News Media by Joe WilcoxAug 2, 20155:53 pm

Responsible Reporting Section 3 ‘What You Must Do’: Chapter III

The next several chapters of my ebook Responsible Reporting: Field Guide for Bloggers, Journalists, and Other Online News Gatherers are among the most important for reporting responsibly, ethically, and without conflicts of interest. The themes are recurrent on my website, and any regular readers should immediately recognize them.

Today’s installment explains the importance of audience trust, and builds from previous chapters, particularly I and II from the same section. But to best follow the logical flow, you should start at the beginning: Foreward; Section 1, Chapters I and II, III and IV, V and VI; Section 2, Chapters I, II, III, IV, and V.

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 2, 201512:05 am

Flickr a Day 214: ‘Happy Birthday’

We pause from the recent run of black and whites—but not yesterday’s colorful Cecil the lion—to calmly celebrate. Today, my daughter turns 21, as did Scott Ackerman when he shot this photo on Jan. 23, 2011, using the Pentax K-x. Vitals: f/4.5, ISO 3200, 1/50 sec, 42.5mm.

Scott expresses something my daughter does: “I’m mainly celebrating this birthday because I can now go out to bars with friends and not have to worry about being carded even though I don’t drink alcohol”. I worry she will imbibe. Scott joined Flickr in June 2008. You also can find him on Tumblr and Twitter.

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 1, 20156:50 am

Flickr a Day 213: ‘Cecil’

There are few events to take the Internet’s attention hostage like this week’s outrage over the death of a 13 year-old Zimbabwean lion. Vince O’Sullivan photographed the proud animal one year ago today—Aug. 1, 2014. He updated the caption to add context better coming from him than me.

“This is, of course, ‘Cecil’—the lion famously shot and wounded by crossbow fired by American dentist Walter Palmer in July 2015 and then shot, killed, skinned, and beheaded for trophies two days later”, Vince explains. “Living in a nature reserve, Cecil was completely inured to people in vehicles that didn’t interfere with him or his prey. So approaching him closely was never difficult, a daily occurrence for him and something he paid no attention to”.

Critters by Joe WilcoxJul 31, 20156:56 pm

When the Crowd Roars

The Internet backlash against dentist Walter Palmer for killing Cecil the lion is one of the best examples of mob journalism ever. The narrative spreading across the InterWebs is some ways well-meaning but in many more is destructive. Meanwhile, the force of collective-will tempts too many journalists to join the mob opinion, when they should stand aside and offer objective and responsible reporting.

Before writing another word, I must praise National Geographic for the best reporting about this event. The magazine offers broader perspective and, more importantly, puts big game hunting into larger context, while taking an objective tone. The raging mob’s perspective is myopic, and news sites supporting it fail the public good.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJul 31, 20157:17 am

Flickr a Day 212: ‘Old Man and His Sheep’

July ends with a local photographer, here in sunny San Diego. Paul Sapiano takes the Day for a poignant photo from the petting zoo. “I found it quite touching that some comfort was being provided […]

Apple by Joe WilcoxJul 30, 201511:15 am

This is How the Economist Looks on My iPad Air 2

Do you see anything missing? Nothing essential other than most of the content per page. At times like these my paranoia meter rises and I resist, often with difficulty, giving in to conspiracy theories.

This problem started with installation of iOS 9 Beta (second now). The operating system makes changes to the Newsstand, which future role is questionable. Apple is prepping a new Flipboard-like News app and content deals with it. I always wonder who exerts pressure on whom during the licensing negotiations process.

Gear by Joe WilcoxJul 30, 201510:36 am

Shopping for a Windows 10 PC

My brother-in-law’s Dell laptop, so old it shipped with, and still had, 1GB RAM, died last week. He emailed asking my buying advice about a Windows 7 replacement. Reasoning: He would move up from XP. But his dad stepped in, offered to pay, and I, acting as agent (being the more knowledgable about computers), suggested $400 budget. By coincidence, shopping day coincided with Windows 10’s launch.

Timing couldn’t be better, with the rush of new 10s, discounts to clear out old inventory, and typical back-to-school season sales. I expected to grab good gear. Choosing for my brother-in-law is quite different than for myself. I prefer something smaller and lighter, with high-resolution screen. He wanted a larger screen (we agreed on 15.6 inches), full-size keyboard, DVD player, and WiFi. Meaning: Roomy and backward-compatible with what he has already. I confidently looked for something within budget.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJul 30, 20156:45 am

Flickr a Day 211: ‘NYPD’

Candid street portraits rarely capture as much character—eh, from cops—as today’s selection, which Brett Sayer captured on April 22, 2013, using Nikon D7000 and 50mm f/1.8 lens. Vitals: f/2, ISO 100, 1/400 sec, 50mm. The […]

Music by Joe WilcoxJul 29, 20158:31 pm

Tidal Gets a Replay

Frak, I can hear the difference. Immediately. Tidal sent email inviting me to resubscribe. I cancelled the day before Apple Music launched, offering three months free streaming. I spent weeks adjusting to the mushier, bassier […]

Photo by Joe WilcoxJul 29, 20156:41 am

Flickr a Day 210: ‘Doctors Make Me Nervous’

Other than perhaps physical size, today’s compacts little resemble models that advanced the category, like the 3.3-megapixel Canon S20 I purchased in mid-2000. Price differs, too. The then state-of-the-art digicam sold for about $900, if I recall rightly. Gasp, or was it more? Fifteen years later, compacts like the Nikon CoolPix A put some of the best features of the dSLR into a much smaller device, for much less spent. The camera packs in an APS-C sensor—DX in Nikon-speak—excellent low-light performance, and fixed-focal length (e.g, prime) lens.

Jake Stimpson demonstrates just what image quality a camera like the Nikon A delivers in competent hands. The pastor for Biserica Piatra Vie, in Bucharest, Romania, captures candids that make you wonder: “What?” He shot self-titled “Doctors Make Me Nervous” on April 24, 2015. Vitals: f/2.8, ISO 1600, 1/250 sec, 18.5mm. The pic takes the Day for clarity and composition and for being interesting.

Journalism by Joe WilcoxJul 28, 20154:30 pm

Whither Windows Death?

Over at BetaNews I pose question “Will you upgrade to Windows 10?” and provide readers a poll to answer the question. Timing coincides with the official launch of the platform tomorrow. To be brutally honest, I seriously considered using headline: “Will you upgrade to Windows Death?”

Because: if Windows 10 doesn’t succeed it will be the last viable version, given the success of Android or iOS; shipments of both mobile platforms either match or exceed Windows computers; and Microsoft’s advancing cloud strategy signals the end of Windows as we have come to know it, as the operating system evolves and updates in a manner more like Chrome OS than the big release delivered every few years. Then there is the criticism, much of it among beta testers, that makes upgrading to Windows 10 seem like Death.

Apple by Joe WilcoxJul 28, 201510:38 am

Hey, Apple Music, Glitch or Licensing Change?

Sometimes I need loud power pop to drive my writing. While working on a story about Windows 10 for BetaNews, I selected R5 to stream from Apple Music—and not for the first time. I started with track No. 6, “Smile”, which is among the two highest-rated tracks from album “Sometime Last Night“. But today, rather than the full song, I get a 90-second preview.

What the frak?