A 1957 DePaul alumnus, Joe Cappo is an adjunct faculty member in the college and a member of the college’s Dean’s Advisory Council. The Wilmette resident is a former longtime editor, writer, columnist and publisher for Crain’s Chicago Business, Chicago Daily News and Advertising Age. Last year, Cappo received a lifetime achievement award from the Chicago Headline Club, the local affiliate of the Society of Professional Journalists. A former longtime Evanston resident, he also is a member of the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame.

News Release, DePaul University, June 17, 2008

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Newser Screenshot by Maria Khan

With the advent of Amazon Kindle, did writers stop writing or did publishers stop publishing? The answer is No. Will news aggregators, like Newser put newspapers out of business? Michael Wolff, founder of Newser thinks so, but I disagree.

Just like the Kindle aggregates e-books in one place, similarly Web sites, like Newser simply act as an umbrella branching out to Web sites that produce the news, like the New York Post.

Despite Wolff’s claims that aggregators will put newspapers, like the New York Times out of business, the reverse can very well be true, if the latter’s decision to charge frequent readers for content is a success. The Wall Street Journal and the The Financial Times are already doing so and if the pay for content movement is followed by other newspapers, online aggregators might fall short of their sources. In the last 72 hours alone, 9 out of 18 newspaper and magazine Web sites qualified as top sources on Newser.com. 

The New York Times Screenshot by Maria Khan

Wolff also claims that we are fast approaching a world of bloggers, yet despite the success of blog style aggregators, like the Windy Citizen and Huffington Post, I disagree with Wolff yet again.

While blogs and social media sites might add flavor to a story; as in the case of the political upheaval in Iran, citizen journalists often do not have the access granted to a reporter representing a leading newspaper. Neither can they warrant the security granted to reporters, like Roxana Saberi, a freelance journalist for the BBC who was detained and later released in Iran.

Kirk McElhearn of Macworld.com sums it up on PCWorld,

“It can be said that “news” is worthless, that it is a commodity that can be provided by anyone…what news agencies can’t do is the added-value reporting, the analysis, opinion and in-depth reporting that we want to read to better understand, and that we need for society to thrive”.

I agree with Wolff that the niche style model is taking over the generic style of news reporting, but I do not believe that news aggregators can ever deliver newspaper style reporting, just like citizen journalists can never become professional journalists.

Quikmap Snapshot

In the summer of 2009, the Lincoln Park neighborhood in Chicago was the subject of police scrutiny, as a chain of four strong-arm robberies coupled with several other muggings made headlines in the city.

The victims, along with the attackers were all men in their early to mid-20s. All cases followed a similar pattern, whereby the victims were asked for their wallets and later brutally beaten up in the head and face.

The quikmap above traces through the robberies that took place in the neighborhood between July and August 2009. Chicago Police believe that the robberies are linked, but no arrests have been made as of Dec. 27, 2009.

Please note that all descriptions on attacks have been provided by the Chicago Police. The blue pins denote the robberies that are still under investigation and not yet been linked and the pink pins denote robberies that have been linked.

Here’s a brief synopsis of the robberies in the order in which they occurred:

1. First Robbery: 600 W. Fullerton Parkway, July 30, 2009. At 2 a.m. (CST), a man was robbed and beaten at this location.
2. Second Robbery: 2100 N. Stockton Drive, July 30, 2009. At 2:05 a.m. (CST), a man was robbed and beaten at this location, across from the Lincoln Park Zoo.
3. Third Robbery: 2000 N. Cleveland Avenue, Aug. 1, 2009. At 3 a.m. (CST), a man was robbed and beaten at this location.
4. Fourth Robbery: 300 W. Webster Avenue, Aug. 1, 2009. At 3:36 a.m. (CST), a man was robbed and beaten at this location, near the Francis Parker School.
5. Fifth Robbery: N. Cannon drive and W. Fullerton Parkway, Aug. 4, 2009. At 10:55 a.m. (CST), a man was robbed and beaten at this location. The man fought off the offenders with a bike lock.
6. Sixth Robbery: N. Halsted Street, Aug. 3, 2009. At 4:50 a.m. (CST), a 24-year-old man was robbed off his cell phone and beaten at this location, near Buckingham Place in Boystown.
7. Seventh Robbery: 400 W. Deming Place. A 21-year-old man struggled with three attackers who stole his wallet at this location.

Hungry Like a Wolf, FlypMedia.com

When I think of print magazines, TIME comes to mind or maybe National Geographic, but what about online? Online magazines are a complete different animal and FLYP magazine is living proof of that.

In a league of its own, FLYP blends media forms like podcasts, video, animation and full motion infographics satisfying media lovers of all genres, be it art, music or the economy. From tidal waves to smoke bursting out of a coal-fired power plant, every motion at FLYP is depicted in more than just words.

Using Shakira’s, Hungry Like a Wolf FLYP issue, below is my analysis to determine whether or not Mike’s, “10 Laws of Interactive Storytelling” are reflected on FLYPmedia:

1. Flipping through Hungry Like A Wolf, I make a choice and select the Click to meet Shakira icon to hear her audio bite. Interactive –check
2. A catchy headline; Hungry Like A Wolf coupled with the image of Shakira’s nails piercing through her skin grabbed my attention instantly. Front Page Promise – Check
3. In the Over The Years section, Shakira traces through three years of her life; 1977, 1984 and 1990 over the backdrop of black and white images from her past. Raw –Check
4. Audio bites from Shakira’s music collaborations with artists, like Carlos Santana and Beyonce add flavor to the text. Leverage Your Digital Assets –Check
5. Curious to find out about Shakira’s global popularity, I click on the Facebook Fans icon, which diverts me to a world map (see image above) of her fan base. Enthralled by the graphic display, I register and add in a comment. Involve the Public –check, Tap into Local Passion Groups –check, Map It –check.
6. I wonder if my fashion photographer friend would be interested in Shakira’s photo shoot. I click the share icon located at the top right corner of the Web site to share the issue. Viraling –check
7. From the International Olympic Committee’s announcement of the 2016 Summer Games’ host country to the UN Climate summit held in New York, FLYP traces events across the globe. Shine During Big Events –check.
8. Powering a Green Planet or analyzing how the mind works in Make Up Your Mind, FLYP examines issues of global significance. Save Elaborate Presentations for Projects with Staying Power –check.

FLYP taps into your senses by making you hear and see in motion what you read. Hard to believe; be the judge, watch as the wind turns propeller blades on windmills in Powering a Green Planet.

FLYPmedia.com, an interactive storytelling web site –Check!

Photo by Maria Khan

When I started off with the Journalism program here at DePaul, every book I opened and every page I turned revealed the same story over and over again, the end of journalism is near. Yet, as dire as the situation might appear, journalism can never be uprooted from a society that runs on information exchange.

The important question is, how can we fine tune the journalism industry such that it runs smooth in the present revolutionizing digital era?

Put simply, what are the basic know-hows that will help you ride the wave if you are a journalist in 2010. For starters, the more you know the better, so take up every opportunity to master something new, whether it is learning basic html or editing short videos on Final Cut. Once you have the technical, multimedia skills taken care of the next step is marketing yourself to the broad online community through the array of social networking sites. You also need to be aware of your competition and learn to work together because that is a core trait of the digital age; news aggregation and citizen journalism are key examples of this. Creating online communities and giving the audience the steering wheel is what will get you the sources you need to build a successful business model today.

However, this bottom-up model of journalism will topple down if it lacks the energy that can only be driven by you, the journalist, and your passion has to be driven by your niche. Niche is your passion, could be a hobby, it’s something that drives you and holds onto you 360 degrees. It gives you a sense of ownership and power in your own little world, your niche. 

Over and over again, we hear traditional journalists questioning their future. The trick to thrive in this ever evolving new media world is to try and complement the traditional with the contemporary. If traditional news-gathering can be coupled with news catered for a select group of niches, not only can this approach bring in revenues to the table, but it will also help build fresh dedicated viewers. A good example is Chicago Tribune Media Group’s, Chicago Now, http://www.chicagonow.com/, and Examiner.com, http://www.examiner.com/chicago , websites which bring in several niches together under one online umbrella. It’s a good example of how bloggers and citizen journalists can be leveraged on in intelligent ways, such that both the community members and the traditional news houses benefit from each other’s skills, experience and devoted audience base.

Journalism can never reach a dead end; it is simply evolving into another animal.