Archive for August, 2008
Jay Mariotti made the right decision to leave the Sun-Times
The real question is why he stuck around so long. If fact, I don’t understand why any star print columnist or beat reporter doesn’t just start his or her own Web site. The Dallas Cowboys Blog for The Dallas Morning news can get hundreds of thousands of page views in one day. And that’s without [...]
The great journalism education debate
What is the future of journalism education? Many people have taken issue with journalism education, especially in the U.S. One major concern is that journalism education appears to be behind the industry and rarely out in front, innovating. Many people even advise against majoring in journalism. But let’s step back from the criticisms of journalism [...]
News organizations need to upsell users
The idea that news organizations should charge for basic content on the Web is repugnant. It’s a losing proposition. It’s a terrible, terrible idea. And journalism is filled with terrible ideas right now. But that doesn’t mean news organizations can’t charge for content. Far from it. Rather, news organizations need to create upsell features. For [...]
Using Web analytics to improve content
For years individual content producers in news organizations didn’t have an easy way to figure out how popular or useful their content was with people. But with today’s advanced site analytics, content producers have unprecedented data about users and their surfing habits. I wrote a long post about this subject over at BeatBlogging.Org. Consider this [...]
A hyperlocal/beat blogging experiment
Sometimes the best way to learn about a subject is just to go out and experiment. With that thought in mind, I’ve launched a hyperlocal/beat blogging experiment, Chagrin Valley Sports. My goal is simple: provide better and more in-depth coverage of local sports in the Chagrin Valley area utilizing a beat blog. I’m starting out [...]
What is the future of the copy editor?
Do copy editors have a future in journalism? Will that role be drastically changing? Traditionally, copy editors at most newspapers had to do more than just edit copy. They also had to do page layout, fit stories to fixed spaces, write headlines, write captions, etc. Obviously, page layout is not needed on the Web, and [...]
Microsoft, worst customer support ever
Maybe it shouldn’t even be called customer support at Microsoft. More like spend 2 hours of your life getting no help. No help whatsoever. I recently purchased an XBOX 360 Elite (you know, the expensive model), and I went to redeem an XBOX Live subscription card I had lying around. I got an error when [...]
Blah, blah, blah. Worst column ever.
Debra J. Sanders of the dieing San Francisco Chronicle recently wrote an inane column about why the death of newspapers will be the death of us all. And I quote: Blah, blah, blah. You need us (newspaper people, who only write for print) to keep democracy going. Blah, blah, blah we made the mistake of [...]
On moderating comments
I’m working on some content today for beatblogging.org about the moderation of user comments on stories and blogs. I need your help. How does you news organization handle these moderating duties? Are your comments moderated or unmoderated? If they are moderated, who does it? Do your writers and bloggers interact with posters? What has worked [...]
Lock up all your curmudgeons and children!
Because TwentySomethingJournalist.com just launched. You know what the worst kind of journalist is? A twenty-something journalist. You know what kind of journalist doesn’t respect the newspaperman myth? A twenty-something journalist. You know what kind of journalist doesn’t respect the Paper God? A twenty-something journalist. You know what kind of journalist is ruining journalism? A twenty-something [...]