PDA: Journalists and developers join forces for Guardian Hack Day 2

Washington Post: ‘Whiny WashPost Reporter Makes His Point: Respect the Genuine Article’

August 3rd, 2009 | No Comments | Posted by Laura Oliver in Editors' pick, Online Journalism

Well, that’s Ian Shapira’s suggested headline for a follow-up story on Gawker, after the site picked up on and heavily excerpted his story on ‘branding consultant’ Anne Loehr.

Gawker included a link to his original article – but only at the very bottom of the post.

Shapira’s initial happiness at having his story featured on Gawker turned to disillusion as he questioned the benefits of traffic driven by Gawker to his original piece, he writes in a follow-up piece.

Gawker may make money from advertising around its aggregation of original reporting from other sources, which have invested time and money into the report, but does a spike in traffic help the Washington Post’s bottom line, he asks.

“After talking with Denton [Nick Denton, Gawker founder], Nolan [Hamilton Nolan, the Gawker author] and others for this article, I still want a fluid blogosphere, but one where aggregators – newspapers included – are more transparent about whom they’re heavily excerpting. They should mention the original source immediately. And if bloggers want to excerpt at length, a fee would be the nice, ethical gesture,” he writes.

Full article at this link…

Tags: Anne Loehr, author, branding consultant, Gawker, Ian Shapira, Nick Denton, The Washington Post, Washington Post, Whiny WashPost Reporter

FT.com: GNM considers Observer’s future in digital age

August 3rd, 2009 | 2 Comments | Posted by Laura Oliver in Editors' pick, Newspapers

The Financial Times isn’t the only site reporting on the future of the Observer, which according to inside sources could cease publication in its current format.

Roy Greenslade has a round-up of the speculation here (no inside track from the Guardian blogger, however, he says).

According to an FT source, Observer staff discovered a secret mock-up of a weekly news magazine carrying the title’s branding.

Last week owners Guardian News & Media reported a pre-tax loss of £89.9 million for 2008-9.

“They [GNM] came up with a similar plan to close us down five years ago, and it was fought off. This time it seems to be couched in terms of saving The Guardian, so you have to think it is much more serious,” a ‘senior Observer journalist’ told the FT.

Full story at this link…

Tags: FT.com, GBP, guardian news and media, journalist, observer, Roy Greenslade, senior Observer, The Financial Times, The Guardian

SFGate: US accused of hypocrisy over imprisonment of Reuters cameraman

August 3rd, 2009 | No Comments | Posted by Laura Oliver in Editors' pick, Press freedom and ethics

While the US is calling for the release of its journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling, Ibrahim Jassam, a Reuters cameraman, is still being held in US custody in Iraq, reports SFGate.

“[W]e are subject to the taint of hypocrisy if we detain journalists and then criticize other countries for doing the same thing,” Allen Weiner, co-director of the Stanford international law program and a former State Department legal adviser, says in this report, which also raises questions about the lack of special protections for journalists under international law.

Full story at this link…

Tags: Allen Weiner, cameraman, co-director, co-director of international law program, Department of State, Euna Lee, Ibrahim Jassam, Iraq, Laura Ling, law program, legal adviser, reuters, Stanford, United States, us

Guardian: Government launches inquiry into work experience exploitation during recession

August 3rd, 2009 | No Comments | Posted by Laura Oliver in Editors' pick, Training

Picked up via Jon Slattery’s blog – the Low Pay Commission is to investigate whether graduates employed on unpaid, long-term internships are being exploited by companies.

Recommendations on internships will be made by the committee as part of their annual review, which will also consider the impact of the recession of employing university leavers as unpaid for labour.

The comments on the piece are worth a read – with several commenters suggesting that this was commonplace in the media/arts industries prior to the recession.

Quoting commenter ‘lewislewis’:

“So given that there’s so much moaning about students choosing ‘easy’ subjects such as Media studies these days, wouldn’t an effective deterrent be to advise A-level students not to bother even trying to get into certain careers unless their parents can sub them for a few years in London post-uni? Maybe we’d end up with a few more scientists that way, even if they are frustrated journalists .”

The launch of the investigation follows a government-commissioned study last month, which suggested that journalism is an elite profession, dominated by the middle class as a result of the high costs of training and long-term unpaid internships.

Full story at this link…

Tags: Jon Slattery, London, Low Pay Commission, media/arts industries, work experience

Recovering Journalist: Growthspur – supporting local media entrepreneurs

August 3rd, 2009 | 1 Comment | Posted by Laura Oliver in Editors' pick, Online Journalism

Mark Potts, founder of hyperlocal venture Backfence, discusses his latest venture: Growthspur, a new company aimed at finding new business models to support local news and information sources.

Jeff Jarvis helped develop the concept and Potts also has former Microsoft executive Dave Chase and co-founder of the Yale Entreprenuerial Insititute, Jennifer McFadden, on board.

Full post at this link…

Tags: co-founder, growthspur, Jeff Jarvis, Jennifer McFadden, Local media, local media entrepreneurs, local news, Mark Potts, microsoft, us, Yale, Yale Entreprenuerial Insititute

#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – take a step back from blog posts

August 3rd, 2009 | No Comments | Posted by Judith Townend in Social media and blogging, Top tips for journalists

Blogs: Blogging in a moment of fury? Take your finger away from the publish button, sleep on it, and decide if you’re quite as angry in the morning. Getting into online disputes can be time-consuming and stressful. 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: blogging, Journalism.co.uk, Judith Townend, online disputes

#FollowJourn: @alisongow/executive digital editor

August 3rd, 2009 | 1 Comment | Posted by Mykel Hutchinson in Recommended journalists

#FollowJourn: Alison Gow

Who? Executive digital editor

What? Part of newsroom overseeing all things digital at the Liverpool Daily Post and Liverpool Echo

Where? @alisongow

Contact? alison.gow [at] liverpool.com

Just as we like to supply you with fresh and innovative tips every day, we’re recommending journalists to follow online too. They might be from any sector of the industry: please send suggestions (you can nominate yourself) to judith or laura at journalism.co.uk; or to @journalismnews.

Tags: #followjourn, Alison Gow, editor, Executive digital editor, Liverpool Echo, The Liverpool Daily Post