Clips of the Week

It’s been unseasonably cold, but seasonably busy as we head into the homestretch of another action-filled semester. Here are some examples of our reporters’ latest work:

• Barry Paddock, working for the Daily News, covered the tragic death of a FDNY lieutenant killed battling a Staten Island blaze.
• The TV studio was in full swing Friday with the latest edition of Talking Health – Political Promises, hosted by Prof. Lieberman and produced by Prof. Williston. The first live hour-long video webcast from our TV studio came together with the help of CUNY TV, the J-School Tech Staff, and the following students: Lauren Bonner, Angela Donadic, Caitlin Drexler, Jessica Firger, Emily Mayer, Tuan Nguyen, Shuka Kalantari, Maureen Ker, Djenny Passe-Rodriguez, Jennifer Saavedra and Erica Sullivan.
• Our radio studio also was buzzing this week – with music. The latest edition of Culture Shock,produced by Abi Ishola, Erin O’Neill, and Craig Thompson, featured a live performance by fusion musicians Gaida and Amir El Saffar.
• Matt Townsend got taken for a ride in this fun Daily News video.
• Sarah Trefethen’s story about a Bronx pastor who established a new church made the Norwood News.
• Just in time for the long-awaited release of “Chinese Democracy,” Kaili Boyd interviewed new Guns ‘N Roses guitarist Bumblefoot. Her article was featured in am New York.
• Lakshmi Gandhi covered the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families’ Caring for Children awards ceremony for SAJA Forum.
• Sergey Kadinsky scored clips in the Jewish Press (he covered the funeral of a slain do-gooder) and the Amsterdam News (he profiled a young black Republican). I have a copy of the Amsterdam News story in my office — feel free to come on by for a look.
• Ria Julien’s piece about how changes in the state Senate might lead to the repeal of the Rockeller Drug Laws made Lives in Focus.
• Clark Merrefield’s story about Queen State Sen. Frank Padavan’s push for re-election was published in The Capitol.
• Collin Orcutt found an inspirational Marathon story for his hometown paper, The Herald Gazette of Maine.

Congrats to all – and keep ‘em coming!

Hard to believe we’re entering the final month of the semester. Here are some of the latest results of our reporters’ continuing hard work:

• Joshua Cinelli wrote an article for City Hall about local efforts to boost the economy by luring more foreign investment.
• We all know quitting smoking saves lives and money – Francesca Levy offers a state-by-state look at the dollars kept by kicking the habit in this article-and-slideshow package for Forbes.
• Heather Chin reaped the benefits of hopping on a breaking story with her video piece about the New York Times hoax edition distributed last week. Her video accompanies an article put together in short order by the News Service class.
• Joe Filippazzo’s News Service story about Bobby Fischer’s FBI file was picked up by El Nuevo Herald, and got many blog links.
• Karina Ioffee profiled a popular sari tailor for the Queens Courier. (Note: as of this writing, the link seems to be broken. I’ll check into it.)
• Sergey Kadinsky wrote about incumbent Assemblymember Marge Markey’s reelection for the Queens Tribune (I have a copy in my office – feel free to come by for a look.)
• If you missed our latest podcasts during the week, check them out here: Health Pods, produced by Loren Bonner, Shuka Kalantari, and Djenny Passe-Rodriguez; and This Place Called Home, produced by Linnea Covington, Celina Fang, and Tyler Mitter.
• Collin (Hoops) Orcutt predicts great things for the Lakers in his latest Men’s Fitness blog post.
• Busy Barry Paddock shared a byline on this Daily News story about a drunk driving tragedy.

What a week! We produced more than 40 story packages on Election Day alone, as well as completed our great interactive map. Some of our work was widely linked to, and run by Off The Bus, Our Town, the West Side Spirit and the Queens Courier.

As Dean Shepard noted, we kept the momentum going with Cristina Alesci’s David Halberstam/FBI file scoop. The AP piece was picked up locally and around the country –  NY 1, Channel 4, WNYC, the Village Voice, the Daily Beast (Tina Brown’s new internet venture), and many other media outlets and blogs ran the report and/or linked to us.

The election coverage and Halberstam story helped fuel the News Service’s strongest month ever: more than 30,000 page views for the 30-day period ending yesterday.  Simply tremendous – and another of sign how much impact our work can have.

There are too many contributors to the election coverage to mention – suffice to say, it was a school-wide effort. Meanwhile, some of our reporters still found time to do other stories. Here are some of the latest pieces (forgive me if I’ve missed anybody – our reporters produced so much great work this week, I’m having a hard time keeping up.):

• Matt Townsend shared a byline on this Daily News Marathon story about a firefighter’s inspirational comeback.
• Claudia Cruz, who filed election dispatches from Ohio to Off The Bus, saw two magazine pieces published this week: She asked actor and filmmaker Manny Perez a few questions about his upcoming flick, “The Butcher’s Son,” for Mujer Unica, a national women’s magazine in the Dominican Republic. Writing for Elan Magazine, she profiled a Barcelona DJ who takes risks spinning world music.
• Clark Merrefield wrote about Mayor Bloomberg’s grim budget revisions for City Hall.
• Mathew Warren helped put together this nytimes.com video featuring Muslim NYU students talking about how Islam was used by the McCain and Obama campaigns.
• Collin Orcutt takes on Marbury, Iverson and the rest of the NBA in his latest Men’s Fitness blog post.
• Ben Fractenberg took on Sarah Palin in this pre-Election Day blog post for Off The Bus.

Congrats to all on a week to remember – and keep ‘em coming!

There were a lot of numbers being thrown around during all the election post-mortems today. We generated some impressive statistics of our own:

• We produced 40 stories yesterday, many of them packed with video, audio, and slideshows, and worked on by teams. That’s on top of the 25 pieces we completed in the five weeks leading up to the election.
• Our Interactive I reporters interviewed several hundred people to get the 250 audio bites featured on our interactive vox pop map, a feature I’m confident will become a hallmark of our News Service.
• Our News Service drew 15 times its normal traffic yesterday – by far, our, biggest day ever. In addition, some of our Election Day work was picked up by the Amsterdam News, the West Side Spirit, Our Town, the Queens Courier and Off The Bus. I also see many links coming in from all kinds of blogs (including one that appears to be in Dutch!) I’m sure many more outlets will find our stories in the days to come.
• We snapped too many pictures to count.
• We consumed 200 slices of pizza.

Our stories, though, weren’t about numbers – our pieces were about New Yorkers on a day in history.

Our approach to coverage also was people-driven: Teamwork ruled the day.

Everybody – staff, faculty,  our reporters and editors from the Classes of ‘08 and ‘09 – worked hard to make our effort a success.

Thanks to one and all for your ideas, support and enthusiasm. I was thrilled to be in our newsroom yesterday, and to be part of our great coverage on an unforgettable day.

Even with the end of Daylight Savings Time, there still aren’t enough hours in the day for all the reporting our staff is somehow managing to do.

We added 14 election-related stories to the News Service this week – including pieces that were picked up by Off The Bus (via Lives in Focus), am New York and the Queens Courier.

I won’t list them all here, but you can check out our stories on our nearly ready-for-prime-time election site. The interactive map, featuring our massive audio vox pop spanning the city, is almost completed, thanks to the hard work of our first-semester reporters, Interactive I profs, Russell Chun and Drew Geraets.

The map hasn’t quite gone live yet, but due to a technical quirk, many of the individual posts are on the web – and the Village Voice has noticed. The Voice’s post on our project has been picked up by several local blogs.

Much more of our election coverage, of course, is yet to come.

Here are some of the non-election pieces our reporters somehow found the time to work on this week:

• Mathew Warren helped assemble this NYtimes.com video about an Iraq war veteran adjusting to his new life as a student at the Borough of Manhattan Community College.
• Dan Macht’s article about the thaw of the municipal bond market found a home in Crain’s New York Business.
• Barry Paddock contributed to this Daily News story about two brothers killed in a Brooklyn shootout with cops.
• AnnMarie Costella’s review of a provacative exhibit by the British artist Bansky made The Villager.
• Jessica Firger’s fun talker about how some pet shelters ban black cat adoptions around Halloween became a Page 3 story for am New York.
• Linnea Covington’s feature on the latest frozen yogurt boom (Pinkberry, anyone?) made New York Press.
• Last week, you read Collin Orcutt on the NFL. This week, he takes on the NBA for Men’s Fitness.
• Sergey Kadinsky wrote a couple of local profiles for the Queens Tribune. I have copies in my office – come on by for a look.
• In case you missed the live audio webcast of Culture Shock, produced by Abi Ishola, Erin O’Neill and Craig Thompson, you can check out the show here.

Congrats to all – and keep ‘em coming.