Roy Greenslade asks: “Why are so many national dailies ignoring the activities of the man who is bringing the royal family into disrepute?”
I would have thought this story was manna from heaven for The Sun. It involves a member of the royal family enjoying what must surely be regarded as an inappropriate relationship. Isn’t that Sun territory any longer?
The Churnalism debate continues with analysis from Richard Sambrook from PR agency Edelman:
Good PR is less about spin and cover ups and more about advocacy and transparency- from which some news organisations could learn. I’m asked by old colleagues, “So what terrible deeds have you had to cover up then?”. The truth of course is that “covering-up” or deceit is the worst advice to offer anyone, with a high probablilty of discovery and consequent reputational damage proven time and again. If anyone has something that needs covering up they don’t have a communications issue – they have a business issue. And spin or deceit corrodes the trust and relationships on which influence is built.
BBC Radio 4 programme On The Ropes has an interview with Max Mosley. The former F1 chief discusses his calls for new privacy laws.
He has now taken his case to the European Court of Human Rights; he wants the British government to be forced to introduce a law which would require journalists to inform people about stories featuring them, before they appear. This would allow time for an injunction to be issued, preventing publication. Journalists are against this proposal, saying it would hamper legitimate investigative journalism.
TechCruch reports on a new tool for citizen journalism: Blottr. It’s described as “a mix of collaborative publishing, ‘authentication algorithm’ and revenue sharing”.
Anyone can sign-up and begin writing a news story or making revisions to an existing one, including adding photos or video. Stories are categorised and users are asked to pinpoint the location relevant to the story on a map. Wiki-style, each story has a revision history (to cover the full cycle of an event) and a list of contributors but it’s the ‘authentication algorithm’ that Blottr says make it stand out from other Citizen Journalism offerings. It attributes credibility to each story based on factors like how “influential” the author is on Blottr, how many other people have contributed to the story and how many times its been shared on Facebook and Twitter or been bookmarked.
Full post on TechCrunch at this link
US website Bangor Daily News reports that an 18-year veteran journalist has sued his former boss after he was fired over an email about same-sex marriage.
BANGOR, Maine — Larry Grard, an 18-year veteran reporter at the Morning Sentinel newspaper fired in November 2009 after his employer discovered that he responded to an e-mail from an organization that favored same-sex marriage, has sued MaineToday Media in U.S. District Court.
Facebook is reportedly abandoning the ‘share’ option in favour of ‘like’. Will this influence news sites? What are the implications for ‘liking’ a story? Nieman Journalism Lab has an article on the ‘warring verbs of social media’ and the impact on the future of news
Newsroom culture has long been allergic to explicitly connecting the production of journalism and the expression of a reader’s endorsement. (Just the facts, ma’am!) And “Like” is awkward. When I click a button next to a story, does that mean I like the fact that “Tunisian Prime Minister Resigns,” or that I like thestory “Tunisian Prime Minister Resigns“? But there’s no doubting the appeal of “Like,” which feels like a vote when “Share” mostly feels like work.
Editors Weblog reports on how some news organisations have recently faced the same ethical dilemma, but chose different and opposing answers. It asks “how should newspapers handle information that may endanger a life?”
Monday 21st Feb the Guardian revealed that Raymond Davis, an American now in prison in Lahore after being charged with the murder of two Pakistanis in Lahore, worked for the CIA.
As the article reported, Davis has been subject of widespread speculation since the fatal shooting on 25 January, but the Obama administration said he was an “administrative and technical official” attached to its Lahore consulate and had diplomatic immunity.
The Fast Company’s take on who should win Google’s $2.7 million contest for innovative online journalism.
Google’s philanthropic spending spree has just dropped another $2.7 million to fund innovative uses of journalism in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. After all, Google and Youtube have been a lens through which citizen journalists focused the world’s attention on the Middle East revolutions and natural disasters that have dominated the news cycle (at least until Oscars weekend). So, we rounded up 5 innovative models to inspire the entrepreneurial journalists seeking the coveted Google award.
See the Fast Company’s five suggestions for winners at this link
Bids for expressions of interest for Jeremy Hunt’s proposed new national channel, dubbed ‘Channel 6’, are due tomorrow. The Guardian reports that community purists fear just another national channel while others are sceptical of plan’s commercial viability.
Hunt’s approach on this journey has been distinctive. The culture secretary has ignored the naysayers, ridden roughshod over the equivocal advice he has received from Lazard banker Nicholas Shott, and is relying on the bidders to make the idea work. Judging by the initial levels of interest, Hunt is doing well, although it is still early days. Tomorrow’s call for expressions of interest is limited to bidders providing a 10-page business plan – little more, critics say, than a beauty parade of half-baked ideas.
Full story on Guardian.co.uk at this link
The Washington Post has an article by the director general of the Al Jazeera network, Wadah Khanfar, who says the uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa were no surprise for Al Jazeera due to the network’s focus on grass roots journalism.
These unfolding transformations have been less of a surprise for us at al-Jazeera. Since our launch nearly 15 years ago, we have chosen to keep close to the Arab street, gauging its pulse and reflecting its aspirations. It was clear to us that a revolution was in the making, and it was happening far from the gaze of a tame and superficial establishment media that allied itself with the powerful center – on the assumption that the center is always safer and more important. Many media outlets in the region failed to recognize what was happening among the Arab grass roots. Keen to conduct interviews with high-level officials and ever willing to cover repetitious news conferences, they remained oblivious to what was happening on the ground.