tagged w/ Citizen Journalism
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John Henion is a freelance video producer in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was laid off from a staff position in 2008 (full disclosure: at Current) and entered into the freelance world. He blogs about unemployment at Unemploymentality. We spoke yesterday for The Real Recovery.
Life for a freelancer can be tough - especially at the beginning. John Henion moved out to California from Michigan where he'd already established himself with freelance work. In California he had none. He said the move made him "take a step back and do things I didn't want to do." For example, John was about 30 when he moved here, had already produced his own independent documentary, but found himself taking a production assistant role on "Wife Swap" just to be working. "I was beyond the point where I wanted to pick up trash on the set and being told to go get lunches," he said. "After that experience I realized I didn't need to lower the bar that much."
The goal as a freelancer is to have steady work. There are some great benefits - like being your own boss and scheduling your own time off - but there are somethings that are definitely not benefits - like not having benefits. John was lucky to have insurance through a domestic partnership with his girlfriend, but he said for many freelancers the decision about whether or not to get insurance is just whether or not you want to take your chances.
After being laid off, John said it took him about 6-8 months before he was getting steady work again. These days, he has about 5-6 return customers and pulls in a lot of one-off projects. He's been able to work himself back up to an income level comparable to having a full-time staff position. But that comes with a lot more work than just the actual time spent working. "The worst part is...I have to deal with chasing down money. Some people wait until the last minute to pay you or wait until you raise a stink. You know, they want to keep that money on their books as long as they can."
The most important thing John has found to remember freelancing is that no matter how much time he spends at an office, no matter how many new friends he makes in a workplace, being a freelancers puts him in a different position. "As a freelancer they can just stop calling. First time that happened I thought I did something wrong....When they stop calling it's not personal....They're not supposed to roll over and kiss you in the morning, just leave some money on the bedstand."
Are you a freelancer? Have a recession story to tell? Post it to The Real Recovery.
FROM THE BLOG: http://blogs.current.com/news/2009/11/19/surviving-as-a-freelancer-real-recovery/
John's site: http://unemploymentality.com
The Real Recovery: http://current.com/groups/the-real-recovery/John Henion is a freelance video producer in the San Francisco Bay Area. He was laid... more
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Here's a math problem for you: The national unemployment rate hits its highest point since the 80s in October: 10.2 percent. According to a report released this week last year 14.6% of Americans couldn't afford to buy enough food. How does that add up?
Well outside of the various nitpicks that can be done to both of those numbers, one big culprit is "underemployment". We've been talking about underemployment a lot in The Real Recovery because I think it's a more accurate measure of how many Americans have been affected by the recession. If you "get discouraged" and stop looking for a job, you no longer count as "unemployed". Or, as we're talking about this week: if you go freelance part time.
The official measure of underemployment is called the U-6 and the Bureau of Labor Statistics describes it in breathtaking terms:
Total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers
In October, when we saw that big 10.2% unemployment number, the U6 number was at 17.5% Nearly a fifth of the population!
You know what that does not include though? All the Americans who've taken pay cuts or reduced hours in the recession. (More digging through numbers to come).
Want to get involved with The Real Recovery? Here's two easy things you can do:
- Post your story to the group. How have you been affected? Are you underemployed? Have you taken a pay cut?
- Help me find some other numbers to look at. How many Americans have taken pay cuts?
FROM THE NEWS BLOG: http://blogs.current.com/news/2009/11/18/why-14-6-of-america-cant-afford-enough-food-real-recovery/
THE REAL RECOVERY: http://current.com/groups/the-real-recovery/
SOURCES: http://business.theatlantic.com/2009/11/146_of_americans_experienced_food_shortage_in_2008.php
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t12.htm
IMAGE: http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=8c32455de9a85f7d&q=bread%20lines%20source:life&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbread%2Blines%2Bsource:life%26hl%3DenHere's a math problem for you: The national unemployment rate hits its highest point... more
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This technically "is" an interview. I'm just missing his responses :-). Anyway, I thought I would go out on a limb here based on a response I gave in another thread about an interview Mr. Gore gave recently to Rachel Maddow. I responded that I wanted an interview to which someone replied that I deserved it. After some thinking, I came to the same conclusion.
So, considering that the environment is what I live and breathe, and also considering that I have been following Mr. Gore's political life and endeavors for about twenty years, why doesn't that qualify me as a citizen journalist in the spirit of Current to ask a few questions? ;-)
Sure, I'm not an airbrushed professional MSM journalist but isn't that actually refreshing when you think about it? ;-) I'm not doing this for fame, or money, or media attention. I'm just someone who wants to ask a couple of questions to someone whose opinions, knowledge, and vision I happen to respect.
So if you see this Mr. Gore and have some spare time, answering any of these questions (in person or not) would be great.
Thanks!
Jan
See questions in post below.This technically "is" an interview. I'm just missing his responses :-). Anyway, I... more
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YouTube Direct that allows news and media organisations to request, review, and rebroadcast clips directly from YouTube users.
The new service was beta-tested by the Huffington Post and will be used by National Public Radio and the San Francisco Chronicle, among others. It offers an interface that is deeply integrated into the news organisations' sites, and makes the communciation between user and media organisation much more direct. The hope is that this will make fact checking – where videos came from, when they were made – much easier.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2009/nov/16/digital-media-youtube-direct-local-newsYouTube Direct that allows news and media organisations to request, review, and... more
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Hey freelance workers, this week The Real Recovery is all about you. We want to hear from people who freelance successfully, people who have gone freelance after losing their job, and people who are barely scraping by with freelance work.
Did you know: If you're freelancing, even making far less money than you can survive on, you don't count as 'unemployed'? You fall under a different category called 'underemployment' - here's the applicable part of the definition from Wikipedia:
"Involuntary part-time" workers -- workers who could (and would like to) be working for a full work-week but can only find part-time work. By extension, the term is also used in regional planning to describe regions where economic activity rates are unusually low, due to a lack of job opportunities, training opportunities, or due to a lack of services such as childcare and public transportation.
The national unemployment rate is 10.2% as of October. That's according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The BLS doesn't seem to keep a national underemployment number, which is a lot harder to nail down. But we recently saw that in California underemployment was estimated to be about a fifth of the total population.
This is another topic we want to tackle. As we're trying to put together a picture of the Real Recovery, we want to try to get a handle on underemployment estimates. We'll be working on that for the next month or so. If you want to get involved in that effort, send me a message on Current.
And this week - if you freelance or ever have - tell us about your experience by posting your story on The Real Recovery.
FROM THE BLOG: http://blogs.current.com/news/2009/11/16/real-recovery-this-weeks-about-the-freelancers/
THE REAL RECOVERY: http://current.com/groups/the-real-recovery/
Image: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/12/mtv-responds-to-freelance-outcry/Hey freelance workers, this week The Real Recovery is all about you. We want to hear... more
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This week on The Real Recovery we're looking at how the recession is affecting college grads. It's tough to graduate into such a tight job market. Especially if you've got loans. For many, going to college automatically comes with a big chunk of money that must be paid off. As finding a job gets harder - that amount of money can hang like an albatross from your neck.
The image featured here, posted on The Broke Grad Student, shows average student loan debt by state - and no matter where you live, that average is somewhere between $13K and $26K. That's a lot of money!
But despite the high costs the question for many American high schoolers is not whether to go but where to go. Are too many Americans going to college?
From the Chronicle of Higher Education:
"Marty Nemko: Increasing college-going rates may actually hurt our economy. We now send 70 percent of high-school graduates to college, up from 40 percent in 1970. At the same time, employers are accelerating their offshoring, part-timing, and temping of as many white-collar jobs as possible. That results in ever more unemployed and underemployed B.A.'s. Meanwhile, there's a shortage of tradespeople to take the Obama infrastructure-rebuilding jobs. And you and I have a hard time getting a reliable plumber even if we're willing to pay $80 an hour—more than many professors make."
It's estimated that on average college grads tend to make about 80% more per year in salary than those without a degree. That's a pretty significant and motivating number, especially when you take into consideration the higher unemployment numbers for those without a college degree that we looked at yesterday. But if you've got loans - some of that has to go to paying them off. And for grad students it's even worse.
Faced with a difficult job market and high student debts, many folks with a B.A. duck back into graduate school to forestall repayments they can't afford. But as you can imagine - that just leads to more debt. Forbes has a controversially titled article that tackles the high debts a law degree can come with: The Great College Hoax.
"Accepted into the California Western School of Law, a private San Diego institution, [John] Kellum couldn't swing the $36,000 in annual tuition with financial aid and part-time work. So he did what friends and professors said was the smart move and took out $60,000 in student loans. Kellum's law school sweetheart, Jennifer Coultas, did much the same. By the time they graduated in 1995, the couple was $194,000 in debt. They eventually married and each landed a six-figure job. Yet even with Kellum moonlighting, they had to scrounge to come up with $145,000 in loan payments. With interest accruing at up to 12% a year, that whittled away only $21,000 in principal. Their remaining bill: $173,000 and counting."
Should you go to grad school? Most experts agree it only makes sense if you have a specific goal in mind. Penelope Trunk's Brazen Careerist lists several points against enlisting in grad school to hide out from a recession:
"1. Grad school pointlessly delays adulthood....3. Business school is not going to help 90% of the people who go....5. The medical school model assumes that health care spending is not a mess."
So what's your experience? Did you go to college? Grad school? Did you have an albatross of loan debt? Tell us your story on The Real Recovery.
From the blog: http://blogs.current.com/news/2009/11/11/is-college-worth-the-high-cost/
Sources:
http://www.brokegradstudent.com/average-student-loan-debt-by-state/
http://chronicle.com/article/Are-Too-Many-Students-Going-to/49039/
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/0202/060.html
http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2009/02/03/dont-try-to-dodge-the-recession-with-grad-school/#more-2071
The Real Recovery:
http://current.com/groups/the-real-recovery/This week on The Real Recovery we're looking at how the recession is affecting college... more
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This week, the Real Recovery is focusing on college graduates - recent, upcoming and all-time. I wanted to highlight a few stories shared in the comment thread on the initial college stories post. If you have one - go to the Real Recovery group, click Post a Story, and start typing!
From user trangster:
I graduated this past May and applied for part time and full time jobs. After months of being rejected by employers for not having work experience because I was earning a college education at the time, I started working as a part time host at a restaurant. I recently picked up another part time job so now I'm working two part time jobs to meet bills. Hopefully I get accepted into grad school next year.
From user sugarlilly:
i am a recent college grad working in a job i love but that requires absolutely no education. sorry sallie mae, that 50 grand will have to wait.
From user Karolein:
The first term I learned on-the-job after college was "reduction in force". It was a rude awakening. I finished graduate school in a recession and it took 18 months to find a full-time, regular job. After 15 years in a nice office, I'm looking again, but instead of living at home I have a mortgage to pay. Life is cyclical.
From the Current News Blog:
http://blogs.current.com/news/2009/11/09/real-recovery-college-stories/
Image: http://www.pbn.com/detail/46027.htmlThis week, the Real Recovery is focusing on college graduates - recent, upcoming and... more
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It's been tumultuous for the economy in the half-week since we launched The Real Recovery: unemployment benefits were extended and then October's unemployment numbers hit over 10 percent. It seems like just the right time to get to the real stories behind the economic stats.
Each week on The Real Recovery we're going to ask a big question - and then spend the week figuring out the answer with your help. For next week - we're looking at those entering the job market for the very first time.
If a tenth of America is unemployed - how hard is it going to be for recent college graduates to get jobs? For college seniors who expect to graduate in 2010? From the National Bureau of Economic Research: "The Career Effects Of Graduating In A Recession":
Graduating in a recession leads to large initial earnings losses. These losses, which amount to about 9 percent of annual earnings in the initial stage, eventually recede, but slowly -- halving within five years but not disappearing until about ten years after graduation.
Starting Monday - we're going to focus on college graduates. Here's how you can get involved:
Are you a college senior?: Post a story on The Real Recovery about your job search. Do you have something lined up? Are you just trying not to think about it?
Did you graduate this year?: How's it been out there in the job market? Have you been able to find work?
Did you graduate years ago?: How was your experience in the economic climate you had? How does it compare to today's?
You can post your story to Current by clicking the "Post a Story" button on The Real Recovery group page and then just start typing!
And also, if you want to get involved as an investigator - send me a message on Current.
From the News Blog: http://blogs.current.com/news/2009/11/06/recession-and-the-college-graduate-the-real-recovery/
NBRE source link: http://www.nber.org/digest/nov06/w12159.html
What's The Real Recovery?: http://blogs.current.com/news/2009/11/04/the-real-recovery-a-collaborative-investigation/
Image: http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/TwNobChX8WT/Miami+Dade+College+Hosts+Career+FairIt's been tumultuous for the economy in the half-week since we launched The Real... more
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We’re launching a big project today on Current News. And we’re going to need your help.
Here’s the idea:
Everybody says we’re headed for an economic recovery, right? The economy grew in the third quarter of this year, the Dow is hovering around 10,000, even Ford managed to make a profit. But the other thing that everybody says is that it’ll be a “jobless” recovery. The economy might grow, but unemployment will stay the same. To say nothing of underemployment – people who have taken lesser positions, started freelancing or stopped looking for new work. While the financial folks celebrate the return of the bull market – what about the rest of us?
We want to paint a picture of what’s really going on out there. As the recession comes to an end – what does the recovery really look like? What is the real recovery?
Over the next few months – until the end of the first quarter of next year – we’re going to conduct a special new experimental project to look at the state of our nation. This is where you come in.
My office is in San Francisco. I can give local perspectives from here. But in order to tell this story from every corner of the country – we need your help. What do things look like where you live? Do you have a personal story about how you’ve been affected by the recession?
How you can get involved:
- The big thing is that you can write your own posts in the group “The Real Recovery”. What are we looking for? Local perspectives and personal perspectives. Just a few paragraphs: How are you or your community affected? Every week we’ll have different questions we’re asking – and we want you to post your answers.
- Now, do you want to get really involved? You can become a part of our Current Investigation Network. That means we’ll put you on an email list where sometimes we’ll reach out digging for info or to ask you to help out with collaborative assignments. If you want to be a part of the project by doing a little real journalism – this is the way to do it.
- And as always, you can clip stories and you can weigh in on the comments of posts. We’ll be highlighting stories people post over on the Blog – and that could be yours.
This is a big new step for Current News, and I’m personally very excited about it. I worked on Collective Journalism for two years, our citizen journalism program, and I think this is an even bigger opportunity to get even more people involved in the journalism we make.
So, what’s the next step?
- Join the group: “The Real Recovery”
- Tell us your story – just a few paragraphs. Either post in the comments here – or post your own story to the group. This Friday we’ll feature some of your contributions.
- If you want to be a part of the investigation team – send me a direct message.
Stay tuned!
From the News Blog: http://blogs.current.com/news/2009/11/04/the-real-recovery-a-collaborative-investigation/
Img: http://current.com/items/91375468_image.htmWe’re launching a big project today on Current News. And we’re going to need your... more
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It will take more than this day to wake up politicians worldwide to the urgency of what we must do to save the sustainability of our planet for ourselves and future generations. Especially as they collaborate to use this crisis to their own benefit. However, that does not negate the heartfelt feelings of those who believe this may be a step in that direction. So this is just a small contribution, even though I wholehearedly believe that at this point in time we need much more. 350 coal plant sit-ins in one day? Count me in.It will take more than this day to wake up politicians worldwide to the urgency of... more
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The third reporting of Monsanto news, GMO news, and news you need to know to stay ahead of the companies and governments out to take your food sovereignty away.
In this report I break down the news according to:
Activism: Pakistan, India, Mexico, Canada, Ireland, Germany
Legal: GM sugarbeets; standing up to Tom Vilsack on GMOs
Political: Obama USDA appointment; biotech friends
Special Comment: Bill Gates; Monsanto "carbon credits"; food security
Also, all items discussed will be linked here along with the video by Jeffrey Smith of the Institute of Responsible Technology: Everything you HAVE TO KNOW About Dangerous Genetically Modified Foods.
If you haven't watched this video yet you cannot afford not to.
There is good news amongst the status quo in regards to farmers standing up around the world and also some countries taking steps to label GMOs and ban them. Unfortunately, the U.S. is not one of those countries as our government continues to support the status quo for all of their talk about change.
On the whole however, we are seeing more vocal opposition and with Monsanto's stock going down this past quarter that is a hopeful sign that people are waking up to the deception that is GMO, the poisons sprayed on them, and their effect on our health and environment.
Thank you,
Jan
Curator
Sustainable Agriculture Group
http://current.com/groups/sustainable-agriculture/The third reporting of Monsanto news, GMO news, and news you need to know to stay... more
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Tony Blair spoke at the University at Buffalo on Wednesday, October 7. As usual, the University prescreened and censored questions. But one questioner got through by submitting a fake question for review, then asking a real one. Blair looks even more like a liar than usual here. I’m told that University at Buffalo Vice President and Chief Censor Dennis Black nearly burst a vein when he heard the unapproved question being asked.Tony Blair spoke at the University at Buffalo on Wednesday, October 7. As usual, the... more
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I got an email from spin magazine today that introduced me to SPINEarth. I checked it out and was kinda swept off my feet by the potential of it. Spin magazine has taken citizen entertainment journalism to a new level. With SPINEarth they provide a platform for indie journalists to report on the entertainment scene in their area via written, audio and video submissions.
Right out of the gate they already have an iPhone app available. I asked an Editor at Spin if they are going to be posting "assignments" for their correspondents like CNN does and he said that they are batting loads of ideas around and that is one of them.... Check it out!
Website: http://www.spinearth.tv/home
Twitter: http://twitter.com/SPINearthI got an email from spin magazine today that introduced me to SPINEarth. I checked it... more
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"News Butterfly" the soon to be launched 24 / 7 HD cable TV Network , shall invite the General Public out there ...be it bartenders... waitresses... students ...nurses... teachers... fitness trainers... models ...stand up comedians ...entertainers... executives ...doctors... attorneys...house wives with a passion for Citizen Journalism on Television .... to join the team of anchors known as "News Butterfly" ....and become powerful voices for the people all over the world.
Keeping in mind the above unique feature and concept of "News Butterfly" , its founder Al Mason introduces a total new comer to the TV industry , the sensational Audrey Fox.
Audrey Fox is to anchor two new segments this week on the following Cable TV Channels in New York :
Segment 1: " News Butterfly " on 8th October ( Thursday ) 10 PM / Channel 34 Time Warner / Channel 82 RCN / Channel 33 Verizon.
Segment 2 : " News Bazaar " on 11th October ( Sunday ) 9 PM / Channel 67 Time Warner / Channel 85 RCN / Channel 36 Verizon.
Audrey Fox who has been in training for " News Butterfly " since long ,is also a budding writer . She will soon be a permanent Host / Reporter covering important segments for News Butterfly TV channel like " Fashion & Life Style " , "The Gossip Mongers", " The Match Makers" and " Music Round Up "
Some of the other major segments of the News Butterfly TV channel are as follows:
1-"Hello America": Jump starts the day, and will be a one-stop, A-to-Z crash course for your day.
2"-Sports Edition": News Butterflies love to play politics between the Mets and Yankees.....golf with tiger woods....gate crash into the parties of handsome Nascar drivers, wear designer hats to the races ..sneak into the Wimbledon without tickets.. help NBA negotiate with free agents. Join NFL in celebrating the 50th anniversary of the American Football League.
3-"New York Cinerama" ...show cases News Butterflies guiding you through every major event in New York City.
4-"Life Style" ...which was once only affordable by the rich and famous, is now within the reach of common people .News Butterflies constantly shop for amazing and refreshing fashion & life styles for all sizes and prices.
5-"Screen Your Movies" :show case scores of amazing films by Independent film makers, who could never get their films to be screened in Theatre or on TV networks.
6-"Gossip Mongers": ...Gossip will soon become an entertaining format for debate in society, all because our news butterflies.
7-"Kid Power" is universal, for all age groups. Even kids host this segment.
8-"Good Evening America": Evenings at home on your couch will be the most exciting time for the entire fam The segments will be filmed at ITV Studios & MNN (Manhattan Neighborhood Network"News Butterfly" the soon to be launched 24 / 7 HD cable TV Network , shall invite... more
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Want to report the news and not get paid for it? Like to see adverts whilst doing so? Well, CNN have got an iPhone app that you'll love.
The iReport app lets you easily send the news network photos of stuff you've captured on your iPhone's rather useless camera. On the newest model you can even send in video clips. Of course, if you're nowhere near a WiFi hotspot this will take ages and possibly cost you a small fortune.
Whatever will they think up next, eh?Want to report the news and not get paid for it? Like to see adverts whilst doing so?... more
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Activist and journalist Arudou Debito of FRANCA Japan and Debito.org joins The Corbett Report to discuss new measures for tracking and controlling foreign residents in Japan. Foreign residents already have to surrender their biometric data to the government upon entering the country and are required by law to carry their foreigner id cards at all times. Now those cards are going to be implanted with IC chips, making it possible for foreigners to be tracked and traced at all times.Activist and journalist Arudou Debito of FRANCA Japan and Debito.org joins The Corbett... more
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User-generated content (UGC) isn’t new, but technology such as video cell phones, home video editing software and video-sharing web sites are making it easier and cheaper than ever to capture, edit and distribute moving images with or without mainstream broadcast media. Even though it’s not as straightforward as simply typing a blog post or uploading an image, video blogging is becoming more and more popular. For those working in newsrooms, however, deciding whether to use a user-generated video means confronting a variety of issues.User-generated content (UGC) isn’t new, but technology such as video cell phones,... more
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