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We are entering a new era in journalism. The future belongs to the citizen journalist. Newspapers are shutting down all over the country. TV stations are downsizing or getting rid of news altogether. Magazines subscriptions are dwindling. Each of us now has unprecedented access to a worldwide audience through the internet. Anyone can write an article or shoot a video and have it viewed around the planet instantly. No longer does an affluent elite hold the reigns to the flow of information. A stampede of competing opinion is on the loose spreading long silenced voices across the globe for everyone to hear.
With this awesome new power comes responsibility. There is an unwritten code of journalism ethics. Like most ethics they are subject to broad interpretation. The spread of citizen journalism is making those interpretations even broader. Internet journalism is far more anonymous and brazen. Many so-called journalists are nothing more than gossips who represent blatant lies as fact. These people give all journalists a bad name and contribute to public mistrust of the industry. Real journalists seek the truth and only communicate what they can confirm as the truth at the time. As a journalist you are the gatekeeper of information. It is your duty to sift through it and distinguish verifiable facts from rumor and innuendo. A true journalists verifies facts through secondary sources, gets responses from all sides and has no agenda but to get to the truth. If enough of us stick to that mantra we will win the public?s trust because they know we are fair.
Experience must be your guide to determine what is right or wrong. There is a lot of grey area in news. In our zeal to get a story out first we often cut corners and get sloppy with details. Some of that has to be expected in a time sensitive industry but how much is too much? Every journalist has their own tolerance for ethics compromises and it often shifts from day to day, story to story, and throughout a career. The latest technology allows citizen journalists to upload articles and pictures effortlessly. That leaves less time for contemplation and that can get you in trouble. You can?t take back something once it goes out over the internet, airways or press. There is an inexhaustible supply of attorneys out there lining up to sue journalists. Say something that isn?t true about someone and they?ll go after you for liable, defamation or slander. Don?t let that scare you though. They can all be avoided if you understand how they are defined. Journalists also sue other journalists. Copy something someone else wrote and they?ll go after you for plagiarism. This too can be easily avoided if you are diligent and honest. Knowing the law will help you tremendously as a journalist. In fact, I advise aspiring journalists not to write a word for publication before researching the basics of media law. The most important things are to remember that you are a professional and to act like one.
Journalists are taking a lot of heat these days. From the tabloid hacks screaming half truths for your attention to the network reporters who said there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to the paparazzi blamed for Princess Diana?s death. Journalists are blamed for many of society?s ills. To a large degree this is a matter of ?shooting the messenger.? The public has a voracious appetite for news yet reels in disgust when it doesn?t appeal to them. Despite what you may think, this is actually a good thing. This outwardly dysfunctional relationship between journalists and the public is what makes journalism such a noble profession.
Think of the old days before journalism. People lived out their lives knowing only the information others told them and views of an average person didn?t spread very far or very fast. Then Johannes Gutenberg started printing books. Suddenly there was a reason to read and people with ideas started spreading them. People with opposing views started printing their opinions and spreading those. Journalism was born. The written word became the forum for conflicting views and outrage. It launched mankind toward enlightenment, introspection and social change. Journalists will never be loved by all, but they?re not supposed to be. If you are doing your job right then someone will be upset by your words. Journalists have a duty to bring facts hiding in the shadows into the light even if people don?t want to see what?s lurking there.
What kind of world do you think we would live in without journalists? Reporters wield the mighty power of public opinion. It?s been used to bring down the corrupt, no matter how rich and powerful they may be. Journalists strive to keep our leaders honest, businesses from cheating us and our world clean, safe and fair. Do you think all that would happen without journalists? We are a necessary part of a vibrant free thinking society.
To be a good journalist you must be multi talented. First and foremost you must be a proficient writer, but you also need to be able to identify a good story, understand how to dig up vital facts and learn the right questions to ask. You must also learn to listen. A lot of people talk but few listen. Journalists need to know when to stop talking and soak in what?s going on around them. Also remember that the news is not about you. A journalist is expected to have a stance and style, but objectivity is essential. Think of yourself as the conduit through which news flows, not the holy grail of news itself.
Media consumers are more savvy than ever these days. They can read between the lines and flush out a pretender. They may read the National Enquirer for fun but go to the New York Times for the truth. This has everything to do with reputation and history. People trust those who are honest with them over the long haul. It?s a relationship built over the years and through countless daily stories. As a citizen journalist, you must ask yourself if you want to be the Enquirer or the Times. Whatever you decide to do, do it well. Take full advantage of this amazing time we live in. Spread your words, views, voice and pictures around your community and around the world. Make a difference.
Kent Ninomiya 
How to Make a TV News Resume Tape
If you want to work on camera in TV news, then you need a resume tape. Basically it is a sampling of your on-camera work. How you put it together and what you put on it often can make the difference between being hired or not. Here's exactly what news directors want to see on a resume tape and how to put it together.
Instructions
Difficulty: Moderate
Things You?ll Need:
? Video camera ?Tripod ?Microphone ?Computer ?Editing equipment ?DVD or VHS tape ?DVD burner or VHS recorder
Step 1:
Realize that most news directors will look at a tape for just a few seconds before ejecting it and tossing it in the garbage. There are literally hundreds of resume tapes sitting on the news director's desk. Either hook the news director in the first few seconds or lose him for good.
Step 2:
Do not put a slate with your name and address first! The first thing on your tape must be your beautiful face. Open up with three or four standups in a row. A "standup" is the portion of a news story where you see the reporter on camera. You don't need these to be from actual stories. Go out with a camera and shoot yourself in a variety of situations saying things a reporter would say. Use a microphone and tripod. Nothing is worse than bad audio and shaky video. One standup should be from a breaking news story. Another should be you demonstrating something. Another should be a light-hearted story where you are smiling and happy. All standups should be active and involve movement. Try to make use of your environment and justify why we are seeing you in the shot. Be sure you look different in all your standups. If you are shooting them all the same day, take along several changes in clothes and consider wearing your hair differently. Give the news director a taste of your range.
Step 3:
Follow up your standup montage with three packages. A TV news "package" is a story you would see a reporter do on the news. The mixture of packages should be similar to the standups. One package should be a breaking news story. Another should be an investigative or other "hard" news story. Finish with a "soft" feature story or something that shows off your personality. The standups in the opening montage should not be the same as the standups in your packages. They should be completely different looks, stories and backgrounds. Limit your stories to 1 minute and 20 seconds each. For more details on what goes into a TV news package, see "How to Make a TV News Package."
Step 4:
Finish up your resume tape with some anchoring. This is the only part of a resume tape that you can't do by yourself. You will need a television studio and a teleprompter. You can gain access to these by interning at a television station, going to a cable access station or using equipment at a school or college. There are also private businesses with facilities, but they will charge you a lot of money to use them. It is better to go the free route. Call around where you live and see what is available. Your anchoring should be about five minutes long. You should be seen and heard as much as possible. Include a few voice-overs with sound bites. Avoid packages and anything that features anyone else but you. If you don't have access to anchoring facilities, you can leave it off your tape. If this is your first TV job, you probably won't be anchoring much anyway.
Step 5:
Use a slate to end your tape. The very last thing you should put on your resume tape is a slate. It should be a full-screen graphic with your name, address, phone number and email address. Do not put this slate first on your tape. That is a common mistake beginners make. If you must include a slate, put it on last. It certainly is not mandatory. Your personal information should be on your cover letter, resume and cover of the tape. There is no reason it has to be in the tape itself.
Step 6:
Lay out your resume tape on your computer, using editing software such as iMovie or FinalCut Pro. (Entry-level television reporters are now expected to edit their own stories, so you'll need to know basic editing.) Start right off the top with the three or four standups edited together. Follow with two seconds of black. The add the three packages, leaving two seconds of black between each package. Add two seconds of black, then your five minutes of anchoring. Cap it off with a minute of your slate. Feel free to omit the anchoring and slate if you don't have them. Dub it all to a tape or burn it to a DVD and you are done. Congratulations! You have a resume tape.
Tips & Warnings
? ?Throughout this article, the resume is referred to as a "tape." In the past they were always on tapes. These days DVDs are more common. (They are still called "tapes" even if they aren't.) If you are submitting an actual tape, be sure it is a standard VHS. ??Prominently label the tape or DVD with your name, address, phone number and email address. Once you have your resume tape together, it's time to start pitching yourself to news directors. See "How to Get Your First TV News Reporter Job" for details.
As the United States struggles through a tough economic time, it's important to distinguish the difference between the economies of Japan and China. Right now, Japan is very much like the United States. Both economies are huge, established machines. The US is the largest economy in the world followed by Japan. As a result, the economic stagnation felt by the US over the mortgage crisis will likely impact Japan hardest among Asian economies. On Monday, the former Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Kazumasa Iwata said "the economy is at a difficult stage. Japan's industrial production and capital spending are flat and growth in corporate profits is slowing, though at high levels." He also pointed out that prices of oil and food prices continue to rise.Meanwhile, China marches on with impressive growth. Even if it falls off a bit from last year's 11.9% GDP expansion, it will still be relatively good. China's GDP for 2008 is expected to be a robust 9.8%. Japan doesn't have that kind of cushion. Any slowdown of Japan's economy will bring expansion of recent years to a standstill.The bottom line here for investors is to treat investments in Japan like you would investments in America. Be cautious. China is still very much an emerging market and strong growth is expected to continue.
American sports broadcasters are being criticized for using the word "Chinaman" to describe Chinese sports stars. Last Sunday, Len Dawson of television station KMBC in Kansas City observed that Yao Ming attended the NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 auto race. Yao was there to raise awareness about the devastating earthquake in Sichuan province and to urge Americans to donate to relief charities. Instead of pointing out Yao's humanitarian efforts, Dawson, a former professional football quarterback, said "it's not every day you see a seven-foot-four Chinaman working on a car."
The term "Chinaman" is considered derogatory in modern American culture and is defined as an offensive racial slur in current English language dictionaries. It was used in the 1800's to describe men from China in an anonymous dehumanizing way. Chinese men had their names recorded as "John Chinaman" or simply as "Chinaman" suggesting that they were all the same and not important as individuals. Asian American author Maxine Hong Kingston has said the antiquated term is equivalent to the N-word for blacks. The term "Chinaman's chance" is a shortened version of "Chinaman's chance in hell" meaning no chance at all. The expression comes from pre gold rush days in California when Chinese workers were deemed expendable and used for dangerous work such as placing dynamite. The term "Chinaman's chance" refers to the odds of the man surviving.
The comment has American journalists debating among themselves about the severity of the racial slur. The TVSpy Watercooler message board for journalists was a flurry of activity in the days following Dawson's comment. Some suggested it is being taken too seriously. One wrote "Lighten up. If it were done on a continuous basis ... it would be very offensive. But, said once in that context .. a funny line- that's all." In response, another poster wrote "It doesn't matter if it's funny or not. The term "Chinaman" is a racial slur. If he had said 'Look there's an N-word working on his car' this conversation would be about Dawson being fired and whether he'd ever work in TV again."
Just last month, on April 11, CBS announcer Bobby Clampett referred to Chinese golfer Liang Wen-Chong as "the Chinaman" during the Masters golf broadcast. According to CBS spokeswoman Leslie Anne Wade, Clampett later apologized on the Masters web cast. Clampett said, "if I offended anybody please accept my sincere apologies." The apology itself came under fire. On the sports site Fanhouse, writer Michael David Smith said "the style of apology that begins with 'if I offended anybody' always rings a little bit hollow. The word 'Chinaman' is a slur, and it's the slur that should be followed up with an apology, not the reaction of being offended by the slur."
The reaction to the comment is also raising questions about a double standard. Are racial slurs against black athletes taken more seriously than slurs against Chinese athletes? In January, Golf Channel anchor Kelly Tilghman was suspended for two weeks for joking that if young players want to beat golfer Tiger Woods they should "lynch him in a back alley." The "lynch" reference offended African American advocates like Rev. Al Sharpton because of America's painful history of mobs lynching black men. Sharpton led a public campaign urging the Golf Channel to fire Tilghman. There was no such outcry for punishing Clampett for his "Chinaman" comment. Clampett was not suspended like Tilghman. Likewise, Len Dawson has not been suspended by his employer and has issued no apology for his comment about Yao Ming.
Kent Ninomiya 
 The devastating May 12th earthquake in China's Sichuan province and multiple aftershocks has many investors wondering how the disaster will impact investments in the Asian country. The death toll is now at more than 62 thousand. Government estimates say the final death toll may exceed 80 thousand. Hundreds of thousands of people are homeless and infrastructure is in shambles. If this was just about any other country the economic impact would be paralyzing. However this is China and Sichuan is just one region of a mighty economic giant.
Aide is pouring into Sichuan from all over the world. The Chinese government is taking pride in their comprehensive response to the crisis. All indications are the region will get the attention it needs to recover quickly. Robert Subbaraman, chief economist Asia Ex-Japan of Lehman Brothers, expects some inflation to result from the earthquake since Sichuan is a large food producing region. However, the food supply is being increased in other parts of China, offsetting the losses in Sichuan. In fact, China endured major snow storms last winter that were far more disruptive than the earthquake is expected to be.
Economists are predicting inflation will taper off in China toward the end of the year. Keep in mind that even bad news for China is still pretty good news. China's GDP growth is expected to fall from 11.9% last year to 9.8% this year. That's still very strong growth. In fact, there may be a silver lining to this disaster. Many fixed asset investments could end up benefiting from earthquake reconstruction and actually increase growth in China later this year. The Chinese government's handling of the crisis has also been a public relations bonanza. It has shown them in a humanitarian light throughout the world and taken the spotlight off Tibet. This can only help open up China to the world and improve investiment opportunities.
 Beijing is ordering six Chinese telecom companies to join forces to create three giant cellular phone companies. While this move may seem to be limiting competition in the booming cellular phone industry in China, it is actually intended to level the playing field. It is meant to foster "healthy market competition and prevent a monopoly by any," according to a joint statement, issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information, Ministry of Finance, and the National Development and Reform Commission. Chinese officials say they want to boost the competitiveness of fixed line operators before the nation rolls out 3G high-speed wireless services. The network will require billions of dollars in investments for infrastructure.
China Telecom Corporation will acquire China Unicom Ltd's mobile-phone network and then merge with the company that controls China Netcom Corporation. That will help them survive against industry leader China Mobile Ltd. China Mobile already boasts two thirds of the cellular phone users in China. China Mobile Communications Corp., the state-owned parent of China Mobile Ltd, will take over fixed-line operator China Tietong Telecommunications Corpration. China Telecom is China's biggest fixed-line company. It will absorb Unicom's smaller mobile-phone network. China Telecom will also get China Satellite Communications Corporation's phone assets.
China already has more mobile phone and Internet users than any other country on Earth. The $105 billion industry has 583.5 million cellular phone subscribers. That's more than the combined populations of the US and Japan. There is also plenty of room for expansion. China is a country of 1.3 billion people. 6 out of 10 of them still don't have cell phones and 82 percent of the population still doesn't have the internet.
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Blog Added: November 17, 2007 06:52:03 AM
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