And now for something completely different...

I know the best blogs are thematic, regular, and organized. But today, I just can't help myself.

As an assignment for my MA Journalism program meant to sharpen our skills for integrated newsrooms, our class was divvied into beats. We were set free on the city to produce print, radio and video stories about our beat, with the stories (hopefully) finding their way into multiple forms of media.

Being stuck into the Arts & Culture beat, I didn't really have a damn clue what was going on in the city. I like music, I like concerts, and I like books, but other than that I'm hopelessly lost.

I took it upon myself to be the camera/editor guy for my group's video. We wanted to have a lot more fun than your standard news report, and this was the result ....

The rest of the work can be found on our lovely squarespace page.

Getting the point to the public

an argument for framing in science journalism

I am aware that I'm about to step into a full on forum war *dons his flame-retardant lab coat*, and that as a student I may be passing far beyond my area of expertise. However, I need to take issue to a post by DrugMonkey today. 

His post was mostly concerned with anonymity on the internet, but what bothered me was this:

Poor Matt Nisbet takes his lumps around these parts because his academic field is spin, sorry framing. This is the process within professional communication whereby the strictest and most precise depiction of the current state of knowledge about objective reality is...undervalued. Undervalued relative to driving home whatever broader themes and ideas the communicator happens to favor. Undervalued relative to rounding up votes on "your side", regardless of why such voters may favor your position.

I just launched into an independent study project to figure out how to do science journalism properly. One of the concepts that resonated most strongly, as someone concerned with effectively explaining science to the public, is framing. DrugMonkey's idea of equating framing to spin, and of communicators only pushing for 'votes', seems to belittle the role of science journalists. 

America Round-Up!

Want to know what happened today, all nicely tied together with an extremely loose joining thread? Here are three stories of things that happened to.... Americans!

It's been a busy day for our closest neighbours. Some are getting trapped, and others are being freed. Here's what's happening to our American friends today!