I haven’t posted much lately. I haven’t merely been sitting around reading about journalism in The New Yorker. There was the tragic news of Minghui Yu, which demanded a lot of attention both as a concerned student and as a journalist trying to figure out what happened. There’s been a lot of late breaking news, too, like the Teachers College story and the empty but momentarily street-freezing bomb threat. When news breaks late, we have to decide whether to delay our printing of the paper, change the front page’s layout, spend time reporting, and finally have the paper come out later. It’s a case-by-case call, but what I look for in this case is to measure how much time reporting will take, how important the news is–and with that, how much will we lose by having the physical newspaper hit stands later–and, finally, whether we have enough original reporting (as opposed to citing the New York Times or Associated Press) to merit foregoing a simple update of the web site and reworking the physical paper. I originally wanted to comment on the NYer piece when it came out, but then the breaking news delayed that. I feel like the piece is a few years late anyway, so why not dive into it a little late?

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We received a perceptive comment from a reader noting that we might be missing the point of this blog if we don’t comment on the process of developing our stories and describe how the big decisions are made. I think the note was right on. The design of this blog was to take last year’s news editor’s blog (almost solely dedicated to posts about process, and pretty successful in that regard) and expand that model with a broader scope (journalism in general) with more contributors (the entire managing board). So far we haven’t come through with enough posts on how we arrive at our final product. This is something we’ve already been discussing lately - blogging is a difficult endeavor, even Josh’s popular attempt became tedious once the semester spiraled into “Ahmadineamania” - but we will definitely try harder. Thanks for the feedback! (incidentally, check out this NYTimes piece featuring a Wal-Mart blog…it speaks to both an interesting media project by an American corporation and the difficulties of blogging authentically without sounding like pr)

On that note, I’ve been meaning to write about how we covered the plagiarism at Teachers College. Notice the title of this post uses specific language - “TC Plagiarism,” as opposed to “Constantine,” “Noose Victim,” or anything else that may get bandied about in other media outlets or almost certainly the blogosphere. As we saw it, the story here was that a Teachers College professor had allegedly committed plagiarism, copying without accreditation the work of a fellow faculty member and two students. Many newspapers and blogs played up the noose incident of October (it catches their readers’ eye, I guess), some even throwing in loose allusions to the possibility that Prof. Constantine placed the noose on her own door. When we first got wind of the story, we knew we had to be very careful about the information we received, where we got it, and how we reported on it.

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Particularly with the visit of Washington Post editor Len Downie just days away (whose speech we should have up online soon, for those who are curious), some of us at Spec followed closely the development of the rival New York Times‘ now-infamous story detailing (sort of) the romantic/professional ties of Republican candidate Senator John McCain with various lobbyists. The piece, which broke the story and was followed quickly by a Post article the same day (and which Downie admitted the Post needed before running their piece) took close to a year to develop. It drew instant backlash - to the point that the actual news was lost on some. Here, the Times editors respond to readers’ questions on everything from reporting logistics to the ethical merits of the decision to run the piece without what some would call key evidence. These Q&As with editors can make for great reads - at the same time, one can sometimes feel the judicious calculations made by the Times in how they pick and choose their response. Note, for example, a question about the Editorial side’s endorsement of McCain and whether it conflicts or has any relation to the News side’s work. While it may have been a coincidence, the Times was well-served by having the politics editor answer that one - after all, by its very nature, that editor could not speak for the Editorial side.

Also, an aside: Stephen Colbert’s hilarious segment on the “bad…bad journalism” exhibited by the Times. As one former Spec editor mentioned, maybe the “newspaper of record” simply got this one right, regardless?

Now, the actual point of this post. Thinking about the McCain story makes me think of the state of the media in general. If the Times can be discredited so well, so quickly, on a piece that took months of reporting, fact-checking, and editorial review, it seems anything can happen. Regardless of how one feels about the piece (I’m still iffy on its validity, myself), it speaks to the power of the press today, when watchdog journalism carries with it the perils of instant vilification in the blogosphere. The mainstream media, however small or traditional (read: reactionary) its role in the world, must feel threatened by all this. The Times also reports on an alternative form of media, Wikileaks.org, being shut down by a federal judge, drawing comparisons to the Supreme Court Pentagon Papers case. Ironically, the article reports:
“The feebleness of the action suggests that the bank, and the judge, did not understand how the domain system works or how quickly Web communities will move to counter actions they see as hostile to free speech online.”
Perhaps the Internet will save journalism? Perhaps.

Before its game today, the Columbia women’s basketball team was in second place in the Ivy League. With the preseason favorite coming to Levien, I figured, why not use the Sports Blog to blog the women’s game as well? Long story short, I went to the game and did just that. It started out as a blowout, but ended up being really exciting. Expect more blogging of more sports in the future.

After a long weekend break due partly to illness followed by the NYGIANTS winning the Superbowl, or Super Bowl, I’m back and will be posting more as the section editors have long grasped by now the complexity of nightly production, leaving me a few seconds more blogging time. We happily PDF-ed around 2:30 tonight despite late news (yet another robbery) and ran our 7th consecutive Election Series article. The 8th and final piece of that well-timed project (organized by deputy news editor Betsy Morais) will run tomorrow on Super Tuesday. I’ll be sad to see that big blue Election Series graphic go.

In planning big projects News sometimes opts for analyses, which allow the writer to step back and comment on larger trends and use a few less quotes in favor of summary; or the section goes with an Implications page, in which the writer(s) stretch their legs with longer pieces that try to sketch a narrative and/or highlight a specific issue with thorough reporting; finally the third option is a series. The series is difficult to plan in that a story has to appear in more than one paper - it takes continuous focus, thorough planning, and consistent editing to retain the same tone, perspective, hooks, and general themes from beginning to end. Even though we’re only in our third week I think Betsy did well with this one, seeking out a variety of stories and finding the right dedicated reporters to work on it.

To be safer, we can also run ‘occasional series,’ which feature articles about one specific issue, well, occasionally. These can be just as interesting, though, because the reporter is under less pressure to meet a deadline and may get that last key interview - also, some issues can be broached almost any time in a given year.

Also, I fell sick just as I was preparing to rep The Eye last week. In case you haven’t yet, check out the new-look magazine. Production Editor Haley Vecchiarelli put in some overtime with the Eye editors to rethink the design. The goal was accessibility, readability, and filling white space. The magazine is starting to find its identity and the way people talk about it now, I can tell it will be around for awhile.

Last but not least: our Online poll is back on our home page! Be sure to vote today - it’s about who you’ll be voting for today.

Take a look at a bit of SpecBlogs growth:

Watch out NYT.com…

More seriously though, this growth is looking absolutely fantastic. I have a feeling that the rate will stick as well. Keep on blogging everyone!

Last year’s sports editors attempted to bring the Sports section into the world of blogging. They wanted to link to top stories on the websites of other Ivy papers, as well and post scores and get columnists to generate web-only content. Their attempt, though admirable and well thought out, was quickly abandoned.

This year, the Sports section has stepped back into the blogosphere, and it is my sincere hope that we’re here to stay. Last Saturday, one of our basketball beat writers blogged the game against Cornell. It was definitely a trial run, but we were so satisfied with the result that we’re going to run a blog of every men’s basketball game this season.

This way of blogging, to me, makes sense. It will give you, the readers, an opportunity to follow away games as they happen as well as get some color commentary from our writers. It will also provide an open forum for fans to ask questions or post comments during the game, which will enhance the overall experience for all parties involved.

Moving forward, the Sports section is in the works of bringing other sports into its blog repertoire. We’re going to work continuously with the online section to keep producing blogs, and hopefully in the near future, provide blogs for more sports.

Last year’s board succeeded (some would say it was years overdue) in developing a true commitment to the Web. In the last year they built an independent Web site and found the right people to begin, nurture, and expand a staff dedicated solely to Online matters. This year we’ve been reaping the benefits with frequent updates to the site over break, a renewed focus on multimedia projects and other Online content, and a staff that looks to grow even more as we progress and take the Web even more seriously. Over Winter Break we also did some maintenance and cleaned up a few things, notably the search function, the “most popular” section (now featuring recent, not all-time, pieces–for variety’s sake), and commenting. More on commenting soon, especially as we do not plan to permanently leave the comment option off, as we have just now.

And now from the creator herself, Lara Chelak, BC ‘11 and Web designer extraordinaire, a hearty blog manifesto. Admittedly this very blog falls somewhat short of our long-term aspirations, but as the year has just started and we view this blog - unlike this one - as too informal and hopefully (once we find our voice over here, ya know?) personal to take precedent over the production of the daily paper. I’ll try to quash the arrogant tone I may have been letting seep in - know that it is not arrogance but astonished pleasure and the desire to share with you, the reader, how it feels to put out a product like a newspaper that relies on hundreds of people doing their job and doing it well. So this blog will grow; visit it, use it, leave questions, tell your friends. We’ll be back tomorrow. Now Lara:

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The Internet IS the place to be. See? It’s suddenly a “place”–a market, a scene, a specifically boundless geography. Writing exclusively for the web should not be seen as a bad thing–there’s a stigma against Online content, especially Web-exclusive content, but that’s where the future of journalism lies. That’s where the future of so much information and interaction lies. That doesn’t mean the printed press will disappear but clearly the entire information culture–simply the way society handles itself and understands itself–is more and more dependent upon immediacy and easy access to people, data, etc. Perhaps Jane Jacobs, an , or any average human being will mourn the end of all personal human contact. In any case, with more and more Spec readers finding they prefer the luxury and speed of the Internet, the last few years at the paper have seen more and more attention spent on it.

Many stories can run on the web that we can’t run in the paper because of space limits. Spec looks to make the print product our most authoritative take on the day’s news. It’s a place for reflection and analysis. The Web site is also a place for reflection and analysis but, just as the NYTimes does, we can begin learning the process of treating blogs as both exclusive column or story forums but also as places to cover quickly the many events and hard news stories that come our way in the daily cycle.

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The Spectator resumed print publication this week, as, in theory, did Spec editors return to classes.

What a week. Considering we ran on our first day back a lengthy supplement (read: extra long hours) on winter developments in Manhattanville and the fact that we new editors had technically never produced a newspaper before, one could have forgiven us if our papers came later than usual in the day. But mid-week we put the paper to bed close to 2:30 a.m. Generally, at Spec a 2:30 “pdf time” (the time we transmit our pdfs to the printer and head home) means a successfully early night (and sleep for the staff). There are a lot of variables that determine how early we wrap–and how early Spec hits the stands on campus and in the streets. We’ll try to describe those variables more at length at some point. We’ll also have editors of various sections posting regularly to shed light on how they handled particular stories, innovations, and challenges.

When the new editors take charge over winter break, you can often expect changes to the design that greets readers in the new year. The redesign last year first took many some time to get used to, as it modernized the front page considerably–creating an entire column of teasers (that point to what’s inside our pages) in space traditionally used for News articles. More and more papers do this, and the look evokes that of a Web site. For 2008, production editors Mady Lopeman and Haley Vecchiarelli opted for subtle changes that we hope significantly refine the page. They created more space for articles on the front page by reducing the size of the front page teasers running over the Spec banner and relocating the bottom teasers and weather forecast. They also polished details like fonts for captions and headlines.

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