Some unfortunate subbing at the Cambridge News last week (Tuesday Dec 1 2009). David Fordham, pictured, happens to be chairman of Cambridge Newspapers and chief executive of Iliffe News & Media, owners of the Cambridge News. The piece raised a smile in the newsroom, apparently…
Tags: cambridge news, David Fordham
This is an edited version of a post that first appeared on KristineLowe.blogs.com. Kristine Lowe is a journalist and blogger based in Norway and president of the Norwegian Online News Association (NONA). Read her last post on Journalism.co.uk: ‘Twitter mishaps and netiquette for journalists‘.
Interested in social media in the newsroom? Come to news:rewired, 14 January 2010. Tickets on sale now. Follow @newsrewired on Twitter (#newsrw).
Are you a journalist 24/7? Does the company you work for own you? Does it harm your credibility as a journalist if you share personal opinions online? Are some opinions more appropriate to share than others?
These are just some of many questions raised by the recent debates on journalists and social media. Some companies, such as Bloomberg, have very strict policies on how journalists may or may not use social media, but in Norway such rules have been absent until now.
However, it was recently brought to my attention that several of the country’s biggest media organisations are working on social media rules for their journalists, which caused The Norwegian Online News Association (NONA), an organisation I’m heading, to host a debate last month.
The reason? We thought it was much better to get such a debate out in the open than have it confined by the walls of each individual media company. If Norwegian is not Greek to you, you’ll find video and notes from the debate over at NONA’s blog, but as these are questions many media organisations are discussing these days, I’ve also translated some key quotes and questions here:
‘The home alone party is over’
“The home alone party is over, now the adults are back and they want rules,” said Jan Omdahl, internet and technology commentator for Norwegian tabloid Dagbladet. He said Dagbladet’s journalists had been playing around with social media from an early stage, but now the media executives had entered the arena, demanding rules.
“It’s very typical that those who don’t use social media, or have started using it very recently, want rules, whereas those who have used social media a lot take the contrary view,” said Nina Nordbö, a social media advisor at Norway’s public broadcaster (NRK) and NONA board member.
“It is perhaps our smallest problem that we lack rules for social media. At the same time one of our biggest problems is that we are part of a tradition for one-way communication that makes us ill-equipped for exploiting the social web,” said Espen Egil Hansen, editor-in-chief of VG.no and NONA board member.
Grey areas
He felt it as important that we learned how to utilise this arena, and make our mistakes now rather than later. He also emphasised that VG.no had strict rules on ethics and he couldn’t see that they needed any more rules than these.
However, Omdahl also pointed out that journalists encounter a whole new set of challenges online. “Even if I as a social media user think we can just continue as we always have done, I do see that we can benefit from raising awareness about these challenges. For instance: should I reply when I get questions on Twitter about why Dagbladet has used five different angles on that sex podcast on NRK.no? Should I confer with my bosses before I reply? Is it appropriate that I share my opinions on one of our most heavily criticised front pages?”
Guidelines or rules
Hanne Kirkenes from ABCNyheter.no pointed out that in her organisation it was not the editors but the journalists who had asked for rules.
“In my experience, our journalists are divided: those who take to social media very naturally and those who think journalists should not be using social media at all,” she said, explaining that as a result of this they had a few simple guidelines on social media. They also had held internal discussions on this and would continue to do so.
John Einar Sandvand, a digital strategist with Aftenposten, Norway’s newspaper of record, explained that his company was in the process of implementing rules for how their journalists use social media, but suggested three very simple ones:
1) The media company should be genuinely positive to its staff being active in social media
2) Social media activities must be done in a way which maintains the professional integrity of journalists
3) Stay loyal to your employer
You can read more about Sandvand’s thoughts on this on his excellent blog Beta Tales (in English).
Impartiality, sources and PR
We touched on several other issues which tend to come up in one form or another whenever journalists’ use of social media is up for discussion, hence I’ll just mention three of these briefly here:
Impartiality: Can a blogger with a strong political agenda or view on a particular issue work as a journalist? Or would it be more useful to ask if a journalist or commentator can do more credible journalism once we know his our her agenda? Espen Egil Hansen suggested that bloggers were blurring the lines between reporting and commenting; that commentators like Omdahl could still do credible journalism; and that in the future we would see more journalists becoming individual brands.
Consensus: Is it a problem that journalists and commentators mostly talk to their peers online, therefore exacerbating media’s herdlike behaviour? A Norwegian editor recently argued this was the case and argued that discussing ideas on Twitter created a consensus among the country’s commentators, and therefore we need rules to regulate media’s use of social media. To this it was pointed out that hacks and columnists have always associated mostly with other media folks, but that at least on Twitter they do so openly and not behind closed doors in the press club . On Twitter they also have (an opportunity) to engage with their readers and can make an effort to expand the network of people they talk and listen to.
PR: Somebody asked whether it was problematic that marketeers and academics got to know a journalist’s interests so well on Twitter that they would know exactly which journalist to choose for pitching a certain issue. My answer? No, no, no: I would LOVE more targeted pitches, if all PRs and marketeers would make the effort to figure out what my beat is and what issues I’m likely to write about I would be absolutely delighted….
Related: Think Before You Re-Tweet: L.A. Times’ Updates Social Media Rules for Journos.
Tags: social media, Twitter
The Press Complaints Commission inquiry may have found no new phone hacking evidence following Guardian revelations in July 2009, but speculation over phone tapping activities at News of the World just won’t go away.
The Independent on Sunday yesterday reported that the Liberal Democrat MP Chris Huhne had tabled a question in the House of Commons asking the Department for Culture, Media and Sport about the phone of the previous secretary of state, Tessa Jowell.
Mr Huhne’s question asks Ben Bradshaw, the current incumbent at the DCMS, “what discussions [his] predecessor had in 2006 with the Metropolitan Police regarding their inquiry into the hacking of her mobile telephone by Glenn Mulcaire on behalf of the News of the World newspaper, and to inquire what assistance, if any, was given”. It builds on suspicions that illegal activity was more widespread at the paper than has hitherto been admitted. During the trial, the names of five other public figures were cited, but suspicions have persisted that the police had evidence of further hacking, including that of government ministers.
Tags: chris huhne, News of the World, PCC, phone hacking, tessa jowell
“Today 56 newspapers in 45 countries take the unprecedented step of speaking with one voice through a common editorial. We do so because humanity faces a profound emergency,” opened the editorial in newspapers across the world this morning.
It was an effort co-ordinated by the Guardian marking the beginning of the climate summit in Copenhagen. Participating titles include two Chinese papers, India’s The Hindu, Le Monde, El Pais, Russia’s Novaya Gazeta and the Toronto Star.
“Newspapers have never done anything like this before but they have never had to cover a story like this before,” said Alan Rusbridger, editor-in-chief of the Guardian. “No individual newspaper editorial could hope to influence the outcome of Copenhagen but I hope the combined voice of 56 major papers speaking in 20 languages will remind the politicians and negotiators gathering there what is at stake – and persuade them to rise above the rivalries and inflexibility that have stood in the way of a deal.”
The editorial states:
“Unless we combine to take decisive action, climate change will ravage our planet, and with it our prosperity and security. The dangers have been becoming apparent for a generation. Now the facts have started to speak: 11 of the past 14 years have been the warmest on record, the Arctic ice-cap is melting and last year’s inflamed oil and food prices provide a foretaste of future havoc. In scientific journals the question is no longer whether humans are to blame, but how little time we have got left to limit the damage. Yet so far the world’s response has been feeble and half-hearted.”
Tags: #cop15, Alan Rusbridger, copenhagen, guardian
#FollowJourn: Abena Bailey
Who? Features writer.
What? Writes for Style magazine, a lifestyle magazine based in Hertfordshire. Focusing on beauty, fashion and local features.
Where? Based in Hertfordshire.
Contact? On Twitter she’s @StyleMagazineHE.
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, Abena Bailey
A slideshow looking at the role of the ‘New Journalist’ as a social entrepreneur: find it at this link. 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: online media, tips
The Telegraph has launched a new version of its iPhone app, with new sharing features, an offline facility, and a function to alert the Telegraph to a breaking news story.
“By clicking on the ‘Report’ button, users can upload a photo and give a brief eyewitness account of breaking news,” the Telegraph reported yesterday.
“This new, improved app provides a really rich, multimedia news experience,” said Maani Safa, head of mobile at Telegraph Media Group. “We’ve made the software as easy to use as possible, and there are lots of features that readers will love.”
Its first iPhone app was launched earlier this year and it has also developed a variety of apps for BlackBerry and Google Android.
The Telegraph has also launched a citizen journalism competition to coincide with the new launch: readers are encouraged to send in ‘newsworthy’ words or images for a chance to see their item published on Telegraph.co.uk and win iTunes vouchers.
Tags: Mobile, telegraph
Based on the sessions that Journalism.co.uk attended and the delegates we spoke to there were some clear winners and losers at this year’s World Association of Newspapers (WAN) conference and concurrent World Editors Forum (WEF) congress:
Print - somewhat unsurprising that the resilience of print was a clear favourite at a conference of newspaper executives and industry groups…
Social media – not on everyone’s agendas, but global examples of social media being effectively used to newsgather, distribute reports and engage audiences were highlighted in an opening discussion and with news from the AP. Little mention was made at the same event last year.
Mobile – an excellent presentation from the Shaping the Future of the Newspaper project’s Martha Stone, but limited examples of how mobile is being used by publishers – though Norway’s VG.no had this to say.
SEO – according to Daily Mirror and Mirror.co.uk’s associate editor Matt Kelly that is…
E-paper - Journalism had an interesting chat with the folk behind PressClick, which will be posting soon, but digital editions and e-paper went largely undiscussed.
All coverage of #WANIndia2009 from Journalism.co.uk can be found at this link.
Tags: WAN, wanindia, wanindia2009, WEF
There was a more peaceful air on stage at yesterday’s closing debate of the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) conference, entitled What do we do about Google?
David Drummond, senior vice president and chief legal counsel of Google, suggested the search giant hadn’t done enough to ‘engage with newspapers’.
According to WAN-IFRA president Gavin O’Reilly, Google is missing the point: this is an issue of copyright (‘a deceptively simple legal principle’) and a lack of control options for publishers when it comes to search engines and aggregators indexing there content.
Vested interest on both sides, here’s the full audio of Drummond’s speech:
And O’Reilly’s thoughts:
WAN-IFRA president Gavin O’Reilly on Google and newspapers
What did the crowd want? Calls for evidence, from both parties, of what conversations are going on between newspaper groups, representative bodies and Google; and progress, so the debate might be different next year…
Tags: david drummond, Gavin O'Reilly, google, WAN, wanindia, wanindia2009
“Local TV news is already dead – they don’t know it,” US-based online video pioneer Michael Rosenblum tells LocalNewser. Local news is the General Motors of the media industry, he continues.
“The change that’s required for them to survive is essentially that they have to burn the place to the ground.”
LocalNewser: Michael Rosenblum on the Death of Local News on Vimeo on Vimeo
Tags: local news, Michael Rosenblum, Video
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