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September 2005
Stymied by Hurricane Katrina, journalists turn to the Web
2005-09-01By Janine Kahn: With their presses and offices underwater, print and broadcast journalists in New Orleans are leaning on the Web to keep the news churning in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the New Orleans Times-Picayune, which has been in operation since 1837, refuses to go unpublished even in the midst of the catastrophe. Managing Editor Dan Shea and many of his staff have continued to work outside New Orleans to put the news online, knowing that their homes are flooded.
"'We will not miss a day of publishing, if the brave people whom I've lived with for the last two days can help it. Most of our readers are now outside of the city and we can reach them on the Internet. We also want to restart some printing and get papers to the residents left behind,'" Shea told the WSJ.
"The Internet, as a decentralized communications network, can be more resilient than traditional media when natural disasters occur," wrote the New York Times, which quoted the following from Jeff Jarvis, a consultant to online media companies:
"Owning broadcast towers and printing presses were useless. ... The Web proved to be a better media in a case like this."
Meanwhile, the NYTimes also reported that local news stations like WNOL Channel 38, a WB affiliate, and WGNO Channel 26 (of ABC) went off the air and employed their Web sites to get the news out. Their sites feature weather updates, footage of the hurricane’s aftermath and even some advice for coping with the event.
The Web has been a source of consolation for many in dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. OJR now features a wiki for ongoing online coverage of the disaster.
Robert MacMillan of The Washington Post summed up the general sentiment of the week quite nicely: "Well, thank goodness for the Internet."
Google ads go 'back to the future'
2005-09-01By Karl-Erik Stromsta: Internet wunderkind Google has begun selling advertisements in the last place anyone expected: in printed publications, reports the New York Times.
The Silicon Valley-based company, which has made billions of dollars selling short text-based ads online, has befuddled advertisers and publishers alike by purchasing ad space in PC Magazine and Maximum PC and then selling spots to smaller companies.
According to the NYTimes, this move resembles ad brokering, a practice shunned by many major publishers.
At a time when most print advertisers are looking to move online, the jump from the Internet to the printed page "'really is back to the future,'" said Standard & Poor’s analyst Scott Kessler to the Los Angeles Times.
Jason Young, president of Internet publishing for Ziff Davis Media Inc., told the LATimes Google’s new program gives print advertisers some much needed encouragement.
"'It’s a leading entity in the online world saying that print is really an important solution for marketers,'" Young said.
Not everyone is thrilled with the news, however. Some publishers that have traditionally sold ads directly to their clients are wary of Google becoming an all-too-powerful middleman.
Google would not elaborate on its motives except to say the program was a test, according to the NYTimes. The NYTimes also reported that Google executives have said in the past that they "see their rapidly growing online advertising business extending to other media forms."
NOLA.com seeks help from Web producers
2005-09-02By Robert Niles: The Online News Association has passed along this request from NOLA.com, the website of the New Orleans Times-Picayune:
"We need to find skilled producers who want to work for us on a temporary basis, at first from home, and eventually down in Baton Rogue (as soon as we stabilize an office location for them), as a part of the NOLA.com team. I don't have details on what we can offer them in terms
of pay as of yet. We don't have an idea of how long this assignment will be for,but, depending upon the person, it could be a number of weeks, or even a number of months."If you know of anyone who might be interested in helping NOLA.com, please e-mail jterrito(at)advance.net
Conference highlights rise of new media outlets
2005-09-06By Diana Day: Via Yahoo News: On September 15 at New York University, Impact '05 will present an impressive array of speakers at a one-day conference about "the dramatic transformation of traditional media and the emergence of non-traditional media channels," according to a press release. Political strategist Joe Trippi will give a keynote address about the emergence of social networking software, podcasting and blogs. Other speakers include: NYTimes.com editor-in-chief Len Apcar, Salon's Joan Walsh and Technology Review's Jason Pontin.
Of special note is the scheduled appearance of the head of corporate communications for The American Red Cross, Charles Connor, who will speak about facing the communications challenges and successes of Hurricane Katrina.
CBS gives the newsroom a Public Eye
2005-09-07By Janine Kahn: This September, in an effort to bring “transparency to the editorial operations of CBS News,” CBSNews.com is embarking on a new endeavor: a blog called Public Eye. While largely CBS news-centric, the blog plans to touch upon journalism issues in the news as well as the blogosphere and will feature video, pictures, guest bloggers and Webcasts. The blog plans to bring a “public eye” into the CBS newsroom, unveiling the reporting and production processes that go on behind the scenes.
“Public Eye is an opportunity for CBS News' audience and to hold CBS News more publicly accountable. But importantly, it is an opportunity for CBS News to be more open and accessible about why and how it makes the decisions that affect what millions of people see, hear and read,” announced CBS on its website.
The blog will be run by Vaughn Vevers, formerly the editor of The Hotline in Washington, joined by Brian Montopoli, a well-published writer and blogger for the Columbia Journalism Review, and Hillary Profita, a researcher from Nightline.
Al Gore to headline We Media conference
2005-09-08By Karl-Erik Stromsta: Former Vice President Al Gore will be the keynote speaker at The Media Center’s October 5 We Media conference in New York City.
The day-long event will gather leading media analysts to discuss the Internet’s effects on mass collaboration, including lectures on citizen journalism, activism and democracy, the business of collaboration, and media watching.
Hosted by the Associated Press at its world headquarters, the symposium will also feature speakers Craig Newmark of craigslist.org; CBS Digital Media President Larry Kramer; and New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof.
The Media Center is a non-profit think tank affiliated with the American Press Institute.
Katrina victims communicate via makeshift wireless networks
2005-09-09
By Janine Kahn:
From the Washington Post: Those displaced and dispossessed by Hurricane Katrina are slowly getting their lives back, communicating with relatives through a series of improvised wireless networks set up by a band of volunteer techies, who have taken to the shelters in northeastern Louisiana.
“With few reliable communications systems in place, people and companies from around the country are converging on the region to create improvised networks that give survivors and emergency personnel ways to talk and coordinate efforts,” reported the Washington Post.
Though local networks are slowly getting back on their feet, some places remain barren pieces of communication wasteland, and several service providers have taken it upon themselves to bring Internet access to evacuees in such areas.
In Jackson, Miss., Dulles-based America Online has parked an 18-wheeler bearing 20 Internet-ready computers for those at the Mississippi State Fairgrounds, a major shelter. And at the Mangham Baptist Church, wireless service provider Mac Dearman set up an Internet phone, allowing people to access the outside world. Most used the opportunity to search for loved ones and to fill out Federal Emergency Management Agency forms to get disaster aid.
Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone for Yahoo
2005-09-12By Mark Glaser: Longtime blogger and war correspondent Kevin Sites has signed a deal with Yahoo News to be the news aggregator's first official original content correspondent. Sites has worked for NBC News and CNN in the past, and has stoked controversy for his solo work at KevinSites.net. Now Sites has found a way to keep his independence as a journalist -- but with big distribution via Yahoo.
Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone is a special site at hotzone.yahoo.com that will officially launch near the end of September. The idea is that Sites will travel to all the hot spots of armed conflict throughout the world: Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, the Phillippines, etc. He will report as a backpack journalist, sending in text, photos, video and audio. Plus, he'll engage his audience with live chats.
According to the stated principles of the project: "We will be aggressive in pursuing the stories that are not getting mainstream coverage and we will put a human face on them. We will not chase headlines nor adhere to pack journalism but vigorously pursue the stories in front of and behind the conflict, the small stories that when strung together illustrate a more complete picture."
This is an experiment and site worth watching, and could be a foreshadowing of much more original journalism coming out of Yahoo. Also, there will be a Q&A with Kevin Sites & Scott Moore of Yahoo coming to OJR in the weeks ahead.
Majority of PR Agencies in Brussels do not use RSS
2005-09-13By Philippe Borremans: The majority of PR agencies based in Brussels do not use RSS feeds to inform their clients or the more than 1000 Brussels based foreign press correspondents...
It took me just a couple of hours to check the websites of about 25 PR agencies. These range from the local - better known - Belgian PR shops to the Brussels offices of the Top 10 worldwide agencies. All are member of the Belgian PR Center.
Of the 25 agency sites I have visited only Weber Shandwick and Edelman PR are using RSS feeds. Most sites who offer press releases of their clients on their site do so either in simple text or provide a downloadable PDF document. Just 5 of them offer to keep you up to date by e-mail subscription.
With more than 1000 foreign correspondents living and working in Brussels I would think RSS would already be more common, certainly at the agencies who are supposed to build relationships with these reporters.
New features, content coming to the OJR news blog
2005-09-13By Robert Niles: Hello OJR readers,
This month we welcome back our USC Annenberg journalism students to the website. In previous years, as part of their journalism writing lab requirement, several dozen undergraduate and graduate students have written briefs for OJR's news blog to summarize online media stories from other sites. This year, I've asked Diana Day, a second-year graduate student who manages our news blog, to instruct our "labbies" to do more original reporting.
So, starting this week, you'll see a daily weekday dose of short original features, interviews and profiles of interesting websites and online publishers. Some will be experienced journalists who have left print and broadcast jobs to start their own publications online. Others are entrepreneurial students who have begun lively communities, commenting on the issues and personalities of the day. Still others defy one-sentence description ... so you'll just have to keep reading to see what our students have to report.
Of course, the news blog will continue to accept your submissions, too. If you have an idea for a blog item that you do not wish to write yourself, please contact Diana through her link above, and she'll pass it along to one of the student writers.
Even online news junkies read just a tiny percentage of the original content available online each day. With your help, and the help of our USC Annenberg students, we at OJR hope to bring you over the next months a look a dozens of interesting sites you might have missed.
In focus: Daryl Cagle's Professional Cartoonists Index
2005-09-14
By Janine Kahn:
When cartoonist Daryl Cagle put what he called a “vanity page” up on the Web some ten years back, he probably had no idea it would morph into one of the best-known editorial cartoon archives on the Internet.
Coaxing fellow cartoonists to post their work online in the mid-90s and shunning the notion that only vain amateur artists utilized the Web, Daryl Cagle’s Professional Cartoonists Index was born. Later, Cagle would go on to spam thousands of state school teachers’ e-mails -- back when spamming was not such a no-no, Cagle said -- to promote a teacher's guide to editorial cartoons and drive traffic to the site. The resulting traffic brought Cagle enough attention to earn a partnership with Microsoft and a place in the online opinion magazine, Slate, now owned by The Washington Post Co.
Now, with a host of cartoonists from across the nation and the far reaches of the globe, Cagle’s artist army has expanded from its humble origins, and his cartoonist syndicate brings opinionated glee to hundreds of US-based newspapers.
"I’m kind of like the cartoonists’ e-bartender to the world because everybody knows me. It’s unique and kind of strange, but it works for me," said Cagle.
"It raised my profile, and it gave me a better byline, and it was a basis for my starting my syndicate. We represent some 44 cartoonists now and distribute them to 800 newspapers -- more than anybody else in editorial cartoons."
When Microsoft sold Slate late last year, Cagle's cartoons found a home on the MSNBC website. From this perch, Cagle continues to raise the bar for editorial cartoonists, challenging the quality of their work by way of an online method he calls "Yahtzee".
"When a bunch of cartoonists all draw about the same thing at the same time, I call it a Yahtzee and put all their cartoons up together — and that embarrasses them and makes them think they should not draw the first thing that comes to mind. That’s done a little bit of good. The cartoonists live in fear of Yahtzees now," said Cagle, who added that doing this on the Web has encouraged cartoonists to reflect and churn out better, more creative pieces.
The best example of a Yahtzee, Cagle said, was the weeping Statue of Liberty icon, which was rampant the day after the 9/11 tragedy. Cagle drew and posted one of these himself, only to find that most cartoonists had done the same thing.
"It was a great cartoon and I got a lot of fan-mail on it, but a week later when I realized that every cartoonist in the world drew the same cartoon on the same day, I wished I hadn’t drawn it," he said.
Also up on the MSNBC site is Cagle’s three-year-old blog, which documents issues in editorial cartooning — and whatever Daryl Cagle may feel like at the time.
The evolution of Visual Editors
2005-09-16By Karl-Erik Stromsta: In the evanescent world of the Internet, just because something is working well today doesn’t mean it will still be working tomorrow, said VisualEditors.com founder Robb Montgomery.
And he should know.
Montgomery, who is also news design editor for the Chicago Sun-Times, launched Visual Editors in 2004 as a forum for newspaper designers to liaise and wax analytical about everything from overbearing editors to new trends in design.
But as with many things on the Web, what started as something simple didn’t end up that way.
"It’s incredible," Montgomery said. "It feels like we just launched (Visual Editors) and we’re already getting more than 1 million page views a month."
In addition to an "amazingly lively" job section, and the ability for members to upload their designs and receive instant feedback, VizEd has also recently embraced what Montgomery says so many mainstream newspapers have balked at: podcasting.
With the help of a few great guests – including Deborah Douglas of Fluff magazine and Matt Mansfield of the San Jose Mercury News – VizEd’s podcasts were downloaded more than 26,000 times in the first 30 days alone.
All that traffic necessitated a move to a larger, and much more costly, server.
And this constant evolution, Mongomery said, is the only way for a Web site to get – and stay – ahead.
"I’m always tinkering with my own limits. It’s about always changing, always getting better. It’s about thinking: How can I make the site more intuitive – more informative? I had to learn a whole new set of skills just to get these podcasts to play."
Of course, it wasn’t enough to simply get the podcasts up and running; Visual Editors offers five different ways for members to play them.
"Why shouldn’t we offer our members every available format?” he asked. “Why make it hard on people? People just don’t want to wait around while newspapers figure all this technology out."
But despite being willing to grapple with the bells and whistles, Montgomery is ultimately about the basics: "In the end, we want an open and honest discussion about newspaper design."
NYTimes.com paid wall debuts: Will it last?
2005-09-19By Robert Niles: The New York Times today put Op-Ed, Business, Metro and Sports columnists behind a paid wall online. Print subscribers to the New York Times will be able to read that content online at no additional cost, but non-subscribers will have to pay a $49.95 annual fee. The "TimesSelect" plan also includes access to up to 100 articles a month from the Times online archives.
Times spokesperson Diane McNulty writes that the paper has plans for some of its writers whose print work is walled off to start writing weblogs later this year.
The Los Angeles Times earlier this year ended it attempt to put repurposed newspaper content behind a paid wall, reopening access to its Calendar section online.
Will the New York Times succeed where the Los Angeles Times failed? If not, when do you predict the NYT will abandon the TimesSelect wall? (Heck, let's make this a contest: I'll send an OJR goodie bag to whoever comes closest in predicting the date of the announcement. Submit your comments/guesses using the link below.)
Pology.com editor works to put the 'human touch' back in travel mags
2005-09-19By Alexis Johnson: Bastardize "anthropology," take it traveling and put it on the Internet. You’re left with Pology.com. Yet this travel website is anything but a bastardization of its namesake.
Pology.com creator and site editor Neil Schwartz said that anthropology, or “cultural exploration” as he wrote on the site, separates his monthly travel magazine from other travel websites.
Schwartz’s “rampant idealism” led him to create Pology.com out of his desire to put a human touch back into the travel magazine. This approach to travel provides more meaningful information than the usual travel guide, Schwartz said.
Other travel magazines "lack visceral connection to the reader," said Schwartz. Free from lists of places to “stay, eat, and shop,” Schwartz said a visitor to the site will find travel logs from contributors who make each destination more viable by making it personal. These "impassioned vignettes" are missing from commercialized travel magazines and are designed to inspire people to leave their homes and experience the world, Schwartz said.
Offering "multiple, conflicting accounts of the world" is the appeal of Pology.com, Schwartz said. Pology embraces cultural immersion and exploration as a method of understanding the complexities and multiple truths of the world. Additionally, Pology encourages individuals’ personal interaction with the rest of the world and reminds readers of the need for cultural acceptance, Schwartz said.
In each issue Schwartz balances locations from each continent with a conscious effort to represent locales from both developed and developing nations, he said.
With this global perspective guiding the content of each issue, Pology is a work in progress, Schwartz said. Expanded content and more dynamic aspects will be introduced to the magazine in the upcoming months with the possibility of taking the magazine to print in the next year, he added.
Got video? Current TV website a venue for grassroots journos
2005-09-20By Micah Kawaguchi-Ailetcher: Current TV, launched by former vice president Al Gore in the beginning of August, is the hippest way for citizen journalists to move from the Web to TV. It is "an open forum for ideas" that "capitalizes on advancing technology," said Sarah Gore, Al Gore’s daughter and a volunteer at Current TV.
The interactive nature of the project has a huge potential to change the media scene, Gore said, particularly if the targeted 18-34 demographic gets involved. "The intent is to expand the opportunities for more people to tell their stories," she added. "Hopefully, [Current TV] will help raise the quality of journalism on the whole."
This "open forum" is open to anyone with a camera and Internet access. Stories have to be short (hardly any run over 8 minutes) and non-fiction, but otherwise, there are no restrictions. Current’s Web site has directions that are helpful for those with no experience and cover topics such as choosing the right equipment, compressing files for submission and signing legal release forms.
Stories are uploaded and submitted into one of three broad categories including Current Journalism, Pods or Labs. Once a story is submitted, it is posted in the screening room as a "pod" where online users view them and "greenlight" the ones they like. Those with enough greenlights get broadcast on TV.
"The news media at this point has been built on the idea that you need a cameraman and a big crew … and having this outlet will encourage more people to experiment who may not have before," Gore said.
Current TV uses fact checkers as part of their screening process, but they also rely on viewers and the community of Internet users to police themselves. "Overall, people who are picking the content are really mindful of not picking anything offensive or untrue," Gore said. "The public at large does a good job at investigating things on their own."
The most common misconception about the new network is that it is a counter to Fox News, but Gore insisted this is not the case: "People who watch Current already see that there is no slant. [My father’s] great hope is that Current becomes an open forum for ideas … conservative or liberal."
Al Gore is currently the chairman of Current TV. Although he has some journalism experience, television is a new venture for him.
"My dad was instrumental in getting [Current TV] started, but he is very mindful that he doesn’t have experience in television. He’s stepping back to let people who have experience make this network happen," Sarah Gore explained.
New CBSNews blog features Vaughn Ververs as 'nonbudsman'
2005-09-21By Kevin Ueda: Online now is Public Eye, CBSNews.com's blog which provides a behind-the-scenes look at the CBS newsroom and an opportunity for Web users to communicate with CBS news.
Vaughn Ververs, Public Eye editor, said the Internet was the chosen medium for Public Eye because the now-common blog format allows users to communicate in a conversational manner.
"The Internet is where people are having conversations today and have been for a long time," Ververs said. "We allow people to post comments to everything we put up there -- whether it's a story we've done, or just an observation that we've made -- so we can have a dialogue there. We can answer people directly on the blog: When they e-mail in with a good question, we'll try to find the answer and we'll put it up."
Ververs said the tone and appearance aimed for with Public Eye is "conversational, but not snarky all the time."
Comments of any nature are welcome, as it allows the organizers of Public Eye to provide users with insight as to why certain decisions were made and why certain pieces went on air; however, Public Eye is an edited blog and adheres to high standards.
"[The blog] has a seriousness, a purpose," Ververs said. "The only thing we would edit out is language. We don't want this to turn into a place where you're going to read bad language, where there are personal attacks on people."
Ververs' role with Public Eye is what CBS News President Andrew Heyward has called a "nonbudsman." This is different than a traditional newspaper ombudsman, Ververs explained.
"A traditional newspaper ombudsman will take up issues, some from the public, some that he may raise himself, some that may be raised within the newsroom, and he will look at that with his own judgment on it," Ververs said.
"He's sort of acting as a prosecutor, a jury and a judge all at the same time when rendering a verdict on what he thinks the newspaper should have done in a given situation," Ververs said. "We are not going to do that probably hardly ever.
We'll leave it up to people to make their own determinations, but we're going to try to give them the tools to make a good determination, an informed decision," Ververs said.
Online Journalism Award judging underway at USC
2005-09-23By Robert Niles: Judging is underway for the sixth annual Online Journalism Awards, presented by the Online News Association and the USC Annenberg School for Communication.
The jury for this year's awards, which is meeting today and tomorrow at USC Annenberg, is:
- Beau Brendler, Director, Consumer Reports WebWatch
- Sue Gardner, Senior Director, CBC.ca
- Mitch Gelman, Senior Vice President And Executive Producer, CNN.com
- Ruth Gersh, Director of Online Services, AP Digital
- Rich Jaroslovsky, Executive Editor, Government and Economy, Bloomberg News
- Chris Jennewein, Director of Internet Operations, The Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
- Susan Mernit, Partner, Founder, 5ive Group
- Anthony Moor, Editor, OrlandoSentinel.com
- Michael Parks, professor and director, USC Annenberg School of Journalism
- Kevin Roderick, journalist, creator of the L.A. Observed blog
- Neal Scarbrough, Vice President and Senior News Editor, ESPN
The ONA will announce the finalists for this year's awards Saturday evening, with the winners to be announced at the 2005 ONA Conference, Oct. 28-29 at the Hilton New York.
Panelists discuss how to get jobs in online news
2005-09-24By Jorge Morgan: On Friday, September 23 The University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communication hosted prominent online journalists in a panel discussion entitled “The Best Jobs in Journalism,” an event that shed light on what it takes to find an online journalism job.
Skilled college students seeking jobs in print journalism can choose between online, which is rapidly growing, or ordinary print. With events changing by the hour, so must the news. And with new technology ever-present, some of the panelists said it will take more than just being a good writer to impress the powers that be.
“We are looking for creative people who can do everything from audio interviews to packaging Flash graphics to, of course, the traditional thing of keeping an entertainment guide updated,” said Chris Jennewein, director of Internet operations at SignOnSanDiego.com.
Jennewein said that if applicants can do video production, Flash and build a Web page, it’s a plus regardless of whether they will use those skills or not. He went on to say that a good journalist can do multiple things.
But Ruth Gersh, Associated Press director of online services, said that she expects new grads to know basic writing and storytelling skills. She also looks for people who can write headlines and who have good information-finding skills. She also stated that making good news judgments is important because of the massive amounts of rapidly-changing information that is available today.
“You have to try and get skills on both sides of the fence and down the middle, which is broadcast and print,” said Neal Scarbrough, senior news editor at ESPN.com.
Scarbrough also claimed that many people competing for jobs know the basics and write well, but what will make a difference is what separates one applicant from the rest. According to Scarbrough, the people with great ideas, an ability to apply news judgment and an understanding of the job and the business will have a better chance of acquiring a position.
Black Voices: New leadership, new direction
2005-09-26By Helsa Irizarry: Over the past few years, the electronic newsletter Black Voices has struggled to find an audience. But now, with new leadership and a new online format, the publication is set to take off.
Black Voices is sponsored by the Black Student Assembly at the University of Southern California in an effort to connect students to the community and each other. The publication highlights student achievements both inside and outside the classroom and also serves as a source of news, sports updates and entertainment.
It’s going to be "a way for black students to feel a deeper connection to the campus and each other," said Angela Flournoy, a junior at USC and the new Black Voices editor-in-chief.
When Flournoy took the position, she inherited a publication without a steady running date or even a permanent staff. So shortly after taking the helm, she announced a major shake-up.
Instead of the electronic newsletter format, Black Voices will now be a full-fledged e-magazine with monthly updates. Depending on the extent of student involvement, it may eventually move to bi-monthly updates.
"I decided to make Black Voices an online magazine because I wanted it to be accessible to students at all times. The majority of the magazine's stories are feature-length, so I wanted students to be able to read them at their leisure," Flournoy said.
Flournoy hopes the new online format will allow the publication to gain a larger readership and allow students outside of the USC community to become involved as well.
It will also become more interactive in nature – allowing readers to post comments and opinions.
Additionally, Flournoy has announced the establishment of a permanent staff, ranging from section editors and graphic designers to advertising and public relations associates.
"There are many African-American students who are interested in journalism but aren't contributing to on-campus journalism," she said. "I think this is due to the lack of choices when it comes to on-campus publications. Black Voices is a place where these students can feel free to write the stories they want to write and where they can find an audience."
Black Voices will also contain a submission section where writers, artists and poets – even those who aren’t staff writers – can showcase examples of their work.
The revamped version is scheduled to launch its first issue Sept. 27. Subsequent issues will be released the second Tuesday of each month.
"I am really excited to see how Black Voices evolves this year," Flournoy said. "I want to take [it] to another level."
Still in its formative stages, Black Voices is accepting students who would like to contribute. E-mail bvoices@usc.edu to see about available positions.
ONA announces Online Journalism Awards finalists
2005-09-26By Diana Day: The Online News Association, in conjunction with USC's Annenberg School for Communication, has announced the finalists for its 2005 Online Journalism Awards.
The awards will be presented in New York City at the ONA conference, Oct. 28-29 at the Hilton New York.
Dragonfire brings a new approach to news
2005-09-27By Carly Goldsmith: Dragonfire, a newly developed online news site produced by Drexel University, is rapidly becoming the place to go to read compelling stories that the mainstream media won't cover, according to site editor Amy Webb.
Whether focusing on the AIDS crisis in Cambodia, reports on Thailand's growing film industry or the latest baseball predictions, Dragonfire strives to report on a wide range of topics that are relevant around the world, Webb said.
"The site tries to set itself apart from other news sources," Webb said. "Most people approach [online news] with the idea that the goal should be quantity and speed."
Dragonfire doesn't worry about those characteristics but instead concentrates on producing in-depth stories that may not appear in mainstream news, according to Webb.
The site is on a two-week publishing cycle, with each section of the site going live on a different day.
"Everyone thought we were nuts," said Webb. Although this is very slow for online news, the two-week publishing cycle seems to be working.
Instead of timeliness, Dragonfire focuses on interactive elements. Most include audio or visual effects, and some boast games, maps or forums that allow readers to further connect with the story.
The newest issue’s cover story addresses the topic of faith-based dieting. The article includes an audible interview, selections from the Bible and a photo album.
Dragonfire already has a strong readership all around the globe. Although most hits come from within the United States, countries such as Canada, India, Romania and Thailand all contain a significant number of readers, according to Webb. Because of such global interest, some stories are translated into as many as 20 languages.
Ultimately, Webb said she hopes Dragonfire's unique features, choice of articles and concentration on quality – not quantity – will set it apart from other online news sites.
Deutsche Welle to award bloggers
2005-09-28By Sean Sinico: DW-WORLD.DE, the Internet presence of German foreign broadcaster Deutsche Welle, is sponsoring the second annual theBOBs -- the Best of the Blogs Awards.
Being presented in nine languages, theBOBs will hopefully give bloggers, podcasters, readers, listeners and fans a look at the sites beyond what they usually visit. The focus again this year is on journalistic Weblogs and bloggers who use new media to spread information in regions that do not enjoy a free and robust press.
A jury of independent journalists and bloggers from around the world will select the contest's winners and users will also be able to vote for their favorite blogs and podcasts in 13 categories (Best Weblog, Best Multimedia Blog, Best Podcasting Site, a special award from Reporters Without Borders, and Best Journalistic Blog).
There are three more days to submit sites.
Disclaimer: This post came from a DW-WORLD.DE employee.
Blogger Sarvas: Net a venue to share literary passions
2005-09-29By Lauren Hamilton: As the world of blogs continues to grow, many subject-specific blogs are making their mark. With subjects ranging from gaming to home improvement, blogs allow people all over the world to share their passions with a vast audience.
Among the bloggers expressing these interests on the Web is Mark Sarvas, creator of literary blog The Elegant Variation.
Mark Sarvas said that he "stumbled onto the world of blogs” and found an opportunity to express his passion for literature. Additionally, a blog created by an Angeleno would bring attention to the literary community of Los Angeles, which has often been overshadowed by New York, a publishing mecca, Sarvas explained.
These feelings led Mark Sarvas to start The Elegant Variation in October 2003. Sarvas recalled that he was "shocked" at how simple it was to start his blog with TypePad, a personal blogging software service. Mark Sarvas generally works alone on The Elegant Variation but also has guest reviewers and uses guest bloggers from time to time.
Sarvas called the blog, which focuses mainly on literary fiction, a "labor of love." He said he doesn't do his blog for income purposes -- as evidenced by the lack of advertising -- but because he enjoys doing it.
The Elegant Variation is also a member of The Litblog Co-op, an organization of literary blogs that Sarvas helped organize. With over twenty participating blogs, the Litblog Co-op highlights many unfamiliar books the bloggers think are worthy of recognition, Sarvas said.
Sarvas said he believes his blog serves many already avid readers and that the real challenge is reaching wider audiences and getting their attention. Literary blogs will be able to do this, he added, using the far-reaching grasp of the Internet.
We Media '05: Online participation in conference open to all
2005-09-29By Diana Day: Can't make it to the Media Center's We Media conference in New York?
There are several ways you can still participate:
1) Let the speakers know the topics you'd like discussed.
2) Like Watts Wacker and Andrew Heyward, you too can post musings about mass collaboration.
3) Follow along as We Media is live-blogged and podcast. Submit your comments and they might be shared with the entire conference.
Blogger says the future of journalism is online
2005-09-30By Eric Lindberg: Journalist K. Paul Mallasch sees the future of journalism as a conversation, something he says is only viable through online journalism.
"In the past, media has been, for the most part, a one-way process, with the 'journalists' telling the people what’s important," Mallasch said.
"The future is more of a discussion between the journalists, the citizen journalists and the citizens.”
Online journalism is still in its beginning stage, according to Mallasch, but he feels that many of the small media sources, those “outside Big Media,” are working toward a more liberated press.
"Online journalism is going to give the media revolution a chance at succeeding, give us a chance at wrangling power from the big media corporations and giving the press back to the people," he said.
Mallasch left a job with Gannett, a large media corporation, to work as a freelance writer and blogger.
"The steady paycheck and health benefits were nice," Mallasch said. "But I was tired of being told I couldn't do something because there wasn't enough revenue potential in it or because corporate was rolling out their own version that we had to use."
Mallasch now describes himself as "a journalist, a poet, and a pilgrim," and codes and designs Web sites in addition to freelancing.
"I'm doing what I love again, though, and for the right reasons," he said. "And that makes it all worth it."
He started his J-Log website back in 2002 as a way to keep his Internet skills sharp. Since then it has grown into a site that is "trying to document, or blog, the revolution as it happens."
"Back in the ... 90s, there was a journalism site that accepted contributions from disgruntled journalists," said Mallasch. "I remember reading about it and wanting to start something similar."
Users can sort the content on his site by clicking on topics ranging from Ethics and Law to Politics. The site even includes a section for Rants.
With nearly 150 people signed up and traffic increasing month to month, Mallasch said the site is steadily gaining support. He plans to continue running the site and hopes it will eventually form a small community of people interested in citizen journalism.
"What I want people to take away from it is that journalism as a whole is in bad shape in this country and needs to be fixed."