Категория: Journalism

May 13, 2014 media notes: EU upholds right to be forgotten; FCC's net neutrality chaos; best and worst of journalism

5/13/2014

For Tuesday, May 13, 2014, here are some media stories of note:

The top European Union court has ruled there is a right to be forgotten on the Internet. It has upheld a Spanish man's request that Google delete an auction notice on his repossessed home. He viewed it as an invasion of privacy. The ruling suggests that people now may ask Google to delete sensitive information about them from search results.
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Time.com argues that Federal Communications Commission chair Tom Wheeler has seriously misjudged public sentiment about net neutrality by opening the door to differing rates of digital delivery of content. Sam Gustin writes that Wheeler is into damage control to reassure providers and the public that the regulator is not going to allow a multi-tiered Internet.
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Britain's Tony Harcup has written A Dictionary of Journalism. A companion piece involves the nine best, and nine worst, things about journalism. He likes the clarity of language, the courage, and the skepticism. He doesn't like the cynicism, nostalgia and chaos.

May 12, 2014 media notes: journalism competence redefined; saving community journalism; new Spanish aggregator law

5/12/2014

For Monday, May 12, 2014, here are some media stories of note:

What defines competence in journalism today? Roy Peter Clark, writing for Poynter, examines the updated Pyramid of Competence (first created in the late 1990s) produced in conjunction with academics concerned about journalism education outcomes. The results are interesting: aggregation, curation, data visualization have made their way into the mix of what used to be competencies like judgment, reporting and evidence, analysis and interpretation. The SlideShare presentation is below this post.
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Community newspapers have faced digital disruption, but not to the same degree as their larger counterparts. That being said, there are imperatives for survival and success in the time ahead, as Penelope Muse Abernathy writes in her new book, Saving Community Journalism, excerpted in the American Journalism Review. The challenges: shed legacy costs, build a new vibrant, and aggressively pursue new advertising revenue.
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In Spain, a new law is imminent that would penalize news aggregators that use others' content without payment. The law would require payment even for headlines and snippets, while larger use would require permission.

Pyramid of Competence from Poynter_Institute

April 14, 2014 media notes: Twitter's silent near-majority; rethinking multimedia; Chicago Sun-Times ceases comments

4/14/2014

For Monday, April 14, 2014, here are some media stories of note:

A study by Twopcharts has found that 44 per cent of all Twitter users have never Tweeted. Twitter says it has 241 million monthly active users, which in its terms mean those who have logged into their accounts in the last month. The Wall Street Journal reports that the study tracked actual activity (Tweeting, reTweeting) and found that about 30 per cent have sent only one to 10 Tweets ever, while only 13 per cent have written more than 100 Tweets.
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Mindy McAdams, the University of Florida professor, writes a guide for Medium (actually, an excerpt from a book chapter) on redefining multimedia journalism. There is some strong advice: complement, don't repeat; integrate the various media types; keep it simple; be visually appealing; do not complicate non-linear work; low interactivity is okay; immersive experiences are best; and everything still requires good judgment.
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The Chicago Sun-Times is the latest organization to pull the plug on online comments. Until it can find ways to fix the "morass of negativity, racism and hate speech," it will kill online commenting. Sam Kirkland writes for Poynter that others have tried to do the same, mainly by compelling commenters to identify themselves.
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April 3, 2014 media notes: U.S. journalism revenue down, Turkey unblocks Twitter, Europe enforces net neutrality

4/3/2014

For Thursday, April 3, 2014, here are some media stories of note:

The revenue for U.S. journalism --- that is, the fuel behind its production --- has declined by one-third since 2006. A study by the Pew Research Center quantifies the decline in print, broadcast and online revenue, and it points to a shift toward subscription support of journalism as advertising splinters and finds other places to support. Event hosting and other direct services are growing, but still comprise a very small share of the $63-65 billion in support.
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The Turkish telecommunications regulator is, at last, unblocking Twitter after two weeks in which the country's users had to find clever technical workarounds to stay active on the social network. The service had been banned as elections loomed, but a court found the move was unconstitutional. YouTube, though, remains blocked and there are indications it will stay that way.
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The European parliament has passed a series of measures to entrench net neutrality and create a unified mobile market that will eliminate roaming charges on the continent. GigaOm reports the net neutrality provision had been threatened in recent weeks but was refined closer to the vote. The package will be ratified in May at the next sitting of parliament.
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News industry veteran Alan Mutter, in his latest Reflections of a Newsosaur post, sheds light on the closure of the Thunderdome digital exercise and decision to sell newspapers by Digital First Media. It isn't a failure of the idea, he says, just the wrong backers of the project.

January 10 media notes: journalism's next big problem, the native advertising boom, and the second-screen experience

1/10/2014

For Friday, January 10, 2014, here are some media stories of note:

John Lloyd, the director of journalism at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, notes the next big problem for journalism is . . . irrelevance. Political leaders don't necessarily need the press the way they once did, he notes, and they watch the press sufficiently to know how to swerve around it to communicate. Even if declining revenue appears to be the major challenge for the mainstream, Lloyd believes a looming and lingering issue is the poor relationship.

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There are others who might opine that one of journalism's looming problems is how it will raise the money to sustain its efforts. The revenue might be there, but the means to achieve that revenue might create more problems. Case in point: native advertising, the editorial-style sponsored content.

MediaPost reports that a new J.P. Morgan outlook is bullish on native advertising as the key to revenue growth in the years ahead. It says consumers are connecting to native advertising and clicking through its content to discover goods and services. This is particularly true on mobile, but increasingly so on desktop computing. A stigma attached to native advertising is disappearing, it asserts.

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Why watch TV only when a second screen is inviting your participation? A new study finds nearly half of Americans keep an eye on (and sometimes some keyboard strokes on) social media as they view programs.

Hollywood Reporter says the study for the major television producers organization indicates only 13 per cent of those who employ a second screen find it significantly improves the experience. But roughly two-thirds indicate there is some improvement to the viewing, an indication that a second-screen strategy is a good idea but needs tweaking.

media notes 12.30.13

12/30/2013

Here are some media notes for Monday, December 30, 2013:

The Committee to Protect Journalists has issued its year-end report on the dangers of reporting worldwide and it identifies Syria, Iraq and Egypt as the most deadly countries for journalists. Some 70 journalists have been killed in 2013, with the Syrian civil war at the root of some 29 deaths in the year. The continuing Iraqi bloodshed and the political tumult in Egypt are also responsible for journalist deaths.

The New York Times, a giant media outlet, looks at how hobbyists are keeping afloat smaller media, specifically magazines that are keen chroniclers of pastimes. It notes that the business models of these publications depend on the dedication of their editors and readers to constant support to preserve them.

Dan Gillmor, in a year-end piece for The Guardian's Comment is Free, expresses optimism about the year ahead. While it is true that some larger media face challenges, even dissolution, the world is awash with start-ups and investigative entities that hold great promise for journalism. Even if every major organization were to disappear, he says, journalism would not.

media notes 12.20.13

12/20/2013

Here are some media stories of note for Friday, December 20, 2013:

The New York Times has boldly moved into the native advertising arena. Before it goes there, it has explained to its audience and employees the principles that will guide the activity: clear labelling of a Paid Post, a different look than its editorial content, and its creation by the sales department and not the newsroom, among other things. The Times' public editor, Margaret Sullivan, immediately wrote about it Thursday and identified some of the results of her reporting, including the eight-figure revenue expectation and the allocation of some key online real estate to the effort.

Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger looks at the differences between Britain and the U.S. on the National Security Agency surveillance issue. In America, a healthy debate is under way. In Britain, apathy abounds. This follows what Rusbridger calls a thoughtful and well-informed U.S. report this week commissioned by the President into the revelations largely unfurled by his newsroom. That report calls for changes in how the NSA does its work and argues for a strong defence of journalism to do its work.

Cory Haik, the Washington Post executive producer for digital, provides her predictions for 2014 in the Nieman Journalism Lab series. She argues that this will be the year of news that anticipates the audience's needs, something she calls adaptive journalism, available whenever and however. It will be a time of great experimentation with a device-first ethos.

Pierre Omidyar's new media company has a name: First Look Media. It has committed its first $50 million to the operation. And it is starting to take shape as a hybrid for-profit technology firm and a non-profit journalism company. Profits from the former will help the latter. Company advisor Jay Rosen, the NYU scholar, provides some details in his latest Pressthink column.

media notes 12.17.13

12/17/2013

Here are some media stories of note for Tuesday, December 17, 2013:

The Nieman Journalism Lab every year asks experts for their predictions for journalism in the coming year. Philip Bump suggests 2014 will unfurl technology to produce better location data to verify journalism in new ways. He notes there is a curious element of the public that loves to trick the press, so this technology will add authenticity to the mix to thwart that conduct.

Paul Farhi of the Washington Post detects a resurgence of the anonymice. He argues that all sorts of anonymous quotes are emerging in stories at high-profile media, including his organization's, with no seeming good reason. While in some cases there are legitimate whistleblowing reasons to shield identity, mostly it's just a convenience.

Rick Edmonds, writing for Poynter, looks at the annual Borrell Associates advertising forecast and detects challenging times ahead for newspapers' digital sites in retaining their supremacy of share of ads. Their share will drop from 7.1 per cent this year to 3.3 per cent in 2018. That doesn't mean their revenue will decline, Edmonds notes. In fact it will grow by a modest 1.8 per cent. But the larger pie will largely be consumed by pure-play digital operations.

media notes 12.06.13

12/6/2013

For Friday, December 6, 2013, here are some media stories of note:

Kenya has a new media bill and it is not good for journalists.

Organizations and individuals face significant fines for breaching a code of conduct that stipulates a need for accuracy, fairness, independence and integrity. While that code sounds good in principle, the government itself will control who sits on a tribunal to oversee the code.

Journalists believe the bill was in response to their coverage earlier this year of hefty raises MPs awarded themselves. Legislators are among the highest-paid in the world, earning about $15,000 a month. A journalist earns about $200 a month, on average, while the typical Kenyan earns about $1,500 a year.

The bill passed Thursday without amendments. The Standard newspaper asserts it will suffocate investigative journalism in the country.

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Upworthy is in the spotlight lately for sporting viral-worthy content, in particular the catchy headlines for its catchy videos. It notes it writes about 25 of them for each post, mainly to see what hooks a quick audience. Its reach totals 87 million visitors monthly, up from a mere five million at the start of the year.

But the site has decided to share some insights, and mount some defences, in an Upworthy Insider post on what goes viral. It isn't the headline writing. It's the quality of content and the fact people share. While clickbait works initially, it isn't sustainable. Upworthy says its curators comb through countless videos to select five to seven each week to share. That's very selective curation.

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Tracie Powell, writing for the Columbia Journalism Review, examines the consumer confusion about native advertising/sponsored content. This week the U.S. Federal Trade Commission held a workshop to look at whether this phenomenon might be posing a problem for consumers in distinguishing advertising from editorial content.

Powell writes that the researchers told the workshop what the publishers didn't: That, yes, consumers aren't typically aware of paid content, that they skip past the labels on the material, and that in their minds a story is a story if it looks like a story.

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media notes 11.01.13

11/1/2013

In the days ahead this blog will become more personable. My contractual arrangement in the last year with CBC, and for that matter in the two years preceding as its ombudsman, was respectful of its boundaries around journalist impartiality. At least until my next venture, I will share more of my views as part of the mix of content in the blog.

Meantime, here are some media stories of note for Friday, November 1, 2013:

The phone-hacking trial in England is in the phase of prosecutorial assertion, so in the absence of testimony, the public is hearing the extent of the case that will be waged against top editors Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, whom court heard yesterday were in a relationship for several years and thus were likely to have known what each other knew about the phone-hacking activities. In today's hearing, court was told that Coulson was told by a reporter he could face criminal charges if they were caught paying police for the royal phone book. Yesterday court heard that private investigator Glenn Mulcaire earned 400,000 pounds in his work to secure information for News of the World.

Governments are often not above putting their media on a short leash, and in Kenya that appears to be an imminent threat. A bill passed today in its Parliament, but which still must receive presidential approval, creates a new oversight committee that can impose fines (up to about $234,000) for violating a restrictive code of conduct and bar some journalists from working. Journalists are calling the measures draconian and an attack on free expression.

USA Today is touting significant circulation growth arising from the latest Alliance for Audited Media data. While it is clear that its audience level is high, what isn't so clear is how that compares to earlier times. That's because certain data on tablet and smartphone audiences were being tabulated but not counted toward the total, until now. Poynter's Sam Kirkland interviews USA Today publisher Larry Kramer on this, while the typically illuminating Alan Mutter examines the throttling of newspaper metrics and the decision by the Alliance to stop reporting one key data point: the revenue streams for the industry. Mutter also notes that, in some cases, newspapers are reporting those who view the content on several platforms as different readers and not as one reader across different platforms.

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