I still blog!
Anyone looking for updates on how I’m doing in New Orleans, click here!
As part of his 50-state volunteering trip, Chris Strub interviews me about YRNO.
Anyone looking for updates on how I’m doing in New Orleans, click here!
As part of his 50-state volunteering trip, Chris Strub interviews me about YRNO.
As of July 2013, I’m an AmeriCorps VISTA at Tulane’s Center for Public Service, working with Youth Rebuilding New Orleans. Part of my job is volunteer coordination, so if any of y’all ever want to have some fun and help rebuild my most beloved city, be it for a day, a week or a month, just shout and I’ll set you up right!
Thanks to everyone for five great years at the J-school! This blog should stay up as an archive of all the material I taught over that time. I hope it remains useful to you.
In case you missed it, I left New York with a bang, writing about my pickup hoops life, “having coffee” with a fellow researcher and celebrating with friends at one heck of a farewell blast. Witness the evidence below!
It was obviously a busy final month of the semester…
On the News Service, Ilie Mitaru, Lisa Rinehart and Anna Teregulova contributed to stories. Previously, Mathilde Hamel and Angela Johnson reported on the increase in adoptions by same-sex couples, while Sierra Leone Starks reported on the rise in crowdfunding efforts for movie projects.
In addition, Sierra Leone’s piece about plans for a design-to-manufacturing fashion house in Industry City landed in Brooklyn Based.
Meanwhile, Mathilde’s talents were on display in both the April and May editions of 219 West TV Magazine, as she co-anchored the first and filed stories for both. Furthermore, Aine Pennello filed a story in April and Nadja Thomas had one in May.
Happy summer, and much love to you all!
The quiz results are in and I would call the overall performance “typical.” There was a wide variation in grades. Congratulations to the high scorers–Orie Givens, Aine Pennello and Divya Verma. Aine and Divya each missed one question, while Orie was perfect (with 10 minutes to spare!), minus the bonus.
For the record, no one got the bonus, so I’ll assume you thought “mandatory viewing” only applied if it came from the professor’s mouth, not Jonathan Dienst’s (LOL). Anyway, you can see the answer if you watch segment 17 from the PBS Frontline series “News War”, which can be found in part three.
Of the regular questions, there were several that gave many of you problems, starting with the one on Pete Thamel’s biggest mistake. Even if you forgot our class discussion, I did write about it later and post a link on the blog. As I’ve said, the blog is not for my own health. I was also somewhat disappointed a bunch of you didn’t get full credit on the query about the two basic questions for fact-checking, which was right there on my post of February 13th. Easiest question on the quiz, IMO.
What else tripped you up? Well, most of you knew to go to the Vanderbilt Television News Archive and ProQuest respectively for the questions about Nixon’s resignation video and New York Times front page headlines from my birthday, but made mistakes when you got there. A lot of you provided video links for something other than the NBC evening newscast on August 9, 1974 and headlines from stories on November 18, 1965 that appeared somewhere other than the front page. ProQuest does have a way to limit your search to front page stories, folks. We used the advanced search to do this in class.
Next, the two questions where I asked for separate answers that were supposed to come from the same place obviously caused some confusion. The answers on births and baby names were at the latest Mother’s Day compilation of the Census Bureau’s Facts for Features, and the poll numbers on background checks for gun buyers could be found in the guns section at Polling Report. Both sources were listed on my post of March 11th.
Lastly, the Bernard Madoff question proved to be one of the most difficult, for whatever reason. Many of you missed it entirely, while others gave me a Manhattan Supreme court case where he was a plaintiff (for which I did award credit), but what I really wanted was the case where he was a defendant from the SCROLL database, as we called it up in class before heading out to NBC.
Anyway, thanks for a memorable semester, friends. I’ll have one last roundup of your work posted soon.
Time for another roundup of your work:
Ilie Mitaru’s exclusive on a lawsuit claiming a transgender patient was left to die by EMS responders made Sheepshead Bites.
For the Mott Haven Herald, Brianne Barry profiled a pastor who’s fought through cancer to serve.
On Voices of NY, Sierra Leone Starks profiled a Scottish illustrator.
Posted this month, the March edition of 219 West TV Magazine was co-anchored by Orie Givens and Nadja Thomas. Lookin’ good!
And I’ve been busy too, contributing research to stories on Internet gun sales and a quirky basketball league, as well as an audio package on the Boston Marathon bombing.
Bonus shot: In Atlanta to collect an award, check me out on the afternoon of the NCAA basketball championship game, hangin’ with Rick Pitino before falling asleep in front of my TV back in New York…
Points of emphasis for critical thinking:
For more tips on court research, see Barbara Gray’s guide.
Noting the work below, it’s well-deserved…
Sierra Leone Starks wrote about a library reborn in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
Danielle Valente’s piece about a firm that combines fashion and philanthropy found a home in Lifestyle + Charity Magazine.
Danielle was also a contributor to a News Service multimedia report on the future of the old Rockaway Railway, along with Sarah Khuwaja, Anne Lagamayo, Ilie Mitaru and Aine Pennello.
Also on the News Service, Orie Givens profiled an artist who nearly lost her sight.
Keep up the good work!
You made a research nerd look (sorta) cool!
The Life of Jack Styczynski from Mathilde M. Hamel on Vimeo.
Update, 3/21: Thanks to Jim Coningsby for the kind words after seeing the video!
March Madness bonus: It’s been a busy month doing research for stories about
the (not so) fast and fraudulent, a cannibal cop and gun rights vs. protection orders,
not to mention writing on hoops. (Check out all the comments on the Big East story!)
The Census Bureau has one of the most valuable and densely-packed web sites you’ll encounter. You’ll constantly find new information there that will amaze you with its obscurity and level of detail. Below are some of my favorite Census Bureau pages.
Additionally, some excellent “third party” sites aggregate Census Bureau data. Below are a few of my favorites in that category.
Bonus tip: Barbara Gray has compiled a handout on Mining Census data for reporting that does an especially good job explaining the differences between the decennial census and the American Community Survey.
Opinion polls are also a great way to detect trends in the population. When most people think of polls, they think of political polling, but there’s much more to be found.
Warnings about polls: Many times there are concerns about the credibility or methodology of a pollster, so be cautious of sources. Also remember that polls always have a margin of error, which you should cite. Here are 20 questions journalists should ask about poll results.
Looking for video online? Of course, there’s YouTube and the like, but what about professional databases with substantial broadcast archives? The J-school has subscriptions to such databases, which also feature superior search functionality.
Regarding graphical print archives, there are many more places to go.
This is the warning NBC uses for the sites above: THESE SITES ARE FOR REFERENCE ONLY. You will be connecting to external sites and all images must be cleared for on-air use, regardless of source. If you have questions, please contact the Rights & Clearances Department.
Bonus tip: Looking for photos? The J-school has a subscription to AP Images and the New York City Department of Records Municipal Archives has an online photo gallery.