Sweet Tweets

Multimedia journalists in Dr. Stacy Spaulding’s Newswriting course are practicing the AP's new 1-2-3 filing system with tweets to Twitter and posts to Blogger. Here are three sweet Tweets.

Jbyrne’s tweet is a pretty good headline because it is concise and uses the S-V-O format.
Budget cuts stunt new hire growth in Towson System

Kate1hop presents a lead that made me want to read on. In this article, the streamlined recycle bin is the story and the subject of her declarative sentence. This lead really summarizes the article and gives the what, where, when, and why.
Single-stream recycling to eliminate confusion with about 2,800 bins in residence halls and University buildings by December.

And finally, nicolebellman’s lead covering the TU-UR game summarizes the outcome while giving major details such as score and influential factors (the 'why').
Tigers defeated by Spiders due to turnovers and intercepts, 45 to 14. QB Schaefer and Tigers' defense at fault.

Example of Multimedia Journalist

A great example of this new professional in the biz is Rachel Youens who works in Austin, Texas. She probably always has a good camera to catch examples of cutting edge fashion on the street. Rachel likely also has a digital video recorder (see right) on hand for spontaneous interviews on the beat. The colors used on her site are visually pleasing, and her style has an edginess that is appealing.

Journalism’s Rewrite

Our culture's need for instant information is changing the face of journalism. Specifically, this demand has produced a new kind of multimedia professional: the backpack journalist. This professional is a self-sufficient news source with mobile publishing capability--usually a blog or website. Since average joe became CNN's i-reporter, mass communication students and graduates must ramp up their game. In true entrepreneurial spirit, he or she should always be ready to gather the visual, textual and audio story.

One such journalist, Jared Silfies, is equipped with a 13-point pack list, which he calls a "mobile journalism kit." He explains, "Basically if I'm in a wireless hotspot I can publish anything either to my college's newspaper site, this blog or anywhere else."

His backpack includes: a planner to keep track of appointments and interviews, a reporter's notebook to dash down notes, a laptop to type and upload stories, a wireless mouse to avoid using the annoying touch pad, a digital camera for better photos than those from a cell phone, and 2.5 G of space on flash drives.

Also in his goodie bag is a multi-tool, which, I can only imagine doing illegal things with! Other essentials include a cell phone and an ipod. The ipod is great for uploading stored music and audio to accompany multimedia slide shows. A power adapter ensures mobile juice because he can't be wireless all the time.

Jared also sports a pocket protector with pens and pencils--this adds a touch of nerdy nostalgia. Finally, he totes around the ever-important Elements of Style, by Strunk and White. This proves that a writer is never too good to reference the basics.

Order the 50th Anniversary edition of Elements of Syle.