Category Archives: Editors’ pick

SPD blog: First look at the Newsweek redesign

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The SPD blog previews Newsweek’s redesign as the US weekly merges with the Daily Beast. According to SPD, the new-look magazine is due in newsagents a week today. The post includes and interview with Dirk Barnett, the man behind the redesign, who discusses the new logo, how the team is “bringing strong, dynamic photojournalism back to Newsweek”, plus plans for presenting data.

The Newsweek redesign comes a week after the relaunch of the New York Times Magazine, which took place yesterday.

Infographics, another element killed off over the past few years at Newsweek, will definitely be coming back. While we plan to up the presence, we have no plans to blow them out in a Bloomberg/Wired direction, our content just doesn’t require or sustain it (plus, Bloomberg Businessweek is killing it, who can compete with that?!). Rather, it will be a vital tool to telling elements of stories that photogrpahy or illustration just don’t nail. We have introduced a new page, DataBeast, that will give us the opportunity to do a weekly infogrpahic on various subjects.

 

 

Al Jazeera: Turkey charges journalists accused of plotting coup

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Al Jazeera is reporting that a Turkish court has charged four journalists and a writer with involvement in an alleged plot to overthrow the country’s government, a day after two prominent reporters were jailed pending trial.

Human Rights Watch said on Saturday the developments in the case had a “chilling effect” on free speech and urged Erdogan’s government to respect press freedom. Thousands of people also marched in Istanbul and Ankara, the capital, on Friday, to protest against the detentions.

Full story on Al Jazeera at this link

 

 

XCity: George Brock’s 10 predictions for journalism in 25 years

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City University’s student magazine includes a forecast from head of journalism at City and former Times journalist George Brock.

His 10 predictions include: more newspapers going bust, particularly dailies and those outside of the M25; a WikiLeaks effect; and greater transparency.

6. The next 25 years will be a period of extraordinary innovation and creativity in platforms, techniques and the wholesale rethinking of journalism. Data journalism and the creation of online communities are only just the start.

XCity’s full article is at this link.

See City professor Paul Bradshaw’s predictions here.

Editors Weblog: The New York Times Magazine to launch redesign

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The Editors Weblog reported on yesterday’s relaunch of the New York Times Magazine. The magazine includes new features, new columnists, and some contributions from the newsroom staff of the New York Times.

The post also reports on a new blog launched on the magazine’s website last week.

On March 2nd, the site began The 6th Floor Blog: Eavesdropping on the Times Magazine. In its inaugural post, editor Hugo Lindgren explained, “This blog is meant as a humble complement to the magazine — a place to let readers listen in on the conversations that happen in the office.”  Several blogs have already been posted on a broad range of topics, from Libya’s ties to the British elite, to the question of what makes a good apology.

Full post on Editors Weblog at this link.

 

 

 

Fleet Street Blues: Should editors have bylines?

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Fleet Street Blues has noted that the re-designed New York Times Magazine, first published yesterday, includes editors’ bylines. Will the idea, already used by Reuters and Bloomberg in the form of an end credit on wire stories, catch on? Fleet Street Blues thinks not.

We like the idea in principle – given that editors have at least as much say as a reporter in the top line of an article, and indeed whether it appears at all, why not put their name against it as well?

But somehow, it’s not an innovation we can see catching on. Given the current trend for ‘Daily Mail Reporter’ bylines, or the fine work of Oliver Clive and Austin Peters over at the Telegraph, accountability may not be Fleet Street’s strong suit.

Full post on Fleet Street Blues at this link

 

NYT: Western journalists tracked and detained in China

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According to a New York Times report, foreign journalists have been tracked and detained by officials in China in an effort to clamp down on protests.

On Sunday, about a dozen European and Japanese journalists in Shanghai were herded into an underground bunkerlike room and kept for two hours after they sought to monitor the response to calls on an anonymous Internet site for Chinese citizens to conduct a “strolling” protest against the government outside the Peace Cinema, near People’s Square in Shanghai.

The Media Guardian reports that China has denied the accusations. Chinese newspaper Global Times has reportedly accused Western journalists of fabricating news to discredit the country.

Full New York Times story at this link

Independent: Labour MP to make new claims about phone hacking in Commons debate

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The Independent reports that Labour MP Chris Bryant has secured a Commons debate on the ongoing phone-hacking case. The paper says that Bryant will make further allegations during the debate, which will take place on Thursday.

Mr Bryant has secured a 30-minute Commons debate on Thursday which will include a formal government response. He said: “It has become apparent that the extent of phone hacking is greater than either News Corporation or the News of the World have admitted to. Indeed, it would seem it was far more substantial than that found by the original investigation that the Metropolitan Police could be bothered to mount.” The Rhondda MP said “enormous issues” had been raised by the scandal, which led to the jailing in 2007 of the private detective Glenn Mulcaire and NOTW’s royal editor Clive Goodman.

Full story on Independent.co.uk at this link

Straits Times: Chinese state newspaper accuses Western journalists of ‘fabricating’ news

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Beijing paper the Global Times has accused foreign journalists in China of fabricating news, according to a report by the Straits Times.

‘It is not unusual for Beijing-based Western journalists to receive demands from bosses in their home countries to make up stories,’ said an opinion piece in the paper, which is linked to the ruling Communist Party.

Western reporters ‘must never take delight in blind, idle chatter and instead should remember your true status and the laws of the nation where you are living.’ The commentary appeared to underline rising official anxiety over an online call for rallies in cities across China each Sunday.

This comes a day after the Eurasia Review reported that foreign journalists had been threatened with expulsion if they report on pro-democracy rallies currently being organised online.

Internews: Journalists in the Middle East meet to discuss blogging and social media

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Middle Eastern journalists and bloggers have been meeting to discuss the role of social media in their countries. Tunisian and Palestinian journalists and bloggers have had discussions and their Egyptian counterparts are due to meet next week. This article on Internews says young Palestinians have more trust in social media than in traditional media. The post also discusses the development and importance of social media courses in Palestinian universities.

A week earlier [before the Tunis gathering], more than 40 Palestinian journalists gathered for a roundtable on the changes in social media and its impacts on society and journalism.

Several of those present said that young people turn to social media because mass media has failed to play its watchdog role. “Youth don’t trust the media in Palestine. It does not relate to them, it does not give a voice to the people. We trust information on Facebook more because it comes from real people,” said journalist Ameed Shihata.

TechCrunch: Demand Media buys liveblogging tool CoverItLive

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TechCrunch reports today that Demand Media has bought CoverItLive for an undisclosed sum. The liveblogging tool was founded in Toronto, Canada in 2007 with funding of $1 million.

Demand Media has originally made a strategic investment in CoverItLive back in 2009, acquiring a minority interest in the startup. With today’s acquisition, CoverItLive will become a platform within Demand Media’s portfolio of social “solutions”.

TechCrunch’s full post is at this link