Elizabeth Redman looks at how newspapers, including the New York Times and Metro International, are making use of Foursquare – the relatively new social network where users “check-in” to real life locations and add information and recommendations to earn points and rewards.
Tags: foursquare, social networking
Video: Colin Mulvany has a great post on opening sequences for video reports and how not to lose your viewers in the opening scenes. Try to define the story in the first 15-20 seconds or open with natural sound to stir attention. Tipster: Laura Oliver.
To submit a tip to Journalism.co.uk, use this link – we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.
Tags: Colin Mulvany, Video, videojournalism
The BBC is facing criticism online for its treatment of the National Bullying Headline (NBH) as a source in reports on allegations of staff bullying by Gordon Brown.
The story broke over the weekend in an excerpt of journalist Andrew Rawnsley’s new book published in the Observer and reports by the BBC and other news organisations have featured a spokeswoman, Christine Pratt, from the NBH, saying the charity helpline had received calls from staff in the PM’s office in recent years.
Questions over confidentiality breaches aside, several bloggers are challenging a lack of clarity in the BBC’s reports over the bullying charity’s credentials and potential political links to the Conservative party.
On Tory Troll, Adam Bienkov says that basic checks of the NBH website suggest links to the Conservatives – an endorsement from David Cameron and patronage by Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe amongst other potential ties. On Twitter @malcolmcoles and @jackofkent have also been detailing the story and looking into NBH.
[Pratt seems to be back-pedalling now in comments made in a Sky News interview, saying while she did receive an email referring to the PM's behaviour, she did not know if phonecalls to the helpline received from Gordon Brown's staff were complaints about Brown himself.]
BBC reports did contain a statement from NBH’s Pratt that the organisation was non-political and BBC political correspondent Nick Robinson has since blogged on the questions about the NBH’s claims, stating:
Colleagues checked the status of the charity and questioned Ms Pratt’s claims.
We can’t, of course, verify the truth of her allegations – merely report them and Downing Street’s response to them.
But is this enough when Pratt’s statements seem to have eclipsed Rawnsley’s original reports as a central source for the BBC’s story?
Tags: BBC, Christine Pratt, Gordon Brown, National Bullying Helpline, Politics
Now confirmed in a story on the National Enquirer’s website (which is playing up, but a cached version is at this link) – the Enquirer has been accepted into the Pulitzer prize competition for its coverage of the John Edwards scandal and for breaking the story of the former Democratic presidential nominee’s affair with a campaign worker, his cover-up of expenses and an investigation into possible “misappropriation” of campaign funds.
“The Pulitzer Board’s decision to give The Enquirer its rightful place in the competition for the award shows the old guard journalists recognize and respect the importance of the investigation by the paper’s reporters, photographers and editors,” writes Emily Miller.
Tags: John Edwards, National Enquirer, Pulitzer, Pulitzer Prize, us
The New York Times speaks to the first uploaders of the video of the collapse and death of Neda Agha-Soltan after she was shot during anti-government protests in Iran.
The anonymously filmed and uploaded video last week won a George Polk journalism award – the first time in the awards’ history that a work produced anonymously has taken a prize.
This is a snapshot of how “viral” news can spread and, as Steve Grove, head of news and politics for YouTube, says, how readers and citizens are participating in documenting news events.
Tags: George Polk, Iran, Neda Agha-Soltan, Polk Award, Video, YouTube
#followjourn: Asavin Wattanajantra
Who? Freelance journalist
What? A freelance writer specializing in technology and media. He has previously worked on ITPRO as a staff writer, responsible for the security, networking, retail and financial services beats.
Where? Read his portfolio on his personal site.
Contact? Follow @asavin
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: Asavin Wattanajantra, Freelance, itpro
More than a 100 NUJ members at the Manchester Evening News and its weekly counterparts are forming a joint chapel to strengthen the union’s rights and help prevent job losses.
The move follows the recent announcement of the MEN Media titles’ sale to Trinity Mirror and the union’s fears that it could lead to future job cuts.
NUJ also raised concerns that moving journalists from the communities they serve poses a threat to media diversity and plurality in the north west.
Journalism.co.uk reported last week that Trinity Mirror wants MEN staff to move from the Manchester base to Oldham, a proposal that was critised by MEN union members.
MEN mother of chapel Judy Gordon and MEN Weeklies mother of chapel Bethan Dorsett said in a joint statement: “Though traditionally the MEN and weeklies have been separate chapels, it is common sense to bring them together. After all we are now under one roof.
“A strong, united chapel made up of over 100 journalists can take positive action to prevent any job losses or other damaging changes that our new owners may want to implement at a later stage.”
NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear welcomes the move: “This is a big step forward for our members in Manchester and gives them added strength at a very important time.”
The deal with Trinity Mirror is to be completed on March 28.
Tags: Manchester Evening News, nuj, NUJ chapel, Trinity Mirror
It’s been out a while but UK:RESISTANCE blog has brought it to our attention – Imagine:Journalist, the Nintendo DS game where you can experience all the thrills and spills of being a journalist.
UK:RESISTANCE has some suggestions for bonus features:
Anyone road tested it? CNET Australia’s 2009 review: “Might keep the kids busy for 20 minutes (…) 20 minutes later they’ll want something actually fun.”
Tags: games, gaming, Imagine:Journalist
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has launched a new website, http://www.reportingthebnp.org/, in a bid to inform reporters about the political tactics of the British National Party (BNP) in the run-up to the general election.
The NUJ said:
Reporting the BNP gives information on what the BNP actually stands for, with detailed facts and arguments to counter the far-right organisations’ unfounded claims.
“Challenging the fascist politics of hate is a job for every fair-minded person in our society, not just a task for committed activists. NUJ members are proud to play our part in exposing the myths on which modern Nazis seek to gain power,” said NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear.
The launch of the site comes just ahead of the protest scheduled for Tuesday, in which journalists will come together for the EXPOSE campaign: Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, columnist and broadcaster; Mehdi Hasan, political senior editor for the New Statesman; Sunny Hundal, editor of the Liberal Conspiracy blog; and Peter Hain, secretary of state for Wales are among the figures speaking.
Supporters of of EXPOSE also wrote a letter to the Guardian this week outlining some of the reasons for the campaign:
The assault on the Times’s investigations editor Dominic Kennedy on Sunday (Report, 16 February) reveals the methods the BNP will employ to prevent the party’s activities being reported. Intimidation and violence are part of the BNP leadership’s stock in trade. The BNP cites “free speech” to demand access to the mainstream media – yet the party is an enemy of free speech. The BNP’s inflammatory rhetoric about immigration cannot be taken at face value. It abuses free speech to incite racial and religious hatred. A robust approach to covering the BNP is therefore essential.
Tags: BNP, british national party, expose, expose the bnp
HoldtheFrontPage.co.uk reports that the Manchester Evening News has launched a paid-for digital edition of a Manchester United souvenir supplement, produced using PageSuite‘s technology.
Readers can pay £1 for the 42-page supplement, which includes extra video content and interviews in its digital format.
As paidContent:UK points out, labelling the digital edition launch as a paywall experiment may be taking things too far. But it seems the MEN isn’t just uploading the printed version to try and sell it online, but is instead actively targetting Manchester United fans with a voucher deal.
PageSuite told Journalism.co.uk that the MEN is forwarding voucher codes for a 20 per cent discount on the digital edition to specific supporters clubs around the world – a different code for each club so it can track the response – and the clubs are giving their code to their registered members.
Tags: digital editions, Manchester Evening News, pagesuite, Technology/Internet, the Manchester Evening News, Voucher
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