Category

writing

03.03.10

Persistence of Chicago Art Galleries CAR, class, data visualizations, projects, writing | (1)
I've spent the quarter compiling and analyzing data exploring the persistence of Chicago art galleries, as a way of exploring CAR for the arts. I found a list from the Chicago Artists' Coalition of 96 such businesses that existed in 1990, and tracked their fate. A story summarizing the trend follows (an assignment for my Arts Reporting class). You can see the accompanying searchable database here. That page will also soon include a Flash visualization exploring the decline in those original galleries over time, sortable by area and medium. (UPDATE 3/7/10: The Flash visualization is now posted.) Continue Reading...
04.05.09

State of Healthcare Journalism health, writing | (0)
In mid-March, the Kaiser Family Foundation released a study on the state of healthcare journalism in the U.S. As a budding journalist with a relatively new interest in the field, my self-recognized lack of years of experience is temepred by a completely unbridled passion and enthusiasm. So delving into the pages I go, to figure out what can be done differently. What is it that journalists aren't doing? The study says that the greatest issue journalists have is a lack of time. Study stories replace the issues, as editors push for quick turnarounds. This prevents journalists from doing in-depth analysis and ...
02.08.09

“You don’t have to reinvent the wheel, Michelle” theory, web, writing | (0)
As some of you may know, my reporting beat at Medill right now is medical research. One of my recent struggles has been fulfilling my class' requirements for taking pictures, which is tough to do when dealing with large Chicago hospitals. Perseverance can get you to speak to the chief of surgery, but it's very hard to get in the door to take a photo. As I commented to one of my professors that I meant to do a diagram to make up for this, but instead had merely found a picture of an x-ray that showed the device I ...
02.01.09

Corrections theory, web, writing | (0)
What I'm about to say may mystify you, as I virtually throw myself over the bridge, in front of the bus, whatever metaphor you choose. Whatever happened to accountability for fact errors in journalism? Yes, as a practicing journalist I realize just how easy it is to make a fact error accidentally. And every time a journalist writes anything, her byline and reputation is on the line. In the Internet age, that's scary. Every word I'm writing right now is posted under a domain bearing my first and last name, it's more than a little frightening. But that's ...
01.11.09

"Alternative Storytelling" theory, web, writing | (1)
I have a problem. I'm interested in too much. After the first week of my second quarter at Medill, I have eight story ideas I'm working on. To give you some perspective, we are supposed to have 15 done by the end of the quarter. There are 11 weeks in a quarter. 8 times 11 = 88. 88 does not equal 15. This is a better problem than the opposite I suppose, which would be needing 88 stories and having 15. And before I get going, make no mistake. I love Medill. I learn more there in a day than in ...