NUJ Release: Vote of no confidence in Scott Trust after regional cuts

Guardian.co.uk: Barclays obtain court order to ban Guardian from publishing documents

March 17th, 2009 | No Comments | Posted by Judith Townend in Editors' pick, Online Journalism, Press freedom and ethics

“Barclays Bank obtained a court order early today banning the Guardian from publishing documents which showed how the bank set up companies to avoid hundreds of millions of pounds in tax,” the Guardian reports today.

Full story at this link…

Tags: bank, barclays, Barclays Bank, guardian, Guardian.co.uk, The Guardian

Poynter: ‘Dear Potential Employer: 10 reasons you should employ a journalist’

March 17th, 2009 | No Comments | Posted by Judith Townend in Editors' pick, Job losses, Jobs, Journalism

Journalism.co.uk succumbs to linking another ‘top 10′ type list… This is from the Jill Geisler, group leader, Leadership and Management Programs, at the Poynter Institute.

“Dear Potential Employer:

Please accept this letter of recommendation for the journalist applying for your job opening…”

Followed by 10 reasons it’s a good idea to employ a journalist. Number one: “Journalists will improve the writing, photography, or design in your organisation.”

Full post at this link…

Tags: group leader, jill geisler, Jobs, Journalism, Journalism.co.uk, journalist, journalists, Leadership, letter of reference, Poynter Institute

Google Ads round-up – the changes explained in links

March 17th, 2009 | 2 Comments | Posted by Judith Townend in Advertising, Editors' pick, Online Journalism

The latest is from MediaGuardian: ‘Google to host ads from European agencies (March 17)’: “Google is ramping up its efforts to make money from its controversial Google News service by striking deals with eight European news agencies, and launching a contextual ad service to display adverts around their stories.”

Here’s a round-up of the recent coverage of advertising on Google News and other parts of Google, and its impact for journalism. Please do add any good links you’ve spotted in the comments below, or Tweet us via @journalismnews and we’ll include them in the list.

Official Google Blog: ‘Ads in Google News searches’ (February 25): “Last November, we announced plans to begin experimenting with ads on a number of Google properties, including news query refinements within Google search. Today, we’re continuing a similar experience for users by introducing ads on Google News search-results pages in the US.”

Journalism.co.uk: ‘Copiepresse would sue again if Google introduced advertising to Belgian news channel’ (March 4): “The secretary-general of Belgian newspaper copyright group, Copiepresse, said that if advertising on Google News was introduced in Belgium, as is happening in the US, the group would fight another case.”

Official Google Blog: ‘Making ads more interesting’ (March 11): “We think we can make online advertising even more relevant and useful by using additional information about the websites people visit. Today we are launching ‘interest-based’ advertising as a beta test on our partner sites and on YouTube.”

EditorsWeblog: Google News and newspaper publishers: enemies or allies? (March 11): “The internet has changed the way that people read newspapers in many ways: not least because news aggregators such as Google News have helped to bring readers away from the habit of focussing their news reading on just one paper’s website.”

WashingtonPost: ‘Google to deliver more interesting ads’: (March 16): The piece asks: “So you tell me: How obnoxious would an ad have to be for you to stop visiting the site hosting it? What if it was a site that you wanted to see stay in business?”

The Register: ‘Google clones search ad machine on photo sharer’ (March 16): “Google is now showing text ads when users search for public pics on its Picasa photo-sharing site.”

EditorsWeblog: ‘Google News to host more news agency content with ads alongside’ (March 17) “Google News announced that it has struck a deal with eight European news agencies to host their content and to display advertisements around their stories.”

Tags: Advertising, Belgium, european agencies, google, Google News, Google News service, Journalism.co.uk, newspaper copyright, newspaper copyright group, newspaper publishers, online advertising, photo-sharing site, search ad machine, search-results pages, secretary-general, United States, YouTube

Craig McGill: Pitch by Twitter, says Guardian’s Charles Arthur

March 17th, 2009 | No Comments | Posted by Judith Townend in Editors' pick, Online Journalism, Social media and blogging

Craig McGill discusses the Guardian’s technology editor, Charles Arthur, request that PRs pitch only by Twitter, via a public ‘@’ if they are not able to direct message him (you have to be mutually following each other to do that). Arthur has removed his email details from Gorkana in an attempt to reduce the clutter in his inbox.

Full post at this link…

Tags: Charles Arthur, Charles Arthur Craig McGill, Craig McGill, gorkana, guardian, prs, technology editor, The Guardian, Twitter

Reuters: Slumping economy leads US networks to ‘give voice’ to everyday people

March 17th, 2009 | No Comments | Posted by Judith Townend in Broadcasting, Editors' pick

“In a slumping economy, U.S network news programs are expanding their gaze beyond Wall Street and Washington to mainstream America, heralding projects that give voice to everyday people and their financial woes,” reports Reuters.

Full story at this link…

Find an injection of cynicism over at Doug Fisher’s blog, at this link.

Tags: America, doug fisher, reuters, United States, us networks, Washington

Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – how to blog anonymously

March 17th, 2009 | No Comments | Posted by Laura Oliver in Social media and blogging, Top tips for journalists

Many people around the world want to talk about the situation in their home country, but are at risk if they do. If you need help to blog anonymously, this guide from GlobalVoicesOnline gives advice on how to reduce chances that your identity will be linked to your online writing ‘through technical means’. Tipster: Judith Townend.

To submit a tip to Journalism.co.uk, use this link – we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.

Tags: anonoymous blogging, Journalism.co.uk, Judith Townend, online writing

NYTimes.com: Seattle Post-Intelligencer goes web only

March 17th, 2009 | 1 Comment | Posted by Judith Townend in Editors' pick, Newspapers, Online Journalism

“The Seattle Post-Intelligencer will produce its last printed edition on Tuesday and become an internet-only news source, the Hearst Corporation said on Monday, making it by far the largest American newspaper to take that leap,” reports the New York Times.

Full story at this link…

(Also: Seattle PI’s Bill Virgin on ‘How to kill an American newspaper’ at this link)

Tags: bill virgin, Hearst Corporation, NYTimes.com, Online Journalism, online-only, seattle pi, seattle-post intelligencer, the New York Times, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer

NUJ Release: Thousands of BBC journalists to strike over compulsory redundancy risk

March 16th, 2009 | No Comments | Posted by Judith Townend in Broadcasting, Job losses, Jobs, Media releases

“Thousands of journalists at the BBC are to hold two national one-day strikes against compulsory redundancies,” the National Union of Journalists reports.

The focus is on cuts at the World Service’s South Asian section where up to 20 positions are at risk of being cut.

“NUJ members at the corporation voted 77 percent in favour of strike action in a national ballot,” the release said.

A motion was passed declaring that industrial action will take place on Friday 3 April and Thursday 9 April ‘in the event that further talks fail to resolve the issue’.

Full release at this link…

Tags: BBC, bbc cuts, industrial action, National Union, nuj, south asian section, World Service

Media Release: Guardian Student Media Awards open for entries

March 16th, 2009 | No Comments | Posted by Laura Oliver in Events, Media releases, Training

The Guardian’s annual Student Media Awards are now open. Deadline for entry to the 13 categories, which include student website of the year and student diversity writer of the year, is June 1 for website entries and July 3 for all others.

A shortlist for the awards, which include cash prizes and work experience placements, will be announced in September, a release from the group said.

Download an application form at this link.

Tags: Guardian Student Media Awards, Media Release, Student Media Awards, The Guardian, The Guardian's annual Student Media Awards, year and student diversity writer