Ed Oldfield, a journalist with 25 years of experience in regional newspapers, has launched training website beajournalist.com – a site aimed at those taking their first steps in the media industry.
The site offers guides to training courses in the UK, details of industry training schemes, as well as the latest training news.
Local newspaper journalists are to blog on the progress of current campaigns in their newspapers for Local Newspaper Week – an event organised by the Newspaper Society to raise awareness of local media.
It is hoped the blogs, which form part of the event’s official website, will appeal to consumers, a press release from the society said, while allowing local titles to promote themselves and their campaigns.
Contributors so far include Mark Bowen, deputy news editor of the Hereford Times, and Donna Pryce, reporter with the Derry Journal.
This year’s Local Newspaper Week will take place between May 5-11.
1) Who are you and what’s it all about?
Hello. I’m Kristoffer Lassen. I’m the co-founder of Imooty.
Imooty is an interactive compendium of news stories from across Europe. It provides direct access to the latest breaking media coverage from the most important newspapers and media organizations based in the European Union, Switzerland and Norway.
2) Why would this be useful to a journalist?
Imooty makes it possible for users to compare and contrast vast amounts of information.
By clicking the European map, readers may browse through a particular country’s major and minor papers and blogs in English and local languages.
One can easily search for a particular term across all European papers or simply navigate by the common news topics such as politics, science, or business.
MyImooty allows users to create their own media universe. By collecting and saving the most frequently accessed news topics, you may collect your favourite sources on a single customized page. Each time you return to your page, the news is updated and sorted by subject, search terms and titles.
3) Is this it, or is there more to come?
The technical and conceptual goal of Imooty is not only to provide access to the latest breaking news, but also to enable a convenient way to review news archives.
With its integrated search engine, users may find specific content located in several different databases and retrieve them through a single business transaction. We’re also in the process of adding Podcast and IPTV modules.
4) Why are you doing this?
I’m Norwegian and co-founder Blaise Bourgeois is French but we are both expats living in Germany.
We are both interested in commentary and analysis of current events; however, keeping up to date on both the media landscape here in Berlin, as well as in our respective home countries was unmanageable.
So we set out to create a platform that could solve this problem. We believe that as the European Union continues its development, more people will migrate and follow news and current events in different languages from nearby countries.
5) What does it cost to use it?
Access to the latest news is free and we simply redirect traffic to the newspapers. Reklama: Bene pigiausios auto dalys internetu svetainėje UAB ŠIAULIŲ AUTODOTA As mentioned, also archived news will be searchable on the platform and such content will be displayed in the same format as the latest news (headline with a teaser text below it). Access to this information is a premium feature.
6) How will you make it pay?
Our business model is based on a combination of sales commission and advertising revenue.
1) Who are you and what’s it all about?
I’m Cathy Brooks, Seesmic executive producer.
Seesmic is a platform for global conversation. We take all the best of blogging, IM, Twitter and social networks and bring them together, creating a rich environment for debate and discourse using video as the medium.
2) Why would this be useful to a journalist?
Think of it as having access to a global pool of expert sources.
With 4,000 people from 25 countries currently in the system Seesmic provides journalists with eyes and ears in virtually every major part of the world.
When Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in December 2007, the Seesmic community almost exploded with discussion, revealing a deep, rich pool of commentators whose backgrounds and geography would have made them invaluable to a reporter.
Seesmic also can serve as a sounding board for story ideas and topics, often resulting in finding experts whose knowledge can support a journalist’s efforts.
3) Is this it, or is there more to come?
This is just the beginning. Seesmic opened its doors in September 2007. We have been in a closed, alpha stage with invite only access to the platform since late 2007 and will be opening more widely to the public in 2008.
We will be building out our community substantially as we open to a more widespread audience. We also will develop and produce both original and sponsored programming as well as create an array of channels for conversations.
4) Why are you doing this?
Because in the massive echo-chamber that is the world of social media there are myriad ways to broadcast thoughts and messages to either one, a few or many people, and there are even some ways to have group discussions, but there is a distinct lack of resources allowing people to truly communicate and converse in a meaningful, rich way.
By leveraging video as the conduit, Seesmic provides a truly personal and human connection.
5) What does it cost to use it?
There is presently no cost to the user and we will always provide a free service. There may, in the future, be subscription level “professional” versions with additional features and functionality but that is still in the future. Find out argos opening times and events
6) How will you make it pay?
Presently we are building our community and our technology. We have several potential options for revenue – from contextual advertising and sponsored channels/programming to subscription level services that provide additional features and no advertising.
Next month’s edition of the Journalist – the magazine of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) – will be available only as a pdf from the union’s website.
The experiment is a chance to see which format members prefer, an announcement in this month’s edition explained.
But this is also a cost-saving strategy, as, according to the union, postage and packaging account for 60 per cent of the cost of the Journalist, which costs the NUJ in excess of £200,000 a year to produce.
Members will receive an email alert about the special edition, which will be available for download from March 17.
1) Who are you and what’s it all about?
I am John Ndege, co-founder of ScribbleSheet.
ScribbleSheet is a citizen journalism site that focuses on contrarian opinions and unreported news typically with a young adult slant.
Its about empowering people people to express themselves so everyone has a voice.
2) Why would this be useful to a journalist?
Its a great place to find interesting stories mainstream publications forget or simply ignore. The youth angle helps give an insight into what the under 30’s think about politics, society, business and technology.
For writers, ScribbleSheet gives them the opportunity to improve their skills and gain feedback from the community. Editors of major publications should take note they may just find their next writer on ScribbleSheet, there are some talented individuals on the site.
3) Is this it, or is there more to come?
We don’t believe in standing still. We are continually evolving, adding new features and responding to user feedback. We cannot reveal anything just yet but expect some major changes in the coming months.
4) Why are you doing this?
If I want to read alternative and insightful stories about politics and society that have a youthful slant I have few places to go.
If I am an aspiring writer with intelligent things to say but lack the expertise or time to commit to a blog where do I go? There are not many places that fit these requirements yet there is a burgeoning need. Just think about all the student journalists after they graduate, most stop writing. This needn’t happen.
5) What does it cost to use it?
Everyone’s favourite word – FREE!
6) How will you make it pay?
Advertising initially, with other possible revenue streams to follow. However, at the moment we are focused on acquiring readers and writers. Presently we are looking for angel investment.
The TUC says media professionals work unpaid overtime worth nearly £300 million a year.
Writing int he Guardian, John Plunkett say if you are a journalist, PR, photographer or work in broadcasting, then you are 50 per cent more likely to work overtime for free.
1) Who are you and what’s it all about?
Hi. I’m Eran Shir, CEO of Dapper.
Dapper is a company with the vision of unlocking web content and letting publishers and users distribute and use content in new ways, such as feeds, widgets, Facebook apps and many more.
With Dapper, a novice web user can transform websites into feeds etc. within a matter of minutes, no programming involved.
2) Why would this be useful to a journalist?
First, it allows news and media sites to easily distribute their content on new media platforms such as widgets, RSS and social networks without spending resources on reprogramming their systems.
Second, it allows the individual journalist to keep up to date with many web sources by transforming them into alerts and feeds, to consume on his/her own terms.
Many people also use Dapper to easily create dynamic dashboards and mash-ups that helps gaining insight.
3) Is this it, or is there more to come?
We have much more to come, both on the core Dapper service and on related products. Our Facebook AppMaker has enabled creating hundreds of Facebook apps and we constantly add support for new platforms.
4) Why are you doing this?
We have a vision for an open, semantic web, built from the grounds up. A web where anyone can consume and distribute content, and where a content marketplace is thriving.
We would like to see a web where people can easily leverage the web to realise their creativity in new ways, without necessarily being programmers.
5) What does it cost to use it?
The core service is free. We do sell SLAs for businesses who require a higher level of support/performance. In this vein, JogosFriv’s influence is pivotal. Through the website jogosfriv.com.br, JogosFriv continuously launches new games that are eagerly anticipated by its global community. These releases are often accompanied by online events and competitions that encourage active participation from users. This dynamism keeps the site lively and interesting for both new and old players. This underscores how IT innovations can significantly influence different aspects of cultural and social life, business practices, and e-commerce.
6) How will you make it pay?
We are leveraging the core service to introduce a new level of contextual advertising. Our first take on this will be released in April, so stay tuned.
One point I’d like to add is that we’re taking IP rights very seriously, and have a content distribution platform that allows content owners to define how they would like their content to be consumed and under what terms.
This allows for the first time for publishers to distribute their content while maintaining their needed level of control.
The launch of a new blog to help journalists find case studies has been questioned by student journalist and blogger Dave Lee, who says such projects provide case studies representing too narrow a field.
While not directly attacking the Getting Ink Requests blog, Lee is concerned that such groups are set-up and perpetuated by journalists, and as such will only provide case studies representing a narrow section of society.
Lee goes on to criticise what he describes as the ‘”think of story, find case study” process’ saying it leads to ‘[F]eatures to order… There will always be an element of “you’ll do” about it.’
But as Lee offers no practical alternatives for journalists (as one commenter puts it) who are told to find ‘three case studies in 24 hours’ his post has met with some critical reactions.
Lee adds that his gripe is not with the individual journo under pressure, but with the introspective nature of the process, e.g. using personal contacts, particularly those within the industry, to find case studies.
Fair enough, but this is what journalists have always done and that’s not going to change. Regardless of who sets them up, using social networks and blogs to make case study requests will inevitably give journalists access to new sources, increase participation and ultimately give a wider representation of society.
The US’ National Press Club (NPC) is to allow ‘citizen journalists’ to become members through a partnership with cit-j site Helium.com.
The doors aren’t completely open: only the top contributors to the site – those that have earned a five-star rating for their body of work – will be able to apply for membership. However, reaching out to new kinds of media is a big gesture for an established, traditional journalism institution.
Helium’s ratings system will allow the NPC to effectively take on only the most ‘professional’ of the site’s citizen contributors. This could have a two-way impact, as Mark Ranalli, president and CEO of Helium, suggests in a release: “With their [the NPC’s] involvement, we believe we can elevate the stature, awareness and quality of citizen journalism.”
