Mr. Eddy asked me to talk today about newspapers in the 21st century, but I started by talking about Gutenberg, who invented the printing press in 1447, and I described the growth of the newspaper industry through the Industrial Revolution, the emergence of radio and TV, and the technological revolution.
Finally, when I got to modern times, we talked about what's changed for newspapers in just the last 10 years, besides technology — demographics, reading habits and revenues.
I tried to convince everybody that newspapers aren't toast. While we haven't been quick to respond to change, we're now seeing the hybridization of print and digital media, and we're still cheap (for readers), convenient and easy to read, arguably trustworthy in our newsgathering and open to community journalism. And we're the best watchdog of government and freedom of information there is.
The five, bright students in this class want to start an electronic newspaper and a blog. They want to ask questions, write stories, take photos, take video and more. I think it's going to be fun!
Andrew Sanabra (left), Jorden Holden, Danielle Lamb, Dane Tran and Matt West.(Photos by Anthony Brenes)
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4 comments:
hooray for the revitalization of Editor's Notes!
Cheri- Not sure if you've heard of the Flip Camera. It's a handheld, easy-to-use video camera (Check it out: www.theflip.com). If these students want to do video on the web as part of their blog or paper, it's probably a great option.
In fact, I've heard rave reviews about it from a journalist friend who's already started putting it to use. It's on Amazon for a little over $100.
In fact, my son just got one of those, and I'm waiting to hear and see how it works.
The price is right!
Thanks, Peter!
I knew there was a teacher deep in your soul, Ms. Matthews.
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