The National Union of Journalists is in ‘financial crisis’, a report leaked to Journalism.co.uk reveals.

Update 4.52pm: This document has been removed at the request of the NUJ.

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• NUJ Release: Union urges MPs to help journalists refuse unethical work

This week is Local Newspaper Week so a good time to take a look at how regional publishers are innovating in digital.

In this week’s Journalism.co.uk podcast, technology correspondent Sarah Marshall speaks to:

• Nigel Vincent, head of online editorial development at Newsquest
• Marc Cooper, head of publishing at Northcliffe Digital
• Ed Walker,  senior digital producer, Trinity Mirror

They talk about how journalists working for the regional titles are approaching social media, data journalism and mobile – or iPad – reporting.

You can hear future podcasts by signing up to the Journalism.co.uk iTunes podcast feed.

• #jpod: How journalists can use SMS to engage with the audience
• #jpod – SoLoMo: a look at the Guardian and Northcliffe’s innovations in social and local
• #jpod: How news organisations are using Pinterest
• #jpod – How the social media community can shape the news agenda
• #jpod: Why the Guardian is taking a laid-back approach to news on the iPad

Tool of the week: Transcribe

What is it? Transcribe is a simple Chrome web app that allows you to upload audio and transcribe it without switching between an audio player and a text editing document

How is it of use to journalists? Transcribe is a favourite here at Journalism.co.uk. We may have shorthand but usually opt to record Skype and phone interviews in order to concentrate on the conversation and refer back later.

If you have ever tried to transcribe quotes or sections from an audio interview and toggled between a text-editing document and the audio player, you will love this tool as it will save you time.

This free Chrome web app allows you to upload an mp3 or wav file and transcribe within the box below the player. It has some handy shortcuts, the most useful of which is the ‘esc’ key that pauses the audio and re-starts it from a second before the point at which you stopped it.

There are also shortcuts to rewind and speed up the recording, but Mac users with function keys (F1, F2 etc) set to perform other tasks will find this less useful.

Another benefit of this tool is the ability to use it off line, when working from a train, for example.

• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – use Transcribe for typing quotes from audio
• Ten free apps in the Chrome web store that journalists should know about
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – Podcasts to practise shorthand
• Tool of the week for journalists – Collaborative video editing platform Stroome
• App of the week for journalists – Showcase, for creating audio slideshows

Freelance journalist Christopher Goodfellow has written a blog post recommending Skype for interviews.

His post recommends a call recorder and details the cost-saving potential.

It’s also worth reading:

• 10 fantastic apps, tips and tools for recording audio
• How to record a Skype call on an iPad / iPhone
• How to record phone interviews

Tipster: Sarah Marshall

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link.

• App of the week for journalists: SkyRecorder, for recording Skype calls on iPhone/iPad
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – how to set up a recording studio
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – A great iPhone app to record and edit audio
• Tool of the week for journalists – The Interviewr
• App of the week for journalists – DropVox, for saving audio to Dropbox

The Guardian’s online noticeboard n0tice opened its API this week.

One of the many things digital news outlets can now do is create crowdmaps, taking information posted on n0tice. A post on n0tice explains how to do this.

The Guardian has used content from n0tice, Flickr and the Guardian’s own site to create a crowdmap of the Olympic torch relay around the country.

Tipster: Sarah Marshall

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link.

• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – how to create a live Flickr and tweet map
• Guardian’s n0tice launches Facebook sharing app
• Nashua Telegraph experimenting with Qik
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – embed slideshows using Vuvox
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – how to get more pins on Pinterest

App of the week: TweetCaster

Devices: Android, iPhone/iPad, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Bada

Cost: Free (or £2.99 to go ad free)

What is it? TweetCaster has several features not available in Twitter’s own app.

How is it of use to journalists? The Android version of TweetCaster was nominated for app of the week by Richard Kendall, web editor at PeterboroughToday.co.uk, who said:

I have found it faster than Twitter native app and smoother than Tweetdeck with plenty of options for sharing/managing found links and information.

TweetCaster has several functions you won’t find in Twitter’s own app, including a much more powerful search and filter that allows you to search your own timeline, all friends’ tweets or one person’s tweets.

You can also search for a keyword in nearby (geo-located) tweets, something that has obvious possibilities for journalists out on a breaking news story.

It also comes with Facebook integration, allows you to see who has re-tweeted a tweet and has a “zip it” function to allow you to mute a keyword, Twitter user or a trending hashtag.

Have you got a favourite app that you use as a journalist? Fill in this form to nominate an app for Journalism.co.uk’s app of the week for journalists.

• Tool of the week for journalists – TimeKiwi, to create social media timelines
• Ten technical Twitter tips for journalists
• App of the week for journalists: Social Searcher, for searching Facebook
• Tool of the week for journalists – Formulists (use it before it disappears)
• Tool of the week for journalists – Topsy, real-time search for the social web

The Western Mail caused much debate yesterday after publishing a front page editorial responding to a report claiming that proposals had been made for records of meetings at the Welsh National Assembly to be translated into Welsh at an estimated cost of up to £400,000.

In the editorial the Western Mail said this sort of service may therefore be “a luxury we cannot afford”.

The report prompted a Twitter hashtag debating the decision to run the editorial called #westernfail and much press commentary, from the Independent’s Rob Williams here, to the BBC’s political editor for Wales, Betsan Powys, who said the article worked to “raise some questions about the value for money of a set of recommendations from politicians – albeit in pretty uncompromising terms”.

Here’s the response issued by the Western Mail:

We fully support the right of AMs and others to address meetings in Welsh or English, according to their choice, and the publication in both languages of the official Record of Proceedings of plenary meetings.

But we believe the recommendation to translate all Assembly proceedings into Welsh, at such enormous cost, is a step too far in this period of austerity.

At a time when front-line public service and benefits to poorer people are being cut, we cannot in all conscience support a huge increase in the National Assembly’s translation budget. That is why we back the Assembly Commission’s draft Bill and oppose the amendment proposed by the communities, equality and local government committee.

At the time of writing the online version of the article had received 448 comments. BBC Radio Wales yesterday asked if the editorial is “an attack on the Welsh language?”.

Chief reporter Martin Shipman, who secured the original story, said “this is not about the Welsh language” and that the newspaper will not be apologising and stands by the piece.

In all conscience when priorities are being looked at we could not support the spending of a considerable amount of extra money on Welsh language translation services at a time when the poorest people in Wales are being hit by benefit cuts and public service cuts.

• NUJ: Journalists demand ‘immediate talks’ as 22 jobs face cut at Media Wales
• Trinity Mirror launches Welsh-language news site
• Big outcry over the Welsh Big Issue’s move to … Scotland
• 13.2 jobs could go at Trinity Mirror’s Media Wales; NUJ members to hold strike ballot
• Details of BBC funding cuts leaked ahead of spending review

Mashable has a post on bad, good, better and best practice when writing headlines for SEO.

The advice is at this link.

Journalism.co.uk runs a one-day course on SEO, a practical guide to getting your work found. The next one takes place in June.

Tipster: Sarah Marshall

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link.

• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – how to set up a recording studio
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – How to request a Google+ profile for your news site
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – inspiring audio slideshows made by students
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – 10 search tricks you might not know
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – making the most of LinkedIn groups

Poynter has a post that gives five examples of photo types that it recommends be used in photo essays and audio slideshows.

The post suggests the following:

• Shot one: the scene setter
• Shot two: the medium shot
• Shot three: the portrait
• Shot four: capturing detail
• Shot five: capturing action

Take a look at the example shots in Poynter’s post.

Tipster: Sarah Marshall

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link.

• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – efficiency tools for journalists
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – Seven steps for building an online community
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – improving your video journalism skills
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – five free online portfolio sites
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – advice for using Skype and recording calls

In a press release issued yesterday the BBC announced the latest traffic statistics for BBC.com, which was said to have recorded 15 million unique users across Europe in the first quarter of the year.

Figures relating to accessing BBC news on mobile devices were also reported, with visits of “around 8.5 million users” across the world visiting the BBC News websites and apps on mobiles or tablets “in an average month”.

See the full release.

• NOTW website sees record traffic after Stephen Gately report
• Eight lessons for publishers from comScore’s new report on mobile
• FT web app has been used 1m times
• Paywall results in for Newsday as US newspapers see dip in traffic
• Welt.de posts record traffic for February

Entries are now open for this year’s Online Journalism Awards, which have been organised by the US Online News Association since 2000.

The awards are for entrants from around the world and honour excellence in digital journalism and multimedia storytelling in all its forms – from major news organisations to independent publishers.

Twelve judges will go through the entries in August to select the winners. Eight awards come with prize money from the Knight Foundation and Gannett Foundation.

The deadline is 21 June and the winners will be announced in San Francisco on 22 September. Last year’s winners included Al-Jazeera’s coverage of the uprisings in Egypt and the BBC News website.

• Finalists of Online Journalism Awards announced
• 2011 Knight Batten journalism innovation awards open for entries
• Entries now open for 2012 Online Media Awards
• US student journalism awards open for entries
• Awards round-up: Index on Censorship winners; Mind Journalism Awards; Paul Foot nominations call

Search Engine Watch has a post on the best times to post content via Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. The post on social media optimisation states:

The best time to post content with a link on Twitter is 1 to 3pm EST Monday to Thursday. Over on Facebook, between 1 and 4pm mid-week is the sweet spot, while Tumblr users are more likely to click after 4pm and especially on Fridays.

The findings are based on graphs created by URL shortening service Bitly.

The article goes on to say:

Posting a link to Twitter after 3pm on a Friday is pretty much pointless, based on their cumulative data on the number of clicks on bitly links from each social network. Over on Facebook, traffic peaks mid-week, with Friday and weekend posts apt to receive far less attention. Posts between 8pm and 8am any day of the week are fighting an uphill battle for clicks.

The full post is at this link.

• Five of the best Tumblr news blogs
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – Why Facebook comments are worth more than likes
• Mashable: Monday is the worst time to post and tweet
• Adding analysis increases referrals from a journalist’s Facebook page
• comScore: Social media accounts for one out of every six minutes spent online in US

On Poynter there’s a detailed ‘how-to’ by Casey Frechette which runs through 10 tips on improving the way audio is produced and presented in multimedia output.

He writes that “sound can make or break a multimedia production”, and as a result offers a collection of tips on getting it right, from understanding and using four different types of audio in projects to introducing “layers to create richer sound”.

Here is his full list.

Tipster: Rachel McAthy

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.

• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – driving traffic from YouTube
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – avoiding common video storytelling mistakes
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – apps and tools for ‘facilitating the reporting process’
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – toolkits for journalists
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – key elements to podcasting

Image by art makes me smile on Flickr. Some rights reserved.

This week’s jpod looks at how different publishing platforms in the news industry are approaching curation and aggregation of news, from sources across the web including news outlets, bloggers and social media platforms.

Journalism.co.uk’s news editor Rachel McAthy speaks to:

• Burt Herman, co-founder of Storify
• Mark Johnson, chief executive of Zite
• Rory Brown, co-founder of BriefingMedia, publisher of TheMediaBriefing.com

In the spirit of curation, here is a list of some related reading and resources on this topic:

• Aggregation guidelines: Link, attribute, add value – Steve Buttry pulls together some standards journalists should bear in mind when aggregating news
• Five curation tools all journalists should know about – some recommended tools suggested by Journalism.co.uk
• New curation tool Bundlr sets sights on ‘untangling the web’ – Journalism.co.uk article on Bundlr
• Meet the curators – The Economist follows up on a tweet which caused much discussion during the SXSW conference
• Social media: what’s the difference between curation and journalism? – The BBC follows up on another Twitter debate
• 5 opportunities for dynamic curation tools – 10,000 Words suggests five ways to put curation into practice
• Are aggregation and curation journalism? Wrong question – GigaOm highlights the importance of putting the audience at the heart of the debate
• This Week in Review: A push for aggregation standards, and the end of an era for print – The Nieman Journalism Lab highlights recent efforts to set aggregation standards

You can hear future podcasts by signing up to the Journalism.co.uk iTunes podcast feed.

• New curation tool Bundlr sets sights on ‘untangling the web’
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – social media filtering
• #Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – social media kitbag
• Curation tool Bundlr goes public
• ReadWriteWeb: Wikipedia as a breaking news source

Hugh Grant, Tom Watson MP and president of the National Union of Journalists Donnacha Delong were among a number of speakers at a rally calling for media reform last night.

The Livestream video embedded below shows the speeches, with Hugh Grant praising the “progress made since last July”.

The first two modules of Leveson inquiry has shone a lot of very disinfectant sunlight into a lot of very infected corners.

He added that he believes the public has started to realise the scandal is “not just about phone hacking but a wider corruption of police and officials and the intimidation elected politicians”.

We’ve been living for the past 30 years in a media-controlled state.

Giving the example of police production orders calling for journalists to hand over journalists’ footage, Donnacha Delong from the NUJ called for a new regulator to define journalists’ rights and responsibilities.

Improved press regulation which details the rights and responsibilities of the press is potentially something we could use to defend the press against from those kinds of illegitimate requests from those in power.

• Metropolitan Police statement on dropped action against Guardian
• #jpod in depth: The journalist’s right to protect confidential sources explained
• NUJ speaks out against Met Police ‘heavy-handedness’ at Greek Embassy Protests
• The top 10 most-read stories on Journalism.co.uk, 19-25 November
• Leveson inquiry releases witness statements