Archive for August, 2008
August 14th, 2008
not layoffs. not buyouts. not hours. just a change to 4-day workweeks.
many industries have looked to this as a solution to high gas prices, and at least a few journalists are giving it a shot.
we have a few people here who work under this scenario, but it’s more about their jobs than gas. decent perk, though: three days off.
as for saving gas and the future of journalism, i see opposite forces at work. on the one hand, we are becoming mobile journalists, filing stories from anywhere. on the other hand, the best work is done in person, not over the phone, so that often requires four wheels and fossil fuels.
August 11th, 2008
this morning, two different people have talked to me about the excitement of two different competitions.
first, i got a call from an acquaintance of mine and former co-worker, connie carlson. she’s the projects and event coordinator for the rockford phantom regiment.
she told me i gotta go check out videos from saturday night’s dci victory on youtube, like the one below. she said it was “pandemonium,” and you’d have to agree.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/eIoqgleZuBk" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
connie marched in the regiment when it did “spartacus” back in 1981 and ‘82, so she still has her car marked up with “hail, spartacus” and other champ chants. besides, she’s too busy taking merchandise orders.
an hour later, i got a visit from former reporter geri nikolai. we were talking about the olympics.
i said maybe it’s harder to get kids excited about it these days now that we don’t have the cold war to spark the spirit (i was big on hockey in 1980!). she said, no, last night, the american 4×100 men’s freestyle swimming relay was an amazing comeback to watch. the french had said they were going to smash us. michael phelps opened up with a lead, but we lost it and didn’t win until 32-year-old jason lezak inched back into the game and showed the french we could do it.
the video’s at msn.com.
beyond the victory, the best part is when the announcers are basically writing lezak off and giving him the silver, saying there’s no way he can pull off an upset. oops. now that’s what makes it exciting.
August 8th, 2008
reading insider baseball junk about the struggling industry (which we sometimes share here) may bore you.
but this is rockford’s kind of story. the golf and newspaper industries have similar struggles in gaining younger audiences and suffering from the downturn in the housing market. find out when you read the piece who’s got “the edge”…
(p.s. like the illustration?)
August 7th, 2008
Itchin’ to know which local stations have the cheapest gas? Check out Gas Tracker, a new feature on rrstar.com. Bear with us because we’re still working out some kinks, but you can check prices, add prices and add stations to the list.
Somebody added a price from a gas station in Tulsa, Okla., where gas was $3.47 a gallon yesterday. Though it’s a safe bet that nobody’s going to drive 694 miles to Tulsa for cheap gas.
I try to do my part. Each day, I update the information on the stations I pass on the way to work. It’s pretty easy to use and pretty cool, too.
If you have suggestions on how to improve the interface, send an e-mail to me at avoelker@rrstar.com.
August 6th, 2008
We sent Kevin Haas out to the Boone County Fair with a couple directives. Have fun and talk to lots of people. Here’s what he came up with on Day One. The best, though, is this video report (shot and edited by Billy Kulpa). I showed it to my kids last night, and they wanted to watch it over and over just to hear the pigs squeal.
[flashvideo filename=”http://www.rrstar.com/multimedia/x1837656788/@@download.flv” /]
You can find all fair coverage, including last week at Ogle County, here. Oh, and, if you are out at the Boone County Fair, look for Kevin. You may find yourself in one of his reports.
Here’s a shot of Kevin back in 2005 when he followed his horoscope (and reported it) for one month. His horoscope told him to get a haircut. If you’re looking for Kevin at the fair, look for a guy who looks like Keanu Reeves (The “Bill and Ted” version, not “The Matrix” version.) And tell him to get a haircut.
Billy Kulpa (We don’t have any funny shots of Billy.)
August 6th, 2008
yep, it’s time to submit your cuties for the baby of the year contest.
each year, newspapers in education raises money by collecting the photos, asking you (the readers) to vote and publishing the winners in a calendar.
photos of your precious ones (who may not be be older than 3 as of dec. 31, 2008) are due aug. 15.
you can see all the babies to start voting when we publish a special section aug. 24.
after three rounds of voting, winners will be announced oct. 3.
note: donations — $10 to submit and $1 per vote — to NIE are voluntary.
August 5th, 2008
this parting shot from a former wall street journal writer and editor asserts (jokes?) there’s more money to be made in panhandling than journalism.
i like this parting shot better. and i like the concept of the column — to give voice to the thousands leaving the biz and reflect what others still around might be thinking.
August 4th, 2008
post away, dear rrstar.com readers. sorry for the gap in service.
August 4th, 2008
the techs are looking into it. will let you know when you can comment again.
August 1st, 2008
The editor of the Spokesman-Review lamented last night that he’s a newspaperman, and he’s among a dying breed. Steve Smith’s blog post appeared on Romenesko (industry blog on Poynter’s Web site) less than 12 hours later.
I’ve been in the news biz professionally for nearly 10 years. I certainly have not had the same experiences as Steve Smith has had in 40 years. So I do my best to understand where he’s coming from. After reading the post, I walk away with this. He calls himself a newspaperman, not a journalist.
There’s a big difference in those two titles.
I don’t work for a newspaper. (Sure, we put out a newspaper. I don’t dispute that.) I work for a media company. And I am a journalist. Not a newspaperwoman.
This is a tough time. “Newspaper companies” have to evolve into “media companies.” While it’s tough, we have an opportunity. I am an optimist (and, yes, that is somewhat abnormal for a journalist). So I choose to believe that journalism is relevant. People do rely on us to get information for them. Not as many of them are consuming the information by reading a printed newspaper.
So the optimist that I am chooses to look at it not as an industry that’s dying but one that is going to have to reinvent itself over and over again as our consumers change their consumption habits. We can’t spend the next 100 years doing things the way we’ve always done them.
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