Category:

June 3, 2014 media notes: China's freer student journalists; CJR on media managers; HuffPost comments and Facebook

6/3/2014

For Tuesday, June 3, 2014, here are some media stories of note:

Joseph Weber, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln journalism professor, writes for the Washington Post that journalists in China are gradually starting to stand up to their country's censors. On the eve of the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre, there is greater student journalist effort toward a free press. Weber led a survey on this matter with several Chinese journalism schools.
***
Ryan Chittum, writing for the Columbia Journalism Review, has put his finger on interesting traits of newsroom management: that it is not easy in an age of cuts and that those doing it were good reporters but not necessarily cut out for the responsibility. Chittum concludes journalism could spend more on training, but that in the end it is just plain hard.
***
When Huffington Post announced earlier this year that it wanted to end anonymous comments and provide a better platform for civil discourse online, it didn't reveal it would use Facebook's sign-on system to identify users. The move is imminent and HuffPo is getting an earful, Poynter reports. The question is whether it will depress traffic.

June 2, 2014 media notes: UGC use and media; how to handle a killer's manifesto; HuffPost on Google Search tips

6/2/2014

For Monday, June 2, 2014, here are some media stories of note:

Columbia University's Tow Center for Digital Journalism has examined user-generated content and draw some interesting conclusions. Among them: news agencies are the source of a lot of such content, news organizations don't credit UGC terribly well, and such content can generate a lot of content that organizations wouldn't typically produce. There is "vicarious trauma" among those who work with UGC at media outlets and there is a fear among organizations that a legal case might seriously affect the use of UGC in future.
***
The shooter last week at a Californian university left a 141-page note that described his disillusionment and set the stage for his violence. News organizations are all too accustomed now to dealing with derangement, so there is some effort to think through the handling of the clues that led to the tragedies. In some cases, media de-emphasize names and backgrounds so as not to lend authority or glory to the killers. Poynter's Kelly McBride writes about the need to publish the tract but to add ontext and expertise to help understand what compelled him to kill, while Margaret Sullivan writes as the public editor of The New York Times that it is worth considering playing down the killer's manifesto. While it is necessary to identify him, it is not necessary to give him a platform, she writes.
***
Carina Kolodny, writing for Huffington Post, identifies 14 great Google Search tricks that are of benefit to journalists researching and creating. Whether it's getting a quotation right, a definition, a story from an archive, or a search within a website, she identifies the tricks of search.

May 26, 2014 media notes: New York Times innovation report critique; Google and result scrubbing; Amazon flexes muscle

5/26/2014

For Monday, May 26, 2014, some media stories of note:

David Warsh, a former Boston Globe economics columnists writing for Politico, provides a critique of the recent New York Times innovation report that had identified strategic shortcomings in the organization's digital readiness. It's a disaster of a report, Warsh argues, because it sets the Times on a race to the bottom against such entities as Huffington Post instead of up the food chain against Reuters or Bloomberg News. The report, he says, fails to note that the new digital organizations lack a business model and that the Times would abdicate a very capable, fixable position by pursuing what the report suggests.
***
Paul Ford, writing for Bloomberg BusinessWeek, doesn't buy into the argument that the recent European Union court ruling that permits people to ask that personal content be scrubbed from Google's search engine is the death knell for free speech. He speaks from experience as a former Harper's archivist that it is very possible for Google to coexist with requests that some content not surface through search engine queries. He makes the case for scrubbing search results.
***
Amazon revolutionized book sales, and the company's intersection with journalism in book form is considerable. But its recent contract dispute with Hachette over pricing has confirmed its critics' worst fears, writes Farhad Manjoo in The New York Times. Rather than put the customer first, Amazon is choking the oxygen supply to Hachette and leaving itself open to stronger regulatory oversight.

media notes 12.11.13

12/11/2013

Here are some media notes for Wednesday, December 11, 2013:

The Australian Broadcasting Corp. is taking the unusual step of conducting audits by those outside its organization on the presence of bias in its programs. The process will start with audits on radio program interviews with the prime minister and opposition leader in this year's election campaign, but spread to other shows and topics. ABC chairman Jim Spiegelman outlined the plans this week, and while he said he does not believe there is any systematic bias in the programs, he accepts there might be instances.

Huffington Post has followed through on its earlier announcement to end anonymous comments on its site. Tim Mcdonald, the director of community, announced the new comment process Tuesday as a measure to improve accountability and civility. Huffington Post had already moderated comments before they appeared. Users will be asked to sign in through their Facebook accounts and be required to use their real names to comment. Anyone fearful of retribution for their comments can request anonymity by applying through a form.

Beastie Boys have stepped up their legal action against the GoldieBlox toy maker for rewriting one of its songs and using it in a commercial without their permission. Gigaom reports the suit says the company did not seek rights to use the song and that its commercial exceeds what could be legally termed fair use of the material. The group is seeking any profits earned from the song. The case is an important one because it stands to clarify the fair use provision in the U.S.

media notes 12.10.13

12/10/2013

Here are some media stories of note for Tuesday, December 10, 2013:

Russian President Vladimir Putin has dissolved a Kremlin news agency, RIA Novosti, and its international broadcaster. The New York Times reports it is the latest in a series of his efforts to exert greater control over state media. Coincidental with the closure, Putin has reconstituted Russia Today and appointed one of his loyalists to run the organization.

Huffington Post media columnist Michael Calderone reports there has been some discussion about retaliating against China's crackdown on the foreign press by denying U.S. visas to their journalists. Others have called for such measures, but Calderone is the first to report this might be in the cards.

Beth Winegarner, writing for Poynter, identifies five tips to "desensationalize" content: stick to the facts, be careful when naming crime suspects, remain skeptical of experts, get all the details you can, and tell a good story. Usually in that mix there will be opportunities to minimize the sensational content, she notes.

media notes 11.20.13

11/20/2013

For Tuesday, November 20, 2013, here are some media stories of note:

Michael Calderone, the media reporter for Huffington Post, looks at how The New York Times navigates China's censorious ways. It has launched a lifestyle section appealing to high-end advertisers and readers, staffed in China, with stories on culture, fashion and sport. In recent days readers would have been able to consume stories on Taiwan's Jeremy Lin of the NBA and rapper Eminem. The site, under the T Magazine brand for the Times, avoids coverage of politics and business, two areas that China has been blocking from western news sources.

The lengthy phone-hacking trial has taken hold in England with an array of evidence pouring into the public domain in recent weeks. A revelation this week has been the emergence of the contract for Glenn Mulcaire, the investigator hired by News of the World at the centre of the scandal. The contact was for nearly 105,000 pounds annually and signed by then-chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck. Both have entered guilty pleas on charges related to conspiracy to hack phones.

The broadcasting business model is predicated on advertising, and the advertiser business model is predicated on such expenses declared as tax deductions. So there is much anxiety in those communities this week as Democrat Senator Max Baucus is ready to release a discussion paper in the days ahead aimed at closing what he considers to be loopholes in the system. AdWeek notes Baucus is retiring before the next election and has pledged to move ahead with an initiative in advance of that with the chair of the Ways and Means committee.

media notes 11.12.13

11/12/2013

For Tuesday, November 12, 2013, here are some media stories of note:

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert had at 60 Minutes Monday about its end-of-show apology Sunday for using Dylan Davies as a principal in its segment on the attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi. Michael Calderone of Huffington Post notes that the program didn't get to the bottom for its audience on how it was duped by Davies, how it vetted (or didn't) his assertions, and whether it even bothered to check with the FBI if its segment was congruent with what he had told them. The segment and the tepid apology raises more questions, he asserts, including those about CBS News' leadership. Lloyd Grove, writing for The Daily Beast, reports that media ethics experts believe 60 Minutes needs to do much more than apologize. They argue it needs to demonstrate how it will avoid such blunders in future.

As anyone who has dealt with the International Olympic Committee can attest, the issue of copyright is no small burning matter. The IOC owns lock, stock and barrel the rights to anything that smacks of Olympics and is vigilant, to say the least, in according opportunities to share its spoils. Which is why it is a surprise that an IOC spokesman has said that Instagram's short-form video and all other social media photography will be permitted from accredited photographers at the Sochi Games in three months' time. USA Today reports on the clarification of the guidelines and how they are social-media friendly.

David Carr's latest Media Equation column for The New York Times looks at Contently, the next-generation version of the much-reviled content farms that produces well-paid, well-researched journalism for corporate websites. Carr wonders if this is a site/sight of things to come in journalism: writers creating solid content, with some boundaries on editorial independence, for those who want to reach audiences directly without using public relations.

media notes 11.05.13

11/5/2013

Tuesday, November 5, 2013's media stories of note:

Paul Farhi of the Washington Post has set upon the second questionable ethical move by NBC News in a week. Earlier he chronicled a decision by NBC to develop a movie with a victimized family it covered exclusively. Now he is writing about payment to skydivers for aerial footage and interviews following a collision by two airborne small planes. The video set NBC back $100,000 and gets them a Today Show exclusive Tuesday and two weeks' worth of exclusive television coverage (print interviews are permitted under their agreement).

Is the drive for transparency distorting the ethics of media and democracy? University of Oregon scholar Stephen Ward (transparency disclosure: a former colleague) argues that the "hyperbole" of transparency is a cop-out for more formidable obligations of the craft: responsible publication and independence. Moreover, Ward argues, some important journalism is non-transparent and that transparency is not necessary for many forms of good journalism.

NYU scholar Jay Rosen rarely sets fingers to keyboard without shaking conventional wisdom and finding insights into digital media. His latest Pressthink post is the basis of a speech in Australia and it riffs on Old and New Testament media traits: Old being everyone involved, New being media as mediators in insiders and outsiders, those kinds of riffs. The New Testament's business model, which valued the protection of media, is breaking down. He isn't necessarily siding, but he is suggesting both pieces are moving toward reconciliation. Neither has a monopoly on virtue, he says, and the messiah has yet to surface.

Media outlets have raised concern about a recent 60 Minutes segment on the attack on the U.S. diplomatic outpost last year in Benghazi. They've noted the central subject of the segment had different stories for the cameras and for officials. Now the Huffington Post's media writer, Michael Calderone, is reporting that the subject, British security official Dylan Davies, has admitted there are differing tales --- but that the television one (and the one in his book) are factual and that he lied to his boss about his whereabouts on the night of the attack.

media notes 10.22.13

10/22/2013

For Tuesday, October 22, 2013, here are some media stories of note:

Facebook is taking a quick clobbering from critics for permitting video of a beheading to appear on its platform. The British prime minister, among others, has denounced the move. Given its efforts to keep the social network pristine (no adult content, for example, and a recent ban on a breastfeeding video), Jonathan Freedland of The Guardian writes of its boundaries: "In Facebook's world, a beheading is OK but an exposed nipple is not." While it might be troublesome to its financial state to permit free expression, once it adopts "community standards" it has a challenge in drawing the line. In this instance, he argues, Facebook got it "spectacularly wrong." Facebook has committed to revisiting its approach. UPDATE: Late Tuesday it reversed its stance and took the video down.

Mistakes happen in journalism, but the punishment is typically a reprimand or a rather public embarrassment that comes with a correction. Not so this week at The Associated Press, where Huffington Post reports three employees have been fired for an erroneous report alleging that a Virginia gubernatorial candidate had lied to federal investigators.

Olga Khazan, writing for The Atlantic, dispels the notion that journalism schools should be teaching students how to write digital code. Journalists aren't necessarily any good at programming, she writes, and their precious learning time would be better spent learning how to write, edit and present. Leave the coding to the coders, she argues. It's nice if some of them want to be journalists, but journalists shouldn't be driven to be them.

media notes 10.04.13

10/4/2013

Here are some media notes for Friday, October 4, 2013:

Twitter filed details for the securities regulator late Thursday to prepare for its initial public offering. In it, Reuters reports, the company reveals substantial year-over-year revenue growth and unsurprising, ongoing operational losses. Twitter indicates its revenue sources are ostensibly the advertising market. The company is aiming to raise $1 billion in the offering, GigaOm reports, but where it will be offered is still unclear. One fact from the filing Thursday: there were 218 million active users in the three months ending June 30, three-quarters of them mobile users.

Tom Kent, the Associated Press standards editor, writes for Huffington Post on providing greater definition to who is a journalist. Among many things he argues for a basic ethics test that involves determining if someone's work is for the public, if it is verifiable, if it conveys various points of view, and if it avoids or declares conflict.

Two journalists have been suspended and an investigation is under way at the Mail on Sunday after a reporter from the organization showed up at the funeral for the uncle of the British Labour Leader. The Guardian reports the paper has apologized to the political leader, who had complained to its proprietor about an invasion of privacy.

Ken Doctor, writing for the Nieman Journalism Lab, looks at the "tipping year" in Germany as its print media shifts concertedly to digital. He looks at the recent major media transaction involving newspapers and how the country's major media are recognizing the necessity of freeing themselves from "legacy constraints."

<<Previous