Microlog
Microlog entries filed under Media & Journalism
What Editors Think of Writers
The biggest surprise for any new writer/journalist/whatever is when an editor corrects their work. It’s not about ‘taking away their voice’; it’s always about bringing out the best in the writer, and polishing it up nice for the reader. In my own experience, the most precious about their writing were the worst writers. Permalink ·
Hugh Grant’s 10 myths of tabloid journalism
Following his appearance at the Leveson Inquiry. He’s right, too. Permalink ·
Jim Romenesko: How I Ended Up Leaving Poynter
The man himself puts the criticisms of the site and of his recent contributions to it in perspective. Permalink ·
We know who [Johnny] Depp is, thank you
On the overuse of square brackets when editing verbatim quotes. Permalink ·
The blogosphere still needs codes of conduct
In reference to conflicts of interest and the recent TechCrunch saga. Permalink ·
Do journalists need to be able to write?
There is no debate: the answer is unequivocably YES. Don’t make the sub’s job harder than it is. Permalink ·
Research Chat: Alexis Madrigal of The Atlantic Talks Icebergs, Google Scholar and His Process
We should all be doing something like this, really. Permalink ·
Roger Ailes and the rise of Fox News
“To watch even a day of Fox News — the anger, the bombast, the virulent paranoid streak, the unending appeals to white resentment, the reporting that is held to the same standard of evidence as a political campaign attack ad — is to see a refraction of its founder, one of the most skilled and fearsome operatives in the history of the Republican party … Ailes has used Fox News to pioneer a new form of political campaign — one that enables the Republican party to bypass sceptical reporters and wage an around-the-clock, partisan assault on public opinion. The network, at its core, is a giant soundstage created to mimic the look and feel of a news operation, cleverly camouflaging political propaganda as independent journalism.” The rest is even worse. What a scumbag. Permalink ·
How To Build A Newsroom Time Machine
Shocking how much has changed in less than 20 years (I know one tabloid was still being cut-and-pasted into the late 1990s, though they’d moved to using an automated photo processor by then). Permalink ·
10 questions to help you write better headlines
Always worth referencing these. Permalink ·
‘March Backwards Into the Future’ — Marshall McLuhan’s Century
Notes on The Medium Is The Massage. Which reminds me, I’ve still to read Understanding Media. Permalink ·
The news coverage of the Norway mass-killings was fact-free conjecture
Charlie Brooker bang on the money, here. Permalink ·
Bangor Daily News: A complete publishing system on WordPress
I suppose something like this could be done with any extendable CMS. An in a few year’s time there’ll be dedicated software to do everything in one fell swoop. Permalink ·
Nearly 100 Fantastic Pieces of Journalism
More longform reading to file for later. Permalink ·
Longform compiles the 2011 National Magazine Awards finalists
That’s a lot of reading. Permalink ·
How live blogging has transformed journalism
Transformed? I don’t know about that. But it’s certainly made things more immediate, and works very well for events such as sports as they happen. In that respect live blogs might be the new radio. Permalink ·
Curation? What the hell does that mean?
Storyful explains it well: “Out of a fast-flowing river of news, curators are the zen-like bears, sitting amid the chaos, selectively plucking out the juiciest, shiniest salmon and then explaining which bits to eat.” Permalink ·
What Scientology tells us about journalism
Bobbie Johnson on the crucial difference between balance and fairness. Is it fair to give both sides of an argument equal balance when we know one side is wrong? (That’s a rhetorical question, by the way.) Permalink ·
Anger over Irish Mail on Sunday’s ‘Tribune edition’
Big furore over this; I can’t recall it ever being done before. But it’s no surprise that the Mail are behind the stunt. I mean, there’s mockery at your competitors’ misfortunes, and then there’s a direct attempt to mislead consumers. Gutter journalism at its worst. Permalink ·
New papers: the San Francisco Panorama etcetera
Haven’t yet opened my own copy of the Panorama. Yet no matter how good it is as a product in and of itself, if it’s a prototype for what a daily newspaper should be it was ill-conceived from the start: there is simply no way that amount of effort, that amount of variety, can go into a daily publication. It’s a pipe dream. Now as a weekend paper, that’s a different matter. Permalink ·
Mind your language: in praise of subeditors
The editor of the Guardian style guide writes in praise of subeditors: “Given the indispensable contribution that they make, it seems perverse that the role of subs has been questioned, albeit mainly from those more interested in the cost of everything than the value of anything.” Permalink ·
A True Story Of Daily Mail Lies
If there’s one thing the US media has over the press on this side of the pond, it’s this: fabricated stories end careers in the States, but seem to make them over here. Permalink ·
Dancing About Architecture
“It’s about experience and advice based education and information — telling people who want to get into various sectors of journalism the truth of the business, giving practical advice, encouragement and tips.” Site seems to be a bit fallow at the moment, but I’m still looking forward to those podcasts. Permalink ·
A manifesto for the simple scribe - my 25 commandments for journalists
Some of these can be taken with a pinch of salt — shallow, facile, glib and slick aren’t insults now? — but the first point is the most important: if you’re not writing for a reader, you’re not being a journalist. Permalink ·
Champion of Magazines: An Interview with Andrew Losowsky
More inspiration for that project I’m currently mulling over. See also: Magazero; MagCloud; Newspaper Club. Permalink ·
Journalism Warning Labels
As the photos suggest, these are pretty much ready-made for the Daily Mail. Permalink ·
Popular Science+
I was sure I blogged about Mag+ before, but anyway: the concept has now come to life as an app for the iPad. I want to try it for myself to make a proper judgement, but conceptually this is the kind of thing the iPad needs to do well if it’s to have any kind of longevity, IMHO. Permalink ·
MagCloud: Publish your own printed magazine
Very nice print-on-demand service for small-scale magazine publishing. They don’t ship to EU countries yet (except for the UK) but this could be very useful in the near future… Permalink ·
Irish High Court gives entertainment giants the power to disconnect whole families from the net
It’s bullshit of the highest order, of course. But at least our ISP isn’t willing to play along. Permalink ·
ANC’s Julius Malema lashes out at ‘misbehaving’ BBC journalist
South Africa can’t and won’t improve until dangerously misleading relics and liars like Malema are out of the picture. Permalink ·
Every issue of Spin magazine on Google Books
More publications should do this sort of thing. (See also: every issue of Plan B magazine in a handy torrent.) Permalink ·
Pitchfork bemoans the absense of modern-day gonzo journalism
Gonzo was great when it emerged because there was nothing else like it, though now that there is we have no need for it, at least for its own sake. But the essence of gonzo — the risk-taking, the bucking of the rules — is missing, especially in the fields this piece is concerned with, where a bit of adventure would go a long way. That essense is the reason why I read Digitiser religiously in the ’90s, even though I wasn’t a gamer. Permalink ·
The Guardian has just launched its PDF news digest, G24
As previously noted here. Looks like it went live on Friday. They slipped that one out unannounced, didn’t they? Looks good so far; I may have further thoughts on it later. Permalink ·
Associated files losses on Irish division
Considering the sheer number of people I’ve seen around Dublin reading the Irish Daily Mail — the filthy rag that it is — I’m sure they’ll make the money back soon enough. Permalink ·
journalism.newsvine.com
Newspaper design consultant trawls Newsvine and the web for the best US media-related stories. Permalink ·
The New York Times Newsroom Navigator
All newspapers should have something like this [c/o kottke.org]. Permalink ·
This Boring Headline Is Written for Google
On the so-called death of the art of headline writing, the news of which has been greatly exaggerated. I think we will be seeing more dual headlines, to compensate for the linguistic formality of search engine algorithms, but that’s as bad as it’s going to get — as if it isn’t bad enough already [c/o SimonWaldman.net]. Permalink ·
Jay Rosen on The New York Times, blogging and ‘self-absorption’
A bit too dense for a quick read, but there’s some excellent points raised. Permalink ·
Blogging the Changing Media Summit
Seems like a bit of a waste of time to me, with all the tired talk of ‘leveraging’ this and ‘monetising’ that. The most important thing I can glean from it all is that the old media vanguard seems determined to maintain their status quo and bend the web to their own will, completely oblivious to the fact that they’re hopelessly transparent in their motivations and machinations, and that the web and its users are already leaving them behind. The quality (re: podcasting, especially) might not be there yet, but at this stage it’s the freedom that’s more important. (See also: Tom Coates expands upon and clarifies his comments re: social media, which gives some more context to the argument.) Permalink | 0 Comments ·
Guardian Unlimited: Podcasts
The Guardian’s new podcasting service. And they’ve gone all out, too. Talk about convergence… Permalink ·
Agnes Poirier: Blogging is not journalism
A journalist completely missing the point of blogging? Never! But in all seriousness, Poirier is anyway wrong in her definition of journalism. It’s neither a hobby nor a profession: it’s a practise [c/o Bobbie Johnson]. Permalink ·
Berliner Guardian named newspaper of the year
They deserve it. Permalink ·
Go to the Web, young journalist!
There’s no need to shout; some of us are already looking. Though it’ll be easier in the future, when the web will be taken more seriously. Permalink ·
The State of the News Media 2006
An exhaustive report covering the state of journalism in America, but much of it would apply to most Western nations [c/o kottke.org]. Permalink ·
Beneath the pavement, a blog! (Or, the Dublin riots and the citizen journalist’s revolution)
I think Emmet overstates the significance of the rioting just a tad, but his point is valid. In events as big as this the media just doesn’t have the access that ordinary people on the street do. And now that these ordinary people are beginning to use the tools at their disposal we are seeing the picture broaden, even if only a little. Permalink ·
Copy Editor’s Revenge Takes Form Of Unhyphenated Word
That could be me one day, that could [c/o languagehat]. Permalink ·
Irish Newspaper Archives
This is great. But it brings up a point: if the web is supposed to be a library, information like that found in newspaper archives should really be free. It’s only a matter of time, I guess, but things like this would be better operated as public services, not merely as profit-making businesses. Governments take note [c/o ResearchBuzz]. Permalink ·
Blogs: exposing the hidden contexts
Mick Fealty’s published reply to a typically ignorant commentary on blogging in The Irish Times. Permalink ·
The year of the digital citizen
In 2005, tragedy served as a catalyst for a technologically-empowered citizenry to take some measure of control over the media. Small potatoes in the big scheme of things, yes, but nonetheless incredibly significant. What we need to see now, of course, is what the public can do with this newfound influence when there is no major event to react to. Permalink ·
Journalists’ Right of Privacy Primer
On a glance, it probably only applies to the United States. But I’m filing it here for future reference anyway. Permalink ·
Beer by the Barrel, Stories by the Scoop
A short but sweet little piece from the NYT peering into the lives of crime scene reporters. Permalink ·
The Observer relaunches
Download PDFs of the first edition for free, while it lasts. First impressions? Very good, but maybe a little overboard with the colour [c/o NewsDesigner.com]. Permalink ·
The Observer redesign hits January 8
I still haven’t posted my thoughts on The Guardian’s relaunch in September. Better late than never, eh? Permalink ·
Near-Meaningless Facts in News Articles
Dan Gillmor rails against “facts without context that suggest something but don’t deliver”. Permalink ·
US boy’s answer to a school essay on Iraq: take a trip to Baghdad
I don’t quite know what to make of this one. The kid’s either incredibly brave or incredibily stupid. Permalink ·
Crunks ‘05: The Year in Media Errors and Corrections
Sure it could have been worse. Permalink ·
Evening Standard Headline Crisis 2005
“A project that explores the doom-and-gloom agenda of London’s Evening Standard headline writers” [c/o del.icio.us/linkmachinego]. Permalink ·
Niche magazines on MetaFilter
Though they’ve neglected to make a distinction between niche and trade publications, there’s some pretty crazy stuff here worth a look. Permalink ·
Journalists for sale on eBay
A downsizing newspaper puts its staff up for auction. What a neat idea! Better get my CV ready… Permalink ·
Irish Times goes off on one… about blogs
The irony of a newspaper that’s virtually invisible to the web behind its paywall having the gall to criticise the blogosphere hasn’t been lost on me. And honestly, does anyone check the dictionary anymore? The correct spelling is ‘weblog’. That’s one word, people. Can’t you stick to your own house style? [Gavin’s Blog has thankfully reproduced the article so we don’t have to pay to be insulted] Permalink ·
On the Israeli press’ guilt-driven coverage of Palestine: “The main problem with the coverage of this conflict is that all the media, Israeli, Palestinian and international, keep looking for someone to blame. If this goes on we will kill and be killed forever.”
Short and to the point, but much food for thought here. Permalink ·
Mike Davidson announces Newsvine
Seems like it’ll be some sort of weblog/del.icio.us/news website hybrid. I’d like to see more. Permalink ·
Keith Waterhouse on weblogs?
An old post from Tom Coates that deserves re-reading. Permalink ·
Ryerson Review of Journalism
Good media magazine produced by final year undergrads. And it’s free! Permalink ·
More on The Guardian redesign
See also: The Guardian’s own relaunch special report Permalink ·
New-look Guardian unveiled
There’s a PDF of the front page here. Hmm. I don’t know. The blue strap masthead seems a bit too close to the relaunched Independent for my linking. And typographically? It was close to perfection anyway; I don’t see why they had to go and mess with it. Strikes me as a step backwards on first impression. What do you think? Permalink | 4 Comments ·
Gavin O’Reilly thinks participative journalism is a “dangerous precedent” for the newspaper industry
Sure, if you’re lost behind the times, maybe… Permalink ·
The Daily Mail Watch
Because somebody needs to keep an eye on them. I can’t even touch the rag myself; their newsprint has cooties. Permalink ·
The New York Times explains the editorial process for Op-Ed columns
Treating their readers like equal partners, eh? That’s refreshing. But I have to ask, would we be seeing this today if not for the Internet? Permalink ·
Newsmap
A graphical representation of popularity of news stories via Google News. (more info here). Nicely done. Permalink ·
“Should reporters blog? Absolutely. Readers are moving online. We need to follow.”
Another link for my thesis. Permalink ·
Guardian Newsblog: The BBC and ‘terrorism’
It just goes to show that words don’t often have a clear and precise meaning. Derrida was right, ha! Permalink ·
Newspapers warn of threat to America from ‘Londonistan’
The Guardian Newsblog also comments. Is it really so hard for the American media to accept that London is a multicultural society? Permalink ·
Is this journalism? Or a despicable, disingenuous attempt at character assassination?
When you read the nanny’s reply, I’m sure you’ll agree it’s the latter. What’s worse is that the New York Times printed that trash, and won’t retract it; my confidence in them is waning. Permalink ·
James Naughton: Why I have serious doubts about the ‘citizen reporters’
He finds it ‘macabre’ that the first thing someone does after an explosion is to photograph the scene, but isn’t that what photojournalists do for a living? What message does that send: if you’re an amateur you’re being ghoulish, but if you’re getting paid for it you’re providing a public service? I understand the point Naughton is trying to make, but really, what precludes someone who doesn’t work as a journalist from reporting like one? Where’s the line that separates a freelancer from a ‘lay’ person? It’s a fair question. Permalink ·
Roger Mosey, head of BBC TV News, defends their coverage of the London bombings
Seems reasonable to me. I stand by my opinion that the BBC had the best coverage on the day; they refrained from spreading rumour, and in turn broke the facts faster than the others. (By the way, here’s a link to that Fox News opinion piece Mosey mentions, which is pretty much what you’d expect from that ignorant, self-important, morally-corrupt Bill O’Reilly.) Permalink ·
Do US visa requirements for journalists cover bloggers?
Better question: do they cover freelancers? Looks like I’ll have to apply for an ‘I’ visa when I eventually make it Stateside. Permalink ·
Worst “journalism” ever
Read the article Matt links to; it really is disgraceful. And people say blogs have no quality control? Permalink ·
News Media vs. Journalism
Lots of thinking here. An important idea to discuss in my dissertation. Permalink ·
London Bombings: The Unread Newspaper
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‘We had 50 images within an hour’: MediaGuardian reflects on a momentous day for journalism
In contrast, Tim Porter argues that citizen journalism has jumped the shark. Permalink ·
The Guardian and London’s day of terror
A good insight into the production of a daily paper amid the chaos of last Thursday. Permalink ·
Weblogs prove their worth
To cite for my dissertation. Permalink ·
Fox News again: “These people are, If necessary, prepared to spill Arab blood in addition to the blood of regular — of non-arab people living in London” [c/o plasticbag.org]
That’s Fox News. Voted ‘News Channel of the Year’ by the Ku Klux Klan. Probably. Permalink ·
Fox News slammed over ‘callous’ line
What do you expect? It’s Fox News. Permalink ·
NewsDesigner surveys the British and Irish front-page reactions to the London bombings
Plus more from Canada, and the Americas. Permalink ·
Regret the Error [c/o del.icio.us/mathowie]
“Reports on corrections, retractions, clarifications and trends regarding accuracy and honesty in the media.” Permalink ·
Notes from Tim Porter’s recent presentation on newsroom innovation
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The bloggers have all the best news
I’ve read around this topic and I tend to agree with the concensus: British (and Irish) people are far better served by our mainstream media outlets, so we don’t really have that urge to shake things up. Permalink | 0 Comments ·
Here’s to you, cliché writers everywhere
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How to do a blog interview
Some handy hints here. Permalink ·
BBC rethinks plans for journalism college
It’s a shame. There still seems to be a strong bias among older hacks against the worthiness of journalism education. Permalink ·
The 11 Layers of Citizen Journalism
I haven’t read this yet. I’ll get around to it, I promise. Permalink ·
Guardian confirms earlier switch to the ‘Berliner’ format
I’m really looking forward to it. I’m like a newspaper nerd or something. Permalink ·
US bloggers convene to learn journalism
You need more than a two-day conference if you want to do it properly. I’m speaking from experience here. Permalink ·
Traditional media eagerly eying blogs to boost revenues, profile
It’s all talk so far; I’ll believe it when I really see it Permalink ·
That’s one way to pitch a story: as seen scrawled outside the Journalism School at UC Berkeley
I wish people would give us MAJers stories like that. Permalink ·
Extra! Extra! Tiger Headlines Roar!
Don’t the really dry ones look hopelessly out of place? Permalink ·
Straight Story, Curved Universe: Why Michael FInkel is not Jayson Blair [c/o The Morning News]
Sometimes fiction does tell the greater truth; the problem lies where this fiction is presented as truth itself. Permalink | 0 Comments ·
All the News That’s Fit to Blog: the impact of blogging in the Australian media
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editorsweblog.org
‘Practical issues with real solutions for working editors.’ Okay then. Permalink ·
The Annotated New York Times [c/o Fimoculus]
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Yahoo! News brings RSS to the masses
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DIT FM is now on the air (until April 22nd)
Be sure to tune in daily at 4pm BST for my classmates’ magazine shows (plus the news bulletins every hour). Permalink ·
How to succeed as a citizen media editor [c/o Guardian Newsblog]
Something else for my thesis research. I should really start a separate blog for this stuff. Permalink ·
Webzine examines suspicious sourcing from a technology reporter
It’s like Shattered Glass all over again! Permalink ·
Brookings Institution: The Impact of the New Media
I have not read nor listened to this yet, but it has relevance to my thesis so I’m linking in case I forget. Permalink ·
US freelancers win right to royalties for electronic publications
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Select winners from the Society for News Design’s 26th Creative Competition
Some very nice designs here; something to inspire the design for the class magazine that I’m supposed to be working on right now. Permalink ·
Google News source index [c/o Fimoculuous]
That’s a lot of sources. Permalink ·
The Fox Blocker
This came around months ago, but I never linked to it at the time. Permalink ·
Lynn Barber’s fascinating interview with the ‘human Google’, cuttings librarian Edda Tasiemka
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The Zimbabwean [c/o Guardian Newsblog]
This will be one to watch. And a nice clean design too, courtesy of The Guardian. Permalink ·
The Case for Comics Journalism
I linked to Joe Sacco’s special for The Guardian a couple of weeks ago; this short but smart article gives some context to it. Permalink ·
Society for News Design contest winners database [c/o NewsDesigner.com]
I don’t know about you, but none of the images are loading for me right now. Permalink ·
The most useful websites for reporters [c/o del.icio.us/merlinmann]
Overwhelmingly US-centric, but there’s lots of valuable stuff here nonetheless. Permalink ·
“With the rapid increase in blog readership that’s occurring, in less than three years the average B-list blogger will get significantly more reader attention than the average US unsyndicated newspaper article or column.”
And: “For the A-list, daily reader attention will be about equal to that of the average US daily paper.” Fair enough, but what does it all mean? Permalink ·
Journalistic.co.uk: the UK digital journalism blog
Yeah yeah, I’m not from the UK, but I’m sure close enough for this to be of use. Permalink ·
Another independent paper shut down in Zimbabwe
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A weekly newspaper for expatriate Zimbabweans, edited by journalists expelled from the country, has been launched in South Africa and Britain
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Village gets Judges’ Special Recognition in the Sixth European Newspaper Award
I’m sure it was the overall design that got their attention, because the front page has taken a turn for the worse in recent weeks. Permalink ·
Web of Influence: What began as a hobby is evolving into a new medium that is changing the landscape for journalists and policymakers alike
One of the best introductions to weblogs I’ve read, and it’s filtered through a foreign policy perspective so it’s worth a read for the initiated, too. Permalink ·
10x10: 100 Words and Pictures that Define the Time
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Blogging As Typing, Not Journalism
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New media clampdown in Zimbabwe
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Simon Waldman reviews Dan Gillmor’s We the Media
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Eyetrack 2004 Heatmap
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How the Manchester Guardian reported the first days of the Boer War
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Fake News! (Dot Com)
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Zimbabwe court drops Daily News case
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“Obviously, the official media don’t quite know how to deport themselves in relation to the blogs. If they adopt them, it’s like having a spastic arm - they can’t control it. But if they don’t adopt it, they’re missing out on the newest, edgiest trend in the media.”
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The Best of Eyetrack III: What We Saw When We Looked Through Their Eyes [c/o Interconnected]
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The NPPA’s Best of Still Photojournalism 2004 [c/o kottke.org]
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The Language of Advertising: Building brands using sound symbolism [c/o Interconnected]
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The Guardian readers’ editor on the revolution shaping the paper’s future [c/o Interconnected]
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101 ways to improve your news site (see also: Ideas for Online Publications:
Lessons From Blogs, Other Signposts; Highlights from the International Symposium on Online Journalism)
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Ten Things Radical about the Weblog Form in Journalism [c/o Boing Boing]
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Zimbabwe’s only independent newspaper relaunches on the web
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Michael Eisen on the strange case of the academic journal
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Compatibility of Weblogs and ISSN [c/o leuschke.org]
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Woo-hoo! I’m #94 in this year’s MediaGuardian 100 [c/o plasticbag.org]
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Notes from the Journalism 3.1b2 talk at the O’Reilly E-Tech Conference
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Papers To Writers: Don’t Get A Blog
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Nestle drops “Last Rolo” slogan (it’s too sentimental for modern times, apparently)
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How A Dream Newspaper For Young People Would Look
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This is the personal website of MacDara Conroy, a production journalist and mediavore in Dublin, Ireland. Read more »
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This page is a reverse chronology of Microlog entries by MacDara Conroy filed under Media & Journalism. You will find many more in the Archives.