Journalists were among the first outsiders to rush to the scene of the earthquake in Haiti. While most have described the devastation and challenges confronting survivors with professionalism and humanity, Jeff Sallot writes, some are using the assignment to promote their own celebrity.
Once in a while software designers do something little that makes life a lot easier. The folks at Microsoft have done that by adding a shortcut command to remove hyperlinks from cells in Excel 2010. I’ve been testing the beta version to see what it offers for journalists. If you have ever cut and pasted some data…
On Feb. 1, five journalists will reportedly lock themselves up in a French farmhouse for several days with only Twitter and Facebook for outside information, “to test the quality of news from the social networking and micro-blogging sites” ….
Broadcasters and publishers know they can count on at least two responses to portraying graphic images of death and destruction: complaints about disgusting or invasive displays of blood and gore; and, journalists writing stories about media’s insensitivity or sensationalism. According to one broadcaster, the gatekeepers are constantly debating the responsibility of revealing the cruelty…
An editorial study conducted by the Seattle Times looked at how contextual advertising (affinity to content determines ad placement) impacted readers’ perceptions of online news content. It found most readers were comfortable with contextual ads in sections focused on softer news – like sports, travel and entertainment – but were not happy to see them next to hard news stories about…
As part of a newly launched study into the future of media, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission has posted a lengthy, hyperlinked collection of recent studies and articles on media’s future from a wide range of (American) sources.
So the New York Times really did it: after months of speculation, years after its last failed attempt, it announced that it will charge online readers and explained why in a staff memo. There have been so many opinions ventured about this move that it’s become a big, boring, droning buzz. The reality is that…
Complaints by media proprietors like Rupert Murdoch that Google News is “stealing” their content has always been countered by the argument that Google and other news aggregators actually direct web traffic back to orignating news sites. However, a survey of news consumers by Outsell Inc. found 44 per cent of Google News visitors scan headlines without ever clicking…
The world’s news media went into full disaster mode this past week. In the Students’ Lounge, the word to graduating students is: “Always be ready to cover a disaster.’ Meanwhile, the Poynter Institute has posted tips for journalists heading to Haiti. Australian commentator Tim Burrowes argues that, far from being ‘vultures’ and ‘in the way,’…