It’s Friday, and that means it’s time for another list of some posts you may have missed about journalism and the media on Medium. Thanks to Gurman Bhatia, Ren LaForme, Katie Hawkins-Gaar and Julia Haslanger for helping to curate.
Questions are the new comments
Jennifer Brandel’s post this from Saturday was adapted from a talk she gave, and it looks at the cycle news goes through and how late the audience comes into that cycle.
Screen shot, Medium
But what if, Brandel asks, journalists started with questions instead of ending with comments?
10 Years Later, Their Stories Live On
Ernesto Aguilar wrote about becoming the program director of Houston’s KPFT in 2005, when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast.
The reporting effort was the work of a few determined people, who devoted many days and sleepless nights to convey the testimonies of Hurricane Katrina evacuees. KPFT saw as its obligation to be present for this news event. We didn’t have a lot of fancy gear — in fact, it was probably no more than a few MiniDisc recorders. Our crew was a volunteer reporter or two on the scene. What was not present in resources was made up for in pushing hard to get survivor comments and broadcast them. It was a recognition that official voices had the biggest megaphones, but the real news was that from people who were there.
When traumatic content needs to be shared
Sam Dubberley wrote about seeing images of Aylan Kurdi this week.
Images are powerful. It’s no remarkable point to say that they influence our beliefs. Our actions. Sometimes it needs a traumatic image to be shared to push the world to action, to push us to action. To change our behaviours, even our beliefs.
“By telling stories I can create change.”
Patricia Chadwick wrote about Nigerian journalist Ameto Akpe.
Apke believes that one of the biggest problems with journalism in Nigeria is the way in which journalists silence themselves. Too many journalists are being seduced into silence by bribery and corruption. “Journalists have become cooperative with those who want to silence us. And they don’t silence us with bullets or threats of prison,” she said. “Money is the big silencer.”
So You Want To Create an App for Eyewitness Media?
Josh Stearns offers some advice. Here’s number 7:
Code Can’t Do Everything — Many of the apps I have tested seek to automate the verification process, promising to streamline and speed up newsroom workflows for breaking news. But, a lot of verification is about using your gut and applying fundamental journalistic skills to new platforms and kinds of sources. Apps can help superpower some of what needs to happen — think Google reverse image search — but know when human labor is needed.
Journo Salary Sharer: How much do designers make?
Julia Haslanger has another update on how much (or little?) journalists are making. This time, designers:
For respondents with fewer than 5 years of experience, the median salary for print designers was $38K, compared with $60K for web and graphics designers.
For those with 10 or more years of experience, the print designer median salary was just $64K, compared with more than $80K for web and graphics designers.
Which is to say, you could work for 15 years as a print designer and still be making less than some web designers with 3 or 4 years of experience. Not to say that all web designers make a ton — there were a dozen (out of 63) web or graphics designers who make $45,000 or less.
