Category: Media » Media Crisis
Integrating TV news and the Web
7 Sep 10:25 | Media
Everybody’s working on it, from Google to Verizon. “It” is the holy grail that will finally merge live television with the Internet, letting users watch and click in real time on any device they choose–TV, laptop, mobile phone or tablet. No, we’re not there yet. Not even close. But the BBC has been experimenting with something [...]read more »
Do journalists need a new ethics pledge?
1 Sep 13:40 | Media
Transparency, accountability and openness are among the core values of journalism. They’re embodied in SPJ ethics code, after all, which thousands of journalists and news organizations subscribe to. So what would be the point of a pledge to support those three values–a pledge that comes with a new seal of approval? John Hamer of the Washington News [...]read more »
Google To Host Associated Press Content And Others
30 Aug 13:46 | Entertainment
Google says it has extended its existing licensing agreement with the Associated Press and other press associations so it can now host its content on Google properties such as Google News. read more »
Where’s the surprise in broadcast news?
30 Aug 11:15 | Media
It’s easy to criticize TV and radio news. So much of it is shallow, sensational or both. It’s also easy to dismiss the criticism as uninformed, ill intentioned or both. Much of it is. But when the criticism comes from someone like Ira Glass, it might be worth paying attention. Glass is the host of This [...]read more »
Mobile news apps fall short
27 Aug 2010 | Media
Little interactivity and even less innovation. That’s the headline from a new study of the state of mobile news from the University of Colorado. The report chides news organizations for playing it safe and creating apps that just do the basics. “Most of the news applications that have been created by single news brands do [...]read more »
Media Cuts Back On Religion News, Study Finds
26 Aug 2010 | SciTech
The recent economic decline has caused many newspapers across the country to make cutbacks in religion news, according to new research.read more »
Broadcast news salaries up slightly
25 Aug 2010 | Media
Finally some good news. Well, sort of. The good news is that there isn’t bad news, says researcher Bob Papper, who’s just come out with the latest RTDNA/Hofstra annual survey of salaries in TV and radio. The average paycheck in local television news was up 2.5 percent in 2009 and salaries in local radio news were unchanged. Both [...]read more »
Researcher Identifies Promising Online News Sites
23 Aug 2010 | SciTech
As local online news services become more numerous, discussions regarding their quality and stability have increased as well. read more »
News in context
23 Aug 2010 | Media
Very cool! The BBC is experimenting with a new prototype in data visualization called Dimensions “to bring home the human scale of events and places.” A better name for it might be what they’re using for a URL: “How big really?” It’s a pretty simple concept involving a map overlay and (as Ron Popeil used to [...]read more »
Print guy learns video
20 Aug 2010 | Media
Ian Shapira leads a double life. By day, he’s a reporter at the Washington Post. By night, he’s a graduate student in interactive journalism at American University, learning a whole new way of telling stories. And it hasn’t been easy. Shapira is no rookie; he’s been at the Post for 10 years and was the lead [...]read more »
TV news sites just don’t get it
16 Aug 2010 | Media
The Web was supposed to help news organizations expand their reach and make it easy for people to find the news they want when they want it. But when it comes to local television, it seems, that’s just not happening. According to a new report from the consulting firm AR&D, the vast majority of visitors to [...]read more »
Preparing to ‘fill in’ anchor
11 Aug 2010 | Media
Reporters who want to anchor often get their first opportunity as a “fill in” when a colleague is away, say on a summer vacation. Some people slide right into the chair and do just fine. But others worry that something will go wrong and they won’t ever get another chance. Having the jitters about an assignment [...]read more »
Tools for mobile journalism
6 Aug 2010 | Media
Take a mobile phone and a broadcast quality microphone and the world is your storybook. That’s what multimedia guru Stephen Quinn believes. Quinn, who teaches at Deakin University in Australia, shared a bit of his enthusiasm about mobile journalism at the World Jounalism Education Conference in South Africa. Quinn calls mobile phones a “Swiss army knife” option [...]read more »
Building a coaching culture
3 Aug 2010 | Media
Television news has always been a team sport. Almost nothing gets on the air that hasn’t been touched by several sets of hands. Reporters, photographers, video editors, producers and managers all influence the content. But in many TV newsrooms, there’s rarely much discussion about how to improve the content. As my former CBS colleague Wally [...]read more »
Radical ‘fix’ for local TV news
27 Jul 2010 | Media
For all the talk about the need for innovation, most local television newscasts still look almost the same as they did decades ago. Even some of the makeovers attempted in the past year or so haven’t amounted to much more than tweaking. Some stations have integrated social media and more graphics into their newscasts or [...]read more »
Study Finds Strong Negative Reaction to Paying for Online Services
26 Jul 2010 | SciTech
The annual study of the impact of the Internet on Americans by the Center for the Digital Future found that 49 percent of Internet users said they have used free micro-blogs such as Twitter, but when asked if they would be willing to pay for Twitter, zero percent said yes.read more »
NABJ "Dismayed" At Shirley Sherrod Media Treatment
23 Jul 2010 | USA News
The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) says it is dismayed by the profound failure of media organizations in their rush to report on the allegedly racist remarks of former U.S. Department of Agriculture staffer Shirley Sherrod.read more »
How VJs are changing TV news
22 Jul 2010 | Media
As television newsrooms expect more of their journalists to work solo, the trend is affecting both the process of newsgathering and the product that goes on the air. Many news managers believe VJs offer more flexibility at a lower cost with little or no reduction in quality. But new research suggests it’s not all good [...]read more »
The art and aggravation of the interview
20 Jul 2010 | Media
Mark Twain is one of the most quotable of American writers, especially on the subject of writing. Two of my favorites: “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” And: “Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very’; your editor will delete it and [...]read more »
Online accountability
16 Jul 2010 | Media
How many news sites make it easy for readers to report errors? Very few, according to MediaBugs, a pilot project in the San Francisco area that’s trying to hold the news media accountable and get them to fix “correctable mistakes.” The group reports that three-quarters of news sites it examined offer no links to report [...]read more »
Time-savers for solo journalists
14 Jul 2010 | Media
If there’s one thing most solo journalists will agree on, it’s that doing it all requires terrific time management skills. Backpack journalist Kevin Torres of KUSA-TV in Denver literally backtimes his entire workday, setting mini-deadlines for every step. That way, he knows when he needs to stop shooting, start writing and finish editing in order [...]read more »
Who cares about radio news?
9 Jul 2010 | Media
Travel the country as I often do and you won’t find much local news on the radio. Consolidation has just about killed it. As a result, big city all-news radio stations and networks have lost their farm systems. “We don’t have the minor league teams to draw on that we used to,” says Harvey Nagler, [...]read more »
Bloggers Not Matching Void Left By Shrinking News Organizations: Study
8 Jul 2010 | USA News
The top 60 citizen websites and bloggers are not filling the information shortfall that has resulted from cutbacks in traditional media, according to a team of researchers from the University of Missouri School of Journalism.read more »
Interviewing “real people”
1 Jul 2010 | Media
Too many stories depend almost entirely on officials for information and sound bites. Watch a newscast or read a news site on any given day and notice who gets to talk. Are most of them people with titles and business cards? Would those stories be more interesting, engaging and authentic if they included other voices? Maybe. [...]read more »
Interviewing “real people”
1 Jul 2010 | Media
Too many stories depend almost entirely on officials for information and sound bites. Watch a newscast or read a news site on any given day and notice who gets to talk. Are most of them people with titles and business cards? Would those stories be more interesting, engaging and authentic if they included other voices? Maybe. [...]read more »
No call, no comment
25 Jun 2010 | Media
The National Enquirer’s story about what it calls “the Al Gore sex scandal” is a fascinating case study in journalism. Whatever you think about the newsworthiness of an updated police report about an incident that allegedly occurred four years ago and that police refused to investigate, the story behind the story raises plenty of questions. The Enquirer [...]read more »
Find your focus
17 Jun 2010 | Media
Have you ever watched a television news story or read something in print or online and wondered afterwards what on earth it was about? It happens all too often when stories have no focus. Reporters who spend much of their day collecting information, pictures and sound seem to feel obliged to cram as much as [...]read more »
Find your focus, already!
17 Jun 2010 | Media
Have you ever watched a television news story or read something in print or online and wondered afterwards what on earth it was about? It happens all too often when stories have no focus. Reporters who spend much of their day collecting information, pictures and sound seem to feel obliged to cram as much as [...]read more »
Let the sunshine in
8 Jun 2010 | Media
Memo to television networks: Sunlight is the best disinfectant. A little transparency could have saved you from a lot of embarrassment and might have avoided more damage to the already shaky credibility of TV news. Take the report by ABC’s chief investigative correspondent, Brian Ross, on Toyota’s sudden acceleration problems. The story appeared to disprove the [...]read more »
Local TV websites to watch
4 Jun 2010 | Media
Editor & Publisher has released its annual list of Eppy award finalists. The Eppy honors the best of the Web and it’s always interesting to see which local TV news sites make the list of nominees. This year, as in the past, the list is short — only a very small percentage of nominees come from local [...]read more »
Social media search tips
1 Jun 2010 | Media
There’s so much information on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook that trying to absorb it can be like trying to drink from a fire hose. Instant updates are great but it’s sometimes difficult to spot the good stuff amid the drivel. While lists and groups can help narrow the stream, nothing beats search [...]read more »
iPhone flips the Flip
26 May 2010 | Media
Idiot-proof, lightweight and compact–the Flip camera appeared poised to revolutionize online video when it was introduced a few years ago. Reporters and photographers quickly took to using Flips or similar point-and-shoot cameras to produce Web-only video blogs and interviews. Sometimes, Flip video even showed up on TV newscasts. But now, it appears the Flip may [...]read more »
Government Support Of News Media Continues Steep Decline: Report
28 Jan 2010 | USA News
Government financial support that has bolstered the American commercial news business since its colonial days is in sharp decline and is likely to fall further, according to a report by the University of Southern California's Center on Communication Leadership & Policy. read more »
Rupert Murdoch Speech: How Will Journalism Survive the Internet Age?
11 Jan 2010 | Media
We meet at a time when many news enterprises are shutting down or scaling back. No doubt you will hear some at this workshop tell you that journalism is in dire shape, and the triumph of digital is to blame. My message to you is just the opposite.read more »
Playboy Reaches Agreement To Outsource Publishing Functions
24 Nov 2009 | Entertainment
Playboy Enterprises says it has reached an agreement with American Media, Inc. for the outsourcing of all Playboy magazine functions excluding the editorial product as it flagship publication continues to lose millions. read more »
Associated Press Cuts Staff To Meet Payroll Reduction Targets
22 Nov 2009 | Entertainment
The Associated Press says it has laid off ninety news employees worldwide in the past week in an effort to complete restructuring aimed at cutting annual payroll costs by 10 percent. read more »
Rupert Murdock Threatens To "Bar" Fair Use Reporting
9 Nov 2009 | Business
News Corporation chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch, says his company has been "asleep" in allowing all of its content to be freely distributed on the internet and has threaten to use the courts to "bar" the doctrine of fair use. read more »
Transcript: Dean Singleton Speech On Future Of Newspapers, Sept 2009
28 Sep 2009 | Media
TRANSCRIPT: CEO of MediaNews Group and Chairman of The Associated Press, Dean Singleton, speech to annual convention of the National Conference of Editorial Writers in September 2009. "If there is no future for the printed newspaper, then there is no future at all. ... There isn't enough revenue online to provide for our future." read more »
Nineteen Of Top 50 US Papers Losing Money: AP Chairman
28 Sep 2009 | Media
CEO of MediaNews Group and Chairman of The Associated Press, Dean Singleton, says some newspapers in the U.S. won’t make it through the online transition, and a lot of those that do make it will be owned by banks who will force consolidation.read more »
Most Americans Distrust Media, Believe Fair Journalism Dead: Poll
23 Sep 2009 | Media
Three out of four Americans do not believe all or most news media reporting and two thirds believe objective and fair journalism is dead, according to a poll just released. read more »
Unbiased Media Coverage “Shrinking Rapidly” In The US
18 Sep 2009 | Media
“The core of journalism is unbiased news coverage. If there is a crisis in this country, it is that this core is shrinking and it’s shrinking pretty rapidly." - Andrew Hayward, ex CBS news boss.read more »
Traditional Media Still Source for Most on Major News: Survey
17 Sep 2009 | Business
Americans still support the idea of a free press as a watchdog on government and turn to traditional news sources on major news stories despite skepticism about bias in the news media, according to a new survey. read more »
Guardian Newspaper Publisher Looks At More Cuts
16 Sep 2009 | Business
The publisher of the Guardian newspaper in Britain looks set to make more journalists redundant as its owner Guardian News & Media (GNM) reportedly struggles with losses of £100,000 a day. read more »