Snow Day/News Event Photos

One inch of snow can shut down a southern city.  Thus was our day Thursday when school was called off at noon because of the messy streets and winter weather.  Today, my photo team loaded fantastic snow shots of the campus, wrecks, and other story telling pics to use for yearbook and newspaper.  One even took pictures of the mob inside our main school office when parents called in 700 exits for their students.

Prep your photographers so they are ready to shoot no matter the news event.   They should be prepared each day with cameras ready no matter what event the day may present.  This could be an assignment--photograph random events throughout the day, whether in school or out.  It's great practice and will give the photo team a new perspective on the day to day routine.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Videos &YouTube

A woman who fell into a fountain while texting at a mall in Pennsylvania is now considering suing the security workers who posted the security camera video on YouTube.  This is a great talking point with your reporters. What are the legal rights of people who are shown on YouTube without consent?

If you could interview this woman and her attorney, what would you ask?

Falling Woman Story from CBS

Real Time News

This link provides a great class discussion point regarding real time news reports.  Especially news that is released and wrong.  Mark Kelly, husband of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrille Giffords, believed that his wife was dead for 20 minutes because of a hastily run news report.

Revisit media ethics with your classes and use this article a talking point.  Assign the interview as homework or watch it tomorrow in class to follow up on the discussion.

Mark Kelley Article

Mark Kelly's interview with Diane Sawyer airs tonight.

Last Roll of Kodachrome

Steve McCurry, the National Geographic photographer who captured some of the magazines most iconic photographs, has blogged about and photographed the last roll of Kodachrome being processed.  This is a great opportunity for young photographers to do a study of film to digital processing.  Google "Last Roll Of Kodachrome" and a myriad of links appear.

Steve McCurry NPR Story

For more of Steve McCurry's work, click here.

Happy MLK Day

Use today's festivities tomorrow as a retro look at how people received their news in the 60's.  Save all the articles from the print newspapers and log on to a few good ones online.  Research a few archived articles from papers in the 60's to project on screen for the students.  Tuesday in class have the students write an compare/contrast prompt for bell work on the differences in media from 1965 and today.  Then, show them by pulling up current articles.  This should be an amazing discussion opportunity to bring in media law issues as well as reporting/writing techniques.