Monday, January 19, 2009
Inauguration Day for the rest of us
I'm not in the Capitol, but that doesn't mean there's a void of inauguration coverage out there for those who will have to miss out on the historic event.The New York Times put together an interactive time line of presidential inauguration speeches using the word bubble feature seen often in blogs. As you click on each president, you see which words he used most, and which words he used more in that speech than he did normally. Pretty sweet.
They also had this story -- which I heard about on NPR -- about how the president can choose whether to affirm his oath, or swear to it.
I'll admit, though, the Washington Post has been my go-to guide for all things Obama. I figure, who else better to cover Washington than the Washington paper? Their blog, 44: A Transition to Power, is bookmarked on my toolbar. Lots of cool, short stories with breaking news and fascinating little tidbits about PEOTUS.
Here's a by the numbers breakdown of the resources and support needed to pull off the inauguration compiled by the Washington Times.
In case you miss the entire thing all together, I'm sure this guy will be doing a recap of the highlights. Here's some of his earlier work. Not bad, huh?
And just for the hood's sake, a little something in case you need a soundtrack to the nonstop TV coverage on the inauguration weekend. And if you're looking for something a little more soulful? Try this. Or this.
Labels: DC, fun, inauguration, multimedia, NPR, Obama, president, Washington, Web sites, youtube
continue...Monday, December 15, 2008
Gov't paying for young reporters' internships?
Here's an interesting concept.A radio segment in last week's On The Media featured New Republic writer Mark Pinsky, who suggested -- in so many words -- that the U.S. government could (should?) pay writers (i.e. journalists) to writer the nation's history.
A short history lesson:
During the roll-out of FDR's New Deal in the 1930s, the Works Projects Administration created the Federal Writer's Project, which employed out-of-work writers to "(compile) local histories, oral histories, ethnographies, children's books and other works."
Project workers famously collected narratives from former slaves in the South and created the American Guide Series. They were paid about $80 a month, which is $1264 today.
Pinksy suggested media workers could push for the Obama administration to resurrect the project as part of his economic stimulus plan. For example, that could mean a government agency could hire journalists right out of school to record current events for the nation's archives...or subsidising student internships for the nation's struggling (failing...dying...imploding) print media industry.
Here's a podcast of the show segment. Listen for yourself. Then leave a comment.
Labels: internships, NPR, the industry, US goverment
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