Poynter: How to set up Newsbeat, real-time analytics tool for news sites

Poynter has a handy eight-step guide for anyone wanting to test out Newsbeat, a recently launched real-time analytics tool specifically for news sites.

It comes with a hefty monthly price tag but there is a free trial on offer.

One of the advantages of Newsbeat, over free tools such as Google Analytics, is the ability to customise it for various members of the team, as Poynter’s post explains:

For example, managing editors can use it to see analytics for an entire site, section editors can personalise it to see analytics for the sections they edit, and reporters can use it to see analytics for their own stories. You can navigate through the tool to see smaller or bigger pictures of what’s going on within the site.

It also sends alerts when something unusual happens.

Newsbeat by default will send email alerts when traffic spikes above average, a page goes down or something else out of the ordinary happens.

But you can also set-up customized email or SMS (i.e. text) alerts that let you know whether people are reading or commenting on an article more than usual, or if a page is having problems loading.

The full Poynter ‘how to’ guide is at this link.

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#followjourn: @IanDouglas – Ian Douglas/Journalist

Who? Ian Douglas

Where? Ian is the Telegraph’s head of digital production. He writes about technology, science and beekeeping.

Twitter? @IanDouglas

Just as we like to supply you with fresh and innovative tips every day, we are recommending journalists to follow online too. Recommended journalists can be from any sector of the industry: please send suggestions (you can nominate yourself) to sarah.booker at journalism.co.uk; or to @journalismnews.

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• #followjourn: @emmabarnett – Emma Barnett/journalist
• #followjourn: @owen_ed – Ed Owen/journalist/editor

Newsquest editor owns up to writing death penalty editorial

Earlier today I spoke to group editor of Newsquest’s South London titles, Andy Parkes, who refused to confirm whether or not he had penned an editorial printed by the Wimbledon Guardian and Streatham Guardian calling for the return of the death penalty and corporal punishment.

Parkes did say that we could “put his name to it”,  claiming that it was “tongue in cheek” and a “just a bit of fun”.

The piece – and Parkes subsequent comments to Journalism.co.uk – proved to be controversial however and he was asked to appear on BBC Radio Scotland this afternoon alongside Guardian blogger Roy Greenslade, who first blogged about the editorial.

Parkes admitted on the show to writing the leader, and said that he stands by the call for the death penalty and corporal punishment to be reinstated.

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Twenty-nine new media, editorial, communications and PR jobs this week on Journalism.co.uk

These are the latest editorial, PR and media job opportunities from this week on Journalism.co.uk’s jobs board.

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• Twenty-six new media, editorial, communications and PR jobs this week on Journalism.co.uk

The top 10 most-read stories on Journalism.co.uk, 13-19 August

1.  Ten things every journalism student should know

2. How to: know when to use photos from social media

3. Editorial in Newsquest papers calling for capital punishment ‘was just a bit of fun’

4. PCC rejects Wayne Rooney’s complaint over tax story

5. Tool of the week for journalists – WhoReTweetedMe

6. Facebook study finds Independent’s content was shared and likes 136,000 times in one month

7. Hundreds complain to BBC over Starkey’s Newsnight remarks

8. Israel: Al Jazeera bureau chief ‘held without charge’

9. Second country expected to adopt group paywall later this year

10. FBI finds ‘no hard evidence’ of 9/11 phone hacking

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• Director of public prosecutions issues new statement on phone hacking
• Journalism.co.uk’s top 10 stories on Facebook in 2011
• Al Jazeera: Reports missing journalist Dorothy Parvaz has been deported to Iran
• Solicitor Mark Lewis considering legal action against PCC
• New arrest in phone hacking investigation

#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – dealing with refusals of FOI requests

Chris Dodd came across an exemption he had never seen before after putting in a freedom of information (FOI) request.

Writing in the Help Me Investigate blog, he explained how the Section 44 exemption is the equivalent of “the blue screen of death” because the public body does not need to consider the public interest of the data.

In his post FOI: What is the Section 44 exemption and how can I address it?, Chris looks at ways to address this refusal and various methods of overcoming the hurdles public bodies may put up when denying access to data.

Tipster: Sarah Booker

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link – we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.

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#jpod in depth: Reporting the riots – did journalists get it right?

Did the media succeed in reporting the riots? In this week’s #jpod Journalism.co.uk’s Sarah Marshall speaks to Paul Lewis, special projects editor at the Guardian, who went on a five-day journey in reporting the riots; Gary MacFarlane, Tottenham journalist and community activist; Tony Evans, football editor of the Times; and Mark Evans, head of home news at Sky News.

Podcast: Download

Sign up here to our iTunes podcast feed for future audio.

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• #jpod: The week’s biggest news stories from Journalism.co.uk, 27 August 2010
• #jpod: The week’s biggest news stories from Journalism.co.uk, 3 September 2010

Editorial in Newsquest papers calling for capital punishment ‘was just a bit of fun’

An unsigned editorial that appeared on the pages of the Streatham Guardian and Wimbledon Guardian calling for the return of capital punishment does not represent the views of publisher Newsquest and was “just a bit of fun”, the papers’ group editor said this morning.

Speaking to Journalism.co.uk, Andy Parkes denied the editorials represented the views of Newsquest or Newsquest’s parent company, Gannett.

Parkes said the piece was “tongue in cheek” and “a bit of fun”, and had been “blown out of all proportion” in a post by the Guardian’s Roy Greenslade this morning, which initially claimed that the piece had been run across Newsquest’s South London Guardian series and elsewhere.

Parkes refused to comment on who wrote the piece at first, but later said: “You can put my name to it”. Pressed over whether he was the author, he refused to say any more, adding: “I absolutely don’t want to get into this any further”.

The hard-line leading articles – one of which was headlined simply “Rioting scum: the solution is as simple as 1, 2, 3″ – call for capital and corporal punishment to be brought back in the wake of the recent rioting and looting.

The full comment reads:

RIOTING SCUM – the solution is as simple as 1,2,3.

1 Bring back corporal punishment.

2 Bring back capital punishment.

3 Throw out all the stupid namby-pamby laws and regulations which actually stop adults interacting with children.

The first two are so blindingly obvious no more needs to be said.

The third is equally sensible – allow parents to discipline their offspring as they need to, put power back into the hands of teachers and actually encourage, not discourage, adults to be involved with children.

Personally I’d ditch CRB checks altogether – after all, if you use points 1 and 2 correctly they would be far more effective than any CRB check could ever be. And, as for the suggestion an adult shouldn’t be allowed to carry other people’s children in the car… blah, blah, blah unbelievable. It’s no wonder adults are are terrified to get involved. I heard the other day that teachers are now discouraged from even raising their voices – the world’s gone mad.

Of course, if you’re looking for a more radical solution. One idea would be to simply arm pensioners. On the same day you get your bus pass you receive a handgun and the legal right to use it. Those in post office queues might be a bit more jumpy, but I guarantee we’d have a new-found respect for the elderly.

As well as appearing in print in the the Wimbledon Guardian and Streatham Guardian, the piece appears to have been published on the websites of the Lewisham and Greenwich News Shopper, Surrey Comet, Waltham Forest Guardian and Watford Observer, and Wandsworth Guardian. This was due to a “technical complexity” that meant content was syndicated automatically within London, a member of staff at the Wandsworth Guardian said.

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#followjourn: @johnplunkett149 – John Plunkett/Journalist

Who? John Plunkett

Where? John  writes for the Media Guardian and edits its diary column, Media Monkey.

Twitter? @JohnPlunkett149

Just as we like to supply you with fresh and innovative tips every day, we are recommending journalists to follow online too. Recommended journalists can be from any sector of the industry: please send suggestions (you can nominate yourself) to sarah.booker at journalism.co.uk; or to @journalismnews.

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Tweets of advice for aspiring journalists

Early today (18 August) we asked journalists to give their advice for those getting A level results today and those about to start a degree or a postgrad in journalism.

The best tweets of advice provided the basis for the 10 things every journalism student should know .

Here are some of the other tweets of advice from journalists, students and those in the industry.

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