Tag: social media as reporting tool

How to Stand Up to a Dictator: Maria Ressa

Bullies only respond to strength. Complicity won’t due. When confronting an authoritarian, best to “hold the line.”

That’s from the 2022 book “How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight for Our Future,” written by Maria Ressa, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning journalist-entrepreneur behind Rappler — a respected, digital-first news site in the Philippines. Ressa was jailed and harrassed for her unwavering coverage of Filipino corruption.

The book is memoir and field guide, with a telling mirror for American audiences: the rise and fall of her enthusiasm for social media, and her battles with elected officials disdainful of free press and democratic norms. She’s charming and energetic. I spoke at a recent journalism funders conference where she was the headliner, and she gushed on-stage, effusing advice and perspective and vision. It’s easy to believe in her, and she tells a story of optimism, provided we work for it.

Of building open discourse-use and democratic values in the Philippines, in 2016, she thought Facebook was the solution; by 2018, she thought of them as indifferent and by 2020, she thought that “Facebook was the bad guy.” For all her reporting and operating a fearless news organization, she was jailed.

Why return to the Philippines to be jailed, even though she has American citizenship and family there? “There is no choice,” she wrote — couldn’t turn on Rappler and her employees and community and it’s where she wants to be. This will remind of Navalny, as she writes: “Over time, you get used to fear”

So, how do you stand up to a dictator: “by embracing values, defined early.. you have to create a team, strengthen your area of influence” — and know your lines and stand firm by them.

Below I have notes for my future reference.

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9 real ways I use social media to report that won’t bore you

Ten years into the modern social media era can leave even the most reluctant digital reporter bored by tactics for news gathering online. Still, though the source gathering, link sharing and network building are common acts, there are other ways I use these open platforms.

Here are some of those ways.

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Publishing is no longer the end of the reporting cycle, it is the middle

Even new views of data-driven journalism too often sees the release of coverage to be the end of the reporting process. Where is the action?
Even new views of data-driven journalism too often sees the release of coverage to be the end of the reporting process. Where is the action?

It was once  that in the reporting process, publishing a story was once the end.

Get an idea, find a source, develop a story, write and edit, then publish and hope the impact comes from elsewhere. Wrap advertising around the printed product and move on to the next issue.

No longer. News organizations have a responsibility for action to make their communities better. The tools and opportunities and methods for transparency are too rich. The need is too grave.

Continue reading Publishing is no longer the end of the reporting cycle, it is the middle

Inbox zero: email techniques for more efficient knowledge workers (like reporters) [VIDEO]

For anyone who traffics in ideas, relationships and  communication (and reporters are certainly that), “one of the most important soft skills you can have is handling a high-volume of email,” said Merlin Mann in his well-trafficked 2007 “Inbox Zero” Tech Talk.

The idea here is that time and attention are irreplaceable, finite and the most valuable resources of knowledge workers. So, as silly as it sounds, managing efficiently your email is a major skill.

Yet we all get overwhelmed by the fire hose that is our email inbox (and don’t put any workforce development time to this). For an industry that needs to keep our sources organized and be able to manage relationships (and do so by emailing better), that’s a sin. As I’ve brought on a couple reporters, I’ve found myself working with my cofounder Brian James Kirk, a true student of email productivity, to coach them on better email practices.

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A reporter is only as good as his sources (are organized)

The old saying goes that a reporter is only as good as his sources.

To tell or find a story, one needs to have the resources and access to perspective and insight. In my few years as a journalist, I’ve taken considerable effort to build relationships and gather sources.

That mostly amounted to piles and piles of business cards. Thankfully, two tools have allowed me to take considerable control over that mess.

First, almost since the very beginning of my collecting sources in college, I have obsessively updated my contacts in my Gmail account, including emails, phone numbers, even birthdays and mailing addresses when possible. Taking it further, I include headshots and a description of when I first met the person and what their relevance is, to ease my ability to remember the person.

Second and most recently, with my first smartphone and Macbook following this and this,I’m able to sync those Gmail contacts to my phone, allowing me to have access to those contacts more readily, as I try to develop as many text and Gchat relationships, it’s proven a great tool.

Which is good, because as important as it is to have good sources, it doesn’t matter if you can’t find them.

Metro: Bicycle rally following hospitalized cyclist and legislation

At left, victim Rachel Fletcher after being struck by a motorist on Thanksgiving Day. At right, her working as a bicycle messenger. Both photos were provided to me by Fletcher.
At left, victim Rachel Fletcher after being struck by a motorist on Thanksgiving Day. At right, her working as a bicycle messenger. Both photos were provided to me by Fletcher.

Another ugly chapter in the ongoing battle for the road between motorists, cyclists, pedestrians and the law was the focus of a story I wrote for Metro yesterday.

A few days after one of their own suffered serious facial injuries in a hit-and-run crash, city bicycle messengers upset with what one courier describes as “rising anti-cycling sentiment” are rallying at LOVE Park this evening. Read the rest here.

Staff writer Brian X. McCrone contributed to my reporting and helped pen the final product. Below I share how I got the story and a lot of other reading in this increasingly heated fight.

Continue reading Metro: Bicycle rally following hospitalized cyclist and legislation