Why I’m Still A Journalism Major

As the final week of fall classes come to a close, I’ve been forced to face the inevitable question: Why am I majoring in journalism? All I seem to hear nowadays is how newspapers are dying and the fate of journalism.

The reason? I simply can’t help it. I’ve known since tenth grade, when I actually began thinking about my future career, that I would go into a writing career. Journalism just makes sense. My natural curiosity extends far past my city’s, and nation’s, boarders. Local, national, and international occurrences are equally as important to me. I realize the power that the media has, and I want to be a part of using that power for positive change. If I’m never a part of this… I don’t know what I’ll do. I have to be. I’ll feel like a failure otherwise.

Besides, the doomsday shouters aren’t journalists anyway.

Newspapers are in a crazy-awesome transition right now. Multimedia is becoming the norm. Newspapers are still story-tellers, but the medium is changing. Blogs, video, sound bites, interactive photos… you name it, newspapers will have it one day. Who knows? Maybe one day there’ll be an all video newspaper, or a feature where you can click on a story about a concert you can add your photos/input if you went.

It’s going to be a wild ride, and I’m ecstatic to be in the car–scared for my life but enjoying every minute of it.

How The Miami Herald Neighbors Could Be Better

As noted in my earlier blog post, The Miami Herald needs to update its website. This time I’ll be giving suggestions on how to improve the local section’s website, The Miami Herald Neighbors Online.

As of now, the Neighbors section is on the main website, but you have to scroll down a ways to get to it. The section is broken up into the two counties and myriad cities by two sets of tabs–two top tabs and many, many side tabs.

When you click on a city, say… Miami Shores, and select “more news from this area” this is the screen you get:

I think the Neighbors section needs its own website that the main page would link to. Here’s my ideal Neighbors website:

Now picture that both the “Broward County” and “Miami-Dade County” tabs would link to individual pages of news found in that area. Also, pretend that each city on that map would link to a page of news about their city and surrounding cities. It would be up to the editor to say which regions overlapped, but for the sake of an example let’s say there was a story about a new school in Miami Beach. The Miami Beach, Surfside, and Bal Harbour websites would be updated with the story. The stories with the most hits in the entire local section would be displayed on the front page with the map, along with the day posted (or perhaps the number of hits). The actual county/city websites could look much the same as the website now, with headlines and short story blurbs, but I’d suggest they be condensed to a square form instead of the spread-out layout. Condensing the page with more photos and fewer strings of sentences would make the page more appealing, and more interactive features could be included, like videos.

As I said before, I think The Miami Herald is an excellent newspaper, especially the Neighbors section. It has some amazing writers and editors, but the website certainly needs work. Local coverage of news is very important to the people in that community, and every step should be taken to improve such an important section. Plus, if the website looks prettier and is easier to get around, then more people will read it (including local advertisers).

Technological Symphony

Check this out: Stanford has a mobile phone orchestra!

In a revolutionary combination of computer design and instrumental performance, students are learning to make their own musical Iphone apps to play in concert. They conceive, design, and perform the avant-garde instruments themselves.

Some say this is not real music. Why not? Is not music simple the alteration of sound into something meaningful? If one were to listen to a performance by these students I bet no difference could be found between a “real” orchestra and a digital one (under the assumption the students have had sufficient practice).

This raises the bigger issue of what is real in a technological world. No, I’m not talking about The Matrix. Is using Google Scholar an adequate substitute for rummaging around in a library? Are christmas cards sent by email looked down upon? Is a video of your child’s piano recital good enough to send to grandma (or should you fly her down from North Dakota to hear your little darling play)? Can technology replace what we perceive to be physical interaction? Perhaps not replace, but certainly enhance.

It really all comes down to your mind. Is it closed to new possibilities? Then maybe you should skip the next E-Beethoven concert.

How The Miami Herald Could Be Better

I’m rather partial to The Miami Herald (I’m from Miami and I interned there this spring and summer) but honestly their website needs an update immediately. It’s far too cluttered, and I tend to confuse articles and ads.

Ok, so it isn’t so bad today, but just keep scrolling down:

Every single bit of multimedia is crunched into one area. No, no, no, that’s not right! If journalism school has taught me ANYTHING so far it’s that multimedia is the way of the future, and therefore should be incorporated into every part of the newspaper, not shoved into its own block. The 60 second review should go into the Tropical Life section, high school football should be within the Neighbors online section, college football should go into sports, and so on.

Next down we have The News Grid.

I fail to comprehend the necessity of this section. It’s far too cluttered, eclectic, and all of the articles start to look the same after a while. On top of that, AP stories are categorized as AP stories… Aren’t they supposed to be assimilated into the rest of the newspaper? Stories are being organized based on where they’re coming from, not what they’re about.

Now we reach The Neighbors online section…

And a part of me dies inside.

I am extremely partial to The Neighbors section. I adore it. A speaker from the New York Times came to my journalism class and told us that local news is what will one day keep the big newspapers afloat. I whole-heartedly agree. People want to know about what’s happening in their city, in their neighborhood, down their street, ect and so forth. This tiny online section does not do the justice that Neighbors needs. So far it has a selectable bar of cities; however, that list hardly changes from Aventura to Downtown to Kendall, and if you’re from Miami you know that those cities are extremely different. The idea that the public can submit photos for publication is a great idea, as long as they’re diverse enough. One photo for the entirety of Miami will not do. On top of that, it isn’t like they’re crammed for space. It’s the internet! There’s unlimited space! I have an idea about how to improve The Miami Herald Neighbors website, which I will include in my next blog post–sketches and all.

Now I don’t have any problem with the quality of The Miami Herald. I believe their writing is excellent and quite honestly I think they’re the best newspaper in Florida. Basically, they rock my socks. However, with this new age of newspaper digitalization, The Miami Herald is going to have to kick it up a notch to stay in the game, and that starts with having an eye-catching and easy to navigate website.