….MSNBC, for this winner today:

“Is Nature Out of Control?”

(ANSWER: why yes, MSNBC, yes she is…)

For those of you who aren’t from Tennessee, or who don’t follow college football, you may not be aware of the big drama this week when the University of Tennessee’s football coach, Lane Kiffin, abruptly announced that he was leaving UT for a head coaching job at USC, only one year after coming to Knoxville to head up the Vols’ football program.

Here in Tennessee, this was a VERY BIG DEAL, and the way it all played out – with only a few hours from first rumor that Kiffin was leaving to late evening, official press conference on the UT campus – made it even more dramatic. Locals, Vol fans all over the country, and UT students were NOT happy with Kiffin’s graceless exit, and by the time the press conference was ready to roll inside an Athletics Department building on the UT Campus at around 10pm that evening, a large crowd of angry students were gathered outside the building, and a large crowd of anxious journalists were gathered inside, ready to hear what Kiffin would say to explain himself.

One of those journalists was my former News Director, Bill Shory of WBIR-TV, the NBC/Gannett affiliate here in Knoxville. He accompanied his reporter and photographer to the presser, and it’s a good thing he did because when he got there, the UT Athletics Department media spokesman announced that Kiffin – a public employee giving a press conference inside a public building to which press had been summoned late at night – would be setting the rules for how his comments could be covered. UT’s Athletic Department media rep told the broadcast journalists in attendance that they could not roll on the whole press conference; they were informed that they could only shoot Kiffin’s brief, prepared remarks, and would be required to turn the cameras off for the remainder of the press conference. In other words, Kiffin and the university told the broadcast journalists that part of the press conference would be on the record and part of it would be off the record. Print and radio reporters would not be at the same competitive disadvantage, as they could continue to roll audiotape during the entire event, but Kiffin and his handlers clearly did not want any video of Kiffin’s reaction to reporters’ questions or of anything else that might take place in the highly charged room.

Everyone in the room agreed to this dictate, seemingly without much concern about it. Everyone, that is, except Bill Shory, who – as you will see in the fantastic video below – held his ground under extreme pressure from both the UT reps and against many of the other journalists in the room who seemed just fine with doing as they were told by the subject of this major news story, and who mostly seemed to consider Bill’s position an annoyance rather than an ethical stand on an issue that should matter to all of them.

Bill held firm as the pressure mounted. Watching him on this video makes me so proud to have worked in his newsroom and so proud to call him a good friend. This video is the best example I have seen in a long, long time of why real journalism and real journalistic ethics still matter. Maybe this was just a story about college football, but it could have played out exactly the same way in the White House press briefing room. Bill Shory’s willingness to take a stand against manipulation of the press and the public by a government institution sets a shining example for journalists all over the country. See for yourself in the video below.

Here’s an excellent master list of U.S. media folks using Twitter.

The Online News Association is hosting a workshop at the end of January at the Freedom Forum, and the conversation will be centered around the future of journalism.

As you can see from the schedule, I am among several Knoxvillians who will be leading workshops and panels, along with Patrick Beeson and Michael Silence.

Jack Lail put the whole thing together.

Please consider attending and joining what is sure to be a lively discussion on some very interesting and hot topics.

I have a piece on blogging in this issue of Harvard’s Nieman Reports.

LINK