Archive for the ‘Journalism’ Category

Knight News Challenge: Feedback needed

Wednesday, August 13th, 2008

I've been struck by an idea, and I hate keeping ideas to myself. Especially with fun communication toys like blogs and Twitter so easily available. But I'm very enthusiastic about this idea, and I think it might be best presented through the Knight News Challenge, which offers moola to ideas that ...

Non-story? Then don’t write it

Monday, August 11th, 2008

According to a news release from the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, local residents would "welcome John McCain to Harrisburg by unveiling a new video called 'Jobs' at a press event." As the reporter who covers local Obama events and issues, I was dispatched. I quickly realized it wasn't much of a story. ...

How to turn an inside brief into a front page centerpiece

Friday, July 25th, 2008

It was the kind of press release every reporter hates getting: The dreaded check presentation. You're almost tempted to cover it, but you know it's only considered news if you're lazy or desperately need to fill space. I was neither, and backed by an editor who similarly hates canned press ...

Ideas, not status, will win at Journalism.me

Thursday, July 24th, 2008

As much as I want to write more about journalism and less about journalism bloggers, Journalism.me deserves some attention. It's a simple blog aggregator that takes most of my favorite journalism bloggers and condenses them into a single RSS feed. And yes, it is a full feed, not a partial feed. The ...

Why everyone should be ashamed of the infamous comment thread

Friday, July 4th, 2008

If you haven't yet read the comment thread on a recent entry by Tampa Tribune intern Jessica DaSilva, go do it now. There's no better example of the emotionally charged internal battle that the newspaper industry is facing. Seeing as I already expressed admiration for DaSilva's blogging way before she suddenly ...

TimesPeople: An important first step

Thursday, June 19th, 2008

TimesPeople will be marked as the beginning of a key revolution in newspaper Web sites. Not because of what it is -- a pretty underwhelming social network based on recommending stories at nytimes.com -- but because of the doors it'll open to a more social experience in consuming news. Shoving content onto ...

Where are all the college bloggers?

Wednesday, June 18th, 2008

I was delighted to find Jessica DaSilva's blog (via Pat Thornton). Jessica, a journalism student at the University of Florida, had a recent entry about her internship at the Tampa Tribune that took me back to the good old days of unadulterated enthusiasm. Reading through Jessica's blog shows you don't have ...

The new Syracuse.com is a big improvement

Tuesday, June 17th, 2008

I'm not sure when it went live, but the new Syracuse.com looks like a significant step up from the prior design shared by all Advance Internet sites (including Pennlive, which posts stories written by my newspaper. Clicking those two pretty much gives you the before and after for Syracuse). Read ...

Beatblogging success story: The “Open for Business” sign

Monday, June 16th, 2008

I love the beatblogging project because it's innovation in real newsroom laboratories, as opposed to tsk-tsking and dreaming. My foray into it has had its ups and downs, but I recently had a kind of success story that I didn't expect when I signed up. And it shows why I believe so ...

Ten tips to make the most of a newspaper internship

Wednesday, May 28th, 2008

This is my favorite time of the year in the newsroom: The annual march of the interns. In my newsroom, we have four in the various departments, and it's so much fun having them around. They bring a lively approach to their writing, they haven't had all the hope squeezed out ...