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January 2005
Bloggers react to South Asian tsunami disaster
2005-01-03By Sarah Colombo: Bloggers reacted quickly to the South Asian tsunami disaster by posting community updates (sometimes through text messaging) and charity listings, reports The New York Times. But some political bloggers also seized the opportunity to espouse “crackpot” theories about the disaster. Some bloggers faulted Bush Administration policies for the South Asian tsunami disaster. Contributors to liberal sites such as Democratic Underground pointed to the War in Iraq or environmental pollution as the catalyst for the earthquake and subsequent wave. True to the Web’s “self-correcting” editorial fashion, subsequent postings have focused on the scientific cause of earthquakes.
Resolve to Be More Skeptical in '05
2005-01-03By Robert Niles: If you're looking for a New Year's resolution that does not involve the gym, yoga classes or quitting some nasty-yet-refreshing vice, consider this one: "I resolve to be more skeptical about every story idea I consider in 2005."
And here is your inspiration – the tale of Alek Komarnitsky, and his allegedly Web-controlled home holiday light display. You might remember numerous stories last month about this Denver-area man, who said he put up a webcam showing his home's light display, which he also said Web surfers could turn on or off via his website.
A few skeptics on Slashdot.org wondered how Komarnitsky could pull that off without frying the circuits in his home. But many professional reporters bought the story, and ran it as a holiday "bright," with no substantial follow-up.
Komarnitsky now details his hoax, and the news media's role in it, on his website. The pages provide a roadmap on how to dupe Web surfers – and the press.
Let's not forget that the Web is not simply a news publishing medium. People use it to entertain one another – even to pull practical jokes. Good reporting requires more than picking the most entertaining stories off the Web or the wire. It requires picking up the phone, driving to the scene or taking some other independent step to verify a story's truth before repeating it. Too often reporters let that slide for certain stories under deadline pressure. Here's to resolving to quit doing that in 2005.
Year of the blog
2005-01-03By Sarah Colombo: From CNET News: 2004 was the year of the blog, but only 38% of Internet users know what the word means, according to study called “State of Blogging” released by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Nevertheless, online journals’ popularity soared: 32 million Internet users now say they read blogs. And more users are becoming authors. By the end of the year, 7% of U.S. adults had written a blog, according to the survey.
Advertisers play favorites with Web
2005-01-04By Sarah Colombo: Via I Want Media: As an increasing number of advertisers opt to appear online, survival could become riskier for traditional media, reports ClickZ News. A recent study conducted by JuniperResearch found that almost half of 1,803 U.S. adults surveyed indicated they considered the Web their leading information channel. “As such, the Internet being a clear favorite should send a warning sign to traditional media: serious cannibalization period ahead,” said David Card, a lead analyst at JuniperResearch.
Applicants sought for multimedia training seminar
2005-01-05By Robert Niles: Journalists looking for hands-on training in multimedia reporting are invited to apply for an expenses-paid one week seminar, presented by the Western Knight Center for Specialized Journalism. The seminar will run March 21 - 25 at the the University of California, Berkeley and will include five days of instruction on how to do audio and video reporting for the Web. Participants will create their own multimedia Web project as part of the seminar.
Print and broadcast reporters and editors are encouraged to apply by February 4, 2005 to:
Vikki Porter, Director
The Western Knight Center for Specialized Journalism
USC Annenberg School for Communication
One California Plaza
300 South Grand Ave., Ste. 3950
Los Angeles, CA, 90071.
Applications should include two copies of:
Applications are also available online. There is no fee for the workshop and the Western Knight Center covers hotel accommodations and meals and provides up to $300 for a travel allowance.
News site editors incorporate blogs, improved navigation
2005-01-05By Sarah Colombo: News site editors are looking for ways to integrate blogs with their content, reports Editor and Publisher Online. They’re also focused on improving navigation, and not surprisingly, adding more multi-media features. Editor and Publisher also reports that The New York Times on the Web will launch a redesigned site in 2005. Leonard Apcar, the site’s editor in chief, said their effort will be less focused on a traditional home page. “(Visitors) are coming in because of search engines or RSS feeds, any number of avenues — our own e-mails, other links,” he said. “They're coming in to an article page. Once they get to an article page, we need to redesign how else you engage the site and travel through it." The mostly subscription-based Wall Street Journal Online also hopes to engage bloggers with relevant content.
Salon.com's Washington bureau chief let go
2005-01-06By Sogole Honarvar: Via I Want Media: Salon.com's Washington bureau chief Sidney Blumenthal was relieved of his duties on Thursday, reports The New York Daily News. The head of the online magazine, David Talbot, was quiet about why Blumenthal was let go, but did say that he was appreciative of his talents and hopes to maintain a working relationship between Blumenthal and Salon.com. Blumenthal will stay on as the U.S. columnist for The Guardian of London. A new Washington bureau cheif for Salon.com will be announced soon.
U.K.'s Sky News site targeted in tsunami hoax
2005-01-06By Sogole Honarvar: The U.K.'s Sky News Web site has been the target of several hoax and spam e-mails sent to friends and families of tsunami victims. dotJournalism reports that perpetrators have used Sky News's site to send vicious e-mails to those searching for news about their missing loved ones and friends, falsely stating their death. The British government has informed its citizens that it will not use e-mail in these matters, and is pressing charges against such perpetrators. Sky News is "disgusted" with these activities and is doing its best to thwart such crimes. The site currently features messageboards, a ticker device and a list of all British victims. BBC News is also using its site to track down thousands of missing persons inquiries involved in the tsunami.
Newspaper sites taking to blogging?
2005-01-06By Aarthi Sivaraman: Via Editor & Publisher: For newspaper Web sites today, even if blogs seem to be the best way to keep an audience, the trick seems to be formulating a new recipe for them. Newspapers claim they have always run articles and columns similar to blogs. For example, Bill Grueskin of The Wall Street Journal Online said, "We've been doing things for some time, even before they were called blogs," pointing out The Daily Fix, launched in 2001, which gathers the best sports cyber news and The Health Scan, which focuses on big stories in health. Terminology seems to trouble some editors even now, not to mention the controversy over editing blogs submitted by non-reporters. Even though "there's a real role for blogs in the future of online journalism," according to Douglas Feaver of washingtonpost.com, it may very well take mainline news sites some time to embrace blogging as readers have.
New York Times denies plans to charge for online access
2005-01-07By Sogole Honarvar: Via I Want Media: DowJones reports that The New York Times has refuted recent rumors circulating that it will begin charging users for access to its Web site, NYTimes.com. After recent reports in BusinessWeek that the newspaper was considering subscriptions for online news access, a company spokesperson said, "We have no plans to start charging for the site at this point." Most content on the site is free, with the exception of a few features that require payment.
Local sites make big impact with contributing citizen photographers
2005-01-07By Sogole Honarvar: From CyberJournalist.net: WestportNow.com, a local Web site covering the town of Westport, Conn., has published a 'year in photos' feature thanks to over 50 citizen photographers who contributed to the 400+ image gallery. The site's editor, Gordon Joseloff says that the citizen journalists' photos provide a glimpse into the everyday lives and events of Westport. The site's traffic has increased since the new year. Other local sites are following suit. The Ventura County Star has launched a photo community blog which also takes submissions from citizen photographers.
Citizen blogging takes spotlight after Asian tsunami
2005-01-10By Aarthi Sivaraman: Via dotJournalism: The tsunamis brought out the best in citizen journalism, in the form of photos, personal accounts and readers' stories, says Steve Outing of Poynter Online. A good number of mainstream media organizations picked up on these pieces, though BBC has arguably done the best job of integrating real life accounts with its own reporting, Outing says. He suspects that the news media is still hesitant to embrace citizen reporting for the fear of credibility. But overall, the incident has brought to light an army of accidental journalists' who could become an integral part of news media.
Online junkies take root in blogosphere
2005-01-10By Aarthi Sivaraman: Via nj.com: From mayors to teenagers, everyone seems to be taking to blogs for documenting everything from everyday news to serious political issues on a national level. Blogs are finding great use as educational tools, political commentary platforms and to report stories that mainstream media often miss. A reason for concern though, is that bloggers may be taking to conventional journalism as their profession and this may shrink the possibility of an alternate, free-thinking media. However, once the credibility and accuracy of blogs is established, many feel there may be no stopping them. "The fundamental idea is that journalism is a conversation," said Rob Hays, coordinator of the journalism program at Northampton Community College. "We're going to amplify the conversation by adding more voices."
OJR debuts new registration system
2005-01-10By Robert Niles: Online Journalism Review has introduced a new registration system to allow readers to contribute content to the site. Registration is free, and allows readers to append comments to articles and blog entries on OJR. In the near future, registrants will also be able to edit wikis and participate in Q&A discussions on the site. Readers must submit their real name and a working e-mail address to register. OJR will not accept anonymous comments or registrations.
Readers do not have to register in order to read OJR content, which remains freely available online. As part of this new, interactive publishing system, OJR has also published a page of guidelines for readers who submit content to the site and updated its privacy policy.
Pew Internet study addresses future of the Net
2005-01-10By Sogole Honarvar: The latest study out of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, "The Future of the Internet," finds that the Web will become a more integral, daily part of people's lives and also vulnerable to routine attacks. The survey, conducted from September to Nov. 2004, polled technology leaders, industry officials and scholars, amongst others, to collect their opinions regarding the future of the Net. Of those polled, 66% believe that at least one devastating attack on the Net will occur within the next ten years. Survey respondents also expressed their awe of the Web's growth, including the changing scene of online publishing with the rise of blogs and peer-to-peer networking.
iVillage.com buys Healthology Inc.
2005-01-10By Sogole Honarvar: Via I Want Media: iVillage.com, the women's Web site, has purchased medical information site Healthology.com for $17.2 million, reports Dow Jones. iVillage hopes the deal will boost its 2005 earnings per share, broadband offering and content library.
In the age of the blog, who is a journalist?
2005-01-11By Aarthi Sivaraman: Via The New York Times: The increasingly fine line between mainstream media and cyber news sites may become more blurry as Apple files a lawsuit to issue subpoenas against three Weblogs that hosted links to a future Apple device on their Web site. The Web sites are now required to disclose their confidential sources, much like journalists for print or broadcast media are asked to. David B. Sentelle, a federal judge hearing the appeal last month, said this being the Internet age did not provide "clear lines for defining who is entitled to journalistic protections." However, some seem to think that bloggers should enjoy the same privileges that mainstream journalists do. "Bloggers are becoming a more and more critical source of news," said Kurt Opsahl, the lawyer representing PowerPage.org and AppleInsider.com. "A lot of confidential tips first start out on the blogs before being picked up in the mainstream media."
False tsunami picture prompts apology from newspaper
2005-01-11By Aarthi Sivaraman: The Mail and Guardian published an apology for printing a false picture of people in Sri Lanka fleeing the tsunami on its front page. The picture was e-mailed to the paper and to at least two of its online staff, sources said. It was found later that the photo was of a flooding China river, taken in 2002. The report points out that several newspapers in the United States and Canada were also taken in by the same photo. Guy Berger, head of the media and journalism department at Rhodes University, said journalists should be more careful at such times to verify the credibility of information. "You cannot blame a mistake like this on the fact that the Internet is an almost uncontrollable medium for the spread of manipulated or false pictures." The Internet's existence should only make a reporter more sceptical, he said.
N.C. paper's site aims for more "transparency"
2005-01-11By Sarah Colombo: From CyberJournalist: Greensboro News & Record journalist Lex Alexander presented his editors with a list of innovative ideas about how to make the newspaper’s site “more transparent.” Among the suggestions: recruiting local and “beat” bloggers to cover specific stories, allowing readers to “rewrite” stories for publication review, presenting letters to the editor as a blog with continued user feedback, and inducting a blogger’s budget and editorial meetings.
Avoid phony tsunami-related e-mail
2005-01-11By Sarah Colombo: Poynter Online contributor and Columbia J-School professor Sree Sreenivasan cautioned readers to check sources before they forward tsunami disaster-related e-mail. Sreenivasan said he received five fowarded e-mails (three from journalists) on Monday that contained false information. He suggested checking UrbanLegends.About.com or Snopes.com to check credibility before forwarding an message. Sreenivasan also published a specific warning for journalists who forward hoax e-mail: “I plan to start naming names the next time a journalist sends around a fake message. You have been warned.”
Mugabe tightens media law
2005-01-12By Aarthi Sivaraman: Via CPJ.com: Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe recently signed into law a measure that allows for journalists to be imprisoned if they are found working without the media commission's accreditation. The new clause is part of an already rigid media clamp-down that forced the shutdown of the country's independent daily newspaper in 2002. Reporters now face up to 20 years in prison if they publish anything that is "prejudicial to the state." The latitude of the law is causing concern - it could affect online media and citizen journalists as much as conventional media. “CPJ is deeply troubled by these measures, which will have a further chilling effect on independent journalism in Zimbabwe,” CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper said.
UK journalists' union provides freelance pay guidelines online
2005-01-12By Aarthi Sivaraman: Via dotJournalism: The UK's National Union for Journalists is proposing a unique Web site that will provide freelancing rate details for reporters. The site will establish freelance rates and also define copyright, fair use and reproduction guidelines. The material on the Web site will include advice on tax, negotiating money and securing commissions. It will list minimum rates for work across all media, including online. The information is available only online, though a downloadable format will be included. The site specifically includes suggestions for photographers who use digital media.
Google's ads removed from racist site
2005-01-12By Sarah Colombo: From JSOnline: Many independent Web publishers depend on revenue generated by Google’s AdSense program, but Internet advertising can have a downside. Ads placed by Kraft Foods Inc. through Google recently appeared on whiterevolution.com, a Web site endorsing white supremacy, making it appear as though Kraft sponsored the site. After Kraft raised objections, Google quickly disabled access to ads and searches from the site, said Kraft spokeswoman Donna Sitkiewicz. Google’s policy prohibits the use of its technology on sites posting hate-related, pornographic, violent and other image-tarnishing content.
Business and financial news service to consider sale offers
2005-01-13By Stephanie Woo: Via I Want Media: Online news purveyer TheStreet.com is considering offers incited by the announcement of the $519-million sale of CBS MarketWatch in November, even bringing in a New York investment bank to assist its board of directors with the decision, according to a company statement released Wednesday. "Our Board believes that this is an opportune time for us to explore alternatives for enhancing stockholder value and building upon our accomplishments in both the electronic publishing and securities research and brokerage segments of our business," said Thomas J. Clarke Jr., chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the online business and financial news service. He told senior executives that many inquiries have been made about TheStreet.com since mid-November.
Print executive becomes publisher of Net newsletter
2005-01-13
By Stephanie Woo:
The former advertising director of the print shopping magazine Lucky
will take over as publisher of the free daily Web newsletter Daily
Candy, Crain’s New York Business reports. Michelle Thorpe Holubar will begin work by the end of January. Chief Operating Officer Pete Sheinbaum said Daily Candy wanted
a publisher with “deep relationships with advertisers” and that
the new position will focus on increasing advertising, the profitable newsletter’s
only revenue source. Daily Candy has hundreds of thousands of e-mail subscribers
to the five different versions of their newsletter, which cover fashion, food
and culture and are customized for New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago and
San Francisco.
MSN to introduce RSS for My MSN users
2005-01-13By Sogole Honarvar: Via Scripting.com: eWeek reports that Microsoft has plans to launch a beta version of its RSS service for My MSN users in efforts to personalize news for readers and compete with other RSS providers, such as Yahoo. While MSN released an RSS feature for its search engine in Nov. 2004, bloggers only recently discovered this feature. MSN product managers were sharing tiny tidbits of information regarding the upcoming RSS feature release on MSN Spaces, their blog community. Microsoft hopes their RSS will compete with the likes of Yahoo, which already allows My Yahoo users to personalize RSS feeds.
U.K. behind U.S. in blogging
2005-01-13By Sogole Honarvar: The U.K. is significantly behind in the blogging trend that has swept across the United States, reports dotJournalism. U.S. journalists have gained attention and acclaim for their blogs, often receiving book deals or TV offers. While some U.K. journalists may ponder at the idea of 'writing for free,' blog experts, such as Jackie Danicki of the Big Blog Company, claim there is much more than money to gain from blogging, such as loyalty and attention. Danicki is part of an effort to edcuate and train British journalists to blog, and recently conducted a free workshop in the U.K. to do just that. "It's like raising a child," she said. "You have to let them out into the world making sure they have all the information they need to make good decisions. Much of that is about common sense - not giving away trade secrets and not libelling anyone."
Apple sues 19-year-old over insider secrets
2005-01-14
By Stephanie Woo:
Via I Want Media: Apple has sued a Harvard freshman for misappropriating trade secrets after he foretold the debut of the software package and computer introduced at the MacWorld Conference and Expo this week, the Washington
Post reports. Nicholas M. Ciarelli’s Web site, ThinkSecret.com, gained many devotees when it reported the release of the G4 PowerBook laptop in 2001, and Apple feels that its latest insider disclosure should be its last. In a written statement regarding the lawsuit, Apple called the company’s DNA “innovation” and said that “the protection of our trade secrets is crucial to our success.” Some believe the suit is not about Ciarelli,
but rather the first step toward uncovering the source of his information.
Report: Web advertising a 'bright spot' for newspapers
2005-01-14
By Stephanie Woo:
Via I Want Media: The equities research team at Merrill Lynch predicted that online newspaper revenue will continue to grow as print ad revenues plummet, MediaPost
reports. According to the report released Friday, the majority of newspapers’ online earnings have increased by at least 10%. However, the report warned against relying too heavily on Web ads. “While the success is worth noting, the dollar amounts are still small and still present a challenge long term against increased competition.” The team also noted that mergers account for part of print advertising’s dip, with consolidations such as that of Sears and Kmart shrinking the number of advertisers who purchase display ads. In contrast, Web revenue comes mainly from category advertising.
WSJ article raises question of ethics for bloggers
2005-01-14By Sarah Colombo: This Wall Street Journal story used a “lazy equivalence” when comparing the work of bloggers who were hired to consult for Howard Dean’s campaign with Armstrong Williams, a right-wing commentator who was paid more than $200,000 by the Bush administration to promote an education policy, reports Dan Gillmor on Grassroots Journalism, Etc . Not only did Dean’s consultants optimize full disclosure, but because the Williams scandal involved the government, it was funded by taxpayers, not donations. Regardless, writes Gillmor, when bloggers are acting as journalists, they should never take payment (from sources.) However, they can theoretically accept payment in the form of transparent advertising (presumably to maintain sites.) “Disclosure is the absolute least that we need in this evolving culture,” Gillmor writes. “Tell folks what’s happening.”
Google only gets slap on the wrist from SEC
2005-01-14By Sogole Honarvar: Via I Want Media: Google has escaped the reproachment of the Security Exchange Commission (SEC), reports the Financial Times. Google had potentially violated the SEC's 'quiet period' before their IPO last August when Playboy Magazine published an interview with the company's two founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page. The SEC has decided that no action will be taken over the ill-timed feature. While Google's stock price started off as a bit of a disappointment for investors, partially due to the company's unusual Dutch auction system for its IPO, its stock price has since soared.
Podcasting opens new doors for journalism
2005-01-14By Sogole Honarvar: Podcasting is becoming an increasingly popular way for news consumers to get their information, reports CyberJournalist.net. The new technology allows anyone with an iPod to download audio programs from the Web and listen to the information through their portable MP3 player. Many news stations have already begun providing podcasts, among them several National Public Radio stations, Air America and the BBC. Many view podcasting as a potential 'news revolution' as MP3 players and even cell phones with MP3 capabilities present a whole new medium for news broadcasters to reach their listeners.
Soldiers use community websites for training, support
2005-01-14
By Robert Niles:
The Jan. 17 issue of The New Yorker details how junior Army officers in Iraq are using community-discussion Web sites for in-the-field training and real-time support and advice. Commanders log in to Companycommand.com to engage in a "an ongoing professional conversation about leading soldiers and building combat-ready units." The site's discussion boards, FAQ and knowledge base are password-protected, but The New Yorker reveals several examples of Army personnel using the site to find how to call for medical-evacuation helicopters, combat mortar attacks and process paperwork after a soldier's death.
Nepali cyber law to help online news portals
2005-01-16By Aarthi Sivaraman: Cyber criminals in Nepal can no longer have it easy, with the introduction of the new cyber law, reports the The Rising Nepal. According to this new and much-awaited Electronic Transaction and Digital Signature Act-Ordinance (ETDSA), authorities can fine and imprison criminals based on the severity of the crime. Those who post misleading news and information online are also liable to be punished. The law provides legal status to online news portals that serve readers around the world, but could do more to address the problems of online media, according to the report.
Bloggers may be salvaging conventional media's reputation
2005-01-16By Aarthi Sivaraman: Bloggers may be saving the face of conventional journalism with their honest and accurate reporting, according to BGNews.com. The best bloggers today are not even real journalists, but they manage to get the same if not more credible versions of stories as print or broadcast reporters. Regular media like CBS may dislike bloggers for 'exposing' them, but interestingly enough, this form of quasi-reporting seems to be restoring the public's faith in news media. Jay Rosen, a media critic and of pressthink.org, on press and media, said: "under its modern umbrella should be all who do the serious work in journalism, regardless of the technology used."
Iranian reform in the blogosphere
2005-01-17
By Karl-Erik Stromsta:
Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a former vice president of Iran, has risen to prominence in the past year not for his reformist ideas, but rather for expressing such ideas on his popular blog, reports The New York Times. On his blog, webneveshteha.com ("Web log writings" in Farsi), Abtahi has grappled with serious political topics that other liberal Iranians have shunned for fear of imprisonment or opprobrium. He recently reported on the condition of several jailed journalists who were beaten and relegated to solitary confinment for reporting the truth. Such bravery has made his site one of the most popular with Iranian youth, but Abtahi is not without his critics. His site been the target of hackers on several occasions.
Craigslist expands, worries print and Web publishers
2005-01-17By Sogole Honarvar: Via I Want Media: Craigslist.org, the popular online classifieds site for anything from housing to jobs, is going international. The International Herald Tribune reports that Craigslist has launched community sites in cities such as London, Paris and Tokyo, to name a few. This growth is worrying both print and online news publishers, as Craigslist is estimated to be taking away $50-65 million a year from print and online papers in employment ads alone. The site allows users to post classified ads for just about anything, free of charge. While Craigslist's effect on the European classified ad market is still to be determined, the $100 billion global classified ad market is apparently up for grabs.
Web news startup to focus on local news, blogs
2005-01-17By Sogole Honarvar: Via I Want Media: CBS Marketwatch reports that two Internet execs are fundraising for a new startup they hope to launch by the end of March in the Washington D.C. area. The proposed site, Backfence.com, would be a national network of local news sites and blogs that would reach out to individual communities to keep citizens informed of local happenings and news. The two execs, Mark Potts and Susan DeFife, are long-time online news professionals. Potts founded Washington Post.com and DeFife founded WomenConnect.com, an online portal for female businesswomen. The two hope that Backfence.com will be operational in ten town-sized cities in the next two to three years.
What happened to the Iraq the Model blog
2005-01-18By Sarah Colombo: When the pro-American Iraqi blog, Iraq the Model suddenly stopped posting, New York Times writer Sarah Boxer wondered what happened. After researching and reporting for several months, she found out that Ali, one of the three brothers editing the blog, stopped posting while the other two were on a U.S. visit with President Bush. Ali, the brother who shut down the blog, said his brothers’ trip was not supposed to receive any press, but once the Arabic press translated a Washington Post story covering the event, he was worried the exposure might put his family in danger. He has since relaunched under the name, Free Iraq.
OJR readers privy to Dean's campaign blog strategy
2005-01-18By Sarah Colombo: A Wall Street Journal article garnered recent attention by comparing the blogging/consulting services provided by Daily Kos publisher Markos Moulitsas Zuniga to Howard Dean (see related brief )with the Armstrong Williams/President Bush “arrangement,” but Moulitsas' relationship with Dean was no secret to OJR readers. In an article published June 3 of last year, Mark Glaser wrote, “In fact, Moulitsas teamed up with blogger Jerome Armstrong (of MyDD.com) to start a consulting service, with Dean and a couple of U.S. Senate candidates as his clients.” Glaser added, “His idea of 'Netroots' campaigns might bring in an avalance of clients and competitors after Dean’s success."
Online news considered better than conventional media
2005-01-18By Aarthi Sivaraman: Via Tech Central Station: Gone are the days of good old newspaper editorial columns, serious political debate and hard-hitting, watchdog journalism. Newspapers today seem to be more about celebrity reporting, complete with entertainment news, film reviews and horoscopes. Needless to say, the serious news audience is migrating online to their favored news Web sites to quench their need for real news, be it book reviews or witty analysis of issues that matter. "For the well-wired elite that used to take newspapers seriously, the Internet has become a more focused, better written, alternative to legacy media," according to Jay Currie of the original article. Cyber news has now taken the place of conventional media when it comes to real debate, policy analysis, and political journalism. In the wake of online news' heightened value today, Currie recommends that newspapers use their Web sites and hire smart bloggers to garner and keep their audience.
News & Record to revamp Web site
2005-01-18By Aarthi Sivaraman: The News & Record will soon be revamping its Web site in an effort to enhance its readership in the community, reports MSNBC. The new site will effect user-newsroom interaction and even allow readers to submit their own stories for Web publication. The site will also feature blogs to help make the reporting process more transparent, to restore people's faith in the newspaper business. It is also aimed at attracting a younger crowd. The paper's Web sites, which include www.news-record.com and www.gotriad.com, now get around 6.5 million page views per month, a number that steadily increasing, according Kathy Lambeth, the paper's online and business development manager.
German broadcaster launches Arabic news site
2005-01-19
By Aarthi Sivaraman:
Germany broadcasting company Deutsche Welle has launched an Arabic Web site for news, reports German News. Online news has a growing audience in the Middle East countries, with roughly 15 million people getting much of their information from the Internet. Arabic journalists will use the Web site to report news events across Europe and the Middle East, ranging from sports and politics to science and arts. The move would be "an important contribution to maintaining a dialogue with the Arabic-speaking world," said Erik Betterman, director-general of Deutsche Welle.
Search engines target spammers with new link attribute
2005-01-19By Robert Niles: Google has announced a new attribute for hyperlinks in an effort to cut spam in comment sections and track-back features on blogs.
Websites that add the attribute (rel="nofollow") to its anchor tags will prevent sites they link to from gaining any advantage from those links in Google's search result. Google's algorithm rewards web pages that have many links from other sites. The new “nofollow" attribute will prompt Google to ignore links that include it.
Spammers have exploited comment sections in blogs by either writing programs or hiring people to flood those sections with hyperlinks plugging their websites. Some websites, including Online Journalism Review, have worked to avoid this problem by requiring readers to register in order to post comments. Others have banned hyperlinks in comments or eliminated comments altogether.
The attribute also gives online writers additional flexibility in linking to sites that they do not wish to effectively “endorse" to Google and other search engines. Let's say a critic wanted to scold another website. If that writer published on a site with a high “PageRank" in Google's system, the writer would effectively be passing a higher PageRank value to offending site by linking to it. That would allow the other site to show up higher in Google's search results, leading to more traffic, and potentially, more money for that site. Hardly what the writer intended.
Yahoo and MSN Search have announced that they will also support the attribute in their search results. And the functionality will soon be built into publishing tools including Google's own Blogger, as well as LiveJournal, MSN Spaces and Flickr.
Fame-seeking bloggers slammed
2005-01-20By Sarah Colombo: Via I Want Media: While “the Beltway cocktail crowd” may be reeling because “their precious words and broadcasts don’t matter much anymore,” bloggers who post their contact information hoping to attract media interviews are all the more pathetic, reports Russ Smith in the New York Press. Smith quotes Ellisblog and former Boston Globe columnist John Ellis, who told bloggers to stop "whining" and praised CBS for the thoroughness of last week’s report. He also told bloggers, "we don't care if you're on TV." Smith had his own message to share about Andrew Sullivan: “Sullivan's unforgivable sin—at least in this world—is his presumptuous role as spokesman for the online commentators and investigators and needlers.”
TrackBack integrated into CNET News
2005-01-20
By Karl-Erik Stromsta:
CNET News has begun integrating a new online protocol called TrackBack into its stories, reports TMCnet.com. TrackBack allows disparate Web sites to automatically store records of existing links between them, displaying any blog that links to a CNET story on CNET's site. TrackBack makes it easy for readers to see what the blogosphere has to say about a story after reading it, gaining further insight and perspective. It allows news sites “to leverage the value of blog content in a way that is extremely relevant and meaningful to our readers,” said Jai Singh, editor-in-chief of CNET News.
Cyberdissidents quieted in Maldives
2005-01-20By Karl-Erik Stromsta: Reporters Without Borders has warned that elections scheduled for Jan. 22 in the small island nation of the Maldives have almost no chance of being free because of a stringent crackdown on press freedoms by the incumbent president, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. Three cyberdissidents, Mohamed Zaki, Ahmad Didi and Fathimath Nisreen, have been jailed for lauching an online newsletter, Sandhaanu, that is critical of the existing government. Another Maldivian cyberdissident, Naushad Waheed, was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2002. Further exacerbating the problem, Web sites like maldivesculture.com and minivannews.com have been blocked for giving a platform to opposing political voices. The Maldives, off the southern coast of India, were ranked 157th out of 167 in the 2004 Reporters Without Borders world press freedom index.
Inauguration packages pull out bells and whistles
2005-01-20By Sarah Colombo: From CyberJournalist: WashingtonPost.com has produced extensive online coverage of the 2005 presidential inauguration. It includes an inauguration blog, live chats, and a detailed interactive map. Here's how other sites distinguished their coverage: NYTimes.com posted correspondent video, BBC requested user feedback on expectancies of Bush’s second term, and CNN created an inaugural fashions photo gallery. To compare, CyberJournalist linked to nytimes.com's 2001 coverage.
Bloggers to grade Super Bowl ads
2005-01-21By Karl-Erik Stromsta: The Super Bowl has never been just about football - it's also inspires the most innovative and expensive ads on television. This year, rather than having to wait for feedback on their multimillion dollar ads, some companies will be monitoring the blogosphere to get opinions in real time, reports SiliconValley.com. One marketing research company, Cincinnati-based Intelliseek, has even commissioned a panel of bloggers to analyze the emotional impact of ads, and how quickly pithy catchphrases ingrain themselves into the American lexicon. "The Internet is becoming a water cooler on steroids," said Pete Blackshaw, Intelliseek's chief marketing officer. "That presents both opportunites and threats for brands."
Conference to discuss bloggers' ethics
2005-01-21By Sogole Honarvar: Via I Want Media: Do bloggers have an ethical obligation to their readers and to the broader field of journalism? A conference at Harvard University this weekend, entitled "Blogging, Journalism and Credibility," is attempting to sort through some of these ethical issues, reports The Wall Street Journal. The easy and anonymous nature of blogging is a large part of the changing ethical landscape in journalism today, but in the wake of recent media scandals, some argue that journalism isn't setting such a great example for bloggers' ethics to begin with. Others say that blogging is opinionated in nature. "One of the virtues of blogging is that it's not subject to the professional and bureaucratic restrictions of big media," says Newsweek writer and Slate.com blogger Mickey Kaus. "The point of blogging is to say what you actually think - opinion, not the traditional ideal of journalism."
Study finds Web less important in influencing purchases
2005-01-21By Sogole Honarvar: According to a new study by BIGresearch, online media has less of an influence on purchasing habits than do traditional media or other forms. Editor & Publisher Online reports that word-of-mouth, coupons and news inserts had the greatest influence on consumers' purchasing decisions. E-mail only influenced 16.7% of survey respondents on electronics purchases and 12.7% on apparel purchases, while the Web influenced 19% and 1.4% in the same categories, respectively. The study surveyed 14,000 people on traditional and online advertising influence.
Déjà Yahoo: personalized ticker relaunched
2005-01-21By Sarah Colombo: From Cnet News: Yahoo now offers a syndicated news feed called Yahoo Ticker. The streaming ticker includes news headlines, personalized stock quotes, weather and much more, all deliverable to a user’s desktop. Sound familiar? Yahoo originally launched the "push" technology concept during the dot-com boom.
Funny site, food blog and lit library win Web awards
2005-01-21By Sogole Honarvar: From the Guardian Online: Dancing badgers or an online library of literary classics? Voters in British Yahoo's People's Choice contest chose the badgers, making the comical Weebl and Bob the best entertainment site in the contest. The British Library's Turn the Pages site, which allows users to interact with one-of-a-kind literary masterpieces, won for best innovative site. EggBaconChipsandBeans, Russell Davies's blog on the British greasy spoon cafe, won in the soapbox category. Yahoo Search UK and Ireland director Salim Mitha says the variety presented by the winning sites showcases that the Web has "something of interest for everybody."
Student photojournalist sparks online ethics debate
2005-01-23By Diana Day: From LATimes.com: Student photojournalist Omar Vega, 18, found that his camera was a “great icebreaker” as he documented some of the wilder aspects of life at his San Francisco State dorm, even though his controversial shots often caused him to butt heads with college housing officials. The Los Angeles Times reported that things “finally boiled over” when Vega posted five photos of an alleged car burglary outside his dorm on an Internet site for professional photographers. The college housing office evicted him formally in December for “demonstrat[ing] disregard for a fellow resident’s personal property” by participating in the incident. Online response to Vega’s photos was intense, as was his post about his eviction, with message board members debating First Amendment rights and the line between recording the news and intervening in unfolding events. Vega recently went to Sri Lanka to document the tsunami aftermath for an internship assignment at the Oakland Tribune. He plans to live off-campus and will appeal the college’s decision.
More ads to sell than online space to buy?
2005-01-24By Sarah Colombo: From NYTimes.com: In a deal expected to close Monday, Dow Jones will acquire CBS Marketwatch for $519 million, or four times the business news sites' estimated value. Dow Jones' electric division outbid The New York Times Company, Gannett Company and Viacom Inc., and analysts say the interest signals the industry's potential to generate more online advertising inventory than space. "You would find publishers across the board being more concerned about inventory," said Vice President Cliff Sloan of The Washington Post Company’s Internet division. "As online advertising has taken off, the importance of having inventory to meet the demand has gone along with it."
BBC's news site cited for fallacy in Arab-Israel coverage
2005-01-24By Aarthi Sivaraman: The MilliGazette, an Indian Muslim newspaper, slammed BBC’s news Web site for hosting a series of articles on the Arab-Israel conflict, which “exemplified all that is fundamentally wrong.” Members of the Arab Media Watch have monitored the coverage of Middle Eastern news on BBC for some time now and say that the articles were largely out of context and lacked fairness.
Rhode Island news site not 'snowed in'
2005-01-24By Sarah Colombo: From Poynter’s Online-News service: The record-breaking snowstorm sweeping through much of the Northeast hasn’t stopped Projo.com from updating a great local package, complete with a community-building feature where users send in their snow storm experiences via photo or text. Page-views doubled Sunday and the site’s operations staff expects the increased traffic to continue. "We are helped by the fact that so far there have been relatively few power outages," said Sean Polay, news and operations manager of Projo.com. "We’re (also) receiving some assistance from the Belo content desk in Dallas, helping us review and publish the reader text submissions."
Conference highlights ethics in blogging and journalism
2005-01-24By Sogole Honarvar: This past weekend's conference, Blogging, Journalism and Credibility held at Harvard University, invited many opinions regarding ethics in journalism and blogging. The Jan. 23 session highlighted three of the main issues currently facing journalists: technology in regard to innovation, technology in regard to law, and democracy and creativity. Partisipants also raised other important issues about linking, advertising and the general trust (or mistrust) of American media. The dinner session, featuring David Weinberger, focused more on the social implications of blogging vs. journalism and how the two fields affect the societal media climate. Many bloggers contributed posts commenting on the great divide.
Study: Web searchers unable to pinpoint sponsored results
2005-01-24By Sogole Honarvar: Via Slashdot: ABC News reports that a new study by Pew Internet finds that only one in six Internet users can differentiate between an advertisement and an unbiased search result. While several big search engines, such as Yahoo, Google and MSN, often tag their paid links with "sponsored site" or something of the like, the majority of Web users are still unable to make the distinction between paid and unbiased results. Despite this confusion, 92% of those surveyed feel confident in their Web searching capabilities.
2005 Digital Edge Awards finalists announced
2005-01-25By Sarah Colombo: Boston.com, Journal Interactive, Lawrence (Kan. Journal-World, PalmBeachPost.com and washingtonpost.com each appear as finalists in at least three categories in the 2005 Digitial Edge Awards. NAA’S New Media Federation will host the awards ceremony March 20 in Dallas. The panel of judges includes newspaper- and broadcast-affiliated Web site directors, educators, and classified specialists. New Media Federation members submitted a total of 219 entries. A complete list of categories and finalists are available on New Media’s site.
Iranian bloggers and online journalists jailed
2005-01-25By Sarah Colombo: Around 20 Iranian online journalists and bloggers have been jailed since the summer, reports the Los Angeles Times. As mullas continued to wage war against the free press, the hope for blogs to inspire a political awakening on the Web has been severerly dimmed, if not lost. As a result, online journalists and bloggers have been called CIA collaborators and had their work filtered out of many Iranian computers. Mohammed Ali Abtahi, a reformist cleric and former Iranian vice president, posted details of a presidential commission hearing where bloggers claimed they had been beaten, tortured and forced to make false confessions. (See related brief.)
Search TV program transcripts with Google Video
2005-01-25By Sarah Colombo: From Google Blog: Google now offers a way to search transcripts of recent television programs. Google Video is still in the "early-stage beta" version, but users can still search a few shows dating back to December, 2004. Results return stills and "text snippets" from shows that match search criteria. Here’s what Product Manager John Piscitello teases in the blog: "We’ll be steadily improving Google Video in the months to come, so as they say in the TV biz, stay tuned."
Internet magazine to conduct course for students
2005-01-25By Aarthi Sivaraman: Via International Journalists' Network: Transitions Online, an Internet magazine, is organizing a two-week journalism training course for college and university students, in Prague, Czech Republic.The course aims to gear up students for a career in international journalism. Top journalists from media organizations such as CNN, BBC, the Boston Globe and The Economist will participate. The second week of training will require participants to cover a story in Prague, the best of which will be published online and submitted to foreign editors. A few scholarships are available, though applicants are encouraged to apply for outside funding too. In today's world where conventional media are being criticized for their fallacies and online media seem to be more credible, such a course with experienced journalists may very well help in setting ethical standards among the next generation of reporters.
Salam Pax on blogging and journalism
2005-01-25By Aarthi Sivaraman: Via dotJournalism: Who doesn't know Iraqi blogger Salam Pax? Well here he is now, in a video interview, asserting that blogs are not necessarily news sources by themselves. "Blogging is not journalism. Blogs form around the news and give it context," he said. Pax also lauded the efforts of Iranian student bloggers who are "providing a strong alternate voice online" through their work. Though blogs may be able to replace conventional news media, in war-torn countries like Iraq and Israel, they may be the most powerful method of communication.
U.S. accused of shutting down Iranian news site
2005-01-26By Aarthi Sivaraman: Via BBC: Iran charged the United States with asking an Internet provider to stop hosting an online news agency. The Planet, which hosts the Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA), had been offered no explanation, only an e-mail from the U.S. service provider, saying the Web site would not function after 48 hours. The shutdown comes in a series of incidents that has propelled Iranian online media into the limelight, including the imprisonment of 20 bloggers and journalists since summer. (See related brief.) Other news sites in Iran fear similar fates and the incident has sparked fresh appeals for Iran's own communication technology.
Tsunami e-mail hoaxer jailed
2005-01-26
By Aarthi Sivaraman:
Christopher Pierson, the man who e-mailed around 35 people claiming their relatives had died in the Asian tsunami, was sentenced to six months in jail, according to dotJournalism. Pierson used bulletin boards on Sky News' Web site to target already panic-stricken families. Judge Daphne Wickham said Pierson's act had caused "indescribable" pain and grief to unsuspecting relatives. Pierson later admitted his mistake and was charged under the Malicious Communication Act.
Please see related brief.
Open and free news archive could be in Web's future
2005-01-26By Sarah Colombo: An open and free news archive online isn’t impossible to conceive, according Press Think. The topic was among those discussed as follow-up to Harvard’s recent Blogging, Journalism and Credibility conference. (See related brief.) Conference participant Dan Gillmor said someone will try it, while Scott Rosenberg, managing editor of Salon, said the debate is a "retread of the mid-‘90s, when journalists first moved online and discovered the Web moved really fast ..." Other themes included the end to the war between bloggers and journalists, the Wiki as a trial run for open source journalism, and the technology shock about to hit Big Media. "Big Journalism was going to experience the shock of the new very soon, or had already been 'shocked' by contact with the Web and its extensions," wrote Press Think’s Jay Rosen. "Some got the shock at the conference itself."
Microsoft drops charges against blog
2005-01-27By Karl-Erik Stromsta: Microsoft has dropped the threat of legal action against engadget.com, reports ZDNet UK News. Engadget, a popular technology blog, raised the ire of Microsoft by posting screenshots of Windows Mobile 2005, an as-yet-unreleased version of Windows for cell phones and other mobile devices. Lawyers for Microsoft sent engadget a letter, saying “You may otherwise be liable for trademark infringement, trade secret misappropriation, and/or other remedies at law, including civil and criminal penalties.” In recent months, several blogs and online news sites have been sued for content they posted.
The Sun's Web site to include Espotting listings
2005-01-27By Karl-Erik Stromsta: Via Digital Media Europe: A deal was announced today that will allow Espotting Media, a U.K.-based paid-listings provider, to pepper the online pages of The Sun, the leading British tabloid. Under the terms, Espotting will be able to insert advertising links adjacent to relevant stories throughout The Sun's Web site. The ads will be based on keywords, so a 'football tickets' listing will pop up near stories about football. Espotting differs from many other keyword-based advertisers by using human editors to determine which keywords act as triggers. No story will be exempt; the listings are to appear in every section of The Sun.
Nominations for annual Bloggies awards announced
2005-01-27By Sogole Honarvar: Via Scripting.com: Voting has begun for the annual Bloggies, an awards competition for the best blogs around the world, reports the BBC News. Major contenders this year include Southeast Asia and tsunami blogs and popular sites such as Wonkette, Boing Boing and Gawker. This year also marks the first nominations for podcasting, a new form of technology that allows Web users and iPod owners to download audio and text news onto their portable MP3 players. Nominations were announced Sunday on the official Bloggies site. However, busy traffic forced the site to temporarily shut down. The Bloggies will recognize blogs in 30 categories, including the coveted "Blog of the Year" award.
Slate columnist warns against blog overkill
2005-01-28By Sogole Honarvar: Slate.com writer Jack Shafer pondered the revolutionary value of bloggers and the tecnological difference between bloggers and journalists after attending last weekend's "Blogging, Journalism & Credibility" conference at Harvard University. Discussing the evolution of old to new media, Shafer writes, "the premature triumphalism of some bloggers indicates that they haven't paid attention to how Webified journalists have become." Shafer also cautions against blog overkill. "Blogs all possess great potential. But we owe it to this prodigious new communications form not to demand too much too soon."
WashingtonPost.com features citizen photo gallery of Iraq
2005-01-28By Sogole Honarvar: From CyberJournalist.net: The Washington Post and its online edition partnered in December of 2004 with U.S. soliders and their families to create an online photo gallery of Iraq on WashingtonPost.com. After review, the photos have now been posted onto the site and reflect professional quality and artistic expertise, unlike many other reader-submitted photos at times.
Advertisers turn to RSS and blogs
2005-01-28By Sogole Honarvar: Online publishers of blogs and RSS are hopping on the advertising bandwagon, thanks to new technology that allows text ads to be placed within RSS feeds or blogs, reports dotJournalism. Both advertisers and publishers have been turning more of their focus on RSS because of the growing demand for detailed demographics and return on investment. "Spam and filters at all levels along the e-mail delivery chain have hurt publishers, because their legitimate opt-in email is not getting through," said Renee Blodgett, spokesperson for iUpload, the content management company that is spearheading this RSS and blog advertising initiative. "RSS provides a direct pipe to the customer."
British government sites abounding online
2005-01-28By Sogole Honarvar: British governmental organizations and agencies are increasing their online presence, thanks to several new initiatives that require the U.K. government to post critical information on the Web. The Guardian reports that almost all relevant information for British residents, from health and hygiene to local council and land issues, are being posted online. Recognizing the daunting task of searching and navigating these sites, the U.K. has set up Direct.gov.uk, an online directory of every government-related site. While investigative information, such as controversies and formerly classified details that would interest most reporters, are not currently available on the Web, Britons are now able to access previously inaccessible yet useful information around the clock via the comfort of their computers.
Final blog from beloved journalist
2005-01-28By Karl-Erik Stromsta: Via Turkish Press: "Tumour diary," an immensely popular blog about a man’s life in the face of his terminal brain cancer, has sadly reached its end. BBC science and technology journalist Ivan Noble began writing the blog following his diagnosis with cancer in August 2002. In a last blog entry, titled “The time has come,” Noble told readers: “This is my last diary. I have written it ahead of time because I knew there would be a point when I was not well enough to continue.” According to the BBC, “Tumour diary” drew more than 300,000 readers to its last posting, and had a daily readership of 100,000.
Fashion conference draws attention to Web's power
2005-01-29By Sogole Honarvar: Creative intellectual property, fashion & entertainment reporting and the power of the media were all hot-button issues at the Ready to Share conference held at USC's Annenberg School for Communication this Saturday, Jan. 29. The conference, also Webcasted, was hosted by the Norman Lear Center and explored the ownership of creativity in fashion. One panel spoke of the future of fashion in the newly digital world, and renowned scientist John Seely Brown called attention to the power of online subcultures. Brown also challenged the fashion & entertainment industries to cater more effectively to these subcultures and their prominent form of communication: blogging. The conference also featured former creative director for Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, Tom Ford, executive producer and writer for "Sex and the City," Michael Patrick King and producer/philanthropist Norman Lear.
Wisconsin paper redesigns Web site
2005-01-30By Aarthi Sivaraman: Via LA Crosse Tribune: The Wisconsin paper recently revamped its Web site to make its online content easier to use. The site will now feature the most recent stories from The AP's Minnesota and Wisconsin wire services. The number of visitors to the Web sites of newspapers in Wisconsin has shown a continued growth, with 8.7 million visitors in 2004. "We've made it easier to find specific stories by organizing and grouping content more similar to the way it's laid out in our newspaper," said Shawn Stevenson, online sales and development manager for the papers. According to Stevenson, online news sites and print versions complement each other.
Online magazine to host live bloggers on State of the Union address
2005-01-31By Aarthi Sivaraman: TechCentralStation.com will be the “one stop shop” for links to live bloggers and their analysis of the upcoming State of the Union address by President Bush, according to Forbes. This is the first time readers can view bloggers’ opinions and analyses in real time. The AP called blogs a “revolution,” and said they had the ability to engage established media in delivering more accountable news. Nick Schultz, editor of the online magazine, said the live feed would enable “the public to gain a far wider range and scope of feedback and analysis than they would find with traditional media."
Google top search engine, other sites innovate to keep up
2005-01-31By Sogole Honarvar: Via Slashdot: The New York Times reports that Google is still the top-ranked search engine, with competitors Yahoo and MSN not too far behind. Google recently announced the development of a new search technology, one that would search transcripts of television broadcasts. Yahoo quickly jumped on this bandwagon as well, hoping not to be outdone. While this kind of competition continues, all search engines are profiting thanks to the growing search advertising market. Search engine analysts say there's still room for innovation in such areas as local and shopping searches, therefore plenty of room for all the big search engines to play.
Knight Center to offer free online media seminar
2005-01-31By Sogole Honarvar: From CyberJournalist.net: The Western Knight Center for Specialized Journalism is holding a free "Multimedia Reporting and Convergence" seminar on March 20-25 at the University of California, Berkeley. The seminar will provide instruction on how to compose multimedia stories for the Web, digital photo and video handling, site design and will also feature a panel of online publishers about the most important issues in online journalism today. To find out more and to register for the seminar, visit WKCOnline.
LA Press Club adds blog award category
2005-01-31By Sarah Colombo: From LA Observed: Bloggers, select your best links. The Los Angeles Press Club has established a new category to honor bloggers who submit "three consecutive days worth of posts." Entry submission costs $40 for Press Club members, $80 for nonmembers, and they must be received by March 18. Winners will be acknowledged at an awards banquet on June 11. The rules read, in part, that work "must have been produced during 2004 by national or international correspondents or freelancers based in Southern California who work for outlets not based in Los Angeles (non-U.S. outlets for international correspondents and freelancers)." But as L.A. Observed’s Kevin Roderick points out, how does that include journalists who blog independently?
Many U.S. students say 'no' to press freedom
2005-01-31By Robert Niles: A national study commissoned by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and conducted by researchers at the University of Connecticut reveals that a hefty percentage of U.S. high school students haven't developed much respect for press freedom.
After being read the text of the First Amendment, 35 percent of high school students surveyed agreed with the statement that "the First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees." And just 51 percent agreed that "newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without government approval of a story. "
But 70 percent agreed that "musicians should be allowed to sing songs with lyrics that others might find offensive." So, perhaps the lesson for reporters might be that in addition to j-school training, maybe it's time to learn how to sing.
E-mail newsletter tops circulation charts
2005-01-31By Aarthi Sivaraman: Via dotJournalism: E-Government Bulletin, an e-mail newsletter, has recorded the highest requested circulation among all online publications of its kind, according to results of a new independent study. The newsletter contains news about public sector technology. It now boasts at least 11,000 "opt-in" readers, making it the leading news source, ahead of all online and e-mail competitors.
Read gossip and find a job - all on the same Web page
2005-01-31By Aarthi Sivaraman: MediaBistro.com will launch a series of blogs on a single Web page that feature industry news and gossip to help job seekers, according to MarketWatch. Three of the new online publications zero in on the media, and New York and Los Angeles editions could turn to similar experiments to test the market for such blogs. Two other new blogs are for Web designers and journalists who use the Internet for research.