“The key ‘whistleblower’ in the Bernard Madoff fraud case, Harry Markopolos, testified today [Feb 4 2009] before Congress, alleging among other things that he approached the Wall Street Journal on the story more than three years ago, and the newspaper ultimately did nothing,” Editor&Publisher reports.
@journalism_live, amongst others, will be tweeting coverage from today’s Digital Editors Network event and Journalism Leaders Programme Forum hosted by the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN).
There’s a great line-up, including BBC business editor Robert Peston, Guardian blogs editor Kevin Anderson and former LA Times interactive editor Eric Ulken.
A group of US newspaper executives have formed the Newspaper Project – a campaign ‘to fight back against the misrepresentation of newspapers and their continuing importance to the public’, according to E&P.
The project will run a series of print and online ads for the campaign from today.
Etan Smallman, a student journalist, is participating in the European Journalism Centre’s ‘Th!nk About It’ competition. Here, he shares his thoughts on this week’s launch event, held in Brussels. Etan blogs at studentjournalist.wordpress.com.
Over 80 bloggers and journalists descended on the Belgian capital last Monday for the launch of ‘Th!nk About It’, the first ever Europe-wide blogging competition.
The brainchild of the European Journalism Centre, we will all be blogging away until June, with the aim of throwing some much needed light on that most uncool of institutions, the European Union. Think of it as the blogging world’s Eurovision Song Contest.
At the two day launch in Brussels, we were treated to presentations by – among others – the BBC’s Europe editor, Mark Mardell, the Financial Times’ Brussels bureau chief, Tony Barber, and Belgian blogger extraordinaire Clo Willaerts.
Barber and Mardell confessed that their now successful blogs came into being not from an initial personal enthusiasm for blogging, but from above: “I was ordered to,” Barber admitted.
Using podcasts, vodcasts, photos and plain old fashioned text, representatives from all 27 EU member states, will be bringing their individual experiences to the new blogging fraternity.
The official site will be launched on February 1, when readers from across the globe will be able to get involved in the discussion, as well as vote for their favourite blogs. A high-tech bonanza of prizes, from Flip Cameras to iPhones, will be awarded throughout the competition.
For an event that involved bringing dozens of international competitors from all corners of the continent to one place, everything went sensationally smoothly. There was only one controversy.
“Why isn’t the wireless working in here?” a fellow blogger publicly demanded. “WE ARE BLOGGERS,” he exclaimed, as if it were the essence of his being, an article of faith.
I was worried it was all going get a bit heated when one candid British MEP said that he was proud to have a blog, but conceded (rather warily) that he has disabled the comments facility, therefore not allowing any discussion on the site: for fear of rival parties and political groups using it as a platform for their views.
“NO COMMENTS, NO BLOG!” a militant blogger boomed at him. And that was that.
Thankfully everything continued peacefully, though I sensed there were many who wanted to officially strip the gentleman of his self-appointed status as a ‘blogger.’
It was just left to Marjory van den Broeke, head of press at the Parliament, to wrap up the day by quoting one of the speakers who described us as:
“Lively, challenging, not too respectful, young, cool and attractive. Everything bloggers should be.”
And if that is not enough to convince you that the EU – for better or for worse – can be fun, then I urge you to visit my blog to see what Euro-bloggers get up to when they – just for a few minutes – prize themselves away from their beloved MacBooks.
Suffice to say: European relations at their most amusing.
Watch the competition’s trailer here:
“We are submitting what we think is our best work, one entry in two categories,” the online-only St Louis Beacon Editor Margaret Freivogel said, according to Editor&Publisher. “It is about the mortgage crisis and explains what it is all about.”
The Beacon, launched in 2008, is one of ‘at least five web-only news outlets’ that plan to take advantage of the new Pulitzer rules, E&P speculates. Full story at this link…
A former news editor of New Nation – which went into administration last week – argues that there is still a need for ethnically specific newspapers.
“… with mainstream newspapers paying scant attention to stories affecting the black community – and with so few ethnic minority reporters working on those papers – then, yes, we absolutely needed a black newspaper,” Angela Foster writes.
If the Wordle and other coverage isn’t enough, here’s the Hugh Cudlipp speech by the editor of the Sun, Rebekah Wade, in full [note: may have differed very slightly in actual delivery]:
The challenging future of national and regional newspapers is now the staple diet of media commentators.
If you have been reading the press writing about the press you’d all be forgiven for questioning your choice of career.
I’m not denying we’re in a tough place – we are.
But I don’t want to use this speech to make grand statements on the future of our industry.
I want to talk to you about journalism.
All you really need to know about UK tabloid The Sun‘s editor Rebekah Wade‘s Hugh Cudlipp lecture, courtesy of Wordle (hat tip to Jason Cobb). Or read the speech in full here.
The Washington Post has launched a new beta site Whorunsgov.com to build profiles of US politicians, law makers and government officials using a specially created Post editorial team.
The site and its news blog will also feature contributions from external experts, a release from the paper said, and will be expanded into a moderated wiki later this year.
At this stage users will be encouraged to edit and add to profiles on the site with submissions moderated by the editorial team.
Interactivity – in particular allowing users to discuss profiles on the site – is a key part of the project:
“This is the first phase of a new venture to create a uniquely collaborative and rich information resource that demystifies the individuals behind Washington’s policy-making process,” said Rachel Van Dongen, editor of WhoRunsGov.com, in the release, adding that the site is intended as a free-for-all resource.
Those featured on the site will also grow to include think tank members and state officials.
The Syndicate will feature content from Tribune’s TV stations and newspaper websites, as well as some third-party sites, organised by topic.