Natasha Tynes

Fired over a tweet, Octavia Nasr says journalists need protection from social media flame wars

Natasha — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:50:54 +0000

Social media are easy to use, but those quick tweets and status updates can be dangerous for journalists who want to keep their jobs. As more journalists get reprimanded or fired by employers over social media, former CNN correspondent Octavia Nasr told IJNet in an interview that employers should hold employees accountable to company standards [...]

A journalist and new mom on the potential of Instagram

Natasha — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 01:00:29 +0000

Lately, I’m struck by the massive potential that the iPhone photo app Instagram provides for journalists worldwide. See, these days I’m into photos, especially baby photos, or to be more precise, twins photos. When I had my twins last October, I wanted to document every step of their growth by taking pictures–lots and lots of [...]

Six tips for journalists on using Facebook for reporting

Natasha — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 13:28:13 +0000

By Natasha Tynes How can journalists tap into the power of Facebook to crowdsource reporting and interact with readers? The average users spend an estimated “25 minutes daily on Facebook,” according to Vadim Lavrusik, Journalist Program Manager at Facebook. How can news organizations and journalists raise user engagement? IJNet attended a recent Facebook Journalism Meetup [...]

Looking East: Media outlets offering tweets, services in Arabic

Natasha — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 16:59:20 +0000

As the world watches the unprecedented developments in Egypt, which was dubbed “Revolution 2.0,” a number of media outlets and social media sites have also taken their own unprecedented steps by offering their services in Arabic for the first time. From Tweeting in Arabic to translating content, it looks like the Web is looking East [...]

Assimilation: The journey of a thousand miles starts with ‘Snooki’

Natasha — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 22:27:39 +0000

I just got back from an eight-day trip to California where I embarked on a journey of discovery. As an East Coaster, I wanted to understand that foreign part of the country, home to the “chilled”, the “pot-smokers,” the outdoor enthusiasts, and the technology-savvy. My husband and I along with friends we stayed with and [...]

Forget Wikileaks for a bit and ponder this: Social media journalism

Natasha — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 16:40:16 +0000

While many are arguing nowadays whether Wikileaks is a new kind of journalism, and whether journalists should learn from its founder Julian Assange or just stay away from him as much as possible, I want to discuss a new kind of journalism that has knocked my socks off: Social Media journalism. This is a term [...]

Journalism is not dead, long live journalism

Natasha — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 15:33:07 +0000

Lately, I’ve been driving my husband crazy. I’m always distracted. My mind is simply elsewhere. I’m presently living “on planet Natasha,” to quote his description of my current state of mind. The reason is simple. There is so much innovation going on in the realm of digital journalism and its integration with social media that [...]

Jordanian Christians are in a fine shape but still a ‘minority’

Natasha — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 13:52:52 +0000

The most recent horrific attack on Christians in Iraq struck a personal cord with me. Of all the attacks happening daily in Iraq, this one somehow hit home. It might have been the way the worshippers were ambushed during Sunday mass and then slaughtered that’s causing me to lose sleep. It is horrifying to realize that [...]

While young Muslims deliver flowers, the US media fails twice

Natasha — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 15:00:18 +0000

While the US media was having a field day with a non-story about a fringe pastor who wanted to burn the Quran, and while Islamophobia and anti-Muslim incidents were skyrocketing including urinating in a mosque and attacking a Muslim cab driver, young Muslims in a small city in the Middle East delivered flowers to a [...]

‘I voted’

Natasha — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 13:29:50 +0000

For many, September 14 was your regular Tuesday with its heavy work load. For others it was the day when minor elections were taking place in several US states. But for me it was a milestone. It was the day I got out of my car, all dressed-up (in a grey suit and red- stripped shirt), and [...]

Quran Burning and the US media: It’s a question of ethics

Natasha — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 00:16:54 +0000

The first amendment is a genius piece of work. It gives American journalists the freedom to express and air information, it gives ordinary citizens the power to vocally criticize authority, and it also gives the priest of a small church in Florida the right to publically burn Qurans on the ninth anniversary of September 11. Although [...]

‘So, how was your summer?’

Natasha — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:14:01 +0000

Since I moved to the US, I have gradually become one of those who dread Mondays. I don’t dread Mondays for the obvious reasons: The start of a new hectic week, the end of a weekend, etc. I dread it because it’s the day that I have to submit my social life report first thing [...]

Octavia Nasr’s blunder: When a tweet gets you fired

Natasha — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 10:52:24 +0000

Twitter or not, never forget to stick with basic ethics and make sound judgments, because yes, forgiveness is no longer an option.

My own food revolution

Natasha — Fri, 07 May 2010 01:16:23 +0000

As I write this, I’m seated on a train headed back to DC from New York City. This basically means that I can’t keep making up excuses about not having time to update the blog. I do have time (four hours to be exact), and I can’t keep delaying something I wanted to share for a while. [...]

Transatlantic Arabic reading

Natasha — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:34:49 +0000

My friend Bassam disagrees with me. He tells me he avoids reading any Arabic publications on planes heading to the US. “It’s out of respect for their fear,” he tells me. “What’s that supposed to mean? ” I ask. “Well, you know. I don’t want to make people feel uncomfortable while flying. You know how [...]