Journalism Resource Guide

© 2013 Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity
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Table of Contents
1. Controlling Your Online Presence ……………………… 5
● Developing your brand
● Using a pseudonym
● Staking Your Claim
○ Social Networks
○ URLs
● Protecting your Google presence
● Protecting your privacy
2. Elements of a Successful Site ……………………… 10
● Look and functionality of your site
○ The look of your site
○ Plugins and widgets you need
○ Advertising
● Social media presence and integration
○ Sharing and widgets
○ Automated posts
○ Twitter
○ Facebook
● Establishing site policies and guidelines
○ Editorial
○ Commenting
○ Guest posts and contributors
○ Style guide suggestions
● Getting people to your site
○ SEO tips
○ Social media
○ YouTube
○ Pinterest
○ Pitching to influencers
● Establishing credibility and cultivating sources
● Identifying Success
○ Influencing influencers
○ Influencing the masses
○ By the numbers
■ Pageviews
■ Social media
3. Resource Guide ……………………… 19
● Email check list
● Cracking the acronyms

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○ Policy/Think Tanks
○ Activism groups
○ Party affiliated groups
○ Issue specific organizations
○ Mission focused news sites
● Briefings/reports to watch for
● Recurring reports: national and state
○ Jobs numbers
○ Unemployment
4. Investigative Journalism Primer ……………………… 37
● Open records
○ Submitting requests
○ FOIA
○ Following money trails
○ Voting records
○ Contracts
● In Your State..
○ Sunshine laws: What are they like in your state?
○ 2 party vs. 1 party consent states: Where do you go to find out?
● You’ve got the info. Now what?
○ Story ideas
○ Sourcing
○ Fact checking
● Who to talk to and what questions to ask
● Asking tough questions
● Resource guide: Transparency sites, legal help, open government sites, and other great
resources that may be of assistance.
5. Making Their Lives A Living Hell ……………………… 39
6. Reporting From Your Phone ……………………… 42
● Why a smart phone?
● Apps you need
○ Security
○ Twitter
○ Blogging
○ Audio Recorder/Video Recorder/Editing
○ Info management
○ Pictures
○ Picture Editing
○ Travel

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7. Using Multimedia ……………………… 45
● Photoshop/Infographics/memes
● Podcasting
● Video
8. Ethics: Maintaining and Building Relationships ……………………… 50
Appendices:
A. List of local media outlets and contacts
B. State and national blogger contacts
C. Photo
D. Recurring reports to watch for

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Chapter 1: Controlling Your Online Presence
Developing Your Brand
The internet is a place where people can, and often do, choose to be anything they want to be.
The possibilities are endless, and it’s important to be intentional about your online persona. In
order to grow your credibility and protect your brand, it is critical to have control over what
people see about you online. An online presence is not always easy to manage - especially if
you’ve got a common name or are just starting out.
The first step is choosing your brand. What do you want to be? Before you decide on anything,
GOOGLE IT. You’ll want to know if it already exists or if you’re going to be in competition for
search ranking. Here are some questions to ask yourself:
● Are you going to use your name?
● If you are, how hard is it going to be to get the URLs and social media handles you
want? Will you be able to crack the front page of Google searches?
● If not, is the brand you want to use available? Is it too close to an existing brand?
Using A Pseudonym
If you have privacy concerns, you may choose to use a pseudonym for your blogging. Here are
some things to think about when operating under a pseudonym:
● There is a tradeoff. Your credibility is essential if you want to have an impact, and it is
dependent upon how much people trust you. People need to know you in order to trust
you. Also, personal invective from behind a cloak of anonymity is particularly lame.
● Someone can always find out who you are. If you get into trouble and infuriate the
masses with your writing, which at some point you likely will, someone is going to start
digging. Being outed or blackmailed is always a possibility, no matter how well you think
you are hidden.
● Publicity is limited. The types of media and the platforms you can use are seriously
reduced if you can’t show people who you are. This may not be much of a sacrifice now,
but what happens when you break a big story and want to push it to TV and radio? Will
you want to turn it down?
● Anonymity limits your interactions with people. You should be attending events and
local meetings, and that’s a lot more difficult when you can’t tell people who you are.
You’re also likely to get fewer callbacks from elected officials and other influencers if
people aren’t sure who they’re engaging.

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Staking Your Claim
Once you have decided on what you want to call yourself, the first thing you need to do is
secure your name on all of the various platforms. Will you use them all? Probably not, but the
last thing you want to do is leave your name out there for someone else to grab and use.
Social Networks
Here is a list of networks and sites you should register your name for, even if you don’t
necessarily intend to use them:
● Facebook
● Twitter
● Pinterest
● Storify
● New Myspace
● About.me
● Google
● Youtube
● Skype
● Ustream
● Livestream
● The Fancy
● Tumblr
● Flickr
● Yahoo
● Blogger
● Wordpress
● Instagram
● AIM
● Foursquare
● Yelp
Securing your URLs
● Make sure your purchase your name, even if you choose to run your website under a
different brand. Also, be sure to secure close variations of your site’s name as well. You
don’t want someone setting up a false account!
● Be sure to renew your URL annually. Sites like GoDaddy.com allow you to store a credit
card for automatic renewal. If you let it lapse, the URL is available for purchase, and you
don’t want to hand that over!

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Protecting your Google presence
Are there a bunch of people with your name? Are you having trouble burying something you
may not want people to find? Here are a couple tips to get
○ Create profiles. Set up accounts on Google, Facebook, RedState, WatchdogWire, and
basically every site you can find. The more web space you control, the more positive
content will show up when people search for your name.
○ Contribute or guest post at higher profile sites, if possible. Having your name
attached to sites with a very high Google rank lets those posts pop up at the top of the
search and bury less favorable content.
○ Ask for things to be removed. Run across some old photos someone posted on Flickr
from your 21st birthday? Ask your friend to take them down. No, this won’t always be
possible, but it can’t hurt to ask!
○ Google alerts. Did you know you can have Google send you alerts every time your
name pops up online? You can! Go to Google.com/alerts and be sure to add alerts for
your name, website name, and some logical variations thereof.
Protecting Your Privacy
The dirty truth is that there really isn’t such a thing as privacy online. Your best defense is
common sense. The internet is public and incredibly accessible. It’s easy to forget that and feel
like you’re just chatting with your friends on Twitter, but the reality is that everyone can see what
you’re posting, and this includes people that you probably wish didn’t have certain information.
The information available about people on the internet is extensive. If you are active online,
there are some things that are just unavoidable.
There are, however, a few rules of thumb when it comes to security on the internet.
1 Don’t be stupid. If you don’t want people to know where you are, don’t tell them. Don’t
check in on social media or posts photos of your location. Don’t tell people where your
house is. Be intentional when you post your location in online profiles; maybe just
mention your state, or your larger metro area instead of your small suburb.
2 If you don’t want something online, don’t put it there. The easiest way to make sure
information doesn’t get into the wrong hands is to just not make it available. Don’t want
people to see your kids or know where they go to school? Don’t post that information. A
lot of times bloggers and people with an online presence make code names for children
and spouses to offer a layer of protection.
3 Assume that the very person you don’t want to see something will see it. Nothing
is private on the internet. Don’t assume that just because you sent a private message
that it will not become public. This includes Direct Message on Twitter, private Facebook
messages, wall posts, @replies, comments and yes, even email. Basically, don’t do

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illegal things and don’t tweet pictures of your junk. It’ll come out at some point and it will
not be convenient.
4 The Internet Is Forever. Once something is out there, it’s nigh to impossible to ensure
it’s removal. Even upon deletion, there are screenshots and tools like the Wayback
Machine to bring back everything you DON’T want on the internet. The best way to
make sure this doesn’t come back to bite you? Abide by rule #1.
Now that that’s out of the way, there are actually a few things you can do to help lower the
visibility of sensitive information. It takes some time to comb through privacy settings, and it’s
important to develop an awareness of what you’re broadcasting at all times. As you sign up for
new network, go into the settings and see what you can limit. You can always change them later
if they annoy you, but it’s good to err on the side of caution.
● Eliminate location tagging. Almost every social network has the option to geolocate
you and tag your post with that info. Unless it’s intentional and you are looking to
announce your location to the world, TURN IT OFF. Go to your Twitter settings and
make sure that “add a location to your tweet” is disabled. When you post on Facebook, it
will by default add your location to your post. You can mouse over it and remove it by
clicking the X. Just be aware of when your social networks are gathering information and
blasting it out there when you don’t want it to.
● Use private wifi networks. Free wifi is awesome, and when you’re a blogger, it’s kind of
a necessary part of your life. Unfortunately, hackers also like public wifi networks and
can essentially intercept that signal and gain access to all kinds of passwords and data.
A couple basic tips:
○ Save really important tasks such as online banking for home.
○ Try not to connect to any “public” or “unsecured” networks. If you absolutely need
access to the internet, pay a few bucks for the secure option..
○ When on a WiFi network, look for websites that have “https” in the address bar.
○ Use a secure password, and try not to use the same one for everything. A tool
like LastPass can help create unbreakable 30 character insane passwords that
you will never have to remember.
○ If you can get a portable hotspot to use at events, coffee shops, etc, do it.
● Check your social media privacy settings. It’s a pain in the butt, and with Facebook in
particular it can take forever, but it’s worth it.
○ Facebook: Start with a few of the biggest ones: Turn off tag suggestions, disable
access to apps you don’t use or trust, and be sure to look at who you’re actually
sharing with.

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○ Twitter: DO NOT make your tweets private. If you’re reading this, chances are
you want to have influence. Twitter is designed to be wide open so you can
participate in a larger dialogue, and hiding your content from people is
counterproductive. Just be cautious about what you post, and refer to the
location tagging suggestion.
○ Instagram: There has been all kinds of drama over the security of the Instagram
photos. No, they’re probably not going to steal your photo of your cat or your
dessert and make millions on it. There is a geolocation tool in Instagram as well -
Just be aware of it and don’t inadvertently add a location tag to a photo if you’re
not trying to announce your location.
Foursquare: The entire purpose of this app is to announce your location. A tip? If you must
check in (got to get those points!), it might be a good idea to do it as you’re leaving your
destination.

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Chapter 2: Elements of a Successful Site
Setting yourself up for success takes some planning. Here are a couple principles of a
successful blog site:
● Readable -- Simple fonts, enough white space, pleasing colors
● Good mobile interface -- Don’t make people use a web-version on a tiny screen
● Graphic -- includes pictures with posts (unless you’re an aggregation site like Instapundit
or Drudge, but even they include pictures sometimes)
● Sticky -- people want to stay on the site because there’s connected content
● Fresh -- new content is predictable, consistent, and reliable
● Integrated social media -- make posts shareable and easily so
● Control commenting -- whether using Facebook or DISQUS or moderation, make sure
that you don’t lose readers because commenting section descends into chaos
● For every 30 minutes writing, spend 5 promoting
● Topical -- Be known for something. Very rare to have generalists now. Specialists get
more traffic. Are you hyperlocal/state/nationally focused? Straight news or editorial?
● Advertising -- Enough to make a living, but not in a way you lose traffic
If you pay attention to these principles and do some planning, you’ll be able to grow your
influence and prevent confusion and chaos later as you grow. Here are some things to consider
implementing, even if you’ve already got yourself set up:
The Look And Functionality Of Your Site
Your website is the first impression people have of your work, before they even dive in and start
reading your posts. It should be easy to use, interactive, and professional in appearance. If you
don’t know where to start, look at a couple successful blogs and news sites to get an idea of
which features, colors and layouts you like.
Here are a couple things to think about when setting up your site:
● Polishing the look of your site.
○ Make it easy to read. Light text on a dark background is generally difficult for
people to see.
○ Choose clean logos and graphics. If there’s too much going on, the reader can
get lost. Have a branded banner at the top so people remember your site. Use
recognizable social media icons in the sidebar. Be aware of clutter.
○ Avoid being a cliche. Make sure it looks up to date. You might love sparkly,
pink .gifs or American flags and bald eagles, and more power to you. Just be
aware that it may not instill confidence in your ability to break and report news or
offer intelligent commentary.

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● What widgets/plugins do you need?
○ Some suggested plugins for Wordpress
■ Akismet: Single best spam prevention tool. Catches all the spam
comments so they don’t clutter up for back end.
■ SEO Ultimate: Helps you with your Search Engine Optimization ranking. It
gives you control over title tags, no index, meta tags, slugs, canonical,
autolinks, 404 errors, and rich snippets, among other things that all work
to boost your Google rank.
■ Google Analytics by Yoast: There are a bunch of Google Analytics apps.
This one is recommended, but if you find one you like better, go for it!
Just make sure you’ve got a reliable way to track your stats.
■ Disqus: Replaces the native Wordpress comment system with a feature-
rich platform to engage your readers.
■ Polldaddy: Looking to get feedback from your readers or just throw out
some traffic-bait? You may want to host a poll on your site.
■ MediaElement.js: A video and audio player plugin for HTML5 browsers.
Has a flash fallback for non HTML5 browsers. Mobile capability.
■ Grand FIAGallery: Provides a comprehensive interface for handling
multimedia elements.
■ Related Content by Wordnik: Keep readers on your site by offering
thumbnail links to related posts on your blog.
■ Contact Form 7: Great plugin to create forms to capture date. Useful for
email sign-ups, registrations, applications, crowdsourcing, etc.
■ Really Simple CAPTCHA: Great CAPTCHA plugin designed to work with
other plugins, like Contact Form 7.
■ Social by Crowd Favorite: Pulls your social media data and allows you to
display it on your blog.
■ Google Adsense: Allows the implementation of Google Adsense to your
blog.
○ Social media widgets are easy to use and very helpful.
■ Facebook: Go here and Facebook allows you to generate a badge. Just
copy the .html code and paste it into a text box in the widgets section of
your Wordpress backend.
■ Twitter: There are a million Twitter widgets for your website. Google it,
choose one with the customization options you need, tweak it to fit
properly and match your site, and voila!
■ Want people to find you on social media? Add social media icons to your
site. There are a million free icons you can add to your site. Google
“social media icons for my blog” and the options are limitless!

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■ Some suggested widgets that could be fun:
● Social Media Widget Code Creator. Make your own!
● Pure CSS Expanded Social Network Widget
● Newser: News aggregate. Follows 100 sites and posts summaries.
● National Debt Clock
● Days Without a Budget from Heritage
● Open Congress: Track bills, votes, Senators & House members!
● Do you know who represents you? Let people plug in their zip
codes and find out!
● Should you advertise on your site? Things to consider:
○ Pros:
■ You’d like to be paid for your hard work.
■ Element of credibility: Someone is spending money to reach your
audience, so they must be worth reaching.
■ Very targeted audience for advertisers.
○ Cons:
■ Ads are annoying to readers, particularly pop-ups.
■ Can clutter up your website and you can lose important site elements.
■ Linking yourself to advertisers that you may not want to be linked to and
offending people with your affiliations.
Social Media Presence And Integration
Your social media presence is an extension of your blog. Twitter and Facebook are where most
of your interaction will occur, and it’s important to remember the influence you can have when
you do it right... as well as the damage you can do when you do something stupid. A few tips:
● Use Social Media Widgets and Plugins.
○ Make sure you’ve linked all your social media accounts on your site, in one way
or another. They need to be able to follow you.
○ Make sure your site has a share function for, at minimum, Facebook and Twitter.
Preferably this will also include Google+ and Pinterest.
● Automated posts
○ You can link your blog to go directly to Twitter, but be mindful of the formatting.
○ Don’t link Twitter to Facebook. No one wants to see Facebook posts full of #s
and @s and RTs. It’s a mess.
○ Don’t link Facebook to Twitter. If you’re on Twitter, you generally don’t want to
click a link and end up back on Facebook.

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● Twitter: Tips For Getting The Most Out Of It
○ ›Most important social platform for bloggers/reporters. It’s where the story is
shaped before it even gets written. Reporters, bloggers, TV and radio hosts and
producers, and activists are all on Twitter.
○ ›View it as a dialogue - a way to connect with influencers you would normally
not have a connection to. Many high profile personalities run their own Twitter
feeds or work closely with the person that does, so there is an opportunity to
influence the influencers.
○ ›How will they see it? Use @replies to tag the person you’re trying to
communicate with. All the time. Stay on their radar.
○ ›Having trouble finding someone on Twitter? Google the name of the person
you’re looking for + Twitter.
○ ›If your main Twitter feed becomes unmanageable, which it will, create lists.
Make on for your state legislature, Congressmen and Senators, local media, etc.
Pay attention to the conversations. Know what they’re doing.
○ ›When addressing an elected official, make sure you use their Twitter handle
to @reply them. If they don’t have one, it maybe not the most effective way to
communicate with them.
○ Learn what hashtags are. They’re those # signs in front of random letters and
words. When you click on them, it runs a search for all tweets with that tag. Add
them to your Tweetdeck or Hootsuite. Follow them. Use them when relevant.
They’re a great way to organically organize a conversation or hijack an
opponent’s conversation
● Facebook
○ Know the platform. Don’t post a million times a day like you would on Twitter.
Use images. Space posts out. You can schedule them with Hootsuite if you
aren’t going to be around and you want something to go out.
○ Facebook tends to be more personal and you’re going to have to interact with
most of those people in real life. Don’t be an irrational jerk and freak out on
someone if you’ve got to see them at work the next day. It’s not helpful.
○ Embrace ›“like” pages – formerly “fan” pages. Find your officials and “like” them
to keep an eye on them.
○ ›Make sure, when linking blog posts, videos, etc. on your Facebook, that you’re
tagging them. If it shows up on their page, a lot more people will see it.
○ ›Ask questions on public pages. Engage others.
Establishing Site Policies and Guidelines

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Laying out the rules of your site can make confrontations a lot simpler down the road and
provide a cohesive look to your site. Here are some things you may want to think through in
advance:
● Editorial Policies
○ Are there issues you want to stay away from?
○ Do you want to narrow the focus of the site? Focus on a handful of issues?
○ Is there one particular issue that is a deal breaker when it comes to
endorsing/supporting candidates or allowing contributors?
● Commenting
○ Do you make people sign in with Facebook so they can’t hide behind anonymity?
○ Do you allow explicit language/threats?
● Contributors/Guest posting
○ Do you want a multi-contributor site?
○ Do contributors have to agree?
○ What’s the protocol for posting? Is there an editorial process? Should they
schedule at certain times?
● Style requirements
○ Do you want to require a photo in every post?
■ Is there a size requirement? Make sure images fit on your site.
■ Fair use images. Try not to get sued.
○ What’s your policy on linking/blockquoting?
■ Ensures people get credit for their work and helps build good will.
■ Is there a max length for a blockquote?
○ Length requirements: Do you have them?
■ A rough standard:
● Blog post: 250 - 400 words
● Editorial: 800 - 1000
● In depth exposé or investigation: 1200+
○ How heavy is your use of multimedia?
■ Do you generate regular video/audio content?
■ Is there a certain protocol for embedding video or images?
■ Do you use a multimedia plugin on your site?
Getting People To Your Site
So you’ve got this awesome site and you’re writing every day and you’re trying to get the
attention your work deserves. How do you get people to see your work? Here are some tips for
driving people to your site.

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● Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It’s one of those things that everyone tries to
master, and if you ask Twitter, there are a million gurus. Here are some simple tips to up
your ranking.
○ Be relevant and topical. Use terms that are in the news - those are the terms
people will be searching for. You can watch Google trends here to see what
everyone is talking about.
○ Use SEO friendly URLs. You definitely want your headline to be sexy, but the
most SEO friendly approach is to include the most Google friendly words. You
can change the permalink to your post in Wordpress! Right under your headline
field, there’s a permalink an edit button. Write your sexy headline, then change
the URL to include Google friendly search terms. The optimal length is 5 words.
Just make sure it’s still relevant to the story!
○ Images matter. I know, I never pay attention to what an image is called when I
upload it, either. But you should! Google searches the names of images and the
alt. text and description fields. Take the extra 30 seconds to add good meta text.
Here’s a quick tutorial on image SEO.
○ Link people and get people to link you. The former is easier than the latter, but
it helps.
○ Share on social media. Yeah, Twitter counts in search engine rankings. Also,
post to Google+. Google really does give preference to links that are posted in
their social platform.
● Social Media Promotion
○ Be sure to tag the people/organizations/entities that you’re writing about so they
see it. If it’s favorable, you want them to promote it. If it’s negative, you want
them to react.
○ You can tweet a story several times., just pull a different hook or fact from the
story. Don’t spam everyone and @reply or DM your entire Twitter feed
individually to tell them you’ve written something new. It’s annoying and they’ll
tune you out.
○ 80% of what gets shared on Facebook is an image. 80% of what gets shared on
Twitter is a link. Post accordingly.
○ Post on Pinterest. They an insane click through rate.
○ Post on Google+. Yes, it’s kind of a wasteland, but as I already mentioned,
they’re tied directly to Google, and it helps.
● YouTube Is The 2nd Largest Search Engine, Behind Google.
○ Yeah, really. If it isn’t on YouTube it didn’t happen.
○ Tag appropriately so people can find your video.
○ This also means you should be posting some video.
● Pinterest is awesome.
○ They have an astronomical click-through rate.

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○ Use pretty pictures in your post and make sure you’re pulling the best one
through. It’s entirely about aesthetics.
○ Tag it appropriately. Pinterest’s search function is unparalleled. Exploit it.
● Pitching Your Work To Influencers
○ DO NOT SEND OUT AN EMAIL OR DIRECT MESSAGE OR @REPLY EVERY
SINGLE TIME YOU WRITE ANYTHING. It’s annoying. People will start to ignore
you or add you to their spam folder. Or block you. They will definitely not link you.
○ Make sure it’s an issue they’re actually interested in and working on. If someone
is supporting a particular candidate or issue, don’t ask them to link your piece
trashing that candidate or position. Pay attention.
○ Develop relationships. People are a lot more likely to help you out if they know
who you are and trust you.
○ Ask for a social media push. It’s helpful and much quicker than a link, especially
if that person wasn’t already planning to write about what you’re asking them to
promote. Return the favor and help them share their work as well.
Developing Sources and Establishing Credibility
Your credibility is all you have. To ensure that you are influencing influencers and are able to
obtain the access that you need to get important information, you have to be respectful and do
your due diligence. Here are some basic steps to help you develop and maintain your credibility
with influencers and sources.
● Choosing your sources
○ Sourcing is most important part of any news story. The sources you choose will
help tell your story
○ Vary your sources. Make sure you call everyone involved in your story for
comment to get as many perspectives as possible.
○ Think of it from every possible angle: policy/legislative, citizens, local business,
advocacy group
○ Use think tanks and policy institutes
○ Take the opportunity to ask your current sources for referrals - always be adding
to your network!
● Sources have motives
○ It’s human nature. They’ve got an agenda. Figure out what it is and be careful to
consider it when publishing your story. Your motive is truth, transparency and
public information.
○ Don’t make promises you can’t keep. You’ll burn a bridge.
○ Don’t overshare or compromise other sources during the conversation.
● Control Your Emotions

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○ Don’t be a hothead or a sensationalist. People will ignore you.
○ Check your ego at the door. No one likes a pompous jerk.
○ Go into the meeting with an open mind and a willingness to learn or understand
different perspectives. Don’t draw a conclusion before you do your research.
○ You can challenge in an appropriate and polite way
● Don’t Burn Your Sources
○ Respect off the record conversations.
○ Don’t take things out of context - provide background when appropriate.
○ If you can’t get an interview, ask for a comment or statement. Make sure they
they have an opportunity to tell their side of the story.
● Check The Facts
○ It’s possible to be well intentioned and wrong. Even if you trust your source,
check your information.
○ Supplement your story when necessary. Acknowledge conflicting reports if
appropriate.
○ If they reveal something important, ask them how they know. Play dumb. Get
them to walk you through things and follow up on details.
Identifying Success
The biggest mistake bloggers make is living and dying by their traffic numbers. Sure, we all
think that we’ve got the best story ever and we think that everyone should take time out of their
day to pay attention to us. Fortunately, there are many ways that you can have an impact, even
if the world doesn’t come to its senses and flock to your site en masse.
● Influencing the Influencers vs Influencing the Masses
○ Develop relationships with people that have a larger platform than you. Ask them
to push your message, issue, or other information. If someone is in a position to
lead the charge more effectively than you, let them.
○ Use social media. Building a rapport with prominent media figures and politicians
can put you in a position to make a big impact. Can’t get in to that presser?
Tweet a reporter who is with your question. You may be able to get that politician
to answer your question through someone else.
○ Focus on who you need to influence. If you’re trying to reach Florida state
legislators before an important vote, it doesn’t do you any good to have a million
readers in California. Target those legislators and their staff, and make sure your
work gets in front of them.
● Success Is In The Eye of the Beholder
○ Pageviews - Pageviews matter.
■ How to track
■ Google analytics

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■ plugins
○ Social media
■ follower counts
■ Retweets/interactions
■ other metrics

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Chapter 3: Resource Guide
There are a million organizations, reports, blogs, think tanks, and websites to keep you informed.
What are all these groups? What do they do? What do all these acronyms mean? What emails
do you need to sign up for? Let’s start at the beginning and break it down.
Email Checklist
Here’s a list of emails that can keep you reasonably informed of both the news as well as policy
briefs, reports, events and general conservative/libertarian/free market stuff. They are all free,
with the exception of The Transom, but it is totally worth the $20/year.
● Watchdog.org: The Franklin Center’s professional reporting arm. Sends out news and
investigative reports from your state and around the country.
● The Morning Bell: The Heritage Foundation’s daily morning email. Includes blog posts,
reports, and policy write ups on timely issues.
● State Policy Network Affiliate: Did you know there was a free market based think tank in
your state? Go sign up for your affiliate for great info on state public policy pushes.
● The Transom: Ben Domenech’s daily email for media and political insiders collecting
news, notes and thoughts from around the web. Not free, but very valuable.
● The Morning Jolt: From National Review Online’s Jim Geraghty. A concise daily
examination of elections and hot-button issues covering public-policy, media and cultural
topics. Plus, Jim is funny.
● The Goldberg File: Jonah Goldberg’s weekly-ish email from National Review Online.
Jonah is a brilliant writer and an important voice in the political conversation.
● Cato Institute: The Cato Institute has an array of valuable emails that cover libertarian
public policy. Their daily email is great, but they have multimedia updates, a weekly
dispatch, a research and policy list... sign up for whatever moved you.
● FreedomWorks: FreedomWorks sends out frequent activism alerts, information on
events, etc. Helps you keep up with what one of the heavy hitters in the grassroots
activism space is focused on.
● Americans for Prosperity: Keeps you plugged in to the grassroots. They do a great job
keeping you plugged in at the state level and also send timely action alerts for
grassroots.
● Melissa Clouthier: An awesome roundup of blogosphere happenings and the day’s news.
● State legislator updates: Look up your state legislators. Make sure you’re on their email
lists so that you’re getting info from them!
● Local blogs that have email lists: Do you have a great state level or local blog that allows
you to sign up for emails? Do it. It’s helpful to have the information come to you.
Cracking the Acronyms

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There are a lot of groups, websites, and events to keep track of. Here’s a quick reference guide
to help you make some sense of it all!
Policy Groups and Think Tanks
● American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)
○ Free-market non-profit
○ Location: Washington, D.C.
○ Founded: 1975
○ Chairman: David Frizzell
○ Focus: Bringing together legislators, businesses and foundations to produce
model legislation for state legislatures that advances a free market approach to
business and government. Host two annual events: Spring Task Force and ALEC
Annual Meeting.
● American Action Forum (AAF)
○ Conservative think tank.
○ President: Douglas Holtz-Eakin, economist, former CBO director and former chief
policy advisor advisor to John McCain.
○ Focus: Economy, education, foreign policy, energy, health care, regulation and
housing, among other things.
○ Also see: American Action Network (AAN) in the Activism section.
● American Enterprise Institute (AEI)
○ Free-market think tank
○ Founded: 1943
○ President: Arthur Brooks
○ Focus: Economics, foreign and defense policy, health, education, energy and
environment, society and culture.
● Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC)
○ Bipartisan think tank
○ Founded: 2007
○ President: Jason Grumet
○ Focus: Economy, energy, health care, national security.
● Brookings Institute
○ Progressive think tank (They say they’re “independent” but no.)
○ Founded: 1916

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○ President: Strobe Talbott
○ Focus: Business and finances, defense, economics, education, energy and
environment, health, law & justice, social policy, international affairs, and more.
● The Cato Institute
○ Libertarian think tank
○ Founded: 1974
○ President: John Allison
○ Manager of New Media: Zachary Graves
○ Policy Focus: Libertarian public policy, including education, energy, finance,
foreign policy, social security, regulation, tax policy, trade and immigration,
telecom, economics, political philosophy and more.
● Center for American Progress (CAP)
○ Progressive think tank
○ Founded: 2003
○ President: Neera Tanden, previously run by former Clinton Chief of Staff John
Podesta.
○ Focus: CAP runs several media outlets, including Think Progress, Campus
Progress, Climate Progress, and a daily newsletter called The Progress Report.
Their policy work focuses on energy and environment, economy, education,
LGBT issues, military, poverty, race issues, values, tax reform, terrorism,
women’s rights, national security, open government, health care, higher ed, and
more.
● Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP)
○ Founded: 1981
○ President: Robert Greenstein
○ Focus: Budget, climate change, food assistance, health, housing, poverty and
income, recession and recovery, social security, state budget, welfare reform,
taxes, and more.
● Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI)
○ Libertarian think tank
○ Founded: 1984
○ President: Fred Smith
○ Focus: Capitalism, regulatory reform, finance, trade, insurance, telecom, energy
and environment, health transportation, labor, and general nanny state.

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● Economic Policy Institute (EPI)
○ Founded: 1986
○ President: Lawrence Mishel
○ Focus: Education, taxes, health, immigration, jobs, labor, regulation, trade and
globalization, and more.
● The Heartland Institute
○ Conservative think tank
○ Location: Chicago, IL
○ Founded: 1984
○ President: Joseph Bast
○ Focus: Environment, education, health care, budget, legal, and telecom.
● The Heritage Foundation
○ Conservative think tank
○ Location: Washington, D.C
○ Founded: 1973
○ President: Jim DeMint.
○ Senior Digital Communications Associate: Ericka Andersen
○ Policy Focus: Education, energy, foreign policy, tax policy, regulation, family and
marriage, housing, immigration, labor, transportation, welfare, terrorism, foreign
aid, economic freedom, and pretty much anything.
○ Sister organization: See Heritage Action in the Activism section.
● State Policy Network (SPN)
○ Free-market think tank network
○ Location: Washington, D.C. Affiliates in all 50 states.
○ Founded: 1992
○ President: Tracie Sharp
○ Focus: The only state policy think tank network. Supports state-based think tanks
in all 50 states, but each think tank remains independent and runs itself.
● Tax Foundation
○ Founded: 1937
○ President: Scott Hodge
○ Focus: Tax policy at the state and federal level
● United States Chamber of Commerce (The Chamber)
○ Business/trade advocacy group

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○ Founded: 1912
○ President: Tom Donohue
● Focus: World’s largest business organization, representing the interests of more than 3
million businesses of all sizes. Focus on Education & Workforce, Energy and
Environment, Infrastructure, Labor, Legal Reform, Capital Markets, Health Care, Trade,
Intellectual Property, Economy & Taxes
Activism Groups and Conferences
● American Action Network (AAN)
○ Conservative grassroots organization
○ Founded: 2010
○ President: Brian Walsh
○ Chairman: Norm Coleman
○ Focus: To push conservative public policy developed by their sister organization,
the American Action Forum.
○ Sister Organization: See American Action Forum (AAF) in the think tank section.
● American Conservative Union (ACU)
○ Conservative grassroots organization
○ Founded: 1964
○ President: Al Cardenas
○ Focus: Their most noted endeavor is the Conservative Political Action
Conference, or CPAC. They also provide Congressional ratings, Legislative
ratings, and publish Conservative Battleline.
○ Sister Organization: ACU PAC was launched in 2010 and was created to elect
conservative candidates.
● American Majority (AM)
○ Conservative grassroots training organization
○ Location: Purceville, VA and many state offices
○ Founded: 2008
○ President: Ned Ryun
○ Director of Digital Communications: Neil Stevens
○ Focus: Training conservative grassroots activists. They have a national
headquarters and also many state offices that serve as hubs for local grassroots
training operations.
○ Sister Organization: American Majority Action (AMA) their 501 c(4) activism arm
that focuses on get out the vote, voter outreach, issue education, and more.
● Americans for Prosperity (AFP)

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○ Conservative grassroots group
○ Location: Washington, D.C. and 30+ state offices.
○ Founded: 2004
○ President: Tim Phillips
○ New Media Manager: Stephanie Fontenot
○ Focus: Energy/environment, economy, education, tax reform, budget, labor,
health care, financial reform, property rights, technology, and more. Annual
national events include the Defending the American Dream Summit (DTAD) and
RightOnline.
○ Sister Organizations: Americans for Prosperity Foundation, their 501 c(3). Was
formed when Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE) split into two in 2004. AFP
and FreedomWorks were both born out of CSE.
● BlogCon
○ Blogger conference/training initiative
○ Location: Varies
○ Founded: 2010 by Tabitha Hale
○ Organizer: FreedomWorks
○ Focus: Training and networking bloggers. The name has kind of become a
catchall for blogger-centric events, but officially refers to FreedomWorks blogger
training efforts.
● Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)
○ Conservative conference
○ Founded: 1973
○ When: March.
○ Organizer: American Conservative Union (ACU)
○ Focus: Largest and longest conservative political conference. Dozens of political
organizations and influencers convene in D.C. for three days to listen to high
profile speakers, attend trainings, network, and drink.
● The Franklin Center
○ Non-profit news organization dedicated to covering state government and filling
the void left by the steep falloff in reporting on state and local governments.
○ Location: Alexandria, VA
○ Founded: 2009
○ Contact: Jennifer Ridgley
○ Focus: Driving a conversation about transparency, accountability, and fiscal
responsibility at the grassroots level. Professional reporting arm: Watchdog.org.
Citizen Journalism: Watchdog Wire.
● FreedomWorks
○ Libertarian grassroots group

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○ Founded: 2004
○ President: Matt Kibbe
○ New Media Director: Kristina Ribali
○ Focus: Economy, health care, energy/environment, tax reform, budget, labor,
and more. Developed FreedomConnector, a social platform to organize tea party
activists.
○ Sister Organizations: FreedomWorks For America, their superPAC and
FreedomWorks Foundation, their 501 c(3) arm. Was formed when Citizens for a
Sound Economy (CSE) split into two in 2004.
● FreePAC
○ Rally/training initiative
○ Location: All over the country
○ Founded: 2012
○ Organizer: FreedomWorks
○ Focus: Motivating and training tea party activists. Kick-off event was a joint
venture with The Blaze in Dallas and featured Glenn Beck. They subsequently
hosted a series of regional events leading up to the 2012 election.
● Heritage Action
○ Grassroots arm of the Heritage Foundation
○ Founded: 2010
○ CEO: Michael Needham
○ Focus: Pushing conservative public policy on education, energy, foreign policy,
tax policy, regulation, family and marriage, housing, immigration, labor,
transportation, welfare, terrorism, foreign aid, economic freedom, and pretty
much anything.
○ Sister Organization: See The Heritage Foundation in the think tank section.
● Leadership Institute (LI)
○ Conservative grassroots group
○ Founded: 1984
○ President: Morton Blackwell
○ Director of Digital Communications: Abigail Alger
○ Focus: Grassroots training, campus activism, media training. Also host a
conservative jobs bank.
● Netroots Nation
○ Progressive online activism conference
○ Location: Varies
○ Founded: 2006
○ When: June or July

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○ Organizer: Started as a Daily Kos project called YearlyKos. Grew into its own
brand.
○ Focus: Largest gathering of progressive activists in the country. Their mission is
the training and amplifying progressive voices online and on the ground. The
success of this initiative inspired Americans for Prosperity to launch RightOnline
in 2008.
● RedState Gathering (RSG)
○ RedState.com’s annual get-together
○ Location: Changes
○ Founded: 2008
○ When: August
○ Organizer: RedState.com/Eagle Publishing
○ Focus: Connecting RedState.com readers and conservative politicians. Politician
heavy event that is traditionally “hosted” by a conservative governor. Includes
grassroots training.
● RightOnline
○ Conservative new media/blogger conference
○ Founded: 2008 by Erik Telford
○ Organizer: Americans for Prosperity
○ When: June or July
○ Focus: Training online activists. One of the largest gatherings of conservative
bloggers.
● Smart Girl Politics (SGP)
○ Conservative womens’ grassroots group
○ Location: Decentralized
○ Founded: 2008
○ President: Stacy Mott
○ Co-founder: Teri Christoph
○ Focus: Mobilizing and educating conservative women online through training
seminars and events. Host an annual Smart Girl Summit (SGS). Very internet
and social media driven organization with an all volunteer staff.
○ Sister Organizations: SGP Action, their 501 c(4) activism arm devoted to
endorsing candidates and pushing legislation.
● Smart Girl Summit (SGS)
○ Conservative Womens’ Conference
○ Founded: 2009
○ Organizer: Smart Girl Politics

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○ Focus: Networking and training conservative women in grassroots activism and
policy.
● Tea Party Patriots (TPP)
○ Tea Party grassroots organization
○ Location: Decentralized. Founded in Atlanta.
○ Founded: 2009
○ Co-Founders: Jenny Beth Martin and Mark Meckler
○ Focus: Grassroots activism. Focusing on fiscal responsibility, free markets and
limited government. Host rallies, training activists, and facilitate get out the vote
activities.
● Tea Party Express (TPX or TPE)
○ Tea Party grassroots organization and PAC
○ Location: Office in Sacramento, CA. Decentralized.
○ Founded: 2009
○ Chairman: Amy Kremer
○ Focus: Buying ads and hosting rallies to support candidates endorsed by their
Our Country Deserves Better PAC. Invest and support primarily Federal
candidates - specifically Senate.
Party Affiliated Groups
● Democratic National Committee (DNC)
○ Official leadership of the Democratic Party
○ Founded: 1848
○ Chairman: Debbie Wasserman-Schultz
○ Focus: Developing the official Democratic Party platform, raising money, and
developing election strategy. DNC can also refer to their presidential nominating
convention, which takes place every 4 years.
● Democratic National Convention (DNC)
○ Democratic Convention
○ Founded: 1832
○ Organizer: Democratic National Committee (DNC)
○ Focus: To officially nominate the Democratic candidate for the upcoming U.S.
presidential election and to adopt the party platform and rules for the election
cycle.
● Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC)

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○ Official campaign arm of House Democrats
○ Founded: 1866
○ Chairman: Steve Israel
○ Focus: Electing Democratic candidates to the House of Representatives through
candidate recruitment, fundraising, and campaign organizing.
● Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC)
○ Committee that elects Democrats to the Senate
○ Founded:
○ Chairman: Michael Bennet
○ Focus: Providing support to current Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate
through fundraising, election law, direct mailers, advertising, messaging,
research, and more.
● National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC)
○ The Republican Hill committee that works to elect Republican candidates to the
House of Representatives
○ Founded: 1866
○ Chair: Rep. Pete Sessions. The NRCC is always chaired by a Republican
member of the House, who may serve up to two consecutive terms.
○ Focus: Getting Republicans elected to the House.
○ Young Guns: Formed in 2007 by Eric Cantor, Kevin McCarthy and Paul Ryan.
Basically a candidate recruitment tool, Young Guns was developed to help GOP
House candidates win in open seats or against Democrat incumbents.
● National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC)
○ Committee that elects Republicans to the Senate
○ Founded: 1916
○ Chairman: Jerry Moran.
○ Focus: Providing support to current Republican Senate candidates. Fundraising,
election law, direct mailers, advertising, messaging, research, and more.
● Republican National Committee (RNC)
○ The official leadership of the Republican Party.
○ Founded: 1856
○ Chairman: Reince Priebus
○ Focus: Developing the official GOP platform, raising money, and developing
election strategy. RNC can also refer to their presidential nominating convention,
which takes place every 4 years.

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● Republican National Convention (RNC)
○ Republican Convention
○ Founded: 1856
○ Organizer: The Republican National Committee (RNC)
○ Focus: To officially nominate the Republican candidate for the upcoming U.S.
presidential election and to adopt the party platform and rules for the election
cycle.
● Young Republican National Federation (YRs)
○ Republican Youth Outreach Group
○ Founded: 1931
○ Chair: Lisa Stickan
○ Focus: Recruiting, training, and mobilizing people under the age of 40. Getting
young Republicans involved in their community and charitable projects as well as
political campaigns.
● College Republican National Committee (CRs or CRNC)
○ Republican Political Action Committee
○ Founded: 1892
○ Chair: Alex Schriver
○ Focus: Recruiting and mobilizing Republican activists on college campuses. The
organization has produced many influential people within the Republican political
space.
Issue specific organizations
● AARP (formerly the American Association of Retired Persons)
○ Advocates for Americans age 50 and over
○ Founded: 1958
○ President: Robert G. Romasco
○ CEO: A. Barry Rand
○ Focus: Representing its more than 37 million members in Washington, publishing
the world’s largest circulation magazine, providing members with discounts and
other benefits. One of the most powerful lobbying groups resisting free-market
reforms of Medicare and Social Security.
● Americans for Tax Reform (ATR)
○ Conservative anti-tax organization

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○ Founded: 1985
○ President: Grover Norquist
○ Focus: Resisting tax increases while advocating for “a system in which taxes are
simpler, flatter, more visible, and lower than the are today.” Known for their
Taxpayer Protection Pledge.
● Americans United for Life (AUL)
○ American pro-life public interest legal group
○ Founded: 1971
○ President: Charmaine Yoest
○ Focus: Opposing legalized abortion, advocating for the human rights of the
unborn and dying, representing clients fighting for their health care freedom of
conscience.
● Faith and Freedom Coalition
○ Christian Conservative group uniting evangelicals and the Tea Party
○ Location: Duluth, Georgia
○ Founded: 2009
○ Chairman and Founder: Ralph Reed
○ Executive Director: Gary Marx
○ Focus: “Educating, equipping, and mobilizing people of faith...to be effective
citizens.” In addition to taking socially conservative stances, the group also
supports the free market, a strong national defense, and American support for
Israel.
● Family Research Council (FRC)
○ Christian Conservative group and lobbying organization
○ Founded: 1983
○ CEO: Tony Perkins
○ Chair: Thomas R. Anderson
○ Social Media Manager: Chris Marlink
○ Focus: Promoting traditional family values by opposing same-sex marriage,
abortion, divorce, embryonic stem-cell research, and pornography.
● Gun Owners of America (GOA)
○ Gun rights advocacy organization
○ Location: Springfield, VA
○ Founded: 1977
○ Executive Director: Larry Pratt
○ Chair: H.L. Richardson

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○ Focus: Advocating for the Second Amendment rights of Americans. Often takes
on the NRA for being too soft and endorses the opposing candidate.
● Move America Forward
○ Conservative political action group
○ Location: Sacramento, CA
○ Founded: 2004
○ Executive Director: James Dutra
○ Focus: Advancing conservative causes through media campaigns and grass-
roots activism.
● NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)
○ African-American civil rights organization
○ Location: Baltimore, Maryland
○ Founded: 1909
○ Chair: Roslyn Brock
○ President: Benjamin Jealous
○ Focus: Advocating for political, educational, social, and economic equality.
● National Rifle Association (NRA)
○ Gun rights advocacy organization
○ Location: Fairfax, VA
○ Founded: 1871
○ President: David Keene
○ Executive VP: Wayne LaPierre
○ Focus: Protecting the Second Amendment rights of Americans by advocating
against gun control.
● Organizing for America (OFA)
○ Community organizing arm of the Democratic National Committee
○ Founded: 2009
○ Director: Mitch Stewart
○ Focus: mobilizing supporters of President Obama’s legislative priorities.
● Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List)
○ Pro-life organization that endorses candidates
○ Founded: 1993
○ President: Marjorie Dannenfelser
○ Chair: Jane Abraham
○ Executive Director: Emily Buchanan
○ Focus: End abortion and counter the pro-choice group EMILY’s List by endorsing
female (and some male) pro-life candidates for higher office.

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Mission Focused News Sites
● American Bridge
○ Progressive research and communications super PAC
○ Founded in 2010 by Media Matters founder David Brock
○ President: Rodell Mollineau
○ Focus: Conducting opposition research on Republican candidates and
organizations
● The Blaze
○ Conservative/Libertarian news website
○ Founder: Glenn Beck
○ Editor-in-Chief: Scott Baker
○ Founded: 2010
○ Focus: Providing alternative forms of media (print, radio, TV) for a
Conservative/Libertarian audience.
● Breitbart.com
○ Conservative news and commentary website, founded by the late Andrew
Breitbart
○ Founded: prior to 2007 by Andrew Breitbart. Launched “The Bigs” in 2009 and
2010: Big Government, Big Hollywood, Big Journalism, and Big Peace. In 2011,
weeks after his death, The Bigs were rolled into Breitbart.com and the site
relaunched as a hub. Breitbart Sports launched in early 2013.
○ Focus: Exposing government excess and hypocrisy, media bias, Hollywood
liberalism, and anti-Americanism. Shaming those who commit injustice.
● Buzzfeed
○ News website featuring “viral” content and coverage of important news stories
○ Founded: 2005
○ Editor-in-Chief: Ben Smith
○ Focus: Covering the most popular news stories utilizing viral content
● The Daily Caller
○ Conservative/Libertarian news website
○ Founders: Tucker Carlson, Neil Patel
○ Founded: 2010
○ Focus: Providing original reporting, in-depth investigations, commentary and
breaking news.
● Daily Kos
○ Progressive political blog featuring user-generated content
○ Founded: 2002

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○ Publisher: Markos Moulitsas
○ Focus: Providing an online community for progressive (liberal, left-wing) bloggers
to interact and share information.
● Democratic Underground
○ Online community for Democrats
○ Founded: 2001
○ Focus: Serving as a community for Democrats online and raising money for
political causes.
● The Drudge Report
○ Center-right news aggregation site
○ Founded: 1997
○ Editor: Matt Drudge
○ Focus: Linking to high-profile and controversial news stories, typically of more
interest to conservative or libertarian leaning news consumers.
● Firedog Lake
○ Progressive news site and online community
○ Founder/Publisher: Jane Hamsher
○ Focus: Serving as an influential voice within the progressive community.
● The Foundry
○ Heritage Foundation’s conservative policy blog
○ Founded: 2008
○ Focus: Publishing opinion pieces and policy research by Heritage Foundation
staff.
● Free Beacon
○ Non-profit, center-right news website focusing on politics
○ Founded: 2012
○ Editor-in-Chief: Matthew Continetti
○ Focus: Publishing news content of interest to conservatives and “uncovering the
stories that the professional left hopes will never see the light of day.”
● Hot Air
○ Conservative blog
○ Founded: 2006 by Michelle Malkin. Sold to Salem Communications in 2010.
○ Editor: Mary Katherine Ham
○ Contributors: Allah Pundit and Ed Morrissey
○ Focus: Featuring conservative and libertarian viewpoints and linking to
interesting stories.

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● Media Matters for America (MMfA)
○ Progressive “fact-checking” and research information
○ Founded: 2004
○ Focus: “Correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.” Demonizing
conservative media figures and advocating for progressive causes including
same-sex marriage and the “War on Fox.”
● Media Trackers
○ Conservative non-profit, investigative media watchdog. An American Majority
project.
○ Location: Wisconsin
○ Founded: 2011.
○ Focus: Enforcing media accountability, government transparency, and quality,
fact-based journalism.
● Mediaite
○ Media opinion and aggregation website featuring clips from cable news and other
sources
○ Founded: 2009
○ Editor: Jon Nicosia
○ Focus: Providing news and opinion content taken from a variety of sources and
analyzed by a team of bloggers. Good for finding clips of cable news.
● Newsbusters
○ Conservative media watchdog run by the Media Research Center
○ Founded: 2005
○ Associate Editor: Noel Sheppard
○ VP for Research: Brent Baker
○ Research Director: Rich Noyes
○ Director of Media Analysis: Tim Graham
○ Focus: Exposing liberal media bias in American mainstream media.
● Patch.com
○ Hyper-local news and information website
○ Founded: 2007
○ Owned by: AOL
○ President: Warren Webster
○ Focus: Providing news and info about towns and communities underserved by
other media outlets. Currently operates in 23 states through approx. 850 local
sites.
● Politico
○ Political news organization
○ Founded: 2007

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○ Editor-in-Chief: John Harris
○ Focus: Providing coverage of politics for political insiders.
● Red Alert
○ Online publication for young conservatives
○ Founded: 2013
○ Managed by the parent company of The Weekly Standard and Washington
Examiner
○ Contact: Francesa Chambers
○ Focus: Providing center-right news for young conservatives by young
conservatives, focusing on policy, politics, and pop culture.
● Reddit
○ Social news and entertainment website
○ Location: San Francisco, CA
○ Founded: 2005
○ CEO: Yishan Wong
○ Focus: Enabling users to submit content and have online peers vote the
submission “up” or “down” for ranking purposes.
● Ricochet
○ Conservative news/opinion site for people who live in “blue” areas.
○ Focus: Publishing content and fostering conversation among conservatives
● Salon
○ Progressive news and opinion website
○ Founded: 1995
○ Editor: Kerry Lauerman
○ Focus: Publishing content about politics and current affairs.
● Think Progress
○ Blog of the Center for American Progress (progressive think tank)
○ Founded: 2004
○ Editor: Judd Legum
○ Focus: “Provide a forum that advances progressive ideas and policies.” Blog
contains section for climate, economy, health, justice, LGBT, security, and
culture. Frequently reacts to conservative commentary and reposts videos from
conservative sources.
● Watchdog Wire
○ Citizen journalism initiative of The Franklin Center
○ Founded: 2012
○ Contact: Jackie Moreau

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○ Focus: Exposing waste, fraud, and abuse at all levels of government. Getting
citizens active in holding their leaders accountable.
● Watchdog.org
○ State level reporting with a free market perspective. Project of The Franklin
Center.
○ Location: Alexandria, VA. Bureaus across the country
○ Founded: 2009
○ President: Jason Stverak
○ Contact: Tabitha Hale
○ Focus: Exposing waste fraud and abuse. Professional watchdog journalism at
the state level.

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Chapter 4
The media is in rapid decline. Newspaper budgets are being slashed. The story is just not being
told like it once was. This is why the importance of bloggers has increased dramatically in the
past few years, and we have a duty to tell the story that that media isn’t telling. The internet
gives us access to a million different tools to find and distribute information.
Open Records Resources
● Submitting requests
● FOIA
● Following money trails
● Voting records
● Contracts
In Your State:
● Sunshine laws: What are they link in your state?
● 2 party vs. 1 party consent states: Where do you go to find out?
You’ve got the info. Now what?
● Story ideas
● Sourcing
● Fact checking
Who to talk to and what questions to ask

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Resource Websites
● Open Secrets: Tracking the influence of money on U.S. politics, and how that money
affects policy and citizens' lives.
● AP Stylebook: A guide for grammar, punctuation and principles and practices of
reporting. The newspaper industry standard.
● Guidestar: A guide to everything non-profit. Learn mission, programs, leaders, goals,
accomplishments, and needs of non-profits.
● FollowTheMoney.org: Tracking political donations in all 50 states and analyzing the
influence.
● Legal Guide for Bloggers: How to keep yourselves out of trouble. Know your liability and
your rights.
● The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press: Free legal advice, resources,
support and advocacy to protect the First Amendment and Freedom of Information rights
of journalists.
● Accurint: Detect fraud. Verify identities. Conduct investigations.
● Sunshine Review: Their wiki collects and shares information about state and local
transparency using a 10-point Transparency Checklist to evaluate 6,000 state and local
government websites
● Muckety: Specializes in mapping paths of influence, encompassing government,
business and nonprofit affiliations. Shows connections users might omit from their
own public profiles, including family members, political involvement, lobbying activity
and criminal charges.
● Recovery.gov: Recovery.gov is the U.S. government's official website that provides easy
access to data related to Recovery Act spending and allows for the reporting of potential
fraud, waste, and abuse.
● Public Access To Court Electronic Records: An electronic public access service that
allows users to obtain case and docket information from federal appellate, district and
bankruptcy courts. Provided by the federal Judiciary.

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Chapter 5: Impact: Holding A Politician Accountable -
Rocking Their World
There's an old question - if a tree falls in the forest, but no one is around to hear it, did it make a sound?
As a blogger, you have an important role to play as a watchdog, keeping elected officials accountable for
instances of waste, fraud, and abuse in government that take place under their watch. And of course if
you have a politician who is using the coercive power of government to assault the freedom liberty of the
people, that's worth exposing as well. Writing your blog post, and putting it up on your website is an
important first step -- but if you want to really have your story impact the politician or public official in
question, there is more to be done -- much more.
The key is to raise awareness of your story to the people who have a reason to care about your
subject politician. And perhaps, equally as important, to put the story on the radar of everyone
your target cares about, within reason. All it takes is a little internet "gumshoe" work, and you
are off to the races.
The operative questions are -- who cares about your "target" and who cares about the subject
matter for which you are holding said target accountable.
You can do this while being ethical, and while being professional.
First and foremost, you must call out your target by name -- both in the title and multiple times in
the body of your blog post. Make sure their name is among the "key words" you use to tag your
post.
Then figure out who matters to that politician. For example, if it is a federal or state legislator, or
even a local elected official, they have a district that they represent. So you should gather as
best you can the e-mail addresses of community leaders in that district.
● - Local Election Officials (City Councils, School Board, Water Board, etc.).
● - Government officials
● - Elected local political central committee members and volunteer groups
● - Any watchdog groups or issue groups that follow the target of your post on a regular
basis
● - Chambers of Commerce Members
● - Community groups like Realters, and such
● - All of the local newspaper, television and talk radio contacts in his or her district.
● - Their political donors (often times online)
● - Their staff members
● - Their colleagues (peer pressure is a bitch)
You would be shocked how easy it is to find email information for most of these folks just by
Google search. You should then email your story to all of these people. This will cause your

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target to be bombarded with "input" about your blog post, and it will vastly increase the
likelihood that you have an effect on him or her, which is what you want.
Of course your post is going to hit its target for doing, or not doing something. What ever that
"something" is -- it will have its own constituency groups. For example, if you are exposing a
state legislator for lying about having a college degree to get elected, one that he never earned.
Then you might also want to gather email addresses for groups and organizations on the
campus of the school he lied about having graduated from. You may want to to contact "good
government" groups like Common Cause and see if they will engage, even though they are not
traditional allies. You may want to go back and figure out prominent alumni from his alleged
school of graduation, and send the story to them. And so forth.
While emailing your story is effective, also remember that will all of these "targets" above, you
can also reach out to them via Facebook, Twitter and other social media.
The idea here is that while you may have a constituency group that cares about what you write,
you need to take advantage of the built-up constituency groups surrounding the subject of what
you write. It will go a long way towards increasing your effectiveness, and your readership.
Here are some other helpful tips to make sure you are being as effective as possible.
Social media:
● Name and shame: Say you interview a politician at his office and you’ve just talked
about something important and he gives his commitment to fulfill a certain promise.
Take a picture with him/her and post it saying, “So glad ______ decided to commit to
not raising ______ tax! Thanks so much!”
● Engage. Write on his/her Facebook wall. Tweet him and tell him that you are a
constituent and don’t appreciate what he’s doing.
● If you write an article about him, tag him on social media when you share it.
● Does the person of interest have friends and/or enemies? Tag them in the tweet or
Facebook post as well.
● Create a spoof account. Make it hyperlocal if need be and then tag everyone in his
community illustrating the stupid policies being supported.
● Urge your followers to call, tweet, email the politician.
Tumblr:
● Create a spoof account of the person.
● If they’re dumb enough, just posting pictures and posts of what they’re actually doing
is enough (see also Joe Biden).
Blogging:
● Use said person’s name in the headline (better Google juice anyway).
● Forward your post to the subject and get comment before going live. (This alone can
change behavior.)

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● Forward your post to bigger bloggers who may be interested in the story.
● Nationalize the story and turn the white-hot light onto the politician.
● Send your post to a local newspaper person who is fair but lazy (and they’re all lazy).
Give them an easy story to write/promote.
DON’T
● Use profanity
● Call names
● Invite violence
● Photoshop someone in a crude or degrading way
● Yell, lose your cool in person
● Be vindictive and/or petty in tone
● Inflate or exaggerate claims
● Get personal. This is strictly business.

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Chapter 6: Reporting From Your Phone
Photographers say that the best picture is the one taken. Likewise, the best news made is the
news that’s reported. Many times, the only tool of the journalistic trade available will be your
phone. Luckily, it’s a formidable tool.
The iPhone incorporates many abilities that make it appealing to reporters. (For those who use
Android and other phones like Blackberries, some of this information will be useful, some won’t.)
First, why use a Smart Phone as a citizen journalist?
● Portable.
● Photojournalism.
● Audio recording.
● Video recording. Ability to capture, edit, and post to YouTube within minutes.
● Ability to keep info from computer locally.
● Must keep up with breaking news.
Now, what must you have on your phone as a citizen journalist?
● Security: Protect your information and back it up.
○ iHound - Track your phone, wipe remotely, find your family.
○ Make sure to use the native security features!
● Twitter app: Why? Because you need to be informed of breaking news.
○ Native Twitter app
○ Echofon
○ Hootsuite--great command and control for multiple accounts (including
Facebook)
○ Seesmic
● Blogging app: Why? Because you might want to blog on the fly. One reason to
use WordPress is that it’s open source and a ton of plugins are available. In
addition, there are many apps written for the platform.
○ The WordPress app stinks. Or did. Word is, that it’s better.
○ BlogPress
○ Blogsy
○ Blogger -- for Blogger
○ Typepad-- for the throw-backs
○ Posts -- for all Blogging platforms
○ Cover It Live -- Real-time reporting for a longer format than Twitter.
○ Tumblr -- for shorter posts. Popular with the younguns. Social. Shareable.

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○ Also, want to design a website from your iPhone? Not even kidding, you
can do it. Use M.dot. It’s beautiful interface lets you create a webpage
from your phone that looks great mobily.
● Audio Recorder: Why? Because you need to get people on the record and an
audio recorder is how you do it.
○ Quick Voice Pro
○ iRecorder
○ TweetMic (to send audio to Twitter)
○ Recorder (simplist of them all)
○ Soundcloud is an innovative recorder and message share option.
● Video Recorder/Editing on the Fly: Why? Because you may just want to catch
something good!
○ Ustream both on your phone and on your desktop.
○ Qik will record and send immediately to social networks. Also a must for
on-the-fly interviews.
○ iVideoCamera records and can be edited on the fly and posted to
YouTube and other outlets. Nice all-in-one solution.
○ YouTube Capture
○ iMovie -- HD video, editing, and uploading to YouTube.
○ CinemaFX for Video -- give your video effects (really cool; more cool
apps)
○ Animoto -- Make beautiful videos from your iPhone
○ Splice -- Easy, peasy video editing and cheaper than Animoto
● Info management: Frustrated because that article you need is saved on your
desktop? You need to get mobile. Use Dropbox to save your photos video across
your phone, desktop, etc. and with other people, too. Evernote will keep all your
information in one place. Most importantly, it’s with you so you can access what
you need anywhere.
○ Dragon Dictation. Want to not have to write on the fly (fat finger
syndrome). Use this.
○ Evernote: This is indirect, but usefull for gathering research. Say you find
an article off of Facebook or Twitter or via the net and want to save it for
later blogging. Use this to do it.
○ Dropbox: Get your stuff everywhere. iPhone, iPad, LapTop, DeskTop and
even P.C.’s.
○ Jot Not Scanner Pro: You do not need a scanner or fax machine. Take
photos with this and boom! PDF and store it or send it.
● Pictures
○ Flickr: Worried about Facebook and Instagram’s unholy alliance? Keep
your photos at Flickr and use them to upload to your blog.

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○ Instagram: Tart up photos and send them to Facebook. If you dare.
○ Camera+: Shh, but I like it better than Instagram.
○ Hipstamatic: Wanna look like a 70s sitcommer? Here ya go.
○ iTimeLapse: Create time lapse photographs and stop-time video.
○ Diptic: Create multipicture frames. Great for those separated at birth
pictures.
○ Night Camera: Better photography on your iPhone in low light. Use this a
lot.
○ Camera Zoom: Quality dips but useful when you’re in the back of the
crowd. Of course, now, the camera does it itself.
● Picture Editing
○ Photochop: Fun to torture politicians with. Easy photo blending.
○ Photo Lab: Also fun to torment politicians. Put them in a dunce cap, etc.
○ PS Express: Adobe photoshop express for iPhone/iPad. Works great.
○ ToonPaint: Make pictures look like cartoons. Really cool.
○ Colorsplash: Only keep the color you want. Coolness.
● Travel: I know this is tangential, but so often, we’re going to strange cities to
cover strange politicians.
○ Yelp -- Found some great out of the way places.
○ Trip Advisor: Get the best hotel recommendations. It has never steered
me wrong.
○ Transit: All the subway, train, bus info from major cities
○ Flight Track: Where’s your plane? Yeah, stuck over the Atlantic. You’re
missing your connection.
○ Just landed: This will help those who pick you up from the airport to
predict the time they should come get you.
○ Google Maps: Navigation. The new app is better than Garmin. Serioiusly.
○ Taxi Magic: Book a taxi in your town.
○ Uber: Get a car instead of a taxi and you don’t need money.

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Chapter 7: More Than Words: Photo, Video & Podcasts
Photoshop/Infographics/memes
● When to use them
● How to integrate them to social media
● Online photoshop resources
● Meme generators
● Infographics
○ Pictograph
● Graphs and charts
○ Create.ly
Podcasting
Why podcast? Podcasting is a time-intensive, longer-form kind of journalism. It is the
exposé of audio/visual journalism. Podcasting can be a fantastic way to get a politician
or specialist on record about big issues in a way that avoids clichéd soundbite answers.
Podcasting is NOT for everyone. There is a steep learning curve: learning to talk in a
pleasing way, learning to edit, learning to produce, learning to interact with iTunes, and
then, paying for the storage for the podcasts.
So, before going down the podcast road, you’ll need to answer these questions:
○ Who do I want to appeal to?
○ What will be the topic?
○ How long? (One can do a 2-minute “podcast” of the day, a 20 minute talk, an
hour conversation.)
Okay, so you’ve decided that podcasting is for you, now what?
● Lining up guests
○ Ask
○ Keep your word. Make a time and keep it.
○ Be professional--courteous, patient.
○ Be explicit -- tell your guest exactly what you expect from them.
■ Time of “hit”
■ Length of discussion
■ Needed links to promote their work
■ Whether the guest should hang up, stay on the line, etc.
● Skype -- Recording via Skype or a phone call from a landline to Skype works far
better than recording a cell phone call.

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○ Buy a phone number
○ Make your name ID on Skype something identifying rather than
something clever unless your name is John Smith
● Equipment -- You’ll need some basic equipment to produce a quality podcast.
○ Microphone -- The most important piece of equipment you’ll need. When you’re
budgeting for your show, keep this in mind. Here are some suggested
microphones to get you started.
■ Blue’s Snowball USB Microphone
■ CAD U37 USB Studio Microphone
■ Blue’s Yeti USB Microphone
○ Headphones
■ Sony MDR7502 Professional Stereo Headphone
■ Audio-Technica ATH-M20 Stereo Headphones
■ Sony MDR7506 Professional Large Diaphragm Headphone
● Recording your podcast -- Depending upon your computer (Mac vs. PC) and your setup,
you should consider the following programs to record your podcasts.
○ Wiretap Studio
○ Audacity
○ Garage Band
● Editing your recorded podcast -- Whether you’re on a Mac or a PC, there are several
options for editing, including programs you may have used to record the show. Getting
the hang of editing takes time, but with extensive practice these programs will allow you
to add music, introductions, and effects.
○ Audacity
○ Garage Band
● Hosting Your Podcast -- Once you’ve finished editing your podcast you’ll need to upload
it somewhere.
○ Self-Hosting -- If you have server space attached to your website, this is the ideal
method for storing your shows because it gives you the most control and stability,
plus if your site is built upon a CMS like WordPress or Drupal, the site’s backend
will produce the all important RSS feed for you.
○ Podcast Hosting Services -- Some web services will host your show and help you
with RSS feeds, iTunes connections and embedable players for you to share
your show on your website. To get the storage space you need you may need to
purchase plans.
■ SoundCloud
■ PodBean
■ Buzzsprout
● iTunes -- To make it easy for people to listen to you podcast on their computer and on
the go, it’s a necessity for your show to be uploaded to iTunes.
○ Closely follow Apple’s directions:
http://www.apple.com/itunes/podcasts/specs.html

Page 47
○ Each iTunes show will require cover art.
○ Once you’ve established the RSS feed that iTunes uses to pull in your show, do
not change it. The procedure you have to undergo to change it is risky and time
consuming.
● Expert Help -- If you feel daunted by all this setup, editing and hosting, consult an expert.
A professional podcast producer can record, edit, host and post your show and allow
you to simply focus on hosting.

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If It’s Not On Video, It Didn’t Happen
Creating original videos can seem like an intimidating undertaking. What kind of camera do I
need? Should I buy a microphone and a lighting kit? What editing software should I use? While
it’s nice to use an expensive HD camcorder and have access to top of the line editing software,
do you really need to spend thousands to make impactful videos? Absolutely not! If you own a
smart phone that has a camera, you already possess all the tools you need to make original
video content.
If you’re already accustomed to taking and sharing photographs with your phone, transitioning
over to filming and sharing will be a breeze. The standard camera applications that come
preloaded on smart phones work just fine and most include a one-touch YouTube sharing
function built right in enabling you to shoot and share while you’re still out in the field. If you’d
like to take your phone’s video capture and editing capabilities to the next level then you should
check out YouTube Capture, it’s a fantastic free app which will allow you to shoot, edit, stabilize
the video, color correct, and share directly to YouTube.
Take some time to familiarize yourself with the application that you’ll be using to capture your
video. Shoot some test footage, edit it and upload it as a private video on YouTube so that you
and only you will be able to view it. Watch what you’ve created and give some thought to what
you could do differently to make the end product better.
Once you feel comfortable enough with the technology, it’s time to decide what you’re going to
shoot. Of course we all want to capture a great gotcha moment on camera but there is so much
more that can be done with video; you could be the star of your own web series, start a video
blog, film your local government meetings, conduct man on the street interviews, cover rallies
and protests, the possibilities are really endless.
Taking it to the next level
HD Camcorders
There are reasonably priced (under $200) cameras on the market that are capable of shooting
full HD video.
· Sony Bloggie Live ($199.99)
● Full HD 1080p MP4 video and 12.8MP stills
● Wi-fi enabled (upload video directly to web or broadcast live via Qik)
● Internal 4GB flash memory (will hold approximately 2 hours of footage)
● Built-in LED light
● Flip-out USB arm for upload/charging
● Compatible with both Windows and Mac
· Polaroid iD450 ($199.99)
● Full HD 1080p AVI 16MP stills

Page 49
● Wi-fi enabled (upload video directly to web, broadcast live via Ustream)
● 128 MB internal memory card (can be expaned up to 64BG using integrated MicroSD
memory card slot)
● Built-in LED light
● Compatible with both Windows and Mac
Editing
Some of the most powerful 30 and 60 second commercials that air during the election season
consist of basic text, music, and news clips. These cannot be produced on your phone but if
you own a desktop or laptop you already have editing software (iMovie on Macs and Movie
Maker on PCs) both of these programs are user friendly and will allow you to add music and text
to your videos.
If you get hung up in the editing process try doing a YouTube search of ‘how to do ‘x’ in iMovie’
odds are you’ll find numerous videos that will show you step by step how to accomplish what
you’re attempting to do. If you’d like to learn everything there is to know about your editing
software Lynda.com has hours of videos that explain all of the intricacies of iMovie and
Windows Movie Maker. Lynda offers a seven day free trial (a monthly subscription costs $25
and can be cancelled at any time) and is a great resource if you are have difficulty mastering
any software.
Finding and using video and music
News clips
● If you find a video clip on the internet that you would like to incorporate into your
video you can do so quite easily. KeepVid allows you download videos from
YouTube, Vimeo, Metacafe, Google and Putfile onto your harddrive.
○ If you have concerns about the legality of using the clip that you’ve found
the Center for Social Media has a free online guide that will walk you
through best practices in fair use for online video.
Music
● If you want to add music to your videos first make sure that it is in the public
domain. The Library of Public Domain Music’s site has compiled over 40,000
downloadable public domain songs.
Audio
The only elements necessary for a good video are an image and audible sound. Sound is
actually more important than the quality of the images you are capturing. Your video may look
fantastic but if the dialogue is inaudible no one will watch it.
If you are going to use your phone as your primary video camera, you may want to invest in a
digital audio recorder that you can use to capture audio just in case you’re unhappy with the

Page 50
sound captured by your phone. Both Windows Movie Maker and iMovie will allow you to import
and sync audio from a digital recorder.
There are hundreds of reasonably priced (under $100) digital recorders available. If you want to
ensure that your video is audible you should considering making the investment.
Digital Recorders
● · Sony ICD-UX512RED ($89.99)
Recording formats supported: MP3, WMA, ACC-LC and PCM
Built-in 2GB flash memory (536 hours recording time, expandable via microSD)
Built-in stereo microphone (adjustable sensitivity)
One microphone input (3.5 mm stereo)
Power: 2 rechargeable AAA included charge via Flip-out USB
File transfer via Flip-out USB
Compatible with both Windows and Mac
● · Olympus VN-8100PC ($59.99)
Recording formats supported: MP3 and WMA
Built-in 2GB flash memory (843 hours recording time)
One microphone input (3.5 mm mono)
Power: disposable 2 AAA batteries
File transfer via USB cable
Compatible with both Windows and Mac
Legalities of filming
You always want to stay on the right side of the law when filming. Each state handles the issue
of video and audio recording differently. Make sure that you familiarize yourself with the laws of
the state in which you are filming. National Conference of State Legislatures offers a
comprehensive list of all the applicable laws including links to each state's privacy statutes.
Chapter 8: Ethics: Maintaining Trust & relationships
You walk into a room full of new people to network and enjoy an adult beverage. Who are you?
There’s a couple types:
The Bore: You yammer on, too long, saying nothing. People tune out.
The Tease: People will pay attention when you dress scanty and show leg and cleavage. No
one takes you seriously, though.
The Opportunist: You look over the shoulder of the person you’re talking to, convinced
someone better will come along. People hate you.

Page 51
The Vapid: You have a superficial take on everything because a point of view would commit
you and alienate a possible new friend. People roll their eyes behind your back.
The Oversharer: You feel a compulsion to tell embarrassing stories and you seem slightly
unstable. People think you’re nuts.
The Loud Talker: You live life in ALL CAPS. Everything you say is IMPORTANT. You achieve
precisely the opposite of your desires. People tune you out.
The Stalker: You won’t go away. You are completely obsessed about one person, topic, idea,
and you refuse to let it go. You scare people. People hate you. You kinda like that.
The Wallflower: You wouldn’t dare self-promote. You’re too good for that, and anyway, who
would want to dance with you. People don’t even see you.
The Oxygen Sucker: It’s always about you. Always. You know who is awesome? You are, just
ask you. People think you’re a narcissistic butthead.
Here is the fundamental axiom about media, blogging, social media, etc.: The Internet Is People.
Forget soylent green, the internet for all it’s bits of information is curated, cultivated and crowded
with people. These people share, link to, comment on, read, and generally interact with the
information you share with them.
Too often, people doing the writing and sharing of information and opinion forget this one little
fact and forgetting gets them in trouble.
Being The Bore, The Tease, The Opportunist, The Vapid, The Oversharer, The Loud Talker,
The Stalker, The Wallflower or The Oxygen Sucker doesn’t work well for the cocktail party goers
and it doesn’t work well in media, either.
The Golden Rule applies equally online as it does in real life. Social rules of real life apply online,
too.
Bloggers need to be mindful of how their actions appear to others--including their writing. Some
guidelines:
1 Be truthful. Write only what you know to be true and triple check your assertions.
2 Get it on the record and allow for comment. If you’re doing a hit piece, make sure to
ask for comment. It makes your piece less biased. Plus, you’ll often get something
interesting from those you’re getting info from.
3 Put corrections front and center. Got it wrong? Correct it obviously and up front.
Caveat about Twitter: Often, the incorrect Tweet will be the one RT’d and enshrined in
the public imagination. While in blog posts and news stories one doesn’t delete, on
Twitter, it’s better to get rid of the offending information and replace it with corrected
information.
4 Be generous when quoting. One of the crappiest things a blogger can do (and some of
the biggest bloggers do this and it’s wrong) is to block quote the whole of another
blogger or writer’s argument so that the reader doesn’t have to go to the source site.

Page 52
This is selfish, borish, lame, antisocial behavior. The currency of the internet is links,
page views and traffic. When a blogger doesn’t give due credit and tries to hog all the
glory himself, it’s rude and unnecessary. People will come back to get your take if you
say, “here’s a snippet, but go read the whole thing and come back.” The BEST bloggers,
even blogging commentators, don’t take others’ work this way. They share the link love
wealth. They ask their readers to go read the other source.
5 Plagiarism is the devil. This goes without saying, but will be said anyway. A writer’s
currency is his integrity. Don’t steal. Don’t steal ideas (some bloggers have). Don’t steal
stories (some bloggers have). Don’t steal someone else’s work and portray it as your
own (some bloggers have). These actions are an abomination.
6 Disagree agreeably. Most of the time. Back in the day, blogwars were all the rage.
Some lasted for years--and this was Right on Right fighting; although there was a good
amount of Left-Right warring. F-bombs flew. Personal invective and ad hominem were
just another day in the Intertubez. With the advent of social media, and verifiable
commenting, bloggers have civilized (hard to believe, but true). The newer bloggers
have more delicate sensibilities. The immediacy of social media can make one look like
an insufferable douchecanoe more than a Principled Person Standing By Principles far
more transparently. Still, there’s some folks who fight foolishly. That is, they fight and get
down and dirty for stupid reasons. So here’s some rules for fighting:
a Punch up. That dude with 10 followers? Why are you wasting your time? Set an
example with a person of stature who draw more eyeballs to your cause.
b Keep it clean. Name-calling just makes you look like a jerk and people tune out.
c Keep it issue-oriented. It’s so satisfying to call someone an imbecile but it
doesn’t achieve anything beyond that.
d If it goes on too long, you’ll tire your followers/readers. They’ll give up.
e Win. If you have the losing argument, why are you arguing?
7 Disclose conflicts of Interest. Getting paid by the Fill-In-The-Blank lobby? Disclose it.
Better yet, make sponsors buy advertising and have them sign an acknowledgement
that they recognize you are under no obligation to write supporting their point of view.
Bottom line, your integrity is undermined if you don’t disclose a connection to a story. So,
disclose.

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