Transformational media was the name of the game at the 2010 College of Communication Murrow Symposium that took place today in the CUB.
Amidst communication leaders and media representatives, Kathy Best, Pulitzer prize winning Seattle Times journalist, showed students that the way to success is one Tweet away.
She said although some reporters think social media tools like Twitter are not good for hard news, they can be used for gathering community information and doing “run-and-gun” investigative journalism for on-the-go reporting.
Best won a Pulitzer Prize for reporting the Lakewood officer shootings. She said the shootings struck fear into members of the community and that made getting information out a higher priority. The Seattle Times did this using Twitter to keep the community updated.
“They needed to talk about this,” she said. “They were scared.”
Twitter served as a multi-purpose tool during this time because it allowed editors to make the reporting more powerful by adding pictures and video for constant updates, she said.
Deborah Amos, foreign correspondent of National Public Radio News, shared similar experiences reporting international news.
As correspondent for the Middle East, Amos said she has seen people who are strongly affected by working in a war zone. At first, being a foreign correspondent can seem like an adventure, but it can lead to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, she said. NPR has even begun to provide reporters with PTSD counseling.
However, Amos said being a journalist is a form of counseling in itself. One form of therapy for PTSD involves releasing the trauma by talking it out. Journalists are protected from the effects of emotional stress simply because of their talkative nature. She called this journalists’ built-in defense mechanism.
“To be on a bombing scene and to see dead people … that does get to you,” she said. “You tell it so many times that it becomes boring.”
Amos also discussed the differences between being a male and a female foreign correspondent. Many organizations will send women overseas instead of men because they can talk to the male officials, and their wives, she said.
Amos explained a time when she danced on a stage at a nightclub with Iraqi prostitutes for an investigative story.
“I couldn’t have done that as a man,” she said. “There are some things that do separate us.”
Lauren McCullough, manager of social networks and news engagement at the Associated Press, spoke about how social media networks help news teams mobilize quickly.
For example, the Haiti Earthquake changed the AP’s plans for launching online media. AP Facebook and Twitter accounts hit the ground running earlier than they had expected in order to provide their readers with accurate updates about the disaster.
The earthquake also gave light to the power of journalism, McCullough said. When a reporter covers disaster stories, the impact of raising awareness goes far beyond just helping any individuals illustrated in an article.
Returning to the discussion of digital-age journalism, Amos said she doesn’t know how long media outlets will be able to afford foreign correspondents. She thinks many will evolve into global bloggers.
“I’m worried about who is going to be the foreign correspondent in a media system that has collapsed,” she told students. “I couldn’t tell you what’s going to happen because I really don’t know.”
And as a side note for communication students: McCullough announced the AP changed the styling of the word “Web Site” to “Website” in the 2010 Style Book update!
By Andrea Castillo
