Top CyberJournalist stories of 2003
What were the biggest events in the online news world this year? Here's a look at CyberJournalist.net's Top 10 Online Journalism Stories of 2003. Plus compare them to the top stories from preview years.
1. War coverage
The war with Iraq marked a watershed moment for online journalism. Internet users wentonline for news more often than ever before -- more than they did even after the Sept. 11 terrorism attacks, according to a report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. And, in another first, Web logs began to be looked to as news sources, although only by a small minority of users.
Both Nielsen/NetRatings and comScore reported double-digit increases in online news readership since the war begin.
But just as important was the innovative work done online by news sites, some of the most aggressive online news coverage ever.
With seemingly endless anecdotes and limited air time and print newsholes, U.S. reporters embedded with troops in the Gulf regularly filed for the Web. Scores launched Weblogs. Some answered reader e-mails online. Others participated in reader chats or recorded audio interviews online via satellite phone.
The war paved the way for breakthrough ideas. AOL members were invited to upload photos of and letters from soldiers abroad. And AOL News launched a neat customized feature, "U.S. Forces Alerts," which enable AOL members to receive war news alerts whenever particular military units they care about are covered in the news.
Many print and TV journalists covering the Iraq war filed stories for their organizations' Web sites, but Ben Arnoldy, a news producer for The Christian Science Monitor's Web site, was one of the few online journalists sent to Iraq. In a Q&A with CyberJournalist.net's Jonathan Dube, he describes what it was like to be embedded with an Air Force unit, what tools he used and what lessons he learned from the experience.
Plus read some of the best work done throughout in the Great online Iraq conflict coverage gallery
2. Dayparting takes off
Reports from Minnesota Opinion Research Inc. (MORI) and the Online Publishers Association concluded that weekdays represent the largest "daypart" (an advertising term meaning blocks of time with homogeneous audiences) on the Internet in terms of total audience and total usage minutes.
Traffic to all news sites drops off after the work day ends -- but research shows that consumers do go online at night from home, just not for news. According to MORI, online users want news in the morning, entertainment content in the early evening, and shopping and classifieds information at night.
Among the sites using dayparting strategies, according to Editor & Publisher:
� LJWorld.com, the Web site for the (Lawrence, Kan.) Journal-World, promotes features in the evenings that were buried in the morning paper. "We rewrite the headlines and generally try to add more character and fun to them," general manager Rob Curley told E&P.
� In the evenings, Milwaukee's Journal Interactive replaces branding-oriented retail ads with call-to-action ones.
� After 6 p.m. MST, The Arizona Republic rebrands azcentral.com, its Web site, as azcentral@night, with heavy emphasis on entertainment stories while news is relegated to a secondary status. The evening site also emphasizes travel deals, shopping guides, and classified ads since studies show online shopping increases at night.
3. FCC deregulates media -- kinda
The Federal Communications Commission voted to loosen media ownership rules, allowing a newspaper to own a television station in the same city and broadcast networks to buy more stations at the national and local levels. Read the changes.
But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit in Philadelphia put all the rules on hold in September as it weighs an appeal. If the courts rule in the FCC's favor, the new rules will go into effect. This will likely pave the way for more converged news organizations like in Tampa.
Meanwhile, Congress is trying to adjust the rules. The FCC voted to allow the four networks -- ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox -- to own television stations reaching up to 45 percent of the national audience, raising the cap from 35 percent. The House approved a compromise figure of 39 percent as part of the spending bill passed in December. The Senate is scheduled to vote on the measure in January.
Read the year's coverage of the FCC debate:
4. Space shuttle crash
February's space shuttle disaster unfolded as much online as it did on radio or television. A group of space enthusiasts learned of the trouble in real time by listening to mission control via NASA TV's Webcast. They and other trackers shared their thoughts online in many forums, including a discussion board for shuttle buffs on the Free Republic Web site. The New York Times culled some of the more interesting comments into a compelling narrative; you can read the full discussion on Free Republic.
In an innovative use of the Web to bring readers into the story, Belo collected images and personal accounts of the shuttle crash from readers and viewers into a searchable database. The database is searchable by keyword or city. A great way to use the Web to tap the community and advance the story.
Online news sites reacted rapidly and robustly to crash. Nearly every major site blew out the top of their site, devoting the top screen -- or more -- to the story. Several chose layouts they rarely use, to create additional dramatic impact. CyberJournalist.net put together a gallery of cover snapshots from a sampling of sites and analyzed the effectiveness of their approach.
5. Blogging for Breaking News
Blogs have been used for breaking news since as early as 1997 ( Here's a look for Poynter.org at how the Charlotte Observer made early use of weblogs to tell the story of Hurricane Bonnie in August 1998), but until this year that was still a rare use.
As news on the shuttle's crash came out, Florida Today posted continual updates to its "Columbia landing journal," a Weblog of the failed landing and the aftermath. This was a particularly effective format for breaking news such as this: as tidbits were released, staffers John Kelly, Chris Kridler and Kelly Young added the latest details, getting the news out fast and giving readers an easy way to see the latest news without having to comb through long articles and figure out what's been added since they last read it. This nicely complemented the site's comprehensive coverage. Spaceflight Now's site also ran Weblog-like updates as news broke, in a feature called "Mission Status Center." A great way to cover breaking news online.
In addition to the space shuttle crash, some of the innovate breaking news blog coverage came from the courtroom.
KFOR television reporter Sarah Stewart blogged a high-profile murder trial for KFOR.com in Oklahoma City. KFOR Internet content editor Michael Gunstanson said Stewart spent days in the courtroom with a laptop and cell-phone connection to the Internet -- sending in reports at least once an hour.
Another example was the trial of John Allen Muhammad in Virginia Beach, Va. Gazette reporter David Abrams did a good job posting to a Weblog a few times each day -- and Kerry Sipe, online news coordinator for The Virginian-Pilot, took the concept to a new level. He used wireless technology to file minute-by-minute Weblog updates on the court proceedings, something no other reporter in no other medium is doing because cameras are not allowed in the courtroom. The reporting reads like a court transcript -- except it's posted in real time! This was a perfect use of the Internet and the Weblog format to deliver the news to readers more efficiently.
6. Reader slide shows catch on
Recognizing the value of tapping the news consumer community, BBC News launched a new feature to showcase reader photography. "BBC News Online wants to report the world from your perspective," the site said in a note to readers. "And the digital revolution will help us to do that....So if you think you have a picture worth looking at, if you found yourself in the right place at the right time, send it to BBC News Online." The site's picture editor will choose the best each week and publish them on this page every Friday. Among the slide shows BBC Online published were when millions of people marched worldwide in February 2003 in protest of a possible war against Iraq.
http://www.cyberjournalist.net/news/000325.php
A number of U.S. sites published reader-generated slide shows during big local weather stories, including The Charlotte Observer's Web site, Charlotte.com. "One of our Charlotte.com traditions is getting readers involved in telling the story of major weather events," the site wrote during an unusual January snow storm. "Since schools are closed today, and many of you won't be going anywhere, get out your digital cameras and send us snow photos: your backyard, your stuck car, your dog, your kids, etc." The site then published two slide shows using the best ones (here and here). The photos are by no means professional quality -- but they offer a fresh, unique perspective on the storms' impact. And they have the homey-feeling of a family photo album, except that in this case the family is one of Observer readers.
http://www.cyberjournalist.net/news/000326.php
7. Editing blogs becomes issue
Whether news sites edit blogs became a topic of much debate this year after Sacramento Bee political columnist Daniel Weintraub posted a controversial entry on his Weblog, California Insider, and the Bee changed its policy. Previously Weintraub's posts were sent to Mark Paul, deputy editor of the editorial pages, right as they were being posted. Now, Weintraub's blog goes to the editorial page editor or his deputy before it's posted on sacbee.com. Editors will not be allowed to write items for the Web without another editor's review. The decision forced other sites to review their policies, though many continue to edit Weblog entries after publishing.
8. Salon survives
Salon repeatedly has warned that it is on the verge of running out of money, but keeps managing to pull through.
In addition to the troubling financial news, Salon's quarterly reports included some disconcerting statements claiming that advocacy groups that disagreed with content on Salon had targeted Salon's advertisers to persuade them to pull their ads.
After getting sued for falling behind on its rent, Salon re-negotiated its monthly lease to drop rent from $70,000 to $21,000.
In March, Salon got another $800,000 from existing investors.
In June, Salon came up with another interesting way to try to bring in a few bucks. The company is offering a free Salon Titanium Visa card -- and those who sign up for it get the $30 a year Salon Premium membership for just $1.
On Aug. 1, Salon raised the price of its two annual subscription plans to $35 and $22.50.
And in November, Salon celebrated its 8th anniversary in style, obtaining a copy of the controversial 213-page screenplay for the miniseries "The Reagans," which CBS canceled after protests. To read it though, you had to be a subscriber -- or you could get a free day pass by first viewing an ad from a sponsor. This is what Salon needs to keep doing to make its subscription model work.
More on Salon's amazing survival...
9. AOL Time Warner limits magazines online
AOL Time Warner Inc. ended free online access to People, Fortune, Business 2.0, Entertainment Weekly and about a dozen other Time Inc. magazines. The magazines are only be available on the Web to America Online subscribers or people who buy the magazine. The goal is to boost AOL's value by giving subscribers something non-subscribers can't get.
Sports Illustrated and Time magazines are not on the initial list. Nevertheless, the move could easily pave the way for other companies to follow suit. Editor & Publisher already plans to block off all its Web content to non-subscribers in early 2004.
10. Professionals get duped
In February, the Web site of Computerworld magazine published a story claiming a radical Islamic group was behind the recent Slammer worm attack that clogged the Internet. The next day the story was embarrassingly retracted after it was learned that one journalist had deceived another. Dan Verton had based his article on an e-mail interview with a person he identified as "Abu Mujahid," a member of Pakistan-based Harkat-ul-Mujahadeen. But Mujahid was really Brian McWilliams, 43, a free-lance journalist in Durham, N.H., who has written for Salon.com and Wired News. McWilliams said he had duped Verton because he wanted to teach reporters "to be more skeptical of people who claim they're involved in cyberterrorism." In a follow-up story, Verton wrote, "I feel like I've been had, and that's never an easy thing to swallow. So, I'm left here scratching fleas as the price you sometimes pay for sleeping with dogs." The fiasco is a good reminder of the risks involved in relying on e-mail interviews and the importance of verifying sources.
In July, some news Web sites and radio stations reported that heavy metal band Metallica is suing a Canadian band called Unfaith for trademark infringement over the use of "Metallica-branded" chords E and F. The story was a hoax, picked up from a faked MTV.com story about the suit, created by freelance graphic designer and aspiring musician Erik Ashley, 29, CourtTV.com reports. This should have been soooooooo obvious! Aside from the fact that the story itself is ridiculous enough that anyone should have been skeptical from the get-go, the story is on a page with a URL that doesn't even attempt to ape MTV.com's: www1.scoopthis.com/411/met_uf/stc_met_uf_mtv.htm Among the sites that fell for the hoax were Ananova and ArtsJournal.com, proof that news consumers, too, need to be skeptical of what they find online. Even ABC's Jimmy Kimmel reportedly mentioned it on his talk show before retracting the story the following day.
In December, two nationally syndicated radio sports shows and The San Diego Union-Tribune got duped by a parody site. They ran stories about a fictional Jason Smith, a 5-foot-6, 128-pound honor student from Yorktown High School in "Muncey," (not Muncie) Ind., being signed by Purdue to play basketball. Problem is, they got the story from www.hoosiergazette.com, a site which carries this disclaimer on its home page: "Indiana's first source for inaccurate news and commentary since 2003."
The Union-Tribune gets an extra black mark for not even citing the bogus Web site, but instead listed the credit on the story as "Union-Tribune News Services."
Top 10 Online Journalism Stories of 2002
2001�s Top 10 CyberJournalist Stories of the Year
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