pointing fingers.

I just love this photo of Michelle Williams on this month's cover of the UK magazine Wonderland. What do you think?

I'm curious to know what you think of the media's coverage of Heath's passing. It's hard to think about what she must be going through with everyone watching her every move.

I definitely think this is where the idea of civic journalism comes in--remembering we are humans first and journalists second. We (journalists) seemingly tend to get generalized and it really bothers me sometimes when everything is blamed on "the media" because who exactly are they talking about--bloggers? newspaper reporters? anchormen/women? photographers? paparazzi? political figures? tv hosts? The word has lost all meaning.

Teen Vogue: Meet Stacey

Hi, everyone! I just came across this intern blog from Teen Vogue that I thought might be of interest to some of you, particularly if you are Degrassi: TNG fans and/or aspiring to intern at Teen Vogue. Stacey Farber, best known for playing (aspiring journalist!) Ellie on the aforementioned TV show, just landed an internship at the NY Teen Vogue offices (she's also interned at NYLON mag). Teen Vogue sure does love those "celebrity" interns. ;) She makes landing an internship sound so easy in her blog, but she does seem devoted to the fashion industry and the magazine and is building quite the resume. Any thoughts?

NAME: Stacey Farber
AGE: 20
HOMETOWN: Toronto, Canada
SCHOOL: The New School University

Seated in Teen Vogue's head office, at my desk and facing my new Mac, I suddenly wonder how I got here. There are less-important, literal questions (like: How did I decode New York's complex subway map and actually make it to work this morning?), but I have deeper questions, too. These ones are farther-reaching and cloudy because even though I try, I can never pinpoint exactly when I traded my high school textbooks for designer look books. It seems that somehow, it all just…happened.

I transferred to the New School University (from Toronto, Canada) a year and a half ago to study Creative Writing. Once settled in Manhattan, I discovered the city's abundance of internship opportunities. My school offered credit for internships and it looked as if, understandably, every company in Manhattan wanted to benefit from the [free] labor of interns—students could send their resumes anywhere! I boldly applied for and landed an internship position in the Fashion Department at NYLON Magazine in October, and I worked there (packing and unpacking garment bags, shipping clothing, walking anything and everything back to designers' PR offices, etc.) for two semesters. I loved working for a publication that I enjoyed reading and genuinely respected, and at the end of the school year I knew I wanted to apply for an internship at Teen Vogue....

Read the rest of her blog, as well as other intern blogs,here.

obliterating the ombudsman.

I daily read up on industry news through MediaPost and MediaBistro and today, the latter linked an interesting article from Salon.com. The article discusses the Baltimore Sun scrapping its ombudsman position entirely, a trend becoming more and more common in the industry. The Sun claims that they have enough features for readers to give feedback (i.e. letters, blogging). Hmm. I just don't see a paper functioning well and to its best without an ombudsman. Look at what happened with the New York Times and Jayson Blair. Actually, according to the article, the ombudsman appointment for the Times, was a direct effect of the incident.

Jeffrey Dvorkin, a former ombudsmen and author of this article, makes a good point. People want to talk to a live person when they have an issue. We don't want to call and get automated voice messages. We don't want to send in our letters never to be answered. We want to be assured that our needs and concerns are being voiced. Isn't our job as journalists to put the public's interest first? Don't we want to know how to improve the quality of our coverage? Shouldn't we be held accountable? I don't know, I just think that they could have cut down costs in other ways. Until we completely go digital and there are countless ways for readers to give input, I feel that the position is vital.

Report: CNN citizen journalism site close to launch

I just came across an article that looked very interesting. Apparently, CNN is close to expanding "iReport" ( an intiative that allowed users to submitt their own news content) into a separate Web site. Contributors of the site would be able to create their own profiles and the site will be moderated only after the content has already been posted.

Here's the link to the article, if you're interested in reading it:

http://www.news.com/8301-13577_3-9869182-36.html?tag=cd.blog

Personally, I think "citizen journalism" is great but I strongly believe that if this site comes to light, there needs to be a better system in place to moderate what users report as news. Without the proper filtering system, false news can easily be reported as something factual, and that is never a good thing!

Calendar us in...

Hey Guys,

Just to make all the dates easier to remember and organize, check out our very own Ed@TCNJ Event Calendar. Swanky, huh?

-Sharon

Our very own social network!

Be sure to check out and join our very own social network here courtesy of our webmaster extraordinaire Alex! It's a great way to stay connected and network!

Also, I don't know if you know about LinkedIn.com, but it is a great way to stay in touch with people that you have met in the industry through internships and networking. You will be surprised to see how many professionals are members of this site! It really is a great way to stay in touch and have them remember you! Click here to check it out!

PS. Add me if you join! :)