out of it and spoke with some great people. I even got to hang out with the giant crowd of reporters yelling at Ron Paul. It was definitely a great learning experience that proved I want to try and be the best journalist possible!