Are non-profits the future for journalism? October 6, 2009
Posted by Jonathan Hewett in : delicious links , add a commentMichael Massing highlights the US trend of non-profits for journalism (in NY Review of Books):
"For all the impressive projects out there, their [commercial sector's] economic base seems tenuous, and my encounters with them left me feeling sobered by the obstacles they face.
My inquiries into the nonprofit world, by contrast, left me heartened. Here I found all kinds of excited activity. Much of it, I discovered, had been set in motion by an Op-Ed piece that appeared in the Times in late January. David Swensen, the chief investment officer for Yale's endowment management team, and Michael Schmidt, a financial analyst there, argued that in light of the struggles of newspapers, they should consider turning themselves into nonprofit endowed institutions, like universities.
[…]
The opening won't last forever. Lurking in the wings is a potential new class of media giants. Google, Yahoo, MSNBC, and AOL, all have vast resources that could finance a new oligopolistic push on the Web."
Most people don’t realize how much harder it is to write a short article than a large article August 17, 2009
Posted by Jonathan Hewett in : delicious links , add a commentThe Economist’s Andreas Kluth explains: “The folks at the New Yorker can blather on and on (”On an overcast Monday afternoon, I strode across Fifth Avenue to interview John Smith, ….”). We have to get to the point. There should be some nuance, some color, and we should cover the main bases, but all in … 500 words!
It’s friggin’ difficult. Then the readers show up in the mostly infantile comments section below the articles, invariably accusing us of utter ignorance, if not downright malice, because they know (or imagine) one little detail that was not in the 500 words.
Beyond that, of course, the brevity often hurts me, the writer. Invariably, I do research for every piece until I am satisfied that I know the subject well enough. I could easily then fill a few thousand words. So much therefore gets left on the cutting floor.
Which brings me to my second reason for linking to this week’s piece…”
Was this the first blog by a professional journalist? July 27, 2009
Posted by Jonathan Hewett in : delicious links , 2commentsDan Gillmor’s intro to the blog on Silicon Valley News, posted on 22 October 1999:
“Welcome to my weblog. What follows is a digested version of my column for Tuesday, October 26, 1999, in which I explain why we’re doing this and how I hope it’ll evolve.
Why? I’ve been thinking about the new ways of journalism, namely the ways the Internet is imposing on all of us. Internet Time has compressed the lives of all kinds of people in all kinds of businesses, and journalism is no exception. In fact, it may be one of the businesses most affected in the long run, both in the opportunities the Net creates and the threat it represents.
So I’m trying one of those new forms. It’s called a “weblog” — and it’s a combination of styles that could exist only on the Web. Text, pictures, hyperlinks and, soon, audio and video are all part of this new form, and I can’t wait to start experimenting with it.”
Welcome To 2007: Johnston Press Bans Facebook | paidContent:UK July 2, 2009
Posted by Jonathan Hewett in : delicious links , add a comment"Can any modern news publishing business justify banning its staff from accessing social networking sites? While many national and regional newspapers have now reversed earlier decisions to ban workplace access to time-sapping Facebook—Johnston Press has set the clock back to 2007 and informed staff at The Scotsman and its other Edinburgh papers that Facebook is banned except in special cases. In a memo, (via Allmediascotland), JP management warn reporters that “a recent review” found more than half of the company’s entire outbound traffic is to Facebook so it has no choice but it stop people visiting. the Memo reads: “Journalists who require access should seek approval from their departmental head, who should contact the Group Helpdesk to have the permission restored.”
Just like Friends Reunited before it, Facebook has become a standard reporting tool for many local and regional reporters—one JP journalist told me recently they couldn’t imagine working without it.
Student hoax wins magazine's top prize July 1, 2009
Posted by Jonathan Hewett in : delicious links , add a commentFake reportage winner in Paris Match (Independent):
"Amid its traditional mixture of glossy celebrity and gritty reportage, the magazine Paris Match published this week a searing double-page spread on student poverty in France.
The excellent black and white photographs of students prostituting themselves or looking for food in dustbins won the magazine's annual prize for student photojournalism. Student poverty certainly exists in France but the photos were entirely faked.
Before they received their trophy and €5,000 (£4,260) cheque at a ceremony on Wednesday, the prize-winners, Guillaume Chauvin and Rémi Hubert, read out a statement admitting to the hoax, stating that they had wanted to make a "powerful artistic gesture" attacking the "voyeurism" and gullibility of parts of the press."
How Twitter poses a threat to newspapers May 28, 2009
Posted by Jonathan Hewett in : delicious links , add a commentThe danger is that Twitter will keep reporters off the streets and in front of their screens, that it will further skew journalism toward seeking out, listening to and serving the young, the hip, the technically sophisticated, the well-off – in short, the better-connected. The people who aren't being heard now aren't sending out tweets.
See what journalists are saying on Twitter with JournalistTweets from Cision May 19, 2009
Posted by Jonathan Hewett in : delicious links , add a commentA Twitter feed of tweets from journalists: "JournalistTweets is a Twitter directory of journalists by industry and country. The directory is powered by Cision's Media Database, the world's largest and most reliable media database."
How much will people pay for news? May 17, 2009
Posted by Jonathan Hewett in : delicious links , add a commentJohn Naughton: "…as providers disappear (or, like Murdoch, decide to charge), the supply of free news will diminish and something more like a normal market will emerge. Only then will we find out what people are willing to pay for news."
Blogging, Double Standards, and Recommendations | Jessica Knows May 4, 2009
Posted by Jonathan Hewett in : delicious links , 1 comment so farJessica Smith responds to the WSJ article referred to by NYT (see previous post):
"Bloggers are being scrutinized for transparency and disclosure issues but the same “traditional” media that’s reporting on it? Pot. Meet. Kettle.
Case in point. I was recently quoted in an article in a major newspaper. While I wasn’t misquoted, what I said was grossly taken out of context.
I have a disclosure policy on my blog that says that I may have been compensated for some reviews. Let’s be clear here. Compensation has many definitions and unless I say the post was “sponsored” by someone? I did not receive cash. I received either a product or service for review. "
Blogging for cash (or cars) May 4, 2009
Posted by Jonathan Hewett in : delicious links , add a commentPaid-for editorial not an option, says Huffington Post — unlike others?
"But an article in The Wall Street Journal on April 23 made clear that part of that future was already here. According to The Journal, Jessica Smith, who blogs at JessicaKnows.com, has written for and about Wal-Mart Stores and Electronic Arts. In reviewing the Ford Flex crossover, she said, “It was love at first sight. The Flex also proved to make me feel safe and secure while bringing out the exciting and rebellious side of me at the same time.”
That’s just the kind of rebellion Ford can get behind, and they gave Ms. Smith a Flex crossover vehicle for a year and a gas card. If it turns out it’s not as much of a dream as she first thought, don’t look for Ms. Smith to write that up. She told The Journal she does not write negatively about products she is asked to review because “I choose not to be critical.” "