Interesting stuff I saw online, Jan. 4 to Jan. 5
Here’s some of the stuff I thought was interesting while stomping through the Internet from Jan. 4 through Jan. 5:
- Forget Survival: The Journalist’s Guide to Owning 2009 and Beyond | New Media Bytes - A well-done pep-rally for journalists — yay, TEAM! "Journalism is NOT dependent on the fate of your employer, newspapers or mass media. Rather, YOU can help decide journalism’s future."
- Nine online publications breached suicide reporting rules, PCC finds (Journalism.co.uk) - Something that never would have occurred to me, and another reason to give thanks for the First Amendment (a blessing the UK does not enjoy): "Nine online publications breached suicide reporting rules, the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) has ruled."
- News Mixer Generates Widespread Interest | PBS' MediaShift Idea Lab - A rundown of links to mentions of the story commenting project by the Medill School and Gazette Communications in Cedar Rapids.
- What’s next for Lee Enterprises? (From Reflections of a Newsosaur) - "So, let’s not forget that there is a reasonably robust business here. The problems are that (a) the business is not as robust as it used to be and (b) the business may not be robust enough to make a $142.5 million debt payment due this spring."
- Drilling Down - Internet Skyrockets as a News Source - NYTimes.com - The change does not represent a decline in the popularity of newspapers, which actually picked up a percentage point over last year. Rather, it represents a near-doubling, from 24 percent last year, in the number of people naming the Internet as their primary news source.
Good customer service at an AMC movie theater
Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
I am fond of stories about good customer service. We got it at the West Olive Theater in Creve Coeur on New Year’s Eve, when my wife and I went to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. The theater is owned by AMC Theatres.
The story is brief. We bought the tickets online, retrieved them without incident and watched the movie.
But about 20 minutes before the end, the film stopped dead, the screen went blank and the lights came up. The crowd in the theater started mumbling and looking around, naturally. Within 90 seconds, the lights dimmed and the movie commenced without missing a beat. We loved the movie.
And as we left the theater, two employees flanked the doors, handing out vouchers for a free ticket to everyone who was there. They apologized to each person for the inconvenience. They went beyond what they needed to do to make up for what was obviously a minor glitch. Bravo. It’ll certainly make me pay more attention to the movie theater. So easy for them to do, such a big impression it leaves.
Taking a 2nd look at coarse reader comments
Since my newspaper’s web site launched reader comments in early August, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how many cogent, articulate remarks show up on the stories. I have also been surprised at the vitriol and coarseness that seems to fly from people’s fingers.
Perhaps I was naive. But an incident yesterday has changed my way of thinking about how to deal with story comments.
On our site, most of the coarseness shows up on stories about crime or cop-and-court-type stories (and, this season, about the St. Louis Rams). Yesterday, we had a story about a 14-year-old boy who took his mother’s Ford Focus joyriding with five other teens in the wee hours of the morning. A chase, a wreck, two young boys died. Read more
Interesting stuff I saw online, Dec. 15 to Jan. 2
Here’s some of the stuff I thought was interesting while stomping through the Internet from Dec. 15 through Jan. 2:
- BuzzMachine » Blog Archive » Identity and anonymity - "Anonymity thereby provides a way for a writer who may be personally unpopular to ensure that readers will not prejudge her message simply because they do not like its proponent.” (Justice John Paul) Stevens concluded “Under our Constitution, anonymous pamphleteering is not a pernicious, fraudulent practice, but an honorable tradition of advocacy and of dissent. Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority. “
- Stir it up - News Mixer - Experiment in online commenting - Most news Web sites either don't allow people to participate in conversations, or offer just the simplest option: a comment box. Most people aren't very happy with the quality of the conversation that results.
- Four Online Community News Sites to Expand Coverage - Knight Foundation - The St. Louis Beacon is among the recipients. “As the news industry cuts costs by reducing staff — including local reporters — citizens are receiving less of the news they need to lead informed lives and hold their governments accountable,” said Gary Kebbel, Knight Foundation’s journalism program director.
- Using Tweetbeep you can set-up keyword alerts for Twitter - Journalism.co.uk - "Alerts can be refined by geography, hashtags, user and the tone of the tweet (e.g. whether it's a question or not)."
Video tribute: ‘God rest ye weary journalists’
Some of my colleagues in the Post-Dispatch’s newsroom conspired to put together this video/commentary on the industry. Its worldwide premiere was during the holiday party last week. Ho, ho, ho!
Interesting stuff I saw online, Dec. 9 to Dec. 14
Here’s some of the stuff I thought was interesting while stomping through the Internet from Dec. 9 through Dec. 14:
- Majel Barrett-Roddenberry To Play Computer Voice In New Star Trek Movie | TrekMovie.com - Majel Barrett Roddenberry has been part of Star Trek since the first pilot (”The Cage”) where she played ‘Number One.’ Although that role was not carried over to the main series, she did get a recurring role on the show as Nurse Chapel and also played Deanna Troi’s mother Lwaxana Troi on The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine.
- Michael Skoler on newsroom culture » Nieman Journalism Lab » Pushing to the Future of Journalism - Among his comments: “When people say news is a conversation, they don’t mean you have to have comments…You do, but that not what they’re talking about. Journalism’s a conversation because people expect there is a conversation…Knowledge is no longer viewed as congregated and only accessible to an elite.”
- So How Much Time Do You Waste On Twitter? - I’ve wasted 47,010 Seconds or 784 Minutes or 13.06 Hours or 0.54 Days with 1,567 Tweets on Twitter!
- Advertisers Face Hurdles on Social Networking Sites - NYTimes.com - “IDC, the technology research firm, published a study last month that reported that just 3 percent of Internet users in the United States would willingly let publishers use their friends for advertising. The report described social advertising as ’stillborn.’”
- Maryland High Court Hears Argument on Internet Anonymity | Citizen Media Law Project - “Once a court orders a blog-hosting service, website operator, or ISP to reveal the identity of an anonymous Internet speaker, that speaker irretrievably loses his/her First Amendment right to speak anonymously (in that particular context). There is no dearth of Supreme Court cases suggesting that this right is nothing to be sniffed at.”
- Corporate Blogging: You’re Doing It Wrong >> SitePoint - A blog can be a successful and useful part of the web strategy for your company. In July, we made corporate blogging our number one tip for how to speak directly to your customers — which is something you should be striving to do.
- Florida Student Sues Principal Over Suspension for Facebook Postings | Citizen Media Law Project - “Based on the relatively banal statements Evans posted (and quickly took down), I think she has a pretty good argument that the suspension violated her First Amendment rights.”
- TimeSpace: World - TimeSpace is an interactive map that allows you to navigate articles, photos, video and commentary from around the globe. Discover news hot-spots where coverage is clustered. Use the timeline to illustrate peaks in coverage, and customize your news searches to a particular day or specific hour.
7 reasons 1-to-1 newsroom training is needed
The anecdote goes something like this: A guy complains that he can’t get any work done when he’s in the office. People are always interrupting him, asking questions, bugging him for help. A co-worker reminds him the interruptions are his work. Epiphany.
I heard that story a long time ago; I bring it to mind frequently. A big part of my job is helping co-workers get comfortable with the tools of the job — tools they had never heard of when they started in journalism, or never thought they’d need.
So, while group training is important, here’s seven reasons why the one-on-one time is likely never going away. Read more
‘This is not the journalism of the future. It is now’
Teak Phillips
One of my colleagues, Teak Phillips, is a photo editor at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Until four months ago, he was not interested in blogging because he couldn’t imagine how to fit it into his routine. Now, he’s dived head-first into his hunting and fishing blog called Hook and Bullet. He’s learned to use Facebook to connect with other people and let them know when he’s updated his blog.
And he regularly pushes photographers to contribute to our PICTURES photography blog. Here’s his most recent note to his colleagues. Bravo, Teak:
It is important that we keep the momentum. PICTURES is regularly receiving 2,500+ page views each week and is consistently in the top 25 of STLtoday.com blogs.
If you’re not doing it already, engage with the readers. When they comment, write back. It’s not only courteous, it’s expected. Readers want to know we are paying attention.
Finally, make PICTURES go viral. If you have a social networking account (MySpace, Facebook, etc.) consider adding a newsfeed of the blog. If you read other blogs, comment on them and leave the PICTURES address in your signature.
This is not the journalism of the future. It is now. Let’s embrace it.
This is a speech that a lot more editors ought to be sharing in their own newsrooms.