Q&A on O.J. Simpson's Parole: Was It the Right Decision?

Terp Young Scholars journalism students asked folks on the University of Maryland campus how they felt about former professional football player O.J. Simpson winning parole for his kidnapping and armed robbery convictions, which carried 33-year prison terms. Simpson, 70, could be released as early as Oct. 1 for the 2007 crimes in a Las Vegas hotel room, for which he was convicted in 2008. (Simpson had earlier been acquitted of the 1994 murders of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.) 

What follows are some of the responses the students collected.

Naleen Nbambaui, 15, a high school sophomore, from Hyattsville, Maryland:

“He shouldn’t be let out. He held someone against their will. [And] I still think he’s guilty for killing Nicole [his ex-wife].”

Genesis Herrera, 20, a receptionist, from Silver Spring, Maryland:

“I felt like he was guilty for the murder trial. I feel like he’s getting away for the second time.”

Jackie Harris, 45, an English teacher, from Columbia, Maryland:

“I’m happy that he’s out. [The] sentence was too long for the crime.”

Lisa Leonard, 49, a stay-at-home mom from Los Angeles:

“For that crime, it’s the right decision. … It was the right legal decision.”

Craig Scheff, 52, a rabbi, from Rockland County, New York:

“I am quite conflicted about the ruling that came down with respects to O.J. Simpson’s parole being granted. I’m conflicted because on one hand I’m very suspicious about the first crime for which he was tried, and I am also considering the fact that he served his time for the second crime he committed. So it’s difficult to separate the two acts from each other. He was obviously found not guilty of the first crime, but that doesn’t change the fact that the overwhelming sense of circumstantial evidence pointed to his guilt in that instance.”

Charles Glasgow, 63, a retired federal government employee, from Adelphi, Maryland:

“I’m happy he is getting let out. ... Everyone deserves a second chance. Maybe even third and fourth chances.”

Reece Marcelle, 17, a Terp Young Scholar studying kinesiology, from Bowie Maryland:

“O.J. was a goat (Greatest of All Time) in the NFL, but honestly I could care less. … But it’s always good for someone to live the last few years of their life out of jail.”

John Koroma, 21, an economics major at the University of Maryland, from Upper Marlboro, Maryland:

“I feel like he was guilty of a crime and that he should receive that punishment for that crime. [But] I don’t think he’s a danger anymore.”  

Meena Sundrum,15, a Terp Young Scholar from Montgomery County, Maryland:

“ I’m neutral. He’s so old he can’t do anything that bad anymore. He’s gonna die soon.”

Brendan Atkinson, 19, an athletic training major at Rowan University, from Sicklerville, New Jersey:   

“I don’t think he should be up for parole, that’s kind of … ridiculous. … Why should he be up for parole? I guess there [are] a lot of eyes on him to like make sure that he’s not gonna do anything stupid or anything against the law.”

Joe Cwick, 24, a seminarian, from Bethesda, Maryland:

“I wish I knew more about it, but I always find it interesting how his case gets so much publicity. … I hope the case is solved for the betterment of the common good.”

--Reported by Jackson Clark, Sarah Elbeshbishi, Emily Gallant, Yosef Malka, Trevor Miller, Destiny Patton, Elizabeth Shirley, Louise Sloman and Anthony Qu.

Post Visit: Growing Readership 7/24/17

      After throughly reviewing the Washington Post, I have found many things that could increase their readership if changed. As a person who has never read the Washington Post before coming to the Terps Young Scholars program, I have a different outlook on the Washington Post. It does not serve as big of an importance to me as someone who is not from the Maryland/D.C. area.

      The Washington Post's homepage is very cluttered. Most of the stories have pictures alongside them. The pictures vary in size which makes the page look messy and not organized. Under the picture there is the headline and then some text from the article to get the reader interested. This little blurb is a bit too long. The homepage is a model of the front page of the newspaper but, people read online differently than in person. I think using pictures that are consistent in size and less text will increase the amount of people clicking onto the stories and reading them.

      Another factor that would increase readership is to switch the 'Most Read' section with the 'Local News' section. This should increase the amount that the popular stories are read instead of the local news stories. Local news is important but, the popular stories are more important on a national level. Also, numbering the local stories will help the reader navigate the most important local news to the fun news.

        Overall, the Washington Post has great content and useful information but, if the website was styled differently, it would increase readership and make it easier to consume.

Post Visit: Growing Readership 7/25/17

After reading through the Washington Post desktop site, I have come to find many things which I appreciate about the programing/ lay out of their site. 

The layout of Washington Post articles on their home page effectively helps viewers find the big news topics, and subjects that interest them.  Along the top/ on the side drop down menu there are tabs which guide the reader to  subjects such as sports and entertainment which the readers can choose from to tailor their reading experience to their interests.  Also by having the big stories immediately at the top of the page with large headers, followed by similar and related stories directly underneath, either bulleted or smaller, the consumer can more easily search the sites home page for articles of interest. 

The images on the home page are also effective, immediately telling the reader the main theme of what they are about to read.  This ease of consumptions allows readers to find what they are interested in easily.  The reader may only need to read the actual head line after finding an image which attracts their interest before progressing through the site. 

One critique I may offer is that while reading an article, rather than including a menu of "Most Read" articles of the day at the bottom of the page or on the side, offer menus with related articles.  I could not find on the piece "Charlie Gard’s parents end fight over treatment for their terminally ill son" any list of related articles such as pieces concerning medicine or children.  At the bottom of the page there were, "Post Recommended" options but in order to allow the reader to continue from article to article offer pieces that either expand on what the consumer just read, or is on a similar subject which they would be interested in.  This would retain readers, guiding them from one article to the next, keeping them on the site and reading.

Post Visit: Growing Readership

The Washington Post is a reliable and informative news source, but can improve by using a more color,fun layout, spreading to foreign countries, and having better subscriber benefits . First off, the Washing Post is a great outlet to receive all of the current events. The site looks professional and organized for their audience. To catch eyes, the headlines are constantly being adjusted. Also, the Post pushes to stay factual and not show bias. However, there is always room to improve.

The layout of Washington Post is very bland with mostly black and white colors on its social media page. Young people ( especially teenagers) do not want to think they are reading an essay for class. The Post should add more color to their social media pages because colors is more inviting to the audience.Colors convey a sense of warmth and are user friendly.

Next the Washington Post needs to do a better job of expanding worldwide. During the tour of the building, Mark told the class that the Washington Post is only popular nationally. To fix this problem, there needs to be more money spent on advertising and spreading the word about the site to international countries. A new committee should be created that only focuses on funding for foreign customers.People all over the world want know what is happening in the U.S.

Lastly there needs to be more benefits with Washington Post Subscribers.  The subscribers are what keep your site going and they should have a reason to stay. There should be a reward for being a loyal  Washington Post member. The Washington Post should give special subscribers exclusive content, merchandise, or a free month of news stories. Companies have to show they appreciate their audience.

Post Visit: Growing Readership

The Washington Post has been proving news since the 1877, so it’s be able to successfully conform with time. Though they’ve been able to make it this far, journalism is currently faces, possibly, one of the most difficult times. But the Post has been able to develop and implement new ideas that are keeping their current readership as well as bring new readers in as well. The Post has also been incredibly adaptable, especially in what is attractive to the read and to social media viewers. Mobile Editor Mark Smith telling us that he tests out different headlines to see which works better proves that the Post is willing to be flexible and transform when needed.

The Post does such a good job of providing so much information on the homepage that it pulls a reader in. Under the date there is a vertical line that reads “In the News,” and beside it is the most recent or important stories at that time. It allows quick access recent news, it also attracts curiosity. It made me do a double take and caused me to check multiple articles on that line rather than skim the headlines for something to catch my eye.  

They also do a good job of photo placement throughout the homepage, if the headlines don’t catch you the photo does. Which correlates with what Smith was saying when they post articles on social media, images tend to gain the article more attention. So when you’re on the homepage and you see an image that piques your curiosity it’ll lead you to read the headline, then possibly the summary underneath, and then to read the article. At least that’s happened to me on multiple occasions. The Posts has other additions like their “Most Read’ stories, which similarly to the “In the News” provides a quick way to access the most relevant stories in that moment, and the Live Discussions they host through the live chats. It’s a way to engage readers and allow them to participate and contribute, which goes a long way in the age of social media where everyone can voice their opinions.    

While I am a fan of most elements the Post implements and use them as my major news source, I do feel like there is a disconnect between them and high school students or around that age group. I think that part of the appeal of getting news from social media is that it's quick and easier to comprehend. Some people would rather read a 140 character tweet  or 2 minute video than a 500 word article about a situation. Sometimes those small things on social media lead to articles for more information, but that interest needs to be drawn in. The Post does a good job with their images and headlines, but that sometimes isn’t enough. So videos like NowThis or a 60 second news recaps can really help fill that gap as well as bring more readers. But overall I think the Washington Post does a good job and it keeps evolving and surviving, so it's definitely doing something right.

Washington Post Trip: How to gain readership and improve the site?

This past week my journalism class went to tour The Washington Post. Our tour guide Mark Smith, mobile editor, explained the company looks at metrics to know what stories do well which ones that don’t, and concurrent - how many are actively reading. Smith tries to reinforce good headlines in order to grab the reader's attention when skimming the page. He continued to explain certain aspects of his job and why social media is crucial. Based on his talk here are the things The Washington Post does well and what they could improve on.

The Washington Post does several things well to keep the reader coming back. The company helps readers come back by having their website in an app, which makes it more accessible. Mark Smith noted it helps grow the traffic to mobile. In addition, by having Twitter, it helps keep the reader engaged because a majority of young readers look on Twitter to get a quick snippet of the news. Snapchat Discover is another way Smith told us they keep the readers engaged and coming back because it is a quicker way for people to tap the top stories of that day. Another way The Washington Post improves its metrics is by having the Daily 202 - a quick briefing of the top political stories. Although this aspect of the Washington Post is helpful for readers they should broaden the Daily 202 or make a similar one just for the top stories that do not pertain to a particular section of the news. For example, The New York Times has a daily briefing which sums up the top stories for that day.

Some downfalls of the Washington Post are that people have to pay to subscribe when most could get free news through their televisions or their local news sites. It turns readers away since they can get their news source somewhere else. Of course, the newspaper needs subscribers to make the company run.They should have a loyalty program in place for subscribers, so they get loyal customers to renew their subscription every year. A lot of companies have student discounts, which the Washington Post should do in order to gain a younger readership.

Another downfall of The Washington Post is that most stories on the front page are political breaking news and local news. This turns readers away since most just want to know the top stories overall, not just in politics. Readers have to go up to the header and click ‘National’ news to get the top stories in America. Most Americans do not have time and the purpose of the front page is to be able to skim the current events of the day.

Overall, the Washington Post is a great newspaper that keeps on growing in size. It is seen as a reliable source for the news. In the future, The Washington Post should explore other new social media outlets in order to be on top of the next trend.

Post Visit: Growing Readership

After carefully reviewing The Washington Post’s website, along with a fascinating overview of the web content with mobile editor Mark W. Smith during our trip to The Post in D.C., it is undisputable that the Post knows how to get views on its content. The website is well designed and easy to use, the headlines and article summaries are clear and easy to read, and overall the paper has a real presence on social media.

The social media team has done a lot of work. From the traditional Twitter and Facebook accounts, The Washington Post’s Instagram account and Snapchat Discover story have been a great and original addition to the social media presence and viewer count. Smith showed us how the web team uses metrics to try and grow readership, along with The Post’s Twitter account to test headlines: the team often tweets the same article twice but with different headlines to see which one attracts more eyeballs.
By this kind of work and attention to numbers and details, The Washington Post shows that it wants to keep improving its offering and content.

However, I think there is always room for improvement.

First off, I think the website isn’t easy to skim through, - which is usually what a reader will do when on the first page - since the headlines aren’t aligned with one another. The reader has to jump from one sentence to another and the process is not practical when in a hurry. The layout of the website could be improved by using more of a grid system, like per example USA Today’s website.

Furthermore, the Post should have a briefing section of recent news events with summaries, like The New York Times has. It would help grow readership and attract students or occasional light news consumers.
The website should also have a special section for more developed stories like features and profiles, like The New Yorker’s. Some readers prefer to read feature stories when they have a bit more time to do so. The paper edition’s central pages mostly composed of feature stories, and the website should add a link to the latest features published.

Lastly, the Washington Post should offer a larger range of subscription options, like a cheaper plan for students, or a customizable package. Advertisement and sections aimed at students could attract more of them to subscribe and share. I feel like most students don’t feel like giving $9.99 a month for basic access to the website let alone $12.25 per week for the paper edition. By diversifying its offer, the Post would likely grow the number of subscriptions among students and colleges.

In my opinion, those points could help improve readership and keep the dynamic the Washington Post built those past years.

Post Visit: Growing Viewership

The Washington Post has always been an incredibly well known source of information for the people of the United States, in both print newspapers and their online outlets. After a comprehensive tour of a Washington Post building, I learned a lot about what goes on to make this incredible platform work and glide so smoothly. But also, through observation, I have a couple suggestions that I think may benefit the Washington Post, to help cater to the future and it's ever changing elements.

First, I think the Washington Post's main problem now, is the danger of losing viewership. As our tour guide, Mark Smith, who is a mobile editor for the Washington Post showed us the vast history of the Washington Post, and how they have transitioned from print to more online platforms. But at the same time, I think they would benefit by really focusing on what the growing population would want. As of now, not as many people read the newspaper as ever before, and with the help of mobile devices, the internet has become the greatest market. I think to cater to the young generations, the Post needs to focus more energy and time into how to please younger viewers, so that the legacy of the Washington Post doesn't die out at this generation.

Specifically, I think that the Washington Post would focus on more culture, and more drama like stories. Not to undermine real news, such as politics, and huge updates happening in the world, because that is the basis of what the Washington Post was built on: to inform people. But I think they would benefit by putting more articles and studies on comedic, or leisure articles, that may focus on celebrities, or pop culture, especially when they have free space and the time. Whether we like it or not, the younger generation is more into drama and celebrities than any other generation before, and if so, the Washington Post should try their best to cater to this new generation.

Lastly, I think it was awesome that they already began to use some newer technologies, such as the Virtual Reality, because these technologies will keep the Washington Post relevant. This way, the viewership will increase because everybody loves new technology. I think the Post is doing a good job keeping up with technological updates, but I think maybe creating or designing their own new ideas would be amazing as well. If the Washington Post itself could develop something never seen before, viewership would sky rocket, and at the same time News would be incredibly important again. Either way the Post just needs to continue to keep up with trends, and try their best to be a forerunner, instead of a follower of other newer platforms.

The Washington Post has always been an iconic name, and a behemoth in the News industry. If they continue to plan strategically, they will be able to continuously attract more eyeballs, and hopefully help them complete their original goal, which is to provide the news, to the people.

Washington Post website review

The Washington Post is a reliable news source with interesting stories that cover various. With hundreds of thousands of visitors to their site every day, the post is one of the most popular as well. Despite this, I believe the Washington Post could make numerous changes to it's website to attract more viewers, especially of the the younger generation. Here are some changes I believe the post should make to continue to be an attractive news source.

The website has a large following, but the younger generation has a shrinking attention span that requires news to be intriguing as well as informative. In order for this news to be marketable to the younger generation, the headlines need to be eye-popping. The post can do this by using italics or different fonts in order for articles to stand out. The headline also has to be easy to understand. Sometimes on the website the headlines can be somewhat confusing or take a second to understand.

I also suggest the post writes more about social media. Social media is a major component in today's pop culture. Though the post has accounts on almost all social media platforms, they don't often post about major events on social media such as new updates to apps, celebrities on social media and other interesting topics.

My last suggestion for the Website is to write more comedic articles. Information and entertainment are becoming closer than ever, and that should not stop on the websites of major newspapers. Writing comedic articles at otherwise serious topics can make the post seem more relatable. The most important thing for the post to do is to become more relatable to the younger generation, which I believe can be accomplished with these changes.

Yosef Malka- Post Visit: Growing Readership

At the Washington Post, our class got an inside look at the strategies the publication uses to grow readership, engagement, and subscriptions. We got to talk to an industry expert with a wealth of knowledge and experience. Mark Smith, the Washington Post's mobile web editor, uses metrics to understand how readers interact with the Post, whether it be on social media, their homepage, or any other platform. Smith showed the class metrics that showed how many people viewed an article, how they got to the article, how long they were engaged by the article, how many times people shared it, and more. Smith explained how important headlines are in driving traffic brought in from social media and getting hits on home page articles. He broke down what makes an effective headline, which is one that makes readers curious about what information they might gain and excited about gaining it.

Smith told us that he will frequently post an article on social media to test out the strength of the headline by seeing whether it drives traffic. If it lags, he will change the headline before putting it on the home page of the website. Upon his arrival at the Post, Smith trained every reporter to write their own headlines. Since Smith was hired, the Post has experienced concrete growth on social media, mobile, and web. His aggressive focus on engaging headlines and captivating pictures have been the hallmark of the publication's approach to digital news. The current home page layout is very strong. The fact that the major stories are bigger in terms of size, but are also found towards the bottom means readers can see what is really important but also get a general picture of what is going on by looking at the categorized articles. The fact that the homepage takes up the whole screen makes it easier to read, and the second horizontal bar is very convenient from looking at trending news. Of course, there are things that the post can be doing better.

I think that they should move local news further down the webpage, because when you open the page, you can only really see five or six stories. For better or worse, the opinion pieces get lost in the middle of the web page. More visuals attached to the home page would make it easier to attract to the reader. The descriptions of the top stories are usually in paragraph form, which does not make it easy to get a feel for what it is about (The New York Times uses bullets). Bullets would be better. More variance in the color font (different shades of black, gray, and blue) would be beneficial in helping the reader distinguish things and thus find an article that will engage them. One thing that I think is missing that I see on other sites is a timeline. A timeline allows the site to just list all the stories they have published in a very small area, which helps people catch up on news quickly. They definitely have space for this on the site, on the right. The right column only contains a few items compared to the other columns, many of them not being related to news.

Post Visit: Growing Readership

Mobile Editor Mark Smith told us during our visit to The Washington Post that a key part of his job is to "grow traffic" to the site. So each day, he tests Post headlines on Twitter to see which are re-tweeted and liked -- then he offers suggestions for re-working some to make them more suitable for social media.

After carefully reviewing the site, what advice do you have for The Washington Post on how it could improve its offerings, and convince you to keep coming back, even after you no longer have a grade dependent on news quizzes? I'm looking for several reasoned paragraphs, with specific examples of what The Post does well, and where it could improve. What's missing from the site that you'd like to see?

Please follow rules of grammar and AP style in your posts.

(Due Tuesday at 10 a.m., July 24. Write these as separate posts, not comments to mine.)

Welcome 2017 Class! Where Do You Go for News?

I'm looking forward to working with you on your journalism skills this summer.

This blog will be used throughout your three weeks with me to start discussions about media coverage of events, media hiring practices and ethical questions about publications' handling of news. The best posts will include some research and links to reported stories or primary documents. Remember to be thoughtful and tactful; this blog is open to the public for viewing.

Each of you must start at least one blog post; all of you must also comment on some of your classmates' and my posts. I'm hoping our class discussions and guest speakers will give you ideas for this.

To get you started, I'd like you to tell me in the comment area of this post where you typically go for news, what you like to read, listen to or watch for news, and how you get there. (For instance, do you read sports or entertainment stories linked to friends' Facebook pages or to other social media sites? Or do you go to ESPN's or The Washington Post's home page to read about news, entertainment or sports?) Be specific! 

Story Ideas for High School Publications

Students were asked to describe some of the features from their high school publications that they particularly liked, or brainstorm stories and projects that could be completed next school year. Here are some of their thoughts:

Nancy: We have a series called, "What It's Like to Be Me": It's a series on students with different backgrounds. Most are identified fully.

Jack: We're trying to generate more op-eds from students on current events.

Riley: We do teacher bios/ stories on why teachers came into the profession. It can help students relate better to teachers, and open up to them.

Danielle: We do features on students with unusual or unique talents. And one student generated money by creating celebrity websites.

Caroline: A good feature is student-written editorials: Such as why "To Kill a Mockingbird" should be read.

Courtney: Our publication could use more stories about crime -- in the neighborhood or at school.

Jack: I'd also like to see more well-rounded interviews on tough stories.

Teacher suggestion: Stories on coping with the high stress of high school -- and teen anxiety and depression. Interviews could be conducted with counselors, therapists, teachers, students.

Nancy: It would be helpful to tie national news to student opinions, such as on influx of Syrian refugees.

Crystal: We do a feature called Black vs. Gold: The editorial board writes opinions from both sides on big issues, such as on a vote to eliminate final exams in Montgomery County -- only having quarterly tests.

Riley: When athletes come back from college to visit: They're interviewed about college life. We also do features on college-bound athletes.

Jack: On our high school radio station: Get student newspaper reporters to come on air to talk about their stories.

Courtney: We could use a calendar of upcoming events. When SAT workshops are held in the building, for instance.