Archive for August, 2007
Encouraging entrepreneurship in your newsroom
A great read over at the OJR on how newspapers have been stiffling innovation by worrying too much and innovating too little. It sounds about right. If you’re in a dying industry (or in a massive upheaval), it’s probably because a lot of people at the top are too conservative. Let your reporters and editors [...]
Why newspapers don’t appeal to young people
I’ve lived in three states in 2007. Clearly, I don’t have a subscription to a newspaper (unless you count The Economist as a newspaper and not a magazine), and I know most of my peers don’t either. Us not-too-far-out-of-college people are not settled yet, and it’s hard to justify subscribing to something or caring about [...]
Video does not equal new media
I’m not sure where this idea started, but when a lot of newspaper journalists talk about new media, they focus on video. Last time I checked there is local news, network news, cable news and the long shadows of legends like Cronkite and Murrow. Reporting the news with video isn’t exactly new. So, why would [...]
Journalists say and do the darndest things vol. 1
The following are true stories that I have either witnessed or have been relayed to me by fellow journalists: “Google will one day charge per click.” – a newspaper editor on how he believes Google will one day charge people for each search, leading him to believe journalism will come full circle when people revolt [...]
Newspapers should conduct new media training
We can all agree that more journalists need new media training. What hasn’t been in agreement is whose responsibility it is to do that training. Should newspapers train people or should they expect journalists to have all the skills they need? To me, the answer is simple: newspapers need to provide the training because ultimately [...]
The easy way to learn new media
Want to know the easiest way to learn a lot of new media? Get a Mac. It’s that simple. All Macs come with iLife built in, which gives you movie editing, photo cataloging and editing, audio and podcast production, Web design and DVD production. Think of it as MS Office for your digital life. You [...]
Moving this week
Updates will be slow this week because I am in the process of moving from Rockville, Maryland to Alexandria, Virginia. More quality JI content will be here later this week. This would be the perfect time to post or e-mail in any comments, suggestions or questions. Thanks.
Building a modern Web site/newsroom
The problem with most journalism Web sites is that they were built for a print-first world. Online was, and is at most publications, an afterthought. Thus, Web sites rarely harness content properly. There is a lot of content in papers that makes a lot of sense online, but only when utilized properly. Adrian Holovaty had [...]
What is the future of the Washington Post?
Marc Gunther has a good article over at Fortune. The question is quite simple: will the Washington Post survive the turmoil ahead for media companies? Why is the Post so important? Many people consider it to be the best traditional media company at navigating online, but even they are having revenue issues. Print revenue is [...]
Sites I like: CNN.com
I’m starting a new feature at The Journalism Iconoclast on sites I like and why I like them. It will run semi regularly. I’d also like your feedback on which sites you like and why. CNN.com is one of my most viewed sites, and in the end it’s the sites that I visit the most [...]