FEMA's "press conference"

I just read this story about FEMA's press conference about the California wildfires. Apparently, FEMA just had their own employees attend the press conference, which was announced just 15 minutes before it started, and had them ask what amounted to softball questions. They only allowed real reporters to telephone in to the conference and listen in, but they could not ask any questions. Of course, FEMA is taking a major hit over this, which certainly seems appropriate. This organization came under tremendous fire for its handling of Hurricane Katrina, and here they manipulated the news in an attempt to make themselves look better. I think FEMA would have been better off just not answering any questions rather than staging a press conference that only damaged their credibility even further. I was just very surprised that any group would be so foolish to try to pull off such a deceptive strategy.

Stunning fire photo has backstory

LAObserved, an online journal of media and place, asks whether this LA Times photo might capture a Pulitzer. <<[P]hotographer Karen Tapia-Anderson ... said that as she watched flames trap a dozen members of Engine Company 22, then saw them deploy their flimsy fire shelters as a last resort, she started to cry. "I felt that they weren't going to make it," she said. "I began to pray for those guys." After fifteen minutes they emerged one by one, a sight that Tapia-Anderson called "awesome." >>

The problem with news outlets using blogs

I've used the Journal-Sentinel before to talk about the multimedia sports coverage it offers, but not the website also illustrates the downside of blogs. Because of the free, conversational nature of the writing, editing appears to be less critical. For example, the Wisconsin Badgers blog has a quote from football coach Bret Bielema: "It's just a difficult situation because of how it al went down to begin with," he added. "We tried to bring some new information. I thought there might be a change in the way things happened but there wasn't." I added the bold to make a point. The blog post lost some force for me with the misspelling. It also hurts the Web site's credibility because if they don't edit the blogs, the staffers may not edit the stories well.

Sox Rock!

Boston.com pulled out the stops to reflect the excitement of a Red Sox win. Notice how newspaper design principles apply to this Web page, one that is in the vangard of news site layout.

Oops. Get that punctuation right

From Romenesko:

Steelworkers want apology for $817K error in WSJ editorial
United Steelworkers release | Wall Street Journal
A Wall Street Journal editorial said on Monday: "Forms have also revealed that union leaders are not exactly members of the proletariat: Jimmy Warren, Treasurer of the Steelworkers and AFL-CIO makes $825,262 a year." Actually, he makes $8,252.62 a year and he's not "treasurer of the Steelworkers." The union is unhappy with the Journal's "inadequate, out-of-context correction" and wants an apology.

This makes me so sad

I weep ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LRz2X9Azxs&eurl=http://www.videosift.com/top

Reilly leaves SI

Not sure how many of you all read sports magazines, but I just saw that Rick Reilly is leaving Sports Illustrated and going to ESPN Magazine. I have heard in the last few years that SI had lost some of the luster it had in the past, but Reilly's name and reputation really helped to keep them relevant. I wonder if this is, in some ways, a changing of the guard in the sports magazine business. ESPN Magazine, although it only started about 10 years ago, is a very different take on sports journalism than SI, and maybe Reilly's move is a signal that the ESPN approach is working better. For example, I noticed that Reilly is also going to be doing some TV and online work along with his magazine columns. Basically, ESPN Magazine is more than just a magazine. It works in concert with TV, the Web, etc. I just wonder if the SI approach is too rooted in the past, before sports news was available 24 hours a day on TV and the Internet. People don't need to wait a week for a magazine to let us know what happened in sports because we can find out immediately. Granted, Reilly is just one person, but he's one of the most prominent sportswriters in recent history, and I think his move is very significant to sports journalism.