A story with no photo

            Traffic accidents are no laughing matter. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case for the head of the Shaanxi Provincial Bureau of Work Safety, Yang Dacai. It all began on August 30, 2012 in Yan’an, China, located in northern Shaanxi, where a horrific car accident had occurred leaving 36 civilians dead. Following the accident, Chinese bloggers known as “flesh searchers,” who delve deep into the Internet, in search of information to expose whomever they are targeting, found an image of Dacai grinning at the scene of the traffic accident.

The scrutiny of Dacai’s life was taken a step further when the following day, flesh searchers stumbled upon several pictures of Dacai wearing a total of 11 pricey watches. Dacai tried to defend himself by claiming that the watches were purchased using his own salary. However, members of the Chinese microblogging outlet, Weibo, argued that it is doubtful that a civil servant’s salary would be enough to afford such watches (Business Insider Adam Taylor). The civil servant has been relieved of his duties and is under investigation and is still currently under investigation by the Communist Party of China.

“It strikes me as an example of the power of the Internet,” Steve Hayes, a writer for the Digital Journal, clarified when commenting on his motivation for covering the Dacai story. When a reporter is covering a story, where an image is what gives the story news value, it is incumbent upon them to include the picture on the article page. However, an ethical dilemma is presented to the writer when they are passionate about disseminating a story, but “the only photographs [they] could find of the official either were copyright material or were possibly so,” Hayes explained. Hayes attempts to justify his decision to still submit his article even without the images by arguing, “the article does, however, include links to such photographs.”

When readers or subscribers see a headline that reads “Chinese official exposed by bloggers,” they typically presume that a photo would in some way be incorporated into the article web page. That being said, once they find the links on the article page, the majority of the readers would click this link because they are curious to see the pictures. Additionally, the links that are included in Hayes’ article are links to other articles about the same topic, so readers would not have to go back to his article, since they have everything and more on the new page.

Having said that, Hayes was put in an economic dilemma because without the pictures, he runs the risk of losing readers to other news websites. News websites anticipate that after finishing an article, readers will go back to a news websites homepage and read another one, but this cannot be achieved if the reader is taken to another website. On the other hand, links to other articles can be beneficial for the reader because it gives them different perspectives as well as additional information on the story.

Even though when asking Hayes if he considers ethics when making these types of decisions, he responded by saying “I am not particularly concerned with ethics; morality is a far better guide,” it can still be inferred that Hayes is somewhat of a preference utilitarian. A preference utilitarian differs from a classic utilitarian in that they fulfill actions, which are determined by individual’s interests or preferences. It could be argued that when covering this story, Hayes considered the interests of readers, who have a curiosity for these types of local stories that take place overseas and satisfied them by communicating this story. Preference utilitarianism is similar to the third stage of moral development in that in both cases the journalist is doing something to satisfy others.

It would seem as though Hayes is more concerned about morality when it comes to making difficult journalistic decisions. With that said, it could also be inferred that when Hayes made the decision not to post any photos of Dacai on his article page because they were all copyrighted, the fifth stage of moral development may have been considered, which is the legalistic view of right and wrong. Unless given permission by the rights holders, it would be illegal to include copyrighted images in his article page, making links his last resort.

What seems to be the issue is not necessarily the links, but the placement of the links in Hayes’ article. By including links in the beginning and bulk of the article, readers would almost immediately click them so they could see the photos. However, if Hayes were to place the links at the bottom of the page that might encourage readers to at least read through the entire article before going to website with the images. A reader’s curiosity is as unique as a reader’s iris. What I mean by that is while some reader’s may read Hayes’ article and click the links at the bottom of the page, some may not. Therefore, including the link is still necessary because from a journalist’s perspective, they have to assume that the majority of readers want to see the photos.

Is the independent route enough?

           When a blog not only receives criticism from a fashion editor, but also features guest contributors such as Lena Dunham, Judd Apatow, Jon Hamm and Paul Rudd, the natural first impression is usually whoever is in charge of this blog must be a developed, at least mid-twenties writer in the media industry. However, this is not the case with RookieMag.com. Up until early 2011, Tavi Gevinson, the sixteen-year-old fashion aficionado and feminist and RookieMag Editor-in-Chief, had been writing a fashion blog known as Style Rookie. The blog, consisting of fashion trend commentary as well as photos of Gevinson in unique get-ups, would receive approximately 30,000 readers each day. Just to clarify, Gevinson is still attending high school, has never written for a well-known publication and doesn’t seem to have any direct or distant relatives that are journalists or bloggers.

In the fall of 2011, she founded RookieMag.com, which is an online magazine aimed mostly at teenage girls. While the overarching theme of the magazine focuses on the issues teenage girls face, it has a category that will satisfy almost anyone in search of quirky content. The magazine does include advertisements on the website, indicating that it is for profit. Even though they are trying to generate some revenue from advertisements, “[they are] beholden to no one.” Since this is an online magazine, several mediums including video, photography and illustration are utilized to diversify the blog from other blogs. With Tavi and her staff publishing new content “three times a day, five days a week,” you start to wonder how they are able to produce so much new content so frequently. However, the guest contributor list does not end with Paul Rudd. RookieMag insists that those seeking to contribute to the website should do so, which gives it an interactive element that makes it that much more attractive to young readers. Gevinson’s inspiration for starting this online magazine was due to a discontinued magazine called Sassy, “the Nirvana-era teen magazine that folded in 1996,” (The New York Times, Michael Schulman). This might explain why Jane Pratt, the founder of Sassy, helped develop RookieMag with Gevinson. The one million page views within six days could be due to an ongoing trend for teenage women, who are “precocious, indie-minded, with a D.I.Y. fashion sense and a belated love of the slacker cartoon ‘Daria,’ ” (The New York Times, Michael Schulman).

Whether it’s Garance Doré, the French Fashion blogger or Tommy Ton, the revered Canadian blogger, famous for Jak & Jil, I find that most of these popular fashion bloggers are in their mid-twenties, didn’t necessarily begin reporting on fashion through blogging or write predominantly about fashion. Garance Doré’s blog seems to have a more professional looking format, which might be intimidating for a younger viewer. Additionally, the decision to name her blog after herself suggests that she is trying to promote her own name. Her blog does succeed in keeping up with the current fashion trends, but most of the content on the website seems to relate back to her. That said, RookieMag has a certain youthfulness that is more inviting for young and older readers. Although most of the readers are aware that Tavi Gevinson is the Editor-in-Chief, they’re not constantly reminded in big bold letters that it is her blog. What distinguishes Tommy Ton’s Jak & Jil and RookieMag is it is more basic, only consisting of large photos of fashionable strangers. There doesn’t seem to be any writing, so it could be inferred that not much time is spent on this blog. However, Tommy Ton has done coverage of fashion weeks on Style.com and GQ.com, so with that mind, some of his career has been spent working for the man.

Tavi Gevinson’s RookieMag has been around for over two years, so for those who either recently started reading her blog or really liked a piece from several months ago, they can have a physical copy, which is entitled Rookie Yearbook One and encompasses everything from the blog’s first year. It was a wise decision to release a book because when a blogger reaches a certain level of popularity, they develop a devoted following that will support them financially, whenever the opportunity arises. Having said that, Gevinson has a large following that want her blog to remain in existence, so they will be happy to provide financial support. And in doing so, they not only feel more involved with the website, but also in this case, are in given something in return. It is a bit ambiguous as to what the revenue generated from the book sale goes to, but I would not be surprised if some if not most goes to the development of the blog. Therefore, RookieMag utilizes two of the main revenue streams – small donations (technically) and commercial advertising. In this circumstance, commercial advertising is the dominant revenue stream, but I’m sure they make a decent amount of profit from the sale of Rookie Yearbook One.

Since fashion blogs are a dime a dozen, they have to provide something that others don’t to remain in fruition. It is clear that when comparing Garance Doré and Jak & Jil to RookieMag, RookieMag definitely goes above and beyond, but the real question is what drives devoted readers of Vogue or Harper’s Bazaar to change gears and start reading RookieMag? There isn’t one specific answer, but one potential explanation might be that RookieMag not only publishes new content more often than the Vogue’s and Bazaar’s of fashion media, but the voice of RookieMag seems to be more familiar. In terms of the familiar aspect, Tavi Gevinson is a teenage girl with teenage problems that are not dissimilar from the majority of other teenage girls’ problems, so maybe she has found a niche that hasn’t been tackled yet. I understand that there are forums, where teenage girls can talk about their problems, but RookieMag also gives funny solutions like themed Friday playlists. Gevinson is not embarrassed to be honest in her writings and in doing so, young girls start to feel normal again knowing that even accomplished bloggers struggle sometimes. “It’s a place where teenagers can channel their own adolescence through hers,” (The New York Times, Michael Schulman). While I agree that teenagers can come to this website and be proud to be adolescents, this is something that attracts lots of older nostalgic people as well.

The online magazine just passed its two-year anniversary, so it is still relatively young, but the success of the magazine really depends on Tavi. She is 16-years-old and going to be graduating high school soon, so she may want to take a break from RookieMag and explore other forms of journalism. Also, she is getting older, so her interests are moving away from fashion and more toward politics, so even though RookieMag has some political undertones, she may want to leave RookieMag indefinitely and start fresh again. I remember reading that she plans to take a year off after high school, but it is still yet to be determined if she will be a full-time RookieMag editor or something new.

Fifteen years ago, the idea of a sixteen-year-old achieving what Tavi Gevinson has with RookieMag would be unheard of. It’s somewhat shocking to editors of heavyweight fashion magazines that a young girl with no prior training has been able to reach this kind of level of success. I’m not that surprised that she was able to put together a blog because there are websites like Word Press that practically do everything for you. I’m more impressed by her ability to assemble such an in-depth team of young talent encompassing everything from writers to visual artists to filmmakers. That can be rather difficult when you live in a small town like Oak Park, Illinois and the only proof you have that indicates you are worth working with is a Tumblr. Personally, judging by Gevinson’s individual talent and ability to assemble such talented teams, I think it might be productive for her to move on from RookieMag.com after high school because she’ll be able to experiment with new topics that wouldn’t belong on RookieMag. And her staff is so vast that if she were to go on some sort of sabbatical, there would be several people capable of running the venture during her absence. While she belongs in independent media, she does deserve to experience corporate media, somewhere down the road.

How to think about new start-ups

Thinking of a journalism start-up

Adam Peruta, an associate professor in Ithaca College's Strategic Communications Program, made a visit to the Independent Media class on Thursday, to discuss the concept of start-ups, the Start-Up Bus, SXSW, Yank and other applications he and a team are developing. What I mainly took away from his presentation was that tens of thousands of start-up applications, websites, etc are designed everyday, which makes its quite challenging for an idea to not be a duplicate of another idea. That said, instead of focusing on trying to have the most unique idea, a better approach to developing a product is to think about it in terms of the perspective of the consumer, whereby you consider what jobs they want done. Clayton Christensen, a Harvard Business professor, came up with this concept of jobs-to-be-done, whereas you think less about specific demographics and more about what jobs consumers want done. The example he describes is a person is waiting in line for coffee and they have five to ten minutes to spare, keep them entertained for that block of time. When I think about my blog idea, which would be a music blog that organizes content by genres that are up-to-date, I realize that there aren't that many people that would want to look at this blog, while waiting for coffee. If I were waiting on line, I might consider checking this blog, but it would be preceded by Facebook, Twitter, The New York Times, etc. Now that I'm aware of this somewhat upsetting reality, I'm curious to know if this means that I should tweak my idea so that it'll be more desirable for someone trying to stay preoccupied, while waiting or if there is another 'job' that I'm not thinking of that my music blog would be more suitable for. I guess a potential 'job,' which might be a tad specific, is a person is struggling to navigate through all the new music that a certain blog they subscribe to posts daily and they want a blog that is better organized. While that is definitely more niche than the first 'job' I described, my blog idea would be the solution in a nut-shell, so it could be helpful to conduct some marketing research to determine if this is something music enthusiasts find irritating.

A "failed writer?"

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-fowler7-2008jun07,0,7613904,full.story

Mayhill Fowler is a 66-year-old, Huffington Post reporter, who refers to herself as a 'failed writer.' Be that as it may, this failed writer helped expose two of the most surprising stories of the 2008 election. That said, her writing capabilities may not be held to the same standard as The New York Times' Gail Collins, but something that she has over Collins is the risks she is willing to take to expose a story. "Of course he had no idea I was a journalist," Fowler explained when speaking of her interview with President Bill Clinton, "He just thought we were all average, ordinary Americans who had come out to see him." (The Huffington Post, James Rainey) With that in mind, there is something to be said about Fowler's willingness to suffer severe repercussions and opposition, in order to expose a story for the public. And a woman, who was 61 years of age at the time, who still goes 'undercover' to find stories is pretty impressive. What followed after her serendipitous success was Fowler being labeled as "the face of the new-media revolution that is remaking presidential campaigns." The Fowler coverage actually began when she surreptitiously attended a "closed press fundraiser," where Obama was speaking about 'bitter small-town Americans' that "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them." The reason she should be recognized for her exposure of this story is not only because of what she went through to record that quote, but also for putting her political views aside and revealing the story not for her, but for people that could be influenced by those words. As such, Fowler deserved any recognition for the investigative journalism she conducted in 2008 and does not deserve the 'failed writer' label anymore.

What is the American Dream?

http://legalinsurrection.com/2013/04/2012s-college-grads-land-in-minimum-wage-jobs/

Some troubling statistics from a job report focused on the college graduates was released by The Wall Street Journal and just a heads up, it is pretty grim. "According to the Labor Department, there were 284,000 graduates—those with at least a bachelor’s degree—working minimum-wage jobs in 2012, including 37,000 holders of advanced degrees. That’s down from a peak of 327,000 in 2010, but double the number in 2007 and up 70% from a decade earlier," said Ben Casselman of The Journal. I've always accepted the reality that since I'm studying to work in career thats been struggling for the past 15 years, a barista job is almost inevitable once I graduate. However, there's something about actually seeing concrete statistics on paper that just gives me chills. And for those (myself included), who were hoping that this was just a function of the economy, Casselman assures us this "may endure even after the economy improves." To avoid any further impression that this is turning into one of those stereotypical existential crisis blog posts, I'm going to change gears and talk about Bill Jacobson's visit to Ithaca College last week. Something that stood out to me while he was talking about blogging is how one of his contributors uses a pseudonym, "Fuzzy Slippers" because she doesn't want students knowing she leans to the right. Although I would understand why a conservative professor would be more secretive if the taught at Ithaca College because the majority of the student body seems to be liberal, at Cornell University I would have thought that students would be less critical of their professor's politics. That is not meant to be a criticism of Ithaca College, but based on how some students in the Independent Media conducted themselves, when Jacobson spoke about some occurrence in Massachusetts, it is in indication of sorts that IC students are more willing to object to conflicting political views. What I liked the most about Bill Jacobson was his humility. He wasn't boasting about his success as a blogger, but more giving more of an retrospective of how his blog reached acclaim and in doing so, gave advice to myself and my colleagues. 

Oregon ain't got love for no bloggers

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/10/bloggers_might_be_excluded_fro.html

"Lake Oswego is considering defining media organizations as 'institutionalized,' 'well-established' and producing at least 25 percent news content," explained Sieon Roux in her Oregonian article. The independent blogging world has become so ingrained in the journalism industry that this potential sanction would be like providing limitations for independent filmmakers trying to distribute their films to a developed movie theater company like Loews. There is a concept in economics known as Barriers to Entry, whereas newcomers to an industry are presented with obstacles that they must overcome in order to get in the game. In the case of Lake Oswego, their barrier of entry is you have to be a developed journalist in order to be granted entry into an executive session meeting. However, the only solution to breaking this 'barrier' would be for a blogger to succumb to the demands of the Lake Oswego government and join a developed newspaper like The Oregonian. That, in my estimation, is completely unreasonable because although, not every blogger should be permitted access to these meetings, there shouldn't be a law in play, that prevents any of them from attending. I guess the worry of allowing a blogger to attend a session is while, the media cannot "directly report on discussions," the government might fear that bloggers would be less likely to respect this rule. Nonetheless, any government shouldn't have this much influence over the media because it hinders a journalist's potential for creative thought. 

I can has cheezburger

http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2007-07-13/bloggers-bring-in-the-big-bucksbusinessweek-business-news-stock-market-and-financial-advice

With the incessant traffic on the Internet every millisecond, it is no surprise that Eric Nakagawa and the mysterious "Tofuburger's" cat appreciation blog receives 500,000 page views daily. However, this element of accidental success is what I find so interesting because Nakagawa and Tofuburger unintentionally found a niche that is so reliable that sustaining existence will never be an issue. It would seem as though ideas men should be less focused on coming up with new ideas and more on experimenting, possibly through crowd-sourcing, to determine what content is desirable enough to attract a large body of people willing to provide financial support in exchange for that content. I'm almost certain this blog doesn't generate revenue through advertisements, however the Smokin' Jay Cutler Tumblr "dedicated to the most apathetic looking athlete in the history of sports," has developed enough of a following that it now sells t-shirts through the website as a means for not only creating more interest in the subject, but also keeping the website in existence. I'm not a football fan so my roommate had to show me that Tumblr, but at this point that blog is attracting more than just football fans because you don't need to be a football enthusiast to appreciate the comedy on that blog. With that said, there are probably millions of niches that have yet to be tackled and accidental success even greater than Nakagawa's could be out there. It's both disheartening and remarkable to think that I've been developing a journalism app that won't have more than half a percent of the 100,000 to 200,000 visitors that Nakagawa's blog gets, but I've been actively trying to pursue this venture and he started this from posting something he thought was amusing. What makes his website more attractive is the fact that anyone can post an image, which can be a very satisfying pursuit for some people. I'm interested to see how far Nakagawa decides to take this business venture and if it will still be as successful as it is five years from now. Will the blogosphere continue to accept I Can Has Cheezburger or decide it's time for the cheeseburger to be eaten?

http://smokinjaycutler.tumblr.com/

Izzy Stone

"Before there was an Internet, Izzy Stone was doing the work we associate with today's best bloggers." (Common Dreams, Jeff Cohen)

For this week's blog post, I'm going to attempt to do something that may amuse some and confuse others. I'm going to blog about how Izzy Stone's work could be categorized as blog-like before blogging was even concepted. I guess it's not THAT amusing, but I just thought I'd acknowledge the fact that I'm blogging about how a man that preceded blogging could be compared to some of the most prolific bloggers in journalism. I don't want this post to turn into some long paragraph, where I just Izzy Stone for all of accomplishments and influence on the journalism industry, but I would like to show my appreciation for such a relentless reporter. The Internet is an invaluable tool for journalists not only because it enables them to always be up-to-date on current events, but more importantly because how effective of a research device it can be. Whether it was his consumption of several newspapers daily or the incessant skimming through a number of Congressional Records, Izzy Stone's devotion to uncovering news for the public was unmatched. Especially considering that he didn't have a tool like the Internet, to make his research a bit more bearable. I understand that I'm not a developed journalist, but it is hard to imagine that I'll devote that much time everyday to reading that many newspapers cover to cover. Bloggers are dedicated to uncovering controversial stories, but it is doubtful that they spend as much time as Izzy did analyzing documents. Another aspect that puts Izzy stone in a league of his own was how he would begin articles not blog posts, with quotes like "The American government and the American press have kept the full truth about the Tonkin Bay incidents from the American public." He was not afraid to challenge the government and I know there are tons of bloggers nowadays, who challenge the government left and right, but it reflects one's courage more when they do it through print. Something Izzy shares with current bloggers is how he was a writer, editor and boss, so he governed himself like many bloggers do. He did not have to answer to an advertisers request. Almost every word that he wrote was determined by him and didn't have some worried editor complaining about his work being too controversial. This aspect makes him quite similar to the many bloggers today because obviously bloggers only communicate ideas that they are passionate in. 

Voices of Revolution, Chapter 1

"The importance the Working Man's Advocate placed on universal education was clear from the motto it carried each week at the top of page one: 'All children are entitled to equal education, ' and from the item it positioned as number one on its list of measures that working men sought: 'Equal Universal Education.' " (Page 12)

     George H Evans, the publisher and editor of Working Man's Advocate, was passionate in reforming the education system for children, among other things. While he was a radical reformer, he and William Heighton, who was quoted in his Mechanic's Free Press saying that something he was primarily focused on was "securing education for every working-class child," (Page 12), Evans could not accept a system that directed benefitted one class - the bourgeois, which was in the minority in terms of their size. With that in mind, in one of my art history classes I was learning about how after the fall of the Roman Empire, it brought rise to the dreadful system known as feudalism. Cities in Italy including Siena, Lucca, San Gimignano had citizens, who grew tired of having the feudal lords ruling their towns and mistreating the lower classes. Additionally, the feudal system gave birth to a new class, known as the merchant middle class, which was full of many people with enough capitol and wits to eliminate the feudal system. And instead of that system, they created a self-governing system, where members of the middle class and some lower class individuals would live autonomously without having feudal lords interfering and making ridiculous laws that only benefit themselves and the rest of the bourgeois. Although this system would have a lot of trouble thriving in 19th century America, I found it interesting that if you go back six or seven centuries systems of government were in the case of San Gimignano and the other Italian cities, much more reasonable to those inhabiting them. The concept of equal education for the child working class would likely be more of a non-issue because the merchants, who were part of the governing board, would not have as much reluctancy or see it as problematic to permit working class children to education. If only things could have been that easy for the American working-class children in the 19th century.