Amir Kurtovic

Freelance Journalist, Writer and Social Media Victim

Free “Journalism Bootcamp” for St. Louis Area Journalism Students

The St. Louis chapter of the Society for Professional Journalist is hosting a “Journalism Bootcamp” on Saturday, Jan. 30 at the SUIE Saint Louis University campus. Registration is over in a few days, so hurry up if you are interested.

Seminars offered during the boot camp include:
•    Covering Higher Education (Kavita Kumar—St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
•    Writing Killer Editorials (Gilbert Bailon—St. Louis Post-Dispatch Editorial Page Editor)
•    Investigative Journalism, especially crime (Jeremy Kohler—St. Louis Post-Dispatch Investigative Reporter)
•    Amazing Photos
•    Headlines That Rock, Design that Dazzle
•    One-on-one editing sessions that pair you with a pro who will edit your photos or stories
•    Covering Entertainment and other specialty beats

The boot camp is free and open to any college student in the St. Louis metro area. Lunch will be provided. Street parking or Laclede Garage available. Space is limited and the last day to register is Jan. 27. Reserve your place by emailing: Shera Dalin – shera@carismedia.com or 314-223-8743 or
Tammy Merrett-Murry – tmerret@siue.edu or 618-650-3597

3 Comments by AmirKurtovic  /  January 25, 2010  /  Posted in: Journalism
Tagged: , , ,

The truthiness about online news

Dogbert on Online News

Dogbert on Online News

No Comments by AmirKurtovic  /  December 21, 2009  /  Posted in: Digital Media, Journalism

St. Louis Globe-Democrat may harm your computer

ScaldedDog

Scalded Dog Web Hosting, a company owned by the Globe-Democrat's new owner Dan Rositano, is blacklisted on Google for being potentially damaging.

The announcement that the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, a newspaper that folded in the ’80s, would be revived in an online-only format was greeted with a bit of enthusiasm by people like myself (future unemployed journalists). A new outlet and possible place to freelance, I thought. Plus, the guy in charge, Dan Rositano, is the owner of an IT firm and former IT director for a TV channel.

Maybe an IT guy that understands technology better than some journalists is the right guy to start an online-only news organization?

After looking into Rositano’s business ventures, however, I am not convinced of that anymore.

Scalded Dog Web Hosting, one of Rositano’s businesses, has managed to get blacklisted by Google.

SDOGINTERACTIVE.COM, the domain in question, was registered June 13, 2007 through GoDaddy.com. According to the Missouri Secretary of State website, Scalded Dog Interactive, LLC was created January 15, 2008. It was registered by Rositano under the same address listed on the application for the St. Louis Globe Democrat, LLC.

A call to Rositano was not immediately returned, so I don’t have his side of the story. But, the fact that a Web Hosting company is blacklisted on the Web doesn’t leave a good first impression about the future of the new Globe-Democrat.

According to Google, the warning means that the website in question may try to install malicious software:

We want our users to feel safe when they search the web, and we’re continuously working to identify dangerous sites and increase protection for our users. This warning message appears with search results we’ve identified as sites that may install malicious software on your computer

The website is also blocked by Mozilla:

scaldedDogAttack

No Comments by AmirKurtovic  /  November 19, 2009  /  Posted in: Digital Media, Journalism, News
Tagged: , ,

On-line Frelance Wrting a.k.a. Slav Laber for Moroons

Ok guys, like, you totally have to check this out. If your a awesomlly good writer, you can make the big bucks online writing like 20 great “articles” a days.

Here’s an example of the great jobs the awate those with great writing abilitys, curtosee of GetAFreelancer.com:

Freelance_1

Yes, you read rite: “Quality Writers needef ro big project”

So, is you a quality writer? Cause if you is, you could make big money on this big project.

Heres the down-low-and-dirty-skinny on this bizniss:

Hello,
We are looking out for professional writers for a long term Job.
We want writers who can write high quality articles(magazine style) and can easily deliver 25+ articles in a day.
Our main concern is quality and we want only writers who can write high quality articles.

Our price for 500 words original article is $2.
We pay only through paypal and payment is on a daily basis.

Conditions:
—————————————
Should be able to write High/excellent quality articles.
Should check each article in copyscape to ensure its 100% copyscape passed.
Should be able to deliver a minimum of 25+ articles/Day.
Should be able to write in wide niches.

If you are following the above conditions then feel free to BID with your samples.

We have 2000-4000 articles per month project so if anyone winning this will have a full time job for a very long time.

If your writing is simple english then Plz dont bid as i want only high quality content.

Before you apply for this super sweet gig, please read the last line carefuly. “If your writing is simple enligsh then Plz dont bid as i want only high quality content.” Yous prolly askin yourself what simple english is, rite? Well, simple english is the stupid version of english when yous have to captalize nouns and get all the rite letters in the rite order a.k.a. spell rite.

No Comments by AmirKurtovic  /  November 16, 2009  /  Posted in: Digital Media
Tagged:

How to do a slideshow the right way

I came across this slideshow (below) on globalpost.com and thought it was an excellent example of what a good slideshow should be. It has interesting photos, compelling subject matter, and great narration. Granted, it is a slideshow from a patrol in Afghanistan. The one positive aspect of war, if such a thing exists, is that it always produces great photos and stories. But you don’t need a war to effectively present a story in slideshow format.

The reporter, Finbarr O’Reilly, uses his photos to tell the story, while his narration reflects the mood and actions taking place. There are a lot of shots of soldiers marching,  soldiers in frantic combat, soldiers engulfed in dust clouds. The reporter talks about the “fog of war” and the lack of a clear strategy; the uncertainty felt by soldiers about a war that doesn’t seem to have an end in sight. The selection of photos and the tone of the narration work together perfectly to paint the picture of an uncertain and dangerous situation.

Another reason I love this slideshow is for its lack of cutlines. “Every photo needs a cutline” is a line that most journalists have probably heard before. But for a slideshow like this, I believe cutlines would only distract from the photos and narration.

Of course, most of us are probably more comfortable writing cutlines than recording narration. But you don’t have to be Morgan Freeman to be able to speak into a microphone and tell a story. View the slideshow below and consider how it would be without narration and with text at the bottom of every photo. It simply wouldn’t work.

1 Comment by AmirKurtovic  /  November 9, 2009  /  Posted in: Digital Media, Journalism
Tagged: , , , , , ,
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »