How The Seattle Times covered a snow storm – My recap at 10,000 Words about our snow coverage. The most interesting part was the live chat that we kept live all day for three days to give status updates and answer reader questions. We had an overwhelming after-the-fact response from our readers who were absolutely pleased by this community service.
Why can’t newspapers make money online? (Mashable) - So, they’ve got it all figured out? “The bottom line is this: the reason that newspapers can’t make money is because they’re pricing themselves out of the market.” It’s a lot more complicated than that. I like what Paul K. Ward says in the comments of the article: “Newspapers and other information outlets shouldn’t be setting sights on paying their costs, they should be focused instead on creating demand for what they offer at a profit. ” There are so many problems with the way many newspapers present and distribute news online that makes it less desirable than other outlets. And the fact that we’re still calling ourselves “newspapers” is problematic too. If that’s what we identify as, that’s what we prioritize, and the web will always be an afterthought. We are media companies. We have websites and newspapers. And we need to think creatively about the future of both. Create unique demand for our content online, then you can charge for it.
The new, convoluted life cycle of a newspaper story – My latest post at 10,000 Words is getting more attention than I anticipated. Apparently it’s an issue that resonates with a lot of people at print publications: how to make something cohesive out of ongoing stories when you’re constantly publishing updates in the form of tweets, blog posts, print stories, etc.
WooThemes launches theme based on Rutledge’s redux - I wrote in July about Andy Rutledge’s design redux getting slammed by journo-tweeters after he wrote a scathing post (which has since been deleted from the web) about news design. While many of his points were spot-on, it was frustrating for those of us at newspapers who know there are a lot more politics and technical integration issues that go into website design than meet the eye. This week, though, premium WordPress theme developers at WooThemes launched Currents, a WordPress news theme based almost exactly of Rutledge’s initial design. Worth checking out.
Making Your News Budget Public: How And Why – I feel like I’ve been talking about open news for years and years. Back then, I referred to it as “making your editorial calendar public,” but now that I’m an old fart in a newsroom, I say “open your news budget.” Same diff. My latest post at 10,000 Words outlines examples of a few news orgs who are actually doing it – finally. Some use Facebook, others use Twitter, some are writing straight-up blog posts and others are using Google Spreadsheets. More later today on how The Seattle Times is approaching this concept.
If your website’s full of assholes, it’s your fault. Anil Dash is spot on. Part of maintaining a news website is maintaining community and having high standards. He outlines five steps every website should take to keep their community in order. Because whether we like it or not, quality of our comments reflects on how our organizations are perceived, and the quality of comments that will come up moving forward.
My life as an undocumented immigrant. I finally had a chance to read this in full. It’s the first-hand account of a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has worked at The Washington Post, HuffPo, etc., who has taken extreme to keep his illegal status a secret, all the while reporting on the truth for high-profile publications. It hits a chord with me because so many of my Filipino family members came here, including my father, just about 25 years ago. Read it. And read WaPo’s response about why they didn’t publish it.
California Supreme Court rejects noncompete clauses. This is old news but I discovered it today from a lab technician in Santa Barbara. I’ve signed a few noncompete agreements in my day, and apparently they’re void here in California. “Californians have the right to move from one company to another or start their own business and can’t be prohibited by their employer from working for a competitor in their next job.”
Detroit Free-Press uses Intersect to map and document Asian carp journey. My personal critique at 10,000 Words on Free-Press’ use of the storytelling tool. Overall, I don’t think it’s a good medium for the content type, but give them kudos for real-time, on-the-spot reporting.
Why the New York Times’ Pay Model is Similar to NPR and Spot.Us. David Cohn’s awesome idea to implement a points system for readers who pay a subscription fee to the NYT.
Even In Real Life, There Were Screens Between Us. This NYT guest piece by Syracuse student Caitlin Dewey captures exactly what modern love is like in an online world. I’ve had many-a-fling that played out the same way. For the record, offline love is a million times better.
Five Things AOL’s Patch Is Doing Right. My latest 10,000 Words post about things we can learn about openness and transparency from Patch, despite other criticisms of the hyperlocal effort. These are easily-adoptable concepts for all newsrooms.
Toppenish High student fakes pregnancy as social test about stereotypes, rumors. A high school senior in Yakima, Washington endured 6.5 months of rumors and stereotypes while faking a pregnancy on a quest to learn more about the life of a teenage mom. No one knew her secret but her mom, the principal, her boyfriend and best friend. She revealed the lie at a school-wide assembly, where she pulled off the fake belly after reading degrading quotes from notecards of rumors that were spread about her. She’ll publish a report on her experience soon. Power to this young lady for having the balls to not let ego get in the way of social experimentation.
On Shaky Ground: The Story Behind the Story. This interactive timeline from California Watch is one of the better uses of VuVox that I’ve seen to tell a story. It gives the behind-the-scenes of what resources went into their earthquake disaster series, complete with video and document counts.
Preliminary results from our informal Knight News Challenge survey. Daniel published the data gathered so far from an informal survey sent out to the 63 Knight News Challenge winners since 2007.
How to get the most out of your iPhone as a reporting tool. My latest post from 10,000 Words. Basically: present yourself legitimately, kill all your background apps, use airplane mode to avoid disruptions (calls, texts). And some links to cool resources.
Forbes Update: Re-Imagining a Magazine as Digital Media Marches On. A very thorough look at how Forbes is radically rethinking its print product through the lens of the web (with screenshots on page 2).
Hardly Strictly Young. Following Ryan’s lead, I too am honored and excited to be a part of the incredible list of attendees for Hardly Strictly Young, an event at the Reynold’s Journalism Institute. There are lots of new people I’ve been dying to meet, and many old friends that I can’t wait to meet up with again. See ya’ll in Missouri.