Media

New youth reporter

Hello, neighbors! We have a new youth reporter to introduce to you! Frances will be a new reporter. She is 9 years old. She likes to play around with the other kids in the neighborhood and is really familiar with our community. She lives in a different part of the neighborhood than Oscar and will have different observations. Oscar and Frances sat down recently to interview each other about the youth reporting business. We discussed what it takes to be a good youth reporter. Frances says that you need to like to write and to read too. Oscar (me) says you need to be investigative and have the guts to go around and learn about something that you don’t know. Frances adds that you need to like to go places too. She likes exploring by bike, and I agreed that liking to explore is important. We discussed that it is very important to have a working pen or pencil and some paper, which is sometimes hard to do, especially if your room is nicknamed “the black hole”. I told Frances about calling businesses on the phone to do my reporting so that she’d know. We plan to trade off months with our reporting. Upcoming ideas include exploring why it is still snowing outside and why the weather is so different from last year, May Day, Everett’s Grocery Store and how they make bacon, coming attractions at Corcoran Park, and summer activities. We look forward to hearing Frances’ unique view on events happening in our amazing neighborhood.

You heard it here first

Several major news organizations sent out false reports yesterday in their haste to be the first to tell you something had happened.

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Apply now for Doc U, Saint Paul Neighborhood Network's digital documentary filmmaking mentorship

The power of the documentary film is its ability to shine a spotlight on issues, stories, and perspectives that would otherwise go unheard and thus unnoticed. Because of our belief in this power, SPNN created Doc U, a mentorship in digital documentary filmmaking for low income adults. Now entering it’s second year, this intensive mentorship program guides participants through the process of creating a 10-minute documentary on the topic of their choosing. In 15 weeks, participants will learn how to shape a story and conduct interviews, along with basic camera operation and non-linear editing, through classes, workshops and mentorship.

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"Busted Paper" and other mugshot magazines: Why they are—and will likely remain—legal

A recent edition of Busted Paper

The faces stare up at you from the folded tabloid newspaper on sale at the your nearest convenience store: hundreds of photos of people at what might be the worst moment of their lives, available to anyone with a dollar. Busted Paper, on sale in the Twin Cities for the last four years, is just a small part of a new and rapidly growing industry dedicated to publishing booking photos, commonly called mugshots, in tabloids and online.

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Leaving footprints: Library of Congress takes on monumental task of archiving tweets

If you have not yet begun to Tweet, doing so may be your one remaining shot at immortality. If you don’t mind being immortal in a crowd.

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Minneapolis Somali TV host and producer celebrates a decade of community news coverage — without a paycheck

Liban Hussein (Photo by Ibrahim Hirsi)

A well-known face to Somali television viewers in Minnesota, Liban Hussein brings the community news stories unfolding both in the Twin Cities and in the war-torn Somalia he fled decades ago.

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Missing voices

When we have three Minnesotans missing overseas for three months, you would think that would be the sort of thing that makes the news here.

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MPLSzine: A great way to get involved with the Twin Cities creative community

A photo by Steven Lang occupies a two-page spread in the Beauty issue of MPLSzine

Hello, all. Today I thought I would change it up a bit and tell you about a local writing opportunity. The collaborative submissions based digital publication MPLSzine is now accepting submissions for their 13th issue, “Movement.” This is not a paid writing gig, but it is a great way to get your writing out to an audience, add something to your résumé, and contribute to a great local creative project.

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REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK | Mug shot magazines: Why are they legal? Should they be?

Celebrities like Lindsay Lohan can expect that if they're arrested, their mug shots will be all over the news. Should the same be true for non-celebrities?

In Minnesota, as in most states, booking photos—a.k.a. mug shots—are part of public record. Recently, private organizations have been making the most unflattering of these available online or in printed tabloids, sold mostly in convenience stores for a small profit. Some of these will remove photos for a payment.

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