We the Media -- Chapter 3

"The Gates come Down," the third chapter of Dan Gillmor's book on new media, focuses on the new, interactive role that the everyday consumer can play in the dissemination of news. Gillmor outlines the cominbation of widespread technological breakthroughs and an incresingly savvy public, a combination that has caused headaches for traditional media outlets.

The highlight of this chapter is the numerous examples the author gives to back up his point. In his opening paragraph, Gillmor discusses bloggers' role in the Trent Lott/Strom Thurmond story, pointing out that non-traditional media outlets -- aka liberal bloggers -- kept the story alive and forced it into the public eye.

This example is the first of many in the chapter. Whether it is consumers finding new uses for products, teenagers conning stock traders out of millions of dollars or civil liberties groups turning the tables on the "Total Information Awareness" program, the general public is becoming more empowered everyday.

The crucial component to the breakdown of traditional media rules is the technology boom, which Gillmor lays out in detail. With the ability to take pictures at nearly any point and the medium of the Internet to spread information to the populace, the consumer is now armed with the same tools as the traditional journalist.

While Gillmor makes a strong argument, he fails to acknowledge the advantages traditional media outlets still possess. The access that, say, the New York Times has to a high-level executive of a major corporation cannot be matched by bloggers. That access is what still seperates traditional media from the masses, and Gillmor does not adequately address this point.

Despite this drawback, however, Gillmor's argument is well-founded and amply backed up by his examples. Bloggers are indeed marking their territory in the world of journalism. Indeed, I'm doing it right now.

Midterm Flash Photo Essay

https://depot.northwestern.edu/jfs360/public_html/Midterm%20Flash%20Assignment.swf?uniq=-u3zgn4

New York Times article reformatting

In the below story, I would implenent the followings graphics:

Bar graph of the homicide rates of the 10 biggest U.S. cities (would illustrate high homicide rate of Philadelphia in respect to other major cities)

A link to the survey by the Police Executive Research Forum (in the fourth graph)

A poll question: Do you believe the rising homicide rate in Philadelphia could be slowed by stronger gun control laws? (Yes/No)

A link to the gun control bill that failed in the Pennsylvania state Legislature




Philly struggles to cope with increased gun violence

Editor’s note: This story was originally published in the New York Times on April 15
PHILADELPHIA, April 14 — In some ways, Karim Williams, Philadelphia’s latest shooting victim, is a typical patient at the trauma unit.

The 27-year-old, who says he was shot while he walking from his girlfriend’s car into a bar, is young, mildly intoxicated and apparently clueless as to why he was shot.

More surprising, doctors here say, is that he is neither seriously injured nor dead, since Philadelphia is in the midst of an epidemic of gun violence that has left the police struggling to preserve public safety and government officials renewing efforts to tighten the state’s gun control laws.

Last year, there were 406 homicides in Philadelphia, most of them by gunshot, the highest number in nine years, according to the Police Department. From 2004 to 2006, the number of homicides in the city rose 22 percent, more than twice as much as the aggregate increase recorded by 56 cities surveyed by the Police Executive Research Forum, a national law enforcement group.

This year, the pace of the killings has worsened; as of Friday the death toll stood at 110, or 16 percent higher than at the same time last year. By comparison, in New York City, with six times the population, there were 102 homicides from Jan. 1 to April 8, a drop of almost 24.4 percent from the same period a year ago.

Some 18 percent of the gun wounds treated at the University of Pennsylvania hospital were fatal, and 16 percent of the victims will suffer permanent disabilities.

Gun violence is becoming so common in some parts of the city that many people are no longer shocked by it, said Dr. Bill Schwab, chief of trauma and surgical critical care at the hospital.

“Are people becoming numb to violence? The answer is yes,” Dr. Schwab said. “It’s very common for them to be sitting on their porch and to hear gunshots in the night.”

What sets Philadelphia apart from other cities, say the police, politicians and academic experts, is the combination of high poverty, an increasingly violent youth culture and the easy availability of guns.

Pennsylvania’s cities are forbidden by state law from making their own gun laws, and so must conform to the political will of a largely rural state that, according to the National Rifle Association, has around a quarter of a million gun owners.

A bill to limit the ease of gun purchases was rejected by the Pennsylvania State Legislature last year.

For Karim Williams, the explanation for Philadelphia’s carnage is a lack of jobs.

“You’ve got to have jobs for the people that need them,” he said from his gurney. “You have to keep people occupied. Without jobs, all you can do is resort to violence.”

Skeleton for Midterm

https://depot.northwestern.edu/jfs360/public_html/Skeleton.swf?uniq=prdxvv

Flash Assignment 3

https://depot.northwestern.edu/jfs360/public_html/Flash%20Assignment%203.swf?uniq=prdt2s

Examples of Visual Journalism

http://www.nytimes.com/ref/us/politics/2008_EG_FINANCES.html
This first example is from the New York Times website. It details the financial contribution made to different presidential candidates in different geographic areas of the U.S. A map of the United States is presented on the screen, with circles representing regions that have given money to a candidate. Each circles represents an area of 1000 zip codes, which allows a reader to pinpoint his or region with ease. One can look at the groupings of circles (or blank spaces, which represent where no money has been raised) to see trends among the support base for each candidate. For example, Hillary Clinton has many overlapping circles in the Northeast, but hardly any in the Great Plains and the northern states. Viewers can seen the actual dollar amount of the donations, but they are also visually shown on the map, as the size of the circle is directly proportional to the amount of the donations. Those who did not know that Mitt Romney is a Mormon might be alerted to that fact by the large circle around Utah on his map. This feature, while not accompanied by any text, still manages to convey the trends and analysis of campaign contribution for the upcoming election.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/04/16/Patrick_said_Obama_said/
In this article, a series of quotes show the similarites in the campaigns of presidential hopeful Barack Obama and Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick. On one side of the screen, Patrick's quotes are displayed, with a description of how they were used in his campaign. Running parallel to this on the right side of the screen are Obama's quotes, which display marked similarities to the Patrick quotes. Arrows connects the quotes that are similar; for example, the "hard work and beliefs" quotes in section #2 are connected. This feature complements an article on Obama's "borrowing" from Patrick's successful gubernatorial campaign by laying out the argument for similariety by tying together their common words. A simple but effective graphic, this piece is a prime example of the powerful effect of visual journalism.

Flash Assignment 2

https://depot.northwestern.edu/jfs360/public_html/Flash%20Photo%20Assignment%20Apr.%2012.swf?uniq=-w8nlnm

Assignment 1

https://depot.northwestern.edu/xythoswfs/webui/jfs360