Why local and digital is better for the environment
A group of bloggers have organised a Carnival of Journalism, each month addressing different key issues in the profession. This month it’s hosted by Andy Dickinson, who set the question: Is (digital) journalism better the more local it is and what does that do to growth?
I’m not one of the official cavorters, but it got me thinking anyway about local (digital) media and environmental journalism. For me, the crossover of local/digital journalism and environmental sustainability could be a fantastic growth opportunity for regional media, as well as local citizen journalism groups and networks, with the result being increased environmental awareness and activity. Read more
Bloggers need awareness of law, ethics
We’re working on a new digital project at Sunderland that will give our students a great outlet to develop their skills online. One of the key issues we’re coming up against, of course, is the liability that we as a journalism department may have as publishers of student work.
A practical benefit of the new digital platform will be to show students, in practice, the requirement of an understanding of media law if they really, really want to work in media. But such an understanding, according to the latest research from global legal services organisation, DLA Piper, is significantly lacking from current internet users and publishers. The research illustrates that: Read more
The hybrid newswork
Yesterday I talked through the different aspects of ‘citizen journalism’ and ‘networked journalism’ with my social media class (first PR students, then journalists). As I’ve already expressed, ‘networked journalism’ is I believe the more important for the future survival of the mainstream news industry. It also comes as a relief for the old institutions (as long as they change) becuse it communicates a model, fast being implemented (for example by OhMyNews in Korea) that retains the institution at the centre of the ‘newswork’ (the production of the objects of news, that makes up the news agenda).
‘Networked journalism’, well summarized by Jeff Jarvis at Buzzmachine.com, was discussed by Jo Bardoel and Mark Deuze in their article ‘Network Journalism’ published in the Australian Journalism Review (23.3) back in 2001. Mark Deuze’s more recent article ‘Preparing for an Age of Participatory News’ (Journalism Practice 2007 (1.3)) quotes Jarvis, who has the talent for the turn of phrase, describing networked journalism as the process that:
“takes into account the collaborative nature of journalism now: professionals and amateurs working together to get the real story, linking to each other across brands and old boundaries to share facts, questions, answers, ideas, perspectives.”
Jeff Jarvis, Buzzmachine.com (2006)
And the UK regional market is a seedbed of some of the best pioneering work in this area. Read more
Long live ‘networked journalism’
Citizen journalism is the process by which the group (formerly known as the audience) plays an active role in news and information gathering, reporting, editing and dissemination. Here’s the definition from Wikipedia. It is the process by which people like you and me, outside of official media institutions (e.g. The Times, BBC), start up blogs, post images to Flickr and videos to Youtube, and begin to change the debate by providing access to stories that remain untold by those ‘official media institutions’. Talking of which, this video is entertaining… Read more
Review of Friction.TV
Just reviewed this site for the JournalismEnterprise.com blog, run by Paul Bradshaw over at Birmingham City Uni. You can read the full review over there.
What do they say it is?
“Friction.tv believes that disagreement - or friction - is a vital element for a healthy debate, to reach new insights and to find out what’s really going on in society. We need disagreement before we can start to find some answers… an interesting and stimulating alternative to the sanitised, agenda driven mediocrity of the conventional mass media.” What do I say it is? A formulaic video publishing site that relies too much on the soapbox for its claims to be an alternative media platform
Read the full review on JournalismEnterprise…
CNN sacks journalist… for keeping a blog
This is a shocker. Blogs gaining and gaining in power. Well, but then it is CNN.
