Will bloggers save journalism?

Jason Lee Miller of WebPro News is covering yet again the possible demise of the newspaper. This is a subject that has been floating around for a while now.

Jason does point out that newspapers do have life left in them, local papers are doing well and making a profit.

Link:How Bloggers Will Save Journalism

The print-is-dead argument is a bit of a straw man because the scarecrow is still awaiting the (tech) wizard to give it life. Fact is, people are still buying newspapers. Fact is, they're still making money, especially small local papers, even if it's less money as the market changes. That means layoffs, and it means some publications with too much overhead shut down.

But dead implies extinction, and I think it might be better to look at it through an evolutionary lens. That is, print must evolve, as journalism must.

Posted by Bob Toovey on 04 February 2008
Permanant Link | Filed under Point of View | Comments 0

Darren Rowse on contributed content and Journalism

Daren Rowse on Problogger was asked to write for a magazine on the subject of user contributed content and the possible threat to journalism...

A few weeks back I asked readers for their opinion on a topic that I’d been asked to write a short column on for the Australian Marketing Magazine (no online version of the article that I can find).

The question was - ‘Will the growing popularity of digital user-generated content pose a threat to the traditional journalist?‘

Link: User Generated Content and the Threat to Journalism

Posted by Bob Toovey on 03 December 2007
Permanant Link | Filed under Websites | Comments 0

Was Yahoo's action in China really so wrong?

The initial reaction to Yahoo sharing information with the Chinese Government was unfavourable to say the least. I believe that the Congressional hearings are currently underway, looking in to Yahoo disclosure. An article by Duncan Riley on Tech Crunch shows another point of view on Yahoo's actions.

Consider what Yahoo has done. Yahoo China (which I’d note is only 40% owned by Yahoo) received a “subpoena-like document” that requested information from a sovereign nation. Yahoo General Counsel Michael Callahan contended that Yahoo employees in China had little choice but to comply with the government’s demands. “I cannot ask our local employees to resist lawful demands and put their own freedom at risk, even if, in my personal view, the local laws are overbroad,” he said.

This posting is a fair comparison and shows that Yahoo really should not been seen as a criminal.

What is your opinion?

Posted by Bob Toovey on 09 November 2007
Permanant Link | Filed under Point of View | Comments 0

Is Associated Press still relevant?

Another site is declaring the death of newspapers. An article by Rich Ord on WebProNews states that the Associated Press (AP) is dying off. He says, “The AP's world has now changed forever with the advent of blogs and news aggregation sites. “

I don't think news organisations are going to fade anytime soon. For a start, newspaper readership is down in the US and up in the UK, confused? AP has thousands of journalists all over the world providing expert reporting and informed opinions for newspapers as well as TV News Channels.

The AP is scrambling to remain needed in this fast paced up to the second blog news world. As reported and analyzed by WebProNews, the AP is suing Moreover for of all things... linking to AP stories. Does the AP not realize that winning this suit would result in less readers of their stories? The old news order is dead, the AP will have to adapt or die.

Many newspapers are changing to reflect the impact that the Internet is having, will AP change as well? AP may seem irrelevant now but when they eventually embrace the web (which they are going to have to do) then they may become the news gathering force they once were.

Posted by Bob Toovey on 03 November 2007
Permanant Link | Filed under Point of View | Comments 0

The demise of newspapers - again

Yaro Starak over at Entrepreneur's Journey has posted his take on the demise of newspapers. He quotes figures from a study conducted by Nielsen.

According to a study done by Nielsen, more than 37% of all households with internet access visited a newsite at least once weekly. This accounts for roughly 59 million people. That’s up about 4% from last year during the same time period.

But this goes up against recent figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulation in the UK.

Link Yaro's post: The Fall of Newspapers is Nearing Completion

Posted by Bob Toovey on 02 November 2007
Permanant Link | Filed under On the Net | Comments 0

New readership figures for UK online newspapers

News papers seem to be doing better online these days. Last time I posted about newspaper blog readership figures it seemed that they may have been bending the figures a little. Recent figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulation (UK) says that the Times, Telegraph, Guardian and the Sun have beaten their previous readership levels.

TimesOnline.co.uk performed the best with the largest increase with 12,536,438 unique visitors last month. More figures are available from this posting on the Journalism.co.uk website.

I still read reports that printed newspaper revenue and readership is falling so these figure must prove that they are doing something right on the web.

Posted by Bob Toovey on 25 October 2007
Permanant Link | Filed under News | Comments 0

Nokia and Reuters end journalism trial

Reuters and Nokia has finished their trials of using a N95 mobile phone to file news reports. The technology used to create a "Mobile Journalism Tookit" as cited by Engadget mobile...

“...included N95, a Nokia SU-8W portable keyboard, a Sony condenser mic with special N95 adapter, a tripod, and two Power Monkey power stations, including the solar-capable Explorer, all of which linked into a custom mobile CMS that allows stories to be posted almost instantly. “

also...

“Although the trial is now over, both Reuters and Nokia plan on using the kits to teach journalism students and to promote the cause of citizen journalism. “

The rise in sales of mobiles phones (with cameras etc) and the increase of phone functions has helped the rise of Citizen Journalism. Sounds like a good partnership.

The N95 has already some good video editing features, see previous posting, Recording and editing with a Nokia N95

 

Posted by Bob Toovey on 25 October 2007
Permanant Link | Filed under CJ Tools | Comments 0

China using firewall to redirect traffic

It seesms that China is using their firewall to redirect traffic away from Google Blog search to their own search engine Baidu. This from the Tech Crunch,

Further to our earlier story on visitors to Google Blogsearch being redirected to Baidu in China, new reports have surfaced that would indicate that China has unilaterally blocked all three major search engines in China and is redirecting all requests to Baidu.

Link to Tech Crunch posting, Cyberwar: China Declares War On Western Search Sites

*** Update

According to Robert Scoble this story may be false 

Posted by Bob Toovey on 18 October 2007
Permanant Link | Filed under News | Comments 0

RSF publishes latest press freedom index

“Bloggers now threatened as much as journalists in traditional media”

Thats the by line for the last report on press freedom by Reporters with Borders (RSF - Reporters sans frontières). Their latest report on press freedom, The Worldwide Press Freedom Index, lists 169 countries in ranking order. The top three are Iceland, Norway and Estonia. The UK comes in 24th, the USA comes in at 48th.

There is a change for bottom place with Eritrea replacing North Korea. The report states that,

“There is nothing surprising about this,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Even if we are not aware of all the press freedom violations in North Korea and Turkmenistan, which are second and third from last, Eritrea deserves to be at the bottom. The privately-owned press has been banished by the authoritarian President Issaias Afeworki and the few journalists who dare to criticise the regime are thrown in prison. We know that four of them have died in detention and we have every reason to fear that others will suffer the same fate.”

The USA has faired better in this report but due to the continued imprisonment of Al-Jazeera’s Sudanese cameraman, Sami Al-Haj since 13th June 2002 at Guantanamo bay and the murder of Chauncy Bailey in August, has meant that USA is not able to rank higher.

The full report can be seen on the RSF website.

Posted by Bob Toovey on 16 October 2007
Permanant Link | Filed under News | Comments 0

BBC looking for contributors for extened Urdu site

The BBC is currently hunting for Citizen Journalists in Uttar Pradesh, Bhopal, Hyderabad and Aligarh. This is for their newly launched micro site called Your Edition, which comes under the main site, BBC Urdu.

"In a milieu of extensive social-networking and participatory media, we intend Your Edition to be the next level of interactivity whereby user-participation evolves into user-empowerment," said Waheed Mirza, editor of bbcurdu.com.

Mohammed Hanif, head of BBC Urdu, said the scheme would raise awareness of the BBC's Urdu site amongst Urdu-speakers in India, where internet usage is growing.

"Lucknow, Hyderabad, Bhopal and Aligarh are centres of knowledge and talent, and we are looking forward to meeting our existing and future audiences there," said Hanif.

 Found on Journalism Today

Posted by Bob Toovey on 16 October 2007
Permanant Link | Filed under News | Comments 0