Home of "Homicide: Life on the Street" in Baltimore. The versatility of this location in Fells Point gave the producers a great choice of settings within and close to the building and harbor. Something like this would be fabulous for our students and faculty! "Homicide..." was an exceptional NBC television series not enough of us watched in the 1990s. It ran for about 6 seasons.

Catholic Radio Art

"Podcasting" is an effective new (about 6 months old) way to distribute audio programs as MP3 files. Using personal computers, people can become their own podcast producers. A small but growing group of people are discussing podcasting as a way to bring Catholic truth to the public in a powerful new way. Here's a message - visionary and encouraging - posted by one of the group's leaders:

As we forge ahead, I think it's important to remind everyone that the Catholic media landscape is littered with the gravesites of former print publications, former TV/radio shows, old Catholic networks (remember the one started by Fr. Fessio several years ago?), etc. The reason why I bring this up is that people are busy today. The secular media has the money and the platforms to get people's attention. They also rely on the most-up-to-date equipment and a great understanding of craft and technique. Hit shows on television and the radio are hits because something about them either appeals to the culture or are really, really well-done or really well-written or well-produced.

As the Catholic media gravesites attest, just having wonderful, well-meaning faithful Catholics who are sincere in spreading the faith is not enough to make their shows/products survive.

How does this relate to podcasting? Tremendously. On the one hand, what podcasting does is make anybody a broadcaster. There is a certain rawness/charm in that that is appealing. However, not everyone is interesting or has the imagination to make a lively, interesting broadcast. A figure I've heard is that there are about 8,000 different podcasts out there. My challenge to all the people from our group who want to podcast is this: radio is the most creative medium. Let's make every one of our podcasts be the most lively, interesting, and creative ones out there. (It goes without saying that they will be faith-filled; that's a given.) If all that occurs, other podcasts will pale in comparison. In other words, what an opportunity to make our faith shine.

So having said all that, how do we make lively, creative podcasts? There are dozens and dozens of ways. Since everyone has different personalities, everyone's way will be different. My role, as I have felt it since first receiving this call about five years ago, is to try to influence future broadcasters to realize that storytelling and using sound in creative ways and crafting segments are keys to making radio more creative and livelier. It's not enough to just talk about the faith because lectures tend to be boring. My role is to expand the boxes that everyone is thinking in so that everyone understands that podcasting doesn't have to be just another version of a typical Catholic radio segment -- a lecture or an unimaginative, impersonal discussion about faith.

I hope everyone -- especially people interested in podcasting -- listens to the following segment: http://streams.wgbh.org/scripts/player.php?launch=MS010405
This segment is crafted and is personal and has brilliant use of sound. If we can offer podcasts that have this kind of brilliance -- and great use of imagination -- we will make our faith sing! Imagine talking about chastity using the same kind of great charm and craft that the lady in the above WGBH "Morning Story" segment did. That kind of craft and imagination are what I want. That's the bar that I want everyone to reach.

So future podcasters: please forgive me if I prod and challenge each of you. In the end, each podcast will be your own. But please be open to me making suggestions. I usually will just throw something out there that I hope will stimulate thoughts in your minds and expand your radio horizons so that you then can make choices you may have not thought of before. Usually, what I will do is ask you to listen to something so you can hear that radio can be more than just a lecture. It can be art. It can be extremely personal. It can be very moving. It can be a great place for storytelling. To me, it is the best place to talk about God because art is about beauty, and we owe God nothing less than to create beautiful ways of inspiring others to think about Him. Let us be dazzling because God is so dazzling. Let us craft, instead of just talk.

Pope John Paul II: What's the Lead?

One of the best columns I receive in my Inbox is written by Terry Mattingly. Mattingly (www.tmatt.net) teaches at Palm Beach Atlantic University and is senior fellow for journalism at the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities. He writes "On Religion," a weekly column for the Scripps Howard News Service.

In this week's column, Mattingly asks several religious and mainstream journalists how they would lead - or start - their report about Pope John Paul II. (The lead is the first sentence of a news story.) If you were a journalist - and perhaps you are - what would your lead be?

Arts & Letters Daily

There are ideas to disagree with and others to cheer on the Website Arts & Letters Daily, a jumping off point to hundreds of online articles, audio and video clips, and thoughtful Websites. As listed on the Masthead, topics include philosphy, aesthetics, literature, language, ideas, criticism, culture, music, art, trends, breakthroughs, disputes, and gossip. That's a tall order - and the site delivers.

New material is added 6 days a week, and past items and links are available in archives. After experiencing a few ownership changes, the site is now "A Service of The Chronicle of Higher Education."

Now if I can only find more time to enjoy the site...

How Do They Decide What's In the Paper?

A great source of information about media, ethics and emerging media trends is the Poynter Institite. Earlier today, Steve Outing posted an item in Poynter's "E-Media Tidbits" about a new blog giving a newspaper's readers a look inside the paper's news decision-making process. Here's what he wrote:

A Newspaper Blog for TransparencyHere's another innovation from the Ventura County Star in California: a new blog by assistant managing editor for new media and technology John Moore that offers a daily peek into the decision-making process that goes into story choices for the front page (and the rest) of the paper each day. Moore is writing up the daily news budget -- listing and explaining the top stories for tomorrow's edition -- and inviting readers to give feedback and tips on the yet-to-be-published stories. He explains it to his readers this way: "Here's your chance to sit in on those discussions as we look at the stories that are being discussed to run in tomorrow's paper. So pull up a chair and let us know if you agree or disagree with our choices."(Of course, this is going to tip off competing media to what the Star has planned. While that was a newspaper concern in the early days of newspaper websites, we seem to have reached a point where it no longer matters.)Yet another innovative Star blog involves the opinion page. As new media director Howard Owens explains it, instead of running published letters to the editor on the website each day, letters will be posted to a letters blog as soon as they are edited and approved for publication. Comments will be enabled on each letter.Now that's a concept I like: Not only does the Star's website allow blog-like reader comments at the end of stories (here's an example), but even letters to the editor include comments from other readers.

Mostly Media

Welcome!

As a media prof, I've been looking for a good way to share some current ideas and news about the media to students in many of my classes - all in one place. So here we are. And for those of you reading this who aren't among my students, greetings as well.

As we start, I expect that many of the postings here will be about current events behind the scenes - and out front - in modern media.

Feel free to post your comments about the items you see. I'm looking forward to the dialogue.

Jim Coyle
Steubenville, Ohio USA