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"The mobile news revolution and its impact on the newsroom". That was the topic for the speech of Paul Cheesbrough, Chief Information Officer at the Telegraph Media Group, United Kingdom, at the third session of the 15th World Editors Forum.

Trying to coordinate and strengthen the use of mobile technology at The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph and thetelegraph.com, Mr Cheesbrough talked about the experiences and the approach of the newsgroup to the mobile future. There are three different angles.

1. "Distribution opportunity" - For a long time, mobile technology has been costly and difficult. But lately there has been a positive change. To a large extent, producers of mobile devices have  started to embed a common browser in the device. This is a big leap forward making it much easier for media to publish and users to read and view. Since screen sizes on mobile devices still are quite small, most viewers use it to read headlines, follow sport results etc. This makes it quite simple and basic but promises much potential. With the development of new devices and mobile high speed broadband becoming more widespread and cheaper there's more use of and demand for video and audio news posts.

2. "Revenue prospect" Since the mobile technology still is fairly new to the public it hasn't yet become attractive for the ad-market. Neither does it have such a strong position among consumers of news, so there are big possibilities of having pay for-services. However, the current situation will surely change. The constant growth and development of mobile technology in many ways means more users in the consumer market.

3. "News gathering news channel" The use of different mobile devices, whether be it an iphone, a tablet pc, mobile internet genie etc. makes journalistic work easier and more effective. Journalists can report, publish and update a news story at any time, from anywhere. This can be published as text, video or a podcast. There's also the possibility for the public to contribute. Today, users are able to send pictures from the scene of a news story with their mobile phone. They can send text messages and comment on articles. They can blog as part of the website platform, etc. However, the growth of this phenomenon has issues that needs to be worked on. Most obvious is the issue of moderation. This applies mostly to controversial news, but publishers must not ignore more general news. Mr. Cheesbrough belives that moderation will a more important aspect of newsrooms over time.

Lastly, Cheesbrough encouraged the audience not to look at mobiles as simply mobile phones. In five to ten years, mobile technology will have evolved to something much more, giving both journalists and public more possibilities.

Press freedom in China has relatively loosened in the aftermath of the deadly earthquake in Sichuan, but the government is still heavy handed in directing the coverage.

Taking advantage of their unprecedented access, journalists have been generating a continous stream of updates from the disaster site, using a variety of tools including Twitter (see image). Citizen journalists as well have been active generating news from the province.

"I think we can say right now that Chinese media is reporting the quake with an intensity previously unseen," said David Bandurski, a researcher at the University of Hong Kong's China Media Project.

The openness is particularly striking when compared to the non-coverage of the 1976 Tangshan earthquake, when China's press gave a short announcement that it had occurred and then fell silent.

However, according to AFP, China's journalists are by no means free from government interference. China's top propaganda director, Li Changchun, recently visited the major state-run media outlets "to deliver what appeared to be a stern reminder of the angles the press must take."

"The leadership's more open attitude toward reporting on the disaster so far is a very positive development. But it does not necessarily signal an epic shift in media policy," Bandurski said. Indeed, press repression in China has generally grown worse in the lead up to the Olympics.

Unlike Chinese journalists, foreign journalists have not reported any attempts to curb their coverage, representing what may be attempt to show a degree of openness in light of the Tibet protests.  

Sources: AFP, E-Media Tidbits 

Paul Bradshaw of The Online Journalism Blog had posited that the editorial process and workflows must change with the online world, following the "news diamond," which is based on speed and depth.

Here's how a news site implemented this process in practice.

Editor of NME.com, a news publication about the music industry, David Moynihan, said his own team has worked towards adopting the news diamond, describing his work as "a buzzing cross-platform environment that mirrors [Bradshaw's] theories."

Though he writes that print staff is trying to be more involved with web publishing, as a web editor, Moynihan finds "that the change in processes, skill sets and attitude is still much too slow. The theories abound, but the practice is much more sluggish!"

Moynihan gives an example of how the news diamond was applied, not only to NME's print magazine, but online as well: The Raconteurs rush-released a new album without the typical promotional and marketing moves, including reviews.  "It almost makes journalism redundant," Moynihan writes. "Fan can simply listen to the album online at legal Mp3 download sites - why do they need NME?

Said Moynihan: "Except they do, it turns out. To mark the release of the album we have done all of the following on NME.com and the traffic speaks volumes about users' needs:

       1. Daily news stories in the run up to the release, covering a number of angles from album artwork, to release details to lyrics.
       2. A Photo Gallery of the band to mark the release.
       3. An instant review online, written by our writers in 'blog' format during their first listen. The full in-depth review and a feature about the unusual method of release will be in (yep, you guessed it) NME magazine, out this week.
       4. Updated our Artist page.
       5. Streamed the album online with our radio media player.
       6. Video to go online as soon as it's released"."

Source: Online Journalism Blog (photo)
 

Editor announces plans to shake up the editing culture in Washington newsroom

Should journalists specialize in one particular news format or do they have timeto undertake other forms of multimedia to complement their stories? Mercury News' Lisa Fernandez recently made a video for her story about a toddler who died in a pond, simply by shooting the pond from different angles and adding the sound of running water when piecing the shots together.

"Didn't take me more than a few minutes" to shoot the video, Fernandez writes in the News Videographer blog. "I needed to look at the area anyway, to describe in words, for my story."

For longer features, Fernandez tells her editor in advance so she can have an extra day to make the video. She can make a 2 minute video in an hour or two.

Making multimedia complements doesn't need to rival documentaries. Journalists can add deeper understanding to a story by spending only a few minutes with minimal equipment.

Source: SPJ

Journalism blogger Andy Dickinson reported from the DNA conference on Telegraph Media Group digital editor Ed Roussel, who outlined a timeline for the news process.

Here's the typical approach for a breaking news story:

- 11:15 Alerts sms email desktop
- 11:25 150 words, solicit reader help
- 12:15 Updated story, images video
- 13:15 Analysis, topic page
- 15:15 Multiple angles - multimedia analysis etc.

Sounds like the Telegraph is etching towards Paul Bradshaw's news diamond, which aims to rethink the news process in terms of the Web's two main attributes, depth and speed.

However, Roussel also tried to debunk the commonly accepted vision of the newspaper websites being the place for breaking news and the print editions being more analytical.

According to Dickinson, Roussel said that "strategy for your website was to be about the first and the last word on a story."

Source: Andy Dickinson

For the French weekly Le Nouvel Observateur, it’s been a year since they have walked the walk by building an in-house studio. Video has simply become essential. “We can’t do without it anymore,” said Malika Elkord, deputy editor of the Nouvel Observateur. Will video ever be dominant in the publication though? Not to be considered yet. “Video is only a plus, but it is still essential,” she said.

Ted Vanden, a journalist at The News & Observer of Raleigh, N.C. spoke with new executive editor John Drescher about the paper’s plans and priorities. Drescher said that readers will probably not see any major changes. The paper will continue to cover state and government politics. However, it will be trying to develop more online.

Technolo-J, the blog launched by the Society of Professional Journalists, has been running a series about ‘Rob Curley’s seven ways to help revitalize our industry’. Last week, it took a look at how The Wichita Eagle covered a murder case the multimedia way.

Several major newsrooms have chosen to integrate their print and online operations to adapt to the digital age, including the Daily Telegraph in the UK and Fairfax in Australia, and most recently The New York Times moving into its new building. But most newspapers remain non-integrated or consider – such as Le Monde in France or El Pais in Spain – that full integration is not the best choice. In light of this debate, the Weblog interviewed Bruno Patino, Vice President of Le Monde group and President of Le monde interactif, to figure out which is the ‘right’ way to rethink the newsroom, or whether or not integration should be the main concern altogether.

In complement to the previous piece about the Press Association’s training programs, here are a few very practical videojournalism lessons gathered live from the video storytelling class taught by David Dunkley.

Using a $700,000 Knight News Challenge grant, MTV will recruit a team of “mobile youth journalists” to cover the upcoming US presidential elections.   With this citizen journalist project, MTV hopes to learn about media diffusion and consumption in youth culture, particularly how the medium affects the message.

As more newspapers ask or require journalists to blog in order to embrace new media, some journalists have begun to feel like blogging is extra work weighing them down. Amy Gahran of Poynter Online says that journalists should not use blogs as another platform for stories, but as a place for complementary commentary to them.

The Publishing Group of America (PGA) is introducing an online auto shopping feature to the web sites of more than 2,000 local US newspapers that carry its magazine publications, which include the popular American Profile.

New ideas and change are a necessity but it’s vital to consider all factors and lead from the top.