Finding a job in the media is not as easy as it used to be, but it's not quite the Great Depression either. You probably won't get paid as much as you could in some other walks of life, but working in the media can provide you with a career full of excitement and satisfaction. If you're looking to get rich quick, or coast to a comfortable living, you might want to try other industries.
Continue reading "How to find a job in the media, or die trying" »
So, I'm sitting at a table eating my lunch in the press box at the Georgia Dome when I'm joined by Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports and Pete Thamel of The New York Times. They sit right across from me. A few minutes later, Clay Travis and Andy Staples join us.
Without realizing it, I'm sitting with four of the big boys on the national scene who were breaking the Cam Newton scandal story. Of course, they all talked about Newton for a few minutes, swapping stories of who they've talked to and what they said, the crazy NCAA ruling that came down this week and the ripples it might have. Musings about how asking for money is not a violation, but "agreeing to receive" money is.
From there, the conversation transitioned over to crazy Auburn people and media members who only write what their readers want to hear, and how a person can reasonably believe that Newton had no knowledge he was being shopped or that Mississippi State of all places was the only school that Cecil Newton asked for money.
Seated directly behind was Phillip Marshall, lifer on the AU beat and unrepentent Auburn apologist. Marshall is pretty much the epitome of all that the four national columnists at my table were complaining about. His column headline after the NCAA reinstated Newton was something along the lines of "The nightmare is over." Clearly staying objective there, PMarsh.
After about 15 minutes on Newton, the conversation drifted back to the writers' children, how much more difficult the second child's arrival was than the the first, travel arrangements in all corners of the country, normal things like that.
I'm not sure what I expected, but after 20 minutes, the conversation was pretty much like any group of guys gathering around over a few beers. No matter who these guys work for or how many people read their last column, the vast majority of these sports guys are pretty much the same. It's cool to be reminded of that from time to time.
As I was doing my thing at the Auburn-Clemson game Saturday, I got a sneak peek at ESPN's 3D football-broadcasting operation.
The 3D sideline cameras were quite an elaborate setup. The basic principle is that the camera has two lenses, which function more or less like human eyes, providing depth perception. I snapped a couple of quick photos of the operation during the game (sorry they're not great, but I did have a job to do).
As you can see in the photo, the camera is a shoulder-mount, and it looks really uncomfortable. There are more wires running out of it than you'd find in your average Best Buy.
The controls are also noticeably different. It's hard to see in this photo, but there are two handles on the front of the camera, with what appeared to be zoom and focus controls for each lens. I'm not sure how the display works, but I'm guessing each eye sees the image from one lens.
Maybe they've engineered a better way to do it, but it seems like the camera man has twice as much work to do in keeping both lenses zoomed properly and in focus. I have enough trouble using one lens during football games, and would not look forward to operating a 3D camera that had twice as many opportunities to ruin my shot.
Speaking of jobs I would not want to have, check out the camera assistant:
All those cables from the 3D camera have to go somewhere, and that somewhere is this kid's back. He was following the cameraman around all game long, mostly crouching on the field with that ridiculous pack on his back. It reminded me of the Ghostbusters' proton packs, but bigger and heavier (I'm assuming).
There were two large white boxes, the size of an average desktop computer, along with what looked like a power supply and a handful of boxes and gizmos I couldn't identify. As if that weren't enough, there was a short cable connecting him to the camera operator, and a much longer cable dragging behind him sending the feed to ESPN producers. Four hours carrying a heavy load, crouching in uncomfortable positions, while tethered to something at both ends is not my idea of a good time.
Fortunately, I didn't just see how the sausage was made. I also got to try a bite. ESPN had set up a 3D display by the food line in the press box, complete with community glasses, and most of the reporters there tried it out, at least for a series or two.
The people at the Worldwide Leader are convinced that 3D will be the next big thing in watching sports. I remain unconvinced. I only watched a few plays in 3D (again, I had a job to do), and while it was kind of cool to see depth to the picture, I'd hardly call it revolutionary.
All the wide shots of the stadium, or shots from the sideline looked basically the same. The 3D effect was a lot more noticable in shots from the end zone, and close-ups of the action. Fans in the stands looked distorted on those wide shots.
The 3D experience did make me sympathize with quarterbacks a bit more, as blitzing linebackers are decidedly scarier in three dimensions than in two. I also felt like I was playing a video game during replays, wondering why Cam Newton didn't execute the spin move when I was clearly mashing the Triangle button.
The most jarring impact of 3D was felt with the ESPN graphics, which clearly stood out from the rest of the footage. When the ESPN logo came on the screen, it seemed to come from directly over my head, and almost made me duck to avoid these terrifying transitions.
Maybe if I watch a whole game in 3D, I'll like it better, and remember that I don't have to dodge the ESPN logos that fly in from above. Maybe I'll get used to the video game feeling and appreciate the depth and realism it offers. For now, a 3D television is not a necessity - a good thing considering my financial situation - although I still liked watching football in 3D better than Avatar.
It's one of the burning questions of our decade: How would major news organizations like Newsweek cover a massive Zombie invasion of the United States?
Well, now we know. For a limited time (in IE and Chrome browsers only) you can go to www.newsweek.com, type in the old Konami video game cheat code (up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, enter) and you see a mock Newsweek homepage breaking down a (hopefully) fictitious undead invasion.
Continue reading "How Newsweek would cover a zombie attack (with screen caps)" »
It's been more than a month now since my first trip to the Gulf of Mexico to report on the Deepwater Horizon/BP/Transocean oil spill/leak/explosion/debacle. Covering this ongoing story has been the highlight of my journalistic career (eclipsing even a college football national championship game), yet it has only come as a result of a national tragedy, the scope of which is barely being realized.
It was easy, even a pleasure to tell the story of people like Mike Reynolds, Alabama's Turtle Tsar. The Gulf Shores real estate broker has given countless hours of his time over the past six years organizing an army of volunteers to identify and protect sea turtle nests.
Reynolds' regiment of retirees marches over 47 miles of Alabama coast line every morning before most tourists get out of bed, marking new nests with protective barricades and signs warning the frolicking masses of the $100,000 fine imposed on those who disturb the nests. It's a purely volunteer organization, run with a precision that would make Nicholas II proud.
Continue reading "This sports journalist found his swagger covering the Gulf of Mexico oil spill" »
The Alabama Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (of which I am currently president) is pleased to announce a panel discussion on journalism ethics to be held Tuesday, April 13 at The Birmingham News.
Organizing this panel was my first major effort as POTAPCOSPJ (President of the Alabama Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists), and the panel should be excellent if I do say so myself.
The participants will be:
John Archibald: Columnist for The Birmingham News, and he's on Twitter.
Chris Pollone: Reporter for NBC13, WVTM Birmingham, who also Tweets.
Tanya Ott: News director for WBHM Birmingham, 90.3 FM.
The moderator will be Chris Roberts, assistant professor in journalism at the University of Alabama.
Roberts is about to release a book on journalism ethics, so he should have a lot of thought-provoking questions for the panel.
I'll be there as well to make a brief opening statement, and if you're at all interested in the ethics of modern journalism, you should be there too.
Journalism serves an important role in any democracy, and if you want to speak to the people who make it happen, come out and let your voice be heard.
UPDATE: We made this an event on Facebook, so if you plan on attending, RSVP yes.
I'm sure many of you were as shocked as I was to read today that Birmingham's own snarky little news hound, Kyle Whitmire is "parting ways" with his employer of nine years, Birmingham Weekly.
After all, the Weekly gave Whitmire the platform on which he conducted his weekly War on Dumb, and the feature was one of the paper's most popular columns.
Whitmire was on the cover of B Metro Magazine just this month for his efforts, and while it's hardly like winning Time's Man of the Year, you would figure it to be a nice boost for a writer's ego or a free weekly paper's visibility. (Side note, I'm open to any magazine that wants to profile me. Seriously)
So what happened? Having no inside information myself, and having only bumped into Whitmire a few times around town, I'll get to what I do best: wild speculation.
Continue reading "Why is Kyle Whitmire leaving the Birmingham Weekly?" »
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