Some media stories of note for Thursday, May 23, 2013:

AdAge chronicles Twitter's recent forays into television advertising space through partnerships with broadcasters. It notes that the deals add content and offer advertising opportunities to reach users, but uses technology to match those users with conversations. In some cases it involves highlights of programs, particularly sports, but in others it involves Twitter while programs are airing.

Twitter, concerned by many recent hacks into high-profile media accounts, has started to offer two-step verification to reduce the threat. It sends a PIN code to a user's phone via text to authenticate identity when passwords are changed. Jeff John Roberts, writing for GigaOm, says the two-factor authentication would have thwarted the recent hacking.

J-Source compiles a series of stories involving the journalistic ethics of reporting on allegations of crack cocaine use by Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. It features stories on the ethics of raising funds to purchase the video at the centre of the controversy, the conduct of the press and its obligations, and on the overall relationship between the mayor and the press.

Media stories of note for Monday, May 6, 2013:

Charlie Warzel, writing for BuzzFeed, notes the paradox of online comments. They're vilified in many quarters yet have never been more popular. He explores the constant dilemma for online sites in providing space for and moderating comments. No matter that some sites have minimized or even stricken them, they are here to stay, he concludes.

Jaron Lanier, in a commentary piece for the New York Post, says people should be compensated by the likes of Twitter and Facebook for providing content. Lanier, a Microsoft employee and author of a new book, believes social media is killing the middle class because rewards of the technology are only deposited with a few. He says it's time to take the future back.

Margaret Sullivan, the public editor of The New York Times, looks back on the Jayson Blair fabrication episodes at the paper that came to light 10 years ago. She examines the effort to repair the shaken credibility and the steps taken to avoid a recurrence. She concludes the Times has put in place several measures to verify, and the Internet context provides ongoing scrutiny from the audience. But she and editors in the piece note that nothing can guarantee there won't be another event. 

Some media stories of note for Friday, May 5, 2013:

Today is World Press Freedom Day, and the Editors Weblog notes how the recent passage of the South African secrecy bill poses a new threat to expression by journalists of uncomfortable ideas. Critics express concern that journalists and whistleblowers will not be protected when they expose corruption.
 
Our perceptions of the strength and reach of particular social media might not be accurate. BuzzFeed has assembled the official data to demonstrate what people are actually using. For instance, SnapChat is more popular than Instagram, Yahoo Mail is more popular than Twitter, and MySpace is about as popular as Spotify.

Mathew Ingram, writing for GigaOm, takes on the idea that Twitter should have some sort of correction mechanism. The idea surfaces every time there is a large, complex event that spurs a fair amount of bad information. Ingram says correcting would ruin the vibe of Twitter, which is an iterative stream of real-time content. Much as he regrets making an errant Tweet, he thinks the wider crowd will eventually help fix the mistake.

Peter Verweij, writing for Memeburn, tracks the development of data-driven journalism and its importance in modern story-telling. He notes the emergence of visualized data, programmable pages, maps and geographic information systems. While typical editors may lack the skills, there appears to be a need for developers in newsrooms to master the new opportunities.

Some media stories of note for Thursday, May 2, 2013:

Friday is World Press Freedom Day. In advance of it, the annual report from the Committee to Protect Journalists has been released to demonstrate where it is most hazardous to practice the craft --- its Impunity Index. Nigeria, Somalia, Brazil and Pakistan feature rising levels of deadly, unpunished violence against journalists. The report suggests conditions are improving in Nepal and Russia. Poynter's Andrew Beaujon reports that Iraq remains the most dangerous country and that half of the victimized journalists worldwide covered politics or corruption.

The Los Angeles Times, taking the lead from recent language style changes at The Associated Press, has updated its guidelines for reporting on immigration. Its reader representative, Deirdre Edgar, writes that the organization will no longer refer to individuals as illegal or undocumented immigrants, but will instead describe their circumstances.

A job posting isn't always notable, but this one arguably is. Twitter is looking to increase its connection with journalism in seeking its first-ever Head of News and Journalism to cultivate and manage relationships with news organizations and expand the reach of the platform into the craft. The job posting is indicative of the ambition of Twitter to develop a greater presence in conventional news.

Some media stories of note for Tuesday, April 30, 2013:

Rick Edmonds, writing for Poynter, examines new approaches to measuring circulation in the U.S. newspaper industry. The measurement has helped set advertising rates and determined revenue for the business, but several new rules have altered the results (mostly for the better, he says, in providing day-by-day data) and made it difficult to look at year-over-year patterns. The results today indicate The New York Times has surpassed USA Today.

Taylor Miller Thomas, also writing for Poynter, looks at 11 digital tools that can help journalists improve their reporting. She identifies crowdsourcing, freedom of information, census data and other sites that provide opportunities for journalists to develop evidence-based material and engage the audience.

Twitter is not interested in an Initial Public Offering, says CEO Jack Dorsey. Twitter is now valued at about $9 billion. One thing it is doing is creating a Canadian operation and it has dipped into Canadian broadcasting for its first leader in the country. Kirstine Stewart, formerly the executive vice president of English Services at CBC, has joined them.

Media notes for Thursday, April 25, 2013:

Most national British newspapers have rejected a government royal charter plan to regulate the press and have proposed an alternative plan that avoids state-sponsored regulation they say would reduce press freedom. BBC reports the move, supported so far by nine of 11 national titles, has thrown open the debate once more on how to regulate the press following the Leveson inquiry's efforts to identify a new process in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal.

The New York TImes, which Bloomberg notes missed analysts' revenue expectations in its first-quarter results, has revealed a new digital strategy. Forbes.com reports the plan includes tiered pricing that would permit access to "important and interesting" stories only at a lower rate (a plan now termed NYT Junior, aimed at younger readers), an expansion of its live events, and even an initiative to introduce games.

Not so long ago it was considered beneficial to be included on Twitter lists because it spread your content and associated you with particular expertise. But Nina Diamond, writing for Poynter, suggests journalists reexamine which Twitter lists they are on and consider removing themselves from ones that do not help their brands, make you uncomfortable or are inappropriate.

Media stories of note for Tuesday, April 16, 2013:

The explosions near the finish line at the Boston Marathon on Monday were captured by media, but Erik Wemple of the Washington Post notes how Twitter served as a form of media ombudsman in the hours that followed to verify and not the many assertions and sources that emerged with information about the blasts. Wemple notes Twitter is also a home for those emphasizing caution in reporting on breaking news.

There continues a dispute between the London School of Economics and the BBC over an LSE trip to North Korea in which the BBC had embedded three journalists posing as professors. The Guardian reports some of the students indicated BBC did not gain informed consent and they only learned of the undercover journalists upon arriving in North Korea. BBC insists the students were briefed in Beijing about the move.

The Daily Telegraph notes the European Commission has poured millions of euros into initiatives aimed at stronger Europe-wide regulation of the press. Among its early work is a report that recommends newspapers be regulated as are broadcasters, much more tightly and with requirements for balance.

Media notes for Friday, April 12, 2013:

Nieman Journalism Lab carries a column from the author of The End of Big, digital strategist Nicco Mele, and fellow Kennedy School lecturer John Wihbey. They suggest news organizations could benefit by serving as platforms for talent. While the Internet blurs brands, it can empower individuals,they write for Nieman. Organizations should recognize that all media will be social media soon, so their best bet is to tout those who create their content as a new form networked news emerges. The challenge isn't saving the news business, they argue, but the individuals creating for it. In other words, their actual brand.

John Newby, an Illinois newspaper publisher writing for the International Newsmedia Marketing Association, looks at the very different approaches of Warren Buffett (a buyer of community newspapers) and Advance Publications (a reducer of print frequency in its newspapers) and wonder which one is right. He notes community papers may suffer some declines and revenue challenges, but are in the best position to deal with digital transformation because of their market dominance. And the papers in heavy competition are smart to reduce those legacy costs to preserve their operations. In other words, both approaches are right.

Two product launches of note at either end of the new and legacy media: Twitter is launching its own stand-alone music application that recommends on the basis of personal signals (including who one follows), and the U.S. newspaper industry is launching Wanderful, an online shopping tool aimed at buttressing its insert business, at 327 sites. Both services are ambitious expansions

Media stories of note for Wednesday, March 27, 2013:

Roy Peter Clark, a veteran news executive, has written an extensive essay arguing that we criminalize practices that are not plagiarism. He has a long list on non-sins that he believes are misconstrued as plagiarism: self-quoting, grabbing a turn of phrase, inadequate paraphrasing, patch writing, boilerplate descriptions, among them. Poynter.org has posted his provocative piece and prefaced it by noting the views are Clark's and not those of the Poynter.

Daniel Victor, a social media editor at The New York Times, has written a critique of the Twitter hashtag for Nieman Journalism Lab. He decries them as aesthetically disruptive and heavily overused. Moreover, they can bias search results because those who have used them repeatedly often get to the top of the query result. He thinks they're useful to gather small communities of interest but ought to be used less often for more obvious content.

Politico executive editor Jim VendeHei has posted a video in which he wonders about the future of non-partisan media. He believes Politico is trying to find a way to keep such media financed, but he also believes the future of non-partisan media "is in doubt."

Five media stories of note for Thursday, March 14, 2013:

Anette Novak, a media consultant blogging for the International Newsmedia Marketing Association, examines and argues for the involvement of legacy media in building community competence and awareness. She believes media can help their communities understand the three C's: critical thinking, consent and copyright. She says this would improve relationships and build credibility.

Casey Frechette, a journalism professor and digital strategist, has created a primer at Poynter.org for journalists who want to understand effective web design. She identifies techniques to achieve simple, effective expression: design grids, repetition of elements, white space, hierarchy, texture and depth, the use of colour to express meaning, and contrast. 

A new study from Pew Internet suggests one-quarter of teens mainly gain access to the Internet through their smartphones. One in four teens are "cell-mostly" users. Among many lower-income and lower-educated households, teens focused on their smartphones in the absence of computers. One in four teens owns a tablet, similar to the level among adults. Smartphone ownership has grown to 47 per cent, up from 23 per cent in 2011.

A British study suggests women Tweet more often than men, and are more likely to talk about personal matters, television and work, while men talk about sports, gaming and news. The Telegraph reports on the Brandwatch study of 1,000 Twitter accounts and concludes women (15 Tweets daily) and men (nine) not only discuss different things but use different language to do so.

John Pavlus, writing for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Review, looks at the very different tracks of two major media sites: The New York Times and the Daily Mail. The former is designed to encourage reading and the latter "doubles down" on anti-readability, he notes. But the Daily Mail just keeps on growing and striving for clicks, while the Times' strategy hasn't been proven effective just yet.