Denver paper closes after 150 years

Newspapers are all under pressure. Some are failing just like Rocky Mountain News. This paper was established in 1859 and now 150 years later, it has printed it's last edition.

From Media Daily News (Rocky Mountain Bye: 150-Year-Old Denver Daily Dies)...

In addition to the 200+ newsroom staffers out of a job, the demise of The Rocky Mountain News is real blow for Colorado and the country at large. The newspaper, founded in 1859, documented the changes and upheavals of the Wild West era, a witness to settlement and statehood, cattle barons and outlaws, and the wars against native tribes. Long after its closure, its archive will be a valuable resource to academics and history buffs. It is also believed to be the oldest continuously operated business in Colorado.

Any bloggers ready to take over the reigns?

Posted by Bob Toovey on 27 February 2009
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New site takes on photo journalism from citizens

A new citizens journalism website that seems to be doing very well is Demotix. It currently has over 2000 citizen reporters from all over the world. The site specializes in photo journalism which is evident from the front page.

From their about page...

Demotix is a citizen-journalism website and photo agency. It takes user-generated content (UGC) and photographs from freelance journalists and amateurs, and markets them to the mainstream media.

Demotix was founded with two principles at its heart - the freedom of speech and the freedom to know. Its objective is nothing if not ambitious - to rescue journalism and promote free expression by connecting independent journalists with the traditional media.

The site has a big team working behind the scenes with great credentials. Hopefully this UK bases site will appeal to the world and become very successful.

(Added to our CJ search engine)

Posted by Bob Toovey on 09 February 2009
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Looking at UK regional press

Martin Belam at CurryBet.net has been looking at local newspapers. So far he has published three articles about their uses of RSS and the use of video.

• Local online news video - where do we go from here?
• Local RSS: Google Reader subscriber numbers for the UK's top regional papers
• Local RSS: What do the leading regional newspapers offer? Part 2

More articles in the series are planned.

Posted by Bob Toovey on 11 December 2008
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Citizen Eye in the UK expands to media hub

Citizens Eye, the community news agency that I reported on a while ago seem to be expanding. I received an email from John Coster explaining that new agencies are being created and they will be incorporated in to a new Community Media Hub along with Citizen Eye.

Here is a snip from the email listing the new agencies and what else is new...

HAT News - reports on Refugee & Asylum issues
INO Mag - Inside 'n' Out magazine reports positive news stories on Ex-Offenders
Dzine - reports on Disability issues
The 2 - Young People reporting on Young People's issues

2 further news agencies are being established to report on Older People and also Homelessness

Citizens Eye is working in partnership with Soar Magazine, Enterprise Radio,The Demon Newspaper, In Citie Online, Wot Box, Cindro Web Development and the BME Media Group on the development of The Community Media Hub.

If you would like your community group / organisations printed Newsletters etc to be available in the city centre - please post / drop them at The Community Media Hub for display.

We look forward to welcoming you to the new home for community media covering our great city and county.

Please let us have any press releases, news items, training courses or event details for inclusion on the website.

The free 10 week Community Media course run at the Central Lending Library has been a great success and new dates for January 09 will be finalised shortly.

Posted by Bob Toovey on 17 November 2008
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BBC news director discusses CJ and it's role for the BBC

Helen Boaden, director of BBC news has published her keynote speech she gave at the recent e-Democracy conference. She discusses how the digital world is making news easier to access and how it gives wider choice. She also mentions citizen journalism.

From the BBC Editors blogs, The role of citizen journalism in modern democracy

“The BBC, like other news organisations, was banned from entering Burma - we couldn't find out what was happening.

But despite a crackdown on the internet and mobile phone networks the BBC was flooded with pictures, video, texts and e-mails from Burmese citizens who told us what was really happening on the ground.

This was citizen newsgathering - simultaneously transcending boundaries and confronting authority.”

Posted by Bob Toovey on 13 November 2008
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New blog focuses on the European Union

The man behind UpFront news blog has created another site this time focusing on the European Union - EU Watch. Neither for or against, he plans to write up-to-date stories for anyone who is curious about the EU. He also plans to explain more about the structure and history of the EU.

The latest posting looks very good, Worst EU Lobbying Awards 2008. Love the cartoon that goes with it. Here is a snip...

The European Alliance for Access to Safe Medicines (EAASM)
EAASM describes itself as “an independent, cross-sector patient safety alliance, campaigning for the exclusion of counterfeit and substandard medicines from the supply chain.” In fact, EAASM is entirely funded by drug manufactures with an interest in preventing cross border sales of pharmaceuticals.

This new blog should make an interesting read, good to hear an independent view on the goings on inside the EU.

Posted by Bob Toovey on 30 October 2008
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Can French newspapers survive with out Government help?

News papers around the world are finding it increasingly difficult but in France there are other reasons why they are finding it hard to make money with the printed word. The distribution system and the Government, seem to have a hold over the publishers with rules and regulations that strangle.

From the International Herald and Tribune, 'France looks to save its newspapers'

Newspapers throughout the developed world are losing readers and advertisers to the Internet, but French papers are in particularly bad shape. According to the World Association of Newspapers, circulation of paid-for dailies totals 154 copies per 1,000 people - lower than in Cuba, Lithuania or Suriname, and only about half the level in Germany or Britain. Like Lefevre, many analysts see over regulation as a major reason why French papers are thinner, scarcer and more expensive than elsewhere.

Posted by Bob Toovey on 20 October 2008
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Getting the whole story

The Internet makes for a level playing field. One of the many reasons why Citizen Journalism worries traditional journalism so much. Blogs play an important part in this and has helped spread the CJ movement, ease of use and no programming knowledge required.

So when it comes to impairment, the tools are still there to be used.

Bill Fitzgerald runs a CJ site called 'The Rest of the Story' hosted on Ning. He is legally blind, his condition, idiopathic Angiod Streaks, effects his eyesite to a different degree each day but he will eventually go blind. However he is a firm believer in Citizen Journalism...

Then there is the fact that I am a firm believer that "Citizen Journalist" fills a very important role in the media today, in some cases more so than mainstream media. A case in point would be the protest in Burma, The only photos or video and for that matter, accurate information was provided solely by CJ's and that continues to be the case.

Bill is very enthusiastic about his site and hopes that his family will take over his endevours...

I have 2 kids, one 12 and one 15. I see this site as a long term project as much for them as for me.

The site it self is fairly young but currently has 45 members posting stories and video's about world wide subjects.

By being powered by Ning, it gives the site a lot of features that would otherwise require a programmer or a degree technical knowledge. The current poll, Who Should Be The Next President Of The U.S.A. has Barack Obama at 57% with John McCain trailing at 14%. The forum appears to be busy with lots of posts and discussions. Nice to see another CJ with plenty of active members.

I hope that Bill's condition will not effect the growth of the site but it does prove that citizen journalism is really open to all.

(This site has been added to our CJ Search Engine)

Posted by Bob Toovey on 17 October 2008
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UK website for CJ photo's

I have mentioned a lot about citizen journalism and blogs but not a lot on citizen photo journalism. I mention this as I have come across a UK based website called 'Pics-4-News.com'. This site specializes in providing an outlet for those who take photo's as part of citizen journalism.

They effectively manage the use and sale of your photograph and take 50% commission...

Welcome........Pics-4-news is an Independant, photo agency.We aim to sell, or more accurately licence the managed rights for the press to use YOUR newsworthy images.

We are here to represent you and provide you with the best service and support that we can.

They also have a ethical policy which is really nice to see.

The site allows you to send pics either by MMS, email or by uploading. To get an idea of the kind of photo's being uploaded, you can take a look at the freeview gallery.

Posted by Bob Toovey on 27 September 2008
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Sri Lanka's one and only CJ website

GroundViews is the one and only CJ website for Sri Lanka. It was originally setup under the Voices of Reconciliation Project but has gone on to win accolades and popularity. For 2007 the website had over 144,280 page views and nearly a million hits. From the websites about page...

“...conducted in Sri Lanka through the leadership of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) from 2005 - 2006 and funded by CIDA and AusAID. The VOR Project was also instrumental in setting up VOR Radio - which complements the content on this site through podcasts on peace, democracy and reconciliation. Groundviews complements content primarily in Sinhala and Tamil on Vikalpa and also the videos on Vikalpa Video.”

Just to prove the popularity of the site, “...Groundviews is currently referenced on 71 other blogs globally and has a Technorati rank of 136,439 out of the over 70 million blogs the blog aggregation engine indexes. Further, Groundviews is the only civil society and citizen journalism website in Sri Lanka to be directly indexed on Google News and ranked Number 1 on Google itself by keyword.”

The about page also explains why it was setup...

In response to requests from local civil society organisations, NGOs, humanitarian aid organisations including sections of the UN, local and international journalists as well as members from the diaspora to have a better idea of conditions on the ground in Sri Lanka, the Voices of Reconciliation project decided to launch this website to strengthen, inter alia, the voices of those in favour of a just and lasting peace in Sri Lanka through a negotiated settlement.

This site has been added to our CJ search engine.

Posted by Bob Toovey on 17 September 2008
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