“The challenge is finding a unique, creative identity in the mobile world, one that builds reader ‘stickiness,’ brand loyalty and strong advertising support,” says AJR writer Arielle Emmett.
First it was fellow reviewer Feargus O’Sullivan, then it was The Times’ subbing team that felt the wrath of food critic Giles Coren (thanks to MediaMonkey for the links).
Now someone doing a good impression of the writer has popped up on Twitter to bring Coren’s unique brand of swearing to the microblogging masses.
(For those of you who don’t like bad language, look away now)
The Telegraph has moved further towards its vision of a fully integrated newsroom with a raft of promotions, new arrivals and a newly integrated Science team.
Integrated desks contribute to both titles and the web site, The Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph and Telegraph.co.uk, and so far business, sport, foreign and comment desks have been reshaped to fit the new mould.
The integrated science team will be headed up by Daily Telegraph science editor Roger Highfield and Sunday Telegraph science correspondent Richard Gray, with Professor Steve Jones continuing to contribute. The team will be assisted by Kate Devlin.
The changes follow the abrupt departure of Nic Fleming, Daily Telegraph science correspondent, two weeks ago.
Following the significant number of departures from the Telegraph sports desk last month, former Times sports feature writer Alison Kervin is joining as chief sports interviewer. She replaces star interviewer Sue Mott.
Other changes include Stephen Adams’ promotion to arts correspondent, replacing Nigel Reynolds who was axed last month.
The Daily Telegraph has also appointed former Press Association chief reporter John Bingham to take a senior reporting role.
Further changes are expected as the integration policy continues to roll out.
There has been talk of strike action over management decisions to axe staff members, which included the Telegraph Media Group’s decision to remove the entire reader relations desk as well as individual journalists over the last few months.
Sunday Telegraph editor Patience Wheatcroft resigned in September 2007, reportedly over the integration strategy.
To go with the series of features on online copyright on Journalism.co.uk, thought I’d share this ‘rant’ with you on the subject.
Writer Harlan Ellison sums up the issue of publishers using content without permission and/or thinking it should be free.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj5IV23g-fE](The clip, posted to YouTube, is part of the trailer for film Dreams With Sharp Teeth)
I suspect what he says about Time Warner would be echoed by freelancers and agencies dealing with online publishers: “They want everything for nothing. They wouldn’t go for five seconds without being paid and they’ll bitch about how much they are being paid and want more.”
(Update – vote in our online poll: was the Guardian right to close Gogarty’s blog? Brief Log-in required.)
‘Hate mail hell of gap-year blogger’ – a headline from the Observer relating to Max Gogarty, whose first blog post on Guardian.co.uk about his gap year plans received a less than warm reception from readers.
The forthright criticisms left on Gogarty’s post were aimed less at the young writer’s style and more at his links with travel section contributor Paul Gogarty – Max’s dad – and as a result Guardian policy.
Since comments on the original post were closed, the paper’s travel editor Andy Pietrasik, digital editor Emily Bell and Observer columnist Rafael Behr have all reacted to the backlash – each trying to add a measure of calm to the situation.
The ‘hate mail hell’ to which the Observer piece refers lasted for around five days, but I can’t help but think the publisher might have expected this. Surely the accusations of nepotism made could have been foreseen, as could criticism of what value such a blog contributes to the section?
Furthermore, much of the criticism centres around the blog vs professional blog debate, arguing that the writing offered did not match up with the professional content elsewhere on the site.
As such I feel for Max – I don’t know how I would react to such a torrent of online abuse, especially as most of this abuse should be levelled at the publisher and not the blogger in question.
This was an editorial error by the site – neither reader nor writer are satisfied with the outcome – yet the paper’s commentators don’t own up to this, condemning this as a case of ‘online mob justice’.Yes, some of the comments are an attempt to outdo the last with their mercilessness, but the fact that over 500 were left on this blog should set alarm bells ringing.
Do the comments lose their credibility because they are largely angry (and yes, sometimes borderline abusive)? If so, why allow so many through the moderation process in the first place?
These are your readers – telling you exactly what they think – best to listen to them and not label them a mob.
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.
Jeremy Dear, general secretary of the NUJ, has posted a welcome to bloggers to join the union on the Guardian’s Comment is Free site.
Last month the union admitted it’s first full-time blogger, freelance Engadget writer Conrad Quilty-Harper.
In the post, Dear said the change to the union’s membership would better reflect the shape of the industry and that those questioning such decisions fail to recognise ‘the changing media landscape’.
“Bloggers may be particularly concerned that they get paid a fair deal for their work or that their copyright is protected. Many are also interested in protecting journalistic standards,” wrote Dear.
“They believe that employers should devote the same level of care and attention to a piece of work online as you would in any other part of the industry. That’s not always easy, given the scant investment in journalistic resources that too many companies are willing to make in their online operations.”
Dear added that the role of the union would remain ‘as vital as ever’ in the face of new technology and new media platforms for news.
Debates about blogging, political or otherwise, could go on forever. Credit must go to the Telegraph team for getting this one going – it was just starting to get a bit more interesting before time ran out though.
Still, some interesting issues raised, if not too many conclusions.
Iain Dale noted that Mail On Sunday bloggers have to submit their posts to the lawyers first. This was a common experience with one member of the audience, a blogging journalist at Telegraph.co.uk, who said the profit interests of the group’s owner would always impact upon the blogging process in this way.
Lloyd Shepherd pointed out that while legal costs are the only costs not to have gone down in the new digital age, the law is becoming more sensitive to cases where content might not have actually been seen by that many people.
Mick Fealty, writer on Northern Irish political blog Slugger O’Toole and the Telegraph’s blog Brassneck, explained that ‘top blog’ lists are not intended to reinforce an elite, but ‘about trying to get people to break out of their daily online habits and go and look at something completely different’.
Major differences between the two discussed last night were the ability of blogs to talk to people and not at people, and their capacity to democratise. (Not a strong enouch distinction was made for me.)
One Telegraph blogging journalist pointed out that the BNP website receives more hits than all the other political parties’ sites combined – yet when blogging about this he didn’t link to the BNP’s site.
So can blogging democratise political coverage by the media, while the media adheres to an establishment view of politics as a three party system?
Lots of summaries of last night’s event have already been posted – here are a few to get you going (am I perpetuating a blogging elite by just linking to these few?):
Interesting piece on NYTimes.com looking at the rising fame of people who leave comments on blogs and websites:
There are those who have blogs. Then there are those who leave comments on other people’s blogs, sometimes lots and lots of comments, sometimes nasty, clever, brilliant, monumentally stupid or filthy comments.
While some, the article points out, devote themselves solely to commenting because they prefer to react than write their own blog, others use comments to seed a wider readership for their work.
A competitive trend is being nurtured amongst ‘commenters’ by sites like Gawker, on which editors select the best comments of the week and remove commenting privileges from those users who are judged to be ‘unclever’.
This is certainly one way of sifting comments that could be beneficial: shedding those which are irrelevant or harbour unwarranted vitriol against the writer or topic.
(Talking of how the quest for cleverness can lead to piffle, part of this NYTimes article is a great example:
Like the narrator of the Elton John song “Rocket Man,” frequent commenters can spend a little time every day inhabiting the identity of their wished-for selves…
Hmmm.)