Editor's Corner

Bring your own …

January 10th, 2012, 5:04 pm by randyfoster

Social media is more than “all the rage.” It is being called the biggest change in how we interact and conduct our daily lives since the Industrial Revolution, when people started sitting around their parlours with their faces glued to their steam-powered telegraphs, texting back and forth in Morse code limited to 140 dots and dashes.
Web 1.0 was content created for visitors. Web 2.0 is content created by users. Web 3.0 is when users become the content. Web 4.0 is when content becomes users. Web 5.0 is when users read the content that other users created for users who created content for users.
When will be be contented with content? Never again.
OK, so I’m a bit ahead of myself.
Anyway, social media is here, it’s staying, and it’s big.

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Steve Jobs

October 6th, 2011, 8:52 am by randyfoster

Every now and then some celebrity passes on who I feel as though I knew. Steve Jobs was one.

How much of a geek am I? You be the judge. I enjoy Star Trek but don’t consider myself a Trekker (although I know that the word “Trekkie” is considered unflattering). I had a PDA 10 years ago and was browsing the internet since its early days, but I’m not what is called an “early adopter” of technology.

I have been aware of Steve Jobs since 1986, when I first laid hands on an Apple Macintosh (the first of whichw as unveiled in 1984). I bought my first Apple in 1995 and have had several since then. I became so enthusiastic about Apple products that I would watch the webcasts when Steve Jobs announced new products, the ones in which “And another thing” became his catchphrase.

A couple of years ago I bought my first iPhone. And a year ago the Sun Journal issued me an iPad.

I spend my work hours on a PC, but my personal computing is done on Apple products. I just prefer them and pick them when I have a choice.

A couple of years ago, before joining the Sun Journal staff, I sold Apple products at the Fort Bragg PX. I was actually a certified Apple Sales Professional.

Steve Jobs was an innovator, touching your lives in ways you may not realize. He didn’t invent the mouse and the graphical user interface, but he popularized them. Same is true for multitasking computing, multimedia computing, MP3 players, smart phones, finger gesture controls and tablet computing.

Jobs had a way of taking ideas and making them “insanely great.” His rival, Steve Gates, had a way of taking Steve Jobs’ ideas and making money. Microsoft fell behind Apple when it came up with iPods, iTunes Music Store, iPhones and iPads.

I knew Jobs was dying and worried for him, but I didn’t keep track of his health. When my iPhone’s AP app chimed last night with a breaking news alert that Jobs had died, it put me into the same funk when JFK Jr., Mother Theresa and Princess Diana died.

History will put Jobs in the same category as Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and the Wright Brothers, people who came up with better ways to do things where others had tried and failed.

But for now, I feel as though I lost a friend … one who sold me some really cool gadgets that I use all the time.

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A little help please

September 22nd, 2011, 6:31 am by randyfoster

From Sun Journal Managing Editor Randy Foster:
Help! At 10 a.m. today (Thursday) I am being locked up and need to raise bail, proceeds going to Muscular Dystrophy research. Prison food and I don’t mix well, and the longer I’m locked up, the less time I have to work on Friday’s newspaper. So it’s for the kids, and it’s for Sun Journal readers. To help by making a tax-deductible contribution to Jerry’s Kids (little circle with a c inside), go to:
https://www.joinmda.org/newberncravencountylockup2011/rfoster

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More on Cherry Point

September 21st, 2011, 10:43 am by randyfoster

Rumors of Cherry Point’s imminent demise notwithstanding, it can not be overstated how important it is for Craven County and North Carolina to support their Navy and Marine Corps facilities.

The Pentagon, bless its frugal heart, is always looking for ways to consolidate, improve efficiency and cut costs. There’s also Congress’ Base Realignment and Closure process.

The Marine Corps seems to like to have redundancy in its air facilities. The West Coast has two jet bases, one in Yuma, Ariz., and the other in Miramar, Calif. Miramar had been a Navy air field until the Marine Corps closed its air station in El Toro and moved south.

On the East Coast, there is Cherry Point and Beaufort, S.C.

The El Toro closure should be sobering to those who think that Cherry Point is immune to closure. El Toro proved the Marine Corps can and will pick up stakes and move if instructed.

If Cherry Point loses F-35s to some other place (like Beaufort), that leaves Cherry Point with Harriers and Prowlers that have limited shelf life. Once they expire, they’re gone. And without F-35s to replace them, where would that leave Cherry Point?

A face card for Cherry Point is FRC-East, but there’s a lot of competition among military rework facilities to survive any future cuts.

Thus, Craven County’s $20,000 for a lobbyist.

Posted in: About Cherry Point • About Craven County | 1 Comment »

Whopper of the day

September 21st, 2011, 10:00 am by randyfoster

We hear there is a rumor going around Cherry Point air station that it is going to close. One person tweeted that Craven County has hired a lobbyist to fight possible Cherry Point closure, and says the story can be found on a Carteret County newspaper’s website. I’m not sure if this is the root of the rumor.

Here’s what we tweeted in response:

We hear rumor Cherry Point closing possibly based on @ErenCCNT tweet, which is not accurate. Here’s what we know.

Our story reports that Craven County is putting in $20,000 for a lobbyist to help FRC-East and Cherry Point improve its position following the loss of F-18 Super Hornet squadrons and its unstable standing regarding basing and rework and maintenance of F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters.

North Carolina didn’t help its cause when it opposed an outlying landing field in Eastern North Carolina. OLFs are remote airfields used to train Navy and Marine pilots to land on aircraft carriers. Opposition was wide spread right up to the governor’s mansion and our delegation in Congress. Some believe that opposition soured the state’s “military friendly” claim and may lead to future cuts in North Carolina-located military facilities, and there are a lot of them:

* Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, home to the 82nd Airborne Division, Reserve, special ops and special forces units and more. Following the last round of BRAC, Fort Bragg is said to have the most general officers outside of the Pentagon. Fort Bragg also took over Pope Air Force Base, which became Pope Field.

* Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro.

* Camp Lejeune and New River air station in Jacksonville.

* Cherry Point and FRC-East in Havelock.

North Carolina is without a doubt fertile ground for military bases, and surely the Navy is not so petty as to hold one little OLF rejection against a state that otherwise loves its military.

We’ll keep our eyes open for further developments.

Posted in: About Cherry Point • About Craven County | Post a Comment »

Sun Journal changing online comment system

September 15th, 2011, 1:02 pm by randyfoster

Sometime during the next few days the Sun Journal will change to a Facebook-based commenting platform for newbernsj.com.
The current commenting platform, Pluck, will be discontinued.
If technical problems occur, the change could be delayed.
The move is being initiated by Freedom Communications, parent company of the Sun Journal, and will take place throughout the country at Freedom’s newspaper and television websites.
In order to comment, users must log in to their Facebook accounts. New users will need to create a Facebook account to leave comments at newbernsj.com.
All comments, blogs, forums and photos uploaded to the previous system will no longer be available. Readers can still upload photos to the Reader Submitted Photos feature.
Our expectation is that Facebook will provide a more user-friendly format and more meaningful discussion of online stories.
While this move may not be popular with everyone, it’s our hope that tying our commenting to the web’s most popular social network will eliminate many of the anonymous attacks and elevate the discourse and level of civility on our sites.
As always, we value your thoughts. Feel free to email Managing Editor Randy Foster at rfoster@freedomenc.com or post a comment at the bottom of this blog.

Posted in: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Post Irene

September 13th, 2011, 9:38 am by rfoster

August was a busy month for me, starting with filling in for a vacated assistant managing editor desk and ending with Hurricane Irene.
The vacancy has been filled (by veteran journalist Jennifer Swartz, whose new title is news editor (print)) and I find that my days, which were packed last month, are suddenly less packed.
Tasks abhor a vacuum, so I expect that will change.
One thing that doesn’t seem to want to change is the continuing aftermath of Hurricane Irene.
The rivers stink, there are clouds of mosquitoes and a shortage of mosquito repellent, my back yard has one less tree and one less carport. But all that’s nothing compared to what a lot of people are experiencing, particularly in Pamlico County.

Posted in: About Craven County • Everything else | 1 Comment »

Upcoming podcast

September 13th, 2011, 9:31 am by rfoster

Our next podcast will be about Sun Journal coverage of Hurricane Irene. News Editor (Online) Jason Lauritzen is putting together the interviews and editing the audio this week for release by Thursday.

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newbernsj.com: New and improved

September 9th, 2011, 10:10 am by randyfoster

Regular visitors to the Sun Journal’s website saw something different on Thursday, and I’m not talking about the picture that goes with my column.

Our website, newbernsj.com, has undergone a huge transformation, and it’s not limited to its updated format and colors.

The site’s underpinnings have been cleaned out of unnecessary clutter that resulted in slow loading onto your web browser.

We also cleaned out a lot of links in our pull-down menus, and reduced the number of pull-down menus, to make it easier to find the things you want.

We also created new menu options and added more local content to our home page to put emphasis on what we consider to be our premium content: our local stories.

I wrote a little blurb about the changes on our website and on my blog. This is no mere window dressing, I said. And I meant it.

I also pointed out that our website is a work in progress and invited readers to let us know about bugs, problems and things we overlooked in our rush to get the new site rolled out on time.

The biggest problem, in my mind, is how we display obituaries. The list is limited to seven obituaries, and there is no obvious way to see the rest. We actually do have a link in the News pull-down menu (News > People > Obituaries), but the whole idea of this redesign is to make your experience with our website intuitive and efficient. We’re working on a solution.

Another problem that arose this week had nothing to do with the redesign. The “Most commented” list inexplicably started listing the most commented stories from other newspapers in other states. The problem was persisting on Friday as I wrote this column, but we were working on a fix for that, too. Although it was interesting to see what kinds of stories were causing commotions in Texas, Florida and western North Carolina.

Our new site makes it easier to contact the different departments at the Sun Journal. For example, if you want to subscribe to the newspaper or are having problems with delivery, emailing me was not the most expedient way to find a solution, but that’s what a lot of people used to do when they couldn’t find the right link on our old site. Links to the newsroom, advertising and circulation now are much easier to find.

The redesign comes at a time when the Sun Journal is reenergizing its whole approach to online journalism. You saw some of it in our constant coverage of Hurricane Irene. We are pushing forward with Facebook and Twitter, plus email and text alerts.

We are asking our readers questions and getting their responses, feedback and advice via social media.

I have also dusted off my neglected blog, which you now can get to via our home page. And now that it’s there, I sort of have to pay attention to it.

And I got a new picture taken.

My old picture was taken some time during my first week at the Sun Journal in June 2009. It wasn’t that old of a picture, but for some reason I got a lot of complaints about it. The most common thing people say is that I’m taller than I look in the picture.

The oddest thing I hear, and I hear it a lot, goes something like this: “You’re with the paper, I recognize you from your picture. You look nothing like it.”

So I had a new picture taken to go with our new website.

Posted in: About the Sun Journal | 2 Comments »

Welcome to the new newbernsj.com

September 7th, 2011, 3:22 pm by randyfoster

The Sun Journal today unveils its refreshed, reorganized website on Thursday, but consider it a beta site; our work is not yet done.

This is no mere window dressing. We’ve cleaned out the clutter, too, by removing links that were outdated, unnecessary, redundant or unpopular. The site is built around a brighter design with better, more intuitive navigation tools, and easy access to the content you want. The site should load faster, too.

But it is a work in progress. We are confident that you will help us find bugs we’ve missed in our urgency to launch. Report bugs, ask questions or make comments by emailing me.

We hope you like what you see.

Randy Foster

Managing editor, New Bern Sun Journal and newbernsj.com

Posted in: About the Sun Journal | 1 Comment »