Journalism – Page 29 – The Linchpen

Monclair State newspaper funding cut by SGA

The Student Government Association at Montclair State University in New Jersey has cut the paper’s funding. As a result, they are no longer able to publish:

Montclarion Presses Stopped by Student Government

Here is the paper’s editorial.

The New York Times picked up the story yesterday:

Student Dispute Threatens Montclair Stateâ€™s Paper

Here are the first three paragraphs of the Times’ article, which give a good overview:

In a rancorous dispute that has pitted student journalists against student government, the editors of Montclair State Universityâ€™s weekly newspaper were forced to stop publishing last week after the student body president froze the paperâ€™s financing.

The editors of the paper, The Montclarion, claim that the president, Ron Chicken, improperly used his authority, cutting off the newspaperâ€™s funds to silence criticism of the student government.

The student body president, however, told the Montclarionâ€™s editors that they had violated the by-laws of the student government association by hiring their own lawyer.

The Society of Professional Journalists (full disclosure: I’m a member) posted on its site a letter to the Montclarion editor, excerpts of which were just to members sent via e-mail:

Letter of support to Montclarion editors and staff

Weigh in: What are your thoughts on the situation? Has this happened/could this happen at your university?

Howard Owens on the roles of modern journalism

Howard Owens always offers good insight. It wouldn’t be a stretch to call him the Journalism Listmaster (2008 objectives for todayâ€™s non-wired journalist).

Here is his latest list, on the Six roles, or job duties, of modern journalism:

The Ethical Role
The Guide/Filter Role
The Understanding and Context Role
The Conversation Leader Role
The Aggregator Role
The Straight News Role

I particularly like the following, which hits on the potential value of having a greater number of reporters and editors blogging:

“I know many really, really smart reporters and editors. These people should have blogs, and they should serve readers better by taking the news of the day and putting it in context, combing articles for the tidbits that need to be weaved together to make a bigger whole, and explaining what it all means.”

New to the neighborhood: EveryBlock

A new hyperlocal site created by Adrian Holovaty and others called EveryBlock was recently reviewed by Al Tompkins, who writes “Al’s Morning Meeting” on Poynter Online.

Check out Tompkins review here, but be sure to give EveryBlock a look-see of your own.

The site currently includes New York, Chicago and San Francisco. Miami should be an interesting one…

Weigh in: What do you think of the site?

UPDATE, Jan. 25 at 12:14 P.M.: Journalismenterprise.com also did a review here.

UPDATE, Jan. 25 at 1:31 P.M.: Mindy McAdams posted about it too.

NYT: Afghan journalism student sentenced to death for blasphemy

I’d fallen behind with reading the New York Times in my Google Reader, but just ran across this disturbing item:

KABUL, Afghanistan â€” An Afghan court in northern Afghanistan sentenced a journalism student to death for blasphemy for distributing an article from the Internet that was considered an insult to the Prophet Muhammad, the judge in charge of the court said Wednesday.

The student, Sayed Parwiz Kambakhsh, 23, who also works for a local newspaper, was charged with insulting Muhammad by calling the prophet â€œa killer and adulterer,â€ the judge, Shamsurahman Muhmand, said in a telephone interview.

The articles were written by his brother, the story says. Furthermore:

The case is the third time that clerics have called for death for a blasphemer in the six years since the removal of the Taliban leadership and reflects the deep conservatism that prevails even under the more liberal government of President Hamid Karzai.

Kambakhsh has the right to petition the decision to the and supreme courts, the article says.

Weigh in: What’s your take on this situation?

Update, Jan. 31 at 2:37 A.M.: CNN has a follow-up story:

Afghan lawmakers back reporter’s death sentence – CNN.com