Journalists could take cues from ‘American Idol’

5 comments April 10th, 2008

While reading another blog today, I found this link to Shawn Smith’s New Media Bytes.

Smith says David Cook’s run on “American Idol” provides lessons to those of us who gather and post content on news Web sites. I buy it.

Cook has taken risks, done his homework and done things differently than other “Idol” singers, according to Smith.

We’ll miss you, Jeff

Add comment April 10th, 2008

I’ve been out of the office a lot in the last couple weeks. I was catching up yesterday when I came across this post on the Why We Vote blog. I learned that community blogger Jeff Rushing died of a brain aneurysm March 25.

Jeff was a member of our voters panel and contributor to the Why We Vote blog. His last post predicted a Hillary Clinton/Barack Obama ticket in the fall.

I “met” Jeff when he called the newsroom one day this year. Jeff, a vocal conservative, was upset about two stories we ran in the Nation/World section that day. I happened to be the editor who answered the phone.

Jeff wanted to know why we didn’t identify embattled Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick as a Democrat in one story, and why we didn’t publish a photo of Mitt Romney in a story about the race for the Republican and Democratic nominations. We had published pictures of John McCain, Clinton and Obama, if memory serves.

Jeff wasn’t a typical angry caller. He was thoughtful and nice, and before I knew it I was on the phone with him for 20 minutes. I said he made good points and that I would share with other editors. Before we hung up, I asked him if he would be interested in serving on a voters’ panel we were assembling. He jumped at the chance.

We brought the panel together at the News Tower in late February. Jeff was vocal during the discussion but didn’t dominate. It was clear he was a conservative Republican. During that meeting, I asked the group if any of them would be willing to blog their opinions during this election year. Jeff didn’t hesitate. He came up to talk with me afterward to see if there was a way he could start blogging that night.

Once I got the blog set up, Jeff was the first to post. The topic was energy. I enjoyed reading his viewpoints and exchanging e-mails with him. I was so sad to hear of his unexpected death.

We posted this story on rrstar.com. Mary Kaull blogged about Jeff yesterday on A Seat at the Table. You’ll find a copy of his obituary there, too.

In the news business, I’ve had the great pleasure of meeting and interacting with wonderful people. Jeff was one of ‘em. One phone call, and I was sold on him. I knew he would add a lot to our panel. And in the short time I knew him it was obvious he was passionate about our country and its future.

Oh, by the way, the next time we published a story about that Detroit mayor, we labeled him a Democrat.