While there may be some truth to the common thought that the print newspaper is dying, this statement carries more truth for some news sources than others.

In the age of digital media, newsroom cut-backs, and a general cloud hovering over the journalism industry as a whole, small newspapers claim that they are carrying on almost completely as they had before.

Arnie Robbins resigned as editor of the Post-Dispatch last week.
His resignation followed years of hard financial times that included a structured bankruptcy. The most recent circulation figures showed the Post-Dispatch losing circulation both weekday and Sundays. Robbins will be replaced by Gilbert Bailión, the editorial editor. Here are Robbins remarks to the newsroom:

The idea was direct and clear: Illinois university and college professors who work with students on investigative reporting would form a network to share ideas and experiences and collaborate on stories.

First proposed by Bill Freivogel, director of the School of Journalism at Southern Illinois University Carbondale in spring 2010, the idea has grown into a network of Midwest university professors and students from six states about to complete the first phase of their initial project. The project focuses on the increased pressure on the mental health treatment on campuses and the shortcomings of that treatment.

Like most print news publications, the St. Louis Jewish Light, a 64-year-old weekly, has run into the reality of the 21st century: declining readership, declining revenue and online competition. To meet the challenges, the Jewish Light’s board of trustees and staff have made substantial changes to the paper’s content, distribution and revenue sources over the past few years.

The Jewish Light’s content runs the gamut of local, national and international news, op-ed, features, arts coverage, enterprise reporting, obituaries, columns, gossip, a calendar, crossword puzzles and social announcements. There are special sections and the quarterly Oy! magazine, each with a different focus and available in print only.

The Arkansas Supreme Court has reversed a murder conviction — and death sentence — in a case where one juror tweeted during trial and another fell asleep. Both of these problems, the court said, constituted juror misconduct requiring reversal and a new trial. Erickson Dimas-Martinez v. State, 2011 Ark. 515 (Dec. 8, 2011).

While the court said the dozing juror alone required reversal of the conviction and sentence, the court added that the second juror’s tweets also required a reversal.

So, what’s it like to teach in China — especially to teach Western Mass Media Ethics? If I had 100 yuan (about $15.60) every time I heard that question during the past five months, I could comfortably retire — at least in Beijing, where noodle dishes and taxis are very affordable.

While I’m now back at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, I spent last fall semester in Beijing at the University of International Business and Economics teaching not only ethics but also basic Western-style reporting and a graduate seminar on how Hollywood depicts journalists. In addition, I gave a series of lectures to the entire UIBE community and at other universities in and around Beijing and consulted on research projects with a variety of Chinese scholars. It was my first time teaching in China, and the first time any of my students (all of whom spoke English) had an American professor.

In a world of an increasingly omnipresent media, denial is becoming an endangered species. But not in China, where media censorship is increasingly omnipresent.

In an attempt to strengthen its great Internet firewall, China is requiring those using microblogs, China’s Twitter-like websites, to register their real names. According to recent Reuters reports, Chinese authorities have accused microbloggers of spreading “unfounded rumors and vulgarities,” online content unacceptable to the ruling Communist Party.

Every March the argument starts all over again. Media pundits, columnists, analysts, college basketball fans, coaches and just those people who fill out their NCAA Tournament brackets every year all pitch in their two cents over which teams did not qualify for the NCAA Tournament through at-large bids.

While making these arguments, these people use words like RPI and phrases like “who they played and who they beat” to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that team A deserved to be in the tournament, not team B.

Usually the argument breaks down into two camps, one camp arguing that an average team from one of the top six conferences (the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 12 and Southeastern Conference) is more deserving of tournament selection and the other camp arguing for the other 25 conferences. Often, media members mention money, usually in passing.

Money is not a matter that should be breezed over. The amount of NCAA media money college basketball conferences receive from the tournament and how that money is doled out (See Graphic 1) are important to teams and conferences. The money is needed to meet athletic budgets. The exposure leads to exponentially more money and prestige and, in some instances, increases in overall student enrollment.