School safety is an important issue. How we cover it is important, too. Last week, a suburban St. Louis high school was put on lockdown after a reporter from KSDK-TV entered the building unannounced. He entered through an unlocked door, asked for directions to the school office and asked to speak with a security officer. When one wasn't available, he left his name and phone number and walked out. An hour later, the school was put on lockdown -- and the community went into a panic.
KSDK, "NewsChannel 5 statement on school safety"
KMOV: “Local news staffer prompts lockdown of Kirkwood high school”
Jessica Bock, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “KSDKreporter working on school safety story prompted lockdown”
Jane Manwarring & Antonia Akrap, The Kirkwood Call: "KHS goes on lockdown"
Kristen Hare, Poynter: “St. Louis TV station causes school lockdown, pisses off everyone”
Exposing 'Dr. V'
When do issues of gender and suicide factor into reporting? That's being debated after an investigation published by the sports site Grantland publishttp://kbia.org/node/46939/edithed a story about Essay Anne Vanderbilt and her magic putter.
Caleb Hannan, Grantland: “Dr. V’s magical putter”
Josh Levin, Slate: “Essay Anne Vanderbilt, Dr. V’s Magical Putter: Grantland’s exposé of a trans con artist privileged fact-finding over compassion”
Saeed Jones, Buzzfeed: “Transgender people are paying the price for the media’s willful ignorance”
Bill Simmons, Grantland: "The Dr. V Story: A letter from the editor"
Christina Karhl, Grantland: "What Grantland got wrong"
GLAAD Media Reference Guide: "Transgender glossary of terms"
Surveillance policy changes
President Barack Obama announced Friday he will place some new limits on intelligence agencies' bulk collection of phone call records.
New York Times: “Obama’s changes to government surveillance”
Barton Gellman, Washington Post: “Obama’s restrictions on NSA surveillance rely on narrow definition of ‘spying’”
Leigh Ann Caldwell, CNN: “Surveillance program is now Obama’s to own”
Fox News: “Clapper declassifies more NSA documents after Obama speech”
David Jackson, USA Today: “Obama’s NSA speech: 53 years after Ike’s warning”
National Journal: “Full text of Obama’s speech on NSA surveillance”
OfficeMax offends greiving father
Mike Seay, a suburban Chicago man, received a letter from OfficeMax last week addressed to him with the words "Daughter killed in car crash" beneath his name. Yes, he says, his daughter was killed in an automobile wreck last year -- but how did an office supply chain get that information and why was it on a sales circular?
Nesita Kwan, WMAQ: "OfficeMax sends letter to 'daughter killed in car crash'"
Matt Pearce, Los Angeles Times: “Dad gets OfficeMax mail addressed ‘Daughter killed in Car Crash’”
NYT's most popular: Dialect Quiz
What made this interactive feature the most popular item on the New York Times' website in 2013?
New York Times: “How y’all, youse and you guys talk”
Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic: “The New York Times’ most popular story of 2013 was not an article”
Joy Mayer: “Why journalists shouldn’t be threatened by the most-viewed NYT story of 2013”
Rebecca Hiscott, Mashable: “How the feed changed the way we consume content”
Media Matters: Legal updates
The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to hear the Aereo case over retransmission fees. A district court said bloggers have the same First Amendment rights as traditional journalists, and a ruling on net neutrality could mean some services you pay for may soon cost more.
Joe Cahill, Crains Chicago Business: “Tribune would suffer if Supreme Court sides with Aereo on TV retransmissions”
Joan E. Solsman, CNET: “En route to Supreme Court, Aereo to arrive in Cincinnati”
Gret Stohr, Bloomberg, “Broadcasters get U.S. Supreme Court review in bid to stopAereo”
Adam Liptak & Bill Carter, New York Times: “Justices take case on free TV streaming”
Marvin Ammori, Wired: “Internet Freedom Day: This is the year we go to war for net neutrality”
Jeff John Roberts, Gigaom: “Court strikes down FCC’s net neutrality rules, agency may appeal”
Brendan Greeley, Businessweek: “Solving the net neutrality problem is actually simple”
Mike Snider, USA Today: “Consumers have stake in net neutrality defeat”
Dan Levine, Reuters: “Blogger gets same speech protections as traditional press-U.S court”
Jeff Barnard, AP: “Court: Bloggers have First Amendment protections”
Sherman's post-game rant
Seattle Seahawks' Cornerback Richard Sherman had some choice words for his opponents after Sunday's NFC Championship game. Sherman made these comments during a post-game interview with Fox's Erin Andrews.
Richard Sherman, Sports Illustrated: “’To those who would call me a thug or worse…’”
Chris Greenberg, Huffington Post: “Richard Sherman’s rant may have ‘scared Erin Andrews,’ definitely bothered some on Twitter”
Laken Litman, KING-TV: "Erin Andrews 'happy Sherman lost his mind' in post-game interview"
Nancy Armour, USA Today: “Could postgame rant by Seahawks’ Richard Sherman become a Super distraction?”
Tommy Tomlinson, Forbes: “22 brief thoughts on that Richard Sherman interview”
