[photoshelter-gallery g_id="G0000.0BuFRK9QNg" g_name="Class-of-2018-Illumination-Ceremony" f_show_caption="t" f_show_slidenum="t" img_title="f" pho_credit="iptc" f_link="f" f_enable_embed_btn="t" f_send_to_friend_btn="t" ...
[photoshelter-gallery g_id="G00006j94Y0EHB78" g_name="National-Moment-of-Silence" f_show_caption="t" f_show_slidenum="t" img_title="f" pho_credit="iptc" f_link="f" f_enable_embed_btn="t" f_send_to_friend_btn="t" ...
[photoshelter-gallery g_id="G0000Hb9p7TEbufg" g_name="Matriculation-in-Photos" f_show_caption="t" f_show_slidenum="t" img_title="f" pho_credit="iptc" f_link="f" f_enable_embed_btn="t" f_send_to_friend_btn="t" f_fullscreen="t" ...
[photoshelter-gallery g_id="G00007UGFY8CHgOk" g_name="Wildlife-Clinic" f_show_caption="t" f_show_slidenum="t" img_title="f" pho_credit="iptc" f_link="f" f_enable_embed_btn="t" f_send_to_friend_btn="t" f_fullscreen="t" ...
When former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down from power after 14 days of ongoing protest last month, Google's Middle East and North Africa Marketing Director Wael Ghonim, a leader in the Egyptian uprising, told CNN that the Egyptian protestors had the Internet to thank for their victory."I ...
Click above to hear Alex Prewitt and Ethan Landy discuss the NFL Draft.
Anne Wermiel / Tufts Daily
View Police Blotter - Oct. 20, 2009 in a larger map
It survived the advent of the telegraph. The radio. The television. But the boom of digital media threatens to put an end to the print industry as we know it — an industry that has recorded every major event in this country over the last 200-plus years. From New York to Seattle, from Boston to Los Angeles, the news is the same: Print journalism is crumbling to pieces. The only question remaining is who will be left to cover this mammoth event. The industry has been struggling financially for some time now; the rise of digital media has threatened the business model of the print industry as, increasingly, people have opted to cancel their daily subscriptions in favor of free access to newspaper Web sites and blogs. But the industry's decline has been exacerbated by the current economic crisis — and recently, this news has hit close to home. During the last several months, the news in Boston has become grim: The New York Times Co. might shut down The Boston Globe, a staple of Boston-area news since 1872. And over the last few weeks, the situation became so dire as to culminate in a stare-down between the Boston Newspaper Guild and the Times Co. For years, the Globe has been considered a premier newspaper in this country, and even just a decade ago, the events of the last few weeks would have seemed unrealistic at best, ludicrous at worst. The numbers are real, however: Company executives say the paper lost $50 million in 2008, and if things continue down the same path, it will lose another $85 million in 2009 on less than $500 million in revenue. This is the age we are now faced with — one in which blogs seem to double in number every day and our poor newspaper industry seems destined for our history books, a mere relic of the past. Yet this does not take away from the general regret we feel as student journalists for our lost art form and, more specifically, for the potential loss of the Globe. The idea of the paper closing is not only sad for nostalgic reasons but also for its potential effect on politics in Boston and the industry as a whole. In an April 4 article published in the Globe, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino reflected on the crucial role the newspaper has so long played in Boston politics. "The Globe holds people accountable on the issues, and that's important," he said. "We might not like it sometimes. Sometimes we don't agree. But they ask the tough questions." It is likely that the "Globe" name will survive the storm — perhaps the Times Co. will be able to sell it for a fraction of the record $1.1 billion it paid for the paper in 1993 — but gone are the days of a Boston newspaper with a world-class international and national bureau. Gone are the days when Boston-area residents wake up to find a copy of the paper nestled on their doormats. Gone are the days when New Englanders will look solely to the newspaper for answers, analysis and commentary on all things Boston. There's just too much competition. People just don't pick up hard copies of the newspaper anymore. On weekdays, the Globe has a paid circulation of 303,000 — 466,000 on Sundays — which ranks it 17th and 13th, respectively, in those categories nationally. Yet subscriptions have been slashed by a third since 2000. And while the paper's newsroom employs some 340 people, that is a far cry from the 500 it employed at the beginning of the decade. The New York Times Co. is feeling the pinch, reporting an astronomical loss of $57.8 million in 2008 and $74.5 million in the first quarter of 2009. So where does this put us — those aspiring journalists who grew up hearing stories of Woodward and Bernstein and who, one day, dreamed of seeing our bylines above the fold on the front page of The New York Times? For starters, it puts us out of jobs, along with the rest of today's graduating senior class. But in the future, perhaps it will enable us to be innovators of a new breed of journalism. Print copies of publications may cease to exist, but there will always remain a place for journalists in our society — people who can continue to ask the "tough questions," report the major events of the day and hold our government accountable. In 1823, Thomas Jefferson told John Adams, "The light which has been shed on mankind by the art of printing has eminently changed the condition of the world … And while printing is preserved, it can no more recede than the sun return on its course." While the sun may actually be setting on the printing press, we have new forms of communication that are on the rise, altering journalism in ways that just two decades ago could have never been imagined. There will always be a place for journalists — they just may not operate in the traditional manner. And perhaps that's a good thing. Perhaps future journalists will be challenged to look at stories in new ways, with multiple audiences in mind. Jefferson also famously said, "A press that is free to investigate and criticize the government is absolutely essential in a nation that practices self-government." The country looks a lot different than it did in the early 19th century, but one thing has not changed: There will always be a place for good journalism in this country.
After yesterday's Murrow Forum, Chris Matthews, Michael Dukakis and Janet Wu sat down with the Daily to talk about the evolving journalistic landscape.
A former governor and a local television journalist debated yesterday whether the media's intrusion into politicians' private lives is a legitimate deterrent to running for public office, as part of the fourth-annual Edward R. Murrow Forum on Issues in Journalism.
Tufts' Web designers will be busy this spring renovating the Tufts Web site by revamping the site's format, style and coding by this summer. Many of the university's Web designers believe that the Tufts site, which was last updated in 2004, is due for a modernization overhaul. "If you browse through enough college and university Web sites, they all start to look the same after a while — and we didn't want Tufts.edu to look like all the rest," Director of Web Communications Bill Denneen said. "We wanted to create a new design that would really capture the uniqueness of Tufts." "The changes we are making go far beyond just putting on a new coat of paint," Denneen continued. "The site has a lot going for it — the weekly homepage feature is distinctive and very popular — but it also lacks a few things." The Department of Web Communications, part of University Relations, will execute the site renovation along with other members of the University Relations staff, according to Denneen. In an effort to better understand what people would like changed, the Web designers have sought feedback from members of the Tufts community. "We talked to dozens and dozens of people, some in phone interviews, some in focus groups and some in one-on-one usability tests to learn [what] they think about the site," Denneen said. The new site will utilize XHTML and CSS, two languages involved with Web development, in order to bring the site up to speed with other sites, Denneen said. Another change includes an expanded menu bar, according to Tufts Community Union (TCU) Vice President Scott Silverman, who saw the changes at a Feb. 22 Senate meeting. At the meeting, TCU senators got a sneak peak of the new Web site. Senator Brandon Rattiner was excited about the design. "I think the Web site is very clean and sharp and it has very powerful imagery," Rattiner, a junior and co-chair of the Senate's Education Committee, said. "The new site is modern, and it shows we have a lot of potential for growth." Silverman agreed. "I am excited to see the direction the site will go," he said. "I was very impressed with the presentation from Web Communications. It took a lot of thought and design." But Senator Danielle Cotter, a freshman, said that although she was pleased with the new site's increased accessibility, she was disappointed with the absence of a photograph of Jumbo and the lack of a brown-and-blue color scheme. The presenters told the TCU Senate that the new site would incorporate an edgy color scheme and format, she said. "I don't know if trying to turn Tufts into an edgy cool school is something we want to do," Cotter said. "We have a bunch of nutty traditions, like Naked Quad Run. I know we are one of the top universities, but we are a more personal school and I thought we didn't want to turn away from that."
Mathematician Jeff Weeks captivated a large audience in Cabot yesterday with his interactive discussion of the potential shapes of our universe. The talk was the first of three that Weeks will deliver this week as part of the Norbert Wiener Lecture Series.
