I once had a detailed conversation with a reporter and the now former public editor of the Beacon Journal about why Facebook wasn’t front page news. At least, I didn’t think it was. I talked it through and came away realizing, well, OK, maybe old(er?) people are just slow on the uptake.

So, is MySpace front page news? It is today at the Beacon.

And you know what? I think that it’s a fine place for that story. (And not just because my own loathing of MySpace.) That is a story that needs to be told.

I suspect that the Beacon had more teenage readers today online and in print than any time in the last century. Why? Well, partially for the glory. (Did my friends get a plug? I wonder if I can deduce whose profile he points out. Hey that’s my bondage bear he’s knocking! and so on.) And partially for the “pissed off” factor. I imagine they raced home to post in their MySpace blogs little messages about how now their parents are breathing down their necks, and to sum up the point of the story in the words I suspect will be used most frequently: “F— the Beacon Journal.”

Akron teens, you have a lot of explaining to do.

The thing is, these kids are not stupid. They should know better. Anyone who posts anything on the Internet, whether it’s photos of them passed out with beer bottles beside them or attacks on fellow classmates or coworkers, should assume it’s publicly available. It’s part of the new world order.

I particularly liked this article. I have read what seems like a million stories about the horrors of MySpace and Facebook. This one was different. Why?

It doesn’t preach. It doesn’t make any pretenses or tell parents or teens how horrible they are letting these pages exist. Nope. It just lays it out there. It says this is what I found when I was surfing MySpace. I wasn’t a college admissions clerk. I wasn’t an employer. I wasn’t a pervert. I was just looking to see what was out there. Here’s what Akron teens have to say about life.

And by letting teens incriminate themselves, it is a far more effective story than any I’ve seen on the topic in the past.

I admit it. I love American Idol.

Well, I love the preliminary rounds of American Idol. I don’t sit around every Tuesday (is it on Tuesdays? I haven’t watched TV regularly in so long.) and root for my favorite. *cough* Well, I mean there was that one season. (Ruben was so adorable.)

Anyway, the point is, I’m not alone. Apparently, according to TV Week, this week’s American Idol show garnered a larger audience than President Bush’s State of the Union on all of the four major networks — combined.

Now that’s a very sad testament to our priorities. I would say the off priorities of my generation, but I know quite a few people my age who watch the State of the Union each year for one reason: it’s a drinking game. I guess if that’s what it takes to get them interested in politics…

Today, someone asked me if I used to be in broadcast.

Now anyone who’s ever seen me could probably tell in an instant that I don’t have a broadcast look. Not to mention, I say like and um entirely too much. (It’s a habit I work on every day, and one I’ve come a long way with since freshman year thanks in large part to the daily lectures by a certain law professor. I’m also sensing it’s one of my new editor’s pet peeves, so I really need to drop it quick.)

It wasn’t my look or my speech that made the photographer I was with today ask me that. I think it was probably how I approached the story.

My paper isn’t necessarily cutting edge in terms of online journalism. I knew that coming in, and in fact that was part of the reason I came here. I could contribute and bring a lot to the table. (I will give them one thing, there is definitely a huge push for reader interaction, both online and in print. They do that very well. There are also a ton of breaking news and story updates throughout the day; well not a ton, but a respectable number. There is definitely the get the news up on the Web as soon as possible and then update vibe.)

The paper is only just beginning to do video and sound slides, and several of the staffers went to videography training recently. So it’s still in the early stages. I was glad today to see that when I was sent to cover a fire, without a second thought they sent a photographer and then another photographer to shoot video.

So, when I was out there interviewing people and he was shooting the fire fighters/B-roll, I would tip him off on who he should get comments from on video and why. From the fire chief to the business owner to the employee who first spotted the flames. I mean, you can only tell so much from words in print. The emotion doesn’t always come through, hence the appeal of video. (On the way back I even teased that if he was quick enough with his editing he could beat TV. We’re not quite there yet, but I say give it time. Plus, the story and photos beat TV by a long shot, so that counts.)

And it occured to me that while I am definitely still learning and even relatively routine things like covering a fire are still novel enough to hold my interest, I am not the only person learning new things. There’s a lot I can and intend to learn from my editors and other reporters and photographers, but there are also skills and a mindset I have that I can pass the other way. I can show them to think for Web in the way I do, not even as second nature so much as an expected part of the package. We can learn from each other.

As a nod to my previous post:

“A job on a newspaper is a special thing. Every day you take something that you found out about, and you put it down and in a matter of hours it becomes a product. Not just a product like a can or something. It is a personal product that people, a lot of people, take the time to sit down and read.”
— Jimmy Breslin

That’s what my roommate asked me today.

I told her that yes, in a way, I know most of what’s going on before other people. That’s my job. I know when an accident occurs or a robbery is reported, I know what stories will run in the next day’s paper, and I usually know what they’ll say before I read them.

Reporters are definitely more in-tune with a community than probably any other people — including probably people like the mayor and police chief. You’re on the ground level talking to people making news and others affected by news. You see the good and bad in people. And part of your job is making connections between the different events and people and analyzing what you find.

Plus, knowing eveything that’s going on is afterall one of the best things about being a reporter. You know things nobody else does. It’s one of those things we take for granted. But my roommate was seriously like, “Wow. Do you ever just sit there and listen to everything that’s going on.” My answer was, I pretty much hear it all even if I’m not paying attention. You know, like the mom who knows when you’re fighting with your sibling even though she’s across the house on another level. But I told her, I’m usually too busy to sit there and just listen. I’d rather be finding out something new. :)

I was excited when I heard about the new Times Reader. It sounds like it’s a pretty novel and awesome concept. It’s only in beta now, but I wanted to give it a spin. Unfortunately, it’s not available for Mac, just Windows. :(

When I was younger my family used Windows computers. (Everyone else still does.) One of our barriers for switching was the perception that a lot of software was unavailable for Macs. (Granted, that was once the case.) That hasn’t been my experience, at least not in terms of software I want. All the Microsoft Office, Adobe, Macromedia, etc. products I actually use are very much available for my MacBook. I haven’t run into more than a handful of applications I wanted to try but couldn’t get for my OS.

I hope when this comes out of beta, it comes with a OS X version.

“Here’s some simple advice: Always be yourself. Never take yourself too seriously. And beware of advice from experts, pigs and members of parliament.”
— Kermit the frog