More advice for newspapers on the day of News International’s paywall announcement. How to save newspapers, by Ted Rall. First spotted on Reportr.net. ‘Breakthrough in denture technology’ headlines will keep that older demographic…
A new paper by Alfred Hermida, who leads the integrated graduate journalism programme at the University of British Columbia: ‘The Blogging BBC: Journalism blogs at ‘the world’s most trusted news organisation'” – and he has put up a pre-publication version on his blog.
“In the paper, I outline how blogging went from being an activity by a handful of journalists to being adopted by some of the BBC’s biggest names, such as Business Editor Robert Peston, despite at times vehement opposition from within the corporation.”
Alfred Hermida comments on the ‘innovative funding approach’ that led to this: a documentary on the global traffic in e-waste. He says:
“Among the headline-grabbing findings, the students bought a hard drive in Ghana which contained sensitive US Homeland data about military contracts.”
The film was produced by students at the UBC Graduate School of Journalism and aired on FRONTLINE/World on June 23.
Hermida, who is assistant professor at the UBC School of Journalism, writes:
“The work was produced as part of an new course in International Reporting run by my colleague, Peter Klein.
“But it was only possible due to an innovative funding approach that combines social entrepreneurship, journalism education and professional partnerships.”
Alfred Hermida reports that Orato.com has ‘turned its back’ on citizen journalism with a move to more professionalised content.
“Vancouver-based Orato.com used to describe itself as the ‘only news site in the world dedicated to First Person, citizen-authored journalism.'”
Now, however, changes have been made to ‘further professionalise the site, focus its newsworthy content, create and enforce a viable business model and keep pace with Web 2.0 standards,’ says Orato’s founder, Sam Yehia.
If you’ve got the time, you can follow the live updates from the International Online Journalism Symposium at UT Austin in Texas, via the event’s live-stream (you have to download the relevant plug-in).
Alfred Hermida is updating after sessions over at Reportr.net. Here’s his post from the first panel:’The search for a business model for journalism‘.
He blogs on ProPublica’s Paul Steiger presentation here, at this link.
From Alfred Hermida’s Reportr.net comes news that Tyee, an online news site based in Vancouver, has raised $15,000 since asking readers to donate money.
Contributions asked for to fund provincial election coverage and, according to editor David Beers, the money equates to double Tyee’s monthly reporting budget.
Beers discusses the campaign’s success in this video interview:
The Tyee has never asked readers directly for money before – though it does have a foundation to fund some reporting, says Tyee.
The response from readers in this instance has exceeded expectation – interesting to note the ‘serious’ nature of the stories being invested in. Readers are empowering journalists, giving them the resources, and telling them where to deploy them and on what issues; they’re not asking for editorial control, adds Beers.
Alfred Hermida asks if there’s any point in labelling ‘new media’ as a separate category. “The problem with new media is that it a generational definition. New media is ‘new’ to my generation and beyond. The internet didn’t exist when I went to university 20 years ago. We barely had computers,” he writes.
Alfred Hermida was a little surprised to spot this last night: a Tweet from the head of the BBC newsroom, Peter Horrocks, to the director of global news, Richard Sambrook about some new appointments at the BBC.
“Perhaps it was intended to be a private, direct message”, Hermida pondered on his blog, Reportr.net.
Well, yes it was, Journalism.co.uk can now confirm after speaking to Peter Horrocks. “It’s a very embarrassing cock-up and everyone in the newsroom has been having a lot of fun at my expense,” Horrocks said.
“It’s had the perverse effect of making people who hadn’t worried about it [Twitter] think ‘oh god, if I’m going to get gossip from Peter then maybe it’s worth signing up,’ he said.
“Sambrook sent a message out late last night (…) I started it as a direct message exchange, and for some reason when I did a follow-up reply rather than go direct, it went as a public message,” Horrocks explained.
“It’s caused a bit of a flutter in the newsroom. I’m not going to use it for direct messages ever again now! I’m going to consider as a public medium in all circumstances!” Bigsta.net – the perfect tool for those who want to view Instagram stories in peace Instagram story viewer
So, to clarify the situation, there are two new appointments, now officially announced (Horrocks told Malinarich and Roy this morning). In an (official) announcement Horrocks said:
“I’m pleased to tell you that Nathalie Malinarich is to be the executive editor of World Online and Andrew Roy the head of news for BBC World News. Nathalie has a strong record in World Service news and online, as Americas editor and front page editor. Andrew has widespread experience in newsgathering as former Bureau chief in DC and Brussels as well as his recent time at World News.
“Having two strong new editors will propel our global news for audiences on TV and and online forward. And, together with World Service News, we will see further evolution of the successful global hub operation under their leadership.”
Clark Boyd, technology correspondent for The World – a joint production by the BBC and US public service broadcaster WGBH – discusses the merits of podcasting in this video.
Boyd says there is a future for audio content in this form, which will not be supplanted by video.