Anderson Cooper Takes Elon University for a 360 Degree Ride

 by Kevin Clang

Even though he often questions whether or not his work will actually change things, CNN’s Anderson Cooper does see the value in reporting the news, and bringing attention to stories that would otherwise recieve none.  So he told over 2,000 students at Elon University’s Alumni Gym in a speech delievered this Tuesday.

Anderson Cooper stresses the importance of fact-checking and objectivity in journalism at Elon University's Alumni Gym (picture from E-Net)

In a whirlwind of a day, Cooper arrived on Elon’s campus via jet just after noon, taking a tour of the School of Communications and making a surprise appearence in a few afternoon classes.  After a quick brown bag lunch, Cooper fielded student queries in an hour-long question and answer session in Whitley Auditorium.

In Whitley several students were given the oppertunity to ask Cooper direct questions mostly focused on the media and his own journalistic opinions and experiences.  At 4 p.m. Cooper spoke at Alumni Gym, a speech titled “A 360 Degree look at World Events.”

As it’s title suggests, Cooper’s speech was mostly serious look into the issues facing America today.  Cooper described his own experiences as a war correspondent for ABC, with whom he visited countries such as Somalia, Iran, Israel and Rwanda.  There were also some lighthearted moments peppered throughout the speech, especially when Cooper discussed the uselessness of his Yale degree in political science.

Throughout the day Cooper stressed the need for objectivity in journalism, saying he believes in “facts, not opinions . . . people are smart and can figure it out for themselves.”  He came down hard on the ideological reporting of some of his competitors, asking whether they were “pundits or reporters.”  With regards to papers, he stated that the possible disappearence of the newspaper was “scary,” but recognized that “the cost of printing and distributing paper is prohibitive (to the industry).”

A Yale graduate, Cooper was initially rejected for an entry level job at ABC News.  He accepted a job as a fact-checker at Channel One, a news program seen in middle and high schools across the country.  Eager to do more, he decided to leave the job to shoot his own stories overseas in Burma and Vietnam.

Eventually he was hired as a correspondent for ABC News, being appointed as anchor of their World News Now in 1999.  In 2001, Cooper joined CNN first as a correspondent and then as their weekend primetime anchor.  Cooper has hosted his own show on CNN, Anderson Cooper 360, since 2003.

Elon School of Communications Board Members Discuss the Future with Students

Debora Wilson and Graham Woodlief addressing students

Journalism is currently stuck in a constant state of change.  Every other week there seems to be some major change in the way reporting is either done or published.  Nobody can really be sure what is coming next, a fact that has been particularly troubling to the Elon University journalism students who will be entering the job market in the coming years.

Luckily, School of Communications board members Debora Wilson and Graham Woodlief were able to take time to talk to eager students about the state of media and what changes we can expect in the future.  Wilson, former president and chief executive of The Weather Channel and Weather.com, and Woodlief, the vice president of communications company Media General, took time to discuss their experiences in media and answer student’s questions.

Wilson Weighs In

A recurring topic was exactly what media companies need to do in order to remain viable in the future, especially with a struggling economy and the strength of the Internet.  According to Wilson, media providers always need to be asking themselves “where are people going to be, and what do they want?”

As an example she used her own experiences with The Weather Channel, who were among the first major companies to move to the Internet fifteen years ago.  She claimed that when the usefullness of the Internet was still unproven, her company did a good job in anticipating the needs of its customers.  As a result, weather.com is one of the top 15 web properties on the Internet.

“Every media company is going through economic struggle in this economy,” she said.  “Most will be fine, some will evolve.  Leaders must know where to go.”

Woodlief’s Words

Woodlief had a similar opinion.  After 44 years in the media business, he said he had seen “quite a bit of transformation.”  While things look bleak for some newspaper companies at the moment, Woodlief believed that they would not be disappearing completely any time soon.

“Information is very important to people,” he explained, adding that the job of any newspaper is to gather and provide information to its consumers.  Woodlief explained that recently his company has overseen the convergence of six markets and major restructuring in five markets, decisions that were reached after asking the question “How do we produce information that is better for our customers?”

Advice for Students

For graduates entering the job market, both Wilson and Woodlief were clear in their advice.  “Don’t own the word ‘entitlement,’ ask what you can do to add value to your organization,” said Wilson, adding ”Step up and lead.”

Woodlief encouraged students to view “obstructions as oppertunities.”  Students should be “glad to work, and always want to work harder.”  Reporters these days need to know how to do anything, so students should also be eager to learn during their time at school.

Mac DeMere Races Towards Journalism’s Future at Elon University

by Kevin Clang

When it comes to picking what field of study one wants to major in, some students spent months agonizing over the important decision.  For Mac DeMere, it was easy.  “There was no degree in race-car driver,” he said.

Mac DeMere Visits COM 310

DeMere, a freelance auto-journalist who has spent his career working in newspapers, magazines, public relations and the automotive industry itself, visited Elon University today to discuss the changing face of journalism.  DeMere discussed his career, offering stories and advice, and finally asking students their opinions.

“You must be an expert in your field,” DeMere explained, adding that an expert should be able to “spot fudges and lies, and hear what they’re not saying.”  When you don’t know something, DeMere stressed that you “always find and expert that does.”  The auto-journalist also detailed with the class some of the ways in which journalism is changing.

“I did not take a variety of classes,” he said, mentioning television classes specifically.  “These days, you have to do everything; journalism is in flux.”  Print journalists are now expected to write for the web and television as well, and the three media could not be more different from one another.

DeMere talked about his first experiences in front of a television camera, something the company he was working for sprung on him with little to no warning.  “My first efforts on-camera were terrible,” he said, “Print journalism on air doesn’t work.”  Despite initial setbacks, DeMere admitted that television writing did become easier the more he did it.

The most important advice DeMere dispeled on the class was what he viewed as a journalist’s number one priority: accuracy.  “Give up on completeness for accuracy,” he explained, adding he would rather turn in a story late than turn one in that was not facutally sound.  “One error could lose you your audience for your career . . . not being wrong is all you can hope for.”

As most newspapers and magazines move on-line, DeMere questioned the future of quality journalism.  Although video often obtains ten times the number of on-line hits that print receives, “Written word is still important, powerful, and necessary,” he said, adding that the Internet was best for quick news and fast hits.

Investigative Reporting: Chapter 6

by Kevin Clang

Investigative stories are the foundation of journalism. Since the invention of the newspaper, it has been every journalist’s dream to uncover the next big scandal, prejudice or special issue. Likewise newspaper readers who don’t have the time to go out and research every little story that interests them enjoy reading about these important topics. Investigative stories keep everyone informed and honest. Unsurprisingly, they are a very tricky thing to get perfectly right.

Like any written piece, the setup and outline of an investigative story is very important. Before they begin writing, the journalist must ask themselves “What is the story here? What is my focus?” Ron Meador of the Star Tribune in Minneapolis encourages writers to “keep the outrage in sight,” “put people in the foreground,” and to “talk to readers; do not lecture them.” A writer must always keep their reader in mind: what will interest them, what may lose their attention and how to keep them interested throughout the entire story.

In an investigative piece, the “So what? Why do we care” is just as important as the who, what, where, when, and how. If for instance a reporter was writing a story on the economy, they would have to decide just what their story was. It is not enough just to say “the economy,” they need to set their story apart from others. Instead, the reporter may want to focus on one person, family or company that has been greatly affected by the market. People, not organizations, should always be the focus.

A writer must decide where to put the most important information, whether it be at the beginning of the piece or the end. There are several tried and true formulas to write a good story. For example, in the inverted pyramid structure, one organizes information from the most important to the least important, giving readers the best stuff right away. The Wall Street Journal formula organizes information from the specific to the general. A pyramid story is the opposite of the inverted pyramid, going from a lead to foreshadowing to storytelling to the climax. One can use sections to compel readers to read the whole piece.

The leads and endings of an investigative piece are the two most important areas. They must work together; bookends for the reader to gauge the story by. The lead must draw the reader in and give them incentive to read the rest of the piece, but it must also foreshadow the ending. They must be interesting and informative, and can take the form of a narrative, anecdote, or description. Endings need to make the reader keep thinking about the story long after they finish it, leaving deep thoughts and emotions in their minds.

Tone is also central to any investigative story. The reader cannot feel that they are being manipulated, talked down or lied to. The writer can’t make the piece seem too serious or too light, as it would take away from its overall effectiveness. Tone is a tricky thing to grasp, and can make or break your article. Put all of these things together and you have a good investigative piece (easy stuff, right?). It seems like a lot, and it is, but each aspect is central to a story’s success or failure.

Investigative Reporting – Chapters 1-3

by Kevin Clang

Contrary to popular belief, stories do not just fall into the laps of journalists. Yes, sometimes a catastrophic national event occurs and causes everyone to stop what they are doing in order to cover it, but more often than not it is the journalist’s job to go out and find their own stories.

There are stories everywhere around us, from somewhere as obvious as the police station to somewhere as inconspicuous as a supermarket. It is up to the journalist to do the investigative reporting: realize the story, find people to talk to, ask them the tough questions, and finally scope the location out. Nobody else is going to do the work for them; the journalist must put in the hours.

The classic example of modern investigative reporting is and will likely forever remain Watergate, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post uncovering a Presidential cover-up of break-ins at the Watergate Hotel. The two reporters were the only two to recognize that something was odd about the crime and decided to probe deeper than everyone else.

In doing so, they found “Deep Throat,” a disgruntled government worker who knew privileged information that greatly aided the two reporters in their investigation. With his information, the two compiled their story largely from records and documents that were available to the public, things like meeting minutes and budget reports, things that anyone could take out and look at. Some did, for sure, but Woodward and Bernstein were the only two people to put all of the information together and uncover the epic story.

As the book states, the two reporter’s work towards uncovering Watergate began long before a bunch of crooks broke into hotel rooms. Bob Woodward spent his time working for a couple of small to medium sized newspapers in Maryland and D.C. suburbs, before landing a job at the Washington Post. He worked his way up the ladder by assigning himself to investigate small local scandals, such as a butcher selling fatty meat to customers. These stories not only made the Post notice him, they also provided Woodward with the investigative reporting tools he would need to sufficiently report on the Watergate break-ins and thus change our country forever.

Today we have much more tools available at our disposal than Woodward and Bernstein ever did. Many public records can now be found online, saving the time and hassle it takes to drive down to a public office and check papers out. Primary sources can easily be kept in touch with using e-mail, whereas before a reporter may often fall out of touch with a source after his story is done with.

This also makes it much easier to follow up a story with new information and insight. Articles are archived and cataloged online where they can be easily searched. Sources from all over the world, from newscasts to newspaper stories to blogs, are available at the click of a mouse, giving us nearly limitless access to information. What used to take years to research is now readily available.

While all of this technology makes the job more convenient, it does not make it any easier to do. An investigative reporter will still have to have a keen eye and ask themselves the questions “how should the system work, how well is the system working, and who is benefiting and who is suffering because of the way the system works” if they ever want to uncover the next Watergate. They still need to do their time with small issues at small papers, putting in several sleepless nights if they ever want to work their way up to the big leagues.

Journalism’s Future – How the Internet Will Affect Print Media

            In his article “End Times” The Atlantic magazine, Michael Hirschorn somewhat pessimistically states that print media is dead.  The one paper Hirschorn chooses to symbolize the old ways of print media is The New York Times, who in October reported a nearly billion dollar debt.  Hirschorn predicts that this debt combined with an inability to sell parts of itself off will lead The New York Times, a flagship paper which is one of the most read in the world, to stop printing in May of 2009.

 

            With the economy struggling like it is, these are tough times for any business, but print media has long been in trouble.  Readership, and thus ad revenue, has been steadily falling for the better part of a decade.  People like Hirschorn would have us believe that it is all doom and gloom, but this is not the case.  The internet is rapidly changing everything we know about reporting; every day we are seeing the gradual evolution of the media as it moves from traditional sources to online ones.  These are exciting times for all journalists, veteran and rookie.  We are all firsthand witnesses to and partakers in the growth of media.

            In today’s world, everyone can be a journalist.  We live in a society of instant gratification, and the ways in which we get our news is no exception.  What started with printed newspapers evolved into radio coverage, which evolved into a nightly television broadcast, which evolved into 24-hour news channels, and finally into the World Wide Web.  Now anyone with a camera and a cell phone can instantly upload a newsworthy piece of information directly from the site of the event onto their blog or website.  Several reporters used the website Twitter to cover the recent Democratic and Republican National Conventions.

 

            Ironically for Hirschorn, The New York Times has been one of the best examples of adapting to new media.  As told by Emily Nussbaum in New York Magazine, the Times has been integrating new media into its news coverage via the internet at increasingly higher rates compared to some of its counterparts.  Visitors to the website can get the full story on any one topic using view archival stories, video coverage, links to relevant blogs, and revolutionary uses of flash.  Nick Bilton, who designed the New York Times website, said “Print is just a device. The New York Times is not just a newspaper, it’s a news organization.”

 

            The problem now will be how to turn this online success into profit.  So far, no one has successfully been able to do so.  While The New York Times is read by many more people online than in print, the majority of its revenue still comes from print advertising (especially now that it is selling ads on the front page).  The answer to this conundrum may be as simple as charging for an online subscription which would give the subscriber access to blogs and video in addition to printed stories, but many fear that doing so would be even more detrimental to print.  The Guardian of the UK has been able to run a successful website without cannibalizing its daily print edition.

 

            The growth or death of print media as we know it will likely depend on how tightly a few of the most successful newspaper owners grasp onto their romantic visions of what a newspaper ought to be.  Every time one of them criticizes blogging, video, or otherwise refuses to adapt to changing times they may as well be banging another proverbial nail into the newspaper’s coffin.  Only by adapting to the changing times will newspaper companies survive.  New York Times chairman Arthur Sulzberger said in 2002: “Newspapers cannot be defined by the second word — paper. They’ve got to be defined by the first – news.  All of us have to become agnostic as to the method of distribution. We’ve got to be as powerful online, as powerful in TV and broadcasting, as we are powerful in newsprint.”

 

            People will always need news; the desire to know what’s happening in the world around us is inherent in all human beings.  As the world grows smaller thanks to the power of the internet, newspapers must lead the charge into new media.  Video, websites, blogging: these things will not bring about the death of the newspaper; in fact they may very well save it.  Pundits have called for the death of print media before with the introductions of radio and television, and so far the newspaper has done just fine.  Times are certainly tough right now, but I would predict that in twenty years newspapers will still exist in some form, whether they be online or otherwise.

 

           

 

Sources

Gates, Dominic.  “Newspapers in a Digital Age.”  USC Annenberg.  May 1, 2002.  February 1, 2009.  http://www.ojr.org/ojr/future/1020298748.php

 

Hirschorn, Michael.  “End Times.”  The Atlantic.  January 2009.  February 1, 2009.  http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200901/new-york-times

 

Nussbaum, Emily.  “The New Journalism: Goosing the Grey Lady.”  New York Magazine.  January 11, 2009.  February 1, 2009.  http://nymag.com/news/features/all-new/53344/

 

Regan, Tom.  “Newspapers aren’t dying off, they’re evolving.”  Christian Science Monitor.  September 25, 2008.  Academic Search Premier.   February 1, 2009.  http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=1&hid=109&sid=8e098156-e77f-43b2-bda8-141c6bc0fefe%40sessionmgr102&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=34495605

 

Steege, Jenna.  “The Shape of Newspapers.”  St. Louis Journalism Review.  January 13, 2008.  Academic Search Premier.  February 1, 2009.  http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=1&hid=102&sid=73a7942a-562d-49ef-be4c-a23dd621de3f%40sessionmgr107