Journalism.co.uk Editors' Blog » National newspapers

Guardian blogs complete move to new technology platform

Laura Oliver — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 14:46:03 +0000

Guardian.co.uk is in the process of moving the rest of its blogs to its new R2 platform, an update from the title’s own insider blog reports.

From tomorrow the site’s remaining 23 blogs will join the first phase of blogs, which made the switch last month, and will sport a new design and improved tools for commenting.

Titles making the change tomorrow include the technology blog, arts blog and PDA, which says comments will be turned off on the moving blogs between 4pm and 9pm (BST).

The key features of the new blog design are:

Keywords linking blog posts to related content across the site
The relocation of blogs to their relevant sections – e.g. the politics blog in the politics channel
Blogs now share features introduced across the rest of the redesigned site, including the option to share posts by Digg, del.icio.us etc, and a widget showing the most-linked to Guardian content
Blog posts are included in the site’s search
Commenters can have their own user profiles

As previously reported on this blog, the new features were trialled on the site’s Comment Is Free platform and use social media firm Pluck’s commenting technology.

Analysis of the upgrade is already coming in: Shiny Media co-founder Ashley Norris says the move ’signals the end of the organisation using a traditional blogging approach’.

The new design, says Norris, gives readers only a brief view of the intro to a blog post on a section homepage.

“To read the story users have to click through to the page. The reason the Guardian has done this is that being less generous means more click throughs, more page views per users and subsequently more ad impressions served,” he points out.

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FT revamps Chinese website, increases video

Laura Oliver — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 14:34:24 +0000

The Financial Times has overhauled its website FTChinese.com, which was launched in 2005.

FT video channels and content on careers are being added to the site, which will also have improved internal search and navigation, a statement from the publisher said.

Readers can also bookmark content on the site with a new ‘favourites’ tool.

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Guardian relaunches blogs and commenting features

Laura Oliver — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:25:57 +0000

The Guardian is moving its blogs onto its new platform, bringing them in line with the rest of the recently redesigned site.

The move will be completed in two stages starting with 14 titles, including its Lost in Showbiz and news blogs, an announcement on the Inside Guardian blog said. The remaining sites will move over next month.

Once switched the blogs will boast new colours and design features (see the right-hand screenshot below), including improved navigation and links to the rest of Guardian.co.uk.

Keywords linking blog posts to related content across the site will be added – a feature previously unavailable on the blogs platform.

Blogs will also be relocated to their sections – e.g. the politics blog in the politics channel – rather than housed in a separate blogs section.

The new blogs will also share features introduced across the rest of the redesigned site, including the option to share posts by Digg, del.icio.us etc, and a widget showing the most-linked to Guardian content.

Blog posts will now also be included in the site’s search.

Changes to the commenting function on the site’s blogs have also been made – the biggest change being the introduction of user profiles.

“For a long time, we and many other sites operated a content-driven model which meant that user comments were only associated with – and displayed alongside – a particular content item. The creation of user profiles reveals our growing community-driven approach, recognising that just as every guardian.co.uk author gets a contributor page in which their contributions are archived so that their participation can be explored across topics and over time, so should our users,” said Meg Pickard, head of communities and user experience for Guardian.co.uk, in a blog post

Additional features will be added to user profiles over time, added Pickard, and experiments with the layout of comments beneath blog posts are ongoing.

Basic formatting, such as creating block quotes and links, is also now possible on blog post comments.

The new features have previously been trialled on the site’s Comment Is Free platform and use social media firm Pluck’s commenting technology.

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New York Times offers interactive Olympic medals map

Laura Oliver — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 10:58:00 +0000

The New York Times has created a great visualisation tool for the medals table from the Beijing Olympics.

Each country that has made it onto the podium is represented by a circle – its size relative to the number of medals won.

Clicking on the graphic gives an overview of how many gold, silver and bronze accolades have been won, with a fuller breakdown listed below the map.

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New York Times reporters told to keep political views under wraps

Laura Oliver — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:25:25 +0000

Reporters and editors at the New York Times have been told to keep their political affiliations offline and out of sight in the build up to the US presidential election.

A memo received by the New York Observer sent to staff by Craig Whitney, standards editor at the paper, warns journalists that social networks and other websites pose ‘potential political entanglements’:

“When Facebook asks what your political preferences are, don’t answer, and don’t say anything in a blog, video, radio or television program or any other medium that you couldn’t say in the paper or on our Website – about politics or anything else,” the memo says.

An earlier memo from Whitney referred staff to the title’s ethics policy, which states:

“Journalists have no place on the playing fields of politics. Staff members are entitled to vote, but they must do nothing that might raise questions about their professional neutrality or that of The Times. . . They should recognize that a bumper sticker on the family car or a campaign sign on the lawn may be misread as theirs, no matter who in their household actually placed the sticker or the sign.”

A good day for unbiased reporting? A bad day for bumper stickers.

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Times to take legal action against Media Lens website?

Laura Oliver — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 16:14:39 +0000

The editors of MediaLens – a website aimed at exposing propaganda in mainstream media reporting – has claimed that the Times has threatened to take legal action against the site for publishing an email from the Times’ chief foreign commentator Bronwen Maddox and allegedly encouraging MediaLens readers to send ‘threatening emails’ to the writer.

The original piece ‘Selling The Fireball’, which sparked the attention of Times Newspapers’ legal manager Alastair Brett, questioned Maddox’s commentary on Iran’s relationship with Europe and the US.

Readers were asked to email Maddox – as well as Ian Black, Middle East editor of the Guardian, which also had its coverage challenged – with the following disclaimer:

“The goal of Media Lens is to promote rationality, compassion and respect for others. If you do write to journalists, we strongly urge you to maintain a polite, non-aggressive and non-abusive tone.”

According to Peter Wilby writing on Guardian.co.uk, the Times became concerned by “vexatious and threatening emails from visitors to Media Lens” received by Maddox.

“My job is to stop journalists having their time wasted like this. It’s not proper behaviour for Media Lens to give out people’s emails and make a mess of their inboxes,” Brett is reported as saying.

Excerpts from an email sent by the columnist have since been removed from the site after threats of legal and police action from Times Newspapers made on June 28 and July 2.

“We have sought legal advice and, having essentially zero resources for fighting a court case, feel we have no choice but to delete Maddox’s email from our media alert, ‘Selling The Fireball’, as demanded. . . We will have more to say about this in due course, as will others,” says a message on the site’s homepage.

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Times editor James Harding on the Daily Show

Oliver Luft — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 09:25:25 +0000

Times editor James Harding tells Jon Stewart all about his new book Alpha Dogs:

James Harding on The Daily Show

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Times opens up 200-year digital archive

Laura Oliver — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:32:01 +0000

The Times has officially opened up its digital archive of 200 years of newspapers.

The archive, which was launched in beta last month, features content from the paper between January 1 1785 and December 31 1985.

A few pages are missing, according to the site’s FAQs, and there are no editions from December 1 1978 to November 12 1979 because of an industrial dispute at the time.

Each edition has been digitally scanned and the archive has a very speedy and accurate search.

Access to the archive will be free for an introductory period, but registration with TimesOnline is required.

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Telegraph goes Polish for sports fans

Laura Oliver — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:24:41 +0000

Telegraph.co.uk has published a Polish version of a report on Poland’s progress in Euro 2008 – thanks to Jon Buscall for the email.

The article by Kat Mochlinski is available in both English and Polish with a link between the articles.

With The Sun running a print edition in Polish for Euro 2008 and having already trialled a Polish version of its website, this Telegraph tactic could attract more than just football fans.

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Mail & Guardian launches latest in blog series

Laura Oliver — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:49:23 +0000

South African newspaper the Mail & Guardian has added a third blog to its website – Sports Leader.

The sports blog will mix opinion and insight from 30 professionals, academics and ‘armchair commentators’, a release from the paper said.

The English Premier League will be covered alongside news from the Springboks rugby team and Bafana – the country’s national football team.

“There is a need for a space where people interested in a diverse range of sports can discuss and debate their sporting passion. What the Mail & Guardian brings through its editorial policy is quality debate and critique and what Sports Leader offers even further is interaction between the fans and their heroes,” Vincent Maher, online strategist at Mail & Guardian Online, said in the release.

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