#scio12 preview: 1 full year of science bloggers

"Onward, FOR SCIENCE."

With ScienceOnline 2012 just a few days away, it seems like an opportune time to celebrate an anniversary of sorts. Exactly one year ago, I took over a column with the joint science and technology section at The Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer to track down and interview the most interesting bloggers on the Internet — scientists and science writers.

From hollywood’s depiction of scientists and the perils of photographing angry ants to the physics of Angry Birds, the Q&As have been all over the map. It’s been a blast so far, and I look forward to continuing the practice through the new year.

As I did with the column itself, I’m going to follow in the footsteps of my talented colleague DeLene Beeland in rounding up the entire 365 days worth of conversations. Some of these bloggers have moved on to new projects (it has been a year after all), but every one had some interesting things to say about their work and science at large. Consider it a sneak preview to the great conversations set to take place in person in my own backyard of Raleigh, N.C., later this week.

If you have any suggestions for who you’d like to see featured, feel free to leave a comment!
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Time for a new adventure

In this case, adventure is at Duke!

Over the course of a week last summer, I made a few huge, rapid-fire life changes. I left my job as a Web producer with News 14 Carolina, married the love of my life and started (essentially) a brand new career as one of the editorial advisers at N.C. State Student Media.

While the timing was mild insanity, the decisions themselves weren’t difficult. Two great years at the station transformed me from a print guy clueless about the TV news business to a specialist in Web editing, breaking news and social media. I had managed to find a beautiful, intelligent woman who puts up with (nay, encourages) my love of video games, sci-fi movies and fantasy novels. And the new production assistant gig gave me the opportunity to return to my alma mater and work with the very publications that made me the journalist I am today.

I figured the new job would be a four-year investment, minimum. I wanted to see the students I advised graduate and move on. I wanted to see young writers, photographers and designers work their way up to editors. I wanted to see these publications grow.

Then I got a phone call. Read the rest of this entry »

Overzealous sergeant at arms boots pressman

Press corps represent!

Ruh roh.

Looks like a North Carolina House of Representatives official got a little uppity today with seasoned News & Record political reporter Mark Binker. A member of the sergeant at arms’ staff had the courtesy to provide Binker with an armed escort straight out of the room Tuesday after the reporter refused to sign in.

As Binker points out in his post, there’s no law that says he, or any member of the public, has to sign in at all.

He was only kept out of the room for about 10 minutes and the sergeant at arms apologized, but Binker denounced the “thuggish behavior” not on the basis that it harmed his ability to report, but because of the potential repercussions on the public’s right to transparency in government.

Residents of this state should feel that they can come and watch their government in action without being coerced to sign in. What if some little old lady from the hinter lands wanted to come and hear about a bill that might affect her, but didn’t want to subject her name to the public record?

Hopefully this will turn into a teachable moment for the staffers at the General Assembly, which should understand their responsibility to the public they serve. But just in case, I’ll keep the T-shirt screen printer at the ready.

Inside jokes should stay inside

Image courtesy of WQAD.

Accidents happen—especially in a college newsroom.

But there’s a difference between the usual stress-induced mistakes and knowingly putting yourself in a less-than-ideal situation.

That’s what the Western Courier, a thrice-weekly student newspaper at Western Illinois University, did Monday when it left a vulgar byline in the template, resulting in a much worse stress-induced situation. The staff accidentally forgot to change the byline for a sports story on the back page of the issue, indicating the author was a “bad mother [expletive],” according to a WQAD report.

Editor-in-Chief Ed Komenda said the error was a byproduct of the stressful environment and had been in the page’s template for years.

“In any newsroom situation, it’s a highly stressful situation. Jokes are made sometimes to defuse that stress and make everybody feel a little more comfortable,” said Komenda. “That byline was in the template for years before I started, and it just so happens it got printed accidentally,” according to WQAD.

The paper issued a formal apology Monday, but the damage was done.

Let’s be honest: This isn’t the first time a student-run newspaper’s fun has leaked onto its pages, but it’s one of the most preventable mistakes for student journalists.

I’ve never been a fan of anything other than standard filler text—and this is why. There are other ways to diffuse the natural stress of a college newsroom. The other part of the problem is this byline has been on the template for “years.” Students have to understand that the newspaper is the one thing in the newsroom that shouldn’t become subject to college playfulness.

Juvenile mistakes like the Courier’s not only affect readers’ views toward the paper’s credibility, but also — and more importantly — the staff’s view of their own publication.

If you’re going to choose personal phrases to fill space, be advised, you’re playing against the house.

Nathan Hardin is a graduate of North Carolina State University, where he served as the news editor of the school’s daily student newspaper, the Technician. He is also a staff writer for the Student Press Law Center.

Paying homage to great design

I’m just too excited not to share this, however shameless the promotion.

Check out the front page design from the Technician, the daily student newspaper I advise at North Carolina State University. Look familiar? Check out its inspiration.

Cleveland Plain Dealer, July 9

We had a great discussion over the summer (shortly after I was hired as a production assistant) about the wonderfully designed front by The Plain Dealer‘s Emmet Smith and Michael Tribble on the departure of LeBron James. When news broke at about 3 p.m. that the vice chancellor for Student Affairs, a 40-year employee of the university, announced his retirement, the Technician staff sprung into action, eliciting help from the Agromeck yearbook and the student-run radio station WKNC.

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Krispy Kreme Challenge roundup

Headlines and innuendo always need 2nd look

South Carolina's "Gamecock" mascot is fit for ribbing.

Three days after Florida State won the Chick-fil-A Bowl, it’s twice-weekly student newspaper, the FSView & Florida Flambeau, published a front page headlined with bold innuendo.

Dan Reimold at College Media Matters has a nice roundup of reactions from Twitter, including one from ESPN Radio out of Tallahassee, Fla. They’re mostly positive. But he also asks a serious question about the headline’s journalistic value.

Is it hilarious or cringe-inducing, creative or beyond cliché, journalistic or just-plain vulgar?

Journalists love puns — probably way more than they should. Throw in a little sexual innuendo, and you’ve got newsroom gold. You don’t have to look far to prove it either. As visual journalist Charles Apple points out, sex puns aren’t rare for tabloids like the Daily News, but even The Wall Street Journal’s copy desk gets in on the fun with their A1 heds.

I’m not a huge fan of most “punny” headlines, simply because they’re rarely as clever as their creators think. They can also get you into trouble if you’re not careful, as the Sun learned the hard way in 1982. But when they’re good, they’re often really good, and they can engage the reader in an incredibly effective way. Read the rest of this entry »

False incentives mean fewer AP interns

Photo courtesy of Douglas Muth

As 2010 comes to a close and the journalism industry counts losses from another year of sliding revenues, the Associated Press has decided to put its internship programs (and some other recruitment efforts) on a one-year hiatus. In the professional journalism world of late, cost-cutting matters almost as much as reporting the news. And despite controversy about the role of interns and the merits of paid versus unpaid in the industry, the program is low-hanging fruit.

Proponents of paid internship programs point to several functions they deem essential to education, training and growth in the industry: that internships grease the wheels for top journalism talent, and that without payment, positions would be available only to those wealthy enough to sustain themselves without pay for the position’s duration.

But incentives matter, and they aren’t well aligned to push the AP to continue the program. Read the rest of this entry »

Did WRAL anchor cross a line with comment?

Blogs are abuzz with a new moniker for Carolina. But is it fair?

The N.C. State sports blog StateFans Nation pointed out an interesting post by the controversial CBS Sports columnist Gregg Doyel this morning — one that seems to reveal the opinion of one of the Triangle’s most popular anchors.

From: Bill Leslie, WRAL, Raleigh

I’m a journalist like you — and I am offended by your reckless article on UNC football. They are doing their best to clean things up. It’s the first black eye in recent history. You should cut them a little slack.

Doyel filed Leslie’s response among his “hate mail” sent in response to two recent columns on the ongoing NCAA investigation into the UNC-Chapel Hill football program. The investigation has since expanded to allegations of academic misconduct.

To understand why Leslie’s note would be particularly controversial in the Triangle of North Carolina, you have to understand not only the heated rivalry between UNC-CH and NCSU (my alma mater), but the widespread perception among State fans that the local news is in the tank for the Tar Heels. Read the rest of this entry »

AEJMC probes gap between j-school ed, practice

Thought I’d share this fantastic presentation delivered by Ryan Thornburg, an online journalism professor from UNC-Chapel Hill, at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication convention. Good stuff!