Wednesday, May 1, 2013

DFM chat on the lessons of the Oakland Tribune's 'Hotspot' project

Journalists, members of Digital First Media and pretty much everyone else who wants to - are going to be taking part on the weekly Twitter chat at 1 p.m., Eastern Time., 10 a.m. Pacific Time.

Today we have a special chat. It will feature Oakland Tribune Violence Reporting Fellow Scott Johnson and will be moderated by Martin J. Reynoldssenior editor of the Community Engagement Bay Area News Group.

http://oaklandhotspot.tumblr.com/
Explains Reynolds, "The discussion will focus on the month-long Hotspot project, that has Johnson living in one of the most crime-ridden neighborhoods of East Oakland, Calif. 

"Johnson is chronicling his experience via tumblr on a blog that is also embedded in an article page on Bay Area News Group websites. In this crime hotspot, he's discovering a community far more nuanced and dynamic than what our own headlines portray. 

"The chat will focus on Scott's work and some interesting revelations about the approach to crime coverage." (emphasis mine)

Among the topics to be covered:


1) How does prolific crime coverage impact a community's perception of itself?
2)  How does the decrease of non-crime neighborhood coverage impact how we are seen by the community?
3) Are journalists really in-tune with how jilted certain communities are with how they're portrayed in the media?

The live feed is posted below. But you can also follow the chat here or here or also here. And you can also check out past chats over here.

If you want to chime in, post a comment in the container or a tweet with the hashtag "#dfmchat" so it can automatically appear below.