It's All Journalism

Anybody can figure out how to use Facebook, Twitter or the latest and greatest social media platform. But how can journalists use those platforms as tools to better engage with an audience, encouraging participation and telling stories that would be overlooked otherwise? Dr. Carrie Brown has made answering that question a big part of her career. After earning National Educator of the Year from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s Newspaper and Online Division for her work at the University of Memphis, she moved to the City University of New York and this year launched the inaugural Master of Arts degree in Social Journalism (http://www.journalism.cuny.edu/academics/social-journalism/) geared toward helping graduate students better understand how to effectively use social media in their reporting. “We believe journalism is a service, not a product,” Brown said. “Social media is really important to us, but that’s not the only thing we care about. Our students also use techniques for engaging people face to face.” The program lasts roughly a calendar year, with students taking classes over the summer in addition to full course-loads during the academic year. The 14 students also had to take on an internship, independent project or create and carry out a special project with a news organization, something they designed with the help of editors and professors. The program requires Brown and the students to put a lot of information and work into a relatively short amount of time, but there’s some flexibility to ensure the students get out of the work something that relates to their future careers. In part, the program was designed with the lamentations of editors and producers in mind, Brown said. “At this point, it’s not that hard to hire somebody that knows how to use Facebook or Twitter,” she said. “What we didn’t have was people that knew how to use social media in a more sophisticated way, to actually build and audience and engage communities meaningfully.” The CUNY program tries to stretch beyond the box of traditional journalism and social media by focusing on the engagement aspect, something Brown said she’s seeing more newsrooms take seriously, from The New York Times down to smaller local publications. It’s a set of skills the greater journalism world is requiring at an increasingly rapid pace, with positions called social media editor and community engagement editor popping up around the industry. “I’ve made this my life’s work because I was one of those people who believes journalism is really important for democracy,” Brown said. “If we are going to sustain our business, we need to figure out how to use these tools in smart ways.” — Amber Healy (mailto:phfyrebyrd@gmail.com) On this week's It's All Journalism podcast, Producer Michael O'Connell talks to Carrie Brown, who launched the first program dedicated to social journalism (http://www.journalism.cuny.edu/academics/social-journalism/) at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. Brown talks about the program's inaugural year and how journalists can improve their social journalism skills.

Anybody can figure out how to use Facebook, Twitter or the latest and greatest social media platform. But how can journalists use those platforms as tools to better engage with an audience, encouraging participation and telling stories that would be overlooked otherwise? Dr. Carrie Brown has made answering that question a big part of her career. After earning National Educator of the Year from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s Newspaper and Online Division for her work at the University of Memphis, she moved to the City University of New York and this year launched the inaugural Master of Arts degree in Social Journalism (http://www.journalism.cuny.edu/academics/social-journalism/) geared toward helping graduate students better understand how to effectively use social media in their reporting. “We believe journalism is a service, not a product,” Brown said. “Social media is really important to us, but that’s not the only thing we care about. Our students also use techniques for engaging people face to face.” The program lasts roughly a calendar year, with students taking classes over the summer in addition to full course-loads during the academic year. The 14 students also had to take on an internship, independent project or create and carry out a special project with a news organization, something they designed with the help of editors and professors. The program requires Brown and the students to put a lot of information and work into a relatively short amount of time, but there’s some flexibility to ensure the students get out of the work something that relates to their future careers. In part, the program was designed with the lamentations of editors and producers in mind, Brown said. “At this point, it’s not that hard to hire somebody that knows how to use Facebook or Twitter,” she said. “What we didn’t have was people that knew how to use social media in a more sophisticated way, to actually build and audience and engage communities meaningfully.” The CUNY program tries to stretch beyond the box of traditional journalism and social media by focusing on the engagement aspect, something Brown said she’s seeing more newsrooms take seriously, from The New York Times down to smaller local publications. It’s a set of skills the greater journalism world is requiring at an increasingly rapid pace, with positions called social media editor and community engagement editor popping up around the industry. “I’ve made this my life’s work because I was one of those people who believes journalism is really important for democracy,” Brown said. “If we are going to sustain our business, we need to figure out how to use these tools in smart ways.” — Amber Healy (mailto:phfyrebyrd@gmail.com) On this week's It's All Journalism podcast, Producer Michael O'Connell talks to Carrie Brown, who launched the first program dedicated to social journalism (http://www.journalism.cuny.edu/academics/social-journalism/) at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. Brown talks about the program's inaugural year and how journalists can improve their social journalism skills.

It's early days in the 2016 presidential campaign, but things are already heating up at PolitiFact (http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/#), the Pulitzer-prize-winning, fact-checking arm of the Tampa Bay Times. PolitiFact journalists have already picked apart to recent Republican and Democratic debates and identified questionable quips from interviews and started running them through the Truth-O-Meter (http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/) to determine their veracity. Some of the results: * Donald Trump's claim (http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/oct/21/donald-trump/trump-says-cia-warned-president-bush-9-11-attacks/) that the CIA warned President George W. Bush about the impending 9-11 terrorist attacks proved to be "False". * Hillary Clinton's assertion (http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/oct/14/hillary-clinton/clinton-says-nsa-leaker-snowden-failed-use-whistle/) that Edward Snowden would've received all the protections of a government whistleblower was "Mostly False". * Ben Carson's statement that Mahmoud Appas, Ali Khamenei and Vladimir Putin first met (http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/oct/09/ben-carson/ben-carson-says-mahmoud-abbas-ali-khamenei-vladimi/) at college garnered the "Pants-On-Fire (http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/rulings/pants-fire/)" designation. * And on and on ... On this week's It's All Journalism podcast, Producer Michael O'Connell interviews Editor Angie Drobnic Holan (http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/staff/angie-drobnic-holan/) about PolitiFact's mission, the steps the website's staff goes through to determine the truthfulness of candidate's claims and their approach to covering the 2016 presidential race. She also discusses how PolitiFact and other organizations, like the American Press Institute (http://www.americanpressinstitute.org/topics/fact-checking/), are bringing the fact-checking philosophy to newsrooms across the country, teaching journalists to use those skills to cover not just political campaigns, but the entire governmental process.

It's early days in the 2016 presidential campaign, but things are already heating up at PolitiFact (http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/#), the Pulitzer-prize-winning, fact-checking arm of the Tampa Bay Times. PolitiFact journalists have already picked apart to recent Republican and Democratic debates and identified questionable quips from interviews and started running them through the Truth-O-Meter (http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/) to determine their veracity. Some of the results: * Donald Trump's claim (http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/oct/21/donald-trump/trump-says-cia-warned-president-bush-9-11-attacks/) that the CIA warned President George W. Bush about the impending 9-11 terrorist attacks proved to be "False". * Hillary Clinton's assertion (http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/oct/14/hillary-clinton/clinton-says-nsa-leaker-snowden-failed-use-whistle/) that Edward Snowden would've received all the protections of a government whistleblower was "Mostly False". * Ben Carson's statement that Mahmoud Appas, Ali Khamenei and Vladimir Putin first met (http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/oct/09/ben-carson/ben-carson-says-mahmoud-abbas-ali-khamenei-vladimi/) at college garnered the "Pants-On-Fire (http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/rulings/pants-fire/)" designation. * And on and on ... On this week's It's All Journalism podcast, Producer Michael O'Connell interviews Editor Angie Drobnic Holan (http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/staff/angie-drobnic-holan/) about PolitiFact's mission, the steps the website's staff goes through to determine the truthfulness of candidate's claims and their approach to covering the 2016 presidential race. She also discusses how PolitiFact and other organizations, like the American Press Institute (http://www.americanpressinstitute.org/topics/fact-checking/), are bringing the fact-checking philosophy to newsrooms across the country, teaching journalists to use those skills to cover not just political campaigns, but the entire governmental process.

In this week's episode of It's All Journalism, Producer Michael O'Connell talks to Jennifer Crawford, co-host of The JellyVision Show Podcast (http://thejellyvisionshow.podbean.com), and Alex Vidales, the host of the Pilot Waves (http://www.pilotwaves.com) podcast. They discuss their experiences launching their respective podcasts, including how to find guests and what makes a successful interview. The also talk about organizing the first DC PodFest (http://www.dcpodfest.com), which takes place Nov. 6-8, 2015, at the Wonderbread Factory in Washington, D.C. The idea of the PodFest grew out of Crawford's desire to seek out fellow podcasters in the D.C. area. "I'd been podcasting for about five years and I started realizing that I actually was very passionate about the platform and really just become in love with it," she said. "And I wanted to talk to more that had that in common with me." To that end, Crawford launched the DC Podcaster Community Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/DCPodcasterCommunity/), which now has more than 200 members. The group conducts monthly meet-ups, where they swap stories and share tips on how to improve their podcasts. The Facebook group is open to anyone interested in learning more about podcasting. "When you're talking about podcasting, it is a medium for distribution, but it also is an art form," said Vidales. "I believe that when you have an art form that's this young and has this many people who are all working towards it, you need to pay attention to the quality, the professionalism, the purpose, all those things." As more people got involved in the group, the idea of organizing a podcast festival emerged. The three-day event will include how-to workshops, live podcasts and seminars on topics like monetization and finding your own unique voice. "We're trying to touch on a little bit of everything, because we wanted to focus on the creativity, the diversity and the business of podcasting," Crawford said. "We really wanted to enrich people's podcasting experience or at least open their minds to how enriching the podcasting experience can be through your choice of genres, format. There are so many things you can do with this platform." For more information about the podcast festival, visit DCPodFest.com (http://www.dcpodfest.com) and get updates via the festival's Twitter account (@DCPodFest (https://twitter.com/dcpodfest)).

In this week's episode of It's All Journalism, Producer Michael O'Connell talks to Jennifer Crawford, co-host of The JellyVision Show Podcast (http://thejellyvisionshow.podbean.com), and Alex Vidales, the host of the Pilot Waves (http://www.pilotwaves.com) podcast. They discuss their experiences launching their respective podcasts, including how to find guests and what makes a successful interview. The also talk about organizing the first DC PodFest (http://www.dcpodfest.com), which takes place Nov. 6-8, 2015, at the Wonderbread Factory in Washington, D.C. The idea of the PodFest grew out of Crawford's desire to seek out fellow podcasters in the D.C. area. "I'd been podcasting for about five years and I started realizing that I actually was very passionate about the platform and really just become in love with it," she said. "And I wanted to talk to more that had that in common with me." To that end, Crawford launched the DC Podcaster Community Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/DCPodcasterCommunity/), which now has more than 200 members. The group conducts monthly meet-ups, where they swap stories and share tips on how to improve their podcasts. The Facebook group is open to anyone interested in learning more about podcasting. "When you're talking about podcasting, it is a medium for distribution, but it also is an art form," said Vidales. "I believe that when you have an art form that's this young and has this many people who are all working towards it, you need to pay attention to the quality, the professionalism, the purpose, all those things." As more people got involved in the group, the idea of organizing a podcast festival emerged. The three-day event will include how-to workshops, live podcasts and seminars on topics like monetization and finding your own unique voice. "We're trying to touch on a little bit of everything, because we wanted to focus on the creativity, the diversity and the business of podcasting," Crawford said. "We really wanted to enrich people's podcasting experience or at least open their minds to how enriching the podcasting experience can be through your choice of genres, format. There are so many things you can do with this platform." For more information about the podcast festival, visit DCPodFest.com (http://www.dcpodfest.com) and get updates via the festival's Twitter account (@DCPodFest (https://twitter.com/dcpodfest)).

With new digital tools coming out seemingly every day, radio reporter Neal Augenstein does his best to make most of all the tools at his disposal. A digital reporter for Washington, D.C. station WTOP, Augenstein has been a pioneer in the field of iPhone reporting. Over the last three years, he utilizes the iPhone as his primary reporting device, using it shoot video and record and edit all his audio for his radio stories. He's shared what he's learned at journalism conferences and training sessions. Augenstein also is an early adopter of iPhone apps from Voddio (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/voddio-video-audio-editor/id472769922?mt=8), which allows a user to edit video footage captured by smartphone, to Katch (http://katch.me), which uploads and permanently saves footage shot and disseminated via Periscope (https://www.periscope.tv) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/?lang=en). Released last March, Periscope has become a mainstay in his storytelling arsenal.Much like Meerkat (https://meerkatapp.co), Periscope is a smartphone app that allows users to shoot video from their phones and allow followers to watch events unfold in real time. “What was different about this was this was being tailored to mobile phones,” Augenstein said. “This was tailored to quickly get a broadcast going that could easily be shared with whoever was watching,” allowing reporters to utilize an app that might’ve been created for the general public but adding nuance and layers to their coverage of the news. Periscope might have the edge on Meerkat, however, as it’s owned by Twitter, and alerts for any new scopes are automatically sent out via Twitter to a user’s followers. “It’s a very flexible and handy way to get your story out there,” Augenstein said. “By using social media and using Periscope, you draw in your potential audience,” not just to the short live-to-Periscope broadcast but, ideally, to the reporter’s media outlet or personal website. Some advice for new users: Think about where you want the story to live, and for how long, before starting a new stream. “As the reporter, while I want to cover stuff live, I also have to think in terms of, is this going to live on my website, is it going to live on the radio station for a longer time? One of the challenges of Periscope is you can’t embed it directly into a company’s website.” It’s possible for a larger organization, like WTOP, to retweet his Periscope alert, which might further draw readers or listeners deeper into the website for more detailed coverage. It’s worth considering whether the Periscope being streamed is one that should live on longer than the 24 hours the recording is saved by the app. The user should also consider whether a Periscope is the best use of recording capabilities. “Is this a story that can only be told live? Is this a story I should shoot on my built-in camera on my iPhone and send the best 30 seconds of it using Twitter video? Should I just be recording audio?” Augenstein recently worked with the CBS series 48 Hours for a season-opening story (http://www.cbsnews.com/news/48-hours-hannah-graham-deadly-connections/) on the disappearance and murder of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham. Additionally, he was asked to record a five-part podcast (http://wtop.com/hannah-graham/) detailing the case to be released in the days leading up to the show’s premiere. “It really did harken back to old-time radio,” he said, adding that he made several trips to Charlottesville, Virginia, to record some “natural sounds” to add to the podcasts, making them more “evocative” and richer. “All we’re doing is telling stories,

With new digital tools coming out seemingly every day, radio reporter Neal Augenstein does his best to make most of all the tools at his disposal. A digital reporter for Washington, D.C. station WTOP, Augenstein has been a pioneer in the field of iPhone reporting. Over the last three years, he utilizes the iPhone as his primary reporting device, using it shoot video and record and edit all his audio for his radio stories. He's shared what he's learned at journalism conferences and training sessions. Augenstein also is an early adopter of iPhone apps from Voddio (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/voddio-video-audio-editor/id472769922?mt=8), which allows a user to edit video footage captured by smartphone, to Katch (http://katch.me), which uploads and permanently saves footage shot and disseminated via Periscope (https://www.periscope.tv) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/?lang=en). Released last March, Periscope has become a mainstay in his storytelling arsenal.Much like Meerkat (https://meerkatapp.co), Periscope is a smartphone app that allows users to shoot video from their phones and allow followers to watch events unfold in real time. “What was different about this was this was being tailored to mobile phones,” Augenstein said. “This was tailored to quickly get a broadcast going that could easily be shared with whoever was watching,” allowing reporters to utilize an app that might’ve been created for the general public but adding nuance and layers to their coverage of the news. Periscope might have the edge on Meerkat, however, as it’s owned by Twitter, and alerts for any new scopes are automatically sent out via Twitter to a user’s followers. “It’s a very flexible and handy way to get your story out there,” Augenstein said. “By using social media and using Periscope, you draw in your potential audience,” not just to the short live-to-Periscope broadcast but, ideally, to the reporter’s media outlet or personal website. Some advice for new users: Think about where you want the story to live, and for how long, before starting a new stream. “As the reporter, while I want to cover stuff live, I also have to think in terms of, is this going to live on my website, is it going to live on the radio station for a longer time? One of the challenges of Periscope is you can’t embed it directly into a company’s website.” It’s possible for a larger organization, like WTOP, to retweet his Periscope alert, which might further draw readers or listeners deeper into the website for more detailed coverage. It’s worth considering whether the Periscope being streamed is one that should live on longer than the 24 hours the recording is saved by the app. The user should also consider whether a Periscope is the best use of recording capabilities. “Is this a story that can only be told live? Is this a story I should shoot on my built-in camera on my iPhone and send the best 30 seconds of it using Twitter video? Should I just be recording audio?” Augenstein recently worked with the CBS series 48 Hours for a season-opening story (http://www.cbsnews.com/news/48-hours-hannah-graham-deadly-connections/) on the disappearance and murder of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham. Additionally, he was asked to record a five-part podcast (http://wtop.com/hannah-graham/) detailing the case to be released in the days leading up to the show’s premiere. “It really did harken back to old-time radio,” he said, adding that he made several trips to Charlottesville, Virginia, to record some “natural sounds” to add to the podcasts, making them more “evocative” and richer. “All we’re doing is telling stories,

P.J. Tobia, a foreign affairs producer at PBS Newshour (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/), is a master at finding the local angles in large, global stories. Whether it's immigration, child slavery or the Syrian refugee crisis. "It's kind of the through line in my work, globalization and how everyone culturally, economically and in many, many other ways is becoming much closer whether you like it or not, even if you never actually interact with a citizen of another country on a day-to-day basis," Tobia told It's All Journalism producers Michael O'Connell and Nicole Ogrysko. Even though Newshour is known for its serious, even-handed coverage of weighty issues, Tobia said there were important discussions that didn't always make it on the air. "A lot of story ideas that I had or very interesting conversations that I was having with smart people were getting left on the cutting room floor," he said. "And I kind of thought, what's a way that I can use these smart conversations that I'm having with people?" To remedy the situation, Tobia launched Shortwave (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/tag/shortwave/), a weekly foreign affairs podcast, that examines the local impact of major global stories for an audience that enjoys getting its news online. "It's in the same Newshour style of being objective and in-depth and even-handed, but kind of repurpose it for an audience that maybe we're not reaching with the broadcast." Newshour viewers are already used to a robust digital product, where they can engage in social media, read transcripts or livestream full episodes on the show's website. Each episode of Shortwave takes deep dive into a particular topic, culled from Tobia's reporting or the work of fellow Newshour journalists. Shortwave also gives Tobia the opportunity to work on impactful stories about big subjects. "I like reporting on brutal human rights violations, but at the same time there are so many of them going on that Americans tend to be like, 'All right, what does this have to do with me?'" Tobia said. "What it has to do is that that hot chocolate that you're drinking was grown by child slaves in West Africa, or, the coltan in your phone was mined by child slaves in the Congo. ... That kind of story that has the hard human rights angle that I like, but with a twist that makes it a western audience stand up and say, 'Oh, geez, slavery is in my pocket every day." On this week's episode of It's All Journalism, producers Michael O'Connell and Nicole Ogrysko talk to P.J. Tobia, a foreign affairs producer at PBS Newshour. He talks about his journalist's journey from working at an alternative newspaper in Nashville to covering local news in Afghanistan to launching the foreign affairs podcast, Shortwave. He also offers some advice for young journalists starting out their careers.

P.J. Tobia, a foreign affairs producer at PBS Newshour (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/), is a master at finding the local angles in large, global stories. Whether it's immigration, child slavery or the Syrian refugee crisis. "It's kind of the through line in my work, globalization and how everyone culturally, economically and in many, many other ways is becoming much closer whether you like it or not, even if you never actually interact with a citizen of another country on a day-to-day basis," Tobia told It's All Journalism producers Michael O'Connell and Nicole Ogrysko. Even though Newshour is known for its serious, even-handed coverage of weighty issues, Tobia said there were important discussions that didn't always make it on the air. "A lot of story ideas that I had or very interesting conversations that I was having with smart people were getting left on the cutting room floor," he said. "And I kind of thought, what's a way that I can use these smart conversations that I'm having with people?" To remedy the situation, Tobia launched Shortwave (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/tag/shortwave/), a weekly foreign affairs podcast, that examines the local impact of major global stories for an audience that enjoys getting its news online. "It's in the same Newshour style of being objective and in-depth and even-handed, but kind of repurpose it for an audience that maybe we're not reaching with the broadcast." Newshour viewers are already used to a robust digital product, where they can engage in social media, read transcripts or livestream full episodes on the show's website. Each episode of Shortwave takes deep dive into a particular topic, culled from Tobia's reporting or the work of fellow Newshour journalists. Shortwave also gives Tobia the opportunity to work on impactful stories about big subjects. "I like reporting on brutal human rights violations, but at the same time there are so many of them going on that Americans tend to be like, 'All right, what does this have to do with me?'" Tobia said. "What it has to do is that that hot chocolate that you're drinking was grown by child slaves in West Africa, or, the coltan in your phone was mined by child slaves in the Congo. ... That kind of story that has the hard human rights angle that I like, but with a twist that makes it a western audience stand up and say, 'Oh, geez, slavery is in my pocket every day." On this week's episode of It's All Journalism, producers Michael O'Connell and Nicole Ogrysko talk to P.J. Tobia, a foreign affairs producer at PBS Newshour. He talks about his journalist's journey from working at an alternative newspaper in Nashville to covering local news in Afghanistan to launching the foreign affairs podcast, Shortwave. He also offers some advice for young journalists starting out their careers.

In the first part of this two-part podcast, It's All Journalism producer Michael O'Connell and Tiffany Campbell, executive editor for digital at WBUR in Boston, share some of their thoughts behind their presentation at the 2015 Online News Association Conference: Creating Your First Podcast: A Beginner's Workshop (http://ona15.journalists.org/sessions/podcastingbasics/#.VgSRdbSTTj0).        

In the first part of this two-part podcast, It's All Journalism producer Michael O'Connell and Tiffany Campbell, executive editor for digital at WBUR in Boston, share some of their thoughts behind their presentation at the 2015 Online News Association Conference: Creating Your First Podcast: A Beginner's Workshop (http://ona15.journalists.org/sessions/podcastingbasics/#.VgSRdbSTTj0).        

With his cell phone battery running low and no end to the chaos in site, Baynard Woods learned his photographer had been charged and attacked by Baltimore City Police, another person injured during the riots last April. As editor-at-large for the Baltimore City Paper (http://www.citypaper.com/), Woods was getting information from protestors who recognized him and his photographer, thanks to daily appearances wearing the same clothes for the express purpose of being recognized as press by the protestors and police force a like. Woods said his photographer was attacked on purpose, representing a newsroom that didn’t sleep for days and twice in a row scrapped their entire week’s production in order to fill their print publication with enterprise reporting as the city dealt with the backlash and anger of Freddie Gray’s death in police custody (http://www.citypaper.com/news/freddiegray/). Woods recalled walking through Gray’s neighborhood as tensions rose in the city. It may have appeared to the rest of the country that the protests came out of nowhere, but Woods knew it was a longer fuse than that. “From 8-year-old girls to 80-year-old women, they were being stopped every time you walk out of your house,” he said. “They were sat down by police, searched, and that didn’t happen in the more mixed neighborhood that I live in, Mount Vernon. It didn’t happen in the arts district neighborhoods.” Those practices had been in place only in neighborhoods that tended to be high-crime areas and predominantly populated by African- American residents. “It very much felt like an occupation of the city by those who live there,” Woods said. A long-time member of the City Paper staff, Woods said he learned a lot about using technology to report what he saw, noting that his wife knew he was safe so long as his Twitter feed was active. Access to multimedia platforms courtesy of smartphones changed the way the story was told. “I was videoing, taking pictures, sending out live pictures right then, tweeting where locations of marches were, what police were doing, trying to get photographs of name badges on police as much as possible," he said. He also leaned on previous work from the Baltimore Sun, the city’s daily newspaper, which had recently run an investigative piece on members of the city’s police department that had been involved in settlements were police brutality was alleged.  "I wanted to see how many of those guys were on the front lines. One of the main guys we saw right there on the front lines, commanding people. Everyone knew that this guy was in trouble, had trouble with the community, had trouble with command and he was right there on the front lines," Woods said. The constant presence between protestors and police made a lasting impact on Woods. “I’d never felt like what we were doing was as important as I did then,” he said. On this week's It's All Journalism podcast, IAJ producer Michael O'Connell talks to Baynard Woods, editor at large of the Baltimore City Paper. Woods shares his first-hand experience covering the protests, riots and uprisings that took place last April following the funereal of Freddie Gray, an African-American youth who died in police custody. Woods talks about the challenges of covering a big, breaking news story while navigating the often violent confrontation between protesters and the Baltimore City Police.

With his cell phone battery running low and no end to the chaos in site, Baynard Woods learned his photographer had been charged and attacked by Baltimore City Police, another person injured during the riots last April. As editor-at-large for the Baltimore City Paper (http://www.citypaper.com/), Woods was getting information from protestors who recognized him and his photographer, thanks to daily appearances wearing the same clothes for the express purpose of being recognized as press by the protestors and police force a like. Woods said his photographer was attacked on purpose, representing a newsroom that didn’t sleep for days and twice in a row scrapped their entire week’s production in order to fill their print publication with enterprise reporting as the city dealt with the backlash and anger of Freddie Gray’s death in police custody (http://www.citypaper.com/news/freddiegray/). Woods recalled walking through Gray’s neighborhood as tensions rose in the city. It may have appeared to the rest of the country that the protests came out of nowhere, but Woods knew it was a longer fuse than that. “From 8-year-old girls to 80-year-old women, they were being stopped every time you walk out of your house,” he said. “They were sat down by police, searched, and that didn’t happen in the more mixed neighborhood that I live in, Mount Vernon. It didn’t happen in the arts district neighborhoods.” Those practices had been in place only in neighborhoods that tended to be high-crime areas and predominantly populated by African- American residents. “It very much felt like an occupation of the city by those who live there,” Woods said. A long-time member of the City Paper staff, Woods said he learned a lot about using technology to report what he saw, noting that his wife knew he was safe so long as his Twitter feed was active. Access to multimedia platforms courtesy of smartphones changed the way the story was told. “I was videoing, taking pictures, sending out live pictures right then, tweeting where locations of marches were, what police were doing, trying to get photographs of name badges on police as much as possible," he said. He also leaned on previous work from the Baltimore Sun, the city’s daily newspaper, which had recently run an investigative piece on members of the city’s police department that had been involved in settlements were police brutality was alleged.  "I wanted to see how many of those guys were on the front lines. One of the main guys we saw right there on the front lines, commanding people. Everyone knew that this guy was in trouble, had trouble with the community, had trouble with command and he was right there on the front lines," Woods said. The constant presence between protestors and police made a lasting impact on Woods. “I’d never felt like what we were doing was as important as I did then,” he said. On this week's It's All Journalism podcast, IAJ producer Michael O'Connell talks to Baynard Woods, editor at large of the Baltimore City Paper. Woods shares his first-hand experience covering the protests, riots and uprisings that took place last April following the funereal of Freddie Gray, an African-American youth who died in police custody. Woods talks about the challenges of covering a big, breaking news story while navigating the often violent confrontation between protesters and the Baltimore City Police.

I had the pleasure of speaking Saturday, Sept. 12, at the Mid-Atlantic Podcast Conference in Westville, New Jersey. It was a great opportunity to meet a bunch of podcasters from the East Coast and learn about the great work they're doing. One of the people I met was Joe Pardo of the inspirational Dreamers Podcast. I can attest that Joe is a real-life dreamer and a pretty cool dude. He organized the conference and runs a network that hosts four other podcasts. How cool is he? He took 10 minutes out of running a podcasting conference to talk to me about what inspires him. Enjoy this mini, mid-week episode featuring my conversation with Joe. -- Michael O'Connell