Category:

May 21, 2014 media notes: data journalism must diversify; FCC chair on net neutrality stance; Thailand media crackdown

5/21/2014

For Wednesday, May 21, 2014, here are some media stories of note:

Liliana Bounegru, writing for the Harvard Business Review, argues that data journalists need to expand their source material from conventional, privileged authorities to not "exacerbate the tendency to amplify issues already considered a priority." In other words, journalists need to look to unconventional sources like social media and curated journalism to lend voice to neglected groups and people.
***
The Federal Communications Commission chair, Tom Wheeler, has been battling perceptions of his position on net neutrality for several days now. Critics believe he's taking the FCC down the road of different-speed access. He appeared Tuesday before a congressional subcommittee and, after a few minutes of scolding, was able to put forward his view that the commission is not attempting to create two Internets or unequal access. The process under way will involve a debate that, ultimately, aims to serve the consumer, he says.
***
The imposition of martial law in Thailand has led to the shuttering of 14 TV and 3,000 radio stations, along with a debate-controlling demand that media not interview anyone not in authority about the political upheaval. As The New York Times reports, easier said than done.

May 19, 2014 media notes: the Abramson story won't go away; net neutrality, the FCC, courts, Congress and journalism

5/19/2014

For Monday, May 19, 2014, here are some media stories of note:

It should surprise no one that the firing of one of the most powerful journalists in the world would stir comment and controversy. Some of the stir is from within, as David Carr notes in his latest Media Equation column. Some of the stir is from without, as Ken Auletta adds in his third instalment on the story in The New Yorker. Both reach somewhat the same conclusion: Abramson is an excellent journalist, perhaps not the best communicator, and appears to have foundered some confusion over the proposed hiring of a new digital chief with her second-in-command and, more importantly, the boss.
***
Abramson delivered the commencement address Monday at Wake Forest University. Also unsurprisingly, given the non-disparagement agreement with her former employer, she did not make mention of the context of her dismissal. Instead, she encouraged students to make the most of their ambitions. The Washington Post reported on the address and provided video below.
***
Al Tompkins, writing for Poynter, examines the impact on journalism of the recent Federal Communications Commission approach on net neutrality. Tompkins surmises that this week's appearance by the FCC on Capitol Hill before a subcommittee may be the first step in the debate commandeered by Congress. If that's the case, he suggests journalism is unlikely to benefit.

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.
***
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.
***
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 8, 2014 media notes: Amazon, Netflix, Facebook on net neutrality; DIY media ethics; big sites garner better loyalty

5/8/2014

For Thursday, May 8, 2014, here are some media stories of note:

The process by which the U.S. Federal Communications Commission intends to explore new rules on Internet access has many worried, including such giants of Internet commerce and communications as Amazon, BitTorrent, Facebook and Netflix. In a rare sign of unity for competitors, they've written the FCC to defend the principle of net neutrality and argue the FCC should not introduce rules that permit Internet Service Providers to charge firms to deliver packets of data at faster rates. GigaOm reports on this. Two commissioners of the FCC, meanwhile, are asking that the FCC chairman slow the process. A meeting next week will advance the process intended to introduce rules by the end of the year.
***
Tom Kent, the standards editor for The Associated Press, writes for PBS' MediaShift about a project he is heading (disclosure: I am an early signee to contribute) that helps individual journalists and fledgling organizations develop their own codes of ethics and frameworks for decision-making. Kent, working with the Online News Association, has assembled a large group of ethicists and other journalism leaders to help identify best practices. The aim is to support those who are not able to receive it otherwise.
***
A new report by the analytics firm Parse.ly suggests the power of large news sites in cultivating loyalty. Sam Kirkland, writing for Poynter, said the report examined 500 million visitors and two billion page views in March and found that people returned on average about 11 per cent within 30 days. It determined that sites with more than one million visitors had a return rate of 16 per cent. Those with fewer than one million visitors had a return rate of only nine per cent.
***

April 30, 2014 media notes: Internet and journalism business; newspapers and small towns; FCC and net neutrality

4/30/2014

For Wednesday, April 30, 2014, here are some media stories of note:

The challenge of digital journalism remains its unclear business model. Certain sites and organizations have found success, but a consistently sustaining course of business is elusive as a model. The Clark Medal winner for economics, Michael Gentzkow, discusses the Internet-related issues for news, principally how the fixed costs of producing news remain high and how difficult it is to produce original content without a solid business premise. The Internet hasn't changed that.
***
The print-is-dead mantra congests the media discourse and obscures the reality that, in many smaller communities, the newspaper remains vital and thriving. Al Jazeera America examines the sustainable success of the Internet-light, print-heavy communities that continue to value their connections via paper.
***
The chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission has posted a defence of his organization's approach to so-named net neutrality. Tom Wheeler says the commission is attempting to bring clarity and avoid endless litigation while ensuring consumers have the access to the Internet they do today. Skeptics argue the commission is heading down a path to violate net neutrality, but Wheeler says it's too early to be judgmental about the commission's approach.

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.
***
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.
***
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.
***
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.

March 24, 2014 media notes: Turkish Twitter battle, Glenn Greenwald on Edward Snowden, Quartz explains Internet

3/24/2014

For Monday, March 24, 2014, here are some media stories of note:

A serious skirmish is under way in Turkey as the government attempts to suppress social media platform Twitter and all sort of efforts take place to circumvent the interference.
The Washington Post reports on how the government has strengthened its measures, including a crackdown on efforts to shift to public DNS servers to get out from under the blocked Turkish ISPs. Some users are able to use Virtual Private Networks, while others are moving over to the Tor browsing tool, but both are more complex workarounds and not necessarily accessible to all.
***
Glenn Greenwald sheds light on the process by which the records former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden are handled. Greenwald says Snowden gave documents nine months ago to a select set of journalists (not including The New York Times, which had the latest revelation from them on the weekend), made clear he didn't think all should be published, but has since left them to their devices and judgment.
***
Tim Ferholz and Daniel Yanovsky, writing for Quartz, provide a thorough explanation of how the Internet works. They look at the reasons why download speeds vary and the overall governance and economics of the Internet, particularly why some of the debate on net neutrality is a bit misguided.

February 19, 2014 media notes: Ukraine violence and journalists, terrorism and journalism, new net rules coming

2/19/2014

For Wednesday, February 19, 2014, here are some media stories of note:

The resumption of street conflict in the Ukraine has taken an enormous toll as authorities attempt to suppress demonstrations violently. Andrew Beaujon, writing for Poynter and citing Reporters Without Borders, notes that one journalist has died (a correspondent for Vesti) and several (at least 27 at last count) have been injured in the clashes in Kiev.
***
Glenn Greenwald's new publication, The Intercept, weighs in on today's British Supreme Court ruling that upheld the detention of Greenwald's partner last August at Heathrow Airport. The court equates journalism resulting from surveillance leaks with terrorism, Greenwald writes, and even though it noted the detention was an indirect interference with journalism, it sided with the government's anti-terrorism arguments.
***
There are new rules coming on net neutrality in the United States. The Federal Communications Commission intends to craft new regulations that would prevent Internet service providers from slowing or blocking access to websites or from charging high-bandwidth users additionally. The move comes after a court ruling weeks back that left open the door to a tiered system of access, something that would have had significant impact on journalism.

January 24, 2014 media notes: Courtney Love and "Twibel," Europe and net neutrality, journalism and geolocation

1/24/2014

Here are some media stories of note for Friday, January 24, 2014:

The first libel trial in the United States involving Twitter features as a defendant one Courtney Love. The rock star has decided to represent herself in court. A lawyer she hired in 2008 has sued Love over a Tweet that the lawyer had been "bought off" in handling her estate's affairs. Love has said she thought the Tweet was a private message to a follower and deleted it soon after. Her testimony has been predictably colourful. Given her public status, the lawyer has to prove Love acted with malice. The "Twibel" case has potentially significant implications on the way courts treat social media comments.

---

The recent U.S. court ruling put a damper on net neutrality and left the door open for media companies to create separate deals with Internet Service Providers, effectively a tiered system of access. But a consumer group in Europe has a different approach.

David Meyer, writing for Gigaom, examines amendments to legislation that prevent ISPs from legally striking deals with one another. The eventual impact could be much more net neutrality in Europe, but there remain some stages of debate and review before the amendments take hold.

---

Geolocation stands to be a major feature in journalism's future. A panel discussion in London this week examined how. It heard that five to six billion people will soon have the ability to broadcast themselves and be commissioned to do so, and with that will come mobile footage that plays a greater role in storytelling.

January 21, 2014 media notes: an apology from Grantland, smartwatches and journalism, return of big and rich media

1/21/2014

Here are some media stories of note for Tuesday, January 21, 2014:

Grantland editor Bill Simmons has written an extensive explanatory note, with an apology, following the site's publication last week of a story about a golf club inventor who was discovered to have exaggerated credentials and hidden her birth as a man. She took her life as the story was being researched. The reporter revealed her transgender to an investor.

Simmons takes us through the development of the story, its stops and starts, and backs the journalism in general, but notes that someone from the transgender community should have read the piece before it appeared because Grantland's team was unsophisticated in how it handled the topic.

One of Simmons' editors, meanwhile, has written a far more critical piece (with his blessing) of the site's conduct. Christina Karhl says the episode is an excellent example of how not to treat a human being.

---

Alastair Reid, writing for journalism.co.uk, examines the evolution of smartwatches and their potential impact on the production and consumption of news. His reporting points to greater flexibility technically and much more of a stand-alone purpose to smartwatches. He believes they'll be complementary to tablets and smartphones.

---

Michael Wolff, the veteran media columnist, writes for USA Today that last week's U.S. court ruling on net neutrality stands to recreate the natural order of things in which the big companies run media. The ruling will make it harder to break in to digital media, but will fortify the big firms and help ensure their viability.

<<Previous