BBC News to launch new reader comment system
September 29, 2005
BBC News is set to launch a new reader comments system on Oct. 10 that, for the first time, will enable readers to post comments to the site before an editor has looked at them.
Handbook for bloggers and cyber-dissidents
September 29, 2005
“Bloggers are often the only real journalists in countries where the mainstream media is censored or under pressure. Only they provide independent news, at the risk of displeasing the government and sometimes courting arrest. Reporters Without Borders has produced this handbook to help them, with handy tips and technical advice on how to to remain anonymous and to get round censorship, by choosing the most suitable method for each situation. It also explains how to set up and make the most of a blog, to publicise it (getting it picked up efficiently by search-engines) and to establish its credibility through observing basic ethical and journalistic principles.”
Six lessons from Hurricane Katrina
September 29, 2005
Here are six lessons OJR’s Mark Glaser says he’s learned about the state of disaster coverage on the Web:
1. Your local bloggers know more than you do.
2. Mainstream media gets personal.
3. Dodging a bullet is relative.
4. Wikipedia and Flickr showcase citizen journalism at its best.
5. People are both fascinated and scared senseless of howling hurricane winds.
6. Conservative Texas bloggers like their guns and cats.
Yahoo hires finance writers
September 28, 2005
Yahoo continues its big moves into creating original journalistic content, hiring about 10 popular authors to write financial columns for its Web site. “The company hopes the original content will make its site more compelling to visitors and help it bolster advertising revenue, though it says it has no plans to become a traditional news organization,” The Wall Street Journal says.
The writers include:
• Ben Stein, author and TV personality
• David Bach, author of “Start Late, Finish Rich”
• Ken Dychtwald, psychologist and author
• Robert Kiyosaki, author of “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”
• Daniel Pink, author of “A Whole New Mind”
• Laura Rowley, author of “Money & Happiness”
• Jeremy Siegel, finance professor at the Wharton School
• Charles Wheelan, economist and author of “Naked Economics”
• Stephen R. Covey, author of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”
• Suze Orman, author and TV commentator
Esquire article edited via Wiki
September 28, 2005
Esquire editor A.J. Jacobs invited Wikipedia users to edit an article online that will appear in an upcoming issue of the magazine, as an experiment. Wikipedia users made more than 500 edits to the article before it was frozen.
Kevin Sites is now in ‘The Hot Zone’
September 28, 2005
“Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone” is now live. Here is is first post, from Somalia, which includes three videos, a narrated photo essay and already more than 600 user comments.
Keep a close eye on this project. Sites is talented and Yahoo’s pockets are deep. This project is sure to draw a large audience, win awards and quite possibly break new ground online.
Grassroots Media’s Potential: Better Journalism and Democracy
September 28, 2005
In a talk at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich., Dan Gillmor envisions a future in which citizen journalists do original reporting, conduct interviews, examine local, state and federal records, and help the New Orleans Times-Picayune win a Pulitzer Prize.
Podcasting German Election Coverage
September 27, 2005
For the past month, DEUTSCHE WELLE has been podcasting coverage of the German elections, offering both English and German MP3 files containing up-to-date interviews, reports, background information and analyses. DEUTSCHE WELLE says its the first broadcaster to offer their election coverage as an extensive podcasting format.
New York Times posts podcasts
September 27, 2005
As part of a new feature in The New York Times Magazine called The Funny Pages, nytimes.com has posted a three-part podcast - MP3 audio files available for download. The podcasts include conversations with three Funny Pages authors:
Podcasts (mp3 format):
• Podcast Part One, featuring Chris Ware
• Podcast Part Two, featuring Elizabeth Gilbert
• Podcast Part Three, featuring Elmore Leonard
2005 Online Journalism Awards finalists
September 26, 2005
Here are the finalists for the 2005 Online Journalism Awards.