WindyCitizen.com: Does local news fail on social news sites?

“Local news is a lost cause on the major social news sites,” claims the Windy Citizen – a Chicago news aggregator – after one of its linked news stories failed to make waves on Digg, delicious and reddit, despite gaining votes from readers.

What news makes it onto these sites’ front pages? National stories, weird stuff and photos, concludes the Citizen.

“And that’s why the Windy Citizen exists, because there’s a need for a service that democratizes Chicago media in the same way that those sites have democratized tech and political new,” says the post.

Full post at this link…

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PoynterOnline: HuffPo’s citizen journalism standards

Last week the Huffington Post published its list of standards for citizen journalism – but how many news organisations could learn from these guidelines, such as showing links to article research, asks Amy Gahran.

Full article at this link…

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New York Times: Focus on hyperlocal US news sites

Article rounding-up the state of several hyperlocal news start-ups in the US, including Everyblock, Outside.in, Placeblogger and Patch.

Such sites face an advertising paradox, suggests the article: they offer more targeted readers to advertisers, but fewer of them.

Full article at this link…

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The Star Tribune… going dark: employees launch online petition

Minnesota’s largest news source, the Star Tribune, was declared bankrupt three months ago and is now in danger of going under. The paper is the largest in the area and the 15th largest in America itself.

Yet another American paper facing closure, it brings to mind the ‘Rocky Road Mountain News’, closed down earlier this year.

Employees have launched an online campaign in the hope of saving the newspaper: “We believe the Star Tribune is an essential community resource that is too valuable to lose,” says the ‘Save the Strib’ site.

On the site, readers are invited to submit business proposals. Also featured are reader testimonials and a petition.

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Young journalists wanted for Asia-European projects

The European Youth Press, the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC) and the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) are building a network of young journalists from Asia and Europe.

Members would come up with ideas for the network and work with the three companies one events to connect young journalists from the different continents.

To qualify for this project you must be under 30 years of age and fluent in English with knowledge of the other continent. You must also work within the media, or be taking a media-related degree.

For additional information click here.

To apply email a CV and letter stating your interest.

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Audio additions at Guardian.co.uk – The Business / video features for football podcast

More audio content is planned for Guardian.co.uk: this week saw the launch of The Business, a weekly finance and economics podcast. Next to follow will be regular video features off the back of the weekly football podcast, the Guardian’s head of audio, Matt Wells, told Journalism.co.uk.

Jeff Jarvis’ monthly Media Talk USA launched last week: “The idea was this: all the major developments in global media, from digital innovations like Google and YouTube, to the crisis in print journalism, started in the US before spreading here. It makes sense to chronicle those developments in the same fashion as we follow the UK media scene with Media Talk,” Matt Wells told Journalism.co.uk.

Media Talk has recently been nominated for best internet programme in the Sony radio awards, he added.

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FT.com: EC scrutiny for new PSB activities

“Moves by public sector broadcasters within the EU to expand their activities into new areas, such as mobile TV and video on demand, would still be subject to prior independent scrutiny under revisions to controversial proposals published by Brussels on Friday,” reports the Financial Times.

Full story at this link…

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TechCrunch: Sarah Lacy – ‘Who the hell is enrolling in journalism school right now?’

We spotted this yesterday, and Sarah Lacy has sparked a bit of a reaction – at time of writing, it had received 188 comments.

Lacy never went to journalism school like her friend:

“Fast-forward and my friend no longer works in journalism. Meanwhile, I’m not only gainfully employed, but have managed to make more money every year the industry has declined all around me.”

She ends: “(…) in any time of volatility, there’s huge room for opportunity. But you’re not going to learn how to exploit it in a stuffy classroom taught by people who got there by working at newspapers.”

Full post at this link…

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Marc Vallée: Police cite Public Order Act 1986 and order media to leave G20 memorial protest

Images from photographer Marc Vallée, who specialises in documenting protests.

On his blog: “A City of London police inspector orders the media to leave the area as police ‘kettle’ protesters outside the Bank of England [Thursday 2 April 2009 in London].

“The police officer ordered members of the media to leave the area for 30 minutes under the threat of arrest by citing Section 14 of the Public Order Act 1986. The protesters had congregated to mark the death of a man who had died on an anti-G20 protest the day before.”

More images here…

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Huff TV: AP meets Arianna on Charlie Rose show

Watch last night’s Charlie Rose show at this link: Associated Press CEO, Tom Curley, and HuffPo co-founder, Arianna Huffington, discuss ‘how journalism will be distributed in the digital age and what new models might emerge’.

Tom Curley may be ‘pleased to have’ HuffPo as an AP subscriber, but he’s adamant that’s it’s time to get a ‘fair deal’ from the people who don’t have licences.

Huffington talks about Jeff Jarvis’ ‘link economy’ theory and focuses on how you monetise journalism today. “Of course you have to monetise your content, as Tom has been saying: but how do you do it?” she asks. “But are you going to do it by creating walled gardens, which is not going to work?”

“It’s not going to work because consumer habits have changed,” she says.

“Any model which creates walls is not going to work,” says Huffington. If you try ‘to just put your finger in the dike and stop happening what’s happening from happening you’re going to lose precious time,’ she adds.

‘Ride the rapids’ and find new ways to reach the consumer, she advises.

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