November 2007 Archives

Las Ultimas Noticias in Santiago, Chile has embraced many innovations over the past few years. Editor Augustín J. Edwards has talked with Michael Smith from the Readership Institute about his experiments and innovations.

Guardian journalists voted on Nov. 29th an “enabling deal” that backs the newspaper’s 24/7 plan. The National Union of Journalists’ Guardian chapel endorsed the deal by 211 votes to 27.

Arianna Huffington, co-founder and editor in chief of The Huffington Post talks about the future of digital media, saying, “The only agency people who’ll succeed are those who fully integrate.”

Time is once again to vivid discussions about the future of citizen, professional, and pro-am journalism, as Steve Boriss from The Future of News blog argues that “citizen journalism is dead. Expert journalism is the future.”

Tribune Interactive is launching branded channels for its newspapers and TV stations on YouTube. The move is said to be about “leveraging” and enhancing public exposure for Tribune and local content for YouTube.

The FCC is anticipated to approve Tribune’s $8.2 billion deal to go private by today. The rule barring ownership of a newspaper and a broadcast property in one market needs to be waived in order for Tribune to complete the Sam Zell privatization.

According to O. Casey Corr of Crosscut, the role of the city columnist has been on the decline, despite the typically heightened focus on local news. So here’s why and how to improve metro writing.

News forum Topix announced Tuesday a deal with MediaNews Group to provide each of its 61 daily newspaper’s online versions with discussion forums and article commenting.

Publishers everywhere are being asked to implement ACAP, Automated Content Access Protocol, developed at the initiative of the World Association of Newspapers, the International Publishers Association and the European Publishers Council.

Matt Taibbi, a political reporter from Rolling Stone has never had a problem expressing his opinions and his latest is journalism school is a waste of time.

Many US news organizations have taken a major step back from the international scene, deciding to become more local in their content. The Associated Press, however, has been expanding its international reach, providing vital reports.

Last week, YouTube suspended the account of Egyptian journalist and anti-torture activist Wael Abbas, on the basis that the clips he posted, which depicted police brutality, voting irregularities and other government-unfriendly content, were unsuitable for viewers.

In the last few days, a French suburb went ablaze again after a mysterious and deadly encounter between two young motorcyclists and a police car at Villiers-le-Bel. Although the situation is cooling down, Le Monde reported that journalists were using bodyguards to tour around the town.

Yahoo has partnered with Adobe PDF to create a new ad product called “Ads for Adobe PDF powered by Yahoo!” The project aims to allow publishers the chance to include contextual, text-based ads next to PDF-based content.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has sent an open letter to the International Olympic Committee to express their concern about the way Chinese authorities are dealing with Olympic preparations regarding journalists, who are to be closely controlled during the games.

A Gannett owned daily newspaper, The Ocean County Observer, is changing to a weekly due to declining circulation.

Steve Outing, a columnist for Editor & Publisher decided to talk about his failed company, the Enthusiast Group, which was an experiment in grassroots media and social networking, to teach the lessons he learned and to save others from the same failure he experienced.

Media coverage of cyclone Sidr, which devastated Bangladesh, left hundreds of thousands homeless and killed at least 3,100, has been extensive, as is now the tradition in cases of major natural catastrophes. However, in comparison to coverage of the recent Californian wildfires, one can also wonder whether the differences in coverage of these two events can be representative of the digital gap widening.

Simon Westrop, the head of the legal department at Newsquest has called for a website that will document reporting restrictions that have been placed on court cases, in an effort to avoid the breaching of court orders by the media.