Community photojournalism - Blum on why posed photos aren't bad

Newspaper designer Ed Henninger, who does a lot of work for community papers, has turned his monthly column over to an oldie but goodie from Ken Blum, who ran community papers for three decades and now is a consultant (or "adviser," as he prefers it).

The title of Blum's column, In Defense of Post Photos, speaks pretty much for itself, but some excerpts:

But here's the confession of a former photojournalist: I sometimes encouraged group pictures and posed pictures to appear in the community newspapers I used to run.

Why? Because my audience, the readers of our products, like them. And it's my job to see that my audience is as happy as possible with the product they read every week. ...

Because community journalism is personal journalism. Because those 400 little-leaguers have 4,000 moms and dads, aunts, uncles, cousins, teachers and preachers who are interested in them.

In the personal world of a community newspaper, a picture of a human face is a picture that tells a story.

I don't in any way want to disparage the great work many dedicated photojournalists are contributing to community newspapers. Nobody appreciates a good picture in a newspaper more than I do. There are many times I still wish I was out there chasing fire trucks or climbing trees to get the perfect angle for a good feature photo.

But when it comes to some types of posed pictures, some photographers need to chill out a bit and recognize their value to a community newspaper.

Networked neighborhoods study

Out of London, an interesting set of documents forms a study of online network neighborhood news sites, how people use them and the impact on those who do use them.

You'll find them at networkedneighbourhoods.com.

I've only gotten to the summary (PDF), but the general thrust is this: "The research shows that they serve to enhance the sense of belonging, democratic influence, neighbourliness and involvement in their area. Participants claim more positive attitudes towards public agencies where representatives of those agencies are engaging online."

Among other things:

• 42% of those surveyed said they met someone in their neighborhood online
• 75% said participation on the sites made it more likely people would pull together to improve their neighborhoods
• 69% felt a greater sense of belonging
• From a quarter to about two-thirds (depending on the site) said people make negative remarks online, but three-quarters said they are quickly countered.

In other words, these are the sorts of things traditional community media once did and, where they continue to exist, often still do. I have not come across details yet on what community media might have pre-existed in these areas, the attitudes of those surveyed toward any existing media and their community-building roles, or any effect such sites might have had on those relationships.

But this looks to be useful reading and a block on which to build further research.

[Also posted on Common Sense Journalism]

Grant-funded Write for Arkansas reporter, editor promote community journalism at university

From today's edition of The Arkansas Publisher Weekly:

This August five new pairs of feet hit the streets to begin covering local news across Arkansas. Through the Write for Arkansas initiative, a collaboration between Arkansas Community Foundation and the Arkansas Press Association, five community newspapers – the Texarkana Gazette, The Courier of Russellville, the Stuttgart Daily Leader, Areawide Media of Salem and the Madison County Record – received grants to fund an additional reporting position each.

While the primary purpose of the grant program is to support the vital work of community newspapers by increasing their reporting capacity, an important secondary goal is raise awareness of the continuing need for trained, professional journalists to cover local issues.

To that end, Write for Arkansas reporter Sarah Morris of the Stuttgart Daily Leader and her editor Lesley Valadez traveled to Arkansas State University last month to speak to first-year journalism students about the field of community journalism. Their main message, Morris said, was that “journalism is still alive and the need for community reporting is still there.” Morris and Valadez gave students advice on advancing their careers in journalism. “We talked about how internships and multimedia skills were also important in grabbing the jobs,” Morris said.

The young journalists in training were especially interested in how multimedia is shaping the future of community news. “The main questions they asked were what types of internships I held and how they helped, as well as what type of multimedia the Stuttgart Daily Leader used. They were interested in knowing how it was working out for us.” . . .

As the Write for Arkansas initiative moves forward, the reporters plan to seek additional opportunities to reach out to student journalists and encourage a future generation of community reporters. Learn more about the Write for Arkansas initiative at http://www.writeforarkansas.org/.

Convention lineup set as Marren scores twice

Two of COMJIG's chips await the next round of programming Dec. 4 during the AEJMC midwinter meeting in Albuquerque. (Photo by Andris Straumanis)

The Community Journalism Interest Group's program for the AEJMC convention in St. Louis is set, thanks to the work of Program Head Joe Marren (Buffalo), who joined Andris Straumanis (Wisconsin-River Falls) at the association's midwinter meeting in Albuquerque, N.M.

COMJIG's programming will begin Wednesday, Aug. 10, but the interest group's biggest day of the convention will be Thursday, Aug. 11, with a series of panels, presentations and meetings. Programming will continue on Friday, Aug. 12.

Here's the lineup:

Wednesday, Aug. 10

11:45 a.m. "Emerging News Ecosystems and the News," a PF&R panel co-sponsored with the Newspaper Division.

Thursday, Aug. 11

11:45 a.m. A PF&R panel, led by Al Cross of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky, focusing on community newspapers' efforts to move content online. The session is co-sponsored by the Newspaper Division.

1:30 p.m. Scholar-to-Scholar session, when several COMJIG research papers are expected to be presented along with papers from several other divisions and interest groups.

3:15 p.m. Refereed paper session.

5 p.m. "News With a View: Journalism in a Post-Objective World," co-sponsored by the Civic and Citizen Journalism Interest Group (CCJIG).

6:45 p.m. COMJIG and CCJIG joint members' meeting.

8:30 p.m. COMJIG executive board meeting.

Friday, Aug. 12

5:15 p.m. "We Handle the Rest: Taking the Load Off Independent Photojournalists," a teaching panel co-sponsored with the Visual Communication Division.

Those readers who have been to an AEJMC midwinter "chipping" session will find this meaningful: Marren, no stranger to the basketball court, was one of few program heads who managed to land a chip in the bowl at the center of the room. Not only that, but he did it twice, the second time with COMJIG's last chip.