High school football highlights on MiamiHerald.com

This year, the Miami Herald is partnering with Recruitflix.com to offer high school football video highlights online.

Check out the highlights from yesterday's Northwestern-Columbus playoff game.

The local newspaper is still one of the only places for parents and fans to get their high school football news, so this should be a valuable resource for the website.

Help determine Obama's agenda

A recent Miami Herald article detailed Obama's plans to not only broadcast his weekly address on YouTube, but also to appoint the first-ever Chief Technology Officer.

The most intriguing part of his plans is the idea of running a website where citizens can vote on policy issues and bring up issues that should be considered.

An example of such a website is online now. The most votes (over 11,000 for the first-place option) have come in on what the CTO's priorities should be.

The website isn't run by the Obama campaign, rather a civic software company, but is an example of what the Obama administration could use to dialoge with the American people.

Bryan Pata update

ESPN's Outside the Lines recently featured a story updating the Bryan Pata murder case from two years ago.

It's a tough story to watch but the production is well done and the interview is poignant.

The cuts to clips of Pata playing are in logical spots, and the camera stays on his mother at the right moments to capture her emotion.

If NPR can reinvent itself...

The American Journalism Review recently ran a story about NPR's transition from radio-focused to online multimedia-focused. They're sending journalists through a five-week intensive training program to teach them skills for producing for the web.

NPR is just about the last media organization I would expect to "get it," but if they can realize the need for a shift toward new techniques, why aren't certain others quick to jump on board too?

New president, new media

The Miami Herald recently featured a video story telling of President-elect Obama's plan to broadcast his weekly radio address on YouTube.

For the American public, this seems like a great idea as it helps him stay accountable and it allows the public to directly view his speeches. But for the traditional media, this could mean consumers who ordinarily get their presidential coverage in the newspapers or broadcast media would be able to get it free on YouTube.

Opinion articles vs. reader comments

Opinion pages have been an important aspect of newspapers since the Hearst era. But now that articles are online and readers are given the chance to respond below the article, the question of the opinion's impact emerges.

In Israel Gutierrez's recent article on the Hurricanes' win over the Virginia Tech Hokies, readers lit him up on everything from changing his opinion earlier in the season to holding an SEC bias (and those are just the ones clean enough to note). One reader even directed fans to "fire israel gutierrez dot com," though it doesn't look like that website exists. I couldn't find a single comment saying anything positive about the article or the writer.

Which begs the question: what is an opinion writer's job? Is it to fit the prevailing opinion of the audience? Is it to offer his or her opinion, no matter how unpopular?

And if people read the writer's articles but disagree, is that still good for business?

I've been told two things about reader comments: 1) Don't pay attention to them, commenting is just a way for people to semi-anonymously post opinions they would never put their name behind, or 2) Read them since your readers are your reason for existing as a writer.

So which is it?

Still photo and audio project on the Frost Symphony Orchestra Violin section

Check out this audio-photo slideshow I did on the violin section of Frost Symphony Orchestra. It's a rough cut but let me know what you think.