A Great Example of a Multimedia Story Package

 This New York Times multimedia package put together by the New York Times on pop music vocal producer Kuk Harrell deserves a lot of praise.

The print story was well-written and the interior pages well-designed (I saved a copy if you want to see it). It works for those who only get their information to print and who are satisfied with the traditional media-to-audience journalistic approach.

But if you only read part of the story, and respond better to getting your news and information through audio and visuals, you have to head to the web version. There, you will find the print story, in some cases it is the secondary piece to the video and the interactive feature. The video features vocal producer Harrell and a group of singers he's producing. If you listen closely, you can hear the quotes that are in the story.

The best part of the package is the interactive "Build Your Own Pop Song" feature. Using Harrell's technique, you can build part of a song produced by Harrell. After you listen to your work, you can click to hear Harrell's choices. You can also listen to the complete song.

This is a great package and a good starting point for re-imagining how pop music--no all music--should be covered in a digital world.

Click here and enjoy.

Is it ever OK to go 'undercover' to get a story or help a client?

Her business card said, "Stephanie Harnett, senior associate, Mercury Public Affairs."  But the union organizers remembers that she said she was a University of Southern California journalism student when she interviewed them.

Now Harnett is out of a job. The company she worked for, and the client she was representing, have denounced her and her undercover tactics.

For a journalist, it is should be a difficult and a last-ditch decision, to go undercover to get a story. Editors must be involved in the decision. 

Gawker's Hamilton Nolan, who broke the story, said it best on how the PR world views going undercover to get information. 

“Even within the PR industry it is considered horribly unethical and scandalous to pose as a reporter in order to spy for a client.” 

Click here to read a round up of coverage and comments.