Journalism.co.uk Editors' Blog » LA Times

Trust 2.0 – reports of MJ’s death are not greatly exaggerated

Judith Townend — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:46:15 +0000

It was fascinating to watch the Michael Jackson rumours hit Twitter late last night (BST) and the mixed reaction to the initial TMZ.com report. An AOL/Telepictures Productions entertainment news site and renowned for having its finger on the pulse, but not quite big or well-known enough to risk the re-tweet or the MSM endorsement? Should we trust it, should we not? The links and telling tweets are reproduced here:

TMZ.com breaks news of the death first:

“We’ve just learned Michael Jackson has died. He was 50.”

Many journalists were playing it safe, even with their own personal tweets. Even the ’semi-journalists’:

View mdlong24’s tweet

Then… a few comments about the weird news culture we live in. Compare the way you heard about Princess Diana to this, for example. This from Meg Pickard, the Guardian’s head of social media development:

View megpickard’s tweet

But were people being unduly cautious? Ashley Norris – of Shiny Media fame – offered this:

View shinyashley’s tweet

The Sun (by an unnamed ‘online reporter but it has now been updated and by-lined) and the Metro (by a by-lined reporter but the link is now dead) – and others too no doubt – tentatively go with ‘reportedly dead.’ And actually attributed TMZ. Then, phew, a mainstream media source finally gives us likely sources to cling onto. The LA Times.

Around 23.35 BST (22.35 GMT):The BBC goes for it on TV. In its special breaking television news report on BBC1 after BBC Question Time, and before This Week, they say that Jackson is reported to be dead: citing the LA Times as the main source, then TMZ.com, and then add that the Associated Press is also reporting the death.

Now everyone’s sure that he is dead. The Guardian gets this wonderfully comprehensive tribute article up very quickly (23.26 BST).

TMZ were the winners of the night with publicity all round. Check out the quote from Alan Citron, founding manager for TMZ but who now works for Buzz Media in an email to Beet TV last night:

“TMZ has drifted into a lot of juvenile satire lately, but Harvey’s [Levin, managing editor of TMZ] still the best when it comes to serious celebrity news reporting. It’s highly likely that TMZ will own this story.”

This lovely tweet from @PJButta says it all:

View PJButta’s tweet

More views on TMZ and trust on Twitter.

As for the print? According to Paul McNally,

View paulmcnally’s tweet

One more link-to-print here: the Guardian’s newspaper front page slideshow (presumably a later edition for the Sun).

What have we left out? Leave links and comments below, if you’ve got anything to add.

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Obama’s first 100 days: how the web is covering it

Laura Oliver — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:08:52 +0000

Some great multimedia coverage as US President Barack Obama completes his first 100 days in power.

The Washington Post has set up a ’special package’ to mark the day – complete with videos, more than 300 photos arranged by topic (see below) and an interactive timeline of the period – with symbols marking the days key legislation was introduced.

(The Post has used Daylife previously to organise its photos – for example during the Olympics last year – so I’m wondering whether that’s the case here too.)

Similarly, the LA Times has its own 100 days site with the emphasis on readers’ views. The Times asked commuters for their video thoughts on Obama’s progress so far.

What I like in particular about this effort is the ability to filter videos by policy and the interactive calendar that dominates the top of the page – click on any date from the 100 for more information.

It’s a very clean layout with a nice feed of LA Times’ related articles too.

The White House is getting in on the act too with its own Flickr group of images depicting the start of the presidency.

Any more good examples of coverage?

UPDATE April 30:

Am reliably informed by Daylife that they’re not behind the Times’ photos – it’s being done internally – but their technology has had a hand in the Wall Street Journal’s coverage, which pulls together video, relevant articles, images and create interactive graphics.

Also enjoyed Slate highlighting the 100 days on Obama’s Facebook feed.

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AFP: LA Times and Chicago Tribune in foreign desks merger

Laura Oliver — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 10:46:44 +0000

The LA Times and Chicago Tribune are pooling their foreign reporting operations to serve all Tribune newspapers. The operation will be run from Los Angeles.

Full story at this link…

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JLPF: Tweets from the Digital Editors Network and Journalism Leaders Forum

Laura Oliver — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:14:20 +0000

@journalism_live, amongst others, will be tweeting coverage from today’s Digital Editors Network event and Journalism Leaders Programme Forum hosted by the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN).

There’s a great line-up, including BBC business editor Robert Peston, Guardian blogs editor Kevin Anderson and former LA Times interactive editor Eric Ulken.

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LA Times: New law to protect student press freedom

John Thompson — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:26:22 +0000

Journalism students and their teachers in the US are to get more protection under a new state law which prevents administrators from taking punitive action against staff who to try to protect student press freedom (hat tip to Adrian Monck), writes the LA Times.

The Journalism Teacher Protection Act will also coincide with another initiative that seeks to educate students about 1st Amendment feedoms, the News Literacy project. This scheme will send working journalists to teach students how to “distinguish verified information from raw messages, spin, gossip and opinion,” Alan Miller, project founder, tells the Times. Full story…

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Are the new police crime maps any use for UK journalists? Some doubts raised

Judith Townend — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 15:38:01 +0000

Yesterday saw the launch of police crime maps in the UK. The Guardian reported:

“Crime maps detailing the number of offences committed in every neighbourhood have been published online by all 43 police forces in England and Wales, the Home Office said today.

“The colour-coded maps show the levels of burglary, car crime, robbery and other offences, and include charts showing whether crime is rising or falling.”

The maps were announced in July 2008, and had already provoked some discussion amongst journalists. This J.co.uk Editors’ Blog post all the way back in January 2008 looked at some existing regional newspaper mapping projects, including an LA Times homicide map and a murder map from the Manchester Evening News.

So are the new UK police maps all that new or useful for journalists? The Croydon Advertiser’s news editor, Jo Wadsworth, had this to say. She told Journalism.co.uk that they have had the maps in London for some months now.

“To be honest, my opinion of them hasn’t changed that much,” she said.

“The types of crime they cover are fairly restrictive, so they don’t give a particularly accurate reflection of true crime statistics in any one area. For instance, they don’t include sexual assaults, which would certainly be one type of crime I personally would be very interested in learning what the rates are in my local area.

“In terms of influencing and aiding local reporting, the Advertiser has run stories based on them, but they haven’t been that different to the standard crime figures stories which are a staple of local reporting, except in allowing us to drill down further than ward level,” she said.

“And I find it’s best to be wary of these types of stories in any case. For one thing, the police are well known for hailing any rises in crime as testament to their success in persuading people to report crime. And in terms of the micro-levels the maps drill down to, rises and falls are going to be fairly meaningless in any case.”

But, she added, ‘it’s good that the police are embracing this kind of technology, and transparency’.

“And hopefully in time it will be expanded to include more crimes – and more details for individual crimes,” she said.

Add your own thoughts below…

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OJR: Lessons learnt from time at the LA Times data desk

Judith Townend — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 11:50:49 +0000

Former LA Times interactive technology editor, Eric Ulken, looks at lessons learnt from building the newspaper's 'data desk: 'a cross-functional team of journalists responsible for collecting, analyzing and presenting data online and in print'.

Ironic snapshot at the LA Times: ‘YOU Own This Place Now’

Judith Townend — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 09:54:25 +0000

LA Times employee entrance, Dec 21 2007:

via Eric Ulken (former interactive technology editor at the LA Times).

‘Those signs seemed a bit disingenuous even then, given the structure of the deal to take the Tribune Company private. Now they seem, well, ridiculous’, he writes.

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US-based Tribune files for bankruptcy but continues operating

Judith Townend — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 23:16:16 +0000

More on this tomorrow, but just to link today’s (Monday) news that the Tribune Co. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, as reported here by the group’s own newspaper the LA Times, as well as numerous other news sources. The group also owns KTLA Channel 5, the Chicago Tribune, the Baltimore Sun as well as nine other newspapers and 22 other television and radio stations across the country.

The group’s chief executive Sam Zell said in a statement (via CNNmoney.co.uk):

“Factors beyond our control have created a perfect storm – a precipitous decline in revenue and a tough economy coupled with a credit crisis that makes it extremely difficult to support our debt.”

“We believe that this restructuring will bring the level of our debt in line with current economic realities, and will take pressure off our operations.”

The groups says it is able to sustain operations while it restructures. Here, Editor & Publisher looks at concerns inside the newsroom.

Excerpts from Sam Zell’s memo can be read here.

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Eric Ulken’s next assignment: the online world, from around the world

Judith Townend — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:47:02 +0000

The LA Times interactive technology editor Eric Ulken is off to trot the globe, after ten years working in newspapers.

“Now I hope to effect change from the outside”, he writes.

“Earlier this month, I left my job as interactive technology editor at the Los Angeles Times to travel and learn and share stories about the great work taking place in online journalism around the world. I love the Times, my work and my colleagues, but I’ve decided it’s time to try something new: reporting.”

Read about his plans on his blog.

Come visit Journalism.co.uk in Brighton, Eric!

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