Identity Theft: I’d like to focus on how students have dealt with identity theft and protecting themselves on the Internet. Many people use credit cards online, in addition to checking their account balance, and fall victim to phishing scams and identity theft. I’d like to explore how students protect themselves, and if they’ve ever had an issue, what steps they had to take to recover their identity. I could also look into how Bank of America deals with these situations. This story is interesting because there hasn’t been a way to stop online identity theft yet, since it is a relatively (in the past 10 years) new problem.
Facebook Privacy: I’d like to see how students and adults deal with the ever-changing Facebook privacy policy. I’d want to know if they are worried about their pictures being sold to advertisers, if they worry if everyone can see their information, if they’ll keep their Facebook page for a long time, and if they post pictures of illegal actions (and if they are worried about the police seeing them). This story is interesting because Facebook is extremely popular (especially for college students who are often underage drinkers) and the privacy policy is often in the news.
It’s great that the location changed, because most people staying in this hotel would be out-of-towners, therefore not feeling as much of a desire to support the local economy by purchasing local goods. It seems that this year will be a bigger success, because of location. The Hampshire Mall gets a lot of traffic from locals and university students.
I often see “locally grown” logos on signs at the Dining Commons. I once considered this as one of the many quaint and different aspects of Amherst, compared to my hometown, Boston. I didn’t think much of it at first, but after learning more about smaller towns, I can see how vitally important a local market is to the year-long residents and the economy itself. According to the MassLive article, if you spend $1 locally, 68 cents stays in the community. That’s a pretty good deal!
What is your story’s news hook? (That’s another way of saying Why now?) CampusLive, founded by UMass grads and based in Amherst, has been granted $320,000 to create websites for 600 schools.
Who is your audience, and why will that audience find this story interesting? The audience would be the UMass community, Amherst residents, and anyone interested in start-up companies or entrepreneurship. This audience would find this story interesting because it is a local success story.
Who are your sources?My three sources would be Sasha Grosman, who is the director of marketing at CampusLive, Elizabeth Smith, who is an intern at CampusLive and current UMass student, and Jeff Cassidy, Advisor and Co-founder of CampusLive. These three employees work closely with CampusLive and see firsthand how the operation works.
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Second story idea for Multimedia project
What is your story’s news hook? (That’s another way of saying Why now?) After the week of Career Fairs in the Campus Center, Career Services at UMass continues to assist seniors apply for jobs and internships for after graduation in May.
Who is your audience, and why will that audience find this story interesting? My audience would be UMass students, and perhaps employers. This audience will find it interesting because many underclassmen might be wondering how to transition from college to the working world. To seniors, Career Services is very valuable and some may not know about it.
Who are your sources? My three sources would be Jeff Silver, director of Career Services, Diane Smithers, Field Experience Office supervisor at Career Services, and Caroline Gould, Career Advisor at Career Services. These three people are part of the staff of Career Services and would know exactly the information I’d need. Perhaps I would also interview a senior at UMass.
Two Hartfordmen were arrested for drug and traffic related offenses last week on I-91 in Holyoke, MA. Aaron Diaz, 22, was pulled over for a lane violation. When authorities asked Diaz to step out of the car, they noticed a large bulge in his pants (I am not making this up), only to discover that there was a large amount of cash in there. His passenger, Steven Pedraza, 22, complied with state policemen, while Diaz ran away once the troopers realized he was unlicensed.
Diaz dropped 500 small bags of heroin and $1,690 in cash. He was located approximately two hours later in Holyoke. There was no mention of needles in the Daily Hampshire Gazette article. Diaz claimed he was using the money for a shopping trip. The Holyoke Mall is great, but that is SOME shopping spree….
Diaz’s exact involvement in drugs is unclear. Perhaps he was transporting them to or from a dealer, was a dealer himself, or was even planning on using the drugs. Heroin is harmful to the body and its usage results in extreme dependence on the drug.
Heroin is a highly addictive drug derived from morphine, which is obtained from the opium poppy. It is a “downer” or depressant that affects the brain’s pleasure systems and interferes with the brain’s ability to perceive pain.
Heroin needle users put themselves at risk for HIV/AIDS and hepatitis. I was told recently that there is a “heroin clinic” in Northampton, not far from Holyoke, where drug abusers can seek help and clean needles. The website explains that the Community Substance Abuse Center is a methadone treatment facility. This means that heroin is substituted with methadone, which is an FDA approved drug. This helps wean and stabilize the drug abuser without taking more heroin.
Scott Brown will be sworn as MA Senator in February 11, 2010.
When Scott Brown was elected Massachusetts senator late January, supporters of the Health Care Reform bill were not happy. Many Massachusetts residents who voted for Martha Coakley, the Democratic contender and expected winner, were shocked. Independent voters of Massachusetts, a liberal state, went for Brown. The Democrats were (and still are) one seat short from moving the bill through the Senate. Brown is in complete opposition of the bill, saying on Sunday that the entire bill should be scrapped.
Most residents of Boston voted in favor of Coakley (68.7% favored Coakley, while 30.3% favored Brown). One Bostonian was pleased at the special election turnout. Marsha Brown, a resident of West Roxbury, voted for President Obama in 2008 (Obama won the majority of votes in Boston: 79%), but disagreed with the health care plan he has since created. This was one of the deciding factors in her decision to vote for Brown last month.
“Currently, my family is covered by two health care plans [Brigham & Women and City of Boston] and I would have to pay $9,000 extra for my health care [with the new health care plan],” said Brown, a mother of two and a nurse at Brigham & Women Hospital in Boston. “And I won’t have the freedom that I have now. My plan allows me to go anywhere in the country to get care. And being a nurse, I need the freedom of health care.”
Brown has a first hand look at health care today in Massachusetts, and is not enthusiastic about the manner in which Obama’s plan would change it.
“I don’t want the government to decide what kind of treatment you would get or the workup that I’d need. I don’t want a cookie cutter approach,” she explained.
On a funnier note, the name Scott Brown is close to Marsha Brown’s heart: “My brother’s name is Scott Brown! Maybe it’s just some kind of transference!” she said, laughing.
For the first class assignment, I chose to review a blog which I have never heard of before: Talking Points Memo (TPM). I discovered this blog after Googling “top news blogs”. From this search, I learned that TPM was ranked #7 on The Guardian’s list of “The world’s 50 most powerful blogs”.
Talking Points Memo is a political online-based news site, equipt with editors, reporter-bloggers, etc. Their small staff is listed on the main page. It is a liberal blog, and has the tagline “Commentary on political events from a politically left perspective, by Joshua Micah Marshall.” Therefore, the main audience would be online users who are left-wing and very interested in politics. I like this blog because it is neat, has a good amount of pictures (without which it might be text heavy and lose readers), and is well organized. I must admit that at first glance, the blog may be confusing. The editor’s blog posts are featured in the left hand column, while the regular news stories are posted in the middle and right hand columns. Any new visitor (who is impatient) to TPM might not make this distinction.
Layout designers at TPM seem to want to use their space for as much news content as possible, since the title is abbreviated to TPM and most headlines are on the smaller side.
Unsurprisingly, the topic dominating the news posts on TPM are about the Health Care Reform bill. From what I see, TPM uses its own reporter-bloggers to get the information for stories. In the article Waiting Game: The Dems Play For Time, other TPM articles are linked. It is clear that there was reporting done by TPM reporters specifically for this story because of the quotes from the aide. The article Joe Biden Tells Democrats To ‘Keep The Faith’ And Says 60 Seats Wasn’t Really A ‘Blessing’ is made up almost entirely of quotes, making this less like a blog post and more like a recap of a speech. Both articles have perfect spelling and grammar. TPM does not link to other journalists’ work, except in the TPM Approved Sites section.
On a side note, TPM includes advertisements on the front page, along with on the pages of articles. Walmart and H&R Block are among the advertisers. They can be a tad distracting, however, the advertisments are kept on the sides (almost framing the page) for the most part, which I appreciated.
Hello all! I won’t really be posting about healthy foods/living on this blog much anymore. It will be more of a regular blog outlet for me. Yep, that’s right, my junior year at UMass is over. Therefore, my multimedia journalism class is over. My group and I are very proud of our final project, which focused on the Boston Globe crisis (& possible shut down).
I started off my summer in Boston getting my wisdom teeth out. Still recovering, but happy to have free time to relax and (almost) no worries. I start my summer internship this Wednesday at the Community Newspaper Company, just outside of Boston, which houses the Roslindale and West Roxbury Transcripts, along with other local weeklies. I’m really excited about it, and am planning on getting a lot of writing experience. Now if my jaw would heal so I could talk again…
Industry & Academic Insiders On Boston Globe Crisis
Many newspapers are dealing with reader gravitation away from print news and toward news online.
The Republican, a newspaper based in Springfield, Massachusetts, has a separate Web site component called “MassLive.” It’s headed by a five-person team, which include TV and local sports bloggers. The Web site posts headline news in addition to message boards. They thrive off reader comments and try to connect with their audience. The MassLive team has become community oriented.
The Christian Science Monitor recently went online-only last year. They now publish an issue weekly.
When news hit the stands about the potential closing of the Boston Globe, industry insiders and academics expressed mixed feelings of what it would be like without this significant news entity that has existed since 1872. Many wondered how the citizens of Boston and surrounding regions would react without a print version of one of the most popular area papers and whether or not the Globe’s Web site, Boston.com, would remain online.
Industry insiders were generally surprised at the thought of the Globe shutting down. Ed Kubosiak, online editor at MassLive, feels a deep connection with the Globe, even though he lives in western Massachusetts. He admits to “being upset at the thought of the organization going away, it’s jarring.”
Wayne Braverman, senior editor at Gatehouse Media at the Community Newspaper Company in Needham, expected the Boston Herald, another Boston newspaper, to close first.
“I was really surprised that the Globe was on the block to be eliminated. Just a year ago, people were wondering about the Herald. No one thought the Globe would be facing elimination from the publishing world,” said Braverman.
Insiders remain optimistic regarding the Globe’s future, even before the Union agreements. Erik Gallant, a sports blogger and producer at MassLive, believes that the Globe (along with all newspapers) will eventually move online only.
“Even if they if they stop printing the physical paper, I think they will be pretty well set up and continue on and the reason for that is because I think they have a lot of great writers. I think those writers are the people who draw people to the paper and the website,” said Gallant.
MassLive senior producer, Jeff Hobbs, has faith in the Globe’s innovativeness.
“If the print went away, it would still be a highly successful website,” said Hobbs.
Senior lecturer B.J. Roche, who teaches in the journalism program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, is also looking at the future of the Boston Globe as an online-only entity with a smaller newsroom, and believes the troubles faced by the Globe are “a problem of advertising.”
“People will see a lot less real reporting because they won’t have the bodies to do it,” said Roche.
Roche had a weekly column about New England titled “Peaks and Valleys,” in the Sunday edition of the Boston Globe three years ago.
“To get something published in the Globe was a huge accomplishment,” said Roche, “where are you going to get an audience of half a million viewers?”
Roche’s column was cut, because “it wasn’t necessary.”
Some question whether an online-only model would work.
The Globe is not charging for content on Boston.com now, but that may change in the future.
Braverman, whose paper has a weekly paid model, wonders, “Why would I want to pay for the Globe? I can read the whole thing online…the newspaper industry has given you a free plate online.” Gallant believes that the appetite for news remains, even in the younger generation.
Over the past few years, the Globe has changed its focus of coverage. It covers big world and national news and happenings inside of Boston. The Globe only covers western Massachusetts (and other regions of New England) when a big story breaks there, therefore leaving some readers to gravitate towards local papers, such as The Daily Hampshire Gazette or The Republican, the print version of MassLive.
The closing of the Globe would affect the Boston area the greatest, but would affect the rest of Massachusetts differently.
Roche does not think the closing of the print edition of the Globe would “affect anywhere outside of that tight suburb of Boston…I don’t think it would affect the Amherst area at all.”
Kubosiak is based in Springfield and deals with mostly western Massachusetts news. He said, “There’s been a pattern of thinking that eastern Massachusetts doesn’t care about western Massachusetts, whether on the political news front [or elsewhere]. I haven’t felt that all that much. The Globe would usually cover UMass basketball. I think they need to do a great job with Boston, there’s a lot going on there.”
Assistant Editor for the Gardner News, Andres Caamano, would be affected by a shutdown of the Globe. He values the content that the Globe sells to the Associated Press.
“The stories that the Associated Press has sent out about the Craigslist killing have been mostly from the Globe. The impact would be felt in small newspapers in Massachusetts and throughout the country.”
The Globe has been a watchdog organization for the City of Boston for many years. Citizens rely on its strong reporting to keep politicians in check and inform them of the happenings at City Hall. Braverman believes it would be a problem if the Globe shut down.
“If the Globe or the Herald went away, they wouldn’t be watching them (politicians). They would go scot-free. The good things that the politicians do wouldn’t be known either,” said Braverman.
Kubosiak also elaborated on the situation.
“I think of the globe as an important entity, both for the community and as an institution. They’ve proven over the years to be a watch dog,” said Kubosiak.
Roche is worried about the impact on politics and that there will be lighter coverage of City Hall. “No citizen blogger is going to know how to go in and research public documents,” said Roche. “They don’t have the skills like someone who has worked 20 years on a political beat.”
“Quite honestly I don’t know how they’ll prevent something like this again,” said Marshall Ingwerson, managing editor of the Christian Science Monitor. “They are in the same situation as most metro newspapers making financial cuts.”
While the Globe may be fine for now, it is likely that in the near future they will be faced with making more financial cuts as readers continue to rely on the Internet as their main source of news. As a result of the warning from the New York Times Company, on May 6, 2009 the Boston Globe proposed pay cuts, unpaid furloughs, and the elimination of lifetime contracts to ensure that the Globe would not shut down. The Boston Newspaper Guild still needs to vote on the wage cuts.
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Our audio slideshow on reader reactions on the Globe’s situation
Residents of Massachusetts express strong connection to The Boston Globe
When walking through The Boston Commons, many Boston Globe readers of diverse ages and backgrounds can be found. Readers prove to have different preferences when it comes to the way they receive their news.
One interviewee that seemed to capture the general response of the online generation was twenty-two year old Allison Cummings of Malden. When asked if she read the Boston Globe, her initial response was a quick no. After she thought about her answer though, she admitted to reading it online only. Her reason was that the online version was free and easily accessible, which seems to suit the college student lifestyle. She also said was trying to be “green” and save paper by reading it online.
On the contrary, seventy-three year old Samuel DeMerit of Cambridge, felt a deep attachment to the print version of the Globe. In a soft-spoken voice, DeMerit said that he would read the Globe online if he had to, but he prefers having the print version to look over. He also said that the Globe was a leader in investigative journalism, giving the example of the priest sexual abuse scandals. “It would be a calamity if the Globe went away,” he said.
Kate Duval, 24 of Needham, was another online reader of Boston.com. Although she acknowledged that the closure of the Globe would be a “sad end to an era,” she does not feel her personal life would be affected without the print version.
Peter Daniels, 37 of Boston, said that he gets his news from his closest resource whether it’s the television, Internet, or newspapers, “but there are things in the Globe you can’t get anywhere else.”
Twenty year old Emerson College journalism student, Stefanie Le, said for one of her classes they read the Globe every day, and not having it would be a loss of an educational resource.
Although the threat of the Globe closing down was palpable a month ago, and agreements were reached to keep it open, greater Boston residents still had strong opinions on the subject. After realizing how quickly such a large entity could disappear, readers also realized how important the Globe was to them. One of the most prevalent concerns was not having a counterpart to The Boston Herald.
“Without the Globe we’d have a more slanted look at politics, the Herald being more conservative,” said Michael Hickey of Medford.
“How would people find jobs, or housing?” said Marty Baird, of Brockton, “It’s the number one resource and turning to a competitor would not be the same.”
“Readers deserve a quality newspaper, and it should be a two newspaper town,” said Mark Bell, Boston resident and Globe employee.
As the industry changes more papers are going through financial crises causing job losses, and in some cases closures. The million-dollar question seems to be, what next and how? Now that the Globe has reached the demands of The New York Times Company it will continue to reach its devoted readers while struggling to find the answer. Some residents offer their suggestions on what they think the Globe should do.
“The slow down in the economy will let us breathe and rethink the next step,” said Ian MacKinnon of Boston. He proposed that despite the multifunction of the Globe and Boston.com, they diversify further into other markets such as a convenience store or in song form.
“The New York Times Company is only concerned with The New York Times,” said Bell. Bell said he thought the Globe needed new owners that cared about the quality of the newspaper and that in recent times the only prominence left was in the sports section.
When The New York Times Company asked for $20 million in concessions on April 9, The Boston Guild acted quickly to start a petition and organized a rally in order to gain reader and worker support. In an attempt to fight off the looming deadline of May 1, workers spoke their opinions on the issue at a rally outside Faneuil Hall on April 24. Over 300 readers gathered to show their loyalty.
Hickey, who came to the rally with his wife and kids to show his support, said “We all read the Globe, it is an important part of our lives.”
According to the advertising section of BostonGlobe.com, the daily circulation is 323,983 and a Sunday circulation of 503,659, while Boston.com reaches 6.1 million users. Now that readers have seen how quickly their trusted resource could disappear, it seems their will to help in its survival has increased.
As reader Katie Ward described its importance “The Globe is a reputable newspaper that knows the city,” and said losing it would be a huge loss not only for Boston, but New England as well.
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Feel free to leave comments of your opinion on the Boston Globe situation. Would you miss the Globe if it stopped printing copies and went online-only? Do you have any ideas as to how the Globe could thrive as it used to? Should the Globe start charging for the use of online content? Would you pay for it?
Steve Fox’s Multimedia Journalism class took a field trip to the Springfield office of MassLive, the online component of the Republican newspaper. There, we were greeted by the staff, which surprised me. There are only 5 people on their staff!
Ed Kubosiak led us into the conference room and sat us down to tell us about MassLive. Kubosiak has been with MassLive since 1998. Before that, he was with the Daily Hampshire Gazette for 5 years. He lives in Northampton.
He started out by saying that they try to reach out to UMass and the rest of the community. There is a UMass 101 blog, a sports blog connected with our newspaper, The Daily Collegian, and Eric Gallant (who we spoke with) writes a UMass Basketball blog. He mentioned that they are very involved with writing about high school sports.
Kubosiak made it quite clear that they thrive on what the community has to say. The forums are very popular, and the writerss really love getting feedback on their blogs and stories from commenters. Even so, he wants even more community involvement, and welcomes students and parents to contribute to the high school sports sections of MassLive.
“Folks are texting in scores and even blog about the games. It’s citizen journalism”, says Kubosiak.
He also spoke of the popular TV blogs, which supplement the Entertainment pages. Laura Merwin heads that department and tries to solicit bloggers to write about their favorite TV show from the comfort of their own home. There is an American Idol blog, and Merwin herself writes a Ghost Hunters blog. They encourage bloggers to write search-engine-friendly headlines and to link the blog post to their Twitter, Digg, or Reddit. There’s also been a huge push lately for comments from online readers.
Kubosiak said that the Republican drives the top news on the website. In other words, what ever is on the front page of the Republican is probably found on the homepage of MassLive.
The most success they’ve had recently was with the story about the boy who committed suicide after experiencing bullying in Springfield. The story went national, probably because of the young age of the boy. They had made the headline of the story Google news-friendly, by putting “Springfield” and the boy’s name in it.
One interesting fact that struck me was that the top 10 web stories of the year are usually completely different from the top 10 paper stories. Jeff Hobbs, the senior producer and the go-to guy for the team’s tech issues, said that the top web stories were always the quirky ones.
As mentioned earlier, the staff are really reaching out to the community and especially their most frequent commenters. They were even scheduled to have lunch with their most controversial commenter that day, and were very excited.
