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Daily Star pulls Raoul Moat videogame article following complaints

July 22nd, 2010 | 1 Comment | Posted by in Newspapers, Online Journalism

The Daily Star has removed an article published on its website yesterday that claimed a videogame based on Raoul Moat was in development.

“[L]ast night gaming websites showed the cover of Grand Theft Auto Rothbury – a version of the XBox hit Grand Theft Auto,” the article, which is still available at time of writing as a Google Cache, said.

But several gaming news websites, including Escapist Magazine and Future’s Computer and Video Games, raised concerns about the article.

The Star told Journalism.co.uk that it had temporarily removed the article following complaints, which it was investigating.

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Newspaper tycoon Conrad Black released on $2m bail

July 22nd, 2010 | 1 Comment | Posted by in Legal, Newspapers

Newspaper tycoon Conrad Black has been released from prison in Florida on bail.

According to a report today by the BBC, the former Daily Telegraph owner Black was released on a $2 million bond, pending an appeal over fraud convictions.

He was convicted of defrauding shareholders in 2007 after pocketing tax-free bonuses without permission, as well as obstructing justice and sentenced to 78 months in jail.

But a ruling by the Supreme Court in June weakening the “honest services” law central to his conviction made bail likely.

Black’s release was preceded by a Supreme Court ruling on one of the laws used to convict him. It said the three counts of fraud were based on a vague piece of US law that was interpreted too broadly by the prosecution.

Black has always claimed his innocence and launched several unsuccessful appeals, according to a report by the Telegraph on his release.

He said an interview before he was jailed: “This story is not over (…) This isn’t like a fall and it is not an end. Even on a worst case, I’ll be back.”

See the Telegraph’s full report here…

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Science bloggers leave network in protest at Pepsi sponsorship

July 22nd, 2010 | 2 Comments | Posted by in Editors' pick

Fascinating round-up from David Dobbs about the exodus of science bloggers from the ScienceBlogs network, part of the Seed Media Group magazine title, over the launch of a new blog sponsored by PepsiCo.

The origins of the PepsiCo blog – money rather than merit – would not have matched those of other bloggers on the network: it’s an issue of credibility and trust between the readers and writers, says Dobbs.

Does this advertising-editorial wall ensure good journalism? Unfortunately, no; people find other ways to botch journalism. But in the murky world of media, we need a few firm lines to keep us away from slippery slopes. This pact between publisher, writer, and reader provides one of the most vital. It forms the foundation of reader trust; violating it erodes that foundation. Ads are a necessary evil. Credible publications present them unambiguously as third-party commercial messages so the reader instantly knows someone is selling something. That’s why patching a couple of stickers on a blog that presents itself in every other way as editorial content, as Seed proposed before killing the Pepsi blog, doesn’t work. It’s like sticking a lapel button on a guy at the front of the church in a tuxedo and expecting us to think he’s not part of the wedding. The guy needs different clothes.

Full post on Comment is Free…

Correction: this post has been amended to show that it is Seed Media Group not AOL’s Seed that run ScienceBlogs.

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An appreciation as long-serving legal manager leaves the Times

July 22nd, 2010 | No Comments | Posted by in Editors' pick, Legal

The Inforrm blog has a post up today looking at the work of Alastair Brett, the Times’ legal manager who has left the newspaper after 30 years.

It highlights the many campaigns Brett was behind to improve media law, such as disclosing offered payment of damages to a jury as well as establishing the “Fleet Street Lawyers’ Society”, which campaigned for press freedom before the Media Lawyers Association and various campaigns for libel law reform.

Alastair Brett has been central to many campaigns for the reform of libel law and procedure over more than two decades, writing in the Times, lobbying Government and Parliament and speaking frequently at legal conferences.

The article looks back along Brett’s career since joining the broadsheet in the late 1970s, from the major cases he fought to the causes he supported.

See the full post here…

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Journalism students’ Skype election coverage project available online

July 22nd, 2010 | No Comments | Posted by in Broadcasting, Training

A live election webcast created by a cross-university team of journalism students is now available to view online.

Using Skype and Livestream, students from University of Buckingham, Kingston University and University of Westminster collaborated on the project to run live outside broadcasts and live output as well as interviews and packages from the studio, remaining on air continuously from 10:00pm to 6:00am.

The output has been edited into a series of segments which can be watched at this link.

Twenty students also covered the counts at a range of constituencies in Winchester, Eastleigh (Chris Huhne’s seat); Southampton (two constituencies); Isle of Wight; Devizes; Bethnal Green; Twickenham (Vince Cable’s seat); Battersea; Whitney (David Cameron’s seat); and Aylesbury.

The webcast attracted an audience of 1,500 users.

Additional coverage of the project by Journalism.co.uk can be found at this link.

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Are you on the j-list? The leading innovators in journalism and media in 2010

July 22nd, 2010 | 14 Comments | Posted by in Journalism, Online Journalism

Updated 05/08/2010

Recent industry lists ranking the great and good in journalism and the media fell a bit short of the mark for Journalism.co.uk. Where were the online innovators? Where were the journalists on the ground outside of the executives’ offices?

So we’ve compiled our own rundown listing those people we think are helping to build the future of journalism and the news media.

Some important points to note:

  • There are no rankings to this list – those included are from such varied areas of work it seemed pointless;
  • We will have missed some people out – let us know in the comments below or with the hashtag #jlist who you are working with that should be included;
  • We’ve listed groups as well as individuals – with individuals we hope you’ll see them as representing a wider team of people, who have worked together on something great;
  • And it’s not limited to 50 or 100 – we’ll see where it takes us…

So here’s the first batch. There’s a Twitter list of those included so far at this link and more will be added in the coming weeks.

Click on the ‘more’ link after these five to to see the full list.

Tomáš Bella

Tomáš Bella was editor-in-chief and deputy director of Sme.sk, the Slovak republic’s most popular news site. He was author of the first European newspaper-owned blogportal (blog.sme.sk, 2004) and the first digg-like service (vybrali.sme.sk, 2006). In April 2010 he co-founded Prague-based new media consultancy NextBig.cz and is working on a payment system to allow the access to all the premium content of major newspapers and TV stations with one payment.

Paul Steiger

While ProPublica’s not-for-profit, foundation-funded model may be something commercial news organisations can never share, its investment in and triumphing of investigative and data journalism cannot be overlooked. The way in which it involves a network of readers in its research and actively encourages other sites to “steal” its stories shows a new way of thinking about journalism’s watchdog role. Image courtesy of the Knight Foundation on Flickr.

Chris Taggart

Paul Bradshaw’s description of his fellow j-lister: “Chris has been working so hard on open data in 2010 I expect steam to pour from the soles of his shoes every time I see him. His ambition to free up local government data is laudable and, until recently, unfashionable. And he deserves all the support and recognition he gets.”

Ian Hislop/Private Eye

Not much to look at on the web perhaps, but the Eye’s successful mixture of satire, humour and heavyweight investigations has seen its circulation rise. It blaized a trail during the Carter-Ruck and Trafigura gagging ordeal and has even lent it’s support to j-list fellow the Hackney Citizen to protect press freedom from international to hyperlocal levels. Image courtesy of Nikki Montefiore on Flickr.

Brian Boyer

Amidst the talk of what journalists can learn from programmers and what coding skills, if any, journalists need, Brian Boyer was making the move the other way from programming to a programmer-journalist. His university and personal projects in this field have been innovative and have got him noticed by many a news organisation – not least the Chicago Tribune, where he now works as a news applications editor. He blogs at Hacker Journalist.

Ushahidi

Originally built to map reports from citizens of post-election violence in Kenya, Ushahidi’s development of interactive, collaborative and open source mapping technology has been adopted by aid agencies and news organisations alike. It’s a new means of storytelling and a project that’s likely to develop more tools for journalists in the future.

More »

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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – launching your own magazine

July 22nd, 2010 | No Comments | Posted by in Top tips for journalists

Freelance: Advice from freelancer David Howell on how he launched his own magazine in this video and blog post. 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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TechCrunch: Fwix launches new location-based search portal

July 21st, 2010 | No Comments | Posted by in Editors' pick, Hyperlocal

A new search portal has been launched by hyperlocal news site Fwix allowing users to access real time, map-based view of what’s going on in a specific location.

Fwix Local Trend Search provides news, events information, government data and business reviews, as well as Fourquare and Gowalla check-ins, on a map of a given area. Users can alter the sphere of their chosen location to access coverage from a large or more localised area.

Darian Shirazi, CEO and founder of Fwix, explained to TechCrunch how the site determines an article’s location:

Fwix’s proprietary technology analyzes and indexes nearly 40 million pieces of content to determine and scan for any reference to location within the text of a document.

See the full post at this link…

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#followjourn: @kevglobal – Kevin Anderson/freelance

July 21st, 2010 | No Comments | Posted by in Recommended journalists

#followjourn: Kevin Anderson

Who? Freelance journalist and digital strategist

Where? Kevin worked at the BBC for eight years, before being made the Guardian’s first blogs editor in September 2006. He went on to become digital research editor at the Guardian from 2009-2010. He writes on the blog Strange Attractor, and was a speaker at Journalism.co.uk’s June conference, news:rewired – the nouveau niche

Contact? @kevglobal

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 laura at journalism.co.uk; or to @journalismnews.

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Crowdsourcing hits the silver screen with YouTube’s ‘Life in a Day’ experiment

July 21st, 2010 | No Comments | Posted by in Editors' pick

On 24 July film-makers will have the opportunity to take part in a cinematic experiment aiming to create the world’s largest feature film.

Entrants to YouTube’s Life in a Day project, which boasts film director Ridley Scott as its executive producer, will have 24 hours to record a snapshot of their life on that date and upload it to the project’s YouTube channel. The best footage will be selected and edited by director Kevin Macdonald for a feature film to premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.

Anyone whose footage is used will be credited as a co-director, and all submissions will feature on the Life in a Day YouTube channel irrespective of whether they make the final cut.

The following instructions to take part are posted by the project:

  • Visit the Life in a Day channel and learn more about the project. Be sure to read through the steps you need to take to participate and the guidelines for creating your video.  Also check out some of the sample videos for inspirational ideas.
  • On July 24, capture your day on camera.
  • Upload your footage to the Life in a Day channel before July 31.


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