Thoughts on the Reading: Wikileaks

The case study Friend or Foe? Wikileaks and the Guardian,published by the Knight Case Studies Initiative provides valuable insight into the way modern news is published. It looks at how British newspaper The Guardian came to team up with Julian Assange and other major newspapers to publish one of the biggest troves of confidential documents ever stolen from the U.S. government.

First of all, thank you to the producer of that article for helping me understand Wikileaks and its notorious founder, Julian Assange. Suspician, mystery, animosity, and admiration surround this international icon, but this article clears a lot of that away and helps me understand who he is and the way he operates Wikileaks. Understanding Wikileaks is crucial because they are on the cutting edge of citizen journalism, a new kind of source.

Wikileaks members--at least then--were a rich source, but not yet the communication platform they desired to be. Note that Assange was so glad to team up with members of the media establishment such as British newspaper The Guardian. According to the article, reporter Nick Davies said that Assange, "was aware that the Wiki model was a failure. He was already moving toward trying to use mainstream media to get more impact.” Apparently new web publishers sometimes need to lean on traditional media to gain credibility and exposure.

It is also interesting that neither no government attempted to prevent publication of the documents in question by official injunction. In the famous supreme court case New York Times vs. United States President Nixon had tried to restrain the publication of the Pentagon Papers, but failed.

Feature Writing's Place in Journalism

A recent cover of the New York Times sports section attracted my attention immediately. The page was almost completely blank, and there was a small photograph of a bloodied hockey player's face and with the title Derek Boogard: Blood on the Ice. The years of Boogard's birth and death (2011) were also given. The article that followed was the second in a three part feature by John Branch that told a sobering story about the lives of NHL enforcers using Derek "The Boogeyman" Boogard as a case study.

What made this article news? It wasn't the timeliness of it because Boogard passed away more than six months prior to the article's publication. It didn't appear relevant to most of the NYT's audience (will all the hockey fans in the room please stand up?) But I found the article fascinating; in fact, it made a strong impression on me. I felt like I saw for the first time the tumult that professional athletes can live in, especially in a sport as violent as hockey. Did you know that NHL teams keep an "enforcer" on their roster just to send onto the ice to fight the other team's enforcer to settle scores between teams and avenge cheap shots against star players? Neither did I. It sounded exciting. But then Branch describes Boogard's right hand, which was a mangled plump of flesh during his later years after years of getting it cut up and his knuckles broken and all out of place during fight after fight. Branch also describes the head trauma associated with such a lifestyle and that reminded me of Muhammed Ali's later years, when he had an ever-present tremor in him and could barely talk.

Inaugural Post

Hello Journalism 239 readers, welcome to my blog about journalism principles. In another class--well, it seems like ALL of my classes--I am studying mass digital communication more generally, so this blog is where I'll record my thoughts and questions about how those things relate to the journalism industry specifically. Also, I'll respond to New York Times articles here.

So the Daily Universe is going to be a weekly print publication and move the rest of their operations online. Obviously they should consider renaming the paper (at least the print edition) since it's only a daily publication online and on weekdays. I understand that BYU let a couple faculty members go as a part of the change-up. I'm sorry to hear of the loss of their jobs, that's a tough thing to go through. The move reminds me of an article in The Atlantic that included and estimate that an online-only version of the NYT woul only generate enough revenue to support 20 percent of their current staff. Journalism needs to get leaner and meaner in our world of converging media, but like the author of that article, I believe there will be survivors in the industry and that they will be the masterful writers with a specialization and that they (and their publications) will be adept collaborators.