Results matching “in online journalism the”

The Sun Sentinel, Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post have announced a partnership with Florida International University's School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

The deal will allow students enrolled in journalism courses at FIU to work as reporters, photographers and videographers, providing content for the three papers' print and online editions as part of the South Florida News Service.  The service will launch in early January. 

Following Saturday's crisis summit to discuss the plight of regional papers, the National Union of Journalists will be staging a coordinated "day of action" against pay freezes and rising job cuts.

The emergency summit meeting, following one of the worst weeks for job cuts in the industry, led union and newspaper representatives to agree to a series of moves in response to the job crisis.

Photos are doctored, enhanced or manipulated by news organizations on a regular basis - and not necessarily maliciously.  Sometimes a photo needs to be "enhanced;" for example, a journalist makes tonal adjustments or noise filters to more accurately reflect the environment in which a photo was shot.

Photographer Mark Hamilton offers a new way to describe "enhanced" photos that gives a reader a clear idea of what's been done.  Adopting a system that readers understand, "in terms they understand," is the next step toward "transparency" for journalism, establishing a level of honesty about process and allowing readers to "judge veracity."

The UK's daily Independent costs its publisher, Dublin-based Independent News & Media a "small fortune" every year, The Evening Standard's Roy Greenslade writes, and is likely to fail.

The way to save the paper is by taking a "revolutionary" step--going entirely online.

Foregoing all of its newsprint editions would be following the paper's tradition of "taking risks," according to Greenslade, and would change the face of newspapers in the UK.

A new training initiative between the BBC and the University of Central Lancashire is giving freelance journalists the chance to learn the newest skills in digital production, according to Hold the Front Page.

The program will give "30 freelance and broadcast journalists from the region the chance to get to grips with producing content for a number of platforms - online, TV, radio and mobile."

The idea of an ombudsman, or reader's editor, is not new, but its practice is still relatively infrequent.  Journalism.co.uk discussed with Siobhan Butterworth, The Guardian's ombudsman, why the post is "more important than ever" in the web environment.

There are an increasing number of articles are published straight to the Web.  In fact, there are 10 times as many articles online than there are in print.

Reader complaints are in large supply. Butterworth dealt with 23,000 corrections and complaints via email, telephone and fax in 2007.  The Press Complaints Commission received 10,000 communications last year.

According to recent findings from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Pew Research Centre's Project for Excellence in Journalism, health is a key issue for internet users. However, only 3.6% of Internet-based news content between January 2007 and June 2008 dealt with the issue, according to the study. Directnews.co.uk reports that the demand for online health news may be increasing.

The study showed that 42% of all online news stories covered specific conditions. Meanwhile, 31% focused on public health and 27% on health policy. Traffic to online health outlets in the UK rose by 10% in September since the previous month, comScore research showed.

"As the public's news consumption shifts more toward online and cable outlets, people are likely to come across fewer stories about health and particularly about health policy," said Kaiser Family Foundation's Victoria Rideout.

The Kaiser Family Foundation recently announced the launch of a news utility that will offer  "in-depth coverage of the policy and politics of health care" on the Internet and though the mainstream media.

Source: Directnews.co.uk

Self-regulation in the UK newspaper industry needs more protection with the "threat" of digital media and celebrity privacy actions, according to Sir Christopher Meyer, departing chairman of the Press Complaints Commission.

The Kaiser Family Foundation is launching a news service to provide "in-depth coverage of the policy and politics of health care" both online and through collaboration with mainstream media.

The website will be independently run, with a budget expected to reach $4 million in two years, and is a part of the "wave of online ventures that have emerged as newspapers and magazines cut jobs and newsgathering budgets," the New York Times reports.

The Guardian's Peter Wilby asks the question:  just how many journalists do you need to publish a newspaper?  In today's failing economy, circulation declines, dried up advertising revenue and the transition to new media, can a newspaper staff maintain its numbers?  Is "small," he asks, inevitable?

An event hosted by Goldsmiths Media Research Centre sparked a "provocative" discussion on a new book exploring the impact of digital technology on modern news practice and operations, which will influence the final draft.

Colleagues of the Guardian were "divided" during the discussion of "New Media, Old News:  Journalism and Democracy in a Digital Age," with some journalists agreeing with the Guardian's Nick Davies' belief that "modern news involves plagiarism." 

Internet users in China and Zimbabwe have been blocked from viewing Channel 4 News online videos in an act of self-censorship by the news organization, Guardian.co.uk is reporting.

The fear of "reprisals" against the subjects of online investigative videos sparked the channel to restrict access in the countries where subjects live, said Tim Lambon, assistant foreign editor of Channel 4 News.  The move also legally protects the station.

PV Media Group has launched a news aggregation website, BreakingNews.com in partnership with the wire service Breaking News Network Inc.

The group is an online marketing company that is headed by Steve Rosenberg, former Universal TV executive.

The Daily Mirror has launched a digital archive of its newspapers from 1903-1980.  The archive will be available to the public through an online subscription-based service.

The archive will house Mirror papers including the Daily Express, Daily Star, Sunday Express and Star on Sunday.  The new site that houses the archives is ukpressonline.

According to journalism.co.uk, "prices for access to the archive range from £5 for a 48-hour pass to £295 for one year."

Source: Journalism.co.uk

According to the International Herald Tribune, Microsoft plans to help "European media owners protect and profit from copyrighted material online."

Thomas Rubin, Microsoft's intellectual property lawyer, said that they were going to work with publisher to develop a technology that will allow them to have more control over their material after it has been referenced by search engines.

Helium is an online company that describes itself as, "the online spot to learn what you need to know and share what you know." It combines citizen journalism with peer rating in order to provide a plethora of articles on just about any topic.

Helium brings together a system of news and information combined with a place to submit articles. It even has a "marketplace" where publishers can post topics for people to write about - sort of like a publishers à la carte classified space.

It is a place for readers to find articles that interest them, writers to write about topics that they know and understand, publishers to find articles and non-profits to voice their issues.

It is a unique system of sharing content, ideas and knowledge. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for Helium, if the current system will hold up and retain its credibility.

The Editors Weblog interviewed Peter Newton, the VP of business development at Helium.com to get a better idea of how the site works and what their goals are for the future. Newton has worked at Monster.com and The Boston Globe where he was the vice president of advertising.

EW: What is your selection process for articles and writers?

PN: Helium represents the first true meritocracy in the publishing industry. Helium welcomes anyone and everyone to join its community of writers.

We don't select writers; they naturally come to the site and write to areas in which they have an interest (in many cases, a passion) in sharing their knowledge or opinion. Once members join, their work is evaluated by other members though our peer-review rating system.  In essence, Helium brings order to the chaos of user generated content. Its patented peer review rating engine elevates the best quality articles.

After a writer submits an article, he/she is presented with two anonymous articles in the same topic area to rate in an "A versus B" comparison. Through the wisdom of the crowds, the best articles rise to the top, resulting in a rank-ordered list for every topic.

The end result is that the best writers are promoted, recognized and rewarded for their work.

New titles are introduced onto the Helium site through members, partners and directly by Helium staff.

EW: Where do you draw the line between journalist and citizen journalist?  What about between citizen journalist and blogger?

PN: Citizen Journalism is a very awkward term. Quality journalism demands its participants to be objective, ethical and methodical. Research, fact checking and skillful interviewing techniques are critical to the art. It's not obvious that what we are starting to call citizen journalism possesses any of these traits. I'm certain that the Columbia School of Journalism doesn't teach that the art of being a world class journalist is to be in the right place at the right time. Citizen Journalism seems to be migrating to each individual's "15 minutes of fame" and further and further away from journalism. It might be fun to watch - but so were the lions and Christians in the Roman Coliseum.

With that said, Helium is not really concerned with categorizing or labeling different types of writers.  We have created a platform for people to express themselves in writing across a wide variety of topics in a civilized and substantive way, and then have the community sort for quality.

Helium is a site for writers that fills a unique role in the publishing industry. In doing so, we are representing a new classification of online writers.

Our community of members includes professional writers, freelancers, subject matter experts, students and the expert next-door.

We are not attempting to replace investigative journalism or time sensitive reporting. Instead, Helium attracts and produces individuals who have the skill and insight on specific topics that they wish to share with others.

EW: Do you feel that the status of being an "expert" or a "professional journalist" is becoming less important?

PN: No, there will always be a need for professional journalists, especially in covering breaking news or conducting investigative journalism, and Helium is definitely not out to undermine established journalists or copywriters.

Instead, we are trying to expand the ranks of paid writers to include part-time talent that otherwise would be sitting fallow.

Our media solutions product offers newspapers a way for them to supplement what remains of their editorial staff, but is in effect driving down their content-creation costs. We are merely tapping into the notion of "social publishing," in which publishers ask their readership to contribute content.

EW: Do you apply any regulations for topics? style? content? etc...

PN: Yes, Helium has established regulations for topics, style, and acceptable content.

Beyond providing clarity to our members, the community is self moderating. Every new article submitted to Helium is rated by other members. The best content rises to the top. Our members often message each other with advice as to how to improve articles and items that don't fit the standards of the site are removed.

EW: Do you see a shift towards more citizen journalism in news reporting? Both online and print?  How will this affect the future of professional freelancers? Is it going to put a dent in the freelance market?

PN: When you say "news reporting", let's be clear that our focus is not breaking news or conducting investigative journalism.  With that said, there is a growing paradigm shift in content creation; publishers are increasingly sourcing content, not writers. As for how this will impact freelancers no one can say for sure but one thing is for sure-there will always be demand for quality writing.

EW: Can a person make a living from putting material on Helium the same way a freelance gains income?

PN: The short answer is no.  But with that said, there are thousands of Helium members who earn from $40-$100 each month, which is much more than chump change. In fact, some of Helium's highest earning members have made more than $3,000. It really depends on how much members use the site.

Earlier this month, Helium announced upfront payments for all new articles being written by starred writers on Helium.com. This change to Helium's Terms of Service is a move to reward the site's highest quality writers and to promote quality content at Helium.com.  In addition, the company's popular Marketplace product - used by publishers looking for top-notch content for their publications - now offers special access to the site's best writers. The move will improve content for Helium's publishing partners and help ensure that the site's best writers will be seen by those publishers.  

Many web 2.0 companies offer opportunity for incremental income. With these changes at Helium, highly-rated writers will have an opportunity to earn larger sums for sharing their expertise with the Helium community.

"Helium has grown by leaps and bounds these last two years; it has earned the respect of people and writers around the world," said Petra Newman, a 3-star writer on Helium.com "With the sky falling on our economy, Helium has again found a "pièce de résistance" for people who already have a passion for writing. Increasing the earnings for well-written articles is a win-win situation for both Helium and writers."

EW: What newspapers or websites do you work with?    

PN: Currently Helium is working with GateHouse Media's State Journal-Register(SJ-R) in Springfield, Ill. SJ-R recently begun using Helium's "Media Solutions" product to source writers for its op ed section-there are currently over 700 additional papers in the active funnel.

We also provide content for a wide a variety of other newspapers, magazines, online-only sites, etc.

EW: What about your competition? Who are they?

PN: As a producer of content and as a publisher of content, we compete with thousands of companies, yet in most ways, we have no competition.

That said, we really don't see anyone that directly competes with us, in terms of delivering a scalable solution to engage a community to produce high quality content.  

EW: Where do you see yourself in relation to news organizations such as the AP or the New York Times?

PN: The New York Times is the New York Times. Helium is not attempting to create a competitor to breaking news.  

EW: Where does a site like Helium envision itself in the future? How do you grow / expand ?

PN: Helium is rapidly building the world's largest community of writers. We plan to grow and expand the business in a number of ways over the next five years:

• Become the partner of choice to the publishing, non profit and broadcast industries for generating quality content at a low cost, while helping engage their audience in the process.

• Become the content source for any entity needing quality content.

• Expand internationally; international business represents 60% additional market opportunity

• Create a community of micro publishers