Hyperlocal funding situation is ‘seriously challenged’, warns Claire Enders

The funding situation for hyperlocal websites in the UK remains “seriously challenged” – and that means they will be run by unpaid “activists and enthusiasts” for some time yet – media analyst Claire Enders said today.

Speaking at a Westminster Media Forum event on local media, the founder and chief executive of Enders Analysis said hyperlocal websites could learn from the model succesfully used in community radio, where hundreds of volunteers give up their time because they “care a lot about their communities”.

She said there would never be a shortage of community activists and enthusiasts interested in getting involved and giving up some spare time.

“The income picture for local websites has turned out to be seriously challenged,” Enders told the forum audience. “They have to exist out of a very enthusiastic, activist level of engagement.”

A recent Ofcom report found the UK community radio sector attracts more than 25,000 volunteer hours a week, with the average station having 75 volunteers on board.

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HuffPost: Obama’s State of the Union address, now with real-time fact checking

In the latest political fact-checking innovation, Obama’s State of the Union address last night was subjected to live fact-checking.

The Huffington Post, working with the National Journal, the Center for Public Integrity and the Sunlight Foundation, using their Sunlight Live platform, cross-checked Obama’s statements as he spoke.

Other news organisations followed suit, including the Washington Post and PolitiFact.

See additional live updates from the Huffington Post at this link.

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Journalisted Weekly: Resignations, Tunisian fever, and Blair returns

Journalisted is an independent, not-for-profit website built to make it easier for you, the public, to find out more about journalists and what they write about. It is run by the Media Standards Trust, a registered charity set up to foster high standards in news on behalf of the public, and funded by donations from charitable foundations.

Each week Journalisted produces a summary of the most covered news stories, most active journalists and those topics falling off the news agenda, using its database of UK journalists and news sources.

for the week ending Sunday 23 January

• Domestically, Alan Johnson, Andy Coulson and Tony Blair dominated coverage
• Internationally, the press focused on Tunisian-style protests across the Middle East and North Africa
• A massive mafia crackdown, suicide bombs in Iraq, and controversy over counter-terrorism against students received little attention

Covered lots

• Shadow Chancellor Alan Johnson resigns due to ‘personal reasons’ and is replaced by Shadow Home Secretary Ed Balls, 179 articles
• No.10 Director of Communications Andy Coulson resigns, citing coverage of News of the World phone hacking, 176 articles
• Tunisia-style protests spread across North Africa and the Middle East, with cases of self-immolation reported in Egypt, Algeria and Mauritania, 142 articles
• Tony Blair faces the Chilcot Inquiry on the Iraq war for a second time, 121 articles

Covered little

• Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen, surviving a confidence vote, resigning as party leader, and calling an early election as the Green Party pulls out of the coalition, 58 articles
• The FBI makes 127 arrests across north-eastern US, reported to be one of its largest mafia crackdowns in history, 15 articles
• Controversy over a counter-terrorism police officer contacting universities for inside information on future student protests, 4 articles
• A wave of bomb attacks in Iraq, killing up to 130 people in the same week Blair reappears at the Chilcot inquiry, 3 articles

Political ups and downs (top ten by number of articles)

• David Cameron: 556 articles (+4% on previous week)
• Tony Blair: 313 articles (+44% on previous week)
• Ed Miliband: 278 articles (+47% on previous week)
• George Osborne: 209 articles (+1% on previous week)
• Ed Balls: 198 articles (-30% on previous week)
• Gordon Brown: 191 articles (+26% on previous week)
• Nick Clegg: 185 articles (+16% on previous week)
• Alan Johnson: 179 articles (+21% on previous week)
• Andrew Lansley: 93 articles (+50% on previous week)
• Theresa May: 83 articles (+6% on previous week)

Celebrity vs serious

• Ricky Gervais, who cracked controversial jokes whilst hosting the Golden Globe Awards, 128 articles vs. Goldman Sachs’ total annual staff pay and bonuses reaching £9.6bn, 47 articles
• Natalie Portman, who won Best Actress at the Golden Globes for Black Swan, 121 articles vs. the return and subsequent arrest of former Haitian leader Jean-Claude ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier, after 25 years in exile, 64 articles
• Piers Morgan, making his CNN talkshow host debut, 38 articles vs. Swiss banker Rudolf Elmer handing over information on tax-avoiding individuals and institutions to WikiLeaks, 34 articles

Who wrote a lot about…’Andy Coulson’

James Robinson – 8 articles (The Guardian), Roy Greenslade – 7 articles (The Guardian), Nicholas Watt – 5 articles (The Guardian), David Maddox – 4 articles (The Scotsman)

Long form journalism

• 4,224 words: ‘Daddy’s not coming home’ – Fiona Stanford, Sunday Times, 23rd January 2011
• 4,023 words: ‘Bangladesh interrogation centre where Britons were taken to be tortured’ – Ian Cobain and Fariha Karim, The Guardian, 17th January 2011
• 3,539 words: ‘The forger’s story’ – John Gapper, Financial Times, 21st January 2011

The Media Standards Trust’s panel event ‘Libel reform: in the public’s interest?’ is now available to watch on our website

The Media Standards Trust’s unofficial database of PCC complaints is available for browsing at www.complaints.pccwatch.co.uk

For the latest instalment of Tobias Grubbe, journalisted’s 18th century jobbing journalist, go to journalisted.com/tobias-grubbe

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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – data journalism ‘how to’

Data journalism: The Guardian’s Simon Rogers has put together this excellent ‘how to’ on getting to grips with data journalism, from sourcing and cleaning up data to useful functions and formulas. Tipster: Rachel McAthy.

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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Rumour mill cranks up over upcoming New York Times ‘paywall’

Rumoured details of the yet-to-be-launched New York Times ‘paywall’ are starting to emerge, with the Wall Street Journal reporting today on possible subscription plans, such as $20 a month for a digital bundle package or less than half of that for a web-only deal.

Under the new system, expected to be rolled out next month, the Times will sell an Internet-only subscription for unlimited access to the Times site, as well as a broader digital package that bundles the Times online with its application on the iPad, according to a person familiar with the matter. Subscribers to the print edition of the paper will get full online privileges at no additional cost, Times executives have said.

Speaking at the World Editors Forum last year, New York Times Company president and CEO Janet Robinson said the site will remain part of the “open web ecosystem” and will have millions of users referred to it by third-party sites by employing a “first click free” strategy, where readers can view one page on the site for free before being prompted to register or subscribe.

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Director of public prosecutions issues new statement on phone hacking

The director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC issued a statement last night via the Crown Prosecution Service blog to say that evidence relating to recent allegations of phone hacking, as well as new “substantive” allegations, should be subject to “the same rigorous assessment as Alison Levitt QC is applying to material already in the possession of the Metropolitan Police Service”.

I have asked Alison Levitt QC (who has had no previous involvement in the case) to take a robust approach with a view to advising whether the Metropolitan Police Service should carry out any further investigation or deciding whether any prosecutions can be brought.

This builds upon the previous request by the MPS to the CPS to assess all the material relevant to phone hacking.

Earlier this month the CPS announced that it will conduct a “comprehensive assessment” of evidence held by the Metropolitan Police.

Last night’s statement followed allegations that phone-hacking scandal was “endemic” throughout Fleet Street by lawyer Mark Stephens, and reports that lawyer Mark Lewis has been instructed by four clients with complaints against other national newspapers.

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BBC Internet Blog: Domains earmarked for closure by the end of the year

The BBC Trust published a report yesterday which revealed that up to 360 posts within BBC Online are to be cut by 2013, as part of a 25 per cent budget reduction within the division.

The Trust’s report included reference to detailed plans to halve the number of ‘top level domains’ (TLDs), e.g. bbc.co.uk/xxx.

Following the announcement managing editor of BBC Online, Ian Hunter, has published a post on the BBC Internet blog outlining progress in the restructure so far, such as decisions on how best to manage legacy content from sites which have become out of date.

You can read more here, where Hunter also provides a useful link to a list of TLDs which are earmarked for closure before the end of the year.

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NUJ condemns Jeremy Hunt’s delay in BSkyB bid decision

National Union of Journalists general secretary Jeremy Dear has condemned Jeremy Hunt’s decision to delay a referral of News Corp’s bid for BSkyB to the Competition Commission.

Hunt said today that he intended to refer the bid but would first allow the merging parties to sumbit further “undertakings” which they feel might mitigate the bid’s threat to media plurality, outlined by Ofcom in its report.

The NUJ, which has been part of an ongoing campaign against the bid, issued the following statement from Dear:

Hunt has not just shifted the goalposts in considering the Murdoch plan to damage media plurality. He has allowed Rupert Murdoch to take the goalposts home, to return when he feels he’s more likely to win the game.

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News Corp’s BSkyB bid: a timeline

Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt announced today that he will delay his decision over whether to refer News Corporation’s BSkyB bid to the competition commission. Hunt said that he is “minded” to refer the bid, but will hear undertakings from the merging parties before making his decision.

See the full Journalism.co.uk report on today’s announcement at this link, and a timeline of events related to the bid below:

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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – map mashups

Mapping: The 10,000 Words blog looks at seven examples of innovative online maps, which may be of use to news outlets looking to develop geographical data or anyone interested in the latest technology in map mashups. Tipster: Rachel McAthy.

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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