American-Statesman: ‘Listening to the public as important as telling the story’

Nice round-up of how social media is reshaping journalism in the newsroom of the American-Statesman – with two important takeaway points from social media editor Robert Quigley:

• “In this new world, listening to the public is as important as telling the story.”
• “As more of the online crowd has taken to social media, fewer are producing original content – specifically, blogs. Meanwhile, some of the content that’s still being produced, including by professional journalists, is gaining wider circulation via Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. This is a good thing for those of us in the news business.”

Quigley details how important social media sites were in reporting a local plane crash. But his final point is particularly interesting – how can news organisations utilise social media to make the most of original content in particular? (See also Adam Tinworth’s post ‘Is journalism developing its own echo chamber?‘

Full post at this link…

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Los Angeles Times: What’s it like to be a one-man hyperlocal band?

The Times’ James Rainey interviews Andrew Kersey, the editor of one of Patch.com’s hyperlocal news sites in the US. Owned by AOL, Kersey is the editor of the local news network’s first southern Californian site, Manhattenbeach.patch.com.

The job would be hard enough if Kersey only had to face the regular challenges of any starting journalist – building sources and writing with authority, for starters. But he’s also got to hire freelancers, edit copy, take pictures, record video, Tweet out news flashes and build a profile for what remains an almost unknown brand.

There’s always too much to do. And it will only pay off if the one area of the operation Kersey can’t control, advertising, can make inroads like no other operator has been able to in the much-hyped hyperlocal news space.

“Patch.com asks for $15 for every 1,000 viewers it brings to one form of online ad that businesses create themselves.” Can this revenue model work and should editors like Kersey have more of a role in the commercial side of the hyperlocal site?

Full story at this link…

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• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – serving local communities online

#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – working with hyperlocal sites

Hyperlocal: Regional newspaper man David Higgerson offers his top tips in this post for mainstream news organisations on working with hyperlocal, independent websites in their area. Tipster: Laura Oliver.

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

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John Prescott takes on the Sun: ‘I’ve always hated the Sun and Murdoch’

John Prescott pulls no punches in his reaction to recent set-tos between the Sun, News International executives and the press pack. He writes:

I’ve always hated the Sun and Murdoch. I was never happy with their endorsement of Blair (NEVER Labour, always Blair.)

But last week they blatantly LIED about my campaign. And today I’ll expose it.

Before this came a quote now bordering on infamy – the Sun’s political editor Tom Newton Dunn is reported to have recently told other journalists: “It is my job to see that Cameron fucking well gets into Downing Street.” This was followed by Rebekah Brooks and James Murdoch’s unexpected “visit” to the Independent’s offices – Murdoch decided “to stamp his little feet and go nasty”, writes Prescott.

But a story headlined ‘No Prez-ence’, which suggested no one turned up to hear Prescott speak at a visit to Southampton, appears to be the straw that’s broken the camel’s back. Prescott says he is now going to expand his campaigning for Labour to ensure it’s the Sun and Murdoch’s Son “wot lost it” on 7 May, he says.

Full post at this link…

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Twenty-five new media and editorial jobs on Journalism.co.uk

Looking for a job in journalism? Register as a job seeker on Journalism.co.uk and check out the latest editorial and media job opportunities this week on Journalism.co.uk’s jobs board:

Production editor – Computer Music
Computer Music is the world’s best selling magazine dedicated solely to making music with your Mac or PC. We are looking for a Production Editor to play a pivotal part within the team.
Salary: Competitive + excellent benefits
Future Publishing Ltd
Bath, England
>>more

Editor – Your Family Tree
Take on the high-profile role of editor on Your Family Tree, Future’s market-leading family history magazine, and continue to grow the success of the brand in a highly competitive sector.
Salary: Competitive + excellent benefits
Future Publishing Ltd
Bath, England
>>more

News reporter
Horticulture Week is looking for two outstanding reporters with the potential to beat the nationals to the big stories in the £5bn horticulture industry.
Salary: DoE
Haymarket Media
London, England
>>more

Deputy news editor/senior reporter
We are looking to find a dynamic, news-driven individual who is comfortable writing for a breaking news website and weekly magazine.
Salary: DoE
Incisive Media
London, England
>>more

Features editor – Consumer/Interiors
A highly successful niche consumer publisher based in Essex are looking for an experienced features writer to join their close knit editorial team on this interiors magazine.
Salary: C£20K-£25K
GRM Recruitment
Colchester, Essex, England
>>more

Editor in Chief
The program supports and rewards quality reporting and balanced coverage of issues relevant to Southeast Europe within the context of European integration.
Salary: To be discussed
Balkan Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence
Belgrade, Serbia, Rest of Europe
>>more

Staff writer – CVG.co.uk
CVG is looking for a talented and passionate Staff Writer to join its editorial team for a 3 month fixed term contract.
Salary: competitive with excellent benefits
Future Publishing Ltd
London, England
>>more

Listings producer
The Press Association is looking for a listings producer to work in our Howden Listings division.
Salary: DoE
Press Association
Howden, England
>>more

Imaging editor
An imaging editor is now required to develop the imaging desk and position it to take advantage of commercial opportunities.
Salary: DoE
Press Association
Howden, England
>>more

Reporter, iisearches
The new reporter will cover institutional investors and plan sponsors in the UK, Europe and Asia to produce exclusive copy on investment management mandates and other plan sponsor news.
Salary: DoE
Euromoney Institutional Investor
London, England
>>more

Publisher – online media
Online publisher with native German knowledge level for Hamburg or Munich Office
Salary: Competitive
Travelzoo (Europe) Ltd
Hamburg, Germany
>>more

Senior bilingual financial reporter
Senior reporter wanted to join SNL Financial’s growing news team in London
Salary: DoE
SNL Financial
London, England
>>more

Digital news editor
UTV Pitch, parent company of talkSPORT and Sport Magazine, requires an experienced digital news editor to identify, develop and deliver editorial propositions for the talkSPORT, Sport Magazine & the UTV Pitch digital platforms.
Salary: DoE
talkSPORT / Sport Magazine
London, England
>>more

European industry journalist
Positive Publications seeks an ambitious journalist and reporter to drive up the volume and quality of news and original content, building up relationships with packaging industry insiders.
Salary: DoE
Positive Publications
Norwich, England
>>more

Content writers
Adfero, a leading online news agency, is looking for talented and enthusiastic writers to join its DirectNews division in Manchester and Leeds.
Salary: £16K
Adfero
Manchester and Leeds, England
>>more

Senior sub-editor – Retail Week and Drapers
Retail Week and Drapers are looking for a new senior sub-editor to join our 30-strong team of journalists working across Emap’s four retail titles.
Salary: DoE
Emap Ltd
London, England
>>more

Writer/editor (Legal)
Working closely with colleagues, you will be responsible for the day-to-day writing, editing and maintaining of editorial content and legal information for internal and external use by both specialist and non-specialist professional and public audiences.
Salary: £29,454 pro rata
Shelter
London, England
>>more

Internal communications manager
A fantastic opportunity for an experienced internal communications manager to work on a 2 year contract in Bonn, Germany as part of our team on a high profile, award-winning corporate employee publication for Germany’s largest employer.
Salary: €46K-€48K
The Blue Ballroom
Bonn, Germany
>>more

Editor – travel and tourism
The role benefits from an attractive and comprehensive expatriate package as well as good career opportunities
Salary: DoE
Riyadh, Middle East
>>more

Staff writer – Cyclingnews
Cyclingnews.com, the biggest cycling website in the world is looking for a staff writer to join its successful team.
Salary: competitive with excellent benefits
Future Publishing Ltd
Bath, England
>>more

e-Content manager
IDG Connect, a fast growing division of International Data Group (IDG) seeks a highly organised e-Content Manager, to write and manage all external email communications to the US market.
Salary: £19K-£25K (dependent on experience)
IDG Connect
Staines, England
>>more

News journalist
Leading UK renewable energy news publisher Renews is seeking a talented journalist to join an expanding team.
Salary: £19K-£24K DoE
Renews Ltd
Winchester, England
>>more

Online freelance writers
Demand Studios is hiring freelance writers to write short, structured articles for popular websites. Write as much as you want, from anywhere.
Salary: Average $15-$25 per article
Demand Studios
Nationwide, United Kingdom
>>more

Business/media analyst (internal: product planning manager)
Manager, advertising inventory/media/product planning researched for global online media company in London Covent Garden
Salary: Competitive
Travelzoo (Europe) Ltd
London, England
>>more

Assistant producer – online media
Assistant producer for online media company, based in London, Covent Garden.
Salary: Competitive
Travelzoo (Europe) Ltd
London, England
>>more

To sign up for free as a jobseeker, please go to http://www.journalism.co.uk/113/

To sign up as an advertiser, please go to http://www.journalism.co.uk/75/

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Hyperlocal ad trial spreads to Guardian Local’s Edinburgh and Cardiff sites

As reported by Journalism.co.uk last week, the Guardian’s trial of hyperlocal advertising system Addiply has spread across all three of its recently launched local “beatblogs”. The system, which offers low cost adverts that can be sold on a weekly or monthly basis with different rates for different sized customers, went live on the Leeds site last Thursday before being introduced to the Cardiff and Edinburgh Guardian Local sites.

Publishers retain 90 per cent of the revenue earned from the ads, with the remaining 10 per cent split between Addiply and PayPal.

“One of the things Addiply is good for is for people to be able to promote their own community events and local services. It’s not designed or intended to bring in big name advertisers; it’s more for the smaller advertisers in the community or for people listing individual items for sale,” Sarah Hartley, Guardian Local launch editor, told Journalism.co.uk last week.

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Newsquest newshounds compete for paciest stories

A slow news day in Salisbury, evidently. We have a contender for the Westmorland Gazette’s office chair on fire story… (RIP, 2007) Nice to see Newsquest hacks rivalling each other for the most pacy story of the decade.

Expect the comments to come.  Among the observations so far, ‘vfredc’ says:

It’s outrageous that something like this is allowed to happen in this country.  I want this to be addressed in the next prime ministeral debates. Let’s see Nick Clegg talk himself out of this one.

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Wired.com: 26 per cent of Wired mobile traffic now from iPad

“Less than three weeks after its launch, Apple’s iPad already accounts for 26 percent of the mobile devices accessing Wired.com,” the technology site and magazine reports.

Overall, mobile devices account for between 2.3 per cent and 3.5 per cent of our traffic. For April 3 to 19, iPad users represented 0.91 per cent of total site traffic.

Full story at this link…

(via Martin Stabe)

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Guardian.co.uk: Should commenters be forced to use their real names?

A short debate appeared in yesterday’s Observer, over whether newspaper site commenters should be allowed to remain anonymous or not.

(It’s particularly timely given historian Orlando Figes’ Amazon review confessions, and also – as I’ve just posted – the Telegraph writer Cristina Odone’s outrage over internet pests’ challenging her facts)

Journalist and academic Aleks Krotoski argues for the right to anonymity (an extract):

The anti-anonymity brigade assumes that the cloak of the keyboard brings out the very worst in people because there’s no accountability in an identity vacuum. This belief, however, is purely anecdotal and is completely empirically unfounded. Really, what happens online is just the opposite: research shows that people are more willing to be open and honest and to help one another than to try to break down the virtual social order.

The Observer’s Rachel Cooke, meanwhile, argues for unmasking the users (an extract):

As for cowardice, yes, of course anonymous posters are cowards. It’s pathetic. The honourable thing to do is to put your name to bad reviews and all the other stuff, and if this makes your social life awkward – as it sometimes does for me – the upside is that, in future, you will think rather harder before you begin typing.

Full post at this link…

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Telegraph writer attacks ‘spooky’ Lib Dem ‘posse’ for critical comments

Cristina Odone, writing on Telegraph.co.uk, faced a commenter backlash when she wrote an article labelling Lib Dem MP Dr Evan Harris, “Dr Death”.

Along with many perturbed commenters, Evan Harris challenged Odone’s factual evidence.

Odone’s next step? To write a comment piece claiming she was “spooked” by the reaction, arguing “there’s no room in the Lib-Labs’ intolerant culture for discussion”.

Many commenters, however, give a disclaimer that they are not Liberal Democrat.

We recommend reading both pieces and sets of comments in full to judge the affair for yourself.

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