Cyberjournalist.net was created by Jonathan Dube in 2000. The site was created to highlight different types of converged media and covers everything from "online journalism, citizen’s media, digital storytelling, converged news operations and using the Internet as a reporting tool" (Dube 2010). The whole point of the site is basically a critique of different types of online writing.
At first glance the site looks pretty well put together. After looking around for a few minutes it becomes clear that it is mostly clutter. The domain is paid for by Google advertising and the site runs wild with it. Once you do make your way through what is advertisement and get to what is actual content, there are some pretty interesting pieces. The search tool is your only hope for narrowing down or finding any specific topics though. There are links to different sub-topics but they don't really have much direction once you get there. There are buttons for "great work," "future of media," "innovation," "social media," and so on. Each topic has an abundance of articles and some are harder to navigate than others.
There are other links that seem a bit more promising. I haven't read many of the books offered from the site's "bookstore" (Kovach and Rosenstiel have top billing) but it's nice to know they are available. There is also a link to make submissions regarding convergence, media, internet reporting and the like. Of course, the site wouldn't be complete without the obligatory facebook and twitter links.
Overall, I found this site to be very cumbersome and hard to navigate with any real focus. I understand what he is trying to do with the site but, personally, I don't think the structure works. To follow suit, I give this site a 2 out of 5 based solely on the effort.

Knight Center for Specialized Journalism

The Knight Center for Specialized Journalism, www.knightcenter.umd.edu, was an organization through the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland.  It was announced in December 2009 that the center would cease operations, but this center has been providing resources for journalists since 1987.  The center was founded 22 years ago with support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to provide seminars and educational fellowships.  The Knight Foundation has donated over $20 million to the university.

The in the announcement of the center’s closing, the Dean Kevin Klose of the Journalism College states one of the centers achievements is providing in-depth training for journalists to improve their competencies.  Knight Center has worked with over 2,700 journalists from over 500 news organizations.  At the Knight Center, professionals received specialized training on their beats whether that was law, health, or science.

The Knight Center Web Site is organized to highlight Knight Center programs and seminars that it offered.  The front page of the site highlights recent or upcoming events, such as the closing announcement.  It also mentions things such as seminars and archived webinars.  A video runs on the right hand side of the page, but it does not always load unfortunately leaving just a black square.  Scrolling down the site, the purpose of the Knight Center is restated, but more importantly on the right hand side is information pertinent to journalists. 

Seminars with pertinent dates and descriptions are listed, although they are out-of-date due to the cease of operations.  A multimedia section also highlights a video by someone in the profession and underneath that Beat Guides are available.  For example, there is a guide currently posted to give advice to Business reporters.  General advice is given, as well as information on specific companies, market information, and useful web links.

At the top of the Web Site, there are tabs to learn more about the seminars and fellowships, but more important to working journalists is the resources tab.  This tab is really where this site benefits journalists by providing beat guides and source lists.  The guides provide information similar to that of the previous example of business reporting, but the source lists are a place journalists could easily go to begin a story.  They provide advice and sources that would be relevant depending on the nature of the story.  For example, there is a source list for understanding the big picture of our economy.  The site suggests going to the IMF World Economic Outlook for information on the current financial crisis.

Most of the information on the site addresses more traditional journalism practices, however the inclusion of the multimedia section showed a recognition of journalism changes.  Some of the final seminars the center offered were focused on the changes of new media, such as how foreign reporting is affected by the changing role of Media.  In the announcement of the closing, one of the reasons cited was the changing role of journalism and the new thinking that is required for the new technology.

Overall, I would rate this site a 4 out of 5.  It is a shame that the center is closing, because the information provided to journalists such as source lists and reporting advice is quite good.  It gives journalists a place to go when researching a story.  My only complaint about the site would be the fact that the outdated seminar information still dominates the screen.  They should focus more on the resources instead of past conferences because that is where the most beneficial information lies.

 

Investigative Reporters and Editors

Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc. is a nonprofit organization that focuses on the quality of investigative reporting. It was formed in 1975 and presents the IRE awards and holds conferences and training classes for journalists. Its headquarters is in Columbia, Missouri, at the University of Missouri school of journalism.
The IRE website is designed to help journalists find resources and tips to help them better prepare and perform in their jobs. A primary purpose of the site is to promote the many IRE seminars, webinars, and conferences they put on. It also includes information for a number of workshops including ones on watchdog duties and ethnic media. For students and young professionals looking to gain the edge there are fellowships and scholarships available as well as resources for mentoring.
On the menu on the home page one can navigate to the Resource Center which is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories of both print and broadcast. There are more than 3,000 tipsheets from national conferences on how to cover specific beats or do specific stories. These stories and tipsheets are searchable through the online database or by contacting the resource center directly by phone.
The site even includes a job center. It posts job openings, jobs wanted, as well as resources to scholarships, fellowships, grants and awards.
The IRE website as I have described is the basic public version but there is a whole other side to it that is yet to be seen. For IRE members there are far greater resources including networking, training and blogging.
Over all, out of 5, I give this site a 3. Its pretty good; it has good material, but in the end I'm left feeling pretty underwhelmed. I would have liked to see some advice thrown right out to me or something to make me feel this is important. But instead the mass effort on the site is geared toward getting people to come to conferences, sign up for workshops. Whatever happened to reel em in and bait em before trying to make a sale on em. Perhaps the good stuff that I'm just not seeing is on the members side of the website.

Maynard Institue for Journalism Education

The Maynard Institute for Journalism Education is a nonprofit organization dedicated to training journalists of color in order to provide accurate representation of minorities in the news media. The Maynard Institute is the nation’s oldest organization dedicated to helping the news media reflect the nation's diversity in staffing, content and business operations. Although the Maynard Institute emphasizes training those of color, all programs are open to journalists of all races. Since this is a non-profit site, the Maynard Institute relies on donations from individuals, corporations and foundations.

When you first enter the site you are directed to a page filled with columns that some staffers have written. These columns are discussing the media’s representation of minorities. One example is a column on covering the Tiger Woods incident. It says that instead of relying on the facts, the story became full of gossip and celebrity. There are tabs on the home page that will narrow down the type of column you may want to read. There are features, cultural and diversity columns as well as “the next America”- a tab dedicated to talking about the future of diversity and the media. On the right side of the page there is a “diversity headlines” news feed that allows you to click on a link and be taken directly to a news story. At the top of the page there is a resources tab that has “industry studies”, “organizations”, “diversity guide”, “diversity game”, and “minorities in the media”. These resources are filled with interactive timelines and quizzes, as well as lists of links and journalists resource sites.

I think that this site can help journalists by informing them of how they can report on minorities better and more consciously. It provides journalists with a great amount of links to articles about media and how they report on diversity and opinions from Maynard Institute staff that has dedicated their lives to train journalists of color on portraying minorities in the news accurately. Through the use of interactive information, links and resources this site allows journalists to respond to the challenges of reporting on minorities.

On a scale of 1 to 5 I would rate this site a 3. I was very confused when I first opened the web page. It didn’t tell me what it was about or what their mission or goal was right off the bat. I had to do some major digging to fins out that it was dedicated to training journalists of color how to portray minorities in the media. Despite the confusion, I think this site does provide journalists with copious amounts of information. This would be a great resource to spend a lot of time on before covering minorities so that you could really try and portray them in an accurate way.

High School Journalism

Highschooljournalism.org is a website intended to attract people interested in youth journalism including students, high school journalism teachers, editors and guidance counselors.

The objectives of Highschooljournalism.org are to provide young people interested in getting involved in the news business with websites and links to information that will provide them with a better understanding of the journalism industry. Also it provides students with news and information regarding things coming up in the young news world. The site is not only for students but for teachers and editors as well. One very useful resource this web provides to students and teachers is information about journalism programs on a national level, but also on a state-to-state level. Information about possible summer internships, workshops, and even accredited JMC colleges and universities a student might be interested in.

The homepage is very easy to navigate. In the middle it has news about the most recent internship programs, workshops and scholarship opportunities available for students and well as teachers. On the left hand side of the page there are separate tabs for students, teachers and editors providing information geared toward each section under than tab. Also on the left hand side of the page it links to the groups Twitter and Facebook pages. It also provides a PDF of the First Amendment intended to be placed in a student’s locker!

This website provides students with over 3,000 student news outlets. Offering them examples of good and interesting stories, video, photos and more recently good multimedia.

Under the most recent news in the middle of the page, the site offers lesson plans on journalism for teachers, a “Future now” section where journalist and scholar Dan Gillmor tells what students should learn in a journalism school to get them prepared for today’s current and changing state of journalism. It teaches basics of journalism ethics and tools to help one strive for objectivity and truth. It provides students with key resources such as news literacy links, journalism reviews, scholastic press groups, national groups for journalism teachers and is always updating articles about youth journalism in the news.

This site can help journalists, but journalists can also help this site. They can find interested young student journalists to get involved. It can also give journalists an outlet to start teaching young what journalist should be striving toward, even at a high school level. Journalists can give back to this site by providing insight on the journalism industry, what can be expected in the future as opposed to now and what important skills editors look for in journalists, much like it is displayed on hsj.org. It explains the changing industry and what is becoming more important features of a good journalist. For example it states that multimedia is becoming bigger in journalism and students need to acquire those skills if they want to be in the running for possible job in the future.

I’m not exactly sure if the website has “members” but people who visit this website include students, teachers, editors and anybody interested in youth journalism in anyway would benefit greatly from this website.

This website is sponsored by the John S. and James Knight Foundation. The Knight Foundation mission is “to seek opportunities that can transform both communities and journalism, and help them reach their highest potential. We want to ensure that each community's citizens get the information they need to thrive in a democracy.”

I rate this website a 5 out of 5. It was very well organized and very informative. I wish I knew about this website when I was in high school. It provides students with so many resources to be successful before even attending college. It provides them with a basic understanding of the journalism principles and mission so they will have a good understanding of what they are working toward. I was very impressed and will visit this site again in the future.

Education Writer's Association

EWA is the national professional organization of education reporters. Their intent is to improve education reporting for the public. Currently membership is open and free to anyone. Journalism students get access to their server, free annual seminars and regional workshops, bimonthly newsletter, and other EWA publications for free. Membership used to cost journalists a monthly fee, but now EWA takes donations instead.

On the home page there are featured stories about EWA involvement and other education issues. Beneath “Featured Story” there is a section labeled “News & Events.” This section is similar to the first section with education issue stories and EWA announcements. To the right of “News & Events” is a column of recently published stories featuring resources involved with EWA. The left column of the home page contains press releases sent to the organization mainly announcing seminars.

The top of the screen contains seven sections to open: resource center, membership, conferences/events, publications, contest, and the educated reporter. The tabs are pretty much self-explanatory from their title. The most helpful section to reporters is the “Resource Center.” This section contains lists categorizing resources that can help an education reporter or anyone needing education answers. The lists are divided like schools meaning K-12, higher education, etc. Once you click on an issue a page with various sections pops up including an overview, reporter stories, sources, and publications. The tab labeled “The Educated Reported” is simple a blog that comments on education coverage, writing, and other things. Linda Perlstein, the public editor for EWA, publishes it.

One last tab worth mentioning is located at the top right of the page. The tab “Jobs” has a current list of jobs available for education reporters. It also has fellowships and grants listed as well.

Overall I barely give the site a 3 out of 5. For education reporters this site seems to offer more news about EWA then actual education issues. In order to find education issue stories, it takes some searching because they are kind of buried in the sections. The site organizes things maybe a little too well. Therefore, it is easy to overlook what you need by searching in other sections. The reason I gave this site a 3 is because of the “Resource Center” tab. This section is mainly what I would use, if I were an education reporter. I also thought it was impressive that EWA has podcasts and can be found on all major social networking sites.

Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma

The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma is a project of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, aimed at helping journalists deal and report trauma. The Dart Center holds seminars aimed at teaching journalists how to interview people who have experienced trauma and how to deal with it themselves. Their research unit is at the University of Tulsa Department of Psychology.
The Web site itself is a resource for journalists and students. Under the About section of the Web site, the center says it “provides timely articles, expert interviews, journalist-to-journalist advice, tipsheets and other resources. The website also serves as a multimedia venue for discussion of controversies and breakthroughs in trauma science, policy and media coverage.”
The Web site has four tabs that serve as categories for the information: Journalists, Educators, Researchers and Scholars, and Clinicians. Under the journalists tab, the Web site offers many resources to help journalists, as the Web site states, “cover bad news better.”
A Dart Media photo shows up on every page. Clicking the link leads you to the Dart Awards best photos over the past 15 years. These photos range in subject matter, but all are pertaining to violence or trauma.
The Journalists tab offers help on covering a variety of subjects. There is a tip sheet for writing about soldiers returning home from the war and how to handle their stories correctly. There are fact sheets to draw information from for stories or ideas for stories. Running along the side of the page, an outline lays out the resources available. Booklets and self-studies about trauma and violence are included in the lay out.
The same information is presented under the other tabs, just aimed at different audiences. There is some variation in content; certain stories are highlighted on some, not on others. However, the fact sheets are on every tab.
Within the Web site, there is little focus on journalism innovation in the literal sense. The Web site is not as concerned with technology as it is with the human element. However on the fact sheets, there is information about news framing and the effects. The real concentration of how the field is changing is about war coverage. Under tips and tools, as well other sections as well, there is a concentration on the effects of violence on the journalists who cover it.
I would give the Web site a 4. I think the site is full of wonderful information about covering the hard stuff of hard news. This is a great resource for any journalist. The only discrepancy I would raise is that the information is so dense that it is hard to sift through it all.