Journalism- Is Long-Form Dying?

     I feel that long-form journalism will survive, however it will not be as popular or as commonly read. When someone is especially interested in a topic, they will take the time to read more in-depth information about it. There are times when it is necessary to uncover details and learn about something beyond a 140-word summary. However, I do realize that I find myself getting a little bored after a few pages of a long-form journalism article if it does not really, really draw me in. I find myself more interested in reading fiction when it comes to reading long peices.
     Especially in the case of investigative pieces, long-form journalism is important. For example, last semester a journalist who uncovered the injustices of the Philadelphia court system spoke to my class. His articles prompted people to make changes in Philadelphia because he drew attention to the issue. There will always be a need for that type of long-form journalism, because a short summary of the injustices would not be enough. The journalist needed facts and tons of support and sources to make his case and stand up for his findings against an entire court system.
    Although Twitter can be useful and interesting, especially because it supports being concise and only saying what is necessary, it cannot provide the facts and details necessary to prove certain points, nor can it tell an in-depth story or describe a scene to the extent that you feel like you are there.

Interview Framing

If I could redo one of my interviews for my final piece, I would go back to my interview with Dr. MJ Bishop, an expert in instructional media with an Ed.D. in educational technology. We had to reschedule our first interview because I was sick, and when we finally did meet in her office at Iacocca Hall, I was still getting over laryngitis and could barely talk. 


My horse voice, however, wasn't the main impediment in the interview. I am researching the detrimental affects of technology and social media on teens and was hoping that Dr. Bishop could shed some light on this subject. But, Dr. Bishop has devoted her life to developing technologies for learning in and out of the classroom, she believes technology can serve as a benefit to our kids, and thus was very hesitant to discuss technology or social media in any negative contexts. During the interview Dr. Bishop acknowledged that yes technology can have pitfalls, but despite my pointed questions, would not discuss or elaborate on these issues. I can use her interview to add a new angle to my piece about the positive affects of technology, but was disappointed I couldn't get any juicy tidbits about technology and media's unfavorable side in the interview.


Instead of going back to interview Dr. Bishop, I will interview one of her colleagues that she referred me to. I can work with my questions so that they can better extract information about the negative side of technology and media without the interviewee feeling as though they are betraying their work. This may be a sizable challenge.

Interview Ease

In general, my interviews have gone very well. Most of the questions that I have asked are the same, based on whether the person I am talking to is a student-athlete or the organizer of the program. Because of the nature of the questions, the interviewees have had a lot to talk about in terms of their experiences abroad and what they have gotten from the programs. I found in general that student-athletes were more excited to talk about their trips than the organizers. However, when I spoke to organizers about what inspired them to found the organization, they were very passionate about sharing information with me. One difficulty that I have had is in talking to people with religion as their basis for going abroad to volunteer. These religious people continually emphasized the importance of God and spreading the Christian faith. While I think it's great that religion brings them together, it was hard for me to relate on that matter and continue with follow-up questions to get the answers that I was hoping for. Otherwise, the interview process has been a great success!

Interview Progress

My interviews have been going well. I would say that my only complain is that it's difficult to get anecdotes out of my subjects, since there typically isn't a "story" behind their food. While most people love food, and everyone consumes it every day, many don't think about the specific tastes they've experienced, and many don't know how to describe a meal with anything other than the words "tasty," "good" and "delicious." My biggest challenge is getting my interview subjects to open up about the sensations they experience when eating a meal. I plan to go back and re-interview many of my subjects to get that necessary information.

Interview Intervention

When i first started my article, I decided to do a trend piece in which I investigated whether studying abroad has become more of a semester-long vacation, or has stuck to its roots of providing students with a unique cultural and education opportunity. With this in mind, I went into my first interview with all of my questions related to this topic. They included questions such as, "What made you want to go abroad," "What did you hope to accomplish while you were abroad," "How did you spend your time while you were abroad," "What classes did you take abroad," "What is your major," "How was the location/language of your study abroad destination related to your major," etc. As you can see, all of these questions were slanted in a way that I hoped would elicit responses which told me that the student went abroad for enjoyment purposes. As a result, my first interview did not go very well. My interviewee was an Economics major that studied abroad at Oxford University for an entire ear. I learned that his study abroad experience was solely about getting professional internship experience to boost his resume - not for "vacation" purposes whtasoever. I should have done more research beforehand to find out some deeper background information about my interviewee. Even so, I ended up getting a lot of information about the abroad experience as a whole. It also turned out to be beneficial because most of my interviewees revealed that they, too, went abroad for purposes other than leisure and vacation. As a result, I changed the direction of my article into a how-to piece about everything you need to know about the abroad experience. Ultimately what I learned is that it is important to go into an interview with an open mind, and without the intent of soliciting preconceived notions of what you think or want the interviewee to tell you. The remaining of my interviews went much more smoothly, and I got a lot of great feedback!

Interviewing

Because I switched my topic from engaging in your college town to a profile piece on Godfrey Daniels, I'm way behind on interviewing. To date, I only have one interview completed, but I'll have two more done by the end of the week.

It turns out that Godfrey Daniels, the little local music venue down on 4th Street next to the Funhouse, is actually a non-profit organization. They've been around since 1976, and there seems to be a very rich history there.

My first interviewee, a member of Godfrey's board of directors, was extremely helpful in many ways. He's been involved with Godfrey's since the 1980s, and he was able to give me quite a bit of background. He also pointed me toward two sources--one of which has the potential of being a jackpot. John Gorka (a pretty famous folk musician) started his career at Godfrey's while he was a student at Moravian, at one point actually living in the basement of Godfrey's. I've already contacted him through his Facebook page, and he's gotten back to me. We're in the process of scheduling an interview.

This all said, I'm definitely looking into getting a tape recorder for my upcoming interviews. I know it takes more time in transcribing it, but I know it will be worth it in the long run.

Final Project

After completely abandoning my original idea about investigating how advertisers are now using social networking websites to behaviorally target their audiences, I decided to go down a road I have always enjoyed more: service piece. Two summers ago, I interned for Alloy Media & Marketing as an online marketing intern. Part of my work was blogging for them and the blogs I posted were all, essentially, service pieces. I remembered how much I enjoyed giving advice,  and I am very happy with my change in direction.

In addition to changing the type of piece I'm writing, I also drastically changed my topic. I will now be writing about Bethlehem's Best Eats, and looking into the top ten best restaurants on the north and south sides of Bethlehem. Personally, I love food. I love going out to restaurants and I love fine dining. I'm excited that I'll be writing something I have a passion for.

Now that I have a new and better direction for my piece, I have two main challenges:

1. How do I make this evergreen piece relevant to March 2011? How do I make it unique and stand out and how can I write a piece on the best restaurants without being repetitive? I'm sure someone's covered this topic before, so I need a new, fresh angle.
2. How do I find "expert" sources in this matter? This isn't like an "academic" topic, where I can find professors who are experts in the topic. It's more about opinion. I suppose I could ask a "food expert" but because it's so specific to this area, I'm unsure if looking for one on HelpaReporter.com will be helpful.

Overall, I'm pleased with my new direction, but I hope I can get some great advice on the challenges expressed above.