Archives and Ethical Issues

I wrote the police blotter for the Daily Campus for an entire year, and this, itself, brought up a few ethical issues with archives.

(Disclaimer: The last blotter of the year was done Monday, and I will not be writing the blotter next year. Also, I cannot tell anyone who the new blotter reporter is because we do not want anyone to harass him/her.)

My boyfriend, who knew that I wrote the blotter, brought up an interesting point last week. One of his friends complained about the Daily Campus Web site at lunch because she was in the police blotter a few months ago, and now, whenever she searches her name on Google or any other search engine, her arrest is the first item that shows up. The Daily Campus archives are online for years afterward, so that means that her arrest will also be posted for years. All arrests are online for everyone to see for years, even if charges were dropped.

This brings up many questions. Is this ethical? Should we remove past police blotters from our Web site? If a mistake happens online, does it make libel worse because it will be up for anyone to see for any amount of time? One the one hand, all arrests are public record - that's why local newspapers report them in a police blotter. Anyone can find these records if they ask for them at a police station, even years later after charges had been dropped. This doesn't make it different from a Web site. Also, if someone had something embarrassing published about them, they're just stuck with it online. On the other hand, if something is false, it may be libel, and if the web master and the libeled person are unaware of this, it can be up for a long time.

Slate documents this effect well in its article, "Don't blame the New York Times for your bad reputation." While I understand that libel is unethical and a strong case for a lawsuit, if something is true, it is not libel. If a person was arrested, it is on public record, and it's not the newspaper that ruined her reputation - it was the arrest. If something is simply embarrassing information, it has already been reported, so the damage has already been done, whether it was online or not. Anyone can also look up newspaper clippings at their local library. When they look up a newspaper clipping, they may not even look at the next day's, when there was a retraction or an apology.

I would say that the online medium of journalism helps protect from reporters from libel. They can issue a retraction and apology and just go back and change the story. Those in fear of ruining their reputations from online news should consider this and take responsibility for their actions.

Flash Media

I am working on a slide show for my bio page on my home page. The flash effects we had to try are
1. Fade in effect (your future slide shows begin here)
2. Zoom in effect (yeah, enter the nascar)
3. Blur effect (easier than you thought)
4. Photo sideshow (now to the real thing, complete with a remote)
I didn't have much trouble doing it. Kodi posted some resources to help us, so I just followed the directions. First I had to open Flash 8.0 and start the slideshow template. The photos I used aren't that great, but they were the only ones I had. I think this addition shows a good representation of myself.

Multimedia

Web sites use multimedia to better tell a story. In many cases, it works well. In some, it deters from the main objective of the story. Here are some reviews, using Mindy McAdams Chapter 2 advice.

Tornadoes Injure Hundreds in Virginia
This article, featured on AOL news includes the written article and also uses two slide shows of photos from a tornado and the ruins. It also has a video of the tornado. This is everything one could ask for when it comes to reporting a story. The slides change easily, and the multimedia is easy for a user to navigate. One criticism, however, is the way the page is laid out. I understand the ads on the side are necessary to pay for the site, but they take up a lot of space. The story begins with the article, then a slide show interrupts it. Then there's more article text, then another slide show. Then after more text, there's video. The user has to scroll down pretty far to get to the video, and because it's an interesting piece of multimedia, it should be easier to access. Also, the placement of the multimedia detracts from the article.

Madonnarama
I love Madonna, so I appreciated this article and the multimedia that went along with it. It was interesting because she hasn't been around in the media for a while, and she's making yet another comeback. Vanity Fair does a great job with multimedia as the magazine makes use of its photos. The article reads thoroughly with one photo in the middle. It doesn't detract from the article. It also gives a small photo that serves as an info box to bring the user to a slide show of Madonna photos from the 1980s to the present. The slide show itself is a great work of multimedia. The photos fade in and out well - there are many photos, and it shows a history of Madonna. Also, when the user brings the arrow to the side of the photo, the screen simulates a turning page. That is a really neat use of interactivity.

Time.com Multimedia Page
Time.com has a specific multimedia tab from its home page. From it, one can access great and interesting multimedia that, by themselves, serve as journalism.
One in particular, an interactive graphic on dictators, especially shows that point. This graphic shows where dictators go when they are in exile. When the user clicks on an X on the map, the rollover image shows a picture of the dictator, some information on him and an arrow that shows where he started as a dictator and points to where he moved to later. This type of multimedia takes research, and I like that it can stand alone as a piece of journalism.

Extra Web Behaviors

For this assignment, we have to show that we can do the following:
i) swap image ii) pop-up window iv) Play sound iv) Jump menus.