If you’re unfortunate enough to have fallen in love with a journalist, 10,000 Words has just the thing for you to send the object of your affection: Valentine’s Day cards for journos.
See examples below, and the full selection on 10,000 Words.
Tags: 000 words, 10, valentine's day
Anyone looking to brush up on their interviewing skills may find this ‘how to’ by Helenka Bednar a useful checklist when preparing for an interview, from checking your recording kit is reliable to setting the right tone. Tipster: Rachel McAthy.
To submit a tip to Journalism.co.uk, use this link – we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.
Tags: interviewing, journalism tips, tip
The Financial Times has launched a new subscription-only website focusing on Brazil’s finance, government and industry.
Brazil Confidential provides research and analysis of trends in the Brazilian market, Media Business reports.
Tags: Brazil, finance, The Financial Times
UTV Media’s TalkSport has claimed a seven-fold increase in traffic to its website following a relaunch last August – with 1.7 million unique users and 9 million page impressions in January, according to unaudited figures seen by radio futurologist James Cridland.
Cridland says the site, which used to be “derided within the industry”, is now beating its closest broadcast rival BBC Radio FiveLive, which had an average of 191,000 weekly unique users in September 2010 (the last available figures), even though FiveLive has double TalkSport’s broadcast audience.
The site has been buoyed by closer editorial collaboration with Sport magazine and two big stories at the end of last month: football transfer deadline day and an exclusive interview with Richard Keys, the Sky Sports presenter who resigned in a controversy over sexist remarks.
Tags: BBC Radio 5 Live, James Cridland, radio, talksport, UTV Media
The Miami Herald site has seen a 25 per cent increase in visitors as a direct result of using video – making movies the second biggest driver behind its stories.
And it claims part of its success is down to getting rid of reporters and replacing them with videographers.
Visual journalist Chuck Fadely, interviewed on Poynter.org, says having a designated video team frees up reporters to get on with writing and improves the quality of the video output:
Three or four years ago we were training reporters, but we discovered it was like teaching a pig to sing; it annoys the pig and frustrates the teacher. Back then we had a couple of reporters who got it. Since the staff reductions they don’t have time to work on videos, and the quality level was lower, so we’ve basically given up on reporter-produced videos.
While many news sites dismissed video as ineffectual and expensive, the Herald decided to use it to consolidate popular subject areas, increase the time people spent on the site and engage them in new ways.
After showing video for six years it found that sport and breaking news attracted the most viewings, so it concentrated on these areas rather than experimenting. It also started partnering with TV stations to expand its brand.
See the full story on Poynter at this link.
Tags: journalist, multimedia, news, poynter, reporter, Video
This Wednesday at 6:30pm, “people from around the world” will reportedly “commence dining” in what appears to be a fundraising initiative from under-siege whistleblowers’ site WikiLeaks.
All you need to do to join the party is make a donation to the site. And there is more bang for your buck than just dinner, you also get a password to play a video message from Julian Assange.
After you have filled out our pledge form you will be given a password (keep it safe!). The password will unlock a video for you to play at your dinner that will be available from 6.30pm GMT.
In the words of Julian Assange – “There are four things that cannot be concealed for long, the sun, the moon, the truth – and dessert!”
Check out this rather snazzy website for more information.
“Take a bite of truth!”
Tags: fundraising, julian assange, Wikileaks
Dispatches is following up on its October phone-hacking investigation tonight with a new installment.
Channel 4 News presenter Alex Thomson tweets that there is “furious re-editing” underway “as new evidence comes in of News International dirty tricks”.
According to Thomson, “it’s not just the tabloids Dirty Secrets…”
Tune in to Channel 4 at 8pm tonight.
More on phone hacking from Journalism.co.uk.
Tags: alex thomson, Channel 4, dispatches, phone hacking
News Corporation has said it is “working around the clock” to fix a technical problem in its new “iPad newspaper”, the Daily, that has prompted hundreds of complaints and negative ratings from users.
Readers have left comments on the Apple’s US app store to complain of frequent crashes, load problems and other stability issues when the Daily attempts to fetch a new update of the newspaper.
Since its high-profile launch in the US last week, the product has attracted more than 3,600 reviews on the Apple online store.
While about a third of people gave the app the full five stars, the next most common rating was one out of five, with almost 1,000 people giving it the lowest score possible.
One reviewer wrote: “Is this the future of news? The app crashed the first time I ran it. After rebooting and restarting it hung while downloading the current edition.”
Another person adds: “Very slow loading, better fix it within two weeks or we are gone.”
In a blog post on the official website, the Daily’s tech developers wrote: “We’re working around the clock to improve the stability and functionality of The Daily.
“We’ve had massive uptake since Wednesday’s launch, and with that kind of audience scale in such a short period of time, we’ve seen some stability issues and bugs that need to be addressed.
“We’re working as quickly as we can to find these problems and fix them. The beauty of the application ecosystem is that we can constantly iterate on and improve our product, and we’re aiming to put out an update within the coming weeks.
“We are addressing the technical issues that we’ve seen and we want you, our readers, to know that this is a major priority for us.”
News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch says the Daily will “push the boundaries of reporting”, offering news, features, photography, audio, video, and graphics for 99 cents a week or $39.99 for an annual subscription.
Tags: apple, iPad, ipad newspaper, News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch, the Daily
An Egyptian photographer has become the first journalist to die covering the anti-Mubarak protests.
Ahmad Mohamed Mahmoud, who worked for Al-Ta’awun, died from gunshot wounds sustained a week ago when he was shot by a sniper.
Journalists face ongoing attacks and detentions in Cairo. The Committee to Protect Journalists has compiled a round-up of the latest attacks on the press.
Tags: Ahmad Mohaned Mahmoud, Committee to Protect Journalists, cpj, egypt protests
At the end of last week, the Columbia School of Journalism has played host to the two newspaper editors credited with breaking the first major WikiLeaks stories.
The Guardian’s Alan Rusbridger and the New York Times’ Bill Keller shared the stage to discuss their handling of the leaks.
It was not a night of revelations, except perhaps Keller going further than before in claiming that the email accounts of NYT staff working on the story had been “clearly hacked” around the time that the paper’s relations with WikiLeaks deteriorated.
WikiLeaks’ editor-in-chief Julian Assange is in Belmarsh Magistrates Court today to fight extradition to Sweden on charges of rape, molestation and unlawful coercion.
Full story on Columbia Journalism Review at this link.
Tags: Alan Rusbridger, bill keller, guardian, New York Times, The Columbia School of Journalism, Wikileaks
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