Writers and Editors

Guest post by William H. Reid

Small group presentations are sometimes best served by good mic/speaker combinations, not just a mic.

(1) SIMPLE, EFFECTIVE, CHEAP.

Consider a "teacher's microphone" (also used by tour guides) with a small speaker worn around the neck or clipped to a pocket. Check them out on Amazon & elsewhere for $25 to $75. The mic is usually a "head mic" with a light headset and a little microphone placed near the side of the mouth, connected (sometimes wirelessly) to a small speaker worn around your neck. Battery operated (usually rechargeable), hands-free, self-contained, easy to walk around. ZOWEETEK makes several and sells one with very good ratings on Amazon for $35.80. There are many others.

(2) LESS SIMPLE, NOT SELF-CONTAINED, MORE VOLUME, BETTER SOUND.

If you're planning to stand in one place, such as at a podium, you'll need a mic (and maybe a mic stand if you don't want to hold the mic), a simple speaker/amplifier, and a cable to connect them Read More 

Useful for journalists and the sources they need to find.

• Anewstip: Connect with global media influentials. A one-stop PR platform that helps entrepreneurs, PR professionals and marketers search for relevant media contacts (journalists, editors, etc.)
• Cision (formerly PR Newswire): Offers a media database and journalist query service.(formerly PR Newswire)
• ExpertClick (slightly different format) Connecting experts with the news media
• Expertise Finder Search engine to help journalists find university-based subject experts and sources for interviews and articles.
• Gorkana (Cision One) Provides media intelligence, including journalist queries and alerts.

• Media Kitty (disappeared on me)
• Muck Rack Combines journalist queries along with media monitoring and analytics. Optimize your media relations with easy-to-use PR software
• PitchRate Free PR leads. A free PR tool that connects journalists and the highest rated experts.
• Qwoted  Connects journalists with expert sources for media requests. "Suddenly, Connected."
• ResponseSource A media database and journalist request service that makes it easy to connect with the media in the UK and Ireland.
• SourceBottle Find a source. Be a source.
• Yearbook of Experts Experts, authorities, and spokespersons.

Any more to list (with links)?

Source: Jmcolbert at aol dot com (on ASJA discussion group)

A pre-election reform plan for the media

You can read the full Media & Democracy article here.

The following are just the headlines.

COVER ELECTIONS LIKE THEY MATTER MORE THAN SPORTS SCORES

Prioritize substantive coverage of the issues that matter to voters' lives.
Make headlines accurate and informative, not clickbait.
Stop making predictions and pushing polls at the expense of issues coverage.
Celebrate and uplift election workers, voters, and the election process.
Don't set aside moral judgment when covering obvious lies and bigotry.
Hold politicians to account for their positions, statements, and behavior, as well as those of their party's leader.
 

MAKE THREATS TO DEMOCRACY CLEAR

Inform voters of the freedoms they will lose if the MAGA movement wins.
Abandon false equivalence between traditional and fascistic candidates. 
Expose candidates who foment political violence.
Call out lies and bad behavior in every piece of reporting.
Prominently cover the Big Lie-fueled attack on election legitimacy and voting rights.
 

PROTECT AMERICANS FROM DISINFORMATION

Avoid euphemisms that conceal and normalize extremism.
Explain that disinformation by MAGA is a strategy. Read More 

Originally published 5-7-24

As you may recall, law enforcement officers in a rural Kansas county raided the offices and homes of the editors of a local newspaper, seizing electronic newsgathering equipment and reporting materials -- resulting in a nationwide uproar over the threats to our First Amendment principles of a free press. Following are some articles about the incident.

---A conversation with the newspaper owner raided by cops (Marisa Kabas, The Handbasket, 8-12-23) Eric Meyer says his paper had been investigating the police chief, Gideon Cody, prior to the raids on his office and home. They did so because of a complaint by a local restaurant owner named Kari Newell. [This is the piece that took the story viral.]

---How a small-town feud in Kansas sent a shock through American journalism  Read More 

Notes from an interactive New York Times Opinion piece (7-18-24)

See it for specific dates, photos, and fuller copy

"For Americans who may have forgotten that time, or pushed it from memory, we offer this timeline of his presidency. Mr. Trump's first term was a warning about what he will do with the power of his office — unless American voters reject him."

Check out the article, click on headlines there for full copy, and see abundant photos here: Donald Trump's First Term (NY Times, 7-18-24). As you read, picture what was happening when he says or does the following (lines from the Times article, my bolds added):

(2017) What Trump does or says...
Jan.     "This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration — period."

           Tries to defund sanctuary cities in an effort to ramp up deportations.

           The Muslim ban. In an executive order, Mr. Trump, without warning, closes the Read More