First Amendment – videos under fire

The camera phone is great for taking selfies and silliness or for turning any crime-conscious, concerned, or curious citizen into a news capturing machine and giving rise to a new term, “citizen journalist.”

On April 4, 2015 North Charleston Police Officer Michael Slager stopped Walter Scott for a supposed broken brake light. The officer made Scott exit his vehicle and pelt him with questions and threats of arrest. When Scott bolted and ran, Slager shot him multiple times in the back with his service revolver, reporting later that he shot Scott because Scott struggled to take his Taser and he "feared for his life." The incident would have ended there if not for a youth who captured the murder on camera phone.

I believe our police departments are making an effort to be more citizen-conscious. However, there are some police who are going to make mistakes under pressure and a much, and a fewer number who are outright rotten cops. But the camera phone is now pulling the veil off bogus “The suspect was resisting arrest” and “The suspect made an aggressive move toward me,” B.S.

It is legal, with some limitations, in all 50 states of the U.S. to video police activity and a Supreme Court ruling and the First Article of the Constitution fortifies that. Yet, there are still incidents of police baring citizen from videoing and even police threatening photographers with arrest.

Restrictions are increasing in some states. A strict right to privacy bill was passed in 2014 in Illinois preventing video or photograph police activity without prior consent of the person being arrested and the police officer. That bill was revised before it got to the Supreme Court.

There are currently bills in their infancy in some states, including my own of Texas, restricting video of police activity. Supporters of the bill reason for the safety of the camera operator and impeding police duties.

Here is a video of a U.S. Marshal going ape-shit berserk and smashing a woman's phone while she records an incident a few houses away. Fortunately, a neighbor across the street videoed the attack. Unfortunately, the California branch of the U.S. Marshal Department successfully kept the name of the attacker secret and did not report if anything became of their internal investigation.

Click here for much information from the American Civil Liberties Union about photography, covering protests, and what to do if you believe your rights have been violated. While you are there, donate to the work the ACLU does for us. I did, and I received a cool membership card I now carry with me.

If you want to share your thoughts, contact Christopher at amosnews@yahoo.com

Reporters Make Excelent Photojournalists part II

I am revisiting a subject that some photojournalists would believe in unicorns before they would believe a reporter can also be a gifted news photographer.

I mentioned here ex Chicago Sun-Times photographer Rob Hart, a casualty of recession-era cut-backs when newspapers needed photojournalists, not just photographers, prophesied that asking reporters to photograph their own stories was going to be the end of professional journalism as we know it.

Here is my pickleball bandana to dab a tear, Rob. The recession was hard on a lot of us back then.

Chad Rachman, a dedicated reporter at the New York Post, is also a supremely talented photographer. One photo he posted on his Facebook page was taken with a cellphone received such comments as, 

Selfie of Chad Rachman
from the reporter's Facebook page.

 “Amazing, Chad, really amazing! You really are so incredibly talented!” and “Tragically beautiful. Captivating,”

My favorite comment was from Thom Mitchell who stated, “Proof that it isn't the camera that makes the photographer but rather it's the vision of the photographer that matters.”

However, one person, Chris Gallant, used the comment section to grumble that although the photo was awesome, it was shot with a smart phone and therefore one might get the misconception that reporters can do the same. What? Reporters can't be creative? He ended his lengthy post with, “Nice, but taken out of context, could be used against photojournalists.” 

To Chad Rachman I say; you are awesome, creative, and an inspiration to photojournalists. You set the bar high this time, dude.

You can see Chad’s stories and photography on Muck Rach here.

Being a feature writer

Last year an excellent reporter left our community newspaper for bigger opportunities and I lost an excellent Ninja Journalism guest blogger. See Jennifer Ritters' posts here, here and here.

Jennifer is a good reporter and a gifted feature writer as well, which added greatly to the paper.

Accidents, crime, city council reports and school district news are interesting and important.  However, what readers dearly want is to know is the community around them and the people who make it special.

Don’t believe me? Attend a city council meeting without a hot-button topic on the agenda and then go to a grass-roots benefit event. Notice the difference in attendance? People care about people, and your news outlets should reflect that with quality feature stories.

I cover news with dedication but I LOVE writing features, and readers love them as well.

I rarely get a compliment on an important news pieces I busted my butt on but I received glowing emails after my feature on the shy, always-picked-last student who loved his school and team so much he graduated, went to trade school and returned to get a job as sports equipment and grounds manager. I sometimes start my best features and photos on the upper fold of my front pages and found these papers flew off the racks compared to having a front page picture of a city council member.

1. Look for the positive. Take a fresh look at your community and instead of looking for what needs to be fixed, look at what is working.
2. Know that everyone has a story. You just need to be a good enough reporter to find it.
3. Read good features. I teach “If you are going to be a good writer, you have to be a good reader.” If you want to be a sizzling romance author, you better be a hungry reader of such. The same is true of features.
4. Learn not to be a just news reporter. Writing features often requires patients, sensibility and sometimes compassion. Other posts on Ninja Journalism contain examples of how to talk with people, break the ice, make people comfortable how to find stories.

If you don’t have a good feature writer, get one. If you can’t afford one, be one.

What seems like trivial information to a news story can be developed into a feature. I was reporting a basic sports story about an outstanding student athlete and found she has a graduated older sister and mother who were all track champions as well. I did not simply mention the family in the story, I interviewed them all, included photos of each in sports action, and made that family prodigy of champions the focus of my story.

Here are a couple of my features already posted on Ninja Journalism:

Amazing cancer cure story

A peaceful storm

I encourage you to put the “human” in human interest stories.

Humans are interesting. Just ask one and find out.

Share your thoughts at amosnews@yahoo.com

Arsonist cannot stop small brave newspaper

I have another new hero.

I admire when reporters and newspapers stand up to political pressure or have no fear when it comes to printing controversy. My last such hero was John Daniel Garcia of the Big Bend Sentinel in south Texas and this week I salute the Rio Grande Sun newspaper in Espanola, New Mexico.

The Rio Grande Sun has a reputation of exposing political corruption and finding scandals in school districts and public offices. Doing such reporting is difficult for two reasons: One, because when researching controversy the parties involved not only do not return your phone calls but also try to turn sources against you. And two, reporting is made more difficult because the powers-that-be often try to use their supposed clout to pressure you into shutting the hell up.

When you continually do not shut the hell up, as the Sun has, you may get retribution. The lobby of the Rio Grande Sun office has pretty rocks on display – all of which have been thrown through their windows. The building has also been shot at and windows shot out during the night.

Earlier this week someone broke in and caught their office on fire.

Damage was limited and by the afternoon the team was pretty much back to operating as usual, printing a statement defying the arsonist and promising that such acts only make those that love the freedom of the press try even harder to exercise it.

So here’s to my new heroes, the people of the Rio Grande Sun. Tonight I salute you with a honey lager.

Tell me when you learn of a heroic reporter or newspaper, amosnews@yahoo.com

Photo editing debate continues

I blogged a year ago about photo manipulation for journalism (here). Now, actions by judges of the 2015 World Press Photo Competition have forced the subject center stage.

To manipulate and to what degree to manipulate photos for journalism has been a subject of mine since I first got my hands on Photoshop 4.0 in 1996. 

During a photo seminar sponsored by the North and East Texas Press Association, one hundred percent of photographers I spoke with said none whatsoever, when it comes to manipulating a photo beyond slight contrast and clarity. I added heat to this class discussion I started by pointing out every time you crop a picture you are altering the photo. Him: "That's different." Me: "Different in what way?" Him: "...Uh. It just is!"

No, I’m not talking about Photoshoping  Obama with a stripper on his lap in a bar. I’m talking about improving a photo without altering the information therein.

There are many sides to this saga, so read up and begin drawing your own conclusion.

Read this informative article by The New York Times. The article contains various opinions from nine professionals.

Tell me your thoughts on the subject, amosnews@yahoo.com

https://archive.nytimes.com/lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/17/world-press-photo-manipulation-ethics-of-digital-photojournalism/?utm_source=APIs+Need+to+Know+newsletter&utm_campaign=a02c814953-Need_to_Know_February_18_20152_18_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e3bf78af04-a02c814953-45802581&_r=1