Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Answers from the top




Rick Hirsch, managing editor of multimedia and news projects for The Miami Herald, discussed different news standards for print and online during a class trip to the paper Tuesday night. He addressed why an edited version of a heart-wrenching picture ran in the paper but the unedited version ran online.

“Here’s something you can’t see on the front page of the newspaper, you can’t have a note that says: Warning. Graphic content when you turn they page,” he explained.

Such a warning exists on the [Hurricane] Ike Strikes Cabaret, Haiti photo gallery. Folks who click on the link despite the heads-up make a conscious decision to view the photos.

People walking by newspapers in the corner boxes or newsstands see the image whether they want to or not, he said. They don’t get a choice in the matter.

More on the trip to come.

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