April 2012 – Journo James's Journal

Chef Hong Preaches the Virtues of Hansik

Post author:journojames
Post published:April 27, 2012
Post category:Entertainment & Culture Feature Interview

Originally published Mar. 23, 2012

Near the gleaming mirrored wine bar in cozy Sebastian’s Bistro in Huntington Beach, California, a short 46-year-old Korean man in chef’s whites and black-rimmed glasses, sets up a cooking station on a large rectangular table for a demo. His compact stature, boyish looks and nimble movements make him appear closer to 30 than 50.

Chef Mike Hong, Photo by JournoJames

This is chef Mike Hong. He preaches about Korean food. Even in little Italian bistros absent of any hungry Koreans.

While he considers himself a professional sushi chef first, he says that introducing people to Korean cuisine, or Hansik, is his true calling. (more…)

Wikipedia, Museums and Journalists

Post author:journojames
Post published:April 20, 2012
Post category:Journalism Op/Ed/Commentary Papers/Reports

Originally published Mar. 9, 2012

Lori Phillips, the current Wikipedian-in-Residence at the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, admitted last week that she never thought Wikipedia would become such an important part of her museum studies research.

Lori-Phillipswikistrategies — Lori Phillips, Photo courtesy of Wiki Strategies

It was enlightening to hear her talk about how she’s realized the importance of Wikipedia and its great potential as a collaborative learning tool, especially when partnered with museums.

Phillips said that museums are looking to the future and trying to find ways to become more technologically creative, collaborative and accessible to the public. She said that Wikipedia could help museums do all of that. (more…)

Making Mistakes in Online Journalism Report

Post author:journojames
Post published:April 18, 2012
Post category:Papers/Reports

Originally published on Mar. 4, 2012

On Saturday, Jan. 8, 2011, NPR News broke the story and reported — on air and online — that U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords was killed in an attack at a public event near Tucson, Arizona.[1]

Within a half hour of NPR’s report, three cable news networks – CNN, Fox News and MSNBC – replicated the report. The ABC, NBC and CBS news divisions followed, along with other major news sources across the country, from the L.A. Times and Reuters to Talking Points Memo, many crediting NPR as the source.[2]

Gabrielle_Giffords_shooting_scene.wikipedia — Aftermath of Giffords shooting, Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

The problem: it was false. NPR mistakenly reported Gifford’s death when, in fact, she was alive and still in surgery. (more…)