Media News Highlight shares articles and stories from the worlds of media and journalism that may be of interest to professionals who work in said industries and newsrooms across the country. We hope these links will help you stay aware of what’s happening in these fields and also provide some advice to help you.

Please feel free to share your own relevant links in the comments section after the entry.

Freelance Focus: Protecting Your Story Idea (via ProfNet Connect by Maria Perez)

This week’s question comes from a recent graduate who is dipping her toes in the freelance waters: “I have some hesitations about putting my work out there. If I have a story idea to pitch, how do I protect it? I don't want to put out what I think is a great idea and have that publication steal it and have a staff writer do it. So, what do I do?”

Mitt Romney, President Obama Agree To Participate In Univision Forums (via mediabistro by Alex Weprin)

"The Committee for Presidential Debates might have said no, but the candidates have said “yes” to participating in a Univision forum for Hispanic issues."

Minority Hiring Increases in TV & Radio As Per New Study (via Media Jobs Daily/mediabistro by Vicki Salemi)

"According to a new survey from the Radio and Television Digital News Association, minority hiring in TV news and radio has increased in 2012."

Video Games journalism class debuts at University of Iowa (via Jim Romenesko)

"The twenty students in Kyle Moody’s 'Specialized Writing and Reporting: Video Games and Communication' class will meet this evening for the third time in a University of Iowa classroom."

20% of Newspapers Now Have Online Paywalls (via Mashable by Lauren Indvik)

"More than one-fifth of U.S. newspapers now require a paying subscription for full digital access, twice the number that did a year ago."

2012 Online Journalism Awards finalists announced (via Online News Association)

"Finalists for the 2012 Online Journalism Awards, many pushing the envelope of innovation and excellence in digital storytelling and distribution, were announced today by the Online News Association and its academic partner, the School of Communication at the University of Miami."

Finding the local in vast swathes of data (via Columbia Journalism Review by Anna Codrea-Rado)

"Census data was made for mapping, showing the relationship between data points over a geographical area."

Reaction to fewer print days mixed (via The Morning Call by John Micek)

"Age, it turns out, is a fairly reliable predictor of reader reaction to the Harrisburg Patriot-News' plan to stop publishing the print version of its newspaper four days of the week."

How journalism educators can ‘train students for jobs that may not yet exist’ (via Poynter by Katy Culver)

"When I began my current job in the journalism school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, my director told me I had a particularly daunting mission: 'train students for jobs that may not yet exist.'"

How do mobile and non-mobile media users perceive the news media and journalists? (via Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute by Roger Fidler)

"A majority of respondents overall — mobile media users and non-users — shared a generally favorable opinion of professional journalists, when asked if they agreed or disagreed with a series of statements on a five-point scale."

ProfNet, a service of PR Newswire, has helped journalists and experts connect since 1992. Writers can search the ProfNet Connect database of more than 50,000 profiles; send a ProfNet query by email to thousands of subscribers around the globe; or get timely experts and story ideas by email.

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