Snyder’s Block

I have seen the future, people, and the future is the iPad.

The iPad is an understated piece of technology that will derail any thoughts you may have had that newspapers will continue in dead tree form.

I know all the arguments. Some of them I made myself. The one about reading a newspaper on your computer will be awkward? That one was mine.

I always thought that as long as you could roll a newspaper up, tuck it under your arm and carry it around, it would still be more practical than a laptop and more portable, obviously, than a desktop.

I also thought that trying to read a column in an online newspaper would be awkward because you first had to find the column you love to read. For most online formats, this meant a number of mouse clicks and at least a 60-second lag time between screens. Many of us would agree that we don’t have 60 seconds to waste while cyber-city gets its act together. It’s so much faster and less aggravating to simply open the morning newspaper that is delivered to your doorstep and immediately turn to the page on which your favorite columnist is printed.

If you used your laptop to check your stocks in the Wall Street Journal, you’d have to first wait until you were in a place where there was wireless internet. Can’t do it on the subway or in a traffic jam. Your laptop is tied to a wireless signal. Even if you suddenly found yourself in a Wi-Fi hotspot while ordering a latte, you’d still have to wait for your laptop to boot up.

If your laptop is as slow as mine, the Dow may have dropped 600 points and your latte would be cold, before your stupid laptop came online.

So, yes, a dead tree newspaper was infinitely better than our digital choices of the past.

Enter the iPad. Picture an iPhone without the phone. Picture a composition notebook with an infinite number of pages. Picture… a picture… that can be manipulated with your finger. This is the tool that will make print newspapers obsolete and provide an editor with at least one less reason why he can’t print your column; the one where he says he doesn’t have enough room.

The iPad has made reading a newspaper online practical. It’s the size of a composition notebook and weighs about the same. It’s always on standby, like your cellphone, so at the press of a button, it is immediately ready to use.

The size of the screen makes it as easy to read as a print newspaper with the added ability to enlarge the font so that those of us with the eyesight of my ninety-year old father-in-law, will not have to carry our magnifying glass or find our reading glasses.

You don’t use the innocuous-sounding (but very aggravating) mouse or even a touch pad. You simply touch the screen with your finger. No driving a cursor around the screen. Simply point to what you want – with your finger.

You don’t need to be in a Wi-Fi hotspot if you have the 3G model. If your cell phone can get a signal, so can your 3G iPad.

With the iPad, you can e-mail, surf the web, read a book, watch a movie, play a game, check your stocks and design a space shuttle.

But enough about space shuttles! The iPad has applications where you can read the front page of The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and the Washington Post for free, just as you might if you were walking by a news stand. You then have the option of getting an online subscription with which you can read the full versions, cover-to-cover, without even navigating a website! You’d turn the pages the same way you’d turn the pages of a book; by placing a finger on the right side of the page and moving it to the left. No finger-licking required!

It looks exactly like the paper edition. The only exception is that when you touch the column you want to read, it fills the entire screen as if it were man’s best friend bringing your slippers after a long day at work.

The screen is back-lit so you can read your newspaper on commuter train at dusk.

You can tuck it under your arm just like your old friend, the dead tree.

Best of all, it won’t blow away in a stiff wind.

What’s not to love about this thing?… Other than the price. It’s expensive now, but all new technology is expensive until it becomes mainstream.

My fellow columnists, we have seen the future and it’s expensive right now. But, we are on the brink of a revolution. Readers will be flocking to this new technology with the exception of those among us who couldn’t spell iPad even if you spotted them the “i”. In this case, they wouldn’t be reading newspapers anyway.

Editors will have an infinite amount of space to fill with paid advertising and excellent content. Your column is probably excellent. If not, then get it that way, fast. The revolution will wait for no columnist. Like my half hillbilly-by-choice brother would say, “Go git you some future!”

Laura Snyder is a nationally syndicated columnist, author & speaker. You can reach Laura at lsnyder@lauraonlife.com Or visit her website www.lauraonlife.com for more info.

By Ben S. Pollock
NSNC President
September 2010

Ben Pollock

Last year I asked my Facebook friends on my “Wall,” where conversations are texted (Is this English?), “Why are people so upbeat on Facebook?” I’d been on Facebook a few months, having been sold on it by NSNC veteran Dave Lieber (who pushed the social networking site in last month’s edition of The Columnist newsletter), and was amazed by the civility and cheerfulness. When people reported devastating news, if they didn’t spin it up, then the Wall responses were nothing but empathy and affirmations.

My query received a wide range of answers. Two resonated. One was that people intuitively want Facebook for uplift and you have to give it to get it. The other explanation was fear — fear of being disliked or rebutted … or worst, ostracized in Facebook by being either “hidden” or “removed.”

So I was hit by a bucket of ice water when a friend of over 10 years blasted me on Facebook in mid-August, over a column I “shared” by providing its Web page address. Worse, his comments got “liked.” The piece was by Robert Niles in the Online Journalism Review, ojr.org, and titled “This Year’s Advice for Journalism Students” .

In his piece Niles — who early in his career had a reporting stint at the Herald-Times in Bloomington, Ind., site of the NSNC 2010 conference — updated the usual spiel of networking and specializing by noting that the depth of students’ online presence now will be judged by potential employers.

Of course he meant watch the silly talk and embarrassing photos, but mainly, Niles seemed to be saying that being published is being published, even if you’re doing it yourself. In other words, clips are clips. So post well. “When you read, watch or listen think always, ‘Would others find this interesting?’ That’s how you find the material you’ll need to fill your blog, Twitter feed or whatever else you publish online.”

Some professionals, perhaps the more traditional newspaper people, i.e. older, are threatened by that, in the same way authors debate that while talent can be developed, writing cannot be taught to just anyone.

Let me quote the online dialog that was posted after my link to Niles’ column.

My friend X—-: “Horse sh*t. I didn’t start by sucking a sportswriter’s golfballs as an intern and puking accolades to pay for the privilege. I got my foot in the door as a ‘copyboy’ and worked the streets. Chased cop calls, filed a few unpublished features about interesting people — got two or three pieces accepted each year — and studied ‘on the street’ with people who had spent their lives working ‘on the streets.’ Learned how to ‘get my facts on straight’ from people who had done so for 30-plus years before I ever showed up. Whatever ‘ojr.org’ is, this is the first and last time I will visit the site. Bunch of dilettantes who have no clue whatsoever, apparently. Feel-good crap for wannabe celebs.”

A friend of his left the comment, “You go, X—–!”

I tried to lower the heat with what I hoped was humor: “OK. Next caller! You do make strong points, X—–. Niles though is an experienced newspaperman, Midwest to Denver to, there you go, California — LA Times then USC. I think he’s about the most feet-on-the-ground of the gung-ho Internet journalism guys. He’s been solid on where we’re heading.”

Again, my friend, a longtime reporter: “Ben, I first met Geraldo Rivera when he was starting his career in ‘straight journalism.’ The idea that ‘every blog is valid reporting’ is absolute Geraldo Rivera horse sh*t.”

Two people clicked “like” on this.

I ended the thread with: “Your quote ‘every blog is valid reporting’ is nowhere in this piece. Nor does Niles mention or advise the exploitative sensationalism of Geraldo. The closest quote to this invented sentence is, ‘Everyone who posts online has the potential to create journalism.’ If he means any blogger can choose a topic, nail the facts and write clearly — wouldn’t that be an improvement over the ‘professional’ coverage of U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert? ‘What a maroon,’ as Bugs Bunny would say.”

In reading this now, maybe I didn’t handle this well — look up “Gohmert terrorist babies” online — but our new era scares folks. It should concern people who are comfortable with new media.

In a short time, 15 years perhaps, original work appears first online routinely. If a columnist doesn’t have a berth at a daily or weekly, a newspaper or magazine, or was dropped, the writer can set up a blog with a permanent web address. It can be done at no cost. It’s another option besides freelancing or moving to other formats such as books.

For we columnists, it means more places for where we can explain, report, comment and mock.

My friend isn’t the only one breathing hard.

Dan Gillmor asked in the Internet-only publication Salon (if it has new material every day, is it an online newspaper?) “Who’s a Journalist? Does That Matter?“  “_If you’re a creator of media, and most of us are these days in one way or another, what should I call you?”

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, is getting all ACLU on this, as can be seen at eff.org/issues/bloggers.

Want more confusion? Blogs are starting to be taxed.

The Philadelphia Inquirer just reported (“Is Philly Taxing Bloggers,” ) how city officials believe that blogs that make money are businesses so their creators must pay $50 a year or $300 for a lifetime privilege license.

Angry? Yes, then in debating myself I recalled sales tax on newspapers. Many but not all states exempt newspapers from adding sales tax to their price. Few states, on the other hand, exempt magazines. While tacking 7 cents to the price of a newspaper could cut rack sales, especially these days, I’ve never understood how we’re a necessity like groceries, also exempt from taxes in some states. I can’t see a First Amendment angle, either. As long as tax is owed across the board, those nickels help pay teachers and police officers.

But I studied further. It turns out that Philly’s Business Privilege Tax is not new. For many years, freelancers of all sorts have had to pay it, too. (How does City Hall know who to send that form to? The IRS tells it who reports such income.)

Thus, you can find lots on the Internet about the levy. After all, it’s something for writers to write about.

Government revenue is another sign that blogging is becoming mainstream. You may not make more than coffee money off it, but the puppy just heard the can opener.

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Want to take a shot? — Comment at columnists.com (below) or facebook.com/columnists.

In a recent column of advice to journalism students, Robert Niles warned, “Be careful what you post online as it reflects upon the reputation you are trying to build.”  As it turns out, truer words were never spoken for Sports Columnist Mike Wise of the Washington Post who got himself in a “heap of trouble” with an untrue post to Twitter that angered sports fans everywhere.

It was not so much what he said as it was that he deliberately posted an untrue story that deceived people. His dubious explanation? He wanted to show that reputable media would quote something posted on Twitter without bothering to check it out. 

Any scribe knows, or should know, that the most important thing you have as a journalist is your credibility. The National Society of Newspaper Columnists Code of Conduct says, “I will work hard to earn and keep the trust my readers and editors place in me.”  Indeed, failing to tell the truth to the best of your ability is a cardinal sin in the world of news reporting.

Wise’s comment might seem inconsequential to some:  A Steelers player suspended for misconduct would be suspended for five games, he alleged. So, what does it matter how many games? Ask a NFL fan that believed Wise and trusted his credibility, or thought that he might have access to inside sources. It was a betrayal of his obligation to give fair and honest reporting.

Wise later admitted the hoax and apologized, of course. But the flap caused him to be suspended for a month by the Washington Post to think things over. Some fans have expressed the opinion that he should have been fired. He has surely learned his lesson, but will readers believe him now or think what he has to say is simply another fabrication?

Anyone can start a rumor online as a joke or hoax — anyone who is not a journalist. Even columnists who write parody, satire, or humor understand the obligation for basic honesty. If a humorist writes in jest, exaggerates, or does not tell the complete truth, it must be obvious. Readers must be in on the joke.

News columnists express opinions based on the truth as they see it. Readers are free to agree or disagree. Of course, anyone can make a mistake, but one should be willing to admit an error and correct it whenever possible.  And, there is a vast difference between a mistake and a deliberate deception.

Much has been said by pundits about this transgression in our midst, which is as it should be. Let us all take note and become wiser from it. We must never forget to maintain our integrity as columnists. Even in blogs, even on Facebook, even on Twitter.

In the September edition of the e-Columnist, distributed to members by email on the first of the month:

– President Ben Pollock describes a Facebook experience which points up sharp divisions of opinion about the emerging role of social media in modern journalism …

– 2011 Conference Chair Brian O’Connor previews some of the plans for next year’s annual meeting in Detroit …

– “Snyder’s Block” columnist Laura Snyder tells why she loves the iPad …

– Snapshots of international members show our global reach …

– News about fellow columnists and the news business … and much more.

“The site’s goal is to serve anyone pursuing journalism excellence — newsroom journalists, journalists outside traditional newsrooms, and people interested in developing journalism skills, even if they are practicing in allied or unrelated fields.” says Julie Moos, director of Poynter Online.

Poynter has built a prototype site using WordPress, with a theme they purchased and plan to refine and re-design. They want to know if users understand the organization, can find the content they want, and if the organization seems to make sense. They want to make it easier to understand how journalism is changing, among other goals of the new site.

In addition to being a school that teaches journalism, Poynter Online is known in the media profession for Romenesko, a major source of media news. The new site will continue to have the latest news and analysis from Romenesko,

To read more details about the site re-design, go to Poynter Institute

If you want to comment on the site, fill out the survey.

Robert Niles

Robert Niles, computer and journalism guru, offers his advice to students arriving or returning to journalism schools this fall in the Online Journalism Review.  However, what is true for students is also true for anyone trying to build a career in the journalism field.

Niles will be recalled as panel member speaking on new media and journalism at the NSNC Ventura Conference. His websites have been honored with awards from the Online News Association, the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, and the Webby Awards.  He has also has worked for several newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times, and (Denver) Rocky Mountain.

He advises students to be aware that a journalism career begins when someone posts to the internet.  He says that anyone who posts online can be a journalist if they post breaking news.

Schools still teach old journalism but today you need more than printed news clips and recommendations, per Niles.  A blog with thousands of visitors a day can impress an editor and get you hired.  The sooner you build an audience, the better.

In today’s journalism, you need to network with both colleagues and readers via social networks, such as, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. You also need to have a personal, professional website to draw attention to your work and to build your personal “brand” as a journalist.

Finally, Niles warns, be careful what you post online as it reflects upon the reputation you are trying to build.  Try to think like a journalist at all times and always be on the lookout for stories as they can come from anywhere. 

Read Niles complete article at OJR.

Obituaries in The Washington Post and The New York Times convey a more controversial career than fans of columns who fall short of being in their 70s or 80s may have realized. The younger among us may have had his 1984 book on language The Writer’s Art as recommended reading in journalism and English classes. “The Writer’s Art” also was the title of his last syndicated column, which he ended in early 2009. Kilpatrick also co-wrote the 1979 humor book A Political Bestiary with the late liberal Sen. Eugene J. McCarthy, illustrated by the late cartoonist Jeff MacNelly.

Middle-aged fans and mid-career journalists recall Kilpatrick’s forceful words in his columns “A Conservative View” and “Covering the Courts,” even when they did not agree with him.

“Maybe, but who are we kidding? It’s CBS’s ‘Point-Counterpoint’ then Dan Ackroyd’s running impersonation of Kilpatrick that cemented him in our minds,” said NSNC President Ben Pollock. NBC’s Saturday Night Live routinely spears television’s pundits and shout-fest hosts, but the 60 Minutes mini-debate must have been its first in that line.

From 1971-78, the groundbreaking TV newsmagazine closed its hour with “Point-Counterpoint” (succeeded in 1979 with “A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney”) where Kilpatrick sparred with liberal columnists Nicholas Von Hoffman and the late Shana Alexander. Their strong words on issues of the day tempered with at-times strained old-school cordiality must have made it tempting fodder for satire.

News hounds of Kilpatrick’s “Greatest Generation” era would recall that his early career supported a Southern, pro-segregationist line beginning in the early 1950s when the Oklahoma City native worked for the Richmond News Leader in Virginia. His reporting there, however, helped get a pardon for a black handyman falsely convicted of killing a policeman.

After the death of his first wife, the mother of his three sons, Kilpatrick married the liberal columnist Marianne Means, now retired, who along with them and her own children survive him. The NSNC offers its condolences.

Pete Hamill

Pete Hamill’s “They Are Us,” a book about the politics of immigration in the United States, is tentatively scheduled for release in the fall by Little, Brown & Company.

Hamill is in the NSNC Hall of Fame as the 2005 recipient of the Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Pete Hamill started his career at the New York Post in 1960. He has been a columnist for many years. He currently lives in New York City and writes for the New York Daily News.

“I had a passion to do something about the immigration mess, for complicated reasons,” said Mr. Hamill. He has lived in Mexico and is the son of immigrants from Ireland. The new book will skip the print edition and be published as an e-book, a first for Hamill.

He has previously written eight nonfiction books with “They Are Us” being his ninth. He has also written ten novels and an eleventh will be released in the spring. In addition, there are two books of short stories and other book collaborations.

For additional information, see the feature article in the New York Times.