Friday, September 30, 2005

 

PODCASTING: Book publishers being to embrace web delivery


ORIGINAL LINK:
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=38391

Podcasts Give Publishers Another Tool September 29, 2005 7:52AM

"The number of listeners being entertained through digital players is in the tens of millions," says Sue Fleming of Simon & Schuster, which launched SimonSays Podcast on Sept. 29, 2005. It joins a fledgling group of publishers that are testing whether free podcasts can help sell books.

Publishers are hoping that picking up an iPod will lead to picking up a book. As publishers look for innovative ways for books to compete with video games, DVDs, CDs and computers for consumer dollars, they're hoping the proven popularity of digital players and podcasts -- audio programming downloaded from the Internet -- will beef up interest in the written word.

"The number of listeners being entertained through digital players is in the tens of millions," says Sue Fleming of Simon & Schuster, which launches SimonSays Podcast today. It joins a fledgling group of publishers that are testing whether free podcasts can help sell books.

So far, the prospects look promising.

Holtzbrinck Publishers, which launched holtzbrinckpodcasts.com earlier this month, already has attracted 40,000 visitors to its new site, marketing director Jeff Gomez says. The number of downloads, he adds, is approaching 10,000. The Holtzbrinck and Simon & Schuster projects operate similarly.

Holtzbrinck offers four new podcasts every month -- one each in the fiction, non-fiction, science fiction and self-help genres from such publishers as Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Henry Holt, Picador, and St. Martin's. Each of its 30-minute podcasts consists of up to three book excerpts.

Interviews and original material also are offered, including Michael Cunningham reading from Specimen Days as well as an interview with author Douglas Preston and a reading from his Tyrannosaurus Canyon. Podcasts added this week include excerpts from How Did I Get Here? by Barbara De Angelis and How to Change Anybody by David J. Lieberman.

SimonSays Podcast (simonsays.com) features original programming about books and authors as well as excerpts from audiobooks. Starting today, the site is featuring three authors talking about their books: Jennifer Weiner on her new novel, Goodnight Nobody; Carole Radziwill discussing her memoir, What Remains; and Anthony Dias Blue on his Pocket Guide to Wine.

Little, Brown also kicked off its first podcast effort this month with Michael Connelly, one of its most successful authors. Fans can visit michaelconnelly.com or iTunes to download audio in which the author discusses his new book, The Lincoln Lawyer, and reads an excerpt.

Holtzbrinck's Gomez says all of this is more about book content than about the latest technology. "It's really about readers getting in touch with books. Their interest may start with new technology, but we hope that, in the end, they go to a bookstore, buy a hardback or a paperback, and curl up with a book."

Consumers can find out about podcasts on publishers' websites and by checking sites that include directories of available podcasts -- odeo.com, for example.

© 2005 USA TODAY. All rights reserved.
© 2005 NewsFactor Network. All rights reserved.

----------------------------------------------------------------

This article above is copyrighted material, the use of which may not have specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The material is made available in an effort to advance understanding of political, economic, democracy, First Amendment, technology, journalism, community and justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' as provided by Section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Chapter 1, Section 107, the material above is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this blog for purposes beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.


Thursday, September 29, 2005

 

FUTURE: Newspapers are on the precipe and need to revise their product, not brand, Cauthorn writes

Former San Francisco Chronicle and Arizona Republic web editor Bob Cauthorn, now a news industry consultant and pundit, has developed an inciteful blog post about why, in his view, newspapers are at the precipice of failure unless they start asking the right questions about changing their product.

"What are the right questions?," asks Cauthorn rhetorically. "Just a few starters: what form should storytelling take online, what is the natural and robust role the community plays, what does geo-focused and just-in-time news delivery look like, does data presentaion itself become a story, what does true interactivity looks like, how can the social conversation be distributed now, what level of personalization is valuable and what level is numbing to the intellect, how can digital media provide real value to local advertisers?

"A product-driven newpspaper would look at digital media and say, what can we do differently here and how does the digital product differentiate itself from a print product?

"A product-driven newspaper would look hard at its print results and come to the only sane conclusion possible: readers leave print because the print product is broken. It's not a product people want, so they walk away from it. They happen to walk to the web because, well, to date the industry has offered nothing more than a straight-up replacement."

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

 

John Dvorak in PC Magazine: Newspapers and Movies -- both fading fast

By John C. Dvorak
PC Magazine

There are two important institutions that are about to be decimated by technology: newspapers and movies. It won't be pretty.

I've been thinking about it because another American institution is under attack simultaneously: the printed newspaper. Newspapers, once fat and happy with local ads and classifieds, have all bloated up, with too many staffers producing a minimal amount of content per person. An average reporter was once supposed to write 75 column inches a week. This is around 375 words a day for a five-day workweek. Most bloggers do more than that, although those 375 words should be high-quality.

This was justifiable when the newspapers were rolling in dough, but craigslist has probably sunk the business, with free classified advertising that is far more useful and functional than anything delivered by any newspaper. There was a lot of money made by the classifieds. That money is gone. Nobody knows how the newspapers can recover. Nobody.

Meanwhile, the newspaper publishers are clueless as to what they might do to stop the bleeding and Hollywood is more concerned about digital rights management than they are about their own future. Hey, guys. There is a huge locomotive headed your way. Take a look!



 

OPINION: Ex-Post Dispatch editor says journalists need to accept some blame


ORIGINALLY REPORTED IN THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Wednesday, September 28, 2005

HEADLINE:
A glance at the current issue of The Kettering Review: Fixing journalism

Reviewed by Jamie Schuman

To offset criticism about their profession, journalists need to do a better job of relating the opinions of everyday citizens, writes Cole C. Campbell, dean of journalism at the University of Nevada at Reno and a former editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Many critics say that the quality of journalism and the public's regard for the field have dropped in recent years, and they often attribute the decline to corporate influences. But journalists need to start blaming themselves -- and not business pressures -- for problems in their profession, writes Mr. Campbell. After all, newspapers have long been for-profit entities.

"The economic explanation of journalism's failings takes journalists off the hook," Mr. Campbell writes. "It makes journalists victims, not agents."

Mr. Campbell criticizes journalists for focusing too much on opinions of the "political and social elite," failing to place isolated events in a broader context, and wrongly believing that their stories are objective and their voices are authoritative. Instead, journalists should trust everyday citizens to be sources and contributors to their publications. They also should help people become players in the political realm. To accomplish that goal, he asks reporters to:

Provide more context in their stories to show how events are tied to larger political, economic, and social systems.

Stop believing that journalism is a "form of unshakable empirical observation," and experiment more with story forms and reporting practices.

Stop limiting their sources to elite opinion makers and instead regard everyone as equal actors in shaping the public realm.

To Mr. Campbell, the function of journalism is not just to provide information, but also to "sustain inquiry that can lead to action." He writes that one of his first bosses, Claude Sitton, who worked at The New York Times and The News and Observer, in Raleigh, N.C., epitomized the notion of the journalist as a public steward. Mr. Sitton's articles on the civil-rights movement saved the lives of activists and encouraged political action -- which rarely are effects of the news media today.

The article, "Journalism and the Public: Leaps of Faith," is available to subscribers or for purchase at:

http://www.kettering.org/Foundation_Publications/Publication2/publication2.html#exchange

Copyright © 2005 by The Chronicle of Higher Education | Contact us

----------------------------------------------------------------

This article above is copyrighted material, the use of which may not have specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The material is made available in an effort to advance understanding of political, economic, democracy, First Amendment, technology, journalism, community and justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' as provided by Section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Chapter 1, Section 107, the material above is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this blog for purposes beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.


 

NEWSPAPERS: Another 352 news positions cut at six U.S. papers


http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/rewrite_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001180894

COLUMNIST'S TITLE: The Last Cut is the Deepest

After a week of budget moves cut over 350 newsroom jobs at six major
papers, the question must be asked: How can newspapers with fewer, and
less experienced, staffers expect to build audience and influence?

By Joe Strupp
Senior Editor
Editor & Publisher Magazine

NEW YORK (September 25, 2005) -- As Popeye used to say, .That's all I can
stands, I can't stands no more!. Even as an ex-sailor man, he may have
never worked at a newspaper, but for many of us who have -- and those
souls who still do and now face a sudden epidemic of buyout/layoff plans
-- the sentiment is no doubt spreading.

In the past week or so, six of the country's major daily newspapers have
revealed plans to kill more than 350 jobs through a mix of buyouts and
layoffs. Since just last Tuesday, The New York Times, The Boston Globe,
Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News and, most recently, San
Jose Mercury News, have announced plans that will eliminate roughly 232
newsroom jobs, in addition to dozens more in non-editorial positions.

Add to that the 120 or so jobs expected to be lost at the San Francisco
Chronicle, which less than two weeks ago announced it was close to
reaching that mark for a buyout offer, and 352 newsroom positions at just
six newspapers will be history. And those are just the ones we've heard
about in recent weeks.

No telling what budget-slashing knife is being sharpened elsewhere in this
Honey-We-Shrunk-the-Newsroom business, much of it in the name of greed or
at least bottom-line paranoia.

In most of these cases, cuts are the answer not to low profits, but to
less-than-acceptable profits. For each of these newspapers .- all owned by
major media chains -- making money has not been a problem. The question
has been making "enough money," a subjective phrase if there ever was one.
In most cases, enough money is what meets Wall Street expectations and
projections, not an acceptable income from a business hit by tough times.

Except for the Chronicle, which has proven through outside audits that it
has actually lost tens of millions of dollars annually in recent years,
the massive job reductions are in many ways a quick way to boost current
net income.

But it is clear that neither the Globe nor Times are losing money. And
when Joseph Natoli, publisher of the Knight Ridder-owned Inquirer and
Daily News, spoke with me last week, he declared his papers' profit
margins were in the .low teens.. This is not bad for most businesses.

So why the mass forced-exodus of personnel? At a time when newspapers are
competing more than ever with any number of growing media competitors,
what on earth makes anyone think they can boost their reach and appeal by
cutting staff? Especially when achieved largely by buying out valuable,
experienced staffers? Despite the brave words of editors, this can only
slowly erode quality.

If fewer people are buying a product -- whether it's a newspaper or a can
of soup -- how does decreasing the quality of that product make it sell
better? Newspapers cannot cover news better with fewer people. The six
newspapers involved in the latest cuts have won a combined 136 Pulitzer
Prizes since the awards were first given 88 years ago. If cuts keep
occurring, don't expect such lofty award numbers during the next 88 years.

While the Times, with some 1,200 editorial staffers, can pretty much
continue to do its premiere job with 45 fewer people, the hit on the other
job-slashing dailies will surely have a negative impact.

I understand that we are in tough times in this business and cost-cutting
is needed. But systematically dismantling your newsrooms so drastically is
foolish.

If papers want to entice new readers and bring back old ones, they should
change the way they report events. In short, that means giving those who
focus more on the Web and broadcast outlets a reason to pick up the paper.
And it won't be done by trying to compete with bloggers on the cheap.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joe Strupp (jstrupp@editorandpublisher.com) is a senior editor at E&P.

----------------------------------------------------------------

This article above is copyrighted material, the use of which may not have specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The material is made available in an effort to advance understanding of political, economic, democracy, First Amendment, technology, journalism, community and justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' as provided by Section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Chapter 1, Section 107, the material above is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this blog for purposes beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.


Wednesday, September 21, 2005

 

CITIZEN JOURNALISM: CBS blogger attempts a definition; reply comments


http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2005/09/21/publiceye/entry870890.shtml

The Rise Of Citizen Journalism

Posted by Brian Montopoli at 9:42 AM : September 21, 2005

"Citizen Journalism" is one of those phrases that sounds pretty straightforward, but when you get right down to it, most people aren't entirely sure exactly what it means. Basically, a citizen journalist is someone from outside the news business who engages in the kind of journalism that is traditionally the purview of the professionals.

A citizen journalist might send pictures of a significant event into a news outlet. They might share stories about newsworthy experiences they've had. Or they might analyze, report and even disseminate the news themselves. Both MSNBC and CNN have been tapping citizen journalists to augment their coverage they've used their websites to solicit and post photos from private homes in New Orleans, audio and videos of how people are responding to Katrina, and stories about how high gas prices are affecting peoples' lives, for example.

Are bloggers citizen journalists? Well, yes and no. Those of us at Public Eye, for example, most certainly are not after
all, we're paid employees of CBS, and that puts us in a different position than someone who starts a blog on their own.
But many independent bloggers can certainly be considered citizen journalists: They report from war zones, do the kind of analysis one might find on opinion pages, and post photos of news events on their sites, despite the fact that they're not affiliated with news organizations.

There are, however, reasons for news organizations to be skittish about relying on citizen journalism. The benefits are clear: There are immeasurable positives in having someone who happens to be on the scene of a developing story take pictures or call in a report. But there is also a chance that those reports won't be reliable. (There's that chance with the professionals, of course, as well Jayson Blair being the most obvious example but at least, with professional
journalists, their jobs depend on their truthfulness.) As David Carr wrote Monday in the New York Times, "I was at the World Trade Center towers site the afternoon of Sept. 11, 2001. People had seen unimaginable things, but a small percentage, many still covered in ash, told me tales that were worse than what actually happened."

But wait, you might say can't people exaggerate when they're talking to a reporter looking for a quote? And the short answer is that they can, and do. But reporters go to great lengths to authenticate information whenever possible, as the standards and practices of their news organization requires. Citizen journalists don't play by the same rules. Larry Kramer, President of CBS Digital Media, says he's loves the idea of using certain kinds of citizen journalism like a cell phone camera video of a major event no one else has captured but argues that it should always go through a filter.

"If you want us to use it, you have to subject it to our standards," he says. "Let us see it and evaluate it." He adds
that CBS News has to maintain its editorial authority, and that providing an unfiltered forum could compromise that. Citizen journalism, he says, is not necessarily "first-tier journalism."

And while most citizen journalists want to disseminate honest information, some may well have less noble motives. What if a partisan wants to portray a politician in a negative light, for example? He or she could create a photoshopped photograph of that politician in a compromising or embarrassing position. (It's not that hard to do check out this doctored shot of President Bush seemingly fishing while on vacation in flooded New Orleans.) If such a photo appears on a blog, that's one thing, but if CBS publishes it on its website, the organization is putting its editorial authority behind it. And a citizen journalist with strong feelings about the environment or gay marriage, say, could consciously color coverage of the issue while feigning objectivity. (Many media critics, it should be noted, say the mainstream media already does this which means there's no reason to consider citizen journalists any differently.)

Despite the potential pitfalls, there are plenty of reasons to welcome the rise of citizen journalism as long as news
consumers understand what they're dealing with. Current TV, for example, a new cable channel, solicits video submissions from viewers about news in their daily lives that one would rarely see from traditional news outlets. OhmyNews, a collaborative online newspaper with the motto "Every Citizen is a Reporter," has become an influential news resource in Korea and elsewhere. Dan Gillmor's Bayosphere, focused on the Bay Area, is providing a model of citizen journalism on the internet. And blogs, chat rooms and message boards of all stripes provide a range of opinion and reporting far beyond what traditional news outlets can offer.

As those traditional outlets take their baby steps towards integrating citizen journalism, it will be interesting to see
how much ground they are willing to seed to the non-professionals and how much the non-professionals want to have to do with the traditional news outlets in the first place. We'll keep our Eye on it, and we hope you do the same. In the
meantime, if you have an opinion on the role of citizen journalists in traditional media, please let us know in the (new and improved!) comments section.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brian Montopoli (CBS)

"I came to Public Eye from Columbia Journalism Review, where I wrote about everything from the press coverage of the 2004 presidential campaign to the rise of blogging to the future of network news. Prior to my job at CJR, I was a contributing writer at Washington City Paper. I've also written for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Slate, Salon, The New York Observer, The Washington Monthly, and a number of other publications. Some of my favorite story topics have been youth soccer, public radio, and local politicians, not to mention the TV show Jeopardy!, which was kind enough to offer me a tryout (and merciful enough not to let me on the air).

"I'm pretty much a TV newbie, though I did once appear on MSNBC in the pre-Public Eye days . where, oddly enough, I debated our own Vaughn Ververs about the value of anonymous sources. I'm hoping my outsider status here will help me better explain the inner workings of CBS, and better understand the commendations and complaints that come our way.

"I was born in the suburbs of San Francisco, moved to Massachusetts as a young teenager, and have lived for the past couple of years in New York City. I graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University in 1999 with degrees in English and economics. I haven't always been a journalist: Not long after college, I worked as a teacher at an American high school in Rome, Italy. I still miss the food."

Comments

Posted by pjsheehan1 at 8:07 PM : September 21, 2005

Citizen journalists are roughly in the class with citizen legislators, or citizen law arbitrators. The majority would
rather not: I don't have time; that's what they pay you guys for; it's hard work; I tried it once and didn't like it.
Explanations like that. Of those who are willing or can be persuaded, few have the requisite skills to do it on a regular
basis. And of those few, not all will be willing or able to maintain a degree of objectivity.
On the other hand, it's obvious that, among current professional legislators and law arbitrators and journalists, a
significant number lack the requisite skills and the longed-for objectivity. Theoretically, they can be held to account.
It's not likely that citizen journalists could be, in any meaningful fashion.
The preceding comments apply to "citizen journalists" as contributors to the traditional media. In that realm, we as
consumers are better served if the media do not rely on amateurs. You (CBS, et al) are our surrogates. We pay you to tell us what is happening, why, where, what it means.
Unfortunately for us and ultimately for you, your skills, your trustworthiness, and your value have dwindled over the past thirty years. News was once a loss-leader; now it's a profit center. No collection of citizen journalists, or any
other reality-chasing gimmick, is going to compensate for the missing talent, hard work, and courage.
It's not hopeless, of course. Merely depressing.
About bloggers, more later.

COMMent

Posted by jmninpa at 4:51 PM : September 21, 2005

My comment is in two parts: One, in response to TomGrey2's suggestion of a rating system, I think that alone would be ripe for problems. Primarily, I would think that CBS News would be properly screening any citizen journalist submissions in effort to weed out those appearing unlikely or from more than questionable sources. That's the inherent danger and promise of the net. Incredible possibilities for information dissemination, but, from anyone with fingers and a keyboard.

And, unfortunately, probably an agenda too heavy to allow responsible reporting or submissions.
Related to the above, I also believe that having the citizenry involved in reporting or at least, advising "the pros" of
on-the-spot ongoings can greatly assist in rebuilding what has sadly become a beaten-down media, more geared toward preventing the truth than telling it. For that (not to be overly political), the blame needs to be placed squarely on the spin-to-win White House. I'd love to read submissions by someone who is on the spot in Iraq, then compare their words to that of the press releases we're fed every day.
Handled responsibly, I think citizen journalists can be a huge asset to the body public.

comment

Posted by TomGrey2 at 4:33 PM : September 21, 2005

I think it's great. If you have to keep up the standards anyway, why not give every submitted story an explicit rating for:

-- likely accuracy (and another for interest?)
-- Very Likely (corroborated),
-- Likely (fits with other corroborated stories),
-- open (totally alone, no corroboration nor contradiction),
-- UnLikely (conflicts with other stories),
-- Very Unlikely (fraud, joke, photoshop, urban legend, baseless rumor).

Those submitting stories would also see their rating; all non-chosen stories could go into the (trash?) Heap, where CBS does NOT consider them news.

comment

Posted by JennyDe at 3:04 PM : September 21, 2005

EVery news story, like it or not, is like a view through a gunslit. Narrow, incomplete. You can't interview everyone, see everything, know everything. Bias creeps in through every choice you make as a journalist...from where to stand to listen to the speech, to who to ask about it, to what you include in the story. Don't kid yourselves to think it's anything else. That said, it seems that a larger number of views--even if they are through a variety of gunslits--will illuminate the view. That's why I think citizen journalism is a good thing.

comment

Posted by HS_NC at 1:37 PM : September 21, 2005

I think in MOST cases this would be a very good thing. Unfortunately-I don't see much of it and even when interviewing citizens of an area affected by a storm--etc--most comments are edited to "side" with the story or to prove the point of the story. People are chosen based on the fact they are angry--if the story is to show how angry the people are. Regardless of how hard people try to be unbiased--they still sway a story to the way that will be accepted by the people that pay their salary. "Regular" citizens don't have that constraint. Some stations show both sides to every story and ththat should be applauded but not everyone does that. They show one side, the opinion they want to get across. I asked on his board before why we don't see more stories on the progress in Iraq, the progress in NO or other victims in NO--maybe those with the means that did not evacuate or came back and their house was destroyed or more focus on Miss where the storm actually HIT or the Federal response on past disasters so people have the facts to compare. Reporters show you what will get the best ratings--or what will get people in an uproar...NOT what may actually be happening. Citizens living through it or seeing it from the outside with no affiliation will give a more honest outlook.
+ comment complaint

CBSNews.com Home ©MMV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.


 

BLOGS: Newspaper site uses Red Cross reporter as blogger in New Orleans


http://www.mainetoday.com/editorblog/003000.html

ALEN CRABTREE BLOG:
http://news.mainetoday.com/katrina/crabtree/

September 20, 2005

Mainers in the Gulf Coast

Posted by Scott Hersey at 10:06 AM, editor of MaineToday.COM

Allen Crabtree of Sebago is a Red Cross volunteer working out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He headed down this past weekend after receiving some special training and now plans to stay there for a while. His job? He's going to be a reporter for the Red Cross, traveling around the area and interviewing workers and victims for Rec Cross publications. Last night, he spent the night with other workers at a church in Baton Rouge, talking with the pastor about his congregation's efforts to help.

How do I know I all this? I read his blog. Crabtree has agreed to blog for MaineToday.com while in the Gulf Coast, giving our viewers an up close and personal view of his life as a volunteer.

"With another huge tragedy facing America I resolved to do more to help with the Katrina disaster relief than I had been able to do after September 11," he wrote in one of his first entries. "Not to belittle all of the local things that need to be done but I wanted to put to use some of the training Ive had over the years as a fire fighter and emergency medical responder. I vowed to help directly if there was a way to do so. Several of my fellow volunteer fire fighters on the Sebago Fire Department felt the same way.''

Crabtree's only been in Baton Rouge for about 48 hours, and his dispatches have already given all of us a close-up view of the devastation and the ongoing efforts of Americans to help Americans who have been suffering from the aftermath of the hurricane. I expect that as he spends more time and gets out traveling around the area, his reports are going to be even more compelling.

This is a good example of the citizen journalism concept that we Internet journalists are toying with these days. With blog software and digital cameras, anyone has the tools to be a reporter. Crabtree is already showing us that he has the eyes, ears and compassion of a reporter as well. I know that his blog has become a must-read for me every day and I hope all of you reading this feel the same way.

By the way, citizen journalism by no means replaces professional reporting. The Press Herald's Bill Nemitz and Greg Rec are also in the Gulf Coast and we expect to have all their reporting and photos here on the site as soon as they become available. Nemitz first report is scheduled to be printed in tomorrow's paper, so we should have it online tomorrow as well.

------------------------------------------------------------
Scott Hersey has been the editor of MaineToday.com since 2003. As editor
he supervises all content development and management for MaineToday.com as
well as the online editions of the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday
Telegram, Morning Sentinel and Kennebec Journal. He writes this blog to
help explain what's going on behind the scenes at MaineToday.com. You can
email him or call him at 207-822-4061.


Sunday, September 18, 2005

 

BLOGS/JOURNALISM: Korean online newspaper enlists army of 'citizen reporters' (fwd)


ORIGINAL URL:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/09/18/MNG7LEPL151.DTL&type=tech

POSTED: Sunday, September 18, 2005

By Vanessa Hua
San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer

Seoul -- The staff at OhmyNews fills only two floors of a small office building in downtown Seoul, but it edits stories from thousands of "citizen reporters" across South Korea.

The 150 or so stories posted on the site each day range from breaking news about huge protests to sophisticated political analysis, from hit pieces to tales of the daily ups and downs of people who feel ignored by established
media.

OhmyNews readers can offer instant feedback online and -- if they really like a piece -- monetary tips. Readers poured nearly 30 million won ($30,000) into columnist Kim Young Ok's account in increments of $10 or less in one week after he criticized the constitutional court of South Korea last year.

"They're like street musicians or performers," Jean Min, director of the international news division, said of the citizen reporters.

OhmyNews is much more than a soapbox, though. It is a cross between an online news site and a sophisticated blog. Koreans flock to it. The site gets 1.7 million to 2 million page views each day, a number that shot up to 25 million during the December 2002 presidential election.

When reformer Roh Moo Hyun won the tight presidential race, he granted his first domestic interview to OhmyNews -- a slap to the conservative corporate daily papers that supported his rival.

The privately held Web site has been profitable since September 2003 and is projected to pull in $10 million this year, Min said. By contrast, Salon.com in San Francisco pulled in $6.6 million in fiscal year 2005 and had 1.1 million average daily page views in July, according to market research firm comScore Media Metrix. The DailyKos, a popular liberal blog written in Emeryville, had 96,774 average daily page views, and conservative blog Instapundit had 32,258 in July. The success of OhmyNews can be attributed in part to the high level of public engagement in this heavily wired, young democracy, where less than two decades have passed since military rule ended. Street protests are common, and citizens are eager to speak out online.

With the motto "every citizen is a reporter," 5-year-old OhmyNews has engaged its audience in ways that U.S. print and television news outlets, faced with a steep decline in readers and viewers, only dream of.

The site has a cultlike following, among both writers thrilled to see their views spread widely and readers who say they like getting an uncensored, if uneven, version of the news.

"It is composed of so many citizens. It's more free than other journals," said Kim Won Joong, 24, a journalism student at Chunnam University in Daejeon, in central South Korea. "But the opinions are scattered all over."

The site began an English-language edition in May, at english.ohmynews.com, and now has its sights set overseas. Several hundred citizen reporters have already signed up. So far, about 36 percent of English-language edition readers are from North America, 38.5 percent from Europe, and 16.7 percent from Asia outside South Korea.

For publicity, the company relies on stories in other media, word-of-mouth and the efforts of its reporters, many of whom are active bloggers, Min said.

"Our readers don't simply sit there and read. They interrogate each other," Min said during a slick hourlong presentation at the company's headquarters. One of his charts called OhmyNews a "post-modern 'we media' versus traditional
'elite media.' "

"People want to share their experience. It's more fun than simply watching television," Min said. Min and founder Oh Yeon Ho, a former alternative magazine editor and reporter, have traveled to Europe, Japan and North America for the past two years to talk about citizen journalism and OhmyNews' business model.

"So here we hoist our flag and declare war on the old media system. ... We are overthrowing the basic principles of news reporting, which for many years has been taken for granted by many of the world's newspapers," declares one of the company's brochures.

Similar to newspapers, about 70 percent of OhmyNews' revenue is from ad sales. But instead of the remainder going to subscriptions, as at newspapers, Min said OhmyNews gets 20 percent of its revenue from syndication sales, and just 10 percent from paid subscriptions for premium content.

In South Korea, OhmyNews has fast gained prominence and popularity, though critics say its reporting can be biased. OhmyNews uses emotional appeals rather than acting as a neutral forum for citizens, media observers say. Last year, the site began a reader drive to help fund the production of an encyclopedia of people who collaborated with the Japanese under colonial rule, after a columnist suggested the fundraising.

During huge protests against the impeachment of President Roh last year, 38 OhmyNews reporters fanned out into the streets and sent in photos, video and copy by various wireless connections.

The professional staff of 54 copy editors, editors and reporters -- which OhmyNews calls its "news guerrilla desk" -- reject about one-third of submissions. They fact-check and vet everything they post. For example, OhmyNews contacted Samsung for comment before publishing a Samsung worker's expose of how employees were forced to spend months of company time planning the vacation to Germany of the electronics company's chairman, Lee Kun Hee. It even considered sending a staff reporter to Berlin.

Just four lawsuits have been filed against OhmyNews over articles written by its staff reporters. None of the disputes has been resolved.

Citizen reporters receive $2 to $20 for each story OhmyNews uses, based on its merit. About 76 percent of the citizen reporters are men. Twenty percent are college students, 6 percent are small business owners, and 73 percent are 20 to 39 years old.

Min said reader response helps OhmyNews reporters improve over time. More than 70 staff and citizen reporters have landed book deals since the site opened, he said. Writer Kim Hye Won thanked her online critics for making her a better writer, even though she considered quitting after reading their harsh comments.

"I feel my limitations ... compared to professional reporters who specialize in particular areas or have accumulated tons of experience. I heard that my articles lack breadth and depth," she said in a speech at a conference of citizen reporters in June sponsored by OhmyNews.

Harry Lee, an editor in chief of Korea Press International, an independent news service in Washington, D.C., who freelances for the English-language edition of OhmyNews, describes the site as the "Hyde Park of
journalism."

"(It's) a forum where all kinds of people with all kinds of ideas and ideologies participate in all kinds of subjects."

E-mail Vanessa Hua at vahua@sfchronicle.com.


Saturday, September 17, 2005

 

CITIZEN JOURNALISM: Blogger Amy Gahran offers a bullet-point description

I, Reporter: What We're Going to tell Newspapers about CitJ Tomorrow

What is "citizen journalism"? Blogger and independent-media strategist Amy Gahran offers a bullet-point summary. Gahran, who lives in Boulder, Colo., has a journalism degree from Temple University, and has worked as a writer, editor and managing editor.


 

BLOGS: New York Times' list of relevant political and media blogs

The New York Times' Richard Meislin maintains a list of about 70 prominent "blogs" which focus on technology, politics and media.

Friday, September 09, 2005

 

SOCIAL NETWORKS: Minnesota Public Radio's parent invests in Boston-based Gather.COM


BELOW FROM:
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/about/mpr/structure.php

"American Public Media Group is the controlling shareholder of Gather Inc, a forprofit company that will provide community and commerce services to the public radio audience. Gather also has a content license agreement with MPR."

http://www.corante.com/getreal/archives/2005/09/07/gathercom_social_networking_for_public_radio_listeners.php

BELOW FROM:
http://www.unmediated.org/archives/2005/09/minnesota_publi_1.php

Originally posted by rali from PaidContent.org, remediated by yatta on Sep 8, 2005 at 12:05 AM

Minnesota Public Radio Invests in Social Networking Startup
(via PaidContent.org)

: This is the first such investment from a public broadcaster that I've heard of: American Public Media Group (APMG), parent company to Minnesota Public Radio, has invested almost $1 million in the for-profit, Boston-based Gather.com. The new venture is a social networking website devoted to creating an online community of public-radio listeners.The site, which has a beta version up now, will formally launch in December. It is designed for public radio's older, more sober audience...APMG may add several hundred thousand dollars more during the next round of financing, which aims to raise about $7 million more. In the first round, along with APMG's million, CEO Thomas August Gerac added slightly more than $1 million as investment.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE AT:
http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/5600286.html

Last update: September 6, 2005 at 10:10 PM

MPR parent invests in networking website

By Deborah Caulfield Rybak
Minneapolis Star Tribune

Minnesota's largest public-radio network, which recently launched the cutting-edge "Current" radio station, is again venturing into trendy waters -- this time on the Internet.

American Public Media Group (APMG), parent company to Minnesota Public Radio, has invested almost $1 million in the for-profit, Boston-based Gather.com. The new venture is a "social networking" website devoted to creating an online community of public-radio listeners.

"We think we can take audiences beyond what we give them in public radio and connect them with a whole lot of people who have similar interests," said Bill Kling, president of APMG. "We hope there is a point where they actually get involved in activities with each other -- to take a tour of Italy, or live in a compound in Santa Fe."

"We can't do that in public radio," he said.

Gather.com, set to launch in December, will operate along the same principles as MySpace.com and Friendster.com -- fee-free sites where people can establish their own home pages listing their personal and professional interests, keep blogs and communicate with other site members. Revenue is generated by selling advertisers space on those venues.

Social networking sites, with their young-skewing participants, have become red-hot commodities of late. MySpace, which has almost 30 million members, recently was purchased for $580 million by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

However, Gather may be different. MySpace caters to teens and young adults and has been described as having the personality of a teenager's poster-papered, music-filled bedroom. Gather, designed for public radio's older, more sober audience, might more resemble the parents' book-lined study.

Although Kling said he didn't want to stereotype potential participants, he described them at various times during an interview as "smart people who talk politics," and "people who are thoughtful and interesting and fun."

Jack Flanagan, vice president at Comscore Networks, which tracks website performance, called Gather "an interesting concept," considering that social networking sites skew much younger than public-radio audiences.

"The top end of MySpace's audience is [age] 34," Flanagan said. That's about the bottom end of public radio's audience, so "it doesn't seem like something that would translate perfectly," he said.

However, audiences with higher-than-normal levels of income and education are attractive to advertisers, so Gather "will be an a good opportunity to apply a proven model to an older audience," he said.

Boston-based

Kling developed the idea with Thomas Gerace, an Internet entrepreneur who invented a method of helping advertisers better track their online performance. Gerace will oversee the website's operation in Boston.

The venture is being partially funded through Greenspring, APMG's for-profit arm, which owns Minnesota Monthly magazine, and, until they were recently sold, Twin Cities AM radio stations KLBB and KLBP.

Kling said APMG has invested $985,000 so far and may add several hundred thousand dollars more during the next round of financing, which aims to raise about $7 million more in venture capital. "The [APMG] board put a cap on at $1.2 million," he said. Gerace has invested slightly more than APMG, Kling said, although APMG retains controlling interest.

The last time MPR launched a for-profit business was in 1987, when it created Rivertown Trading, a mail-order catalogue company. Rivertown was criticized for blurring the lines between nonprofit and for-profit businesses, and Kling was criticized for taking a salary from the operation. MPR sold it in 1998 to Dayton Hudson Corp. (now Target) for $120 million.

Kling has been named Gather's co-founder and board chairman. His two top APMG executives, Tom Kigin and Jon McTaggart, also are board members. While none of them will draw a salary, the trio, plus 10 other members of APMG senior management, have been offered the opportunity to buy shares in the venture, Kling said.

Kling said he doesn't expect that Gather will prompt a replay of the Rivertown Trading experience: "We have done it very carefully. There are special committees in place to be sure that there are no conflicts."

Kling added, "Our challenge is to make sure that people understand that this is being done for the same reason that we produce public radio: For the advantage of our audience. We want to develop and strengthen content and to give audiences new experiences. If there's something wrong with that, then there's something wrong with public radio."

Staff Writer Terry Fiedler contributed to this report.

Deborah Caulfield Rybak is at dcrybak@startribune.com .

----------------------------------------------------------------

This article above is copyrighted material, the use of which may not have specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The material is made available in an effort to advance understanding of political, economic, democracy, First Amendment, technology, journalism, community and justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' as provided by Section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Chapter 1, Section 107, the material above is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this blog for purposes beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.


 

BLOGS: Katrina seen as defining moment for blogs; becomming nation's memory?


EXCERPT:

"The so-called 'memory hole' that many politicians of all stripes have relied upon is now closed," says Clay Shirky, an adjunct professor of interactive telecommunications at NYU. "The blogosphere has become the institutional memory for the country."

Posted Sept. 8, 2005

ORIGINAL SOURCE: MIT Technology Review
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/05/09/wo/wo_090905hellweg.asp
http://www.livejournal.com/~interdictor/

Katrina: A Defining Moment for Blogs

By Eric Hellweg
MIT Technology Review

Michael Barnett didn't ask to be a front-line reporter for the biggest natural disaster ever to befall America. But when he opted to stay in the Crescent City to work at his employer, web hosting company DirectNIC, that's just what he became.

Barnett's blog, The Interdictor, had previously been a "private little journal," according to Barnett. But when he began chronicling Katrina's destruction and the terrible aftermath, it became a lot more.

Currently, hundreds of thousands of readers a day visit it. "I get thousands of instant messages an hour, I can't keep up with them," he writes in the blog.

Barnett's blog is just one of tens of thousands of blogs covering Katrina's aftermath. In the blog coverage, readers have heard first-person accounts such as Barnett's of surviving and surveying the damage, or have read of the maddening frustration that a small group of volunteers has experienced in trying to set up an FCC-sanctioned, low-power radio station inside Houston's Astrodome.

Blogs have allowed displaced New Orleanians to view satellite images of the city overlayed with first-hand descriptions of damage at specific locations. "A friend of mine from New Orleans was able to see one of these maps and read some damage descriptions and she realized the floodwaters had stopped about 20 feet from her house," says Xeni Jardin, co-editor of the influential blog Boing Boing.

What's more, blogs have jumped to the fore in shaping the mainstream media's coverage of the hurricane aftermath. Indeed, bloggers have served as a legion of fact checkers for political claims and spin efforts.

As such, the Hurricane Katrina disaster is the defining moment for the blogosphere -- the first time it has truly become enmeshed in the media landscape, rather than relegated to curiosity status.

Of course, pundits have said at other moments in recent history that blogs were finally coming into their own, only to see their influence dwindle after some momentous event passed.

When the Democratic convention invaded Boston in July 2004, much of the talk among media observers centered around the new kids on the bus: the bloggers. For the first time, select bloggers were awarded press credentials to a political convention, allowing the writers behind Talking Points Memo and the Daily Kos to rub elbows with hardened political reporters such as the New York Times' R.W. Apple Jr. and ABC's Ted Koppel.

Select bloggers were admitted to the GOP convention in September as well. The hoopla around blogging's role in the 2004 presidential election culminated in Ana Marie Cox's famous appearance on the cover of the New York Times Magazine with Apple and columnist Jack Germond (Cox is the irreverent political and cultural blogger behind Wonkette).

For all the commotion, though, the blogosphere didn't do much to influence the narrative arc of the election. To be sure, right-wing blogs took the lead in debunking the forged documents behind Dan Rather's 60 Minutes report that questioned George W. Bush's National Guard service.

But despite the frenzied efforts of the blogs to point out the questionable nature of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth's claims against John Kerry, those accusations stuck.

"The Dan Rather story was high profile, but that's dwarfed in comparison to this," says Chris Redlitz, vice president of marketing with Feedster, a blog search engine.

At most, the election-era blogs were just more voices in the he-said, she-said battle for influence. The buzz was more about the blogosphere's much-heralded arrival than any notable influence on the election's outcome.

Fast forward a year, however, and the situation has completely changed. Blogs have taken the lead in providing comprehensive coverage of Katrina's devastating aftermath in the Gulf Coast, and people are turning to blogs in huge numbers for their Katrina-related news.

"This is by far [our] most-searched term or event to date," says Blake Rhodes, founder and CEO of IceRocket, a blog search engine based in Dallas, TX, that's been around for a little over a year.

One critical factor bringing exposure to blogs, ironically, is the mainstream media's rediscovery of its own teeth. During the presidential election, the media bent over backward to appear unbiased, to the point that it gave unproven allegations such as the Swift Boat Veterans' attacks on Kerry as much air time and print space as factual assertions.

With Katrina, however, news crews were on the ground, witnessing and reporting the destruction -- and the undeniable ineptitude of the early rescue and recovery efforts. So when blogs highlighted the fact that FEMA Director Michael Brown had little previous emergency management experience, for example, the MSM pounced on the information that blogs were supplying, calling spin for what it was.

Likewise, when President Bush said that "no one could have predicted" the levees would fail and New Orleans would flood, the blogosphere jumped into action, producing dozens of articles, studies, and video files that predicted just that, sparking a new round of mainstream news stories.

"The so-called 'memory hole' that many politicians of all stripes have relied upon is now closed," says Clay Shirky, an adjunct professor of interactive telecommunications at NYU. "The blogosphere has become the institutional memory for the country."

Through the terrible aftermath of Katrina, we are witnessing the legitimization of a new medium, one that provides alternatives to or supplements what's available through the MSM. Blogs have made a leap toward legitimacy: a story is now a story whether it originates on a blog or on CNN. The medium is no longer the message. The message, in fact, is now the message.

------------
----------------------------------------------------------------

This article above is copyrighted material, the use of which may not have specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The material is made available in an effort to advance understanding of political, economic, democracy, First Amendment, technology, journalism, community and justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' as provided by Section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Chapter 1, Section 107, the material above is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this blog for purposes beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.


Saturday, September 03, 2005

 

ADVERTISING: Research sees 'fundamental shift' from print to web


August 14, 2005 11:40 PM

SOURCE: The Financial Times via MSN Money
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.asp?Feed=FT&Date=20050814&ID=5039558

Veronis Suhler Stevenson, the private equity firm, said in a new survey that the pervasiveness of the internet was pushing fundamental changes as advertising money shifts online and as consumer attention drifts from traditional media.

The report predicts that new media advertising which includes cable and satellite television, internet and video game advertising will grow by nearly 17 per cent every year for the next five years, reaching $69bn by 2009.

Recent investing newsS. Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong Markets Hailed Hu aims to defuse rising tension with US Bush pledges thousands more troops after hurricane /C O R R E C T I O N -- The Coca-Cola Company/ Microsoft, Google Trade Salvos Over ExecBy then, spending ondigital-based media will push average annual consumer spending on media in the US over the $1,000 level for the first time.

"The industry is undergoing a fundamental change, as predicted by internet pundits a decade ago," said James Rutherfurd, executive vice-president of Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS).

Traditional media companies have already stepped up their acquisitions in the internet space. News Corp said last week it would spend up to $2bn investing in the space, and others such as the New York Times' parent and Dow Jones have made purchases.

Mr Rutherfurd said the difference between now and five years ago, when media companies also rushed to make internet investments, most of which were written off, was that there was confidence that the internet offered solid opportunities.

"I don't sense the fear that was there before, although there is still confusion as to how best to take advantage of these changes," Mr Rutherfurd said.

The bust which followed the internet bubble resulted in a severe decrease in advertising in 2000 and 2001 and a recession in the media and communication industries. Last year, the sector grew strongly for the first time since then, up 7.3 per cent. The VSS report estimates growth of 6.8 percent this year to $858bn.

The internet is proving to be one of the most effective because advertisers can measure audience response by monitoring the number of people who click on links.

This, combined with consumer complaints about ad clutter, have resulted in a shift from advertising-based media, such as broadcast television, radio, newspapers and magazines. Five years ago, these media accounted for 64 per cent of consumer time spent with media. In five year's time, VSS predicts these will account for 54 per cent of consumer time spent, with subscription- and fee-based media accounting for 46 per cent.

Copyright 2005 Financial Times

----------------------------------------------------------------

This article above is copyrighted material, the use of which may not have specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The material is made available in an effort to advance understanding of political, economic, democracy, First Amendment, technology, journalism, community and justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' as provided by Section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Chapter 1, Section 107, the material above is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this blog for purposes beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.


 

Nashville TV station reshaping news coverage with "VJ" approach

PRINT EDITION COVER DATE: SEPTEMBER 12, 2005
COLUMN: MEDIA CENTRIC
HEADLINE: Local TV's Brave News World

By Jon Fine
Business Week Online

Can "video journalists" and "citizen journalists" lead TV out of the abyss?

Imagine a world in which local TV news doesn't suck. I know, I know. It's not easy. But try. Imagine an end to pointless news-chopper one-upmanship, to "breaking" reports on trumped-up consumer scams, to the same-show-different-anchors feeling that viewers get nightly from West Palm Beach to Walla Walla.

"We all get the same research" that viewers find the TV news format tedious and irrelevant, says Michael Sechrist, president of Nashville's ABC (DIS ) affiliate, WKRN. "And we shake our heads, say, 'Yeah, yeah,' and we don't do anything."

Except Sechrist is. WKRN is retraining its staff in shooting and producing digital video in a bid to radically transform its on-air product. If what WKRN does works, it will be Exhibit A in proving that local TV news can retool itself to regain its audience in a fragmenting media landscape.

Guiding WKRN is Michael Rosenblum, the veteran TV producer-cum-consultant behind a video-production model that's often abbreviated to "VJ," for video journalist. In a VJ operation, your entire staff -- not just reporters -- can shoot stories. Your entire staff -- not just the editors -- can edit news segments, even on laptops while out in the field. You break the old dependence on an operation's (few) camera crews. In theory, you get more naturalistic programming -- think "documentary film," not "reporter stands stiltedly in front of building" -- since you don't have to pose and light everyone just so before filming with obtrusive gear. More people producing stories, ideally, equals a wider array of subjects. Rosenblum says the VJ model also can slash costs up to 60%. (He concedes that layoffs and union issues could result.) One recent VJ convert: the BBC. An exec says going VJ increased the BBC's cameras in the field from 84 to over 1,000. On deck: San Francisco's KRON (own!
ed, like WKRN, by Young Broadcasting) (YBTVA ). WKRN's staff is to be fully retrained by mid-September.

THE HOPE IS THAT MORE VIEWERS, especially younger ones, will watch. WKRN's news ratings trail others in Nashville, so it has freedom to experiment. But all stations should feel so free. Like a Sunday paper, local news contributes disproportionately to station revenues; like broadcast TV, it's in a decline. Terry Heaton, another WKRN consultant, studied late-news ratings over 10 years in six midsize and metro markets. Total drop: 30%.

The VJ model hits TV news at a particularly plangent cultural moment. Al Gore's Current network -- for which Rosenblum consulted -- is presenting news in a manner that's heavily influenced by new media. A small coterie of media hotshots-turned-bloggers -- among them Jeff Jarvis, ex-president of Newhouse Newspapers' online unit and ex-San Jose Mercury News columnist Dan Gillmor -- is talking up sundry "citizen journalism" initiatives. Such efforts are now sprinkled across the globe, from Southern California (northwestvoice.com) and southern Vermont (ibrattleboro.com) to South Korea (ohmynews.com).

In the broadest possible terms, these seek to put the tools of reporting and storytelling into the hands of an entire community, rather than concentrate them within newsrooms. (That bloggers' accounts of Katrina's devastation became part of the media diet marked another seminal citizen-journalist moment.) These are exciting developments, unless you work in traditional media. If your business is democratized, are you democratized out of business?

What happens with WKRN will provide early insight into how well this democratization -- with all its delicious tinges of empowerment -- can work in a mass-market business model. WKRN also trained local bloggers in video production, so they too may contribute news segments. Plenty of big-name players are tinkering around the edges with citizen-journalism. It's harder to find a major-market network affiliate making such a far-reaching effort. Says Sechrist: "We are not going to go back." No pressure, Michael, but the media world is watching. If it works, we might start tuning in at 11 again.

Copyright 2000-2004, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.

----------------------------------------------------------------

This article above is copyrighted material, the use of which may not have specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The material is made available in an effort to advance understanding of political, economic, democracy, First Amendment, technology, journalism, community and justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' as provided by Section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Chapter 1, Section 107, the material above is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this blog for purposes beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.


 

KATRINA: Are citizen journalists closer to the news than traditional reporters?

TechWeb | Internet | Bloggers, Citizen Journalists See Katrina From The Inside: "'Traditional journalism is the outside looking in,' Mitch Gelman, executive vice president of CNN.com, said. 'Citizen journalism is the inside looking out. In order to get the complete story, it helps to have both point of views.' "

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?