Bringing Myanmar home

Myanmar, the former Burma, has been in the top news for months now -- but how many of us know why, much less the context? Part of that I'd chalk up to infoglut (too much information bombarding us all the time; too little prioritization of incoming facts). But a large part is due to a lack of what beginning reporters used to learn early in their careers: localization. Multimedia offers journalists new ways to connect with people. Video's forte is visual interest and emotional connections. In this video, Roanoke.com takes a local connection -- a family of Burmese refugees -- and lets the "experts" do the talking. The result: greater awareness of the world around us and our place in it. This is the kind of "hyperlocal" I'd be proud to produce.

VTech coverage collected at Poynter site

Resources include a podcast interview with Carol Tarrant of the Roanoke Times about how the paper covered the story. She talks about the message board they took down when it became a fighting forum over gun control. There's also a link to the I-casts we looked at last night (CNN's new cit-j initiative). BigLickU, a social networking site founded by the Roanoke Times, also offers coverage. Here's the Washingtonpost.com transcript of an interview with the exec. editor of Planet Blacksburg, a campus news Web site.