#Podcast: Managing user-generated content in breaking news

By derekGavey on Flickr. Some rights reserved.

User-generated content is becoming increasingly important in reporting on breaking news situations, so this week’s podcast looks at how different organisations and platforms manage the influx of user submitted content.

• Markham Nolan, managing editor, Storyful
• Dan Petty, social media editor, Denver Post
• Paul Owen, journalist and regular live blogger, Guardian
• Ken Goldberg, project leader of the Rashomon Project, UC Berkeley

Podcast: Download

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#Tip: Social media mistakes journalists make in a crisis

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In light of the recent events in Boston and issues that regularly arise when covering crises and breaking news stories on social media, Slate magazine’s social media editor, Jeremy Stahl, has drawn up some advice on what a journalist should or should not tweet during a crisis situation.

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

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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – Ways to flag up breaking news on Twitter

Image by shawncampbell on Flickr. Some rights reserved.

This 10,000 Words blog post looks at the different ways news outlets flag up to their followers about the nature of the content they are tweeting, in this case breaking news but this could also relate to video or photos, for example.

The post addresses some of the common ways news outlets do this, such as breaking news in capital letters, or using the hashtag #breakingnews, and also offers “some questions to consider before adopting (or adapting) a new strategy for your own”.

See the full post here.

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

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MSN UK study release: Quarter of respondents ‘overwhelmed by the volume of news each day’

MSN UK recently commissioned a survey of 2,000 people (carried out by OnePoll) which looks at audience behaviour in certain news situations, as part of its Best of Now marketing campaign.

The findings including looking at the sources people turn to for breaking news coverage. This found that the majority (40 per cent) of respondents (who were able to select more than one answer), chose online news sites as their source. This was followed by newspapers with 30 per cent and social media with 20 per cent of respondents.

The survey also asked what news sources were most trusted by respondents, which saw broadcast television and radio come top with 43 per cent, followed by online news sites with 19 per cent, newspapers with 15 per cent and magazines with 9.1 per cent. Social networks were named as most trusted by just under five per cent.

A quarter of respondents highlighted in the survey that they can be “overwhelmed by the volume of news each day and demand quality, not quantity”, according to a press release. And when it comes to time spent consuming news, with the survey finding that on average 10 years ago respondents felt they would spend around 10 minutes a day consuming news, compared to an average of 15 minutes today.

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Beet.tv: The role of YouTube as a platform for citizen reporters

The interesting video below, from Beet.tv, features an interview with Olivia Ma, manager of news at YouTube, who talks about the site’s role as a platform for raw video of newsworthy events, such as the Middle East uprisings, both to the general public and news organisations.

YouTube doesn’t actually do any vetting of this material, we simply provide a distribution platform for people to get the word out and to upload their videos so the world can see them … Everyone can be a reporter, everyone has the power to bear witness to the events that are happening around them and document that and share it with the world.

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Nieman: AP Interactive and a visual future for breaking news

Nieman Journalism Lab’s Justin Ellis has written an interesting post on the development of Associated Press’ interactive output, which has nearly doubled over the past two years.

Among other things, Ellis touches on on the work of the AP Interactive department covering breaking news stories with graphics:

The trick in being able to roll out these features so quickly (and likely another reason the department has increased its output) is the usage of templates, Nessa said. That basic form allows the artists, programmers, and others on staff to publish graphics quickly — and to continuously update them as more information comes in from reporters. That’s why when events like Japan’s earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit, you could find not only breaking reports from the AP, in text, but also incredible photography and interactive graphics that harnessed reporting from correspondents as well as accounts and images from on-the-ground witnesses.

See the full post at this link.

Interactives, graphics and visualisation are among a range of essential topics for modern journalists that will be covered at Journalism.co.uk’s upcoming news:rewired conference. See the full agenda at this link.

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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – breaking news online

News organisations that deal with breaking news online may be interested in this list of questions on ethics, credibility and delivery compiled by Sioux City Journal editor Mitch Pugh for a NewsU Webinar, for outlets to consider. There are also links to more resources at the end of this piece on Poynter. Tipster: Rachel McAthy.

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Inc.com: TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington on breaking news and building trust

Great interview with TechCrunch founder and serial entrepreneur Michael Arrington on his approach to publishing, journalism and work.

On breaking news:

We break more big stories than everyone else combined in tech – and that’s not prebriefed news or something that was handed to us. I judge my own performance based on that. When we break a story, that’s a point. When someone else breaks a story, we’re minus a point. And I want to be positive points.

On dealing with sensitive information:

Negotiating with companies over how news breaks is a big part of what we do. I don’t think traditional journalists would do this or admit to it, but a source might say, “Yeah, we just got bought, but can you please not write about it for a week, because it might kill the deal?” Unless I know lots of other journalists are sniffing around, I generally defer to the entrepreneur. We probably lose half of those stories, but it’s the right thing to do. It builds trust. People aren’t going to tell you things if they don’t trust you.

Full post on Inc.com at this link…

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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – automated Twitter tools

Twitter tools: Sitepoint offer their list of the top five tools for setting up automated Twitter feeds, great for breaking news or updates. Tipster: Rachel McAthy.

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Twitter and breaking news – a match made in heaven, or hell?

A post by Herman Manson on Memeburn.com looks at the difficulties of juggling the need for immediacy online with well researched and accurate journalism.

People in the news business love breaking news. This is why we are arming more and more journalists with the equipment to live tweet and blog major news events. And it is entirely true that newspapers and news sites lag Twitter in breaking news. That is because it takes time to write anything longer than 140 characters, to get it fact-checked, and then, to publish/broadcast it to a wider world.

He focuses on the issue of what to do when an incorrect tweet gets blurted out into the cyberworld, and the danger of the ‘retweet’.

With Twitter able to deliver news quickly and to a potentially huge audience due to its viral nature, already-pressured newsrooms are under increasing pressure to get content out, and to get it out fast.

But few are asking what this is doing to journalistic ethics. For example, can media organisations and journalists delete inaccurate tweets that were posted without revealing they did so?

With journalists under pressure to be first online, Manson says he also worries quality journalism could be at risk, as reporters try to cut “thought-provoking voices into 140 character sound bytes, typed on the go”.

Read the full post here…

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