Media release: NUJ wants Scottish government inquiry into future of media

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The National Union of Journalists is calling on the Scottish government to carry out an inquiry into the effect that editorial cutbacks are having on “a free and diverse media in the country”.

A similar inquiry was held by the Welsh Assembly last year – with a report expected shortly. The union’s Scottish organiser Paul Holleran said in a release:

The NUJ in Scotland has sought political support for our hard pressed industry for a number of years but the situation has deteriorated to where there is a serious threat to the future of titles but also to the existence of some newspaper groups. We believe there is a duty on government to intervene and help create a safer, robust environment for the press and media to operate.

A motion at the Scottish Trades Union Congress said:

Congress calls on the general council to urge the Scottish Government to set up urgently a Commission of Inquiry into the future of the media in Scotland, and to call on all member unions and the Scottish Government to promote the survival of thriving and responsible media, including:

  • supporting the creation of a Scottish Digital Broadcasting Network;
  • supporting the development of trust models of media ownership, such as the Scott Trust, which owns the Guardian and Observer Group;
  • campaigning for the development of new forms of community media;
  • identifying and prosecuting media behaviour that breaches privacy laws;
  • developing new regulatory mechanisms to replace the discredited UK Press Complaints Commission; and
  • encouraging the development of new sources of funding for investigative journalism, including academic institutions and foundations concerned with civil society and democracy.

Tweetbot partners with Storify to allow Twitter conversation sharing

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Tweetbot, a Twitter client app for iOS and a previous Journalism.co.uk app of the week, has added Storify integration.

Users of the iPhone and iPad Tweetbot app can now easily Storify a conversation they spot on Twitter.

There is no need to move away from Tweetbot to Storify, a tool to allow the curation of social media content, all is done with a swipe and three taps within the app.

Just swipe right on a tweet that is part of a conversation, tweet the conversation and it is automatically Storified.

If you don’t have a Storify account one will be created.

The 2.3 update was released yesterday. Those with the app can update, new users can download from the App Store for £1.99.

Here is a Storify explaining how it works.

Guardian’s n0tice launches Facebook sharing app

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Online noticeboard n0tice has launched a Facebook sharing app, allowing users to “amplify activity” and spread posts virally.

The Guardian set up n0tice as a platform to utilise developments in social, local and mobile. It allows hyperlocals to brand their own noticeboard and keep 85 per cent of the revenue generated by charging for small ads.

A blog post published today states that n0tice’s new Facebook app allows users to automatically post content to their Facebook activity stream.

n0tice will automatically update your Facebook page when you follow people and noticeboards, star things you find interesting, or post reports, events or offers to n0tice.  The app does not share passive actions to your Facebook page such as what you are reading on n0tice.com, only explicit actions that you trigger such as following, posting, reposting, and voting. Online Sports Betting, Live Casino, Games and More at VivaroCasino (VBet) Armenia

The n0tice app for Facebook will help spread things you are doing on n0tice further around the world and help others to discover what’s happening.

 

When HuffPo UK found an iPhone more useful than a newsroom

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On Friday the Huffington Post UK offices were evacuated due to a three-hour siege that closed Tottenham Court Road.

When journalists found themselves 100 yards from a breaking news story, they “grabbed phones, though sadly [they] didn’t grab chargers and laptops” and went into to the street, the title’s executive editor Stephen Hull told Journalism.co.uk.

Hull used his iPhone to share pictures and videos from the scene, adding 5,000 followers to his Twitter account in the process.

He posted videos taken on his phone on YouTube, including one of a woman called Abby who was the target of the attack.

The videos went viral, receiving 32,000 and 200,000 views respectively and were picked up by mainstream TV broadcasters.

Hull told Journalism.co.uk:

One of the great things about the Huffington Post is that we can run the entire website from our bedrooms.

We had staff working at home who were due to come in later in the day. They were able to pick up the running of the site and update the front page with splash images.

Hull’s Storify detailing the process is available here.

Media release: Study finds 13% of Google searches include journalist photo bylines

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More than one in 10 Google UK search results includes at least one journalist photo and bio byline, according to a study by search and social analytics company Searchmetrics.

The study looked at the top 100 search results from 1 million keywords and found that 13 per cent included journalist bios and pictures for the author of articles.

Getting a photo and bio displayed in search results requires a journalist to have a Google+ account and their profile to be linked with news stories (instructions on how to do this are here).

UK writers in the top 20 include Charles Arthur, the Guardian’s technology editor, and Edward Chester, reviews editor at TrustedReviews.com.

US journalists dominate the top 20, “meaning UK journalists and publications are missing out on increased visibility, traffic and potential advertising revenue”, according to a release from Searchmetrics.

The author profile feature, known as authorship markup, is something that Google has been rolling out since the end of last year. It includes author profile information with a thumbnail image and links.

The release states:

Journalists and bloggers who write about technology, medical and food topics are among those that are most visible in author profile integrations according to the study by search and social analytics company, Searchmetrics, which analysed Google UK search results relating to one million popular keywords.

Marcus Tober, founder and chief technology officer of Searchmetrics said in a statement:

More writers from US-based sites are appearing in the top 20 because authors generally need to have a profile on the Google+ social network to be displayed in author integrations – and we assume more writers for US sites are on Google+ and also Google has possibly encouraged some US sites to set up their articles for author integrations.

It was surprising to see more than one in ten of the results tested are showing author integrations because this is still a new feature – it’s much higher than I expected.

Searchmetrics top 20 authors with picture and bio bylines

Author, Writes for (includes), Topic, Page 1 integrations*, Total integrations**

  1. Elaine Lemm , NYT, About.com, Food, 581, 1,989
  2. Dr. Melissa Stöppler, WebMDNetwork, Medical, 545, 1,412
  3. Diana Rattray, About.com, Food, 530, 1,529
  4. Tim Fisher, About.com, Technology, 472, 1,897
  5. Alison Doyle, About.com, Job search, 438, 1,442
  6. Dr. William Shiel, WebMDNetwork, Medical,  403, 866
  7. Dr. Ben Wedro, MDDirect.org, Medical, 328, 877
  8. Dr. John Cunha, WebMDNetwork, Medical, 328, 790
  9. Bradley Mitchell, About.com, Technology, 321, 1,363
  10. Cathy Wong, About.com, Alt Medicine,  316, 839
  11. Stephanie Jaworski, JoyofBaking.com, Food, 307, 1,005
  12. Laura Porter, Visit Britain, About.com, Travel, 281, 1,929
  13. Edward Chester, TrustedReviews.com, Technology, 264, 733
  14. Luke Westaway, CNET UK, Technology, 254, 1,292
  15. Gordon Laing, Cameralabs.com, Photography, 248 , 1,200
  16. Charles Arthur, Guardian, Technology, 218, 1,271
  17. Laura K. Lawless, French, About.com, Languages, 218, 705
  18. Hubertus Keil, Alicante-Spain.com, Travel, 214, 1,070
  19. Adam Pash, Lifehacker, Lifestyle/Tech, 204, 1,311
  20. Richard Trenholm, CNET UK, Technology, 200, 1,931

 

*The number of times a writer appears in author profile integrations displayed on the first page of Google.co.uk search results in Searchmetrics’s study
**The total number of times a writer appears in author profile integrations displayed in Google.co.uk search results in Searchmetrics’s study

The top 10 most-read stories on Journalism.co.uk, 21-27 April

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1. Vadim Lavrusik: 10 ways journalists can use Facebook

2. How journalists can create Guardian-style data visualisations

3. Sky News apologises for ‘briefly revealing’ rape victim name

4. Liveblog: Rupert Murdoch’s evidence at the Leveson inquiry

5. Neal Mann (@fieldproducer) to join WSJ as social media editor

6. Fleet Street Blues apologises to X-Factor judge Tulisa’s PR firm

7. Orwell Prize: Journalist and blogger shortlists unveiled

8. Google Currents: Five UK publishers hit 100K in two weeks

9. Google closes down online news payment system One Pass

10. MPs discuss local newspapers in wake of Johnston Press cuts

Journalisted Weekly: Bahrain, Breivik and Abu Qatada

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Journalisted is an independent, not-for-profit website built to make it easier for you, the public, to find out more about journalists and what they write about. It is run by the Media Standards Trust, a registered charity set up to foster high standards in news on behalf of the public, and funded by donations from charitable foundations. Each week Journalisted produces a summary of the most covered news stories, most active journalists and those topics falling off the news agenda, using its database of UK journalists and news sources.

 

Bahrain, Breivik and Abu Qatada

For the week ending Sunday 22 April:

  • The controversy over the staging of the Bahrain Grand Prix
  • The Anders Breivik trial, the Home Office’s attempts at deporting Abu Qatada and the French general election were covered lots
  • Jim Yong Kim named president of the World Bank, an air crash in Pakistan killed 127, NHS workers set to go on strike and a series of bombs in Iraq were covered little

Covered Lots

Covered Little

Political ups and downs (top ten by number of articles)

Celebrity vs Serious

Eurozone leaders (top ten by number of articles)

No other Eurozone leaders were mentioned in UK press coverage.

Who wrote a lot about… Abu Qatada

Long form journalism

The Orwell Prize shortlists were announced this week – six books, six journalists and seven bloggers

Hacked Off is reporting live from the Leveson inquiry again this week via twitter @hackinginquiry and hackinginquiry.org

Visit the Media Standards Trust’s Churnalism.com – a public service for distinguishing journalism from churnalism

For the latest instalment of Tobias Grubbe, journalisted’s 18th century jobbing journalist, go to journalisted.com/tobias-grubbe

 

#followjourn – @PaulJNapier PaulJNapier/(soon-to-be) group editorial development director

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Image by shawncampbell on Flickr. Some rights reserved.

Who? Paul Napier

Where? Paul Napier is currently editor of the Yorkshire Evening Post but this week Johnston Press announced he would take up the role of group editorial development director following the merger of the Yorkshire Post and Yorkshire Evening Post editorship. He will take up the new role from 7 May.

Twitter? @PaulJNapier

Just as we like to supply you with fresh and innovative tips, we are recommending journalists to follow online too. Recommended journalists can be from any sector of the industry: please send suggestions (you can nominate yourself) to Rachel at journalism.co.uk; or to @journalismnews.

Inaugural British Media Awards winners announced

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The Economist and Future Publishing took away the most prizes with two awards each at the annual British Media Awards last night.

The Economist was named Media Company of the Year, for being what judges described as “a global leader in publishing and a trendsetter among brands with a foot still in the print world but looking with confidence into a digital future.”

They also received an award for Online Advertising Innovation.

Future Publishing’s N-Photo magazine won two categories, Social Media and Marketing Innovation and Consumer Magazine Innovator of the Year.

In an article on TheMediaBriefing, which runs the awards, Neil Thackray, awards judging committee chairman and Briefing Media co-founder said:

These awards represent the best of innovation in British Media.

And they illustrate how the industry is changing: the lines between media owner, technology company and agency are becoming blurred and the British Media Awards simply celebrate the best media ideas, brands and products, wherever they come from.

The full list of winners is below:

  • Social Media and Marketing Innovation: N-Photo, Future (Highly commended:Huffington Post UK)
  • Online Advertising Innovation: The Economist, for its Phillips campaign
  • Paid Content Innovation: Lloyds List Group, Informa Business Information
  • Most Innovative Technology for Media Owners: ScribbleLive
  • Consumer Magazine Innovator of the Year: N-Photo, Future (Highly commended: The Economist)
  • B2B Innovator of the year: Estates Gazette, Reed Business Information
  • Best Use of Mobile: British Journal of Photography, Incisive Media
  • Commercial Team of the Year: InSkin Media
  • Digital Media Innovator of the Year: InSkin Media (Highly commended: Huffington Post UK)
  • Media Innovator of the Year: Carla Buzasi, Huffington Post UK
  • Media Company of the Year: The Economist
  • Overall Media Innovation of the Year: InSkin Media

Media release: NCTJ announces new business journalism qualification

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The National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) is to offer students the chance to study a specialist module in business journalism.

The module will form part of the the NCTJ’s diploma in journalism and will give students a chance to study business and finance reporting in greater depth.

The programme of study is being developed by Steve Dyson, a journalist and media consultant, supported by an advisory panel including Robert Peston, Paul Addison, European head of training and education for Bloomberg and Ian King, business editor of The Times.

In a release, Stephen Mitchell, the chairman of the NCTJ’s Journalism Qualifications board, said: “The economy continues to be the single most important news agenda item in the media.”

“While all journalists should have an understanding and ability to report business and finance stories, this specialist option will provide an opportunity for students and trainees to gain a broader and deeper understanding of business and finance reporting.”