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I still remember the day when I completed my Bachelors and my dad wanted me to step in the field of journalism. It is his passion and he wanted someone from his kids to take his legacy ahead. I am the youngest one so I was his last hope. I couldn’t say no to him because I knew he can never take a wrong decision for me.

I have been in this field from last five years. Journalism was a part time job for me before I came here. I was basically a communication skills instructor and second time I did journalism. But after taking journalism classes here I have made up my mind that once I get back home I will Insha’Allah for sure makes journalism my full-time job.

Before I came in this class all I knew about journalism was writing, writing and writing with accuracy and perfection. I never thought that Multi-media class will make me Multi-Talented. I thought that using video as a source of news is only for the television services. But since now the world has changed and everything is getting electronic so we have to switch to it.

The most interesting skill that I learnt in this class was telling a story through slideshow. I love taking pictures but I never thought that as a journalist I can use this as a journalistic tool and give people a better idea that what I want them to see and learn. It’s human nature that until and unless they don’t see something that can only image about it but if they can see a picture of it; they will have a better understanding of that thing.

Today my project coordinator was discussing with me that new students who got selected for the same scholarship that I am, are really excited to come and wanted to know that what kind of clothing they should bring. “I kept telling them that you people have to dress in layers but they never got my point till I send them pictures of you all which were a perfect example of all kind of clothing,” said she. So this example proves that picture always makes the thing clear.

I also learnt that how can storyboard help us to sort out our story in a better way. It gives you a sense of creativity. With every new storyboard you have better idea and each time you look at the old one then you laugh at yourself thinking why I even thought of doing this way.

I learnt about video and audio editing from my internship at Voice of America. But I applied them here. I polished my skills in this class and that’s why I could make my 30 minutes long video, a two and a half minutes vlog which hopefully will get a good grade (finger-crossed).

Last quarter when I was taking copy-editing class I thought only copy editing is tough but thanks to my multimedia class it taught me a good lesson. Now I seriously know why these editors earn so much, it’s all because they work so hard to give good products.

I am so sure that once I get back home I will work as a video editor because it’s seriously so fun. Though I get insane at times but when I see the final product I am so happy that I feel like doing it again.

Now let’s see what luck brings for me but I am hopeful after attending journalism classes for three quarters, working with college newspaper and doing internship at two major organization: Voice of America and City Hall Everett, I have learnt many professional skills that will help me throughout my life.

BBC News

These days I think everyone and anyone can make website for them and start up an online business or newspaper. But when someone really works hard for something, they do want to get noticed and get appreciated by others. I was really impressed when I got to know about Online News Association which "is a leader in the rapidly changing world of journalism; a catalyst for innovation in story-telling across all platforms; a resource for journalists seeking guidance and growth, and a champion of best practices through training, awards, community outreach."

Last year, they announced 30 outlets in 27 categories.

BBC News won the award for general excellence in Online Journalism, in the category of large site. I personally believe that they do deserve this award because since I was a kid I remember everyone in my hometown waiting for the most trustworthy news from BBC News. They are usually the first one to report any news and as far as their website is concerned then its really user friendly. the color combination is very good, it doesn't pinch your eyes and apart from that it really neat an easily scannable. Everything is divided in categories and as soon as you open the page you know where you will get your news that you are looking for.

The thing that I really liked about this website is that unlike others it doesn't have any flashing or popping things coming up as soon as you open the page. The breaking news comes in very neat and clean red bar with white fonts but I think it would have been better if the background was not red because its kind of pinchy but that's going with the theme so it can be ignored.

They using bullets for listing which is good and the curation of the news is good but could have been better if it had more useful links.

But overall I feel they deserve this award because they have always shown excellence in news reporting.

Entrepreneurial Journalism

Though I have been reading the book “Entrepreneurial Journalism” by Mark Briggs for quite a long time but still I couldn’t find a prefect meaning for entrepreneurial journalism. I asked many people that what entrepreneurial journalism is. After asking a variety of journalism students that what they thought about entrepreneurial journalism, I realized that there really is no clear definition. It was interesting, however, to hear different interpretations on this idea. 

To me entrepreneurial journalism is to be your own boss and earn money with your creativity. To make journalism easy not only for you but also for those people who are lazy enough leave to get themselves a copy of newspaper or think subscribing for newspaper costly.

I came across a lot of website that did have the element of entrepreneurial journalism but the two sites that I am going to explain are good one according to me.

The first one is Hacks/Hackers which is “an international grassroots journalism organization with dozens of chapters (and counting) and thousands of members across four continents (and counting).” Their mission statement explains it all that what make this site entrepreneurial i.e. “Our mission is to create a network of journalists (“hacks”) and technologists (“hackers”) who rethink the future of news and information.” They are creating network for all the news freaks so they have a place to network so they can make a bright future for journalism.

The second one is Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism which helps to create a sustainable future for quality journalism in three ways:

·         By educating students and mid-career journalists in innovation, entrepreneurship, and business management;

·         By researching topics relevant to the development of viable economic models for the new digital media;

·          Funding, developing, and nurturing new journalistic enterprises.

I think the video and these two examples will give you a better idea that what entrepreneurial journalism mean and how can we benefit ourselves from it.

Why Voting is Important?

Final Project

The topics for my final project are:

1.     1.   How is the childhood effected when the kids’ moms are working or go to school? I am planning to go to Early Learning Center of our college and interview few teachers and see if kids are willing to talk to me as well.  Then I will interview the moms and ask how they cope up with the stuffs.

2.       2. The second idea that I have in my mind is that I will go to Volunteers of America and highlight the aspects that how recession is effecting the people or maybe I will highlight that how the needy people are being helped. I will interview the manager there and see if the people who are coming there are willing to talk to me.

I might change my plan if something better comes up in my mind but I am pretty sure that I will go either with one of this.

Storybook+Blackboard= StoryBoard

Hmmmm what is a storyboard. I have read a lot of storybooks when I was in school and have seen my teacher writing about them on the blackboard but when did they both combine? Let me think what can be a storyboard. What the name suggest me is that “it’s a board which contain a story in it.”

But let me Google it and find out that either I am right or not.

“A storyboard is a sketch of how to organize a story and a list of its contents.

A storyboard helps you:

• Define the parameters of a story within available resources and time
• Organize and focus a story
• Figure out what medium to use for each part of the story”

This social media has made the life of journalist easy as well as competitive as well because we so much to do to stay with the flow of time. We are always on are toes and ready to report and write and try all the new tools available for us.

So this new tool is fun to use but a cranky too at time if we don’t use it properly. Before you get started just a clear vision that what are you going write about and where are you going to capture the picture.  You should divide the story into a logical, nonlinear part such as:

• a lead or nut paragraph
• profiles of the main person
• the event or situation
• any process or how something works
• pros and cons
• the history of the event or situation
• other related issues raised by the story

Now a day we can easily get ideas from websites that how can we start out storyboard such as getting a template will be very useful for the beginners.

I think storyboards are a great help to understand the story in a better way because we have the pictures and the captions as well which make the ideas more vivid in our mind and it doesn’t let the audience get bored.

Especially with the youth who are so much addicted to their computers this is a good source to let them get to the news.

News through Views

When I was in kindergarten I still remember my teacher teaching us alphabets through flashcards.  If she would say A for Apple we would wonder what that is. But as soon as she would show us the card we would know that she was talking about the fruit that we eat at home. English is my second language so for me knowing all the fruits in English was not an easy task.

When we see something it’s always easier for us to visualize it. The things become more clear to us because have a vivid picture of it. But what’s better, when we have verbal description of the picture. The same thing goes for the news. If it’s interpreted through slideshow or video it becomes more effective. It might be more time consuming and tougher than other journalism but once it reach to the viewer it has a better effective.

I was just going through New York Times website and found that they have a different section for video. Then even that section is divided into different parts that which kind of multimedia news we are looking for.

Recently the Arab Revolution on peak and Bahrain is one of the main targets in it. The video that I saw was regarding the “The controversial Bahrain Grand Prix, which begins on Friday, has become a flash point between the Sunni royal family and much of the majority Shiite population.” This video is four minute long and is to the point. What make this video journalistic is that it is discussing about of the major world issue that everyone is interested to know about. It show that how there are conflict between to Muslim sectors of Sunni and Shia. So it’s not only highlighting the current situation of Bahrain but also the cold war between two sectors of Muslims which is going on for years.

Another section of this video section is Opinion. The writer in fact here we can’t call them writer it will be better if we call them speaker, the speaker share their opinion with the viewer. A good example of it can be this video which is almost seven minute long and it discuss “The Op-Ed columnist Thomas L. Friedman and Bill Gates discuss the future of American competitiveness, innovation and education and the state of the current political debate.” What make this video journalistic is that it discusses the key issue of this country. That everyone wants to know that what will be the future of this country where things are developing at this rapid speed and how the economy is going low. Two experts share their point of view which will let the viewer to understand the things at a better level.

After going through these two videos I am sure you people might have got a better understanding that what can be a good effective multimedia journalism. It’s not just that you make any kind of video or arrange different pictures thinking that will be multimedia news. What makes it news that it should have a journalistic approach and apart from that it should be like a drama? It should have a proper beginning, climax and ending as well as should convey a message.

We as a journalistic are very lucky that these days we have so many different ways of sharing our news with the public. The technology has made the life easier for everyone. Only if we understand it!!!

A new vision of news: Slideshow

This was first time when I was late for my class as I was at my internship. The moment I entered the class I could see a slideshow running on the screen and it didn’t take me much time to understand that what it was about because I did my studies before.

It was a new way of journalism through slideshow. It might have not been new for many of the other people present there but for me it was new because I have worked in print media and in my country we don’t have such things yet.

 When I got back home and went through slideshow news I found it very interesting and I am sure when I will get back home I will do this for sure for my newspaper as it makes the news very interesting.

It’s not important that the slideshow should have audio embedded with it. The pictures should be strong enough to speak for it.

Out of all the slideshows that I went through I found this one the most appealing one:

http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/nyregion/1-in-8-million/#/joseph_cotton

This slideshow was created by The New York Times, in 2009 about lovely relation that a grandpa shares with his four grandchildren.  It gives an element of news story: universality and timeliness.

The slideshow shows that how a grandpa is babysitting his grandchildren and helping them in shaping their view of the world. He let them go near the nature and feel it within them rather than keeping them at home . He let them listen the crushing sound of the leaves and smell the dews around them and feel the fresh breath so they know that how beautiful this world it.

If we go between the lines then we can see that how the photographer is trying to tell us this thing that in this world of hi-technology we are so much lost in all hi-tech things that we forget to show our children the beauty of nature, the gift of God. This world is really beautiful if we get out of our house and don’t use human resources in fact use the natural resources to explore it.

Although the pictures are not colorful but still they look so beautiful and full of emotions that at some point I could literally hear and smell the leaves.

The narration makes the pictures more alive because at some point the pictures shows something but the narrator let us know that what it is. Like for example if we were not told by him that these are his grandchildren I could have never judged it myself.

Dos and don’ts of social media and journalism. In particular what good is Twitter?

It has been quite a while since social media had taken over the world. Everybody and everyone is using it in any way they want to. But did anyone ever think that what is an appropriate way of using this tool which is here to help us like other technologies and applications?

I know the answer is no because people are too busy to it. They already have lot to learn and do then why to waste their time in thinking about this. But, wait a minute is it really useless to think about it. No it’s not.

Yesterday, I asked randomly few people around me that what they think that is it really useless to follow any rule while using social media. 90% said YES and I was like what??? Why, why do you think so? 40% said because we already are following a lot of rules in our life so not one more, 20% said because we use it for fun and time pass, 30% said because it’s not worth any rule and 10% said we never thought about it.

Wow! Now these statics are very interesting to me. Isn’t it to you people? I am sure it would be. After seeing such statics I don’t think I should be giving a lecture here that what are the dos and don’ts for social media. But let’s give it a try.

I personally do take care of few things when I am using social media as I am journalist and I have to take care of everything that I say or post that is public but now a day’s even if something is personal don’t say it because you never know when a employer asks for your Facebook username and password and don’t hire you for whatever you have on your Facebook.

The very first thing that I personally do and want everyone else to do that DO have fun and be funny because you are here to relax. Twitter and Facebook are great forum for punchy jokes BUT if you are bad at jokes DON’T try it.  Just relax and keep clicking like button for others jokes.

One thing that irritates me the most is OVERSHARING of things. Please DON’T share every other thing that you see has a share button. Just REMEMBER one thing that it’s your account whatever you are going to share will represent you so be very cautious when sharing anything. Nobody is interested to know what your mom is cooking or how is your relation going on. The one who are interested in it would know it without you even tweeting about it.

The best part about social media is that it can keep you connected with all those people who are out of your reach. So DO follow the stars you’d want to be friends with, the newspapers you read, the film stars you adore and the journalist you admire. It’s the most in-the-know way to be in the know.

DON’T complain about your work here at least its Twitter not your mom. Don’t forget they can see you so it better you go home and give a call to your mom and tell her what is your boss doing to you. She is the most trustworthy person to complain about your work.

DO play nice and use wise and respectful words. This is a public forum, so don’t say anything you wouldn’t say to someone’s face—or to a TV camera. Even if you can say it on someone’s face don’t say it here because it’s again not the right place to do it.

DON’T exceed the tolerable four-tweets-a-day limit. Come on have a life don’t make people say not again. If there is some breaking news then it can be OK but not on daily basis. Let people wait for you to tweet rather than making them unfollow you within a week after they started following you.

DO use Twitter to its full potential. It’s been the breeding ground for books, TV shows and political revolutions. You decide what’s next. You never know you can be the next revolutionary person. Remember the Arab Spring.

DON’T get too personal or negative it will not only affect the other person but it will affect you too.

DO engage and interact. This can be a good place to create PR and maintain them. You never know who can be a help or news in future.

Last but not the least, if you can’t follow these dos and don’ts then DON’T forget to make your account private. It’s your private possession until and unless you are not using it for marketing purpose.

I hope I didn’t boredom you to dead with my few pieces of advice that I HAD to share with you people as a part of my course.

Bill on Baluchistan turn up in US Congress

WASHINGTON:  A bill has been proposed in the US House of Representatives asking Pakistan to identify the right of autonomy for Baluchistan.

The bill was introduced by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA46) in a House Concurrent Resolution that stated that Baluch nation has been an independent nation in past so they deserve a historic right of autonomy.

The bill offered that the Baluchi people “have the right to self-determination and to their own sovereign country; and they should be afforded the opportunity to choose their own status.” 

“The Baluchis, like other nations of people, have an innate right to self-determination,” says Rohrabacher. “The political and ethnic discrimination they suffer is tragic and made more so because America is financing and selling arms to their oppressors in Islamabad.” 

Most people in Pakistan condemn the bill and aren’t happy with the interference by the US in this matter. The Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly (G-BLA) collectively passed a resolution condemning the bill introduced in the US Congress on Baluchistan. They called it an attempt to sabotage ties between the two nations.

 Along with G-BAL, Khyber Paktoon (KP) Assembly condemned the US bill too. However, they couldn’t pass the unanimous resolution because of the lack of quorum. But still they managed to stage a rally against US bill on Baluchistan.

The Deputy Chief of Mission, US Embassy Islamabad, Richard E. Hoagland said that supporting Baluchistan independence is not the policy of the Obama administration.

Ali Dayan Hasan, Pakistan director of a US NGO, Human Rights Watch (HRW), was the only Pakistani who appeared as a witness on Baluchistan issue for the hearing of US House of Representatives’ Committee. Popular opinion believes that the testimony which was given against Pakistan was presented by giving wrong facts and figures.

The co-sponsors for the bill were Reps. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) and Steve King (R-IA) who signed on the bill as original co-sponsors.

It’s not that only Pakistan and U.S. are concerned about this issue but people from different countries are also concerned about this and really want this problem to be resolved.

However, Barhamdagh Bugti, separatist leader and founder of Baluch Republican Party (BRP), has said he supports US Congress bill, espousing self-determination for Baluchistan.

Let see what good this bill will bring to the people of Baluchistan as this bill was not taken positively by many people in country.