Journalisms.

I found some fun stuff on Poynter today. First up we have the war journalist action figure. He's got a pretty serious camera and nice duds, but let's be honest -- no man worth his salt is taking a goatee into a war zone.

The other find is this lovely piece that explains why I no longer have a job as a copy editor. It includes this video, which I have embedded for your viewing pleasure. One note, though -- the animosity between reporters and copy editors (and day people and night people) isn't just a byproduct of a newsroom. It's the larger life case of people who do it right vs. people who don't, or two sets of people who do it right but don't communicate. Newspapers are just awesome places to see it get really bad before people combust.

Convergence reversed

With Internet use growing, many news organizations moved toward convergence, that is, they stopped being print-only or TV-only and tried to find ways to do everything, all available on the Web. But my conversation with an editor of new media for some Massachusetts weeklies, and this article on Poynter today about the Christian Science Monitor, point toward why this trend may be reversed soon: not many people take advantage of the videos online. They're a better place for runaway commenting. Even if they do get a bunch of views, it's nowhere near the cost it takes to develop them.

At least for now, it appears most viewers and readers are still separating their news consumption; they're either going to read it or watch it, and probably not at the same place. I wouldn't guess that this trend will continue, as most people will just end up using the Internet, but I would guess that this will lead to news organizations picking their poison and doing either one or the other. As niche markets rise on the Web, a news organization would do better to be known for its video or its articles than poorly try to do both.

News sources had Internet woes from the beginning

Don't think news sources didn't try to take advantage of the Internet in the beginning, this Poynter article says, just realize that early Internet technology was so bad that some news leaders didn't think it would take off, and if it did, that it would be too difficult to use (for, say, the legions of bloggers and news aggregate sites, all for free).


When the Internet picked up and other people found easier, better ways to use it, the news sources who were ahead were stuck with outdated technology. And like good, Depression-era journalists, they tried to squeeze the juice out of their old stuff like they would with an old press. But technology improves exponentially, and news sources were soon behind the game.

You know the rest of the story from here.

Too close for comfort with Tim Tebow

A lot of people are upset that, during SEC Media Day, a reporter asked Tim Tebow if he was a virgin.

Tebow is well-known throughout all sports not only for his ability to reel in big stats and championships but also because he follows his faith, from the Scripture references written under his eyes to his summer missions work in the Philippines.

On Poynter, Al Tompkins says his issue with the question was that it happened during SEC Media Day. I personally think the reporter was taking the chance he got; even Tebow was surprised no one asked him sooner.

Another writer, Dennis Dodd, seemed more disturbed by the question than anything, saying you don't talk about someone's sex life...or rather, first time...like that. After all the extramarital affairs in sports, towel-droppings and other dirty-mouthed, unnecessary jokes about sex, I'm not sure why we're excluding the topic of sex...except maybe because here, it's the exclusion of sex that is the big deal. In our increasingly sexualized society, where everyone talks about it and no one cares, has it suddenly become uncomfortable to talk about a guy with self-restraint?

Tebow welcomes these kind of questions, and he was ready to answer.

But just as talking about sex was once taboo, and even a cause to squirm, I think abstinance plays a similar role in today's society. Many people can't fathom or understand a lot of the factors surrounding someone who chooses not to have sex until marriage, because it's so uncommon and more often associated with failed political policies (for sex-ed), strange and backwoods cults and religious groups, or awkward, non-cool guys (which I'm assuming no one categorizes Tebow as).

Dodd is upset a line has been crossed. This may be a good line, even if Tebow's in the minority by being on the other side of it.