ByWillAtkinson.com

United Press International - NewsTrack - Most get news from broadcasters

With all the gloom surrounding the journalism business, this is a great statistic. While the headline might read “most get news from broadcasters,” the stats reveal 63 percent of Americans read a local paper. That only trails online news by 1 percent. All in all, not too shabby.

Winthrop has some interesting speakers coming next week:

• ABC News science correspondent Ned Potter
• Bob Steele, Nelson Poynter Scholars for Journalistic Values at the Poynter Institute
• Senior art director for the Volkswagen account at Arnold Worldwide Boston

All events are free and open to the public. For more information, contact Marilyn Sarow at sarowm@winthrop.edu or (803) 323-4530.

Category | Easy on the Adverbs, Exclamation Points and Especially Hooptedoodle

Writer Elmore Leonard has interesting tips for good writing posted to his official Web site.

Did poor news coverage lead to the war?

Daniel Okrent, in a speech at Williams College asserted poor news coverage allowed the Iraq war to happen. Okrent is the new public editor at the New York Times.

He also discussed the journalism’s print situation.

It’s a “horrible time – financially” for newspapers, and the death of print is happening more quickly the he predicted six years ago.

Okrent said the lacking credibility and growing popularity of blogs has him uneasy. He ominously predicted the downfall of newspapers will happen during the current collegiate generation’s lifetime.

CBSNews.com: Blog

Is the world reverting to 19th century yellow journalism? There’s been a great deal of “partisan journalism” talk. It could be said this movement has been spurred by the popularity of Internet bloggers and their unabashed partisanship.

Still, isn’t “partisan journalism” an oxymoron? The venerable Associated Press was founded on the laudy principle of non-partisan journalism. How could a story sent across the wires have a slant if it’s running in multiple papers?

If Bret Hart can be a journalist, it might be time for a change.

mediabistro.com: Articles: Don’t Bother Writing For Print

“I think there is actually a stigma of print in my world,” says Needleman at CNET, who has worked for over a decade in online publishing after years in print journalism. “We have timeliness, searchabilty, community feedback, direct links to relevant resources, video, a very low cost of distribution, etc.—all things you can’t do with print.”

The MediaBistro article asserts any writing is good writing, regardless of where it takes place. Has the stigma of blogging disappeared?

Yahoo’s responsibility towards human rights: free Shi Tao from prison in China! - Amnesty International

Amnesty International has taken up the case of a jailed Chinese reporter who was freely expressing his opinion.

A 23-year-old Winthrop student was struck by a vehicle near Thompson residence hall Monday night. The student received minor injuries.

Carl Baker, a senior chemistry major, was walking on a crosswalk when he was hit by a Toyota Carolla. The force of the collision caused him to flip onto the car’s windshield, cracking it.

“The car came out of nowhere,” Baker said. “I don’t have any hard feelings though.”

Baker said the car hit him at the legs and sent him airborne, with his elbow striking the windshielf. He said the car hit him from the side but he does not feel pain from the accident anymore, just soreness.

He said he went to the hospital and was deemed to be in good condition. He was shaken after the accident, but says he’s OK now.

Campus police Officer Chuck Price reported to the scene. No additional information was provided. The Winthrop Police Department did not have an accident report ready at publishing time, 24 hours after the accident occurred.