Journalism.co.uk Editors' Blog » India

TheStar.com: India’s oldest Urdu-language paper to replace calligraphers

Laura Oliver — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 08:57:28 +0000

The Musalman, India’s oldest Urdu-language newspaper which has been written by hand since it was founded in 1927, is planning to use computerised design in an attempt to save money.

The plans will put the jobs of the calligraphers that transcribe reporters’ work into Nastaliq, an Islamic-rooted calligraphy, at risk.

“The Musalman may be unique in a news industry where automation is standard, but it is feeling a common pain: advertising is dow,” reports Rick Westhead.

Full story at this link…

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Times of India: Protests in journalism department over ‘commercialisation of education’

Judith Townend — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 08:05:05 +0000

Protests continue in India over the the ‘commercialisation of education’ at Allahabad University. Journalism students are disputing the introduction of a new bachelor course in media studies run by the Institute of Professional Studies.

The Times of India first reported the row between two rival departments – the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication and the Institute of Professional Studies (IPS) – at this link.

Yesterday it reported that disruption continues:

“Even as the entire arts faculty was turned into a fortress on Thursday, the students of department of journalism and mass communication continued their ongoing protest. The students expressed their resentment through cartoons made on placards.”

Full story at this link…

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Mixed Media: ‘Do Indian newspapers need to worry about their future?’

Judith Townend — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 08:19:58 +0000

India print media sales are frequently cited as an example of newspaper growth. But do newspapers have a realistic future? That’s the question group chief editor at exchange4media, Pradyuman Maheshwari is asking.

“As various stakeholders are set to congregate at the Indian Newspaper Congress 2009, organised jointly by the Indian Newspaper Society and exchange4media, it’s fitting to discuss an issue that has being debated much in the West – Does print media, newspapers specifically, have a future?”

Newspaper companies might fall behind ‘bit players’ if they’re not careful, he says.

“Regrettably – and I can say this out of my personal experience in this space – most traditional newspaper managements do not understand the demands of the online space and most print and television reporters think a byline on the web doesn’t mean much. To an extent, the journalists aren’t incorrect, as it is only when there is quality content on the web – streaming 24×7 – that the medium will grow.”

Full story at this link…

(Via Editors’ Weblog)

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Times of India: Bloggers outraged at Supreme Court verdict

Judith Townend — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 11:01:57 +0000

Outraged bloggers vented their ire in cyberworld against the [Indian] Supreme Court’s take that they may face libel, even prosecution, for airing their views online,” the Times of India reports. “Believing their freedom of expression is in danger, bloggers railed at the SC’s refusal to quash a criminal complaint against a fellow blogger,” the report continues.

Full story at this link…

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AP: Top 10 news stories of the year

Laura Oliver — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 10:00:40 +0000

Barack Obama's election victory named top news story of 2008 in Associated Press' annual poll, voted for by US editors and news directors. Oil prices, the Beijing Olympics and Mumbai terror attacks all feature in the list.

FromtheFrontline: More Twitter conventions would have aided Mumbai coverage

Judith Townend — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 12:10:45 +0000

"As Twitter use becomes more widespread, so it becomes increasingly difficult to pinpoint the type of information you are looking for," writes Daniel Bennett. "A vast of sea of tweets with #Mumbai quickly developed, and if you were a journalist trying to find eyewitness accounts you found yourself painstakingly wading through them all. Those who did probably found it was time well spent, but is there a better way?" Bennett asks.

Mumbai bloggers interviewed – video collection

Judith Townend — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:02:10 +0000

Here are clips of the various Mumbai blogger interviews. Fuller multimedia round-up here.

Dina, who blogs at Mumbaihelp.blogspot.com and on her own site and Vinu, whose photographs have been viewed by nearly 100,000 (at time of writing) on Flickr, speaking on CNN.

Amit Varma, who blogged a first-hand account, interviewed by the BBC (vision very poor but audio is adequate)

Gaurav Mishra, also interviewed in a text interview on the main page of Journalism.co.uk, here featured in the CBS Early Show coverage, looking at the reportage through citizen journalism:

Watch CBS Videos Online

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Mumbai online: the attacks reported live (updating)

Judith Townend — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 12:04:21 +0000

A look at where the news has unfolded. Please post additional links below. Journalism.co.uk will add in more links as they are spotted.

Washington-based blogger and social media expert, Gaurav Mishra talks to Journalism.co.uk in an interview published on the main page.

One of the few on-the-ground user-generated content examples, Vinu’s Flickr stream (screen grab above). Slide show below:

How it has been reported:

NDTV looks at the way it unfolded on the net and promotes its own forums. “Citizens of the World Wide Web have connected to terror-stricken Mumbai in a way never seen before,” it reports. One eyewitness, Dinesh Kumar, used a forum on NDTV.com to share his experiences as he tried to make his way back home from work, the article says.
The Wikipedia current event page is almost filling role of a blog or news service, with its extremely quick updates.

Photography:

Flickr users such as Vinu, have uploaded pictures from the scene (images: all rights reserved).
A Flickr search such as this one, brings up images from Mumbai, although many are reproduced from a few sources. People have also taken pictures of the television news coverage.
But before you re-publish your finds beware: an advanced search which filters pictures by copyright and only shows up images opened up under Creative Commons, limits the results.

Blogs:

Bloggers, such as Gaurav Mishra are tracking it live, and point out useful links. He has also collected together relevant Tweets.
Other blogs to look out for: Rediff.com; Mumbai.metblogs.com. More to come.
List of blogs, probably from outside, but outside Mumbai: Blogada roundup here.
On the ground blogs: Amit Varma’s India Uncut; Sonia Faleiro; Arun Shanbhag

Breaking news:

The BBC has a good stream of breaking news, with most recent at top; likewise, the Guardian’s is here.
Away from mainstream media, NowPublic are charting it here and Ground Report here.

Social Media:

Facebook doesn’t seem to have that much activity as yet and is not that helpful for finding news, although members of Mumbai related groups are posting comments on the walls.
Update (27/11/08): New Facebook groups formed:‘In memory of all those who died in the 26th-27th november MUMBAI massacre’; ‘26 November 2008 – Terrorist Attacks on Mumbai’.

Microblogging:

This Roomatic page brings together Twitter updates in chatroom format: makes it very easy to follow and updates quicked than you can read.
Lloyd Shepherd blogged that Mumbai ‘tweets’ appear to have been restrained, seemingly by the Indian authorities. (update: however, seems quite unlikely… Anyone know if any truth in this?) Check out Amy Gahran’s post here, which raises some good points about the danger of Twitter rumours…
The Twitter stream can be followed here: http://search.twitter.com/search?q=mumbai
Gaurav Mishra writes, “so far, micro-blogging service Twitter seems to be the best source for real time citizen news on the Mumbai terrorist attacks, and “Mumbai” & “#Mumbai” are both on Twitter trending topics now.”
Summed up here, at Wired.com.

Mapping:

NYTimes.com has linked photos to the attack sites on its interactive map.
The Guardian does a nice job here. Click on the cameras to see what took place.

Video:

The Google video seach is here. YouTube videos are mainly limited to broadcast footage, with one user even filming the TV reports, for those without access to live television coverage. YouTube videos seem to be all second-hand broadcasts from mainstream media.

Timelines:

Mirror.co.uk (Mumbai November 26-7) and Guardian (for past terrorist attacks in India). BBC timeline here (complete with contentious Twitter quote).

Dipity timeline here:

Campaigns / Aid:

In the same vein as Tsunami Help started in 2004/5, MumbaiHelp has been launched, with lists of the dead/injured here: http://tr.im/1kg3 http://tr.im/1kg2 / http://tr.im/1kg1 / http://tr.im/1kg0 / http://tr.im/1kfz

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I’ve Said Too Much: Mumbai government tries to crack down on Twitter updates?

Judith Townend — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 10:49:24 +0000

(J.co.uk update)Read Amy Gahran's skepticism about this particular rumour on her blog. It seems unlikely, but as blogged and recorded by @Lloydshep (follow link at end): "The awful stuff coming out of Mumbai is one thing, but here’s another: the Indian government asking for live Twitter updates to cease to protect their operations. For all sorts of reasons, this seems to be significant."

Afaqs.com: Delhi newspaper going national and launching weekly in nine state capitals

Laura Oliver — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 12:26:59 +0000

NaiDunia Media has announced the national edition of its daily newspaper, NaiDunia, and will launch a weekly newspaper and magazine combo, Sunday NaiDunia, in nine state capitals.