Breaking Tweets Sports

I'm now a content editor for Breaking Tweets Sports!

The site is a sister site of Breaking Tweets that a classmate of mine at DePaul founded. It helps give a human element to the news through Twitter. The site has received a lot of attention from large news organizations all over the world.

In fact, Journalism.co.uk did a piece about Breaking Tweets and its usefulness in reporting the news.

I've already made my first two posts as the site was launched this week (#1 about Louisville-UConn in the women's basketball championship game and #2 about Michael Jordan entering the basketball hall of fame). Even though I just started posting, it's great to be a part of something that's so unique and growing.

Internships & classes

I came to Chicago in order to find opportunities. I came to earn a masters degree, get my foot in the door, get some experience, make some connections, and get the experience of living in a different part of the country.

As I'm applying for internships, I'm floored at all of the positions available to me. I've even developed an interest and enthusiasm for broadcast I didn't think I would ever have (I don't like being on camera, but editing and producing is exciting). I'm applying for editorial and broadcast internships to keep my options open, but the experience at a news station is what I really want. Even if I hate it -- which I can't imagine I would -- the experience is going to be invaluable to me. I'll know if working behind the scenes at a TV station is what I really want instead of wondering. I came to Chicago because I never wanted to wonder "what if?"

My biggest concern is that I don't have the advantage of growing up here and knowing all of the history and locations of everything. But I'm learning, and I have my own experiences and knowledge to bring to the table too.

On Monday, I'm meeting with an internship coordinator at DePaul. I hope she can help open doors for me to get interviews and eventually an internship this summer. I want to make the most out of being in Chicago, which is why I'm taking a photojournalism class that has never been available to me until now and also a Chicago Olympics class. I have my first Olympics assignment on Saturday.

I think now is the best and worst time to be in journalism; I'm determined to make the most of it.

D.C., nearly half my life later, is evidence I've changed

The last time I was in Washington, D.C., I was 14-years-old on my 8th grade class trip. It was the first time I had ever been on an airplane, but also the first time I'd ever been out of the Deep South in my life. I toured the monuments and museums and spent a day in colonial Williamsburg, Va., and it was the first time I remember realizing that there was life outside of the world I knew (I think Junior High was also the time I realized Mardi Gras is not a national holiday).

Now at 25 -- after studying abroad in Europe, traveling around the U.S., graduating college and living in the Midwest for the past six months -- I saw the city in a different way. I wasn't just on a tour bus clicking away on a disposable camera; I felt the ebb and flow of the city's character the way I do when I now walk through different parts of other cities with so much personality. The monuments were not just a pile of stone, the museums not a storage closet of old things.



D.C. is the epicenter of our country's history in that it houses many of our most valued documents and artifacts -- The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution. The museums are open history books, each exhibit a different page. I walked through the Museum of Natural History and The Holocaust museum, and I passed by the Iwo Jima Memorial and the Washington monument in awe and respect.

By far one of the best museums I've ever been to was the Newseum, the year-old home of the history of journalism. Not even four hours was enough to see everything on its six floors of video, photos, artifacts and papers, but it was worth every minute. I don't remember ever being so moved by being surrounded by history. In case you need a reminder of what journalists have accomplished over centuries of disseminating information and their imperative presence in the world, spend a few hours looking at old newspapers, typewriters, photos and videos of reporters in action.

But the true highlight of my trip was being blessed with good company. My friends took time out of their lives to visit with and host me, and my time with them reinforces that doing nearly anything in good company is worth doing. D.C. is a great city, but she's lucky to have her invaluable new residents.

Isn't landing the 2016 Olympics in Chicago supposed to be a big deal? Not to the city's dailies..

With Chicago being one of the four remaining candidates to host the 2016 Olympics, you'd think that Chicago's major daily newspapers would be on top of events relating to the Olympics. Guess again.

The U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) announced that due to the bad economy they are making a 15 percent cut in their workforce to save $7.1 million. The International Herald Tribune also reported that USOC still plans to endorse Chicago for the 2016 summer games.

Since this news could have a huge impact on Chicago's bid, why aren't the Sun-Times or Tribune reporting this story?

There are Associated Press reports from the International Herald Tribune, The Guardian (UK), and ESPN, but there is nothing on either Chicago newspapers' site -- not on the local, national or world news pages at all.

Chicagogames.com, which is run through the Chicago Tribune, had a post today linking to the ESPN report, but this story wasn't posted anywhere on chicagotribune.com, and there isn't even a link to chicagogames.com in the Tribune's list of blogs.

With taxpayers worried about footing the bill and concerns of how Bronzeville residents will be affected with the Olympic village, shouldn't the Tribune and Sun-Times at least be posting the AP reports of the USOC budget cuts?

I hope to see the dailies break down what this means for Chicago in the next day or so, but if they don't feel mentioning it is even important, I wouldn't count on it.

Read my classmates' responses to this post on newsnow.ning.com.

What Happens in Denver Will Not Stay in Denver

Denver's oldest newspaper, the Rocky Mountain News, published it's final edition today after 150 years in publication.

The fate of this Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper might soon become the fate of our dailies here in Chicago -- the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times -- if they don't start doing something different.

Isn't the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results?

I believe that old-school newspaper men and women are so reluctant to change their format because the newspaper is no longer the only one deciding what is worthy of being deemed the news. With hyperlocal sites such as Uptown Update that covers Chicago's Uptown neighborhood or even Every Block, these people are threatened that they are not the sole authority on what is and isn't news worth knowing.

This was obvious at the Chicago Journalism Town Hall conference because the seasoned reporters spent the first two hours patting themselves on the back and reinforcing what good journalism is rather than brainstorm ideas for new business models.

While no one has all the answers, newspapers need to start doing something different. Try redesigning the web site. Work with advertisers and ask them what they want and how they want to advertise their products. Here's something crazy: ask the readers what they want out of their local newspapers.

Good reporting alone isn't going to pay the bills anymore.

(Cross-posted from my class's blog, go to newsnow.ning.com to see comments from my classmates).