Recently by Carolyn Lo

A FAITHful voice blog details "The 11 Layers of Citizen Journalism, a step-by-step approach in dealing with the changing landscape of journalism by integrating the professional with the amateur."

1) Opening up to public comment: This gives the newspaper an interactivity and enhances the news story with things the reporter may have missed or with additional sources. 

2) "Citizens add-on approach:" Citizens can add personal experiences or information to a story. These can be made into a side bar.

3) Open source reporting: Citizens can be part of the reporting process by researching, interviewing, reporting, and writing.

4) "Citizen Bloghouse:" Invite "outstanding and prominent bloggers to blog for your news website." Then your news site will not only have quality blogs, but your online traffic will  probably increase. 

5) "Newsroom citizens transparency blog:" An online ombudsmen who will respond faster to you.

6) "The stand-alone citizen-journalism site - Edited Version:" For more localized and specific news, let citizens blog with minimal editing.

7) "The stand-alone citizen-journalism site - Unedited version:" Citizens have complete freedom to blog and moderate themselves

8) "Add a print edition:"  Publish the best stories and photos in different sections, like a newspaper. This may motivate the bloggers to work harder.

9) "The hybrid:" Both professionals and citizen journalists work together on news website content.

10) "Integrating citizen and pro journalism under one roof:" Both professionals and citizen journalists "work alongside each other to complement the content of the paper."

11) "Wiki-journalism": Horizontal structure where everyone is an editor and journalist.

A FAITHful voice concedes that these layers are truly ideal and questions if they will work in reality. A citizen journalist site Scribblesheet had shut down earlier this month because of financial troubles.

Source: A FAITHful voice

Next Monday, 24-page Indonesian newspaper Koran Jakarta will be available at newsstands with a target of selling 80,000 copies.

The paper is published by PT Berita Nusantara and will have a special economics section.

"We're not head to head with any other newspapers because ours is unique. It is a morning newspaper with more news on the economy," said chief editor Marthen Selamet Susanto.

According to Selamet, 40% of the paper will focus on business.

"We have a concept and we offered it to businessmen. There are at least 10 businessmen providing us with capital, but they don't determine our editorial," he said. Instead, Selamet says the paper belongs to its reporters.

The newspaper's readership would be people "with salaries above Rp 1 million with at least a high school education," according to Selamet.

The newspaper will be available in Greater Jakarta, South Sumatra's Palembang, and West Java's Bandung.

Source: JakartaPost.com through IFRA Executive News Service

Last week, Nebraskan newspaper the Grand Island Independent used live blogging tool CoverItLive after the relaunch of its site for a live Q&A session between readers and web staff. It remained available for an additional two days because of its popularity.

The feature was advertised in the print edition of the newspaper and as a link on the site's homepage. It garnered a lot of reader feedback, including reports of glitches in the new site, which were quickly fixed, according to Stephanie Romanski, web editor of the Independent.

"The whole errors issue surprised me and was an unexpected bonus to holding the Q&A. I mostly expected either 'Love it/Hate it responses or a lot of 'I can't find...' questions. I think we impressed some readers by being able to respond to their issues so quickly," said Romanski.

The Independent may be experimenting with other tools for sports and political coverage and for setting up a regular weekly chat with staff.

"I believe that newspapers that embrace the web and the awesome and often free tools available out there will be the newspapers that make it through the current slump the industry is experiencing and will thrive in the future," Romanski remarked.

Source: Journalism.co.uk through IFRA Executive News Service

During the week, Florida's St. Petersburg Times will drop its stand alone business section but will combine its Sunday business section with the paper's metro section.

The paper will have a full page for business news, but will cut its stock listings and use three-quarters of a page for market data, modeled after the Associated Press. The bottom of the market data page will be used for jumps and briefs.

The St. Petersburg Times will also cut its Floridian features section during the week and combine it with the metro section.

The changes is expected to occur with the May 19 paper.

Source: Talking Biz News through LA Times News Alert

BBC's first phase of integrating their news operation across media was completed on Monday with a common newsrooms in which journalists from the corporation's television news service started to work with their colleagues from radio and television news bulletins.

This move is due to a  "smaller than expected lisence fee settlement," according to Press Gazette journalist Martin Stabe, which made BBC want to "reduce duplication of its newsgathering operations."

"The number of roles has been reduced significantly because we've had to make these big savings," said BBC head of newsroom Peter Horrocks. "We've introduced some multimedia roles, but as people develop multimedia skills and once we've got all the platforms sitting alongside each other they can work together most effectively."

There is a a centralized "Media Wire" desk, which monitors audio and video feeds, then transfers stories to the most appropriate outlets, and there is also a centralized planning desk that controls assignments. There will also be a senior editor who will be the "multimedia editor," who will coordinate the different media and mediate conflicts. Each desk will also have a "web conversion producer," who will be responsible for extending stories that were originally produced for online platforms.

The next steps include integrating journalists from the BBC's international news channel, BBC World News, and those responsible for the text-based sections of the BBC News website.

In June, BBC Online journalists will join the converged newsroom, then the online news operation will split into two sections: one will cover world news and move to the second floor of the newsroom with the BBC World News television team, and the other will be the UK operation on the first floor, producing domestic radio and television bulletins.

Most journalists will "continue to work primarily in the media that they have traditionally worked," says Horrocks, "though over time, producers will increasingly work across television, radio and online as staff are put through a training program."

Source: Press Gazette through IFRA Executive News Service

With elite papers, such as the New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times cutting staff, the few "No. 2" papers left are struggling to survive.

A No. 2 paper "usually keeps the dominant daily on its toes," writes Washington Post columnist Howard Kurtz, by reporting overlooked stories, which are typically more popular in poorer neighborhoods.

The only major cities left with head-to-head competition, excluding those where two papers have the same owner or share business operations with federal approval, are New York, Washington, Chicago, and perhaps Los Angeles, according to Kurtz. The Cincinnati Post is the latest second-place paper to close, when its operations shut down last year.

The Boston Herald's, Boston's No. 2 paper, daily circulation shrunk to 203,000 and on Sunday, it fell to 113,000, in comparison with the Boston Globe's 384,000. The Herald only has 10 city reporters left in addition to those in the feature, business, and sports sections.

"It's almost as if Boston doesn't have a place for its second daily anymore," Boston magazine columnist Joe Keohane wrote, "particularly one that features a constant parade of pervs, solons, swindlers, bums and punks."

Kevin Convey, the Herald's editor says, "The Globe is more likely to write a story about how some government program is going to assist the poor and downtrodden. We're more likely to suggest it's a boondoggle that ought to be bounced off the face of the Earth."

Tabloids are more irreverent and prone to report on big names and scandals (a headline for former governor Mitt Romney's withdrawal from the presidential race was "MITT HAPPENS.") But with blogs unconcerned about newsprint costs, there appears to be little room left for tabloids. And with cities such as Boston becoming more "upscale," it is a question whether tabloids are desired anymore.

"Tabloids in some cases say what other papers only think," says Convey. But, "a lot of people find tabloids to be beneath them. In Boston, where the air is a bit more rarefied and you're closer to Harvard, some people have a problem with tabloids. I think there's a certain nobility in tabloids."

"I don't think it's that Massachusetts has become snootier. The old Herald readers are just leaving the state. The blue-collar exodus has affected the paper," says Herald columnist Howie Carr.

The Herald depends on street sales for three-quarters of its circulation. It shut down its Washington bureau, has old presses that break down, and a 125 person staff that struggles to cover the suburbs or out-of-town reports. Moreover, the Herald plans to outsource its printing and move out of its headquarters into rented space. However, it does not plan on changing its snarky tone.

"I don't think it's time to give up the ghost," Convey says.

The Globe, which won a Pulitzer for arts criticism this month, is not thriving either. The paper, has already cut jobs and accepted buyouts. Its only remaining foreign and domestic correspondents are in Washington.

"We're facing the same challenges everyone else is, trying to figure out what the future of the newspaper is going to look like," says Globe editor Martin Baron. "We have become more local. We have significantly scaled back what we do outside the Boston area. We're realists here. We realize the business is changing."

Source: WashingtonPost.com

The Local Media Group has published eight issues of the Burton Local News, a new monthly free newspaper in Staffordshire, and is planning on launching more editions due to the paper's success.

The exact locations for the new papers is unknown, but Doug Price, who co-owns Local Media Group with Kevin Curtis, revealed that "the five-year business plan could see a total of ten new monthly titles."

The title had an initial print run of 33,000 copies, but it has now increased by 2,000 copies because of its popularity. Readers are also able to download an electronic version of the paper on Burton Local News' website.

Price and Curtis began the Local Media Group last year when they decided to combine their experiences at local newspapers for a new business venture. The Burton Local News is produced by a team of ten in Derby, but receives its content from local councils, the police, freelancers, and volunteer photographers and writers in the town.

"It's all voluntary and freelance which keeps cost down," says Price. "But we would never carry any overtly political stuff or spin - and we're not trying to rival the Burton Mail or Burton Trader."

Source: Hold the Front Page

PicLens is a plug-in that transforms browsers such as Firefox into "a 3D environment where you can search, drag, and zoom around thousands of images and videos across the web," according to Alec Jeong from Cooliris, the company that developed PicLens.

Journalist can use this plug-in to search and view thousands of online photos and videos instantly instead of browsing and clicking through web pages and search engines.

The photos can be viewed through thumbnails or on a full screen and can the page the image is on can be automatically accessed. In the future, PicLens plans to allow users to save images directly from the plug-in and to view the images on the users' local hard drives.

PicLens is a free plug-in and available for Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari. The "3D Wall" interface is available now for Firefox and IE and will soon be available for Safari.

Source: Journalism.co.uk

Last week, Thomson Reuters established an ethics code that forbids its staff from using blogs for internal communications and from communicating with competitors.

Mentioning the company in a personal blog is allowed, but blogging about "confidential info and company clients" is not. Also, a personal blog should not be used as a platform to express differences with co-workers, the company, or those that Thomas Reuters does business with. Furthermore, the staff cannot take gifts.

The code includes suggestions to make sure that people nearby will not be able to see employees' laptop screens, such as: "a nondescript bag will draw less attention than a traditional laptop bag."

Thomson Reuters also has a section devoted to fair competition. It states that employees who attend a conference, trade show, association event, or meeting  should "limit informal contact to the extent possible and keep a written summary of any discussions that may have taken place."

Source: Paidcontent

Pearson is launching a Middle Eastern edition of its business newspaper the Financial Times to meet "increasing reader and advertiser demand for global business news in the Gulf following its emergence as a major international finance and business center," according to Brand Republic. It will be available tomorrow.

"This edition is a further step in our successful global strategy, reflecting the rapidly deepening interface between the region and the international economy," said John Ridding, chief executive of the Financial Times. ""It will provide a further boost to our global circulation and a quality advertising vehicle for businesses seeking to reach senior decision makers in the Middle East."

The staff will consist of Roula Khalaf, Middle East editor in London, and three full-time journalists in Abu Dhabi: Andrew England, Middle East correspondent, James Drummond, Gulf News editor, and Simeon Kerr, Gulf business correspondent. Other journalists will be recruited in Qatar and Saudi Arabia. 

FT already has a network of offices in Cairo, Tehran, Jerusalem and Beirut, and they hope to expand with Kerr based in Dubai.

FT also hopes to gain more coverage on the Middle East on its website, as well as revamp the webpage so that is has more video and audio content.

Former Daily Telegraph editor Martin Newland launched UAE newspaper The National about two weeks ago, thus making the FT's Middle East edition the second national title to launch in the area this month.

Source: Brand Republic

The Sunderland Echo has teamed up with local commercial radio station Magic to give radio listeners an opportunity to come up with headlines in a weekly competition.

Every Friday morning Steve Colman, radio presenter and Echo columnist, gives listeners a teaser from one of the day's stories, so that they can come up with a witty headline.

"It gives us chance to say what's in the paper that day and it's a nice way to work hand-in-hand with the station," said deputy editor Richard Ord.

Some of the entries are printed in Saturday's Echo and the Echo's editorial team decides if their headline or the listener's headline is better. As of now, the radio listeners are winning with a score of 11 to the Echo's 8.

"It's a great marketing tool and gets the readers' names in the paper," said Ord. "It's just for fun, no prizes, but it's causing much consternation among the subs.

Ord adds that the Echo plans on working with the radio station on many more projects.

Source: Hold the Front Page

Earlier this month, Mayhill Fowler, a citizen journalist, had reported comments made by U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama, describing rural, white voters as "bitter," to Huffington Post's blog "Off the Bus." Guardian America editor Michael Tomasky believes there is a need for blogging rules and questions the ethics of citizen journalism, while Jeff Jarvis of the blog Buzzmachine has similar beliefs as Robert Niles that "nothing is off-the-record anymore" and that citizen journalists are now necessary.

Jarvis: "Openness for all"
Jarvis begins by saying that rules are "corrupting" for journalism. Journalists should not engage in off-the-record talks and list unnamed sources because they should not help public officials hide anything from the public. Though some exclusives may be lost, there will be more stories with more openness and more reporting, "and politicians will learn that anything and everything they say and do can (and should) be reported," according to Jarvis. 

Furthermore, Fowler knew Obama's remarks "would be newsworthy," says Jarvis, and though she is an Obama supporter, she chose to let the public know about those remarks so that they could form their own opinions. Also, even if Fowler did not blog for the Huffington Post, she could have reported the story through YouTube or other platforms.

Essentially, journalism is evolving, says Jarvis, with coverage expanding from journalists, witnesses, readers, bloggers, etc.  "Journalism becomes less of a product and more of a process," he remarks.

Tomasky: "Call them "witnesses" and drop the whole conceit that they're journalists"
Though he embraces blogs, mostly for elevating debate, Tomasky cannot see the importance of knowing every single word public people say, since people misspeak and say things they don't really mean.

He argues that though "rules" may cause corruption and secrets, anonymity is sometimes the only way a source with important information will come forward, for example, the Pentagon Papers and intelligence assessments about Iraq before the war

Also, he concedes that most journalists would not be for "hiding" things from the public, but they would favor verifying something before it is published, which is "scarcely complicity in secret-keeping," but rather,  "just being responsible."

As for the Obama incident, Tomasky points out that Fowler got through the doors because she donated money to Obama's campaign, but "veteran journalists" were not allowed in the door. Had those journalists been allowed, they would not have kept those remarks secret.

Jarvis counters, "There's also a difference between verifying such a tip with reporting - which we'll all agree is necessary - and playing that tape-recording, which itself was the verification anyone needed. Obama's words and voice spoke for themselves."

He says that these "witnesses," or citizen journalists, now start the story with papers expanding on them and doing more in-depth research. Because veteran journalists may not be allowed through the door, they must rely on "witnessing," which "will still add up to journalism in the end."

Tomasky remarks that "it's a little sneaky and sleazy to be a citizen ... and then getting to be a journalist for the purposes of writing it up."

Source: Guardian.co.uk